Saturday

What a beautiful November day in Northern California. My Weatherbug program says 81 degrees with 4 mph winds, but it also says the high is 65, so how does that work?

Today we went to an estate sale, a few garage sales and the Farmers' Market. I found an old clock radio, pillow cases that looked and felt like they hadn't been used, and cloth napkins, all for $2 at the estate sale. They are being washed now.

Will got on the roof to clean gutters.
We got this drum to save water that drains off the roof to use to water plants. We're hoping it will lower our water bill, and help the environment and us if they do decide we have to cut back 10% on water.I started knitting the green and blue sock. I love Michael's and Joann's 40% off coupons and sales. I captured this a few days ago with Alex and Mowry cat napping.

Mowry used to climb on the windowsill in our office all the time, but this was rare since we moved the office around several months ago.

Television is Good and Other Thoughts on Weds.

We love to watch TV. It's a relaxing way to share our evenings, and with DVR, we not only record shows and watch them later (which we NEVER did with our VCR), but we get an on-screen directory of what shows are recorded. While we watch TV, I often knit, and Will often reads, especially if I'm watching something on TV that he doesn't like!

SHOWS I LIKE:

We thought The Big Bang Theory might be stupid, but we watched the first episode, and it's amusing.

How I Met Your Mother is another one that we thought might not be that funny, but the characters are fun so it's good.
I like many shows on HGTV. That's when Will reads!

I like House Hunters, but frankly, if Suzanne Wang says "options" one more time, I may scream. "They had 3 options". I can watch the last 5 minutes and get a quick tour of the 3 homes they showed in the hour, see which one gets picked, and see what they did to it since they moved in.

House Hunters is NOT reality. Realtors do NOT say "but you have a huge closet" when the prospective buyer says "but the bedroom is small". Real realtors don't point out the positives. At least not the ones who showed our townhouse to their clients. It's also funny because the buyers on the show always have negative things to say about each of the three houses, and then they buy one. Sometimes their comments are so annoying - "I would HAVE to update THIS kitchen". You are living in a one bedroom apt and this is your first house. Deal with it!


I found this cool picture on the internet of the filming of House Hunters.Of the cooking shows on the Food Network, Barefoot Contessa is a good one. The soft music in the background, the things she cooks, and how easy she makes it look are all good! I also love seeing her kitchen.Designed to Sell is another show that I can skip and watch only the last five minutes to see what changes they made. The "experts" they call in to critique the house before are nasty, bitchy and while I know it's part of the show, it's stupid. Why they have Clive, with his annoying British accent, is beyond me. The blonde designer flirts with everyone. If I hear about how "outdated" a house is one more time, I may scream, but only if I'm done screaming about House Hunters (see above)! And did I mention there is absolutely no way you could possibly do these changes for "under $2,000"? They FINALLY started mentioning costs of labor, but that's probably because viewers complained.

I like watching Jeopardy, although I'm usually knitting and often really pay attention to only parts of it. Will occasionally watches, but mostly he reads while this is on.

We started watching repeats of Sex and the City. Most of them are fun.

I like to get knitting tips on Knitty Gritty, which I record and watch when Will is not home!

One of our favorite shows is Corner Gas, a Canadian production shown on Chicago Station WGN. Unfortunately, they are in their last season, and WGN isn't showing the last season, so we've watched the shows we've recorded about a million times.

We started watching The Bonnie Hunt Show. She is so warm and comes across so genuine. We even like her retro logo! Of course it depends on who her guests are, but we record everything and watch it later, so we can fast forward thru shows we don't want to see all of.

And of course, sports (basketball and baseball for both of us, and football for Will only), news, and The Daily Show.

I'm sure I missed some shows we watch!

SHOWS I DON'T LIKE:

1. Two and a Half Men - I don't care about how Charlie got so drunk and got laid by some girl whose name he doesn't remember.

2. Rachel Ray's Thirty Minute Meals - If she played calming music like the Barefoot Contessa, and didn't screech and say "yum yum" all the time, I do like her recipes, but who can stand listening to that voice?

3. Any dramas - we tune in to one of the CSI shows just before the 9 pm news, and it's hilarious! The dramatic music, the pauses, the same stuff every night. We prefer comedy.

Now to the obligatory cat pictures:

You can see the wine sock the best when I put it on Alex's back. He didn't seem to mind, but I think he's pretending the sock and I are not there.

Apparently there are many cats who look like Alex. This was posted in a blog by a local columnist who writes about pets and wildlife. Can you guess which is Alex and which isn't?
Alex on blue and white sheets.

