Double Dad Day and Hang Them In the Louvre!

Happy Friday! I can hardly believe how nice it is today. Here we are at about 10 am here in Philadelphia, and the temperature is currently 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Perfection. It's so nice to have the windows open, and to sit outside in the garden without feeling like you're roasting. 

Today is also a bunch of heavenly birthdays in our house. Our cat Tess, our calico, had a birthday on August 21. This is largely because we decided since it was already a special day, we'd give her this day to celebrate.

Because it's Double Dad Day - both of our fathers had birthdays on this day, isn't that a funny coincidence? My dad would be 110 years old, and I think The Tim's dad would be 93 years old. I hope there are a lot of celebrations happening in the beyond, and that everyone is enjoying them.

💖💖💖

This morning, sitting in the garden with Alfie and Katie, I took these two photos:

As you can see, Katie takes Squirrel Patrol very seriously.

This one amuses me because they are looking in opposite directions. 

I sent them to my friend Lisa, who is in love with our animals, and she texted back "OMG it's a series - hang them in the Louvre!" 

I told her that I wouldn't even consider it, because I know they would be stolen. 🤣🤣

Right now, we're all back inside, where Alfie is curled up in an old Chewy box with Esme - they established residency there about a month ago, so until they move on to whatever is next, we wouldn't dare recycle that box!

Katie and I are headed to the dog park for a game of fetch. She is obsessed with two things: squirrels and playing fetch. When we go to the dog park, she doesn't mind the other dogs, but she is there to RETRIEVE THE BALL. We usually stay for 20 minutes to half and hour, and then she is a happy girl for the rest of the day. We don't go every day - though if the weather agrees, The Tim takes her there on both days of the weekend. Which of course is another reason he is The Favorite.

Other than that, no big plans for today. I've decided to stop at the seafood market up the street to see if they have any nice-looking bay scallops for dinner tonight. I saw an easy but yummy-sounding recipe to try, and didn't have anything else in mind. I like going there, because you can get the amount that you want to get, instead of having to buy more than you need at any given time. I'll let you know if I try the recipe and how it turns out.

The weekend plan is to go to IKEA to find new living room rugs. We sent our nice rug to be thoroughly cleaned about a year ago, and then wrapped for storage until such time as Milo the Koodle departs this mortal coil, since it is his most fave place to pee. In the meantime, we have been buying medium-sized area rugs at IKEA that are under $100 and usually last us a couple of years (well, OK, others would probably replace them sooner, but anyway ...) If the weather is going to stay nice, I'll probably sweep and clean the garden one day, since there are lots of sticks and leaves and other pieces of nature that are making a mess, and getting trailed in and out of the house.

And that's the excitement here. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and feel free to join us tonight in toasting Tess the kitty, and Double Dad Day!

It's Time For Another Birthday!

Today we are celebrating the fifth birthday of Alfie, the fluffiest boy in town!

What a kitty he is! He truly is one of the most unusual cats that have ever been in our family - unusual in the best way possible, that is! He is always happy - this boy even loves going to see the vet! I think he likes it because he goes someplace where everyone talks to him and gives him 100 percent of their attention. 😊

Over the past few weeks, he has snooper-vised the cleaning up of the garden and planting of flowers in pots, to be sure that it's all to his liking. Because he is nothing if not a Nature Boy.

"Time to take a rest now that things are the way I like them. That was a lot of work!"

He's never met someone he didn't like - he was the only one of the cats who tried really hard to be friends with Angus. (Which of course ended poorly. 😢) One of his favorite things is to have a worker come to the house to fix, repair, check, build, whatever. He is beside himself with happiness that someone is here in the house that he hasn't met before, doing interesting things that they surely would like him to assist with. We have been lucky that any people coming to the house have been cat lovers, and gotten a real charge out of him. Then he cries for about half an hour after they leave! (The Tim: "So ... he wants us to pay people to just hang out with him longer??")

Whenever we've been out in the garden, Milo the Koodle and Esme are always at the door, watching and looking curious - but God forbid they also come outside! But it always cracks me up when we come back into the house, Milo is right there, and licks Alfie's forehead for a few minutes, I guess to return him to the smell of the house - it's really funny!

I just took this photo of Esme and Alfie on the bed in the guest room. That's a favorite spot, because it's a small room with two windows. And right outside of those windows are trees with birds and squirrels. Once I open the windows, it's not unusual to look in the room and see all three cats distributed in various permutations sitting in the window. 

He also considers himself to be quite fierce, and as a three-legged cat with no front claws, I'm sure you can imagine how dangerous he actually can be. 

His favorite person is The Tim. When he is in a room where The Tim is, he sits on the floor right in front of him like a guard cat. And he is such a big boy, that when he wants to actually cuddle with you, there's not a lot of choice left on your part, LOL.

So later all of the kitties will get some special food for their dinners, and then we will have a little birthday party for Alfie with a two-person mousse cake from a little pastry shop nearby, topped with a candle. We will sing "Happy Birthday," the kitties will get treats, and Alfie will get a gift (I found a little catnip fish like we gave Esme but with a different fabric - all of the cats LOVED it!). So he is going to be very pleased to be the center of attention, even if no one comes to fix something today ...

So I hope you can find something to celebrate today - and if not, feel free to celebrate Alfie's birthday. That's what we'll be doing. ❤

Some Happy in the Midst of the Sad - A Birthday!

Today, in the midst of the sad, we have something happy to smile about and celebrate - Esmeralda is four years old!

