25. October 2008 by Kathy.

Woke up to pouring rain this morning. Must be 40 percenting all over the place. But beginning tomorrow…0% and less humidity and a bit cooler….perfect!

Maggie had a hair cut yesterday:

Isn’t she a cutie? One thing that is less expensive in Florida…dog grooming. I paid $35 yesterday; in Charlotte it is about $50, and in DC…$60 and up.

But one major thing is much more expensive here…car insurance. It more than doubled…and we have a perfectly clean driving record with no claims since we have had the policy (1989) with Metropolitan.

We lowered the price of the house in Charlotte…it has been a month with only three showings. We sure picked a bad time to list, didn’t we?

But to insert something frivolous… A and I went to Punta Gorda last night to try a new pub…and we loved it! Really nice selection of draft beers (my first was a Kronenburg, which I grew to love at The Mitre pub in London); Alan had a Fuller’s ESB…one of his favorites.  There was a great crowd of various ages…that is one of the things I like best about Florida.  In DC and in Charlotte, you really had to be under 30 to fit in.  Here…whatever age goes. There were lots of dart boards, pool tables and snooker tables.  What is snooker, anyway? Have to look that up.

Then we came home and went in the pool…perfect ending to a great evening!

Love to all! Go well.

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23. October 2008 by Kathy.

Hi all. It is a grey day here in SW Florida; breezy, about 77 degrees at 11 AM. Will probably rain later.  A and I are sitting on the lanai, A is working (duh) and I am…blogging!

We just made plans to go with J&J and his cousin from Germany to hear the Irish Tenors in December at the Van Wezel in Sarasota. Looking forward to that!

J and I are going to see The Duchess this afternoon, then meet the guys at the British pub nearby.

Kayaking starts a week from today, hooray, hooray!

In knitting news, I finished these:

These are the Summer Anklet pattern from Buzz and Fuzz, made up in Cascade Fixation. These are a gift for……..?

and started this:

This is a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern; I’m making it in an off white cotton.  My thought is that it will be comfortable to take to restaurants and movies, where it is often colder than I would like.

Non knitters, are your eyes glazed over yet?

Sorry, the comments button is still not working…I’ve looked everywhere to try to fix it…Alan hasn’t had a lot of time to look at it.  We are thinking of moving the blog to a simpler, more user friendly host, like blogger.

Love to all. Go well!

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22. October 2008 by Kathy.

For non-knitters, this will bore you to tears.

Storing my many circular needles has always been a problem. Needle rolls, while pretty, only do a good job storing straight needles. Keeping circs in their little packages works, but then you have to fumble through them looking for a certain size. So I decided to come up with a design that works for me:

And a close-up:

I made this with a purchased place mat. Finished size is 7 1/4 inches wide, 17 1/2 inches long.

Begin by cutting the placemat into two pieces; first is 5 3/4 inches wide by 17 1/2 inches; the other is 7-1/4 X 17-1/2.  My placemat was tightly woven, so I didn’t even serge or overstitch the edges; it won’t ravel.

Next, cut a piece of plastic 3 inches by 17-1/2 inches (I used the plastic zipper case that a bedspread came in). Cover the two short edges and one long edge with narrow ribbon, or even bias tape; I just used a straight stitch, but zig-zag would work as well. Line up the long ribbon covered edge with the long edge of the larger placemat piece. Straight stitch across the upper and lower edges. Then line up the smaller placemat piece with the opposite edge of the larger piece. I straight stitched side - to -side across, through all layers, in 1 inch increments to form the channels to hold the needles. I made 17 channels. Now you have not only formed the needle channels, but also the pockets in which to place your needle numbers. Print out the needle identification numbers that you wish to use (I used 00 through 15) in a large font, cut them into squares, and place in the pockets. Ta-da!  You may add a hanging loop, or actually fit a clothes hanger at the top; I didn’t want to hang mine; I store it flat.  I did add an extra ribbon loop at the bottom to hold a needle gauge.

If you made it  though this post, as you are not a knitter…you deserve a gold star!

Go well.

