What a Ride!

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!

This weekend, I seem to have been hit with that old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

If it was all bad, I would think that I'd been hit with Friday the thirteenth almost a week early, but some of it has been wildly good. I can't even list all the bad things and then all the good things, because they're so intertwined.

Here's a synopsis:

Bad: I've gotten to go the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivel every year for the last 21 years, but it's this weekend, and this year I'm missing it! I've been bummed out about that.

Bad: The liaison between the apartment building and the residents left early Friday, and I missed her, so I don't know how they want to settle things, and won't know before Tuesday. This might ultimately be either good or bad, but the problem is that I don't know, so I can't plan.

Very Good: My cell phone contract with T-Mobile ran out a while ago. I wanted to replace my phone with a Galaxy Tab (tablet computer, like an Android-based iPad). Friday, it cost $300 up front, with a $100 rebate. On Saturday, though, it was $150 (refurbished). I called them up, and the bottom line was that I paid $45 up front, and I'll be paying $15 more for the next three months (because it lowered my monthly bill: I'll actually be paying $35), after that, my bill will be $20 lower than it is now. I did this by eliminating cell phone service, although I'll still have a home phone through them. So, they'll be shipping out a Galaxy Tab tomorrow, and I should get it on Wednesday or Thursday! I've wanted something like this ever since the iPads came out. I wanted a book reader before that, but this can do that, too! I'm so happy about this!

Very Bad: Today, I woke up and turned on the TV. It happened to be tuned to Syfy, which is having a Eureka marathon, followed by a Warehouse 13 marathon, which would be good news except that my remote wouldn't operate the TiVo properly. It was acting crazy! I replaced the batteries on the remote, and it still didn't work. I unplugged the TiVo and restarted it, but it still wasn't working right. I called TiVo, and they're going to send me another one, right after I return this and they get it. Which means I won't be able to watch TV at all for more than a week! Obviously this is not the end of the world, but still not good news. Now I can't watch Eureka, Warehouse 13 or anything else.

Good and Bad: Immediately after hanging up the phone with the TiVo people, the TiVo died completely. When it died, the buzz got louder, and the lines that have been running across the screen for the past few weeks got much wider and more pronounced. Which may mean that the problem wasn't my TV, and I may not need to replace it! I still want a newer TV, but at least it may mean that I don't have to replace it immediately.

Bad: The TiVo people said they would send me a shipping label. I thought that would be great, because I could have the TiVo all packed up and when the UPS person arrived with it, I could just slap on the label and have them take it with them. But they're not sending me a label, they're sending me an image of a label, via email! Which leads me to the next piece of news.

Bad: I'm out of ink cartridges for my printer, so I can't print the label until I get new cartridges!

Bad: Holly and I planned to go out today and have a nice, fun Mother's Day, and incidentally stop by WalMart, where I intended to get new ink cartridges for my printer, along with some other more needed items. But, right after the TiVo died completely, which was right after I got off the phone with them, Holly called to tell me that her Hummer is infested with stink bugs! She doesn't even want to open the door, let alone try to drive it anywhere, so I won't get to see her today, and won't get to go to WalMart.

Back a while ago, I think it was on their first 4-wheeling trip, but certainly an early one, a few stink bugs got into the Hummer. They've been hiding in the doors, but haven't been a real problem. Once in a while you would see one. But since the warmer weather, they've thrived and multiplied, and now are busy building a whole new stink bug civilization in their new, Hummer universe.

Good: If they can get the infestation out of the vehicle, I'll get to see Holly next week, and we'll get to celebrate Mother's Day then.

Bad: Not only do I need the ink cartridges, there are some really important things that I'm almost out of, so I have to go to WalMart tomorrow! And, since I'll have to do it on the bus, it'll take all day, and I won't be able to send the TiVo off until Tuesday, which will delay getting a new one even more.

Maybe Good, Maybe Bad: I may be able to call UPS and get them to pick up the TiVo on Tuesday, but they might not do it, in which case, I'll have to spend another day on the bus to send it. I won't know until then.

