Busy, busy, busy

It's been a busy week.  Of course, not busy with any of the things I'd planned to accomplish or the things I really needed to accomplish.  Just busy.

We said goodbye to The Gray Ghost.  Some twenty plus years ago, my husband traded a a broken down boat with a cracked engine for a broken down jeep.   He had great plans for turning that jeep into a beach buggy but.... A year or two later he traded the jeep for an unused whirlpool tub.  That damn tub sat in our drive way for a few years until he finally traded it for The Gray Ghost.  I don't know the details as far as year and model, but it was an older Chevy pickup truck that barely ran and had more rust than metal.  And, you could see where at one time, "The Gray Ghost" had been painted on the tailgate.

My husband yanked the engine out, put in a racing engine and proceeded to race it at the dirt track every weekend.  The Gray Ghost actually won the championship one year!  Life got busy and Mike stopped racing.  And then my dad's car died and rather than having a 78 or 79 year old man buy a new car, Mike offered him The Gray Ghost.  My dad LOVED that truck!  Well, he HATED putting fuel in it, but he sure did love driving it.  At some point, Dad put a bumper sticker on it that said "If it wasn't for flashbacks, I'd have no memory at all."  We all thought it was pretty funny. Specially if you knew my dad...  When Dad died, the truck came back home to us where it has sat for 15+ years except for the occasional run to the dump or the occasional deep snow rednecking adventure.  That truck was made for rednecking in the snow, I tell ya!

Anyway, Mike finally came to the conclusion that the truck would be better off in the hands of someone who'd drive it occassionally so he listed it for sale.  And someone who plans to fix it up and restore it bought it this past week.  It was a very sad moment in our lives as the new owner towed The Gray Ghost away.  We all have fond memories of that truck and I sure hope the new owner takes care of him.  I know cars are normally girls but The Gray Ghost was way too rusty and tough to be a girl.  

I finished a shawl that I don't think I ever showed you the beginnings of.  I didn't follow a pattern but it's somewhat similar to a Reyna, which is my go-to shawl pattern.  I've never noticed it before but I love the way the *yo, k2tog*'s look like crossed stitches.  I've knit, maybe not 100's of these, but more than 20 and I've never noticed that before.

I knit this one with two strands of Whisper Lace held together.  The shawl is a gift and I was under a deadline so I needed it to be a quick knit.  The colors I used are Ocean Torrent and Harbor.  One was a solid and one was a self-striping yarn.  I love the way the stripes ended up being so muted.  And, as ususal for my photos, the color is off and the photo doesn't do the shawl justice.  I swear, one of these days, we will move into a house with good lighting.

And last of all, Hayden got markers.  Thankfully, washable markers.  She likes to color her hands almost as much as she likes to color on the paper.  And we learned that the ink really does wash off.  It also smears.  The dog came up and licked Hayden on the face and she wiped the dog slobber off with her colored hand and ended up looking like she'd gone three rounds with Rocky Balboa.

Now we just sit back and wait to see how long before the walls are covered in marker.

Sunday Supper - Roasted Fall Vegetables with Rosemary

 Today's Sunday Supper recipe is healthy, vegetarian, super easy and sounds delicious.  Doesn't get much better than that!

The recipe, Roasted Fall Vegetables with Rosemary comes from Taste and See, a new-to-me cooking blog.  I love the simplicity of this of this recipe.  I particularly love being able to toss it into the oven and walk away for a while.  That's my kind of cooking!  

Enjoy!

Drama, Drama, Drama

 It's been an adventful week.

My Tuesday doctor's appointment with the ortho guy got postponed to Wedenesday because the doctor had some kind of emergency.  Not a big deal, and in fact, it worked out better for my schedule.  I really liked the new doctor.  He took me off the muscle relaxers and put me on Lyrica which is a nerve pain medicine.  In his words, "muscle relaxers are for amatures."  I laughed at that!  So, anyone else out there taking Lyrica?  It's interesting.  It is helping somewhat but it has some strange side effects.

One of those side effects is dizziness.  I took my first dose Wednesday night and slept like a log, except for the brief moment I woke up and was so dizzy, I thought I might fall out of the bed.  It was great to sleep though. I hadn't slept more than an hour or two at a time since this all started back in the middle of August.  

