Something Windy This Way Comes

I grew up knowing the definition of the term "blustery," but I have to say I'd never experienced it until we moved to New York.

When I was a little girl - and once I'd proven to my mother that I was responsible for items that required special care - I received Mom's collection of Walt Disney records. 33rpm records of the classic Disney movies - Snow White, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Robin Hood (Kristin is still the only other person I know who can quote that movie like I do). These were pretty much the entire movies with sound only - but with lovely picture books behind the album cover. I treasured these records. I'd put on shows in my bedroom - the only audience being my posters of Shaun Cassidy and John Schneider - acting out all the parts and singing every song.

One of these treasured albums was Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. I had my stuffed animals act out the parts (even if they weren't of the A. A. Milne variety). I was deep in the Hundred Acre Wood. I learned the wonderful thing about Tiggers. I danced with the Heffalumps and Woozles. My imagination had no boundaries, and it set the stage for my love of music, reading, and the theater.

And on days like today - when the wind blows branches and trash cans and even street signs askew, I can't help but sing this song to myself and smile...

My Heart is with my Friend.

Dearest Cutie-pie Evan:


We all miss you and your wonderful spirit.

Much love to your amazing family.

Can't Sleep, Can't Wake

I woke this morning in a cold sweat from a very intense dream about living on some hill where Scottish men (yes, in kilts - so yummy) herded goats, sheep, penguins, and sea turtles down through my yard. I also had a ghost in the attic who played the harp. A coworker was asked to try and break into my house, and he did, but he accidentally let the cats out. I was running around the yard, dodging fluffy penguins and happy sea turtles, trying to find my cats, who were chasing a small terrier.

Yes, I'm deeply disturbed. And even worse now, I have an earworm:



And now I'll leave you with three handsome men and some home brew:

Another Mouse has Come and Gone...

...and possibly another went to the Big Cheese in the Sky.

Cooling temperatures mean mousing season at the Weismann Home for Wayward Animals. With an old, drafty home comes lots of places for mouse entry, especially when one's pantry is directly over the edge of the dirt basement. This is why all pasta, rice, flour, sugar, beans, soup mix, chocolate, raisins, cocoa mix, nuts, etc are housed in sturdy Rubbermaid containers. I lost an entire box of WeightWatchers Dark Raspberry snack bars to those fuckers.

This is also why Dobby likes to hang out in the pantry. For a cat with no front claws, he is one hell of a mouser. He catches, tortures, then shows off his trophy. Fortunately, the cats don't go for eating them. I can deal with disposing of an intact mouse.

The other morning, Dobby was making some shifty moves around our TV cabinet in the bedroom. Lo and behold, he'd cornered a mouse. He most likely brought it up from the kitchen to show off, then dropped it and "lost" it for a bit. Watching the three cats watch a mouse run around the bedroom was entertaining but without purpose. Once Dobby finally caught it again, he presented it to Joe. On the bed. And the little guy was still alive.

Fortunately, we're not shy here. Joe picked the poor feller up, and we took it outside. It seemed to be in shock, but not injured, so I tucked him into a little cozy spot in the yard and let nature decide the fate.

This morning, while Joe was working on his masterful heat-duct-cover-up about which he'll post soon, The Dobbster left a nice dead mousy present at the foot of our kitchen stairs. If it was the same mouse as earlier this week, then the mouse was an idiot and deserved his fate.

Enough talk about vermin. How about a pretty picture of yarn? Here's the first 10 rows of Muir, in Blue Heron cotton:


I'm thinking this cold, dreary weekend will be bursts of productivity interrupted by hours of pleasant knitting.

Status

After a somewhat frozen mid-October, we're just barely chilly here in November. The trees are mostly bare, and the groundhog is snuggling into his hole under the porch. This first week of November has been wonderful. After two months of preparing for and having parties, family visiting, and wonderful local festivals, it's nice to have a breather. Last weekend was devoted to catching up some of my Ravelry project photos, and this weekend I'll be cleaning out my car.

Yes, my beloved Hyundai (pictured below, under snow drifts), is ready to go to a new home. She was our post-9/11-help-the-economy purchase, and she's been a trooper. After 102,000 miles she's still going strong, but Joe wants a new car for his constant travel, which means I get his old one (Toyota Matrix - nice upgrade for me). Since winter is coming soon - and I'll be mostly driving the truck anyway - we figured this would be a good time to sell it so we can finish paying off the Toyota before spring and a new car payment starts.


Alas, sweet beater car, you served me well.

On other topics, I've been good with working out - every morning except this morning, which I'll make up for with a nice long walk tomorrow. I also finished knitting my shawl (Rav link here), so I'll be blocking it this weekend.

After I'm done saying goodbye to my car.

Breaking The Silence

Actually, there's nothing that's prevented me from posting anything, other than lack of motivation. We had a wonderful few months: General Montgomery Day, Mom visiting during NYS Sheep & Wool Festival...a good many pictures taken, most of yarn and beer. Work was chaotic at best during August/September, but now things are finally calming down - two months later - and I think I should get back to blogging again, hopefully a little less yarn-centric than before.

Not only have I not been blogging, but I haven't been checking out others' blogs either. Between Facebook and Ravelry I feel like I'm spending enough time online. But I also miss "putting things out there" once in a while.

A lot of folks choose November as a time to get things done: did you know that it's National Novel Writing Month? Also, there's a revolving National Blog Posting Month. I'm not sure that I could commit to anything each day (particularly since I'm starting on Nov 4th), but here's a list of things that are important to me - thing that I'm committing to do by the end of November:

Health:
- Finally make appts with various docs and dentist. I'm not far off schedule, but this is a good time as any, especially since my health insurance will be changing in January. GP (in the process of getting a new one), eye doc, dentist, and doc for the girly bits. Maybe TMI...
- Work out every day. I'm doing pretty good on that one. Working on a C25K, slowly but surely.

House:
- Get the laundry room ready for repairs. Basically means move everything out of it (or, with the appliances, at least move away from walls), so Joe can repair the exterior siding (there's a leak or two), then replace the drywall, then we can paint and put up the border I bought about 6 years ago. Many thanks to Mom for pulling the godawful wallpaper down while she visited us for a couple of weeks.
- Finally order the damn shade for the master bath.

Knitting:
- Finish the yak shawl (not difficult - binding off now)
- Finish Windy Valley scarf (about 75% done)
- Finish garter rib socks (about 85% done)
- Get 1/3 way through Muir (just got the needles for it)
- Bonus points if I finish my Froot Loop socks and don't cast on for anything else
- Do. Not. Buy. More. Yarn.