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Black

You are bold with a dark side. You make clear lines wherever you go, though you color outside of the lines. Many people may just see the surface of you and think you are merely plain, but you have a lot of depth to you as well.

 

Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?

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That's right, I have been so lax in my blog reading that there were around 740 unread posts on my f-list/blogroll late this afternoon. I'm *not feeling well enough to pick up my knitting (unbelievable, I know!), so I am trying to make some progress on the backlog. I have just 600 left and that includes the posts made since I started reading. Don't be too surprised if you get a comment on a 2 week old post...

*Yesterday evening, while helping a friend with her computer, I started feeling unwell, warm and dizzy and like I was going to pass out. It was less intense today and I did go to work, but not to water aerobics. I had the beginnings of an earache when I got home from wrk, but that seems to have disappeared.

My apologies for messing up your f-list/blogroll yesterday. I had changed the photo size of L's grandbaby, but somehow it didn't make it in the final posting. I think I fixed it now.

Again, My apologies.

Gosh, looks like it's been 2½ weeks or so since I have posted. Bad blogger! A lot has been happening, though. Since I was here last, we've had visitors. One of hubby's daughters contacted me saying that she and her sister want to come and surprise hubby for his birthday. I tried to do some housecleaning without arising too much suspicion, as I haven't done much at all since my knees really started bothering me. In any case, they arrived on Thursday, September 25th and spent the weekend with us. That evening, hubby went off to a meeting about 30 minutes before their train arrived. I was getting impatient for him to get home, so I called him in the middle of the meeting and told him that I was starving and he needed to hurry home and pick up pizza on the way. He was so surprised when he walked though the door. Had to go into the other room and compose himself for a few minutes. He had, apparently, been wondering what was up, though, as he had noticed me doing more cleaning than usual and he knew that my knees were not very good right then. Hehehe!

Oh, I almost forgot, they brought along a stow-away.


L's granddaughter, baby V. She's almost 10 months old now. It was a good visit!

Health-wise, knees are good, today, anyway. Water aerobics is three times a week and I am really enjoying it. Today, another lady and I did 30 minutes in the gym before the 45 minutes in the water. I don't enjoy the gym, but figure that I can do that once or twice a week before the water aerobics, since I'm going to be there anyway. It did wipe me out, though. Looking forward to when it starts making me more alert instead of being drained, like I am feeling now. Plus, I am down 5 kilograms (11 pounds).

I was surprised when I received a call from idahoswede yesterday. Apparently, I haven't been reading any of your blog posts, either. She was in Sweden for the weekend and wanted just to catch up a little since we'd not been able to see each other when I was in London staying at her place. She has now joined tysolna, olivia23 and I on the time suck wonderful website for knitting and crocheting enthusiasts, Ravelry, although, I still haven't convinced her to take up the wonderful pastime of knitting socks. It was good to hear from you, dear!

On the knitting front, finished a pair of SFS (Socks For Soldiers) yesterday out of Knit Picks Risata in the Grass colorway. The legs were knit on a machine by Michele in WI, so I started at the heel and knit the feet. Considering the legs are 13" long and the feet are 12", I was glad to have the legs finished before I even started! This pair is for the husband of a friend, who has been in the desert with his Nat'l Guard unit and is now home. He didn't get any socks while he was there, so I'm making sure that he gets some now. The next pair will be black for my nephew who joined the Marine Corps last year.

I am also still alive in Hat Attack! 2 and finished my second hat tonight (which I ended up ripping out and reknitting from scratch, as it was too small when I received it). It will be mailed off to the UK tomorrow.

Please note that no teddy bears were harmed in the photographing of these death hats.

Hat #1, mailed to The Netherlands, where it is being fought over by the daughter's of it's intended target.


Hat #2, soon on it's way to the UK. Be afraid, be very afraid!

Well, it's official, I have been hit by a pair of Detonator socks in Sock Wars III and I live no more. I can only take satisfaction in the fact that I took 5 people down before I was hit.

