I decorated

The back window is even less impressive. (I doubt the lights would even show in a photo.)

Privacy frost is currently privacy condensation... weather's been warm the past few days.

I am sooooo tired! I only got home a few minutes ago... my students had their exam tonight, and there was some work I *had* to do before I went home. Ugh.

Buses make good time after midnight. I even had a good connection. (Shockingly.)

The number of stroller-age children out and about at this hour of night was also shocking.

g'night...

Home From The Chiro

Crunching better today, but still not 100% yet. Two more appointments scheduled for next week.

Spotted on the way home:

Yeppers. Although I used Transit's trip planner to find a bus schedule that would get me there 10 minutes early, or on time if the 2 minute transfer time was insufficient... I arrived 10 minutes late. Thanks, traffic. :P

(I like that the businesses at the corner near my place like to put up fun sayings on their boards!)

I got this great old hoe at an estate/yard sale not far from my place:

Old tools are the best... they're actually built to handle the Red River gumbo we have around here! Even better, when I asked how much, the guy said $1! I tested it in the front garden before coming up, and it uprooted a bunch of weed seedlings like a charm! (Once I have a place of my own, I really should have my own tools.)

I have no clue what the hole on the blade is for. It looks original, rather than added later. Perhaps for hanging?

And That's The Kind Of Day It's Been

Today was oppressively hot and humid.

I started off the day with a dentist appointment. (Just a bi-yearly cleaning.)

Approaching the dentist's office, I realized that it was going to be a hot ride to the university, made more uncomfortable by the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to drink anything until a half hour after my fluoride treatment. (My dentist is the type that still gives them to adults. Some friends say their dentists say it's unnecessary and/or pointless, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.)

The cleaning went smoothly... well, as smoothly as it ever does. There's an occasional accidental poke with something sharp, and the x-ray thing hurt my gums as always, but my teeth are all holding up to the level of care I've been giving them.

Normally I just get a toothbrush to take home. At the end of this visit, I got a whole goody bag:

Toothbrush (a different brand than usual), plane-friendly-sized toothpaste (the kind I'm using!), and a tiny spool of floss. I flashed back to being a six-year-old coming home from a birthday party.

The party stopped when I got back to the front desk. When the receptionist tried to run my insurance, it said it had been cancelled. WTF!?!??!!!!! I *know* I'm not the only person who gets re-hired every four months... *why* can't the university remember to renew my insurance each time!?!??? Last summer it took something like two *months* after I discovered the problem to get my supplemental health reinstated (I don't *care* if everyone is going on vacations, make sure *someone* is doing the effing job!), and I had this same nonsense the last time I was at the dentist! I was just looking at my pay stubs yesterday, and I was being deducted for the health premiums. I was *peeved*.

I asked the receptionist if there was a phone I could use, so that I could talk to my benefits person, and have her talk to the receptionist so that she knew what to do. My phone call rang then went to voicemail. (Grrr.) It said to press zero if you wanted to be helped right away (gee, that's why I'm *calling*), and so I did. I got put on hold. (Grrr.) Finally she said that my benefits person would talk to me. (She's *there*?!?? Why didn't she pick up the phone?!?!?!!!) Apparently, even though my supplemental health was hooked up properly, the dental coverage was separate, and *wasn't* set up! (The term started at the beginning of May. They had *two* months to get me set up!)

I had the benefits lady talk to the receptionist, the receptionist is going to submit a paper form next week, and she'll contact me if there's still something I owe after that. (I'm only covered 50%, but then there's the supplemental, and it's all just confusing.) *sigh*

On the way from the dentist's office to the bus stop, I found a forgotten Blackberry. I stood there for a minute, wondering how best to get it back to it's owner. (The device was password protected, so my usual technique of looking for an entry labelled "home" or "mom" wasn't going to work.) Luckily, the owner realized she had left it behind, and came rushing back. (She didn't seem that interested in my suggestion that she put contact information on the back of the device. Whatever.)

