Uncle Leona's Day Camp

A long week that's coming to a close

This past week was the first full week of beeper duty for me in the new practice. It has been relatively uneventful, but extremely busy. Thankfully, I'm only working that one Saturday a month--I saw 21 kids in three hours yesterday. Couldn't tell you what they all had; it's all a blur. I'll be more than ready to say farewell to it tomorrow and get back to a normal night's sleep. The day off I'm taking on Friday also won't hurt (my first day off with the new practice...thought I'd give them a good month's work of hard work until I start slacking off).

So, what does one do when attached to a beeper? One starts attacking a stash.

This is my version of the Rambling Rows afghan. The pattern gives you color variations to try. I sort of missed that paragraph. I like it this way--far more interesting. For example, that block that's halfway done is from yarn I found in my grandma's basement. It was sportweight; I spun it to a two ply worsted.

Damn, I can be creative.

Anyhow, it is starting to make a bit of a dent in the wool bin. I feel pretty good about that.

The shetland pullover is in blocking position:

I'm on the second sleeve at the moment, but that afghan has been wonderfully mindless, which has been a good thing this week. I think I'll take the sleeve to work tomorrow to do a little lunchtime knitting. The afghan had been the work knitting, but it has become a tad too huge.

What else does one do when one is trapped with a beeper? And the weather looks like this?

One plans their yearly March vacation. I had been toying with a return trip to Vegas, but when I was chatting with my sister-in-law, we both thought it would be nice to go out there together. OK, maybe even bring my brother along. So, I moved my eyes a bit southeast. I'm heading to Albuquerque. There's a spicy food show at one of the casinos there at the base of the Sandia mountains that also happens to have a pretty kick ass golf course.

My kind of trip.

Here's the real kicker, though. When I was asking around on that silly golf board of mine about whether the show was worth attending, the guy who got me these shirts

basically told me to stop looking at hotels. He offered up his home (which is beautiful) for my stay! I get my own bedroom and bathroom, and only have to deal with his dogs. Now, before all of you start fretting, this guy has offered his home up before to another guy on the board who I know, and that guy has given him the thumbs up as a host.

So, I have managed to finagle a trip out to Albuquerque, complete with a host slash tourguide who is also planning on doing the cooking. Total cost of room, board, and airfare from Cleveland?

$289.

That leaves plenty of cash for shopping and golf. My kind of vacation indeed.

A few headcovers ain't gonna make a dent in this

I decided to do a little stashkeeping today. I had no idea that I had this much wool/wool wannabe yarn around this place. I think it may be time to get to work on an afghan; this has gotten completely out of control.

Yeah, that's the "not wool" container. The big one on top is sock yarn remnants that one day will be a sweater (the pattern is ready; I'm not). The others are various mohair, cotton, boucle, and novelty stuff that hasn't already found a container in a corner of my house. I did dig a few things out of one of those containers. Forgot I even had this stuff:

No idea what to do with it, but I think I'll fondle it for a while.

I'm nuts.

I caved.

Blame it on a sweater that needed cleaning. While at work yesterday, I kept experiencing a nasty eau de poopie aroma. Initially, of course, I blamed a patient; however, when it kept up, I did a little sniffing, and discovered that the right shoulder of my sweater had to have been blessed by a little cat gift that I hadn't noticed.

Don't fret; there was no stain. Just a little stink that only I could appreciate.

So, since I was out of Eucalan, I needed to head off to one of the LYS in town to replenish the supply.

Big mistake. Why? Try eight skeins of this:

Tatamy Tweed, a cotton/acrylic blend that will make a nice spring/fall pullover.

That's right...I added to the stash. Now, according to the rules set down, I was allowed to cave once other than sock yarn.

OK, I got that, too. Needless to say, the chances of me sticking to the "Knit From Your Stash" challenge are about as good as my giving up caffeine. So, I hearby declare, with all due respect to Cosmo Kramer:

I'M OUT!!!

I feel so relieved. There is also irony to be appreciated. On a closer inspection of the label...

As for the pirate shirt, I found it on Cafepress.com. If you put "knit" in their search box, you'll be amazed at how many crazy things you'll find. I ordered a few things for Christmas last year, using my photos and graphics, and was very happy with the service.

Oh...you want to know if anyone got the shirt for me? Well, one of the guys I made headcovers for (I think I made four for him) ordered it and shipped it to me. He also claims to have added a bonus surprise. Seeing as everyone I have met from that golf page has been harmless, I'm not too concerned.

As long as it doesn't contain DNA, I think I'm OK.

