Another aunt dies

Sam and I were at Carol's to bake for Christmas. The phone rang. It was a call saying Zia Maria died this morning. We didn't even know she was sick. It's been four years since she was here. Four years (Dec. 20) that Aunt Geraldine died.

I miss them.

And for the first time in many years we put up a tree.

This will be a very odd Christmas.

December!

So it was supposed to snow Monday and it didn't. I love snow! Of course I'm petrified of driving in it but we don't get enough of it that it really matters if I miss a day or two of work because of it.

I mailed off two exchanges yesterday -- my Christmas exchange gift from the private forum I belong to and my Christmas exchange package from the exchange at Knit and Chat. Both should arrive at their destinations tomorrow, I hope!!

I totally forgot to take pictures of what I knit for the Christmas exchange. *sigh*

I knit up a cute little vest for Bear-Bear, Emma's constant companion and I'm working on a pair of mittens for her or whoever they'll fit. If they come out good I'll make a pair for Sam and more to put away for future gifts or charity.

I'm done for the rest of the year as far as knitting under deadlines. Anything I knit now will be for my own pleasure. If they end up being done before Christmas, they could be gifts! If now, oh well!

We're doing a pair of socks a month KAL at K&C so we can cut down on some stash and complete some socks. That will be fun.

On Friday Sandy and I will be heading up to New Hampshire. I'm going to just relax as much as possible. :)

End of November

I added a cute weather thing to the blog header and stuck a cuter one at the bottom of the page. I'm not sure if the bottom one will stay there. LOL!!!

Anyway I plan on blogging from now on.

So ... on the knitting front -- I finished and mailed (it was already received!) a scarf for the K&C scarf exchange. Haven't received mine yet but it's on it's way. I also finished one gift for the Christmas K&C exchange and am almost done with the other part. Those will be mailed off on Saturday.

I recieved my Christmas exchange gift from Terry the other day -- already! A beautiful felted purse that I'm sure is one of her own designs and a really cute acorn beret and a beautiful pin and some delicious chocoates (I ate them all) and Burt's Bees lotion. I love it all!!

Hopefully I'll remember to post pictures of everything soon.

And Sandi sent a Curly Wurly to everyone who joined the scarf exchange. YUM!! I told her to sign me up for next year's exchange now. LOLOL!!

Goodbye cigarettes/Hello new apartment

I really have to get back here and write. Brief rundown for now;

June 9th was my last day as a smoker. Used the patch and wellbutrin.

A week or so later I was in two ERs and had a cardio cath and spent a few nights in the hospital. Was no longer on the patch OR wellbutrin. No craving and the doc says I'll never die of a heart attack. LOL!!

By the end of June I was moved into a new place. Right behind the hospital. Convenient. I have a fireplace now!

Anthony has been dating a girl since we went to The Bernadette's concert last year. Just met her and she's been staying over a lot. I like her very much.

Am working on a bunch of knitting projects and maybe will finish one or two.

That's it for now!

October!!

My favorite month of the year. The leaves are starting to change a little late this year but here and there you can see glorious bursts of color. The air is much cooler -- except for today. I think it's about 70 out there right now. YUCK!

What I've been up to -- went to my last faire of the season two weekends ago. Sandy and I went to the CT Faire in Hebron. What a ride that was -- an hour and a half!! It takes less time to go to Tux in NY. But I really, really enjoyed it. Got to see some people from our faire and got to visit tons of vendors. I spent too much money but it was money well spent.

Great day!

Sandy and I went to Tux. Got to see a lot of people there -- Danny and Rachael; Captain Fred; Ruth -- she took us to the back of her place to see her set up; Carlos; Artemis; the boy who played Alejandro and one of the other boys; Megan and Artemis' Megan.

Best of all I talked to Adina and she was working a booth that she told us to come check out.

It was a spinning booth. She gave me a mini lesson and I bought a spindle and some lushious, yummy roving. Of course I'm thinking now that I might have to bring it to the library or somewhere when I want to spin. If not, all of my hand spun yarn will have Pino hairs sticking out of it. LOLOL!!

