My Jerry's sons

I was chatting with a friend {yes, a different one; that makes three now!} and describing some of My Jerry's oldest son's pottery, ceramics, and sculpture pieces. There is a Cotton District Fest next weekend, which is Bully Bash for MSU. He'll have a booth right on the main thoroughfare, so I hope he does really well with his sales and getting some more exposure.

So my friend had asked if I have any of his pieces and I said, "yep! {of course}" and so she asked to see some pix and I thought, "shit, I don't think I've taken any" and then I went thru all my digital pix and sho'nuff, 'twas the case. So today I remedied that. Here's the platter he gave us for our wedding last fall and in front of that, sits a sculpture that he gave me for Christmas. He's very versatile and hopefully I'll get some awesome pix of his booth next weekend that will show some more of his range.

See, part of the thing is that I am not huge on pix. So I don't generally remember to carry a camera and even if I did, then there's the matter of actually remembering to use it. Then when I do take pix, I tend to take them from every angle and flood the senses with that one subject.

Like when I took pix of the shadow~box that My Jerry's youngest son made for him. I had taken nine different pix of it, to show close~ups of each quarter and then the middle and then the whole thing and all that. So here is another, because earlier today, My Jerry hung it on the wall here in our breakfast nook, where my computer is and where we both spend a portion of our days.

I don't have any reason to be proud of them; it's not like I had anything to do with their achievements~so I can't claim ownership of being proud of them, but I am anyway. They are fine men and their parents raised them up right. I see My Jerry in each of them, and yet they are both two very different individuals in their own rights. And they both are stand~up guys who do what they do well!

So good on them!!

Date Day

Our Yaris was due an oil change and My Jerry needed to drop his lil truck off at Wm Wells for some work; so My Jerry took the afternoon off and we went to take care of the vehicles as well as have lunch and listened to an awesome CD.







First, lemme say this about My Jerry's lil truck. He usually only drives it when it rains and he doesn't want to get wet riding his bike or if he is hauling something that doesn't fit into his saddle bags or back~pack. So of course the first thing that went out on his lil truck in the past year was his windshield wiper motor. sigh. So it's in the shop.






About the CD: one of the Vet students is graduating this term and she made two CDs {one rock/blues and one country} that feature Mississippi is some way or another, including a song called "Oktibbeha" {the county we live in}. She gave them to people who have helped her and made her program easier for her to complete. So Jerry's CD has nineteen songs, ranging from Black Velvet {Miles} to Black Water {Doobie Brothers} and ZZ Top, Shirl Crow, JJ Grey and MoFro, Elvis Presley, Paul Simon,Unkle Kracker, and some other real finds. Altho she missed "Starkville" by the Indigo Girls, I'm hoping that on the country cd, she picked Johnny Cash's Starkville City Jail. We'll find out, cuz she gave that country themed one to My Jerry's boss.

At any rate, we listened to it this afternoon and both of us LOVED it.

AND whilst at Toyota, waiting for them to change the oil and rotate tires and align the car; My Jerry and I browsed thru a very cool catalog called UnCommonGoods. They have a website, check it! Some stuff is just really neat, and some stuff is made of recycled stuffs, and some is touching while others are humerous. I selected a few things to picture here, including a set of yoga~position bottle~stoppers, a motorcycle gnome~be~gone lawn ornament, high~heel cake server, construction plate and utensils, and spider clock.

current project: net bags

Next week is My Jerry's middle~daughter and her husband's first anniversary and since they are a groovee~kewl couple, I know they'd appreciate some reusable net product bags {that also have a myriad of other uses, like a small laundry bag for instance} and some water~bottle bags.

I made the net~bags similar to these pictured using the round Knifty~Knitter looms. The smallest ones, using the blue loom, make excellent water~bottle bags. I make them with cotton yarn and they remain light and airy and do not add to the weight nor bulk of the water~bottle. So you can tote it easily, whether hiking, biking, walking, or whatever.

The net~produce~bags will have a somewhat longer draw~string so that you can loop it over your hand, or have the option of slinging it over your shoulder or use it on a diagonal across your torso, like a traditional mail~bag. I've made a variety of these over the years, and have used them for anything that does not include sharp corners of boxes.

The Knifty~Knitter looms pictured here are available in a number of places, and online as well. I bought mine from Wal~Mart for about twelve bucks. They come in a set of four. Provo has many products, the round looms are just one set. The round looms tend to be sturdier than their long~looms, tho I love their purple rectangular loom just as much!

A couple~few years ago, my mom and I made hundreds of hats for charity. Most folks made newborn hats {using the blue loom} or small children hats {using the red loom}. But my mother figured some kids have big heads and adults need some too, so she did all her hundred+ hats using the adult loom {green}. I did some with the green loom, but most were using the yellow loom, cuz I used multiple strands of yarn and made them very thick without much stretch. Mostly I either did rimless {and let the wearer just roll up the edge to their preferences} or multi~rimmed hats with some having as few as two cuffs and as many as four on one hat {looks more like an eastern european or western asian hat}. So as you can see, there are many uses for the looms, not just hats or bags!

