A flower!

I have a blooming cactus! True it is a tiny little cactus with a great big red bloom, but it hasn't fallen off or been knocked off by child or cat, unknown. This morning it was a bud that showed it was going to be red. I took a picture of it around 10:30am. That's the picture I took then. I kept checking it to make sure it was still there, and three hours later, this is what it looked like! Isn't it pretty? I'm glad I got the picture, because who knows, it may fold up and fall off the plant by tomorrow.

New Plants....

I had this whole long post written, then tried to upload a pic. Whatever I did, who knows, maybe it was those gremlins again. But it disappeared never to be seen again. At least I hope I never see it again, because now I'm starting over!

I got two new plants today from a friend. (thank you, again!) Both are so pretty. The one at the top is a bunny ear cactus, that already has tiny babies started. And the one below is a Pothos. I have it on my bookcase right now, but I think I will move into my computer room. There's more indirect lighting in there, and I think the bookcase may be too dark for it.

Mystery

Last night I wrote this rather long post about several different things. Each subject was a paragraph, and there were spaces between the paragraghs to make it much easier to read. When I tried to publish it, it showed in my blog as one long rambling post with no paragraph breaks.

So I edited about 5 times or maybe 6, who was counting anyway? I was so frustrated! I'd put the breaks in, and when it was published, they wouldn't show. Just one long post that not even I wanted to bother with. So I gave up and went to bed.

This morning I tried again. No go! Still no paragraph breaks. I said the hell with it. I'm done. If it wants to be like that, that is how it's going to be.

A few hours later, when scanning some blogs I like to check on a daily basis, I accidently clicked on mine. What the heck? The paragraph breaks are back. Great big ones, because I did that on purpose to see if bigger breaks would make a difference.

I have no idea why it took until this afternoon, for an actual readable post to appear in my blog. Gremlins on the internet, I'm sure! The same ones that shut down my computer yesterday morning when my DSL went out. No one knows why that happened either, and probably can't be explained. Since my daughter's computer runs on the same DSL, hers shut down and restarted too when the DSL went out. Gremlins. That's it, I have no other explanation.

A little of this and a little of that

Kellie Pickler got booted from American Idol tonight. Not unexpected at all. I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did. There is not anyone I really like that much. Kathryn has a great voice, with training she could be a star. And Chris, after his fantastic performance last night, definitely will be in the final two. I guess I'd like to see Chris and Kathryn as the final two, but who knows. I like watching it, but I really don't care who wins this year. My 8 yr. old granddaughter was broken hearted by Kellie being booted tonight. Of course, Kellie looks like a Barbie Doll, so it was easy to see why Ashley loved her.


Instead of watching the half hour Idol from beginning to finish, Erica came up here to turn on a special edition of LOST. So with remote in hand, she switched back and forth to catch the main highlights of Idol and then back to LOST. After watching most of the first half hour and all of the last, I can't wait to watch the entire 2nd season. I didn't start watching at the beginning of season 2, because I was still watching the 1st on DVD. Now I'll either catch it in reruns, or wait until this season comes out in DVD. They've added a lot of new people this year, but after awhile even with the short clips, I got interested in what was going on. I think it's going to be as exciting to watch the 2nd season as it was to watch the 1st. That show has the most fantastic writers! You can tell they grew up watching sci fi and shows like the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. What imaginations these people have!



The little blue poncho is taking longer than I thought it would. Who'd a thought a fishnet poncho would be so time consuming?! It's cute though, but it's going to take a few days to get it done. Good thing I have a lot of Berry Blue by Caron Simply Soft, it's going to take more than I thought. Good way to use up some yarn stash.



Tomorrow will be busy. It's an off day for me with kids to haul back and forth to school, laundry to do, papers to mail out and plants that need watering. My brand new cactus has dropped it's flower bud. I know it was not anyone touching it or knocking it off. I suspect temperature change and the fact that it was moved from the greenhouse at Wal Mart to the house. Still, two others have flower buds that are attached and smaller, so there's hope for a cactus blossom sometime in the future.



This is a picture of the still attached cactus blossom yesterday. On the left is another little cactus with a flower stalk that hasn't fallen yet. Maybe, being smaller, it will continue to grow.

American Idol....

