Saturday, October 25, 2008

It's a St. Nard!

I was watching an old "I Love Lucy" show and Richard Widmark had a St. Bernard. It was nowhere as pretty as my Katie, but it was a St. Nard.
Gee, I miss my baby. It looks like it is going to be Tuesday before we get to go home.

My cold decided not to get better. My throat is not as sore and I can talk a bit better but now I have a hard cough and a runny nose. I got a box of Puff's with lotion and Vicks yesterday and will probably have to go back and get another box today.

The rain has stopped but it is still chilly out, not as chilly, thank goodness.

The pizza Thursday evening was delish. I will probably fix that meal again when we are back down here.
We were supposed to go out with another couple so I didn't go get anything for dinner so we had to eat out. D didn't see the other man to make plans so we will go out with them another time. The man is going to be having hip replacement and wants to talk with D about it. D has had both of his hips replaced. The first was in Nov 99 and the second in Jan 01. It was the best thing he could have done. I am not sure he would even be able to walk now if he hadn't had it done.

If my head clears and stops hurting I am planning on going out to the craft stores that I can find today. I will take my camera.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Pizza tonight.

The pork chops and baked potato last night were delicious. The gravy was more of just a thin sauce that we put over the chops, but it was good.
Tonight I am fixing pizza. It is a recipe that I got off of E-diets. All you do is use pizza crust and top it with fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. You can add shreadded cheese if you wish. It is really delish. It sounds very plain and flavorless but it really isn't. If I were at home I would also put some Italian seasoning on it, but since I am not it will just have some fresh ground pepper and maybe a little sea salt. I am cheating a bit on this one as I have bought already prepared pizza crust instead of making it up myself. You have to make concessions sometimes.

What little knitting I have done today has been on my fingerless mitts. I am coughing so much I just don't feel like doing anything. But the coughing means the cold is beginning to break up so I should start feeling better soon.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Nothing

Nothing special to tell today, my cold has still got me down so I haven't made it out to the craft stores. Maybe tomorrow.

After finishing my socks I started working on a sweater but I am not sure the yarn is going to work with the pattern. It may be to soft and drapey. So I took some leftover sock yarn and decided to make a pair of fingerless mitts. They are an easy knit and I do like to wear them this time of year.


Tonight for dinner D and I are having porkchops in gravy and a baked potato. I bought green beans for dinner last night but we didn't have them. I need a can opener to get them out of the can and I don't have one here and I did not want to go buy one. So I will take them home and fix them there.


Last evening I baked a pack of chocolate chip cookies for D to take to the plant site with him. He likes to take in sweets occassionally so when I was out shopping yesterday I decided to get a package of them and bake them. If I place them just right I can get 8 on a tray at one time. Since there was only 20 in the pack it didn't take too long to do them.

Doesn't Betsie look sad? That is her normal look. She has the Saint Bernard sad face. She is in her bed here in the hotel room. She spends quite a bit of her day in there since we have been down here. I guess it is her safe and familiar place. The only time we shut the door on it is when we leave the room to go eat or something. The rest of the time she has freedom to stay in there or out in the room, her choice.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Me again

D liked the chicken in mushroom soup so well that he said to fix it again tonight. He also said that if I did not feel like cooking he would take me out for dinner. I told him that I felt so bad I would rather cook here than have to go out to eat.
I am such a baby when I have one of these colds. I just hope it does not turn into bronchitis like it usually does. If I am going to be that sick I need to be at home where I can go to my doctor and get the special prescription of meds that works for me.



I see so many use strike through in their blogs but I can't seem to find it. Anyone out there have a clue of how to do this on blogger? On some things I have used it has a strike through icon but none here. Hmmmm.


I leave you with a picture of my Coley. I do miss him, I'll see him this weekend though and I don't think we have to come back to VA until the following weekend.

more socks




I got pictures of my October Sockamania socks this morning. As usual I can't seem to get a picture with good detail of the design. One of these days I may figure out the secret to doing good pictures but I am not going to hold my breath waiting. I tried putting them on and that did not help either. So there they are. The yarn is called Alpaca Sox. It is 60% alpaca, 20% merino wool, and 20% nylon. I did my usual toe up, ML, two at once on my KP Options size 1's.

