Ice Storm

Not here in Virginia - but back in our hometown in Kentucky. This picture is not actually of Madisonville. The local newspaper there can only be read online with a paid subscription (which I think is terrible!), so I found this picture of Paducah, Ky.(I have family there too). The whole area has been hit very hard this week with ice and then snow. You might have seen them mentioned on TV as a reporter for ABC was there and they were featured on GMA and the evening news last night. Everyone is without power, and we have had no luck contacting any of our family. We're hoping that they are hunkered down, somehow staying warm and have enough food, but just don't have phone service and maybe have their cell phones off to save their batteries. We are going on the assumption that no news is good news, but keep everyone in your prayers in this area. Just a few years ago Madisonville was also hit by a tornado and not everyone has recovered from that. We hope they get some relief soon.

I have been a terrible blogger lately - just nothing exciting in my life to talk about! On the knitting front I finished another pair of fingerless gloves and placed an order from here for some Noro Silk Garden that I hope to use for a sweater and some bamboo for a scarf.

Everyone keep warm!

Idiots at W*lm*rt

Somehow I have escaped going to W*lm*rt for about a month - I haven't kept a journal or anthing, but I don't think I've been since at least a couple of weeks before Christmas. It is not my favorite place in the world to shop. Not because I don't like the store, but the other shoppers drive me crazy. They stop in the aisles with their shopping carts at right angles, talking about who has died, divorced, sleeping around, etc. totally blocking my path. I am not a leisurely shopper at WM, I am on a mission, so people blocking my path do not make me happy.

However, there are times you just have to bite the bullet and go because as much as I prefer T*rget, they don't have all the things I sometimes need. I was out of many necessities, so I braved it after work tonight. It was surprisingly not bad. No blocking of the aisles, no parking carts on one side of the much too narrow food aisles and then standing on the other side, and there was actually more than one check-out lane open.

However, the idiots were still there - it was too much to ask that I totally escape them. In the magazine aisle I encountered a father and daughter (I think - I hope she wasn't his girlfriend!) Keep in mind the temperature was in the 30's. She had on boots - short coat, scarf, and hot pants (or whatever they are now called). Shorts up to her butt cheeks, even shorter than you see in the summer. What father would take his daughter shopping with those on?

Then, over in the food aisles an athletic man whirls his cart around the corner almost colliding with me and he also has on running shorts! I respect his right to be fit and exercise however he sees fit, but don't you think you would keep a pair of jogging pants in your car to put on after running and before shopping in frigid weather?

Birthday Snow

For readers from farther north, I know this is a pitiful amount of snow, and I know you are sick of snow anyway. However, we don't get much snow so humor me. Also, it is my birthday and I was thrilled to see snow this morning! Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get me out of work! I would have loved to stay home today, knit, and watch the inauguration! I hope to catch up tonight.

My friend Bonnie from work made delicious brownies for my birthday and gave me a beautiful red casserole dish. (I've developed a thing for red dishes.) We went out to eat last night for my birthday, and then DH cooked tonight and I got lovely gifts from him and daughter. Friday, we have to make a trip to Durham, NC to get fingerprints made (for daughter's adoption - it's a long story!) so we plan on a little shopping and eating out then too. You can see, I'm stretching out this birthday as long as possible!

We Have Water

Ceiling that had to be removed to repair pipes.

Another leak.

Box of clothes that had been sitting on basement floor.

We have water! What wonderful words! The plumber showed up early this morning and worked his magic and we are now back in business. I won't take water for granted ever again - or so I say, I know just as you do that I'll soon slip back into taking it for granted. However, I've learned a few things and want to pass along this new found knowledge.

First and foremost - and this is critical - if you don't know where your water turn-off valve is, stop reading right now and go find it. When you have a major water leak, being able to turn off your water quickly can make a big difference in a little mess, or a big tragedy. I didn't know until a few years ago when my daughter had a pipe burst under her kitchen sink. After that I made it a point to find out where ours was. Luckily, ours is easy to get to in the basement and as soon as I discovered the lake in our basement I was able to turn it off right away.

If you happen to be without water for any reason, when you go to buy water, also buy baby wipes, or some sort of moist towelettes. The first day I didn't have any and it takes a lot of water just to quickly wash your hands. I found out I wash my hands many times a day. Getting the baby wipes saved a lot of that precious water washing hands and even washing my face before bed. I always keep Clorox wipes and that helped in the kitchen and bathrooms, wiping off the sink and counter-tops instead of wetting a sponge or cloth. If you have to use bottled water to brush your teeth, pour a little in a cup. This uses less water than pouring water over your toothbrush!

You're welcome for these important little tidbits!

An update on my fall/injury. I am soooo sore - right arm, shoulder, upper back, and ribs. Turning over in bed, lifting anything in my right hand, drying my hair, coughing, etc. bring much moaning and groaning. I don't think I damaged anything, but am just a little battered.

Another little lesson - if blacktop looks wet, but it is 20 deg., it probably is black ice - don't nonchalantly walk across it!

Not a Good Sign

Last night was the coldest night here in 4 years. I'm not sure how low the temperatures dropped, but it was 3 deg. when we got up this morning. Last night was also the only night in....well, ever, that our garage door was left up! Wouldn't you just know! We always keep our garage door closed, we try to be very careful about it, and last night DH and I both thought we remembered it closing, but apparently we were wrong.

This morning first thing, I stripped our bed to wash the sheets, pulled the knob on the washer and nothing, nada, no water. Water was frozen. We then tried the kitchen sink, which had cold water, but no hot water. All other water sources were okay. We have lived here 15 years and never had water pipes to freeze before, so DH went down into the basement to check and that's when he found the garage door up. It scares me to even think what else could have happened, since that leaves our house totally open. It also explained why the pipes were frozen since the garage is in the basement just below the laundry room. Since these pipes are up in a finished ceiling, we decided to just wait and hope that after the sun came out and it warmed up, with the door closed they would eventually thaw and we would have water.