After last year when Bo Bice did not win American Idol, I swore I would never watch that damn show again! Okay so maybe it's better that he didn't win, I've heard that and sort of believe it. The winner has been fixed up and made up and backed up to look like every other country singer out there, or at least the ones I've seen. Which isn't very many since I don't care for country music, and watching any country singer that isn't Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings, sets my teeth on edge.

So this year I didn't watch for awhile, and my daughter started showing up here in my apartment at 7 on Tuesday nights to watch American Idol on my TV while I was on my computer. Every so often calling me to come see somebody or other. Next thing I know, I'm out there too, watching right along with her. Then I would be watching at 8 on Wednesday night to find out who got booted, so I could tell her, because she was in her apartment watching LOST!

Chris is going to win this, you know. I like Kathryn, but a guy has to win this year. After Bo not winning last year, a lot of people quit watching. But like me, they, too, have probably snuck back in and are waiting to hear just how bad Simon can be. Tonight Taylor made Paula cry, but don't believe that, it doesn't mean anything. Chris just stole the show, he was the perfect ending tonight. Great song, great singer.

But then I was sure last year that people would actually see that Bo was the better singer. That didn't happen either, so maybe I shouldn't say Chris will win. That will jinx him for sure!

And by the way, the high temperature here yesterday was 77 degrees. This morning when I left for work, it was 32. Gotta love those 45 degree temp drops overnight! Welcome to spring!

Spring in Wisconsin....

I can tell it's spring by my allergies. I've spent a good part of the day sneezing and coughing with the itchy eyes and nose caused by flying pollen. Because nothing ever happens without wind in this state. That wind farm that's being planned for east of here should have been built long ago. With the wind we have, it has to be a paying proposition.

It's grass fire season also, because fields are not green enough yet, and the brown, dead grass and weeds from last year will still burn. It doesn't take much, a rubbish fire that gets out of control or a train passing by. Now is the time of the year, the fire departments are on edge and are using all those brush vehicles and four wheel drive trucks that can drive anywhere to get to a fire in a field or marsh.

Today it was 77 degrees at one point, a beautiful day. Now it is 53, and the wind is in high gear. No rain yet, but a front is moving through tonight. By morning the forecast is for 37 degrees. I threw another blanket on the bed tonight. Winter has not quite let of go it's grip on our weather.

A little blue poncho....

I thought ponchos were out of fashion already. But not, it seems, with little girls. A friend stayed overnight last night with my granddaughter. In Ashley's closet, she found a loopy little sleeveless beach cover up that I had crocheted last summer. The friend wore that for the rest of the night, over another shirt and jeans, since it's not exactly bathing suit weather here yet.

Then she informed me that she really wanted one of those, except without the arm holes, so it went down over her arms, in loops like the cover up. I said she wanted a poncho, right? That was it, a loopy poncho in blue.

I was wondering if I could dig up some blue yarn, suitable for a poncho, when I found my stash of Simply Soft in my yarn closet. After seeing just how much Simply Soft is in a queen size comforter bag, with at least 8 skeins of Berry Blue in there, the closet will now be known as the yarn hoarding closet! I need to use some of this yarn!

So I found a fishnet poncho pattern, and started it, then frogged about twenty rows of it when the rate of increases in this pattern caused the poncho to resemble a loopy straight jacket. Now, you really want to use your arms when you're wearing a poncho (or anything else!) not have them strapped to your sides. So I did what I always do, I rewrote the pattern, with double the increases, and some addtional rows, like 10 or so more, so that it now will go past the elbows. A poncho that goes to the elbows is not a poncho; it's a capelet or a long collar.

So the pic is the new start of the loopy blue poncho, as far as I've gotten with it. It's taking me longer with the increases I added. As a straight jacket I could have had it done this afternoon. This will take a little longer, but when I'm done, it will actually be a poncho.

Nothing much......

I have no idea where today went! Did you ever have those days that were filled with so many little things, that it seemed at the end of the day you couldn't exactly remember what you did? Or maybe that's just me!

I did work for almost 5 hours. By the amazing calculations of our computer at work, I was only scheduled for 4 hours and 45 minutes, as if they could not squeeze out that last 15 minutes to give me an even 5 hours.

