A Walk to Remember

This post is not about me, but about my friend Sarah , whom I met on Ravelry.  She is a race fan and a knitter.  She will graduate in 3 weeks,  and it is the accomplishment - she didn't take the easy road to success.  Here's her catch.  She is short $$ to be able to walk to get her diploma.  It would be HUGE for her family to be able to see her go across the stage.  I know this time of year money is short, but she is hosting a raffle on her blog there are some cool prizes - stitchmarkers, wollmeise. For you non-knitters, there is an offer to handknit socks or a shawl from some fabulous yarn.  Entries are $5.  So if you can, please help my friend out.

Happy Birthday Curt!!

Happy Birthday to my other.   I love you (well except when you are picking against my team)


and for those wondering how I got him:

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm" You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone... Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-) You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear. It's partially because you're a great listener and good at complementing. The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person. Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life. You can finesse your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face. Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

       

Thanksgiving

Haven't spent a lot of computer time online since Thursday, so here are some Thanksgiving highlights. Brought everyone wine ( yeah that I don't usually drink, but sigh, they aren't beer people) Now one of the things that tickles me to death, is to find a pretty decent wine that has a name that amuses me.  This time it was Sweet Bitch.   One that was red colored and one that was white colored ( didn't look that closely, I think the white was a chardonnay, no recollection of the red. ) I had some at my mom's and it seemed good (considering it was wine)  Now it did loosen up the sticks up my sister and her boyfriends butts, and I got a picture:



My father in law made the Angie's southern tummy happy with a .... cauldron of gumbo.  He has been her sidekick since she started toddling around and learned she had him wrapped around her fingers if she flashed her dimples at him.  So here's Gramps and the Angie: 



Angie has had a bucket list since she was about 5. (seriously youngest person to have a bucket list- and has been working on the list just as long) One of the things that has been on her list for quite some time  has been to have a tur-duc-en.  






The Diamond Twins - aka Curt's sister Erica and cousin Oliva




Hope everyone had a great holiday!
 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe day!  To all of you that are hitting the really early Black Friday sales - you people are nutz!  Go back to sleep!! I have to be at work at 4am as always, so you people will just be creating traffic for me!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is: Inhibition(s)

 

Silly little fear,

holding us back from our lives

Image go to hell!

 

Why do people let,

other people rule their acts,

and not be themselves?

 

My heart on my sleeve

My thoughts and actions are free

of needless edit!

 

Those that say I wont

I can't I shouldn't miss out

on true joy in life!   

Here's what I got myself

for my birthday!! 

 

Finished another project, friends baby, hyper

I cast on a hat on Wednesday with some stash.   So as a quick knit, it is finished!




When I was driving from Target to Shop Rite running my errands this morning and I saw my friend's baby.  Since I don't know when she gets to pick it up I'm posting a picture so she can see it's ok and somewhat happy, despite missing her:

You Are Hyperactive

You have a ton of energy! The trick is trying to figure out where to direct all your excitement. You see possibilities everywhere you look. It's easy for you to be inspired. Your creativity really knows no bounds. You're always up to something amazing and interesting. You have an active mind and spirit. You can't sit still, and why should you?

A Seashell Test

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

  

Yesterday Calvin and his stuffed sidekick Hobbes turned 25.  I think they are my all time favorite comic strip.  And - don't ask - but if it weren't for Calvin and Hobbes,Curt and I may never have gotten married.  Man, I'm old!

It's been a rough several weeks, for my friends and their friends, children dieing, cancer, strokes, You name it and it's happened to someone my friends know.  Closest to home is a woman at work Orchid.  I always thought she was at least 10 years older than me , mid fifties I figured.  I was shocked to learn she is only 2 years my senior.  She has diabetes that she has not been able to really get a handle on.  She has some kind of bone issue and has had stress fractures in her feet twice in the last 2 years.  She has become mostly a couch potato. She was in the hospital a couple of months ago  because circulation issues almost cost her her foot. 

She's pretty much alone in the world except for her cat.  Her parents are both gone.  They were only children.  Her last grandparent died a few years ago.  her husband passed away before I met her.  He was an only child and they never had children.  He had an uncle, but last summer Orchid discovered him dead in his kitchen.  The only real person she has is another woman I work with Denise. they have been BFFs for over 15 years.  

