RIP Downtown Saturdays

Today was Seth's last Saturday working. He's a Monday through Friday guy now. The gazebo to the right is outside his office on the Broadway median. We've been having lunch downtown (or uptown, as the marketers would have us describe it) most Saturdays since October. Usually it's fast food. Today we went to Country's Barbecue, because it's our last downtown lunch. It's a great local place with lots of atmosphere in an old bus depot. Best sweet tea anywhere. Afterward I went to a Warm Up America meeting at Hobby Lobby. I was the only one knitting among a plethora of crocheters. Interesting. While I was there, Kim - the WUA local coordinator - and I talked to the Hobby Lobby manager about World Wide Knit in Public Day. Kim introduced me by saying, "This is Holly. She's sort of in charge of knitting in Columbus." Yeah, right. Anyway, they're going to let us have a knit-in there on WWKIP Day, June 14th. That's a load off of my mind. Afterward I went to a Fred's store next to the Hobby Lobby that's closing and got some great deals. A very nice Saturday, indeed.

Yarns of Late

This pretty flower was outside the window of Burger King Saturday when Seth and I were eating lunch. Gotta love spring, except for the pollen.



Sunday was Seth's birthday. I got some mini cupcakes and took them to Sunday School. Two of the kids wouldn't eat them. The rest did. Lucas proclaimed, "These are tasty!" In fact, they were. Graham got crumbs all over herself.


Seth's sister's birthday is tomorrow. We celebrated both of their birthdays Sunday night at their folks' house. Here's Seth's cousin Tom and Seth's dad, Mr. Ray, grilling steaks.
Here's the birthday cake. Chocolate cheesecake. Yummy!
Tom and Seth.
Ange, Tom's wife, Mr. Ray, and Seth's sister, Leigh.
Seth's mom, Gail, and Ange.
Happy Birthday, Seth and Leigh!


Our videographer at work is out of town. I had to go do a shoot yesterday. This morning I could barely turn my head. I'm getting old.


Hats off to Judy, a new knitter from the knitting group. Judy learned last night how to bind off. She's got a great little swatch she knitted. Yea, Judy!!! We all clapped when she held it up. All of Panera turned to see what was happening.


Sunday, Thad preached from Hebrews 13:5 & 6. It was about Finding Contentment. He had three steps towards finding contentment.

1. Give more.
2. Expect less.
3. Seek Jesus.
   

Words to live by.

Photo Friday and More!

Do you remember this box?

Look what's inside!
If you remember this post, you'll remember these earrings that I ordered from qvc.com on Big Bonanza Silver Day, way back on March 1. They were on waitlist and finally arrived this week. Look how cute the guardian angels are. I wore them yesterday and they wore great, too.
This past Sunday my friend Cindy and I left after church to head up to Gay, Georgia, for the Cotton Pickin' Fair. It's a huge arts and crafts extravaganza that multiplies by a factor of ten the population of the small town with only one red light. There are all sorts of amazing things that people have created as well as antiques and food and entertainment and more. Cindy spotted a vintage 50's style dinette set with sunny yellow chairs. She fell in love and fell hard. We walked away for a minute and she said, "That sure is pretty." I asked her what she'd do with her old table and she said it was a secondhand piece without a lot of value and she'd willingly get rid of it. Her concern was that we'd driven to the fair in my Honda Civic. How would we get it home? I said, "If the legs come off the table, we can do it." We went back to the booth. The legs came off. Here it is in my car.

If you fold down the backseat of a Civic, it's like an SUV in there. I should have gotten a picture of it after she and I put the legs back on it at her house. Getting those legs on it was a challenge. Cindy broke her wrist Easter Sunday. It was also her birthday and she was at her brother's house in the yard playing with her niece and nephew and fell on it. Two days later she had surgery. So, I screwed the legs in and she held a flashlight. It's was easier than either of us thought it would be. It's really cute and she got a great deal. She loves it. She says she's eaten breakfast sitting there every day this week.

