An Interesting Proposition

I told you that our renters are leaving on March 15, right?  Well, I asked our cleaner if she'd be willing to wipe out cupboards and deep clean the kitchen and bathroom.  She agreed and we talked about what she'd charge for a day's work.  She was cleaning here last Tuesday and had an interesting proposition on the subject.  She proposed that we pay her $50 and I make things for her.  I'm always reluctant to agree to make things for people because that takes what is a pleasurable hobby and turns it into a semi-job but the longer we chatted about it the more do-able it seemed.  She didn't want a sweater or an afghan (thank god!), she has some felted sweaters she'd like to see if I can turn them into a purse.  Then she ticked off the other things she'd like:  a soap sack, a washcloth, a dishcloth, a bowl-holder cozy for the microwave, and a set of 4 fabric coasters.  Done!


I usually have a few dishcloth/washcloths stashed away for last minute gifts so I went downstairs and found a car knitting cloth and enough of the leftover yarn to crochet a quick soap sack to match.  

Then I trolled through the cotton yarn and found this interesting blue/purple/green twist yarn and the pattern for a 14-point star cloth that's fun to make.  The person that shared the pattern online calls it the "Almost Lost Dishcloth" because her mom had gotten it from a friend of a friend and had misplaced the scrap of paper it was written on for a while.  I'm glad it was found.  Downstairs I came upon a stack of fabric squares that will do nicely for the coasters with some other prints added to the mix.  Now all I have to do is rustle up a bowl cozy or maybe two in case she has company or soup cooks over.


D'you know what it did for half an hour this afternoon?  It snowed.  Not enough to cover the grass but snow.  One day it's close to 50 degrees and the next day it's snowing.  Make up your mind.

These warm days have everyone thinking of spring and gardening.  Every time OJ goes into the garden to explore he points out the end of the bales and says, "tomatoes."  He loved to help pick the cherry tomatoes that grew in that spot.  I tell him that we have to wait for the grass to turn green and leaves to pop out on the trees before we can plant tomatoes again.  I stopped at Dollar Tree to replenish my supply of birthday and sympathy cards and came upon a floorstand with seed packets 4/$1.  I couldn't resist.  I got carrots, bunching onions (aka scallions) and 6 packets of flower seeds--zinnias, morning glories, and California poppies.  I'm ready.  Come on, Spring!


March 1--Theo van Doesburg, Counter-Composition XIII.  Gina squinted at the painting on the far wall of the gallery.  There was something off about it.  As she got closer she saw that someone had spattered dark red paint over the pure geometry of triangles on the canvas.  She stopped in front of the painting.  The red spatters were on the wall on either side of the painting too.  That's when she noticed the expensive black shoes tossed on the floor by the curtain into the back room.  No, not just shoes, there were feet in them and legs attached to the feet.  She realized that wasn't paint on the wall and the art, it was blood.  Her chest got tight, she had trouble getting enough air all of a sudden, and her hand seemed to forget how to get her phone out of her purse.

This morning I told Durwood that I was going to take my new brown Goodwill coat to the dry cleaners on my way to the card store and he said to make sure that it was Senior Citizen discount day before I dropped it off.  I assured him that I would and said, "Watch, it'll cost $20 to get my $6 coat cleaned."  Well, I stopped at the dry cleaners, Senior Citizen discount days are Tuesday-Thursday so I left the coat, and it'll cost me $19.01 to ransom it next Tuesday.  Did I call it or what?  Today I'm determined to get into bed around 10 o'clock.  I'm tired.  Too many nights of being up way past 11:00 have caught up with me.  G'night.
--Barbara