Last thursday she had a fluttering heartbeat, was having trouble breathing, started sweating even though she was cold.  Her doctor had her call an ambulance and after 5 aspirin was wisked off to the ER.  On Friday they did one of those cath scope tests.  Found out she had 3 arteries over 90% blocked.  AND found damaged heart tissue.  While she didn't have a heart attack last week, she had , had one in the past. They had to take her off of the cumidin she took for her bp, and for the aspirin to come out of her system.  They did a triple bypass, using a vein from her good leg and 2 chest veins.  and they installed the wires for a pacemaker which she'll receive in the next few weeks.  She came through the surgery well, but has a tough recovery ahead of her.

Scary how something like that makes me think about my life a little deeper.

Prayers and good thoughts out for Orchid and all of my friends' friends that need them!

You Are Reflective

During your downtime, you like to think about the world around you and develop theories. You secretly wish that you could be a more successful person. Being rich is a dream of yours. You feel optimistic about the world, and you feel like you deal with everyday life well. You hardly notice problems. You are inspired by your own thoughts and observations. You don't need much outside influence in order to feel inspired.

The Cafe Test

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

       

Thursday Thunks - The Best News Ever

Thursday Thunks - The Best News Ever

Welcome to the November18th edition of Thursday Thunks!
(which we always seem to post on Wednesday) Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!
We pick a subject, and your job is to interpret it anyway you want.
Write about it on your blog... simple as that.
Maybe you can interpret it as a picture - we don't care!
Please only leave a link if you have written a Thursday Thunks post.
Please mention us in your post, and link back to the blog here.
Don't forget to go visit the other participants' blogs.
Read and comment about all their Thursday Thunks responses!
That's what all this is about after all, isn't it?
We'll have so much fun and become lifelong friends....

Thursday Thunks: I told you I'd post it!

The TT questions are brought to you by Berleen, the color of snow and the number that comes after 393.

Turn the tv on and open the newspaper.... whats the best reported news you've ever heard? Ever?  That would be that the crew of Apollo 13 got back ok ( my dad was a subcontractor for NASA at the time)

Hey! Guess what? Whats the best personal news someone has told you?That the biopsy on his mom turned out to be just calcium! (ok that was for this week - see answer farther down)

Goshdarnit I'm tired... When you lay down to sleep at night, whats the best position for you to fall asleep in?Most days I lay on my left side with my left arm under the pillow,, and at least one foot outside the blanket.

What the most excited you've ever been?Ok I really can't answer this.  I don't know, and Yes are the two answers I have.  For those who don't know me in real life I can be...exuberant.  I get really happy over big things, but also really happy over little things.  So everything!

Ever touched a turkey? And yeah, I mean the gobble gobble kind. I'm glad I re-read this or this could have been a stupid question. Have you ever touched a living, breathing, not on your plate turkey?When I was in first or second grade, my class went on a field trip to a poultry farm and I got to hold a turkey chick in my hand.

Its everywhere, it's driving me crazy! Spend money, people, spend money! Have you boughten anything from the "new & early" Black Friday deals this year?  I don't think I've ever "boughten" anything.  And the answer is no.  If you read Monday's blog post you'd know I don't want to go shopping at all!!

So the news is out, the most best news ever in the history of news - Kimber & Berleen are finally going to meet! Kimber is flying to Minnesota. What should she bring with her?Her laptop, and a coat ( can you buy a coat in Arizona? she may need to shop online) mittens, scarf, hat.  And beer money!

Kimber thinks all Minnesotans eat lutefisk. It's a Scandinavian food and lucky for her, we're German. Maybe it's Norwegian. Heck I don't know - you ever ate the stuff? I never even HEARD of the stuff.  A lute is like a medieval guitar, fisk, I don't know what a fisk is...  OMG!! I just Googled Lutefish. Dried cod soaked in LYE!! That's what they used to make soap with that dried out and cracked and basically destroyed the hands of the maids and charwomen that cleaned for a living.  LYE burns!!  It is caustic!! It is considered hazmat!!! It turns the fish into jelly by removing 50% of the protein!!  Lucky, yeah lucky to live through it!!!!!

Whats in your right pocket right now? A Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

 

When you go to the dentist for your cleaning, do you use the toothbrush that they give you or do you use one that you have purchased yourself?Reach is the only kind I'll use.

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is: Accident(s)

 

If Freud is correct

nothing is an accident,

it's deeper meaning.

 

 

Twenty years on docks,

one incident -not my fault,

I STILL hear about! 

I finally finished!!

