Karma

I had a different post in mind for today, but it can wait.  I wanted to ask you to please keep a good thought and if you are the praying type, a prayer for some friends of ours.

Yesterday, Hamlet's fellow guide dog and partner, Karma, headed to doggie heaven.  They lived together for 9 years, and guided their people Sharon and Jeff for all of that time.  Sharon and Jeff of course, loved them both as their dogs, not just as their guides, and Karma was one of the happiest pups ever.  She was a black Lab mix, slightly smaller than Hammy, but with the biggest puppy personality!  She was all wiggles and kisses.  Shortly after Hamlet retired and came to live with us, Karma was retired and went to live with a friend of Sharon and Jeff's named Karen.  That was another match of epic love, and Karma had a happy retirement filled with another family of love, fun, and adventures.

My favorite Karma memory was of the couple of times we visited Sharon and Jeff to see if adopting Hamlet might work out.  Karma immediately fell in love with The Tim.  Whenever we would sit down, she would actively push me off of the couch, so she could cuddle up next to him!  She would give him about a thousand kisses and demand constant pets (and of course he loved it too).  She was one of the sweetest pups I've ever met or been around, and I know that today, Sharon, Jeff, and Karen and her family feel bereft that she is no longer around to give them cuddles, comfort, and kisses.

Here is a photo from a few years ago, when we all converged on Jeff and Sharon's house to have a reunion, as well as meet their new guide dogs.  This is Karma and Hamlet giving nose kisses (after which they both went crazy realizing who each other were!), while Sharon is in the background with her new guide dog, Oakley, who clearly wants in on the fun.

When you think about it, guide dogs have such a broad grouping of family - their original families when they are born; then the puppy raisers who socialize and give them basic training; then those that they guide; and then finally their retirement families.  That's a lot of changes for a doggie life - but it's also a LOT of love from so many people the whole time!  

Happy trails, Karma, and enjoy wiggling, cuddling, kissing, and playing all of the time in heaven.  Thank you for being an angel on earth before you became one of the angels above.

Three

I wanted to post for Three on Thursday today, but couldn't think of three particular things to talk about. Then I started thinking about things grouped into threes.

Not only were there Three Little Pigs, but if you take it further, the Big Bad Wolf threatened to "huff (1), and puff (2), and blow the house down (3)."

Three things that all of us are encouraged to do.

It's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game!

The Three Bears were not all that pleased with a visit from Goldilocks.

And I could go on, but since it is in fact supposed to be Three on Thursday, and I've already shown four things, I will stop.  But it did get me on a tear, I have to say!

Having said all of that, just remember that according to Paul Simon, there are Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover ... 😏

Week 4 - How Is It Already Week 4??

Hi all!  I'll admit I wasn't ready for this!  Though in many ways July felt eternal (it was soooooo hot and sooooo humid!), I find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that this is the last week of July.  

Which also means it's the last week of

Christmas in July 2021!!

I have to tell all of you that I have really appreciated your willingness to play along and answer my mostly silly questions.  It really would be fun to be able to send a package to every single person, but until I win the lottery (meaning I would have to actually purchase a ticket), I fear that will not be the case.

Anyhoo, here is the prize for this week's giveaway:

It's a basket of goodies!

Obviously, this small basket - large enough for a sock project or some other small item.  You could also store needles, notions, or whatever strikes your fancy in it.

Also included are a set of stitch holders, and a skein of Must Stash Sock Yarn in the Father Christmas colorway, which as you can see has lovely shades in it, and it is not IN YOUR FACE Christmas-y.  This is a stripey skein, I think it creates 10 stripes per repeat.  (The skein is currently upstairs and I am currently downstairs.  I'm afraid that laziness wins out here, people.)

Like what you see?  Well then tell me your answer to this question:

What is one of your VERY FAVORITE holiday dishes that you cannot wait to have at a holiday, and for whatever reason you never make any other time of the year, even though you could?

Potato salad only on the 4th of July??  Pumpkin pie only at Thanksgiving??  You get the idea.

If you are interested in being part of the giveaway, post a comment containing your answer on this post only, no later than 12 noon U.S. Eastern Daylight time on Sunday, August 1, 2021 (August 1!!!).  I'll choose a winner, once again relying on the random number generator, and announce said winner on Monday.   

My answer to this question would have to be stuffing.  I absolutely adore stuffing at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I start to think about it at the beginning of November, and my mouth waters at just the suggestion!  Could I make it anytime during the year?  Of course!  Do I make it at any other time?  Nope.  I don't even consider making it.  I like to think that it's because only having it those two times during the wintertime holidays makes it extra special, and maybe even extra yummy.  But it could also be that I am just not as motivated to take the time to do it any other time of year ... 

Right now though, some stuffing would sure taste good. 😋

P.S. Please once again excuse any weirdness in layout, font, etc. here.  After posting last week from my tablet, everything is now changed in settings for the blog, and I probably won't be able to adjust things until this weekend.  Just wanted to let you know - I'm sure you're all up in arms about it, right???