I went to Wal Mart. That is an accomplishment in itself, considering it's Saturday, and everyone for miles around is also at Wal Mart today. The fun of this is that you get to drive around until there is actually a parking spot in sight of the store. No fair if you just give up and park way out and hike that last half mile to the store. You just keep driving around and around like everyone else, until you can beat someone else out of a closer spot....that is only a quarter of mile to the store.

So with all these people, and they might buy everything before I get to it, I came home with four new plants. All four are colorful houseplants that I've admired before. As I was placing them in my cart, I was telling myself that if I didn't buy them now, they would be gone by the next time I get to Wal Mart. I will try again with the Polka Dot plant. I've already killed one of those earlier this year. I'm hoping that since it wasn't freezing today, like it was the last time I brought one of these home, that this time I will be able to keep this one alive. That's the plant above.....just in case I do kill it. At least there will be a picture.

My daughter mowed the lawn. She is 26, perfectly capable of starting the mower and mowing the lawn without her mother. My one job is to be there if she runs out of gas. For some reason the gas can scares her, and she insists she cannot pour gas from the spout into that tank without splashing it all over the mower, herself and whoever happens to wander by, including her mother and the dog. I pass the time by more digging in the flower garden I am starting. I don't do a lot of digging at a time. But since I've been doing this for the last couple of weeks now, if it ever gets past the point here in Wisconsin where we won't be expecting freezing temps and a blizzard (maybe May, I'm thinking) I can actually plant some flowers.

I transplanted the four new plants I bought and a few others. I'm starting a Purple Passion for a friend. Those cuttings have huge roots now, and have their own hanging basket tonight. Then my big Croton plant finally got into it's bigger pot, and no longer looks top heavy.

In between there were numerous trips up and down the stairs from my apartment to the basement.....to turn on the sump pump. To run outside and check to make sure the water coming out of the basement was not running into the neighbors garage. To run back down and turn off the sump pump. Actually it turned itself off, it does that. It would turn it itself on too, except it's rather old and I don't exactly trust it to do what it's supposed to do.

Then there were a few trips because a friend came to stay overnight with my granddaughter who I am taking care of while her mother works. Out to the backyard so they could play. It is fenced with a 6 feet high fence, they still wanted me to come along. "You can dig in your dirt, grandma!" Okay. So I dug some more. This is going to be a nice flower garden. If it ever gets warm enough, of course. (In two months it will be hot, and I will be complaining about that too!)

Then there was supper. Another trip outside with the girls. Back inside and upstairs because everyone was cold, especially me. And another trip downstairs to get PJs and blankets.

I did want to crochet today. I'm not sure what it is I want to crochet right now. I have bags full of started projects, sweaters, mostly, a bag or two, a sundress for a little girl and two almost completed shrugs for my granddaughters. And now the friend staying overnight wants a loopy poncho in blue! I have a pattern for that, and I know right where it is. But do I have blue yarn? One would think with the closet full of yarn, there has to be some blue in there! I'm thinking Cottonease, but do I have enough? Since the girls have said they are staying up until 11:30 when my daughter gets out of work, I probably have time to get a good start on that yet tonight.

So maybe I wil get to crochet today! I feel sometimes like I'm waiting for the weekend so I can really get some crocheting time in, and actually get a project done. Then there are all these movies I bought so I'd have something to watch while I am crocheting. There are lots of them that aren't even out of their wrapping yet. I don't think I'll be breaking into those anytime soon though! But tonight for a little while, I might just sit and crochet.

A few things here and there....

Today is my youngest daughter's 26th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Erica!) All I've heard since she was born is that I should not have had her on April 20th. The one bad thing I did know is that Hitler's birthday is the same day. Now in the last few years, I've heard that 4//20 has something to do with pot, or the police or something along those lines. Then the Oklahoma bombing happened on 19th, and Columbine was on one of those days, the 19th or the 20th. Now I've heard Waco happened around this time, the same date? the day before? As if there weren't enough to blame on April 20th.

Erica says I should have picked a different date! Like I had a choice here....after 23 hours (I know, Mom, heaven knows I've heard about the 23 hours of labor how many times before?) I was just glad she finally was born. On any day. Though she was due the 24th, I absolutely refuse to think of being in labor that long! As it was, I read the entire 400 page book I brought along to read in the hospital, before she was born.

