100 Things About Me

I finally finished 100 Things About Me.

3.  I have 1 sister and 2 brothers.
4.  The house I grew up in had 12' ceilings, huge pocket doors, a cubby space (our clubhouse) under the front stairs, accessible only through the walk-in closet and a small winding back staircase.

5.  I lived there for 18 plus years. The house next door to us on the north side was about 2' away.  We would crawl out our attic window and  into the neighbors' window to visit.

6.  I remember the milkman delivering milk in glass bottles in the box on the back porch.

7.  I played high school varsity field hockey.

8.  I played high school varsity lacrosse.

9.  I never had a cast on any part of my body.

10.  After high school I starting running to stay in shape.

11. I like to run; it puts me in a meditative state.

12.  I like to run alone.
13.  I like sneakers; I really like sneakers.  It would be so easy for me to go overboard and buy a new pair every month.
14.  My longest run ever was the St. George Marathon in 1991.
15.  My most challanging run ever was the Imogene Pass Run 1992.
16.  I have not been running much lately.

17.  Now I dash - after our two beautiful little ones!
18.  I met my husband in 1977.
19.  We married in 2001.
20.  In March 1987 I had an in-office biopsy to remove a grape-sized tumor from my neck.
21. In March 1987 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease.
22.  In April 1987 I had a staging laperatomy to remove my spleen and move my ovaries, moving the ovaries would keep them from getting "zapped" if I were to get radiation treatments.
23.  In Summer 1987 I had radiaiton treatment.
24.  I've been cancer free for 20 years.

25.  I guess I like a challenge.

26 .  My brother and I rode our bikes across the US in 1989.

27.  I've climbed Mt. Rainer in Washington.

28.  I've hiked The West Highland Way in Scotland.

29.  I like to wash dishes because I find it very calming.

30.  A window over a kitchen sink is a must for me.

31.  I don't like to unload the dishwasher.
32.  I hate to iron.
33.  Green is my favorite color.
34.  I hate teal.
35.  I like math and numbers.
36.  I think palindroms are cool.
37.  The like two kinds of cake:  carrot cake and (now) Jan's cake.
38.  I like pie, almost any kind of pie.
39.  I do not like to talk at movies.
40.  I like to stay through and watch all the credits.
41.  I never was able to get popcorn or other snacks at a movie as a kid.
42.  I like to hike and camp.
43.  My feet hardly ever get cold.
44.  I like to knit.
45.  I blush easily.
46.  I am a Unitarian Universalist.
47.  I have an undergraduate degree in Geography from Northern Arizona University.

48.  I've worked as a cartographer in a County Assessor's Office.

49.  I've worked for the USGS as a cartographer mapping Mars.

50.  I've worked as a programmer.
51.  I've worked in a day care center.
52.  I've worked as a janitor at a ski area.
53.  I've worked for the National Forest Service in cleaning bathrooms in campgrounds.

54.  I've worked for the National Forest Service as a fee collector in campgrounds.

55.  I've worked as a forest fighter in Idaho and Montana.
56.  I've worked at McDonald's - for about 12 hours over a 4 day period.

57.  I've worked as a secretary in Alaska.

58.  I like the toilet paper pulled over the top of the roll.

59.  I like to play with Playmobil.

60.  I like to play board games.

61.  Cribbage is my favorite two-person game.

62.  I like to play cards.

63.  My favorite game these days is Mr. Thurston's Mother's Game, a variation of Oh, Hell.

64.  My favorite solitaire game is Accordian.

65.  I like to work in my garden.

66.  I always notice when someone misuses the words "fewer" and "less"; it makes me cringe.

67.  I like to make snow angels.

68.  I like to listen to the birds sing.

69. I like to type.

70.  Thanks to my sister, I'm a touch typist.  In my high school college-pre students were not required to take a typing class.   My sister was in college at the time and told me to take typing!

