Keep It Real

First off, that is a hat I made for a shower I'm going to this weekend. Isn't it cute? It was pretty fast to make and I liked the simple design. Most stuff for babies and toddlers I make is very simple, detail is lost among the little people, isn't it? On their clothes they don't appreciate and on the toys they really don't like it. It's a kid thing. Anyhow, David and I have recently become snagged by reality TV like everyone else - the appeal is endless. I love the ones with stuff the best - Extreme Hoarders, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars, Antique Road Show - it's like peeking in some one's attic. You see stuff you've never seen before and you can't believe how much it's worth! Then there's the ones with people, my favorites are Sister Wives, My Strange Addiction,  and any hoarding show. I don't like Intervention (that is an hour of people that REALLY need to put their Big Girl Pants on), 600 Pound Mom (an hour of someone laying in a bed and yelling) and that show where they bid on abandoned storage bins  - that was the show that really made me question my viewing choices. Sister Wives gets discussed at work, I've decided I would like to be the 3rd wife - she seems to have it  the best. The first wife is in charge of everyone, the second is obviously Second In Command - all of the work none of the glory. The 4rth wife seems to get stuck with ALL the low man jobs, cleaning babysitting - no thanks. But the 3rd wife! What a deal - no responsibility, no work, doesn't get stuck doing the dishes and everyone likes her - she doesn't even have to work! - sign me up! In other news the snow is still here, all 8 inches of it, sigh. I was at the dentist's office and someone in the office was fondly remembering the year they got over 18 inches in the middle of April. Yuck!

Happy 29th To Us

We decided to go to a nice restaurant down the road from us Sunday afternoon to celebrate our 29th anniversary. It's kind of an upscale country inn sort of deal - it was quiet of course in the middle of the afternoon. We were taken to the dining room and there were about 5 other tables and two waitresses. After we were seated and given menus, the waitress left but returned in about 5 minutes took our drink orders - and disappeared into the abyss. We chatted, looked at the menu, checked our watches, swung our feet, peeked down the hall for signs of life. About 15 minutes passed with the other abandoned diners behaving the same when there was movement in the hall - the hostess came in trailed by two more people, sat them at the table next to us and then she turned to leave. I must have been rolling my eyes or something because the woman grabbed my chair arm and said "What's the matter? Why do you look so upset? What's wrong?!" so I told her that we had been waiting for over 15 minutes and not only didn't we have our wine but our order hadn't been taken and the waitress hadn't been back once. The other tables were quiet and looking at each other - I obviously was not the only one entertaining that train of thought - and the woman looked at her husband and wondered aloud if maybe they should leave too..... the hostess went darting down the hall and all of the sudden the waitress came flying in the room with a tray full of drinks followed by another waitress depositing appetizers at  the table with the family with young children, our order was taken while the couple next to us got ready to give their order - there seemed to be a renewed interest in the clientele. We ended up having a great time, the couple at the next table was down for the weekend at their cabin so we chatted through our meals as our tables were right next to each other, it was  a pleasant way to pass the afternoon. If you're wondering about the food - it was pretty good, a bit overpriced but it was our anniversary. Next up is my 50th birthday which I am planning on spending in West Virginia with Susan and Roger - and hopefully in a restaurant with better service!!