Good: In a fit of minor depression, I ordered a used copy of Charted Knitting Designs from Amazon to make up for not being able to go to the MSWF, and also ordered a used copy of the first part of The Deathly Hallows on DVD. They won't arrive until later this week, though (at the earliest).

Good: Once the Galaxy Tab arrives, I'll order a Nook book copy of the newest Charlain Harris book, Dead Reckoning. I could order it now. My current smart phone, a G1 already has several Nook books on it, but I currently have some books from the library and other things I want to read in the meantime, so, it's no real sacrafice to wait until I have something to read it on that's a bit bigger than the tiny page on my phone. If I still have any money at that point.

Bad: I tried to contact Comcast to see if I could get a decoder box temporaraly, but they don't have business hours on Sunday, so I don't know if there's some way to get to watch TV sometime before next week. I almost don't know how to deal with contacting Comcast over a problem they didn't cause (although it's not impossible that they caused it). I'm so used to them messing up badly all the time.

I'll be back with more updates soon.

In the meantime, I hope you're having an absolutely perfect weekend, not like mine!

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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel sorry for you because I had the best mom anybody ever had! But I hope yours is really superlative, and if you are a mom, I hope you have the best Mother's Day ever!

Holly and I went out together yesterday to celebrate Mother's Day, and had a fabulous time!

We started by going to the new yarn store in Old Town Alexandria. Holly is about to start a knit-along, and wants to see what colors, etc. the possible yarn comes in and check for availability. They haven't chosen a project yet, so she didn't want to buy the yarn yet.

Next stop was AC Moore. I can usually get four socks out of three balls of Knit Picks sock yarn, so I bought three balls of Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn in toasted almond. I knew it had just a little less yardage than the Knit Picks yarn, but I thought I could make it anyway. I finished knitting the second sock, and it's obvious that I won't make it, so I bought two more balls. I'll be able to get an even six socks out of that much. And, as if that wasn't enough, they had it for $1.50 less per ball than JoAnn Fabrics, where I bought the first three balls. And Holly had a 50% off one item coupon for me! Actually, the coupon went toward a fresnel lens bookmark, which I've wanted for a while.

Then we went to Borders, where Holly said to pick out a book and she would buy it for me for Mother's Day! I got the newest Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family.





I had been reading Forever Odd, but I was almost at the end and wanted to buy a book while I was there. I was thinking about buying this book even though it's only available in hardback now and cost more than I can normally afford to pay for books. So, I was delighted.

The Borders we went to is one of my favorites. It's the one at Bailey's Crossroads, and Holly and I met Stephanie Pearl McPhee there, and I demonstrated spinning in the children's section there, too (wearing a medieval cote and surcote).

Then, we went to La Madeleine, which is right next to Borders. This is a little Parisian restaurant that has some of the most delicious food. We both had the same thing: Their tomato basil soup, which is thick, rich and very tomato, with their Strawberries Romanoff (which is topped with their brandy sour cream sauce). The food was some of the best it's possible to get, and amazingly filling for the little we ate (although the strawberries come in an enormous helping)! We were both full when we left.

I'll be posting more photos from the Sheep and Wool Festival (Holly returned my camera) and photos of my swag (well, the balls of sock yarn and at least one finished sock) in a post real soon now.

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I would have put this up at the top of the page, but I don't think my brother is going to read this.

I want to wish him a happy birthday, anyway, though!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

He's my baby brother, and I love him, even if he's been a adult for quite a while!

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Eureka is on SyFy all day today! That includes this evening, too! I know they're only reruns, but they're good!

Practical Magic is on cable TV sometime today. I think it's on ABC Family, but I couldn't swear to it.

I wish everyone as happy a Mother's Day as I had yesterday!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone who has born a child had a very happy day today!

I have had an absolutely wonderful day today!

Holly arrived at 10:30 today, just as she said she would. Unfortunately, I woke up about two minutes before she arrived. But it was all OK.