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20. October 2008 by Kathy.

A bit cooler here this morning…down to 68 early; back up to 78 now at 11 AM. It was a gorgeous weekend here in South Florida. We spent Saturday afternoon at Oktoberfest in Cape Coral.  This was the 23rd annual Oktoberfest produced by the German American Club in Cape Coral.  I’ve never been to the Munich Oktoberfest; Alan has (Stuttgart), and of course J&J have; they all said this one is just about authentic. Wonderful bands, especially Maselheimer, from Ravensburg. Ravensburg is in South Germany, near the Bodensee. This is where we spent a week of our trip last Spring. Anyway:

A fun time was had by all!

Today we have already had our flu shots, and more importantly, VOTED!

Hard to see, but it is a “I Voted” sticker.

How ’bout those Tampa Bay Rays! World Series, no less. I’m not a big baseball fan (yet) but it is always good to see the home town team do well.  They will have home team advantage, so the first two games will be played in St. Pete.

Go well!

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16. October 2008 by Kathy.

Well, sorry, it is afternoon. This is how I spent the morning:

That is, after I made reservations for C and A to come down the day after Thanksgiving. A is in Clearwater this week for a required seminar…and today is their anniversary! Happy Anniversary…can’t believe it has been 4 years already. They are so sweet and so happy together…they are a lucky couple to have found each other so young! C and C will be 28 this December…my, my, my. Can I be old enough to have children that age? Maybe I should tell people they are Alan’s by his first wife.  But most people know that he didn’t have a first wife. I guess I’ll just have to own up to them…and gladly.

We had J&J over for dinner last night…fajitas and margaritas. A fun time was had by all.

In knitting news…nothing. Didn’t pick up the needles at all yesterday. I did finish Catherine Coulter’s last book, however.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print…I won’t talk about the debate, except to say how rude I thought McCain was.  Every time Obama spoke, McCain had that nasty sneer on his face. And his plan to embarass Obama failed…it only made him seem older and more crochety that he is.

Go well!

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15. October 2008 by Kathy.

Doesn’t Alan look happy?

Or at least as happy as he can while working! This is how he goes to work every day…barefoot!

Our new appliances were delivered today. The gas range was installed, but the dishwasher and microwave are in boxes in the garage, awaiting Alan’s attention. I’m glad we bought these before the recent financial crises…otherwise I probably wouldn’t have made the purchase. But at least I paid for them with the proceeds of selling no longer needed stuff in Charlotte. And I  do love cooking with gas..the range, not Alan.

J&J are coming for dinner tonight to celebrate belatedly (I almost said posthumously) her birthday.  I’ve made a neat surprise for her BD gift!

Love to all! Go well.

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14. October 2008 by Kathy.

with a charged camera battery.  So…

As I said, the hats are muliplying

The pattern can be found here:

http://randomstitches.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/hello-world

The designer indicates that it is OK to share the pattern, so…Thank you, random stitches!  I found the pattern via Ravelry.

My newest project:

Can you guess what it is?

The mirror is now back here it belongs, I’ve been to the bank, still have to pick up the Rx and order the blind.  Other than that, all is right with my world.

Go well.

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14. October 2008 by Kathy.

So yesterday was errand day. I had to make a bank deposit, go to grocery store, the pool store, Home Depot, and Walgreens.

Got dressed; went into garage and opened car door.  Rear view mirror was hanging by a cord from it’s base. Hmmm….will be hard to drive like that. Ran to call Alan…he simply unplugged the mirror from the base, set the mirror on the passenger seat and told me to be careful. (He loves me.)

Went to bank…it was closed. Duh…Columbus Day.

Went to Walgreens to transfer one of A’s Rx’s. They couldn’t read the membership number on his insurance card.  Called him; he found the number and I told clerk. OK, but they have to wait 24 hours on a transfer. (Never heard of that, but oh well). So didn’t get prescription.

Went to Home Depot to buy a replacement blind for the single sliding door in our bedroom (Alan broke it back in the spring.) Finally found the right area, asked a very surly clerk if they had the cellular blinds; she pointed me in the direction, reluctantly.  They don’t come in 95 inch length; will have to order.