Ziggy in cat toy.Ziggy on bed.
Alex with tongue out in sink!

I'm thinking of taking down this geranium. As you can see, it's a magnolia leaf magnet, and has lots of dead stems in the inside. I'd try to save as many stems as I could possibly cut and put them elsewhere, but I don't think I need a huge plant. I wanted to put the new camelia plant here, but Will thought it shouldn't go right next to the fence, and I think he's right.

Busted! Pictures Don't Lie

Thrown on the ground when done right when I was standing there!

Scary Times Out There

Every day I hear of someone else getting laid off. This is across the board in varying careers. It's like when we were kids and played dominoes! Not Mexican Train dominoes, as we play now, but setting up the black dominoes, hitting the first one, and they all come tumbling down one by one.
We've always been smart about our spending. Yes, we spend more when we have more, but we really try to analyze things and see if we really need it, can we get it for less somewhere else, do we need it now. We are garage sale and flea market shoppers, and I am a coupon queen. Forget those people they show on TV who clip coupons - I find coupons for the things I want and need! But still, at this point, I'm getting concerned. Just yesterday, one of my clients announced that one of their drugs didn't make the drug trials, and another that is in production and distribution is being cancelled. They will go from 123 employees earlier this year, to 15. This is yet another reason why I try not to have only one active client. I was lucky to have gotten a new client just last week, but it's still a concern.

The media doesn't help the situation. They are like gasoline on an already out-of-control fire. If they tell us things are getting worse, they will only get worse. Have they not heard of the "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy"?

This is when it becomes even more necessary to look around and realize what is good in our lives, especially the little things that some people may not notice.

My "Christmas" cactus is blooming. This one hangs on the pathetic orange tree that we are hoping to cut very low this year, to give it a chance to grow back more healthy.

I've taken geranium cuttings and planted them along the back fence. They are doing well. There's also some kind of daisy plant that a neighbor gave me last year that is also doing well.
The "new" Camelia plant (or should I say "newly planted" since it was only new to us) is still there. It didn't blow down in the wind or rain, so we're hoping it takes and grows where we planted it. The plant in the pot is also a recycle - it's the one I got from the client's office as noted in an earlier post. Sadly, it's the same client with problems mentioned above.Grrr - yet another avocado on the ground eaten by critters. There was one avocado in the tree that I've been watching, and not only is it still there, but surprise - I can see in the picture that there are two there in the tree! That's good news!And of course we can't forget our special joys - Mowry is on top of the printer. He's still there as I type this. He's alternating between watching outside the window, and looking at Will's computer screen as Will types words! Can Mowry really see that? Mowry's eyes are squinty in the picture because of the camera flash. He even takes a bath up there - licking away as he balances. I should probably try to take a picture of that, but I doubt I'd actually capture the moment.

I know, I sleep too much, but you make it comfortable with the newly washed cat bed, so what else should I do?

Sunny Monday and Random Photos

I'm not scheduled today, so we were able to go to the Half Price Book Store, JoAnn's Fabrics, and Costco. HPBS used to be near our house, so we could go there often, but they moved, and it's rather inconvenient, so we rarely go. Too bad because it's a great store.
I went to JoAnn's, while Will was at HPBS. I bought some sock yarn (because I'm told that you can never have too much) and more size 1 dpns because I don't want to be stuck if I lose one. If I can lose a knitted sock, I can lose size 1 double pointed needles, and I have lost a few.


Diann and Rosanne came over yesterday to knit, so I got a fair amount done on the wine Trekking XXL sock in between yakking.


Will was not at his desk, so Mowry took the opportunity to scope it out.

Do you know any other cat who has a street sign with his name on it? Was the street named after Mowry, or the other way around? It sounds like a cat saying "Mow" and that's how he got his name.We sure are cute.
A picture of the three cats - Cinders in the background, Mowry in the middle, and Alex in the foreground.
I really am cute, aren't I? Alex would like me to stop taking pictures already.
I found one more cute picture of Cinders. She definitely had her cute "good Cinders" moments.
And she even occasionally got close enough to Mowry, but this was RARE.

Random pictures:

We sure have a SMALL freezer. As long as there is room for ice cream and few other necessities, it works for us.

A bouquet of white roses from the side yard. They have pink spots on them, and are quite pretty. Wow! It snowed in Durango, CO today! This was 9:02 am mountain time.And it's gorgeous in Fremont today!