Quiet Day

Not much news to report today. The biggest excitement I had was going in to the school to do some alumni association work. We worked for about three hours or so -- wore me right out. I've only got two weeks before I need to be back in full form! Where on earth did the summer go?

Fall is actually my second favourite time of year (taking the silver medal after spring taking the gold). I'm really not one for extremes. I've always thought that the west coast was probably where I was meant to be for that reason.

Just hanging out and listening to some swing/big band music (it makes me dance in my chair) and waiting for Big Brother 10 to come on. Serious guilty pleasure, that one! (I think I'm rooting for either Keesha or Renny to win, in case you're keeping track.)

Tomorrow I begin tutoring a new student in English. He's a little younger than my usual clientèle (beginning grade 8) so I'll spend some time tomorrow putting together some materials. Reading comprehension is his biggest challenge, I guess, so the more we practice reading, the better he'll get. That's the plan, anyway. We'll work twice a week once school starts, but just one session this week and next.

I've been tutoring students since 1993 and I really find it rewarding. Quite often these kids are under the mistaken impression that they're stupid, and one of my greatest pleasures is watching it dawn on them that they're not. You can tell them, but they won't believe you. They need it to sink in for themselves.

Speaking of sinking ... I think the Benadryl I took a little while ago is working its magic. My eyelids are starting to get a little on the heavy side. Time to head in to bed, I think. I can watch TV in there and if I start to get too dopey, I can always engage the DVD recorder.

You know what I'd love to have right about now? Here's a really strong hint:

Monday, Monday ...

So I haven't watched much of the Olympics. (I only watched a few minutes of the opening ceremonies because I stumbled across it and Canada was about to enter, flag waving. so I waited to cheer them on.) Does that make me a bad person? It's not a boycott. I'm just not into it. I'm more of a Winter Olympics person to begin with, and, even then, I don't think I've even followed the figure skating scene since Lillehammer in 1994. Not sure why.

In case you're wondering, yes, I'm still sick. I think part of me has just resigned myself to the fact that this is my new "normal" -- I'm never going to get a full night's sleep again. I wake up coughing at two, or three, or four, and then I go into my office until I'm satisfied I've gotten the coughing under control (or two hours go by, whichever comes first). Since I'm now starting to feel like bronchitis might be settling in, I decided to see if I could get in to see the doctor this week, but, as luck would have it, he's on vacation. That's okay. I like my doctor. He can have a vacation if he wants to. I have a new bottle of Buckley's and I'm using it of my own volition.

Piper had her first obedience class yesterday. It's probably easiest if you read about it on her blog, but I think it went okay. We have a lot of work to do, though.

SisKris and Emily have gone home to Nova Scotia and I miss them already. Dr. Munchkin is still in town, though, and I introduced her to rughooking on Saturday. Before she heads back to the wilds of Upper Canada (read: Toronto), she and I are going to go to River Gallery and get her started on a project. I'm so excited! All hail The Cult of Wool!

Okay, I'm getting the head-bobs. Time to go take a nap.

I Fled the Country (Almost).

SisKris and Emily arrived from Halifax on Thursday, and on Friday the three of us plus Dr. Munchkin loaded up in the car and headed for the United States. The purpose of the trip? Krista wanted to pick up some food items not available in Canada, including Cookie Crisp cereal for her deployed navy husband.

I opted out of the whole "leave the country" thing, mostly because I had no money (and nothing makes me crankier than being "forced" to window-shop somewhere different when I can't buy anything). So as the line-up approached the actual "you are leaving Canada" point, I said goodbye to the girls and headed out, tripod in hand, to take pictures of St. Stephen (the Canadian bordertown, not the guy).

When I first told my sister that I would spend my time taking pictures while waiting for them to come back, she wanted to know what I'd take pictures of. "You know me," I replied. "I take pictures of garbage cans if they look interesting enough."

(I did, in case you're wondering, take a couple of garbage can pictures, just to freak her out. I'm the oldest sister. It's my job.)

