Days like these...

Local Op Ed

I was never really sure why it pissed me off that Pat LaMarche got to replace Molly Ivins in the editorial pages of our local newspaper.

Except I LOVED Molly. She soothed my sometimes sad, often angry political soul after the 2000 elections. With humor. Common sense.
Truth.

This week's replacement addition is probably intended with truly good intentions. To remind readers of the real dangers of driving under the influence...even a little drunk... can destroy lives. And I will accept that if just one person takes note and changes course, it will have been worthy of the space it filled.
Still not Molly.

I've left a message in the reader comments.
Remembering Nola.

Just for Stephani

The first picture with my new camera!
Sara took this as a movie and then captured a still so it may not show off the best quality I'll get out of this camera.

To be honest, I'm still a little afraid of it's shiny newness! And the last 2 days have been too dark, drippy & dismal to venture outside. But soon!

What's on the fridge?

OBAMA '08!

THANK YOU, IOWA!!

I sent a Dream Catcher fabric postcard to Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in October.

I got a (semi) personalized letter back.


Dated November 14th, it starts out: "Thank you for your kind message and for such a unique postcard."

Cool :)

Okay. The rest was a pretty standard form letter and it was probably a volunteer who took the time to acknowledge a fabric postcard. And probably a rubber stamp signed his name. I'm pretending someone shoved it under his nose along with a pile of other stuff and said "sign these!"

Hey, it's my world...

I sent 2 other Dream Catcher postcards to his Iowa campaign offices, c/o Any Volunteer, encouraging them to keep up the good work. I hope someone who enjoys fabric postcards keeps one.

Snow Daze

We've had some snow.

And it's freakin' cold outside.

I went cross country skiing again today.

Yesterday my outside exercise consisted of raking snow off the roof AGAIN for as far as I could reach.

Another 10 inches fell and filled up all the ski tracks I made on Monday, but it was easier today blazing a trail in the tracks I could almost find from before.

Jasmine is beside herself, unable to follow through the deep snow. She usually runs circles around us, and starts barking as soon as she sees the "funny shoes" come out of the storage bin. She stood on a plowed snow bank and barked at me as I skied away. Maybe I can talk Tyler into running their snowmobile through the field to pack down a path so she can go out again. That she went back to the house when I told her she should was a shock.

I finished socks today. I made the pattern up as I went along, using the same cable design on the ankle as for the wrists of the Fetching fingerless gloves from last year. I made another pair of the fingerless gloves for Steph for Christmas. (Actually I made 3 gloves because the second one was so mismatched. Now there's an orphan left over because there's not enough left in the skein for a fourth.) I changed the bind-off around the fingers because the picot edge as written turned out too wavy.

Happy New Year!

Be a better blogger.

I don't do resolutions.
But here's hoping 2008 is filled with inspiring ideas and FINISHED projects to blog about. I finished a pair of socks! They were on the needles since Sock Madness ended - both done up to the cuff and ready for the heel. I abandoned the Sock Madness pattern and opted for simple eye of partridge heel and some straight knitting to just get them done. I let Sara give them to her advisor as a gift without even taking a picture as proof they're done.
(Bad blogger!)

I ordered a new camera today!! With help of a $200 dell gift card the purchase of my new laptop earned before Christmas. Yes. This blog entry is coming to you from my LAP! I'm not very good at the finger scrolling...touch pad... thing... still confounds me on a very regular basis. (How do you hi-light something again? Stubborn is my middle name. I WILL finish this entry without a mouse!)

I do adore the new technology. (A mouse without cord!) I was afraid Windows Vista still had too many bugs to be worked out from all I read of it's first reviews. But I'm lovin' it! Things open in seconds. Pages of Publisher 2007 turn in an instant! I had resorted to folding a basket of cloths or vacuuming a room while I waited for the old computer to perform a task. So less housework gets done while I'm working on future Patchwork Press editing? That's the price of progress!

The next issue is to be sent to the printer in PDF form so fingers crossed it goes through without a meltdown. Mine if it fails and I have to start over!

A new pair of socks have been started. They're almost done actually! My reward for finishing 3 projects in as many months from the list of things that had gone into UFO mode was "I could start something new!"

I did use stash yarn, though. If resolutions for 2007 count for anything, that is. There's 6 more size 1 knitting needles waiting to be rescued from another pair of socks in the UFO pile. Before Sock Madness 2008 sign-ups start in February. Sara has promised to continue the very popular tradition of Mexican Take-Out delivery on Day One of new patterns. So mom doesn't have to cook...works for me!

And if Sock Madness drives me crazy...it will be Sara's fault!
Works for me.