Posts from — August 2005

Apparently, if someone were going to cook for me, this is the kind of girl I am (ugh…I think this quiz is flawed! I have NEVER begun a sentance with “Susan Sarandon says…” just because you’re a celebrity you have some great political mind??? I think not! The other stuff, maybe. Academic, athletic, or gourmet describe me MUCH better):

I was tagged by the knitting nurse for this little meme:

Instructions:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

My boring as heck fifth sentence of my 23rd post…I started a shrug with some yarn that I purchased from ebay–cashmere luxury chunky (45% merino wool, 49% microfiber, 6% cashmere) in a great shade of red.

We were more than a little worried when we left for St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday. Luckily we knew just before we got on the plane though that the hurricane had shifted it’s path. By some miracle, we arrived to a warm evening with NO rain.:jump: We arrived at our bed and breakfast and were pleasantly surprised. This is not normally the style B&B we would choose, but it came highly recommended by a friend. If you ever go to St. Petersburg, Sunset Bay Inn is definitely worth booking. We stayed in the Sunset Bay Suite guest room. The decor wasn’t exactly my taste but the bed was FANTASTIC. No trouble sleeping away from home for once! They also have awesome in room amenities…almond scented Caswell Massey soap and bath products, comfy robes, a refrigerator, cable tv, free high speed wireless access, daily newspaper, and very tasty coffee right outside the room for early morning enjoyment.

The breakfast each morning was delicious. It always began with fruit then egg and cheese soufflé the first morning, stuffed cinnamon toast the second and egg fritata for Sunday morning. Back to the coffee…it is fabulous. Overall I have switched to green or white tea in the mornings but I have no problem reverting to coffee in certain situations. This one was so good that I had to find out where to get it. It is a velvet roast 100% Costa Rican estate shade grown coffee make by Cafe Cartago. They seem to be having some trouble with their “new” website, but it appears you can order it directly from them.

We didn’t take our golf clubs with us this trip since it was just a long weekend (and Jim’s incisions still aren’t healed enough) so we tried to just get some R&R. Mainly we ate, walked, shopped, drank and slept in varying order.

Speaking of walking, this is soooooooo classic Cheryl. Of course, I had to check out whether there was a yarn store nearby. We didn’t have a car and there only appeared to be two of them…one about 6 miles away and the other about 9. Since I had a day to myself, I decided to walk to the “closer” one. I am a runner so I figured it would be no problem (even with remnants of Katrina lurking and 95 degree heat). I also researched the bus routes before I left to have some idea of how I could get back home or be picked up if I got too tired. OMG…after an hour of power walking I was drenched in sweat and there was no end in sight. I was so tired, but again, being a runner, I had many tricks up my sleeve. It’s amazing how you can convince yourself to keep going but just saying, “ok, one more block and you can stop for some water”. What? No water at the next block? “Must keep going”. And so on, and so on. Did I mention that I was also taking what had to be the least direct route possible and that I may have been in a “shady” area? In my experience when exploring a new city, sometimes it is best not to know.

So two hours later, I finally arrive at my destination, Cork and Olive thinking I would buy a bottle of wine for cocktail hour. This is a very cool wine store that specializes in reasonably priced somewhat unusual wines. Outside, it began pouring down rain. I really had no choice but to do some wine tasting. They had some very interesting choices, some of them wines made especially for the store. One of the wines I ended up buying was from Switzerland???? I didn’t even know they made wine! It was a nice light sparkling wine…regardless of from where it originated.

My, am I going on and on! Why stop now though? Part two to come…

Ok, tomorrow a REAL post. I have lots to show and tell. I have spent my whole day fooling around with a free online shopping cart for the “store.” What was I thinking??? Really it’s ok though, I love to geek out on that kind of stuff. It really is pretty cool. Now I just need to get more stuff to sell and some customers to buy said stuff.

This is the very first fiber RAOK (Random Act of Kindness) gift I have received. :cheer::cheer::cheer: It is a very crafty, cute and lucky origami crane from Julie. It is happily perched on top of my monitor next to my Hopi worry dolls. Thanks Julie! I really appreciate you thinking of me

In other news…I just got back in to town from St. Petersburg (yes we are fine, we had no real
hurricane Katrina weather) and I have been working on my online “store”. Details on the trip and store to come!

I have been toying with this idea for a while…sell knitting related stuff on my site. I don’t really expect to make any money; just share knitting related or crafty stuff I think is cool. For example: buy stuff at LYS sales or other random retail and pass along the savings here. After all, not everyone has a Tuesday Morning, Michaels, or LYS in their area. I know…there are TONS of great knitting supply stores online. Just humor me.:shake:

I might also sell some yarn purchased at wholesale if I can swing it. Just great prices and cool stuff! Look for it as soon as next week. I made my first purchase for the “store” yesterday.

I am also available for hire! Unlike some crafters, I have plenty of time for projects. Just let me know what you have in mind and we can talk about it.

Hmmm…

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarmind
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I finally finished the Filatura di Crosa set a couple of nights ago. The frogging wasn’t too painful and it didn’t take long to re-knit the shrug correctly. Just wish I would’ve caught it sooner. Now I just have to wait until it isn’t 95 degrees anymore before I can wear it.

Cynthia, Naturally Noro

Maybe I’m feeling especially cynical having been in the hospital for the second time in two weeks. Or maybe people are just stupid. Or maybe it’s both.

This is going to be one of the rare times you see/hear/read me rant. I am normally way too laid back for that. However, when I do get riled up about something, it is usually important (at least to me).

The background: My wonderful husband, thin, in shape, healthy…with a defective heart valve. 1995: Open heart surgery to repair the valve. 1996-2003: Ablations to correct irregular heart rhythm. 2003: Pacemaker 2005: New Pacemaker.

The disclaimer: First of all just let me say that in general I feel that if you aren’t hurting anyone else with your bad habits, go for it. It’s still a free country, right? However, when you begin to infringe on others (which can happen in a variety of ways) all bets are off. For example…smokers. (If you are a smoker: I have nothing against smokers as people. I really just worry about you. I think almost anyone would agree that smoking is bad for your health. I wish you would take care of yourself. People love you and want you to be around for as long as possible.)

The rant: What the hell is wrong with people? You have a perfectly good heart and yet you insist on making it sick. Medical history of the man in the room with Jim (no privacy when there is only a thin curtain to separate you from the next bed)…pack a day smoker for 20 years, throat cancer, heart attack, pneumonia, diabetic, stints in heart and an angiogram. You would think after they burned the crap out of his throat to get rid of the cancer that he would stop. Nooooooo. Let’s keep smoking so that the general public can pay for my care since I have no insurance. So what is he in the hospital for…to get another angiogram since he has been experiencing shortness of breath. DUH!!!! Quit smoking you idiot! Not only is it bad for your lungs, but it also causes all kinds of heart problems. Which brings me to my point…it’s so not fair that the majority of people start out with a perfect heart and then do these crazy things to screw it up while my husband who really takes care of himself got screwed with a crappy heart. It just makes me crazy!