I'd made a bunch of wine~bottle bags at the Holiday Season to give as gifts {with or without said bottle of spirits}. The water~bottle bags are similar, but made with cotton, like the net~bags. The wine~bottle bags I made with using yarn, and more similar to the bear~bag pictured here {not mine, found online using google~images}. I will be making a bag with yarn, for their daughter, the same lil girl who was the recipient of the red~riding hood~cape of a few months back. Those yarn bags can also be used as gift bags, purses, etc. I thought that maybe the lil girl would like one that she can call her own and since the welding matters to her too, that she too should have a lil sumpin'~sumpin'. Besides I hate mailing a package without including sumpin for her too!

I may take some pictures before I box the bags up to send out to Portland; if so, then I'll post them, of course!

ah~MAZE~ing

Click here to see My Jerry's amazing weekend! His youngest son put so much thought and effort into this, he was raised~up right! Check it!

bunny trails pellets

Awesome weekend on so many fronts, in so many ways...it rocks! Since My Jerry will be blogging about a good portion, I'll defer to his future descriptions. Except to include a very minor mention here...before the pink was the purple.





Also, I wanted to post pix of what the afghan is like on the underside. As you can see, it's smoother and not quite as fractured with vines and stems and things.

My Jerry's youngest son and his wife graciously accepted this from us this weekend. I know they are moving to south Florida, yes; but I also know that in homes that are air~conditioned, sometimes the cool temps necessitate a lil sumpin~sumpin.

...but seriously folks...

Here it is, about twelve hours later and with a huge sense of satisfaction I've moved my table back into place and set my dining area back to rights. The living area has been restored to order and I feel so much more settled. And of course, I'm feel good about the project!

I've completed joining all the hexagon pieces together to form a queen~sized afghan as you can see here. I'm not exactly sure what I will do about finishing off the entire look with an edging, but at this point I thought I'd post this pix taken from the four corners of the bed. I'll be taking this down to the coast tomorrow to give to My Jerry's youngest son and his lovely wife.

No April Fool's.

current project {continued}

Well, I've been piecing the crocheted hexagons together for the last three days. There are 120 seven~inch hexagons, with no two the same. After I crocheted all the hexagons, I joined them together in rows of twelve, with the centers as the common focal point. And now I am joining the ten rows together.

I've done ten groups of twelve, with the centers forming the bases. So that each hexagon in each of the ten groups all share the same shade and color center, with twelve different colors forming the outside rounds on the hexagons. Each hexagon is two colors, the inside center of three rounds in one color and the outside two rounds in a different color.

I've used about fifteen colors in all, because some shades I ran out and had to substitute another slightly different shade. However, there is enough continuity in the shading that I think I am able to have an overall pattern that is appealing to the eye. What do you think?


I've only joined three rows thus far, and have seven more to go. But I wanted to get some pictures while the room was nice and bright with the wonderful afternoon sunlight. In the chair that my friend gave me {yes, I have TWO friends!} which matches a chair that is in a yet~to~be~cleaned room in My Jerry's house, is a stack of seven rows of twelve hexagons.

Those rows have yet to be joined to the entire afghan that you see the scant beginnings of here. I laid the strip of three completed and joined rows diagonally across my queen~sized bed for this series of pix. I think that the finished project will be large enough to either use on a queen~size with enough hang~over around it to be adequately comfortable or to cover the top of a king~sized bed with little hang~over.

I'll be sure to take pix of the entire completed project. I want to edge it with the same shade that I am using to join the rows. Since the pattern is based on a traditional quilt pattern called grandmother's country flower garden, I wanted to join the rows in a green to symbolize the vines, leaves, stalks, and stems you usually find supporting the flowers in the garden.

Here in the South, kudzu is fairly common. And I found a shade called Tea Leaf that I thought would nicely cohere all the other colors found in this flower bed. I can't wait to see the final project!

april's fools are multiduious, and unfortunately not confined to april

Yes, I realize that "multiduious" is not recognized by google, however, I am certain that most readers will understand exactly what I mean. It must be that I've been listening to My Jerry's Bowery Boy movies too much lately and it's beginning to affect my speech patterns in more than a few ways. Slip is always peppering his speech with words that are just slightly off what he means to say and some of them are absolutely heh~LARRY~us.

At any rate, I was writing to my friend {cuz I only have one, and dammit, she's MINE *stomp*} and I thought I'd share a snippet of the verbiage:

"This region of Mississippi is known as The Pines. And in a week or two, you will notice that there is an inch thick yellowish~green coating on everything. It's like gawd sneezed and we got slimed cuz doncha know, he's got the whole world in his hands? {I am sooOOOoooo going to hell. in a hand basket} Pollens are in the air a good four to six weeks before we actually see it. So that's why you are finding it extra challenging right now.

Most people say things like, "oh, thank~cod it's raining, that'll damper the pollens and help the allergies!" wrong. the same rain that leaves broken debris strewed across your lawn is the same rain that stirs up the pollens and sends them flying through the air. And have you seen the god~snot slick across puddles and such? it's like technocolored oil slicks!

{stop laughing, you know it's true}

Yes, I relate to the muckiness of land several days post~rain. Mississippi Mud is not just a dessert! {i had to google the spelling of that, cuz i get mixed up with deserts and desserts, no matter how many lil reminders i come up with...like desserts have an extra "s" for sweetening! or deserts are dry and have sucked that "s" away}."

