The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Blanket 38
Yeah, yeah. Finished another blanket this weekend. I want to record this stuff, as I am giving them away as soon as possible, and I am too lazy to set up another blog for it.
So, the bear fleece came from Penny’s stash, and I used the Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn in Royal, leftover form another project.
Breakfast of Champions
I can’t believe this has been sitting on my phone for two weeks and I forgot to tell you about it:
I am not the biggest fan of the Corner Bakery, but this – Almond Berry Swiss Oatmeal – is the best breakfast ever. Well. Best cold breakfast ever. The Chilled Swiss Oatmeal is a staple on the menu, but this version: with strawberries, blueberries and roasted almond slices, is only around in the summer. Vanilla yogurt, fresh apples and bananas, dried currants and the oats.
If they weren’t so stingy about shutting down the breakfast menu at 11am or whatever, I’d eat it for dinner.
Conversation about the Dog
Me: I’m going to take the dog and get some ice cream. What do you want?
Her: No, you’re not.
Me: Yes. I am.
Her: You’re going to leave him in the car?
Me: No. I’m going to drive through Dunkin’ Donuts (it has a Baskin Robbins).
Her: How are you going to keep him from eating the ice cream on the way home?
Me: I’ll get. A bag.
Her: Well, whose car are you taking?!
Me: We’re done. (walks out)
Her: It’s just…he’ll slip off your seats! ….Plain vanilla!!
He was fine. Barked at the lady at the window, but otherwise fine.
And since conversations about the dog require pictures of the dog, I took this a few days ago. Right before he started barking at me:
Blanket 37
I’d been doing so many Penny Blankets that I forgot how very long it takes to crochet a full one:
The variegated yarn in the center is Red Heart Soft in Plummy. Yarn colors are starting to sound like nail polish colors these days. The solid is Red Heart Soft in Lilac.
It was three skeins of variegated, then I did one skein around each side, finishing with two rows of the variegated.
Blanket 36
I had an oversized Raggedy Ann as a kid and loved her so much that when she really fell apart – the stuffing in her foot was being held together by duct tape – my mother found me a new one. I was 13.
But I had no idea that Raggedy Ann stuff could still be found:
They don’t seem to have updated her look, like Strawberry Shortcake. The foundation row was Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn in White and the two rows of single crochet were Red Heart yarn in Cherry.
Kiva’s Awesome Promotion
I am fairly sure I have mentioned Kiva before – the not for profit organization that hooks up people in developing countries with people that are willing to lend them small amounts of money to start or expand their businesses.
Today, Kiva sent me a note about a promotion they are running:
They are offering a free $25 loan to new members. Here is how it works:
“These free trials will be financed by Kiva, allowing the new lender to make one $25 loan free of charge. These free trial loans are dispersed to borrowers in the same way other loans are dispersed on Kiva. However, since Kiva is funding the free trial loan, any repayment funds from the free trial loan will go back to Kiva, not to the free trial lender. New lenders invited during the promotion dates may choose to use their own funds to make a loan, in which case repayments will go back to the lender.”
They must be thinking that once you have gone through the process of reading the profiles, selecting a person to help finance, and watching their progress, you will be hooked and want to join up yourself after the “free” loan is repaid. I think this is an awesome bet.
If you are interested in giving it a try – and you’d better hurry because it is only open to the first 4,000 takers – this is the link they sent me with more details.
Ghosts of Dogs Past
My entire house looks like this:
This is nothing new. As I’ve mentioned, we’ve had a lot of dogs in my family. When my friend Austin suggested that Gibbs has been playing with Ghosts of Dogs Past in my house, we started making the comparisons:
1. Dallas – My late great German Shepard was crazy fast. She drank her water loudly and messily. After a nap, she stretched and yawned quite dramatically – sticking out an impossibly long tongue. She was also far more affectionate than she appeared. She could have been Gibbs mother:
And this is Gibbs, the weekend we adopted him:
I seem to recall he tripped over his own feet, trying to runrunrun. Look at those ears. He’s starting to grow into them.
Knock on something, but the potty training is going better. He is cultivating a Big Boy Bark. He has had all but the rabies shot, so I started taking him on walks up and down my street. Mixed results. He doesn’t like the feeling of morning dew under his little toes.
Dead to the World, by Charlaine Harris
Book 4 of the Sookie Stackhouse series – of True Blood fame. This book was so fun. Sookie and Bill are broken up and witches have cursed Eric such that he has lost his memory. Hijinks ensue.
Again with the adding more supernatural elements. The final battle scene involved vampires, witches, werewolves and a really bad shape-shifter. It also introduced the scary people that live in the “Hotshot” neighborhood. They were introduced in Season 3 of the True Blood, but this book took their story arc in a slightly different direction.
Also, as Season Three of the TV show further developed Jason’s character, this book hints at the direction that story might go. It looks like Alcide is sticking around, which is awesome. Although we know that the “canon” isn’t necessarily the TV canon.
I do miss LaFayette.
Blanket 35
This was an odd piece of fleece from Penny’s stash. Rather small, as for a toddler, with a John Deere theme and colors more appropriate for an older kid. My mother said, “Some little boy will get that, feel like a big boy and love it.”
I really have to get a new camera. The pale beige yarn was also in Penny’s stash. It was unlabeled, so I can’t identify it.
Standing with the Women of South Sudan
Earlier this year, I began sponsoring a lady in Kosovo through Women for Women International, an organization that offers educational programs and other support to women living in war torn regions. I am pretty new to the program, so I don’t have much to say about it yet, but I feel the need to talk about something they are doing for South Sudan.
Sudan is one of the countries they in which they worked, anyway. Now they are reaching out to sponsors and others in the community to send messages of support to women of South Sudan. This is a video they produced a while back:
The Next Dark Age 