I think I found my perfect t-shirt

A little bit of expanation first. As many of you are aware, I post on a silly golf message board. Basically, I'm one of about five women among several hundred men; our job is to keep them in line.

It doesn't work, but we're still trying.

Anyhow, several years ago, I dated a guy with a goatee and an earring. The guys on the board basically took that to mean I am keen on pirates. The guy disappeared after two dates; my reputation for looking for the perfect buccaneer didn't. So, I see this t-shirt today, and I had to laugh.

I'm going to post it on the board and see if anyone will buy it for me. I'll do a little cyber blinking of the eyes; that should help.

I hate rhinovirii

One of the rugrats decided to share last week. I'm now smack dab in the middle of my yearly winter visit from one of Northeast Ohio's rhinovirus population. Well, one that has mutated into several gazillion now plugging up my nose, setting off my asthma, and making me start to sound like Kathleen Turner.

If I could look like her in Body Heat, I would be content. Sadly, I tend to resemble Kathy Bates.

Whatever. I'm stuck with my Afrin and green tea only one sneeze away from the Kleenex. It sucks. I don't even have a lot of inspiration when it comes to knitting. I have been doing a little bit of work of late, though. The cochineal pieces parts went through a Synthrapol soakage, and a ton of dye was spun out into the stationary tub. I'm hopeful that it's all out; we'll find out when I start putting it all together, I guess. For now, it's decor:

After finishing the pieces, I dove into the stash for a project that has been sitting in there for a long time. I'm working on a pullover from one of the Jamieson Shetland books--the yarn is beautiful stuff, even if the damn stuff is on size 6 needles.

I got a little spoiled with the last project. This one ain't built for speed.

Anyhow, the back is done:

And up close:

This thing will have the crap blocked out of it eventually. There are several inches of stockinette at the bottom that need decurling for this to be the tunic-ish top it should be as opposed to the croptop it is at the moment. The front is in the pink stripe right now. I may be able to attach it tonight to the green if I stay awake. That's a very big "if."

A quick work update. Other than the fact that I'm still not sure I got paid today (waiting on the direct deposit to show up in the account...), work has been an absolute breath of fresh air. Everyone has been wonderful, including the patients, who have had nothing but good things to say about their experiences so far (that means the most to me right now). I think I've brought a little change to the office as well; today, a couple of the nurses asked if I had ever done stand-up comedy in my checkered past. Apparently, this gang hasn't laughed enough.

I haven't even broken out the good material yet.

Anyhow, they have all been blown away by the sweaters I've worn this week (it finally was a little cold for a change this winter), and I found out that one of the nurses' daughters is a spinner (for a fine arts degree, no less...). Let the fun begin!

Speaking of fun, my Mom decided that Grady needed a Christmas gift this year. This is it:

Yes, it's Chia Cat Grass. One wonders why the Chia Corporation has stayed in business as long as it has. I'll tell you why: their products do exactly what they say they will! All of the dirt and seeds were included in the kit. I followed the instructions, and in less than a week, Grady had gourmet greens. Does he like it?

Yep.

Don't that look like a cat who eats his veggies?

Nice, but what kind of acceleration does it have?

From Creative Knitting:

I'm guessing it's from superwash wool.

My name is Lee Ann, and I'm an internetaholic

It became painfully clear to me this week that I have a little problem with the internet. Seems as though I can't live without it. Due to someone hating me over at AT&T, my DSL connection was down for three days here in Leonaland. Topping it off was the fact that I couldn't log onto my computer in my office until Thursday, and I didn't have access to any of my friends in my address book, seeing as:

A. I had no idea what my work email address was, and even if I did,
B. I didn't have internet at home to email the address book!!!

I found myself doing things like....cleaning. Yep, I was a desperate soul. Well, the internet is back in place here, and I'm a happy camper once again. I've sent out a couple of emails, surfed around a tad, and posted here.

I think my blood pressure has finally come back down.

Day one in the books

For all intents and purposes, Day One at the new practice went about as smoothly as it possibly could. I managed to see twenty kids and still leave by 4:45, even though I was without a medical assistant full time (they all helped out getting kids in, and I took care of phone calls and prescription refills). Not too bad. Tomorrow, I have my first full day off that isn't a vacation day in six years. No pager. No half day in the office. Just me, myself, and I. And Grady. What's on the agenda?

Going into the old office and deciding what needs to move next door. The little stuff didn't get moved yet, so I need to do that. I also need to get in touch with the company that let us loan out their nebulizers; they need to pick them up so I don't go selling them on eBay.

Then I get to pick up my new pager from the hospital. Damn.

I guess everything can't be perfect.