It's a New Year

A Merry Historical Christmas

I think I heard someone on the radio say that it will be a record year if it snows on Christmas day - well it's snowing out there folks. Not much, just a whisper over night but it did snow off & on all day until it got dark. A record broken for the Lower Mainland this year. Not enough snow to make a snowman unless you shovel the whole drive, but we got snow.

I took the Ex & a friend out for late lunch/early dinner yesterday for Christmas. The Old Boys don't drive after dark because they can't see very well so they got a Chinese lunch - their choice!! Both wanted combination dinners Apparently they get turkeyed to death this time of year with all the church dinners, senior dinners & family get-togethers!! Both of them have somewhere to go for Christmas dinner but they say it's too much noise & bother - they'd rather stay home with the fire & TV on. I don't blame them a bit. I think a lot of us would be happier with leftovers than endure hours of family squabbles & noise. I used to go to one family gathering years ago just for the ham bone & turkey carcass. They used to throw everything out when guests went home!!! No one would eat 'leftovers' in that family!!! I used to get at least two big pots of soup out of those 'leftovers'. 

I'm not cooking turkey either this year. I love the legs & thighs & if I could buy only thighs I'd be in heaven & would cook it monthly. Luckily the Ex loves white meat so when I do cook a small turkey, he gets the white & I take the brown. I just wish they grew turkeys with bigger thighs though .   .   .   .   

Knitting content - Nada, Nothing, Zip. The new pills the doctor asked me to try for my knee pain not only did nothing for my knee pain but also did nothing for my hands. And while I was taking it I couldn't take anything else so I've been stiff, sore, burning, aching & weak. Not a good couple of weeks. Tonight, before bed, I shall return once more to my Tylenol Arthritis/Ibuprofen combo & hope tomorrow is better. Maybe I'll be able to get back to sock knitting once more!!

Let it Snow!!

Just sitting here in my office taking a Snow Day. It's mighty pretty out there & I'm seriously glad I don't have to go out in it today 'cause it's already starting to accumulate. Another couple of inches should begin to shut the burbs down. I have fond memories of fighting my way home to Surrey across two bridges & down a freeway of abandoned cars from West Vancouver in over a foot of snow when I was first married 30 years ago. It took me 7 hours but I made it home. This was before everyone had a cell so my new husband had no idea of where or in what shape I was. He made sure I had good tires & a working car but I was on my own after that. People just don't understand what to do when it snows in Vancouver since we get it so seldom. Yeah, well, we usually DO get a couple of DAYS of snow most years .  .  .  but it's heavy, sloppy, turns to ice as soon as a person steps on it, never mind a car driving on it. I made it home through the snow mostly because I had studded tires & drove in the fresh snow when I could. I made new paths through snow so I had some traction. I drove on the median, on the gravel & between lanes of abandoned cars. And I stayed in second gear. When I could, I packed the car with extra people for traction, too. These days, I have my snow tires on, gas tank filled up, extra jacket & blanket in the car, folding shovel in the back & don't drive unless I have too. Hahahaha

I wish everything could be as simple as avoiding driving in the snow!! I've been using the same accounting software for eons. Periodically, I upgrade it just because you can't work in DOS forever. So I have multiple copies of the program since 2007, all in my software sleeve. I even have a 2014 upgrade that I just took out of the package!! To my shock & horror, someone new has bought out the company, added some spiffy new features & now RENTS in out by the month. All of my copies, including the new one, are not only redundant, they are no longer supported & I can't even register the last one so it will work. You no longer need to buy the software - that cuts out the pirates - but little businesses like me who only use a couple of the modules have to pay for the whole thing, use the old software until it stops running or find some other software to use. I am pissed. I've got half a year on for an old client & the program will no longer run!! This is partly Windows 10's fault as well!! Can't find a patch so I guess my only option is to start over on an older version . . . . .  grrrrr

I had intended to watch YouTube reruns & knit but I guess that's no longer an option. I really wanted some Goth Kitty fingerless gloves to wear!!! And, believe it or not, I'm actually turning a heel on my Hopscotch socks.

