A Package and Some Completed Projects

 
Got a package last week.  Since I have plenty of yarn, I usually purchase books, patterns and accessories.  Duma decided that it was important to check out the package first.  He loves boxes.  And as large as he is, I tend to let him investigate whatever he wants!   I was very excited to see my new Alice Starmore reprints.  Since I didn't want to pay $300 plus on eBay for the originals, I was quite pleased to purchase these on sale at Knit Picks.  They had a sale of 40% off all of their books.  Since these are classics, they were well worth the price.  I may even knit a sweater from one of these.....well, more likely would knit on of the aran sweaters.  Fair Isle is quite warm for California.

I finally finished Amarylis, designed by Herbert Niebling.  I have become more of a seasonal knitter, ie I knit mostly in the fall and winter.   I had started this back at the end of March and had almost completed it, but dropped a couple of stitches.  This meant that I would need to drop down and repair or tink back a coupl of rows.  I had lost interest in the pattern at that point, so I set it down and didn't pick it up until the end of October.  Now it is complete and blocked.  What I will do with it, I have no idea. But it quite pretty.  I am not completely pleased with the job that I did with blocking it out.  I couldn't find all of my pins.  So, I had to improvise a bit. 

If you are interested, here are the particulars for Amarylis: yarn used-Valley Yarn 20/2 silk from Webs, color-Burgandy; needle size- 0US, 2mm; pattern-Amarylis from Kunststricken: Große und kleine Decken.

I had also finished and never posted pictures of this project. This is another Niebling titled Ella.  I love this pattern.  It is one of my favorites.  I completed this back in March.  Loved it so much, it only took two weeks to knit and block.  However, it took me six months to finally take pictures!  I would like to use this one as a tablecloth.  Just need to find the perfect place for it and make sure that it is covered with a glass top. I may have to knit this one up again.

If you are interested, here are the particulars for this one: yarn used Valley Yarn 20/2 silk from Webs, color-Moss; needle size 0US, 2mm; pattern-Ella from Beyers Bunte Reihe Band 2007, Kunststricken: Grosse und kleine Decken, Spitzen und Einsätze.  Sadly, this magazine is out of print.  It is from the 1950s and I found it on eBay.

Hopefully, I will block out Hannelore, another Niebling,  very soon.  I completed it about two weeks ago, but need to go through my knitting accessories and find all of my pins.  This one will be much easier to block as it will block out as a square with even sides.  I have also knit a hat and started a sweater.  I will have to knit the sweater as quickly as possible or I will never finish it. 

Designing a blog......

I'm still playing around with this blog's design.  I haven't really settled on one and the current one is just an experiement.  I have another one that I am working on, more girlie colors.  Probably more in tune with a knitting blog. 

I have really been thinking about going back to blogger.  Why?  Well mostly all of the free backgrounds out there.  Makes changing you blog to go with the seasons really easy.  I haven't been really enamored of the designs that typepad has to offer (sorry typepad) and free is really nice (Blogger is free).  At the same time, I do like having all of my stuff (pictures, posts) in the same place.  With Blogger, I would have to host all pictures elsewhere.  Yes, I know that there are places to do that for free, but I don't have to worry about not having enough space.  Oh well, looks like I will be staying with typepad for now.

I should think of this as an opportunity really.  I can create a template all my own here on typepad.  I can also have all of my blogs in one place.  Yes, all my blogs.  I have had lots of things rambling in this head of mine.  Things I would like to share that is not always appropriate on a knitting blog.  So, if you would like to hear my ramblings, here are my other blogs:

Covet

My Inner Geek

I just started these, so I am still making them all kinds of pretty.  If you have the chance, check them out.

New Look......and a New Post!

Please be patient as I play around with my blog......I am playing around with some changes to the look.  Hopefully I will have this done soon.

 

I'm a baaaad blogger!

I know I said that I would keep this blog more up to date.  I know that I did for a few weeks, then I fell off the wagon.  What can I say?  Life keeps me busy.....that and playing on Ravelry for hours.  I can look up patterns and find projects made with yarns that I own, chat with people that have similar interests as I, learn new techniques, and the list goes on.  Obviously I like this site and highly recommend it to all fiber artists!

