Signs that Spring has arrived here in St. Louis. My daffodils are almost ready to pop out.

And my hyacinths are just easing up into the world.

The pretty light, bright yarn colors are looking appealing.

And of course the roadwork outside of our building has started back in again. (This must be a terminally “broken” road, for all the time it is taking.)

Is it Spring where you live? How do you know?

Sheri andaHappySt.Patrick’sDaytoallofyou!

Several of you have asked if I’m still walking to work. (Seriously – put something out there and the whole world keeps you accountable. Try it.) I am still walking. This morning it was in the 60’s on the way in, and it will be in the 70’s on the way home. It makes me think that I’m not going to be too fond of walking when it gets hot. At all. I will have to overcome that. I photo-ed my way home the other afternoon, just for something to do. Plus, it freaks people out when they see you pull out a camera and aim it in the direction of their car.

This is the safest part. I appreciate this concrete barrier. It protects cars from careening off the road and plunging down into the creek next to our building.

Here’s the creek and that’s our building beyond the trees on the right. This little creek is the one that can cause trouble if it rains too much and we get flash flooding. Remember these photos? Yep. All that from this little creek. I think it happens about once every five years or so.

This part isn’t any safer on the way home. If I don’t leave here by 4:30, it gets even busier. It’s a good incentive to get home at a good time. If I come back here at night, I drive.

I was walking along here the other night, thinking “Whew – now I’m on the safe sidewalk”, when I noticed tire tracks in the grass where someone had driven up over the curb. So …. maybe not. Oprah’s No Phone Zone campaign sounds better and better to me.

Our neighborhood feels like a little oasis when I turn up on this street. The noise level goes from “I can’t hear myself think” to “I could hear a pin drop”. At least at that time in the afternoon.

Of course the fun part is having someone waiting for you when you get home. (Note to self – time to do the spring window cleaning.)

Or two someones. WH works later than I do, and both kids are off in their own places. At least the cats are happy to see me!

So is there anything you need to be held accountable for? Are you willing to put it in writing?  No doubt someone will ask you about it in a week or two, if you do….

Sheri mightneedtocleanthatLoopyshoweroutforthesummer

Wednesday Forecast: Snow. 5-6″, starting at dinnertime. Single digits, with windchills below zero. We’re going to get buried here in the Midwest. (Well – “buried” is relative. It’s considered buried for us.) I’m ready. I love snow. It does help that I’m only 3 blocks from Loopy and have few other places to go in this weather.

Thursday Forecast: Continued snow and cold temperatures. Many school closings already in the works. Loopy Elves are quickly pointing out that they may not be able to make it in to work. College Daughter may need to Elf tomorrow. Orders may take an extra day to get out, due to anticipated Elf Shortage.

Friday Forecast: Sunny, highs in the mid 70’s. A delightful day. (Granted, this is in California, not St. Louis. Seems like a really good time for me to be heading out to our twice-a-year TNNA Market, doesn’t it?)

Saturday/Sunday Forecast: Continued sunny and warm. Much yarn buying going on. Many decisions to make. Not much knitting going on.

Monday Forecast: Continued sunny and warm, turning to freezing and cold as the plane leaves CA and gets back to St. Louis on Monday night. No Sneak Up, no blog, but we’ll be sure to have new things up for you on Tuesday, and a blog full of TNNA info on Wednesday.

Or ….. this may all be a hoax. Sometimes the grocery stores bribe the weather people to make these things up. That way, there is a run on bread and milk, but then nothing ever happens. We’ll see. (And as a knitter, I’m much more concerned about whether or not I have enough projects to last me through the storm – the heck with the bread and milk.)

Sheri what’stheforecastinyourneckofthewoods?

The year has just about come to a close. Did you get everything done that you intended to do in 2009? How about those resolutions you made back in January – completed? (Or have you given up on resolutions completely?) I went back to my last blog of 2008, to see how I had done on mine. (I figured I had blogged it. I was right.)

The quick synopsis is: I completely avoided lima beans and creamed corn in 2009.  I did frog several UFO’s, and I finished several as well.  I spent more time keeping up with friends and found a better balance at work. I bought more knitting bags. I did make some progress on the back room in the basement, I stayed on top of my Christmas knitting list and I’m positive that I continued to bug my two kids on a regular basis. I may or may not have exercised more, eaten more vegetables and knitted all of the yarns that I wanted to get to. I also may or may not have worried less, but I’m sure I prayed more. And I didn’t do as many RAKS throughout the year as I wanted to.

