Of Ballgames and Blasting Caps ...

Randy and I really enjoy going to baseball games in small towns. Last night, he took me to Kannapolis to see the Intimidators. We had a great time. Although it was a little warm out there, even at twilight, it was "Thirsty Thursday," so drinks were discount priced!
And no trip to a ballgame is complete without a bag of salted-in-the-shell peanuts! I love these things! In fact, I was taking this photo when the best play of the evening happened! A triple play, no less, for the home team!

I pretty much ate the whole bag by myself and yes, they were fantastic.

I love the 7th inning stretch when everybody stands up and sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" ... it's really fun.

Another interesting part was the elderly woman who sat in front of us. She kept notebooks full of the players' statistics! She was taking notes as the game went on ... and making kind of mean comments, too, like "Do you need my glasses out there?"

And she kept yelling out, "What, did they send all our good players up?"

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guys out there. What happened to a little encouragement?AND

while we're on the subject of ballgames, the other day, for no apparent reason, I started thinking about an advertisement I had seen ages and ages ago when I was little. I mean, I think this was before I was even in kindergarten. I remembered a few things about it: It had an African-American sports person in it ... and it was warning kids not to play with blasting caps. Well, I took these two pieces of information to GOOGLE and lo and behold, I found it!

Here it is for anyone who is interested (or if you want to just have a good, old trip down memory lane ... I mean, it might just ring a bell!) This is so great, you have to watch it! I mean it! Who can forget Willy Mays instructing you to "Play with these, not those!" "Don't touch them!"

http://homepage.mac.com/pjfraser/blastingcaps/iMovieTheater104.html and here it is, a little bigger: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/462154/

Blasting caps must really have been laying all over the place back then! Remember the horrible stories about the kids who HAD played with blasting caps and blown their fingers or hands off?? I even remember colorful posters lining the school halls that warned about the dangers of blasting caps! Why, they must have been everywhere!

More on the Addition!

Here are a few photos for an update on my Dad's addition!

My Dad's future bathroom. The hole is where the roll-in, curbless shower will go. Lots of grab bars and a really great shower fixture picked out! The door will go, obviously, and instead there will be a pass-through laundry chute. The washer and dryer are on the other side of that door.
Here's a view from Dad's bedroom.

And here's the view from the sunroom!

And here's a view from the side of the whole thing!

Brown-Sugar Fudge! (or Penuche!)

Okay ... I know I probably shouldn't have, but I did. And I'm loving every, single, rich, delicious piece of it!
I made brown-sugar fudge!!! Have you ever eaten the Butterscotch Squares at See's Candies? One taste of those fabulous, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of candy and I'm done. I'm hooked. I can't stop myself from going back for another ... and another ... and yes, even another! It doesn't matter that my stomach feels queasy. I want MORE. The only thing that See's Butterscotch Squares have that my Brown-Sugar Fudge doesn't have is the chocolate on the outside. And that's quite all right, because it's what's INSIDE the chocolate that I crave!!!
Well, over the weekend, for no apparent reason, I just had a yen for Brown-Sugar Fudge. And yet, my plans were foiled every time I thought I had everything ready. Oops! No evaporated milk! Oops! I can't find my candy thermometer, etc., etc.
FINALLY, yesterday, I had everything ... okay, well, I didn't have the light corn syrup, only dark, but I was determined that would do. And, boy, did it ever!
You will find the recipe here.
I omitted the nuts, but they'd be very good, I think. Give it a try!!!

A New Project! (and it's got nothing to do with knitting!)

Yep, it's official. I've started a new project. Only I have help on this one! We're building an addition onto our house so we can move my Dad home! Two weeks ago, the man came and scraped all of our stairs right off the house! He scraped up all of our patio, our gas grill and, sadly, even our 30+-year-old blueberry bushes (which, I might add, were loaded with unripened berries. It looked to be a bumper crop this year *sniff)
This is what the back of our house looked like two weeks ago.

And then it rained.
This is how it looks after the rain. There are so many frogs, toads and croaking things in there that it's really hard to sleep at night with all the noise!

I'm hoping the proper permits will be procured soon and that the actual building will start. Every day that my dad stays at the assisted-living facility is another day gone by.

My mother's death is still so fresh for all of us and some days are just really, really hard. About a month ago, when my sister was visiting, we started talking about how lonely it is for my dad without my mom (they had been married for 62 years, you know) ... and we started talking about moving him to our house. Right now, our house is a typical, 1974-era, two-story traditional that is absolutely not handicapped accessible in any way! So, the only solution was to add a few rooms that would be ... and make sure the doorways to the rest of the rooms on the main floor were wide enough to accommodate the wheelchair.

We're adding an all-season porch that will have a wheelchair ramp outside the entrance from the yard. From this room, my dad will have a master bedroom with a large bathroom. The shower is going to be one of those great roll-in showers (no curb to get over!) with wonderful hand-held shower heads. It will be large enough to fit not only my dad and his shower chair, but another person, too, so we can help! We're going to make sure the sink can fit a wheelchair under and move the mirror down low enough so he doesn't have to crane his neck in order to see himself shaving.

A fabulous feature: A laundry chute from the bathroom directly into my little laundry area!!! No more hauling all his laundry down the halls at the assisted-living facility out to my car! Imagine that!

But the best part will be that my dad will be home. With us. We are going to keep some of his private-duty staff, but we won't need all the shifts, which will save an incredible amount of money.

And one other thing we're planning: A koi pond in the yard!!

In the midst of all this, though, I am, believe it or not, still working on knitting projects. I have two major ones in the works right now that are going to take a long time for all the pieces and parts, but I'm really excited about them and I hope you will be, too!

Cool Cat Makes His Debut!

This cat thinks he's pretty cool!



Cool Cat is knit almost completely in the round on size US 8 double-pointed needles, then felted in the washing machine. The only sewing is to add his ears after felting ... and to sew up his bottom! Now, how cool is that? His design is available for only $2.50 at The Pattern Box and on Ravelry.

New Ideas for Designs and Thank You!

Before I get started writing about all the new design ideas popping into my head, I have to say a huge "Thank You" to everyone who has been so kind to comment regarding my Mom's death. It's been very hard these last few weeks. I am trying to move forward, knowing my Mom is rejoicing in heaven ... but I miss her ... and it's still really, really bizarre to think that I won't see her anymore. In any event, I pray for courage ... and for my Dad ... and we go on to another day and hope I can do my best with it.

SO ... onto new designs! I'm really excited about these. While I was sitting outside one day, admiring the little statues and the bird bath in the shady spot I call a garden, I started thinking about knitting them! Small, stone statues made of knitted felt! I am setting aside my BIG project (which will remain hush-hush for now) to knit up a couple of test statues and see if they can come out in real life as I envision them in my head.

Also, I am just putting the finishing touches on Cool Cat (which will be renamed!) and the Garden Rabbits ... they'll be up soon!

In Loving Memory...

My Wonderful Mom

Dorothea A. Mumm

February 8, 1926-April 1, 2010

I miss her so much

So sudden ... so unexpected ... my Mom's death. Now, my Dad, whose health has been fragile for so long, faces the future without her by his side. Please keep him in your prayers.

Things my Mom loved:

Heath Bars

Peanut-butter filled pretzels

Ginger ale

Pancakes and bacon

Coffee with cream

Walking

Sitting outside

Her red gloves

AquaFreshToothpaste

Dial Soap

Viva paper towels

Arpege perfume

Hot tea with milk

Butter cookies

Singing

Saying the Rosary

Going to Mass

Shopping

Giving hugs

Making everyone feel special