Frost

Yesterday morning we had frost.  No, I don't mean frost, I mean FROST.   It was almost like a slight snow, but better.  See snow has a way of blanketing things and changing silhouettes so that trees are more round, and individual branches and grasses become less distinct---things turn "lumpy and bumpy".  Frost, on the other hand, coats each individual branch and blade of grass.  That's what was so beautiful yesterday.  It was one of the heaviest frosts I have ever seen.  You could still see the frozen dew in the air like a cloud.  The world was almost completely white--as if someone had come along with a very large can of white spray paint and covered everything.  Up close, it was like little spikes of ice all along the edges of whatever it was clinging too.  It was amazing!  The trees especially were a wonder.  Frosting on every branch, and on the pines, every little pine needle was coated with icing.  I don't think I have ever beheld such a beautiful Winter morning!  I could hardly stand it driving to church! lol  Have you ever seen something so beautiful and majestic that you felt like you couldn't take any more beauty right then?  That's how I felt.  I was by myself, but I kept exclaiming about it over and over--because I couldn't help myself.  I did think it was quite appropriate to be blown away by the majesty of God's creation while driving to His House for Worship.  What a way to get ready for church!  =)  And before you ask, no.  Sadly I did not get a single picture.  Why?  Because I did not realize the world had put on such a show until I was began my drive to church.  By then it was too late to turn around for the camera, and too late to take any pictures even if I had.  =(  I was really disappointed!  If I had known what beauty was outside my windows I could have left an hour early for church and tried to capture it.  Though I'm not sure I could have done it justice.  There are some things that can only truly be captured by the camera of your mind.  But I sure would like to have tried.  In the mean time I'll keep the majesty in mind, and you'll just have to take my word for it.....

I think about posting nearly every day.  I really do.  And then before I know it, the day is gone and I've not posted anything........grr.  Anyway, I've been getting back into my dye buckets in the past week.  I discovered that I can do my final rinsing in the washing machine just fine, which is very exciting!  This means I don't have to stand outside with a couple buckets and a hose, rinsing and draining.  Now that I found this out I want to dye a new set of towels every day!  There are SO many colors to pick from.  The Rit website alone has 500 recipes, all of which could be varied just a little to make even more colors!  I feel like a kid set free in a candy shop!  So many colors, so little time.....=)  But back to my dyeing.  First I did a new red.  It is nearing Valentine's Day after all.  It turned out lovely---a really nice Valentine Red made by mixing scarlet and wine (the dye, not the drink!).  I've already painted one up...but I'm not going to show it to you yet.  Yes, I'm mean like that!  I want to get it up in the store first (hopefully tomorrow).  After the red, came the blue..........oh dear.  The color I tried was Color # 211 in the Rit "cookbook".  Just a splash of royal blue in the water.  The towels came out a beautiful ice blue color.  I know, you're thinking "And where's the problem?  She doesn't like ice blue?"  The problem started with two white towels.  I was ironing a white towel to paint on, but in the ironing my iron decided to start spitting.  It has these fits now and then and I usually pay them no mind.  What's a little water on cloth.  This time though, the "iron saliva" was just a little brown---on my white towel!!!!  Grr.  So I put that one aside and picked up another.  Got it ironed part way and......you guessed it, another episode of brown iron spit!  GRRR.  I can't sell them like that, so I sprayed some spot remover on them and set them aside, figuring I would dye those ones and see if the dye would hide the slight brown stain.  I washed the stained towels with several other good ones and put the whole bunch in the blue dye.  When I went to take them out for rinsing however, I saw, to my dismay, that the places I had sprayed with the stain remover had dyed as a stain!  What on earth?!!  I thought 'Well, maybe if I dye them darker'........ So back into the pot they went, along with a bit more dye.  The result?  A darker towel with  a darker stain!  For some reason, that stain remover didn't wash out or left some kind of residue on the fabric that absorbed the dye differently.  Aaagh!  So needless to say, I have two gorgeous blue towels that are useful to me only for practice and my own kitchen!  Again I say, Grr.  As if this weren't discouraging enough, I carelessly threw the dark and light freshly dyed towels (read dye still wet!) into the washer together to rinse........ Now I have 2 stained towels and 3 slightly mottled towels.....Oh me!  I think, though, that when the lighter towels are pressed they will be ok.  They will have a slightly marbled appearance, but at least it's even and not a glaring round spot like the other 2!  Maybe people will think I did them that way on purpose........=)  One can always hope, right?  The good that came from this is that I have 2 new recipes for colors I like.  I guess one has to be thankful for the little things....... I am itching to dye more, and I've been inspired with a new idea to try.  But I'm not going to tell you now.  Oh quit whining!  Let me try it first and see if/how it works.  Then I'll tell you.  But now it's chocolate chip cookie time......=)

