January

I wrote this four years ago, but it keeps popping back into my mind these days, so I'm sharing it again :)

January

January is my mother
with her hand on my head
gently holding me in place.
I won’t be running out
into the road on her watch!
She is humming some
somnolent tune and
although I am awake
I feel my eyes slide shut,
feel them slide sideways 
looking for that aproned lap.
I’ll just rest a while
here in the womb
of the year.

The Bug 
1/12/12

Monday Miscellaney

Last Monday night the pain in my left leg was such that I could NOT get comfortable. Tossed & turned, just knew that I'd done something terrible to my hip (you know, the one that was mostly replaced 4 1/2 years ago), cursed myself for not losing weight... It was pretty bad. The next day I realized that I didn't have any trouble walking or standing - but whenever I sat down or tried to sleep it was pretty painful. Very weird. That gradually faded mostly away & I put it down to the cold temps. But it turns out it was the opening salvo in getting shingles. After I saw all the spots on my left leg I had my suspicions, and confirmed it with a visit to urgent care this morning. Sigh. But, you know, my hip is fine, so that's good!

This is actually my second bout with shingles. I had it on one hip in high school. Peering back into the murky depths of time what I remember mostly is that I had to keep some sort of salve on it & when I went back to school it was itchy & goopy under my jeans (why did I wear jeans??? because 1980?). I don't remember the horrible pain that everyone talks about. And I don't really have horrible pain right now. Let's hope it stays that way!

So, moving on to my other obsession (other than my health), here are the first squares for the two blankets I'm making this year. As usual, my pictures don't really show the true colors, so I'm including some screen shots I grabbed from the internet. I'm not too sure about my choices this year, but I pre-bought all the yarn, so let's just hope I get a better feeling later. Ha!

In other crafty news, I made this very orange hat (to match the fingerless gloves I made before Christmas). I couldn't resist getting a picture before I braided the long chains - ha! I'm not all that sure about this hat either (the buttons are really too big) - but I already have someone who wants it if the intended recipient isn't interested.

Finally, the kind of pictures that you really want to see - Dr. M did his usual moon thing.

And he saw were-squirrels!

We didn't get even a snowflake from this latest storm - I hope all of those who were buried in snow are successfully digging out now!

Friday Folderol

While the rest of the nation is being blanketed in white (I know, I know, not everyone is getting a blizzard - it just feels that way!), we here in the middle of Ohio are anticipating somewhat warmer temperatures (in the 30s with maybe even some Sun on Sunday!). I'm slightly sad about missing all that snow, but on the other hand it's nice to not have to worry about clearing off the walkways for church on Sunday.

I'm still planning on posting some pictures on Monday, but I wanted to go ahead & share a few today. Yesterday was Squirrel Appreciation Day. You know that we here at the Bug Household LOVE our squirrels, so I thought I'd go out yesterday morning & give them an extra corn cob as a treat. 

Then I waited & waited to see a squirrel in its little chair.  I looked out in the afternoon & was all excited! 

Wait - you're not a squirrel!

Silly starling.

Finally in the late afternoon, we had some squirrel action. Aww - isn't he cute?

Sorry guy - it's all gone!

And now, here's a bonus shot of Papa Cardinal & his harem :)

If you're in the snowpocalypse zone, stay safe! And if you're not, don't be too smug. 

Sweet!

So, at work yesterday, I opened a drawer that I apparently never open and found this:

I thought to myself, "Ooh - now THIS is a lovely surprise! I vaguely remember buying this treat, but I can't believe I didn't eat all of the brownies right away!" Then I thought to myself, "Hmm - there seem to be conversation-type hearts all over the label." Then I thought to myself, "Self, when exactly did you buy these brownies?"

In case you can't tell - that says February 16, 2015. Yes indeed - these brownies are now almost a year old, and yet they appear to be in fine condition.

I left them in the drawer. I'm thinking I might try to eat one.

10 on 10

Look! I remembered to do this! Sort of, as usual...

1. I feel like this sign might be telling me something, but I'm just not exactly sure what.

2. The highlighted part of the confession at the end of the Prayers of the People always gets me. I'm often convinced that I'm not nearly enough of an activist.

3. We had our monthly vestry meeting. As usual, we ran longer than we could have because we are all very chatty. We like each other!

4. This is Paula, one of our shelter staff members, going over with us all of the systems they have in place to help our homeless guests. Applying for birth certificates, social security cards, food stamps, housing, jobs... It's a lot of work! And our staff also tries to work with each person to get any help with addiction or mental health assistance they might need. I included part of a thank you letter from one guest - we're known as the Red Door Shelter because of our Episcopal red door :)

5. After church I took a few pictures of our first significant snowfall of the year. And I startled the neighbor's cat who likes to hang out in our yard. Ha!

6. At the grocery store. I think I might need this. What do you think?

7. From one of my daily walks. Now that I'm trying to get 2.5 miles in per day I have to take at least two walks. I'm proud to say that since starting the initiative I've gotten over 10,000 steps on two days - a big deal for me because I usually am in the 6,000 - 8,000 range.

8. & 9. Remember this? I decided to break it out again :)

10. Temperature blanket progress. I was excited to use a new color since the temp was so low. I'm mixing in a strand of white when we get snow. It looks pretty weird right now, but it's fun!

Monday Miscellany

I'm just sort of dipping my toe in here - not sure I have very much to report since my last post of three days ago, but here goes.

Crochet Madness: In addition to the two new blankets that I plan to make with the Moogly CAL again this year, I have committed to another year long project. And Dr. M will tell you, if asked, that I am OBSESSED with it. It's called a temperature blanket. The object is to check the temperature each day & crochet (or knit) one row in the color chosen for that temperature range. Here's my color chart (using leftover yarn from last year's blankets) and first three days of crocheting.