My Victory Junction Camp afghan for 2010 is done!! And packed!! and mailed out!!  (Today was the deadline to mail to get points for Tony!!) ( I also added 5 inches of width on a different afghan..I think Tony should get credit for the 5" by 49" I added.  That's 245 sq inches!!  That's just about 10 5x5 squares!)  

So now I'm up to 35 projects for the year.  17 more to go to fulfill my goal of 52 in 52!

So anyway, since I am going to work on other projects for awhile (next race season) I put the 8 leftover squares and the three starter squares for another one and ALL the acryllic yarn in a giant bed in a bag bag to put away for awhile.



And I cast on a hat!

You Are 40% Abnormal

You are at medium risk for being a psychopath. It is somewhat likely that you have no soul. You are at medium risk for having a borderline personality. It is somewhat likely that you are a chaotic mess. You are at medium risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is somewhat likely that you are in love with your own reflection. You are at low risk for having a social phobia. It is unlikely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement. You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

How Abnormal Are You?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

       

I wish it were Dec 26th!

It is now 39 days until Christmas.  I love Christmas.  I love the lights, the trees, the sparkle, the twinkle.  I love the cookies, the spiced cider, the smell of cinnamon, the plum pudding, the sugar fruits.  I love the music, both the classical, orchestral and popular.  I love the Grinch, Rudolph, the Island of Misfit toys (can I retire there?) Snow Miser.  I love Chevy Chase freaking out over Christmas lights.  I love the Sound of Music (one of my all time favorite movies, but I never understood why they always play it on tv at Christmas time)  I love when someone's eyes light up when I give them the perfect gift.

I hate shopping.  Seriously.  Not just at this time of year, but always.  I have several sets of the same pair of jeans.  They fit, looked good and were on sale.  I bought all the ones in my size.  Sad isn't it?  I also have the conundrum, of not a lot of kids anymore.  Kids are fun to shop for. (ACTUAL  children on my list are done.  No way in hell I'm going in a toy store/toy department from now until mid-January.)  Adults not so much fun.  The adults in my life are especially boring.  My sister and sister in law have very few interests, none of which are conducive to gift giving.  My brother and husband are the type of people who don't want/need anything because if they did, they already bought it.  Several of my friends are not in really good financial positions and I'm trying to figure out how to tell them I don't want to trade gifts.

Then there is the Angie.  She's kinda tough to shop for.  Most of her clothes she needs to actually try on. It's hard to predict what she'll like.  What she really wants is gift cards and money to go shop for herself.  I already bought her several little things, and I told her to tell me the one thing she really wants.

I'm only making a couple people yarnie things.  But mostly because they really look forward to handmade gifts and would be disappointed if they didn't get anything.

This whole thing is turning me into a Grinch!!

I wish I could just go out to lunch/coffee/dinner/beer with each person, with good one on one conversation and call it done.  Sigh....

So how apropos is this quiz?

You Are a Reluctant Shopper

You really don't enjoy shopping. For you, it's just another chore. You approach shopping systematically. You research what you're going to buy and come prepared with a list. Of all the types, you are the most likely to not buy things you don't need. You try to de-emphasize stuff in your life. You find shopping and buying things to be a rather empty experience.

What Kind of Shopper Are You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

   

Finally finished Samantha!!

Guys Think You're Easy to Be With... But Not Easy

You're definitely a flirt - and a good one. But you also know that you shouldn't make a move on any cute guy who passes by. You save your seductive moves for someone who already knows the real you. That way, your sex appeal is just part of the whole package.

Are You An Easy Girl?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

       

Ok so no thunks again...

DOn't know what's up with that...

But first - to any Veterans out there:

There's a lot of military in my family, but even if there's not in your's take a moment to give a Thank You.

Yes, I actually woke up early... damn clock changes, so I am actually writing this post at 3:51 am because I don't have to leave for another 9 minutes (woke up early, am scheduled to start half an hour late to cut time for an all-store meeting on Sunday morning... sigh)  And, because I have overtime from Mon & Tue, and I'm only working 40 this week, I get to leave at 10am!  Woot!!  I feel like a kid on a half day.  And that means I get to meet my friend Grace , yes it's only been 2 weeks not 2 months, for lunch later!  I'm going to give her a quick shout out, she's been on Weight Watchers, and she's lost around 50 pounds already! (sorry sweetie I don't know the exact number any more- but in flooring terms it's more than a bag of thinset!!) Of course I'm a horrible influence because now I'm tempting her with pumpkin spinach quiche (oh my goodness, so so so amazing) so hopefully she's saved some ponts!  But I am really really really proud of you Grace!!  Especially given the way her husband, Tom is into cooking gourmet food! So awesome quiche, a caramel latte, and knitting for me!

