Reely Reely Big Present

On the first night of Chanukah my son said to me:
Happy Chanukah and Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas.

He also told me that a package was coming that covered all three.

He refused to give me any hints even though I asked some 'innocent' sounding questions.  I joked that I might get it in February as he isn't very good about actually getting the package to the PO.  But he said that DIL Liz' sister, Irene, was in charge of mailing so I knew it would get here soon.

Matt then texted wanting to know if he needed to have me sign a signature card with the package.  Hmmmnnnn what would need a signature?

Last Thursday, on my birthday, a package from Matty & Liz from San Ramon (must be Irene's sense of humor as DS and DIL live in Livermore and I've never heard DS called Matty) arrived!!!!  I was too excited.  You see I had been doing a lot of guessing and had myself worked up to a new iPod or maybe an iPhone, what with that signature question.  But the package was rather light.  Hmmmnnnn

I opened it up and to my surprise there was a gift bag of Celestial Seasonings Herbal Teas including chapstick and mints.

Matt must have been misleading me with the signature question.

Then Jim said to look into the bottom of the tin as everything seemed to be on top.  That wasn't as easy as it looks as it's all hot glued together. Nope, nada on the bottom but that squiggly paper filling.   So now I'd have enough for a whole summer's worth of iced tea pitchers.

However--------

On Friday a largish package arrived.  And this one had weight to it.

I called my sister (put her on speaker phone) and got Jim, and together we opened the box.

OMG OMG OMG

This is an iPad 4 Retina.  I am blown away (still).

I've been playing with it exclusive to almost anything else for days now.

Compelling, additive, fun and incredible.  I've downloaded apps for drawing and writing and games and reading. This is the first thing I did with an app called Paper.

and sent it to Matt & Liz.

I also downloaded iBooks and eRead as I figure that if I am carrying this 1.6#  iPad around I don't want to also haul books.  My sister is gifting me with a cover/case and there are about a zillion to choose from but only a few reelly reelly reely nice ones that are book-like.

I have narrowed it down to between a Contega or a Portenzo.

Now to get back to that Holiday Knitting.  Well --- in between taps on the pretty iPad.

How I saved $640

The week before Thanksgiving I hit a deer coming home from Knit Knite.  It was about 9:20 so very dark but dry.  All of a sudden there was a large deer blocking my lane.  I braked, heard a loud crunch and saw the deer roll and run up the bank on my right side.  I stopped and fortunately there was no one behind me or coming the other way.  My car seemed OK and anyway it was a dead zone for cell service so I drove home in a hyper awake state and shaking.

When I got here I called my insurance company who were very calm and helpful.  They made out a report and told me someone would be calling in a day or two.  As it was just after Hurricane Sandy I wasn't expecting a call too soon.   They also said to call the police.  I did and a nice State Trooper arrived about a half hour later from the barracks on the other side of the county.  He made out an official accident report and was glad I was OK.

In the morning I could see that my front grille was completely gone and there were deer hair in the cracked bumper but I couldn't see much else.  The inspector showed me other parts that needed replacing.  Jim made me a temporary grille from some plastic lattice as I as afraid the radiator would get hit with something while I was driving.  Very cute.  I almost laced it with artificial vines.

Why am I telling you all this?  Because while my Pilot was in being fixed (front grille, front bumper, right fender, radiator)  I was given a basic Civic as a loaner.  I loved zipping around town in it.  It made me realize how big and wide my pilot is and remember how it fills out most parking spots so that I have dings from other car doors.  My last Pilot was a bit smaller and I didn't have these problems but this one is more awkward for me.  When I thought about it I really only need the Pilot for 6-8 times a year when we do vendings and such.

Then the next week it told me I needed a B1 service.  That means tire rotation, fluids, oil, etc.  It also needed alignment and alas is very close to needing new tires.  The estimate was $770 for 4 and I need 4 as it is AWD.  2 tires are at 3mm and 2 at 2mm.  Not good enough to get me through the winter and to my lease ending late April.

I called around town and got estimates at $712, $690, $670 and finally some UniRoyals that were merely $640.  It's Holiday season.  Do I really want to spend my budget plus on tires?? Noooooo but then again I also don't want to wind up in a ditch in January.   What to do????

I remembered that last time I turned in my car a month or two before the lease was up they rolled the unpaid months into the new lease.  I also called Honda to find out about changing my current lease into a purchase.  They said that was very possible but I needed to talk to someone at a dealership to get the details.
Oh and while the Pilot was being serviced earlier this week I walked into the showroom just to look at 2013 Pilots and compare a CRV with them.  When I first started driving Hondas I wanted to shop local but the guy in the showroom at that time was so snotty I wound up going to Rochester and getting a great deal.  I have leased 3 cars from Holtz Honda up there.

