The Big Giant Worms

Found a picture of "The Big Green Worm"....well, it isn't a picture of the one I found, but his cousin for sure. They really camouflage well, too. It was very difficult to spot on the leaves. I guess it doesn't hurt that "Tremors" is one of my favorite silly movies, either. Biology was my most favorite subject and still is. My kids can tell you about the Thanksgiving I dissected the turkey for them with the bonus of dissecting the heart and all the chambers...just so they would know. My kids are cool that way. Their mother is gross this way, but the lab guys get a kick out of letting me see the echo cardiogram of my heart and are impressed when I know the name of the valve and I am intrigued to see it work so efficiently. It is really cool and if you are brave and get a chance it is worth the look. Also, I've seen the inside of my eye....the opthalmologist I used to see would put the picture up on the screen and it was so beautiful. The color is a clear orange with no inclusions and perfect as can be. That was way cool.

While looking for a picture I found this poem...and I'll betcha we all learned some version of it when we were little. That reminds me to check on my grandson's learning about this subject. I'm sure I was 9 or so when I learned it.


The Worms Crawl In The Worms Crawl Out

Don't ever laugh as the hearse goes by
For you may be the next to die.
They put you in a big black box
then cover you up with dirt and rocks.

All goes well for about a week
and then your coffin begins to leak.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
The worms play Pinochle on your snout.

They eat your eyes, they eat your nose
They eat the jelly between your toes.
A big green worm with rolling eyes
crawls in your stomache and out your eyes.

Your stomach turns a slimy green
and puss pours out like whipping creme.
Spread it on a slice of bread,
that's what you eat when you are dead.

Source: Cemetery Culture


It has been a very pleasant evening even with the after dinner poetry. Since walking is not in the agenda these days....swollen painful foot, I decided to catch up on some stuff. Like listen to some cds I'd ordered and not had time to get into. They are really good, but I've heard the best songs so many times...oh well. Then I started working on a knitting project I really needed to finish, because my dil had brought the throw I'd given her last Christmas to be repaired. It had come loose in some spots, a sure sign of it having been used a lot. There was chocolate gook on it, too. I told her I wasn't a very good knitter and we laughed when she said she wasn't a knitter at all, but she loved the throw. Good way to get points, girls. So, hubby opened cds and I got most of my washcloth project done. There is a little soap bag that goes with it and I thought it would be cute for a small gift and also, on the plus side it is a way for me to learn new stitches without committing to a large project. I've already put in a frantic email request for help to my mentor.

If you knit or crochet here is a link to the Lion Brand patterns. I only knit, but have plans to learn crochet. I know how to embroider...if I remember it.

Something Different for Christmas Giving

Since the fire at my neighbors' home the other day, I haven't been able to get much done in any direction. It has poured rain for days without let up except for a little while from time to time. There is flooding here in town, but I've hardly seen the news. I haven't been over helping my neighbors either. We drove by yesterday and the owner was on the front porch talking with someone who looked like and insurance adjuster...I don't know how an insurance adjuster looks but that was my take on him. We had to attend an AARP meeting so I could be introduced so when the time comes to vote for new officers they might remember my name. HA! They saw a new one come in that sorta might know what to do...you all know how that goes. Afterwards was when we drove by their house. I thought we might walk over later, but by the time we got home I was chilled and pretty miserable. We ate lunch and I put on my nightgown again and covered up hoping to get warm. I was still down all afternoon and evening. This morning I had to go to get blood work done...so still didn't get over. I'm a terrible friend. However, I will go tomorrow and leave messages all over the place until we hear from them.

In the meantime we got a catalog in the mail from Heifer International. I made a donation to some worthy cause and you know how your home address gets around after that. Well, They
have found me. When I picked the catalog up to read I was so confused. You can gift a heifer or share a heifer to provide milk for a family or a small village. This was after careful study and a lot of head scratching to figure out what this group is about. I'm familiar with what a heifer is...thank goodness. One of the perks of living in Texas...you pick up on terms regarding cattle and other farm animals even if you don't live on a farm. BTW-according to this catalog there are heifer goats. Heifer goats are less expensive than a heifer cow, I guess, or you can gift a Milk Menagerie for $1,000.00. That gift is comprised of a quality heifer, two goats, and a water buffalo. The animals can reproduce, give milk and the young traded for goods or brought to maturity and gifted to another.

