I got nothin'

My brain has checked out for the day. I couldn't even begin to come up with a catchy title.

I started knitting The Wedding Stole again last night. I got through 8 entire rows, one who repeat, before I messed up. You see, on that eight row, I thought, "I really should run a lifeline now," but I didn't listen to myself. As usual. Halfway through row 9, I was off by one stitch. One. Stitch. How can one stitch mess things up so much?

I'm trying the Spring Tulip stole on Ravelry, at least, I think it is. It looks very elaborate, but it's just a series of 8 rows of the same 8 stitches over and over and over. I was even starting to memorize it last night. I'm still listening to your suggestions and printing the patterns (when they're free) because I'm fairly certain that I'm going to mess this one up beyond tolerance too.

If I end up knitting something other than one you've suggested, I'll just use the ol' random number generator to chose a winner. I'm not going to put a deadline on it yet because I'll continue to mess them up for another month or so.

Another real estate agent toured the homestead today. We weren't very taken with RE Lady #1. She didn't seem to anxious to get things going. RE Lady #2 said not to replace the carpets, they're in good shape, just declutter and get stuff out of the house. We are having a 10' x 10' deck built on the back of the house, which will make it look a little more finished. We'll still paint, but not a whole facelift. She'll send comps tomorrow. I'm interested to see if her price range is the same as the first one.

I hope we sell this fast. We really want that house in Big Pine Key (one of these days I'll put up some photos so you can just how insane out of touch with reality anxious we are to get started fixing it up. I mean, how long will The Bank allow it to sit there, rotting away, with the value dropping by the second? The asking price dropped $45K during the four weeks we were in the Keys. Perhaps they're getting antsy to move it before they have a real environmental hazard on their hands.

The xerographic module for Bad Copier arrived, but I wasn't notified because no one seemed to notice that big box with Xerox written on it and my name in bold letters on the label. I stuck that sucker into the machine and I've been fighting with the copier ever since. It still wants to jam frequently. It's now making an awful groaning sound as it drags paper through its belly. It was nice and quiet last week for the half hour it's worked this school year. I'm caught up, but I'm exhausted from the battle.

B2 started public kindergarten yesterday. He'd had two years of church preschool under his belt, but I don't think that's equal to the task of molding him into a productive student. He's got his own ideas about how things are run and he is not afraid to insist. Authority figures don't scare him any. He loves the principal of the school, and he was introduced to the in-school suspension teacher and loves her, which really isn't in his best interests, but he doesn't know that yet. His first day went fairly uneventfully, as far as we know so far. He did have a littttttllllleee trouble being quiet while in line, which we expected.

His teacher just happens to work part time at Disney, and she just happens to have the job that B2 aspires to: tour guide on the Backlot Movie tour at Hollywood Studios. I'm sure now that he's convinced it's a match made in heaven. He's quite a talkative child, and I expect him to monopolize many of the school lessons--or attempt to.

A loves her teacher (4th grade) and her year started well. She had a bit of trouble staying quiet in kindergarten, but she's not the chatterbox that B2 is. It amazes me how much she's matured over the last six months. She now writes some long emails that make sense; she's writing a book of stories. She's learned to text (but not how to put spaces between words). She's a whiz at computer games and loves to read.

Forty-five minutes and I can go home. Can you tell how much I want to retire and leave work forever?

2 days down, 178 to go. This year.

First day of school

Technically I can leave in 15 minutes, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I've had the (one) copier running without cessation since 7 a.m. I've gone through over 20 reams (500 sheets each) of paper. I'm surprised that the staples haven't had to be refilled. Toner is lasting about 1.5 days; usually it lasts for closer to a week.

I've gotten every freaking thing done for tomorrow. The last is in the copier now, and it's not too many copies.

I am ready to go home.

One of our teacher assistants said that he saw a boy walking into school with his head on his pillow which he was holding by his shoulder. Why? He'd slept on the bus and wasn't quite ready to wake up.

My kind of boy!

Day 1 down. 179 remaining.

How do you spell relief?

D-O-N-E. Finished the copying needed for Monday morning.

I turned the copier off and on a couple of times, then let it sit and cool off, and finally it started working again. If it hadn't, I'd have cannibalized the xero module from it and put it in the other machine. Maybe that would have worked.

But I'm done. I'm betting, though, that when I go in on Monday morning, there will be more waiting for me. Needed to be done right now. RIGHT NOW!

But I'll deal with that on Monday. Right now I'm going to my happy place.

Grrrrrr and a contest

The stupid copier is working again. At least, for now it is.

Some plastic roller doohickey fell out of it, but it seems to be working without it.....

If it stops again, I'll just yank its xerographic module and put it in the other machine. Then that one should work.

At least the end is in sight.

Still no progress on finding the right lace stole with beads that I can actually understand and follow. I've got The Stupids again. I don't know why it should be so bad; I stopped taking Neurontin (for the cough, although it worked for that) because it made me feel so thick and slow. I haven't taken ambien since June; that should cut down on the stupid factor, I'd think. Evidentally working with these machines is what's doing it to me, since it didn't seem to be so pervasive during the summer.

I so want to knit a beautiful, elegant, beaded shawl/stole for Joan to wear on her Special Day (her daughter's wedding day). It's not something that's under my control. I have to do this for my own mental health even though it seems to be a total brain drain. Joan's wearing a lovely chiffony-fly-y sleeveless dress (the first or second weekend of November) with front and back v-necks. It's screaming for a light-weight, cobwebby-dewdrops sort of wrap, something that will give her a tiny illusion of warmth without covering the dress too much. Maybe I'm the only one who hears its screams, but it's driving me insane. It. Must. Be. Knit. I don't care if I have to pay for the pattern. I've already bought one (Pampas) that I can't for the life of me understand. So far I haven't been able to knit the two free ones I printed. Somewhere there has to be a beautiful, gossamer dewy stole that I can comprehend.

If anyone links me to a photo/pattern that fits my needs, and I pick it, I'll reward that person with something from my stash. I'm getting desperate here. I don't want to buy a book of patterns, but I don't mind buying a single pattern. I'd really prefer something rectangular, but I'll consider a shawl. Trillian, you're already in the pool.

Help!!!

Happy birthday, Mom!

And many, many more!

How angry are the copy gods?

Really angry.

I've spent over four hours copying crap that isn't that important but has to be done by Monday. So ten minutes ago I got this internal error message that the motor has failed and it won't copy.

Shit.

I've turned it off several times, as that will usually reset it and it'll work again, but I'm at my wits' end. If it doesn't work this time, it's toast.

And I'm going home. I've had enough.

Another big *sigh*

It was pretty stupid of me, thinking that something would go right this evening.

I hadn't knit any of the wedding stole in days, so I thought I'd try one row. Who needs a lifeline? This is pretty easy.

So no lifeline. Now no life.

I messed up that row so bad that it can't be undone. I'll have to rip the entire thing out to get to the point where I know what to do--and that's to start over completely. I do not have the strength to restart this thing. I've messed up at the same stinking point twice, with two different yarns, and I cannot do it again.

So I'm looking online again for a pattern that is simple enough for a dunce to follow, and it has to be laceweight. Oh, and it has to have thousands of beads.

Aren't there any beautiful patterns that are also really simple? Like simple enough to do in the evenings when work has totally defeated me and my mind no longer works? Somewhere?

Suggestions?

Auuugggghhhhhh and *sigh*

Okay, teachers are supposed to be role models, right? Or did I just imagine that?

I threw copies into the one good copier all day long, as fast as I could, and just pulled out the piles of copies and stacked them on the counter, leaving them to sort out after the machine was good and full. Late this afternoon, a teacher saw her stuff in the pile and started digging it out, another saw what she was doing, and so on, and so on. In three minutes things were totally f^cked up and I couldn't figure out what finished copies went to whom. They were worse than teenagers in the way they acted.

Really made me mad, but I kept it in, kept smiling (through my teeth; one teacher even asked if I'd had braces because my teeth are "perfect" [HA!]) and kept working. At 3:30 I knew I wasn't going to finish today, so I stacked up everything that HAS to be done Monday morning and left.

(By the way, a part was delivered for Bad Copier--the freaking wrong part. For a few minutes I actually thought I might finish today and not have to go in this weekend. I had to call Xerox again and have them send the right part--Tuesday or Wednesday.)

Tom had come into town this morning to pick up materials for a small deck to be built on the back of the house off the kitchen/dining room; he took one load home and came back for a second, then picked me up. I noticed that he was steering with one hand and was holding the other oddly. He smashed three fingers on his left hand while unloading the first load. Suhmashed. His "bird" finger looks like hamburger, extra rare, and the other two are badly bruised. He wouldn't go to the ER to have them cleaned and bandaged because it was just smashed, nowhere to put stitches. So it hurts like hell and he can't do anything. We have plenty of percocet, but that doesn't do anything for his pain. When we were in Baja California four years ago, he reinjured his back and could not sleep, sit down, or lie down even though he was taking two of them every hour.

He's gone to bed, hoping that he can sleep through the pain.

Some time tomorrow I'll drive back into town and see if I can finish my work by dark. I will not be getting up early. I just hope that Good Copier doesn't let the praise go to its head and quit working before school is allllll ready to open early Monday morning.

Ugh.

P.S. I managed to totally forget my purse this evening when I left school. Shit. I hope it's still there when I go in tomorrow. I was thinking at least I'd have the phone to use as a camera if I needed it (really cool clouds on the way home; looked like a really huge storm), but then I realized that the damned camera is in my damned purse.