I need to get up in the morning and knit on Daddy's vest. I forgot to take my pattern with me to knitting group on Monday night! I ended up working on my car project. I want to finish the car project before I blog about it. I will tell you that it's a theme dishcloth. What's the theme? You'll have to wait and see. I will be publishing the pattern here in my blog. I've got a feeling it will have a niche market, though.

Sunday is Seth's birthday. I've been invited to a cookout at his folks' house. I've really got to come up with a gift!

Silver, Shopping, Knitting, Silver, Church

Today is March 1st. Did you know it's Big Bonanza Silver Day? You do if you watch QVC.They call it Big Bonanza Silver Day because it was March 1st however many years ago that silver was first discovered in Nevada. I love sterling silver jewelry. If I didn't live paycheck to paycheck, I would have bought a lot of silver today. It's so pretty, and they have so much of it. I've been watching all day and looking at all the pretty jewelry. I haven't ordered anything, but it isn't midnight yet.

I had lunch with PMF today. Subway. Then I went to Bath & Body Works to use coupons. I had four coupons so I had to make four transactions to use them all. I got all this for about $35. I calculated the actual price if I didn't have the coupons and it was around $105 (that doesn't include the Fekkai sample). That always makes me feel better about spending, when I save so much! If you haven't tried the Dr. Patricia Wexler skin care, you should. It's amazing. Then I went to AC Moore and got this:

That's a size three circular needle. I need to get one more (once I have another coupon), so I can do socks on two circular needles. I'm just a little tired of dealing with the dpns.

Okay, it's midnight. It's now or never. I went to qvc.com and ordered these: Item number J14149. There are Guardian Angels on the earrings. Cute. Leverbacks. (I love a leverback earring!) On waitlist. Well, if it's meant to be, it'll happen. If not, then I know it wasn't meant to be.

Our new senior pastor starts tomorrow. I'm so excited. This is the most optimistic time I remember at church in a long time - more than 6 years ago IMHO. There's also a reception for his family tomorrow afternoon. I'll report on the day tomorrow night.

Clean Up

We had a clean up day at church today. The new pastor starts Monday and they want everything spic & span for him . (Whatever spic & span means.) They got one of those big dumpsters they'll bring to your place. PMF had to work, so I went and cleaned out the closet in our Sunday School room. I neglected to take a before picture, but just imagine forty years worth of kids supplies crammed into a pantry sized cabinet. (Pause for dramatic effect.)

To start with, I brought in some cd's with me. I don't clean without music. People kept saying, you sound like you're having fun in here. Every now and then someone would come in to look at something - like the corner cabinets that need rebuilding, and I'd have to turn it down. Anyway, I pulled it all out and put it on the tables. There were crayons in all the bins. Kid scissors were everywhere. We've been teaching in that room for three years. There was stuff in there that I'd never seen before - aprons, kid safe rubber stamp pads, a candle lighter(!). It was insane. Look at all the stuff!

Here's the empty cabinet. I wiped out the shelves with Clorox wipes.

Some of the stuff I relocated to the Resource Room so other teachers can use it if they need it. Some if it went into that big dumpster. I sorted the bins so all the crayons were in one bin. All the scissors in one bin. The office supplies have a bin. There's two bins of craft supplies. A bin of paints. A bin of Play Dough. A bin of construction paper. And a bin of yarn!!! All cheap acrylic and much of it in a tangled mess. Some of that had to be tossed. Then everything went back into the cabinet leaving an entire shelf open. Whoo-Hoo!

I had lunch with PMF afterward. Then I came home and took a three hour nap. I was worn out. I feel like I accomplished something though. Why can't I clean my house like that?

