Purling Oaks

Fixation with footies

I decided on the ankle socks.  I'm using this pattern (pattern number 6) with Cascade Fixation Spray in Harlequin.  I started out with US 3 dpns and 56 stitches but that was ripped just past Rockford.  I'm now using 48 stitches and US 2 dpns.  The yarn is very stretchy and this combination seems to fit over my foot without too much extra fabric.

Our trip to the Chicago-area was worth the time and effort.  We attended the Ordination of Deacons held at St. Cletus Parish in LaGrange......since the ceiling of Holy Family Cathedral fell in several weeks ago. *yikes*   This was the first Mass I've ever attended and I found it to be quite interesting.  The Archbishop of Chicago was there, too, to add to the special nature of the event.  According to DH, it was about twice as long as a typical one.  A friend and former (two-levels up) supervisor (now retired) was ordained as a Deacon yesterday.  Definitely a career-change, don't you think?  I think it is an interesting path to take, especially for a guy in his late 50s. 

Since I've been thinking of potential new careers I may want to take up in about five years or so, his achievement has altered some of my internal stereotypes of what paths are open to me (or anyone).  Not that I'm thinking of the church as a career now, but this new career of his is *so* different than the one he held with my employer.  It makes me realize that I should expand my horizons.  He's was so happy yesterday....I'm so glad for him and that DH and I were able to witness the ceremony.



As you can see in the first photo, the irises are in full bloom.  I have two more patches of irises just like those.  So, I'll say it again, I would love to share some rhizomes with you (and you and you and you) later this summer.  I have to divide these irises and I have no idea where to put them all.  Please email me or leave a comment if you would like some for your garden.

Saturday's bits

I made it home with no problems Thursday night...late Thursday night.  Yesterday, a few loads of laundry were done, bloglines were caught up with, saw my hairstylist (can you say "Spring Gold"?), chopped some of the ice on the driveway, and did a bit of knitting. We also had salad, mashed potatoes, and fried squirrel for dinner.  *ahem*

I've been thinking about myself as a WIP after seeing Stacey's post with her works in process and adding a picture of herself in the mix.  I've changed physically (certainly) (not improved, just changed) over the first part of my life and I believe I've improved how I interact with others.  I just know I'm not finished yet, not by a long shot.  Then Norma posted today and I thought my results from the very in-depth quiz  *snort*  were interesting.  *g*   

 

What Angie Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life. You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone. Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

My Recipe Box

Kay is holding the Grandma Mabel Memorial Recipe Box Show & Tell Contest and would like us to post a photo of our recipe box and a recipe (and tell her in a comment where to see your recipe box.) I really enjoyed her post about her recipe box and the "Never Fail" cake recipe so I thought I would enter the contest, just for fun. I don't have a vintage recipe box to share but my recipe box is full of memories....besides being stuffed with words on paper.

The lid usually holds the most recently used recipe. Luckily, I can say that I used this recipe yesterday to make soup for dinner but a different recipe could have been there for a week or two, in the interest of full disclosure.

This isn't my first recipe box. My first recipe box was yellow plastic and held 3" by 5" index cards neatly. I'm pretty certain it would be considered in the category of office supplies. In 1980, I filled it full of copies of favorite recipes from my mother's recipe box as well as hopes of being a good cook and wife. I was young, married, and still attending college. Several years later, I still had the recipe box (minus a few recipes that he took with him), my college degree, and a new single life. Throughout the years that followed, I continued to collect recipes from friends and family. Today I see I have about ten recipes for lefse. My family lefse recipes are an interesting story (to me anyway) that is best saved for a future post.

One day, I met a wonderful man. (That story may never be told, ala The Pioneer Woman, but that day is very unlikely to be forgotten by me.) Several years passed. When I finally convinced him to marry me we married, I took the opportunity to change my recipe box. This one has much more room than the little yellow plastic box and I've stuffed it full of recipes in all forms as you can see in the photo above. It is hard to describe all the memories and emotions that surfaced this morning when I paged through the paper in my recipe box. The recipe for Friendship Cake written in Grandma Nana's handwriting, detailed notes from Aunt Nancy on lefse-making in response to my complaint that her recipe was too brief, and my mother's jelly roll recipe all evoke special warm feelings. I finally found a recipe that I want to share with Kay for the contest.

I've made this recipe a few times. The most notable was when I made it for DH the first time. We had been dating a relatively short time (short time for us would be maybe a year.....we dated for five years or so.) He had been out fishing or hunting during the day and I made this dinner for him. He was so very complimentary and it made an impression on me. Anyway, here's the recipe.

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I don't know where the little yellow plastic box is right now. I didn't throw it away immediately when I filled the new box with my old memories recipes but it may have been a casuality of the move. I think I saved all the good memories with the recipe transfer to the new recipe box. If I come across that yellow box again, I should let it go to Goodwill or the Salvation Army so that the other memories it holds can be released.