Good luck to the 40 warriors left standing.

"An experiment in human curiosity"

There are 30 questions.
Answer each question with one name.
Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits. Attempt to only use each name once.
Don't tell the questions to anyone who isn't doing the meme.

1. lizardek
2. paronskum
3. idahoswede, at least this week!
4. gnostraeh
5. georgiamars
6. jackiejj
7. peachekeen
8. carrieb
9. brief_therapy
10. reebert
11. No idea
12. kachunknorge
13. moderngypsy
14. guerrillascribe
15. lis_racerx, just for fun, dear.
16. lct_forelsket
17. karinek
18. aellia
19. shazzerlive
20. heartofclarky
21. No idea
22. No idea
23. drottningen
24. niteops
25. misschili
26. No idea
27. americantjej
28. same_sky
29. No idea
30. Live long and prosper.

The knees have been extra bad lately. What with the moving incident 2 weeks ago and London last weekend, I can barely walk this week, my knees are so sore. On Thursday, I met with the physical therapist for an intro to a water aerobics group that starts this coming Monday. The group only meets 1 day a week, officially. But, they do have the music routine twice more, on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, so I'm booked those times, as well. We'll try that for a couple of weeks, then maybe add some gym time before the water workouts. In addition to that, L and I have agreed to go on a diet powder drink diet for two weeks. I've got to do something before it gets to the point that I can't walk or work at all. I usually fail miserably at these things, but we will see how it goes this time.

 Or, I will be this evening. Doing my last minute packing check, sweeping the apartment to make sure that I didn't forget anything, washing the dishes, etc. I'm heading to the bus stop shortly after 09:30 (that's when my off-peak daycard becomes effective). I'll get to Paddington Station where I can store my luggage and then take a bus tour around London. I want to stop at Liberty's on Regent Street for sure. Not too sure there will be enough time to get on and off the tour more than that in order to get back to Paddington Station to catch the Heathrow Express out to the airport in time for my flight.

Thanks to idahoswede for the use of her flat and the lovely tysolna for schlepping me around the first two days until I got my bearings. I've had a lovely time in London (well, all except when they wanted us to leave the cafe at the V&A. I guess they thought we got too comfortable and were finished eating when we pulled out or knitting.).

Never fear, I will be back!

Well, yesterday was fun! I attended a funeral in the morning, rushed to the airport and hopped a plane to Heathrow, grabbed the express train to Paddington Station, where I met up with the lovely tysolna . We proceeded to get me organized with day tickets for the tube and trains while I am here and, then headed to Soho to meet up with a few British knitters who had organized a dinner meet-up for some of us out-of-towners. It was great! Good food and great company! Pictures will be posted when I have a minute to breathe. You see, this morning, tysolna  and I are headed off to I Knit Day, where we will meet up with more knitters, buy yarn and generally have a great time!

BTW, idahoswede , she got me here just fine. I really appreciate you letting me take over your place for the weekend. I'm sure, however, that you are enjoying yourself in Italy just as much as I am enjoying myself here! I left pressies on your dresser! 

TTFN

So, I've had some recent questions via e-mail and anonymous comments on the blog, which I thought I would address today.

1. Still no help from the Swedish Health Care system for your knees?

Well, I've had a little bit of help and advice to walk, walk, walk. Problem is, it's difficult to walk when your knees hurt or don't move the way they should. In any case, a referral was sent in, at my request (the doctor didn't feel it was necessary and that I was too young for knee replacement surgery), in late March to see an Orthopedic doctor. I received a letter shortly after that stating the wait was 8 months, so I still have 3½ months left to wait. In the meantime, I have been to the physical therapist for "Hip School" (they combined those with both knee and hip problems into one class) where we discussed exercises and how to move, etc. I have another appointment with the Physical Therapy Department to discuss joining a group that does aerobic exercise in their pool a few times per week. I have the okay from my boss to participate. He says that he needs me around for another 15 years, so my health is important. My next appointment/evaluation is Sept. 9th.

