And a Good Time Was Had by All

Hi there!  I thought I'd post before today, but apparently I didn't get to it - I lead such an exciting life.  As in, cleaning for company, having company, cleaning up AFTER company, and having dr appts.  You know you are jealous ...

I hope you had a lovely Easter/Passover weekend.  We had a good one (the reason for the cleaning).  My niece Amanda and her husband Pat came for the weekend as they usually do on Easter weekend.  We always have so much fun, and fear not, the Inappropriate Easter Eggs were included.  I present 2018's offering:

This year, we have:  Carrie Fisher dying on a plane, Debbie Reynolds memoriam, #NeverAgain, Stormy Daniels duo, Trump, Stephen Hawking's wheelchair, Stephen Hawking being swallowed into a black hole, Eagles Super Bowl, and Hugh Hefner memoriam.  I was criticized for not boiling enough eggs for all of the ideas that were ready this year, but hindsight is always 20/20, right???  Needless to say, there was a great deal of hilarity related to this and just hanging out in general.  

I took yesterday off and had a nice day at home with The Tim and the kitties.  In the afternoon, I got the stitches removed from Part 1 of my dental implant procedure, but otherwise, it was a quiet and calm day of knitting and watching things we'd recorded.  I have a sinking feeling that a cold is looming, so it was nice to stay put.

I've fallen behind (so to speak) with my Box o' Socks efforts, since I was focusing on finishing the baby sweater in the previous post.  But now that it is on the way to its destination, I can get back to my other projects.  The socks I'm knitting are 70% finished, so I just need to get back to those, and my Big Blue Sweater is, I think, about 50% finished, so I'm not doing too bad.  And now that I have no real deadlines, I should be moving along at my usual pace.  I'm not in any big hurry for anything, but I don't want to let things sit for any length of time if I can help it.

There's not much else to report at the moment.  The snow that other places got yesterday was just rain here, so it's dried up by now, though it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow - April showers, right?  Everyone is enjoying Villanova's championship win last night in the NCAA March Madness, so that's fun.  It sounds like another parade is in the offing here!  And in the Women's NCAA championship, Notre Dame won, so that was exciting for us, as they are one of our faves.  To be honest, I was kinda afraid that the men's final would be Loyola vs. Villanova and that it would be way too stressful for me, as then it would have been the Jesuits vs. the Local team.  For better or for worse, that didn't occur, so I could concentrate on just cheering for the Wildcats.  :-)

I hope your week has started well, and that some kind of spring is finding it's way to you.  We have daffodils blooming in the front planter of our house!!!!

Random Things on a Rainy Friday

Well, Spring is not sprung-ing today in Philadelphia, that's for sure.  Right now, it's about 38 degrees and POURING!  Gah.  It's that kind of damp that makes you cold even once you are inside.

Anyway, this is your occasional post of random things from my brain.  Feel free to look away.

You may have read about our Vice-President saying at one point that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife.  Which I find terribly weird, but I also think it's creepy that he calls his wife "Mother."  In any event, this picture of Mike Pence and the expression on his face, along with the headline from the Onion made me laugh out loud.  He does look rather concerned ...

I'm doing something new (to me) with the pair of socks I'm knitting - I'm going to attempt an Afterthought Heel.  I don't know how well it will turn out, nor do I know if I'll want to do it after this pair of socks - it feels like it's making the knitting of even just one a long slog, since there's no "progression."  I think I like the feeling of cuff, leg, heel flap, heel, gusset, foot, toe - they are all progress markers for me, and it starts to look like a sock.  But who knows, I may feel differently once I actually install the heels on the socks.

Have you watched "The Detour"?  They are on season two, and it is the most ridiculous show (gross sometimes, too), and we laugh ourselves silly watching it.

Apologies to the blogger who mentioned this, since I cannot remember where I read it, but they recommended the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast.  I've listened to the first two chapters' episodes and the teaser, and so far am really enjoying it.  It's not preachy, it just looks at the books from a whole different perspective.

Since it was raining so hard, I put on my rain boots to go to work.  It was the first time I've worn something other than the cast or my walking shoes on my right foot since January 11th, when I broke my ankle.  It was extremely uncomfortable, to say the least.  At least once I make my way home today, I won't have to go out again.

OK, this falls into the category of Blowing My Own Horn, but ... last Sunday, I went out to take a little walk around the block, and I saw a couple walking their little doggie.  I asked if I could pet the dog, and they said that it was the last walk for her, and they were on their way to the vet for the last time.  The young woman was sobbing, so I gave her a hug, because I know only too well how she was feeling.  Then  on Monday, I got a notification of a post on the Nextdoor site for our neighborhood, and when I opened it, this is what I saw:

"To the stranger who saw me crying in the street this morning as I walked my dog one last time before I had to let her go- who hugged me and told me everything was going to be okay- thank you."

My Monday was a little better because of it. :-)

I saw this picture on Facebook this week, and ... well, let's just say that I think we can all guess how this would go over ...

OK, that's it for now.  I'm glad the weekend is just a matter of hours now.  I'll probably watch the Final Four games of March Madness, and do the usual weekend things, but so far I have no specific plans.  Which is fine, since some busy weekends are coming up.  I hope yours is a good one!

I saw this the other day.  I think it's worth keeping in mind, for the weekend and every day.  :-)

Birthday and Brackets!

Today is this little girl's 61st birthday:

And Cream Puff the stuffed dog, shown here, is still with her and as loved as ever.

Yep, it's my birthday - YAYYYYYYY!!!!!  I am having a lovely day at home with The Tim and the kitties, just relaxing and being cozy.  We had planned an outing for today, but the snowstorm took care of that.  Which is fine, because I like snow.  However, it has turned to ice rain now, which I do NOT like in any shape or form.  Even when I am getting around fine otherwise, I don't do well on ice, so getting to and from work tomorrow should be challenging - even if it is just getting off the street to get a cab!

But like Miss Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow and enjoy the day as I have been doing already.  I love birthdays.  For one thing, having a birthday is always preferable to the alternative, if you ask me!  And I love cake - on my own birthday, I don't even have to be the one to bake it.  As a matter of fact, as I am typing this, The Tim is downstairs putting the finishing touches on my cake.

So no matter what is or is not going on with you, tonight drink a toast (alcoholic or not) to the fact that we are all still here!

*****

Are you a fan of March Madness, the college basketball frenzy?  I'll admit that I don't pay really close attention, or watch every game, but I do like to see who is playing and decide who I'd like to win.  So I always print the bracket and keep track what way.  This year, Villanova University is the top seed, and they are of course local.  From all reports, the kids and the coach are nice, decent people so I hope they do well.  Plus it's always fun to have a horse in the race so to speak.

However, there are other versions of March Madness floating around that I also enjoy, most notably Fug Madness.  I love the ridiculousness of it, and the commentary by the Fug Girls.  Play along if you like, it is stupidly fun.

And then, a friend directed me to the brackets set up for March Mayhem by the ladies at Mason-Dixon Knitting - I love it!  Not just the fun aspect of the brackets, but the chance to check out some patterns I may not have otherwise ever seen.  (Not that I need any more things in my Ravelry queue, but what are you gonna do?)

A friend who lives in Pittsburgh even posted a picture of the brackets set up by a local classical music station for listeners to compare and vote on.  What a fun idea!

I love that different groups are making brackets for their own interests.  Though March Madness is a true, intensive competition, the others are just for fun.  And I think the world can use as much fun as it can find these days, don't you!

Enjoy!