Sinuses are the Pits

This is what I've been carrying around all week. Tissues, Vapor Rub, Ricola, and hot Tea. The Sinus Mist was an addition I made yesterday. I slept for about twelve hours last night. I actually felt little bit better when I woke up this morning. I went and had lunch with PMF today at Chic Fil-A. I had nuggets and discovered that the nuggets have 10 calories less than the grilled chicken sandwich. And the Sweet Tea has almost half as many calories as the lemonade. Who knew they put that much sugar in their lemonade?!? I feel much better about nuggets and sweet tea now.
So I've been sick this week with bad sinuses. I've pretty much just been to work this week. There were a couple runs to Publix for essentials, but no Knitting Monday night and no church on Wednesday. I've just taken it easy this week. I guess it paid off because I do feel a little better today. I don't think I've had to blow my little sore nose all day. Yea!
Anyway, I was under the weather and I'm now making my way back on top of it. Hope you are doing better.

Congestion

My dust and 409 disturbed sinuses have taken on a state of congestion they are now sharing with my throat and to some extent, my lungs. My PMF knew it was bad when he called yesterday morning on his way to work and I was drinking hot tea instead of coffee. He knew it was really bad when he called last night on his way home and I told him I wasn't going to my knitting group. I don't feel really bad, just kind of yucky. No fever or anything, just a little hoarse. My boss at work is sick, too. Today he was sneezing and I was coughing; but every now and then, I'd sneeze or he'd cough. This afternoon I made him take a good sniff of my Vicks Inhaler.He didn't sneeze so much after that!

I made heart shaped strawberry Jello Jigglers for my Sunday School Class Sunday. Two-Year-Olds are funny with Jigglers. Some dive right in, and are asking for more very quickly. Some have to be persuaded and embrace the Jiggler once they are convinced of its deliciousness. Some like the taste of the Jiggler, but do not care to touch it. They will, however, eat the Jiggler if it is fed to them. I've got the gizmo that let's you make Easter Egg shaped Jigglers. They are really fun, but lots of trouble. Whether the Easter Bunny will bring those March 23rd remains to be seen.

Longing for Snow

So, the forecast called for snow. They had even issued a "Heavy Snow Alert" for the area. I was so excited. I was ready for it. Looking forward to it. Then about 10:30 this morning, they cancelled it. Bad sign. I watched the radar and the snow stayed north of Muscogee county all day. I was sad. I still am. Daddy didn't get any snow this time either. But the PMF got snow at his house, one county north.

This is what was there when he got home from work today. I love snow. I wish I had snow.

We had a very busy week at work this week. We are doing a new show and it took a lot of time. Long hours and lots of work. I think it's going to be a really good show, though. It's hard to tell because we're shooting it in segments and not as a whole. It's going to be even more work putting it all together.

I made 10 Bean Soup with Ham today. Ideal for the cold wet weather. A nice pan of cornbread was the perfect compliment. It was delicious.

Stay warm out there.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Okay, I'm a couple of days late for my birthday, it was Sunday, the 13th. I had a really nice day. My PMF and the kids in Sunday School threw a birthday party for me. Instead of the usual graham crackers, we had real cookies from the Publix bakery. They were good and the kids liked them. Well, some of them wouldn't eat the oatmeal raisin, but neither would I.

My friend Karen and I went to lunch. I always like to eat Mexican on my birthday. We went to a place where we don't go very often. There was a family from church there - we have their 18-month-old son on Wednesday night and I had their 4-year-old daughter in Sunday School two years ago. We spoke to them and told them it was my birthday. We had a nice meal. Afterward the mom, Julie, came by our table with the daughter who gave me a hug and told me "Happy Birthday". Then Julie said they had paid for our lunch (!) because they appreciate all we do for the kids! That was so cool and unexpected.

Then Sunday night, the PMF's mom invited me to birthday dinner at their house. We had breakfast for dinner. I love that. There was bacon, eggs, grits, biscuits, Eggo's, fruit, and more. It was SO good.

I had a really nice day. Getting older sucks, but at least I have people around who care about me, and you can't ask for much better than that.

Connections

On New Year's Eve I went to AC Moore. I was sitting on the floor in the yarn aisle going through the clearance yarn and met two girls who were shopping. I invited them to the knitting group. One of the girls gave me her website to visit. She's got some great stuff on there. Go visit. This is what I bought at AC Moore that day. Twelve skeins of clearance yarn. Most of it, well, some of it, has a destiny.

