Random Happenings this week and Lora's Dance Party

This week in the weird world of Denise, we join our broadcast, already in progress...let me see, what happened this week? Well, we discovered that the reason I've been sneezing and my eyes itch and my nose runs before bed every night for the last couple of weeks, is that I generally turn the air conditioner on every night just before I go to bed. When I finally made this huge mental leap, I took the air conditioner cover off in the bedroom and discovered that it was covered in black mold. (That's how crazy damp it has been in NH with all the rain this summer.) Great!! The air conditioners also had to be 15 to 20 years old. What I really can't believe is that my health, or rather my asthma has improved so much from my old life, that I was able to breath this stuff for a couple of weeks without having an attack. I did have my Ionic breeze on, but still!! So after several calls to the complex, we have brank new air conditioner units, with remotes, and digital controls and energy saver mode. I'm so excited I could jump up and down, I bet our electric bill goes down $20 bucks a month in the summer.

Lora has returned and we took Zeke, the siamese fighting fish/betta back to her. Shawn really seemed to get attached to this fish. He now says we are Zeke-less. I have no idea what is up with that, and when I ask, he answers that Zeke was just a friendly little fish, not like my angelfish. Whatever.

I cleaned like a demon on Tuesday, because Vera had said that she might stop by on her way out of NH (she visited a friend up at the lake), and my house was not fit for other humans to see it. However, as a result, she decided the stop would be too much for the kids, and that it was better to take a straight shot home. It's that Murphy's law thing. Had I not cleaned, she would have been able to stop by. I should not have cleaned (or is that me justifying future clutter?).

Wednesday I went to guild at the Elegant Ewe for the monthly guild meeting. It was nice to see everyone. I was so tired at the end of the meeting I was convinced I was going to go right home and go to sleep, but I ended up not being able to sleep and reading books until quarter of three in the morning. I hate when that happens!

To celebrate Lora's return from Kentucky, I went to guild at Yarn and Fiber in Derry, and visited with all the Manchvegans, and then some of us went to the Derryfield afterward to dance. I had not been out to dance in I don't even know how freaking long. It might have even been first or second year of college. I mean, I go out, I just don't usually go out to dance. It was hilarious. I took some pictures with my camera phone (which sucks), of Miss Lora going wild. She was so funny, but we all had a really good time. If you have not figured this out, the ketchup bottle is her microphone. We did have a really good time, but geez, was I sore today! Dancing takes a lot out of you :)

Since I have not been dancing since I was no longer single (other than weddings and stuff, which Shawn went to as well), what I thought was the most fun, was not caring what I looked like and not constantly scoping the floor. Not that I was hugely on the prowl to pick up when I was single and still went out dancing, but it was so relaxing to just have fun with your friends and not care at all about anyone else there.

Today it was all chores all the time. We took the brat to get her wings and nails trimmed, I did six loads of laundry, and I finally emailed some people back, which I'd been lax about responding. I also entered my new Penzey's spices into the inventory, and then finally did the last set of revisions on the Mya's Jacket pattern. One of my test knitters, Jackie took some pictures of the sweater she knit from the pattern with her daughter wearing it. I love them so much, I'm going to use them for the published pattern. I'm hoping I can get the pattern on Ravelry by the end of the weekend.

Tomorrow we are going to see Chris and Kristie and their munchkin, who I have not seen in forever. He's just over a year now which I can't believe.

Anyway, maybe I'll have some good pictures tomorrow. This concludes our broadcast.

Incommudicado Post 2 (Gina's wedding)

(Continued from my last post)
(I'm using asterisks for paragraph spacing again, not sure why spacing continues to flip out)
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This is my friend Lora who is from Kentucky, and who has, annoyingly for those of us who love her, been in Kentucky for a month. That's great for her and for those in Kentucky, but those of us in NH, not so much. Just before she left, she finished (other than the buttons and sewing on one sleeve) the sweater she was test knitting for me, Mya's Jacket. We went button shopping at Jo-Ann's Fabrics in Hooksett and found the perfect button, but they only had 6 and the sweater calls for 8. I looked later at the Jo-Ann's in Concord, but they didn't have them either. I got a call from Lora after she got to Kentucky that she'd found them in a Jo-Ann's in Louisville. That knitterly tenacity thing is hilarious. Lora left about a month ago (I've been caring for her betta/siamese fighting fish Zeke), and she's due home tomorrow if all goes well. YAY!!

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About a month ago, I also finished the scarf I started during the Relay for Life. It was a quick and easy project, and good for travel. I took it with me to Maine for the July 4th festivities, and worked on it there. I like the diagonal effect, with the Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn. I may have to play with that again.

