Checking in

Just a note to say that I am alive. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time at all for blogging. When I do have time to relax, I get far away from a computer screen.

I'm in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. It's rather chilly here, so I've stayed inside a lot. Except that I've gone for a 3-mile run in the afternoon on most days here. Tomorrow, we start the long drive back home.

Like I don't have enough to do already

It seems that whenever I have too much to get done, I find something else that suddenly becomes urgent. Like last weekend when I made several pints of salsa. This weekend, I suddenly found it necessary to cook wool yarn in hot Kool-aid. I blame SavingNine and KBomb for this. They always give me knitting advice that I don't want to follow... but eventually I do. I used the microwave instructions given here and was amazed when I was done with the whole process in less than an hour (except that it's still hanging to dry). I didn't check the time at all, but I was afraid that yarn dyeing could take up half a day. For those who want to know these colors are grape and ice blue raspberry lemonade. My camera really didn't know what to make of that ice blue color.

This week

It's been a rather overwhelming week... but not much to take pictures of. So enjoy a few shots of dogs. First, the very photogenic Vixen showing off her colors. Then Wiley, who is now officially retired from running, jumping, and climbing mountains. It's very sad, but the vet says his spine is degenerating and he already has lost some control of his hind leg. Last, is Kiko who was visiting for the weekend, and provided some entertainment for the other dogs.

On Wednesday I had one of the worst cold/flus ever. It hurt just to get out of bed. Fortunately, I've gotten over that (mostly).

This weekend, I finally admitted that gardening season is over. I rolled up the hoses, pulled out the dying plants and harvested the last of the tomatoes. Now I'm canning 11 pints of salsa.

I also went to the Weems ArtFest today, which is always fun. Although, I didn't buy any art. It's great to live in a place with so many artists.

The big C

Cancer is always such an unwelcome surprise. I'm sick of cancer already, and I've never had it.

This gift I made for my father-in-law as he goes into surgery tomorrow to remove a tumor from his liver. Hopefully he'll enjoy watching lots of movies for the next few weeks while recuperating, and then he'll be back to normal.

I also want to encourage all female readers to join the Army of Women to support breast cancer research. The idea is to recruit one million volunteers for various research trials. I don't have one million readers, so you also have to ask your friends!

Here are some close-ups and details about the cross-stitch. The lettering was all stitched using fancy hand-dyed embroidery floss from A Different Drummer's going out of business sale. The purple/green stuff is made of silk as is the darker blue stuff on the first two lines. The turquoise floss in the middle is made of wool, and it was terrible to work with. It fuzzed up and pulled apart... how is it supposed to be used?



The bear came from a little pattern that I had, but I modified it a bit. Mostly the colors for the butterfly and the blanket thing he's sitting on.