She took me out to get all the stuff from WalMart that I would've gotten last Sunday if I had had the forethought to be prepared for it, thus saving me a lot of discomfort and dampness (this was the first day for two weeks that it hasn't been raining, plus it's supposed to rain Monday, too). My back is a lot better, but still wouldn't have been happy with having to walk to the bus, and come back on the bus carrying a bunch of heavy stuff. 

We went to an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday and had fun (as usual) just being with each other.

This was followed by the new Star Trek movie!

I have to say it was excellent! I loved it to pieces. I will mention some overall impressions, and I don't think I'm giving too much away here, but if you absolutely don't want to know anything about it, skip the rest of this paragraph. It starts back at the beginning, and tells a story about how the Enterprise crew got together. The wonderful part is that they've gone back to the beginning with a whole new group of actors to play the old characters from the beginning. This story involves time travel, and it changes things so that all the stuff that happened originally may be completely changed. So we have the characters young again, and a chance to tell all new stories from the beginning should they choose to do so. And why wouldn't they?

OK, no more spoilers from here on in. J.J. Abrams did a fabulous movie, with a great story. The story had all the old characters, who were acting so much in character that there was a lot of the movie where I knew exactly what a particular character would do, and, in fact, I was able to say some lines along with the characters on the first run-through. At the same time, the situation had so much in it that was unexpected, and so many actions and reactions that were unexpected that it was exciting, non-stop action/excitement/fun all the way through!

I've had a wonderful day!

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I also want to wish a belated happy birthday to my brother, Jeff!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

I kind of took yesterday off to let my back get in better shape for today. I don't think he'll see it here on the internet anyway, but I still want to wish him a happy birthday, which was yesterday.

I have to get back to being nice to my back instead of sitting here making it hurt more.

All the photos I promised will be up real soon now.

Oh, I nearly forgot: I watched Doctor Who and Torchwood on BBC in America yesterday, and they were full of trailers for the new season of Primeval, which starts next Saturday, and also (and this is the part I'm really excited about) trailers for Children of Earth, the next Torchwood story, which will be on in July (they're not pinning down exactly when). They didn't say anything about the new Doctor Who Season, though, and I'm disappointed about that.

I hope you've been having as good a weekend as I've had!

Happy Mother's Day!

Holly and I celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, and had a wonderful time!

We stopped at Michaels and Holly got some origami paper, and bought me a big ball of Lily's Sugar 'N Cream yarn to make a towel for Towel Day. As you'll see, there is a KAL for knitting towels, and the deadline is May 25, which is Towel Day. On that day (which happens to fall on the day before Memorial Day this year) all participants are expected to carry the towel they made (or any towel) to show respect and honor for Douglas Adams (and to show what a hoopy frood they are). These are actually two separate things: the KAL, and Towel Day itself. So, you can participate even if you don't knit.

I'll show you a photo of the ball of yarn she bought me tomorrow. Technical problems with the memory card.

Then we went to WalMart because Holly had a gift card for $50 there, and there were some things she wanted to get. She bought me some wine coolers and snacks. What a thoughtful child!

Then we went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. After arriving there, we decided that it was probably a good thing that we decided to celebrate on Saturday because we had a 20 minute wait anyway. We had a delicious dinner with wonderful company and witty conversation.

Then we went to Borders. Holly was looking for a book that they were out of, Woman's World. She did find two rune books she wanted, The Book of Runes: Read the Secrets in the Language of the Stones, and Practical Guide To The Runes: Their Uses in Divination and Magic, plus a book on palmistry. She also bought me a bookmark.






The bottom of the close-up is the part of the bookmark that I like best. I bought one of these when I bought Deathly Hallows last summer, but It was damaged, which didn't show up at first, but eventually left it in danger of coming apart. So I've been looking for another one to replace it for a while because I really like it. So, I was thrilled with my gift!

All in all, it was a wonderful day.

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Addition:

I just came across this link for fellow Eureka fans: http://www.scifi.com/eureka/madeineureka/