Walk -a Walk-a Walk-a

The 2007 new years resolution is still going strong in month 13. My treadmill friend and I logged 23.05 miles in January. How are you doing?

Of All Things...Vinegar?

For the last few weeks I've suffered/enjoyed an unusual food craving, vinegar. What could possibly be the explanation?

To satisfy the craving I'll pigged out of junk food, salt and vinegar flavored potato chips. When that was not enough I started making heavy-on-the vinegar dressing for sliced cucumbers and things like that.

Finally, I think I kicked the habit. I made a batch of good old German potato salad. My recipe called for, can you believe it?, one half cup of vinegar to go with one pound of potatoes. I was making a triple recipe. Even with the craving I could not bring myself to pour a cup and one half of vinegar into the salad.

I added about a cup of vinegar and mixed it all up. Then I enjoyed the salad for several meals over the next few days. Since then I have not had the hankering.

That's probably a good thing!

Tournament

Once again I did not get to attend the Artist's Tae Kwon Do tournament because the Engineer was ill. But once again she brought home some attractive hardware. This weekend's tournament was held in the community room of one of the local Masonic lodges, for anyone wondering about the decor.

Rick snapped this photo of her placing first in forms (poomse, in Korean). Later in the day she earned a bronze medal in sparring. Board breaking did not go so well, and she came home with a participant medal and a resolve to do better next time.

With the Engineer having two bouts of illness already this year and January not even being complete I'm more thankful than ever that I have him home schooled. I can make up his work pretty quickly, and I don't mind doing it on the weekends most of the time.

Unfortunately he passed his bug to his sister and her work is not so easily made up. Thankfully, she shakes things off faster than the little guy.

Enchanting Reading

I have found a treasure! A treasure in the shape of a book. And this book is called A Turtle and a Loon and other fables, by Diane Redfield Massie.
This book is one my mother collected from a library sale some 12-15 years ago. I find the poems delightful and the illustrations whimsical as the words. As an extra bonus, each poem has a moral. The perfect jumping off point for getting into reading comprehension with a young reader.

The Engineer is using this book as his reader this week. It is perfect for him, with some words being completely new vocabulary, some being quite easy, and some presenting a challenge. And I was charmed from the beginning, with the poem giving the book its title, "A Turtle and a Loon."

A TURTLE AND A LOON

A turtle and a loon,
in the early afternoon,
had a cookie and a prune
for tea.
"How delicious!" said the loon,
as she swallowed up the prune,
while the turtle held the spoon.
"Ah me.
There is nothing like a prune,
but I love a macaroon,
in the morning or at noon,"
said she.
Then she ate the macaroon,
and she sang a little tune,
while the turtle licked the spoon,
to see,
if a tiny bit of prune,
or a piece of macaroon,
should be sitting in the spoon,
maybe.
"There is nothing," sang the loon,
"half as pleasant as a prune,
in the early afternoon
for me.
Though I think I'd just as soon
have another macaroon,
if we'd only," said the loon,
"had three."

Moral: Don't invite loons to tea.

Diane Redfield Massie

In other news...my construction worker was ill yesterday and did not come over. I hope he does not have what the Engineer has. We're fighting our third day of high fevers. Again. Just like he did at the beginning of the new year.

And 30 years ago we had the blizzard of '78. I lived in Van Wert, Ohio. I remember hearing instructions on the radio about tethering yourself to the door of your house if you had to go outdoors. Many people in the community would have had barn chores to do every day and the whiteouts were disorienting.

I recall hearing ads for tee shirt sales after it was over. They read "I survived the blizzard of '78.

But most impressive to a ten-year-old were the alps in the back yard. Well, not exactly the back yard,
(and not exactly the alps) but the church parking lot next to our garage. The snow plows had built up the most terrific snow mountains, nearly as tall as the garage. Picture the large snow piles in mall parking lots. Then picture them lining an entire edge of the parking lot. Take away all the traffic six days a week and add two kids and a dog. They served as a playground for the next several months.

Half Way There

I have some progress to show on the kitchen and on the sweater I'm making.

The kitchen floor is in! And some of the stairs and finished. The counter tops will be ready Thursday or Friday. (Good-by Orange!) The sink and new kitchen faucet are here. Our contractor gave us the name of a scratch and dent dealer who sells new appliances with factory warranties so we can shop for a replacement for my dear friend the dishwasher. My old friend leaks on the floor and her top shelf will fall down if I am not most careful with it. I hope I am very impressed with the promised savings compared to the list prices.Sunday's knitting was rather frustrating. I kept making errors in the pattern. I had some trouble with the first six inches of the meandering cable pattern making it necessary to knit the first six inches of the pattern three times before I got it right. After that things took off. Tonight I expect to be finishing the pack piece and casting on for the next piece.As I watched this piece take shape I'm getting the idea that it might not fit. Isn't that a nice feeling? I have never made a cardigan larger than toddler-size before and I'm having trouble seeing in my mind how this will fit me when it is done. Also, it is supposed to be a fitted garment -- something else I have not much experience with. I'm allowing the doubt to continue in my mind, so that should it not fit me well, I can rip it and begin again making the next size up.

Today? (I Hope)

Since the second of January I have been expecting a construction crew to come to my door to begin work in my kitchen. The floor had needed to be redone for the ten years that we have lived here.

Once again, I'm hoping today will finally be the day. It helps that the contractor stopped by Saturday to tell me they would be here Monday, but I'm still not completely trusting they will show up.

When they finally do arrive we will not be able to use the kitchen for a while. But since I've had most of the kitchen contents sitting on tables and shelves in the living room for the past 19 days we are almost used to it.

I'm hoping the time that the stove and refrigerator need to squeeze into the dining room and the time we need to use the front door instead of the back door is short. This roll of linoleum flooring will be much more pleasing in the kitchen than in front of the living room fireplace!

Nostalgia

Thank you, thank you, to Everyone who left me comments on my knitting dilemma. Last night I spent my time making a larger swatch to be sure I got the most accurate measurement possible. I used a US 10.5 needle, (6.5mm) needle and got the magic number, 13 stitches per four inches, that I was looking for. At 17 rows per four inches the row gauge is coming up a little short, but I'm going with it, I can take frequent measurements to make up the difference.

Last night I also cast on for the hem on the first piece of the cardigan. But then I had to stop. The only US 10.5 needles I have are only about nine inches long. Not nearly long enough to hold the number of stitches I need. So I might be on hold here, right from the beginning. I'll need to see who has US 10.5 long needles in stock. If I have trouble finding them, I'll probably order some and cast on for one of the front panels first. The front panels might be narrow enough to squeeze onto the smaller length needles.

While I was doing this knitting last night I was getting nostalgic for the Sunday Evenings of my childhood. It all started when the Artist's library request for Little House on the Prairie, season one, came available. Last night I picked it up. We watched just a little bit of it together before bedtime, but it was enough to hook me again. After she went to bed I watched the entire first DVD.

When I was little this was a Sunday night family ritual. Mom would sit on a high chair behind her ironing board and press clothes while we watched. The rest of us would enjoy the show. Mom and Dad took the occasion of the commercials to discuss with us anything they thought was warranted.

I must say I cannot abide ironing and much prefer knitting while watching the shows. (I guess all the Thomas Hardy I've been reading lately is seeping out my fingertips. I don't recall ever hearing myself say the words "I cannot abide" about anything before.)