This sweet, beautiful, and shy girl is one of the joys of our lives. She is still very skittish, but she has made a lot of progress in the past years. She does not immediately run away if you enter a room, and she will sometimes allow you to pet her. She loves to be talked to, and especially loves when you sing to her (even me, whose singing is more enthusiastic than in tune). 

Later we'll have some treats for the kitties, and if we are lucky, she'll even stay in the room for the festivities ... 😉

Today is also our sweet boy Hamlet's birthday in heaven. We thought he would be just fine with sharing his birthday with Esme.💕 Hamlet and Milo are the only pets we've ever had whose actual birthdays we know, the others are based on when we adopted them, or on other special days. The year we adopted Esme, it was right around this time, and like I said, we thought Hammy would be pleased to think a kitty shared his day. 

Also, Happy Cinco de Mayo! You can bet your sweet life that we are *definitely* having a margarita this evening, this year more than ever. 

*****

A couple of you have reached out directly through e-mail to send messages of love and support. And I want you to know that I appreciate it very much, but may not be able to respond anytime soon. I'm managing, and like I said, today has something happy to think of, which is helping and I'm doing the best I can, but it will just be a bit before I can get back to you. 

I absolutely know that even though I turned off the comments on yesterday's post, that a lot of love was sent my way - I can feel it. So thank you.

But today, please have a celebratory treat, drink, whatever to celebrate our shy girl. 🎂

Oh Ye Of Little Faith

I was busy yesterday, putting away the Thanksgiving and fall decorations. And not to toot my own horn (spoiler alert: stay tuned for toot), but I had decided that instead of storing them in cardboard boxes in the basement, where they can get smelly and weird, I was going to invest in some plastic bins. Of course, I didn't measure or anything, since it was theoretical. That is, until I found myself someplace where they had said type of plastic bins on sale. So in keeping with living life dangerously, I just eyeballed it and bought two. 

They were a perfect fit. Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Then ... and ONLY then did I start even *thinking* about the Christmas stuff. And when I was reading everyone's blogs yesterday, Kim and Kim (but not Kym, just to be clear), mentioned that they were waiting for me to alert everyone to the start of the holiday season by showing a photo of a certain item that always welcomes the season. 

Oh ye of little faith - were you thinking I'd forgotten, or lost track of the item? Not at all! Rather, I wanted to clean up all of the Thanksgiving and fall stuff, before even pulling it out of the acid-free folder where it lives.

Here we go - this year, including a shot of how the famous cardboard wreath looks on (most of) the door - since usually you just get the close up of the wreath itself.

TA DA!!!!

 

When The Tim came home from work yesterday, he said, "I still can't believe that we have that! Some of the best 69 cents we ever spent!"

Indeed. ❤

*****

Thank you for the nice comments about our new chairs. Since we are also getting some more things this week, we have to hustle to move some furniture, get rid of some, etc., much sooner than we expected! 

So currently in our living room, there are: the new chairs, the little couch, the spare chair, another chair that matches the spare chair that is waiting to go up to our bedroom, and the two chairs formerly in our bedroom that are waiting to be picked up by people from the neighborhood Buy Nothing group on Facebook. As Tim pointed out, it looks like we are hosting a chair convention, LOL! But the giveaway chairs are being picked up tomorrow and Thursday, and we can actually take the spare chair to the bedroom any time, we just haven't gotten to it. But it will all happen by the end of the week because The Tim wants to go out and find a Christmas tree no later than the end of this coming weekend. And there's no way we could fit a Christmas tree - even one tied up - into the living room with the current chair-a-palooza situation!

*****

I don't have my volunteer gig this morning because all of the cats and kittens that were there have been adopted! Which is wonderful news, but I do miss having the chance to go and cuddle and play with all different kinds of kitties. But next week it will happen, I'm sure.

So today I'm gonna work on some things around the house, as well as do some knitting. I had planned to go out for some things today, but it is rainy and raw outside, so that is put off for now. I figure I'll use my time that I'm usually not here to knit, and then do some of the other stuff this afternoon. I'm one sleeve away from being finished with my cardigan! And a couple of weeks ago, I realized that the pair of Social Security Number slipper-type socks I'd knitter for The Tim years ago were full of holes (rather large ones at that!), so I'm knitting him a new pair for Christmas. I already have one completed, so I'm sure to have them to wrap up.

And then later tonight, we will drink a toast to my mom, whose birthday is today. Last night, I said to The Tim, "Wow, if my mom was still around, she would turn 107!" and he responded, "And she'd still have me looking for her cane." We had a good laugh about that, because near the end of her life when she used a cane, she was always "losing" it, and would tell him to find it for her, and 9 times out of 10 it was ... right to the side of wherever she was sitting. So he'd say, "Geraldine, once again, your cane is right here," and then they would have a huge laugh about it. Whereas, if I said something like that, she would have likely responded, "Well, you don't have to be such a smartass about it." 😂

And there you go. That's it for today. I hope yours goes well, and that you don't lose track of anything that is right beside you ... 

Things to Celebrate

Hello from cool, dreary, and rainy Philadelphia! The perfect kind of day to just stay inside and be cozy, and that's pretty much what I plan to do.

We have been kind of busy lately. I have been getting ready for both The Tim's birthday, and for Thanksgiving. The Tim always gets into a flurry of cleaning activity around this time of year, in preparation for holiday season, so he's been working on that. The cats are either sleeping and avoiding it (actually preferred), or busy snooper-vising. 

