Ah well - the knitting is on the floor by the corner of the couch in the den where it awaits an audience with TheQueen. It's at the point where it requires Knitting Math and it's been so overwhelmingly hot this summer TheQueen's Brain has not felt up to calculations beyond simple equations like
"If There Are 5 Lbs of Ice in the Freezer, How Many More Pages of a Georgette Heyer Novel Can TheQueen Read Before She Has to Make a Run to the Store?"
And there is a wonderful (but cotton) project that just needs a tediously endless number of ends woven in. Her Highness has to go to the Big City this weekend and she'll be a passenger in the car - there will be time to stitch in bits of twisted cotton and I promise - there will be a photo next week. This is an old project that was a wee bit too tight so there wasn't much inspiration to finish it. TheQueen is a wee bit smaller this summer and she'd really like to wear (and show off her design skills) this transitional garment (it'll work just great all the way into October here in the skitzo climate of eastern Virginia)
If you can't wait - here is a photo of it on a slimmer lady taken when it was almost done - 2 years ago - Shame on me!
As to Why She Is So Silent ... well ... because she - er - I, (don't really have to do this 3rd person thing throughout the whole blog, do I?) have been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by heat first of all - days and days of triple digit temps and drought. Trees have dropped leaves like it was October, I can't believe the corn will make a crop and doubt the beans will either. In 30 days we've had 5 days over 100 and 1 inch of rain. Temps have dropped a little, into the frosty high 80's but we're still wickedly dry.
Silence was also engendered by a mold allergy attack that just would not go away ... but wouldn't get really bad enough to take to the doctor. Till Monday, that is, when I finally felt so awful I wheedled my way into the doctor's office and got on some powerful meds. Within hours the rock lifted off my chest and I was able to sleep the afternoon away.
Of course, sleeping the afternoon away came at a heavy cost because this is the absolutely busiest and most stressful (and fun too) summer at work I've ever experienced. The first Tuesday of July we had our highest book circulation ever - 497 not counting the honor books. We flew past that top statistic this past Tuesday with a daily count of 552 books that required staff handling. Mind now - this is a tiny community of 11K people and a small library with a staff of 4 fte. This is humping. In fact - if you divide that number by the number of staff hours we had that day, somebody was handling a book every 3.75 minutes - and interacting with the book checker outer ... the library user - being nice and making them happy enough to want to come back. There were also 60 people at the story program in the afternoon (to be nice to) and something like 60 Other People on the computers ( who want help applying for a job at Old Navy and think ExFelon647@yahoo.com is a good email address to have) and there were the 500 books to put back on the shelves ... And none of this people interaction stuff has anything to do with:
Board meeting prep
Budget issues
Cataloging
Switching our library computer operating system to Something Else
Contracting for More Technology ... downloadable audio books this time
Leak in roof with subsequent wet ceiling tile falling onto bathroom floor
Backed up condensation tube in A/C unit - might be related - might not according to the HVAC man
Yeah. I'm already looking forward to my next vacation. Haven't wanted to even think about all this - but since it's now at the point where I have to Act - it helps to write down what's going on so at least I know how many fires I'm going to have to tend ... or put out.
Oh yes - there is also TheQueen's Social Schedule - which has included 3 waves of wonderful guests (happy happy happy) and a Wedding (Happier Happier Happier). And TheReunion is still up ahead. oh my.
I haven't even mentioned the Construction at TheCastle. We had our bathroom gutted and restored at the end of June - and yes there are photos but I haven't put everything back in place - partly because it's been too hot and partly because there is still a tee tiny item left to be done. I promise. Soon soon. Just realize that bathrooms are also places that fill up with clutter and the detritus of 30 years. I threw out 5 tall kitchen trash bags of junk before the MenWithTools arrived and I expect to toss another 2 bags of junk before I start the restocking process. And from now on - As Gawd Is Muh Witnuss - no new makeup comes into this house without its half used predecessor being tossed. I do NOT need 40 shades of anything but if I ever should need a new shade, tube, wand, stick, cream, bottle or puff - I will go buy a new one. I will NOT keep an ancient one around ... just in case.
Right now, everything is Very White - with soothing beige and grey and soft green accents and until I tire of this Clean White Newness, my plans for covering all the walls and cabinets with a garden mural complete with blue-sky-and-puffy-white-cloud-ceiling can wait.
So my friends - that is Why She Has Been So Silent.
I'll try to do better in the future.
Ta.