The first bus to work was air conditioned. Ahhh! There was a longish wait downtown, where I tried to stand in the shade of the lamp post. (I could also have pulled out my umbrella for shade, but it was rather gusty.) The second bus wasn't air conditioned. Luckily by then I was allowed to drink my water. Unfortunately, I realized I had already drunk over half on the way to the dentist, and had very little left. (Plus it was warm by then... much less satisfying.)

I made it to the university by half way through what should have been knitting lunch... but there were no knitters. I guess something came up. (We're a pretty small group.)

Work was slow this afternoon. I remembered some other questions I had for the benefits lady, and so e-mailed her around 4:00. Looks like she stared her weekend early, because she didn't reply. (Did I mention I dislike my benefits lady?)

The first bus home was also air conditioned. Yay! (In fact, I decided to catch a different one than I intended simply because it was air conditioned.)

They hadn't yet closed Osborne for the Canada day preparations by the time we got there, so traffic was better than it might have been.

Reaching the Village, I saw that the farmer's market had started up again for the season. I hopped off the bus and bought some local honey (I've been hoping to run into that guy before my supply ran out again) and some garlic scapes. Mmmm!

When I was done shopping, a bus arrived quickly. However, it was most definitely *not* air conditioned. Although it would have taken me home, I decided to hop off and visit Wolseley Wool, which was having a customer appreciation night. (I had initially intended to go, but had been wavering due to the oppressive heat and humidity, which was worse than earlier. WW isn't very close to bus routes... it's not too far, but not as close as you'd like when Winnipeg gets to either end of its temperature extremes.)

WW had punch with ice! I drank some punch, ate a few nibblies, petted the yarn, and bought some yarn to make gifts. Then I went back out into the horrible heat.

In addition to not being air conditioned, the next (and final) bus was packed like sardines. By the time I was home, I was *drenched*. The cool blast of air that greeted me when I opened my apartment door was heavenly, as was the cool shower.

I love my AC! Looking at the weather website, today's temperature peaked at 34 C (humidex 43 C)... I could tell that it wasn't quite as bad as the worst days in NC, but it was still bleeping hot.

And that is the kind of day it's been.

Licence Plate

I suppose that's one way to have a BMW. (This isn't a vanity plate, someone just lucked out.)

Rowdy Fans

Although the intersection was open by the time I passed through on my way home, there were some die-hards still on the curbs.

The rude drunk on the bus was obnoxious, but thankfully he got off after two stops when he discovered there were still people left at the corner.

Air Conditioning

I got my AC installed this weekend, with help from my uncles. Of course, this means it cooled off drastically outside, and so now my apartment is delightfully cool without them. :)

On the bright side, the cool weather means I spotted this awesome sweater on the bus this morning:


Looks like a handknit out of white buffalo, or maybe Lopi. (Given the design, it's probably Lopi.) Although I'm spinning my yarn finer, I want to adapt this pattern for my yarn from Princess. (That reminds me... I need to writ the retreat post!)

The benefit of being able to identify yarns... this Lopi pattern, #156 (Ravelry link) looks to be *almost* the pattern. The one I saw was actually a cardigan, has a fancier collar, and a few minor differences in the pattern. I wonder if the knitter made the modifications, or if Lopi has another pattern?

Yeppers, Lopi #156! (Note: PDF link.)

Sheepy Day

I got to pet sheep (and a doggy) today!

It was a drippy day... not the best for photographing sheep and lambs. (The lambs were indoors.) However, I got to pet them, and feel their soft, fuzzy chins. I also helped de-floss a sheep (it had some felted fiber tangled around it's teeth).

And I got to spin (until the humidity made my wheel cranky). :D

On the way to the sheep farm, we stopped quickly in at a garage sale. I got a lovely glass pitcher, and a wooden box with sliding lid that will make a great spindle box for either my golding spindle or spalted maple spindle. :) (I think both of those should fit, but my maggie will be too big.) Not bad for $2.

All and all, a lovely day. (Do you suppose the "rapture" took the nut job religious fanatics away? That would be even nicer.)

