Time for Some Hocus Pocus

 

I LOVE Halloween. I'm going to make some Goblin Franks (pigs in a blanket), fry up some donuts and watch Hocus Pocus tonight. We've got lots of new neighbors that have lots of kids so I'm hoping we may even get some trick or treaters tonight. I've got the candy ready and waiting. I've been through a couple of bags myself already. 

Happy Halloween!

Let It Be

 

Happy Halloween Eve! October is a long month but Halloween always surprises me when it gets here. I did string up the the pumpkin lights a few weeks ago so I knew it was coming. I know these lights are at least 30 years old and still going strong. I've never replaced a bulb yet. 

I had a big date with the remote control and the couch yesterday. I am very happy to report that THE MISTER WENT DOWNSTAIRS to watch football yesterday afternoon so I got to do absolutely NOTHING for a few hours. I sat down to watch some old movies and fell asleep. Good times. 

It's still hot as blazes here. I've got the AC on in fact, but I did peek outside long enough to take the trash up to the top of the driveway and found this. Look at all those leaves. Leaves I HAVE TO GET UP. I have to take The Mister to the doctors today but tomorrow I am going to have to deal with this mess. Ugh.

Oh, well. I like the leaves. I'd leave them be if it was up to me so I'm going to enjoy them right where they are for the next couple of days. All of a sudden, it really is beautiful out there. 

Hot Stuff

 

In that crowd of little legs is one of the Grands. He had a soccer match close to home yesterday so I went out to watch and to take a breather from the care and feeding of The Mister. 

It was HOT. Too hot for almost Halloween. The sun was unbearable so Son and I huddled under the umbrella he had the good sense to bring. My car said it was 87 degrees at 4 pm. Good golly. I felt bad for the poor kids running up and down the field for an hour but they seemed none the worse for it. Hot or not it was just nice to get out. 

Pre-Order Please

 

The fall giveaway was a HUGE success. It was such a success that for the first time ever I couldn't give everyone their first or second choices which is something that bothered me a lot. I even had to break into the spring leftovers to fulfill all the "orders". For the winter giveaway in January/February I'm doing something different. I'm going to ask you to pick your scents now. I won't hold you to it, but it does give me an idea of how much interest there is in any of the new scents so I know how much to make. 

First up is Cinnamon and Comfort and Joy. 

Cinnamon speaks for itself.

Comfort and Joy is described by the soap supplier as: a cozy blend of red apples, nectar, berries, orange, cinnamon, amber, and musk creates an inviting aroma reminiscent of a crackling fire and warm apple cider.

Winter Wonderland: a sophisticated blend of green and pineapple top notes, pine and spice middle notes, and woody and ozone bottom notes.

Three Wise Men: An inviting blend of orange blossom and bergamot is entwined in a rich and smoky aura of myrrh and sandalwood. 

Peppermint smells like peppermint and Mistletoe smells like pine trees. 

If you are not into winter scents, I've got three new floral ones. 

Lavender and Sage smells just like it sounds. 

Harlequin Romance: Fresh and citrusy top notes of mandarin orange, apricot, and citrus meld with exotic middle notes of osmanthus, geranium, and caraway for a complex and sensual scent. 

Persephone's Kiss: a captivating blend of Mandarin orange, melon, blackberry, and violet leaf.

Of course, there will be my old favorites, unscented Plain Ole Goat's Milk and Oatmeal, Milk and Honey.

LOTS of people wanted to try the Avocado and Hemp soap but since I only made 6 bars I ran out pretty quickly. If you are still interested in some let me know and I'll make more. 

I can also make a batch of the double butter, unscented face bars if anyone is interested so let me know that too.

There may be glitches in the making so this is just a very rough draft of what I might end up with. I'll give more detailed descriptions after they are cured to let you know how those scents turned out. Hopefully a pre-order tally might keep me from running out this time.

You can leave me a comment or a Ravelry message or an email. Whatever works for you.

Thanks!

Caught Up

 

Yesterday marked a week from the day of surgery and The Mister and I have hit a wall. I've been running around like a hamster on a wheel trying to keep things going and the Mister has been fighting against his broken body. After his daily workout we took the day off from caring about anything but getting some rest. The place is a mess. I've got furniture piled up all over the place and the dust bunnies are running wild. I don't care. I'll take care of it later.

Over the week I did manage to get caught up in my Inktober journal. I took a few minutes here and there to throw something on the page, usually late at night when I could catch my breath. It didn't get worked on yesterday. Yesterday, on top of everything else, I had a headache. 

