I shouldn’t complain about Monday. After all, I AM retired, and I slept in this morning, making up for Saturday night’s loss of sleep. I really didn’t want to get up at all, but really needed some office supplies, and K-Mart is just a block away. And then I had a check to cash, and the bank is just half a block in the other direction. So, I crawled reluctantly out of my warm bed and shivered into some warm clothes. Well, they warmed up after a few minutes. Do you know how hard it is to first get in the shower when the apartment is almost arctic temp? And then after a nice warm shower, to have to get out of in back into the attic temp and get dressed? I briefly thought about digging out my long johns, but decided that might be overkill right now, but my heavy AmeriCorps sweatshirt was just what I needed at the moment. Oh yeah, the picture above is of our fish pond–the little waterfall in the back–or maybe the front. Guess it depends on whether you’re a fish in the pond or not. 
The fish all come running, or more likely, swimming when someone is close to the pond. That herd mentality I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I took this photo. I think most of the flowers are gone now, and the fishies are hibernating. Or maybe I’m just the one hibernating. I was so over heated for so many years that it’s a strange feeling to be cold natured again. But after all those years of hot flashes, I think I prefer the cold. You can always add more layers, but there’s a legal limit to how much you can take off. Plus, I have my own personal limit to how much I’m willing to show in public.
I’ve had three servings of my Monterey spaghetti now and have finally figured out what the problem is. It’s not that I had to substitute a different cheese. I didn’t put enough in. I realized it this afternoon when I was eating my lunner. So, the solution to that will be to run another block of cheese thru the salad shooter, and just add a handful to each serving when I heat it up. See, I still have at least one working brain cell. And on a Monday at that.
remember all the ruffled scarves I was finger knitting all last summer? 
I think I deleted the photo of the scarves, but this is the bag of yarn. The scarves mostly went to some of my favorite places for their fund-raising events, so I don’t have a huge over run of them any more. Anika also took several of her favorites when she spent the night with me in September. And then Andrew and Noah decided they each wanted one. 
Andrew is on the left with the blue scarf around his head and Noah is on the right lookin a bit embarrassed, but willing to go along with Andrew’s quirks. They are both a couple of little nuts, but I think Noah has a lot going for him. He raises calves to show at the Daviess Co. fair each summer, and has won several gold medals. This year his steer and heifer each won gold medals and Grand Championship medals. His goal is to have twenty head of cattle by the time he graduates high school. That kid will carry on the Wink family farming tradition if he gets the chance. Andrew will probably follow his dad into a Poly Sci type of profession. With that kid, who really knows? If they still had gambling boats sailing the Mississippi he might become a professional gambler. We have all played different card games with him and as far as I know he’s never been beat. He does love strange head-gear though.
Well, back to my scarves. I’ve been using up the ends of the skeins of yarn lately, making itty bitty neck warmers. They have a name for them, but for the life of me, I can’t think what it is right now. I’ll remember in a couple of hours when I’m trying to sleep. but…
Hummm, kinda hard to see them on the quilt top, but they are actually nice and warm, and the short ones just fit around the neck and can be pinned closed with a decorative pin, or I could probably put a button on them and wear them that way. Just thought about that one. See? I’m a night person. Mornings just don’t suit me. I think that’s why I worked second shift at the nursing home. Unfortunately that was the only place I worked that had a second shift.
Just remembered something funny. At least it’s funny now. Wasn’t when it happened, but in retrospect, well….I had a neighbor in the adjoining apartment who was extremely lonely, but refused to go downstairs to meet anyone else. I had to get up at five a.m. to get ready for work at the time, and one morning she knocked on my door about thirty seconds after I got out of the shower. I know I should not have opened that door, but I did. I had a dog then, a little guy named Max. She came in with a hot dog for him, held it by one end, and he leaped up and grabbed it and swallowed the darn thing whole. She gulped, I screamed, and Max just looked around to see if there was another one coming. I don’t think that little guy ever chewed anything. And I know he didn’t eat dog food unless there was no other option. Well, both of them have passed away now, and while I miss Max, I can’t say the same for her. I don’t know how many times I was late for work because she would come over as soon as I would get out of the shower and just stay and stay and stay, and I was just too polite to tell her to go away.
Most of the people on my floor are okay now. We all do our own thing and if anyone needs help they ask and someone helps. I cook and share, one of them has a car and will drive us if we need a lift. One will run errands if we need anything. One will do laundry for us when we need help with that. We’re just like a small neighborhood up here in the sky.
Angie's Place 