*s i g h*

Where's the knitting content, you ask

There isn't much.

I finished A's pink Panda Silk ankle socks (with beads on the ribbing) Tuesday evening as we drove to the airport which happened to be 600 miles away and on the other side of the Washington Beltway. I mean, I didn't drive, Mike did, so I sat in the back (between) the two kids (Do not make me stop this car!) and we played with the Crack and I knit.

Aside--A CrackBerry is a wonderful, albeit expensive, little way to shut kids up entertain children. It can be really expensive if the little darling accidentally dials India, but A can play games on it like nobody's business. I can't play those games. She's a whiz.

I haven't knit any more of the wedding stole. That requires attention to detail, and I just haven't had the time to pay attention to it. Maybe this weekend.

We're slowly packing things, deciding what to keep, what to sell, what to give away, what to throw away. Mostly books so far. Tom's numbering the boxes and keeping track with a spreadsheet.

Today he's hauling stuff for a small deck that will be added to the back of the house. We have a list of things to do from the real estate agent, mostly cosmetic, mostly things that we can do ourselves, although I'm outsourcing the painting. My niece is a fast, neat painter who actually likes to do it. I hate to, so we'll pay her. We have to fix up the (long) driveway (rain over the last few years has played havoc and it's like a thrill ride) (without the thrill), clean the garage and master bedroom roughed in over it (mostly sweeping), and take just about every personal thing we own out of the house and store it----WHERE?

I've put the place on Craig's List for the DC area; for some reason, people who live in that area like to have a little mountain hideaway. I also listed it on our school system's online bulletin board and almost immediately had a request for more information. This person seems to be interested in hunting; I get that vibe from the emails (Does it border the National Forest? Are there other hunters nearbly?) for some reason. I do not want to know that anyone is going to hunt our babies.

Three more hours and the weekend technically starts for me; probably not, because with only one copier working and hundreds of things to copy, I'll probably be back this weekend. I sent an email out and people are being very understanding. Most of them.

If I don't surface again any time soon, have a lovely weekend!

P. S.

The teacher whose important copies were nowhere to be found apologized to me this morning. And, oddly enough, she'd put them on the WRONG FREAKING SHELF after I left yesterday. I'd already finished all the copies that were on the stinking shelf before I left. So.

Right again, don't it feel great, blahblahblah.

Finally!

Vindication.


As an adult, I've realized that I feel better when I have a tan. For most of my life, however, science has pounded into our heads (okay, so I'm a little sensitive about the subject) that sun = cancer. I've been very careful not to burn and use sunblock when I'm on the beach, but without skin color, I feel exhausted, depressed, out of sorts, you name an unpleasant emotion, I've got it during the cold months.


The article linked above explains why this happens. I have a vitamin D deficiency.

I didn't realize that vitamin D is so closely tied to the problems I have in cold weather. I don't drink milk, occasionally eat yogurt, a little bit of cheese, so I don't get much vitamin D unless I spend time outside. When it's cold, I'm not going outside, and now tanning beds have such a nasty reputation that I don't want to use them.

I feel so good when the weather's warm and I can go outside every day. No wonder trips to Florida in the winter are so enticing. I feel like I genuinely need to spend time in the sunshine.

Too bad that living in a cold climate isn't considered a disability by employers. It is a disability when one dreads the end of summer and outright hates winter. I deal with intense depression and anxiety eight months of the year, but somehow I don't think I'd be approved for disability retirement.

I am so looking forward to living in the Keys!

The Copy Gods hate me. I will find them and hurt them.

What have I done that is so heinous that I deserve this????????

Copier update: Eight service calls to Xerox in 7 days, seven of them about the same stinking machine. The tech guy has been in four times in the last five days, spending hours each time trying to coax the damned things to breathe on their own. He was here today when I got back from lunch (the one freaking time I've left) and proclaimed that both are now working. They both did work. For maybe an hour.

This morning the "good" copier suddenly dropped dead, giving an error message that said something about a fatal fault in the motor. Fortunately, rebooting it started it breathing on its own again, so I loaded it up again.

The tech guy did have the other one working when he left around 2. It was quiet, it was productive, it didn't smear the toner, it wasn't jamming. I breathed a sigh of relief and had both going at the same time--for one hour. Then, the "bad" one simply stopped dead and indicated that it won't make any more copies until the xerographic module is replaced. Shit. It's supposed to display that message for at least 10 days before it dies so one has time to order and receive the part. Evidentally the cannibalizing I'd done for the last ten days screwed up that part so I got no warning. I did receive a xero module yesterday, but it went into the "good" copier that had been displaying that freaking message for ten freaking days.

I called Xerox customer service. The kind lady gave me a code to enter which would give me an extra 5000 copies and might tide me over until the replacement module arrived. Theoretically. Because it didn't f^cking work.

I stayed an hour late trying to get things that were absolutely necessary to the continued survival of civilization, at least those needed by 1 p.m. tomorrow when "back to school" day starts and parents start coming in to listen to teachers, receive papers from them, and promptly forget/lose everything. I took jobs that came in at the last minute, such as, oh, 55 minutes after my scheduled quitting time and finished them. Damn, I'm good, even with one hand tied behind my back and one leg cut off.

I just now checked my email, and there's a polite note from a teacher wondering why she hadn't gotten the copies that she dropped off yesterday to be done today. I can't be positive because I can't remember what I did or did not see/copy after the thousands of copies I made today, but I don't remember seeing her copies, and I did every job that was on the shelf for yesterday and today. I replied without resorting to cursing or even sounding defensive, and I'll check the billions of copy requests to see if I can find her papers in the morning. I go in at the usual time, so with any luck I'll have three hours before the teachers show up.

As late as 3 this afternoon, I was telling people that I'm not stressed at all, as long as one copier is working, I can finish up everything needed by Monday morning when the little dears eagerly dash into the school to start yet another ride on the merry-go-round.

I'm stressed now. I think that I'll burst into tears and sob dramatically every time someone asks if their copies are done. That might at least keep them from talking to me.

How long till I can retire???

Copiers. They SUCK.

Tech guy spent hours here yesterday afternoon working on the "bad" copier. Hours. HOURS. Still awaiting a part on back order. So what happens to the "good" copier this afternoon? A piece of paper jams in an area in which I've never had a paper jam before. Not only is it jammed, I cannot see the stinking paper, although I can hear it when I turn knob 5a to the right and wheel 5c clockwise. Or something. I can HEAR the paper in there, but I cannot find any way to open that area any more than I've opened it already.

So, another couple of hours when I can't do my job. Again. Papers are flooding in and need to be completed by Monday. Yesterday I wasn't worried, but I am now.

So when is it that I can retire?

I managed another 7 rows of knitting on the haunted wedding shawl last night. I'm placing the beads with a tiny crochet hook; they look so much better that way than when they're all strung onto the yarn and then pushed along as needed. That is such a hassle. Using a crochet hook is much slower while knitting, but it's easier, although I tend to send a lot of beads flying across the room.

J, M, and the kids are heading back to Orlando tonight. I hate to see them go. It was such a nice visit.

What is it with copiers?

Do they hate me? Is it my electric personality? Street lights frequently turn off as I pass them....

The tech guy was at school all afternoon Friday and took both copiers apart. Supposedly all was well. Until I turned them on this morning, then notsomuch.

Within an hour I called Xerox again because one of them was jamming constantly. It'd waste 4 pages for every one it successfully copied. And it's not like I really need two copiers running this time of year or anything.

I'm just glad that school didn't start today, just the teachers (and their copying needs) are back.

This afternoon the tech again took apart the bad copier and thinks he found the problem. I hope he's not only found it but fixed it. He said he's pretty much rebuilt it. I vote for two new copiers to replace the two that are broken more often than they're working.

And don't I just love people who need 40 copies, front, back, and stapled, at 1 p.m. and hand me the original at 12:45. You just then realized that you needed those copies for the meeting that was scheduled weeks ago?

My daughter and her family are here; they decided Tuesday night to fly up on Wednesday. I met them at the airport in Richmond and we got back to town around 1 a.m. Stayed in a hotel and went in to work late. They spent Thursday night with us; only A has been here before. Yesterday B2 was baptized along with two of his cousins at his grandma's church, and my son and his family came to the church too. We went out to eat and spent the rest of the day together. It's so seldom that my kids and their kids are all in the same place at the same time, and I enjoyed it.

Knitting? Did I mention that I want--n0, need to knit a shawl for my sister to wear at her daughter's wedding? I don't remember, and I'm too lazy to look. I've started several patterns many times with two different yarns. I keep messing up. No problem, I still have less than three months to finish it.





This is the latest incarnation of the wedding stole. It may get knit. This is yarn I bought on ebay; cashmere/silk for $5.99!

One day I'll get some photos on here of our Florida summer, the houses we like, etc etc etc. They load very slowly here at home and they're on my laptop, so I can't upload them at school unless I put them on a bunch of dvds first. Lazy.



And my oldest grandson says, The End.

Welcome back my ass

The copiers hate me. Not only is one down until a part can be delivered, the second has crapped out on me. I've called Xerox 4 times today, 3 times on the last machine. It finally gave up the ghost half an hour ago.

I am so glad that teachers don't come back until Monday!

Fibery goodness!

No, sisters dear, I'm not talking about that kind of fiber. It's all about yarn. Inexpensive yarn. Silk/cashmere (55/45) yarn, lace weight, as light as a cobweb but much more durable, about 500 yards at $5.99 a hank. I have never ever seen anything with cashmere in it this cheap.

If I can remember and have the energy, I'll take photos of it tonight.