The other day the guys I met were so friendly and Jeff, who showed me the 2013's, said that they would make me a great deal. He was sure of it.  So I made an appointment for this afternoon to talk to the sales manager. Between Jeff and Jerome I knew they wanted a sale and were going to offer me whatever it took.

Well the CRV is 50 cu ft smaller than the Pilot BUT with a roof box it would then be only 30 cu ft smaller.  Plus I can zip around town and have a bit of fun AND get 10 more mpg than the Pilot. I took a test drive in a blue CRV that matched all my criteria even though I thought I wanted a teal or white one.  By the time I was done test driving I liked the blue CRV best as it has purple undertones.  :^)  And I like those hub caps too.

Jerome says they are buying my Pilot outright from Honda and paying for the new tires (at retail) and the all remaining lease payments.  In the past those have been rolled into the new lease.  Hmmmmnnnn and what else?   

Then Jerome told me he would also be paying for the installation of the roof rails and trailer hitch plus my new payments will be $30 less than my current ones.  Considering inflation I think I am getting a very good deal.  It seems that used Pilots are in short supply and used cars are very much in need since Sandy.  Add the CRV to the December total for these guys and they are happy and I am happy too.

So the one I test drove now has a SOLD sign on it.

I'll be picking her up on Dec 31.

And then there were three

First there was the Simple Faroese Shawl, really designed by Cathy but she wants to stay anonymous so I wrote it up and posted the pattern.  All profits from this pattern go to Animal Shelters.

This shawlette is meant as a first shawl experience for fairly new knitters.  It's all garter stitch with a few yarn overs, knit 2 togethers and a picot cast off.  It's done on US9's and uses only one skein of fingering yarn.

Then I realized that most of my shawls were aimed at intermediate knitters so designed Chatty to be a fairly easy shawl for advanced beginners.  Again it uses only one skein of fingering yarn but smaller needles, stockinette stitch for the shoulder area and some easy lace at the bottom.

A few weeks ago I watched the lights blink out over NYC when Hurricane Sandy wrecked its merry way up our coast.  Those lights took many days to come back on and some are still out.  In honor of all the people who helped and are helping each other come back to whatever might be considered normal after such Katrina-like devastation I am donating partial proceeds from the sale of City Lights patterns to OccupySandy relief efforts.

Kits of laceweight yarn, beads and the pattern are available in my Etsy shop. $5 from each kit sale is going to OccupySandy.org for help with recovery.

Verve

Last winter, for the first time, one of my patterns, Heart to Heart was published in a National Magazine - Knitters.  A month or so before publication I was sent some galley sheets to check that the pattern had no mistakes and that all of the charts, etc were included.  Then a week or two later one of my Knit Knite crew mentioned she had seen the Neckerchief in the just released issue of Knitters at a LYS.  HUH?    So I ran over to B&N but they didn't yet have it.  Then I boogied to Wegmans and sure enough it was on display.  I bought 5!

Then a bit after publication I was sent 3 complementary copies of the Winter 2012 K105 Issue of Knitters.

So this year another pattern, VERVE, was accepted for the Winter 2013, The SKIRT Issue K109 of Knitters and I expected the same procedure.  Wednesday night at Knit Knite Aimee mentioned that she was so excited to see my skirt in the newest issue of Knitters.  HUH?????   I knew it was expected out soon but since I had yet to receive the galleys thought it might be in December.  Aimee was especially pleased to tell the folks at the knitting shop in Watkins Glen that she had seen the skirt in progress and knew me.  Well that tickled me too.

So after knitting I boogied over to Wegmans but couldn't find the mag.  Then I drove to B&N where it wasn't on the shelves either but asked a customer service person to check.  Sure enough they had come in that day and were scheduled to be put out the next but he brought me some from the back.  I promptly purchased 5!!!!  Then yesterday I received my 3 complementary copies.

No matter. It's thrilling anyway.

AND there will be another of my patterns (which I am madly knitting to make the deadline), a shawl, published in the Spring Issue!!!!!!!!!

Rachel Maddow says it best

“We are not going to have a Supreme Court that will overturn Roe v. Wade. There will be no more Antonin Scalias and Samuel Alitos added to this Court. We’re not going to repeal health reform. Nobody is going to kill Medicare and make old people in this generation or any other generation fight it out on the open market to try to get themselves health insurance. We are not going to do that.   

