Moving

When I was very little, my aunt and uncle lived in a rent house in Dallas. I remember the day my daddy told me they were going to have to move. Seems the owner of the house wanted to sell it, and Aunt and Uncle would have to find somewhere else to live.

I was devastated. I thought moving meant that they were "going away" and I would never see them again. After my daddy reassured me that they were staying in Dallas, just moving to a new house and we would indeed see them again, I felt a lot better. (The fact that we had to drive 6 hours to see them anyway was more than my childish mind could comprehend.)

About the same time, the Dallas Cowboys moved out of the Cotton Bowl and into Texas Stadium. Again, I was devastated. I thought it meant that they were going away, and I would never get to see them play again. (The fact that the TV cameras would also move to Texas Stadium was more than my childish mind could comprehend.)

The 2008 season will be the last one in Texas Stadium. Next year, they will be playing in the new AmeriQuest stadium. I'm going to miss the old stadium. It is a part of my life, though I've never been there.

The Orange Bowl is going to be torn down. The stadium had been the home of both the Miami Hurricanes and the Miami Dolphins for many a year. Yesterday, they had their final celebration, which included a flag football game between former Hurricanes and former Dolphins. It was the last football game that will ever be played there.

The Dolphins moved into their new stadium in 1987. It is called Pro Player Stadium, after the corporate sponsor, Pro Player Apparel.

The Denver Broncos no longer play at Mile High Stadium. In 2001, they moved into INVESCO Field.

The San Diego Chargers renamed their stadium from Jack Murphy Stadium to QUALCOMM Stadium, after the communications company of the same name agreed to fund an expansion of the stadium.

The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer play at Three Rivers Stadium. In 2001, they moved into Heinz Field--yes, named after the ketchup company.

The San Francisco 49ers renamed Candlestick Park to Monster Park in 2004 after gaining sponsorship of a cable company of the same name.

In 2003, the Philadelphia Eagles moved from Veterans Stadium into Lincoln Financial Field, named after the Lincoln Financial Group.

The Washington Redskins used to play at RFK Stadium. Now they play at FedEx Field.

I could go on, but I won't. Now, I can understand that if you're a business, and you're sponsoring an athletic arena that you would want your name associated with the arena. I mean, you put all that money into it, you ought to get some advertising out of it. That's just business.

But I think that in doing that a lot of the romance of the game has been lost.

And we are the worse for it.

Relief!

Though the sky looked like this:

all day, I was relieved that the ice storm wasn't as bad as had been predicted. The temps remained relatively warm--in the upper 30s--all day, and most of the ice accumulation melted off pretty quickly. By lunchtime, Cody and I were able to get out and do our grocery shopping--something I didn't dare to even attempt yesterday.

Being the cool mom that I am, I added to my "cool points" total by picking up these:


I got even more cool points by putting back a pair of work jeans in order to stay under budget. Sadly, I lost a cool point when I asked Cody why I was getting cool points. Overall, though, I remained ahead in my cool points, and thus was able to retain my title of "Cool Mom."

I'm kind of bummed because the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions were in the next town over last night. I'd seen them when I was a child, and have wanted to see them again ever since. I found out that they would be in Greenwood last night, which is only about a 30-45 minute drive away. I had so wanted to take Cody to see them, but the weather being what it was, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Maybe next year.

Other than that, there's really not much to talk about. I've got a pretty good case of the winter blahs. It's been too chilly and damp to get out and do anything, and I don't have enough money to go shopping --other than necessities, and I can only sit and watch TV for so long before I'm getting stir crazy. Compounding the situation is the fact that this is the first weekend with no football whatsoever...

I guess I'll go watch figure skating.

Winter Is Finally Here

and with a vengeance.

The pink, friends, means ice. The kind of flattish, rectangular county right in the middle of the pink, friends, is me.

A slow, drizzly rain fell all day, and the temperatures never got above freezing. By the time I got home, delicate icicles had begun to form.



It is supposed to get worse. Up to 1/4 inch of ice accumulation is expected before morning. I'm just glad it is the weekend and I don't have to get out in it.

Fear not. I have plenty of soup, hot chocolate and tea, movies, and knitting.

