Courtesy of She Who Seeks

I couldn't resist stealing this from her...

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

...a parody of the poem by Dylan Thomas

There was an old father of Dylan

Who was seriously, mortally illin'

"I want" Dylan said

"You to bitch till you're dead.

I'll be pissed if you kick it while chillin' "

Thank you Debra, I just couldn't have done this without you.

You can read Debra's blog HERE

You should check out her blog. She is always entertaining. 👋

Hello, it's Me...

I've been away for a long, long time... I've been overwhelmed...

It is absolutely gorgeous here...

I think that the reports that it rains here all the time and is always cold is a gross exaggeration. It must be a conspiracy to keep the rest of the country from all coming here. For the most part, the weather has been as good as the views...

I even managed to join a clan...

We went to the Scottish Highland Games in Enumclaw...

While we were there we all decided that we should claim our family, but the question was which family should we join. We descend from many Scottish families. We decided that we should join the closest genetic link that we had. My grandmother was a Thompson, so Thompson it is.

Where I'm living is cozy...

The house is small, and I live here with my brother, Ken and my sister Karen, along with 4 cats and a dog...

Bear

The cats are a little shy right now...

Max

We had to get the long haired ones shaved. We do not have air conditioning and even the relatively mild temperatures that we have had is too much for them. They were suffering. I'm told that their fur will grow back enough for the winter, but I will make them sweaters just in case.

I have so much more to tell you. I will try to break it down into bite size chunks. But for now I will leave you with the eye candy...

Thank you for staying around. I will try harder to deserve the loyalty that you all have shown me.

It's just that these last several months have been so tremendously overwhelming it has left me speechless at the end of the day. It has taken a lot to process what has been happening. But I will keep trying.

Rules for the Road

One thing  that I have learned about myself from the past 5 years of living alone is that left to myself, I become lazy, slovenly and unkept. Sorry if that truth is too much to bear, but it the truth. I have spent entire weeklong vacations in my pajamas and without bathing. Armed with this self revelation I know that going forward I'm going to have to exert some self discipline and control. So I have decided that on this journey into retirement there has to be a code of conduct for the road.

1. I may not stay up all night piddling away the mid-night oil playing games on Facebook. Bed time is no later than mid-night.

2. My face must be washed and my teeth must be brushed before I go to bed.

3. I may not sleep the day away (See rule 1). I must be up and ready to go no later than 10:00 am every day regardless of having anywhere to go.

4. I must shower and brush my teeth every morning. Hair must be washed no less than twice a week.

5. I must change out of my bed clothes and into clean day clothes every day.

6. I must wear my compression sleeve.

7. I must make my bed every morning.

8. Breakfast must be made and eaten no later than noon every day. .

9. Dishes must be washed and put away at every meal.

10. I must accomplish at least one indoor chore every single day.

I know that these seem very basic. But as I said, I have a tendency to not expect much of myself when I don't have a reason to be presentable. It's shameful enough when it's for a short duration such as a holiday, but not at all an acceptable way to conduct myself on a daily basis.

Actually my rules are fairly lenient. I'd expect more out of a five year old.

So, I'm off to play.

Ta ta for now...

Getting Packed

I packed up my cube today. Mostly because Ali was being a pain and I wanted an excuse to ignore her. I had done a bunch of cleaning earlier, so it wasn't too bad. I was able to get almost everything in 2 paper boxes. They will fit into storage easily. I had anticipated that I would have a lot more than that. I think I will find the same to be true when I pack to leave for Seattle. I have three large boxes to pack and ship as well as 2 large suitcases to be checked, a carry on bag, a back pack and 2 cpap machines to take with me. I look around at what I have left to pack and panic. But I really don't have all that much more to pack. I think the three large boxes to ship will be more than adequate if this mornings session is anything to judge by.

Getting in the Mood

Basic Top Down Raglan by Lisa Knits

Can be purchased on Ravelry

Back in the dark ages when I first picked up knitting again my daughter asked me to make a sweater for her. I bought a bunch of Lions Brand Fisherman's Wool in the Natural colorwave and blindly started a bottom up sweater. I wasn't much for following a pattern back then. Needless to say, because of my lack of skill and the difficulties that I was experiencing I soon tired of it and went on to something simpler. The sweater and the wool were placed in a bag that found it's way into a forgotten corner.

