Meanwhile, back at the castle...

Once upon a time there were four princesses. The littlest princess was an adorable ten year old who thought she was Rapunzel, and who was not one bit spoiled, no matter what the older princesses may say.

One day the littlest princess was sitting at the scullery table. She was very unhappy as she struggled with her arithmetic studies.

Suddenly, the door to the castle opened, and in walked the eldest princess with a frog. The frog frightened the littlest princess, because he was covered with road rash from a recent motorcycle accident. But when the frog hopped over to the littlest princess and offered to help her with her homework, she begrudgingly accepted his assistance.

Over time the frog kept visiting the castle with the eldest princess. And as time passed, the road rash disappeared, and the littlest princess came to realize that the frog was not only good at math, and thoughtful of little princesses, but he was truly a handsome prince.

Soon there was a special celebration in the king's ville-age when the eldest princess married the handsome prince, and they travelled to a far off land to live. Occassionally the littlest princess was allowed to visit, and the handsome prince continued to enchant her with his friendly ways, and games of Wahoo, and lessons in how to make potato soup.

As the years passed, and the littlest princess grew, she began looking for a prince of her own, trying not to overlook the frogs that hopped along her path. One day, while she was driving through Sonic with a friend, they saw a cowboy that was an acquaintance of the friend. And as they passed, he leaned over to wave...and he smiled. And there was something about that smile that reminded the littlest princess of her handsome-prince brother-in-law.

The paths of the littlest princess and the cowboy did not cross again for awhile, but she remembered that he had a nice smile. And eventually they met and fell in love. And they are living happily, unhappily, happily, frustratedly, happily, companionably, sweetly, happily hoppily ever after (marriage is, after all, not a fairy tale, but an adventure).

And the littlest princess gives part of the credit and blame to a handsome prince disguised as a frog who was good at math.

(And if his daughters recognize him in this little tale of mine, please tell him hello for me. :)

Laundry day...

I had a fun day out with the camera yesterday...wandered around outside a closed antique shop, and encountered this vintage washer.

Today, while I had laundry going in the other room, I had free time to download and edit photos. While I was having fun with this one, it occurred to me that if I didn't have my nice modern laundry appliances, I would have a lot less time for the fun stuff I enjoy.

I think it's only natural that there are days when we yearn for simpler times. But the older I get, the happier I am that I was born when and where I was, and enjoy all the conveniences and technological advances of our time.

I wonder...

...should I dust that ceiling fan, or let it go another week or two?

...do I still have time to make all the Christmas gifts I have planned?

...is the Crazy Cat Lady ever going to call me back?

...is there really a novel in everyone?

...is it too late to learn to juggle?

...should I cut my hair short?

...could hypnosis help my bad habits?

...should I buy a magic 8 ball?

Bear-ly off the knitting needles...

My daughter mentioned the other day that my blog was somewhat less than interesting lately. She's right. I apologize. Aside from work, I've been reading and knitting, and that's about all. Nothing much to write about.

I've been madly knitting on a project I've shared previously. But today I took a break from the plain squares, to try something a little more playful.

I found the pattern designed by Rachel Borello Carroll recently on Petite Purls after seeing it featured on One Pretty Thing. It was so cute I had to try it.

I don't think my little bear (pictured above sitting in front of my computer monitor with his family picture pulled up on the screen behind him) turned out quite as cute as he could have. But I 'made do' with the wrong size needles, no fiber fill to stuff him with, and a rapidly hand-stitched face. I definitely want to try the others when I'm patient enough to make sure I have all the right supplies at hand. I could have some big fun with these.

It was a couple of hours well and enjoyably spent.

Suppertime, and the livin' is easy...

Tonight's dinner was turkey slaw burgers. Yum.

If you're interested, the recipe is over at What's Cookin' 4 Miles North of Nowhere.

Scorpions...

Don't get me wrong, I love living in the country. But that doesn't mean I love every little thing that comes with it.



Like these.

I was thinking earlier today that I hadn't seen one of these in the house in quite awhile, and that maybe they were gone for the season. Then tonight I saw one crawling across the living room floor. It was making rapid progress toward a skirted chair, so I ran for the kitchen and grabbed the first glass container I could reach. (A dusty vase, which partially explains why the picture quality is so poor.) I then made a mad dash back to cover the creepy crawler with the upturned vase.

See, as much as I hate these horrid little beasts, I can't crush them. Oh, not because I can't stand the thought of killing them...I pretend no soft-heartedness here. But because when crushed, these suckers leave a stain...even on my brown carpet. So I capture them, and then transfer them to a jar that I keep in the freezer...when transferred to the cold jar, they go night-night instantaneously.

I had no sooner popped this one in the freezer, and returned to the living room, then I saw another one strolling across the room. Arggghh! Ah well. I grabbed the vase again.

We are due a cool front this week. This is what the seasons changing mean to me: in Texas, winter means no creepy crawlers.

I do so love winter!

Nuthin' to say...

I have had nothing of interest to write about. I have not left the house since Friday. No grand adventures. No interesting people to interact with. No entertaining stories.

