Missouri cheeseheads

Hi! I'm having a snack and have decided that you would just love to know about it! Bloggers = narcissistic? Hecks, no!

So today was payday and that meant I partook of the glorious tradition of going to the grocery store after work. With Gator. This is an important aspect in that no two humans on the planet enable each other more than we do. Example: Gator was jonesing for some good cheese. Either of us shopping alone? One kind of cheese. Shopping together? We end up with five kinds. It goes on. But, while discussing the cheese options, I realized that what I wanted wasn't good cheese, but gooooooood cheese. You know, the kind I was raised on (Saturday afternoon snack!), which I haven't had for a long time and when I lived in Wisconsin they didn't even sell it. Like it was an affront to their cheesy ways. Yes, I'm talking about Price's Pimento Cheese Spread. That which tastes like no kind of cheese that exists outside of their little half pint tubs. That which has identifiable chunks of cheese-like substance suspended in a creamy cheese-like spready-stuff. With red bits I can only assume are meant to represent pimentos. Oh, they swear on their website that it's made with real cheese but, if it is, they disguise it well. In a good way. Needless to say I bought some.

While watching some Futurama, I busted it open, spread it on some saltines (the only way to eat it!), and reveled in the awesomeness. And missed my mama.

(Full disclosure -- I only spread it on the crackers so I could take a picture. The real way to eat it is to just dip the crackers right in the tub, but I figured you really didn't want a picture of that. Like you want this one.)

Okay, I'll lay off the random food photos for awhile. ;)
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Happy Halloween! (Early and with crafting!)

Random additional decoration coming up!

Day of the Dead Crochet Skull by Darlene Harris
(including Little Crochet Flowers by Ali Burdon)
Red Heart Super Saver; Size US G crochet hook

And with that, a good night!
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Linkspam disguised as blog content

I've been a tired, tired girl this week! I went back to work on Tuesday, and I've pretty much been coming home and falling asleep in my chair every day after work until I finally give up and move it to the bed. So, not a lot of hot crochet action, in other words. I did make several more squares today for the patchwork afghan but there's really nothing to see.

But I have been collecting some random linkspam that I will take this opportunity to inflict on you share with you!

Want. That is all. Okay, that's totally not all -- check out the rest.

Also want, but in all honesty it would just sit in the corner with my guitar (since it won't fit in the drawer with my recorder). But this is serious geeky music goodness.

Awesome timesuck. Yeah, it's an advertisement, but this company wins at the innernets!

May I get married again just so I can have this cake? (If you don't get it, why aren't you reading XKCD??)

I haven't carved a pumpkin for a long, long time. I may have to start again.

I haven't bought a new swimsuit for a long, long time. I've certainly never spent this much money on one. I may have to find a way for this to change.

The Internet Archive has a bunch of fun stuff, but the Moving Picture Archive has some serious gems. Especially some of the fabulously cheesy corporate propaganda created by Jam Handy and super duper old-school filmstrip-type lovelies like Are You Ready For Marriage? I'll never be bored again.

I will now finish watching Mizzou beat Oklahoma then head to bed. Still tired. Goodnight!

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I love the phrase "Skeletal remains dancing on the sideboard"

I had planned to go back to work today, but after a very uncomfortable outing to church yesterday, I decided to take another day and have a slugfest. I mean, I really did nothing. I stared in the direction of the TV, but I couldn't tell you what I watched. I took a three hour nap. I surfed nothing in particular. Total slugfest. I hope I'm ready to rejoin the madness tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon was only slightly more exciting. While sitting in my comfy craft chair, crocheting away, I heard a strange noise outside. I sounded like someone was shoveling snow, but of course there is none. It happened every few seconds until I finally went to the window and peeked through the blinds. Ah! Not a snow shovel at all!


Six hot air balloons! The monkey one was close enough I could hear the burner as they made themselves go higher. It had been much closer to the ground when I looked out the window, but by the time I got my camera and shoes it had risen quite a bit. I could still hear it, though. We see balloons quite frequently, but six at once is fairly uncommon. So that was a nice surprise!

While I was outside with my camera, I decided to copy my blog buddy Becky in showing off my seasonal decorations. I lurve seasonal decorations. I've had my Halloween decs up since the weekend after Labor Day. On the day after Halloween, the Thanksgiving stuff will go up. And as soon as we get back from my sister's after Thanksgiving, well, you get the idea. Now, Becky has a couple of nice vignettes of decorations that look festive and photograph well, but mine are kind of scattered about. And I don't have a great deal, but I really dislike nekkid doors. I always say I'm going to make more holiday stuff, but the queue is long and it just kind of never happens.


A maniacal Jack o' Lantern is nestled amongst the bushes next to a fierce alligator...


A creepy black wreath of foreboding festoons the front door...


The inside of the front door as well as the door to the garage harbor representatives of the unnatural...


Bad luck and spooks abound on this bookshelf...


Skeletal remains dancing on the sideboard add a macabre punch to mealtimes...

Hee! Did I mention I lurve seasonal decorations?? Do you have some?? Show me! Show me! (I'm from Missouri, I can't stop saying that.)

Please show me?

It's ending to smell a little like...