This is the first time I've heard of this organization, but that doesn't mean all that much. Their goal is to give a helping hand up to families who need one. The main offices are in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'll bet Nit Wit 1, will know something about this organization. On their website is a lot of really good information and it might be something to think about giving this Christmas season. A pig can be gifted for $120.00 or share a pig for $10. Their website for education is:
http://www.heifereducation.org/ .



Sometimes it is just good to be a sucker for a good cause....and I didn't even tell you about the Knitting Basket (2 llamas and 2 sheep for $500 to provide wool to be knitted into clothes to sell or trade or milk for the family or community to use or barter) and how I sure wish I'd gotten in
on helping knit the world's longest scarf. That would have been such a cool thing to do on those days I don't want to think all that much. I had a lot of days like that lately.

This came at a good time for me and I hope it gives you something to think about when we are deciding on how many new toys our healthy, well fed children really need this Christmas. However, if our economy keeps going downward, we may be asking for help from them to help folks in our country. I've noticed an upswing in keeping chickens and some other small farm animals in town. I pray my neighbors don't get a rooster. None of my neighbors have any chickens, but I have thought about it. They eat mosquitoes like crazy. We have a martin house we bought at First Monday in Weatherford YEARS ago...that I have never painted or gotten it up on a pole. Due to my total dependence on the grocery store we are unable to care for ourselves. Oh yes..this afternoon while waiting for hubby to get back from his parents house I was watching a show where a community tried to eat locally grown food for 100 days. They found a store in the area that had wheat which they ground for their bread....this is a story for another day. It got pretty scary toward the end of this episode. Sort of ...well, not like anything Halloween...but finding chicory for coffee in the Pacific Northwest..well I just don't know.

Night Night, friends. We will finish this story another evening.

And Anil P. I am so sorry we seem to be getting India's monsoons this year. We needed some, but not quite as much as we have had this year. I won't go so far as to say we got too much. That would just jinx us for next year. Maybe next year your country will get the proper amount at the right time for your farmers, and we will get just the right amount for ours...and for my little garden.

Knitting breakthrough

Oh my gosh...I had a knitting breakthrough tonight!! While reading Crazy Aunt Purl the other day she referenced the Knitting Help.com website. Naturally I had to look and watched a video about a better way to cast on. It looked complicated and later I tried it to no avail. It was a dismal failure on all counts. Even my husband tried helping me and actually while I was watching him it started to make sense, but we couldn't figure it out. I emailed one of my friends for help and she thanked me for showing her such a cool site and would show it to her Needlework Group, thank you. She offered no help whatsoever or even to put me in contact with one of her Needlework Group friends from the Woman's Club. On my own again I tried it off and on for most of this past week, and for some reason tonight it came together and is the coolest thing in my world right now. I love it! It is so much neater and how about this...after you cast on this way you have already knitted the first row! Now that is one cool stitch! It is such fun when a learning process happens and all the cylinders click in place and you have that Aha! moment....and it actually works. That is wonderful.

Oh...I'm watching the Emmys and Oh My...Mary Tyler Moore certainly needs to come to grips with the fact that she can no longer wear sleeveless clothing. A shawl or something would go a long way to covering her emaciated arms. It might be from diabetes or age, but good gravy, cover up, Mare.

Curtain hanging progresses and room cleaning continues. There is a snag with some sheers that I want to go behind some tab tops, and we will have to see. One rod didn't come in and actually the way it was worded in the Penny's catalogue I thought the one I bought was the only one. Alas, not so. Sixty more dollars and it was mine.....and no shipping. Got an email this afternoon saying it had shipped. So, if it gets here in time so I can hang the ones it is for maybe all will be well for a while.

The foundation guys are coming...again...in the morning. Hopefully they can get it to last this time.

Day to dust and think...the important things from time to time

I'm sort of taking a day off today to get caught up on some chores that have been being put off for a while. We've been keeping the tv on watching the news coverage of Gustav and hoping it won't be as bad as Katrina. Cleaning some too in case my kids need shelter from the storm. Some live on the Gulf coast and may be impacted. The weather news said it may come all the way up here in the DFW area, but not as a hurricane. We have had tropical storms make it up here before, but it has been a very long time. I was in the 9th grade when one came over and it rained so much the water went over the overflow at one of the lakes. That was one of two times that has ever happened.