That's all for now. I'm exhausted. :)

Trying again

I created this blog to help me remember things and just keep track of my day to day stuff and then I forget to use it. LOLOL!!

Anyway, I want to really use it so I'm going to try again.

Last night I got a call from Madeline saying that The Aunt had fallen during the night, at 2 a.m. and couldn't get to a phone before 4 a.m. She called my sister who didn't call her back until hours and hours later. She finally got ahold of her brother who went up. She's pretty bruised but STILL refuses to use a Lifeline thingy. *sigh* She says she didn't fall; she only rolled off the couch. *rolling eyes* I've got to remember to start calling her everyday just in case.

So tonight I go up there for supper. Her friend had brought pasta over yesterday and we're having the leftovers.

Tomorrow Sandy and I are off to Tux. I'm hoping Karyn will be there. Haven't heard back from her yet. I can't wait to go and be a playtron -- I don't get the chance to roam around and visit vendors and watch shows when I'm working our faire. Not complaining because I LOVE our faire and I do have a great time. But this is going to be fun too.

I need to learn how to make those progress thingies that go in the sidebar on blogs. I want to put up all the UFOs I'm working on and chart their progross. Accountability is what I need! If I see it in here it should push me into working on them, no?

I also listed 45 books on Ebay yesterday. So far I have three watchers and no bids.
That's it for now!

Moving and stuff

I don't have time to update right now but boy has alot changed in a few months. Denise, if you're reading this, I have a LOT to write. And a new address. *sigh*

As always the P.O. Box and phone number stay the same.

J.D. Robb

Ok. So the last book I read in the Eve Dallas series is Witness in Death. I may have another book but not the next one. So I put this here so I know where I left off. LOL!

For my sister

She puts down my religion, my faith. She's been brainwashed into leaving the Catholic Church and becoming "Christian". We are as much Christian as she thinks she is.

Why do we pray to saints? I read a wonderful way to tell her and I hope the person who said it doesn't mind me borrowing it next time Rita and I have the discussion:

"Asking someone like John Paul to pray for me is like asking you to pray for me. Christians are encouraged to pray for each other. Prayer does not stop with physical death because all are alive to God in Jesus Christ our Saviour."

Going to be a Mima again

Diana called me a little while ago to tell me she's pregnant again. Sammy is going to have another little sister or brother. I'm so happy for them and I'll get to be an honorary grandmother again.

I can only pray that everything goes well during this pregnancy. We almost lost Di in January and she told me that she also had some cancer cells in her cervex and that they removed part of her uterus. She has to be careful.

I just finished reading Dead Witch Walking, the first in one of the series' that Scooter suggested to me. It's by Kim Harrison and was excellent. Can't wait to find the next book. I'm going to check Paperback Swap right now.

Too Busy to Breathe!

So I work eight hours a day and it's half an hour to and from work and half an hour for lunch. Thats 9 1/2 hours a day.

Then I was asked to help keep my previous boss out of jail by catching him up on his ledgers -- three or four years worth. BUT the kicker is that he wants it all hand written on old fashioned ledger sheets. I figure it takes anywhere from one to two hours per month to write out. So I'm going there after work three days a week. I WILL put them on a spreadsheet when I catch them up with this.

Then my 85 year old aunt wants me to her house at least one night a week for supper. That's a cool thing because who knows how much longer I'll have her in my life.

Also I try to meet Beth at Dunkin Donuts for a few hours on Monday nights.

I'm trying to finish my stuff for the knitting exchange.

Orientation for faire is Sunday and after that it will be a few nights a week up at Rich and Liz' working on building props.

And Liz has asked me to make up a few lists for her of contacts that she needs but there's LOTS of places. This will be needed by April 1st -- in seven days!

To top off everything my car started stalling on the way home from work today. Of course it was when I was going down the big hills and cars were whizzing by and being standard the brakes go powerless and I had major trouble stopping.

So I'm taking the day off from work tomorrow and the car's going to the car doctor again.

*sigh*

Spring Knitting Exchange -- what I've learned!

Except for the felting, I finished the main gift for the exchange. With this project I learned some great techniques and they're WAY easier than I thought. I learned how to do a three needle bind off; how to do an I-cord bind off and how to make a ridge around something. And if this felts right, it's going to be awesome!! I'll take before and after pictures and post them here after my exchange partner receives it.

