sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down..

I have always loved the Pixar Shorts. Kind of reminiscent of the “old days” when there were short cartoons before movies.  This one is one of my favorites.

We are supposed to be getting a bit of snow tonight. Lucky for me, our outside Christmas lights are up and waiting. Nothing is prettier than lights with snow.

(but in the meantime, it is snowing on my blog! THAT is a good thing!)

Kitties say HI while I am busy doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, cleaning the house and other various Thanksgiving preps

Myron, aka upstairs cat

Mitch, aka downstairs cat, loves to sleep between the ottoman and the couch with the blanket over him

I ran into some turkeys while shopping today

Do you think they are suspicious of what is next week?

There seems to be some locals that won’t really be giving Thanks this time of year. These turkeysare residents at a local farm, Green Meadows and they were awfully happy and friendly.
When Derek was little and visiting turkeys, he leaned against their wire caging and one took that opportunity to bite back on Derek’s finger. He was startled more than hurt. After a bit of tears, he exclaimed, “I like turkeys better when they are cooked!”
Let’s not tell these guys that story, though, huh?

I call this meeting to order!

Do you think the birds have a newsletter? Or mass emailing so they know when their weekly meeting is?
(Also entitled, Sky on Saturday, by way of birds!)

Chia pet

I thought maybe I was dreaming. I must have dreamed about Chia Obama, right? It COULD NOT be real.
It is. I can’t make this stuff up!

Chia Obama. Get yours. Just in time for Christmas gift giving. Seriously.
Do you think that Obama thinks this is an honor? I am just wondering..

Marley and me

I went to see A Christmas Carol in 3D at the Imax theater today. What an awesome experience! I thought for sure I would have to brush the snow off of my lap when it was done! The 3D was superb! Unlike anything I have seen!
The movie was well done. I enjoyed it very much. (it is not for very young children in my opinion, the ghosts can be a bit scary, especially Marley) It stayed with the traditional storyline, which it really has to. One cannot call oneself A Christmas Carol and not be about Ebenezer Scrooge and ghosts, you know what I mean?
So, I am sitting there, enjoying the movie experience, the Marley ghost comes and tells him of the 3 ghosts that will visit him. I’m sure I”m not ruining the plot for you, right? The Ghost of Christmas Past arrives and that is when it happens. They fly through the air willy nilly, to get Scrooge to where he has to be, certainly, but also to give us the 3D flying experience, I am sure. SO, I’m flying along and I start to feel a bit warm. Which is weird because I was freezing a minute earlier. I’m sweating a bit in fact. Then I notice the awful taste in my mouth. Oh, dear. This feels a lot like being CAR SICK! Crap. I reach in purse to get a Bonine (Yes, I carry them around, what of it??) I chew it, closing my eyes to the onscreen onslaught to my equilibrium. Scrooge lands at home and I am feeling a bit better. There, I proudly think to myself. I conquered it.
Here is the Ghost of Christmas Present, what a fine looking ghost he is too. But HE is particularly heinous in the showing off department. I close my eyes. I take off the glasses (you can’t see anything then, it’s all blurry. But I can still see the movement, dammit). I hold my stomach. I’m FINE, I keep repeating over and over to myself. It is all in my MIND! FINE!
Now I’ve had my eyes closed for about 4 minutes, feels like a lifetime. My stomach is rolling and things are not getting better.
I opened one eye a crack and they were off again, stupid ghost. Can’t we take a cab? Can I meet you there?
That’s when I decide that I will either heave and ho right there or I would have to LEAVE.
I left.
I headed straight for the bathroom, hoping and WISHING that maybe I WILL throw up so that I can get rid of this feeling, you know? (Did not happen) (TMI) I glance at myself in the mirror (a 48 year old woman having to rush out of a movie theater, honestly!) and I see that I am pale as a ghost! (Of Christmas present, no doubt)
The rest of this afternoon and early evening has been spent sipping bubbly things and closing my eyes.
Wimpy indeed.
(The movie was great though, Go see it! ONLY if you are not movement sensitive!)

Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that…
And Sandy? Wimpy.

some of this and some of that

I had to put the heat on this morning. I could not wait 1 more minute. Although I welcome the colder weather, I do not like to sit shivering in the mornings. And a change has happened to me over the last year or so. My feet get like ICE when it is chilly which then caused them to ache severely and supremely. So, the heat got turned on. For only 1 cycle to get the chill out of the air. And to thaw my aching feet. I did dig out my wonderful wool slippers which help a lot to keep the pain away.