Two Winners, But Only One Is For Week 3

Hello and I hope your weekend was a good one!  Mine was frustrating, but OK.  You may have heard that Google sent out an update for Chromebooks with a typo in it, causing users to not be able to log in.  They sent out a fix, but as of right now, my laptop has not been updated, and I need to use my laptop for work, so I will have to use the nuclear option, and wipe it clean and start all over, losing some stuff again.  I'm upset, but since I lost SO MUCH MORE when my previous laptop died, I'm kind of just numb about it now.

But overall the weekend was fine, and there's more about the best part at the end of the post.

Now to the reason most of you are here, the announcement of Week 3's winner.  Roll the drums, because the winner is:

EllenD !!!!!!

This was her response to the question about reading words, thinking they were pronounced one way, and then hearing/learning the actual pronounciation.

We had to take turns reading aloud (and I hated doing it).  I pronounced the word "pigeon""pie-gee-n" and the whole class burst out laughing.  I was so embarrassed!

Ellen, CONGRATULATIONS on being the winner this week!  When you get a chance, please send your complete name and mailing address in an e-mail to thekittyknitterATverizon.net (I promise that's  correct!).

I had so much fun finding out that all of you also had experiences similar to mine - isn't it funny how words - often even simple ones - can throw you off a cliff?  Thanks for participating. 😊

******

So I mentioned last week that I was headed out on Sunday to a baseball game with my friend Lisa.  Well, that was yesterday, and boy did we have fun!  It was absolutely wonderful to get to see and hug her in person bed catch up!  Plus it was amazing to get to see this in person again after so long:

The usher in our section was kind enough to take our picture:

The Tim: WHY does your hair look weird?

Me: Because I was super sweaty and had just taken off my hat.

The Tim: Well it looks really weird.

Me: Go away.

Aaron Nola pitched, and wow was he on point!  I the 9th inning, the Phillies were ahead 2-1, we needed only one more out to win, and a Braves hitter got a home run - at which time the manager TOOK HIM OUT OF THE GAME, much to the extreme dismay of those of us in the stands (of course, EPIC booing ensued).  But fortunately as soon as the next guy was pitching, he struck him out and we won the game!!!

I was exhausted by the time I got home,  but in the best way.  It was a wonderful day, an impressive game, and a win on top of it was the perfect way to end the weekend.

Let's hope this week will try to be as agreeable. 

***Apologies for any weird formatting or other wonkiness in this post.  I'm not that good with all of it on my tablet,  and have only so much patience at any given time to figure things out.

Week 3 Is Already Upon Us!

 Hello there, and welcome to Week #3 of Christmas in July!!  

If this were Double Jeopardy, I would say that this is when the scores double, and anything can happen - but it's not, and we are not keeping score (well, at least I'm not), but I guess anything could still happen ...

In this week's drawing, the giveaway prize definitely NOT be a year's worth of Rice-a-Roni.  (When I was a kid, it seemed that a lot game shows had the consolation prize of a year's worth of Rice-a-Roni, "The San Franciso Treat" - I found this intriguing, because a) I had never ever had Rice-a-Roni, and b) it was always shown with a stock image of a cablecar, and that seemed incredibly exotic to me!)

Anyway, moving away from game shows, let's see what the prize is for this week:

Though the project bag is Christmas-themed, the book is most definitely not!  

This is a project bag that is definitely a good size for a sock project, or any other smaller types of things you may be knitting.  I purchased it from Sugar Tots a few years ago, but I have so many holiday-themed project bags, I have never ever used it.  It's so cute, I wanted it to have a happy home with a knitter who would use it and appreciate it.

As for the book, the Goodreads summary is here, and my review of it is here. It does take place in Philadelphia, but you don't have to be familiar with the city to enjoy it.  It's a good story, and is as much about families and relationships as it is about opioids and those who are suffering addiction.  (But it has nothing to do with Christmastime or the holiday season as a setting to the story.)  I won my copy in a Goodreads giveaway, so it seemed only fair to pass it along in another kind of giveaway.

Here's your question for this week:

What is a word or phrase/expression that you first encountered in print, and mentally pronounced one way, only to then actually hear it, and you'd missed the right pronunciation altogether?

Let me know in the comments on this post only.  You have until 12 noon (U.S. Eastern Daylight Time) on Sunday, July 25, 2021.  I'll once again call on the random number generator, and announce the winner in a post on Monday.  And don't forget - any comments will also give you an entry into the final prize for this year!

My answer - well, I have two that came to mind.  I used to love Nancy Drew mysteries, and sh would be referred to often as a "girl sleuth." I understood what it meant from the context, but in my head I thought it was pronounced as SLEE-UTH.  I was amazed to learn that "sloth" was correct.

The other was the expression "C'mon," which for who knows what reason I thought was short for "See you on Monday."  It didn't necessarily make a lot of sense when someone in a book would say, "See you on Monday, let's go to the store," but I would just move along.  Then one time I heard someone reading aloud say it, and then it made a lot more sense ... 😂

Your turn!