Avocado cam, the day we have been waiting for!

A story in pictures! (click any photo to be whisked to my FLICKR account)
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Today is the day:

Wonderful pot made by the New England Pottery Co.
Look at the wonderful leaves the plant has grown!

BUT...

It must be trimmed. I am under strict instructions to not get soft with it. To have a nice, bushy plant, I must trim. No one wants a straggly plant! It hurts to trim, but trim I must!

GAH! Such fine looking leaves they were too!
Time for a feed and a water!

No junk food for this avocado plant! My favorite plant food and my trusty watering can.
Little twig, I'd like you to meet your future:

Everyone has to have goals!
Finished!

Avocado to pot: April 21st-July 29Th~! 3 months and a week!
Sure, it's a bit sparse. But it's not the first time I have planted a twig and most likely won't be the last!
(3 more avocado seeds to go!)
Anybody craving guacamole??

the one where I go on and on. And on.

I certainly jinxed myself when I said that the weather was lovely around here. Since then it has been hot and humid. I apologize for attracting humid weather, Boston area bloggers! :D
So, it's Friday and the last day of my vacation (I do have the weekend, but I always have the weekends). I have worked hard on the house getting it ready for the construction to begin on August 6th. First up a new chimney then a new roof, new back stairs and then (the piece de resistance) a new front porch in it's entirety! I cannot wait/am dreading/am excited/am dreading the process.Did I mention that I am dreading it? All of those jobs are way overdue in need so I say here, "It's about time"!
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Honestly, I probably would have worked less if I had gone to work all week! I would have liked to see the trash men's faces when they saw the HUGE load of trash that left this house this week. (But one of the trash men, er..sanitation engineers really seems to LIKE Andy. He is very friendly and I even say FLIRTATIOUS to him. I've told him WORK IT! USE YOUR GOD GIVEN TALENTS! Because it gets us trash privileges. And if there is anything a homeowner appreciates, it IS trash privileges.)
But today, I do think that I will treat myself to a movie (alone, don't feel bad for me, it's okay). I really want to see Ratatouille and I think that an air conditioned theatre will be a good thing this evening.
I had intended to announce here that I was going to the Shakespeare in the Park's Midsummer Night's Dream tomorrow and who would like to meet me there. But I take it all back. While I would like to see my favorite Shakespeare play, I cannot imagine anything less desirable than sitting under the blazing sun in the humidity in Boston. So, never mind.
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Other than the cleaning? And the throwing things away (Don't you love it when you get in the zone? The ruthless mood that is needed to throw things away that have been kept for years and years??) There's been a little shopping.

Zulugrass beads found in a local store. I love them so much. I find myself wanting to go back and pick out more! You should read the story of the beads on the link <------- The story will about bring tears to your eyes. And then you should buy beads. Loads and loads of beads. Imagine that the beads are made of dried/dyed grass?

And then there's been a little of this:

SeaDog blueberry ale complete with said berries. But only a little bit of that. For now.
Also a couple rows of knitting. But nothing to show.
BUT.
~~~
I have been dreaming of mittens. Haven't you?

~~~~~
Bonus bloggy points* if you are still reading through all of that randomness.
*NOTE: Bonus bloggy points not worth squat. They cannot be redeemed. Ever. It is worthless.

This is the story of some socks

OR:
How did I get so lucky?
One day, there was a knitter who was gobsmacked by another knitter's ability to crank out the beautiful pairs of socks. Does she have magical needles? Does she knit in her sleep? The mysteries remain. For some reason (could it have been the begging and pleading, crying and carrying on? Nah.) this magical knitter declared she would knit some socks for ME.
20 minutes later, some yarn showed up, 30 minutes later socks were knit and these socks made their way cross country to my feet. Imagine? Me.
Gift, in pictures: (as always, click any photo to be whisked away to my Flickr account to see the pictures clearer and more better. Yes. I said "more better". I'm on vacation and I can abuse the English language once in a while!)







Sock Stats:
Knit by Cookie
Pattern: Marina Piccola by Kate Gilbert
yarn: Ball and Skein sock yarn by Judy in colorway Dream
love factor? Off the charts
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Happy Feet indeed~
Thank you, Cookie!

