A Little Yarn On The Side

Being summer, the first thing I did this morning was I am a pickle fanatic, and for the last two years we've had a dismal cucumber crop, so I've been growing a bit concerned about our pickle supply.  Commercial pickles contain food dyes, so to me it's worth the effort to make our own, but it does get hot.  Thank heavens for air conditioning. This afternoon, staying out of both the kitchen and the garden, I finished the two in-progress heart ornaments, and made two new stocking ornaments: Can you tell that I love this design for a stocking?  Beads, sparkly trim--what's not to love?  Especially as these bring me to 219 ornaments on day 208, so I am 11 ornaments ahead.  Thank heavens--the tomato canning is coming....................

My back is still sore enough that I have both ventured to take one of the anti-inflammatory/pain pills that caused the ulcer AND I missed my pool walking this morning.  As I am the youngest one there by about 20 years, I am in for some serious ribbing on Monday.  I had even reached a new milestone: I wore out my water shoes and had to make another personal-spending exception for new ones.  The floor of the pool I go to is rough enough to strip the hide right off one's feet, so shoes are a must, and this time I decided to try water shoes with a bit of support.  The sales lady at the local swim and run shop said they would fall apart in 6 months, but she says that about everything.  She said the ones exactly like I had would last less than 3 months, and they've certainly lasted for more than a year.  The weird thing is, she didn't have a more expensive model she was trying to sell me--she seems to be just a pessimist.  I think the swimming suits I bou...

In the last week, we went to see John Hiatt in concert for Andy's birthday, then went to the Boise Blues Society picnic on Sunday, and I think I can now safely say that my back might be making progress, but really uncomfortable chairs are NOT my friends.  Yesterday I finally had to break down and take the original pain medication they gave me--the stuff I've generally refused to take because it knocks me out.  I have an appointment with a specialist on Monday, so hopefully I'll get this sorted out soon.  It's a physiatrist , which I'd never heard of, but from the description, it sounds exactly like what I need.  I had been resistant to call a specialist because I was afraid they'd want to talk about surgery, which I don't think would help and which I would not discuss until all other options have been explored, but what I do want is someone to look at the original injury, the three subsequent injuries, and either give me new exercises, tell me if I'm a...

*  13 half-pint jars of red onion relish *  10th and final day of giving Theo antibiotics........and cleaning them off the floor and walls * 6 quarts of freshly-canned pickles *  4 more seams on the new dress * 3 1/2 hours of exercise in the pool *  3 completed edging reps.........out of 28 *  2 vet visits and 2 new medications for Theo *  1 new lace ornament  * 1/3 of a new felt ornament  *  1/4th of the actual new sprinkle-on-the-food medications that Theo has actually been tricked into taking *  1 cat hiding in the back of the closet *  2 humans VERY much in need of a white chocolate martini...............

As Andy's birthday was on Tuesday and is now in possession of them, I can show you these: July birthdays probably aren't the best for hand-knits, but when it stops being 99-108 degrees, we might have grown so accustomed to it that 80 degrees might seem a bit "nippy."

Really, if one disappears off the face of Blogland, one would hope it was because one has run off to Tahiti for the week.  But alas, the real recap: * The horrible neighbors' fireworks marathon frightened Theo enough that he got stressed and couldn't pee again, earning him ANOTHER trip to the vet and another pain shot last Saturday *  Theo ended up with a BONUS trip to the vet on Monday because even while on the pain medication, he couldn't pee, so we are all now thoroughly NOT enjoying the joys of giving antibiotics for a urinary tract infection.  Luckily, after the broken leg saga, I'm pretty quick with liquid meds *  The stress has aggravated my back, which has led to a few full days of Valium *  I spoke with my doctor this week, and we decided that the small doses of Valium I take ( a quarter of a pill once or twice a day and half at night MAXIMUM) are probably pretty safe, so he renewed my prescription, trying for 90 pills per refill so I didn't hav...