Darned If You Do

As a general rule, I don't darn socks. If one springs a leak, into the trash it goes. However, this morning I put on an almost brand new pair of knee socks, only to find a hole near the ankle. I doubt if I've worn these socks more than a half-dozen times. Since the hole wasn't in the normal wear spots (heel, toe) I have no idea how it got there. My cat may have been involved. Anyway, I decided to darn the socks. My first thought was to do them on the machine. However, because these are knee socks, and the hole was so far down, I couldn't get all the rest of the sock out of the way in order to get the damaged part under the needle. Darning by hand was the only solution.

Sock-darning used to be a regular past time for the thrifty housewife, and they used what they had on hand. Sometime back, my mother gave me this sock-darning gourd that was used by her paternal grandmother. (Mama even labeled the plastic bag so that when someone goes through my personal effects, they won't have to wonder.) This great-grandmother of mine lived until I was a teenager (or close to it) so I remember her quite well. The gourd was used inside the sock to isolate the area that needed darning, and to provide some shape as well.

Here's my holey sock with the gourd inside. And here is the start of my repair work. As a side note, I really like cold weather and have enjoyed the little bits of snow we've had this season. The one thing I don't enjoy are the dry, chapped hands that I live with every winter.

Finally, here's my mended sock. I could have done with a darker shade of blue, but I don't expect the darning and/or fashion police to inspect my hosiery. Anyone protesting can buy me a new pair of socks.

I have done some sewing lately, but for the life of me, I can't remember to take pictures before the item leaves my house. I made a birthday card for Phillip, a thank-you card for my nephew's girl friend who sent me a book, and I made (and mailed) a single quilt block in this pattern. A blogger I read is putting together a quilt for an injured Marine, and since I have several friends with Marine sons, I decided to make and send one. That's a first for me, especially since I consider myself a dabbler rather than a real quilter.

Finally, I made this birthday card for Emily. I already punched a hole in it and attached it to the ice cream scoop I'm giving her before I remember to make a picture. But at least I remembered!

Cruisin' the Clearance

My favorite kind of shopping is cruising the clearance racks. It is a rare day when I pay full price for anything. Yesterday I scored this long-sleeved, button-down, oh-so-soft cotton shirt for my husband. The price was marked down 90%!When is the last time you paid under $4 for a new dress shirt?

Gifted on Someone Else's Birthday

Yesterday was Phillip's birthday, but I got a gift in the mail from him (and Lystra). Yep, all this yummy Cadbury chocolate. I'm an addict, and even if there were a 12-step recovery program out there, I wouldn't sign up. This is the real Cadbury deal, made in the U.K. Since Cadbury has recently been purchased by Kraft Foods, it's anyone's guess whether this chocolate will continue to be made in the U.K.

Also in the package was a PT Cruiser. I've been driving mine for almost eight years, and I still love it every bit as much as when I first got it. It's the only time in my life when I've wanted a particular kind of car. Here's a picture I made a couple of weeks ago when we had the big snowfall. The one in the package is this model, in exactly the same shade of navy blue, and complete with its own surfboard. (I must admit that I don't have any immediate plans to go surfing, though.)

So that you can appreciate my new little car better, here is another photo with a AAA battery for size reference. My new cruiser is a mere 2.75" long.Thank you Phillip and Lystra! Chocolate and PT Cruisers always make me smile.

Happy 27th birthday to my son, Phillip! (photos made at the Florida State Fair)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Emily! (#30, if you need to know)

Sewing Fun?

I recently took all the buttons that I had sorted by color and dumped them into one jar. I'm sure I'll live to regret doing this, but it kept Caleb and Alexa entertained for a good while at my house yesterday.

Family Announcement

Woof!

We don't have a dog, but we enjoy watching the Westminster Kennel Club dog show each February and trying to predict the winner. Blinky's pick is the schnauzer.

I Love Bargains!

Thankfully, the snow that was predicted for this morning didn't happen. A friend suggested that instead of 1" - 2" of snow, we're having 1" - 2" of sunshine. Nice. So, I was able to make my grocery store and drug store runs this morning. At Publix, I spent only ninety-seven cents for what you see here: six bags of frozen vegetables, four 40-count boxes of sweetener, and three Chapsticks. Coincidentally, my savings was 97%. Yipee!

At Rite Aid, they had this moisturizer with sunscreen priced at three for $18. There is a manufacturer's rebate for $15, so that makes the price $1 each. But guess what? (You probably did.) I had three $1 coupons, so the moisturizer is free. But wait! I also had a $5 Rite Aid coupon that came in the mail recently, since I'm one of their favorite customers. What's so ironic is that I almost never "buy" anything there unless it's free (after rebate usually). So in essence, Rite Aid paid me $5 to bring home three bottles of moisturizer that I like and would have needed to buy anyway. I love bargains!

More Snow Pictures

Here's what our landscape lighting looked like last night.Then this morning the sun came out, the sky was blue, and everything was so pretty. We took a short walk through the neighborhood.With the sunshine and temperatures in the upper 30s, the snow is melting pretty quickly, and thank goodness the roads are nearly dry.

It Doesn't Happen Often

We're getting snow in the sunny south. And now you know that I drive a navy blue PT Cruiser. My driveway going down to the garage is very steep, so I'm ensuring that I can get out in the morning if I need to.