Just hibernating.

I've been knitting. And reading. Enjoying the sound of rain hitting the windows. I even got out the sewing machine and started a project which I hope to show when it's done.

And now, since there's nothing on tv, I think I'll go back to my book.

Oh! The beauty of a rainy day...

This is the view entering our gate today. It may not be anything special to you, but to me it inspired praise and thanksgiving! It has been SO long since we've had this much rain.

How much, you ask?


This much! Woohoo!!! And still more in the forecast. :)

Hey, Bobby, are you asleep?...

Saturday Meme

photo is mine.
I keep seeing hearts in the coolest places...

I saw this meme over at What's Happening At My House and it amused me, so I thought I'd put it here. (By the way, I especially love said blog for the book talk...I always find something I want to pick up and read.)

1. How come I can never find: my Exacto knife when I'm in the middle of a craft project

2. I wish I’d never started: procrastinating

3. I wonder why: the book is always so much better than the movie.

4. Mother always told me: Do something to show for your time.

5. There’s this one thing in my closet that I just can’t seem to get rid of: a stack of really old threadbare, but comfortable, t-shirts that are only fit to wash the car or color my hair in.

6. My favourite guilty pleasure is: Gee, didn't I just post a whole list of these recently?

7. I always forget: to take something out of the freezer for dinner

8. I have never: learned to juggle

9. I’m obsessed with: trivia

10. One of my favourite memories is: being in the delivery room with Kasey when she had the boys...Jared spouting zingers in that deadpan way of his even as a little guy...the first time I told Beau he was the 'good child'...Carey giving me the major-award leg lamp for Christmas one year...winning a trip to Ireland in a box of chocolates...just sitting in the same room with my best friend...rocking my grandchildren...I am blessed with MANY favorite memories, no way could I pick just one.

Feel free to play along if you fancy it.

Seed stitch afghan progress...

Just a quick update on my knitting progress. This was one skein. I'm trying to decide if I want to try to get one more square out of the remaining brown (I think there might just be enough) or move on to another color. I'm leaning toward another color...for a little change of pace...and because I don't think I have another skein of brown, so I might have to run to buy another before I could finish.

As you can see, my speed is not stellar. Only three squares in a little over a month.

Oh, by the way, knitting today has helped me get past that tune-in-my-head problem of the last few days. My knitting gauge is about an inch per 5 rows. So since I didn't have a paper/pencil handy, I started humming songs on each row that would help me track my progress.

ONE Is The Loneliest Number.
Tea for TWO.
THREE Blind Mice.
FOUR He's a Jolly Good Fellow. (Yes, yes. I know.)
FIVE Golden Rings (I only hummed from 5 down to 1 of the Twelve Days of Christmas).

Of course, the other one is still in Carey's head. He came in a few minutes ago and said that now HE'S making up new lyrics. I told him I was afraid to ask. To which he responded that he was afraid to tell me.

Uh-oh.

Thanks a lot, Hank Williams...

Hank Williams photo from Amazon


All it took was a co-worker mentioning a song she heard on the way to work.

I didn't even hear the darn thing.

But it is stuck...going round and round.

There's a tear in my beer
'cause I'm cryin' for you dear.
You are on my lonesome mind.

And those are pretty much the only words I know. Great. Carey couldn't think of other lyrics either, so I did a web search...twice. But the rest of it won't stay in my head. Just those three lines.

It has been DAYS!

So now my husband...who is a MOST patient man...is fed up. "Stop it," he says. "I can't," say I! But to humor him, and entertain myself, I have started making up lyrics.

Through the years, and the tears
I have always loved your ears.
You are such a cutie-pie.

And he's not only patient. He is a good audience. So he laughs. And laughs.

Every time that I rhyme,
I feel like a freakin' mime.
Why can't I just let it go-o?

(I know what a mime is. I didn't say I was making sense here.)

That's just a small sampling.

Even a patient man can reach a limit. And when he felt a new verse bubbling its way to the surface, he smacked his hand down on the coffee table in an effort to startle my mind away from this demon song. Unfortunately, it just made me laugh...really hard.

When you're angry at me
in my pants I just might pee.
Lord, I hate this stupid song.

Story time...

Don't you just love old books?

Maybe you can't judge them by their covers, but you can love the covers for their own sakes. The colors. The art. The well-loved, much-handled textures.

I have a lot of books, and I can't bear to part with them.

Some of them are from the bookshelves in my parents' house.

Some of them are from the bookshelves in my great aunt's house. I spent a lot of summer days with her, learning to embroider, and crochet, and tat. And I was intrigued by the treasures on her shelves. And she was eager to talk to me about them. Some are inscribed by family members from when they were Christmas gifts. At least one has notes written in the margins by my great-grandfather about the Nebraska farmland that was his stomping ground, brought to life for me by books written by a local author. The funny thing was that I was acquainted with the author...fell in love with her stories, drawn as if by a magnet...from my school library several states away. I was surprised to see her titles and name on my aunt's shelves. She was surprised that I was already acquainted with them. She sent them home with me to love into the future.

I gladly accept that responsibility.