Well I was going to post a Wordless Wednesday, but it appears Blogger has its knickers in a twist, so no pictures.  Grr!  Just goes along with the week I'm having! lol  I'm too tired for any sensible posting, so you're outta luck.  Yes, I know, you were waiting with bated breath for wy mords of widsom.  So sorry to disappoint.  Better luck next time, and please remember that holding your breath is bad for your health! =)  Night all!

What a week!  Sorry about the light (read: Non-existent!) posting this week!  For some reason, getting back into the swing of things after this last vacation has been.........whew!  See, part of the problem is this:  I grew up in a Night Owl family (not the kind with wings, silly! No, really not!).  My bedtime as a child was 10pm.  So I learned young that staying up late was good for you. lol  I don't know why, it's just the way it is in my family.  For years I worked evenings and nights and was quite content to do so.  Day jobs just didn't interest me because they usually involved going to bed early and getting up while it was still dark.  Not for me, no way.  Then I got to a job where early (and I mean EARLY)  was the only choice.  I start work now at 0515.  Not first hear the alarm, not shuffle to the kitchen for coffee, not get in the car, but START.  I don't think I need to go into how early this means I have to set the alarm....... But since I've done early for almost 3 years now, I've gotten sort of used to it.  I said used to it, not loved it!  =)  And there is a part of me that rather enjoys waking up before dawn---on my days off that is!  I don't mind the dark, quiet mornings watching the sun rise if I can be sitting in my chair with a cup of steaming coffee in hand!  But when I have to drag out of bed and face work........that is another story.  Though again, I'm semi-used to it.  So when I go "home" to see my family it's interesting.  When I first get there I'm awake and ready to get up by 7am-something and no one is stirring, not even a mouse.  Sometimes I lay there a while longer, sometimes I get up.  Eventually everyone gets up and the day goes along cheerily, until evening---somewhere around 7 or 8.  At this point I am ready to collapse in a bed again and the family is just settling in for a cozy evening of fun and games.  I hate going to bed when the party is going on at all, let alone when it's just getting started!  So I usually prop myself up somewhere and try with all my might to keep semi-functional!  If I'm kept busy it's usually not too bad, though the later it gets, the harder it gets, so sometimes along about 11 I've been forced to take a cat nap in a chair somewhere. lol  Finally I go to bed, but since my body is still on "O-dark-thirty" time, I'll wake up fairly early again the next morning...... You see the cycle here.  However, after several days of this, I start to get switched around a little, so I can stay up a little later a little easier, and don't wake so early.  Which is great when I'm with the family, because I can spend more quality time with them. The real problem comes when I get back to real life (vs vacation.  I'm not trying to suggest my family doesn't live in the real world! lol).  In real life, I go to bed around 7pm.  Don't ask, it's just what I have to do to survive!  So after a week of pushing myself to stay awake past 730 my body says "What? You think you're sleeping now?  That is SO not happening!"  But the alarm still goes off at its usual before-the-crack-of-dawn time.  So I slog through a day, then get back to bed and try to go to sleep early again.  And since it takes me several days to get into the Night Owl routine, it stands to reason that it will take me several days to get back out of it again.  Sigh.  So that is what this week has been about.  Survival! lol  I can't complain, they are my family after all and I'm glad I got to visit them.  It has been harder to get myself back to my necessary sleep pattern than usual, though. Not sure why.  Probably has something to do with the phases of the moon. Yeah, that's it. lol  Anyway.  I've said all that just to bolster my excuse for not posting.  Aren't you so happy you kept reading?  =)  Hope you all sleep good tonight!