I also received today (beside the drugs we'd ordered) three other hanks of yarn, wool I think, maybe some silk in one of them, that I'd ordered last week while trying to decide what yarn to use for Joan's mother-of-the-bride (after all, it IS her day) shawl. I ended up starting it with some beautiful mohair laceweight yarn that I found 50% off in my LYS, but I'm rethinking that mistake. As much as I have to rip out, mohair ain't gonna cut it. Silk adds such nice shine to yarn, really dresses it up.

And it should be easier to frog.

AUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

This is my first official day of work for the new school year. Within minutes after I turned on the copiers, I was already faced with a recalcitrant machine.

When a new xerographic module or fuser is needed, it clearly states on the keypad that it's time to order one to have on hand. That usually gives me plenty of time to order it (they won't send them until they're needed) and get it in before the old one blows. But whoever was doing the copying this summer (and she is the woman who had the job before me) ignored the warning, so after spitting out a few copies, it stopped cold.

I have an extra fuser here, for some reason, but no xero module. I called the hotline and they're sending one out "priority", to get here tomorrow or the next day. We'll see. The person on the phone also gave me a code to enter into the machine that would give me an extra 5000 copies before it died for good. It was closer to 2000, but it did help.

Meanwhile, the "good" copier started printing pages with nothing on them--except black. Each page was totally black. I called Xerox again, and the tech walked me through removing the xero module (I'm sensing a pattern here), turning off the machine, waiting a minute, replacing the module, then turning it back on. Fortunately that resolved the problem.

But never fear, another popped up quickly. It started jamming every few pages. Not only was it irritating the hell out of me, it wastes a lot of paper (4 sheets every time it jams). Out of desperation I turned on the dehumidifier, and for the last few minutes the copier has been working properly. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I don't care as long as it works.

A couple came by yesterday to look at our property. It was the hottest day we've had this summer, and they wanted to walk around and see what it's like. I declined. They're not interested in the house, just want some remote land in WV where they can park their camper. I don't know if they'll be willing to pay the price we're asking if they don't want the house. I told them they could rent it out.

We're going through our "stuff" and throwing out/giving away as much as possible. I'm a pack rat and it's really hard for me to part with anything, but some of this crap I've been toting around for the past 21 years without ever looking into the boxes, so I think it's safe to say I don't need most of it.

And I decided that I had to make a shawl for my sister to wear to her daughter's wedding in November. I still haven't started Shipwreck; that's on the back burner for a looonnnggg time. I spent hours on Ravelry last week searching for the perfect pattern: lightweight, airy, beaded. Yeah, I just have to have beads on it. Joan doesn't care; it's my doing. So I started Pampas ( too lazy to link), which has three different lace charts (did I mention that it's LACE?????) and some stitches that I just could not for the life of me figure out how to do, so after two tries at it (it took me 2 hours just to knit the first row), I gave up and went back to Ravelry. I finally chose the easiest one that has beads, Piece of Pi, and started knitting. Of course I'm using mohair lace yarn, which means that it felts almost as soon as it's knit (just makes it difficult to rip out when I make errors. And do I make errors.) After three starts, I finally made it through the first twenty rows, which equals maybe 3 inches.

I don't do well with charts, even simple ones. I felt particularly stupid yesterday; I kept making really dumb mistakes. I may end up buying a shawl for Joan.

The stinking copier is jammed again. Where's my gun?

Home again, home again.....

Rather be in Florida, specifically the Keys. Someday.......

I'm trying not to get too sucked into spending hours a day on Facebook and on here. That Crack was a lot of fun in Florida. They have 3G there; we don't in this area. We don't have a signal at all in this area. It was so much fun keeping up with my friends and family from my phone.

We're starting the (hopefully quick) process of selling the house and getting a place in the Keys. That was such a heavenly vacation, and living there for a month helped us decide that we do want to relocate there. So what if it's a two-hour drive to the nearest Costco? I drive 45 minutes to work, and the local Costco is 20 minutes past that.

I haven't been able to keep up with my favorite blogs this summer, and I miss them. I'll be going back to work soon......

Talk to you later--if there's anyone out there still checking in........

I only have five minutes

to write this and hit post.

It really is frustrating to be away from internet access. I mean, I can facebook to a certain extent and email, but I can't do much with this blog. There's so much to tell you. It takes forever to type anything in an SMS and text it here, and I can't add photos. I don't think I can add any now because I don't have time.

We've seen dozens of properties and have narrowed our search to two. Of course, they're the two that'll need the most work. The Cat House has a pool (including algae), is owned by the bank, and appears to have been deserted for years, although in this climate, it might just be a few months. Great yard, fenced, house is big enough and we could do so much with it. Unfortunately, it has to be gutted and redone; outside, the deck has to be demolished and remade. Plus whatever is wrong with the pool.

The other one we didn't see till yesterday. I'd been watching it online for months. It appears to be tiny, but it has over 1400 sq feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and even has a shower out on the deck. It has lots of cool touches the current owner has added. We could move right in and make any changes as we wanted to and had the money to do. It's also the least-expensive of all of the houses we've seen.

It has a smaller yard, but it's all fenced with coral, which really makes it look like Florida. We could do a lot with the yard. And to seal the deal, a Key deer buck wandered up the driveway while we were in the back yard. One of the owner's dogs, a small Pookie-like male, went to greet him. The deer shook his antlers at the dog, who then casually turned and came back toward us. The deer didn't bolt, and the dog didn't bark.

J and her family are coming in tonight and will stay through Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. Then, unfortunately, we have to leave Tuesday morning so the family who owns the condo can use it. There was a death in the family so they'll all be in the area. We plan to take it slow going home.

Later! Hope you're all well.

Tonia (Knitted to a T) had her second child this afternoon, a beautiful BIG boy! Mother, father, big brother, and baby are doing great. Congratulations, Tonia!

Testing 1-2-3 Is this thing on?

Let's see if this works!

Looks like it might. But I sent a test photo that hasn't shown up yet. I wonder where that is?

Well, crap. I tried sending it twice. Maybe I'll eventually get it.

Maybe.

Slow down!

Good grief. The summer is going by far too quickly.

I don't seem to be able to post with the Crack. I've totally forgotten how to type on an actual keyboard. Today is the first time I've driven in a month.

Let me tell you, living in the Keys is tough, dude.

We're looking at houses and have actually seen a few that we could move right in to. Many are disgusting dumps. Not a whole lot of choice in our price range, but more open every day. We saw a brand new townhouse in Key West, but it's really small and we have a lot of stuff.

I'm going through emails from realtors, looking at the properties they've emailed me. It takes forever, and we only have internet access at the library. The Crack is useless for something like that, but I'm having a blast keeping up on email and Facebook (Rita Knits is my name--join me!) and I'll miss that when we go back to the mountains and don't have cell phone coverage. It works well here for that.

Gotta run. We love it here. We can see ourselves living here. When I have time/opportunity, I'll post some photos. The Key deer are very friendly, very cute, and I've gotten to rub the velvety antlers of several males. Males are friendlier than females. We've seen tiny fawns, about Zippy's size.

Zippy is happy being a Key dog. He knows he has to go to the elevator to go O-U-T. There are huge iguanas all over the place, some as big as he is. He doesn't chase them. I think they could take him in an instant.

Later! I hope you're enjoying the summer. I really miss reading all of your blogs and hearing from you. I'll catch up when I can.

OH--Eric Brace has a new song and video, "Tranquility Base", an homage to the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Beautiful song, available on iTunes, and the video is on YouTube.

On the beach

My sisters arrived last night. Finally, after dreaming about it for years, we're having a Sisters' Week in Florida.

After a stop at a store for sand chairs, we headed to Sombrero Beach on Marathon. It's just a few miles away; it's a nice little beach with well
l-maintained park facilities. We enjoyed watching dogs happily paddling in the surf. Any park that allows dogs is okay with me, and it doesn't cost anything to park there and use the beach.

I'm having a devil of a time trying to post on Crack, so I'm going to quit before I get really pissed and throw it into the bay after smashing it on the rocks while driving over it. Suffice to say that we're having a wonderful time in the sun.

Now where did I put that aloe?

Hello from Big Pine Key!

As everyone but me already knew, I couldn't connect the stupid phone to the laptop. After another couple of hours on the phone with AT&T tech support, I said the hell with it and had the tethering removed. $30 less that way. I'm using the Crack to email and post on Facebook, but I can't blog from it. We're sitting in a Winn Dixie parking lot which is flooded; we just had a downpour, and it's already wet here. There must be at least 6-8" of water on the lot.

We're having a wonderful time here in the Keys. The condo is very nice; after paying only $136 to a plumber, both toilets are now working properly. Zippy is a very good little boy; he's not this well-behaved at home. If we can't take him with us, he stays in the condo in his crate. He's been very quiet, except when the plumber came in.

We've talked to a real estate agent on Big Pine Key and have been riding around looking at places for sale. There are a good number in our price range. In a few days or so we'll contact the agent and set up appointments to tour some houses.

Key deer, oddly enough, are everywhere on Big Pine Key. Yesterday we saw a tiny (adult) male with an impressive set of antlers. I got out of the car to photograph him, and he ran (or rather, quickly limped; he was hit by a car and one back leg doesn't work; they call him Tripod.) to me and licked my fingers. I think he might have gotten in the car, if I'd invited him in.

We've seen a couple of this season's fawns. They're about Zippy's size! The adults are smaller than our yearling deer at home. They all seem to be pretty tame; the Key is a sanctuary for them. They are an endangered species. I tell you, it feels like home!