After taking a couple of miscellaneous photos, my next stop was The Wool Emporium, which I spotted while still in the car (and, if you look closely, you can spot me in this picture). It's a nice little spot, and the proprietress was a delight to talk to. That's one thing I found during my three hours in St. Stephen; everyone delighted in talking with me. And it wasn't just "tourist-talk" -- I know how that goes. (Been there, done that, wore the pseudo-heritage costume.)

I left The Wool Emporium with a package of denim-strength sewing machine needles and a wealth of information of how to spend my three hours, then headed down to a café/used book store, where I found three books (including what I hoped was a "holy grail" for Hubby -- A World Out of Time by Larry Niven, which it turns out he hasn't read) for the amazing sum of a buck each. (The other two I picked up were Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Bonnie Burnard's A Good House.)

Although I was sorely tempted, I didn't go to the Chocolate Museum. (For the uninitiated, St. Stephen bills itself as Canada's Chocolate Town because it's the home of Ganong, the sometimes-disputed creator of the world's first chocolate bar, but never-disputed genius behind the Christmas traditions of Red Wrap and Chicken Bones.)

I knew that a visit to the Chocolate Museum would involve many chocolate samples, and I had a feeling that if I got in there, they'd need a crowbar to convince me to leave! So instead I opted to spend a few minutes relaxing on a bench in the low-key Chocolate Park and wave to the United States across the river.

In case I've never mentioned it before, I love playing tourist almost as much as I love being a tourist, and since I was only an hour away from home, this trip had a little bit of both!

The obligatory picture of the lighthouse (with the American town of Calais, Maine in the background) had to be taken, of course, and while I was there, a local older gentleman regaled me with tales of how many people had been swept away by the currents in the St. Croix while trying to swim across the border.

My three hours went rather quickly, I have to admit. After the lighthouse, I went to check out the goods they had at the market stalls along the waterfront (a summer Friday tradition, I was told), and enjoyed a hot dog at a picnic table I shared with two vendors who happened to be sisters.

As they spoke with their friend who joined us, they clearly kept me in the loop, turning to explain who they were talking about and what the date was they were trying to nail down. I was so much a part of their circle at that point that when their friend saw me inside the visitor information centre, she was stunned to learn I had just met them!

Before long, my intrepid sisters had returned from the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave to pick me up at the provincial visitor bureau (a repurposed former railway station). I sat with Emily at the colouring table while SisKris and Dr. Munchkin went to the market, and before long we were all on our way.

It was a great day, full of simple pleasures. And really, shouldn't life be more like that?

Everyone loves this in the summer!

I was visiting some rug hooking blogs and stumbled across this adorable YouTube video. Had to share!

Reach out and touch someone.

Want something cool in your mailbox? Check out Postcrossing. It's awesome. This map shows where I've sent postcards to and where I've received them from.

Received a postcard from Finland today, so I just registered it. I have some postcards I need to send, too.

New Obsession!

My new/old friend Fawn shared with me one of her favourite pastimes: watching the Polar Bear Cam at the San Diego Zoo. Well, I think I've become just as hooked as she is!

It's kind of hard to tell in a still, but there are two bears in this pic. The obvious one is by the rock down at the bottom, and the other is pulling himself out of the water by the floating log.

The zoo has a few other webcams, too (elephants, apes and pandas), but this one is my very favourite.

Some day I'd love to see them for real.

Happy Hooker Once More

Okay, next time I start whining -- about anything -- just hand me my rug hook, would you? I kind of forget everything else while I'm hooking. Nothing matters but the strips of wool and the hook pulling them through.

I'm working away at the inch-wide border that goes all the way around. It's a very dark red colour (almost black until you hold it up against something else) and I can't really tell from the side I hooked if I'm going to like it, but c'est la vie. Because there are so many different colours in this piece, it'll look completely different when I do the other three sides anyway, and my experience has been that things always look much better when they're finished than when you've only done a bit. It takes everything to come together as a whole to look as if it all belongs.