Social Cooties

Winnipeg is in it's dusty season, where the snow has melted, leaving behind a season's worth of road grime, ground down sand (and probably road too), salt, and snow mold. I'm recovering from my cold, and still have a hacking cough.

So that my cough isn't exacerbated by the dust, I've been wearing dust masks.

People look at me strange, and I've noticed the seat next to me staying empty longer. I ignore the looks, and enjoy the space. ;)

More Retreat Stuff

Raffle Prize #1:

I put lots of tickets in this one, because I think the necklace will look nice with my suit jacket.

I love the necklace. I tinkle when I wear it. (I must be giving lots of fairies their wings... oh, wait... that's angels.) The Siglarr "nourishing facial cream" appears to be something I'm not allergic to, from a test application to my forearm. Ingredients:

I should probably see if I can track down the maker to find out if the vitamin E oil contains sesame. (The things I learn from my soap-making book...)

Raffle Prize #2:

This actually started out with an electronic game instead of the stocking kit, but I asked another raffle prize winner if she wanted to trade... I live alone, and it was a game that people in my family likely wouldn't be good at. (I think you had to sing songs from popular shows, or something like that.) I entered for the alpaca-silk fibre. :)

Yes, both prizes came with the facial cream, but, since I had two, I gave one to my roommate for the weekend, who wasn't as lucky about winning raffle prizes. (She didn't win any.) I cheated for the photos, and used the same jar in both. ;)

Stuff from the goody bag:

(I actually got a second one of these reusable bags with my second raffle prize.)
Not shown: fibre plus needle-felting needle (shown below) and bag made from wool sweater (also shown below).

One of the workshops I signed up for was felted bead making:

I cut the tip to take a peak, but I'm not going to cut the rest until I've felted the whole thing firmer. Fun! (We did needle felting, but this style bead would work better if wet felted.)

Yarn purchases:

Last week was so crazy, I didn't manage to find time to pack until I got home on Friday, and then it was a scramble to cram stuff I might need in bags, so that I could leave for the retreat. I managed to remember everything *except* the recommended flashlight (my dad happened to have one in his truck) and the supplies for my workshops. I happened to have yarn that would work for the Tunisian crochet workshop, but didn't have anything for the broomstick crochet class. I bought this yarn for that class... I knew I wanted to use the fun green yarn, but also bought the plain yarn in case the green yarn didn't work well. (The green yarn worked okay, but it wanted a bigger crochet hook and bigger "broomstick"... I've since restarted.) The beige marl I'll use to make some of the sock monkeys from the sock monkey booklet I bought a while back.

Current state of the needle felting on the wool bag-from-sweater:

I still need to add more swirls on the left to balance things out.

Tunisian crochet dishcloth:

I invented the pattern. It's not perfect, but then I was learning as I went along. (I didn't know about the different cast-off method until I was half-way done the third quarter.) I think it'll make a great dishcloth. :)

And finally, the brainless knitting I was able to manage while not taking classes or working on retreat projects (or sleeping):

Yep, another dishcloth. :) Note: Bernat Stripes with three colours per sequence end up with two wedges of the same colour beside each other.

Knitting Retreat

I barely had my camera out... basically only late Friday night when people said "I want a photo of this!" The rest of the time I was either knitting (or some other form of crafting), having too much fun, or sleeping (last week was nuts... still is... but things should ease up a bit by Wednesday).

Anyway, here's what I have photographic evidence of:


Feeding frenzy at "Yarns on Stage". (Note: there were more attendees than what you'll see here, but many had gone to bed by midnight when my camera finally came out.)


Pretty greens! Mine's the one on the left. I've done more needle-felting since this photo was taken, but still have more to do.


A gorgeous art quilt that was one of the raffle prizes... aren't the stone beads neat?

I didn't win this, but I won two other nifty prizes! (Yes, I'll take a photo of my prizes and my bag plus other stuff later... but probably not tonight, unless I need a break from dishes.)


(Ladies in front of) Yarns on Stage.