The weekend before Christmas weekend, I babysat Catherine and Adam. Catherine got in my knitting bag found some yarn and said, "Oh, Miss Holly! I LOVE this yarn. Would you make me a scarf out of it?" It's Red Heart symphony in Dark Rose. I had some size 35 needles in my bag that I wasn't using, so I cast on and knit. With the big needles it's very lacy. When it was as long as she is tall, I bound it off. She was so pleased. Looks great with her "Dora" jammies, huh? It looked really cute when she wore it to church the next day.

I made these ornaments for Christmas. I call them Yarn-aments. It's Yarn Bee Airy. I had some left over after making a scarf. I gave these to some of my friends along with a hand cream or some bath salts. Cindy and Debbie liked it because they say the yarn kind of sparkled in the Christmas lights.

I didn't get to stay in South Carolina long for Christmas. I went up on Saturday, the 22nd, and came back on Tuesday, Christmas Day. Here's a picture of downtown Anderson, South Carolina, my hometown, all decked out for Christmas. Yes, I was seriously annoying the other drivers as I took these pictures. Not to mention annoying my dad in the passenger seat.

I made my PMF a hat for Christmas. This is Bernat Denim in the green color. I used the Knifty Knitter. That's the only way I can do a hat. They don't turn out for me otherwise.

We've almost finished the "Blogless Holiday" updates. I've got just a couple more photos to share.

Saturday

Today I went downtown to have lunch with my PMF while he has to work Saturday's (which he hates!) Afterward I went to my favorite beauty store: Ulta. I just love Ulta. Many of my friends have heard this story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I've shopped at Ulta in Atlanta and in South Carolina for several years, a member of their frequent shopper club. The day I read in the Ledger-Enquirer that Ulta was coming to Columbus, tears welled up in my eyes. The day the Columbus store opened, I was there. I told them this story. When I returned to the store later in the week, one of the girls said, "I remember you. You're 'The Crier'." Anyway, there are great deals to be had there. I got two hair color kits, a hand cream, a lipstick, a facial scrub, two deliciously scented body washes, two deliciously scented body lotions, and a hairspray. I had manufacturers coupons, plus the coupons in the mailer they send me as part of the frequent shopper club. My total for the day was $22.16. I love Ulta.

Afterward I came home and made another pan of cornbread to continue eating my turnip greens from New Year's Day. And I'm watching We Are Marshall on HBO. Two words: Matthew McConaughey. Oh, my. Even with 70's hair. This is a beautiful story, too. It kind of reminds me of the Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie Radio which, for those who don't know, is about the high school I attended in Anderson, South Carolina. Ed Harris plays my gym teacher from tenth grade. When it was in production, I was telling my dad about it, who they had cast in it and everything. None of the names meant anything to him until the day I told him the Lieutenant from Law & Order was playing Radio's mother. Well, then his opinion of the whole thing changed and he realized that this was really going to be something! Also, I saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets last weekend and Ed Harris is something of a bad guy in this movie. I don't like him as a bad guy. He was Coach Jones. He can't be a bad guy now.

Also, I realize I didn't post much between Thanksgiving and New Year's, so I'm going to throw in some photos I took during this time to catch you up: Here's me and Daddy in the backseat of my cousin Steve's SUV riding to Augusta for Thanksgiving Dinner at our Cousin David's house. Yes, those are size 50 Lion Brand Speed Stix in my hands. I used five skeins of soft yellow Fun Fur and made a great fluffy scarf!
This is Steve and his wife Nancy on David's back deck. Yes, David's place is really beautiful.
Clockwise from bottom, my Aunt Eunice and her sons, my cousins Perry, David, and Randall.
The spread: That's David's daughter Katie, first in line.
While I was in SC, I went to see my high school friend, Teresa, who has a goat farm.
I'll stick more pics in my next post. You'll be caught up in no time!