Slip Slidin Away

I've been having a Simon & Garfunkel week with everything 'slip slidin' away'. Boy, does the time fly by when you're busy!! Doesn't hurt of course when people you haven't seen in ages keep calling to go out for lunch or dinner. Maybe it's just that time of the year!!! For a very long time I've found the Christmas season a pain in the butt. Traffic jams, road blocks, more drunks & more beggars of every description. It annoys me.
Everybody talks about giving this time of year - giving to what??? Why give 'em a taste of Vegas when they live out of dumpsters the rest of the year, eh?? And why on one day, once a year anyway?? I'm not saying stop helping. Let's consider a Hand up not hand out.

I could rant all day about the housing shortage. If the local government was serious about low cost rental housing, it would be building portable modular housing everywhere & not just talking about it. And who's the idiot allowing Developers to bulldoze existing housing months & years before they're ready to pour the foundations for replacements?? If there's no housing, there won't be any workers. Think about that for a moment. Who will man that drive-thru when you want a coffee?? Who will sweep floors in the schools?? Who will help you at the Mall or bag your groceries? Never mind Food for the Poor, let them have affordable Housing & Daycare instead, they can always find work to feed themselves!! Think about it folks, most of us who rent are only 3 months away from living in a tent in the park.

In the meantime, life goes on. I have a roof over my head & it's usually warm but not tonight. So I bought myself some wild pink & purple hoodies & heavy grey sweats - I am the recipient of my own gifts this year!! I collected the last two boxes today!!! The cupboards are full, warm clothing is at hand & I can watch YouTube on the computer & Public TV on the tube. Now if we could only do something about all those bloody commercials.

Saturday - Six Days Later

Stevo - my favorite computer friend - came by after coffee on Friday & fished my new accounting program disc out of the inside of the computer. He just pushed down the centre lock mechanism in the floppy drive - the part I didn't - slid it all the way in & pushed the button to make it come out again. When it came out, the disc was in the drive. And he did NOT laugh at me. Apparently it happens so often, he has a special price to make a commercial office visit & fish them out. Good thing I bought his coffee .  .  .

My New Doc got her way on Monday & I agreed to try a new-to-me medication for my knee so I - hopefully - don't get seized up in Safeway again. My only hesitation in this is that I've also got to take medication to protect my stomach from the pain meds. And the cost is not thrilling me either. I've heard of this stuff - Celebrex - before but not for a long time. So I have this one month trial period. And there's time to research the stuff.

I can tell after 5 days, that this medication does NOTHING for my pain. I'm not as stiff as I would be with all this cold, wet fog blanketing the burbs in the Lower Mainland but everything, including my fingers & right hip, burns. I think the best combo was the one Tylenol Arthritis & one 200mg Ibuprofen together. A nurse at Peach Arch Hospital told me to do that because it seems the combination works better than doubling either med on it's own. And most of the time, I only take it before bed & in the morning. And it's cheap too. But, I've only taken one course of Celebrex & now I'm off for a week before starting the next course. Research tells me it has to accumulate in my body to help. More research from individuals who've taken it say that when it works, it's a miracle that usually works right away. The others claim it ranged from doing nothing to a rash &  agitation to heart palpitations & trouble breathing. So far nothing has happened.

On the Knitting Front - Hopscotch socks haven't progressed much since my fingers are sore & I've been doing a lot of data entry. I do have plans to make myself a big, snuggly touque & some new wrist warmers. I do like the wrist warmers the best because they fill that gap between your jacket & hand where the cold air hits in the car. I don't like to drive with gloves at all but I can wear the wristers all day long & do find they help keep my hands warmer.