I arrived home around 4 pm... now I'm doing laundry (loads in both washer and dryer, two more waiting to start) and catching up on work forums & e-mails (done). Still to do today:
• dishes,
• make hummus & other lunch stuff,
• make & eat dinner,
• prep for class tomorrow,
• prep for Art Talks tomorrow,
• send thank-you e-mails to people I spoke to on Thursday (I really should have done that sooner, but I haven't had a chance yet),
• create resume, and
• water plants (sad, droopy things!).
I think that may be everything. At any rate, it's more than I'll have time to do tonight. :(

Isn't that the way?

I made excellent time from the university to downtown... I caught an express, and was there by a few minutes after 4:30. (And I only started packing up to leave at a few minutes after 4!) But then there was a stopped bus. And construction on Graham. And traffic on Portage. It took me an *hour* to get through downtown, making my whole trip take nearly two hours. :(

Decision: Skimp on dinner, or be late for Art Talks? (I'm going for the latter.)

*sigh*

Allergist Visit

Sometimes I have problems swallowing... the food feels like it gets stuck halfway down, and I have to wait for it. Last time I was in, I asked my doc if she thought I had what my dad has, where allergies cause his esophagus to close (thankfully just the esophagus, and not the trachea... although it does occasionally interrupt meals for a trip to the loo), or if it might be what my mom had, where acid reflux created a pouch (treated using acid reducers). She said that she might need to scope me to check for a pouch, but to see my allergist first.

Since this mainly happens with hummus (that I make myself, so that it doesn't have tahini / sesame), I brought in some hummus, a chick pea, cumin, and paprika for a skin prick test. (I didn't feel like wasting a lemon, and I really don't think it's the olive oil.) As usual, everything produced at least a tiny bump... but cumin produced a big one. *sigh* I *like* cumin! I *don't* *want* to be allergic to cumin! I'm guessing it's a rather uncommon allergy, though, because both my allergist and the nurse doing the test were surprised that I'm allergic to cumin. (Well, the nurse was surprised... the allergist knows to expect weird things from me.) She's doing a blood test as well to confirm that cumin is bad and that chick peas are okay, as well as check some other things.

On the mildly interesting side of things, she thinks I *might* have eosinophilic esophagitis. (I got her to write the name down so that I could google it. To save myself from having to type it lots, I'll refer to it as EE.) Apparently EE is a recently discovered disease, and there actually is a way to treat the symptoms. (Yay!) She still wants me scoped, and will be sending a note to my regular doc that the gastroenterologist should take a biopsy to check for EE. (I wonder if my dad has EE too, and if there's a genetic link? I offered to send my dad to her if it turns out that I do have EE. She said that perhaps someone at the university might be interested in doing a genetic study.)

To cheer myself up, I let myself pick out some fun things at Michaels:

Tonight I made some lobster-claw style beaded stitch markers. I'll post photos of them (and other finished projects) another day.

Interesting thing I saw on my travels today: a bike locker at a transit hub:

Neat! It has a door on each end, and a piece of aspenite dividing the box into two wedge-shaped compartments. (I'm not sure how the aspenite will hold up to a well-placed kick, but it should be secure enough during the day.) Of course, both compartments were empty, and the only bike around was chained to one of the bus stop poles. ;)

I also treated myself to a trip to Mike's General Store. It was neat, but it didn't live up to the grand place I had built up in my head. Also, a lot of the things didn't have prices, and I hate asking. Oh well... it was still fun. :)

Up, Down, Then Up Again

I set my alarm for earlier than I have been waking up so that I could go to the art club with my mom. I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to get up when the alarm went off, but did go, and was happy I did. I'm still not done my poppies, but I'm getting quite close. After lunch I went with mom to the framing place and picked out frames for two paintings I bought at the last show, and for my own poppies.

When I came home again, I had a lovely nap. I set my watch to wake me up in time to have dinner before knitting. When it went off, I was really out of it, so I set my watch for another hour later... enough time to get to knitting. I was still out of it when it went off the second time, but felt I would regret not going to knitting.

