Wikipedia – mud&string

BYE-BYE

I think I mentioned last week that we finally made the decision and had our landline removed. Mr. Iknead and I finally had enough of those super annoying robocalls, telemarketers, wrong numbers (a misprint on some kind of card gave the whole world our phone number, area code and all) instead of the correct number for Holy Redeemer Credit Union in Costa Rica. I swear, I’m not making this up. People would call our number (the misprint) over and over, getting angrier and angrier when they were informed that “No, this wasn’t Holy Redeemer Credit Union” and “No, I don’t know the correct number for Holy Redeemer Credit Union” and eventually, “Don’t call this number again, I will have you reported to the police and charge you with telephone harassment”. Been cussed out in Spanish more times than I can remember. So, as of Monday evening, we no longer have a landline phone and are basking in the peace and quiet of home. Still, when Mr. Iknead called to set up whatever had to be set up to remove it, the guy told him that we’d had the number since 1977, 36 YEARS! You can understand why I have a little nostalgia mixed with my relief, can’t you? I get emotionally invested, what can I say?

ON THE NEEDLES

Etched Rio Wrap

Fifteen of the required 28 repeats of the pattern are finished, over half the way through, the end is barely in sight and I’m still loving this. I’m happy to say that there have been no yarn barf crises since Sunday and I’m watching the yarn like a hawk, knowing now that it likes to misbehave. If you missed the pics of its previous misbehavior, take a look at last Friday’s blog entry, titled %#$%^&*(, for the full effect.

WHAT’S COMING UP

I’ve really not blogged about it too much, other than just a mention now and then, but I’ve had ischemic colitis for years and coped with it pretty well. Now, though, the attacks are becoming more and more frequent and more and more severe, putting me in the hospital twice for a week each time, in the past nine months. My GI doctor defines it as “pretty much a heart attack” in the colon, with damage and scarring, which sets me up even more for another bout and on and on. After much, much thought and just as much research (doncha just love Wikipedia?), I’m scheduled to have my colon removed this coming Tuesday, February 19. My surgeon has promised that I’ll have enough colon left to hook everything back up, but if I have to have an ostomy, I’ll just count that as part of the cost of no more midnight ambulance rides, all night visits to the ER and hospital admissions. I’m a little nervous, after it’s done, there’s no going back, but now the pros outweigh the cons and I’m ready to get it over with. I told Mr. Iknead that he’d have to step into my blogging shoes for a couple of days (he thought I was kidding) but hope to be feeling well enough to take over again before too long.

BY THE BOOK

I finished the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society yesterday and it was wonderful. I couldn’t listen fast enough, it was an audiobook and I kept up the pretense of “As soon as this chapter closes, I’m going to get up and do XYZ,” knowing full well that I had no intention of doing that and just kept listening. Loved this book! I don’t have any definite idea of what next to read. Any ideas?

Don’t forget to check out Tami Ami’s and Ginny’s Yarn Along blog.

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts and never hope more than you work. Rita Mae Brown

IS IT REALLY?

I read a Facebook post this morning naming today as “Blue Monday“. Since I’d never heard of this before today, a quick Wiki search yielded this, “Blue Monday is a name given to a date in mid-to-late January stated, as part of a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, to be the most depressing day of the year. However, the whole concept is considered pseudoscience, with its formula derided by scientists as nonsense.” Thanks Wiki, I owe you one.

BY THE BOOK

I’ve several “balls in the air” as far as reading goes. I’m listening to two very different books, one of which is Shirley Jackson‘s Haunting of Hill House, an old school horror story and Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psychiatrist, by Paul Linde. I call the Shirley Jackson book old school because, at least so far, it relies on the setting, the reactions of the characters and creepy foreshadowing to send chills up the spine, instead of blood, guts and over-the-top violence found in a lot of current horror stories. I suppose what I’m really trying to say is that the creepiness of Hill House is psychological, with ideas that hook themselves in your head, that can’t be shaken, becoming more and more poisonous, malignant and frightening as time goes by. I’m telling you, it’s creepy.

I FIXED IT!

So, I had this crocheted, summery sweater that I loved and the last time I wanted to wear it, I noticed that it had a huge ladder across the back, where apparently a stitch had come undone or dropped or some such thing. I temporarily arrested it with a safety pin and put it aside with the promise to myself that I’d give it a good look, figure out where the problem arose and fix it. Today I gave it the look I’d promised, decided it was similar enough to a dropped stitch when knitting to try the crochet hook method, and IT WORKED. It really, really WORKED! It’s not perfect but it’s so much better than it was, I’m really rather proud of myself. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Before