It's mid-November already?!

Holy cow, where the hell did the fall go? When looking at my few recent posts, I marveled at what I had written & how I continue to pursue my goals. Life is ever-changing & when we are lucky, ever growing. I just attended the marvelous Knitter's Review Retreat & my "Sally Field Oscar speech" self continues to marvel that my good peeps there like me, they really like me. My heart had a much-needed B-12 shot of an energy boost as did my joy, laugh muscles & knitting mojo. We are in the midst of house work & by that, I mean work on the house. Bob recently finished tiling (vinyl tile - wish we could afford ceramic tile) the kitchen & pantry. We love Bob & we love the job he did. Next Monday Eric the Brush (the best painting company!) & his excellent crew start work to paint the living & dining rooms, the trim in the 1st floor bathroom, the windows & doors in the family room, a coat closet & our 2nd floor hall & the woodwork & doors there. Bob will, after T'giving, tile the family room & 1st floor bathroom. There will be more clean-up & lots of stuff to give away as we lighten up. I am in a give-away, let someone else share what we have had mood & hope to bring my sweetie & her daughter along on that ride. Happy T'giving to you & your loved ones - may yours be a healthy, creative & bountiful celebration.

Yesterday was a busy day - Annabelle & Jeremy & I went to see Dr. Small. $340+ later we left w/a bag of Jeremy dry food & both of them a little lighter for having given blood & urine for the cause (for A, we need to see if her urinary infection is gone for good & for Jeremy, to recheck what his values as Dr. Small thinks he has Irritable Bowel Syndrome - yep, cats get that too.) & they felt massaged & prodded by her as per her usual thorough examination. I made a run to the Salvation Army as we had a very large box & 2 bags of clothing from the kids + a tad from Sweet J & me. Most of the donations were from Miz M w/some from her brother although he was not here & his sis & Mom made the decisions. SJ, Miz M (as she & her brother are 20, calling them Girl M & Boy M seems out-of-place & incorrect) & I spent time on Wednesday night to clean up boxes, totes, college stuff that had been placed in Mr. M's room. He is living not w/his other parent but w/ a group of guys in a group house near an area university. He is attending (we hope) classes at the local community college. Also my Friday the 13th included my volunteer gig at the Library, a trip to Lowe's (ah the joys of owning a home - furnace filters & light bulbs), food shopping, 3 loads of laundry (2 of them were hung out side - what a pleasure that is & how sweet they do smell & feel). I am trying to get back to regular exercise & walked 1 1/2 loops around the subdivision where we live. Today I will do it again. I do love walking & SJ is not so fond of it. She does like to lightly jog so we might be able to make plans to do that. Miz M knits on occasion, preferring chunky yarns & large circs, & knits w/ a purpose - a hat for a friend,etc. She is knitting a blanket for a stuffed animal for her BFF & was working on it last night. "I never see many finished things from you" she said to me. I told her that was probably true & that I had a fair amount of UFOs. Her remark was made, I believe, in a straightforward manner, not meanly or as a dig. It's good food for tho't. Knit-wise, I did recently finish a shawl that needs to be blocked & a headband for the charity knitting for the KR Retreat. I frogged about 6 to 8" of a V-neck pullover when I came to the decision that it was such a heavy yarn & that, while I like Gatsy yarn, it would not be a sweater I would wear a lot. Better to use that for a cardigan or as a jacket. I have the leg part of 2 socks (the other for each yarn is done) done & thus, am in the home stretch w/each. Damn, I have not completed a Jayne hat for our sweet friend, Dave, & he deserves to have that hat this winter. I have another shawl in progress, using Spirit Trial sock yarn. My Wissahickon Cowl, designed by our own Purlewe, is in the beginning stage. I am in a mood to knit cowls & shawls w/a desire to start fingerless mitts too. At the KR Retreat, I will take Amy Herzog's Fit To Flatter class & I have the yarn (Spirit Trail Brigantia) I want to use but not the pattern (I do know I want to knit a cardigan & maybe it could be a v-neck). It feels good to have things I want to knit. I want to get back to the Thursday evening knitting group at Hidden river Yarns - it's got such excellent vibes & it is nice to be around sparky knitters.

If I had a bucket list ... I never would have tho't that the following items would have been on it. ++ Sweet jean & I went to see an Elvis Impersonator. Yes, your eyes & brain are working & you correctly read that. Her church had a professional Elvis impersonator as a fundraiser. Ya gotta love Jean - she invited a ton of folks: three came, one had something come up that was on her bucket list, one was ill, a number of folks said "no thanks. This guy was really good & I clapped along like everyone else there. The crowd was so large that it was actually held in the church. Those crazy Episcopalians. ++ I temporarily broke the change counting machine at our credit union. Jeez. Our credit union has a fabulous machine that counts the change we save from our wallets & pockets at the end of the day. When I take it to the bank, I place the coins in a plastic bag. The last time, I apparently grabbed a bag that had schumutz in it. Rut row. After I poured our precious pennies in the machine, it began to count & then DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER, a green slip came out of the machine, telling me to get someone to attend to the machine. The teller worked on it, vacuumed it out, handed me a slip & then placed a "temporary out of order" sign on it. She was lovely & did not say something like "You stupid woman, what else was in that bag?". Next time, I promise to be more careful. Knitting wise, I am working on a sweet shawl (maybe a gift for our pal Andrea or for Jean or for me) & hope to pick up my Gatsby yarn V-neck pullover project soon. It's chilly here & we have a promise of rain tomorrow. I'll volunteer at the Library in the AM & when I am back home,I plan to watch movies, knit & stay warm. How is your week-end shaping up?

You say it's the new year? We have been coughing our way through it: I have bronchitis & Sweet J, a sinus infection & wicked cough. It's gotta get better. Like many of you, I love turning the calendar page & thinking of the possibilities that lie ahead in addition to the year we had. In no certain order, for 2013: ++ love more, fret less. ++ listen with elephant ears to hear more. ++ tap the creative juices in all avenues of my life: sew a baby quilt for a dear pal's new daughter, knit & knit more FOs, make another sweater for me (finish the one I am doing & begin one from some beloved Briar Rose yarn). ++ have calm knitting to do plus knitting to excite my little gray cells. ++ make my knitting ADD work for me in a more positive way. ++ gather my friends around me more ++ aim to see the sun set as many days as I can - I do love sunsets. ++ attend a regular knitting group. ++ love my beloved Sweet J & her kids in as many ways & as often as I can. It feels good to say good-bye to 2012 & the losses we suffered: so much gun violence, hit & run fatalities, the fire to a much adored pal's home-to-be, the so-called cliffs we almost went over. The beauty was there too - Clara's Great White Bale, our friends' new daughter, Boy M doing some really good stuff in college classes, Girl M rowing for the crew team & being awesome & strong, Dad getting though a bout of pneumonia & being on the mend, Girl Cat Natalie pulling through some health problems that could have gone the other direction, some long time pals welcoming the 1st grandbaby, President Obama & VP Biden's 2nd term (my home state of Ohio putting them over the top - I do love Ohio at times like this!). Wishing you joyful noises, peace, prosperity & good health.