Almost forgot

I'm supposed to be blogging about our library.  Where we're at now, we have one just about a half mile away.  And it's new!  And very nice.  The Plaidman and DiscoDame were there just a couple of days ago, and brought home a small stack of reading material.  I'm reading The Miniaturist (sorry, it's not in front of me & I can't remember the author's name), and I hope to finish it tonight after supper.  It's an historical novel, life in Amsterdam for a young lady from the countryside, who becomes wife to a powerful merchant.  Not at all a romance, and has a good share of oddball actors.  Everyone's got a secret, few of them are pleasant.

The other great thing about the library is, it's not just books!  We've brought home movies, CDs, and audio books -- heck, you can even check out a magazine, as long as it's not the current issue.  Unfortunately, only one knitting mag seems to have made the "cut" at the library.  (You knew this would get back to knitting, right?)  I don't know why this is the case; there are several I'd like to look through (usually before buying them, what can I say?) but only one available.  Maybe they need a suggestion?  or a donation of a subscription?  The other real drawback to our nearby library is the handicapped parking, which is oh, about a block away from the door!  There's no parking at the front of the building, and it's a lo-o-o-ng building, so I just have to hike from the side lot to the door. 

Hopefully, we'll be having the plumber in today to fix a few small problems; nothing major unless it's the pressure regulator.  Our water pressure is super high, and could be contributing to a couple of leaks.  I know the home inspector found the gauge, and wrote up the high pressure as part of his report, so I'm assuming we have a regulator somewhere.  Oh, here's a funny:  I just remembered that DiscoDame woke us up at about 2 a.m. a few weeks ago, because she heard someone walking around in our crawlspace.  She's absolutely terrified that somebody will force the crawlspace door and come into her suite.  The Plaidman went down and took a look, but of course there wasn't anyone there by the time he got downstairs.  So now the door has a deadbolt, keyed on the inside only. 

I found another item I want from Bass Pros Shops: VaxTrax ice cleats!  These puppies slip on over your boots/shoes, and apparently last for years.   I had so much fun trying to get into the office after our ice storm, what with the road conditions (refrozen slush with ice underneath, such fun!!) it took about 1.25 hours to go about 11 miles.  Then when I got to the building, the lot hadn't been scraped or salted, and neither had the handicapped ramp.  I just knew I'd be breaking a hip out there, but managed to get inside ok.  There's handicap parking in back, but no stairs or ramp, so I parked there today.  Whew!  I've had my share of fear & loathing this week. 

Back again

8/21/10 Back in the library, to return Pride & Prejudice -- I finished it this morning. All in all, I'd say I enjoyed it. I had the annotated version, and at times the notes got a bit in the way of the story, but they were also very enlightening. I don't know if I'll read another Jane Austen right away, but I will likely read one later.
8/25/10 Amazing how fast a week has gone by! I haven't been back in the stacks or requested any more Jane Austen. I HAVE been checking Crazy Aunt Purl daily, to see if maybe she'd fallen off the face of the earth. Not yet! She posted again (whew! had me scared for a bit!).
In knitting news, I've worn & washed my MocCroc's twice now--and I love them! I'm still plugging away at the F&F stole, but Dolly Blanket #3 has been in an extended time out. I washed DB#2, inside a zippered pillow cover--which it absolutely needed, as there was a mort of multicolored fuzz inside the cover when it came out of the dryer. The pillow cover will be sent with the blankie. Sooner rather than later, I need to start on two KALs I've joined--one for Wendy Johnson's Pi shawl, & one for the OK Mitts. There's a major stash dive in my future.
DiscoDame has run out of money (who didn't see that coming?), so now she's doing the big cleaning jobs around the house as her payment in lieu of rent. This is fine by me, as long as we discuss it first. Yesterday she tackled the inside of the fridge, and it looks great now. Very empty, but nice & cliean!
The Plaidman got thru his cataract surgery #1 ok, and has been back to the opthalmologist since: his distance vision in that eye is now 20-20! Makes me wish I had cataracts, so I could get insurance to pay for surgical vision correction! He's still using many different and terribly expensive eye drops, and will likely continue those for a while after his second surgery. He's been back at work since the Friday after his Tuesday surgery.