I still have to finish one more item for the exchange and then get a few goodies to go with it. I'm planning on mailing it out next Saturday.

Yesterday we went to the new Borders and Target that opened in the mall. Oh. My. God! WOW! No need to go to Boston anymore just to go to Borders. This place is awesome and blows Barnes and Noble right out of the water.

I bought three books -- Jo Pence's latest, Red Hot Murder; the first book in a new to me series that looks good, Candy Apple Dead by Sammi Carter; and the next one I need to read in Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters mysteries, Some Like it Lethal.

Last week we hit Barnes and Noble and I bought The Body in the Attic, by Katherine Hall page; The Trouble with Magic, by Madelyn Alt; Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye, by Victoria Laurie; and a book that Scooter recommended and looks AWESOME, Dead Witch Walking, by Kim Harrison.

At the library I picked up three books in a new to me series by Laura Van Wormer -- Exposé; The Last Lover and Trouble Becomes Her. The author is from Connecticut and lives about half an hour away and it's really cool reading how the characters go to different areas that I know well.

You don't know what pain and loneliness are until you visualize the person you love lying in someone else's arms -- and choosing to be there instead of with you. -- The Last Lover, by Laura Van Wormer

Felting

I have more knitting project that I want to do, than I can even think about completing in a lifetime!

I've been really facinated with felting lately and today I found a blog that has a photo and pattern to make a felted heart bowl.

More felted stuff. These are for a game but they are really cute little bowls.

I'm invisible!

Defending Your Machine is a great blog that helps with all kinds of computer stuff. I ran two checks and found out that my computer is in total stealth mode. My firewall won't let anything in. YEAH!

Another site that I got to from Defend Your Machine is Welcome To The Bleeping Computer Tutorial and I downloaded ie-spyad which will give me more protection from malicious stuff. Actually I downloaded IE-Spyad from somewhere else but this told me how to install it and what it does.

Sam is knitting!

After spending the entire day at auditions for our faire, Southern Connecticut Renaissance Fair, I get home and Sam and Anthony are here.

Last week for her 10th birthday present we went to Michael's and one of the gifts she chose was a knitting kit. So tonight she wanted me to teach her.

We gave up on the kit since they gave you big plastic purple needles -- at least size 15 and very awkward to work with. So I pulled out a pair of size 11 and she picked out some bright purple yarn. I cast on 25 stitches, knit the first row and then showed her what to do. And she's now on her second row, all by herself, doing wonderfully. And so far she likes it.

Breast Cancer site

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast
Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Another author

Well! Thanks to the suggestion in the comments on a previous entry of mine, I now have another author added to my TBR list, Lori Avocato.

YEAH! I love to read and hate it when I think I'm running out of books.

UGH!

So how can I use this place to keep my mind if I can't get in? I already lost whatever thought I came here to record last night. I tried and tried and tried to get in but couldn't. And now I can't remember what it was I wanted to say.

Hopefully it wasn't important.

Catching up

I haven't written in awhile, obviously! So I need to catch up.

I went to the Yarn Barn at lunchtime to use my 25% coupon. The first person I saw in there is Adina who is working there two days a week. I didn't know that -- that's so cool. She's a wonderful and talented knitter and a great swordfighter! So I bought the ball winder I've been craving and I also picked up three skeins of wool. I have so many projects in mind and have to live to be 125 to get them all done. LOL!!

I'm almost done with the main gift for the spring knitting exchange and I learned a new technique -- the i-cord bind off. It's so easy and looks wonderful. I'll post before and after pictures after the recipient gets it.

Another series that sounds good:

The Mommy-Track mysteries by Ayelet Waldmen

Nursery Crimes
The Big Nap
A Playdate with Death
Death Gets a Time-Out
Murder Plays House
The Cradle Robbers

Not sure if that's the right order though.

Jenny has finally started to venture out into the rest of the house although she hides out when anyone comes over. She still growls at Pino but we're getting better. :)

Ambulance Girl

I hated Kathy Bates in Misery and thought she was ok in Deloris Claiborne -- but it was actually the stories I probably hated so projected onto her.