So anyway. She now has the computer desk she wanted. It's set up with the computer all ready on it. And her small daughters have given her a chair to use at said desk, although that is still in the box. After the problems getting this desk together, no one is willing to tackle the chair right now. She has a dolphin ice cream cake, maybe the best present of all!

I was in Wal Mart this morning (and I didn't buy coffee filters again! This is how many times I have gone to Wal Mart and come home without those damn filters?) Checked out the yarn department, where all the yarn is out of the carts and baskets and back on the shelves. But the four or five new and different colors of Red Heart Super Savers are nowhere to be found! They were there a week ago, now they are not on the shelves. What the heck?! I know I didn't make these up. Another woman described most of them perfectly in her post on the About.com crochet forum. They are at her Wal Mart, somewhere in one of those middle rectangle states that I can never figure out which one is which. They were at ours too. But they're not now!

And the clearance yarn. A couple of days ago, it was all on endcaps by the other yarn. I couldn't find it, until I saw it hidden in some baskets at the end of the cutting table, blocked from sight by a couple of carts of junk. They may try to hide their clearance yarn from me, but I WILL find it! Just for that, I bought the remaining two skeins of Dusty Teal for $1.50 each. With the amount of this color I've already bought and squirreled away in my yarn closet, I figure I bought every one of the skeins of this color that was ever at this Wal Mart. Then there were two skeins of 12 ounce Simply Soft in the color, Mango, of which I already own three. They were marked $3.77 each on a red clearance sticker. That's not a clearance price as far as I'm concerned. Weren't they #3.98 originally? That's a sale price. Not a clearance price. I didn't buy them. Just as well. It's not like I need more yarn, even if I love that color.

Oh, well, I do have to eventually go back to Wal Mart for those elusive coffee filters. I can always check that clearance yarn again. I bet they try to hide it from me again, too. But I WILL find it!

What I'm doing.....

I've started a bag that has promise. I know, I've only restarted this bag about four times now. Maybe more, I seem to have lost count.

In my yarn closet, I found a knit kit from Target. But somehow, that part of the kit that tells what kind of yarn this is, has disappeared. This is not surprising, as a lot of my things tend to disappear when I need them. Only to reappear at some later date when I least expect to see them. Seems I put things away so I don't lose them, but forget where it was I put them in the first place. This is not too surprising to anyone who knows me. All of my life, I have been losing my car in parking lots, and fortunately eventually finding said car sooner or later. So it goes with a lot of belongings. I never lose my keys to that car, just the car itself. That is a story in itself for another day.

The yarn seems to be cotton. I have a skein of white cotton yarn, that is either Lionbrand cotton or Sugar Babies cotton, that is the exact size. So this is becoming a semi tapestry bag, carrying along another strand on each row. The bag will have stripes. Not sure how wide these stripes might be. It's mostly change colors when it looks good. Maybe it will have a pocket on the outside, or maybe not, depending on how sick I am of this when I get that far. And the deciding factor, how much yarn is left when I get that far!

Did I happen to mention that I hate most of the bags and purses I'm seeing in stores these days? There are not enough pockets, too many pockets. The straps are too long, or too short to be of any use at all. I'm using one now that is a very pretty dull teal color with burnished gold rivets. Almost a good bag, except for the short straps. I hate short straps, especially so short, there is no way this bag can hang on my shoulder if I need it to do that. I don't have three hands, although every mother and grandmother needs at least three. When one is stuck carrying a bag with short handles, that is a waste! Especially when I have shoulders that can carry that bag. Enough! This one will be my perfect bag. If I don't run out of yarn, that is.

Happy Monday.....

Or who else do you know who would be happy about a working sump pump?

Up until this afternoon, I had a pond in my basement and a sump pump that was not hooked up. It's a long story of a pump that once did work, then didn't. The guy who said he would get it fixed did not want to hook it back up again, so I said I would get somebody else to do it. Finally, my granddaughter's father found out about it this afternoon, while I was showing him something else in the basement, and he said he could hook that back up to the pipe in no time.

It wasn't quite 'no' time, but after a trip to Menards and a little sawing and gluing, the pump was hooked up and had to dry for two hours. The two hours up, I tried it out, and it works! No more water in the dungeon we call our basement. There was no danger to the furnace or any other working appliance down there, but who really wants a pond in the basement? There is an actual pond in my basement, a huge round cut out pond, cemented and all. There is even a hole cut lower that holds the pump.

