Hats, love 'em or hate 'em.

I have quit with medication for my Rosacea.  It has been going okay, after quitting chocolate and soda.  Oddly, I thought I would be having a big problem with quitting chocolate, but it's not too bad, I even made cookies with chocolate chips, and didn't snitch any...  This from a woman that would buy an extra bag so I could sneak a snack... But it's working.

Also, I am wearing sunscreen, and a hat.  I am to the point now, it's just like putting on any other bit of clothing, but I really didn't like wearing hats.  But, I found a hat or two that I don't mind wearing, and look good with pretty much anything, so it works.  Hats seem to be a thing people either enjoy, or do NOT like...

I find babies despise hats.  One of my friends had a little one, (now a much OLDER one), that like me, had way fair skin, which is just begging for a sunburn.  Mom would put a hat on her, and one of two things would happen.  She would go into Harriet Houdini mode, and get out of it, take it off, and toss it, if it was tied, or just skip to taking it off and tossing it, if it wasn't.  Or, if there was that amazing off chance that the hat COULDN'T be removed, she of the light skin would cry and tear at the hat, and generally act miserable, until shade could be found, and hat removed.  I don't know if I was that picky, as a baby, but I really didn't think much of hats.

I have been knitting hats again, some.  I have the Shop with a Cop group, I have not committed to making a set amount of hats.  That way leads to high stress levels.  I have just been, oh, free time, knit a cap, throw it in the collection box.  That way, they get hats, I can do, or not, as I please, and all is good...  And another part of the station has made a call out for winter clothing.  I asked if they needed hats, it sounds like they do, so I will have to see what I can whip up... I am finding that just doing a few things when I am in a mind to, rather than, oh, we need 65 hats in two weeks, tends to make my eyelid twitch a lot less!

I haven't made up any tags but I have also thought about making a few hats for Loved and Found project. You leave hats in random places as a random act of charity.  It seems like a fun idea...

Now if I get to 500 hats, do I get to nickname myself Bartholomew Cubbins?  (Thank you, Dr. Suess!)
 

Nerdify-ing charity.

Well, back home from Seaside.  Sorry, no pictures, we were there for a much shorter time, and I kept forgetting to get my camera out.  Besides, it was HOT, even at the coast (which is unusual), and the beach-people.  The stores-people.  Lewis and Clark-more people!  I don't know if I could have taken a picture without it looking as if they were in a flash mob! Yoiks and a half!

So, the charity part?  I have been reading through the journals of Lewis and Clark, and there was a part where they talk about Christmas gifts.  (In fact, it's where I got the idea of socks to show by the statue, they commented about giving socks as presents.)  Well, my inner Nerd started going into overdrive.  So, how many actually were there... I first thought it was 59, (60 if you count the dog), but the folks that actually came to the ocean (O, the joy!), were 32 or so, if I read correctly.

I like to do something charitable for Christmas, and this just made me think.  I should do a present for each member of the crew.  NOT handmade, necessarily, but I was thinking, something...  Oh, like, if one was a hunter, a warm hat.  One did scouting, socks.  Then we have the baby, I will have to see how old he was during the winter at the coast, but a coat or bunting.  A nice scarf for York.  A blanket, or shawl for Sacagawea.  And, for the pup, some dog food?

So, after putting this all together, then what?  Well, a donation, or maybe more than one.  I know that there are several local charities that could use these kind of donations, even my local vet accepts dog food, for low income folks that have pets.

Therefore, I think I will put up a Corps of Charity widget on the side of my blog, and see if I can fill it by Christmas.  Or even before.  But, it will be kind of neat to read up on some of the folks. I've trod in some of the same places they have, and now I can see if I can repay them, in a manner of speaking, for opening history to me.

(But, reality is reality, not all the Corps are getting hand made goodies...  A few, but not all.  All will get gifts, however.  More in future blogs.  Yes, I am crazy, why do you keep asking that?)

Forgot to put this up!

Yep, I have actually been knitting.  Some sailor baby, (or marine baby, but sailor is more likely), will be getting this one.  I finished the pink, and it just needed something.  I added the white fringe, and I think it just made it a bit more complete looking.

Right now I am working on a yellow blanket, and a multi-color blanket.  Both pretty simple, so I can just pick up and stitch when ever I get the mood.  I have found the 70's TV show "Emergency!", (Hulu is rather addictive), and I am having fun watching that in the evenings, which means I can put the hands on autopilot... With the exception of yesterday, when I realized I'd dropped a stitch about 3 lines down, and had to tink a bit to fix it.  BUT, it didn't take long, so I was back and knitting again not long after discovery.

The funny thing, I had two short notice things happen.  One, a gal I knit hats for Christmas presents to give to local kids, I had written her a few MONTHS ago. Please let me know soon. I really need some time to knit up some hats.  Do you need hats this year?  What is the hat situation??

Nothing...

So, I wrongly assumed no hats were needed.  About a week ago, I received a short note saying she loved the hats I'd made last year, and any I could send this year would be great.

Oh.  Er.  Well, so far I have... One.  2, if you count the one that is tiny... As small as it is, it might go to the hospital for the babies, because it would probably not fit a child of any size.  Meh, it will go someplace!  But... I will not be knitting any 50 hats the way I did last year!  Mom suggested next year, just assume she will want the hats.  Probably a safe bet.  And if she doesn't, I know several charities that do.

The second one, a friend of mine passed away, and his "thing" at faire was carving an apple.  I wrote a note to the head of faire, I wanted to donate an apple tree to the fairegrounds on his behalf.  I then received a reply, oh, yes, and would you like to help with the memorial?  I said yes.  I am now hoping that "helping" doesn't mean I plan and put it on... Eeeep.

I have also been reading (um, ONE of the things I have been reading, I am up to six books at the moment), Eat, Pray, Love.  I am truly enjoying this book. (Which is probably why it's being drug about the house, while the others are moldering away, locked in one spot...)

The rain has finally shown up here.  Just out of curiosity,  I checked one crack we had in the soil outside, I stuck a yardstick down into it.  It stopped about 16 inches.  I think the only reason it didn't go down past that was because the crack curved some...  Most of those have been sealing up since, so hopefully our place won't look like an earthquake hit now.  The bittersweet part, though, is that it has been cold enough that the garden is pretty well gone.  I did get lots and lots of tomatoes, some beans, a few crookneck, turnips, kohlrabi, and some peppers.  It wasn't the best year, but it wasn't bad.  The corn stunk, didn't get ONE EAR... Not even a scrubby one.  I just don't seem to have a knack for growing corn.  Oh, well, that's what farmer's markets are for, I guess...

I have been walking, and now, I have been waiting for the school bus to go by.  It goes by like an Indy Car going for pole position, and I really don't want to have wind and rain take my hat off.  I haven't seen the farm hand's dog since I changed to a heavier jacket, I don't know if he doesn't 'recognize' me, or if he is just being held in check somewhere, but it's nice not having a 21(hundred) bark salute every time I go by...

So, that and some running around, the usual house and such, and I am (yes, one of those) started on Christmas shopping.  Not much, but I have a few things in the Christmas Cupboard!

So, while it's not the most exciting blog this round, I have been doing something.  I will have a photo of an experiment I did this month.  I let my nails grow.  If I make it to Halloween, I will be surprised.  It has made for a STRANGE time of handling things, let me tell you!