I'll post some photos later. Just wanted to say hi for now. I'm reading a lot (we got a library card at the Marathon library) and knitting very little. Maybe later.

And my sisters will be here in just two more days for our Sisters' Week in Paradise!

Fun at work

Since school ended, my job has been a piece of cake. So to speak. We have actually had cake for the retirees.

Until today, for the last week I've had very little to do. I just ran copies of our algebra and geometry packets all day long. After 4 days, there are enough to take care of summer school and start into next year.

Until today.

But I'm leaving now (one machine broke down, so some copies not needed until August didn't get finished. Say it with me: "Awwwwwwwww."

Summer is finally here!

Easy? Never.

I'm always the optimist. Glass half-full kind of thing. Even when past experience has told me that, no matter what the instruction booklet says, getting a computer to cooperate with a new modem will take hours instead of steps 1-4, I still hold out and hope--no, believe--that this time, it'll be just that easy.



I'm always wrong.



I've had the Crack for four weeks now. Last night I learned how to check my voice mail (Hi, Liz! You did call me to tell me that you're engaged, just like you said you did. I'm sorry I doubted you.). Since we're leaving for Florida in a couple of hours, yesterday was the deadline to make sure the stupid thing would actually "tether" to my laptop so we can get online while we're in Florida. As usual, I'd tried a few times and when it didn't work, I just put it off.



After work yesterday, I spent over 3 hours at the AT&T store. I am loving AT&T. Every time I walk in, someone immediately asks if they can help. Ntelos evidentally didn't believe in customer service; if you remember, I would wait up to 90 minutes without being spoken to or asked to wait a bit. Not at AT&T.

I foolishly procastinated trying to tether the laptop and phone until the day before we leave for Florida (1 hour and 25 minutes now!), because the booklet shows four very simple steps (the fourth being "click on the CONNECT button") and I was so sure it would be that simple. I know better. I never believe that little voice that says, "you idiot, you know it'll take three hours to get it to work, and only then after you have the help of two phone techs and an hour of on-the-phone-with-customer-service (the tech guy, not me) to discover that my phone would not connect. Would. Not. Yeah, it's a refurb, that's the only way I could afford one. For some reason, they frequently won't cooperate with tethering. So he reset the phone. That didn't work.

I was tired, but I couldn't get upset at all the time it was taking because these guys were trying everything they knew to make it work. Finally, after the store closed, they said that the phone is defective, and they'll send a new (refurb) one to me. Since we'll be in Florida, and it was too late to get it to me today, they're sending it to my daughter's house. It should be there tomorrow. All I have to do is pack up the old phone, slap on the postage return sticker that they emailed me, and drop it in a mail box after I get the new (refurb) one.

I was floored. I've never had service like that with Ntelos. I had to argue with them for months to get my name changed on my bill after I remarried. It took three billing cycles--and three trips into the non-service store--to get my niece's phone line separated from mine, and they still didn't want to do it. Fortunately I saved every freaking contact that I had with them about these issues and finally they fixed things.

So. Once the new (refurb) one is here, all I have to do is link it to the laptop, open the communications manager, and click "connect". It will work.

I know it will.

Packed and ready to go

Yesterday I went through my yarn and chose the sock yarn I'll take to Florida, along with the necessary patterns and the box o' needles. I am ready for any eventuality.

I pretty much know what books I'm taking (I think I'll just sneak 'em into the car after Tom packs it, because he thinks I'm taking too many); I've gotten a bunch that look good at book swaps lately.

I might not be quite as prepared for leaving the condo, though, as I don't have any clue as to what clothes I'll take.

Over the weekend, I read I Am Legend, which was written in 1954, I think, which can be sort of aggravating with the details of life at that time (as in, no microwave, records instead of cds, cars with chokes, etc.), but it really is a timeless story. Only the car with a choke, and a record player seemed odd in this day and age. I imagine that the movie with Will Smith will address those issues; now I have to see it. Very good book.

And I read the 5th book in the House of Night series. I can't remember what its title is, although I think it's Hunted. Those are fun, easy books and I enjoy them.

As for knitting, I did finally finish the second sock of the pair that I started two years ago. They fit and feel good. I knit them with fingering yarn and size 2 needles, which is what put me off them so long ago. They make a very thin fabric, but I like the way they feel. Very lightweight, soft. I started a pair with some of Claudia's sport discards, pink and yellow, but I don't know the colorway. I'm making them for a coworker whose only luck is bad luck, really really bad luck. As in she used to be an English teacher (in a piss-poor backwoods county, if that tells you anything) but had a nervous breakdown or something because she's now working as a teacher assistant for maybe $12,000 a year, and she's always deathly ill with this or that, or having foot surgery that laid her up for three months and she couldn't work, and her kids won't help her (although it's possible they have a reason for that), her furnace broke down in the dead of winter and she couldn't afford to fix it, so people here at school chipped in to take her through those months, including paying her health insurance when she couldn't work. Well, last week the poor woman had a mini-stroke while working and had to be rushed to the hospital. She was hospitalized for two days. Anyway, a few weeks ago I asked her if she'd like some handknit socks (she's always admiring mine) and told her to measure her ankle and the length of her foot. She wears a child's size 3 or 4 shoe! She never did get the measurements to me, but I'm guessing that her foot is about the same size as 9-year-old A's foot, well, except for the poor woman's bunions.

On top of it all, the woman was running back and forth 5 hours to the bottom of the state to take care of her ailing father, then he died and left her some run-down, no good rental properties waayyy down there, and she's sunk way too much into fixing them up, and the people who are renting aren't paying their rent........... She's just a magnet for bad luck, poor thing.

I tell you, we are so blessed. During the winter when the scary financial things were going on with us, I had no doubt that we'd come out of it okay. We came out really well. And here we are, with plans to spend my entire 6 weeks off work in the Keys, while we look for a house to buy, just seven months after the financial boogey man attacked us.

We truly are blessed.

The moment

Finally, it's here. The moment we've been waiting for since Aug. 18 of last year.

The bell just rang. The kids are leaving school for the summer. They're not the only ones who're jumping up and down.

Today I was given a copy of my *oh crap, what's it called* oh yeah, evaluation. I received the highest marks for everything, the best evaluation I've ever had. I've never had a bad one, but this one is really complimentary.

I love my job (especially now that vacation is in sight) and hope to keep on copying for two or three years. It's nice to know that I am appreciated.

Ketchup

I've really been neglecting this blog. My excuse, for last week, anyway, is that I've been busy. I spent one day working in the attendance office (those ladies are not paid enough for all they have to do!), one day giving math placement tests, and one day on an art field trip to the National Gallery of Art and the Hirschorn Museum of Modern Art. I gave the SAT Saturday morning, then we drove to Mom and Dad's house to visit overnight. While there, we went to see/hear Todd Snider at Ashland Coffee and Tea. We left Mom and Dad's around 3:30 yesterday and drove the three hours to my son's house to attend my youngest granddaughter's 6th birthday party. We left home at 6:30 on Saturday morning and got back at 10:00 last night. It was a very busy weekend, but it was great to visit with family. And earn $98 for giving the SAT.

Here's a photo of my Bloodlust (from All That Glitters) custom-dyed for me by Yarn Lust (etsy.com). I love it. It's 2% silver so it's sparkly; I'll use it to knit Shipwreck (knitty.com). She sent a stitch marker with each hank of yarn: one red heart, one black heart, and one clear heart. I have a feeling I'll need them for this. You can also see the beads I bought at Beads of Distinction in Key West; I think I'll need more of them, but I have to figure out how many and which ones go where. That's going to be a pain; I want the inside rows to have clear beads, the center red ones, and black on the outside rows. Thank God they're not needed until the entire center is knit; they go on the edging. But how am I going to figure out just how many I'll need and in what numbers? I can always break the yarn and add more beads when needed, but I really really hate having those ends to weave in. I may try a Russian join, which basically, I think, is spitting on the loose ends of yarn and then mooshing them together. If it'll work, I'm all for it. I hate to weave in ends on anything.

This photo doesn't show the sparkle factor, but it's there all the same. I plan to haul this to Florida and work on it this summer, but I'm not sure how well I'll be able to concentrate when a) I'm sitting on the porch in 90 degree weather while gazing at the Gulf waters a few hundred feet away with wool on my lap, and b) I can't concentrate when I'm in a room by myself anyway and this one is going to take some concentration.

Slacker radio works pretty well when we're in flat country with a really strong AT&T signal, which means it doesn't work well in this area but did closer to Richmond. We're interested to see if it's any better in Florida where there are a lot fewer hills and no mountains. I like that I can fine-tune custom channels to play songs by people that we like, but I do not like the cutting in and out when we're in less-than-flat land.

I'm not a very good traveling companion since I got the Crackberry. I mean, I can check my email in the freaking car! And Facebook. I hate Facebook, but it's interesting once in a while to log in and see what (mostly) boring things others are doing. I haven't had any luck sending photos to cell phones or others' email; something else I need to check on. And, like I said earlier, I can read blogs and their comments but cannot post my own comments. I still haven't attempted to tether it to my laptop, which I should do very soon because we're paying for it and I want to see if make sure it works before we leave for the summer.

I loaned Twilight the movie to a friend a couple of weeks ago (I know! I let it out of my possession for a good 10 days, but I did keep the codes for the iTunes downloads, just in case I needed to watch it). My friend and I usually don't like the same movies or books, and she's not obsessed sucked into the phenomenon as I am, so I didn't expect her to enjoy the movie. To my surprise, she thought it was well-cast and well-made, although she did say that she was a little disappointed that Edward didn't dress more elegantly, as described in the book, but overall, she really enjoyed it. Wow, and she's 61.