I have also been knitting, quite a bit.  Here are some of the projects that I have completed:

 This is Lyra.  The photo shows the center of the shawl.  I made mine as more of a shawl than a tablecloth.  The diameter is 60" across.  Yes, that is huge.  What do I do with something that large, use it as a lapghan of course!  That is, if the cats aren't sleeping on it.  I know, I hear it all the time, "that's an heirloom!"  Yeah, but if no one uses it, why make it?  That's my practical side speaking.  If you would like to see more pictures of this project, go to my finished album.  I have the pictures up, just not any details on it yet.  Those should be posted soon, but don't hold your breath.

This next photo is of Aster.  This one is going to be used as a tableclothe.  Right now it is a chair cover.  Slightly smaller than Lyra, she  is 42" in diameter and is a circle, where Lyra I knit square.  I really should post more details, but I don't have that much time.  Both of these projects are patterns by the master lace designer Herbert Niebling.  Also, both of these are reprints of the original patterns and are available at Lacis.  This should save you an expensive trip to eBay as many of the originals are available there.  ( I know this as I am making someone in Germany very happy with my obsession).

One last project to show you, yes I have been busy. This is Spanish Armada by MMario.  Free Pattern!  Another lace project, but this one is a small afghan.  I used larger needles and worsted weight yarn.  Perfect for me, too small for John (hubby).  Still love it.  It sits on the loveseat in our bedroom and I use it when I watch TV.  I have no idea what the dimensions are on this one.  I just blocked it out as large as it would go.  I think it is somewhere around 55".  Perfect for someone's lap, but not something that would completely cover you. 

So, that it is for now.  I will try to post once a week, but no promises!!!  I do get to go out tonight and knit.  Since it is Wednesday, Chicks with Sticks will be meeting at Panera.  I am also meeting with Madeline and Lew for dinner before.  Lew would like to come and see the ladies (and sometimes one or two gentlemen) that knit there.  We have told him to bring some things to show off.  Hopefully he does.  While there, Sophie should be delivering Girl Scout Cookies!  Yay! 

Pangea Shawl

Quick post today.....it's done!  I finished the shawl on Saturday, blocked it on Tuesday, and here it is:

 

In case you missed the details on this one, here you go:

• Pattern: Pangea Shawl by What If Knits
• Elann Peruvian Baby Silk in colorway-1805 Eggplant, I used 7.25 skeins
• Needles: addi turbo lace, size 6
• Finished size: 64" wide x 36" deep

The yarn is soft and blocked nicely.  The pattern is well written and easy to follow...what more could I ask for? This shawl is a Christmas gift for an unknown recipient!

If you are wondering about the trip to Disneyland, yes, we had a great time.  If you are going anytime in the near future, make sure you go by the Haunted Mansion.  It has been completely done over in Nightmare Before Christmas.  I'm not a huge fan of that movie, but the Haunted Mansion was amazing.

Now I am off to knit more and look for more lace knitting books.  I have this overwhelming need for vintage lace patterns, so I have been shopping for Niebling, Duchrow, and old Weldon's Practicals.  Now I know what I am asking for Christmas.

Back to Knitting.....

Now that wedding has taken place, I can concentrate a little more on my knitting.  The picture to the left is a close up of my Pangea Shawl.  The pattern is well written and is pretty easy.  I would say that a beginning lace knitter, who has some chart experience, would be able to knit this.  The repeats are easy to memorize and I have been able to knit this easily when in public.  I should have this completed by the end of the week.  Hopefully, I will have pictures of the completed shawl, blocked and ready to wear, on Monday.  This will be the first Christmas gift completed.

I find it amazing that even though I have a metric ton of yarn in my house, I am still purchasing more!   Last Friday, I made an appointment to have my car serviced.  I planned the appointment knowing that I could just walk down the street and hang out at Filati's.  I even asked the service desk how long the appointment would last to make sure that I could spend time there!  I am glad that I did as I got to visit with Knitting Grammie and Alice.  I did buy some yarn as you can see on the right.  That is Berroco's Ultra Fine Alpaca.  Fingering weight yarn that can be used for socks or a special gift for someone!  I will be using this yarn specifically for a gift.  Of course, the receiver is a secret, but I am sure that this person will see the yarn and figure it out!  I am hoping to start this project this week.  I have finally picked out the pattern so I just need to wind it up.  Of course, I couldn't leave with out something for me:

 

I seem to be on a blue theme with my yarn purchases lately.  I was at Filati's earlier this month and had purchased some Zephyr in a beautiful blue.  I have even started a project with it-Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace.  The picture is from Sunday and I have moved on to a circular needle now.  This one is for me.  I don't know if I will wear it, but it will be nice to look at!  I have been bad and haven't really worked on my sweater.  I am planning on getting the fronts finished this week unless this project really sidetracks me!  I really have a weakness for lace!

