Did you know the Blogspot profile software asks a silly question?

For those of you who checked out my profile here is the complete frog story. Blogspot limits you to 150 charactors so I couldn't give the full story in my profile. (And for those of you who haven’t.)

Random Question: The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the bald frog with the wig:

Out in the back forty there used to be a small pond, back before the developers came in and built row housing and apartment buildings but that's another story. Anyway, there used to be a pond and it was home to one very noisy frog. This frog was bald.

(Aren't all frogs bald?)
(Who is telling this story? Keep your questions to yourself.)

The frog was ashamed of his baldness.
(If he was the only frog there then who was he worried about seeing him?)
(Gggrrrr - stop it with the questions.)

So the frog wove pond scum and algae together to make a wig for himself.
(Yeeuuwww!)

And he put it on.
(Double yuck!)

And the frog looked stupid. But he didn't sunburn his head anymore. The End.

Things to do while you have a cold

I’ve had a cold for the last couple of weeks that has settled into being sinusitis; or maybe it was always sinusitis masquerading as a cold. Whichever. During this time, I’ve been reading the ingredient boxes of the various cold/sinus medications. We had quite a collection in my house since The Geek will buy a different one if his original purchase didn’t work as well as he wanted. We had daytime and nighttime selections, for colds, colds with coughing, and sinus/allergy problems, all different brand names. As everyone knows, it may be over-the-counter but it ain’t cheap. Well, except for Wal-Marts house brand which is less expensive than the others.

To cut to the chase on this, every one of them had the same chemical names in them with the same mg’s per chemical EXCEPT for the antihistamine. A-HA! I thought the difference between daytime and nighttime formulas is that the antihistamine makes you sleepy. That’s not the only thing I thought. I also thought there will be no more buying of twenty different brands to find one that works – they all have the same thing. You only have to worry about buying something different if you need cough suppression (which is another chemical that was the same across the boxes.)

During the course of my cold/sinusitis, I proceeded to empty all of those boxes. Today I was reading the boxes left for me to empty when I noticed something else I had missed on my earlier perusal of the ingredients. A certain brands daytime sinusitis ingredients were EXACTLY the same as a different brands nighttime cold formula! This explains why yesterday the daytime formula kept knocking me out. The moral of this post: the next time you are sick read those ingredient lists and don’t buy five different brands looking for a cure. Moreover, don’t believe that daytime/nighttime stuff on the box. If it has an antihistamine, it will make you sleepy.

I want a new drug

"I want a new drug
One that won't make me sick
One that won' make me crash my car
Or make me feel three feet thick" *

As you may have figured out from the silence, I have found a new drug! But first, a little show and tell of what has kept me busy until it arrived.



A group shot of knitting projects. TJ's Asheville socks are in the back, TET's Asheville sock is on the right, the 2 teepees are my socks in progress, and the lone item on the left is a baby Ugg bootie for my Cool Sis. There were a pair of booties made for her, but my girlfriend Monk (previously known as TOCC) stole them for her granddaughter, so now I have one bootie left to make.

Here is a closeup for TJ of her beautiful autumn colored socks.

I had my doubts about the colors in plain stockinette, but they have worked out nicely--now the only problem is whether or not they will fit!

Ok, are you ready for the new drug? I ordered it last Saturday night, and knitted like a fiend to get TJ's socks finished before it arrived to distract me. Watching football on Sunday I got the heel turned on sock 2 and maybe an inch more. On Monday when I got the confirmation email that my delivery would be arriving on Tuesday, I really had to get busy! UPS got here as I was working on the cuff ribbing--my fingers were flying! I even impress myself sometimes.

I present to you my new drug--

An Ashford Joy spinning wheel! She doesn't have a name yet,and she is rather small.Fozzie tried to take a turn with her and his legs are way too long. This is a sample of the mess I made with her on the first day tryout


Continuing to amaze myself, I have limited my time to only an hour or so each day with her. I have enough back problems without going for broke. Here is what I managed on the second and third trys.


Looks a little better, but then again it is still on the bobbin. As I continue to learn and make a mess, I am saving all this yarn mass to send to TJ. TJ has a flair for colors, as she has shown with flower arranging and jewelry making, so it will be up to her to expand her talents. The Geek is not happy with me, thinking this spinning will cause him to have to spend lots of money on TJ. He does not believe that her portion consists of Kool-Aid packets. Oh well, he will learn.

In the meantime, I will just sit and spin. People have been accusing me of that for years.


"I want a new drug
One with no doubt
One that won't make me talk too much
Or make my face break out

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you
When I'm alone with you"* I Want A New Drug, Huey Lewis & the News, 1983

Why do we go to Jinx’s house?

I was chatting with TET the other day about her (then) upcoming visit to Jinx’s. “We’re going to pick up a new dog.” she said. A trend I thought, the Earthpigs have picked up at least two of their pets during visits to Jinx’s house. If you asked an observer you would think I go to Jinx’s house to collect BIG rocks, visit the world’s best fabric store and Hobby Lobby. (Big rocks cost an arm and a leg in the sandy south and she is always eager to get rid of some.) OnyxDarkwind goes to Jinx’s house to collect grapevines. One would think we go there to get things. And you would be right.