No Early Morning Fair Isle

I've been chastised by Dawn for not posting to my blog in more than a week. I have just the thing to talk about tonight: If you are not a morning person, you should not knit fair isle early in the morning. This morning I awoke at my customary 6am for Sunday. I use the time from 6 to 7 to eat breakfast and study my Sunday School lesson. Well, last night I had prepared my Sunday School lesson and got everything set up for my breakfast. So, at 6:30 I was done with both and engrossed in an X-Files rerun on TNT. I thought to myself, I think I'll knit a row on Daddy's vest. Well, half way through this purl row of 102 stitches, I realized I was carrying the yarn on the RIGHT SIDE of the knitting. AKKKKKK!!!!!! So I had to pass at least 50 stitches back to the left hand needle and lift the carries over. When I got back to around stitch 5 where all this started, then I had to pass all the stitches back to the right hand needle now that I had corrected my error. Then I finished the row. No more fair isle in the early hours. I'm not cut out for it.



Our news started this week. It's more work for me and my boss than anyone had thought it would be. Anyone. Including the General Manager who's having to pay me overtime to do it. Nobody is happy about that.



We had a nice dinner tonight at church. It was sort of a Thanksgiving potluck. I brought my macaroni and cheese. Well, Mom's Macaroni and Cheese. I love it and other people seem to, too. There was enough left in the bowl when I got home for me to scrape out one serving for me to have later. Good. The bad thing about this dinner is that I have to go have blood work done tomorrow (I had my annual physical on Friday and Dr. Lois orders routine blood work every year) and I'm scared of what the results might be after my pig out. Oink Oink.



My PMF finished his training at his new job and passed with flying colors. Yea!! I knew he would, but he was all,"I might not have a job after this test Friday." Oh, ye of little faith. I'm excited for him.



Oh, again with the knitting: Since we last spoke I made a hat for little Jenna, a church friend:


I'd seen her that Wednesday when it was chilly out and said to her mom, "That baby needs a hat." So last Saturday night, I made her one. It turned out cute, but anything is cute on her. Just look at her. It's unusual that she's not smiling. Usually she keeps a big smile on her face. I think the flash scared her.


And I made a scarf for me Monday night. I showed up at my knitting group with five skeins of pink yarn, my size 50 needles, and a plan. I held the five yarns -- Glittalic, Silverlash, Carmen (from Paton's), Bernat Bling Bling, and Red Heart Symphony -- all together, cast on just five stitches, and just knit. In two minutes it was four inches long.In an hour Beth made me hold it up because she thought it was long enough that I should stop. She was right. It's right around 99". Lacey got real excited and said, "I'm going home and diving into my yarn stash and finding some yarn I can make one of those scarves with!" It's really pretty, too.

I got a great reaction when I wore it out twice last week.

Next, I'm casting on for the Voodoo Wrist Warmers from knitty.com. I'm modifying it to add a thumb. I sought out the advice of three people on ravelry who had made them and added the thumb and they told me how they did it. I think I've got it.

Here's my Thanksgiving plan: Wednesday after work, drive four hours to Daddy's house. Assemble Pineapple Casserole. Get up Thursday morning, cook Pineapple Casserole while I get ready. Drive two hours to Augusta to my cousin David's house where we're having Thanksgiving this year. Enjoy the family time. Take pictures. Eat. (Good thing the blood work's not next week!) Knit. Maybe take the Dell along in case David has some wireless - hmmmm. Drive back two hours back to Anderson. Enjoy Friday with Daddy. He loves going to mall and watching the crowds the day after Thanksgiving. Saturday, Dawn comes to Anderson and we check out the new yarn store in town! Yea! Sunday Daddy and I will probably do some more family visiting. Monday I drive back in time for SnB. Tuesday, back to work. Whew!

I've got to do laundry tomorrow around knitting group so that I can pack on Tuesday and get out of town on time Wednesday. I hate hurrying. I'll try not to go another week without a post. I blame ravelry. I'm obsessed. I joined the Ravelholics group.

Another Week Gone

Okay. I'm feeling better. Still a little stuffy, coughy, and sore throaty, but way better than last week.