I also wore my noro stripey scarf to work today. And a wool sweater. Kind of like heaven for us knitters, huh?

Another weird change has happened as of late. This confirmed non coffee drinker has been drinking my share of Skinny Vanilla Lattes. For this, I blame thank Norma. I have never once had a sip of coffee that I wanted to repeat. Now? I dream Skinny Vanilla Lattes. Seriously. (Gray’s Anatomy started again!) I figure I am getting a bit more calcium in my diet, staying blissfully awake, making my taste buds happy and supporting some coffee farmer somewhere. This can’t be a bad thing. (Unless we start talking about the cost of bad habits. Let’s not, though, okay??)

Weird:

Last weekend I attended my mother’s side family reunion. I arrived to pick up my Mom who had a ton and a half of pictures to bring with her. Which we forgot to bring. So we had to go back to her house of course to get them. Which set us up for SOMETHING to happen. Mom asked me to “pop” the trunk to put something in, which I did. Not knowing the quirks of my car, she did not know that the trunk bobs up and down unless you put it firmly in the upright position. Which she did not. She bent into the trunk just when the lid was on the downpop. Bang on the forehead. She shrieked in pain but there was no blood and after talking to her to see that she was okay, I did the old “suck it up, buttercup” kind of tough love. And she did.

About a 1/2 hour later, to say that she had a huge, angry, bruised egg on her forehead would be quite an understatement. My brother got her some ice which she then had to hold to her head for the duration of the party. Along with answering the question “What happened to you?” about 263 times. And the whole time? I felt like the beast child, allowing my car to whack my mom on the head. The nerve, doncha know. People giving me the sideways look wondering if I am really engaging in a bit of elderly abuse.

I could not resist taking a picture of her with her ice pack/towel. Heh. (I really am the devil child!!!)

Something went bump in the night

That’s Mom on the left! Yes, yes, the one with the ice pack and cloth on her head. But the whole time, she is answering questions about the pictures. She could have won CONTESTS identifying long ago relatives, I tell you! She is GOOD! (which is a good test for head injury, I would imagine!)

Mom's egg head

This one is Mom with my brother and his wife. See the egg on her forehead? Please remember, that is was MY fault.

Poor Mom. By the time the reunion was wrapping up, everyone had talked her into going to get herself checked out (Although I was still in the “Suck it up, buttercup camp. I mean, Natasha Richardson aside, my Mom was not dizzy, nauseous, did not lose consciousness, clearly was not confused etc. ) And we did, stop by the ER on the way home. Which is where my Mom works, btw. So she checked in with her people, found out that she would have to wait more than 3.2 minutes and said “screw it”.
She is still alive to this day, I am pleased to announce.

But that is one more story to go into the family funnies.

~~

My sophomore year

I found this while going through pictures:

That’s me, back row, left. I was 15 years old. Seems like a lifetime ago.

posting this from the other blog, seems there might be problems there…

I wrote this on my Sandysknitting original blog yesterday but there seems to be some problems so I’m reposting it here.

~~~

It’s been a while since I’ve written on this site. I’ve been over on the other blog (you’ve been over there, haven’t you?) but I really miss it here. I love the colors and the sheep. I hate the problems it gives me though. I do have MY PEOPLE working on switching over the other site to the Sandysknitting.com address. I guess that will be good.

So, shall we do some random? ~it is wonderfully chilly today. I put on a turtleneck and pulled out a wool sweater. It’s the kind of day that gets warmer outside than in. That means the heating season is not far off

~I bought a couple of my favorite candles today, making me super ready for fall. Yankee Pumpkin Spice votive. It has been my fav for years and nothing has changed there.

~I also bought a butternut squash at the farmer’s market. Does anything say autumn like butternut squash?? ~the weeds, they are out of control. I vowed that I would pull them this weekend. I hope they are quaking in their roots.

~Overheard at the butcher shop today:

Butcher boy: We will start to bring in roasts and whole chickens now that the weather is cooler

woman: are they your own chickens?

Butcher boy: no, but they are all natural and organic

woman: Oh, good. They will be hormonal free? heh.

~Speaking of hormones. And we were. Today a little yellow butterfly flew into my car windshield on my errand run, squashing the little guy. The weird thing? I couldn’t stop crying. Sobbing for a little yellow butterfly. Cripes all mighty. When my wonderful father in law died last October, I could barely squeak a tear out. What the hell?

~And speaking of Andy’s family. My Mother in Law fell last Sunday, breaking her hip. She has had surgery and is now in rehab. All I can feel about it is exhaustion. And yet that butterfly? Sobbing.

~I am cooking some dried red kidney beans right now, grown locally for a big pot of chili tonight. I cannot wait. WARNING: If your name is Faith and you are reading this, please do not read any further. I am warning you. I will go over there and smack you one. I’m serious. Click the x.

~Is she gone? Good.

I am knitting.

Goes right along with the autumn theme with the wonderful colors. If I were to name that color it would be “AUTUMN BURST”. I love it. The pattern is Relm by Jared Flood. The yarn is Magallanes by Arucania. Faith picked out this yarn on July 4th weekend and I am knitting it up as a Christmas gift for her. RELM HAT ON RAVELRY