I'm almost to the toe of the boring socks I'm knitting now; I got a lot done on the bus on Friday and in the car this weekend when I wasn't fiddling with the Crackberry checking my email.

School's almost done with for the year; the kids are here till Thursday, and I have to work until June 18. That afternoon we're leaving for Florida as soon as 3:30 rolls around. We'll drive straight through to Orlando (with a dog and a cat) and spend a few days with my daughter and her family. Then--the Keys. For six glorious weeks. We plan to shop for a house while we're there.

I haven't checked any blogs since Wednesday, unless you count the drive-bys while on Crack(berry), and those don't count because the type is so tiny that I can't read it anyway. I'll try to do better. Oooh--I need to run over to June Cleaver's place and check out the Monday Swoon. This selfless woman spends hours each week ogling checking out finding photos of Swoon-worthy men and posts them on Mondays for those of us who can't get through the work filters are too busy to search for them ourselves. The lady is a saint.

Why

is it that I can post a comment on here using my Crackberry but cannot post to other blogs? You can see how busy I am, since that's what I'm sitting here thinking.

I know I should check out the help section of Blogger, but, I'm lazy. Any ideas before I wade into the World of Help?

Slacker

No, I'm not accusing you. It's an internet radio thingy where you can chose the genre you like, or you can make up your own station of music that you like.

I tried to download it onto my Blackberry last week, and every time it failed. I don't know about you, but when something that costs me an additional $30 a month isn't working properly, I get a bit excited (read: really pissed off).

So, just to aggravate myself some more today, I tried again to download Slacker, and on the second try, Slacker for Crackberry succeeded. I now have my own (free) internet radio station that we can listen to wherever we go (that a cell phone signal can reach).

I am happy.

Amended to add: Yeah. Lots of buffering, lots of empty silence while buffering. An interesting concept, but I'm not sure that I'm equipped for it yet. Mentally, or maybe emotionally. I need to go online at home and check Slacker help (it's, of course, blocked here at work) to see if I'm doing something wrong or these pauses are the nature of the beast. Whatever. When it worked, it was great; maybe we'll actually be exposed to some new music again after losing our favorite XM station.

P.S. Todd Snider (I am too freaking headachy to try to link) is playing at Ashland Coffee and Tea this weekend, so we're heading down that way on Saturday. He's a big name in the alt-country/Americana genre. I hope my headache is gone by then. Loud music + headache = misery.

What is the use

of having a Blackberry with which I can read blogs, read the comments, eventually see the photos (oh, and you have to go to June's blog and see those photos from New Moon, the movie) (you'll thank me), can type in comments, but cannot freaking post the comments? I mean, what's a Blackberry good for if I cannot communicate with blogs? Crap. I find that highly irritating.

It took me half an hour to type a well-worded, carefully-thought-out reply to June's Monday Swoon (which basically said, and I quote, *drool*), typing with my fingernails because those damned keys are too small to actually use, and then it would not send. Or, it said it was, but it lied.

What is the use?

Inactive

So.

I'm so uninspired. As you can tell, I haven't written much lately. I'm feeling extremely lazy. Maybe it's spring fever; it's finally warm here. I'm sure we'll have more cool weather; it's rarely reliably warm before the first week of June.

I finished my lovely Buckeyes/Eclipse socks--and they're too damn small. I cannot believe this. I obsessively check the fit as I knit, and they. are. too. short. and. too. tight. I can rip them out totally and reknit, but as I mentioned, I'm lazy. I can give them away. I hate to go either route. I love them. And I'm lazy.

I couldn't decide what to knit next (see above excuse) so I picked up a pair of socks in Trekking XXL or whatever it's called (lazy) that I started knitting a couple or three years ago. I made the mistake of using size 2 US needles, which really isn't suitable for such thin yarn. I have no idea what I was thinking at the time. They're lightweight, which I guess could be good, but, again, I was too uninspired to rip out the one leg I'd already knit. Now I'm on the foot. Thin, but wool, so all is well.

I finished reading the Barbara Bretton book (I can't remember the title, and, remember.....) and I loved it. It's fun, it's amusing, I like the characters, and I want to read more of her books. I forget what I'm reading now. Honestly. Oh, Firefly Lane. I think. It's good. Last week our school library hosted a book swap and I got that one along with about 10 others, including the first four books in the House of Night series. I cannot imagine that someone would read an entire series once then give it away. That notion is totally foreign to me. My friend took in 75 books to give away. Can you believe that? There was such a good selection at the swap.

Last weekend was warm, partly rainy, partly sunny, and I got to spend some more quality time worshipping the sun. I guess that rules out the chances of me ever being a vampire. I love the sun.

I'm not getting very far in learning what the Blackberry can do. (Lazy.) When all else fails, wait a while longer before you read the instructions, is my motto. I've tried to download Slacker radio; I've created a station that plays only songs that we like, but it's failed to download several times this afternoon and I'm too irritated to try again. I wouldn't want to fling the thing out into the parking lot and break it before I've learned to use it. I downloaded tons of songs onto it the other night, and yesterday we bought the cable that allows us to use it through the car stereo. For the first time in four+ months, we were able to listen to music that we actually like. If only XM hadn't merged with Sirius and seriously f^cked things up. Ah well, I probably wouldn't have been able to talk my way into a Blackberry if that had happened.

It is cool to be able to email and stuff while we're going down the road. I don't like to text, and those keys are no larger if I'm trying to email, but I'm forcing myself to email. I only check my gmail account once a week or so since school has blocked access to it, so this is a nice option.

AND--we got our very first dvr this week! Yes, we've officially joined the 21st century in all ways but HDtv, and that will have to wait. Too late to catch this season's 24, but we'll use it a lot anyway. (Season 7 of 24 was released the day after the season's finale, and I want it. Along with season's 1-6. Yes, there's Hulu, but there's something to be said for watching tv on a larger screen than this one.)

Kitten Marie has recovered from her surgery and is driving Chester nuts. She's very active. She goes home in a month. When we go to "our" condo in the Keys.

Kitty Lily, at only 10 years, died last week. She spent her final hours sitting on our laps (at times draped across us both). It would take her several tries to walk across the room; she'd have to stop and rest. Bless her sweet little heart, she continued to try to use the litter box after she lost the strength to climb into it; she'd pee on the (vinyl, thank God) floor next to it. She wouldn't eat, but she'd still ask to go outside for a little while each day. She was a very sweet kitty. Tom buried her in the lilies in the front yard, one of the few flowers that the deer don't eat. She was named Lily because she was born on Easter Sunday.

That damned message light on the Blackberry is blinking intermittently. I have no idea what it means or how to stop it. We took it to the AT&T store (take THAT, Ntelos) yesterday and it took the staff a while to figure out how to turn it off. I don't know what they did.

By the way, the sound on the little thing is very good, and much better than the sound on this laptop.

So. That's the news as of right now, except for the stuff I've forgotten.

P.S. Have you seen those photos from New Moon the movie?

So, yeah.

Last night I tried to post on here using my new Blackberry, but I couldn't sign in. Actually, it did let me sign in on the comments page, where it posted my "test" twice, but I couldn't find a link to "new post". Since I'm going to be relying on that this summer, I am a bit pissed.

I know nothing about this thing. Read the directions? Pfffft. I asked a kid why there was a red light blinking constantly; I'd spent a couple of hours trying to find what that stupid light meant and couldn't find a thing. Ask a kid, within seconds she said it was an indication that I had text messages and showed me how to find them and get that damned light off.

I've learned that it's kind of painful to use the thing for internet (I haven't tried it tethered to the laptop yet; I am afraid), since my fingers are bigger than the damned keyboard and I can't type easily, plus is seems that the blazing fast 3G network is slower than dialup. Okay, maybe not that bad, but I expected more.

I still haven't gotten a data card for it, but I think we will after school today. Then I can download music (I'm sure it's reaaaaallllly easy and fast) and take photos and videos and spend hours trying to figure out how to email and blog them.

Last night we went to Roanoke (a two hour drive on a good day, but it was the Thursday before Memorial Day at rush hour) to see/hear Last Train Home featuring Peter Cooper at a tiny place; it holds maybe 60 people. Yesterday was Peter's 39th birthday. It was a "weird hybrid" (Eric's term) of Last Train Home and Peter's band, and I really like it. They sing so well together and both are songwriters, different styles that are merging very well. We thoroughly enjoyed the show; notsomuch the getting home at 1 a.m., but it was worth it.


After the show started, I called Joan so she could "hear" the show. I'm sure the quality wasn't great, but it was nice to be able to share it with her.

I'm lazy

Or maybe I should be kind to myself and say I've been unmotivated to blog.

Nah. Lazy is the correct word.

Let's see what I've actually done in the last week:

1) Spent a couple of days online comparing cell phones and plans. I am done with Ntelos and their non-customer-service service. I've finally decided on a Blackberry Bold, whatever that is. It seems to have good customer reviews and it can be tethered (through AT&T) to my laptop (for an extra $60 a month) when we travel, and I don't have to keep that tethering for a two-year contract. The monthly plan includes unlimited internet access with the phone and--the big draw, besides being able to access the internet with the laptop when desired--Geez. I got interrupted and I cannot remember what the big draw is. *sigh* Oh yeah, AT&T's minutes roll over if they're not used. I rarely use even 200 minutes a month, and my current plan is for 600 minutes, and if they're not used, they're gone. Forevah. The new plan will include 450 minutes, which will be more than plenty.