*oh, and special thanks to sherwin~williams paint for the logo~lift. they have wonderful products and while i'm not sure the earth is to be covered in paint, this house mostly is! tho to be truthful, I think their Krud~Kutter is the best product they offer! I love this stuff! If possible, I'd launder all my clothes and shower in it. Except I'm thinking I'd like to keep my skin. However, it does a great job with heavy~duty accumulated~krud cleaning cuz it's the kkkkkrrrrrudddd~kutterrrrrrrrrr.

current project

There are about eighty hexagons here, with me working on more every day. I just started this project about ten days ago, I think. The general idea was that I'd probably do something like the more traditional grandmother's country flower garden quilt. But with crocheted pieces instead.

So I need to start to think about how I want to do the lay~out {no two pieces are the same} and how I want to join them {method and yarn}. Usually, I start a project with someone in mind. I think about them the entire time I make the piece and then when I give it to them, it is truly theirs because it was made with them in mind. But with this one, I have someone/s in mind, but I won't know for sure til I do finish it and see it. Mostly this is cuz I'm not sure if the finished quilt~ghan will come out as I'd like because I'm not sure how I'll do with all the joining and piecing. I've never made this sort before, so if it turns out wonderfully well, then I'll give it to a nice married couple I know. If it doesn't turn out just right, then I'll do something else for them!

i saw it on the radio

My mom came for a brief visit this week, arriving late Tuesday afternoon and leaving early this morning. That meant that we had two full days to visit with each other. So Wed, we went to Tupelo {a little over an hour away} and had a very good lunch and then went shoe shopping for mom. I'm waiting til after my appt with the orthopedic clinic in a couple weeks before I make any decisions about footwear. Both my mom and I hate shoe shopping. It's hard for me to find shoes that fit properly, as my instep/arch is very high and I don't sacrifice my health for fashion.

Mom hasn't been shoe shopping in quite some time. The major reason for that is because when she finds something that fits well, that's comfortable, and that she likes; then she buys a few extra pairs to keep in case she can't find them on the market when the pair she is wearing wears out. Well, she had found some clogs by Naturalizer a few years back that fit the bill and also were being discontinued. So she was able to buy six pairs from that region {the store's manager called around and had the extras sent in from the surrounding outlets}.

Eventually, the last of those extra pairs was contemplating running away from her rather than be slipped on to her dogs again and so mom thought it was time to buckle down and go shoe shopping. Fortunately, we were able to find acceptable replacements in fairly straight order and the whole venture was a pleasant day's outing.

We also stopped by Elvis Presley's birthplace in Tupelo. We didn't want to pay a rather inflated price for the short tour, so we walked about and read the plaques and saw some of the area that way. We were going to visit the Buffalo park, but that would have to wait for another day, as it was looking rather stormy and I didn't think the animals would be relaxed and wanting folks to be gawking at them.

Usually, when mom visits, we listen to a few audio~books while crafting or cleaning. Since we wanted this visit to not include any major chores and since the visit was going to be comparatively short, we opted not to even start listening to a book.

However, we did watch a few movies. One movie was Mel Brooks's "Silent Movie" with himself, Marty Feldman, and Dom DeLuise, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, Sid Ceasar, Bernadette Peters, Anne Bancroft, Marcel Marceau {the famous mime actually speaks the only word spoken in the entire movie}, and many others. It was released in 1976, decades since the era of Silent Films. So it was an oddity, to have a silent movie, that starred that many big~names and was that popular! But it was well worth a look~see and a read~thru if you have the chance to see if for yourself.

So I'd made the remark to mom that usually we listen to books, but this time we read a movie!

Thanks for a wonderful visit mom!

durtee~gurlll

I feel dirty.

But I'm happy, so that's good.

Good and dirty.

I have spent this afternoon in one of the spare rooms, unpacking all my books from out on the farm and arranging them on the custom~built cedar shelves I brought with me. Then I kept shuffling them around, cuz I kept finding stuff that I'd forgotten to leave room for on the shelves. I also went ahead and cleared up the office~supply stash that was in there and moved it all into our craftee~study and then set up my TV into the newly opened space on a shelf/drawer unit that Jerry had built years ago. I have to hook~up the TV, VHS player, etc. But that's for another day.

It's for sure not all the unpacking and cleaning, but it's a start. Some stuff, I'm not going to want to keep. I figure, if I've been living without using it for this past year, then how much do I really need it anyway?

It was like Christmas in a way. I unearthed my photo~album from when I was in high~school and college up in PA. And my Jerry came into the room, looked at a pic of me and said that I look about 14 in it. I was actually 23, graduating with my bachelor's.

I do have a few things to hang. One is a painting that was done for me, a still~life arrangement that the artist gave to me for posing for him. Then there are two pieces my grandfather did. One is of flowers, done in chalk, on a brown paper bag from the grocer's and the other is of butterflies and flowers done in colored pen.

And eventually, we need to hook~up the window AC unit. I'm sure that whichever guests stay in that room in the spring~summer~fall will appreciate that! But all in all, I did get a start on unpacking and clearing things up!