If I had a fireplace, life would be just about perfect.

Hodgepodge

When I was young, I used to wish I had been named Toni. I loved the name. Then one day my mother told me that if my name was Toni, my full name would be Antoinette. I decided then that Toni wasn't such a good name after all. Funny thing is, when I got to high school, I actually had a friend named Antoinette. Only nobody ever called her Toni. We called her Anto.

I was bundling up to walk Rylea. It is currently 28'. Cody was very concerned that I stay warm, so he loaned me his new sock hat, his gloves (boughten) and the scarf I made for him last month. He's still a teenager and for the most part thinks the world should revolve around him, but he can be very thoughtful at times.

Socks and wrap are coming along quite nicely.



I ran into a snag on the Clapotis--literally. The stitch markers I'd bought kept snagging the yarn. Very annoying. So I ditched them and used my usual method of marking stitches: waste yarn tied into a loop. Works great, affordable, and always handy.

The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in the Fall colorway.

Yet Another Strange Dream

Can you stand another dream post? (This means, of course, that I can't think of anything worthwhile to blog about.)

I dreamed I was grocery shopping with Tony Romo. Funny, I dream about grocery shopping a lot. This time, I was in a real grocery store--well, in my dream--not in the grocery section of Wal-mart. I've dreamed about this particular grocery store before, though I don't know of one in real life that looks quite like it. Anyway...

I was grocery shopping, and Tony was tagging along, talking, putting stuff I didn't need or want in the basket, and generally making a nuisance of himself. At one point, he stopped at the magazine rack to read something. I kept on shopping. He's a big boy. He can catch up.

And catch up he did, and he was very upset that one of the tabloids had printed something about him that wasn't true.

“Come on,” I tried to reassure him. “You don’t think anyone really believes that stuff, do you?”

“Yes, I do.” he replied. “Somebody must believe it or they wouldn’t be able to keep selling their newspapers.”

“What are you doing reading that trash anyway?” I asked.

“I read everything that is written about me,” Tony responded.

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Have you read anything I’ve written about you?” I asked.

“I read everything that is written about me.”

“So what did you think about what I've written?”, I asked.

“We’ll just leave that one alone,” he replied.

What makes the dream so much more funny is that in real life this kind of attitude is very uncharacteristic of Tony. "I am very comfortable with who I am," he said recently, " and I don't let that stuff bother me."

Finished Hat

I finished Cody's hat last night. It was a quick knit. I didn't use a pattern. I just cast on 96 and knit until it was tall enough, then began decreasing every other round until I had 6 stitches left. Threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches, pulled it tight, and wove the end in.

Here we have the handsome lad modeling it:

Yes, he is wearing it inside out. That's the way he wants it.

I also cast on a pair of Roundabout Socks



and a Clapotis.


Yesterday was MLK day and a holiday at work. I didn't get anything done that I'd planned to do. But I did peruse knitting patterns for a great deal of the day. Funny thing I've noticed. I will open a pattern--let's say it's a scarf pattern--and immediately see the words:

This is a copyrighted pattern. You may use this pattern for your own personal use, but give me credit for it. You may not distribute this pattern. You may not sell items made from this pattern. All rights reserved.

or something very similar. All well and good, but when I look further at the pattern, I discover that it is nothing more than a simple garter stitch scarf. How can one copyright a garter stitch scarf? The garter stitch--knit every row--is as old as knitting itself. Yet, I'll bet there are at least 2, 475, 361 people claiming copyright on the garter stitch scarf.

Same with socks. I lost count how many times I'd seen people claiming to hold the copyright on simple stockinette stitch socks. These patterns are so simple, so basic, and so old, I just don't see how anyone can claim to own them.

For the non-knitters among you, that's like claiming copyright on the alphabet.

Say, there's an idea. I wonder if I can copyright the alphabet. Collect royalties every time someone writes, types, or reads a letter. Every letter.

I'll be richer than Bill Gates.

Our Favorite Lady

just being herself.



My question is, if you don't want people to think of you as a dumb blond, why portray yourself as one?

P.S. I'm not talking about Martha.

