Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Cat Whisperer

     We were in Mentone, Alabama for Thanksgiving. A visit to Mentone is never complete without a trip to McKay's Used Bookstore in Chattanooga.  After loading up on books on Saturday, we stopped by the Bi-Lo in Trenton, Georgia to load up on MORE food on the way back to the cabin. As we were passing the BP gas station, Rick said,"Look, kittens..."  Yes, the words did come out of his mouth.  I saw just one little orange streak out of the corner of my eye. "Stop the car, Dad,stop the car right now." We pulled over... 
      B,SG, Rick and I got out of the car. It was gray and about 45 degrees outside.  Behind the BP was an overgrown bramble and trash pit- rough combination.  We spotted two tiny kittens.  I went in to ask the clerk a  question.  "We just saw kittens behind the station.  They are your mousers, right?"
"Naw, people dump'em.  I try to feed 'em if I can get away from the counter." 
 I thought that was what she was going to say.  I asked for cat food.  There was none in the store, but  two packages of tuna fish looked like they might be effective.  
     Back outside, Rick and the girls were studying the situation.  Several attempts to coax them out by patting the ground and calling them didn't work. They meowed and watched us but would not come out.  There was no way to go in without being ripped to shreds. The praying commenced! I got milk and a cup out of the car, handed them to Rick and watched him morph into the Cat Whisperer.  He drizzled a line of milk out of the nasty bramble patch and the smallest kitten came out.  Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, Rick handed him to me. Pitiful, bedraggled little cat... The girls put him in a box with a disposable dish full of tuna, and the purr that emanated shortly afterwards was enough to jiggle the down jacket over the top of the box. Ecstatic at how easy that was we knew kitty number two would amble out shortly.  
     No dice!  The stubborn cat would look at us, cry and then walk to the other side of the brambles always out of reach.  The milk did not tempt him at all.  I cracked open the tuna.  He would come forward then retreat...for 45 agonizing minutes.  Did I mention it was 45 degrees outside, getting dark and the temperature was dropping.  Plus, we had one kitten, two girls and my mother in law in the car.  No way we could go without number two! He finally took pity on us and allowed Rick to grab him by an impressive over/under maneuver through the bramble . Though it may be that by then we were  covered head to foot in dirt and tuna and  smelled better to him. Popping him in the box, he joined his brother in eating and purring. 
     Rescuing them was nothing to the chore of naming them. In out house pet names are literary or historical.  The lists of brothers and or pairs  ranged from Stanley and Livingston to Ernie and Bert. Orville and Wilbur appeared as well in a nod to our new Ohio address. There was a moment of panic when we considered that one or both might be girls.  Who knew you could determine the sex of a kitten by checking online? The internet is a brilliant thing! In a nod to his cat whispering skill, the children graciously allowed Rick to name them. We had to wait 48 hours for them to tell Rick their names.  Allow me to present...the Dukes of Hazard.
Bo
Luke


Life is good when you are warm, dry, full and sharing your fleas with humans!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Finally a use for those felted sleeves...

 I love to find old wool sweaters and felt them for crafts. The bodies of the sweater provide nice big sections to use, but the sleeves taper, have a seam on one side and  a crease on the other. One of my earlier posts mentioned my lack of cold weather gear. I was thrilled to find theses mammoth scrapers at the grocery store last week! No weenie little scraper that fits in your glove box, no ma'am!
The mitten/glove supply is dismal at our house, but I can only knit so fast.  How to keep hands warm and dry while shoveling snow and scraping ice?   ICE SCRAPER COZIES!  I cut small holes(felt does not ravel) along the cuffs and threaded bias tape through the holes tying them around the handles.  Warm dry hands and scraped windows... hooray!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Washing...

Sunbonnet Sue(see the side bar for the story...sorry I can not get the link to work) got a bath the other day...very gently, but she was pleased to be so clean after so long. Mo the cat loves fresh laundry! Okay, she loves to sleep in a laundry basket full of clean clothes leaving her black hair all over the clothes so that I have to wash them again. Good thing I have a laundry chute.
As I have mentioned before there were several things that appealed to me about this house. The laundry chute was magical to me. I instantly realized that a chute meant I would only have to carry clean clothes upstairs as the dirty would just slide down the chute-bliss! In go the clothes...
Down the chute with a satisfying "whoosh"! There is a ventilated wooden box attached at the ceiling that extends down the wall. The clothes fall in the box or if the trapdoor is open then they fall tidily into the utility sink-once again, bliss! This is a brilliant invention!
I knew if we rented this house the girls would drop their dirty clothes down the chute each morning secure in the knowledge that they would have clean clothes and clean rooms. No more laundry hampers with damp decaying towels...no more assorted objects(clearly not laundry) stuffed in the hampers in a mad dash to clean up a room before an irate parent got upstairs... once again bliss!
This is just one of the girls' rooms, the other room is equally as horrible. They have tried to convince me that it is "a system" and "we know where it all is" or "she (the other sister) messed it up when she borrowed the shirt/jeans/shoes". I don't think either one of them has dropped more than a piece of laundry each down the chute since we got here. The only way it gets cleaned up is if I claim someone is coming to visit whether they really are or not.
Here is my solution for the days no one is on their way to visit:


Sunday, November 14, 2010

The easiest way to make 49 scarves...

