Alrighty then...

While I was at K-roger on Thursday, buying groceries, minding my own business, an elderly man stopped his cart in front of mine. That was fine; he was going across my path, so I was waiting anyway for him to go by. Instead, he stopped and said to me:  This is more fun than anyone ought to have. I laughed politely, and thought to myself, and myself hates going to the grocery store: This isn't any fun at all, but ok.

He leaned in closer and said: Don't tell anyone this. I leaned in closer.

I could have been somebody.

I started to feel sorry for him and also wondered if I was going to have to listen to a long, sad tale of woe.

I coulda been a contendah! he said.

And then he walked on.

As I said---alrighty then.


On to knitting. Tah-dah!  Or something. I have made progress on the Papillon, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

I have finished two of the three sections, and it's still very purple. I'm thinking of cutting into the next bit of yarn so I can get to some other colors, although there are really only three others---green, turquoise and blue, and not much of any of them. 


On the construction front, the shower is finished, and I thought, silly me, that we could move back into the bedroom. I am living in a dorm room, I've decided. Too much stuff, not enough space.

And I have a really messy roommate, although the daughter whose room this used to be blames me. She is in LA so how would she know? I would NEVER have made this much of a mess myself.  

So even though the mess from the shower and tile installation is gone, now there is the mess from the cabinet and mirror removal, and the the drywall compound patches on the walls. Sanding the compound remains to be done, and that produces way too much white powdery dust to live in. 

Various paint color samples are on the walls as well, but before we decide on a final color, my husband will prime the whole room to cover up all the random paint.  

Once the cabinets and counter tops and mirrors and faucets arrive...maybe we'll be finished with this, knittergran says with hope in her voice.  

It Ain't Braggin' if it's True, part 2

OK, so it turns out that my last post wasn't entirely true.  I will pass along to you, dear readers, what I have learned from my experience.

Once you have finished what you consider to be your Christmas shopping, wrapping and shipping, DO NOT, under any circumstances, go into even one more store.  Possibly the grocery store isn't even safe.

Because I went to Lowes, the home improvement store that sells soil, plants, toilets, wiring, and tools I can't even identify, I have this package to mail.

What's inside that could possibly be a gift for my 4-year old granddaughter? That I found at Lowes?

This:

I went to Lowe's looking for a wreath, which I did not get because all of theirs were raining needles and would not last until Christmas, and this ornament jumped out at me.   Elizabeth loves, loves, loves all things Hello Kitty and so of course I thought--- Elizabeth MUST have this. 

Now I am off to the post office to mail it.  

NO MORE STORES.  

My apologies to anyone in this house who might want to eat home-cooked meals between now and Christmas.  Publix and Kroger and especially Fresh Market are now off limits.  Because apparently no place, not even a home-improvement store, is safe.

Lifting My Head Up Off The Table

long enough to tell you why it was on the table. But this is whining, so be forewarned.

I went to the bank. No problems.

I went to the grocery store. Tried to buy plain yogurt. There used to be such a thing. There may still be but I couldn't find it amidst the FOUR MILLION containers of yogurt flavored of everything else that isn't yogurt (banana yogurt-blechhh...).

Settled for vanilla yogurt. It's going into a recipe so no harm done, I hope.

I did NOT go through the check-it-and-bag-it-yourself aisle. I will not go into what happens to me when I end up in a fight with that fresh hell.

I did go to buy gas at Kroger since it is right in the Kroger parking lot. (Why on earth can't we pay a couple of cents extra for gas and have someone pump it for us, I would like to know.) The machine wouldn't take my Kroger Plus card, so I had to go get the attendant. He came out of his air-conditioned booth and fixed the problem. Then it wouldn't take my debit card, so I had to go get the attendant out of his air-conditioned booth and he fixed that problem. Then it wouldn't take my code for the debit card, so I had to go get the now-kind-of-annoyed attendant. He wouldn't come out of his air-conditioned booth and made me pay at the booth.

How much gas do you want? he asked.

A full tank, I answered.

Nope, pick an amount. $30? $40?

How the h*ll would I know? I picked $30.

I pumped the gas, and as I put the pump back in its holder, I heard a woman's voice. I turned, said Pardon? and she said:

When you drip gas on the ground, it hurts the environment.

I looked at the ground, didn't see any gas, looked up puzzled, and she explained that I had dripped gas and that if I shook the nozzle into the holder, gas would drip back into the holder instead of on the ground.

I'm a good person. (First of all, I wasn't even tempted to deck her.) I recycle. I drive a low-emissions vehicle. I feel bad that the LYS where I shop throws the cardboard boxes in the trash (but not bad enough to offer to recycle the boxes myself and I'm a good enough person to feel guilty that I don't offer to do so). But baby Jeebus, Mary and Joseph, on my worst, huge-carbon footprint day, I don't even register on the scale of the damage currently continuing and continuing and continuing in the Gulf of Mexico (NOT the ocean, newscasters), so give me a break, please.

On the way home, a rock hit the windshield, but didn't break it, and I arrived home to find a box from Knit Picks.

Things are looking up. I hope. Or I'll go back to trying shots of tequila.

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia

It's embarrassing to live in a state like Georgia. We're near, if not at, the bottom of any educational achievement scores in the country; we have a governor who prays for rain in a drought, but who has done nothing to come up with a plan to have reservoirs to help deal with future droughts (if this one will EVER end); and now the Georgia Medical Board has ruled that "because the flu vaccine is considered a 'dangerous' drug, it should not be administered without a doctor's order", i.e., a prescription. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/18/08)

No wonder DH found lines at CVS over the weekend when he tried to get a shot. The Governor has said that the state will not prosecute anyone who gives a shot to someone without a prescription, but Kroger and Publix, who have 327 pharmacies in the state, will not administer flu shots to those without prescriptions. CVS, Walgreens and others are throwing caution to the wind and giving shots to anyone who wishes to get one.

I imagine that this screwup will keep some people from getting shots and others will end up paying their co-pay at a doctor's office in order to get the shot, plus the cost of the shot, which isn't usually covered by insurance.

Way to go, Georgia.