Snarky Is As Snarky Does

 I've had a sore throat all day - my snot production has gone into overtime so I am hoping it's allergies and nothing more. I was not feeling overly hot all weekend, I have the most annoying of illnesses - I rarely get Desperately Ill. I just get sort of sick and lay around for a day, then I'm fine.But it's  a pain in the butt regardless (did you ever notice I never say irregardless? That's because it's not a word - regardless already means without regard, irregardless is just over kill) and generally happens at the most inopportune times.  Yesterday was fun but quiet, we went to Blooming Yarns and I got another skein of yarn and a new magazine, then we ate at Loafers my favorite place to eat. A family came in with 3 boys - all under ten but they were well behaved and actually pretty funny, reminded me of when our two were young like a million years ago.  We did grocery shopping - even though we don't buy a lot of meat we buy tons of fruits and vegetables, after we paid I was thinking there WILL be a garden this year. Our neighbor has already told David to pick a patch in the yard and he'll come turn the soil for us. After that we came home and took a little two hour nap - told you I was not feeling well.  I heard from Jackson today, he's tired of course, the base is on lock down due to the riots over the Quaran, the whole thing is horrible. He can't use the Internet to call so had to resort to two phones cards he got in a  package, it was nice to hear from him but a little disconcerting when the cards ran out and it was empty space all of the sudden. We'll be sending him some more cards in the next package from us.  We already sent the last one one - he asked if there would be pepperoni rolls again and I assured him there would be. Pepperoni rolls are a local food here - they're a roll stuffed with pepperoni and have the magical quality of never EVER going bad. EVER.  If nuclear winter hits and you happen to be hiding in  the  Pepperoni Roll factory - you'd been good for like a hundred years. We buy a big bag at Sam's Club, they sit in the cabinet for up to two weeks before I pack them, they go from pillar to post until they hit the sunny shores of Afghanistan - and they arrive just as fresh as the day there were made. Go figure. Adam is supposed to be here for an overnight visit and David's brother and sister in law are now thinking Tuesday. Maybe.

Wrinkle Wrinkle Little Star

 I have lost over 35 pounds. Good for me. But I have noticed lately that since my face has gotten thinner, well, it's a bit saggy without all that fat holding up and out. I never thought it would bother me - being 50 doesn't given the amount of times I mention it. I actually enjoy being in my 50's, it makes me feel more settled. But this new wrinkle so to speak - makes me wonder if I am that vain or it's just a sudden shock. Because it seems like I pruned up over night - I have those dreaded marionette lines along the side of my nose, my chin has deep grooves that were not there six months ago. I actually bought  some anti-wrinkle cream we'll see what happens. I think the cream will not work and I'll simply get used to the way I look - it might not be as glaring as I think it is. We'll go with that. In other news our puppy will be ready to go around St. Patrick's day, we are still struggling with a name. The latest is Basil St. John. If you are my age and you're from NY apparently (so far NO ONE in West Virginia has any idea who Basil St John is) you know that Basil St. John was Brenda Starr's mysterious boyfriend who would appear and disappear throughout the series. He had black hair was very good looking and had an eye patch. He was the boyfriend you wished you had. Harlan and Bane are really the other contenders. Our plans for the weekend are still up in the air, David's brother and sister in law are supposed to make an appearance at some point, Adam is supposed to do a drive by - no one or everyone will show up. Work is super busy - that is still stewing and mulling, mulling and stewing - the usual with me. I'm on the next chart with my shawl, that's moving right along and I love the pattern - socks will be the next project though. I need something small and simple, I am going to attempt the cable method of two at a time.  Wish me luck.

Sunday

Getting there!

I'm actually pretty pleased with the way this coming out - it's right on the money - so far. I'm using my Knit Picks Interchangeable circular needle set with the nickel plated needles. The thing I like about them is you can use the connectors to put together a couple of cables so you have a circular big enough that it's not all bunched up. I know I have enough yarn and hopefully will not be knitting til the end of time on it. I made a copy of the pattern yesterday as I have tendency to  mash them, roll them, stuff them in the knitting bag so it's a mess part way through the project. David and I did our grocery shopping today, food has gotten so expensive, hasn't it? We spent a lot every 2 or 3 weeks, I don't eat any meat and David isn't a steak guy - but the fresh fruits and vegetables are killing us. We are very much going to be looking into a garden this summer! We went out for breakfast - that was half the morning, we got a late start and around here if you haven't gotten to the restaurant by ten you'll be standing in line! EVERYONE goes out Sunday morning, between the college students, church go-ers and the rest of us it's standing room only in most places. But we went to Eat N Park and managed to catch the tail end of the breakfast rush so we managed to have a nice meal. The temps dropped into the 20's this morning but the weather says it will be going back up this week - four more weeks and it's spring, can you believe that? I was reading Knit Inc and Sinaed was talking about her blog anniversary -- she's been going for four years. So I took a peek at my first entry - this June I'll have been writing my journal eight years! Sometimes I'll page through it - I'm amazed at all we've done the past ten years.