Your Hidden Talent is Your Savvy

You're super sensitive and easily able to understand situations. You tend to solve complex problems in a flash, without needing a lot of facts. Decision making is easy for you. You have killer intuition. The right path is always clear, and you're a bit of a visionary.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

        


and look ! it's 3:59 I finished with a minute to spare!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is: Preparation

 

A few deep breaths and

wipe my palms, open the door

 am I ready yet? 

Forgot to show you..

I was reminded that although I posted my finished Kimmy and Kimmy's Dumpling bag on Ravelry, I never posted it here to my blog.  So without further ado Kimmy:



Kimmy's Dumpling - made from Kimmy's scraps - will hopefully be lined at some point and used as a sock project bag.



What happened to Samantha you may ask.  I am still working on some finishing touches, you will probably see it next weekend.


I started a project, probably for the Angie with yarn I bought on a crawl through the Philly area, sponsored by her kewlness Min, when Angie was in orientation.



I am knitting it up on size 15 needles... blech.  When I first started knitting I was convinced I would never, never knit with anything smaller than an 8.  Now I say nothing smaller than a 1.  And 15's feel very unwieldy, I will power through and finish. 

In my 52 in 52 group ( we plan on knitting/crocheting 52 items in 2010) I am done with 32.  The afghan and Samantha this weekend will bring me up to 34.  I am making some mini socks which should be quick knits... sigh.  I started the year off so well.  But, even though I am not ruling it out, I really don't want to resort to a handful of dishcloths on New Year's Eve.

People Are Drawn to Your Energy

You have a real zest for life. You approach each day with optimism. You believe it's important to keep going no matter what. You're always ready to tackle a new challenge. You naturally boost the energy levels of those around you. You have a lot of enthusiasm and stamina. You know how to get people moving in the right direction. You are a natural coach.

Why Are People Drawn To You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

         

Cold Rainy Monday

Am I the only one who enjoys a cold rainy day??  Judging from all the grousing I've heard I feel like I must be.  An mind you I was outside in the rain dealing with trucks for an hour, the only annoying thing is the droplets on my glasses, bet that was no biggie.  I always say I'm not sweet, so I'm not going to melt.  

So I only have one minor thing to report on the project me front.  I bought myself a birthday present.  It is currently in the hall closet, because I'm not going to play with it until my birthday, so you guys will have to wait until them to see it.  Curt laughed  when he saw it and I have a feeling some of you may as well.  But he did admit even if my hints included printing out the items and the store and taping them to his forehead, he probably wouldn't have taken the hint and gotten it, because he would have thought I wasn't serious.... MEN!!

Some quick news about Angie, that those of you on Twitter ( ahem ..... Grace....) already may have seen.  There was a big tournament , the Temple Open, schools from all over the country were there ( Angie made friends with a girl from Georgia Tech Jean!!) Now, remembering that Angie is a freshman, and has had success at tournaments, but only in NJ, NY, CT, MD and PA - not national tournaments.  She finished 20th out of 71 women sabres.  She finished 2 positions ahead of her old captain from high school who fences for Haverford now. So woot! (or shoudl I say Hoot?)  Great Job Angie!!


Lastly, it is November 8th.  One of my best friend's older brother was assigned to this unit after this battle went down, he's still in the service, plans on retiring next year.  My friend was 4 in 1965, I wasn't born yet.  But since it came out, this song always chokes him up and he plays it like a million times, especially today.  And I love John Rich.  So I'll share with you.

A Saturday...

Saturday, a day that conjures up freedom and bliss.  Blech, not lately.  I woke up way, way before the sun.  I tried staying in bed until sunrise, but by 630, I was bored and my back was getting stiff, so I got up.  I laid out an afghan and realized that knitting/crocheting squares over the course of 6 months, and (here's the real mistake) using the last finished square to measure the current square, was a problem.  My squares are different sizes.  Some drastically.  Sigh.  Also since there is a size limitation on the 'ghan, my plan of 4 across and 5 down would be too big.  SO I did what I should have done in the beginning.  I got a piece of foam core and cut it to a square.  But instead of the 10" square it should have been, it was a 12" square since there were a few at 10 1/2 to 11 inches.  I am now, crocheting borders around the squares in black until they match the template.  And the 12 I will end up using are laid out so as I do the borders I am seaming them together.

