It's been a quiet day here at work so far. Not a single phone call -
hope they are putting in lots of orders online instead! You know - job
security! Today is my 5 year anniversary here. This is the longest I
have ever stayed with a job other than as wife & mother! So a
big milestone for me.
Last night we finally got the last 2 signatures of the 4 that we needed on the 2 forms giving me permission to handle things for my mom's affairs. I had gone by the Genesis Health Club here in Hutchinson where E is now teaching boxing to get his measurements for a sweater that he wants me to knit for him by next month when he graduates at HCC and while I was there, my phone started ringing - it was my youngest brother's oldest daughter. I didn't take it right then because of 2 things - my phone was about dead & with being inside the boxing room, it was really hard to hear anyway. But when I got to the van & plugged it in, I also had a text message saying that my brother was here in town for us to get together for his & my sister's signatures. After giving him heck for not letting me know he was coming, I drove home & got the 2 papers we needed, called my sister & offered to pick her up - which I did & we drove to 1 of the Dillon's stores where we had been told they had a notary. Well - wouldn't you know it, all the notaries had gone home at about 7:30 pm and it was 8 pm! So then we tried looking in the phone book for someone else - didn't find even 1 listing for a notary. So then I tried calling a friend that I know is a notary (didn't think I had her # & had erased the messages from her on Facebook, so couldn't contact her through a message there), but didn't get her on the phone. Tried driving by her house, but since I had erased those messages, I didn't have the exact # anymore and nothing looked right in the dark. So we went back to the motel that my sister is living at currently and started looking again in the phone book. I thought I remembered a tax preparer on the west side of town that also was a notary. Found her, but by then, it was nearly 9 pm. I felt bad, but I called her anyway, explained that we had been trying to get this done for a month & would she please consider notarizing these 2 signatures. She agreed to - so we quickly got back in the cars & drove out there! Whew! Finally had it!
This morning, I left home an hour early for work to drop off the 1 copy at the post office, for the postmaster. Gave them a note also with my work # & my cell # on it in case he has any questions still. So hopefully in the next few days I will start seeing the mail for my mom showing back up at my house on a regular basis instead of just every now & then when something gets through. I also stopped by the bank to give the copy there to the clerk that we are dealing with on the stolen checks - the lobby didn't open until 9 am & it was just 8:15 am. So I spoke with a woman that I saw coming out of the lobby that worked there & explained what I was trying to do, so she said she would give the copy I had to T. I still need to call T in a bit & give her my fax # as well as the fax # for here at the office so that she can fax the information about the checks to me for me to look at. All of that meant I was at work about 1/2 hour early - so came in & chatted with E after he called me as I was pulling in.
E has chewed for about 15 years now. Had stopped at one point, but his ex-gf had convinced him evidently to restart chewing. But recently D had gone to see E & offered him some cash, if E would stop chewing. Well, E didn't want to do it because of his dad giving him money, so he said no. Later he called me, told me he had been thinking about it & thought he wanted to try, but didn't want me to tell D at the moment. So he started mixing fake chew in with his regular chew - 1/2 to 1/2 to start, then 1/3 to 2/3, then nothing but fake chew. It's been 4 days now of nothing but fake chew & he feels he is doing ok. We will see. But he did finally decide that he needed to maybe also take D up on his offer of the money for doing it, since as a poor full-time college student, he is always low on cash! But he says that if he fails at it, he will be paying D back the money. I am so proud of him for doing it!
Yesterday was a very busy day though. I had forgotten that I had an 8 am dental cleaning scheduled 6 months ago, when 2 months ago I scheduled a 5:15 pm blood donation. So the dogs had a very long day in the crate before I got home to let them out to potty. And boy were they telling me about it by the time I got there - I could hear them all the way to the van! But after Fred got away from D once when he let them out to potty while I was at work (Fred likes to run off & explore and our yard isn't fenced), D won't put them out anymore. I think if he made sure they were securely on their cable before he ever opened the front door and the made sure the front door was also securely shut after bringing them back in the house, but before their cables were unfastened, then it wouldn't be an issue. But he won't do it. So Fred cooked their gooses!