Knitting is progressing well. I'm starting to notice ads where there is something knitted and wondering what they used to knit. There is one that I think it is silk cord and it is in stockinette stitch done on large needles. I love it. I bought some fake fur stuff today to make my girls some fun scarves. I'm thinking the knitting is calling to me and the call of the dusting is fading into the distance. Yep...I'm pretty sure the lure of the knitting needles is winning this one. Just wait until I take that class in October and get the circular needles figured out.

See you guys tomorrow. If you are in the Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama area or anywhere on the gulf coast... God be with you and you will be in my prayers.





On a very much less serious note this just cracked me totally up or maybe we have been sort of nervous the past few days thinking about the hurricane. Hope you think this is funny, too.

Back to semi normal today

more animals

The last of the kids left today after a wonderful weekend of shopping and eating and having a good time. I'm sure I bored them to death with useless trivia like the above I find on the internet. They were good sports about it all, though.

This Thursday is my mother in law's 90th birthday and I made an appointment for her with my hairdresser for a day of girl stuff. Haircut, and maybe some color that we can keep up with at home and who knows...maybe go all out and get manicures. I told my husband he has to take his dad somewhere while we are there, because it is just not cool for the guys to be in the salon. It is truly a girly thing and we are going to make the most of it. Then they can take us out for dinner.
That is a guy thing.

My guy truly truly loves me more than most anything and I told him so today. For my birthday he and my daughter got me cases to put my knitting needles in, but she got a tote, too. So, we took the one he got me back to Hobby Lobby today and while he waited in the ONE line for returns I looked around at yarn and stuff. When I came back up to the front of the store he was still waiting and not so patiently at that point in time. That is when I told him that was truly an act of love.

The weekend before last I signed up for knitting classes as continuing education at T.C.U. HA!
There are four classes of two hours each for a total of 8 hours and ninety hours of looking for a parking place. I told my one true love he might be taking me and picking me up from class. It really is a nightmare finding a parking place, but they did send the parking permit so I won't get a ticket for being on campus. I looked at the new Vogue knitting magazines today and it was ever so cool. It was the fall knitting one and they had the hugest mittens on the cover. I might could make them. Who knows. There were many very fetching little sweaters and coats in the magazine, too.

I saw on "Crazy Aunt Purl's" blog the other night that one of the high end designers, DKNY, had put hand warmers on the cover model. She was freakishly built so one didn't really notice the wicked cool hand warmers. I got all excited about that, mainly because it did not involve the whole thumb thing that mittens entail. I figured leg warmers aka hand warmers would be a piece of cake compared to that whole mitten thing. Crazy Aunt Purl had a tutorial on making mittens this summer. The fact that she lives in LA had nothing to do with wanting to knit them. For some reason I totally understand that.

The last chore for the day was a meeting of the neighborhood association's board to see if we wanted to ratify a contract that is 11 pages single spaced in the smallest type face I've ever seen. They need an answer by Wednesday. I gave it to hubby when I came
in to interpret. He is good with that stuff and I am not so much.

I've missed blogging and setting up stuff to post on the timer has ruined me as far as knowing what I'll be blogging about from day to day. We will see what the morrow brings. Ha! I even set up a Ruby Tuesday one to post...you know...just in case I didn't make it back.

Olympic Gold

Nastia Liukin has won the gold for the US and her performance was so strong. Shawn Johnson from Iowa won the silver and her performance was very strong, too. Of special significance to me is that Nastia lives in Parker, Tx. Right down the road from us. Shawn a little farther away. However, we have a good friend from Iowa.

We are surrounded by greatness these days! Joshua from SYTYCD was on the early morning show and will make an appearance at a high school just down the road from where we live on Saturday morning. I'm pretty old, but I just might have to go down there.

This is the day we are taking our grandson to the movies. Fortunately Star Wars-The Clone Wars starts tomorrow and we will get in somewhere to see it. He was so tickled about going to see that. Actually we went to see The Mummy-3 on Wednesday and I was sort of relieved we didn't take him. It was a little more violent than he should see at this tender age of just turning 7. Nine or ten, yes, but we don't think he is ready to see it yet and especially not on the really big screen. So, I'll return to posting in a day or so, or maybe tomorrow night.