Curt and I were going to go out to lunch while running a bunch of errands today.  The first place we went to is 5 Guys Burgers & Fries which recently opened a location in Denville.  This place has gotten massive amounts of good reviews from it's other locations, and has been featured in a lot of different magazines and newspapers.  It was a really cute retro themes restaurant, with white tiles accented by red ones, vinyl booths etc.  But looking at the menu - they only cook their burgers well done.  Now it has been my experience that places that fresh grind their beef ( Fatburgers, Fuddruckers to name two) will cook rare burgers. Or at the very least medium-rare.  It's why I won't order burgers at places like Applebees, and at Ruby Tuesdays the only burger I'll order is the fresh ground angus burger (which admittedly the last time I was there was a few years ago so I don't know what they have currently).  I like my burgers rare!! I do not like my burgers medium much less well done!! Now I still would have gotten a burger, because Curt was looking forward to trying their burgers.  BUT, their fries were done in peanut oil and Curt is allergic to peanuts.  So Curt couldn't have the fries, I wasn't going to be happy with my burger we left.

We headed to a place that had "Mediterranean  food"  We had gotten their menu a couple months ago, and I have been looking for a good falafel sandwich nearer to home than Paterson, which is close to work, and honestly I'm never detouring through there on my way home.  So we pull in and they are closed.  And there is a handwritten for sale sign in the window.  My tummy wasn't happy.

So at this point I. Am. Hungry.  and a tad grouchy about it.  So we head for the Alexis Diner, always a good choice, except during peak "diner" times when it can be a wait because it isn't a really big diner.  ( OMG they make the most AWESOME Irish Lamb Stew, but it isn't always on the menu)  Since I was wound up for a falafel sandwich I went with a gyro (same tzatziki sauce, OK not the same, Alexis makes the best tzatziki I've had)  and Curt had a bacon cheeseburger, rare, with fries that wouldn't kill him.

We still had more things to do, and it was 3:45 by the time we got home.  I took a nap.  I had my alarm set for 5. It went off.  I couldn't get it to stop buzzing.  I tried every button, and it was turned off, everything was off.  I unplugged it. Still buzzing.  Then I realized it was the alar,m on my cell phone.  blech.

On a positive note, the Temple Owls beat Kent State 28-10, giving them a 8-2 record, 5-1 in the MAC, and first place in the MAC. 
Have I mentioned that Angie loves their new coach, Al Golden??

You Are 75% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

     

I stole Grace's Friday Fill- ins.

I'm kinda pissy today.  Almost got my butt fired, but she couldn't.  :P
I realize I haven't posted all week (there were no thunks yesterday!!) and I wasn't feeling very inspired so I stole Grace's Friday Fill-ins.

1. Sometimes, I just want to run away and start over.

2.  I'm still really pissed__ about the whole thing.

3. Small  brains and big ego's are a volatile combination when encountering my temper as an ignition source.
 
4.  How people respond to stress  is very enlightening.

5. I keep meaning to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
 
6. They haven't been able to figure out the rules that allows them to win  ..yet.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to homemade gnocchi_, tomorrow my plans include _laundry, grocery shopping, mail Angie a care package (SPOILED KID) and of course college football and britcoms at night___ and Sunday, I want to _watch Tony win the race___!


This quiz came out frighteningly accurate!

Your Thinking is Concrete and Random

You are naturally inquisitive and curious. You're excited by new ideas, and you are a true independent thinker. You are interested in what is possible. You like the process of discovery. You are often experimenting, challenging old ideas, and inventing new concepts. Rules, restrictions, and limits don't really work for you. You have to do things your own way, and you can't be bothered to explain yourself.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

       

Please Vote!

Remember there are people in parts in the world wait on line for hours and risk their lives for the opportunity to vote.  Don't take your rights for granted or else don't complain when you find you have none!!

Project Me (6) - Atonnement spoilers.