I’m thinking about what I want on my 2010 list. I like having three sections – the completely do-able (buy more knitting bags, and significantly increase my stash in case of future economic woes), as well as the challenging (increase the number of days a week that I exercise and learn to cook with more vegetables), and the nearly impossible (give up knitting and learn to play the bagpipes instead). It keeps things interesting. And no, I’m not doing the last thing. That’s why it’s on the “impossible” list. That’s an easy list to make. Actually, the completely do-able list is also very easy to make. It’s that darned challenging list in the middle….

So do you have a “completely do-able” or a “challenging” or a “nearly impossible” resolution that you’d like to share for 2010?

Sheri lookingforwardtosharing2010withallofyou!

It was interesting to read your thoughts on getting a puppy in last week’s blog post. I appreciate all of you taking the time to weigh in. I broke down the cons:

1. “It’s a lot of work.” Having raised a puppy before, I do agree that it’s a lot of work. (But a lot of fun.) And I also agree that it makes more sense to train a puppy in the spring. Definitely.

2. “You and WH like to travel.” True. We do go off a bit on the weekends. Mostly we just do day trips for fun and adventure, but we do have the occasional weekend away to visit the kids. Fortunately, my folks and my brother all live in St. Louis and do great pet-sitting.

3. “You can’t leave it home all day.” Right. I would have to bring the dog to work (maybe I ought to find one that looks like Loopy?) and I know there are varying opinions on a dog in a yarn shop. This is a big place, though, so no one would be tripping over the dog. There is a dog who comes to work with one of the guys who works upstairs in our building. (Archie. He’s a Welsh Corgi, I think. The dog. Not the guy.)

4. “What would your cats do with a dog?” Gracie and Zoe like dogs. Well, Gracie would hide for a few days, but then she’d get over it. Actually, if she was out on the screen porch birdwatching when the dog arrived, she wouldn’t even notice it. She loves her birdwatching. She sits in that chair and watches the birds land on those birdfeeders a couple of feet in front of her, and her day is complete. And Zoe would put that puppy in its place the minute it walked in the house. She’s a 5 lb. bundle of  ”Alpha Cat”, which would then translate to “Alpha Pet”. No worries at all about Zoe.

But …. I’m thinking we won’t get one. At least not at this point in our lives. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and the cons still outweight the pros. (However, if I show you a photo next week of “our new dog”, please play along with me and don’t remind me about this conversation.) I really am more of a cat person, I think. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person? I know some of you are both!

Now I’m off with my knitting and my recipes, to visit Web Guy in Florida for a long weekend. (Woohoo!) We have some 2010 website planning to tackle, and I’ll be doing some cooking to fill up his bachelor freezer. I’ll be back with you next week, and will tell you how it went.

Sheri sothankfulthattheElveswillbeheregettingyourordersout
whileI’mgone!IlovethoseElves….

We are celebrating Veteran’s Day here in the U.S., a day to honor all of those who have served in the military. Whether you live here or in countries far from here, most all of us know someone who has been a part of serving their country at one time or another.

I was curious as to how this day came to be, so I did some research. Back in 1918, World War I ended with the implementation of an armistice (temporary cessation of hostilities until the final peace treaty could be signed in 1919) at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November.  In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the first official “Armistice Day” to honor those who had died in service to their country. The idea was that all businesses would stop for two minutes at 11:00 am on 11/11 to honor these people.

In 1921, Congress passed legislation declaring 11/11/21 a legal Federal holiday to honor all who had participated in the war. In the 20’s and 30’s, most states established 11/11 as a legal holiday, and the President gave an annual proclamation to observe this at the Federal level.

In 1938, Congress passed legislation making 11/11 a permanent legal Federal holiday, Armistice Day. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed legislation to change the name to “Veteran’s Day”. During the 60’s and 70’s, the observance varied between state to state, from the 4th Monday of October to November 11th. In 1978, the celebration was moved back to November 11th for everyone.

I’m sure that I learned about the history of this day as I went through school, but I didn’t remember how it came to be. I’m glad that we have a day to stop, remember, and honor.

Sheri includedinthisFederalholidayisnomailservice.
We’llgetbacktothattomorrowforyou.