So yea for me!

sillee craftee mee

March is:

National Craft Month

and

National Crochet Month

{*gasp*}

Birthday partying

Today was My Jerry's mother's seventy~fifth birthday and we'd gotten her a small plant and took her to Applebee's where she had grilled shrimp {yum!}. Earlier in the day, the place she lives surprised her with a small party and a cake! When I went to pick her up, they had decorated her front door with a birthday card with balloons. Happy Birthday!

{this is about half the afghan pictured, you can see the center square in maroon with the next round being a light pink, like the yarn at the top of the last round}

Tomorrow is My Jerry's granddaughter's sixth birthday party. Yea! So to the left, you'll see some pix of a small afghan that I finished this evening for her. A couple weeks back, I posted a pic of a maroon and pink critter hat. We're wrapping both the hat and the afghan together to give her along with a couple other presents.



The afghan is a single granny~square. I used clusters of three double crochet stitches. It's a simple, basic stitch and pattern that most crocheters have down~pat and use for charity, gifts, and for their own families to cuddle and snuggle and keep warm with.

{This shows the afghan folded so that a quarter of it is shown. I did it in a round of one in maroon and then one in pink, then two in maroon and two in shades of pinks, then three rounds in the base of maroon, and so on til I reached six rounds in maroon, because she's six years old!}



It's odd, that as much crochet'ing as I do, that I really don't have much of the finished product myself. Usually, I am making something for some one in particular. I am thinking of them while I make the item and so it's truly for that particular person. I keep thinking, eventually, I crochet a quilt~ghan for keeps. But usually I have a few projects in mind for others, whom I want to make happy and pleasantly surprise. And as I long as I have fun with it all, that makes me happy to see them happy.

{This last pic is a close~up to show detail. The last round is with double the number of double crochet stitches in each cluster so that the edge has a slight ruffle to it. The top is the same girly~pink as the center, with the other three sides being a dustier rose pink to set off the maroon nicely.}

I hope this afghan makes this lil girly~girl happy, too!

why, yes, I can

It just may be that going to the barber shop today had lasting side~effects besides the best haircut I've had for fifteen bucks in ...well...ever.

Across the street from our local public library is a barber shop with an honest~to~gawdah pole that's been there since back in the 60s. It's quite spacious and really is like taking a step back in time, several really large steps back in time. The equipment is amazing, great condition, but I haven't seen chairs and sinks like that since watching Mayberry's Floyd cut Andy's hair. I've seen that barber shop downtown hundreds of times and finally thought to stop in. And I am really Really REALLY glad I did! It's definitely a Man's World in there and a damn good thing that I comfortable in my womanhood enough not to be threatened by the lack of feminine feel. Awesome, and I'd recommend Tim to any person who wants a quick, effecient, great cut!

So then later in the day, I decided to give hooking up My Jerry's mother's entertainment set a shot. Setting it all up turned out to be more complicated than I thought because it actually was easier than I was trying to make it. In fact, My Jerry and I had the DirecTV, the DVD/VHS comb unit, and the TV all connected correctly but for one thing. We didn't have one of the four the co~ax ends screwed in tightly. Once we fixed that, it worked great!

The fact that the TV won't change to the channel that will allow you to view the DVD/VHS is mystifying and frustrating. My Jerry was feeling a tad hungry and light~headed and I was feeling overheated, so we called it quits for the evening and will worry about it tomorrow. She can watch the DirecTV and all the shows she TiVos. But we'd hoped we would be able to get everything running right so that she could see some of the DVD westerns. After all, tomorrow is her 75th birthday and how sweet would that have been?

So then I was finishing up a small afghan I'm making for the other birthday girl, My Jerry's granddaughter who is now six. I was on the last round before trimming it, when My Jerry came out into the living room to tell me that he thinks the clock in broke because the alarm switch was stuck mid~way between On and Off. This was frustrating as he was tired and all ready for bed and not feeling too perky. So he went off to dig up another alarm clock cuz he gets up really early for work.

This stand~in alarm clock makes me giggle, as it is one with superheros on it, and looks like an old windup with a hammer between two bells on top. Wonder woman is posing mid~throw with her magic lasso. It makes me imagine him as a lil boy, enthralled with comics.

I took the old LED clock with its weirdly stuck switch apart and fixed it. The board was not level inside that the toggle switch slides against to send electronic signals to complete circuits for either BUZZZZZZ or no buzz. I don't know if the board will hold the correct position or if we ought to retire this particular clock.

As the day draws to a close, I'm feeling particularly handy. And a lil satisfied that I was able to be Miss Fix~it. Or would that be Missus Fix~it?

Now if only I could figure out how to switch the TV to the non~existent channel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

bundled up

I'm such a whine~babee.

I know.

But thirty degrees in Mississippi?

In March?

dethroning The Royalty

All day long, My Jerry and I kept thinking there was something we were forgetting. Then, *BOOM*, it occurred to me. We meant to go get the local paper. Cuz they were gonna rerun the corrected version of The Wolf Wedding.