2) Read a lot. I finished Stephenie Meyer's The Host. It was really really difficult to get interested in it, but after trying several times (and having nothing else within reach that I wanted to read) I finally got into it. It's an unusual story that I won't even try to explain. It's defintely not Twilight (many would say that's a good thing).

3) I won a contest! Barbara Bretton (if I were at my own desk I could link you, but I'm not so I won't; you can google her name and find her website) chose me as one of her winners and sent me two signed books. One is her last one, Casting Spells, which is about a town of--get this--vampires, werewolves, fairies, and all kinds of supernatural beings (there's even a screaming banshee) and the half-human owner of the best yarn shop in New England for two years running. What could be more appropriate for me to read after being caught in Twilight's spell? I've only read the first few chapters, but it's a light-hearted, fun book. The second in the series (this woman has written tons of books) is due out in June and is about the same town and people and knitting store. I'm looking forward to it.

The second book is Just Desserts, which sounded so familiar, because I already own it, but written by someone else. I guess there's no copyright on titles.

Barbara has several websites, one of which is this one; I think another one is here. You know my memory. I hope that you'll check her, and her books, out. Free books are one of the ways to my heart!

(Hmmmm. It looks like those links will work; if not, blame my brain.)

3) What else have I done. Oh yes, we went to my oldest grandson's first race on Saturday night. First race driving with the big boys, that is. He's 9, the youngest ever to race at that track. One man in his class is 66--how he got into that tiny car is beyond me.

B is an impressive young man. He's been driving in go-cart races since he was maybe 5, and he's quite good. He's done well practicing with the older guys. Fortunately we got there a little too late for his qualifying run; I called my son when we pulled into the parking lot to see where we were supposed to go, and B's brakeline had failed. Failed. As in no brakes. He's 9 years old. What did he do? He calmly zig-zagged around a few cars and aimed the car into the grass, where it stopped on its own.

I would have freaked (both as the driver and the grandmother watching this happen). K said it scared the piss out of him. My boy is eloquent, like him momma. But not B. He handled it well and moved on. I'd still be shaking if I'd done that.

Also, when they first got to the race track, his car wouldn't start. No problems during the practices, but on race day, they came in multiples. They got it going again, then the brakeline blew out.

So the races started (and, thank you, God) it was the first race of the evening. 25 laps, approximately 23 seconds per lap. B started out in the back of the pack since it was his first race, but by the time his clutch burned up on the second lap, he had moved up two spots.

I mean, poor kid! He very calmly aimed the car into the pit area and talked over his headset (this is like professional racing, with full burn-proof gear, the works) to his dad who told him to stay in the car until he could get over to him. B was devastated, but he didn't show it other than being very subdued.

It was just as well that he didn't finish the race; the whole thing was under the yellow flag except for a lap or two, with one car spinning into the wall and the rescue squad and wrecker heading out on the track; fortunately the guy was okay; then the race was called five laps early because it was starting to rain.

We left after B and his mom and dad came back over to the grandstand (and after paying $30 to spend an hour or two there, but some things you do because it's your grandkid even though it scares the crap out of you). Let's just say that I'm not a racing fan. My ex, the bastard, loved racing, and the last one he took me to (over 20 years ago) he told me how "disappointed" he was that he'd gone to the trouble of taking me out and all I did was sit there and read. Instead of being grateful that I'd agreed to go to something that bores me to tears, he was "disappointed". Well, guess who took a book and read this time? Tom, that's who, while I knitted. So HA!

(Yes, I'm childish and vindictive and still hold quite a grudge, thankyouverymuch.)

4) Then Sunday it was pretty and sunny and I spent some quality time in the sun. Ahhh, the warmth of the sun. I know it's not good for the ol' skin and I'm looking like my grandmother much sooner than I think I should, but it's something that I crave.

5) I'm turning the heel of my second Buckeyes/Eclipse sock. I'm loving the yarn.

6) One of my prescriptions finally showed up today. One. There are two or three more that haven't arrived.

As you can see, I've been terribly productive lately. And interesting.

I need to get a life.

If it's this bad now, what's gonna happen when the government takes over health care?

Grrrrrrrrr.

I am so irritated/angry/pissed off at my mail-in prescription service. If I didn't save money by sending them our 90-day prescriptions, I'd never use them again.

Back in March, before we went to Florida, I mailed in a page of refills with six or seven new prescriptions stapled to it. The week after we got home, the refills arrived. Not one of the new prescriptions had been filled. I called the service and was told they hadn't received the new prescriptions. I told them that if they got the refill authorization, then they had to have received the new ones. They were all stapled to that one stinking page. No, they didn't have them. And we were out of a couple of meds.

Ron, or Rod, whoever he was, offered to call the doctor and ask her to fax the prescriptions to him. I thought that was the end of that.

A few days later, two of the new prescriptions arrived. Two. 2. Dos. I called the service again. They'd not received the others. Called my doctor. Yes, they'd faxed all of them. Once again, my prescription service screwed up.

I had a doctor's appointment last Wednesday. She told me she'd faxed the prescriptions the week before, but she'd do them again.

A few minutes ago, I called the stupid prescription service again. Only one prescription had been received, they'd filled it, and I have to allow 7 or fewer (I love that distinction) days to get them. Ooookay. I called my doctor's office yet again. They'd faxed in three prescriptions for me at the same time they'd faxed that one for Tom. But the damn service had not received my prescriptions.

My doctor's office is once again faxing the prescriptions. I am almost out of two of them.

If things are this damn f^cked up when insurance is run by private companies, what the hell is going to happen when the government takes over our health care? Will we end up like Canada and not be able to get surgery that we need because they're too busy? Like Great Britain where women with breast cancer are left to die because the drugs to fight it are too expensive?

I do not have a good feeling about this.


P.S. I am feeling a little better each day. Just a tiny bit better, but at least it's moving in the right direction.

Still feeling icky

I'm so tired of this!

I don't feel sick. I don't feel particularly tired, but I've been sleeping soundly (till 2 yesterday). I just feel weak, like I'm about to pass out.

On the knitting front, I finished one of my sport-weight socks that I started last Sunday. They're some of the freebie Claudia yarn; I think it's Buckeyes, but since it's dark gray and deep red, I'm going with Eclipse (as if you don't know the reference there). I did the heel from some deep red yarn; I think it's Rubies Dancing. They're just plain socks, but since they're sport instead of fingering, and still knit on #1 dpns, they're really cushy. I love this colorway. I still have two hanks of fingering in Buckeyes. Not quite enough for a pair of socks (Claudia's fingering is only 165-175 yards; since I like my socks longer, I always have to use a third hank.)

I finished reading the four books (so far) in The House of Night series; I enjoyed them. Now I'm reading Stephenie Meyer's (do not tell me you don't know what she wrote) The Host, which is a truly odd book. It took me several tries to get far enough into it that I got interested, but now I'm enjoying it.

Star Wars Day

May the fourth be with you.

Stomach virus

My blood pressure was fine. The doctor thinks it's a virus, but she drew some blood just to check.

If I catch something from the sick people in the waiting room, I will not be happy!

Contest alert

Off-site.

Go here to Georgi's blog to enter.

Feeling definitely odd

So what's wrong with me? For three days I've felt like I'm just getting over a really bad case of the flu. You know how it is, when you've had a few days of ***TMI alert*** diarrhea and vomiting, and you're over the sick feeling but still all washed out? Yeah, that's how I feel.

I also felt similar to this a couple of years ago when I had that stomach bleed and needed 4 pints of blood and spent 4 days in the hospital, but there's no anemia or other evidence of internal bleeding (and believe me, I've kept an eye on things). If I bend over or stoop down and stand up too quickly, I start to black out. I feel like I can't get a breath deep enough, but I don't have any trouble breathing. Nothing hurts. I don't feel sick.

I just know that Something. Isn't. Right.

I've made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon (luckily she had a cancellation; I hate having a doctor who is so overbooked that you can't get an appointment for days even when you have a urinary tract infection) (I also hate having to wait a couple of hours because she's running behind, and she's ALWAYS running behind) and I hope to find out just what's going on.

Schoolwise

Tom has been subbing here almost every day. Yesterday morning he was in a class of junior English; they're studying The Jungle. He said that they were very well-behaved, which surprised their actual teacher.

Then she told me that she'd told the kids that "Mr. Tom" would be subbing, and one said, "I like him!"

He's off to a good start. He'll take over the copy room this afternoon while I'm at a meeting for some online testing that I have to attend even though I haven't been told just what this testing is and why I have to go.

I just do what I'm told.

Two words

Tom was wondering last night why he was so exhausted.

I said, "Ninth graders." Need I say more?

The sport-weight sock is coming along nicely. I love the way it feels. I just hope I have enough yarn to make a pair; these were leftover hanks when the yarn was wound into "selling" hanks.

Black and Red

So. Yeah. I finished my Twilight-cover-art-inspired socks last evening. What do I do now? It's kind of like after I finished reading the Twilight Saga, nothing else appealed. Others I've talked to in rl are the same way (not all of them, but enough women I consider to be sane are saying the same thing). What knitting project is next?

