No Particular Order

Thanks to great service from Compaq, my laptop was back home in record time. Seriously, they received it on a Wednesday, repaired it and shipped it back out to me on Thursday. I had it back Friday morning. Never saw that coming. I fully expected it to be gone the full ten days they told me it would take and then some. So what does a chick do with no unlimited computer access? Why she knits Ballband Warsh Rags. Oh yeah, here's your art shot!




Here are the Ballbands from another angle:


I'm sending these to my mom because I'm truly the worst daughter in the world. She really doesn't like anything except One Life to Live, General Hospital, All My Children and cleaning. I thought these would fit in with the cleaning hobby. The orange is probably a little wacky for her but it sure made me happy while I was knitting it.

The above picture is proof that the middle DS and youngest DS actually interact on occaision. Who knew?

Smiles all around. They might even "gasp" like each other every once in a while.

The rose bush this bloom is from has survived two hurricanes and my slacker gardening skills. Every year it comes back more beautiful than the year before. It thrives in the face of adversity. That would be me and a second straight year of drought.

I tried to get the dew to show up but it was foggy and my flash kept going off. I tried every setting and still the flash did it's own thing.

In the section titled, "I can't believe she said that!" I have to share what was heard at a county meeting for a neighbor to get his requested variances approved, they weren't approved. He had already cleared a 1/4 acre of protected wetlands without permission and wants to put in a boat/rv storage facility, that would be a fenced in parking lot, needed down here because the HOAs believe it to be tacky if you park your boat or RV in the driveway. Anyway, his wife stood up when the neighborhood representatives were there saying it was going to be ugly and bring down property values, and these words came out of her mouth, I'm completely and totally serious here:

"I am a hairdresser. I make people beautiful everyday of my life. We would never have anything ugly on the highway. We've already made it nicer than it was. We cleared the land and killed the snakes and turtles and bugs. It is so much better now!"

A member of the board of adjusters(BOA) asked her, "Do you mean to say you killed wildlife in the process of clearing your land, protected wetlands?" She responded, "Yes we did." From what I heard she sat down very proud of herself.

My friend who attended the meeting said when they got in their van to head home, her son who is, I believe 9, asked her, "Mom? Did she say they killed the turtles?" When she responded in the affirmative, the poor kid started sobbing.

I'm upset about the wetlands. Broke my heart. The property owner did have to pay $30,000 in Department of Enviromental Protection fines and plant 10 Sweet Magnolia trees. Ten trees to make up for the hundreds he mowed down. Amazing. He was pretty impressed with himself when he told the BOA that he actually planted 14 Sweet Magnolias when he only had to plant ten. Talk about going above and beyond.

Monkey Sampler update tomorrow. I have been working on it a bit here and there inbetween warshrags.

Tonight's dinner? Ree's Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich. I've been craving one of these since the last time I made them a few weeks ago. Hard to believe that I've been pondering going the vegetarian route isn't it? Many years ago, 15 to be exact, I was pretty hardcore, the oldest son's first hotdog was a tofu dog. I gave up because the craving for bacon was just too much to deal with. I had to have it! I do remember feeling a lot better back in those days, but I was also younger, thinner, and had read Diet for a New America by John Robbins and Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe. I thought I could make a difference in the world by choosing a vegetarian diet. Of the three kids the oldest DS to this day makes better food choices. He always chooses fruit over candy or junk food, prefers wheat bread to white, doesn't mind vegetables. The middle son is getting better, he'll eat just about anything now and is always willing to give something new a try, the youngest DS, if it's not pizza or chicken nugget or spaghetti made with Ragu Chunky Italian Garden Combination(it's how I get him to eat vegetables-sneaky, no?) he won't eat it. But for now, I'm sticking to my carnivore ways.

I'm trying to wean myself off caffiene and yes I'm as miserable to be around as you would expect. Of course yesterday morning I tried to ease my caffiene headache with a BK Mocha Joe from Burger King, it was so good I had to have another one yesterday afternoon. No caffiene headache last night! I was in a pretty good mood let me tell ya! It was a really sorry sight, I was digging around in my purse for enough change for the $2.20 for the second Mocha Joe, but I had to have it. I would have died if I hadn't got my hands on one. That is the price we pay for addiction. Good thing I'm only a caffiene addict!