When I had them on my feet they felt really soft and luxurious. I think they are going to be a cold weather sock, so I will have to wait a bit to wear them. Even my cold feet are not ready for them yet.

Here is a picture of my "kitchen". It does a really nice job here. I would go crazy if this were all I had at home to try to cook on. Last evening I fixed chicken in mushroom soup w/ biscuits on the side. The chicken was so moist, tender, and delicious. I was going to have mashed potatoes with it but the potatoes in the deli really looked dried out and icky. I was going to get a can of some veggie and forgot to. Now what to fix for this evening?
My cold is really bad now. I can barely whisper and my thoat is so sore I can barely swallow. I guess I am going to have to go get me something for the sore throat. I need to get some Nyquil to make me sleep, but that is a problem since I get up at 5:30 to fix D's bucket while he takes Betsie out for her morning walk. I'll just suffer through.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Maybe today....

I didn't make it out to the craft stores on Sat. I had lost the list and did not think to just look in the phone book and make a new list. (Bad headache was keeping me from thinking straight.) I will try to get to them either today or tomorrow. I will also try to remember to take in my camera so I can take pictures for Silfert. I don't always think to take the camera and take pictures, I seem to think about it after the fact. Which is really strange since I am the one who usually takes the pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I need to take some of my Oct. Sockamania socks. I finished them up yesterday morning. They won't be blocked as I don't have a means of blocking them here in the motel room. I'll do my best.
The camera is now here with me. Now I only have to take the pictures. Maybe later, I am going to go take a nap since I was up several times in the night and am very sleepy now.

Later....

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Oops! my mistake

The cell phone is not broken. I had it plugged into the wrong charger. When D came in Thursday evening I was telling him about it when all of a sudden I noticed that I had used his charger instead of mine. Changed chargers and voila! I have cellphone again. I felt like such a ditz.

It is Saturday morning and in a bit I need to go out and get some "groceries". The cupboard, or in this case the drawer, is bare. We are out of most of the essentials like frozen waffles, chips, fruit, water, & peanut butter. D has to have his peanut butter to put on his frozen waffles that he has for breakfast. Got to keep him happy.

I am almost done with my October Sockamania socks. I have about 1 1/2 repeats to do on the leg and they will be done. Then I am going to start on my alpaca sweater.

Today I think I am going out in search of a yarn/craft store. There are 1 or 2 around here close and with the GPS I feel safe in saying that I can probably find them.

The trees down here in VA are really getting pretty. The temp is changing and getting colder so they will probably hit their peak soon and begin to fade. I'll try to get some pictures of them. I love seeing the fall trees.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Technology - it will get you

Of all the times for my cell phone to break this is about the worst. I am down here in VA and the only way D can reach me is by cell phone and the danged thing decided to quit. It gave me no advance warning at all. It had been just fine. I was talking to my daughter and the battery was getting low. While we were talking it just quit. Natch I just thought that the battery was dead and needed recharged so I plugged it in to charge. That was around 3 and it still will not turn back on. It is a pink Razr that I have had about 2 years so I guess it is about time. I hate getting a new phone. I suppose D and I will have to go out tonight to try to find me a phone.
I KNOW he is going to come in this evening and accuse me of not charging the phone or charging it and not turning it back on. I am famous for that. :)

I like my new counter. I was about to just give this thing up since I got very few comments and thought that that was all that was reading. With the counter I have found that there are a few more reading, they just don't leave comments. So I will hang in here for a while longer.

For anyone out there who can answer, I have a question. I know how to make a link and have it be the nick and not the URL. My question is how do you find the URL without going out of this part and going into layout to find the URL. Is there an easier way? Anyone who reads this and has the answer, please tell me. Thanks, in advance.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

PIF Recap

Why do I always hit enter after typing the title? I have posted just a title so many times and then had to go back and edit it. Geez, you would think that I would learn.

On Oct 1 I posted a PIF post. I finally got 2 firm wishes to do PIF. The winners (?) are Silfert and Marit. Congratulations. Your *surprises* will be in the mail as soon as I can find the post office. The ladies at the hotel desk told me where it is but they didn't have a street address for me to plug into my GPS so I am not sure I will find it, but I think I can.

