Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

The heat and humidity are supposed to finally break today. I can only work outside for a short time in the heat. I need to mow the lawn! The back yard is looking very shaggy. 

I found out I have been messing up my back and hip with using the recumbent bike at the Y. I started acupuncture treatments in late May and was improving, but I hadn't been going to the Y as there is massive construction and the road is all torn up. Figured I would brave it and go last week on Monday. Did a few miles, didn't push it since I hadn't gone in five weeks. Tuesday I woke up and could barely get out of bed. Friday was acupuncture appointment and that helped my to improve my movement. Guess I am going to stick with walking!

We did trivia this week on Monday. We did pretty good except for the movie section which we normally are not good at. Oh well. Five teams, we placed third and won for best team name. Grateful We Are Not Dead. 

The bar was way noisy as the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs were playing. When Milwaukee took the lead the place erupted. The quiz master stopped for a minute, then re-read the question. Since Milwaukee stayed in the lead it wasn't as noisy later. 

The books above are the first five of the Bibliophile Mystery series. As I got to book five I realized that I hadn't paid that much attention to the relationship between Brooklyn and Derek. How it developed etc. This especially bugged me as in the fifth book they mentioned how short of time it had been since they met. I decided I needed to go back and re-read these to more closely follow this aspect of the book. 

Also, while reading, do you mentally cast the movie or TV show of the book you are reading? I do, at least sometimes. This one I can't quite put actors I know into the parts. Derek is a retired British Royal Navy Commander and ex-MI6. Described as tall, dark, handsome, dashing and dangerous. Sort of a Double-Oh-Hottie! His voice "warm and rich like whiskey sweetened with caramel flavored hot chocolate". SIGH. 

Brooklyn is the child of flower child parents, Dead Heads, grew up in a northern California commune in wine country. Dad now runs the winery. Lanky and blond. Also faints at the sight of blood. Well educated, traveled, smart, practical and well liked by most. 

It took a while but I came up with Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Blake Lively. Age wise these or females might work, but you know my brain needs a body cast in the role.  

Ultimately I figured that Blake Lively fit the part the best for my brain. 

Now Derek took a while and I did it as a composite of the head of one actor and the body of another!  

I finally came up with a few actors who might not be correct age wise at the moment but would have fit the character at one point. Colin Firth, Hugh Jackman (yes I know he is Aussie) and Rufus Sewell. At least for the head part and when these guys were around 40 years old. Body wise, I opted for Chris Hemsworth! Final head to use, Rufus Sewell. Go look him up!

I was introduced to these characters in Jenn McKinlay's book Fatal First Edition, where Brooklyn is giving a seminar and is asked to look over a signed first edition. I was intrigued enough to decide to go and read the series. Right now there have been 17 books and one novella published in the series, but nothing since 2023!

I wonder too how much it costs to option a book to make a movie. Probably way more than I can afford!

 

 Happy Reading.

 

Crochet - Hats for Baby 2025

Going back to answer a question on a comment last week. Megan wanted to know about where I donate my blankets and if I am satisfied with how they are used. Yes I am happy. I donate them to our local food pantry. No, you can't eat them! 

On their birthday clients can choose a gift from what the pantry supplies. Many of them are these blankets and I am not the only one who donates blankets. The hats and scarves are useful as it gets cold, everyone needs a warm hat too. Here is a link to a news story about the local group "Happy Hookers" and the food pantry.

The clients are from my and seven other surrounding smaller communities in two different counties. The pantry was founded by twelve local churches who continue to provide volunteer to staff the pantry. For over 40 years this group has been serving those who need assistance. It is run by volunteers and I do volunteer as needed. 

As I have related before I use up my odds and ends of yarn to make hats. Here are the four bags I have stuffed full of hats.  

Bag number one has the fewest hats, I took the baby color yarns that I had and made what I could for baby hats. Just a dozen, but hey I get what I get. 

 Done with crochet and am knitting things right now. You will see those items somewhere down the road. 

Happy Weekend. 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Small excitement in the neighborhood on Tuesday. I went to the kitchen and looked out the window. Two police squads and an ambulance at the house at the end of the cul-de-sac. Wasn't long before they all left and I didn't see anyone loaded into the ambulance. I don't know the occupant that well, hope she is OK. 

The hots are back, so staying inside and keeping cool. Hard to keep cool with a warm feline who just wants to sit on your lap. Sky is often hazy as we continue to get some high level smoke from Canadian wildfires. You can't smell the smoke, it just makes the sky hazy. 

