7 Quick Takes (Vol 105)

Well goodness gracious it is Friday again. And that means that it is time for me to blather wax eloquent about those little things that happen during the week that I cannot stretch into an entire blog post. So, after you read deeply of my insanely intelligent writing (cough, cough) be sure to click on the picture above to be whisked, with the swiftness of my rapidly melting snow, over to Conversion Diary to see what everyone else has been doing.

And now….

On with the show!

1.
Good news on the Lookleap/Stop Her She’s Knitting garden front.

I think I might have mentioned last year that we had some “issues” with rivers running through our garden plots. And I am not exaggerating about the river thing. Any sort of heavy rain and we had the Mississippi cutting a channel through our garden. I expected to see river barging poling up and down past the tomatoes. It was most discouraging because after the flood waters would finally recede then we would have garden soil the consistency of concrete that wasn’t conducive to life let alone growing things.

So, a week or so ago it was time to renew our “lease” on our garden plots. We went into the Parks and Rec department and signed on the dotted line but we did enquire about switching plots. There were two particular plots that we wanted….badly. And the fellow that had them last year didn’t take care of them AT ALL. We felt we deserved them after our plight last year. But we had to wait to see if he would rent the plots this year….

And he didn’t sign up again. And we switched plots.

Yipeeeeeee. Now if it would just get warm enough and dry enough to plant things.

2.
We are finally having a mid-winter thaw of sorts. I can actually see little patches of grass in the back yard. I don’t think I have seen the grass since the beginning of December.

And the temperature has been lovely and warm.

But I am not fooled. I know that we will have more snow, we always do. And the snow that falls in March, April, and rarely in May seems like such a cruel thing. But it will come, it always does. In fact, when I walked this morning it was 55F but by tonight it is supposed to be 28F.

Rats.

3.
Can I say that one of the few things that I don’t look forward to as the snow melts is…

muddy dog paws.

Max the Wonder Dog comes in and he has muddy paws and if I don’t remember to wipe them off before he comes in, and most of the time I don’t remember, then he tracks in big muddy paw prints.

Thank goodness our back hallway is tile and the rest of the first floor is hard wood. But that still needs to be cleaned too.

4.
So, NPR this morning was talking about all the gearing up both parties are doing, as far as advertizing is concerned, in anticipation of the 2012 elections. And the fact that there really are only about 11 states that get the majority of the advertizing dollars spent.

I live in one of those states. Ohio is considered a “swing state”. As goes Ohio so goes the nation. And that means that we will be inundated, overrun, swamped, with political ads.

Oh. Joy.

And that means that next year, or possibly sooner, I will..

1. DVR most of the things that I watch on TV because I can then fast forward through ALL the ads for both parties.
2. Strictly enforce my “no politics after 8p” rule. I don’t watch, read or listen to anything that has anything to do with politics after 8p. Even if it is something or someone that I agree with. I won’t sleep otherwise.
3. Throw away, unopened, all unsolicited political mail. And isn’t it all unsolicited?

Republicans and Democrats please listen to me. I make up my mind on my own by gathering information in my own time and way. I am thoughtful about my choices. I don’t need your help.

And I don’t need your attack ads. 

5.
Oh how I immediately want to cast on another sweater. I have the yarn, I just haven’t found the absolutely right pattern yet. I am sure that it will present itself to me and I will say,

I knew I would find you! We will be happy together.

Top down raglan? Cables? Shaping? Long sleeves or mid-forearm? The possibilities are endless. I am getting lost looking at all the patterns on Ravelry and I haven’t even started looking in my knitting books.

And at the rate it took me to finish the last sweater I had better get my act together. I want to have this sweater done by next year so that I can take it to Peru with me when we visit the in-laws again. The yarn wants to go back to it’s native land.

I will keep you posted.

And since Cartoon Girl has also asked for a sweater I had better just learn to knit sweaters faster.

6.
Last Saturday HHBL and I went out to our favorite restaurant for an early Valentines Day dinner. We decided to go early to beat the crowds that are always there, and this restaurant doesn’t take reservations unless you have a party of 12 or more so sometimes you have a bit of a wait.

But we didn’t take into account the fact that it was the Saturday before Valentines Day.

Duh.

So there was a wait, even at 5:45p. No problem for us, we were hungry but we didn’t have a time constraint. However, after about 25 minutes, the hostess was apologizing to us because she was wanting to seat us but they were waiting for the table to open up.

And waiting…

And waiting….

And do you know why they were waiting?

Because the family of four that was sitting at that table were waiting for their son to finish the game that he was playing on his hand held video game player whatever kind it was. I still play my Gameboy Color so I have no idea what there is out there.

Mom, Dad and brother all had their coats on. The leftovers were wrapped and ready to go. But this kid just doggedly sat there for at least 5 extra minutes before he would get up and leave.

Really parents! Why did you even let him bring the thing to dinner? Talk to your child for the love of Pete. And don’t inconvenience others with your son’s games.

Getting off my soap box now.

7.
This month is Turner Classic Movie’s “31 Days of Oscar” and I have been overdosing on DVR movies. Yesterday I took the time to watch Camelot.

Oh man is that a movie that reflects the time in which it was filmed (1967). But the thing that I loved the most is that I could sit, knit and sing all the songs at the top of my lungs.

Cuz I know ALL the words to ALL the songs. And evidently a lot of other people know the words too because when I mentioned it on Facebook everyone had to pipe up with their favorite lyrics.

The parental units had the soundtrack record when I was growing up and I listened to it endlessly. I knew all the words to all the songs long before I ever saw the movie. And the album cover art? I absolutely LOVED it. I think if I could ever find the album with decent cover I would chuck the record and frame the cover.

Hmmmmmmmm, that is a thought.

It was nice to be able to just sit and watch and sing along on a day when I had a monsterous headache that just wouldn’t let go.