Yesterday was The Tim's birthday, and unlike today, it was a perfect fall day - sunny, cool, and just a touch of wind. He took the day off from work, and I swapped my volunteer shift with someone else, so we were both home for the whole day. He had asked to go out to breakfast at a place in the neighborhood, so we headed there first thing. He had one of his fave things, a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, with tomato, onion, etc. as well. I had the tofu scramble, which is really good, and comes with fried potatoes, which we both enjoyed. We were stuffed until it was time for dinner!

The Tim had told me what he would like for his birthday, and for once, I had been ready for over a week, so that worked out really well. He requested a cheesecake for his birthday dessert, and we enjoyed that after presents, while the kitties enjoyed some kitty treats. 

We had originally planned to go out to dinner, but he said later in the afternoon that he was feeling slightly out of it, like he is getting a cold, so we decided to do that another night, and just had leftover chili and some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. It was a lovely day, and fortunately, this morning he felt much better. A good night's sleep I'm sure helped. 😊

Over this past weekend, I put out our Thanksgiving decorations. I don't have a lot of them, but I love having them. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday, and I feel that a lot of the time, it gets short shrift. 

I posted this photo as well as a few others on Instagram, and got so many comments from people saying they remembered these particular candles from their families growing up! I just have always loved them.

My other exciting news is that I finished the body of the cardigan I have been knitting! Here is a not-lovely bathroom selfie for you to get an idea how it looks.

This is the Fidalgo Cardigan, and it is one of the most favorite things I have ever knit. I love that as you are knitting the sweater, you are knitting the button band - no hassle having to pick up stitches after the fact! I have learned a few new-to-me skills with this pattern, and it is so well-written that I feel like it would be understandable to just about anyone. I watch the designer's podcast, and she is just one of those people that I would love to be friends with. Yesterday afternoon, I managed to knit half of the first sleeve, so I'm hoping this will be an FO before long.

So that's been what has been going on around here. The Tim had a lovely birthday day, even though it means that now for a few months, we'll be same age (he always loves being "the younger one" for most of the year). We're looking forward to Thanksgiving next week, not just because we both love the holiday itself, but for the first time in four years, The Tim won't have to work! He also took the Friday after off, so we will have a nice long holiday weekend together to enjoy. I'm so happy about that. Obviously, we've survived the years when he had to work on Thanksgiving Day, but it's just so much better when he can have the day off and be at home too.

I hope your week has been kind to you, and that you are enjoying any crafting projects you have. See you next time!

I Think I'm Finally Back On Track

Have you ever had a week where for the ENTIRE week, you are mixed up about what day it is and what the date is? That was me last week. I spent the whole week either a day ahead or behind, or just confused altogether like someone who just arrived from another planet and had only a tenuous grasp on how time works here.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I was back on track, and it's a good thing, because I have obligations every single day this week. This morning was a doctor's appointment, which thankfully was short and sweet. So I should be good to go for this week, having started it out successfully.  I told my brain that I hope it enjoyed its vacation last week, but there was no response. I don't think it likes sarcasm.

Anyway, June is moving along here. In general, I like June - or at least I used to. It was always the month when it was summer, but not SUMMER. Fortunately so far we've only had a couple of miserably hot/humid days, and I think we're supposed to have one or two this week. So I have been enjoying things so far, and even though we've gotten a lot of rain, it has supposedly helped with the drought, so I think I can live with that.

Alfie had a good birthday. He got one of those catnip "kickers" - it's like a tube filled with catnip, that cats grab onto with their front paws, and then kick with their back paws. It was a big hit, with everyone to be honest. And there were kitty treats and some fancy canned food, so they had a good time. I bought a small cake for The Tim and I to share, and Alfie was both mystified and annoyed by the birthday candles. 😊

Not much is going on around here. I was knitting away on a project I'd started a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I had completely messed it up. So I frogged what I had - not a whole lot, but more than 6 rows - and put it away overnight. This afternoon I sat down and restarted it and to be honest, since I know more what I'm doing, it actually looks a lot better. So maybe all's well that ends well with that. 

I finished the first sock of a pair I'm knitting, though I haven't woven in any ends yet. I like the pattern, and enjoyed knitting it, but haven't cast on the second sock yet. Not that there's a big hurry to have the pair, but I also don't want to let it sit too long. I made a couple of modifications and don't want to forget what they are/were. Why yes, I could write them down, but so far I have not ...

I met two former co-workers on Saturday for lunch, and one of them told the funniest story. She said that a couple of weeks ago, she had stopped to get coffee, and while she was waiting to pay, a guy came in that she saw from a decent enough distance that she couldn't see him clearly, but she noticed he was really good-looking. A few minutes later, he got in line to pay for his coffee and she realized it was her ex-husband, who she had a bitter divorce from! So she tried to get her stuff together to walk away quickly before he saw her, but her headphones got tangled in one of those signs next to a jar that asks for donations for some cause or another, causing it all to fall onto the floor and spill the money! She said that normally she would stay to clean up the mess she made, but she just ran out the door. "I dont' think he saw me." Hm. 😂

I guess just being confused about the day and date is pretty much a non-event compared to that.

I hope your week starts out well, take care!

P.S. I have no idea why the first paragraph is indented like it's "special." And I haven't been able to fix it, so there you go ...

Sometimes It's Just Dumb Stuff ... and, A Birthday!

Hello and Happy May! I hope the month has been good to you so far, and that if you ventured to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival this past weekend, that you enjoyed yourself.