SG's choir teacher called a few weeks ago to see if I was interested in making some scarves for a Holiday Choral Performance. My initial response was surprise as we are new to the area and how did she know to ask me?! SG's voice teacher is also the school's pianist for performances and mentioned to the choir teacher that I was always knitting ... I was happy to help, but I knew that it could go horribly wrong. After 7 years and counting with my own teens, I knew "buy-in" was vital. I asked if I did some prep work, would she like the kids to make their own scarves? She was thrilled as she had meetings to attend, so I could back up the substitute and show the kids how to make the scarves.
The kids would be performing outside(in NOVEMBER!) in their tuxes and long black dresses. Polar fleece seemed essential ...and easy. After making some early examples, the choir teacher and kids decided on scarf length, color and style of felt decoration. I started planning, cutting and BAKING! My first job was to start making batches of gingersnaps...8 dozen! This recipe freezes brilliantly and then bakes straight from the freezer. I cut 49 72 inch long scarves and trees, snowflakes, holly leaves and wreathes.
Last Thursday and Friday, the kids scooped up what they needed, sat down and went to work! They were delightful! Respectful, enthusiastic and focused- I was impressed and pleased as these kids were all new to me.
Okay, the cookies, hot chocolate and cider did not hurt either:-)

Some of the finished product... and more cookies(chocolate chip bar cookies) for Friday as the 8 dozen were all eaten on Thursday.

"Reddy"... Set... Go...

I won't lie to you . Cincinnati has had more than its fair share of gray days, literally and figuratively. The house we are renting until our house in Nashville closes is convenient and cozy in a sweet neighborhood. Your basic late 60's colonial redo with minimal overhead lighting and no built ins, and sadly painted rental white...dingy gray-white. The owners had it on the market for a year to sell and then rented it for two years to absentee tenants. The house needed love...and COLOR! I started with the entry hall and Benjamin Moore's Hawthorne Yellow. I love it, but missed getting good before pictures. The living room desperately needed attention. Early last week SG , who studies in the living room, said she thought red would be a good color...hmmmm. Here is the living room on Friday afternoon at 3:15...

And here is the living room after church on Sunday...ta dah!


We moved the chairs upstairs and some chairs from upstairs down AGAIN(that choice of words from Rick who is very patient). It is so much brighter, and I find myself coming downstairs, walking through the kitchen and coming around the corner so I can "happen" on the color. Once again, Benjamin Moore paint came to the rescue with this "Million Dollar Red" color from my local ACE Hardware/ post office (who deserve their own blog entry and will get one soon). Red does not cover as easily as yellow, and I will need to do some touch ups, but no more gray skies in here!

Straight, No Chaser...My How Times Have Changed

SG realized a month ago that Straight No Chaser was coming to the Aronoff Center. Both girls love a cappela music, especially Straight, No Chaser. Now, I can see why, as they were fabulous! As students at Indiana University, they performed at campus events in the late 90s. Their rendition of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" went viral on the internet and before they knew it, they had a 5 record deal with Columbia Records. The internet launched them and apparently continues to sustain them.
I took a picture with my phone before it started and then put my phone away. Like clapping in church, I would never think of using a camera or recording equipment at a concert. As part of their charming introduction, they laughed about their Wikipedia page and invited the audience to tape away as long as they would agree to put it on the web when they got home. I took another picture but then you can really either live it or record it. Besides, I can't knit and snap pictures at the same time:-) The glowing screen to the left of the picture is the camera of one of the group members' parents. They cheered, clapped, gave the thumbs up and were as much fun to watch as SNC. At Intermission, I heard one young woman a few rows ahead, turn to ask the mom if her son was single...creepy!


The best part of being allowed pictures is the customary embarrass your teenagers photo. "Come on just hold up your t-shirts and smile."
"MOOOOMM"
Almost as fun as calling it "ah copello" music!



Thursday, November 11, 2010

you never know what is around the bend...



It is a beautiful morning for a walk today! Apparently, I am not the only one to think so...





Wednesday, November 10, 2010

work in progress


These are socks in progress for Rick. The pattern is a combination from Toe-Up Socks for Every Body: Adventurous Lace, Cables, and Colorwork from Wendy Knits by Wendy Johnson. It is a great book. She carefully explains different toes and heels with great pictures and clear techniques. The tube is a work-in progress tube from Nancy's KnitKnacks. These tubes are brilliant! Thankfully, I no longer loose my double point needles at the bottom of my knitting bag. Even better, no one accidentally sits on one of the needles-ouch:(




















Meet my friend Sue



.
Just fooling! This is my friend Sue...Sunbonnet Sue.