While I was down giving blood, they took my iron levels and asked me if I had ever considered giving double reds as they called it. It's where they just take the red blood cells & put the plasma back. My level was 15.2, which I guess is very good. And I am a type O+ - she said they only do this with O & B types. She said it takes about 20-25 minutes to donate instead of the 10-15 minutes otherwise and that most people feel less tired after donating than they do from a regular donation. So I didn't do it last night since I felt I just needed to get it over with, but the real thing that makes it interesting to me is that while only donating once every 2 visits is enticing, the fact that babies get first dibs at the blood since it is already ready to go & would be all from 1 person rather than a mix, makes it really sound like something I would like to do. I don't like to donate to begin with, but now that I finally have, I keep doing it - I just don't watch while they insert the needle! But the fact that my donation would be able to help babies that need blood feels even nicer to me than just helping anyone. So I think that is what I will do next time. And the fact that I will only go every 2 times is good also!
I have all 3 pairs of my socks past the heels, as I think I mentioned the last time I posted. I took pictures of them today to show them so far.
Paton's Stretch Socks in Mineral on 2.75mm needles
Someone on one of my machine knitting groups had talked a while back about doing a Spiral cap/hat. I thought that sounded interesting, so I decided to do a k3, p3 pattern across 32 stitches (64 stitches total, but wanted the foot in stockinette), moving it to the left 1 stitch at the start of each round. Then after shaping the heel, I picked up a stitch in the center back and started doing the spiral pattern around the entire leg. The picture really doesn't show this, but the color is predominately blue, with rust & black areas & some white with all these colors. I think so far this is my favorite looking sock & color, but the pattern did become a bit tedious to keep track on on the foot.
Red Heart's Heart & Sole in BlackJack on 2.5mm needles
This is a self-striping yarn. I am not 100% satisfied with how it is turning out. So haven't decided if I want to try it again on a different size of needles. It is done over 68 stitches since I am using a slightly smaller set of needles. It is mostly black with stripes of pink & white with some specks or even small areas in an almost yellow, greenish or orangish color. I don't feel like the patterning is coming out to it's best although it did improve when some changes I had made. I also have some black specks in areas that I don't think it should belong.
Deborah Norville's Serenity in Saffron on 2.25mm needles
This is a self-striping yarn. I think I do like the way the patterning has turned on out on it. It is a combination of wider turquoise stripes, thinner lime green stripes and then wider sections of various shades of pinks.
Last night we finally got the last 2 signatures of the 4 that we needed on the 2 forms giving me permission to handle things for my mom's affairs. I had gone by the Genesis Health Club here in Hutchinson where E is now teaching boxing to get his measurements for a sweater that he wants me to knit for him by next month when he graduates at HCC and while I was there, my phone started ringing - it was my youngest brother's oldest daughter. I didn't take it right then because of 2 things - my phone was about dead & with being inside the boxing room, it was really hard to hear anyway. But when I got to the van & plugged it in, I also had a text message saying that my brother was here in town for us to get together for his & my sister's signatures. After giving him heck for not letting me know he was coming, I drove home & got the 2 papers we needed, called my sister & offered to pick her up - which I did & we drove to 1 of the Dillon's stores where we had been told they had a notary. Well - wouldn't you know it, all the notaries had gone home at about 7:30 pm and it was 8 pm! So then we tried looking in the phone book for someone else - didn't find even 1 listing for a notary. So then I tried calling a friend that I know is a notary (didn't think I had her # & had erased the messages from her on Facebook, so couldn't contact her through a message there), but didn't get her on the phone. Tried driving by her house, but since I had erased those messages, I didn't have the exact # anymore and nothing looked right in the dark. So we went back to the motel that my sister is living at currently and started looking again in the phone book. I thought I remembered a tax preparer on the west side of town that also was a notary. Found her, but by then, it was nearly 9 pm. I felt bad, but I called her anyway, explained that we had been trying to get this done for a month & would she please consider notarizing these 2 signatures. She agreed to - so we quickly got back in the cars & drove out there! Whew! Finally had it!