Saturday I found the sweater and the wool in a bag in storage while I was looking for other things. I got kind of excited because I think the wool is nice and decided to finish it. After taking a critical look at my work I decided the only real salvage was to rip it all out and start over again. I had already found a basic pattern that will work well for this and I'm kind of excited to get re-started on it. The pattern that I'm going to use is a very basic pattern that I purchased from Lisa Knits (No, I am not the Lisa who sells this pattern. And I'm a bit unhappy because I was hoping to use that name on my work, but she has it first.) The pattern is so basic that I would hesitate to call it my own and sell it anywhere, but she has done the math and resized the pattern to fit everything from a young child to an obese adult. I guess that in itself is worth the $5 asking price. The pattern is written to be done in stockinette stitch, but Mollie wants hers in basket weave. To accomplish this I went up on size from the one that I would have chosen and added 2 stitches under the arm. That will give me the consistent 8 stitch repeat that I need to accomplish it.

So now, I'm even more excited about retiring and having time to knit. I have a great pattern and some nice yarn to make something that is long overdue.

TWO WEEKS!

Just eye candy...

It hardly seems possible. In 2 weeks I will walk out of the doors of 55 Glenlake for the last time...ever. One more month and I will be getting on a plane to visit Mollie in Chicago. Then I will go to Seattle. I panic and think I have so much to do. But the reality of it is that it is not so much to do. Most of it is done already. I have a little more to pack up and ship off. 

This is getting to be very real...

What the Dog Thinks...

Being hearing impaired  sometimes makes voicemail difficult so I have an app on my phone called Visual Voicemail. It can sometimes give me funny results.

On Sunday I got a voicemail from my ex. After church I checked it and was aghast at the message I recieved.

"$**t f**k Chuck f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k all that...We are all... yeah why do not you... all."

Like I said, I was a bit taken aback by the text. My first thought was that Ex must have been having a stroke when he made the call. I switched the message from visual voicemail to listen to the call. What I heard was a dog going crazy barking and enough of the conversation to make out that my ex was talking to a woman, but not enough to know what they were saying. 

At that point I started laughing so hard that I could barely catch my breath. Imagine accidentally leaving a message like that for your ex spouse. What a hornets nest that could stir up! The only way it could have been better is if he'd done it on April Fools day. 

Good one Ex, get the dog to curse me out for you... 😆😆😆😆😆

Opinions Please...

My question to you is regarding acceptable grammar and social media. Specifically, is posting on social media an acceptable excuse to forget all the grammar one has ever learned? I was in a Facebook group and the question above was posted. I have my questions about the advisability of laying out everything about oneself on public platforms, even though I do share a great deal of personal information. That withstanding, I could not resist a snide answer to the question. 

"I do not usually wear where I am from. In fact, I don't think I have any clothes that say Georgia on them."

I will admit to feeling a little bit like a snarky bitch about the answer I posted. But my original question remains. Has the advent of social media superseded the use of proper grammar, even basic punctuation? I can't claim to being the grammar queen. I just think that it is important to try. What do you think? 

The Sweater

Last year about this time Mollie came home because her high school mentor was retiring from teaching. We both went to the party with Mollie's friend Jess.

While we were on the way there Jess handed Mollie a gift box. Inside was an invitation for Mollie to be the Maid of Honor at Jess's wedding in October of 2019.

I thought that it was odd to wait so long between the engagement announcement and the wedding, but I have long since learned to keep such sentiments to myself. A few Months later Jess posted a picture on Facebook of her two sweet rescue dogs...

Last weekend we had a baby shower for Jess...

That is why Mollie came home for the weekend...

I gave Jess a sweater that I had made for the baby...

So, yesterday Amelia Josephine decided to come and check out all the new clothes she got at the party...

#yougoMillieJo!

BTW...Millie will be wearing a beautiful Champaign lace dress to the wedding in October...Grammie Tammie and Poppy can't wait to sit with her in the service.

Eating My Words, But I'll Be Eating Lunch Too...

I got into work this morning and had a  message from Ali. She wanted to know what restaurant I want to go to for my retirement lunch. She needed to know by the end of today. I immediately emailed back and told her that I'd like to go to Uncle Julios. I just found out that they serve Panchos at lunch time. Panchos are my all time favorite Mexican dish and Uncle Julios are really good.

I have no idea when this lunch is taking place or who all will be invited. But that's not the point. The point is that they are actually doing something. I'm a bit shocked. But I'm glad that they are doing it. It makes me feel better. And I'm getting Panchos at Uncle Julios.