Did I mention that I am going out of town? We are going to Disneyland for the rest of the week.  My brother and his family planned this trip and their kids really wanted to see mine.  Why?  Well, believe it or not, my kids are wonderful with his.  My niece and nephew are 5 and 9, respectively.  They really enjoy spending time my teens.  Of course, this is because the teens are away from their friends!!  This will be the first time that my brother's family has been to Disneyland.  Should prove interesting.  We are all staying at our timeshare that is across the street from the park.  Looking forward to the trip as my husband refuses to fly to LA.  This should give me plenty of knitting time!  Don't ask why he refuses to fly.....just one of those things.  At least he is driving!

The Big Day (very long post)

Sorry that it has been so longsince the last post.  Still recovering from the wedding.....and it wasn't even mine!!  Seriously, since I had taken time off of work and had left the family at home to fend for themselves, I had a tremendous amount of work and housework to do.  So here was the week in San Francisco for Madeline and me, leading up to the wedding.

We left early Tuesday morning for the city.  Sam was kind enough to drive us as Madeline and he had a meeting with the rabbi in Berkley.  Since Madeline and I were going to spend a majority of our time preparing for the wedding (at least that is what we told everyone!), she packed the car with everything that we would need: wedding programs, out-of -town guest gift baskets, favor making supplies, the ketubah, and much more.  I was lucky enough to be able to bring my suitcase and some knitting!  Fortunately, I am used to being packed in the car with little room for long trips, so I was able to make myself comfortable.  We made it to Berkley in good time and Sam dropped me off at Pete's so I could knit and drink coffee while waiting for them to have their meeting with the rabbi.  I got to work on my cropped cardigan while waiting.  So nice to knit without interruptions!

Our original plan was to have Sam drop us off in San Francisco at my timeshare so that he could go to work (in his Oakland office).   Madeline and I knew that we wouldn't need a car while in the city, so that seemed to be the best option.  Once we realized the amount of items that we would need to schleep around until we could check in, we knew that this would not work.  So, Madeline and I dropped off Sam at the office and proceeded to drive to SF and the timeshare with no map and no GPS to guide us.  Since Sam was driving, I just assumed he would know how to get to where we were going or would have directions, (I did email the link to the timeshare, complete with address and directions) but there were no directions printed out and he only had an idea of how to get there.  But, he did give us directions to the freeway and told me which ones to take.  Once Madeline and I got on the road, we were able to muddle through.  Fortunately, we have driven around there enough to figure out what we were doing.

After finding the timeshare and finding a place to park (there is a garage across the street), we went to the timeshare to see if we could at least unload the car.  It was only 10:30am so I doubted that we could check in.  To my great surprise, they made some changes so that we could check in.  We were so happy....and it only took two trips up to the room to unload all of the packages (with the help of the bell hop of course!).  We spent our time after that finding a place to eat and exploring the city. 

Since we were in the city and Madeline and I are both yarn addicts, we spend part of one day visiting some yarn shops.  This type of shopping is a necessity as the bride is under much stress and it was my job as the Matron of Honor to keep the bride happy (nice reasoning, huh?).  Also, since I had never been to Artfibers before, and they are closing their location, it was very important for us to make this stop.  Of course, you go to a shop that sells unique yarns by the cone (or you can wind off what you need) and they are on sale, well, any self-respecting yarn addict is going to pick up a little something, or maybe a cone or two!   Not that I need any more yarn as I had a shop and have a stash, but I just couldn't resist.  I am sure that I will find something to make with these.  I would highly recommend stopping by this shop before it closes.  The sales person that was working that day was extremely nice and very helpful.  So sad to see the retail store close.