Well, maybe not in the case of this latest dog but I’m pretty sure the Earthpigs weren’t planning on getting a dog on that other visit. If I remember correctly everyone went to PetSmart and came home with a dog. You know, that superstore that has local shelters bring over their dogs and cats that need a good home. So you go in the store for fish food and these darling puppies wiggle and dance while looking at you. And the next thing you know you’re picking one up and it smells so good. Then it’s sniffing your ear which tickles and it’s wriggling with pleasure in your arms, just so excited to be with you. And your heart just overflows with laughter cause this little puppy (or kitten) is so happy with you. The next thing you know, you’re leaving the store with a puppy and you forgot the fish food. “Never mind,” you think, “who needs fish?” Here is a being that thinks you are the center of the world and lets you know it. We have all been there. The Geek won’t let me into that store at all. This might be another post actually.

Anyway. Yes, we do go to Jinx’s house to get something: we get to see each other, to wallow in our friendship. That’s a kind of ‘getting’. We get to chat, compare yarn projects, share recipes, perform theraputical analysis on each other, watch old movies and new CSI (shudder), talk about the things we want to do but will never get to do (unless we win the lottery). Most of these things we could do via the phone and email but it’s not the same as face-to-face. We use these other ‘gets’ as excuses to indulge ourselves in our friendship.

There is another excuse we use to visit each other, it’s called saving money. We’re going to DC so we might as well stop at Jinx’s house and save the cost of a hotel room. Or, they’re going to Tampa so they might as well stop at our house and save the cost of a room. Never mind that neither house is on the direct route to where we are headed. Never mind that it adds several hours onto our trip. We’re saving money!

Speaking of saving money and getting things. I need to go up to Jinx’s house and pick up a couple of big rocks. She gives them to me for free and I’ll save money.

A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

2005 at a Glance (or two, or three, or four)

BlueJinx’s post seemed seemed like such a good idea I decided to do one also. Then I read CombatMom’s and knew it was time to get typing.

In January, I had quit my job (yeah!) and The Geek had traded military life for a civilian job at a different base. We celebrated both events by buying new major appliances for the house. And I started my last semester at college.

February was animal month. Oreo’s mad dashes around the yard finally caught up with her and we had to take her in for knee surgery. We also adopted another cat: Tinker. The Geek was working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I).

Tinker is in my lap. Doesn't she look like Screech's twin?

March – I ventured out for a week and visited BlueJinx and my Mom. Got to hear BlueJinx at the band’s spring concert. Jinx is modest – she does play well and the band sounded good. Jinx – I am not tone deaf, so don’t even demur on this one. Where was The Geek? Working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I). Enjoying the time alone – not!  He was ready for me to get back home.

April, I finished classes and received another 2-year degree. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I).

May – I enrolled in American Sign Language I & II classes. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III). Somewhere in here Jinx introduced me to FlyLady. Remind me to explain the necessity of decluttering sometime.

June – All was quiet on the southern front. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III). We seem to have a trend here.

July: Hurricane Dennis waved at us as he went by. It was a a very active hurricane season but we were (once again!) very lucky. Everything hit to either side of us and we got off lightly. Of course, the fact that we bought a generator after Hurricane Ivan last year has something to do with it. I believe that if you are prepared Mother Nature will look for some one else to pound on. Oh yeah, The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III, Quake IV).

August was a very busy month. I finished ASL classes, took a trip to Mom’s and Jinx’s, and re-landscaped the yard. I don’t think I added anything and I’m very sure I removed a lot. Aaannnnddd…stained and sealed the back deck and front porch. Aaaannnddd we built new steps for the front porch. During this visit to Jinx’s the Earthpigs came up and we went to Asheville. It’s a beautiful place and we had a great time. It was also this visit that we had our first major squirmish with the TLF’s. We thought we were winning, little did we know. The Geek stayed home, kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III, Quake IV).


The Geek doing something other than work or computer games. Yes, it still qualifies as work but he's at home not there.




September was quiet. Somewhere in here was Hurricane Katrina that laid waste to our western neighbors. We have friends stationed in those areas and were glad to hear that they made it through okay. Then CombatMom was sent down to New Orleans and I got worried again. Some of those people in N.O. were behaving badly. Which is another rant – things are already bad why do some people have to make them worse? Why, in the middle of a disaster, do some people feel the need to behave like savages/madmen/a**holes? The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III, Quake IV, Serious Sam I). Oh wait, I did get a tattoo.

In October we began gearing up for “THE CRUISE”, a “family reunion” of most of our friends from Guam and a break from reality for a week. Aaannnddd…that’s about when I talked Jinx into starting a blog and discovered she had made it a team blog. Note to self: be careful when suggesting things to other people, you could end up doing it also. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III, Quake IV, Serious Sam I) up until the cruise.


November was quiet, we stayed home for Thanksgiving. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry I, Doom III, Quake IV, Serious Sam I).

December –We visited my family for my birthday (#46, but who's counting?). We stayed home for Christmas. Christmas was accompanied by a cold that I am still trying to get rid of. The Geek kept working and playing computer games (UnReal Tournament, Far Cry II, Serious Sam II, F.E.A.R.). Yes, he got some new games for Christmas.

So there you have it. Boring, wasn’t it? It’s a good thing I have hobbies, friends and FlyLady to keep me busy.