Dreary Wednesday...

It is raining...and just plain dark today. No sunshine to warm my bones and no real light coming in my windows.

Then a friend of mine sent this YouTube and it made me smile!!! I think you will enjoy it...

Random Monday...

1) Oh, it was snowing! Yes, real flakes falling down...lovely! Then the sun came out and it quit!

2) Had a fun night out at some friends last night - we had this really good dinner! Sweet and Sour Sausage over rice (it was soooo good - I want the recipe); salad with fresh mushrooms; and ice cream for dessert! We played a fun game called Apples to Apples and laughed a lot!

3) Tomorrow is doctor day - and hopefully my thyroid is doing better. I am breathing much better since I started using a new medicine.

4) Dropped by the library today and picked up Robert Wagner's new book - Pieces of my Heart and Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson.

5) Killian was sick yesterday. He didn't eat anything all day long. Then during the night he wasn't sleeping in bed with me like he usually does - found him in the living room. When I picked him up to carry him to the bedroom and touched his back - he screamed. He was crying and couldn't sleep. I think he had a little stone - but he must have passed it this morning...since I can now touch his back area and he doesn't scream. And, his food is all gone!

6) Been reading a lot of cookbooks lately!

Cooking from the Hip by Cat Cora. It is really interesting and her recipes look like fun. In case you don't know who she is - she's on FOODTV and is an Iron Chef.

The Amish Cook at Home - The recipes look wonderful - but, the photography is just gorgeous!

The Complete Book of Bread and Bread Machines - Baking bread is going to be big around here this next year!!!

Well, that's about it for today...

Randomness...

You know how it is...things that don't actually need an entire post of their own...but, you wanna talk about anyway...

Movies: Last night I watched Vantage Point the new one with Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, and others too numerous to mention! I had been looking forward to it for such a long time...and I was so disappointed! Damn, I hate it when that happens!!!

Pictured above are most of the guild members from one of the two quilt guilds I belong to. This was taken after our yearly dinner. The last meeting of the year we always have dinner somewhere nice. I am looking forward to getting together with them in the fall. The guild meets at the local hospital from September - May. We have a lot of fun! And, they are a great bunch of women willing to help each other with quilting!

Been wanting a certain knitting book - A Gathering of Lace - for a long while now. So, I checked it out of the library to see if I would really want it in my collection...and I still don't know! I love the book and the patterns...and if I owned it I would probably make maybe four of the items...so I have about decided to go ahead an order it. (My sister gave me a gift card to one of the book stores) Anyone have any thoughts?????

Today, I intend to relax and read...watch tv...and knit...and finish a block that needs to go in the mail...

What's Up with Blogger?...

Today just seems to just be slow going with just about everything!

The weather is foul! Raining and it is a wintery mix...It is dark and dreary. Edgar Allen Poe would have fit right in.

The electric company will love me today cause I've got lights on in the kitchen and living room just to get enough light for it not to seem like night-time.

And, blogger/google is giving me fits (and it seems to be everyone!) about getting to blogs, links, and posting...

So, I'm baking a banana nut bread! Knitting on Socks! Catching up on mail that needs to go out! And, reading Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen.

Have a great Saturday...

Sunday Ramblings...

Sunday Ramblings...my way of posting about small things that have happened during the week that don't warrent their own post...

1) The weather finally settled down by Friday evening...and the city is cleaning up the downed trees. Saturday and today have been just gorgeous...even a little on the cool side!

It was so nice that Mother and I took a ride. We started out going somewhere special (I'll tell you all about it tomorrow when I can post photos)...and took a side trip to check out where the big "pick your own" Apple farm was. I thought about it - but, it was packed!\

2) I've never liked cucumber or the smell of it - so would you please tell me what was I thinking when I got some shampoo and conditioner that has cucumber in it and smells of it so much! I almost re-washed my hair today! Now I'm on a mission looking for anything in my cosmetics, bath products, and shampoos that has that in it...It's outta here!!!

3) Reading time has been at a premium this month - only read 271 pages - when I usually read over 1000. But the book I read was really good...From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, The War, and a Dog Named Lava by Lt.Col. Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth.

4) Am having a wonderful time reading a poem a day! That seems to be about as much poetry as I can handle in one day...and it gives me time to reflect on the poem.

5. Okay, what gives with the new tv show: Journeyman? I'll tell you I felt like I was at a tennis match watching the ball go over the net - only it was him back and forth and back and forth. I felt like I was going to get whiplash!