We also ventured into Berkley to visit Lacis.  We took BART, got on the wrong train, but eventually made it.  Lacis is right across the street from the BART station so we didn't have far to walk.  Now this trip was a necessity.  Madeline wanted me to crochet Sam's Kippah, and I needed the crochet cotton and hooks to make this.  We had ask the salesperson at Artfibers where we should go, and she suggested Lacis.  Well darn!  Guess we had to go!  The store is beautiful.  I did find some things other than crochet cotton.  I was very excited to see cones of Zephyr, so I had to get one of those.  I also picked up some DMC Cebelia.  More lace in my future!  Madeline picked up a lace hanky for her big day (definitely will need that!).  There is much to see at this shop, but I was disappointed in the sales staff.  There were four people "working" that day, but only one greeted us.  (Madeline and I were the only customers in the store.)The others were mostly chatting amongst themselves.    We were also asked to leave early as one of the staff had to leave and they were closing up early.   I would definitely visit this shop again as the displays of vintage lace are extraordinary.  But, I know that since the owner of the shop has passed on,  I will have to go in knowing what I am looking for an expect little to no assistance.

Madeline and I did do other things beside shop for yarn.  We also just shopped!  Bloomingdales had its big sale for Charity.  Donate $$ to your favorite charity (they had a list) and it got you a ticket for 15-20% off throughout the store.  They also had different events going on throughout the store.  Madeline and I were very excited about one particular event (aside from the sale).  We got to meet Joshua Bell!  (That's him sandwiched between the two of us.  I am standing on my tip toes!)  We picked up his latest CD, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, and he signed them!  He was very nice and quite cute and put up with us (that is saying a lot).  Then after meeting him, we went shopping.  No need to go into what we got, let's just say that we had a very good time!

Much of our days were spent exploring our surroundings and shopping.  Our evenings were spent making a Kippah, tying ribbons on the programs, and putting together gift baskets and favors.  By the time my family joined us, we had some things done, but much more to accomplish.  Tori was a great help.  She stayed up late and helped, even though she was very tired.  I am proud to say that she complained very little and helped out a great deal.  Not the same child she was six months ago!!

The wedding itself was beautiful.  Before the actual ceremony, Madeline and Sam signed their Ketubah.  This is very different from my Catholic wedding 20 years ago.  John didn't get to see me until I walked down the aisle.  In a Jewish wedding, the contracts are signed before the wedding ceremony.  Madeline looked so beautiful!  She was very much the blushing bride.  Of course, Lew's chuppah was used in the wedding ceremony.  Hopefully, I will figure out how to pull pictures off of our video camera and post them later.  The entire wedding celebration was held at the Sir Francis Drake in Union Square.  The Ketubah signing was in a conference room upstairs, while the wedding ceremony and cocktail reception were held on the mezzanine.  The dinner reception was in one of the ballrooms on the second floor.  The food was wonderful.  The hotel's restaurant, Scala's, catered the event.  I was very surprised that a catered meal for 140 people could taste sooooo good.  The people at the Drake were very good to work with.  Being the Matron of Honor meant that everyone had to report to me if there were any questions.  Of course, I would go to Madeline and ask her what she wanted, but this way she didn't have more people wanting her attention. 

Now Madeline and Sam are married and on their honeymoon.  Where are they going?  Well, they have to suffer through a Mediterranean Cruise.  I did volunteer to save Sam from all of that pampering, but for some reason he wanted to be there with his bride.  Imagine that!  I am very happy for Madeline.  Best wishes to the Bride and congratulations to the Groom!!

Wedding Preparations

No, not my wedding.  Madeline's wedding!  The big day is 9 days away.  I get to block her chuppah tonight so that we can give it to the florist on Tuesday.  Actually, the chuppah that I am blocking is the border, she is hand painting the silk center piece.  Lew knit the border for her.  Beautiful hand knit lace, pattern designed by Lew.  Tomorrow we pick up her wedding dress.  It has been fitted and is ready for next weekend!  On Tuesday, we leave for SF so that she can relax (maybe) and we can finish any last minute preparations.  The best part is that we will be there with no kids, furkids, and no husbands/husbands-to-be.  Her big day is coming!!

Yesterday, I took my furbabies to the vet.  It was their time to be spayed/neutered.  I was able to bring home Duma.  His recovery period is much shorter than Kima's.  She will be picked up later this morning.  I do feel sorry for him right now. It is obvious that he misses his sister, he keeps wandering around the house looking for her.  He also has an e-collar on.   The vet decided to put it on him as he keeps licking his stitches.  Of course, he looks so pathetic and Tink and Nigel are avoiding him as they are not quite sure what that thing is attached to his head.