Anyway I watched Ambulance Girl on Lifetime when it was first on because Gordon Pinsot was in it. And I LOVED it. She was awesome.

I'm watching it again tonight and decided to check and see if it had a heck of a lot more Canadians in it, because the EMT teachers all seem to have Canadian accents.

Instead I find that Ambulance Girl is a real story. A movie made from the book of the same name by Jane Stern. So now I have to read that book, of course.

Another book series I want to read

Nancy Martin -- The Blackbird Sisters series

1. How to Murder a Millionaire
2. Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds
3. Some Like It Lethal
4. Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die
5. Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too

And possibly Drop Dead Blonde

I'm ordering the first one right now from Paperback Swap. That finishes my credits until the book I'm mailing out tomorrow gets received.

Books and bouncing checks

I just ordered Gunpowder Green, by Laura Childs, from Paperback Swap. That's the second in the series and me, being an airhead, had gotten the THIRD and read that one, thinking it was the first. Now I have to get Death by Darjeeling, which is the first and try and read them in order.

Picked up Monica Ferris' Crewel World at the library and am currently reading that one. Poor Goddy! I know he didn't kill John! Bought Crewel Yule and Katherine Hall Page's The Body in the Attic on Saturday.

From the library I also go Lisa Scottoline's Killer and Sara Paretsky's Fire Sale. I hope I didn't read either of them yet. I don't think I did. That's where this blog is going to come in real handy!

No, I didn't bounce any checks -- yet! Somehow I didn't subtract right and thought I had more than I did and am now pretty short. I have $100 in cash and will head to the bank right after work tomorrow to deposit. And hope and pray it covers. And then when I get paid on Thursday, I'll deposit some more just in case. What an ASS I am!

Work was delayed until noon but I didn't go in. The roads seemed to have melted pretty well as of now, 2:30, so tomorrow's ride in should be good.

Jenny is still under the bed although she did come out last night while Pino and I were on the bed. She ate a few bits and then used the litter box and went right back under. She did purr yesterday when I was petting her so I think we're making progress.

I have to work some more on my current knitting project. After I mail it and the giftee receives it, I will post some pictures. That is IF it comes out the way it's supposed to!

Snow!

Holy cow! We had a real blizzard. It started last night and ended late this afternoon. I can't open the screen door all the way and the snow is at least a foot deep on the porch and in the driveway.

I don't think I'm going to work tomorrow. I saw on the news that we are opening at noon, but I don't think I'm going in for three hours and stressing out all the way to and from work.

Jenny, the cat, is hiding out under the bed. I brought her home Friday after work and she doesn't like Pino at all. She doesn't understand that he's a very loving dog and only wants to be friends. So she's hanging out under the bed and just finally ate a tiny bit today.

She came out last night for a few minutes and rubbed against me and then went and used the litter box. Today she came out a bit, rubbed and purred and ate a few morsels of food and back under the bed.

Hopefully she'll come out for longer periods.

No Excuses and a Cat

So one of my orders came in today -- the one I specifically ordered for the spring exchange at Knit and Chat. Now I have to get knitting in earnest. I'll get started tomorrow. I'll have to hit the yarn store for size 10.5 double pointed needles. I didn't know I'd need them or I'd have ordered them too. But the wool is beautiful and what I'm going to make will hopefully come out wonderful!

A cat. Liz called. She works at a nursing home/assisted living place and one of their old people passed away. She had a cat that sounds beautiful. He's fixed and loveable and needs a home.

Pino always got along well with cats and he's so lonely all day when I'm not home, so I'm hoping this works out. I'm going to get him on Friday or Saturday. Pino will be thrilled and I've been really wanting a cat every since Dexter barged into our hotel room in Canterbury.

Carol got a new job and will be starting in a week and a half. So we went to lunch today since we won't be able to do that much longer. Besided I won the Super Bowl pool at work and told her I'd treat her.

Then after work Lisa met me at Connies and we had supper. That was nice too. I hope we do it again soon.

Waiting for mail

Ach! I can't belive what I did but I'm excited anyway.

I put in orders at three places to feed my knitting addiction.