I looked up the bus schedule, and the trip planner had me catching all sorts of buses, but not the easy one. So I looked at the stop schedule, saw that there was one 10 minutes later, gathered up my stuff, and caught it. When I got on the bus, the driver told me that he was only going to Main Street... which is about two stops! (Oh... *that's* why the trip planner had me catching weird buses.) However, I got an almost instantaneous transfer onto one of the buses that the trip planner had recommended. Since I hadn't planned on catching that bus, though, I wasn't sure where it stopped, and how far I'd have to walk. (The trip planner had said something about transferring buses for the last bit, but I wasn't sure where, or how long I'd have to wait.) I decided the final distance would be fine to walk, as long as it didn't start raining.

About two stops later, it started *pouring* at about a 45 degree angle. *sigh* According to Google Maps, it's 1.1 kilometers. I had my Gortex coat and a small umbrella, but was wearing my sandals... so everything from mid-thigh down was *soaked*. (I did manage to keep my knitting dry.)

While at knitting, I took off my squooshy-wet socks and sandals, and wrapped my feet in paper towels from the bathroom. (We were in the coffee shop section of a bookstore, and I didn't want to get chased out for having bare feet... plus it dried and warmed my feet.)

I did enjoy knitting, though. When it was time to go, I reluctantly put on my still-soggy socks and sandals. Two ladies were kind enough to not want me to have to take the bus home, so they decided who would drive, and I didn't need to wear my wet footwear for nearly as long. :) Thank you!!!!

That happened to be fortuitous, as my umbrella decided to spring open as I was leaving the store (crappy umbrella, it does that), and when I went to shut it, it self-destructed. Seriously. The post came out of the top bit (not too bad, it had been doing that, and I just keep putting it back in), several spokes snapped in half (not good at all), and metal parts started to fall to the ground. I gave up on the umbrella, rescued the fabric part, and threw out the rest. (I'm going to make reusable shopping bags out of the fabric.)


Then, when I got home, I discovered a friend in Brandon (a city near where I live) had found a stockpile of my soap. Yay!!!!!! I am delirious with delight! :) (Soap doesn't go bad... it just lasts longer in the shower if it's well aged.) With the supply she found, I should be able to go several years. :) (If I'm lucky, the store will change its mind and start selling it again in that time! I think it's done that with my shampoo, although I'm still using my stockpile of that.)

I'm Back

I'm back from my week in heaven. (You have my permission to be jealous.) Heaven was somewhat nippier this time of year than I was expecting, but it was still heaven. No one accepted my offer to accompany me up, and so I spent the week alone. (Most thought it too far. Foolish heathens.)

I had a hard time sleeping last night (falling asleep as well as staying asleep), and then had to drive for a gazillion miles today (heaven is a long way away... but totally worth the drive), so I'm exhausted. Plus it feels like I have grit in my eye that won't wash out, and moisturizing drops aren't helping.

Besides all the loons on the lake, which are a given, on the trip home I saw: one live deer (near the side of the road on the opposite side, so I slowed down while it decided what to do... thankfully it was spooked back into the bush by an oncoming car), two dead deer (both appeared to be headless, from what I could tell as I whizzed past... what happened to their heads?), a coyote (live), ducks (live), lots of crows (all but one alive), a hawk (alive and swooping low over the road), what might have once been a porcupine (but now very dead roadkill), and way more dead skunks that I wished to smell (mostly near the southern part of the trip, and not all I smelled were also seen... although, thankfully, a few were seen in time so as not to be smelled).

I need to get up early to have the rental car in before 9:30 am... I didn't manage to make the 6:00 pm closing time. (Whoops. I'm blaming the fact that the sun wasn't up when my alarm first went off, and I wasn't getting up in the cold *and* dark.)

I'm going to bed now. Assuming I'm not crazy-busy with everything not-heaven related, you might get a longer, more illustrated report later.

Sh!t

Gah! I waited 25 minutes downtown for a connection (normal wait is about 10 minutes), and then the construction traffic was worse than usual! I arrived 37 minutes late. :( I talked to my boss, and I'll be staying late for the next few days. *sigh* (So much for getting to pottery faster today!)

Grump.