These are some of her 29 friends.
I met Sue 22 years ago right after I bought my house in Nashville. They were made by the woman who had owned the house next door, maybe sometime in the 1940s or 1950s judging from the fabric. Mrs. Dollar(no kidding) had died and her daughter -in -law was selling everything in a yard sale. I paid her price of 50 cents a piece for the 30 squares. She felt so badly about pawning off "that old junk" on me that she threw in some other handwork and a child size rocker(which has been on my fireplace ever since).
I had NO idea what to do with my new friends. I just knew I had to rescue them to keep them from being thrown in the trash. Rick and I got married , moved to California, Memphis, and back to Nashville, Sue went with us. Once the children started arriving, she was forgotten unless I moved her to another cabinet or shelf.
This Summer, I was able to start quilting. I put together the Windowpane quilt from this book, and started to the understand the mechanics of sashing. I used only fabric from my stash and I am handquilting it now. (Excuse the sleeping cat, but I can't really blame him. A quilt on a frame sitting in the sunshine from the window has to be like lying in a hammock. The polka dot fabric is my "cat guard".)

Now, it is finally time for Sue. After being liberated from one of the billion boxes in the basement, she will have her day! Stay tuned !

Who doesn't love an NFocus?

This magazine has lived on the kitchen table all week. It has shared breakfast with the girls, coffee with me, and apparently Rick picked it up. Thanks for sending it , Amy! Is this just a Nashville thing? I haven't seen anything like it here in Cincy...

Monday, November 8, 2010

Mesmerizing...




"You are getting sleepy, very sleepy."
"Now, you are under our control."
"Open your hands and let the baked chicken come to us."

a strange separation

I once asked a mother of an older son what was the strangest part of adjustment to him being away at college. She replied that it was not his abscence so much as when he showed up early one morning at home to surprise her. I thought that was great. She said the strange part was that he was on the road for most of the night and she had not known it! That I could understand.
T is rowing crew at college and there was a regatta in Chattanooga on Saturday. As that is close to our mountain cabin, he let me know he planned to spend the night there after the meet. I reviewed turning on the water and the hot water heater,etc. and did not think much more about it. He called Saturday night to make sure he should spray the pan with PAM.
"What do you mean? Why?"
"Don't I have to do that before I cook the steak?"
WHAT!! He is cooking his own food...by himself...in another state...!!!He can afford steak?!
I calmly replied that I would put some olive oil in the pan so nothing would stick. I could just imagine what my pan would look like.
"Umm, what else are you eating?"
"I got frozen mashed potatoes and some dessert..ok, Mom, thanks...bye"
I want you to know that I managed NOT to call him until 8:30 the next morning. Ostensibly to check if the house had been warm enough, but really just to make sure he answered the phone and had not a)burned the house down or b) choked or c) any of the 100 other things I imagined in the middle of Saturday night!
"How was the steak?"
"Pretty good"
"How did you know how to cook it?"
"Mom, I've watched Graypoppy(my mother) fix me a steak plenty of times...it was no problem."
I now know several things:
My mother is a much nicer person than I am.
T can cook for himself, and he will not starve .
I am cutting back on his allowance.
I haven't had steak in months :-)



Lunchbox S'mores

Sunday, November 7, 2010

8:15 this am

Clearly, I need some new equipment if I am going to navigate an Ohio winter. Thankfully SG's arms are longer and she scraped the rest of the car windows with my public library card :-)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

You have got to be kidding!

No way! I just picked up SG from babysitting one precious baby for four hours . I nearly wrecked the car when she showed me this check. Clearly I am in the wrong line of work. Maybe, I will just charge SG for driving her to and from work...Mom taxi, that's it!

The only reason I walked this morning


It was 34 degrees this morning and that was by 10:30! I had dropped SG at a neighbor's house to babysit, straightened the house, ran an errand, talked to Dad. The Camembert pasta I made for dinner last night was motivating or at least the thought of the calories in the gooey, cheesey pasta was motivating, but thirty four degrees is really cold . Clearly, as my friend Amy would say, it was time for a treat! I bundled up, went to the library with my headphones and an AAA battery and found this...
David Sedaris' new book .It is weird, funny, thought provoking and kept me moving for nearly an hour! Who says treats aren't good for you?

Friday, November 5, 2010

HOUSEpitality

The box of Esther Price candy was a good start. The gingersnaps were a great addition. The gift needed a little more. Hmmmm.... B was off to Mississippi to visit one of her dear camp friends and what to send... I remembered the coasters from this book . Cute little house cut out with a patchwork interior sewn on felt. Precious, but I did not have time to do the piecing... I used coordinating fabric and the template from the book. Since I was on a roll with the hand stitching, I skipped the sewing machine part. I pinked the edges after stitching. I then bundled the coasters up with extra yarn and a thank you note.