The paper will run your wedding story up to six months after it has happened. They have a six page form with all sorts of detailed questions about the wedding, who wore what, and the honeymoon. There were many questions that I didn't feel were relevant like where I went to high~school and who my grandparents were on both my mother and father's side of the family. Since our wedding was slightly different than a traditional first time young~adulthood, I didn't feel confined to the form. Especially cuz at the end of the form, they include this note that they think the more detail, the better as they are attempting to appeal to the human~interest/lifestyle angle of things.

So I wrote our wedding story as tho I were just writing to a friend and letting them know how it all came about and some of what we thought was important {like involving his children and his best friends} and things that might be more special and unique to our wedding {like asking the guests to bring, in lieu of gifts, their favorite side~dish to share at the reception}. I told the tale in true story form, rather than simply filling in information. Then, I glanced over the form to see if they asked things that I'd forgotten but wanted to include {this is why there are a few places in the article that aren't quite as smooth in transition as it could be}. My Jerry liked the story and he sent it to the paper's lifestyle editor.

We asked that it be published on Sunday 21 February as that is when Jerry asked me formally to marry him last year. We were so surprised to read the article last week, cuz it was there in its entirety and accompanied by a color photo {we'd thought black/white was the only option}. And it was a full past~the~fold half page!

But what we were the most surprised about was that the first person references did not all get changed over into the third. I didn't know that the paper was going to run the story as I wrote it; otherwise, I would have written it in the third person to start with and been a bit more selective about certain phrases and factoids. The oddest part was not even that it toggled between first/third; but half~way thru the article, The Kings appear.

My Jerry's mother was more than a little confused and asked us if she had met The Kings after she read the article. We explained that perhaps the editor forgot she was referring to the Wolfs when she was proofreading and now we are royalty. I giggled over it, but My Jerry was a bit upset and I can see his point; we wanted to have a nice keepsake instead of a joke.

So the new corrected version that ran today is available as well online here. We are The Wolfs once again. But My Jerry will always be My King.

and now for something completely different...

normally, i'd model my own hat. hell, i've modeled hats that are not even my own. but i'm feeling feverish, blotchy, stuffy, congested, and glassy~eyed...i should be modeling for nyquil or mucinex or nasenex or hell, all three.


so i present my sweet husband who modeled my own hat for me.




{sigh}

ain't he sooOOooo sweet ta me?

{quitcher hurking}

another critter~hat

Jerry's eldest daughter's daughter is having a birthday next week, she'll be six! So I decided this afternoon to make her a critter~hat. It kinda reminds me of a maroon and pink cookie~monster. I hope she likes it!

And if she wants, the pink nub of a nose and pink googlee eyes can be removed and then she'll have a feminine chain~mail hood. Or a white MSU can be affixed and she'd have a girly~helmet to show her team spirit. I know it's kinda late in the winter, but we'll have some cold days left this season yet, and there is always next year too!

That is, if she likes it.

At any rate, I hope she has a...

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

I present...FSM!

This is my first attempt at the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's ok, but I think I could do better. But for now, I'm ready to move on.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

~~touch his noodlee appendage~~

{ya know ya wanna!}

chain~mail

dudes! i just crocheted two chain~mail hoods. the first was following this pattern. my stitches tend to be more relaxed than the tension she must have had for her demo, cuz mine was fit for a large adult noggin. which is cool, esp if My Jerry's daughter's husband does grow out his dreads. the second one i did is a purplish~pinkish soft yarn that i know his daughter adores. i adjusted the sizing so that it will fit her, and be more flattering to her face. i've not yet taken a picture of it, cuz i wanted to wait til i have a nifty had done for My Jerry's daughter. i have several selected as possibilities, including a Cthulhu, a flying spaghetti monster, castle crashers, and/or an earflap hat with a twist. decisions, decisions.

{*grins*}

ah ben kulturified

Today started with me in the chair having my sutures removed from my mouth. The dental hygienist was perhaps having a bad morning, as she was a tad on the abrasive side and ended up fighting with a particularly long suture so much so she actually tugged my temporary cap off. sigh. It wasn't a problem as my dentist at the other office fixed me up in a jiff. I really like him and his staff, yea Team Ferguson!!

Then because it is the Third Monday of the Month, Between the Pages met and I was all giddy. Three new readers joined in the discussion and our fledgling book group is thriving quite healthily! Today Sinclair Lewis's Main Street was our title. Next month, we are reading Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. And we chose Kristin Hannah's True Colors for April.

My Jerry had scored some free tickets to the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, part of the Lyceum Series at MSU, So this evening, we had excellent seats {thanks, Ron and Thelma!} to enjoy the show. The attendance was a bit lower than it perhaps could have been, in no small part due to the cold temperatures and folks not wanting to venture out in what constitued at a blizzard for all of half an hour rii'cher in Mississippi. And it is quite the shame that out of 18,600 students, so few took advantage of the free admission that they are granted.

As for the Orchestra itself, I enjoyed the evening's show. I'm not a classical or string music aficionado, so I didn't get all swept up with emotion and burst into tears of joy, passion, and exuberance. But I did enjoy the evening. I liked being able to sit with My Jerry and hold hands and let the music bring to mind cartoon characters dashing across the screen and picture tiny mice creeping along and then scurrying off in the best of Looney~Tune fashion. Somehow I don't think that was Rachlevsky's intent, but I know that there were at least a few of us giggling with mental pictures of Warner Bros. insanity.