"If There Are 5 Lbs of Ice in the Freezer, How Many More Pages of a Georgette Heyer Novel Can TheQueen Read Before She Has to Make a Run to the Store?"
And there is a wonderful (but cotton) project that just needs a tediously endless number of ends woven in. Her Highness has to go to the Big City this weekend and she'll be a passenger in the car - there will be time to stitch in bits of twisted cotton and I promise - there will be a photo next week. This is an old project that was a wee bit too tight so there wasn't much inspiration to finish it. TheQueen is a wee bit smaller this summer and she'd really like to wear (and show off her design skills) this transitional garment (it'll work just great all the way into October here in the skitzo climate of eastern Virginia)
If you can't wait - here is a photo of it on a slimmer lady taken when it was almost done - 2 years ago - Shame on me!
As to Why She Is So Silent ... well ... because she - er - I, (don't really have to do this 3rd person thing throughout the whole blog, do I?) have been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by heat first of all - days and days of triple digit temps and drought. Trees have dropped leaves like it was October, I can't believe the corn will make a crop and doubt the beans will either. In 30 days we've had 5 days over 100 and 1 inch of rain. Temps have dropped a little, into the frosty high 80's but we're still wickedly dry.
Silence was also engendered by a mold allergy attack that just would not go away ... but wouldn't get really bad enough to take to the doctor. Till Monday, that is, when I finally felt so awful I wheedled my way into the doctor's office and got on some powerful meds. Within hours the rock lifted off my chest and I was able to sleep the afternoon away.
Of course, sleeping the afternoon away came at a heavy cost because this is the absolutely busiest and most stressful (and fun too) summer at work I've ever experienced. The first Tuesday of July we had our highest book circulation ever - 497 not counting the honor books. We flew past that top statistic this past Tuesday with a daily count of 552 books that required staff handling. Mind now - this is a tiny community of 11K people and a small library with a staff of 4 fte. This is humping. In fact - if you divide that number by the number of staff hours we had that day, somebody was handling a book every 3.75 minutes - and interacting with the book checker outer ... the library user - being nice and making them happy enough to want to come back. There were also 60 people at the story program in the afternoon (to be nice to) and something like 60 Other People on the computers ( who want help applying for a job at Old Navy and think ExFelon647@yahoo.com is a good email address to have) and there were the 500 books to put back on the shelves ... And none of this people interaction stuff has anything to do with:
Board meeting prep
Budget issues
Cataloging
Switching our library computer operating system to Something Else
Contracting for More Technology ... downloadable audio books this time
Leak in roof with subsequent wet ceiling tile falling onto bathroom floor
Backed up condensation tube in A/C unit - might be related - might not according to the HVAC man
Yeah. I'm already looking forward to my next vacation. Haven't wanted to even think about all this - but since it's now at the point where I have to Act - it helps to write down what's going on so at least I know how many fires I'm going to have to tend ... or put out.
Oh yes - there is also TheQueen's Social Schedule - which has included 3 waves of wonderful guests (happy happy happy) and a Wedding (Happier Happier Happier). And TheReunion is still up ahead. oh my.
I haven't even mentioned the Construction at TheCastle. We had our bathroom gutted and restored at the end of June - and yes there are photos but I haven't put everything back in place - partly because it's been too hot and partly because there is still a tee tiny item left to be done. I promise. Soon soon. Just realize that bathrooms are also places that fill up with clutter and the detritus of 30 years. I threw out 5 tall kitchen trash bags of junk before the MenWithTools arrived and I expect to toss another 2 bags of junk before I start the restocking process. And from now on - As Gawd Is Muh Witnuss - no new makeup comes into this house without its half used predecessor being tossed. I do NOT need 40 shades of anything but if I ever should need a new shade, tube, wand, stick, cream, bottle or puff - I will go buy a new one. I will NOT keep an ancient one around ... just in case.
Right now, everything is Very White - with soothing beige and grey and soft green accents and until I tire of this Clean White Newness, my plans for covering all the walls and cabinets with a garden mural complete with blue-sky-and-puffy-white-cloud-ceiling can wait.
So my friends - that is Why She Has Been So Silent.
I'll try to do better in the future.
Ta.
Georgette Heyer fans represent! (I got hooked on her mysteries, loved The Spanish Bride, plan to read some of the Regencies sometime soon)
ReplyDeleteAlso: mold has been very bad here too. I wound up having to go on Singulair (usually an asthma med) because I was getting such dreadful hives, and the doc I saw seemed to think mold was the most likely culprit.
ReplyDelete