 Managed to get a close up of his tooth sticking out! My old boy is doing pretty good, but as a senior kitty he is napping more and more. 

 

Catherine, the Princess of Wales is an up to date biography of the woman who one day will likely be the Queen Consort of England. Book covers her early life, university years when she met Prince William. Their subsequent relationship and marriage. Also touches on the ongoing issues with Prince Harry and company. 

A Gentleman and a Thief is a true story. Relates the life of crime of one Arthur Barry, who in the 1920s pulled off multiple jewelry heists. His plans included breaking in houses just to get the lay of the land, before doing the break in where he would steal the jewels. He was even such a debonair man that in some cases he would crash parties to check out houses. Finally he was caught, imprisoned, escaped and then re-caught after several years. Ultimately released he lived until 1981.

 

So how many can you check off? I laugh at the last one, I probably could read in a car. I am usually driving, so I wouldn't recommend it. LOL. For me I counted nine. 

Happy Reading. 

Yarn Stash

Yes, I do buy lots of yarn. I always say it keeps me out of trouble, better than using my money on bail or a lawyer! One thing, since I do donate my finished goods I can take the cost of my raw materials as a tax deduction. Not much, but some years it does add up. My tax guy always enjoys seeing my list of charitable deductions.  

So my stash, yarn vault or my hoard! A friend asked me with JoAnn's going out of business what would I do for yarn. I easily ticked off other places, local or through mail order. At this point in time the closet shelves are full and what I have will make a years worth of blankets. 

I keep a list of what I make and note the day I finish a project. This past year my average was 7-10 days. It used to be 10-14 days and I need to get back to the slower pace. I could tell at times my hands were getting stiff and sore at times. 

Comments below the picture are what explains the picture. 

January 11, average stash, not really organized, just putting in stuff where there is room. 

 January 14, a few things used and needs better organization.

February 2. Getting empty! Moved the oldest yarn to the left side or down on the bottom. Much better organization.

At this point I have placed a large order through JoAnn's. A week or so later they announced they were going out of business. 

 February 7. My order has arrived. My closet shelves are full.

March 18. Some items used and a few newer things added. I did go into the local JoAnn's to see what was on clearance in late February. Did find a few things, but the second time the selection was minimal.

April 22, the bright multi colored yarn, upper left, another JoAnn clearance item. I bought all ten skeins. Enough for three blankets. When I took the picture I was working on a blanket with the rest. 

April 30. I ventured into JoAnn's and at least on this day they actually had lots of yarn available. I purchased all I wanted from the colors they had. Discount was up to 50%. No room on the shelves, this stuff went back into the bag and stuffed in the closet. 

I chatted with one employee who was taking display hooks down and she said this last shipment was likely the last one they would get. As it was I had no remaining shelf space, so this remains in bags and stuffed in the closet!

Sunday May 18. I hit up two different JoAnn's, the one in my community and then a larger one that I often use for better selection. 

My local store had this, a sort of ribbon form. I would never had purchased this at normal price, on clearance, why not! 

From the larger store. Lots of colors in smaller skeins. Along with one larger mandala, enough for a blanket

Thursday May 22 one final trip to the larger JoAnn's 

I went through and picked up items that I could use to make hats. Discount was up to 70%.  

All of the yarn stuffed in the closet, on top of the full shelves. Yeah, I will use most of the smaller skeins for hats which will free up some space. 

 

Bags of yarn pushed on top of finished blankets. Those won't get donated until October! So until then my closet is stuffed. 

Yes, I am a yarn-a-holic. 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Mid July, mid summer already. The roofing job is complete, YAY. The noise wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had anticipated that I might take Ducky to the kitty spa so he could avoid the noise, but he was a trooper and did just fine at home. 

We did trivia on Monday. Tied for third and won for best team name. That got us a gift card we can use on our shared food purchase, which is usually an oversized pretzel. Our score wasn't that great, but third place is third place! 

Scaredy Cat is a series I sort of forgot about. Second Chance Cat with the gang from the second hand store trying to figure out who killed the obnoxious TV host who was in town. 

Drive Time this is the final installment of the Charlotte MacNally series. Charlie is getting married, working on a story about car scams and wondering if her husband to be is mixed up in something at the school he teaches at. Will all of this derail the wedding?

The Paris Novel Stella has been living a quiet, well ordered life in New York. When her estranged mother dies, she leaves a small amount of money and a ticket to Paris. Stella goes to Paris and discovers many things including fashion, art, friends and family. 