"--Feb. 15, Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, one of Russia's critically acclaimed string ensembles, performs in concert. Formed in 1991 by conductor Misha Rachlevsky, the group has recorded more than 20 CDs, including the music of classical and contemporary composers."

and they call it, puppy love

Shaddow has always liked little dogs and would attempt to engage Jerry's lil ones in play. However, the lil dogs didn't know what to make of that. Pearl would follow Harley's lead and bristle when Shaddow would get all playful. So Shaddow had no playmates after I moved here from the farm.

However, Harley disappeared a few weeks back, and Pearl misses him almost as much as Jerry does. She's started to get much more friendly with Shaddow. They often sleep on the same couch and both climb up on the bed with us most nights. Usually tho, Pearl doesn't cuddle up to Shaddow.

Last night, I spent some time loving on Pearl and then decided to spend some time with Shaddow. Pearl horned in and so I pet them both at the same time and then when I sat back to crochet, Pearl stayed all cuddled with Shaddow. I was afraid to move, to get the camera, cuz I didn't want Pearl to jump down and follow me, which is what she usually does.

So Jerry went and got the camera and took a few shots. Here are The Girls. It seems Pearl is warming up to Shaddow now.

my sweet valentine

Usually Valentine's Day makes me uncomfortable, because I think it's pathetic that folks need to have a special day to remind them to be sweet to their loved ones. So I always try to downplay the importance that the other person might try to attach to the day, if I think that they are assuming that I expect them to be extra sweet to me on that Hallmark Holiday. However, I've also realized that sometimes that day gives the other person a chance to be extra~sweet, that they might attach extra importance to it because of their opinions and not because of what they think I might want.

Cuz it's not always about me.

My Jerry treats me like a Princess {yes, that's right, with a capital pink P} all the time. Like a few weeks back, I mentioned that I haven't been to an IHOP in awhile and was kinda wanting to go, cuz I love pancakes. So the next morning, Jerry made a big ol batch of sweet pancakes that were so delicious. Since then, every Saturday morning, Jerry gets up while I sleep in, and makes me pancakes.

I KNOW, soooOOOooo sweet, right?

And most days when I finally stumble into the kitchen, he has the tea pot all ready for me to throw the switch and let it brew. I love that! It's all those things that make me extra happy to be his missus.

I'd asked him not to spend lots of money on me, cuz I'm not too keen on that sorta stuff anyway, but also cuz earlier this week, we blew lots of money on my mouth {Monday was a very busy, painful, and expensive Dental Day~~it's a good thing I have 31 perfect teeth, and hopefully after this entire thing is over with, that will be the END, that's that}. Jerry agreed, but he'd already gotten me a cool t~shirt that he gave me as soon as he got home from work on Friday, along with a great card {that made me go, awwwwwwwwww, sniff sniff}. The t~shirt has a pic of a starlette from the thirties or forties, lounging on her fluffy bed with pink feathery robe and slippers and her blonde hair all curled up and all. The caption says: Damn, I'm good in bed; I can sleep all day!

So we started Valentine's early! This morning, I came into the breakfast nook and he'd set the table already and had brewed a pot of Irish Breakfast for me, and the hugest platter of the fluffiest pancakes evah sat in the center of the round table. Since we read to each other, he got the book and read a few chapters while I ate. Then we went back to bed, so I could snuggle and get warm again, and he continued to read to me while I cuddled with Princess Pearl {we're spoiling her even more now that her buddy Harley isn't here}. She is mostly white, with a mask of black and tan. She's a chihuahua mix that Jerry had given to his late~wife years ago. She loves to be cuddled and especially loves women to do the cuddling. I think that's mostly cuz guys don't tend to cuddle. I'm just saying.

At some point, lulled to relaxation by Jerry's reading voice and Pearl's softness tucked against me, I fell asleep. After awhile, Jerry woke me up, and we went to town to see a movie. Jerry really surprised me cuz he chose "Valentine's Day" which actually was pretty good. Afterward, we went to Applebee's and he had steak and I had pasta and it was good to be able to enjoy being together {he even let me eat all his broccoli}.

Now we are all settled in at home, with some hot beverages, in our jammies. We watched a TiVo'd comic and now he's watching the MSU game while I'm online. This weekend has been awesome.

{Quit wretching!}

I love you, my Jerry.

whine~tard

About a year or two ago I discovered that I was completely misinformed about sushi.

I'ven't become an expert since, but I have learned how much I really don't know about much of anything.

Sushi doesn't refer to raw fish as I'd thought for over thirty five years. But rather sushi is actually the vinegar rice that is somewhat sticky and easily formed. Sushi technically means "sour", and since it refers to vinegar rice, I'd say that's more than accurate.

I look at sushi for newbies {cuz I still are one} in the same way that I look at most any consumable that is an acquired taste. I advise you to go to where it is consumed fairly rapidly so that it is as freshly made as can be. This principle can be applies across the board.

No one should order anchovies at a pizza place that has to dig deep into the stores to find that last lonely rusted can that was ordered by mistake and forgotten about. If you want to try anchovies, go someplace that uses them often and regularly so that you can have a decent experience rather than base your first and lasting impressions on inferior product. The same is true of sushi.