This morning, I left home an hour early for work to drop off the 1 copy at the post office, for the postmaster. Gave them a note also with my work # & my cell # on it in case he has any questions still. So hopefully in the next few days I will start seeing the mail for my mom showing back up at my house on a regular basis instead of just every now & then when something gets through. I also stopped by the bank to give the copy there to the clerk that we are dealing with on the stolen checks - the lobby didn't open until 9 am & it was just 8:15 am. So I spoke with a woman that I saw coming out of the lobby that worked there & explained what I was trying to do, so she said she would give the copy I had to T. I still need to call T in a bit & give her my fax # as well as the fax # for here at the office so that she can fax the information about the checks to me for me to look at. All of that meant I was at work about 1/2 hour early - so came in & chatted with E after he called me as I was pulling in.
E has chewed for about 15 years now. Had stopped at one point, but his ex-gf had convinced him evidently to restart chewing. But recently D had gone to see E & offered him some cash, if E would stop chewing. Well, E didn't want to do it because of his dad giving him money, so he said no. Later he called me, told me he had been thinking about it & thought he wanted to try, but didn't want me to tell D at the moment. So he started mixing fake chew in with his regular chew - 1/2 to 1/2 to start, then 1/3 to 2/3, then nothing but fake chew. It's been 4 days now of nothing but fake chew & he feels he is doing ok. We will see. But he did finally decide that he needed to maybe also take D up on his offer of the money for doing it, since as a poor full-time college student, he is always low on cash! But he says that if he fails at it, he will be paying D back the money. I am so proud of him for doing it!
Yesterday was a very busy day though. I had forgotten that I had an 8 am dental cleaning scheduled 6 months ago, when 2 months ago I scheduled a 5:15 pm blood donation. So the dogs had a very long day in the crate before I got home to let them out to potty. And boy were they telling me about it by the time I got there - I could hear them all the way to the van! But after Fred got away from D once when he let them out to potty while I was at work (Fred likes to run off & explore and our yard isn't fenced), D won't put them out anymore. I think if he made sure they were securely on their cable before he ever opened the front door and the made sure the front door was also securely shut after bringing them back in the house, but before their cables were unfastened, then it wouldn't be an issue. But he won't do it. So Fred cooked their gooses!
While I was down giving blood, they took my iron levels and asked me if I had ever considered giving double reds as they called it. It's where they just take the red blood cells & put the plasma back. My level was 15.2, which I guess is very good. And I am a type O+ - she said they only do this with O & B types. She said it takes about 20-25 minutes to donate instead of the 10-15 minutes otherwise and that most people feel less tired after donating than they do from a regular donation. So I didn't do it last night since I felt I just needed to get it over with, but the real thing that makes it interesting to me is that while only donating once every 2 visits is enticing, the fact that babies get first dibs at the blood since it is already ready to go & would be all from 1 person rather than a mix, makes it really sound like something I would like to do. I don't like to donate to begin with, but now that I finally have, I keep doing it - I just don't watch while they insert the needle! But the fact that my donation would be able to help babies that need blood feels even nicer to me than just helping anyone. So I think that is what I will do next time. And the fact that I will only go every 2 times is good also!
I have all 3 pairs of my socks past the heels, as I think I mentioned the last time I posted. I took pictures of them today to show them so far.
Paton's Stretch Socks in Mineral on 2.75mm needles
Someone on one of my machine knitting groups had talked a while back about doing a Spiral cap/hat. I thought that sounded interesting, so I decided to do a k3, p3 pattern across 32 stitches (64 stitches total, but wanted the foot in stockinette), moving it to the left 1 stitch at the start of each round. Then after shaping the heel, I picked up a stitch in the center back and started doing the spiral pattern around the entire leg. The picture really doesn't show this, but the color is predominately blue, with rust & black areas & some white with all these colors. I think so far this is my favorite looking sock & color, but the pattern did become a bit tedious to keep track on on the foot.
Red Heart's Heart & Sole in BlackJack on 2.5mm needles
This is a self-striping yarn. I am not 100% satisfied with how it is turning out. So haven't decided if I want to try it again on a different size of needles. It is done over 68 stitches since I am using a slightly smaller set of needles. It is mostly black with stripes of pink & white with some specks or even small areas in an almost yellow, greenish or orangish color. I don't feel like the patterning is coming out to it's best although it did improve when some changes I had made. I also have some black specks in areas that I don't think it should belong.
Deborah Norville's Serenity in Saffron on 2.25mm needles
This is a self-striping yarn. I think I do like the way the patterning has turned on out on it. It is a combination of wider turquoise stripes, thinner lime green stripes and then wider sections of various shades of pinks.