I've got patterns for felted stuff coming. I've got some wool coming. I have a circular needle holder, a ball winder and a swift coming. Lots and lots of stuff and I can't wait!

I'm going out to eat tonight with Roseann, Ray and his wife, Joey and his wife and Yvonne and Bunny. Maybe more but these are the definite ones. It will be fun.

Tomorrow is Dain's surprise party -- good thing no one I know around here reads this. Danny will be performing and it's going to be a good time.

Denise called me the other night and came onto my computer from Seattle to show me ideas for my painting. I'm going to make her a 5 Hour Sweater so I think she's going to a yarn store tomorrow to choose her yarns. Then she'll email me with the info and I'll take it from there.

Finished reading all the library books and one of the books from Paperback Swap. I'm reading Shades of Earl Grey now. Unfortunately I started reading it before I realized that it's not the first in the series. DUH! I should have come here to check my lists before starting. But at least it doesn't give away any of the previous books.

More books

Here's some new ones coming out that I really NEED to read. Of course if I'm not up to date on the series, I'll have to read the 'before' books first.

J.D. Robb has her latest Eve Dallas book coming out -- Interlude in Death. I still have a way to go before I get to that one.

The Old Wine Shades, by Martha Grimes -- I think I'm a few behind with the Richard Jury books.

Tomb of the Golden Bird, by Elizabeth Peters; Dark Tort, by Diane Mott Davidson -- I know I'm behind on Peters.

Cherry Cheesecake Murder, by Joanne Fluke -- think I'm still behind on this series.

Oh my God! Jo Pence is due out with a new one -- Red Hot Murder. I have read every single Angie Amalfi books. I remember after reading the first one, I emailed Pence to tell her how much I loved it. She emailed me back and I eventually sent her one of my books to be autographed. She's so nice and the Angie series is so hysterical.

Nancy Martin's, Have your Cake and Kill Him Too: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery -- never read any of them yet but they sound good and they're now on my TBR list.

A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamilton -- I'm behind on her too. I can't remember which book I left off with. *sigh* She also has The Killing Dance coming out.

Death of the Party by Carolyn G. Hart -- might be behind here too. Also Dead Days of Summer.

Laura Child's Chamomile Mourning. I haven't even read the first in the series yet, never mind the newest. Mary Dahiem's The Alpine Recluse; and the Alphine Quilt, might be up to date here. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris, I AM up to date here!

The Goodbye Body (a Claire Malloy Mystery) by Joan Hess -- might be a few behind.


This sounds good Charmed to Death: An Ophelia and Abby Mystery, by Shirley Damsgaard -- Don't know how many are in the series or if this is brand new.

Awsome!!

This has kind of been an "old home" week. Denise, my oldest and dearest friend, called me twice and it was great as usual. She's been painting and has emailed me some pictures of her work. AWESOME!!! So before I even saw the pictures, I demanded that she paint me something wonderful for my birthday. And since she loves me so much, she will!!

Today Lou called and invited me over last minute for Dorian's birthday and a late lunch. Her mom made those wonderful ravioli that are about the size of a dinner plate. They were a little smaller this time -- only sandwich plate size. LOL!!!

I bought a new mouse and a printer since both of mine died a long time ago. The mouse is going back tomorrow because it doesn't want to work. It's specifically for laptops and wireless but refuses to work with my laptop. So I'll keep using my mini mouse until I can get to Staples. BJs only had that kind. The printer works so now I can do my printing at home again.

Other than those things, I didn't accomplish anything but catching up on all my bills this weekend. YEAH! Sandy and I went to the casino for the first time in over a year and I broke even. I didn't expect to win so breaking even is good. :)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I finished reading Delectable Mountains and it was excellent. Not sure what I'll start tonight -- all the books but one came in from Paperback Swap. I love that place.

Quotes

This will be a good place to put quotes that catch my eye. I usually write them on scraps of paper and never see them again.

I love this blogging idea. It's perfect for an airhead like me! LOL!!!

Can any of you, however much you worry, add a single cubit to your span of life? If a very small thing is beyond your powers, why worry about the rest? -- Luke 12:25

My sweater and my exchange gifts

These are my needle holders and my dishcloth and scrubbies and Constant Companion bag that my exchange partner made for me. Her work is incredible!!