What A Week

 What a crazy week! The audit concluded yesterday at 2 pm - we did VERY well. The auditor complimented us on how well the office was run, that our patients loved us, the charts were excellent. We loved that auditor. We were so relieved, the rest of the afternoon we all kind of bumbled around, no one could concentrate. But at at 5 pm our sense of purpose returned and there was a minor stampede to the bar around the corner - the other office joined us and I had my first ever Margarita. Which I needed. Badly. We all had a drink  and appetizers, oh I slept well that night! Today started off a little chill but the sun came out and at the end of the day it was in the 60's, my coat flung on the backseat as I drove out to my clients, the window down. I had some time between patients and stopped at the yarn shop in Honesdale, The Gentle Arts. I was talking to the owner, half the reason I stop in is because I really like her. I think she likes me too because she invited me to stop by with my knitting, we would sit on the sidewalk and knit. I think she was a little disappointed I live so far, I haven't done the knitting group thing really since we left West Virginia excluding that botched attempt up here. I used to knit every other Tuesday night in the little shop in Morgantown, I sat next to the Sheriff's deputy. She used to hide yarn in her squad car so she could sneak it in the house when her husband was out which I found pretty hilarious. When I got home David said Borders had called about the locked books on my Kobo and they could fix it. Don't ask. They told me to call Kobo. Again. After suggesting I call Apple which I responded WHY would Apple be able  to fix THEIR product and would they be footing the $50 tech support charge. Please Hold. I called Kobo and ended up speaking to Kim the only person so far that knows what they're doing. He had me put it back to factory settings, re-download and HA! They are all readable. I think if someone had told me to do that back in January I could have skipped this whole miserable experience at the hands of The Borders Moron Squad, also known as Customer Disservice. I am reading all the books I bought before attempting to buy or download anything else. If it ain't broke, don't touch it.

Uncharted Territory

If you want to have your heart pound like a drum, hands wringing and wet, the air shudders and stills around - have all your charts audited. All eyes upon your office, the big bosses are there in the background waiting waiting. Feels like that, doesn't it?  But we survived - and survived well. The auditor was very nice, patient, was looking for us to succeed - I wish all audits were like that! One more day and it's out to dinner. I've put everything on the back burner all week, at the office late checking the charts checking the charts. Again again - and at the last minute found them lacking. But all was found and we have no issues - so far - so everyone went home breathing a little easier. David has been busy finishing the house up, with the warmer weather and a little money in the bank we can do the bathroom and when it gets a little warmer, finally the pool.  Done. So I'm relaxing this evening, for the first time in what feels like weeks, I'm watching Mary And Max (those of you that enjoy the quirkier things in life would love this movie!).  The weather is supposed to be warming up this weekend and the sun finally came out today - it was a bit chilly but I'll take it. I'm trying to start a new knitting project - a sweater. I have some great dark navy blue yarn I've been dying to use so now I just need to get started.

At Loose Ends

It's finally finished - after all that time, all the whining and complaining - done! I finished it last night and this morning soaked and blocked it. It's currently drying on the downstairs guest bed and should be done in a couple of days. But now - what do I do now? I usually have a couple of projects in the pipes but since I've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks I haven't had time to sit and consider it. I have some beautiful navy blue yarn so perhaps I'll make a sweater, I have more than enough for that.  And there's always socks,  I have some extremely beautiful sock yarns, so pretty it would make you cry. Socks are  a pretty good in between project but I just don't feel like it.  I just don't. Stop asking. We have an audit on Tuesday so we are all freaking out of course. I spent all day at the office going over charts, even though I know I missed something VERY VERY important. This will not show itself until Tuesday 10 am. I will die a thousand deaths. Yes I will. Will too. Shut up. So I left around 6 pm and had to turn around as my road is closed again -with all the rain and tons of melted snow and ice everything is a waterfall or a lake. The sides of the road are amusing with tiny streams shooting down the sides, pooling in the dips. The potholes are not as amusing, Kabanging my tires and making me shriek. The ones that are lying beneath the water are the worst as you can't see them and there you go again, ka-bang ka-bang. Adam and Jackson are fine, for all those concerned Jackson did not wash out with the tide this morning.  He was asleeping and then went to work. Adam is enjoying being a renter, has all sorts of plots and plans afoot. It's good to be him these days.