For Your Amusement

Courtesy of Ryan Parker Songs

Cool Video

Time lapse video of a winter day in Tromso, Norway.

Pretty cool.

It's Settled

It will be the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. That the Patriots beat the Chargers comes as no surprise to anyone, especially with LaDanian Tomlinson out injured for most of the game. Philip Rivers played the entire game, but played with both knees bummed. He had a strained MCL in one and a torn ACL in the other. Now, I don't know what a MCL is, but I do know what an ACL is. That is what sensei tore a few years back and I had to teach for two months while he recovered, both from the tear and from the surgery to repair it. Mr. Rivers played a tough game, considering, but his knees definitely affected his mobility, and they just couldn't find the end zone. His valiant effort was admirable, but it wasn't enough to pull the game out--even with all of Tom Brady's mistakes.

The big surprise came in Green Bay, where the Giants upset the Packers, winning 23-20 in overtime. This was the more exciting game of the day. The Giants won, once again, not on their own merits, but on the mistakes of their opponents. The way I see it, the Packers made some key mistakes; the first one being that they had Al Harris one-on-one with Plaxico Burras. You just can't do that. Burras is too good a wide receiver not to double cover him. Even after Burras beat Harris time and time again, Green Bay still wouldn't give him any help.

The second big mistake was not bringing pressure against Eli Manning. He had all day long to stand back there and find open receivers. You have to pressure Eli Manning. He is too good of a quarterback for a defense to just think he will make big mistakes. However, when he has had his face planted into the dirt a few times, when he's got big bodies coming at him every play, he gets flustered and crumples like a sand castle.

The third big mistake Green Bay made, and I'm actually kind of surprised that Brett Favre would do this, is that they tried too hard to make big plays. Instead of trying to go 10 yards for a first down, he was trying to go 90 yards for a touchdown, and it cost them.

And then there were the penalties. The Pack penalized themselves 5 times on a single Giants drive. Five times! Heck, they moved the ball better on that drive than the Giants did.

You know, one thing that strikes me as odd is the disparity in the amount of penalties between the Giants and their opponents. Last night, for example. The Packers had something like 11 penalties to the Giants 3. They had 5 on a single drive--a drive that would have stalled twice were it not for penalties against the Packers. It was the same last week in Dallas. The Boys were penalized 7 times for 85 yards, while the Giants were penalized 3 times for 25 yards. It's enough to make you go, "Hmmm."

Did you know that the officials review each football game, same as the coaches and players? I didn't until this year. They do. Each week, the officiating teams sit down with whoever is over them and review the game film. Play by play.

Calls that should have been made, but weren't. Calls that shouldn't have been made, but were. Good calls--and why they are good. Bad calls, and why they are bad. When they find a bad call, they discuss it, and what to do to prevent the same bad call in the future. But they do not change the results of the game.

A single bad call is seldom going to affect the eventual outcome of the game. A bunch of them might.

Tony Romo was penalized in the second half for intentional grounding. The penalty turned a second and short into a third and long. They failed to convert. The drive stalled and they were forced to punt. When the officiating team reviewed the play on Monday, they discovered that Tony was in a position in which he could legally throw the ball away. There was no intentional grounding. They'd made a bad call.

On the very first drive of the game, DeMarcus Ware was flagged for being offsides. The penalty turned a Giants fourth down into a first down, and eventually a touchdown. Review of the game film revealed that the ball was moving before he was, and he was not offsides. They'd made a bad call.

On the final drive of the first half, the Giants marched all the way down the field in 46 seconds and scored a touchdown. The drive would have stalled were it not for a personal foul against the Boys. The call was a late hit. However, further review of the tape revealed that the whistle had not blown, and the play was still live when the Cowboy player blocked the Giant. One could argue that the ball was already past him, so the Boy should have let up, but that's not what they are trained to do. They are trained to play until the whistle blows. This one was not declared to be a bad call, but it could have been.

Normally, I think of those who whine about bad calls as just being sore losers, but when half of the penalties against a team are either bad or questionable, well, it's enough to make you go, "Hmmm."

But it still doesn't erase the big red L in the won-loss column.

They're Finished!