I talked to Mrs C while waiting for the first bus today. Turns out that the chase the other day started in the back lane, and hit three residents' cars and a tree before speeding away. :P

Upsetting.

One of my many allergies is to perfume. I can't control that.

People wear perfumes, either due to direct application, or through use of scented products. They can control that, but aren't aware of problems that they may be causing others, and so don't. I don't blame them for that.

I take public transit, because it is cheaper (sort of) and more environmentally responsible. Plus, it allows me to spend my time on other things than focusing on driving. However, that often puts me in contact with people who are wearing scents (or are smokers, or smell of stale beer and urine, but I'll leave those for a different discussion). If I'm sitting on the window side of the seat, I can't control who sits next to me, and getting up and moving is difficult an obvious. Asking someone to move often results in their feelings being hurt. (They get offended that I'm allergic to something that they did, in their opinion, to make themselves nice.) Plus, that just results in a seat beside me being open, which might end up occupied by someone else wearing perfume. So, instead, I open the window a crack, and that usually provides enough airflow to direct the perfume elsewhere.

That's what I did today. After a while, the gentleman in front of me closed the window. He was sitting in front of the opening, and I needed it open, so I opened it back up. He said the window was rattling in his ear, and I responded that I needed it open because of my allergies, and the person sitting next to me was wearing perfume. He then jokingly asked if I had a water bottle, and said I should splash them. (I said I wouldn't do that!) The person next to me then said "I'm right here". I told her that I'm allergic to perfume, and needed the window open.

A while later, a seat across the isle became completely free, and she moved over there.

Honestly, I didn't mean to offend her! Sheesh. Now I'm upset that she got huffy.

If you had allergies, what would you do? If you don't have allergies and wear perfume, what do you think about people who are allergic? (Although, if you're one of those people who don't believe allergies exist... frankly, I'd rather not hear from you. I know I won't convince you otherwise, and the whole exchange will just get me more frustrated.)

Sunday

This post is nagging at me, so I'm going to toss it out quickly...

I love this box:


Show and tell was supposed to be Saturday night, but we had had too much sitting by the time the gift exchange was done, so we had it Sunday morning. Here's a few photos from the show and tell:


The group photo was the expected zoo, with a million cameras and no official photographer. Most of the group:

The silliness on the other side:

Group photos are entertaining. ;)

Here's where we ate meals, and where the group of girls from dance camp entertained us at Sunday lunch:


Yep, there was spending of money.

Much of that "doesn't count" because I've already started using it... the blue and brown roving has been knit into two toques (one too big that will be frogged, and one just right), and the fibre enthusiast's equivalent of a "dime bag" has already participated in thrums for the mitten I'm working on. (I got more of the colour I ran out of, plus a few other fun colours.) We got to stuff our own baggies for $5. I asked if it mattered if we were good stuffers, and was told that as long as the zipper closed, I was fine. I'm a *very* good stuffer. The bag showed strain, but the zipper stayed shut. ;)

Remember this gift from my aunt?

I got it figured out! It's a Salish loom (I knew there was at least one there before, but now I know how to use it), a tapestry loom, and an embroidery stand. Cool!!! I can't wait to try some Salish weaving. I also want to finish the tapestry on the tapestry loom, once I find some coordinating yarns. (What's started is pretty!) Having an embroidery stand is cool... I've always sort of yearned after them in the craft stores. ;)

On the way home, my ride wanted to stop in at Winnipeg Beach to visit the art gallery there. (I had *no* objections to that!) Between where we parked the car and the gallery, there was a "garage sale" (that looks to be semi-permanent and specializing in vintage stuff) with some really cool vintage Christmas ornaments. I couldn't resist, and so spent the last of my cash:

Look, the trees are even made in the USA! You don't see that much these days. ;)

I was sad that I didn't have more cash on me, as I would have bought the whole set of pine cones, plus a few other neat ornaments. (And then later, I was annoyed with myself that I forgot about the emergency $20 in my notebook!) Oh well.

Fortunately the gallery took credit:


All in all, a *lovely* weekend. :)