71.  I don't have any cavities.

72.  Cheetos Snacks Crunchy are my favorite junk food.

73.  Lucky Charms are my favorite junk cereal.

74.  Ginger Ale is my favorite soda.

75.  Someday I want to knit a blanket like this.

76.  I like to ice skate.

77.  I like to be outdoors.

78.  I'm not much of a reader.

79.  Someday I'd like to own a yurt.

80.  I want an iPhone for Christmas 2008  (got it)!

81.  I like eggplant.

82.  Geometry has always been my favorite subject.

83.  I'm not a good swimmer, I sink.

84.  I recently got a Nikon D50 and want to take a digital photography class.

85.  Groundhog Day is my favorite holiday (harmless hype), fun movie too.

86.  I like to do jigsaw puzzles.

87.  The first car I owned was a Pea Green Ford Maverick with 3 on the column.

88.  Then, Phyllis, the yellow Fiat.

89.  On to, a Subaru DL 4WD wagon.

90.  Then, a Isuzu Trooper for a brief time.

91.  Then to a 1990 Toyota Camry, what a great car!

92.  In 1997 I bought my first brand new car, a Volkswagen Passat Sedan.

93.  I learned how much trouble a brand new car could be.

94.  In 2005, went back to the realiable Toyota.  With our second child on the way we traded in the Passat for a Sienna LE.

95.  I usually buy white cars.  I like white cars.

96.  I like snow.

97.  In November 2008 I started taking Body Pump classes at the YMCA.  The weight-bearing exercise is good for my bones.  I feel stronger.  Also, I'm enjoying the camaraderie; it's a fun group.

98.  Hadn't ran a race since 1999 and I ran a 5K on Dec 17, 2008.  My time was 37:11; my time was not great, but I had a great time.

98.  I like crossword puzzles.

100.  I like to read mysteries. 

Christmas Wrap Up

Celebrating Christmas this year was especially fun with our three-year-old and five-year-old.  They were so darn excited.  "A" kept talking about how she was going to walk downstairs and see Santa and then run back to her bed.  "T" couldn't wait to spread the magic reindeer-attracting dust (oatmeal and glitter) she made at school.   

Here are some of my memorable moments:

• On Dec 23, "A" did something that made "T" really mad.  She stomped downstairs, yanked "A's" Christmas list from the mantle and with pen in fist, scratched the items off the list.
• After "T" hung her stocking, she stood back and recited the words to "The Night Before Christmas".
• "A's rendition of Deck The Halls cracks me up.  She sings "deck the halls with bells and jolly, fa la la la la".  Then she announces that she does not know any more of the words.

Stash Burner

Tell me, can you look at this ornament without saying "aaw, how cute? I think it's so darn cute we'll keep it for our tree, but I do have another on needles as a gift. For me the button at the hanger makes it.  I also love color combinations suggested for these festive ornaments designed by Julie Williams.  For me it was the quick knit I needed last week.  No, I have not wrapped one gift yet.

Pattern:  Mini Christmas Stockings

Yarn:  Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Wt, oddments from stash

Needles:  US2 dpn

Surprise Snow

This morning we woke to a winter wonderland.  Here's what T had to say about that "it's not even Thanksgiving yet!"  We built a snowman family and enjoyed the fluke snow.  It has put me in the mood for Christmas earlier than usual.

All summer I waited for my parsley to grow and it never did much of anything.  Now after a bit of cool weather it's much healthier.  I'm going to try to protect it and enjoy it all winter long.  

BTW yes, I have been knitting.  On needles now is an adorable pixie.  I got the kit from E at our knitting group's yarn swap.  I'm also working on a scarf for Special Olympics.  I've decided to crochet it to give my hands a different action.  At night I've been having pain and numbness in my right hand.  The project specifies you make the scarf with specific colors of Red Heart yarn it's an awful yarn to work with, but affordable to most people.  

A Shore Thing

This past weekend we went to Ocean City.  Fall is one of the best times to visit the Jersey shore. We enjoyed the deserted boardwalk, the view of the rough surf,  dancing with strong winds, playing plenty of cards (Mr. Thurston's Mother's Game), plenty of Mack and Manco pizza and family fun!

Knitting In Public

Imagine my surprise when, on our way to my nieces field hockey game today, we drove by this statue! It's located outside the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College. The metal piece is so realistic I thought a college student set a black leather purse next to it as a joke. Do you know of any other outdoor knitting sculptures? If you do, please share.

I know where I'll be knitting on June 13, 2009 - wwkip day.

Vote Today

Big Apple Circus

Today we went to the Big Apple Circus in New York City. Marsha told us about it and I'm so glad we got to go.   The girls' memories are reflected in their play; they created circus acts and NYC skyscrapers.

Congratulations Phillies!

