KnitKnacks
Curios from the cluttered mind...
So last Friday we headed down to CT for the weekend. Homeland Scrutiny had a checkpoint set up on I-91 just south of White River Junction. I was not impressed when the two Border Patrolmen (who BTW did not look like they would survive racial profiling) stopped chatting with each other long enough to ask if we were US citizens. I think they might have waited for an answer before telling us to have a nice day and waved us through. Boy do *I* ever feel more secure now!! I could NOT wait for Greg to shut the window before shrieking with laughter and epitaphs of what I would have liked to have said!!
We had another Book on Tape to listen to...I didn't make it without falling asleep. Too bad I was driving. I had all I could do to reach over and push the eject button. Whew! On the way home it was Abba and cruise control and no "events"
Saturday, Maura Lori and I, ventured up to Poughkeepsie to attend a Bridal Shower for Nora. I think Nora was surprised despite MY telling her we were going down there for the weekend..there's a clue. She got some really nice gifts..and a copy of the Idiot's Guide to Amazing Sex. Peggy (Nora's mom) dog earred a lot of pages. ( Patritcia(I'm sure I spelled her name wrong), Maura, Lori, Nora(sitting), Laura, Tina)
Monday morning Maura and I played with Play Doh and Paints while Kieran slept and Mommy went to the gym. I learned it is much more important (and enjoyable) to listen to her giggles and joy, than it is to keep the Play Doh and paint colors pristine.
Becasue I drove home on Monday, I have lost a day this week but I've accomplished a bunch of things so far and will be ready to turn around and go back down again on Friday. Packing fresh batteries for the digital camera.
Our budding Photographer used Grandma Fran's camera allllll over the house and her room and Kieran's room.. Next weekend she'll use it outside in the yard.
pppssssttt.....I hestitate to link these since there are plenty that aren't all that flattering but what the heck....
Hello, My Name is Fran and I am a junkaholic, a pack rat. I have the genes, it's not my fault; I grew up in a household where nothing was thrown away. It was reused, restored or as in most cases just stored someplace because you just never knew when you would need something like it someday. Oh sure, I've made several attempts to break out..clean out..witness the number of times I've had the trash people drop one of those big green dipsy dumpsters in the yard. I've filled them on occasion but never really managed to get rid of EVERYTHING that seemed eligible for the landfill. I've tried garage sales too but I also seem to suffer from sellers regret at some point after the fact. what keeps someone like me going? What really keeps us from tossing something out? It all comes down to the payoff for the behavior...the times when you do need something you've hung onto and you have "it".
Such was the case yesterday. Out of the death of our superautomatic coffee maker and research into it's replacement, rose the desire to try a hand at roasting our own coffee beans. Tap tap tap...waiting for the UPS man to deliver the Ronco Home Coffee Roaster Kit and 11 pounds of green coffee beans. Ok, it's not Ronco but it makes for a good description. While researching home roasting methods (gotta love the internet), Greg found that the use of hot air popcorn poppers is THE perferred method. The West Bend Poppery II model, found in Salvation Army stores, Garage sales or Goodwill stores is tauted as being second only to the orginal Poppery. So guess who wanted me to find a Poppery II........whew....work work work. Hhhhhmmmm......my mother used a hot air popper; I have a lot of her junk I tried to garage sale and never sold and obviously never tossed. Slowly I turned, step by step...down the cellar stairs to the pile of stuff stored in the corner. (Corner is a little misleading...) I found her popper, it looked right...I turned it over but it didn't say Poppery II, sigh..nope...TA DA! *I* held the holy grail in my own two hands...yes folks..the orginal Poppery.....all togther now....ooooooooooooo.....aaahhhhh.
...and this is exactly why we never throw anything away.........
*Warning: your anti-depressant may result in your comitting suicide. What a comforting thought.
*The famous "snake-man" was bitten and died. His homemade remedy didn't work. As his family's sole provider he often brought his work home and now no one wants to get near "them". Understandable.
*Whitney Houston has admitted an addiction and gone into rehab? No, really?
*We have a dead coffee maker in the den...someone ought to take it out to the trash. tap tap tap, waiting patiently for the UPS man............ok not patiently. where's my coffee maker? Why does this old coffee maker work so slowly...where's my intravenous line.....
*Just for added excitement to start the day, I had blood drawn this morning so I couldn't even have bad coffee until after I got back. Again with the hunt for a blood filled vein this morning...she found one and wasn't bad.
*April is fast approaching..we all know what that brings, don't we? Noooo not taxes or showers, it brings out the desire in someone to be a little eccentric in his spending........stay tuned for the newest Johnston knit. tap tap tap...waiting for the UPS man some more.