Christmas + Adventure

Well, I'm back.  How is it that you can go away and it seems like your time there goes by in a flash, and yet when you return you feel like you've been gone a long time?  I've never understood that, but it's exactly how I felt with this trip.  Time with the family or people you care about always seems to go by so quickly.  But I enjoyed it all immensely.  I spent a couple nights at my sister's place for some "girl time".  We ate continuously, as usual!  The rest of the time was spent at Mom and Dad's.  We had our Christmas celebration---on New Year's Day, actually.  Being a family that contains 2 nurses, we have learned to celebrate the major holidays on any given day.  =)    We usually choose to celebrate Christmas after Christmas, because that's when I can get home and we just can't get ourselves together in time for a before Christmas bash! lol  I kind of enjoy celebrating Christmas late, though.  You feel like you get two holidays, and you also feel like you are getting to celebrate a "secret holiday" that no one else is getting. =)  I love Christmas Day when I know that in a week or two I'll have Christmas all over again.  I know, I'm funny that way.   You can just leave me to my own little world.  It's cozy and safe in here. lol   Anyway.  We had a lovely Christmas with much gift giving and eating and game-playing---and me trying desperately to stay up late!  When I am working I'm in bed around 7pm, so you can imagine living with a bunch of other people who are used to staying up until all hours!  I could have gone on to bed, but what fun is that?  I don't get to see them very often, so I didn't want to miss anything.  But I confess to dozing in a chair for a while some nights.... I did manage to be awake at Midnight New Year's Eve to count down the last few seconds. =)  I wish I could flip a switch and change my sleep/awake times just like that.  Then when I went to visit my family I could set it on "Very Very Late" and when I got back home switch it back to "Very Very Early"! lol  While I enjoyed the family and being cozy together inside, outside it got Very cold!  Brr!  The last night I was there it dropped to nearly  -15 degrees!  Yes, that is a NEGATIVE!  Yikes!  You should have seen my family---the hale and hearty Northerners they are---outside one night setting off fireworks!  Squeaking snow notwithstanding, there they were.  I enjoyed them too--just from the warmth of my mother's kitchen! lol Too cold out there for me!  The time with the family was wonderful (just too short), but the trips up and back are another story!  Both directions were complicated.  The trip North was complicated by that huge storm that came sweeping left to right across the country.  I was given the choice of a later flight, which I took, hoping I would have a better chance of getting home in one day.  I did (get home in one day), albeit after more delay.  The trip South was even more of an adventure.  My flight from Albany was delayed right off the bat, which meant I was going to miss my connection in Baltimore.  However, at the flight counter they told us that the airline was holding all the connections in Baltimore except for one---which wasn't mine, thankfully.  So off we flew after another hour+ delay.  Upon landing in Baltimore, I realized that we had come in at the far left side of the airport (just go with it, it makes this whole thing easier to understand!) and I had to make my way to the far right side.....not good.  To top it off, on the monitor my flight was listed as "Boarding".  Then panic set in.  I know they had told me in Albany they would hold the flight, but.... All I could think of was that they might be near the end of boarding and would decide little ol' me was not worth waiting for any longer and shut the door and then I'd be stuck in BWI all night (this was the last flight out to RDU).  So I ran.  Out-of-shape me, in slippery slip-on shoes, dragging a small wheeled bag, trying desperately to get to gate B13(appropriate number don't you think?).  At one point, as I approached the stairs---yes, I had to go UPstairs!---someone was standing in my way and not paying attention, and I just hollered "Comin' through!" and kept on moving.  After I got upstairs, around the corner, and started down B concourse I knew I had to abandon the shoes.  I just couldn't run efficiently in them.  So add to your mental image shoes in hand, and showing off my pink/black/gray striped socks to everybody and their brother.  Nice, isn't it?  I ran until I just couldn't. run. anymore.  I had to stop and gasp for air and for a very brief moment was afraid I might pass out.  Oh wouldn't that have been lovely?  A grand addition to my day! lol  But thankfully that didn't happen.  Just a few wobbles of the legs and I walked as quickly as I could the rest of the way to the gate.  I have not run like that in quite some time---and hope to not have to again any time soon!  Whew.  But thanks be to God they were still boarding, so my seat was safe.  Although with Southwest's open seating policy it meant I had to sit in a middle seat even though I had paid for better.  grr.  But that's ok.  I won't complain.  At least I made it on and didn't have to spend the night in BWI!  I'm thankful to God for working everything out, even though it may not have been the comfortable, scheduled way I would have chosen.  =)  I do hope this adventure is not an indication of the year ahead, though!  Adventure is one thing.  Panic-stricken adrenaline rushes are quite another! lol  All in all, a lovely time partying with the family---a Merry Christmas.  I hated to have to leave it all---although I was Really glad to get back to more sane weather here in the South......=)

Happy New Year Everyone!  May your '13' be the best yet!