I have a co-worker who whistles subconsciously while walking through the halls. He has a dozen or so go-to tunes, but he does get stuck on one from time to time. At least two of the songs in his repertoire are Christmas carols and they break out regardless of season. In fact, July and August were big Sleigh Ride months. I find this trait endearing and I don't mind the year-round caroling, that is, until the songs get stuck in my head. So when, in thinking of a title for this post, I thought it might be cute and apropo to go with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...", I slapped my head and started saying, "No, no, NO!!" Now that song will be stuck in my head! Argh!

Hehe. You're welcome.

Look down! Back at me!

Surgery recovery continues and things are going pretty well. Especially when I either stay up or stay down. It's the in-between that still gets me, but we're progressing. So I stay up for a bit, puttering in the kitchen or running a broom over the floor (this place is a dried grass magnet, I swear!), then I sit down and veg out, surf the 'net or crochet a bit. I've been working on the never-ending afghan but, as promised, I took a break to make a Christmas stocking.

I made all the motifs on Friday, then pieced them together Saturday morning. I didn't get a very good photo (red is so hard to photograph accurately!), but this will do. I re-photographed it in natural light (go figure!) and it looks a lot better. I think it's colorful and fun a good size for collecting lots of Christmas loot! I hope the recipient of this bit of holiday cheer likes it!

Polka Dot Christmas Stocking by Priscilla Hewitt
Stash acrylic yarn
Size US H hook

I like it and am quite happy with it. It's alsoreally nice to have a completed project to look at and stroke and share and talk about in the midst of a long afghan project that has felt like it would never end.

Now back to the afghan with a little more pep! 14 blocks to go! It's beginning to look a lot like an afghan! Hee!!!

You're so, so welcome. ;)

Can I make "sofa-full" a standard measure?

A long-held belief of mine has just been sent down the tubes. I was apparently one of many who thought that one had a year to send a wedding gift. According to Emily Post and Miss Manners, this is not so. Not that I ever thought it was an awesome idea to wait a year to send a gift, but I like to make beautiful things for people, and sometimes beautiful things take time. Often longer than the time from the receipt of the invitation until the event, anyway. So it turns out I've been an even crappier friend and relative in many instances than I thought. Oh joy. Having said that, I don't actually think that anyone has ever received a late handmade gift from me and thought, "Well, this would be awfully nice if only it weren't so freakin' late!" I do realize it's all just a bunch of nebulous guidelines for a bunch of folks just honestly trying to do their best. And so I soldier on. But I'd really been relying on that one-year thing. Ah well.

One of my very best friends got married a few months ago. Not only was I unable to attend, but I didn't get the gift done in time. It's still not done. But I've been trooping along on it and am at least on the downhill side now. It's a patchwork sampler afghan and because I'm only using yarn from the stash, it may be a little trippy. Which I think will suit the happy couple just fine. At least I certainly hope so. I have 3/4 of the squares done and am hoping the last 1/4 will go a little more quickly (oh, we always hope these things). I'd been feeling like I was just working and working on it and not getting anywhere, so laying the completed squares all out for a photo made me realize that I have actually accomplished quite a bit. Blogging can be therapeutic in so many ways!

So if my recent lack of handwork content has made you wonder what I've been up to, now you can see for yourself. One sofa-full of afghan squares, coming up!


That's 47 squares and I have 16 to go. Then layout, seaming, and edging. But I may have to take a small break to make a Christmas stocking. Thank goodness I have a few more days off and streaming Netflix!

I shudder to think what other dearly held beliefs might be wrong...

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The story continues...

Hi there! So, you know how I've been complaining and complaining about how this hurts and that hurts and woe is me and that other thing hurts and I have uncontrollable digestive problems? Yeah, I bet you're sick to death of that. Well, hopefully this is that last of those!

Current complaint: It feels like I've been stabbed in the gut four times. Why is that? Well, mostly because I was sort of stabbed in the gut four times. Legally, mind you, by a trained professional who was dearly compensated for having the privilege. Oh, I'm ever so dramatic, aren't I? I had my gallbladder removed yesterday in a laparoscopic procedure that involved four incisions into my abdomen, all of which now sort of hurt a lot. Oh, there's Vicodin, which may be responsible for my current ridiculous blogging style, but it doesn't really keep much pain at bay. Which is pretty annoying, actually.

Really, the surgery went smoothly, and recovery is going just as it should be, and I don't really have anything to complain about. In fact, I have quite a lot to be thankful and happy about. You see, gallbladders are pesky little things. Not only has my icky little diseased organ likely been the cause of many of my digestive problems for the last few years, which isn't surprising at all, but gallbladder pain refers in interesting ways. Like into the right side of your back and shoulder. Seeing a connection here? Not that I didn't have real rotator cuff issues, but we couldn't figure out why, after months of PT and all kinds of stretches, exercises, and obvious strengthening, I couldn't get rid of the pain. Granted, I'm taking Vicodin, but I have had zero shoulder pain since the surgery, even when I woke up this morning hours after the drugs had worn off. So I'm hopeful, hopeful, hopeful that two birds have been struck by this stone. Or the removal of these stones, so to speak. Happy dance!

This was my first surgery and my first admittance to the hospital. I've really been extremely lucky in my life. So I'm not used to having to "get well soon" or being the recipient of beautiful pretties such as my darling coworkers had sent to me today:


Aren't they purdy?? The flowers are just really lovely. Let's zoom a bit, shall we?


*lurve*

The next post will have handwork content. I promise. No, really. For true.

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