2. Sock war things, how many are you in? How do they work?

I was in 2 competitions over the summer. The first is Sock Wars III, where, as of this writing, I am still in the land of the living. The second is Death By Socks 4. I did, in fact, die just last week after being stuck by a lovely pair of red socks knit with wool yarn from Columbia. But I did take 4 other warriors with me before I bit the big one!

These competitions work like a chain. People sign up and are put onto a list which is then sorted by the organizer of the event in whatever manner they choose (often alphabetically by name or country or e-mail or whatever suits their fancy), then a sock pattern is release on a specified day and every one must knit the same pattern to "kill" the person (knit to the their target's size) below their name on the list. So, say 5 people signed up (Audrey, Betty, Christine, Debra and Eleanor) and they were put on the list in alphabetical order, they would kill each other like this: Audrey>Betty>Christine>Debra>Eleanor>Audrey (full circle). If Betty knits and mails socks to Christine, before Audrey sends Betty her socks, the moment Christine opens the package, she is dead. She immediately stops knitting her socks for Debra (who can knit when they are dead, anyway?), pulls waste yarn/string through the stitches that are still on the needles and mails them off to her assassin, Betty. Betty then continues where Christine left off on Debra's socks, all the while hoping that Audrey is a slow knitter or has also been killed by her assassin, Eleanor. Get it?

In Sock Wars III, I have already killed 4 people and #5's socks are on the way to the USA. Who knows, maybe she died today! One can hope! In the meantime, my latest assassin (the lady who killed my original assassin), has informed me that my socks are all but done. She was killed last week, and said that the "knitting" on my socks was done, but she was still grafting the toes closed and would mail them to me as soon as she was done. My interpretation of the rules of the game is that she should send the uncompleted socks the person that killed her, even if all that was left was the toe grafting, but who am I to complain, I've lived for months and have killed 4, soon-to-be 5 people.

In other news, the moving went fine, even though I couldn't carry things. I manned the back of the truck, stacking boxes and stuff, so that we could fit it all in. There was a little bit of a worry that we wouldn't be able to get it all unloaded and get the truck back on time. But, in the end H's friends, J and P, came to the rescue and the 3 of them unloaded the truck in 15 minutes (much easier when you are on the ground floor vs. the 3rd floor you moved from and that you could easily back up to the back patio/sunroom door to unload!) and we returned the truck with 5 minutes to spare.

Then, there is a little trip I am taking this coming weekend. I will be attending "I Knit London Day" in London of all places! I am leaving on Friday afternoon and not returning until Monday evening. I had hoped to spend some time with idahoswede, but she will be away in Italy, attending her boss' wedding. However, she has kindly offered me the use of her flat while I am in town. I will also get to meet tysolna, who, I understand, is a fellow knitter. tysolna will be meeting me at the train and getting me settled in the flat. I have talked her into joining me Friday evening for dinner with some of the other out of town knitters who are arriving for Saturday's big event. I have also gotten her a ticket for I Knit Day, including entrance to hear the infamous Yarn Harlot speak. Then Sunday, more of us are meeting at the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the textile/lace exhibit and sit in the café to talk and knit. Not sure what I will do on Monday, but I'm sure that I will figure out something to do before my airplane leaves in the evening. I am really looking forward to the weekend!

Grattis på födeseldagen! Happy Birthday to peachekeen!!

This looked like too much fun to pass up! Blame Katydid Knits!

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

My daughter is moving is weekend. I am helping. I get to drive the big truck, a Mercedes with a lift! Cool! Can't do much else, though. I no sooner got here, after driving 7 hours and picking up the truck, then my right knee gave out. I didn't even do anything other than walk into her apartment building. I guess that it thought it would give up now rather than carry boxes up and down the stairs. There's some pain, but I have my meds with me, so I'll be okay. It's just uncomfortable not being able to put my leg up, since there isn't any furniture in her apartment.