We are supposedly not in a flood plain. But we are about a block and a half away from a river, so this water in the basement is a fact of life. I've dreaded every rain storm this spring, not that there have been that many up here in the halfway frozen north. Well, it's not exactly frozen here, just a little chilly.

Bring on spring and the thunderstorms! My pump and I are ready!

Of course, all this running back and forth from the upper apartment where I live and keep all my tools, cords and other assorted equiptment, down to the basement, has meant I'm not getting anything else done today at all. Then running down to start the pump and running outside to make sure the water was really running out away from the house and not back in through the foundation. I feel like I ran a marathon today!

There are crochet leaflets on my bed waiting for me look at, and maybe pick a project from. There is a bag I started yesterday in springy colors of lilac, peach, aqua and white that I really wanted to work on tonight. So maybe tomorrow night, I can pick that up again. And that Lacy Leaf Cocoon from the new Interweave Crochet is calling my name again. I have it started in two shades of blue Caron Simply Soft, and I love the way it looks already. Maybe I do have a few minutes to play with that tonight.

Happy Easter....not!

It is cold! Every Easter I can remember has been cold, so why should this one be any different? It's 50 degrees and feel like 30, and it rained. Three days ago it was 80, and I opened every window in my apartment and turned down the furnace. This morning I turned it back up. I'm finally warm, sort of, with the help of a fleece sweatshirt, jeans and socks. Very warm socks, my feet were cold too!

Oldest granddaughter is crabby today, and when a 'drama queen' is cranky, no one is happy! Her Easter basket did not have the right candy (everyone knows I hate jelly beans!) Yes, we all know this, but since her list of hated things is so long, we can't always keep track of just what is on the list this week. The Easter bunny is not real (I saw those bags in the trunk of mom's car!) Which started a monumental argument with her 5 year old sister, who is extremely happy with every little thing she got! She did not want to dye eggs, but then relented and made one egg for me. She wrote 'grandma' on the egg, dropped it in the dye, and it didn't show up! (Even the Easter eggs don't like me!)

My head hurts from the sobbing and screaming. The one thing she did like is a shiny silver soccer ball with pictures of somebody or other cartoon on it. Then her mom kicked it across the living room and left a scuff mark on it! (Mom hates me! She hurt my ball!)

At that point, I threatened to lock my apartment door and NOT let anyone in for the rest of the day!


Fortunately, things have calmed to a tolerable level. The 5 yr old has left to spend the rest of the holiday with her father and his family. The 'drama queen' will be leaving soon with her mother to go shopping at Wal Mart for something that will fit in her closet to put clothes into, whatever that might be. It will be quiet and peaceful again....for awhile.

I still have not found the culprit that decided to poke at the one almost open cactus blossom in curiosity, causing it to fall off! Will I ever get a cactus to blossom completely? Not with four cats and two small children wandering in and out most days!

I leave you with a pic of the actual queen of my apartment. No it's not me, but my best bud, Cassie, surveying her kingdom and the world. Oh, wait, the world is her kingdom!

Pics that didn't load......

I intended to use pics of the hats in my last post. It didn't happen, even though I did everything I was supposed to, I thought. So this morning, I resized the photos, and tried again. The pics that didn't load last night, did load today along with the resized images of today!

So I gave up! I started over in hopes two pictures of hats will appear. The pink hat is just like the blue one, only it's pink-----obviously.

The story of the hats....

Back when it was still cold here, a couple of weeks ago, my 5 yr. old granddaughter started wearing this hat. She has a baby blue winter coat, the hat was dark red, beige, tan, brown and cream stripes. This did not have any color remotely close to any blue, and it was making me cringe everytime I picked up her sister and her from school, which is usually 3 days a week while my daughter is still in her classes. She wore that hat everywhere, it didn't matter to her, most of the time she wore it in the house too.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore! I got out two blues and a white of Bernat Cottontots, and crocheted her a striped blue hat to go with her winter jacket. Then it warmed up here, in Wisconsin this means it is now above freezing instead of below. The 5 yr old, who I will call AR 2 loved the hat, and started wearing it instead of the red hat. To school, shopping and in the house, of course!

My daughter (E) said, "You know it's not that cold anymore, and her spring coat is pink." What? You couldn't have told me this before I started the blue one?