WOW!  My last project me post was 10.04.10 that was just about a month ago.   So to try to recap.  The book I read from the 1001 list took me all month.  Part 1 was really hard to get into.  But, Angie liked the book - I have mentioned she's really smart right?  It was literally over half the book!  Once  again an over indulged spoiled little girl is the main character.  Her naivete/fantasy/assumptions change her sister,  her cousin, her father's protege and her brother's friends lives and destinies.   Part 2 was seen through the eyes of a soldier retreating across France, wounded with a fever and only partially lucid, but a great improvement over the first part.  I guess it was the triumph of love, and the determination and will to live to reach the true love made this short section necessary, as well as letting the reader catch up on what happened since Part 1 ended. Part 3 was interesting, the whole girl grows up, realizes her mistake and tries to redeem herself.  Dealing with the casualties of war also forces her to grow up in one long day as a probationary nurse.  IF it had ended there, the reader could imagine that her sister and her lover, after finding each other again live happily ever after, that perhaps while never achieving the lost closeness of sisters, there are repairs made to the relationship.  But in the final section "1999"  the girl, now an old woman, facing slow dementia due to micro-strokes is wrapping up her life's business.  You would be led to believe that the first three parts are the result of her lifelong project - a book.  But as she takes stock, we discover that the soldier - her sister's true love- dies of a blood infection, probably from his wound in France, a few weeks after she sees him and her sister.  Her sister only survives a couple of months, dying in the German bombing of London.  Her cousin, who has married her rapist, now the couple is Lord and Lady, and dedicated to charitable works.  And as the narrator heads to her own birthday party, a full circle is made, as the grand and great-grandchildren of her brother and cousins, stage the play she herself wrote at 13, that she was trying to stage with her cousins for her brother at the beginning of the book.  I don't know, it just wasn't a satisfying ending.

I also checked out Gregory Maguires new book The Next Queen of Heaven  I loved his wicked series (also just got a Lion among Men) and his fairy tale books - Mirror, Mirror and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, are 2.  But this book, happens in upstate New York, with an exceptionally obnoxious teenage girl, who just needs some sense smacked into her.  I got about 50 pages in and decided that live was just too short to deal with another book with an obnoxious girl. So I closed the book and returned it to the library.

I was going to go for my semi-annual hair cut (annual this time, I missed the spring and then it was getting too close to summer - I live in fear  of not being able to put my hair in a ponytail/bun)  but some things came up and now I have to reschedule.   If and when I finally get around to it, don't worry you'll get to see it.  It is tough, because I hate blowdrying - and let's face it I leave my house at 330 am- so it really isn't happening  well - ever!  So the cut has to work with the way my hair wants to fall.  

I did find a new nail polish - I am totally in love!!  It is red ( painted a streak on a piece of paper towel because it was hard to tell) but so dark red that it just about looks black.  And there is a ton of glitter in it so it almost glows in the sunlight.  Of course when I went to take a picture it was hard to find the right light, but here's the best I could do:





They look almost brown here, sigh maybe I'll get a better picture this week!


I went to grace's daughter's a couple Saturday night's ago, to a Lia Sophia jewelry party.  I did get Angie something which for obvious reasons I can't tell you about until after Christmas.  It was kind of fun - haven't seen her husband Tom for a long time (he installs carpet,so when we agree and she doesn't, we chalk it up to carpet fumes)  and I only briefly met her daughter once.   And it was just kind of different from my usual Sat night, with my usual suspects.

I went to lunch at Mara's (local coffee roaster, dessert shop, cafe) with Grace last week.  I picked her up/ broke her out!  LOL!  We had the best pumpkin spinach quiches ever!  She was good and had a salad ( she's lost over 40 pounds since last spring - way to go Gracie!)  Me, I indulged and had a New England Clam Chowder and spiced hot caramel cider.  It was fun catching up. (and she listens to me whine about work, and about Braun's not sending C etc without complaint, and I think she's actually able to follow my jerky, disconnected, ADD  random trains of thought!

Temple annoyed me, they said they didn't receive a tuition payment, and weren't going to let Angie register for next semester, and for some reason we couldn't pull up the image on the computer so Curt had to go to the bank and straighten everything out.  Angie is doing well so far in her classes, she's feeling the work load, but all the time management skills she has from her HS days are serving her well and she's staying on top of everything.  She had a bad cold and since a lot of people in her dorm were coming down with strep, she got checked out, but no strep thank goodness. I sent her a care package with microwave chicken soup cups, zinc/ecchinacea drops, airborne, a lot of hand sanitizer (she did start out with   several large bottles in August, but just to be safe) and I made her some homemade chocolate chip scones with red/white colored sugar on top ( Temple's colors).

She has been keeping up with politics on campus.  She went to MSNBCs Chris Matthew's show broadcasting from the Temple campus, a few days later Bill Clinton was there, and Saturday she gave up the football game (the Owls won without her) to see President Obama on campus.