I've been away longer than I had planned to be, but fortunately, I should be able to keep up with things going forward. My unintended absence was due to just dumb things - you know, things that crop up unexpectedly and take up your time and then all of a sudden you realize that you have not come up for air, and it's for no really good reason? Granted, I was sick for about three days with an intestinal bug, which was unpleasant, but also nothing I could do anything about. But the rest of the time, I was putting out little fires everywhere, or having to do projects that I had not planned or expected to do right now. 

Annoying, but in the past, so that's definitely a good thing!

Anyway, I've been reading, and planning my knitting, after taking way too long to decide on anything. I think when I'm in the midst of Dumb Stuff, I shouldn't try to plan anything. I also decided on a stitching project, and got the materials together, so all I have to do is get started. I also swatched for a knitting project, and actually after I'm finished with this post, I need to measure my swatches (2 of them) to see what needle size works better. 

The kitties are fine. Milo the Koodle has been on a real tear lately against Esme. He always chases her, but he's been going out of his way to do so in the past few days. And then when you tell him NO, he hisses at you. Jerk.

However, today is a special day because it is Hamlet's heavenly birthday, and Esme's third birthday! When we decided to adopt her, we decided since we were picking her up from her foster home on May 6, that we would just say that May 5 was her birthday. We knew that our sweet boy Hamlet would think it was a good thing for a kitty to have his birthday, too.

I'm making some brownies for The Tim and to have as part of our celebration later, and the kitties will have some special food for dinner. Later we'll have treats, sing Happy Birthday, and Esme will get her gift, which is a catnip taco (seemed appropriate for Cinco de Mayo!).  We are so lucky that even though she still thinks we are trying to kill her 90% of the time, she has improved from thinking it was 100% of the time. Now she will cuddle for a few minutes, and let you pet her without having a heart attack and running away. Baby steps, but good ones.

So that's the latest from here. I hope this week is a good one, and Happy Cinco de Mayo from everyone at our house!

A Birthday Post

Things have been rough so far this year, so it's especially nice that we have a little more than a week of various happy things starting today.

Happy Birthday to Milo the Koodle!

This stinker turns 13 years old today! Life is never boring with the Koodle, I have to say. He definitely keeps us on our toes, and keeps the other cats on alert a lot of the time. He's still missing his best Pip buddy (as are all of us), so we are hoping to make this birthday an extra good one for him with lots of attention and treats. 

He is actually a very good boy overall, and cuddly - as long as it's when HE wants to cuddle! He doesn't miss much that happens around here, and every morning he sits right next to me when I have my breakfast. If I'm having cereal or oatmeal, he insists on having the very last bit of milk in the bowl - and if I am not forthcoming with said bowl, he will tap me on the arm with his claws in the event that maybe I have forgotten he's there.🙄

Nothing is as much fun to him as a game of Kitty Tease (the fishing rod with a bit of fabric at the end) - he LOVES playing that! The biggest problem is that he is not happy to share it with anyone else. He'll "catch" it, and then hold it in his iron jaw until something distracts him and I can pull it out so the others can play. 

So we'll have some Kitty Tease time today, and there will be treats. I bought a can of his favorite wet food to split among that cats for his birthday dinner, and I bought him a catnip toy which I'm sure will be the cause of much hilarity for all. I'll stop at a local place and buy a cupcake so we can have a candle and sing "Happy Birthday" tonight. 

We could all use some reason to celebrate. 💖

Valentine's Day 2025

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day! I know that a lot of people have a lot to say about this day, but at our house we love it. As I've said before, I was raised to see Valentine's Day as a day to be happy for those you love - be it family members, friends or romantic partners. So it's always been a happy day for me, with a special treat thrown in. The Tim and I sometimes get little gifts for each other, but we always give each other a card.

This year, Valentine's Day is bittersweet, because it would have been Pip's 14th birthday. But we know he'll still have a good birthday, especially since some of our other kitties he is with now have also had birthdays on this day, so I know they are enjoying it together.

I have some special treats for Milo the Koodle, Alfie, and Esme today, as well as a flavor of canned food they particularly like that I will give them for dinner. I did find a little gift for The Tim today - a bottle of red pepper cooking oil. He is a firm believer in the hotter the better, and I'd never seen this kind of oil before, so I figured I would get it for him. It was a little splurge, so I saved it to give him today. 😊

Today in Philadelphia is also the big parade to celebrate the Eagles' Super Bowl Championship. It should be fun. The last/only other time they won, back in 2017, we went to the parade, and even though it was really really cold, it was a blast. This year, The Tim has to work, and I don't want to go on my own, so I'll watch it on TV with the kit kats, while being warm and cozy inside. When the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, I couldn't take a day off to go to the parade, so I'm hoping they will manage to make it happen again so we can go to one of those, then I'll feel like I've managed to be a true Philadelphia fan.

The weather for the weekend looks to be icky, so I have every intention of staying in and being as cozy as possible. My sweater project - which I abandoned for most of January - has been picked up again, and I started a pair of socks the other day, so I have at least two knitting projects to keep me busy. And I have two books from the library to occupy me as well, so even if The Tim decides to nap most of the weekend, I have plenty to entertain myself!