I really want it to be Shipwreck, but that's a pattern that's not suitable for knitting during odd down moments. It's going to be a committment. Tom suggested that I save that for condo knitting this summer. I'll probably work on it in the car on the way down and back. I went ahead and rolled one hank into a ball. I've got a couple thousand (I hope) 6/0 glass beads in red, black, and silver-lined clear. I really have no idea how to determine what color I want where on the shawl; I'll have to figure it out as I go, I guess, since I'm not going to use the 5000 beads that the pattern calls for. I don't want a stripe of all red, or all white, or all black, or red and white, or red and black, or whatever when I get done with it. I'm really going to have to think when I knit this one. No mindless tv knitting.

I went to Ravelry and printed off page after page of discussion of this shawl and its challenges. Fortunately, the designer has been an active participant and clears up a lot of the issues.

I can't get the entire chart to print, but she has each section written out, so with luck I won't need a chart. I really mess up when I used even a simple chart, so I'm glad that she spelled them out.

So, I've got three hanks of Bloodlust All That Glitters yarn dyed by yarnlust, dozens of vials of beads in three colors, the two needles necessary to start the project, and alllllll of those pages packed away in a plastic shoe box to take to Florida in June. I may have to start the center long before then; it depends on how stupid I'm feeling. If a simple chart kicks my ass, I cannot imagine what this heirloom-quality lace will do to me.

I've never before felt like I just have to knit something. There are lots of patterns that appeal to me, but never has one jumped into my brain and taken up residence there. The very first time I saw Shipwreck, I knew that I had to knit it. I also know that it will probably take years to finish (hello? 5000 beads), and that's okay. I'll probably end up using it as a decorative table cloth most of the time. By the time it's done, we should be living in South Florida permanently, so I might be able to wear it during a cold snap.

But that leaves me without a current project. I cannot rest until I find something that I want to do and get it organized. I have two hanks of Twilight-cover-art-inspired worsted that I want to use to make a neck warmer and a hat, but I just can't get too enthusiastic about that now. I haven't seen a hat pattern that I really, really want to do with it, so I'll wait.

I dug through my stash of Claudia fingering and came up with some gorgeous red and gray sportweight. There are four separate hanks of it; I'm just hoping that I have enough to finish a pair of socks. I started knitting last night using a pair of size 1 dpns; it's heavier yarn, but I didn't want to go any higher in size because they look like they'll be nice and squooshy on the feet. I think it's Claudia's Buckeyes colorway, which, oddly, is very similar to christinamariepotter's colorway for the cover of Eclipse. This got my mojo rising and I cast on. This isn't to say that I won't be ordering more yarn from christinamariepotter (on Ravelry and etsy) for each of her colorways from books 2-4. Must. Have. Them.

I finished books 2 and 3 of P. C. Cast and Kristen Cast's House of Night series. I'm now reading the fourth book. They're light and cute and a quick read. But they are not Twilight.

I am so doomed.

I'll try to add photos to this post after lunch. Tom is substituting in and English class today and he's going to bring me a big Pepsi. I might want to check my weight tomorrow morning; I've been drinking more Pepsi than sugarless tea lately.

Two of my sisters, Betty and Joan, are planning to fly to Ft. Lauderdale at the end of June and we'll have a Sisters' Week in the Keys. We've long dreamed of doing this, but scraping together the money for the four (or three, as Nancy will be with friends that week) of us to fly, get a motel on the beach, and eat for a week has eluded us. With a free place to stay and our own gourmet chef (Tom), we're going to make out like bandits. (No, Google search, we sisters will not make out.)

We've got the condo in the Keys for the summer!

I may not make it through the next two months.

Or maybe it'll make it easier, living up here in the cold, cruel north.

We can have the condo for 6 weeks or so this summer. Woohoo; Sisters' Week in the Keys!!!

In other news, Tom will be teaching Anatomy tomorrow.

*waits for comments*

Welcome to the jungle

Tom is substituting here for the first time. He was told that his last class would be a humdinger.

My advice? Don't fart. The kids will eat you alive.

Linky for Georgi

This is the pattern for the socks. I absolutely love it.

Can someone explain to me why charts for knitting are always upside down? Why do we have to start at the bottom and go up? Seems to me that it would be a lot simpler (for me, at least, unless someone can tell me why they're that way) to have it right-side up.

My special order yarn, "Bloodlust", should arrive today. I've been tracking it all week. This is the etsy shop of the talented lady who dyed it for me. I plan to knit Shipwreck with it.

Yes. I am insane.

I finished the first book of the House of Night series, Marked. It's a cute, quick read; there are 3 more in the series. It's written by a mother/daughter combination, P.C. and Kristen Cast. I'm enjoying reading something that's not Twilight.

Twilight (black)hearted socks

Key deer

I forgot to mention one of the highlights of the Keys trip. We finally saw some Key deer. I think that they live mostly on Big Pine Key; they're federally protected as an endangered species and there's a huge fine for killing one. Many are hit by cars. They appear to be tamer than our bunch of deer.

We went to No Name Key looking for No Name Pub, an establishment that figures in a lot of Florida noir novels, especially Tim Dorsey's. It was a seedy place, not quite safe for non-serial killers to visit. I've wanted to see it since I first read about it in James W. Hall, Tim Corcoran, and Tim Dorsey's books.

Evidentally MANY people have discovered the place. I was so disappointed. Families were milling around outside while the place was full of families eating pizza and other non-pub fare. It's gone respectable. I'm sure that the owners are happy, but I was terribly let down.

On the way back to the main road, we saw a Key deer trotting down a side street. We circled around and stopped to take photos. It was about the size of our baby deer (yearlings); it was starting to grow little antlers. It meandered through a yard nibbling on the trees and grass. Just across the street was a little female. She was browsing the neighbor's yard. James walked up to within 6 feet of her to take photos and she didn't even blink. It's illegal to feed them, but I bet that one could casually toss some corn to the birds and they'd find it.

Seeing the two deer was more than enough for us to decide that we want to live on Big Pine Key. We hate leaving our little herd behind, but maybe there's another awaiting us. We can't afford one of the nice big houses there, but there are some smaller, less expensive homes in the area.

Little Marie, the kitten, has taken over the house. She's convinced that she owns it. The other cats hiss and stay away, although she and Chester and she and Lily have bumped noses without one taking the other out. Beghera is very disturbed that she's in HIS house. I brought Zippy home last night (he spent his vacation at my sister's house where he got lots of treats and was walked every day) and he hasn't even noticed (or reacted) that there's an addition. Marie is still shy, but she follows me around and talks to me. She's so very soft that I want to hold her all the time.

Photos will come after I get them transferred to dvds. It may take a while.

Is it Prozac or Florida? OR Why am I feeling so great on a Monday?

I wish I could bottle this feeling.

I feel completely at ease (notice how well I'm ignoring stabs of anxiety), like I've finally been able to exhale. Remember that book, Waiting to Exhale? I knew exactly what she meant by that. I've spent most of my life waiting to exhale. Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Chronic Depression will do that to you.

After spending 8 glorious days in Florida, I am relaxed. I even feel rested. I have a touch of color (I know that sun is bad for the body, but it's so good for my soul.). (Even though an ignorant male teacher told me that it didn't look like I've been in Florida. The soul doesn't show.) If my soul has a color, today it is the serene turquoise of the waters off the Florida Keys.

We got home yesterday morning around 5:30 and went straight to bed. I slept until 7:30 p.m., got up for a couple of hours then went back to bed. I slept wonderfully. Tom is still on "driving straight through the night" time and didn't sleep as well.

I last reported in on Wednesday while we were in Ft. Lauderdale on a little hotel on the beach, with its picture window overlooking the ocean. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there; less than 24 hours, but it's a place we'll stay again. It was clean, comfortable, and had a wonderful pool area. We ate at the Yacht Club that night; Tom's daughter's boyfriend's father is the Commodore there. Good company, good food. Beautiful boats.

Donna and James took us to Marathon in the Florida Keys on Thursday morning. James' family owns a couple of condos there that overlook the Florida Bay. It's incredible; it has a wraparound screened lanai that faces the water (and palm trees and light house); I'd live on that porch if I could. We spent most of the afternoon there, reading and looking out at the view.

Donna helped Tom cook dinner while I took a nap. That's such a luxury for me now; I used to nap after work, but now that I have to get up so early, I can't afford it. But it was so peaceful at the condo that it lulled me to sleep.

We ate dinner on the lanai, watching the sunset. Tom and Donna cooked shrimp, basmati rice, and snow peas. It's a wonderful meal any time, but it was especially good eaten while surrounded by the Florida Keys.

Friday morning I slept late (as usual). (Donna sleeps later than I do, but it has to be noted that she doesn't get off work until 2 a.m. and has a reason to sleep later. I just need sleep.) We left for Key West around 10 or 11; it's just an hours' drive southwest. We ate lunch at Pepe's. We've eaten there before and like it. I had a BLT which for some reason I was craving; even that seemed exotic in Key West.

We split up and spent the afternoon wandering around Key West. I l0ve Old Town. Of course I asked for directions to the knitting shop (they finally have one! Used to only have a needlepoint shop with incredible handpainted canvases; it's still there, too.) I know my way around Old Town that I was able to find the shop without any trouble at all. That, in itself, is a miracle. The shop, Knit Wits (I think) has a wonderful selection of yarns, all organized by color, and even had that yarn crack (or so I hear, since I've never touched it before) Malabrigo in such an array of colors. It wasn't as expensive as I'd expected, but wool, for some reason, wasn't calling to me that day after walking in the hot sun. I chose some coral silk (my vacation yarn) to make a little scarflet. There's a bead store next door, conveniently joined by a walk-through, so I chose some beads to add to the silk when I knit it. Yes, I know that silk that is already beaded is available; I bought a hank in Sonora, CA last summer, gorgeous stuff, but $39 as opposed to $14 plus beads didn't speak to me right then.