All in a Day's Work

 

Just as fall was about to show up, it seems that we're about to have some record high temps. 

That makes getting up the leaves no fun at all. We've got this contraption on the mower and since The Mister is out of commission again I have to drive it around every couple of days picking up leaves until the bags on the back are full. Then I have to get off and dump them in the woods. I have to do this over and over wearing my bug suit for a couple of hours and it's terrible when it's hot.

My least favorite job though is filling it up with gas. That means I have to go in the scary shed and get out the gas can. Who knows what lives in that shed. I've seen some wicked looking critters crawling out from under it. 

When I was finished with the leaves yesterday I had to give The Mister his first sponge bath. The terrible pain has subsided and he is almost human again-almost. They wrapped him up real good to send him home. His entire leg is covered in cotton and that is covered in an ace bandage. Since we can't get any of it wet I had to wrap his whole leg with plastic wrap before I could sit him in the shower and sponge him off. 

One of the worst things I had to do when he had his hip done was get those $%&! compression socks back on. It's hard work. This time the nurse at the surgery center showed me a trick to it. She uses the plastic bag the socks come in and puts it on the foot and then puts on the stocking. It goes right up and then you pull the bag out of the hole. It makes life so much easier and right now I'll take any breaks I can get.

A Not So Special Delivery

 

The best part of yesterday was that Jack came out of the closet. I am working on the background fill and it's a nice mindless projects. Mindless is all I've got in the tank right now.

One of the worst parts of yesterday was my grocery delivery. I usually do a pick up but I didn't want to leave The Mister so I chanced a delivery. It didn't go so well. When my 3 pm order did not show up I called at 5 to see what was up. I was told there was a technical glitch in the system and I was going to have to re-schedule. I asked them to cancel my order instead and they re-did the order for a pick up today and thought that was it. Spoiler: It wasn't. I made dinner. Tucked The Mister in for a nap and fell asleep on the couch. At 8:30 I woke up to find........my order on the front porch. A text said it had been delivered at 5:45. So all my cold and frozen stuff sat on my front porch melting away for almost 3 hours. I spent the rest of the evening on the phone getting it straightened out and today I have to take back all the spoiled stuff for a refund and pick up the pick up order. I hope. No fun there. 

And.......to make a terrible day even worse, we got word that The Mister's "work wife" passed away from Covid at 9:30 last night. A dear friend. She had been in a terrible car accident and was in a rehab facility where she was infected two weeks ago. A harsh reminder that we may done with Covid but Covid is not done with us. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

I've been using The Mister's therapy time to get a few stitches in my projects. Like his nurse, he has a guy for his therapist this time around which I think is the best thing for him. They don't put up with any stuff and work him hard. I got the witch's house started this week and little more yellow fill behind the moon.

I'm rounding the corner on all that yellow fill on Button Eyed Cat because............

.......when he's done I get to start this. It's one of the patterns Soxieknitter sent. It's got a bat on a pumpkin on a SHEEP. How cool is that? 

And......I need to wish happy birthday to Pup. I can't believe she turns TEN today. Where did that time go? She's no Pup anymore. She's been a senior for a while now but can still drive us crazy with all the energy she has. This was last year's Hound of the Town doggie Halloween parade. I'm not sure if we're going to get there this year with the gimpy Mister but it's no biggie for her. She hates that event. She hates the noise, the crowds and the other dogs. She also hates that dress.

One Day at a Time

 

You know you've let a project stay in time out too long when you have to dust it off. I finally took Number 23 down off the shelf and gave it a few rows worth of attention after I had The Mister tucked in for a morning nap.

The deal that I made with myself is that I only work on the mini advent sweaters while I'm watching an Arne and Carlos podcast. They haven't had many during the summer so poor #23 has languished. I watched the one where they introduced their new needle set. Of course I want it but thankfully it's no where to be found to buy. The last thing I need are more needles but still.......

Since Mother Nature has handed us more warm weather I built myself a knitting stand. I can't bear to put this heavy woolly stuff in my lap but it needs to get done so I've got it in a Chewy flat box on top of the pile so it can stay just where it is while I work on it. From top to bottom: Big Gray Blob, Bon Amie and Ridarri. If I just get a few rows on each a day I feel much better for it. 

A few rows may be asking a bit too much because as soon as I settle down someone always needs something. No complaints. He seems to be doing better everyday but I do owe my dad an apology. He did have dementia at the end but I thought he was batsh*t crazy way before then. Seeing how The Mister is behaving on those $%&$! Percocets, I'm now pretty much convinced it was Daddio's daily intake of that particular drug that created a lot of the problems we had. He lived on them-which explains a lot. 