Bumps In The Road

I have to admit I had a bit of a stretch where I was really enjoying myself. I've been fairly antisocial playing with my books and computer, knitting and so forth. I have always be able to amuse myself, it's less effort isn't it? I never get stuck doing things I don't like when I'm by myself - if I don't like it I just stop. No one else will be disappointed or try to make feel guilty, perfect! But all good things must come to an end -we're having a big inspection at work so everyone's on edge, our hours creep longer and longer. It seems like all my patients have developed issues all at once, but I know it's just because we're all stressed so any little bump looks like a mountain right now. My foot was doing well and is now starting to hurt again, I'm not sure what my next plan of action is. And my ereader - I got a Kobo from Borders and it's essentially a $109 coaster. I've called and Border's customer care service has an interesting way of putting you off. They take your name and number, assure you a tech will contact you in 48 hours - and then I suppose they hope you go away. I'm not sure what I'm going to do from here - they've already refused to give my money back as I'm past the 30 day return policy. Apparently the fact that I have emails dated back to the beginning of January when I first started having problems doesn't count. David has told me to just shelve the whole mess and buy a Kindle but I'm giving it a couple more days. It's just frustrating, I just want it to work and I'm tired of spending time on hold waiting for a customer care representative to once again take my name and number.  In Shawl News I'm only a couple of rows away from being finished - finally! I stopped counting rows awhile ago - when I run out of yarn it's done.

Mud Slinging

On the upside, the weather is slowly, but surely getting warmer. Our driveway is a place of daring and danger, David got the mail, parked the truck and it cheerfully reparked itself a little further down the driveway. The 4 inches of ice that layers most of the yard is melting a little at a time which makes it super slick during the day and then it refreezes at night, on and on. We headed out to Milford today just for a change of pace. David wanted to show me where he likes to hunt since according to him it was on the way to Milford - it was interesting for like the first 45 minutes then it was not. I got annoyed and David said, well are you on a schedule or something and I said apparently NOT since I was mucking around the woods. So he gets out of the woods back onto the road and we come out like FIVE MILES from the house, right across from the Fernwood Resort. I said I thought you said this was on the way to Milford and he said it is, sort of - arrgh. So 25 miles later we arrived in Milford and  I went to Jill Deal Yarns, it's  one of the most charming little yarn shops which contains the Rolls Royce selection of yarns. I was mainly browsing, at this time I really need no more yarn so if I see something really special I'll buy it, but otherwise I'll pass it by. I did get some nice stitch markers and size 2 DPNs that are 8 inches - I wanted them because I think the next pair of socks I make it will be easier to keep the stitches on the needles.  David and I had an early lunch at Apple Valley Restaurant, it's  surrounded by kitschy tourist stores where you can buy cute little knick knacks and signs declaring Our Little Piece Of Heaven for your weekend shack, that sort of thing. We have enough crap of our own so we headed straight to lunch - I had a veggie burger and David did not. Everything was great except for the coffee which was REALLY bad. It was so bad we were laughing while trying to drink it - I can't even begin to figure out what was wrong with it  but we drank it anyway because I will never leave a cup of coffee behind, no matter how weak or strong, funky or stinky I will drink it. I stopped by the supermarket on the way home and then well, we went home. I'm watching Armageddon  which is very dramatic. I was watching The Walking Dead marathon last night but shut it off at 11 figuring I could finish watching it on Hulu. But they only have clips - like 152 of them, how stupid is that so maybe I'll see if I can buy season one while we're out tomorrow.

Knit And Pearl

I am FINALLY  getting a little closer to finishing the Shipwreck Shawl - the entire middle went fast, was very interesting - the entire outer mesh portion - Blah, Acck, Eww.  It is as I said before two stitches together, yarn over. No matter how many thousand of stitches I've done, they stick, come off, I dig at them with the needles, it is taking forever... at this point I would love to run out of yarn and have an excuse to stop. But as they say - in for a penny in for a pound so I soldier on with no end in sight. Pearl continues to recover, we still have to prod her out in the morning but she dances around after I get dressed in the morning excited to race out and chase whatever is hanging around the yard OUT so she's back to being annoying. We had an internal audit at work today - they audited about 12 charts and I think 11 of them were MINE. I wilted with each chart - mine are neither better nor worse than anyone else's, it just looks like they are en mass! so I was pretty happy to skedaddle out the door a little early on a visit. The weather was super cold but annoyingly sunny so when you looked out the window you thought you were Florida and then you go out and it turns out you are really Alaska. It's now seventeen more days to spring, it feels like it will never arrive some days. But there is a hint of spring in the air, at least I've managed to delude myself into thinking there is - and for now, that's enough.