Sunday, March 10, 2024

Postcard Show

Yesterday we went to the Postcard Show hosted by the Tropical Postcard Club. We got there around 10 am when it started and stayed until 1 pm. It ended at 4 pm but we had to get on the road before then. It was so nice to see our postcard friends. I thought there was a good turn out and I was glad to see a couple of our stamp club friends come to the show. 

Don found lots of treasures that he couldn’t live without. I surprised him and bought 4 boxes of postcards from another friend for his birthday. Of course, our car is packed to the gills as we make our way back to our summer home and I felt like I needed a shoe horn to fit anything else in the car! We will miss our postcard friends but we will be back in 6 months for the winter. 




Monday, March 4, 2024

Sock Madness 18 Qualifying Round

I’ve decided to try a new adventure and I signed up for Sock Madness this year. It is a Ravelry challenge that involves knitting socks. You have to pass the qualifying round to get assigned to a team and then compete. I think each round gets more difficult and the deadline gets shorter.

Qualifying Round: You are sent an email with a specific pattern. You have to knit it exactly as written with specific minimum requirements. After you finish, you have to take specific photos and upload it to your project page. Then you email the judges with a link to your project page. If it is before the deadline, they let you know if you see any mistakes or if you are approved to move to the next round.

So, I knit the Hydra Scales socks which was completely out of my comfort zone. These socks are knit cuff down and I usually knit toe up. These socks called for 64 stitches and I usually knit mine on 52. These socks had a heel construction that I’d never done before. I have to Kitchener stitch the toes which I hate doing. Plus it included stripes and cables.

My first submission: I had cables on one sock going in the wrong direction but was told it was easily fixable by using a duplicate stitch. I wasn’t sure if I should fix it but I did.

My second submission: I did some overthinking and thought all the cables were going the wrong way so I duplicate-stitched all of the cables. They let me know that now I had multiple cables going in the wrong direction and they saw that one sock had a leg that was too long (too many repeats) and the foot was too short (not enough repeats) and that I would need to reknit that sock. I almost gave up but I was many days ahead of the deadline and what would I do with these wonky socks so I fixed it. 

My third submission: I reknit the second sock. They approved it and I moved on to Round 1.

I am proud of myself for finishing the qualifying round. Now I’m working on Round 1. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Things I’m Learning:
  • New knitting techniques.
  • I’m faster than I thought I was.
  • I’m better at Kitchener Stitch than I used to be.
  • Knitting one sock at a time isn’t that bad.


Friday, March 1, 2024

Bills, Taxes, and Enjoying the Front Porch

It was a lovely day today. I always (or at least try to) balance my checkbook every Friday and pay bills. Then I worked on our taxes. I usually start this on the first of February but I kept putting it off this year. Yesterday I gathered all the needed info and filled in a spreadsheet. That makes it easier to fill out all the tax forms. Today was the first draft of my taxes. I usually review it once a week and find a mistake every week. Next week I will plug the numbers in on the form that is on my computer.

I spent most of the day I sat outside on the front porch. I knit, played games on my phone, and browsed the internet. I watched season 12 episodes of Chicago Fire that I’ve missed. I went inside to eat lunch and watch The Waltons. Little Bear wanted in the screened porch so I let her in and she went to the corner chair for her nap. After lunch, I sat back outside until dinner time.

I will miss my time on the front porch. The weather is so perfect at this time of year. It isn’t too hot and it isn’t too cold.







Sunday, January 28, 2024

Gardening Fun

Yesterday, my hubby and I repotted a bunch of snake plants. First, he drilled holes in the bottom of my new flower pots and then I put a coffee filter in the bottom of each one. He helped me put potting soil in each one. Then we had to separate the snake plants in these cheap plastic containers. We had so many leftovers that we planted some in the garden around the back patio. I ended up throwing away some because there was nowhere else to plant. Then we transplanted the firecracker bush from the side of the house to the garden around the shed. Hopefully, tomorrow when it is cooler, I will take up all the concrete scallop edging and let the grass fill in on the side of the house. Since we never see that side, it is a waste of time to plant flowers over there.

I have an online friend, Maddie, (aka Madgardener) who has been my online friend since 1998. When I got first got on the internet on the computer, I found a chat room called rec.gardens. We became gardening friends there and eventually transitioned to Facebook and continue to be friends. She is always posting wonderful pictures of her plants and I promised her that I would post some pictures of our plants here in Florida.

Snake plants in front of the living room


Orchid and Angel Wing Begonia


Candlestick Plant


Night Blooming Cereus

Aloe and Firecracker plant






Sunday, January 14, 2024

Floor Restoration

For a couple of years now, I’ve talked about restoring the terrazzo floors in our Florida home and I finally got my husband to agree to do it. I put in 4 calls to different companies and I only got one to call back. They sent out a guy who offered to do it and we agreed. Of course, I couldn’t remember which company it was that showed up. So, we wrote up a simple contract and when he came out, we had him sign it before he started the job. We paid him half at the end of the first day and the remainder of the money on the last day. He did ask for a $100 advance on the third day which we gave him. Then on the last day, he wanted the full payment after only being here for 2 hours and we refused to do it until the end of the job. It took 4 days and our house was in total chaos. But I’m glad we finally got it all done!