Tea and Sympathy

 

When I get out my fancy tea set it's a sign I need a moment.  Thanks to some strong Percocets the doctor finally managed to get to us we are past the grouchy stage but the battle is far from over. 

Now I've got to get Mr. Sleepy Head to do his exercises and to take a walk every couple of hours. I have to unhook him from all the electric doo dads, get him in a brace and force him to get that leg moving when he would just rather stay asleep. I know knees are painful but I'm going to have to wean him off that stuff asap or we could be in for a world of hurt down the road. The doctor was pretty adamant about keeping that leg in motion. 

As for me, I'm still walking around on eggshells around here trying to stay quiet. The Mister still hates loud noises and takes every opportunity to tell me so. No sewing machines, no looms..nothing that makes noise but I did get to play with the new spindle for a bit. It's a lovely light spindle that spins like a dream. It's the kind that you can spin "frog's hair" on it as spinners say. I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. 

I also got a very few minutes with the Ladybug. I'm still working my way through whatever I had on it. The visiting nurse, who was a HE btw, was very interested in the wheels. I had to give him a demonstration and show him my handspun. I have to say I was tickled by it. It's not very often anyone shows any interest in this stuff. None of the other lady nurses or therapists who came for the hip showed the least bit of curiosity about all this weird stuff I have in my living room. It's too bad he won't be coming back because I'm kicking myself that I didn't hand him a bar of soap as he left. That would have probably blown his mind. 

Christmas In October

 

Yeah, we've already hit the Oscar the Grouch phase. It took a few days reach maximum Oscar with the hip since he was out of it for a longer time but with the knee he's been like a bear with a sore arse since I brought him home. We STILL haven't heard from the doctor about the pain meds and that's not helping matters. He calls the office every hour on the hour and takes it out on the poor receptionist. I need to send her a basket of muffins or something. 

On a happier note, the day before The Mister's surgery our holiday stamp and dye sets arrived. We had looked at the choices earlier and I let him decide on these. He likes that he can make different cards with the different strips. He doesn't like doing the same card over and over like I do. 

I also ordered this set of winter critters for me. They come with speech bubbles that you can fill in with whatever you want. 

The Mister took a look at them and thought it would not be fun to do all that coloring but that's just the sort of mindless thing I like to do. I took a few minutes just to play with them and didn't want to stop. I'd love to be able to hide in the downstairs craft room for a few hours but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

And.....my Little Prince tote bags are here. I thought they were sock project sized by the price of them but they are not. They are BIG. I could get a sweater project in them. In fact I will. I know I've got at least one laying around here somewhere that needs a bag.

A Hard Days Night

 

6:15 am. Knitting in the waiting room. They took The Mister back and now I have to wait until they get him ready before I can go back and see him off.

7:30 am. Waiting for the doctor to show up. He's been given a cupful of pills so he's feeling no pain. The anesthesiologist is the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. He can sedate me anytime. 

8:00 am. I'm not waiting for hours in a waiting room so I'm out in the car listening to my audio book and working on the Big Gray Blob. I think I've got the body ribbing finished-for the second time. Now I need the courage to bind it off. 

9:00 am. I brought Button Eyed Kitty with me to work on too. I've got a lot of background fill to do. I also might admit to crawling in the back seat for a nap. Back seats are not what they used to be. It was not comfortable.

10:30 am. The Mister's in recovery and I'm now working on the other sock while we wait. He's grumpy and not following directions. I can already see this is going to be a long couple of weeks ahead with Mr Ants in the Pants Know it All. 

12:30 pm. The Mister's got the all clear to go home. When they took out the IV's and taped him up I mentioned that purple was Taylor Swift's favorite color. The nurse took her marker and put the number 13 on it which is Taylor's favorite number. The Mister is a long time Swifty so he got a big kick out it. 

1:30 pm. Back at home. I packed this pitiful thing in ice and then had to go get his prescriptions and of course, they didn't have his pain meds in stock. I've got enough leftovers here from his hip surgery to get him through the night but I guess I'll be back on the road tomorrow to pick up another prescription since you have to hand carry narcotics-if the doctor ever calls me back, that is. I also have the visiting nurse AND the therapist to deal with in the morning. Ouf. 

10:00 pm. The doctor never called me back about the pain meds. Grrr.... I'm done in. My day started at 4 am. I've wrangled a loopy Mister all evening. Every time I turn around he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing and now I've broken into my stash of comfort food. Potato chips and Twizzlers always cures what ails me. If it gets much worse I'm going to have to break out the booze.