Good sushi is firm, fresh, and should look, taste, and smell pleasing. It should have excellent mouth feel and is meant to be enjoyed, not gulped in a grimacing effort as if to say, "there, i've tried it" in response to an ill~advised dare. It isn't for everyone, and that's alright.

Sushi is generally rolled with or topped with meats {fish eel, squid, shrimp, crab, tuna, etc}, cream cheese, eggs, sauces, seeds, wasabi, and veggies. If rolled, you may see pressed sheets of seaweed lending some structure and taste. The veggies range from slivers of carrot, zucchini, avocado, radish, scallions, cucumber to bean sprouts, baby corn, peas, and other crunchies.

I've not yet ventured to make sushi myself. But as with wine, I do not need to know much to appreciate and enjoy it. Neither do I need to be able to prepare something here at home to learn more about understanding it. Altho that helps.

My family, primarily my mother and brother, make wine. The wine they have been making these past few years have been light and fruity: plum, pear, muscadine, blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry all either grow on their property or locally available. The kiwi/strawberry, chocolate raspberry, citrus/mango, and a few other types are made using syrups, concentrates, and other additives {yea, hershey's!}. Some of the base to the wines might be readily available juices such as white grape, apple, etc. The point is, they are having fun with experimenting and finding those favorites {plum} and not so greats {peach, 'twas the pits people}.

In the meantime, I've been having a grand time trying and enjoying various tastes and treats too. I'm not a connoisseur, by any means. But I've learned to relax and not feel the need to know about the entire process from growing, to pressing, to fermenting in order to enjoy what it is.

I'm trying to keep that in mind and apply that toward other areas of my life. It's ok to want to know, or to research and learn what I can, yes. But it's also ok to be a techno~tard and not get all the science behind the gadgetry in order to use it. And it certainly is ok to enjoy the eats and not need to know how to whip it up myself.

Altho sometimes, I'm just geeky that way. And ya love me, ya know ya do. *wink*

the lil'est lil bit

Ugh.

Monday I visited the periodontist who implanted a screwed post into my upper jaw and then stitched it up nice and tight.

Then a few hours later, I visited my dentist who affixed a temporary abutment and crowned it.

I have strict instructions that the temporary stuff is for looks only til the jaw bone heals properly to support the use of permanent fixtures. So no biting and chewing and all that other good stuff that would either break off the temporary or dislodge the screw or both.

My face felt fine until the drugs started to wear off and then it felt just a bit tingly as the nerves began to waken. And then, the jangling started and then there was a star~burst of swollen pain that settled into my face after first radiating out of the top of my head and serving as a beacon for the Longview and Bradley communities.

All that I can deal with just fine. FINE!! dammit i said just fine.

But there is this tiniest portion of suture that is poking me in the tongue. It's not long enough to thread thru to the front with all the other stitch remnants. I can't cut it because then the stitch will unravel and I need it for another few days at least, reconstructive gumwork, doncha know.

So I can deal with the all the swollen gums, the aching jaw, the sinus pressure, and the throbbing. I can deal with all that suture knotted up and making a mess of my smile as the tangled ends stick out every which way when I talk so that it feels like I have a mouth full of embroidery floss. I can deal with all that. But that lil eighth to a quarter of an inch slender stitch is poking the shit outta me.

Proof that it really is the lil things that can rub ya the wrong way.

belly up!

A few years ago, a dear friend here in Starkville was telling me about a belly~dancing class she was taking at the Wellness Connection Center {which is affiliated with our local hospital, so the staff there are absolutely incredible, but that's another entry}. I was super surprised because my dear friend is very shy about her body and will do absolutely everything to deflect attention from her form. But as I listened to what she had to say, I realized that I really did not know all that much about belly dancing.

So I googled it. Cuz that's what I do, google things and wiki them, cuz the internetz would never steer me wrong, right? Right?!?

And I found this wonderful site: Shira. Then this and that and the other thing and before long I'd forgotten all about belly~dancing cuz that tends to happen as life rolls on, I forget things. That's one of the reasons I would mark sites with StumbleUpon and Delicious, but then it got to where I was forgetting to do that too, and also to look at them {and that too is another entry's material}. Then certain things trigger other things and I go, "oh yeah! i thought about that before" and then it all comes back {or most of it. I think. I hope.}.

Fast forward to last spring, at the MoonDance Fest over in Georgia where there was a group of folks who taught a few sessions of belly~dancing. Neither Jerry nor I went, because we both were attending other sessions at the times those were offered. But we did have a chance to see the belly~dancers in all their glory during the fire~side drumming every night.

That particular group of individuals was fairly diverse for such a small gathering. There were both male and female, some slender and some a bit more athletic in form. But the ones that really captured my attention were the heavier females who seemed to feel so very comfortable with their bodies. They found the flow of movements to match their own core as well as the beat. Some dancers embodied very slow measured movements that were very precise. Some used their limbs moreso, some focused on their hips to exclusion, some were solemn, and some were so very effusive that to just watch them seemed to draw me in and cheer them along.