Taking A Break.

 You can't stay sad and frantic all the time. Well, you can I suppose but it would be hard to keep that up and it might even get a tad bit boring. So this morning when David went shooting with his friend I took off for Parts Unknown. Well, actually I took off for Parts Known But It Wasn't Open The Last Time I Was There.  I checked the times of this yarn shop, which is actually only 6 miles from Blooming Yarns - that I super love - it's only open for like 6 hours 3 days a week how dumb is that. AND you have to check the online schedule or call because it may or may not be open. But since I had no other plans off I went. I did find a Jo-Ann's fabric which was fun for poking around  while I waited (she was late!!) and then I did get to go to the shop. Ehh. The yarn was more expensive than it needed to be and there wasn't a whole lot of it. Like I said - Ehh.  I went to Blooming Yarns and bought some new shawl patterns and some yarn, whee. I'm also posting the sock needle set I bought last week, arent' they pretty?  I also stopped at Michael's - ehh. I am not a big Michael's fan but I do like to do a bit of poking just in case I missed something. After that I just headed home - it was a beautiful day today, wasn't it? Even Vincent the cat went out a couple of times, he's slowing down but still enjoys himself. Pearl did her usual patrol, scoping out for the neighbor's dog Max just in case he needs to be schooled. We're interested in her reaction to the puppy when we get it - I'm sure she'll enjoy the company and we're looking forward to someone occupying her time instead of us. I'm down to three (or four) names, Harlan is number one, then Bane, Bo or Boo. Aside from Harlan I'm stuck in the "B"s. Adam is in the process of moving, looking for a job - he's busy and stressed but will get over it. Jackson has been quiet, we see him on face book but that's about it. My new Sprint phone is working SUPER good - I even get Internet here in Hooterville.  The guy at Sam's Club showed me how to turn stuff off and on - I didn't realize if you're not in a 4G area you can simply turn it off and it can pick up 3G. Or you can turn on Wi-Fi and hook up to that. See, some things are going well - I just wish the bigger things would start flying right.

My new sock needles.

I'm Not Bi-Polar. My Life Is.

The past couple of weeks have been a never ending slide towards that rocky bottom. Stomach clenching events at work daily - which is the way things are in the health care field. You'll be swinging along just fine and then EVERYONE will have a problem. You'll have the wrong billing code in the computer and even if you weren't the one that did it, you get to hold the bag.  You feel like anything you try to do good you'll get punished for - you just wait. Home has  been no picnic either lately - Vincent is declining, slowly but surely. We are trying to keep him until Jackson comes  home from overseas, but I think it is not meant to be. He grows thinner daily, he's with me constantly at home now - at night he either perches on my side or is curled in a tight little ball under my chin. I cannot stop his sliding either and it breaks my heart.  I'm sad and frantic these days - I worry about Adam, Jackson, the new puppy coming, the not so old cat going. I know it will all straighten up - have you even noticed with me it's either going well or I'm dropping down into the depths of despair? I took  a couple of hours of personal time today and met David at the book store - he was late and I was trying not to overreact You know when things are not going well, it seems like nothing goes right? But it was not that big of a deal, I got a magazine (since I have an ereader buying books is not appealing) and bought a book for a co-worker. we went to the Chinese buffet  for dinner and ate way too much then back home to Miss Pants who was still scoping for any errant bowls of cat food she might have. Things are not all bad of course - David had 2 dozen chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the office for Valentines Day from Shari's Berries - it would have been nice if they'd arrived while I was there too!! but Susan put them in the fridge and we all ate them the next day.  I'm off call as of today and hopefully this weekend will be a Pull the Covers Over Your Head sort of event. David has been super busy with working - he's doing a renovation and has two more jobs lined up - so far! Adam is almost officially out of the Navy and is currently job hunting, a little difficult because he's been in the military since he left high school so the interviewing and so forth are all new territory for him. So despite being in The Depths Of Despair  we are still busy bees.       

Can You Hear Me Now?

