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?

Go Tigers!

Look what I got today! I'm so excited! I tried to get it last month when I had to renew my tag before my birthday. The folks at the tag office couldn't get the computer to let them issue the tag to me. They took my phone number and said they'd call me when they figured it out. A month later, I got a message saying they had it ready. I went downtown at lunchtime today and got it. Had to turn in my old tag. I had to take a wrench and remove my old tag on the street across from the office. When I went in, the security guy had to hold my wrench. I don't know what he thought I might do with it in the tag office, but he held it while I went and claimed my tag. So, they gave me my new Clemson tag and I went out, showed it to the security guys and got my wrench back. Then put it on the car right there on Second Avenue. I called my dad to tell him about it. He wasn't home. I left a message. I called Dawn because I knew she'd appreciate it - or at least appreciate my enthusiasm for it. I made everyone at work go look at it today. Especially the two guys who went to Carolina. Can't wait to show it off at church tomorrow! It's the only one in Columbus! When I got home I had my Clemson World Alumni magazine in the mailbox waiting on me. It was a very orange day! I even wore an orange shirt today.

Be very afraid: I'm sitting here with Magic Stripes yarn, size 3 needles, and a Cat Bordhi sock book.

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.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My dad is 81 today. He was supposed to get his Canyon Ridge vest (the one he was originally supposed to get for Christmas) today. But, alas, it's not ready yet. I feel bad. I felt bad telling him the other day that it wasn't ready and he was all "That's okay, Hon." Which really just made me feel worse. I've got to get that vest done!

Work has been draining lately. There's just so much to do. I like my job, I really do, but, man, they just expect so much of us. Yesterday my boss was off to go to a funeral out of town, and I had so much to do. I left about 7:10 last night. It was a long day. Oh, and Thursday, my boss got on a cleaning frenzy. He does this about once a year. I just follow him around and try to make sure he doesn't throw away anything we need. He went nuts with the 409. Between the dust and the 409, my sinuses haven't been the same since.

Tonight I'm babysitting for my boys, Jack and Grayson. Or as I call them Jack-a-roo and Gray-baby. They are 5 and 2 1/2 and lots of fun. The biggest battle is getting Jack to bed. Gray goes without a fight; Jack moves in slow mo once he starts upstairs. I wonder what movie we'll watch tonight. There's always dinner and a movie. It's like a date, only I get some knitting done after they go to sleep and I get paid at the end of the night. It'd be bad if I got paid after a date. Also illegal.

Okay, have a great weekend. I'll try to be a better blogger. Lacy has given me grief over my lack to blogging. I get online and get lost in email and ravelry. I'll be better.

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.

No Snow Here

Daddy has snow. I miss snow. We would have one good snow a year when I was growing up in South Carolina. Columbus has one good snow per decade - maybe. I looked at the webcams at Clemson and the campus is covered in snow.

I know it's hard to tell in the dark, but there's snow. So pretty. I'm jealous. My freshman year at Clemson, they cancelled classes on my birthday because of snow. It was so much fun.

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.

One More Holiday Story

Okay, I volunteered sometime back in October to do stage makeup for the church Christmas Program as I have done for several years now. I didn't hear anything from anyone involved. Didn't hear. Time passed. More time passed. I got no rehearsal schedule. Nothing. I thought, well, okay, they must have someone else to do makeup. I should point out that the drama coordinator passed away last summer (Please see my post from July 19, 2007), so the people running this play are rookies. Plus, our Minister of Music left late summer, so that position is being filled by a volunteer. Anyway, the production was scheduled for December 8th & 9th. I was contacted the folks running the play on December 2nd. My old friend Charles, one of the directors, says, "Well, we need you to coordinate makeup; but we're really going to need you to run sound." What?!? That's not fun. That's work. I had to do a total shift of my mindset. I was nervous. If you mess up with makeup, you wipe it off and start over. If you mess up with sound, everybody knows. My coping mechanism was to take a scarf I was knitting (a Christmas present) and at forty minutes before showtime, I knit for ten minutes. Then we had a cast/crew huddle. Visit the bathroom, and then do the show. Anyway, the guys in the sound booth with me thought it was a little weird that I insisted on taking the ten minutes to knit at the rehearsals and the performances. I told them I had to do it "to get my head in the game". By the last performance, they were asking to see how long the scarf was. It turned out to be a lovely gift and the show went really well.

Conclusion of "Blogless Holiday" Update

This pattern is called Calorimetry. It's designed for people with long hair to keep their ears warm. I knit it in a yarn called Paradox that's a Yarn Bee yarn from Hobby Lobby. This was my "After I Got Back to Georgia After Spending Christmas in South Carolina" project. I so need to clean that mirror.
For those who've asked about Daddy's Christmas vest, it's been renamed Daddy's Birthday Vest. He got the back for Christmas. He'll (hopefully) get the front for his birthday next month. It does look pretty, doesn't it?
I was at the dentist this afternoon and was chatting with the hygienist while we waited on the dentist to come in. I was telling her about this vest and pulled out my digital camera to show her the picture. We were looking at it and Dr. Leerssen came in. Julie showed it to him and he told me about his mother who joined a knitting group after his dad died and how much she likes it. He got hand knit socks for Christmas. Last year he got felted slippers! I told him the next time his mom visits to bring her to Panera on Monday night! He said, "I will. She'd love that!" Oh, and no cavities!

I also had my mammogram this morning. The technician didn't see anything, but it still has to go through a doctor's hands to be official.

Jenna went home from the hospital today. She's eating 2 ounces of formula every two hours. After two days she gets three every three. Then four every four. They go back to the doctor on Monday. They still aren't totally sure what caused it.


I think that's all that happened during my holidays. Oh, presents: I got some gift cards - Applebee's, Cracker Barrel, Subway, money, knitting books, ankle boots, clothes, body wash/lotion/scrub/spray. Now I'm all caught up.