Not much else to report. I did find a little mini chocolate-raspberry ganache cake from one of our fave Italian bakeries around here to have for dessert tonight, so that will be a nice treat. And we will likely drink a toast to our sweet boy, who sadly couldn't be here for his 14th birthday on the 14th. 💔

A person commented on a social media post that she didn't understand why people had pets, because when they die it is so heartbreaking. Well, hello - when anyone dies it's heartbreaking if they meant something to you, right? I didn't want to point that out because a) duh, and b) why acknowledge dumbassery, right? (Maybe that should be a mantra for the next four years ...) Let's face it, people are weird and I often don't think they consider how things sound typed out as opposed to spoken out loud.

ANYWAY. 

Have a lovely Friday, whether you consider it a special day in any way or not. It always leads in to a weekend, and for most of us, that is a good thing. So enjoy your Friday, have a good weekend, and be the person you would like if you met yourself.

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Here we are at the last/twelfth day of Christmas, which is also the birthday of our sweet Dug (well, it's the day we officially adopted him, so we assigned it as his birthday). So before anything else, Happy Birthday, Duggie! We miss you and still love you more every day. Tonight we'll drink a toast to you.

Our Christmas Day was a nice, lovely, relaxing day. The kitties enjoyed having us home all day and hanging with them.

Pip

Esme

Milo 

Alfie

Lots of presents for everyone to be opened!

Our tree, after Santa left kitty stockings and gifts under it!

Just hanging out and exploring

Alfie was the first one brave enough to check out the Christmas tent. It took him about 10 minutes to figure out how to get in (yeah, I know) and then he took even longer figuring how to get back out. (We're not hoping for him to become a Rhodes Scholar, so it's all good.)

Everyone seemed very happy with their gifts, including those sent in the mail. We talked to some family and heard about their celebrations. We ate and drank a lot of good things, and listened to Christmas music and it was a nice, long, enjoyable day.

*****

Then, there is another thing I wanted to show you, related to the holidays. About two blocks from our house is a small park called Fitler Square. It's a lovely place with benches, trees, flowers, and though smaller than some of the other squares in the city, it's beloved by the neighborhood. 

Well, a local group, the Philadephia Drunken Knitwits, received permission this year to "dress" the sculptures in the square in festive attire! 

The Ram

The Bear

The Pup

I have the feeling a lot of people missed this little guy - he's behind a fence. But if you look at the bear sculpture above this image, there's a small white spot behind the fence - that's this pup!

The Turtles

Isn't this great? It really made people smile, and as you can probably imagine, a lot of the kiddos who come to the square with their parents or daycare groups were excited to see the animals dressed up for the holidays! It got a lot of local and national media coverage, which was nice, especially since Fitler Square is not that well-known, even by people in the Philadelphia area. 

The group "undressed" everything yesterday, but I'm wondering if they will do it again next year, since it was so well-received. 

I can say for myself that every single time I walked through the square, seeing this made me happy.

*****

So far, 2025 has been good - all six days of it! But you have to take it when it's there, right? And since January 6 has become such a sad date in our history, it's nice to think there are still good things to celebrate about it. So I hope your day treats you well, and let's all keep our fingers crossed for the coming year. 

Because ... well, you know.

Happy December!

Hello and welcome to December - which is really feeling like December here in Philadelphia. The weather is very cold, but mostly bright, which is just so nice! I'm at home today rather than at my volunteer gig, because right now there are no kitties at the location where I volunteer! Everyone was adopted over the weekend, which is good news. But it does mean that I have to stay home and annoy my own kitties this morning. 😉

Thanks for going along with me yesterday when I posted the photo of our old cardboard wreath, the symbol of the start of Christmastime in our house. I was especially happy that KSD noticed, since I know she gets as much of a charge out of it as I do. When we first bought that decoration, we were living in married  student housing at the University of Notre Dame, and had gotten married the October before that Christmas. Yesterday, I did an inflation tally, and thought you'd enjoy my findings.

When we bought that cardboard wreath in 1978, at the equivalent of what would probably be a dollar store today, it was priced at 39 cents (you can still see the price pencilled faintly on the back). If we wanted to buy that same decoration today, it would cost us - are you ready for this? - a WHOPPING $1.89! 

IS NOTHING SACRED????? 

Yesterday morning I ventured out and stopped at Sephora and Barnes and Noble, to find some gifts for some nieces and to get a couple of books for birthday gifts. My one set of nieces have birthdays on December 18, December 25 (aka Lizmas), and December 29. A lot of people just ignore their birthdays - you know, the "This is for your birthday and Christmas," but I grew up with a mother whose birthday was December 2, and she said that *her* mother insisted that if you were born in December, you still deserved an actual birthday. So that is the way it works. Anyway, I had complete success, and that made me happy for the rest of the day, I have to say.

Today's agenda includes paying a couple of bills, and digging out Christmas cards to get ready. I know we have some, and I want to make sure that we have stamps, etc. Yes, I still send Christmas cards. Maybe not as many as before, since I have had many people tell me in no uncertain terms that they do NOT want a paper card, and who do I think I am, sending cards when the earth is already so polluted. So I just don't send anything to them. But sending cards and receiving cards gives me a lot of joy, and I always recycle ours or use parts of them for gift tags for the next year, so I feel it's OK. 

I'll probably also get out some "easy" decorations - you know, pillows and such that you have for around the house that you don't need to set aside a day to unwrap and organize.