Once I get this border finished, I'll press this and my first rughooking piece and leave them to dry overnight. I've always joked that I'm afraid of the iron, but in this case, I think I really am! I'm always nervous whenever I do something for the first time -- particularly with crafts -- because I'm afraid I'll wreck them. But I need to learn how to finish the edges and I can't do that until they're pressed.

I'm trying to figure out how the pieces (rug, cording, and binding) all come together. If I can't figure it out by tomorrow, maybe I'll wander up to River Gallery and just ask Sande to show me what goes where, and when, assembly-wise. (Maybe I'll see if Dr. Munchkin wants to go for a drive, since she asked me yesterday if I'd show her how to hook.)

Okay, quick bite to eat and then back to hooking.

(See what I mean? Addicted!)

Today's agenda.

1. Hook.
2. Read.
3. Sleep.
4. Repeat.

I spent a wonderful afternoon yesterday with my sister affectionately known as Dr. Munchkin, but in my desperation to escape my house, I probably overdid it. At the bookstore, watching me stare randomly into space like a zombie, Doc chuckled, "You're going to have a good nap when you get home."

I probably should have taken a nap, because I got almost no sleep last night. I really wish we had a spare bed, or even a couch (we are "between furniture" at the moment) because then I could have just sequestered myself away, and Hubby (who has to work today) could sleep undisturbed. But instead every time I started to cough, I got up so I wouldn't wake him, and came to the computer, mindlessly mousing until I thought I had the coughing fit under control, and then I'd toddle back to bed. And then the cycle would start again twenty minutes later.

Sorry. I'm definitely whining again, aren't I? I guess I'm just getting frustrated. My other sister, SisKris, and my niece, the Precious Princess Emily, are coming from Nova Scotia tomorrow, and I want to be Cool Auntie Karen, not someone sounding (and looking) like she's about to keel over at any second.

It's been six days.

Enough already.

I've done my time.

I'm achy, and exhausted, I'm afraid to breathe and I'm getting seriously cranky. Just give me a smart car and no one gets hurt. *grin*

(We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Wednesday.)

Getting a little "shack-wacky".

So, I'm getting better (and the Buckley's didn't kill me). This is FABULOUS! I still feel sub-par, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to need a trip to the doctor and a prescription, so as far as I'm concerned: KJ 1, Cold 0.

I've been inside the house since Saturday afternoon, though, and cabin fever is starting to settle in. I'm not exactly roaming the house talking to myself (although it's hard to tell because Piper usually accompanies me from room to room, and I could be fooling myself that I'm talking to her), but I'm starting to get a little antsy.
On the smart car front, I just noticed as I paid my bills online that there was a contest where, if you registered to receive your bills online, you could win one of three smart cars. So what the heck! One less bill in mailbox, one point for the environment, and maybe one cute little car in the driveway. Sounds good to me!

I wonder if they'd let me upgrade, as the prize is a "pure" coupe and not a "passion", and I really want the panoramic moon roof and heated seats! (Spoiled rotten, I am!) The rules and regulations say that the winner pays for any extra "accessories", so maybe it's possible. I just went on the "build your smart" site, and to add the moon roof, heated seats and mirrors, upgraded stereo, alarm system, fog lights, and the other options I like, it would cost an extra $3730. That's still much cheaper than to buy my little buggy outright! Also, the rules say that the winner might be eligible for the $2000 eco-rebate from the federal government, and I'm pretty sure I could get $1000-2000 for poor Betsy, so ... *grin*

Let's hope that the stars are really aligned in my favour, though. I could only get one entry, as only one bill is in my name (the rest are in Hubby's), but maybe ... just maybe. Oh, and no worries about the fact that it's white in the picture. There's the usual line about the "prize may not be exactly as shown", and if I don't like the colour, I'll just get new yellow panels and swap them for the originals! The draw is October 20th, so let's cross our fingers, shall we?

Coming back to reality ... I might do some hooking today. I still haven't finished my frame cover yet.