*The Homeland Scrutiny Folk will start harassing, I mean screening rail passengers this spring. Maybe if their non intrusive technology proves effective, then maybe they can clean up the airline mess. You would not have believed the lines through security in Seattle last Sat morning!!
Does it look like someone outside this Seattle home is used to hand outs?
There isn't much snow accumulation from all the flurrying it's been doing here, but it's darn cold....8 degrees when I got up. Don't like that in March....BUT it is suppose to be near 60 by Friday...we'll just see about that.
I had an amzing trip to Seattle last Tuesday. FIRST I was going to go Stand-by on jetBlue but I thought better of it when I could get earlier first class seats on USAir using my miles. Of course this turned out to be the equivalent of changing lines at the grocery store when your perception is that the line you are in isn't moving but the others are.....screwed for changing. I still thought I'd made the right decision to change because the bad weather was causing delays and cancellations in the New York - Newark - Phillie area and *I* was going to Pittsburgh first. Smug....wrong again there Bucko. My plane was coming up from Phillie..or not as the case may be so I was not going to make my connection in Pittsburgh. Throwing myself on jetBlue's mercy, I did make it on board standby as well as the later flight from JFK to Seattle...3 seats to myself mind you. Of course the drawback is the normal arrival time is midnight and we didn't get there to 1:15am..yawn...I slept most of the way though.
We played ultimate dress up on Wednesday. Went out to a steakhouse for dinner with some of Lon and Char's friends Wed night. Thursday we went to a fabulous lunch at Palamino's ( no web site)and then onto The5th Avenue Theater for a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. All was excellent...hard to dine out at a place where everyone of us wanted to lick our plates. Friday Charlotte and I attended the gem show...oh my goodness...such sparkle ..such fun...such lack of funds!
Getting home wasn't much easier than getting out there especially when I didn't want to spend any cash......jetBlue was booked until I don't know when..I gave up after a having them check for a few days. I got a sat morning first class seat on USAirways but it cost plenty of FF miles. It worked out nicely since I never saw so many people at an airport security checkpoint..it would have taken more than an hour to get through BUT SEA has a first class entrance. I like that in an airport especially when I'm holding first class tickets. Between march Madness and Spring Break and Cruises, I bet there are still groups waiting in lines.
At anyrate...still good to be home..snow flurries and all......
UVM is going to the Dance.......good for them! The fans have always been there for them and I think it was a nice touch that Phish sang the National Anthem for their America East Championship Game yesterday. Dance on, Catamounts.....
We finally saw Lord of the Ring Return of the King yesterday. I'm still awed by the accomplishment of Peter Jackson with this Trilogy....I believe the Oscars were well earned.
Blech blech.....one should not have two cups of coffee on the desk especially if one of them has yesterday's coffee in it...blech blech......
The sun was shining so brightly this morning, I pretended it was a nice summer day...it almost worked in spite of the filty windows. March is nearly as unattractive as November in Vermont...brown. Snort...the Easter bunny has to be particularly clever when hiding eggs around here....any bit of color stands out like a neon sign. ( yeah I know Easter is in April...it won't green up by then either)
I'm reading John Grisham's The last Juror.....we listened to book on CD entitled The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Neffenegger. Umm...to be more precise, Greg listened to all 10 CDs on his trips to CT, *I* only listened to the first 3 and the last 2 but I really enjoyed it...it certainly might be worth reading. Interesting...I didn't know that it was a Today Show Book Club selection but I also was amused by the section where Amazon lists other books bought by those who bought The Time Travelers Wife. I've read all but one of those.
Time to get on with the rest of the day...have a pleasant one, All........
Wow..Time flies........but I got lots of things done this past week.
The biggest issue done and out of the way is our personal taxes preparation for the accountants...dropped that packet off and what a relief that is. Why is it always worse thinking about gathering all that stuff than actually doing it? Anyway, with that out of the way, my traveling days will begin...
The political campaign has stepped up a notch and into the nasty realm...I'm not happy with the way things are going at all. Why is it that we have to chose between the lesser of two evils rather than the best man for the job? I'd love to be able to say "Gee, all candidates are so great it's going to be a hard decision to chose between them."
UVM is playing in the America East Championship Basketball game this morning against U-Maine. Big doings around here and of course if they win they get an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Playoffs. Go Catamounts..
Again, Lee had an interesting post about all the names one has......see mine in the "Continuing" section.
If you called me Baby, then you were my father.
If you called me Missy, then you were my mother.
