Really irritated

Last spring (2010) we a new electric teakettle. Earlier I'd complained that the teakettle no longer turned off. Well today it went one better. It now leaks the heated water all over the counter. Joy. Into the trash it went. What an expensive purchase, to have it work so short of a time!

Argh!

I have complained about the back burners on our stove not working since we moved in. Supposedly someone came and said that they work, but are slow. I tried an experiment today. I put the right back burner on high, put a pan with boiling water on, and waited. 2 hours later, it was cool enough I could put my finger in and leave it in (remember I gave the stupid thing a head start -- it was started with BOILING water.) I tried changing it to the next level down on the burner. An hour later it is a bit warmer. How is anyone supposed to cook on this!

Next experiment will be with the left-hand burner. I'll update here. sigh

ETA Half an hour later and the left hand burner is not hot. I'd say that whoever looked at the stove was a tremendous optimist. I know that we live in a people with older people, many of whom no longer cook. But I do. May I please have a working stove? As in, 4 burners working?

Advertising sigh

So, it is what, 36 days until Christmas, right? Why are we still being "treated" to ads talking about layaway programs where the payments are spread out for 8 weeks? Or the ads that speak of "it's summer, so I want to clear up my skin for my bikini." Hello, we are 5 weeks away from Christmas and it is late autumn. Reality check here, don't the advertisers think we can do the math? Do they think that we can suspend reality enough to believe them?

Ads on tv take up more and more program time. They are louder than the program. I find myself muting the ads, just so I don't have to hear them. I'd rather miss part of the program than listen to their drivel!

What a week!

This has been a week! Started a new job on Monday, that afternoon Mom found out she needed to be on oxygen 24/7, then I sliced the tip of my left middle finger off that evening! Monday was also our 35th wedding anniversary. That, let me be quick to assure you WAS a positive!

Last night I found out that Ruth Schooley, one of the Knitlist listmoms died Tuesday. Ruth was a great lady. She was warm, caring and knowledgeable. She loved to share what she was learning in the fiber world. When I was upset by something on the list, she had a gift for helping me see the situation in a different light.

Until the finger heals, I can't knit to destress! Yes, I tried. No, it didn't work.

Excuse me?

Why do individuals feel they can disparage my knitting, without it being an insult? One person today said, "I was told some years ago that women knit so they can talk." Another person looked at me and said, "I'll bet you didn't get anything knit today." (and no, I wasn't the one in the meeting, I had 6 hours away from home while Howard was in a meeting.)

Rats and darn

Actually, today has been a great day. There wasn't even a pre-migraine today! That is absolutely fabulous! It has been a wonderful day in that respect.

But at the same time, it means that yesterday I realized that I have another food allergy/intolerence. This was NOT what I wanted. In the least. But, when I realized that I've been in a migraine or pre-migraine for several days, I had to try to isolate the problem. I finally did. It took a couple of false starts, but I did eventually get there. Darn it.

Part of me rants that there is ANOTHER thing I can no longer eat. But then, the idea of being without a migraine is inviting too.

Am I at the end of food reactions? I REALLY don't want to lose anything else!

On the positive side, because I wasn't having breathing/migraine problems, I am almost up to the underarms on the sweater I'm knitting for me!

It isn't funny

You know, it isn't fun when you develop an allergy to another antibiotic. I wish the nurses would give up trying to be cute and to remind me that I'm making things more difficult to prescribe. Don't you think I know? I'm probably less happy about it than THEY are!

Well!

I am on the phone waiting to hear if my plane ticket change went through. They were supposed to call me back in 5 minutes -- two hours ago. Small detail, I'm sure, but since I've also not gotten an e-mail confirmation, it is worrisome.

Serena now has an appointment for her eye surgery on Wednesday Next Week. So, I've been on the phone this morning trying to make changes --of course next week is the one week when I really had things scheduled. Oh well, she is worth it. I'm not that fond of the dentist anyway! And no, the surgery is not with the same group. Let's not go there in this discussion. She is going to write a letter of complaint.

I did manage to turn a heel yesterday while waiting at the doctor office. So I'm doing a bit of knitting. I THINK I'm going to try to start her sweater today. Or something. I seem to be in the middle of project dithering. So many things to start!

Ranting

Well, I flew out here so Serena could have Lasik surgery. It was scheduled for today, with yesterday a pre-op appointment. We got there, and they announced that her appointment had been cancelled in OCTOBER and hadn't let her know. So, she can have surgery next week, if she wants. As the doctor only operates on Tuesdays, and they don't have room for her. I'm flying home Friday! We are not happy campers. Nathan suggested she call someone else, she has an appointment with them this afternoon. We don't know if she can have it done while I'm still here or not. This is not amusing.

Tora-chan, the cat that has owned Serena the longest has decided that I am an acceptable substitute for Serena while she is gone. As soon as she gets home, of course, all attention reverts to her original slave. As it is, I have had a cat on my shoulders or my lap off and on today. Nice, as the computer area is COLD!

I had to frog about 3 inches of lace-weight knitting yesterday, I dropped a stitch and couldn't get it to correct. sigh RIP!

We drove by the new location for the scrapbook/yarn store Sunday it was closed. No problem, it was open yesterday, so I bought the size 9 double points I need to start Serena's sweater. I also bought 2 skeins of sock yarn that called my name and 1 skein of Paton's Soy Silk that wants to be a camera cozy, to protect it while it is in my purse. Gee, and we didn't take a lot of time there. LOL She has just started carrying yarn, but had a nice collection. Interesting, she has the yarn in color groups, instead of yarn types. Makes it easy to blend yarns of the same color group. A little harder to see what she has in any particular yarn. Not a problem, I'm sure one can ask as well as look. It is a very pretty display.

Blocked!

Here is that lace sampler blocked. Gorgeous, isn't it!

I hate packing. I just wanted to state this. I think I have almost everything in that I need for 10 days, but who knows? I'll find out the hard way, I guess.