Last night D wanted to go out to eat so I am going to fix the pork roast this evening. I should have gone out today and got a vegetable but I just didn't feel like it. So no veggies this evening. Besides, I don't think I have room in the *oven*, it is sooooo big. lol

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

NeoCounter

I put that NeoCounter on my blog to see just how many were coming by but not leaving comments. I think it is screwy. It say 22 people from Thailand have come, 1 from the US, and 1 from Singapore. What is up with that?
I'll leave it there for a day or so, but I might just ditch it. How would someone in Thailand or Singapore find me? Don't know.

I just got back from my daily "food pilgrimage". We are having pork roast w/mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits for supper. Dang, I should have gotten some green beans (not sure I have enough room to do all of that though). Not a bad meal considering that I have to fix it all in one little toaster oven.
Last night we had porkchops in salsa and a side salad. The night before it was skinless, boneless chicken breast in salsa and a baked potato (D had the leftover chicken in his bucket). I wanted to fix meatballs in spaghetti sauce last night but the smallest bag of meatballs had 64 of them. No way the two of us could have eaten that and the fridge is just a small one with an even smaller freezer, so I had to ditch that idea.
Tomorrow night I am thinking of black beans and shrimp.
It is fun coming up with meals that I can fix in the toaster oven. I could just get frozen dinners but where is the fun and adventure in that? Besides, there is way too many calories, salt, fat, etc in them.
This is fun. Hey, I need something to fill my days while I am here at the hotel.
Speaking of which, it is time to take Betsie out for her afternoon walk and then we will come in and have lunch.

edited to add:The NeoCounter has been replaced by a BlogPatrol counter suggested to me by Silfert. thanks.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Back again.

Can you believe it? We just got home from VA around 5:30 Friday evening, got a call around 6 that we had to be back in VA the next day as D has to work today. Soooo, we slept in our own bed one night and back on the road.
Thankfully they just put all new mattresses in the hotel last Monday and they are nice mattresses. This Super8 is 8 years old but to look at it you would think that it is only a couple of years old. They really keep the place clean. I am very impressed with the place. This little town only has 3 motels in it and this is the best of them. We have been here so much here lately that the ladies at the front desk made a special reservation for D and I and put us in the biggest regular king room. It is probably about 6 foot longer than the normal room, which may not sound like much, but when you only have one room to live in for two weeks it means a lot. I makes for more room for me and Betsie to move around in during the day.
The staff here are all very friendly and super nice. They are love Betsie and make a point to pet her whenever we are out walking. I take her walkies 2 to 3 times a day for 30 minutes.

Friday when we were going home we had to stop and get gas and can you believe these prices:



We thought we would never see gas below $3 again. This was down here in VA, at home in OH it is $3.13 a gallon. I didn't have my camera with me when I saw the prices in Ohio.
When I was packing clothes to come back down here I took a break to go out to lunch with D and our kids. I hadn't seen them in a week and I won't get to see them again for 2 weeks, so it was a break that I was very glad to take. When I got home I found this:

I had left my lingerie drawer open and Coley climbed in it. He even stayed there while I went down and got the camera and came back to take a picture. He is a very intellegent cat, he is sleeping on my hand knit socks. LOL. Love the little baby.

I'll leave you with a picture I took of Katie, my very special baby.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

??????

I am back down here in VA. Have been here since Sunday and hopefully we will be going home tomorrow. Then we turn around and come back down again Sunday to spend another week. This job is supposed to be all tied up by the end of the year, but we all know that construction jobs never end on time. Since we are doing the surveying we probably won't be here until the work is all done. Maybe we will get all the layout done by then though, if they quit making changes and we can just do the layout work once instead of over and over.

I am missing my Katie and my cats, especially Coley who I *belong* to. I'll spend as much time with them this weekend as I can. I would bring Katie with me but she is old now and I am not sure she would take the change in her schedule very well. She is a good traveler but not to be gone for a whole week.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

There is always room for improvement....





I got this from Tama's blog.



You Are 60% Interesting


You are a fairly interesting person. Many people find you to be intriguing.
You have a dynamic, adventurous life... a life that others envy.