I also bought some red, black, and clear beads to use with the "Bloodlust" All That Glitters that yarnlust (etsy) has specially dyed for me. I've decided to make Shipwreck with it. I know that I'm totally crazy to even consider it; I remember how much I moaned and bitched about The Never Ending Test Knit. I won't put any 5000 beads on it, either; I'll probably use only 1000 or so, spreading them a little thinner than the pattern calls for. The clear beads have sterling silver inserts in the holes; I bought slightly bigger ones to use on the silk I bought there. I'd thought of using only sterling silver beads on it, but they're just ridiculously priced, although I think they'd look spectacular. They'd have to have a clear coat on them; I can just see me polishing thousands of tiny beads. (Not.)

We stopped for drinks at Louie's Backyard, a place I've read about in many Florida noir novels. It's right on the beach, with Dog Beach next to it. Key West is very dog-friendly. We enjoyed looking over the ocean as we refreshed ourselves before heading back to the condo.

That night we ate at a nice little restaurant, then packed our stuff in preparation for leaving at 8 the next morning. ( I personally think that anything before noon should be banned.) We picked up our car in Ft. Lauderdale then drove to J.'s house to pick up little Marie, A.'s kitten. We brought her back to have her spayed before taking her back to A. in the summer. She was a wonderful little traveler.

Tom wanted to drive through again, so we got home at 5:45 Sunday morning. We didn't unpack the car, just went straight to bed.

All of my photos are on my laptop, but you can be sure that I'll upload some when I can. I know you can't wait.

I finished sock 1 from the Twilight sock yarn. I forgot to put the hearts on the top of it, so I put one on the top of the foot. I got the second sock right and knit 3-4" before it got too dark and I could turn on Twilight. The laptop won't turn up loud enough for me to hear it, but I could see it juuuuuuust fine. It's still not a well-made movie, but I like it just fine. Still reading New Moon too, even though I took several other books with me. I am doomed, I tell you.

But I'm happy. That counts for a lot.

Spring Break!

Thank God for the institution known to educators and students as "spring break". This year it's particularly late for my system; it's been a long time since Christmas Winter break.

Kids were really squirrelly at school last week. A fire alarm was pulled as a prank and we all spent about 15 minutes outside in the cold rain waiting for the fire department to arrive and give us the "all clear" before we could go inside, rumor spread through the school that a gunman in camo was running wild through the school, and ambulances took a couple of people to the hospital after they suffered stress-related symptoms.

It was with infinite relief that Tom and I left Friday at 2 p.m., heading to Florida to visit our daughters and grandkids.

Tom likes to drive straight through; it's a 14-15 hour drive, and for some reason I can no longer sleep in the car, even when it's been 22 hours since I slept last. Fortunately he's able to stay awake and alert better than I am ("alert" being the big difference between the two of us), and we practically flew down the interstates through Virginia, NC, SC, Georgia, and Florida. In spite of many piss pit stops, one stop for gasoline (we got 519 miles to the tank, which is pretty good for a 10-year-old Camry), half-hour break for supper at a local barbecue place (good food at good prices), and 1-1.5 hours in stop and go traffic in a road repair area, we got to Davenport (just SW of Orlando) at 5 a.m. Saturday.

We were both dead by that time; I was practically swooning from lack of sleep. We checked into our Super 8 $45-a-night room and slept for 6 lovely hours. (Note: I've had some good luck using Hotels.com, but in this case, it was cheaper to go through the Super 8 website.) It's not the Ritz Carlton by any means, but it was clean and the a/c worked. Kinda noisy, but my white noise machine took care of that.

A. and her best friend were in a small pageant in Deltona that afternoon, so we drove back to see them compete. My daughter, J., made the dresses for both girls and "did" their hair and makeup (minimal makeup). They look enough alike to be sisters, even fraternal twins. Some people asked J. if she's sure they aren't identical twins. Honest.

This was a tiny pageant, typical of the South, held in a fraternal organization's building, maybe 15 girls total. All were cute as buttons; some were perfectly comfortable on the stage, but some others weren't as fortunate. Me, I'd have been a basket case if I'd tried that at any age, much less 9.

This was K.'s first pageant. She's heard A.'s accounts and really wanted to try one herself. She did beautifully. She walked out as if she owned the place, full of poise and confidence. Fortunately she's a year older than A. and was in another age division, so they weren't competing against each other.

What none of us had expected was that two mother/daughter teams who appeared on the series "Little Miss Perfect" would be competing (and frequently it is the mothers who are competing, as well as the girls). One set I've known for a few years, but the other was unknown to me before the show.

This one told me horror stories about the shooting of LMP. The tv team spent the entire 48 hours before the pageants with the families; after a while, you kind of forget that there are cameras and mics in your face. They also twisted things to make it look like rich girl/poor girl and even suggested that the "poor" girl wear a boa constrictor as part of her "wow wear". Her mom emphasized that it was the producer's idea, not hers, and when she was talking on the phone to her husband, actually no one was on the line; it was all fake. They showed the "rich" girl's mom spending thousands on this pageant alone and the "poor" mom buying her daughter's clothes at Good Will, not telling that the mom wanted the girl to dress up like Miley Cyrus and was actually going for the Salvation Army-clothes look.

Anyway, that aside, it was a fun afternoon. The girls really didn't care who won; at least, A. and K. didn't. They both were first runners up in their age divisions, which they thought was pretty cool. The little girl who won A.'s division was a LMP winner; strangely, one of the judges for this pageant had "done" hair and makeup for the girls at LMP.

But sweet little A. R., the LMP winner, tried her best to give A. her crown after the pageant was over. She really meant it, too. When A. wouldn't take it, she tried to give A. her sash. That type of thing isn't all that typical of pageant winners.

I have a cute video of the three girls talking and cutting up while waiting for the judging to be finished, but I won't post it. I don't want to put their faces and names all over the internets. Suffice to say that they had a good time goofing off, dressed in their finery, and entertained others who were waiting.

I've attempted to upload photos from the pageant, but my internet connection is too poor to allow them to show up.

So, onward and upward.

On Sunday, Tom and I took A. and B2 to Homassassa Springs Wildlife Refuge. I have always been fascinated with manatees, and this is the place to go to see them. There are 6 or 7 manatees who live there year 'round, and there's also a small zoo. We enjoyed the manatee feeding show.

We didn't do much on Monday. That afternoon we took A. to Costco to buy her first pair of glasses. The poor child is near-sighted, as I am. She chose a cute pair. I don't remember having much input when I got new glasses as a child, until I was in the 10th grade or so. I thought it was important for A. to choose glasses that she likes; she's more likely to wear them and have confidence wearing them if she has some say in the matter.

Tom, A., and B2 prepared dinner (vegetarian spaghetti) that night. B2 had never handled a knife (except the time he took one out of the kitchen drawer a couple months ago and cut his leg) and was kind of tentative using it, but he managed. A. had helped Tom cook dinner three years ago and is an old hand at it. B2 didn't eat much, but A. made up for it.

Yesterday, the first chilly day (high winds, cool temps) Tom and I took B2 to the Reptile Farm (I think that's what it was called) at St. Cloud. We love old Florida-type places like that. Later I'll put up photos of all these things, but not with this internet connection. B2 had a good time feeding the turtles. The man who ran the place told me that B2 is a true gentleman. He shared his turtle food with a little girl.

This morning we got up and left for Ft. Lauderdale at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m. I wasn't aware that there is a 7 a.m. in Florida. It was around 40 degrees when we left, but Ft. Lauderdale is warm with a nice breeze. We're staying in a hotel (it calls itself) across A1A from the beach. You should see the view from our picture window. (You would have if the internet connection wasn't so crappy here, or if Ntelos had allowed my crapcam photo to be posted.) Tom, his daughter, and I spent an hour by the pool, soaking up the rays and enjoying the peace and quiet of the nice little courtyard. You'd never know that we were on a main thoroughfare.

Tonight we're going to the yacht club for dinner with Donna's boyfriend's parents. Tough life, huh? Good thing I packed some Chico's Travelers Collection clothes. Tomorrow we're heading for Marathon for a couple of days in the Keys.

(Clothing note: I packed my Chico's denim capris that I haven't worn since September, and they're all too big for me. I really have lost weight!)

I'm off to take a shower and get gussied up for the yacht club. Ta-ta!

(I won't rub in how beautiful the beach looks from our room, and how warm it is here today, and how the breeze is just enough to keep one from baking while lying in the sun. I wouldn't do something like that, now, would I?)

(I would.)

Fock Ntelos

Ntelos has a distinct lack of customer service and I will be going with AT&T once I get back home. I've had it with Ntelos.

I took a crapcam photo of the beach here at Ft. Lauderdale and sent it to this blog. Once again, it didn't show up.

So fock Ntelos. They're dead to me. Eight freaking years with them, eight years of fighting with customer "service" to get my address, then my name, changed, and a year of fighting with them to take my niece off my plan once she graduated from college. Eight years of walking into their store and waiting for 30 minutes to an hour each freaking time I needed something.

AT&T's rates aren't as good, but their service HAS to be better.

Anyway, the beach is sunny and lovely, nice breeze, it feels great here. I wish I could show you the view from our room, but Ntelos isn't cooperating. Later I'll post some REAL photos from my wonderful Canon IS something or other camera.

Okay, who forgot to pay the heating bill???

Three beautiful sunny, warm days here in Orlando. Then today, this cold front is coming through and it's cold and windy.

Still having fun, though.