Today hubby went to the parade celebrating the Phillies victory over the Tampa Bay Jays for the World Series Championship. He said his walk from work to the Broad Street was like a walk in a "sea of red". He described a huge police presence at the parade: police in cars, on bicycle, on motorcycle and police on horseback. Maybe that's why, reportedly, the crowd was well-behaved.

I remember back in 1980 when the Phillies beat Kansas City. Yes, it's true. I don't watch a heck of a lot of baseball, but when it comes down to these seven-game series for the championships, I can't stay away from it. It is great fun and great for knitting by!

Some Serious Pumpkin Carving

This year the girls really got into carving pumpkins.   T was quick to announce "I'm making mine scary, boo!"  However, A was not so sure about the whole thing.  She told Gram that she was afraid of witches and Mommy knew it.  So, Mommy never told her stories about witches or showed her pictures of witches.

Five Spares, Zero Flats

Would you sit in a car four hours out and four hours back in a day to ride your back thirty-two miles?  On Sunday my two brothers, sister, nephew and I rode our bikes from Meyersdale, PA to Cumberland, MD along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP).  This 32-mile ride completed our ride which we started back in May.  Mom and Dad went along to shuttle our vehicles for us, that was a great help.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, clear and a bit windy, but not too cold.  Most of the ride was downhill.  We rode through three tunnels.  One was about a half mile long - that felt long.  You could not see the light at the end of that tunnel.  That one was well-lit, the others were not lit; we used head lamps.  The one tunnel felt like a wind tunnel.  A steam engine travels between Frostburg and Cumberland for weekend riders.  The bike trail follows along it.  At one tunnel, a sign advises "Do not enter tunnel with oncoming train"  duh!

As we got closer to Cumberland, there was a beautiful vista looking over the countryside.  Cumberland looks like a really neat town.  We had a late lunch there at The Crabby Big - a BBQ place along the C&O canal.

Just to log the drive/log.  We left my place at 7:15 AM, started riding at about 11:45 AM from Meyersdale, got to Frostburg at about 2 PM and rode on, arriving in Cumberland at about 4:00 PM.  We left Cumberland at 5:20 PM and were back at my place at about 9:00 PM.

The Most Wonderful Wallaby

As far as charity knitting is concerned, this sweater for afghans for Afghans (AFA) was the most rewarding project I've knit.  I took on the sweater as a challenge to myself, there was a need for the sweaters and the US deadline was October 14.  I finished the sweater on October 13, e-mailed AFA and they said just ship it out to CA and they will get it in time to go to Afghanistan.  Phew!  I had fun with the whole random stripe thing using the dice (see previous post) and I used up a bunch of yarn in my stash. Most rewarding of all is that it gives me a great feeling to know that the sweater will help keep a child warm this winter. 

T was cooperative enough to try it on for me while she was playing in the leaves.  I really like the way the colors worked out, even though I ran out of options at the yoke and had to finish up the top-most knitting with purple.   It was a pain to knit in all the ends.  I really do need to learn the technique of weaving them in as you knit.

The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

We spent Columbus Day weekend with friends at a cottage in the Wellsboro area.  The weather could not have been nicer.  The cottage was located near Ansonia, just yards from Pine Creek Trail, a rails-to-trails bike path which paralells Pine Creek in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  The photo to the left is the view from the front of our cottage. 

Friday night after dinner at the cottage we had enough daylight for a quick bike ride towards Wellsboro. A rode in the bike seat on the back of Hubby's bike and T on the tag-a-long behind my bike. 

Saturday morning we all had breakfast and then headed to Colton Point - lovely vistas (right) and a one-mile loop hike. Later Saturday we all biked to Turkey Falls.  C is an avid cyclist;  he rode on for several hours.  The rest of us headed back to the cottage.  After a quiet dinner we played some games and called it an early night. 

Sunday we cleaned up and packed up for the drive home.  We had a lovely and very relaxing weekend, one of those let's do this again next year weekends!

Mad Men

Rarely do I find a TV drama series that I can't miss.  Remember Ed  (2001) and Northern Exposure (1990)?  Yep, two shows in 11 years.

Fastforward to 2008, AMC's Mad Men beats them all.  To me it's fun, accurate, sad and sexy.  I've seen every episode.  If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. 

If you can explain this to me please do.  How do the seasons work?  I don't understand it.  AMC's episode list for season 2 list 9 episodes.  I had to search deep into their website to find out if and when there was a 10th episode and when it was going to air.  When does season 3 start?