You are genuinely interested in and open to the world.
You love making new friends, and you're always up for an unusual experience.

Like everyone else, you can get a bit boring from time to time. That's normal.
But unlike everyone else, you can pull yourself out of a rut. You don't stay boring for long.

Are You Boring or Interesting?
Sometimes we think we are the be all, end all and the center of the universe. I never thought that so this was a surprise to me. I am 60% interesting. I would have thought only about 5 or 10%. Nice surprise.
Last night Dale and I took the employees down here in VA and the wife and kids out to dinner. This is a small town so there is not really that many options. We went to a nice little pizza place. Anna had a child's pizza of which she ate all but the small sliver that hit the floor, well done Anna (she is my little playmate friend). Mitchell who will be 1 the end of Nov had already eaten so he just chewed on a dill pickle. He was so cute. The first pickle he chewed on must not have been too dill but when he dropped it and I gave him another pickle it must have really been sour, he made the cutest sour face. I laughed until I cried. I had thought to take my camera with us but went out the door without it, oh well.
I had a real brainstorm yesterday while sitting here in the room trying to decide what I was going to do. In 1995 I purchased a Melco industrial embroidery machine. For the next 10 years I had an embroidery business that I ran from my home. Three years ago Dale needed me to come do the books for the business and run the office so I quit the embroidery business and started full time for him. I am not sorry that I made that change, my business was really beginning to slow down and with this economy I doubt that I would still have it anyway. I did keep all my equipment since it was paid off and not really worth what I felt it was, it was worth more to me to keep it than to sell it. I still use it for gifts and to make shirts, jackets, hats, etc for the business. Sooooo, I got to thinking that if I was going to be stuck down here in a hotel room if I had a small machine I could embroider the shirts that I have been trying to get done for better than a year. I went online last evening and was looking at Bernina and Pfaff machines.
When we go home this weekend we will be going through Charleston, WV and there is a shop there that has Bernina. We will stop in and see what they have if it is a decent time when we go through Charleston.
Time to go take BetsieBoo for the first walk of the day. I will probably be back again later.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Pay It Forward

Almost a year ago I answered a Pay It Forward comment on Anni's blog. I kept meaning to post it here but I was very sketchy about posting then. Well, I am doing it now. The first 3 people (I am really optimistic here, LOL) will get a handmade gift from me. I am not sure just what it will be but it will be handmade. So if you want a nice surprise in the mail, leave a comment. (Edited to add: Since I am so long in doing this anyone who answers is not going to have to pay it on. If you wish, it stops here.)

Yesterday afternoon my little playmate came over and we played on the Nintendo and had a really nice afternoon. She told me stories again, had a snack and cried when she had to go back to her room. That made me feel good that she wanted to stay with me but bad because I made her cry by taking her back. I really had to since I needed to take BetsieBoo for her afternoon walk.
Right after she got here she made me cover my boo-boo with a band aid as she didn't want to see it.
Today I am leaving the band aid off as much as possible since the sticky stuff has made a sore spot on my hand. I really don't need any other trauma on it. :)

Having Betsie here with me is good for my weight loss efforts. We go out 3 times a day and walk for 30 minutes. I am sure it is 30 minutes each time since I check my watch. Sometimes after only 5 minutes it seems like it should be time to come in but I hang in there for the full 30 minutes.

I am knitting on my Tailored With a Twist sweater. The pattern was in March 200 Creative Knitting magazine. This is the sweater that I made out of wool/alpaca/silk yarn, wore it for about a year, washed it and it smelled like wet sheep, washed it again and forgot to set the washer on delicate and felted the danged thing. I loved that sweater so much I decided to redo it in the yarn it called for. I am not loving it as much. I just hope to finish it. The yarn called for is Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep. That yarn is 80% cotton and 20% merino wool. It is nice yarn, just not what I had before.
As soon as I get home I am going to my LYS and get my baby alpaca wound in large balls and I will start that sweater. I am really wanting to do that one. I found a pattern, but it is at home and I can't remember what it is or where I got it. I'll post that later.

It is time for a nap as I didn't sleep well last night, had a tummy ache and a bathroom problem. Oh, well.

Everyone have a good one.