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For the 4th of July weekend, we went to Maine. I'm not sure why because it was in that spell where it was raining every single day for like a month. I was so concerned about the weather, although our tent usually handles rain pretty well, that I went out and blew $50 on heavy duty tarps at Lowe's the night before. We were supposed to leave at 7:00 a.m. that morning and I got a call from Mom that my grandmother's road was washed out in three places. Now, gram's road is a two mile dirt road in the middle of freaking nowhere. Her farm is a 300 acre piece on the shore line of a small lake/pond (about a mile wide). The road routinely washes out in one place during heavy rains, but not usually in three places. The only problem with this is that there's no other way to get there. And of course, she was scheduled for surgery that morning, in addition to the various family members showing up for the 4th. They did manage to get her out, the surgery was relatively painless and she's doing a lot better.

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However, where we normally camp down by the lake was so swamped that when we took the bikes down (I wasn't bringing the Sante Fe down there just to get it stuck in the mud) the ground was so wet and muddy you could barely pedal through it. So we ended up camping at Gram's up above on the hill. I had decided to forgo the whole cooking out part of the cook out. Every year, we get about 100 lbs of lobster, and every year, it seems like if I'm there I get sucked into cooking most of it with my mom, because people are not paying attention, or doing what needs to be done so people can eat on a timely basis, and my type A goes into overdrive and takes over and gets it done. Which drives me nuts, stresses me out, and is not fun. Plus, I have to buy all the cookout stuff, haul it to Maine, and it's a pain in the ass. So this year, I decided we would utilize the going out to eat method of camping out. Shawn and I bought some snacks, and then we went out to eat for all our meals. And it cost us just about the same as it does to buy all the crap for the cookout. And I didn't have to cook it, or be aggravated, or clean it up, and I still got to visit with family. I was informed that I had a bad attitude, but since when is that news?

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I wish I'd used the camera more, but it was raining a lot, and it's new and I didn't want to risk it. We went on a paddle boat ride at the lake (my mother bought a paddle boat last summer) with my youngest nephew Noah. That kid is hilarious. We were informed that his brother, Wren, was a sack of potatoes and knives. I said what? and Noah said, he's painful, and he doesn't do anything. You can tell they don't really get along. Later when the thunderstorm hit, and most of us moved back up to the house, Wren decided that he needed to make a potion to induce super powers in humans, so we had numerous small children asking for organic materials including a cup so they could use urine in the potion. I have no idea where they get this stuff. Then they wanted to use the stove to boil it, but my brother in law headed that off by saying they would need to use a wood fire or it wouldn't be organic, and that they'd have to wait until he'd cleaned out the fire pit at home. The last I heard, that fire pit had still not been cleaned out.

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On our way home from Maine, I got a call from my friend Gina. She and her husband wanted to renew their vows on the Windham Bike trail and wanted to know if I could do it that day. I couldn't, but we scheduled it for the next night. I'm still a Justice of the Peace from my prior life, and I've done a few weddings now. I hadn't done a renewal of vows, so I rewrote my wedding ceremony during my lunch at work the next day. When I got there, Jackie was there as Gina's maid of honor, and Ian's friend couldn't come at the last minute, so Shawn got impressed into service as Ian's best man. We had to bike 2-3 miles to get to the spot where Gina wanted to have it, which was hilarious to watch Gina try to balance a vase with her bouquet in her bike basket. Jackie had her roller blades and skated with us while we rode. I think they really liked the ceremony and I was so pleased to be included. Gina was so sweet and gave me framed pictures of the wedding, and a gift certificate, which was so nice of her, but I was just happy to do it for her.

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On the ride back while doing my nature girl thing, I saw some indian ghost pipes which I have not seen in a hundred years. Okay, probably like 20, but same thing. I wish I'd gotten a better picture, but we can't have everything.

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The next weekend, we had the nephews down to visit. I had promised them that they could come down in July and this was the only time I could it. I wish I'd been thinking and took pictures. Mostly the only reason they wanted to visit me was to play Spore. I, being in arrested development, have the game, and the last time they came to visit me they got hooked on it. So this time, there was apparently negotiations and some coin flipping and discussion of terms to determine who got to play first and what the time limits would be. Last time, I had set a kitchen timer and given them 20 minute terms.

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We did take them to Mel's Funway park and played mini golf. At the end they were getting pretty bored with it, and we were just trying to get through the 18 holes, so it really became more like mini golf hockey as Shawn was trying to help them get the ball in the hole. We rode on the go carts which was really fun, and then Noah and Shawn did the batting cages because Wren hates baseball. This was what I was told when I asked him if he wanted to do it. I also took them swimming at the pool at our complex. They are great kids, but it was a long, long weekend.


Stay tuned for Incommudicado Post 3.