Of course, there will also be knitting and reading. And the taking of cough syrup, since I started with a chest cold on Sunday, and coughed my way through the night last night. 😡

As I mentioned above, yesterday was my mom's birthday. Last night, The Tim and I were drinking a birthday toast to her, and I was saying that if she were still here, she would be 106 years old. And The Tim said, "Oh God, she'd still be getting me to find her cane for her 50 times a day!" and we had a good laugh, because she would "lose" her cane all of the time. And then she'd say, "Tim, I've lost my cane/that person has my cane,* will you help me find it," and he would say, "Geraldine, it's right in front of you," and she would respond, "Oh for God's sake!" and the two of them would have the best laugh about it.

Whereas, if The Tim wasn't around, and it was only the two of us, she would say the same thing to me, and I would say - in a completely normal tone of voice - "Mom, it's right in front of you," and she would say in a truly annoyed fashion, "Well, no one likes a smart ass."

Sometimes you're just not the favorite, and you have to live with that. 😂

*whenever she would "lose" her cane, if we were out somewhere and someone else near us also had a cane, she was always convinced they it was hers and they had taken it ...

Pleasing

We had a lovely evening celebrating The Tim's birthday. He enjoyed all of his gifts, and was truly thrilled to receive the second sock to complete his pair of house socks. I had wrapped them in a couple of layers, where the older sock was on top. So when he opened it, he said, "Are you giving this back because you can't find the yarn to make the other one?" and then was surprised and pleased when he dug down to the next layer. So it was a success.

There are a couple of other things that have been pleasing, and I thought I'd share. Do you remember that last spring, the city planted a honey locust tree (aka "Loco") where a previous tree in front of our house had been? Well, Loco has been thriving. And last Saturday, it was time for us to get another tree, at the other entrance to our house (which is technically the main entrance). This time it is an American Hornbeam ("Beamy), and we are so happy with it! 

(The Tim: Oh good, it's a dormant tree. I was wondering why they would plant a new tree when cold weather was coming.

Me (in my brain): Brilliant deduction, Holmes.)

I'm so glad to have a tree in that spot, because the street is so small, and having a tree there must makes it all seem cozier, you know?

On Monday, I headed to Anthropologie. I had seen something online that I thought would make a nice gift; it was out of stock online, but it said, "Check stores." Our store did have it in stock, but in person, I didn't like it as much. However, I found something else that I liked even better for less money. But even better was the gift box they provided:

I had noticed on my way into the store that they had some yarn trees decorating the windows along with shiny ornaments, etc., so I guess they have a whole yarn/knitting thing going on for the holiday season this year. It goes without saying that I think it's an excellent idea!😊

So there you have two small but good things that really pleased me over the past week or so. It's a good reminder to pay attention, because even when a lot of other things seem to be terrible, disheartening, etc., there are still some little, lovely, happy things happening around you if you just look.

FO Post: The Hofo Sock

Hello there! Well, I survived both the prep and the colonoscopy, and I do have some pathology results to expect in the next week or so, but that is taken care of for now, and boy am I glad. I just hope the pathology report shows nothing worrisome, because I want to just be finished with the whole thing for another three years (three years! Last time I had only two, so that in itself is an improvement). But please know that I did truly appreciate your supportive and kind comments about surviving the prep. It's nice to know that people understand when someone is just plain uncomfortable.

ANYWAY.

When I was a kid, one of the jokes that at first puzzled me, and later pleased me because of wordplay, was this one:

Q: When is a door not a door?

A: When it's ajar.

And so, for this FO post, I have a similar question for you:

Q: When is a HO (half-finished object) not a HO?

A: When it's an FO.

Project: The Hofo Sock

Pattern: Plain vanilla sock pattern that I keep in my brain.

Yarn: Plymouth Worsted Encore Solids. The light blue is the Denim colorway, and the green is - you guessed it - the Kelly Green colorway!

Needles: US size 5/3.75 mm

Notes: In 2020, I knit these for The Tim. And he wore them. A lot. Until the sole of one of them wore completely through. So he handed the other one to me, and said, "Could you just knit a mate for this one? These are cozy and I like them, and I only need one more." So I said I would, set the sock aside, and immediately forgot all about it.

A couple of months ago, I was cleaning out the mess that was my knitting and crafting stuff, and came across the lone sock, waiting for its mate. So this time I placed it where I could see it, and determined that I would knit another one for The Tim's birthday. A couple of weeks ago, when I finished another long-term project, I picked it up and decided to see if I still had either/both colors of the yarn. I did! I tend to grab Encore when I can, because I think it's a nice yarn, and for certain projects and for certain people, it's a much better choice than other, fancier yarns.

And at last, the lonely sock once again has a mate:

I made certain to wash the older sock, and I even used the de-piller on it, and though you can tell that one has been worn, and one hasn't, they really look like they belong together! Of course, I had failed to write down the specifics - aka how many rows led to color changes, etc. - so I studied the older sock and I think I got pretty close. 

In any case, they are currently wrapped up ready for The Tim to open when we have his birthday celebration later today.

Oh - and "The Hofo Sock?" Well, it's a HO that was also an FO. 😉

Birthdays, Train Trips, and Weekends

Hello! I just wanted to check in before we leave our house to walk to 30th Street Station here in Philadelphia for our overnight trip to New York. I didn't mean to be gone for so long, but this week brought more things going on than I had originally planned, and this was my first chance to write a post.

Milo the Koodle had a wonderful birthday on Monday - and has loved being spoiled a bit extra all week long. He is my Birthday Buddy, and it's fun to celebrate with him.