Tori had a choir concert last night.  I am going to try and post pictures this weekend.  We have a video camera that John used to tape the performance.  It has a feature that allows you to take still photos from the video.  I am going to try and do that tonight.  Hopefully, I will be able to get some nice pictures of her.  They did a wonderful job with the performance.

I don't have any of my knitting photos to post.  Those will come later.  I did join a KAL on Ravelry.  I am knitting a lace shawl (shocker!).  The pattern comes from this site and is called Pangea.  It is a beautiful shawl and I am knitting it from stash!  The yarn is from Elann that I bought way before I had the store.  It is called Peruvian Baby Silk.  I have no idea why I bought it, but I am very glad that I did.  Not only is the price very nice, the yarn is quite beautiful- very soft and easy to knit with.  I am knitting this as a gift, but will still post photos .  I just won't say who it is for!

Well, I'm off to pick up Kima.  Duma will be very happy to see her sister.  Hopefully, there is no e-collar for her!

Weekends are too short!

The weekend has come and gone, where does all of our time go?  Well, part of my weekend was spent at Great America in Santa Clara.  No, I didn't go on any rides.  What was that?  Why didn't I go on the rides?  Well, I was there for a cheer competition!!!  The first of many to come.  I will get to    travel at least once a month for the next 5 months to different competitions around the state, ending up at the National Championships is Anaheim at the end of March.  Sounds like great fun,   but it's not.  Not that I don't enjoy watching my daughter and her team compete, I do.  The problem is the rest of the time that you spend waiting while everyone else's daughters (and some sons) compete.  It usually ends up being an all day affair.  We could have gone on the rides, but DH and I were tired and had no motivation to walk all over the park.  Instead, we waited with Tori and the rest of her team, watching the other teams perform and waiting to hear the results.  For their first competition, Oakmont performed well.  Definitely room for improvement.  Once they look pretty good, I'll post a video for all to watch.

The rest of the weekend is always spent cleaning and doing laundry.  The normal things that everyone must do.  But, part of my cleaning involved going through my stash-and do I have a lot!  Now having owned a yarn shop, one would expect that I would have some yarn.  But, the yarn that I went through was everything that I had before the store. I was amazed at some of the yarn that I found.  Much of it I had forgotten I had.  Unfortunately, I did not remember to write down what projects the yarn was purchased for.  If you noticed my sidebar, I have a list of goals from the site 43 Things.  One of my goals is to get my house organized.  So, by spending time of Ravelry, I can organize my stash of yarn, needles, books and patterns.  This will help me accomplish one of my goals!  And I can find patterns for all that yarn!  Nothing like finding ways to justify spending part of your Sunday playing in your yarn!

I was able to get some knitting done too.  I am now done with the back of my cable cardigan and have moved on the the fronts.  When knitting cardigans, I always knit both fronts together on the same circular needle.  This helps me to have all the shaping done symmetrically.  I know that one of my weaknesses in knitting is not taking the best notes.  By working the fronts together, I don't have to worry about what row I started the decreases on the left so that I will start the decreases on the right on that same row.  I think that the biggest problem that I have is keeping my yarn from getting tangled.  

   For those of you that shopped at my store, I wanted to make sure that you didn't think that I have forgotten about Tink.  She is still here, ruling over the kittens and Nigel (my doggy).  She likes to perch on this banister so that she is able to see most of what is going on in the house.  She is still as bossy as ever and will only let certain people pet her when she is in the mood.  But, she is still my baby from the store.  My 'free' kitty-and the kitty that is the pickiest of the three when it comes to food.  Only the best for the free one!  The kittens will eat just about anything.  Speaking of the kittens, here is Duma on my desk.  He insists that he spend most of his time there, snapping at the mouse on the screen and lying on all of my paperwork.  Of course, he can only do that when Tink lets him.  He and Kima are getting spayed/neutered this week.  I wonder how we are going to keep them from running around the house once they get home?

As I noted above, I have joined Ravelry.  If you are a knitter or crocheter and have not joined, I highly recommend it.  I really don't have a lot of time for the forums, but there are many knit alongs and different knit groups to join.  They also have a database so that you can keep track of WIPs, upcoming projects, needles, books, and your stash.  I was pretty impressed with the site.  You do have to ask for an invite, but after waiting a couple of days, they email you and you're in.  Because I finally joined, I am now part of the Walker Treasury Project.  Check out the blog and find out more about it.  I am really excited about being part of that group.

