Randomness

Okay - can I cry now? I just saw a comment from my Secret Pal saying something was coming my way. How special is that!!!

I've been reading my secret pal receiver's blog and getting ideas about what to give but I kind of forgot I'm going to get spoiled too. I can get used to this!

State Fair
I went to the State Fair Friday. I had requested the day off to use my last vacation day before the end of Sept. and decided I needed a ME day. It sure was different walking around looking at stuff instead of working long, hard, hot hours. I spent many years working the machine knitting booth and a booth for the sewing store company I used to manage a store for.

Back in the day I knew all the food booths that did not have fried food and the cheapest pop in our area. I was pleasantly surprised to see more healthy food (if you want it). Being a one day visit I enjoyed my honey sunflower seed ice cream YUM!

Unfortunately I wore a pair of shoes that were not broken in yet so I had a short visit. The Creative Activities building was filled with wonders to behold. Because I can't seem to stay with just one craft (I suffer from STASOC - Short Term Attention Span of Crafts) I like to see everything people have created. At one point or another I've been involved in: knitting, crocheting, weaving, sewing clothes, quilting, cross stitch, wood turning, stained glass, painting, - the list goes on. SO - this is definitely my favorite building at the fair.

One other spot I hit was the crop art area. I've got pictures and will get them up before the weekend is over with a bit more about this craft.

Knitting
I've managed to do some knitting so far. The Sock of Month group at Amazing Threads met last Monday night. I didn't have the last pair finished but started the new one anyway. The new sock is in tufutsie which I hadn't tried yet. I've decided I'm not going to do the pattern we got because it's for a medium and I don't think it would size up real well. It has 4 small cables around it with stretches of plain knitting between. We'll see when I actually start knitting after I rip out what I did Mon night.

I am down to the toe of the 2nd sock from last month. With any luck, I'll finished this weekend and get some pictures up.

I finally got around to blocking the shawl I made about 2 months ago. It's drying as we speak so, yes folks, I may get some pictures of this up too.

Looks like I'm going to be very busy with the camera tomorrow!

Family Tree
I found the old copies of both family trees when I was cleaning out the folks stuff. I had most of it in Family Tree Maker on the computer but that computer died several and along with it a ton of my work. At least I lucked out and found the paper copies. I've been spending an hour or so each night this week typing away.

My Dad's father has always been a mystery. We know he was born in Brooklyn and had a brother. We also know his parents died when he was young and came from Switzerland. There was a difference of opinion about their names and when they came. With Grandpa gone and having no idea about his brother I always let that part of the family slide. This week I think I lucked out. When I out FTM on my new computer I got to playing around with the web sites and I think I found Great grandma & pa on a ship manifest from Switzerland. It lists them - her name we knew and it lists her husband as a watchmaker (we knew that) and his name was one of the two names I've heard used. I need to do some hunting but I may have them tracked down!

I've got Tea
I like tea. I'm a tea snob. I prefer loose tea that I can properly brew. I collect ways to brew tea. However, I also know my limitations. It's hard to brew a good cup of tea at work so, I make do with substitutes. I also drink a lot of iced tea in the summer. My waist is goodly plenty without the addition of more sugar and I can't do Nutrasweet (more on this later). I can handle Splenda just fine so I search for things with Splenda in them so I can keep my sweet tooth happy and keep my waist from growing.

Anyway, I discovered Arizona Green Tea with Splenda and love it. But buying it by the gallon would be very pricey and heavy because I drink alot. Target started carrying the powered version of the tea and I thought I was in heaven. It comes in a little tin with 4-5 2. qt packets. Easy to carry around, easy to make. Life was good. Then it happened! Target quite selling my beloved tins. I cried. (not really but it makes a good story). I suffered through Arizona tea withdrawal until last month. I went to the Arizona Tea web site and found the tins are still available. You can buy them 4 tins at a time. But - because the shipping was alot for 4 tins, I bought 8 tins and the shipping decreased per tin. It arrived and I am a happy camper. I have enough iced tea for a long, long time. Now my only problem, what am I going to do with all these cute little tins that I'm too cheap to throw away!!!

Nutrasweet
I have to start out by saying this is my opinion. I am not a doctor or anyone who should be taken seriously unless you feel like it.

I can't have Nutrasweet in my body. It's bad for me. I break out to the point of facial sores, I get headaches/migraines, I forget words. It's just a bad thing for me.

Someone may say it in my head but I have pretty good documentation of what happened to me. I kept records, my experience as a dietitian taught me how to investigate food chemistry things. But - like I said, this is about me, I'm not claiming this to be a universal truth for everyone. Studies I've read talk about how terrible aspartame is for people with MS. These studies are old now and I don't know what's been done recently. I just know I have to stay away.

So, for me it's real sugar, no sugar or Splenda. So far Splenda has been fine.


Well, let's see if I manage to get some pictures up before the weekend is out and if I manage to get some bathroom work done (nothing's happened so far....)