I had my birthday party (just us and the kitties, as usual) last night, and we had a good time. I also had a lovely day, since it was much warmer than March 14 usually is, so I was able to get outside and have an extra enjoyable walk. I was also doing some things in preparation for today and the weekend, but it was all stuff I wanted to do, and I was not on a tight schedule, so it was a lovely, quiet, pretty day.

Once we arrive in NYC later this morning, we are planning to visit the American Museum of Natural History for a couple of hours, since we can't check in to our hotel until 4 p.m. So we'll spend some time there, and then have a late lunch/early dinner, check in to our hotel and freshen up, and then head to the theater to see "Merrily We Roll Along." Talk about a full day! Then tomorrow, we plan to just head out for a nice long walk wherever our noses take us before making our way back to the Moynihan station to come home.

Of course, the combination of a change to our usual routines, and walking around outside for longer than usual will mean that we will need the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday to recover, LOL! But Sunday we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day altogether, without anyone having to be at work, so that will be the best. 

I hope your weekend is a good one, whether you are traveling, staying home, or even just staying in the house being cozy. I can't believe that Spring starts on Tuesday! After days of 60s-70s (F) degree weather, they are saying here that the first day of spring should have a high temperature of 45 degrees (F) - so I'm sure a lot of people will have a shock to their system. (Face it, we all know people who think that once the first day of spring shows up, they can put away all of their winter gear. As if.)

So enjoy, and hopefully I'll have some tales to tell about our trip the next time I show up here.

Carrying On

Well there isn't much to report today. I am working on some projects around the house before I go for a walk. It's not sunny today, but it's not raining, so I can go outside and not get drenched, which is what happened on the way home from a Dr appt yesterday. 😒

We are going to see a play tonight, which both of us have been looking forward to seeing. We've seen this actor in two other shows he has done where he plays Groucho Marx, and I have to say, it's hard to think it's not really him. And it's always fun to go to the Walnut Street Theater, and wonder if you'll run into one of the Barrymores. (Not Drew, though.) We could both use some really good laughs and this will fit the bill nicely.

This week has been one of those kind of "meh" weeks up until today. Neither of us have been sick, but I've had a constant headache, and The Tim has been extra tired (which is saying something in his case, him being the Nap King and all). But by last night both of us were doing much better, so the rest of the week should be all good.

Tomorrow I'm getting my hair cut, which always makes me feel better, and then I am heading into Center City to get a small cake to celebrate Milo the Koodle's birthday on Saturday.

His actual birthday is on Monday (we actually know it, since he was born in a friend's back yard). But I work until 6 p.m. on Monday, as well as working all day Sunday. So we're going to have our celebration for him on Saturday, when we're all home all day. 😊 I'm buying his little cake tomorrow since Saturday it is supposed to pour rain all day, and that way I won't have to go out in that weather. 

The only knitting I have that has progressed at all is my pair of birthday socks. I am on the foot of the second sock, so if not sooner, the pair should be finished by the end of the weekend. The headache from earlier in the week meant that I didn't feel much like knitting, and couldn't knit for long when I did. But these will be finished in plenty of time to wear for my day, which was the plan to start, so I'm excited about that. My other two projects are somewhat languishing, but should start getting attention next week when the socks are no longer in rotation.

There's not much else to report. Work has been OK, but there's been a lot of turnover recently, which isn't surprising, since it's kind of the nature of the place. But it seems that a lot of people are suddenly leaving or are gone all at once, which is not surprising but you know how it is when the people you enjoy leave. We are busy getting ready for the Greater Philly Yarn Crawl, which begins next Thursday. Lots of special things will be in the shop for that. (I won't even be around, which kind of bums me out, but then again, I'm not there for a good reason and know I'll have a wonderful long weekend.) If you are in the area, you should go to at least a few of the stores that are participating, it should be a good time. The good part of it as far as I'm concerned is that I am now more familar with some shops not that far away that I'd like to visit sometime.

In other news, I have decided that after not being able to go for a few years, that I want to try and go to Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. It's been so long since I've gone that it will be nice and fresh again. Hopefully I can find someone to go, but if nothing else, I know that The Tim can be recruited to join me. It's not necessarily his first choice of something to do, but he ends up having a good time once he's there. And then he has enough snarky jokes and comments about knitters to get him through a few months ... 🙄

So that's it for today. Off to take my walk and then pay some bills, as my glamorous lifestyle just continues. I hope your day goes well, whatever you are doing or planning to do.

Heart Day

Hello there! I hope you are having a good Valentine's Day if you enjoy celebrating it. We do celebrate, usually with cards and treats, but the primary focus of the day is this guy's birthday:

Today, Pip turns 13 years old! Yep, he's a teenager, so now he'll probably start ignoring us, get lots of piercings and tattoos, and roll his eyes whenever we make a joke ... 😊

Later we'll have a cheesecake and presents, and the kit kats will get some special treats to celebrate. Pip is well worth celebrating, as he is an amazing kitty, and it would be hard to find a cat who is sweeter. So Happy Valentine's birthday, sweet boy, we love you!

Today is also Ash Wednesday, which signals the beginning of Lent for Christians. When I was a kid, I would always agonize over what to "give up" for Lent. Since my birthday was always during that time, I didn't want to give up anything that could jeopardize my birthday celebration or my birthday cake, so it was hard. (I was a good kid, but I wasn't any kind of ridiculous sainted child who was *that* willing to sacrifice something!)

