Boom Boom Boom in my Room!

I started the day with a man-made phenomenon and am ready for bed watching a natural one.

As I lay in bed this morning, watching Mr. Pelican take his AM douche (no I'm not being vulgar, just busy listening to my french DVDs) in the fountain outside my bedroom window, I heard the most incredible sound! The sonic BOOM AND BOOM AGAIN of the space shuttle entering the Florida atmosphere. It was an incredible sound and shook the entire building. Everything stopped for a split second, the pelican froze as did I. My first reaction was, "what the hell are they doing upstairs?" and then I realized no 30-something couple made the noise I had just heard. Incredible and totally out of this world, pun intended!

I came home and settled in for the Lunar Eclipse (no Bonnie Tyler pun, sorry - one pun per post). Yes, my photos suck, what can I tell you? It's a point & shoot digital camera and I was trying to capture an image that is 30 times the earth's diameter away. Cut me some slack, okay? Everyone was outside taking photos. I took just 5 and parked my ass in my beach chair outside my front door and enjoyed the show (insert gin & tonic here). Everyone was grumbling that they couldn't get a good shot. That would have been me a while ago but tonight I just enjoyed the moment. Way cool!


Outstanding stuff today and very glad to be here! I say I top off the evening with a purchase from QVC and I may soil myself!

A Little Action in Florida!

Sweater Action that is! I finally finished the baby sweater started last year. I decided that it had to be completed if the child would ever have a chance to wear it. It was knit for a 12-month size and it was started almost a year ago ... so you do the math!

The pattern was very simple. It was an all knit stitch but I'd never carried a color from row to row and learned a little something about it. It's a bitch when you go to put the garment together. In the end, I sent it to the finisher and even she couldn't perfect all of my carry mistakes. But in the end, I loved the color mix and the buttons were the perfect find. They're tiny little airplanes in the exact colors of the yarn. I love when that happens!

An FO and two posts in a week - a new knitguyla milestone!

Alive & Kicking!

Thank you everyone who emailed me to see if I was okay - most appreciated! I've been nesting, getting used to the new place. Here's a little shot of the view from my bedroom window. It's lovely, the lake is serene and the light is fantastic in the morning. For those of you who know me well, I'm not much for morning light but hey, old dogs can learn new tricks.

Yes, I celebrated my Blogiversary in style by not posting nor celebrating with some witty quip about the passage of time. It's a blog, deal and yes, it's one year old.

In honor of that, I'll be posting some FO's very soon. I'd prefer the recipient receive it first, you know the drill.

And I'm pleased to say I'm knitting again. My new knitting chair, affixed with perfect lighting has finally been set up at the perfect angle to my new big TV. Netflix arrives regularly and the two have become lover and best friend. I love the space and find myself communing with nature more regularly, knitting outdoors; on the lanai. The Florida version of a porch or patio. The lizards get in occasionally but I'm learning to co-exist.

I trust everyone is enjoying the Winter. Florida has no Winter, don't let them fool you. It's just plain hot all year round, just really hot in Summer.

My parents and the other 2 billion senior citizens have arrived in Florida, escaping the cold weather from other parts of the country. They drive slow or Mario Andretti fast and haven't got a clue what the rules of the road are since their roadtests were on Model T's in the roaring 20's. We get out of their way quickly and accept that the Grand Marquis are like locusts that come more frequently than once every 20 years!

Thanks again for all the well wishes. I'll be hanging around more regularly -- promise!

I like Foamy!

I don't even know who Foamy is but my friend WoolGatherer posted this little guy and I had to spread the cheer! It's great with all the nonsensical talk these days about taking Jesus out of Christmas so more people can celebrate the season!

Last week I attended a Holiday party thrown by a jew. He had a Multicultural tree and served a ham with challah bread. I'm not even trying to figure that out - and thanks to Foamy I don't have to. Merry Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogger wouldn't let me upload the video but cut and paste. Worth the laugh. It's all good fun. Happy Thanksgiving! Joe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axygZ8aXSlo

Embrace Yourself

Today I made three purchases and I can't tell you which one I prefer the most. Of course, first chance I had I headed over to Idle Hours and picked up the new Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts edition.

Jared, of Brooklyn Tweed fame has an amazing cabled hat pattern in it. I've never knit a cabled project and I think this hat is the perfect way to start. What does one do with a cabled hat in Florida though? Play your cards right and it could be yours! The hat is modelled by a woman in the mag but I think a man could wear it, do you? Check it out here on Jared's blog.

