Second Half of January
9:49 a.m. - 2008-01-15


There are two library book sales this weekend, and two birthday dinners are coming up soon. Evan has chosen macaroni and cheese for his dinner, which is, the way my dad makes it, the most deliciously cheesy, greasy, decadent treat in the world. January is having the Mexican boiled beef, which is relatively low fat, if you skim the fat off the broth, but since she is having ice cream sundaes for dessert, the fat content of the dinner is doomed anyway. The spouse and I will have to go for a long walk before the dinners to counteract the fat grams.

I seem to be collecting old sewing books lately, and have become interested in drafting a sloper pattern, but I have been so busy reading the entire works of D.E. Stevenson (at least all the ones I could order from the library) that the days have slipped by without much productive sewing or knitting going on. I love those books, and must see if I can buy up a collection for myself, since they are disappearing from the libraries. Today I am going to try to sew a little on Abby's shirt.

On Sunday I called into Kaiser to order my prescription refills, and the automated voice told me they would be ready on Monday at noon. I thought that was rather swift of them, so I went over about 1:30 in the afternoon, and lo, my prescriptions were not ready. The lady at the counter in the pharmacy, hearing that I was told to come on Monday, said, "those idiots", so I guess they are having trouble with that. I will go back later in the week, since I do not like to sit around waiting in the pharmacy having every sick person in the county cough on me. Is Kaiser going to refund my gas money??? Of course not.

I went to the JoAnns sale on Sunday after church and ran into Melissa there. This was great, because the patterns were on sale, limited to 10 per person, and I was able to enlist Melissa into being another pattern buyer, so together we got almost 20 more patterns. Melissa also showed me a new notion in the knitting department, a tension thingy to hold the yarn on your finger. I have always had a problem maintaining tension, so I am going to give it a try. I used my half-off coupon on it so it only cost me about $1.50. Melissa thought it was lame to use the coupon on such a small item, but that was all I was buying except patterns, so what the heck?

I think the new exercise regime is making me stronger already. Stong bones is what I am after, but strong muscles are good too. I haven't really started dieting in earnest yet, I am just trying to lower fat content and eat whole grains and more vegetables. And I switched to skim milk. If I had my choice, I would guzzle down whole milk every day, but that is not to be.

I have thought of a fun way to approach my sewing. Instead of choosing a pattern and trying to find some of my fabric to use for it (which is annoying because though I have two tons of fabric, it never seems to be the right kind for whatever pattern I choose), I am going to grab fabric off the top of the most precarious pile and decide what to do with it. This will save digging through the fabric and lessen the danger of avalanche.