Blizzard Beth

I wonder who picks the storm names.  Beth seems like a nice girl name for a storm that dumped about 14 inches of snow on us and blew it around with abandon.  All of the schools were closed today and there was no way I was going anywhere.  I got a text from my doctor's office that it was closing in mid-morning due to the storm even though I didn't have an appointment.  I guess they just texted everyone.  *shrug*  It got up to about 14 degrees today but now it's 1 degree and it's supposed to stay there all through tomorrow until the bottom drops out on Wednesday when the high is predicted to be a robust -6 degrees with wind chills of between -25 and -50.  I'm thinking I'll stay home on Wednesday.


I put plastic on the window above the bed--finally.  It's the only window in the house that leaks and I consistently forget or neglect to plastic it until it's frigid and blowing a gale.  Since it's supposed to be that cold for the next few days I thought I should get the job done.



I waited until the snow stopped falling and the wind dropped to go out to run the snowblower and just as I was getting dressed to go out I heard a snowblower in the driveway.  Seems my renter went out to dig her car out and a neighbor I'd never met came across the street with his snowblower and cleared my driveway and the end of hers.  Thanks, Austin!  So I fired up my snowblower and finished the job with the renter's help.  Really, I had it down to bare concrete for a minute but the wind blew snow right back over my nice clear driveway.




Look at the birdbath!  I'll go out tomorrow to clear off the snow cap and make sure that there's a bit of open water and also that there's water over the heating element.  

I didn't sew today.  I mostly sat on the couch and knitted on the Keltic Beanie.  There is no way that I'll have enough yarn to get this hat out of the single skein.  I will admit that the yarn in the pattern comes in 109 yard balls and my yarn is a 100 yard ball but, seriously, I am certain that I'll be much more than 9 yards short.  And anyway, no one ever calculates yarn requirements to the inch.  It's no big deal since I've got another skein of the same yarn in a different color that I can use to finish the hat, plus it's not for anyone in particular.  It just seems unfair that I won't have enough yarn when the pattern said I would.  Wah!  I'll probably end up donating it.


One thing yarn-y that I did accomplish today was knitting a loop and sewing it and a toggle button on the Montparnasse Eco Cardi.  I love the sweater and love wearing it (it's very warm) but dislike having to use a shawl pin or kilt pin to hold it together.  I don't have a kilt pin and a shawl pin is easy to lose if you want to wear the sweater open so I decided to just make an I-cord loop and dig out a toggle button and sew them on.  So I did.

I finally ran out of store-bought granola so I got to eat some of my homemade WW granola with my yogurt and thawed sweet cherries this morning.  I hereby swear that I will no longer buy granola.  It isn't that the WW granola is lower in points, it's the same, but it's much higher in flavor.  That little bit of ground ginger and the extra time in the oven to toast it makes a world of difference.  Yum!  It's well worth the effort of making it.





28 January--Tropical Obsession. 

Nola glared at the buildings on either side of the street as she followed the honey-voiced policeman into the island's government center. Like nothing she had ever seen at home, even on TV and not that she had all that much experience in police stations, but even in her extreme distraction trying not to believe Detective Inspector Rooibos that Jack was drowned, some part of her recognized the comic opera aspect to her surroundings. There were wide yellow lines painted or taped three feet back from every reception window, there were signs admonishing people to have their forms notarized in triplicate, and there were posters with lists of safety suggestions and silly scenarios about how to avoid being a victim of crime. She thought that the elaborate colonial architecture and bright tropical colors of paint used both inside and out where the perfect setting for the surreal situation she found herself in.

I got a text that the cleaning lady is sick and needs to cancel tomorrow's visit so I didn't have to run around making a tidy this afternoon.  Today's toss was a fun one.  It was a whole tote of old Halloween decorations and costumes.  I went through it all, saved a cape and a couple clown wigs, and will donate the rest.  I don't know why I kept the clown wigs.  I'll have to think on it.  There's another couple totes with costumes and makeup that I'll look through tomorrow so maybe my "I'll keep this" will change.  Time to hit the hay.
--Barbara