I know that you are all concerned about my sock wars. Well, I'm sad to report that I have been offed in Death By Socks 4 and there is a report that socks are winging their way across the ocean to kill me in Sock Wars 3. In the meantime, I have killed one more person in each of those competitions. Yesterday I finished and mailed the socks below to the east coast of the USA for my 5th kill in Sock Wars III.



I very recently heard about a Swedish music website where folks can upload their own music. Take a listen to one or all three of the songs on this page and tell me what you think:

Den mekaniska flickan

I'll leave you with my latest swap package. This is from CraftyMandy for the "Sock Yarn From Stash" swap. She sent some beautiful Opal sock yarn and some Regia without a label. I love them both! Then, there is the Yarn Harlot’s calendar, some bath gel and body lotion, a thimble from Coventry, mmm chocolate , treats for the dog, stitch markers and a notebook. Thanks so much!! I loved it all!

Last Fall, there was a spate of blogs doing "Pay It Forward" gifts. I posted it in my blog after signing up with My Boring Life. Monday, I received a box in the mail containing lovely and yummy things!


Tasty treats and fun stuff! Plus, beads for my Mystery Stole 4 (there is still time to sign up. You know you want to!).


Some yarn for me (the light was bad and it is much brighter and prettier in person!).


And some yarn for Socks For Soldiers. (There wasn't a tag with it, so I don't know the blend of the yarn.)



Thanks, Michelle!

Here's my fouth pair of Wishbone Socks. I received the partially completed legs (see the red yarn) on Tuesday afternoon that were begun by my last victim and just completed grafting the toes right after midnight. They will go out in the mail tomorrow afternoon, on their way to their intended victim in the USA.

olivia23 and I joined a group of ladies on Ravelry for the Socktopia Olympics. There are 15 teams of 3 ladies each. That's 45 ladies knitting the same pair of socks. The first team to knit 12 socks (6 pairs) in the Olympian Socks pattern, by the end of the Olympics wins. Partial socks count.

olivia23 and I are actually on the same team (along with scraphappy), Team Lipstick. We are #1 on the leaderboards with 3 socks completed. Go Team Lipstick!

Here are my completed pair...


Olympian Socks, pattern by Sheryl Giles
Yarn, Claudia Hand-painted, colorway-Ingrid's Blues

I recently joined a group called Socks For Soldiers, Inc. which keeps up the tradition of sending hand knit socks to our troops overseas. Being an ex-USMC wife and because I don't live in the States at the moment, I wanted to do "something" to show that I care. This cause seemed perfect for me.

Here are the socks before I washed and sent them.


Well, the found and president of Socks For Soldiers, Inc., Kim Opperman, was recently interview by a local television station for a show called "I Love My Job". I'll try to embed it below. It is almost 30 minutes long and the commercials are in there, but please take the time to watch the whole thing. And, if you pay special attention around 6:55 and then again at 16:48 (watch there for about 1 minute), you'll hear about me. It blew me away!

http://media.wmfd.com/job/job08072008.wmv

Hubby wants to compete in an in-line race in Berlin in September. Do I know anyone in Berlin? I have no idea where to stay nor do I speak German.

I've mostly been involved in knitting to kill these days, but I did join the Summer Lovin' Swap on KnittyBoard. Yesterday, I got a box in the mail with some scrumptious things in it: Alchemy in a very pale green (so soft!), Araucnía Ranco in a darker green/rusty green, 2 scented candles (apricot and apple pie), steak rub from Alberta Canada and whole coffee beans (pecan and chocolate macadamia nut flavors). Great package! I've wanted to get Alchemy for sometime now. The candles are so yummy! And the coffee, we've tasted the choclate macadamia nut and it's delicious!



My only problem is, I have no idea who my secret swap pal is. She is from Alberta, Canada and I have a last name, but that doesn't often help with figuring out usernames. Help!

Thanks, whoever you are!