I've been lost in ravelry tonight. I found a new group for fans of the show "Good Eats". I just love Alton Brown. He's smart, funny, and so much fun to watch. He makes some good tv.

We had a busy week at work, not crazy busy like it has been, but busy none the less. Yesterday they started installing a new phone system. I'm going to have a direct line!! Woo-Hoo!! Actually we all are. Our new news starts Monday. We're launching our new website next week. (Here's our old site. It's pretty bad. Go look now and by next weekend, it'll be totally different. So if you're reading this after November 15, that link will take you to our new site.) Lots of things going on at the tv station.

I'm going to sleep late tomorrow and then work on Daddy's vest while I watch Game Day. Clemson plays on ESPN2 at noon. I'm supposed to do something fun with the PMF tomorrow. We'll see if he feels like coming to town.

The weather is cooling off and I like it!

Sneeze Sneeze, Cough Cough

Okay, last week when the PMF was particularly stressed over the training classes at his new job, I promised him we would go to Atlanta on Saturday for a fun day. Late in the week I felt the sinus trouble coming, but would not break my promise. I didn't tell him I was starting to feel bad. Instead, I fortified myself with OTC pharmaceuticals and headed to the ATL. We played miniature golf, ate at a new (for us) restaurant, shopped, went to the cool arcade (Jillian's) at Discover Mills, and then headed for home. By then the OTC pharms were wearing off and I was starting to feel pretty bad. I reloaded on the drugs at a BK drive-thru in Newnan. At that point my cover was blown and he knew I was feeling pretty bad. I dropped him off and headed home to find I had a 99.2 degree temperature -- and that's with two Aleve in me for 90 minutes. I took two Tylenol and went to bed around 10:30. I woke up at 2:30am in a sweat when the fever broke. I didn't make it to church Sunday. They have a rule about not being around the kids when you've had a fever within 24 hours. I sat in my pajamas on the couch and watched a "Heroes" marathon on G4. I didn't even feel like knitting. GASP! Dawn called and was surprised to find me home at 2pm and I told her I was sick. She called back later to check on me, still concerned. When she caught me on ravelry around 7pm, she knew I was going to be okay. I went to work today, but I was pretty mopey. I went to knitting tonight, but left early. I'm going to keep taking my meds and hope I can get better without shelling out $40 to Dr. Lois.

What Fun!

I had great fun today. A girl who's come to my knitting group once, I think, teaches knitting at A.C. Moore, a local craft store. She posted a note on the group message board last week about needing some knitters to come to their knitting festival today to help them publicise knitting and yarn and best of all, they'll pay you $50! Well, I jumped on that opportunity. Get paid to knit? Sign me up! Another girl from the group, Lacey, signed up,too. It was the most fun. We got there and got settled and started knitting by about 10am. I was working on, you guessed it, "Yo, Drop It!" We chatted and knit and walked around and looked at yarn. It was all very fun. Misty, who had done the recruiting, told me, "Go grab you some pizza in the break room." While I was back there I looked at the clock and it was 1pm. I'd thought maybe it was noon. Then, poof, it was 2. And, poof, it was 3 and we were done! Time really does fly when you're having fun. And it was so much fun.

Afterward I went up to Pine Mountain and had some yummy Mexican food with my PMF. We also walked around their Arts and Crafts festival where I saw Beth, from the knitting group checked out her booth and amazed everyone with my ability to recognize yarn. When we got back to his house, we watched the end of the Clemson game. Sadly, they suffered their first loss of the year. Oh, well. All the fun I had today had to be balanced out somehow.

Ravelry & the Harlot

Okay, Ravelry is dangerously adictive. I like it so much. There's so much to see and look at and lust over. If you're not on the list, go, get on it.

Tomorrow, or in a little over 21 HOURS we'll be with the Yarn Harlot. I'm so excited. I'm off from work on Thursday, too, so I can recover. I'll be hanging with my PMF in the afternoon.

I plan to do a blog of the Harlot hang so I don't have to repeat it over and over. I'll just send folks here to read it.

Hasta La Vista.