Up to Something

I haven't blogged a whole lot in the last few days, but I have been busy. Here's a get well card I made for my baby sister who recently had surgery.And do you remember this fabric bundle that I got a few weeks ago? (Poor photo -- sorry.) It has been cut into squares and strips, along with some solid, off-white fabric.It doesn't look like much yet, but I've started sewing the blocks together.Finally, I got two bags full of my step-father's shirts last week, with a plan to cut them up and make them into a quilt for my mom.Today I was meeting a friend for coffee (tea in my case) near my favorite quilt shop. We both went to the shop, and I chose fabric for the back of the quilt, along with another fabric to give a little zing to the front; otherwise, all those blues/grays/black would be just too boring. I'm going to keep those two items a surprise. I haven't begun cutting up the shirts yet, but this project will move ahead of the bundle of greens.

Small World Happenings

My brother-in-law called me this week. Technically, he's James' brother-in-law, since he's married to James' sister. Anyway, I don't believe he's ever called me before in the 34+ years we've known one another. By way of background, his hometown is Milledgeville, Georgia, about 120 miles from Cobb County where I've lived virtually all my life, and where he has called home for over 30 years. His family still lives in Milledgeville. He called to say that he'd visited a dermatologist in Milledgeville because he could get an appointment much more quickly there than he could closer to home. As the appointment was concluding he mentioned that he thought Milledgeville had gotten a lot more rain than he'd had at home. When the doctor inquired where "home" was, one thing led to another until pretty soon he learned that his appointment was with a high school friend of mine, one with whom I am still in infrequent touch. If I was considered smart in high school, then she was off-the-chart-smart. She went on to college and then medical school, and has practiced dermatology in Millegeville for many years now. We're all still in the state of Georgia, but still, Small World!

My college-aged niece, who lives near Columbia, South Carolina, is studying in the Dominican Republic this semester. Since she's a tall, slim, blue-eyed blond, you can imagine that she attracts a lot of attention wherever she goes in the Dominican. As she was running (presumably for exercise) one day, a gringo driver who was stopped at a stop sign rolled down his car window and asked her where she was from. (Kristina, if you read this blog post, the previous sentence is an example of when it would be thoroughly awkward to NOT end a sentence with a preposition -- since we just discussed this a few days ago.) Turns out that he was also from the U.S.A., more specifically, Columbia, South Carolina. Now that really was a small world happening!

He Likes Them!

I took Caleb the hockey pajamas this week. He seemed rather indifferent at the time, but he did put them on later. Then he went and found his (Canadian) dad, took him to the computer, and made him play the hockey game so that Caleb could watch while wearing his hockey pajamas. Caleb is also wearing the infamous green "hat," which is actually 1/2 of a shape-sorting toy. He insists on wearing it everywhere with the exception of church because his parents won't let him wear it there. I can't wait until he's about 15 years old and demands to know why his parents let him go out of the house with such ridiculous-looking head gear. He'll outgrow it soon enough, but for now, it's rather endearing in its goofiness.To complete the look, he's sporting a Spiderman band-aid.

The Dots are Connected

Sarah was correct that my "tools" are homemade (somewhat) exercise equipment, but not because I have any desire to go to the gym. Any gym. Emily got it exactly (but she has an insider's edge), namely that I am trying to "unfreeze" my frozen shoulder. Dave gets points for originality of thought.

First, for anyone who doesn't know, I played softball every summer from the time I was eight years old, up until I was eighteen. (And lots of other sports, too.) Then I played softball off and on until the ripe old age of 41, when I broke my foot and decided that was a sign that it was time for me to give it up. So, in late September, I thought nothing of chucking rotten tomatoes off the vine and trying to land them in the compost pile just beyond the driveway. A short throw meant that I'd have to clean tomato paste off the driveway, so I was really giving them the old heave-ho. Until the "Oh, no!" when I knew I had injured my shoulder. I put off going to the doctor hoping that it would get better on its own. Well, it did heal (I suppose) but adhesions apparently form during the healing, and coupled with the fact that I hadn't been using it much for almost four months, it became "frozen." I have pretty good upward motion, but I couldn't reach behind me without excruciating pain. Tucking in a shirt was misery. I finally went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago, and started an eight-week course of physical therapy. Here are the tools as I use them.

There are two stretching exercises, and two strengthening exercises. Here are the stretching: While lying on my back off the edge of the bed, I slowly drop the roll of gift wrap over my head, bring it back, and try to stretch a little further the next time. And the time after that, and... well, you get the picture. And you can tell from this picture that the right arm doesn't want to go as far as the left did.
I throw the scarf over my left shoulder, and use it to pull the right arm up behind me. This is about as far as it goes, and I can't go that far with only my right arm because the muscles have grown weak.
For the strengthening exercises, here is the one piece of equipment being used as intended. For this one, I have to go to the guest room, AKA the daisy room, because I have to hang my arm off the side of the bed, and my arms are too long for our bed. (Or our bed is not tall enough!) I bring the 1.5 lb weight straight up and back down, and then I have to swing it toward the back, too.
Finally, the yellow, stretchy band (given to me by the therapist) is under my left foot, and is pulled from hip level up across my chest more times than I want to do. Lots more. But I can tell there's been a good bit of improvement in two weeks.
Blinky thinks this is a game for her.Now you're in the know. If you ever have a frozen shoulder (and I hope you don't) you know exactly the exercises to do. And I won't even charge you for the information.