So, I got out two pinks and a white of Bernat Cottontots, and started over. Soon AR2 had two hats to wear, which in her strange little mind meant she sometimes wore matching hats, and sometimes the pink hat with the blue coat or vice versa.

Meanwhile, AR1, age 8, decided she needed a hat in blue, orange and white to match her spring coat. Blue, orange and white? Who sells that color of spring coat? The Children's Place outlet store does, appearently. And shoes to match. Not having an orange in anything except Cottonease, I took that out with two shades of blue and a white in Microspun. After looking said jacket, I chose the lighter blue with the white and orange. Ten or so rows later, AR1 showed up, and said, "That's not what I wanted! I wanted the dark blue to match the shoes! Didn't you see the shoes have a dark blue too?"

After frogging ten or so rows, I happily finished a hat that met AR1's specifications. Which she now wears with everything, no matter what color. I should have just crocheted it in white. Watching her walk down the sidewalk from her school to my car is an experience in color. The dark blue, orange and white hat, a pink and gray winter coat (because, of course it got cold again right after I finished the hats) black knee high boots and a purple backpack. I'm gritting my teeth from now on! I'm not saying a word anymore about colors of hats and coats. I know better now!

This is not so good....

All of us have been sick in the last two months or so. I am the one who usually ends up getting really sick with some virus or other and ends up losing a week of work. This time though, in my family at least, my 8 yr. old granddaughter ended up with walking pneumonia, and my 25 yr. old daughter was sick on and off for 5 weeks. I on the other hand, missed one day of work. I credit my flu shot, because maybe this was a flu that I was protected from by my shot. No bronchitis, no days off of work, just one day I can handle.

There have been people at work getting sick all winter, and two weeks ago, my friend, Cheryl, came down with it. She missed 4 days of work, then started to feel better when her 3 yr. old daughter got sick. By Monday, the little girl was well again, but Cheryl was much sicker. I saw her on Tuesday at an insurance meeting, just for a minute, while she came in just to sign some papers and go back home. She said she had taken a cold medicine that didn't agree with the anxiety meds she takes. She looked so sick.

Today, her mother came in to work, and said Cheryl is in the hospital for at least 3 days. Most of us did not hear the story about just how sick she is. We don't know. Our GM told the supervisor running the floor to call a florist and order flowers to be sent to her. It can really sober up a workplace to find out that one of our best workers, who hardly ever misses work is really sick. We don't know what to do or say. I drove past her house on the way home, and no one was there. I want to call the hospital, but I already know they can tell me nothing. And none of us want to bother the family at a time like this. We work with her every day, but we don't see her outside of work.

It kind of stuns me how quick this happened. I take anxiety meds myself, and my doctor laid it out in no uncertain terms that if I have a bad cold or virus, I am to come see him for medicine. I am never to take anything but Tylenol without his permission. I never really realized how serious this is. Although I've read this again and again on medical and drug sites online, it didn't seem you would end up in the hospital from taking one wrong medicine.

I hope Cheryl will be all right. I'm hoping it's a matter of getting the meds out of her body. We want her to be well for her four children and the rest of her family.

Houseplants and hermit crabs

I've not been able to grow any houseplants for almost 6 years, because of the lighting in the apartment I lived in, and no room anyway. Now I have houseplants! I'm back to growing cacti and succulents, spider plants and one huge palm tree. I've added quite a few others, since this house has actual big windows that make the rooms light and real sunlight can get it! My daughter keeps saying when I come in from shopping, "Not another houseplant!" But it looks so nice with all these plants in here, and I finally feel at home, something that I never felt in the apartment where I used to live. All of my grown life, I wanted to have an African Violet that actually bloomed. I've never had one before that had flowers, but I have one now! This is a major accomplishment for me.

The hermit crabs are another story. My daughter loves pets. We have had almost every kind of pet allowed in a city. I've been known as the 'rabbit killer' a very sad story not even I want to think about. And 'snake killer'. Who'd a thought that snakes would actually eat 7 goldfish and turn belly up and die? Snakes in the wild don't overeat, or there would be no snakes. Which isn't a bad idea anyway. I wasn't that fond of snakes.