If you called me Squeegee, then you were in my 5th Grade class in Poquonock, CT.
If you called me Peewee, then you are Mr. LaValley.
If you called me Peeweewee, then you are Eddie Mack.
If you called me Shorty, Shrimp, or any other deminuative name, then we were in elementary school/junior high together.
If you call me Frani, then I knew you in high school or met you through Greg.
If you call me Honey, then you are Greg.
If you call me Fran, then I introduced myself to you.
If you call me Frani Baby, then you are Liz via a young Annie.
If you call me Franciiiiiiiiine, then you are Alice.
If you call and thought I was dead, then you are Neal.
If you call me Mom, then you are Demian.
If you call me Mommy, then you are Morgan.
If you call me FW, then you are Nora.
If you call me Mama Fran, then you are Maura.
If you call me Francine Bean, then you are Auntie Lisa.
If you call me Frances, then you don't know me and are trying to be cute.
If you call me Mrs J, then you are the Robitaille boys.
If you call me Mrs Johnston, then you may be trying to sell me something.
If you call me Mrs Johnson, then I really don't need to speak with you.
* Such a cruel month, March is....snow last night but dripping from the roof this morning already; good sugaring weather. Be done with winter already!
*I want to go to Pyro School! Thanks for the link, Morgan...you weren't taunting me were you? I think it would just fine to jaunt off to the west coast for the weekend...bet I'd be the only Granny from New England in the class!
*It's not inconceivable to fly across the country on a whim these days...as a matter of fact I'm doing that next week. (Pay attention, Cori, Wendy) I'm going to Seattle for a few days..just long enough to celebrate my big brother's birthday and peruse my SIL's jewelry stash for something to wear with my MOG dress. Ahem...we won't mention which is the main reason for the trip. Heck, they do it for the oscars so why not me! I have lots of fun things to look at and fondle! We are also going to hit the Gem show that will be in town then too. Oh what fun......!!
*In the meantime, the rest of this week is funfilled with tax preparation, quarterly, pest maintenance, hair appointment, dress fitting... I mean really? how much fun can one woman have? No, no dentist appointment, I went there yesterday.
Spring is coming!!!!!! Melting snow, chirping birds, daylight arriving earlier, runny eyes ears and noses, skunks, mud, muddy cat prints on everything (and with Knoel's size feet that is not insignificant.), $1.99 bundles of daffodils at the grocery store, mud...Olivia Joy Robitaille's birth (March3rd), lighter wool coats, no hats/gloves, regular shoes, maybe mud shoes, people outside, friendly greetings, smiles, cars fresh from the car wash, muddy cars, (we still try), sugaring stories...it's all good, even the mud; such a harbinger of Spring, how can we get annoyed with that?
In other news....
Martha Stewart has been found guilty and hung out to dry......I hope the other stock faud, manipulators of other people money, and general greedy types (men) find themselves in court soon ...if not jailtime, then they should be made to pay restitution.
I couldn't help but notice the new ad campaign for Viagra on TV...with all the men leaping about, jubilant, smiling to the tune of "We are the Champions"....how does one go about posting that casting call? Hello we need a bunch or overweight, balding, aging, suspendered, men who haven't had sex in at least 5 years, if ever......what a motley looking crew that is.
I probably should be a little more concerned with the upcoming nomination of John Kerry in his bid to oust George W from the presidency. I'm still convinced the media plays too large a role in determining candidates and issues. Who said Howard Dean lacked electibilty..oh yeah, I think that was Bob Schieffer ....and voila! John Kerry became the front runner. The media ran roughshod over Howard and his concession speech.......it was all downhill from there. So what makes John Kerry so untouchable..hhhmmm??? There is nothing new or fresh...more of the good old boy club. Inquiring minds want to know.........but it's going to be a very long campaign.
*I drove home yesterday using my cruise control most of the way...good thing, too since there were many troopers in CT, MA & VT just waiting for me. They would have gotten me too....whew.
*Amazing what a few good drugs can do for you...I had gone a day and a half without taking my BP drug which is a Beta Blocker and ended up with a raging sinus headache about a half hour before I got home. Guess Ida's DR is right about the beta blocker's association with headaches.
*Kieran shared his birthday cake with us but I still think I may have overdosed on sugar....;-D
*Morgan gave me some new tools to play with...color scheme and another notification thingie that lets me know when someone is looking at my blog. Of course I have to be logged onto AOL or AIM to get these IMs but it's kind of fun...I saw you peeking, Risa!
*Demian tapped his sugar maples the past couple of weekends and got some very serious good quality syrup for his efforts! His Great Grandfather Howard would be pleased.