I did want to say 'thank you' to everyone that has left me a comment.  Those are really appreciated.  It is nice to know that there is someone out there actually reading this blog!!

Family Additions (knitting content also!)

During the many months since I had last blogged,  we made a couple of additions to the household.  Now, those of you that had been to the store will remember Tink, the abandoned kitten that became the store cat.  When the store closed, she came home with me full time.  Now Tink is a very tempermental cat.  There are times when she is quite loving, but the majority of her time is spent in solitude (completely her choice).  Tori has tried time and time again to get Tink to let Tori hold her and pet her, but to no avail.  So, this year, Tori begged and pleaded with her dad to let her get another cat (I have no problem adding another pet to the household as cats, in my opinion, are much easier to handle than dogs).  We finally wore him down and Tori, Madeline, and I drove out to a breeder to look at Maine Coons.  I chose this breed to make my husband happy (they are big cats) and make my daughter happy (they have a reputation for being very loveable).  The breeder had many kittens, both  Maine Coons and Savannahs. I had never heard of a Savannahs before, and didn't know anything about the breed.  But the cats were beautiful and friendly and big!  We were all taken with them, but had gone there to look at the Maine Coons, so we looked at those kittens instead. 

Being a good wife, I informed my husband that he would need to go to the breeder with us on the next trip and see the cats.  I wanted to make sure that the kitten chosen would be acceptable to him, after all, he was going to be paying for it!  So off we went again, out the to breeder to visit her cats.  The breeder showed us the kittens and the parents and we couldn't help but look at the Savannahs.  My husband saw them and decided no Maine Coons for us in the future, were getting a Savannah!  Well, I did do some research on this breed and we were at the breeder, so we had question and answer time!  We found out that they are a newer breed that is still in development.  They are very active and very loving.  Usually not a lap cat, but loved to be petted and play games.  They have many "dog-like" qualities, they will come when called, play fetch, and walk on a leash to name a few.  They are not for everyone.  The activity level with the earlier generations is much higher than the average cat.  After learning that little tidbit, I decided the two would be easier than one, I just had to convince John of this! So, we put a deposit down on one kitten, but had made sure that the other would be available too, just in case.

Upon our arrival home, Tori and I got on the internet to find out all the information that we could.  Armed with the new found information, we took it to Daddy (he was buying his baby girl a birthday present!) and showed him why two kittens would be better than one.  After much cajoling, he finally agreed and I called the breeder that night.  Here are our two new additions to the family: Duma (Swahili for cheetah) on the left and Kima (Swahili for monkey) on the right.  They are much bigger now than in this photo, but I will be adding more current photos of them in the future.  They keep us on our toes, and Tink is not at all happy with the new arrivals. She is adjusting slowly but surely.  Since she believes that she is human, I am sure she feels we should have consulted her on this.

On to knitting.......I have made progress on my sweater.  I decided to make the cropped cardigan not so cropped.  When first reviewing the     measurements, I knew that I would make the sweater longer than the pattern instructions. Being in my forties, showing off my mid-driff is a bad idea!  With that in mind,  I have added two inches to the length of the sweater. So far, I have just completed the armhole decreases and used two balls of yarn.  I am staying on track to complete the back by the end of the week.

Madeline and I were comparing patterns and found out that we want to knit the same sweater.  We are going to start a little knit a long with the condition that I do not start the sweater until she returns from her honeymoon.  Something about me knitting too fast.  The pattern calls for Adrienne Vittadini's Natasha.  Reading its description on Knitter's Review, it sounds lovely to work with.  Since Adrienne Vittadini is discontinuing her yarn line, I decided to see if I could find some at a good discount.   I found Natasha on sale at CALYarn, a site that I have just discovered.  They seem very nice and I emailed them to place my order.  I hope to receive it today or tomorrow (will post pictures of what I get) .  We are also going to be knitting the sweater with Janice.  She started hers a while back, but will be picking it up again once she finishes her Christmas knitting. 

Wow! This is the second post this week.......maybe I will actually keep up my blog.  Hope somebody out there actually reads it!