I grow cats, that's it. I can handle cats, because they are a lot like me. They do their own thing, aren't so needy that they make you feel guilty. Though a hungry cat is an expert in guilt trips! I have Cassie and Starr. Starr, the tiny American Tabby. Cassie, the half Siamese, who snorts when she's mad, and her eyes turn red. Her eyes are normally blue. When she's not mad. She also looks like a badger, but that's something no one can explain. She doesn't overeat, she eats less than Starr, who is maybe a third her size. She still is huge. We three get along well. Cassie sleeps where ever she pleases, and Starr sleeps on my head at night.

I saw some hermit crabs one day at Wal Mart, and the next thing I know, I own six of these little things that kind of remind of spiders with an RV on their backs. Then my granddaughter, who had two of these, brought hers to me, so they could live with mine and have friends. I've found out, that's it really hard to tell if they're friends. I never see them move! Since they live in my computer room, my daughter said there is too much light ( I have houseplants in here too, see 1st paragraph!) so maybe they come out at night.

So one night I shut off the light, went and read a book and watched the TV for an hour. Then I came back and turned on the light. What do you know? They are alive and having a great time while I'm sleeping! Nice, huh? I thought I had pets, but what I really have is a decoration on a shelf in my computer room. A little scene with sand and shells, that contain hermits all coiled up inside, a little coconut house, that I have to clean and give water and food to. But they're not ever doing anything that I can actually see. Two of these creatures, aren't even coming out at night. My daughter said they are molting, that's why. And it could last for a month or more, before they shed their skin and appear in public again. I haven't killed them yet, although it is hard to tell that.

I'm weighing up the advantages here to explain to myself why I bought these things. They don't smell like mice. Their little home is not as big as a gerbil cage. They don't escape and turn up in the neighbor's bathroom like the hamster did in the apartment building we lived in. They don't sleep on my head (sometimes that does get a little annoying!) They don't overeat! They also, don't cost an arm and leg, like my daughters huge fish tank with Oscar and friends. Especially when their water went bad, and she had to treat it, add another filter and make a flying trip to the pet store to get the water tested. And now we are setting up another tank to get a bottom feeder and a huge catfish into their own tank, so Oscar has more room to grow. (a fish bigger than my hand needs to be bigger?) I suggested eating them, but that did not go over well! Maybe hermit crabs aren't such bad pets afterall.

Not my design

I wanted to make it clear that in my first post, the bag I made was not my design. It was designed by a very talented designer named Shelle Cain. The pattern is for sale for $3 at http://crochetpatternroundup.com/items.php?listing=Bohemian_Bag

Now that I've cleared that up, I've got the beads for the drawstrings and will be trying to get those attached later after this very wonderful insurance meeting I have to go to this afternoon. Every year at this time, we get to go and listen to why our cost of insurance is going up, and how they can't do anything about it, and on and on and on. I have an idea, just tell me how much it is going up and let me go. I can do without all the little slide presentations that in the end are just a fancy way of saying we're getting less and paying more. At least they do pay me to sit and watch their pretty little slides. Now if they only served refreshments.

Yarn lover's nightmare!

So I'm crocheting this shrug/sweaterlike thing for my 5 yr. old granddaughter. I decided it needed a larger collar than I had on it already. So I frogged the finishing row, and started in with another skein of the same yarn I've been using all along, Caron Simply Soft in Blue Mist. For some reason there was a knot in the middle, and I ended up with the biggest mess of yarn! I spent an hour last night trying to untangle it, and decided that I need to cut the strand in a few places, or it will take weeks to get this out. Or I could toss it and start with another skein. I haven't done that yet, though I'm very tempted. I started this thing a month or so ago, and it looks like it might be awhile before I get it done. This must happen to everyone else once in awhile, right? It's happened to me before, but never with Simply Soft. This is my favorite yarn, lately! It's makes the nicest, washable clothes for kids.

Here I go again.....

It's time to start another blog with a name I actually like. I'm fed up with crochet forums right now. When all I see on the two I frequent the most is drama, drama queens and posts that have absolutely nothing at all to do with anything, the time has come to back off for awhile. Oh, I'll still read them, but I'm not sure when I might post on either of them again.

In the meantime, this is my latest project. It still needs beads on the drawstrings. I think it's too small for me, so I may make another one. This one was fun to make, and I loved using all the different colors. The patterns is available for sale on www.crochetpatternroundup.com