Later, I visited some friends in B'ham, and I took them to an Indian restaurant, where there were belly~dancers. The small group of five women danced thru the crowd up to the stage where they used scarves, swords, sticks, and other props. There too was a nice representation of various body types, ranging from slender, to athletic, on to heavy. Also, there was a range of ages present, a young woman just into her twenties, an older woman who later I found out was in her late seventies {I estimated fifties}, with the other three appearing to be in their late thirties or early forties {tho I may have been wrong on that too}.

Then over the Holidays, I visited with my folks and a young lady they are friends with had recently learned some belly~dancing. With some prompting from her husband and encouragement from my folks, she talked about it, and then warmed up and chatted some with me with a bit of enthusiasm. To start with, she was afraid it wasn't gonna be for her, altho a friend of hers had been taking classes for over a year. But she attended a few, and then learned that many of her preconceived notions were not entirely correct.

In fact, I just received the DVD taken of a show that she had been in back in November. The town is smaller and a bit more conservative than Starkville, so we aren't speaking about a liberal left audience of tolerance and acceptance here. We're speaking of a group of supportive folks who cheered on their loved ones and neighbors, seven women of various skill level, who preferred various forms of belly~dancing, and realistic body types {five of the seven appeared to be over the ideal weight range}.

The show had been in the local school's auditorium and featured a range of performances that included story~lines, solos, entire group, pop music, more traditional Indian meditations, a wide range of costumes and props, and styles of dance. It was about an hour and a half long and a pleasure to watch. It was great to see that two or three of the women started off a routine a bit shy and self~cautious become more comfortable with and self~assured as they felt the music and the flow of movements in a more conscious display of confidence and joy.

I used to love to dance. In fact, that was the attraction of turning 21, not the drinking, but being able to visit bars where the dancing was. In my small town, there was no other place to dance besides your living room or a bar.

I continued to dance thru~out my twenties into my early thirties. Then I petered out. In fact, at my own wedding, my stamina was so poor, that I got winded after two songs. That was pathetic!

In the past year, I've gained close to forty pounds. And with each pound, I've noticed myself becoming more still, less active, more withdrawn in some ways. And I realized as I was watching the DVD earlier that I wouldn't allow myself to move, even with the catchier tunes, because I was being self~cautious and aware that I was chiding myself that I would be foolish.

Well, shit on that. Foolish in whose eyes, exactly? Isn't it foolish that I continue to gain weight and feel more unattractive and dowdy and not allow my own husband enjoy me? Isn't it more foolish that I'm denying myself the very things that would help me to lose weight and to feel more attractive and comfortable with myself and my own body? Movement!

So I'm gonna see if some movement wouldn't help me to feel more energetic, less worn out, and see where it takes me. I miss the more fun part of me, that loved to move and dance and breathe and be present and alive. Let's see if I can't find and coax my self out of hiding beneath layers and layers of fat and shame.

Cuz I don't need to wait til I'm slender to move.

lil red {again}

A few months back I began the Lil Red Project {as I am now thinking of it, in caps and large and red, of course}. My Jerry's daughter had asked if I could make a lil red riding hood and cape for her daughter, who is now five. I said, "sure!" with tons of enthusiasm and a really can~do spirit.

I set off right away, tho she didn't know that {she didn't mean for me to get right to it and make it so; she was gonna get the yarn that she wanted from a really cool yarn store near where she lives}; but I was itching to see what I could do. The actual hood was something I just tinkered with til I thought it would do. Oh~no following patterns for this here can~do spirit {huge roll of the eyes here}!

I actually used my Jerry as the model. And no pictures of that exist. Sorry, my faithful readers. You'll just have to use your imagination.

What? you ask, a grown man models a five year old girl's hood? What were you thinking, you crazy zany girl, you?

Well, the child is larger than your average five year old. And I wanted it to be something she could continue to wear for more than just one season. And her mom thought that knee length would be nice.

Knee length on this five year old would approximate crotch length on my Jerry, since the girl is about four foot tall {i KNOW, i did type that right, five year old girl, at four foot tall...sometimes folks see her size and forget her age...but that happens to me, too~~nodding solemnly}. So I set to work on the gawdamn cape, sigh.

The gawdamn cape, sigh is turning out to be a rather larger and more involving project than I originally thought. To start with, I wanted a nice dense stitch so that the cape would keep the girl warm. So I did the front left panel entirely in single stitch and slip stitch.

Then wisdom prevailed in the form of logic {delayed, yes, but still valuable}, the cape would be tremendously heavy if I did the entire thing in those stitches. The poor child would not be able to walk, let alone go skipping off to grandma's, swinging a basket full of bread and treats.

So I switched to a different stitch {a treble treble}, which does move lots faster and tah~DAH! I am almost finished with the gawdamn cape, sigh part of things. It's still tremendously heavy but I think you are going to have that no matter what...unless it's of fleece, or made of the emperor's new clothes stuff.

Today, I will begin to connect the cape to the hood. The hood actually descends down over the shoulders, so it's like a mini~cape of sorts by itself. After that is done, I'll add some kick~ass buttons to the cape so it can be closed along the front of the lil girl.

Then I'll pack it with a few other things, including a centerpiece from the wedding, and send it across country to my Jerry's daughter and her family. And you just may see some pix of the completed project being modeled by...gasp, could I persuade my Jerry?

*wink*