 Happy Reading.  

Crochet Hats

What do I do with the odds and ends of yarn that you always end up with? Make hats!

I do a variety of both adult and kid size hats. I know I need about 2.5 ounces of yarn to do an adult hat. So I take all of my leftover yarn and weigh them out to find the ones I have enough for adult hats. Those I do first, then move on to the kids size which take about 1.5 ounces of yarn.

During the going out of business sale at JoAnns I did stock up on small quantity of various yarns to make hats. Heck at 70% off, why not. Several years ago a local craft shop closed and I did the same thing. Just picked up what would make hats that was on steep discount.  

These pics are from 2024. 

Plus if I have just a small amount of yarn that won't make a full hat I use a solid neutral color. Do the top rows, then use up the colored yarn, then finish the hat off with the solid color. You can see the stripey ones best in the picture below. 

Once I get the hats done from this year I will post pictures. Will probably take me until at least the end of this month before I use up all of the odd bits of yarn.

 

My go to yarn is a #4, medium yarn. What I grew up calling knitted worsted. Works well for both hats and blankets. When I do mail order, even when they say it is a #4, I sometimes feel it is a #3. I can make it work. I have tried bulky or #5 yarn, but I have to see it first. Some yarns are way bulkier than others, so won't buy it through mail order.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

The noisy July started on Thursday the 3rd. The roofing guys got about 60 percent of the old shingles removed and the membrane that goes down to make it water proof on Thursday. Good thing, it rained on July 4 and over the weekend.  

On Monday they finished getting the old stuff removed, but then found a few sheets of plywood decking needed to be replaced. Also a couple of rafters that were cracked. So some added work, and expense for me to get all of that fixed and replaced. 

Tuesday had an early rain shower.  When the crew arrived they used their blower to dry the roof and then shingled the roof by the end of the day. The new flashing on the chimney needs to be done, but that guy doesn't like working while the roofing crew is doing their job. Pic below is late morning on Tuesday.

Had a race weekend as well. Survived although my left ankle was slightly swollen when I got home on Sunday and during the day I could feel my hips getting sore. I had made lots of small, short trips to "split the field" at the start of the races. Of the twelve sessions I did nine of them. I figured I did pretty good for the weekend. 

Ducky was well cared for by my back up cat sitter, Jane. Cat mom of three and she kept me posted with texts during the weekend. Once I got home Ducky invaded my lap for a while for his cuddles from his mum.   

One Book in the Grave an installment of the Bibliophile Mysteries. Brooklyn is asked to restore a book that she gifted to friends when they got engaged. The book has been stolen, and then the bodies start showing up. Can Brooklyn and Derek find the culprit?

Furever After the next installment of the Magical Cats Mysteries. Wedding of Kathleen and Gordon is fast approaching. First they need to figure out why someone was killed in the library trying to steal a painting.

Secrets of a Scottish Isle it's 1927 and Jane and Redvers are investigating a cult on a small island in Scotland. Rituals, deaths, curses and maybe a murder or two. 

Happy Reading

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

I picked up books last week, my last trip for the first half of the year. According to my check out slip I have checked out just over $2200 worth of books so far this year.  

Laying low for a day, had dental work done Tuesday. An old crown failed so needed to be replaced. First time in 10-12 years that I have had to get any major dental work done, otherwise just cleanings!

Made it to July, weather is being summer without being tropical. I much prefer this type of weather. Can work outside but not have to worry about heat stroke. Have to mow, do other stuff as it is cool enough to do more extensive work. Plus I do my outside work in short stints. While I could mow my lawn in one day, I choose to break it into three. 

The Last Hope is the final installment of the Maggie Hope series. Maggie has gone from typist to Winston Churchill to agent spy. In her last mission she is sent to Spain to assassinate a scientist who is working on the Nazi atomic bomb project.

Guilty Creatures is the true account of adultery, obsession, murder, revenge and betrayal. Reads very much like a psychological thriller. 

Never Saw Me Coming is a memoir where the author recounts her life from a precocious young girl to a money-grabbing, computer-savvy wiz. From a young woman in Minneapolis to a sophisticated financial criminal who defrauded banks of millions using hacked wire transfers. The book details her life of white-collar crime, her eventual capture by the FBI, and her subsequent prison sentence, which was the longest ever given for a white-collar crime.  

Taking Friday July 4 off from posting. See you next week.  

Happy Reading