Charging my batteries

I am now on vacation for one week. A vacation at home. There is no going away for us this year, which is fine seeing as we are about to embark on some hefty home repairs within the next couple of weeks. My week will be related to the repairs as things have to be done before our sad porch gets ripped down and rebuilt. I really need to find a way to recharge myself in the next week also. I'm feeling a bit depleted, exhausted and a bit grumpy and stressed out lately. Not acceptable. But I do believe that I am on the right track for a cure.
A little of this:

It was a great weekend of being planted on the couch, reading together with Bethany. My kind of fun. Hey, we live crazy lives, what can I say? Bethany is done hers (she got it at Midnight Friday, I got mine in the mail on Saturday, but that is not why she is done way before me) and I am about 300 pages in. In all fairness, this isn't a competition. Unless you are Bethany and you are now done the book and her mother is not. Then it definitely IS a competition. My eyes are a lot older than hers and get achy if put under so much strain for too many hours in a row. And frankly? Nighttime reading is pretty much a stretch for me lately. So, youth has the advantage. Plus, I want to savor it (she says like that excuses all of the eye complaints) I DO! Want to savor it! But I also don't want a headache from reading too much. I'm complicated. What can I say?
AND.
A little of that:

Some knitting. And I choose lace knitting? Seems like someone might have put a magical spell over me, huh? Lace knitting is not easy for me. It is a challenge. It's also very unrewarding as you gaze at your knitting to the lump of stitches that is supposedly a wonderful pattern. I've got to hand it to all of you lace knitters. You've got it going on. I don't. Simple as that. But mittens are calling me all of a sudden. How I love mittens. I know that there will be some mitten knitting this week. That is rejuvenating to me.
I also have to fix this:

The estonian Pocket bag is almost finished. But that fringe edging is almost doing me in. Stitches keep dropping and tangling the fringe. Not good in the fringe world. My plan is to rip it out (again) and try it on a circular needle. Please send good fringey thoughts. This is a project that deserves to be done and not occupying space on the bottom of a basket. Don't you think?
~~~
Here's some random thoughts rattling around:
~it has been such a wonderful summer here, not too hot, not very humid and I'm expecting the ball to drop any time on that one. How can we have a total wonderful summer? Not going to happen, will it? Could it? pretty please.
~since when did reading become such a hazardous activity? My head hurts, eyes ache, neck is stiff, hip hurts. This aging process SUCKS!
~There are 2 little dogs across the street, cute if you don't know them at all, who are going to drive me BANANAS. They go outside and then get ignored for hours and they proceed to bark. Not just any bark. Barking I can handle. Their collective bark is equivalent to many fingernails running down a chalkboard. The pitch of their bark actually hurts the inner ear. I have lately heard the neighbors yelling out of their windows "Stop barking!" Poor little dogs, being left out and ignored for hours like that. What are people thinking when they get dogs that they don't really have time for? Hmmm?
~What's for dinner? I am looking forward to a wonderful farm stand salad with french feta cheese (which is a bit creamier than the greek version) and perhaps some grilled chicken.
Well, I'd better get on with the day. Rejuvenating does not happen by itself you know!

PSA: IT's Norma's Birthday!!

Today is my friend, Norma's birthday! I am her number one fan. I have yet to start a fan club but...this life is young. I have time!
Norma makes me laugh at all the right times. I am honored to consider her my friend.
Happy Birthday, Norma!
(go ahead over and wish her a happy!)

http://nownormaknits2.typepad.com/

Avocado cam, July 17th edition

On April 21st, I cut open some ripe avocados and set the seeds in water.
Today, July 17th this is what I see:

That, knitters, is an AVOCADO PLANT! I'm over the moon!
And then there is this one:

2 sprouts! 2 plants (so far, it looks as if the other 2 will sprout too). If you recall, my local newspaper plant expert columnist advised me to have lots of patience. She wasn't kidding!
What do you think my loving husband said to me as I proudly held up the PLANT to show him?
"Yeah, but it won't BE anything, right?" (meaning that it will not grow avocados. He can't get over the fact that I would purposely grow an avocado plant that will not grow avocados.)
Obviously, he does not understand the Mountain mentality.
The hiker climbs a mountain because it is THERE.
I grow avocado plants because I CAN.
Simple, right?
:)

Hogwarts Sock Swap socks: magic spell or knit the old fashioned way, you decide!

This would mark the end of my participation in the Hogwarts Sock Swap. Now? I wait for The Book on Saturday! (I ordered it from Amazon, just so I can see for myself that delivering all of those books on Saturday is possible. I'm a doubting Sandy)

Heh. I love this countdown!
Anyway, back to the socks:

I love them. I hope they fit her!

I like the other side of this bookmark that I wrapped the socks in. It says Severus Snape FRIEND. I prefer to hold out hope that he is not as bad as he has been portrayed.
Always the champion of the misunderstood!

Oak on the water..

A quick hello this morning as I sprint out to work. Life is fast, gotta keep up!
This was (oddly, I give you that) one of my favorite photos from the long weekend on the lake. And the title? Came to me last night during a sound sleep.
Dreaming about blogging. Gotta love it!

All this and a loon too

4th of July weekend finds my family at the lake with friends and this year was no different. This weekend was extra long which is always a good thing.
I did so much, none of it has anything to do with reading the over 1000 updates on my bloglines, so I remain out of touch. But you'll still be there when I catch up, won't you?
This long weekend, while not reading bloglines, I knit, I read, I played more games of yahtzee than a person has a right, I drank plenty of beer most of them with blueberries floating in them (it's important to get your fruit in somehow and blueberries are very good for you, especially when floating in blueberry beer!!), I went on many boatrides, I swam, I watched waterskiing, I sky watched, I napped, I reflected on life, I had lots of deep meaningful conversations, I had lots of conversations that involved endless giggling, I hugged, I got hugs, I sat around campfires, I ate smores with reese cups instead of straight chocolate (I highly encourage you to do this if you can. Go ahead, a microwave works), I slept late (8:30 am), I cooked meals for friends, I ate meals with friends, I ate more meals than I should have but don't regret a one, I cuddled with dogs, I cuddled with hubby *but not at the same time*, I gazed at the lake (what IS it about water, anyway?)...I had a great time.
Here's a couple of pictures. You can click on any of them to get magically whisked away to my flickr account where you can see more of them from the weekend. It is not a complete glimpse though.
Back to work tomorrow. And you know? I'm ready. I'm envigorated and refreshed.
Hope you are too.




This is the time that I wished I had a zoom lens more than my camera has. And this would mark the time that I am now saving up for a super dooper camera complete with zoom lens to capture the loons in my life. All of them.
Because, you know, life IS loony. And I'd like photo evidence of it all!

Declaring my independence: from Shampoo! :OR: A Hair Odyssey

Shampoo, be gone!
~~~
A long, long time ago, when I was a fledgling adult, I started using a shampoo called Salon Selectives. It was in a red bottle and I miss it to this day. I used it for years and years and loved it. I loved how it made my hair feel and I loved the smell, which was a hint of peaches. Then one fateful day, it disappeared from store shelves. It was eventually replaced by the NEW version of Salon Selectives. And I hated it. Hated. It. This put me on a quest to find a new shampoo. Quite a quest it has been, too.
I am picky about how my hair feels. I like it to be soft. SOFT and shiny. Soft was always easy for me to achieve but the last years, soft hair is the holy grail, just out of reach.
My bathroom is filled with barely used bottles of moisturizing shampoos that make my hair feel like HAY. Hay is bad. Hay is not soft! Hair that is Hay is upsetting to me.
Then one day recently, I found a hair care line in my favorite product line (LOVE their face care products!) and I bought it with the promise that it would solve all of my hairs woes. I used the oil overnight, I used the shampoo that promised me healthy locks. It was the worst hair hay I had ever experienced. The conditioner was good but it had to put back all the softness and healthiness that the shampoo stripped out of it. Then I thought that I should give it a chance to work it's magic. I used it. And used it. And my hair dried out. Then along came WEN hair cleansing conditioners. I hesitated at the price because I had spent a bit of money on the Shear Spendor that was not a splendor.
This is the best money I have spent.
I have only used Wen Fig Cleasing conditioner (bought at QVC, click here for page) twice now. But I am sold. My hair after the first using was SOFT and shiny and bouncy and everything hair is supposed to be. My hair is as good as any hair can get that is due for a haircut.
Shampoo be gone. No more Hay Hair for me!
See?
(click any photo to go to my flickr account)



And honestly? Chaz Dean is something to look at also!
How's your hair?