Dh had to go into work at 1 pm. About 3 pm I turned on water in a bathroom, which had previously had water ,and now there was no water there. That was odd, since it had gotten warmer during the day. I went to check, opened the basement door and saw a lake! Apparently, the pipe might have thawed a little, then the pressure of the ice and water burst the pipe. Water was pouring through the garage ceiling and coming through the door into the unfinished side of our basement. It was probably at least an inch deep and rising. Thankfully, I knew where the water turnoff valve was and turned it off, then spent the next 2 1/2 hours sweeping and vacuuming water out of the basement and garage. Dh helped me finish when he got home. He made some calls, but nobody has been able to come yet, so we are without water.

After getting the water under control, (we still have lots to dry out, but no standing water), I decided to run to the grocery store to get some bottled water. I had pulled the van out of the garage while sweeping the water out, so I went be-bopping out to the van and my legs flew out from under me. I landed on my bottom and my right elbow and it hurt like the devil! I have a skinned elbow, but the worst part is my upper right arm and shoulder. I guess I jarred it or something. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow. I was so mad at myself for not thinking that the wet-looking driveway had turned to solid ice!

I made it to the grocery, got water (they were almost out - said they had lots of customers with frozen pipes) and some ice-melt for the driveway.

I am so thankful that we have heat and electricity, but it it so hard without water - I have turned on the faucet several times tonight without thinking. I've already filled the dishwasher and am going to have to heat water for dishes. If no water tomorrow we will go to Amy's for showers, but DH is very worried about the bathroom! LOL We do have a little creek on our property down the hill through the woods, and I've told him we may have to carry buckets of water so we can flush! He didn't like my suggestion. We are very spoiled!

Pray for Abby

This little girl and her family are going through so much - please pray for them. Go here to read their story. Abby started a really hard course of chemo today and needs all of our good wishes.

Knit Night

Tonight we had a great knitting group at Starbucks although we did miss you, Robin. Again, I was caught without my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but we had 17 knitters & crocheters! We had 3 new knitters, 2 new crocheters and a crocheter who had been before, but not for a good while. Lots of beautiful projects going on.

Did you see the yarn/knitting wreaths and decorations that Starbucks used during Christmas? Tonight they gave 3 of those away to our group as door prizes! Thanks Starbucks! Although we had been calling ourselved Ktog Danville, since we now have several crocheters, and we don't want to discriminate , Timmie suggested "Starbucks' Stitchers".

I'm working on a second Lacy Mock Cable sock and looking for a new project. Not sure what I'm going to do next. It is supposed to really turn cold the next few days - good knitting weather.

Winter Wreath - redo

I'm far from a perfectionist (you would know this if you saw my house or my desk at work), but some things just bother me till they are right. I was not happy with my wreath. I put it up last Saturday, but it nagged at me all week. However, like most working women, I do well to do the basics after work during the week. Today a friend and I took a short little drive over into North Carolina to visit an Amish store, where you can find delicious bread, baked goods, and lots of specialty items not found everywhere. After a delicious lunch and some shopping there, we came back into town and went to a favorite local shop. All the Christmas decorations were on sale and we each picked out a few things - some I could use on the wreath. You may not see much difference in the picture, but I can see a difference and I feel much better

It rained a lot this week. One day, (I think Wednesday) it rained almost all day. Late that afternoon though it stopped for awhile. I had to make a trip to the post office for work and a co-worker and I went to a nearby garden center to look at their Christmas decorations which were on sale (for work). While on the way, the sky darkened, the wind blew and it became very nasty. While we were in the store, it hailed and sounded really terrible. There is an attached greenhouse and while we were out there it was so loud a little scary. On the way home though the rain stopped and the sun peeked out, just as it was setting. The sun was behind me and there was the most beautiful rainbow in front of me. I was almost home, so I hurried in, grabbed my camera, ran back out and drove up the street to the top of the hill where I had seen the rainbow, but it had disappeared! The sun had dropped down low enough that it didn't show up anymore.

I got this terrible picture of the sun setting, but wish I had had the camera with me a few minutes earlier. I have got to get into the habit of keeping it in my purse.

Winter Wreath

After taking down the Christmas wreath our front door looked much too bare, but nothing I had was appropriate for the time of year. I pulled out things I had and added a few new things to them to make this winter wreath. I don't know if you can see the details (click for a closer look), but there are two little snow birds, feathers, berries, pine cones and some "snow". Since we haven't had any snow on the ground, I had to make our own.

Lost Quilt

Back when I talked about my old quilts, I mentioned that I couldn't find one of my favorites, a quilt made by my husband's grandmother out of upholstery fabrics with a satin lining. I found it when I was getting out my Christmas decorations this year. It weighs a ton, but I love it.


Notice the lining -

Still Alive

I went back to work today, and it was the easiest day I've had in 2 weeks! All my admiration goes out to moms of 2 year olds. I did it 30 years ago - but the last two weeks about did me in. I loved it, but it was hard. I forgot how hard. The parents went home last Saturday and DH and I had the grandchildren by ourselves till New Years Eve when we took them home to Norfolk.

Yesterday I spent all day taking down my decorations and getting my house back in order. This weekend I plan to catch up on blogs and knit!

Here are some random Christmas pictures.

Look at this pretty hairdo. (Styled by her Mom - not me!) She was watching everyone play Mexican Train with dominoes. This was a new game for us, but really fun.

Clifford, you like my coat?

Christmas morning - she can now shop, cook, eat at her picnic table and then drive home!

Nana - no more pictures!

I gave her a break on this one and just got her sister playing her new DS game.