After the dry cleaner and bank, I headed over to Lowe's to pick up this puppy and boy have I embraced my guy side.

This baby has 2.5 horsepower but man can it suck up glass. It's amazing -- I was tempted to bust the other sliding glass door just to keep using the damn thing. They ought to make vacuum cleaners with this kind of power. You could vacuum the whole house in 5 minutes. I shop vac'd until there was no more glass and like all good things, I wanted a cigarette afterwards, it was that good!

Perusing the bins at Barnes and Noble, I came across this on the bargain table.

How could I resist it? Three professional jugging balls and a beautifully photographed instruction booklet. Everyone wants to learn to juggle as a kid. And as an overly-serious adult in recent years, I've discovered it's time to embrace the silly side of life. I'm not juggling responsibilities anymore, I'm juggling balls!

One Good Deed Deserve Another - NOT!

So I spent the last 2 days taking care of a friend recovering from elective surgery. I hauled my butt to St. Petersburg, drove her to the hospital, changed surgical drains, bloody gauze, cooked and woke up every 2 hours to express icky gunk from science fiction tubes popping out of a human body. I know, enough, but when you love someone you do what you have to do.

So I drove home, went to work and on the way home, got rear ended (a little damage and yes, I'm okay - only shaky) to come home to a shattered glass door. No reason, nothing fell on it but it cracked into a million pieces and waited for me to arrive home for its crescendo finish to the floor.

I've always said and now I believe it even more that all things that can be fixed with time and/or money mean nothing! So I'll call the insurance company tomorrow and sweep up the mess. The mess, perhaps symbolic of my life could have got me down. Instead, I believe that striving forward, moving towards my personal center will always have a few bumps in the road.

Happy Wednesday! - the new joe

Salvation - Day 7 and the Weekend

Yes, Day 7 came and went with little fanfare so I'll make my own.

DRUMROLL PLEASE....I lost 5 lbs.! I hoped for more but definitely feel better, even though the weekend involved tortolini and an amazing brownie. I really don't have any weight to lose but I always like lower numbers on the scale but I'll save that for my therapist. The detox definitely worked. My skin was wacked out, my tongue was all kinds of funky and no matter what I did, I was tired most of the week. Outcome: I recommend it. Lose a few pounds, clean out your system and prove to yourself (if you need to) that you've got the will power to do whatever you want.

What could be next?

P.S. Never watch the film Brokeback Mountain if you're feeling down---5 times. Ooops.

Rounding the Corner

Day 5 and 6 come to a close and not soon enough. This detox/diet continues to be easy, after all, you get to eat plenty of food. The problem is there's simply no variety. It's just plain boring! Who wants to eat the same stuff every day, no matter what it is? I've learned, anything 24/7 stinks - foodwise. I've had steak two days in a row and for me that sounded like a real treat on Day 4, but now, I won't have one for months and months. Tonight, that juicy filet could have been sour cream and I'd have been happier.

I cheated today with a cup of coffee and I'll probably do it again in the morning. It was so good and let me tell you, it was guilt free. Oddly enough, I'm not craving any of my favorites, instead sour cream (obviously), pasta sauce and cashews are constantly on my mind. My "go to" is sweets and I haven't craved them at all except on Day 3 when I walked by the pastry kitchen at work and kind of passed out on my feet for a second. Come Sunday though, all bets are off. There's definitely a crab cake with my name on it and after that, I'll play it by ear. Hmmmm, ear, that sounds good!

Say goodnight Dr. Lecter. Good night Dr. Lecter.

Day 4 and Going Strong

This detox/diet is rocking and going really well! Today was the weirdest day so far. Skim milk (what's detox-y about milk?), bananaas (up to 8 of them) and all the cabbage soup you desire. I have to say, the soup is getting a little tedious but manageable. Tomorrow is Day 5 and steak, tomoatoes and soup are on the menu. I've cooked an amazing sirloin to perfection, halfed and then quartered it for 4 small meals. But I cheated, I wanted A-1 but I settled for 2 tablesspoons of rice wine vinegar for the tomatoes. They needed a little something, salt and pepper gets lonely.

Otherwise, I wasn't the most clear headed at work, decisions came a little hard and everyone kept asking me if I was paying attention. This is not a diet for a surgeon but it's just fine for a spa director with his last 10 lbs to lose! Stay posted for full results on Day 7.

On other fronts, I'm not impressed with the new Bionic Woman television show. I loved it as a kid and would often "act bionic" with my friends (making that ou, ou, ou sound and running in slow motion)! This new bionic woman is kind of rude, she said douche in prime time. Is that even aloud?