Pre-holiday snow

Thanksgiving Day Eve about 7 PM Central time

The snow is supposed to stop about 3 AM with 3 inches of snowfall total predicted. The snow is about "on time." In Wisconsin, snow can fall as early as Halloween or we can be wishing for a white Christmas. Our drive to our Thanksgiving dinner may be a bit slower tomorrow but the drive is usually only a short hour, so no major adjustment to make in the morning.

Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for. My husband. All of my family, mine and ours. My friends, "old" and new. My job. My health. Our pets. A nice roof over my head and plenty to eat. A safe and productive deer-hunt. New experiences. And so much more! Thank you! May all of you celebrating Thanksgiving at this time have a fun, food-filled and safe holiday. Happy Thursday everybody! *g* Thank you for reading!

Wednesday musings

I've been able to sneek in some knitting this week and I've been working on the fuschia (to be) felted bag. I'm on ball number 3 and when it is finished, I will start my decreases for the bottom of the bag. I'm leaning toward a rectangular bag, modeled on an old-fashioned doctor's bag. (I was going to thrill you all with a photo of my bag in progress but I can't seem to upload a photo today to TypePad via this hotel Internet connection. *heavy sigh*)

It seems that there are a concentration of birthdays in knitter blogland lately. I doubt there is any statistical significance or that Scorpios are more likely to be knitters but it seems funny. Mostly because I live in my Angie-centric universe. *g*

This evening I'm finishing up the last day of my birthyear and I'll wake up tomorrow with 49 years under my, err, belt skin. I think know I'll be doing some research into behavior modification in the next several months. I know that small incremental changes are often successful for me. I just have to figure out how to work *exercise* into my daily routine. I am very much a pleasure-loving person and exercise just doesn't come easy for me. However, I'm aware that I should incorporate more of the *e* into my life if I want to have a quality life in the second half of my time on the planet. Maybe I'll find a way to knit and walk during this 49th year? Feel free to offer suggestions of what has worked for you or for someone else you know.

Don't forget the contest! If you comment here any time until Sunday 9 PM Central time, you'll be added to a pool where I'll randomly select two yarny prize winners! Hurray!

I'll have birthday festivities during the weekend. My mom will make my "traditional" birthday dinner (I think!) this Saturday and DH and I will have a nice dinner sometime, probably Friday, since Thursday is a travel day for us both.

Home and Away

Home

Mmmm. Home sweet home. I arrived home this evening and reallized that I *really* missed home this week. I believe I am I'm turning more and more into a home-body. Work only exerted a moderate level of stress on my psyche this week. Relative to earlier this year, the stress this week was probably only low-to-moderate. So, I am not taking refuge from stressful work......this week. I think after two-plus years of living here, I'm really becoming attached to this place on the earth...and what it represents.

That said, I found that some wretched, miserable creature(s) have consumed or destroyed the tomatoes in my garden this week. Technically, not all the tomatoes have been destroyed, just the ripe or semi-ripe ones. Argh! To top that little item.....there was a dead, very smelly mouse in a trap in the kitchen cabinet. Sigh. There is still a smelly mouse in a trap but now it is outside on the front porch. I'll deal with it in the morning. *g*

Away

I joined the Madison Knitters Guild this fall and I'm really looking forward to going to my first meeting on Monday evening. Anyone else going? Next Saturday, I have tentative plans to go to the Wisconsin Spin-In at the Washington County Fairgrounds near West Bend with my DSIL, Anne. Anyone else out there in Wisconsin Blogland planning to go? When I posted about attending the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, it took Cookie out west to connect me with another Wisconsin blogger that also attended. Kathy W., are you going to this event, too?

Wednesday wonderings

Today's post was almost titled Weird Wednesday but not everything that happened today was weird..disturbing, funny, or odd perhaps but probably not weird.

1) I noticed that I should avoid mentioning certain pieces of women's apparel (like p*antyh*se) in my posts. One of the hits on my blog last night was a blog search engine looking for "p*antyh*se" and the search results were *not* mostly women complaining on their blogs about a runner in their st*ckings. Oh, no, definitely not.

2) On Monday, in the rain, I lost a gold bracelet. I looked all over for it with my umbrella and in my Jeep but no success. I spoke with the building security man, Darryl, to give him a heads up, just in case. The bracelet was an anniversary gift from the DH and, as such, full of sentimental value. I don't know the monetary value but it was certainly nice and shiny--the way those things are. DH told me he would just get me another one, of course. (He's a very nice DH.) Anyway....on Tuesday Darryl asked me what DH said about the lost bracelet and I told him. He made a nice remark or two. Then he handed me an envelope. My bracelet! It had been found late in the day by someone in the building. We went up to meet the person who found it and I thanked her and she was humble and nice about it...like any nice person would be in that situation.