Tidal Wave socks are completed. I have no WIPS!

Pattern: Tidal Wave
Yarn: TOFUtsies sock yarn color #733
Needles: Bamboo 2.75 mm.

Dear Mr. Romo

You are the starting quarterback of a professional football team. Not just any professional football team. The Dallas Cowboys. Do you know what this means?


It means you will be held to a higher standard. You will be expected to be perfect. You will not be allowed to have a bad day.


Throughout your journey with the Cowboys, you will be deified and you will be vilified. You will be glorified, and you will be crucified. You will be put on a pedestal, and you will be burned at the stake. It will be an emotional roller coaster ride the like which you have never seen. You will go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in an instant. I believe you know this already.

What concerns me, dear Mr Romo, is the choice of your current paramour. Sure, she makes a lovely arm ornament, but will she stand by you through all of this? Will she support you, or will she be more concerned with maintaining her own image? She may be there for the 13-3 seasons, but will she still be around for the 3-13 seasons? Will she still love you when you lose?

Does she have the strength, the substance, the depth of character to be what you will need her to be throughout your career?

I've heard it said that a man can do anything as long as he has someone who believes in him.

Does she believe in you?


Does she really?

Saturday Is For

But don't let this one fool you. It is cold out there! It was 36 when I got up, and struggled to get up to 38. I went out to get the mail around noonish, and I thought, "It isn't so cold out here." On the way back from the mailbox, however, I was facing into the wind, and it suddenly got a whole lot colder.

After a strong North wind blowing all day, it is currently 32, and expected to drop even lower. They're predicting low 20s by morning. If it weren't my day to work in the library, I'd be tempted to skip church and stay snuggled in.

As it is, that is what I did today. I didn't even get dressed. I am still sitting here in my pjs. I did get around to blocking the Branching Out scarf. I started pinning it out,

but when I got about halfway done, I realized I was pulling to too far lengthwise. At the rate I was going, it would have ended up being about 12' long. So, I pulled it all up and started over. As it is, the scarf still ended up being about 8' long.

I pinned it out in the snake/craft/computer room, and to keep the dogs from getting too interested, I put a sentinel at the door.

I show you this picture just to prove that I do, indeed, own one of these. I know you can't tell it from the state of my carpet, but it does have its uses. It did an admirable job of keeping the dogs out of the room and away from the scarf.

After unpinning the scarf, it was so light, and airy, and soft, and warm--well as warm as lace can be, that I couldn't stop tossing it in the air, and draping it over my hands. I was tempted to run out into the street and accost passersby to admire it, but I managed to restrain myself. I finally regained control, and arranged the scarf artfully on the chair to show you it's loveliness.

Here is a closeup of the stitch pattern:


The rest of the day was spent working on my second Tidal Wave sock. I am about halfway down the foot, and may even finish it this evening. It will definitely be finished by tomorrow.

Then I will be done. For about 5 minutes, I will have NO active WIPs! I'd best get busy. Cody is already asking when his hat will be done.

Looky What We Bought!

I bought the yarn to make Cody's hat. It is Red Heart Grey Heather.


I let him pick it out himself. Now, my stashalong goals say that I can buy yarn once for every two months of knitting, provided the purchase is less than what I used up. So far, I've knit approximately 500 yards of yarn up this month, and still have until the end of February to go! I am well ahead of my goals for this two month period. I am really tempted to cast on his hat, and he is anxious for me to do so, but I am only half a sock away from winning my Super Bowl! I won't quit now. I've turned the heel, and will pick up the gusset stitches before I go to bed, so maybe I can get the sock finished tomorrow.

Cody bought the dogs a real treat:


They are both enjoying it very much, and one or the other has been gnawing on it since we brought it home. We had a bit of an accident with it. As we were taking the bone out of the package, we dropped it on Rylea's head.

Poor baby.

(Try really hard to ignore the unfolded clean laundry on the couch, and the bits of stuffing from Rylea's Mousie all over the floor. They will be cleaned up. Eventually.)

Cute Puppy And Boy

Rylea is just so spoiled! Katie was 10 years old before I allowed her on the furniture. I guess I'm mellowing in my old age.