Oh yes...while waiting for the medals to me awarded I found a place to get knitting lessons. It isn't too far and they have one on one lessons. Click here to see it, but be prepared to go crazy about the yarn they have. They even have lessons about knitting socks. I don't think I'm going there. I had, well, my husband the TCU alumni got a magazine about continuing education in the mail yesterday. They have classes for $75 for four sessions and the intermediates make a shawl.
My daughter and I wouldn't be in the same class...so I don't know. I do know learning to knit better is a goal I'd like to attain. Not gold medal knitting, but just better.

See ya laterz alligators. I'm off to a galaxy far far away. And HALLELUJAH it rained this evening and it is supposed to rain for the next five days. Thank You, God! It may finally stay under 100 degrees for a while.

Scarves

Melli,

Here are a couple more I made. They are in garter stitch and the dark blue one is heavy yarn and I cast on 8 stitches onto size 11 needles. It is about 3" wide. I wanted it to be narrow and long. The one below was on 15" needles and very soft yarn, and there were 15 stitches cast on. It is 9" wide. It is sort of loopy, but I like it. Hope that gives you a idea for how many cast on and size of needles and weight of yarn factors in. Thought it might help if you could see what the garter stitch looks like and if you think you are doing it right or not. I see there are still some fringe thingys I need to trim on the purple one. This link to a learn to knit page might be helpful, too. Just remember...."It is just yarn, ya'll". I read that at Crazy Aunt Purl's the other night and it is sort of liberating to know that is all it is...yarn. She has some really cool scarves on her blog now. I might have to hurry and finish the one I'm working on now so I can get to that one.

Ruby Tuesday 2

This project is finished now and came out very
pretty with a lot of fringe on it. It kept me out of the heat while working on
red yarn that made me happy to work with it. I used size
15 knitting needles and it worked up very quickly and
because the yarn is so bulky it looks full and pretty.

Our Ruby Tuesday host is Mary, the Teach. On Tuesdays you can post any photo you like (it must be one of your own) that contains the color RED. Your photo can contain lots of RED or a little bit of RED.

Hot knitting

Have been so away from the computer for the past few days, but we have food to eat now and the house is way cleaner, too. My daughter came over late this afternoon for the knitting lesson. The lesson today was casting on and I was having some trouble showing her how, so we turned to the computer for knowledge. This young woman has the best tips for casting on I've ever seen. I'm casting on like her from now on, even if it isn't her favorite way. Here is a link to the you tube about How To Cast On.


It is so hot here right now I can hardly believe it or even think about it. Today it was 103 and tomorrow it is supposed to be 105 or 106 with a heat index of 110 to 115 through Monday. We are just going to slow down even more and watch tv, read, and I'm going to knit some Christmas gifts. Hey, can you have to many scarves in the winter? The ones I've made in the past week have all been in the garter stitch, because you don't have to think very much while knitting it and I needed to get the feel for knitting back. I did a little sampler today to show my daughter how each stich looks and I think she is going to like making some knitted scarves for herself and friends. She told her boyfriend she is going to knit him a coozie for his beer can. He got really tickled at that. She is coming back tomorrow for her next lesson...actually knitting. She is going at a pace that is comfortable for her and that is fine for me. We even made a trip to the yarn shop to look around. She is starting with an inexpensive man made yarn before she goes on to the natrual fibers she prefers.

I just found instructions to make a basketweave scarf that sounds fun and I have plenty of yarn to make it. Now I need to go to the other computer so the instructions can to be printed out. I don't have a wireless printer and after reading OC's review of the one he has, I'm pretty sure I'm not getting one.

Anyway, that is what we have been doing the past few days. Hubby has his work cut out finding where there is a leak in the sprinkler system. The good part is he could turn the system off this morning at the source when he noticed part of the yard was flooded. We have it narrowed down to one corner and it is either the faucet I had put in to be able to water the very back part of the yard or one of the sprinkler heads. If it is a junction, then that is a little more complicated, but they have the parts at Home Depot now. That helps a lot when something goes wrong.