The next morning, I gathered myself together, took my second dose and high-tailed it down stairs, clutching the stair rail for all I was worth and praying the second dose didn't kick in before I got my coffee and safely seated.

I got coffee and plopped myself down in my spot on the deck and.... my head proceeded to flop around on my shoulders.  I'd suddenly realize my head was so flopped over, my ear was touching my shoulder.  And then the giggles kicked in.  And then for the next few hours, I felt like I was so drunk I was 5 minutes from puking and passing out.  Fun times.  

Meanwhile, I knew I wasn't going to be able to knit anything to gauge so I started a garter scarf.  The plan is to use up the dresser full of Palette.  Or at least make a dent in all that yarn.

Thankfully by 2 p.m. in the afternoon my head cleared up and I was mainly normal feeling.  Good thing because...

By 3 p.m., Sarah was calling to say her car had broken down in the grocery store parking lot.  I went off to sit with her while she waited for the tow truck and to drive her home.  It was the first time I'd driven in over a month and it was a weird, strange experience.  But I made it all five miles to the grocery store with no troubles.

Sarah was definitely having some trouble though.  She'd been backing out of her parking place and was caddy corner across the travel lane when her axle broke.  The car wouldn't drive forward or backwards, nor could it be pushed.  One front wheel was pointing due south while the other pointed north.  Eventually the cars parked near her left the parking lot which meant there were empty spaces both in front and behind her.  But there she sat, caddy corner across the road.  (By "road" I mean the travel lane at the grocery store.)  And people kept driving around her giving her the evil eye or yelling at her to push the car out of the way.  It was pretty embarrassing and Sarah was so upset.  I'm SO glad I was able to go sit with her while she waited for that tow truck.

By the way, if you're local and in need of a tow, Robinson's Towing & Recovery were great.  Our tow guy, Steve, was friendly, polite and did a fantastic job getting Sarah's car on and off his flatbed without allowing the wheel to fall off and do further damage to the car.  

As far as the Lyrica goes, each dose affects me - or at least my dizziness/drunkeness - a little less.  That bothersome pinched nerve is still zinging my knee pretty badly but my butt and thigh aren't cramping hardly at all anymore.  I have high hopes for it.  Now, if I could only get the physical therapy place to return my call and get me scheduled...

Sunday Supper - Smoky Tortillia Soup

 Today's Sunday Supper recipe is for Smoky Tortillia Soup.

The recipe (and photo) comes from a blog post from Vegetarian Ventures.  You'll have to scroll waaaaaay down through the post to find the actual recipe but the photos you'll pass by are gorgeous and the recipe looks like it's probably worth the effort.

I have a tried and true, super simple, dump a bunch of canned stuff in the crockpot and wait for dinner time recipe for tortillia soup but it is nothing like this recipe.  This recipe looks and sounds delicious!  Much, much more delicious than my old version of tortillia soup. It also sounds super easy to make believe it or not.   And, this recipe is vegetarian and can easily be vegan by omitting the sour cream.  Yum!

Enjoy!

On and off the needles

My knitting has been all over the place lately.  The pinched nerve in my back is still pinched and I'm still taking massive quantities of extra strength Tylenol and the occasional muscle relaxer.  And, CBD gummies.  I'm not sure I want to admit that here, but they are legal and they were purchased at a real store and I'm over 18....  A friend suggested I try one because the massive quantities of Tylenol and muscle relaxers aren't solving the problem.  They help, but I still can't sleep or walk properly because of the cramping and spasming muscles.  Anyway, the CBD gummies actually help.  It may all be in my head but they do give me some relief.  Each gummy takes 20 minutes for me to feel and the sense of calm and relaxation lasts for about an hour.  The muscle relaxers simpley make me foggy headed for hours on end and only half-way help with the muscle spasms for about 30 minutes.  

Anyway, the result of all that is that I have another orthopedic appointment this afternoon and I can't seem to concentrate on any one project for more than a few minutes.

The lack of concentration has produced two F-bombs (poorly photographed as usual) instead of the planned 15 to 20.  I plan to list them in my Etsy shop and to sell them at Winterfest.  They seem so silly but everyone who sees one seems to want one, or more, to give as gifts.  Apparently lots of people have siblings and co-workers who would appreciate asocially acceptable way of dropping the F-bomb.