And this the five hour sweater -- at least my version of it anyway! Next one will be better!!

Wonderful site

This girl's work is incredible!

monster crochet

I need to really explore her blog. Just putting it here so I can find it again.

I did go to Di's party on Sunday and had a wonderful visit with her and the family.

Finished reading two of the library books and will start the third, Delectable Mountains, tonight.

I received my Holiday Exchange gift yesterday -- a bit late but oh so wonderful! K made me my very own Constant Companion bag and a pair of felted needle covers. She also sent me a quilted or cloth covered basket, a little snowman filled with candy, some star-shaped candles, two bells, a pen from Canada and a beautiful set of knitted dishcloth and scrubbies. It's so much nicer getting it after the holidays because it kind of extends Christmas. :)

On of my knitting forum friends started a Knitting Christmas Club. What a cool idea. I joined it and we have to 'deposit' at least one finished knitted Christmas gift a month in it. That way by Christmas 2006, all those participating will be way ahead of the game. This is going to be fun!

I also need to start working on the spring exchange. I have no clue yet what I want to make.

Done!

The 5 hour sweater is finished and it's really very pretty. I'll have to post a picture.

BUT the seams are so freaking bulky and there's mistakes. It does fit perfectly. I do want to make another sometime but I need to buy size 17 double pointed needles for the neck. I'd love to find size 50 circular needles or double pointed so I can do the whole thing in the round and eliminate those bulky seams.

I think I spent more time weaving in ends -- lots and lots of ends!!! -- than anything else. And doing that made the seams even more bulky. *sigh* I'm still happy with the sweater and as a prototype it will definitely do. :)

Today is Diana's birthday. Not sure if I'm going up there or not because it's getting late and I need to be home by eight or nine.

What I'm doing today

I have the whole weekend to myself and am either going to get things done or just veg out. LOLOL!!

Just sat in bed this morning with a cup of coffee and my cigarettes and finished reading Knitting, A Novel. I really enjoyed it even though it's not a murder mystery and it's not really about knitting. It is what they call chick lit, all the way.

After that I decided to roll all the leftover yarn from my 5 Hour Sweater into balls. I'm procrastinating about putting the sweater together. All the pieces are perfect but something had to have been off in the pattern because adjustments will have to be made around the neck. And I'm great at following directions but really suck at improvising things. It's on my "I Hope To Get It Done This Weekend List". :)

Then I totally emptied out and turned off the refrigerator. I tossed a bunch of stuff. Everything is sitting around the kitchen and when the fridge warms down, I will wash it and put the stuff back. Sadly, there won't be much to put back since I'm just about on empty. I really need to do a massive grocery shop. Maybe next weekend!

Now I'm going to go back to rolling yarn balls and start reading The Sugar Camp Quilt.

Well, the fridge is all sparkly clean inside and there's barely any food in it. No problem. I'm just glad it's nice and clean and there's enough to eat for the week. I've got two more partial skeins of yarn to wind into a ball and then -- maybe -- try and put that sweater together. At least I've accomplished some of my goals for today!

I HATE Insomnia!

Even after taking an ambien, I was wide awake until way after 3 a.m. I was so wide awake, in fact, that I went through the whole apartment and gathered papers and stuff and sorted them all out. At least I should have all my to be read and to be knitted or crocheted lists all in one place. When I transfer them here, I can throw them out.

I called into work around 3:30 a.m. and left a voice mail. No way I'd be heading in this morning. I finally fell asleep and woke up around 10:30.

Found a new sock knitting tutorial. Even though it's cuff down, I'm saving the link. I think it will help me alot:

Knitting Socks Online Class

It's been raining like crazy. Wtf? This is winter, not spring!! What a strange winter we've had this year!

Adding to my to buy or read list:

Blackmores Night

Blackmores Night's DVD with songs on it that I don't have. They're currently one of my very favorite groups. It took me more than a week to come down off the high after meeting and talking with Candace Night last summer. I still can't believe Richie and Candace came to our faire as patrons and then she came into Wizard's Warehouse and visited with us. What a voice that lady has. And Richie Blackmore is just as great as he was when he was with Deep Purple.