I'm checking the temp at 7:00 each evening and I was SO EXCITED about today. The low is supposed to be 11 degrees & I just knew that it would be below 22 by 7:00 so I could use a new color. Sadly, it's currently 30 degrees at 5:15 & not likely to dip below 22 in the next nearly two hours. However, you know that I will keep you posted on the situation. 

I'm Not Really Awake Right Now: After three weeks of mostly waking up whenever the heck I wanted to, I have been very annoyed at having to be somewhere and functional for the past two mornings. This afternoon I was staring blearily at the report I was editing and had to get up and WALK for twenty minutes. That's just sad. I think that eventually I'll start getting to bed at a reasonable hour. Maybe. 

This is Not a Resolution: I have two fitness/weight loss challenges at work right now. One is with my department - we're being challenged to lose 6% of our body weight by April 1. We also had to come up with a personal stretch goal. I decided that my goal will be to walk an average of 2.5 miles a day. Currently I average a little over a mile a day. This challenge is why I got up to walk when I was falling asleep at my desk, so I think it's already been a success! 

The other challenge is a pseudo biggest loser challenge, where we put money down & have to pay $1 per pound if we gain weight. We did it in the fall & I did a fabulous job of maintaining my weight. Ha! I'm never successful at these, but I like the little niggle in the back of my head that makes me think twice before I eat ice cream. 

Upcoming Events: I've been afraid to see how many books I've read since the last Book Review Tuesday. Maybe in the rush to Crochet All The Things before Christmas I didn't actually read that many. We shall see. Maybe next Tuesday. (OK, I peeked - 10 books. Ulp.)

OK, that's enough - what's random in your life? (Still 30 degrees at 5:37. Sigh.)

2015 Project 365 – Week Fifty-two

As promised, here are the links to Dr. M’s further posts from our vacation: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas & home.

This was one of the weirdest Christmases in recent memory – death, illness, sticky heat… We made it through with a little help from our friends & family.

This is my last Project 365 post – and it’s a long one because I’m going through the end of the year. After 6 years the joy has worn off & this post has become a chore to do each week. Never fear! I plan to continue to blog & will definitely post interesting pictures as they happen.

Sunday, December 20^th    

The moon!

And our neighbor’s house.

Monday, December 21^st          

I went to Walmart to find Christmas cards. When I got back in the car I realized that I was just a tad windblown. Made me laugh.

Tuesday, December 22^nd                         

My daily walk – the Tiny Little Dog/Hippie Van/Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer edition.

Wednesday, December 23^rd                 

Today we headed to NC for Christmas. Before we left town we saw these great cars.

Scenery from the road…

My step-mother Amy has not been doing well, so we stayed in a hotel.

Thursday, December 24^th  

Today we found out that Dr. M’s aunt Helen died. He headed out to be with his dad, & I spent the day with Daddy & Amy & shopping with my sister-in-law B (thanks B!). We exchanged gifts with my brother’s family and Daddy & Amy that evening, but this is the only picture I took – from my dreadmill walk at the hotel.

Friday, December 25^th     

Today Dr. M & I went to spend the day with his dad. Here are some things we saw:

That evening Dr. M fell asleep while I crocheted & watched Harry Potter (yes, I was still working on one of those blasted blankets – ha!).

Saturday, December 26^th       

Today Dr. M spent some more time with his dad while I stayed with mine & went shopping (again) with B. You may have noticed that the country-side between my dad’s house & Dr. M’s dad’s house is just as critter-ful as our Ohio :)

The moon! It was warm, rainy, & cloudy practically the whole time we were in NC, so this is as close as we got to seeing the full moon.

Sunday, December 27^th    

Today I was going to meet Daddy at the nursing home to sing with him, but he called to let me know that he was taking Amy back to the emergency room. She’s been having trouble with fluid buildup hampering her ability to breathe. She’d been in the hospital for a couple of days the week before, but the fluid had built up again. I met them at the hospital and sat with them until they took her back. I used one of my new handy Swiss Army crochet hooks to work on a project. (Thanks B – these will come in handy!).       

I left the hospital to go pick up Dr. M so that we could go to his aunt’s funeral. We got to see some family at the funeral that we otherwise would have missed on this trip, so it was a mixed blessing. That evening, I took my daily walk by going up & down the hallways & stairwells of our hotel. They’re obviously doing some renovations. Ha!

Monday, December 28^th           

Monday morning we met our friends for our annual breakfast & then we headed home to Ohio. We’ve been doing this since 1984 - I missed one gathering because I was in Zambia. I gave these ladies the blankets I’d been making for them.

I never did get a good picture of any of the blankets, so I asked them to take pictures for me. Two of them posted pictures on Facebook. The third one doesn’t do Facebook – she needs to get with the program!

Tuesday, December 29^th                         

Neither of us took a picture today! So you get my screen shot of my daily walk.

Wednesday, December 30^th                  

My friend J made our gifts this year – I love the snow couple. Maybe we’ll even have some snow for them eventually!

Dr. M saw a couple of chickadees out back. They’re so cute.

Thursday, December 31^st

I figured out a workaround for my discontinued yarn issue for the blanket I’m making for Dr. M and me. I finished the last square & got them all labeled so that I can piece them together. Better get with it – the 2016 crochet along is starting soon & I’m making two more blankets!

I’ve really enjoyed doing this project for 6 years. Who knows, maybe I’ll do it again sometime. Hope everyone has a great week!