******

I just spent about an hour with a guy who came to the house to give us an estimate on a new front door. I have no idea how old the current door is, but we have wanted to replace it since we moved in. Now that we have some money saved up for repairs, etc., it was time. One nice thing was that the estimate was much less than we had expected. Even though the door is not standard, because of course it's not - nothing in our nineteenth-century house is, so no surprise there. Still, it's always just a matter of waiting to hear it whenever someone comes to check something.

As would be the case, the guy left after giving the estimate. And now Alfie is bereft. Alfie loves nothing more than having workmen come to the house. He has to be with them the whole time, and rubs against them, purrs, etc. Fortunately most people who have shown up have been animal lovers, or amused enough to not mind him terribly. However, the guy today was here for a while, and I think Alfie thought he was going to stay for lunch or something. So the fact that he left was quite upsetting. Alfie has been pawing the door and crying ever since. Even Esme was compelled to come downstairs to try and comfort him, but it just isn't enough. So please keep Alfie in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time ... 😝

Alfie: "If you are reading this, please contact PETA and let them know how neglected I am. As you can see, I'm nearly skin and bones from starvation and neglect."

Our poor house - we've lived here now for 30+ years and never had the available funds to do much fixing up or repairs that weren't absolutely, immediately necessary. Now that the mortgage is paid, we can start to get things done. I can only imagine the house breathing a sigh of relief - "The roof and now maybe a better door! They do love me after all!"

*****

Today I am hoping to get some things organized as far as my knitting projects are concerned. I'm trying to be more conscious of what I am making and why, and part of that means keeping better track of everything. I have a "system" that I think will work, and I'm going to do my best to set it up today. Who knows, I may be abandoning it in record time, or it may actually help, but I won't find out until I actually give it a try.

Are any of the rest of you having a sudden desire to knit every single thing in the world right away, or is it just me? I generally see things that I might want to knit and am happy enough to wait until one or more things are completed. But lately, I see something I like and instead of seeing it in terms of a down-the-road project, I feel like if I don't make it NOW or SOON, I just won't survive another day. Fortunately, most of the time I don't have the yarn on hand to make it, so I just wait for the feeling to pass. But this has never been something I've felt before, and I can't say I enjoy it. Like all of a sudden I have knitting FOMO, but I know in my heart that a) I probably won't care by the next day, and b) most of the things I see are not the kind of things I would enjoy knitting or that would fit in my wardrobe anyway. 

I'm sure it's some kind of temporary insanity on my part. And it is true that a lot of it is a "this moment" kind of feeling. So temporary that it's forgotten when the next amazing thing comes along. That's usually not my M.O., but especially the past few weeks it's been the case. 

However, it does mean that trying to get organized today will make me aware of what projects I am enjoying, and that should help to get me back on track. I'll try to take some photos, so I can show all of you what is happening knit-wise around here.

So enjoy your day one way or the other and if nothing else, feel free to give yourself a treat in honor of Pip!

Just Like It Was Supposed To Be

Hello and Happy Monday of Thanksgiving week!  We are back from our overnight weekend trip to NYC to celebrate The Tim's birthday. Every single part of the weekend went well, and I think he had a great birthday.

We got up nice and early on Friday and headed to the train station for our trip. Both of us love taking the train, so that was as much part of the fun as anything. When we arrived, we went to our hotel first, to check in, even if our room wasn't ready yet. We took the time to sit and have a cup of coffee/tea, and take a little break before deciding on our plan of the day.

Our hotel (and a lot of the city) was already decked out for Christmastime.

We decided we wanted to check out the Morgan Library and Museum - someplace we've always wanted go, but hadn't visited yet. It was a short walk from our hotel, and since we lucked out all weekend with somewhat warm, sunny weather, it was really pleasant to walk around. 

The Morgan Library and Museun did not disappoint. The Tim took a lot of photos which I'll share whenever he sends some to me, but I was so astonished and amazed by the place and what we were seeing, it didn't even occur to me to take a picture. Amazing does not even begin to cover it. We were there for the bulk of the day there was just so much to see. If you have never visited, I highly recommend it.

We headed back to our hotel, enjoying the decorations and people-watching.

To quote The Tim: "Those are some big red balls." 

We had a lovely dinner and then walked around some more, taking a little stroll through Central Park before it got too late. I have to say, New York never disappoints - so many interesting things to see, even if they are let's say, not in the tour books! 😊

Saturday morning we had bagels for breakfast at a great deli, and then walked over to Rockefeller Center to watch people at the skating rink, and so that I could say hello the Empire State Building, my most favorite skyscraper, always.

And then, the reason for the trip:

We love this show, and have seen a couple of productions, but never seen it actually on Broadway.

It turned out that Josh Groban wasn't in the matinee that day, but his understudy was so good, I can only think the difference between the two is that I had never heard of the understudy before ...

Annaleigh Ashford was Mrs. Lovett, though, and she was fabulous, as expected. She really lived it up in the role!

We had really excellent seats, too!

After the show, we headed to the train station, but never fear, earlier in the day, we'd paid our regards to Broadway ... and George M. Cohan!

The train ride home was quiet and very pleasant, and we were home before we knew it, to a grand reception - and airing of grievances - by the kitties.

Sunday morning, I took the birthday boy out to breakfast at one of our favorite diners.

And then later we had some cheesecake slices from the diner with candles, "Happy Birthday" singing, and gifts. 

The entire weekend went even better than we could have expected. We were exhausted yesterday, since even though we love New York, it does wear us out. And when we came out of the train station on Saturday night, we said the same thing we always say after a trip there: "It's so quiet here!" 😀