MAD MONDAY

Monday turned into a mad day. I did not want to get up in the morning but got myself up anyway after another night of tossing & turning. I swear it's that  huge gibbous moon glowering into my bedroom that's causing problems!!! Have you seen it out there around 4 AM these days??? Got myself down to my new semi monthly appointment to find my knee x-rays had arrived. Gee, no one's talking about my cardiogram or cholesterol any more!!! My torn meniscus has turned into degenerating osteo-arthritis so my next appointment is to be with the Bone Guy. Whoopee. And my sore hands?? - the Doc is yakking up carpal tunnel but I'm holding out for arthritis since most of my thumb & first two finger joints are involved & there's no numbness or tingling at all unless I play video games all night. When she asked what I'm taking for pain & inflammation, I told her I preferred Baileys & tea, she decided I need prescription pain meds. I actually asked the Pharmacist if the Doc owns shares in the place.

Managed to drop off a Jade plant cutting at the Doctor's office. The poor thing & it's sister were still outside in their yellow pots so I took one with me to the appointment. I think I'll be dropping off some magazines next!! Jades are great plants for offices. No one has to remember to water them regularly & they quite nicely live a long time in the same pot in varying types of light when the office is closed.

Three of my little business guys actually dropped stuff off for year ends too. I haven't seen two of them for months & suddenly, here they are with paperwork in hand. Wow. I guess I know what I'll be doing for Christmas!!! One actually brought a bottle of my favorite libation for my tea!! Guess I'll do HIS stuff first!!

I was a real twit today. I bought the latest updated Accounting program last year & decided to finally install the silly thing. My new computer has one of those thin, floppy DVD drives in which you have to carefully install your disc before closing the door. Well, I was in a hurry, slipped in the disc, did not press it down & pushed the door. The disc slid into the slot just as neat as you please while sending the sliding reader/writer drawer BACK out. Great.

Knitting Stuff - since the sun is shining & the sky is blue, I'm off to Starbucks with my latest sock - in Hopscotch - in hand & my Creative device loaded with audio-books. I don't care who needs what today, they aren't getting it till after dark!!!

Tomorrow I'm off to the next semi-monthly appointment with the new Doctor. I wonder what she'll want to talk about this time???? Maybe it will be my knee xrays - yesterday I would've killed to be taken away horizontally from Safeway when it painfully stopped working mid step in the Dairy department on the far side of the store. I could only limp & slide a few inches at a time, leaning on that damn cart & feeling like I was going to puke. I made it out of the store with what I had in the basket, got home - easier to drive than walk - & fell into bed with everything left in the car in the drive. I did take my shoes off but not my jacket!! Later, I did feel so much better I managed to unload what was in the car. Story of my life, these days.

I've been trying to find some really thick & cozy sweats not only for me but for the Ex - I'm living on cement & he on cement tiles. Walmart used to have several brands but now only sells those cheap, thin ones made in China. The fabric is about half the thickness I want & it pills really fast. Everywhere I've looked has cheap fabric! I want fleece to keep us WARM. I found a wholesaler on-line that has 'Fruit of the Loom' sweats in 4 weights!! The waist bands are sewn on THREE times & sizing goes from XP to 5X!! And there's kid's sizes too. Last week I got two pairs of pants in less than 10 days. They're so perfect for the Ex, I can't wait to give them to him. Nice & thick, well finished & just in time to stuff into his Christmas bag. Now to get some for ME.

Goth Kitty

I also fell down the yarn hole .  .  .  I got my order from Knit Picks, sigh. They have such great colors & I don't have to look for parking .  .  .  .  I got a couple of great buttons, one in a leaf shape & one in a toggle. But the real thing that caught my eye was the fingering weight sock yarns in Hopscotch - a happy mixture of pink, blue, pale yellow, purple, orange & white which I had to cast on immediately!!! And the ultimate - Goth Kitty - a sullen mix of pinks, plums & greys. What I thought was black is actually plum.

Hopscotch

I also fell for a number of the other sock yarns on sale, most notably Lakeshore, a delicious blend of blues, white & grey. It will knit thicker socks than the fingering but I was thinking of larger needles & an asymmetrical shoulder covering instead .  .  .