6) The other new show I was looking forward to was Life - but I got so tired of him talking to himself or mumbling and always having a mouthful of food - he just plain got on my last nerve! Guess I should have logged on that night and chatted with the executive producer...

Yesterday's poem: Any Wife or Husband by Carol Haynes
Today's poem: To My Unborn Son by Captain Cyril Morton Thorne

"The Drool Factor"...

Ever since I was given the right to vote, I have always studied the candidates and the issues and really worked at making an intelligent decision!

This coming election I am thinking that maybe I should change my way of voting - think it's about time to go for "the drool factor".

The requirements are simple enough:

1) Must be handsome or beautiful - depending on the choices.
2) Has to look good in a tuxedo or evening gown...after all there is a lot of entertaining that goes on at the White House and I don't want to be embarrassed.
3) Great smile - dimples are an added bonus.
4) Must be able to speak intelligently.
5. Having social graces would be nice - it's doesn't look nice when you can't remember people's names or how to act among the leaders of other countries.

So here are my choices and being one to give equal representation to both parties - you get one of each...(party - that is)

What's not to like about John Edwards - he has a great smile, nice and fit, speaks well and has a lovely soft southern accent type voice. His eyes crinkle when he laughs. He is nice to women - you can tell by the way he acts around his wife and seems to be quite the family man. He is intelligent...and would look nice in a tux...

What's not to like about Mitt Romney - He is an extremely good looking man. The gray hair makes him look a bit distinguished and some women would say "sexy". He has a nice smile. Seems to be a family man who enjoys being with his wife, kids, and grandkids. His ads show him running or jogging - so he seems to be in good physical condition and has the type body that would look good in a tuxedo! Tall and stately. And, he seems to have good manners and don't think he'd bungle it if he were introduced to international leaders.

So, there ya go! My thoughts for the day...(please take this in the tongue in cheek spirit it was written in)

Today's Poem: Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

September Musings...

Seems that the first of a new month brings tid-bits that don't quite make it into other posts...and a time to look back and plan ahead.

1. Ran up to the giant office supply store in my area - only one - to buy ink cartridges for my printer. Now I've had this printer for a while - got it when I lived in Tennessee so we are talking at least seven years. It is an HP DeskJet 693C (maybe those numbers should have told me something)...inquired as to the price of ink and was told close to $78. Gotta tell you - damn near fainted! This is an ink jet for heaven's sake!

For two more dollars I could have bought four Lexmark printers that they had on sale at Wally World and thrown them out when the ink ran out.

But for $20. more dollars I got a brand new printer - it is an all-in-one...HP C-4280! And, it came with ink! (Remember what I said about the numbers - the lower the printer number the higher the price for the Ink). Besides I had been wanting a scanner...so now I have one.

2. I can't drink Orange Juice any more...and I used to LOVE orange juice! Now it whacks out my stomach...must be the acid in it. They say your tastes change every few years - wonder if this is the year I'll like brussel sprouts??? (Nah...I doubt it)

3. There will be no margarine in my refrigerator again. That Dr. that is on Oprah every now and then said that our forefathers ate butter all the time...and our bodies are made to handle butter better...so, I'm switching. I've always used butter on my potatoes, pop corn, and on veggies that I would choose to put it on...but for cooking I used margarine...Not anymore! It's the real deal or nothing!!! I do like olive oil too...(no, not Popeye's girlfriend - the real stuff)!

4. One of the things I had wanted to read this summer was some poetry - but, my huge poetry book (The Best Loved Poems of the American People - published in 1936) was not unpacked. It is now...so each day I will be reading a poem...I'll let you know which one in case you want to read it too.

Well, that's it for today...photos tomorrow as I am uploading them from my camera today! Have a great first day of September.

Today's poem: Sonnet From The Portuguese by Elizabeth Barett Browning

Feeling elegant...

Today's mail brought an invitation to The Spa...not just any Spa...but The Spa at the Beverly Wilshire. "Join us in welcoming celebrity facialist Kate Somerville to The Spa at the Beverly Wilshire."

Additionally, the folks over at Viking River Cruises thought I should experience 2008 with a river cruise in Europe, Russia or China - or all three.

Now doesn't that just make you feel elegant - especially when for the last month or so you've been trotting around in an old raggy tee-shirt and shorts trying to get an apartment unpacked??