A Snowy Unraveled Wednesday

Good Morning!


Yup, once again it has been snowing.  I thought/hoped we would have a 2 hour delay like the local schools, but no such luck.  There is not a lot of snow and it will stop soon, but it is wet and heavy.  The roads were fine coming to work and the horse farm I pass was particularly beautiful this morning - fields covered in snow, a frozen pond, a few horses out and about (all covered in blankets).  So peaceful and pretty.


Yesterday was filled with much frustration at work...hoping today will be better.  I woke up in the night thinking about work which is not good and is not like me at all.  I'm pretty drowsy this morning - a delay would have been nice.


Since Colin's socks are on hold until I measure the first against his foot, I cast on last night for another pair of fingerless mitts.  They work up so quickly, I'm hoping to knit several pairs to put away for Christmas gifts next December.  No pictures yet - only 2/3 of the way through the first cuff and I forgot to bring them with me today...hopefully more progress tonight.


On the reading front, I gave up on "The Roanoke Girls" - it was just a slog for me and was getting quite boring.  Yesterday I did manage to start "Sing, Unburied, Sing" at lunch.  Wow!  What powerful writing.  I am loving it.


The last time we got together, Dee was kind enough to bring me her copy of Clara Parke's "A Stash of One's Own" which I finished last night.  I find this type of book perfect for reading a bit when I get into bed - always fun to read about yarn and it doesn't get me all keyed up before falling asleep.  Dee asked me to pass it on when I was finished, so, who would like to read it next?  Leave a comment and if there are more than one interested, I'll do the random number thing.


Yesterday afternoon Colin texted me this picture of Talbot & Marcel with the caption "Time to Snuggle":





Looks a bit like Marcel may be trying to escape!!


The blue and white blanket is one that was knit for Colin when he was born!  I can't believe it has held up for 28+ years.  And the green and coral-like crocheted blanket is one I made when I was in college -- the only thing I have ever crocheted - and that was 45 years ago or so!


Now that I am feeling a bit old....time to run downstairs to the café and get some breakfast.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!

And Tuesday Rolls In

Hi All,


A milder morning today - about 28 (instead of 12).  By the time I had gotten out of the shower and started the coffee, a gentle snow was falling.  Not enough to get off work and not much since then...will have to see how the day progresses.


So, the car is back.  Gosh brakes are expensive - that was about $1K of the bill!  Then there were assorted other minor things plus inspection...all of it adding up to just under $1.6K.  But as Colin said - still cheaper than a new car.  The car has served us well.  126K miles on it and nothing major (brakes do wear out as do tires).  Here's to many more miles.


When we got home from picking it up I settled back into some knitting and the last bottle of Mad Elf beer (only comes out at Christmas).  This picture makes the sock look enormous!

The foot is now finished up to where I will re-join the Sabertooth Caterpillar yarn and decrease at the toes.  I'm holding off doing that until Colin comes over so I can double-check measurements. 


The pea soup yesterday was excellent except I did not like the kielbasa I used.  I'm thinking that left-over grilled Italian sausage would work well next time.  The kielbasa was just a bit too mild for me.


There have been a ton of changes at work - payroll and benefits transitioning to our parent company in NC, accounting changes, etc.  I just found out that we are no longer receiving pay stubs by mail - we have to print them out.  But, it turns out that I am not set up to be able to do that (it's being worked on...).  It's going to take some time for all these changes to sort out.  In the interim. I need to practice what my friend Tyg does - he just chills out all the time.

Now it's back to work!

Monday Stuff

Hello All,

Managed to get through my 10 a.m. conference call and now the balance of the day is mine (since it is a work holiday),

Naturally I didn't accomplish near what I thought I might over the weekend.  Not much knitting (though I am about half-way done the foot on Colin's sock), almost no reading (don't understand this one at all).  I did do laundry and we did grocery shop and the Christmas tree is out of the house and decorations are put away, and I did cook some.

Saturday I made Spicy Cuban Beef which we had over rice and steamed broccoli alongside.

Yesterday I cooked one of those pre-seasoned pork loins.  Ours was peppercorn and pretty tasty.  I made smothered cabbage to go with it - had never made this before and LOVE it.

Today a pot of split pea soup is on the stove.  There is left over cornbread that I made last week, so that will be dinner.

My car is in the shop today for inspection.  Got the phone call shortly after 8 a.m. this morning that it will be $1.6K to fix.  YIKES!  Something is up with the suspension, I need rear breaks and then a bunch of other things (I kind of tuned out the guy when he was talking).  The good news is that no tires are needed and they can do everything today, so I'll get the car back this afternoon.  I just had not planned on/counted on a bill this high. 

I hope to start "Sing, Unburied, Sing" this afternoon.  I'm giving up on "The Roanoke Girls" about 1/3 into it.  I'm just not enjoying it and there are far too many books out there that I do want to read.

That's the news from here.  It is cold again (very) and snow is in the forecast for tomorrow and maybe Wednesday.  This Winter.....it just keeps going.....

It's Soggy out There!

Hello Friends,


It is a soggy Friday!  Rain, rain and more rain.  And warmth - it was 63 this a.m.  That will, of course, change and we will be about 30 degrees cooler tomorrow.  Such is the roller coaster winter.


Meanwhile, Fletch did grill the steaks last night and they were EXCELLENT!  They were also HUGE and both Fletch and I only ate 1/3 - 1/2 of our steaks.  Colin (of course) polished his off with no problem.  To go with the steaks I fixed a pan of roasted potatoes, onions, Brussels sprouts and some broccoli - all seasoned with some EVOO and a healthy (heavy) sprinkling of Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel seasoning.  I will do that again - so tasty!  And, it was mild enough last night (60) that we had a fire in the pit.  So strange, but wonderful, to have an outside fire on January 11th!  It was also pretty windy so everything I had on smells like wood smoke (not a bad scent, but still...more items tossed in the laundry basket).


Plans for the weekend include laundry (never got to most of it last weekend), cleaning (let's take the tree down...please!), cooking (some soup and bread will be on the menu), shopping (meeting up with friends on the 20th to celebrate two birthdays...presents needed), reading (want to finish The Roanoke Girls so that I can start Sing, Unburied, Sing - can't wait for this one), and a healthy dose of knitting (just a couple more rows on Colin's sock and I will re-join the Sabertooth Caterpillar yarn and begin working on the heel flap and turn).


I have no kitty photos for this Friday, so instead what I find to be a weird sign.  My office is on the 2nd floor of our building and I always take the steps.  This is on the landing between floors:

There is a similar sign between the 2nd and 3rd floors (except, you know, 2 1/2).  My question:


Why?


Well, it's Friday and I was just told there is food in the kitchen:  pizza and Hooters Wings.


Happy Weekend everyone - enjoy!