I am (maybe) a third of the way done

 So, are we all tired of the phone saga? I certainly am. I had a few issues with my new Sprint phone - one morning I woke up to NO service at all - and since I was on call starting at 5 pm that threw me a bit into a panic! I called customer service and they managed to get it straightened out - I did warn them that earlier in the week my phone had been accidently disconnected so please no repeats of that! Later  I went to Sam's Club and the guys there showed me how to get the Internet on when I'm not in  Four G Land - I wish someone had told me when I started this adventure that it's possible to have cell service and not Internet - it would have saved me a big headache. Carolyn at work lent me her work phone for the weekend just in case so that helps - and as of this morning my Sprint phone is working better than the Verizon ever did - AND I can flip it over to Wi-Fi if I want to play on the Internet. Sweet! It snowed a couple of inches so we are just flopping around the house this morning, Pearl insisting on going out and messing around - she's a Husky at heart. The puppy will be here probably the end of March - I'm hoping after our anniversary as we might go to Ohio for the weekend. We will be married 30 years this year - isn't that crazy?? We've been hearing from Adam, he is done with the Navy this week, he's moving (to Virginia Beach) and he finally got a car. David is our go-to guy for big purchases - he surfed and called, researched, called and surfed some more sending Adam here and there - Adam ended up coming in UNDER 7 grand - his insurance is less, his payments are less. Good deal. Jackson is back in Kabul and back to work - he should be back over in the states in a few months. He's said the winter is miserable in Afghanistan and is hoping it will end soon. Work continues to be unsettled but we're making progress. It seems overwhelming and busy but I think that's because we have all sorts of meetings and re-dos on top of our everyday work - hopefully it will straighten itself out. I'm busy just doing the usual - I did find a new yarn shop on my way back from a meeting is Pittsburgh but it was CLOSED - who the hell closes their store on a frigging WEDNESDAY? Bastards. So I had to hop over to Blooming Yarns and console myself with a new set of sock needles in five different colors - they're pink, blue, yellow,etc - super love them! I've slowed down quite a bit on the Yarn Related Purchases, but I will never stop so don't even think about that. No really, stop thinking about it, not happening.

New Martinsville WV

Pearl and her beloved snow

Once Upon A Signal......

I terminated my Verizon contract today - I actually felt bad as I've been a customer for  years. After 7
 phone calls and repeated  fixes I lost the browser again today and said enough.  The techs were nice, but I found that even though the place we bought it from said Verizon - it was not a corporate store so they couldn't exchange the phone. He also agreed there was no way for me to know that,the store is not obligated to disclose that fact  and I would still have to drive the 60 miles back to do any returns. He also couldn't tell me if it was the phone that was the problem or the service. No, they couldn't extend the 14 days I had to cancel the services. So the upshot of the conversation was although it was their fault, I am a longtime and good customer they were not willing to do anything to help me. So we had to drive the 60 miles back to Bridgeport, cancel the services and return the phone. The salesman was upset - I'm sure he loses a commission, Then he said something about the browser getting lost in the area with that phone (it's a common problem?) and wanted me to exchange it for a different one. He couldn't extend my time for contract cancellation, couldn't guarantee the phone and he would charge me $200 more for the replacement phone. And if it didn't work I would have to come back before next Saturday or I'd be stuck with a 2 year contract paying for Internet I couldn't access. So I now have a Sprint phone that was purchased at Sam's Club in town - I was telling the girl about my problem with the Internet and she said that happens all the time with Verizon because they don't have that much Internet coverage in the area, just in Pennsylvania. After all of this David and went to the Number One Chinese Buffet which is super good! and I LOVE it. Once a buffet girl, always a buffet girl. As you can see from the pictures I'm working on the shawl and it's going pretty fast. The pattern looks more complicated than it is - I'm really enjoying it. Next week is a lot of driving, New Martinsville, Pittsburgh, who knows what else. I'm hopefully taking Pearl out to the park to go walking with a friend and her dogs who are Pearl's Dog Friends. The puppy will be here in late March, David has been super busy, he's working on one big project and is giving estimates for another one. Our 30th anniversary is this year too - amazing.

New Phone Blues.

I told Jackson on my last call that I had finally gotten a new cell phone - he of course asked what kind and I said black, square.etc.... with a big pictur-ie thingie. He groaned - YOU got a smart phone? Oh GOD......... he lives in the same camp my sister and sister in law do - they firmly believe that every new electronic device I get I'll be able to bugger it up within 30 seconds and then will be stuck in Customer Service Hell, whining to whatever poor tech accidentally picks up the phone. The stars help you if you're outsourced to India and I'm wailing on the other end. My issue with them is if my problem can't be solved by whatever their computer program says we're both screwed. And that is super true - when I  had all those problems with my Kobe Ereader I kept calling Borders who's customer service is outsourced and  went through 4 weeks of nonsense. My favorite was the one that insisted I keep pushing the reset button harder  with a pin even though I told her it would break the device. A week later  they accidentally connected me to a real English speaking person and when I asked about the reset the first thing he said was "don't push that with a pin  - you'll break it!"Not to mention  my problem is NEVER limited to the standard trouble shooting guide. So I got my swanky new Intuition LG phone on Saturday last week, my specific goal was to have Internet on it so I can hunt down the Navy Family Specialist all day long if need be instead of being limited to harassing after work. The Internet has worked for a total of 1.2 minutes for the past 6 days. But I have spoken to 7 techs and have a working knowledge now of whether I'm in airplane mode or not and I even know if I'm set for global data. I can zip through the Troubleshooting Program so well I could do the first 3 screens of the Troubleshooting Guide for Verizon . AND I'm a Level Two Tier in the phone problem world. You will be very proud of me - I've managed to make multiple calls to them with no yelling, crying or otherwise being Very Badly Behaved. I have found if you do that A) nothing gets done and B) if you are speaking to someone from India they will apologize for your inconvenience, take you name and number and then tell the rest of the crew not to answer the phone if you call again.  So as of this second my internet is working. We will see what happens tomorrow. After I leave the house.