On Wednesday (that's today), I brought in a bag of nice chocolates for the nice bracelet-finder lady. Maybe not Godiva (...couldn't find any) but nice Lindt chocolates. I wanted to do something nice for her. I can't do much since it would be an awkward professional situation (too long to explain) but the chocolates at least would let her know I really appreciate her niceness/integrity/honesty but not in words. She was really surprised at the chocolates and said I didn't have to do that and I replied that I knew that but I wanted to. She kept the bag of chocolates. I was happy.

Later today, Darryl praised (!) me for bringing in the chocolates. He said the bracelet-finder lady was overwhelmed by how nice I had been, she was almost crying.

Gee whiz! I'm completely bewildered by this entire event. If my little thank you gift made that type of impact....what does she normally experience? I know there are lots of nice people out there. Perhaps she is a sensitive/emotional type person and reacted normally, which is okay with me. Or perhaps she is really in a bad place in her life. That made me sad. Then I started wondering how often I may be thoughtless or just neutral at best when I deal with people. Probably more often than I realize. My thoughts took a nose dive from there. Sigh. There is going to be a lot of introspection happening, I'll tell you.

3) I met Mom after work and we went to Yarns by Design where they sponsored a Sock Boot Camp with the SWTC/Tofutsie folks. There was a very nice "sock doctor" and we had a fun group discussion about sock fabric, patterns, Kat Bordhi, yarns, circular needles, she showed us a cool stretchy bind off, and, lastly, making socks for men that demand request a very long cuff...like to just under their knee. I bought some nice shrimp yarn (10% off) in greys and pinks and got a free pattern. Then we went down the street to have dinner at the nice Mexican-style restaurant.

And now I should be doing some serious interface with my pillow but my brain won't shut off to allow sleep to come. So, I'm here at Purling Oaks in the virtual world hoping that sending these thoughts off into the ether will allow me to relax. Next idea is to knit in bed...that always does the trick. Good night, blogland.

Message? I bet so.

At the Art Fair on Saturday, I saw a phrase in a list of other items (unfortunately, I don't remember who's booth.)  It hit a chord with me and is still rattling around in my head, so I thought I would share it.  This phrase is elsewhere on the Internet so perhaps it isn't new to you but it was to me. 

"Put on your Big Girl panties and deal with it."

The phrase makes me laugh.  Most likely, because I've got a virtual drawer full of those panties that have been on temporary, um, vacation.  Enough said.

Weekend's work and wondering

It has been a busy weekend, folks, and I'm amazed to say I didn't document much, photo-wise. DH and I visited with my mom on Saturday. She served lunch from a thirty-year-old recipe card--Ranch Bar-X Sandwiches--that she received from a mother of one of my childhood friends. Open-face sandwiches with sliced olives, ground venison (substitution for the beef on the card), canned tomatoes, oregano, and cheese, melted. It was really good! I guess that card is staying. After lunch, DH did some chainsaw work. Mom and I worked a bit in the garden and discussed some things that have to be discussed when you lose a spouse or father.

Today I spent over three hours in my garden planting tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. I found a few muscles that have been hiding. I'm going to feel them tomorrow, for sure. I hope the deer find better treats than my new garden additions.

This is my 100th post, a milestone of sorts, but just a drop in the bucket compared to some seasoned bloggers. I have pondered what blogging means to me while I've had my hands in the dirt today. I didn't reach a firm conclusion or achieve some major breakthough in blogging philosophy. I do know that I am richer by several new blogger friendships, which is much more than I ever expected. Thanks for all the comments! The comments now actually exceed the number of posts! *g* I love the feedback! I enjoy having a journal that looks cool with photos and a nice layout. I also think there is some value to the theory that creating/maintaining a journal keeps the journal-maker healthier, at least from the mental viewpoint.

Speaking of mental health, I'm off to Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow morning and I'll be very careful to guard my knitting from harm. I'll leave you with a scene from last week's travels.

BigRock beauties

It is another beautiful morning at Purling Oaks--sunny but coolish with a light breeze. I find mornings like this very soothing but inspiring. They are a gift to enjoy in this moment and to remember when I'm in a less perfect time and place. I'm still recovering from the yuck, so this must be a "get well soon" moment from the powers that be.

There is a lot of blooming going on in the wilds of the BigRock garden. Here is a very interesting flowering bush/plant (?) that showed up this year. I enjoy the lemon-lime color of the foliage, which contrasts brightly with the darker greens of the other plants. This garden yields so many interesting flowers that I'm hesitant to try to bring it into some sort of order. Unfortunately, the beauty of indivdual plants is lost in the jungle of this garden patch. BigRock garden will have to be on my summer project list for when I'm working closer to home and have a tad more time for myself and my projects.

Of course, this cold/cough is certainly making me take time now.....flat on my back or sitting on the couch time. It has given me, though, thinking-time to think about me, which hasn't seemingly been available lately. Time to think about what direction I want to give myself and what influences I want to accept or to discard. It is a never-ending process, of course, but I feel I'm re-positioning myself after being bumped out of alignment by recent life events.

Here are a few more of the beauties from BigRock.