Better

 Look. Sun. It's still humid and still hot but at least it was dry.

 I actually went outside for a while but the world was still a buggy place.

 I had neglected poor Mini terribly during all this horrible weather.  I have to cover her because she has a leak somewhere around her back hatch and as a result she was covered in mold. Inside and out. She got a scrubbing and a charge on her battery which was dead. It's funny how much work it is to keep a car up when you are not driving it.

I aired her out during the day and look who I found in the front seat when I went to close her up. It's our newest little friend. He's friendly so I guess I'll be taking him for some shots soon. He's been around about a year now so I guess he's mine. Sigh.

 The ground was wet but The Mister had a go on the riding mower to get up some leaves-and to just get out of the house. Of course it broke down right after I snapped this photo and it's now in pieces all over the yard. It's something with a belt. He thinks we're cursed. I do too.

On a more happy note, I got some bulbs in the mail. Valerie inspired me to plant so plant I will. Tomorrow.

I was getting eaten by mosquitoes so as much as I hated to I had to come in. I had this to keep me busy.

And this. It doesn't look like much now but it will soon. I hope.

Cracked

 Yeah. It's still sitting on top of us. It's still miserable. The Mister took a nap at 11:00 this morning. It's that bad.

 I kept busy.

I hadn't touched Dear Jane all month so I got the first block of row C started.

It was mercifully straight forward.

 After I have the pieces covered I let them sit overnight under a book.

 The Dear Jane book to be exact.

Then I put my heavy supply bin on top of that. Tomorrow those pieces will be nice and crisp and easy to sew together. 

Oh, yeah. I broke my phone. I dropped it on the tile floor. So this week's tally is a bad back, a wasp sting, lost mail AND now a cracked screen. I only have one more $6 payment to go on this cheapo LG so I could replace it but Verizon is all out of cheapo phones at the moment. The one I want is out of stock. Wouldn't you know. It's just not been my week. 

Arizona Dreaming

 Well, hello there Florence. I had my doubts when the weather people said you were heading our way but here you are.

Just what we need. More rain and humidity. We haven't had a really comfortable day since early July.

 The house humidity is not as bad as the outside but I still can't get it down past 60%.

 And that's with a central AC and two dehumidifiers running non stop. Nothing is drying. Not towels, dishes, wet dogs, my hair-anything. We are all going to turn into mushrooms. When people tell you it's not the heat, it's the humidity believe them. It's been in the 70's for days now but it's disgusting outside-and in.

I know I really shouldn't be complaining. So many have it so much worse. The flooding is horrible. It's not the magnitude, it's the duration that's got me at my wits end. At least there were good old movies on yesterday and plenty to keep me busy. I keep telling myself it's one day more behind us. Fall has to be around the corner soon. I hope.

Sweater Weather

It's not sweater weather here. It's still too warm and humid. Yuck. The only sweater in my life is on the needles. Both sleeves are done now so it was time to get the body started.

 I needed to cast on 236 stitches. It took me 2 episodes of that British Baking Show to get it done.

236 stitches is a lot of stitches. I may not get this sweater done this year after all. What was I thinking?

I didn't take any chances with twisting all those stitches so I worked back and forth for a few rows so I could see what I'm doing. I'll sew that little seam that it left later.

There was a casualty. That's my first cast on attempt. I ran out of yarn with about 20 stitches to go. I hate when that happens.

Sad Sack

 Last week I had made lots of critters and backgrounds as samples to send off to Daughter so her friend could pick what she wanted for her baby shower invitations. Daughter never got them. The big envelope full of all my hard work is apparently lost in the mail. Grrrr......yesterday, in spite of waking up with a very bad back issue I had to painfully sit and redo all the work I had already done.

While I was working I noticed one of my outdoor kitties staring at me from the door so I hobbled down the stairs to give her some treats on the front porch only to somehow manage to get stung on my arm by a yellow jacket in the process.

It really hurt for a long time and I had so much work that needed to be done.  I had also been in the middle of wrapping another batch of soap. I was not happy.

Instead of doing all the things I had planned, I spent the day feeling very sorry for myself and self medicating myself to within an inch of my life. What I really needed was a big bag of potato chips. Good thing I didn't have any. Today has got to be a better day.

Single Minded

 I got up early to watch the hurricane coverage and got the man socks done in the wee hours.

This is my pile of finished socks from the last few months. I think I'm done with socks for a while.

I don't need more socks but I do want this sweater. I usually give myself years for a sweater but I would actually like to wear this one.

I love this big comfy pullover and can see myself sporting it on our walks along the Bay this winter. It's Flor de Jerez btw and it's by Thea Colman.

Testing, Testing...

 We are four weeks in so it's time to see how all this fall this soap performs. Last night Lavender Woods got the thumbs up after I had a splash in the tub with one of the ugly loaf ends. It was nice.  Today it got a trim and a wipe down.

 After the wipe down it gets a label.

 Those textured tops don't look too shabby now that they are cut.

 I also got to work finishing up the cards. I am now going to sing the praises of these ball point glue pens. They are wonderful. I would have never got that spider web on any other way. I got this as a part of a card kit and had no idea what to do with it. Now I know.

There they are. All the card fronts. I still have to glue them onto the card base and add the interior sentiment but the hard part is over.
REMEMBER.....it's a SURPRISE giveaway meaning DON'T blog or comment about it when you get your package. I'm not mailing them out at the same time and I don't want anyone to know when they are coming-because it's supposed to be a SURPRISE. Got it? Good.