On to the grocery and pool stores. One bit of good news…pool chemistry was perfect. Went to grocery store; uneventful, except Publix doesn’t carry many of the brands I’m used to…and the produce sucks (I know, I’ve said that before.)

Left store; it was pouring ran.

Later in the evening, we decided to make an online appointment to get new Florida driver’s licenses. Made appointments; looked at instruction on what to bring to DL offfice…new rule: have to have Social Security card.  Looked in wallet…no SS card. I remembered taking a few cards out b/c the wallet was too full…this was maybe, I don’t know, two years ago. Looked in safe and all the likely places; no card. Who knows where it is. One more thing to add to the list.

At least the stock market was up.

In other news: the hats are multiplying…

(This was where I was going to insert a picture of the hats, plus one of my latest knitting projects…camera battery is dead, we only have one battery, it has to recharge.)

Sigh.

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9. October 2008 by Kathy.

Well, maybe not really lazy.  I just haven’t gotten into the habit of writing a post daily.  I’ll do better, I promise.

We partied with J’s sisters and cousins during the early part of the week. They flew down last Thursday from Houston and Tulsa; J met them in Ft. Myers and they took the boat to Key West. Came back late Sunday night. The cousin stayed here with us for two nights. We went to Carabba’s Monday night; then Tuesday we drove down to Ft. Myers and Sanibel/Captiva, then took the travelers back to the airport. Fun! I had not been to Captiva since Charley went through…the tree canopy is completely gone.

Just so you know I haven’t forgotten my priorities:

We watched the game at Beef O’Brady’s.  Glad to see that we can still watch the Panthers, even in the heart of Bucaneer country.

Took A to a walk-in clinic yesterday to have his stitches removed.  I thought that his injury looked a bit swollen and red the past couple of days.  I guess his body was rejecting the stitches, so the boo boo wasn’t healing and the gash was gaping.  So back to more stitches; they should come out next week sometime.

Speaking of stitches, aren’t these the cutest hats?

You can’t tell from the picture, but they are newborn sized. I think these will go to Kristi. Still have Jessica’s to go, plus both CR’s new grandbabies.  Good thing they only take a couple of hours to make!

Let me hear from ya’ll.  I’m still working on the “comments” problem.

Go well.

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3. October 2008 by Kathy.

Yes indeed. I’ve unpacked 52 boxes…looks like a warehouse for a liquor store.

and 16 bins; found space for most items in the house. This morning I cleaned the pool deck, trimmed the shrubbery around the pool and vacuumed the pool. The filter is filthy, but Alan will have to do that. It does look better.

The house is coming along nicely. Of course, there are many decorative items that I will have to get rid of  but most everything will fit. Wish I had my dining room furniture, but that will just have to come in time.

So what did ya think of the debate last night? Most of you know that I am NOT a Sarah Palin fan.  However, I thought she did a credible job. She managed to speak in complete sentences (not passing judgement, this just comes from transcripts of questions posed to her) she was folksy and friendly (could have done without the ‘betchas, the darns, the goshes and the winks) but all in all I was impressed. I did resent the first thing she said “can I call you Joe?”…Senator Biden called her “Governor Palin” which was the proper thing to do.

She has obviously been well coached on policy.  I just wish she (and Senator Biden at times) could have answered questions more directly.  This was NOT a debate, it was a well spoken, in a round about way, presentation of why each party is the best one to go into the executive office. A bit too much mud slinging on both sides…and who knows which side told more truths?

I’m still not convinced either way. I’ll likely vote for Obama…I really don’t want mavericks in the White House (”after Samuel A. Maverick (1803–70), Texas pioneer who left his calves unbranded” - why wouldn’t he want his calves branded?)

So enough about that.

Miss all of you in Charlotte.  Sorry I’ve been incommunicado; every time the phone rang I was knee deep in boxes.  I worked from 7 AM until late at night every night. But the light is shining through the end of the tunnel (never knew what that really means) and next week will be much better.

Love to you all.  Go well.

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