Roll Of The Die Sweater

My Roll Of The Die Sweater is one of my WIPs - it's a Wonderful Wallaby for afghans for Afghans. I have six different yarns to use in the striping. I've assigned each yarn a number. In order to randomly stripe, I roll. This may be the fastest Wallaby I've ever knit because I can't wait to roll the die! Fast and fun.

In other related news.  When we make it to the main library, I love to walk past the shelf of new books to see if any new knitting books have arrived. Usually I only look at the craft section. However, this week my eye was drawn to another section of the shelf and I found Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck.  Can't wait to read it.

Tree houses revisited

Yesterday I visited Longwood Gardens with my girls and my niece.  This time I remembered my camera and got this shot from the treehouses.  

One of my childhood favorite books is Andrew Henry's Meadow.   It began my fascination with tree houses.  If you've never read it, go ahead, buy a copy and you'll understand.  It was out of print for many years, but now you're in luck.  In 2005 it was reprinted in celebration of its 40 year anniversary.

Also, I finally replaced the photo in this earlier post with a treehouse photo of my own.

The Cemetery

This is the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen.  It is a small cemetery on top of a hill in rural Pennsylvania.  To get to the  site you have to drive down a narrow dirt road in the middle of a field.  At this time of year the corn is high and lined the road on both sides creating a tunnel effect.

My grandparents are buried here.

Loss

Today my grandmother died.  She was 97.  I was at home with my girls and watching a friend's daughter when I got the call.  Within minutes of hanging up with my mom, my friend returned from her appointment to pick up her daughter.  Immediately I told her of the call I just received.  Luckily she was there to give me a nice warm hug.  She stay at the house for a few minutes while I walked and I cried.

Gram has been in poor health for a long time.  On most of my visits with her at the nursing home, I don't think she even recognized me.  Some days she'd be quite agitated and some days she'd be calm and quiet.  Last week my Mom reported that Gram was vomiting and in pain.  It was decided that there was not much to do for my Gram except to give her some pain medicine.  She could not handle tests to find out what was causing her discomfort. 

My Mom called me on Monday and said that Gram had asked my uncle "not to leave her alone".  He spent most of the morning by her side there at the nursing home and Mom decided to go up and take his place.  I drove up to join her.  When I saw Gram, I leaned up, kissed her and said "it's Beth".  For some reason I felt like she knew who I was.  Later I learned that earlier that day my uncle held a photo for Gram and she had correctly identified the names of her children on a photograph - all 12 of them!  

While there Gram kept repeating over and over again 'Jesus loves me, Jesus love me' - sort of creepy.  She threw up blood while we were there and then kept saying 'why does this keep happening to me?'  - sort of gross.  But what I'll remember is how I sat by her side and held her hand.  She looked into my eyes and at one point, when I pulled my hand away, she reached out to grab hold of it again.  She wanted me there and you better believe I wanted her there.  I will miss Gram. 

Fun In The Sun

Several weeks ago we got a flyer in our mailbox advertising 'Fun In The Sun Day Camp'.  It was to be held right around the corner at a neighbors' home for 3 to 10-year-olds, Monday - Friday, 1pm to 4pm. The camp is run by neighborhood teenagers.   What a concept!  The price for one week of camp? $40 per child with discounts for multiple children in the same family. What a bargain!

Was this the camp for my oldest? I had no idea, but I wanted to support these local entreupeners and decided to sign her up. I went in with no expectations, figuring I did not really care if my daughter went to camp or not. I was in it to support the neighborhood teenagers.  

As it turned out my daughter had a wonderful time.  She particularly enjoyed the crafts, coming home each day with something she had made.  Things including a decoupage cigar box, a simple wind sock made from paper plates and streamers, a tye-died shirt and a bird feeder made of a milk jug and wooden paint stirrers.  On the last day she greeted me with a big smile and a gold medal around her neck.  The ribbon on the medal was personalized (by the teenagers) with 'Fun In The Sun Camp 2008', her name and 'Best Painter'.  She was so proud and can't wait until next year.  What a week of fun!

As Seen On TV

Back in December we bought a very comfortable sectional for the family/TV room.  I don't even like watching television, but now that we have that comfy seating, you can find me in there quite often with my feet up.   Usually I knit instead of paying much attention to the tube, but it's hard for me to keep my eyes off those As Seen On TV commercials.  They crack me up -  check out the AwesomeAuger.