Just ordered Shades of Earl Grey, by Laura Childs from PaperBackSwap.com

It's the third in the Teashop Mystery series so now I have to get the first book, Death by Darljeeling

Then I need to get the second book, Gundpowder Green and then I can read the rest in the series!

Paperback Bookswap is an awesome place. Any time I get a request for a book that I have listed there and I send it and it's received, I get a point. I also get a point for each person that joins through my link. The books are used and they're free. All it costs the send is media mail postage -- 4 stamps. I LOVE that place! Each point is a free book I can get.

Ok. I shouldn't have gone there. Just ordered another book. By Elizabeth Peters. I thought I read all her stuff, even under the name Barbara Michaels, but this isn't any of her series stuff under the Peters name. It's old stand alone Elizabeth Peters. If I read it, it was years ago, so I never mind re-reading Peters!

Devil May Care

The Love Talker

And I ordered Love Her Madly, by Mary Ann Tirone Smith, who I just found out lives right here in CT. I have two others in the series so I can start reading those soon. YEAH!!

Also Down the Garden Path, by Dorothy Cannell, the second book in the Ellie Haskell series. I have the first one, The Thin Woman. And finally I ordered Mum's the Word which will give me at least the first four books in the series. I have the latest and one other.

I think I'm finally out of points! LOL!!

How cool is this? I'm watching the Food Network and someone made fish and chips, which I LOVE. And I eat it the traditional way with malt vinegar which makes everything soggy. Well on the show, they had the vinegar in a spray bottle -- the kind you use to spray water on stuff -- and sprayed as they ate. I have GOT to remember to try that.

Library

Went to the library after work and picked up three books from my list of books I want to read.

Knitting A Novel
Delectable Mountains
The Sugar Camp Quilt

I'm starting the first one tonight. The other two are parts of series' I've been reading and I finally found the latest in both. YEA!!

Didn't work on my sweater tonight because I'm too lazy.

Diana is home from the hospital and since she finished her medications she didn't have to go home with an IV. Lots of prayers answered with her.

Herbs

I'm really liking this blog thing. I used to write down links to pages I find interesting, or I'd bookmark them. Well I always lose my written notes and I have so much bookmarked that I can never find anything.

So we were talking about chamomile at a tea forum I belong to and I decided to do a search on drying chamomile. This is what I came up with and I really HAVE to try it.

Relaxing With Chamomile -- it tells you all about the uses and even has recipes to make different kinds of teas. Really cool! I wonder if I can do it?

I try to grow herbs every year and every year I kill them somehow. This year I had sage and lavendar and they were actually still alive after three months. Then my sister decided to help me out by pruning the dead leaves off the sage plant. After I saw it, I almost killed her. I told her the leaves weren't dead and that's what they were SUPPOSED to look like. She insisted it would grow back better. It didn't and the lavendar was so horrified that it died of shock from seeing it's friend, the sage plant, murdered. *sigh*

Progress

I have been in the house since Saturday afternoon except for a quick trip to the grocery store. I'm out of everything and really have no money right now. Used a gift card plus $20 my son gave me. :)

So I think I've made a bit of progress since I didn't leave the house much.

I started the 5 Hour Sweater for the knit along I'm in.

It's actually coming along nicely and I'm using up tons of stash. I finished one side and am half way done with the other. Then I'll just have the sleeves. Hope to finish at least the second side tonight.

I also filed my Federal tax return. Can't do the state one until the 31st. But I'll have a bit of money coming in and that will be great!

My knitting wish list is growing even bigger than my reading wish list. At the rate I'm going, I need to quit work so I can read and do all the things I want to do. LOL!!!!!!!!

Well I found one book that I really need to read,

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

I really need to quit smoking -- I could use the money for better things like buying books and wool!

Reason for this blog

If I remember, I want to use it as a memory bank. Hopefully I can write things I'd like to remember and also things like:

Knitting projects and their progress
Books I'm reading
Books I've read
What's on my reading list

Ok, so I read alot! LOL!!

Anyway, that's the plan. We'll see what happens.