And two Christmas gnomes rather than the 20 or more I want to have on hand.  These guys are simple but extremely fiddly to knit.  I'm not 100% sure I'm going to ever make 20 of them.  But I did buy all the supplies so maybe when I'm not so foggy headed...

And I started a glove/mitten/fingerless glove during Sunday's football game.  I haven't decided what exactly it's going to be yet.  I'm also not sure if this will be for me or the shop.  I'm supposed to be concentrating on knitting for Winterfest but...  I really like this color.  It's an unusual green and I love anything tweedy.  "Tweedy" is a word, right??  The yarn is City Tweed  Artichoke, it's DK weight and should knit up relatively fast.  

Well, that glove would knit up fast if I only put down the cookies and picked up the knitting.  Again, it may be all in my head, but CBD gummies give me horrible junk food cravings.  At least I'm blaming the gummies and not the fact that I am Seriously sick and tired and totally over this pinched nerve nonsense.  I'm really not sure if it's CBD or pity party junk food cravings that I'm experiencing.

Anyone else out there tried CBD products?  What's your experience been?
 

Sunday Supper - Grilled Apples with Prosciutto and Honey

 I was scrolling through fall appetizer recipes and stumbled across this one from Country Living.

Grilled apples with prosciutto and honey.  Need I say more?  The recipe instantly became today's Sunday Supper meal.

Enjoy!

Soggy

 We're having a very wet and soggy day today.

I'm afraid we've swum for the last time this year.  After Ida blew through last week, we had a few cooler days and the pool cooled down to 78 degrees.  Since then, we've had a few cooler days, several more rains, and it's supposed to be in the mid 50's several nights this week.  I imagine the water is even chillier now.  As long as the wind didn't blow, 78 degrees was okay once you got in and adjusted to it but much cooler than that and.... Well, no thanks!  I'm a little bit sad.  Actually, I'm a lot sad.  But I do have fall fever so...

I'm not even showing knitting photos today.  For the last two or three months I have knit nothing but furry headbands and cowls, a granny square baby blanket and beaded socks for Winterfest.  I feel like I've made 1,000 of each.  In reality, it was no where near that many but I have filled a Rubbermaid tub with finished items.  Well, the creating part was finished.  I hadn't woven in a single tail or sewn the ends of the headbands together... 

So for the last two days, I have done nothing but sew headband ends together and weave in yarn and cotton string tails.  I could have shown you a picture of the resulting pile of little bits of cut off yarn/string but I figured you wouldn't be that interested.

One thing you might be interested in though is The Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren.  It's part silly comedic vampires knitting, part mystery/detective stories.  So far, I've only read the first two in the series but I very much enjoyed them and think you will too.  There's also nothing scary as far as the paranormal stuff goes.  No need to fear if you are sensitive to that type of thing.  If you read the series, let me know what you think.

And suddenly, the last line of each paragrahp is centered and my computer won't allow me to correct it.  Dang it!

Sunday Supper - Peanut Butter S'mores Cookies

 O. M. G!

photo courtesy of zenandspice.com

My husband was out running errands yesterday morning and I called him up, told him I was craving donuts and he needed to bring some home.

He didn't follow my instructions.  But, it turned out okay because he made these cookies instead.  

Oh my goodness!  These peanut butter s'mores cookies from zenandspice.com are delicious!

And Another Hat

I seem to be on repeat these days. I keep knitting the same things over and over and over again.  It's mostly because I'm trying to get inventory built up for Winterfest, but this time...

An Etsy customer asked me too.    This time around I'm knitting the same hat in the same colors but with a much longer, foldable brim and a faux fur pom.

And yes!  I am able to knit once again.  Yay!!  I'm still not walking too well or for too long but my back is getting better.  It's a slow process but I am getting better.  I no longer need the pain pills and I'm down to only one muscle relaxer before bed.  Doesn't sound like much but it is progress.  And I'm very, very happy to be knitting again.  

For those of you who were in Ida's path, I pray you made it through the storm safely.  We had a nice stiff breeze, two claps of thunder, and a mess of rain but nothing like the rain they got in some places.  The storm added three or four inches of water to the pool and that was it.  One nice thing about Ida - she sucked up all the moisture in the air and left us with absolutely GORGEOUS fall-like weather for the weekend.

Hmm.  I just realized this weekend is Labor Day weekend for those of us in the states so....

HAPPY LABOR DAY!