To hear her say all this go here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#49736294

“We are not going to give a 20 percent tax cut to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kid’s health insurance to cover the cost of that tax cut. We’re not going to make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control under the insurance plan that you’re on. We are not going to redefine rape. We are not going to amend the United States Constitution to stop gay people from getting married. We’re not going to double Guantanamo. We are not eliminating the Department of Energy or the Department of Education or [the Department of] Housing [and Urban Development] at the federal level. We are not going to spend two trillion dollars on the military that the military does not want. We are not scaling back on student loans because the country’s new plan is that you should borrow money from your parents. We’re not vetoing the Dream Act. We are not self-deporting. We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt. We are not starting a trade war with China on Inauguration Day in January. We are not going to have, as a President, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared gay kid, to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help, and there was no apology, not ever.

“We are not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton. We are not bringing Dick Cheney back. We are not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with architects of the Iraq War. We are not going to do it. We had the choice to do that if we wanted to do that as a country, and we said ‘no’ last night, loudly.

“Ohio really did go to President Obama last night, and he really did win. And he really was born in Hawaii, and he really is legitimately President of the United States, again, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not make up a fake unemployment rate last month, and the Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy, and the polls were not skewed to over-sample Democrats, and Nate Silver was not making up fake projections about the election to make conservatives feel bad. Nate Silver was doing math, and climate change is real, and rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes, and evolution is a thing, and Benghazi was ‘on’ us, it was not a scandal ‘by’ us, and no one is taking away any one’s guns, and taxes have not gone up, and the deficit is dropping, actually, and Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, and the moon landing was real, and FEMA is not building concentration camps, and UN election observers are not taking over Texas, and moderate reforms of the regulations on the insurance industry and the financial services industry in the country are not the same thing as communism…

“…in this country, we have a two-party system in government and the idea is supposed to be that the two sides both come up with ways to confront and fix the real problems facing our country. They both propose possible solutions to our real problems, and we debate between those possible solutions, and by the process of debate, we pick the best idea. That competition between good ideas from both sides about real problems in the real country should result in our country having better choices, better options than if only one side is really working on the hard stuff…if the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement and the conservative media is stuck in a vacuum-sealed, door-locked spin cycle of telling each other what makes them feel good and denying the factual, lived truth of the world, then we are all deprived as a nation of the constructive debate between competing, feasible ideas about real problems…they [GOP] are going to have to pop the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside if they do not want to get shellacked again, and that will be a painful process for them I’m sure, but it will be good for the whole country, left, right and center.

It's great to wake up in the morning and know Barack Obama will be our President for 4 more years.

Sunrise / Sunset

Jim and I are spending some well deserved R&R time in the Adirondacks at Loonhaven Cottage. We drove up yesterday in lovely sunshiney weather, were greeted by a red bodied dragonfly almost camoufloged on the red dock,

then settled in for reading and snacks and dinner and quiet.  Cole is taking care of the buns and the kitties while Baz came with us.  Baz loves it up here as much as we do.  

This morning we woke up to a glorious sunrise gilding the Tamaracks across the lake.

Then this afternoon we ventured down to Old Forge to the View, which used to be called the Old Forge Arts Center, to view the annual quilt show featuring 84 traditional, wall and art quilts, mostly from NYS but some from elsewhere too.

The quilt on the bed is being raffled off.  I love this display.  In the old center, the raffle quilt was hung in the stairwell but this shows it off way better.

Some of my favorite quilts were:

Seaway Avenue by Clara Pope of Syracuse

1st Place in Bed quilts, Best in Show and the Silver Needle Award

Majestic Mountains by Allison Brown-Cestero from San Antonio, received Honorable Mention in Bed Quilts. Until I actually took its picture I could have sworn this quilt's 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock points went outside the frame.

7 Green Quilts by Bethany Krawec of Upeer Jay, NY received 2nd Place in Bed quilts.  This was done as a club and learning experience in parts.  Bethany then decided to place the 6 parts as though they were completed quilts overlapping on a bed creating the 7th quilt.

Dragonfly Windows by Julia Masters Deisinger of North Syracuse.  The photo doesn't come closer to doing this one justice as the dragonflies are 3 dimensional and the piece itself is spectacular.

ADK Pond by Linda Swanekamp of Buffalo was my fav of all the pieces I saw.  It's hand and machine embroidered but neither comes up well in the photo. Got me to remembering my own machine and hand embroidered art quilts and bemoaning the fact that my Pfaff will not do these things for me.  sigh

In a special nature room are live mosses, stuffed birds, photographs and ceramic sculptures depicting many areas and animals of the Adirondacks.

Open House by Mary Yodeer shows a hollowed out tree stump containing mushrooms, a mouse, a toad and a visiting bird with a snake climbing up the outside.

Resting Hare by Mary Philpott is full of texture and color.  She used several glazes and engobes to get the effect.  It seems to be quite accurate anatomically too.

We ended the day with some homemade clam chowder, with Jim going upstairs to watch baseball playoffs, with me reading the latest Andy Carpenter mystery and Basel fast asleep on the rug.