~~~~

Mad for Knit Carol is running a half marathon for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I hope you will consider pledging some money to her. She is having a great prize giveaway.

Read about it here

See the prizes here Donate to Carol’s half marathon here (WE can get her to that $1500 goal, can’t we? A wee bit at a time?

~~~ Do you have anything random to talk about?

Beat it.

Andy did, beat it this weekend. He went to New Hampshire with a friend to get the summer place ready for some actual summer as we will all be converging on their place this week for the 4th of July weekend. (Those of you who have your mind in the gutter may now take this time to realign their thoughts to the fact that MY “beat it” means that he left town.)

I remember when we were first married, weekends away from each other were just about torturous and long. I agonized about BEING AWAY!! Gasp. And now? 25 short years later? I look forward to these few and far between weekends like the magic that they are. Absense really does make the heart grow fonder. I am enjoying every minute of this weekend, watching movies that I want to watch, eating what I want to eat, throwing a bunch of clutter crap away while I have this chance (heh, I’m evil like that. Leave your stuff? It’s gone now. heh. )

Yeah, so I have a more grown up view of this “beat it” stuff. Love. It.

Dinner will be take out, most likely Thai. Around 7. And I will not have to share my Thai Rolls with anyone.

Don’t ask to have any.

Rain Rain go away, come again another day…

I peeked at the weather forecast for this weekend and it says this for Saturday.. “Mostly Sunny”.
Does anyone know what that means? “SUNNY?”  It sounds familiar but I can’t place it.

Sheep and Wool thoughts

It seems that with all the fun and all the people I spent some time with on Saturday at the NH Sheep and Wool, I missed some too. Next time I’ll announce here that I am going so that we can all be on the lookout for each other.

So, let’s see. Sheep and Wool…It’s becoming a pleasant memory now. I bought NOT A THING. Although I was tempted by Mostly Merino. In particular, the Hebrides cardigan kit. It was a gorgeous sweater with even more gorgeous yarn. Perhaps I will be starting a coin jar for Rhinebeck. Think I can save over $2o0 in coins in 5 months? I wonder..

I did eat some delicious buffalo jerky which hit the spot perfectly. I craved tea all day long but did not have any until I arrived home around 11 pm that night. (I also visited my Mom for our Mom’s Day visit) (tea story to follow) It did not help that Terry mentioned the TEA GUY. For one thing, I had no idea there WAS a tea guy and then all of a sudden, I am looking for him around every corner. No tea for me.

I wore Town and Country every cotton picking minute of the time I was there. That was no small feat because when the rain clouds cleared away, the sun came out and steamed up the place a bit. While it was not technically HOT, it felt it in my sweater. But I was there to wear it and WEAR it I did!
As irony would have it, the next day was quite chilly and would have been the perfect wool day.

So, that’s about it. I mainly went there to talk and schmooze with people. I am sure I am a disappointment to all of the wonderful vendors.

See you there next year, right?

~~~~
A tea story:

I have, as you may know, given up drinking Diet Coke. It amazes me that when a person is ready to so something and has their mind in the right place, it is not hard to give something up. But I do have to drink something.

Sure, there’s water. I drink my share and love it. But a grrl needs something sometimes.

That is when I happened across a little hole in the wall tea place at the mall called Teavana, where tea is heaven. I was hooked on the first sip. I have spent many a dollar in there since, Bethany and I picking out teas to bring home. We are now, the two of us, Tea Brewers. I look forward to a nice cup of tea and know that a bottled or bagged tea will not suffice. I’ve tried in a pinch. I need to figure out how to make this a bit portable. I cannot expect that a Tea Guy will appear whenever I am in need, right? I mean, he let me down on Saturday. My craving grew all day long. On the way home, I searched for a Starbucks, Bethany had told me their green tea was good. Not a Starbucks around.

But? I did not drink, nor even want a diet coke. That is progress people! (is  replacing one addiction with another a good idea? Pfft)