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DrHorrible.com

Currently it is still free.  After today, I’m not sure.

So…what’s been happening around here? How about a list?

1. Those that know me well, please don’t faint. There has been some bread baking. I’m still perfecting the baking of the bread to get it to the just-right spot of incorporating laziness and lack of cooking skills while still being successful.

Two loaves of wheat bread

2. Anna Grace and I had to go to Brevard county this week….and the weather made the less than pleasant adventure a bit more of a soggy downer. We went to the beach for just a minute but it was raining too hard to stay.

Dreary beach

Rain? What rain?

3. I made a big ol’ batch of peach butter.

Peach butter: there was more…but we ate it.

4. Socks….

Lacy Mock Cable Socks in Smooshy Ruby River

Socks have been progressing.

5. Got on a spice kick when I noticed all the gluten and SILICON DIOXIDE that was in all of my spices. Kinda got me hacked. You know what happens when I get hacked off. Yep… I obsess. So…. I started searching out spices that were free of things like silicon and started making up some of my own mixes. Turns out… it was pretty easy to do.

Taco Seasoning: Gluten and Silicon not included

6. Today Lisa, Lori and I packed up the kiddos and headed south to Plant City. We had a good trip and only had to stop a few times to give our children some…um…guidance.

Ahem.

7.  We tried to go to the state farmer’s market but it is wholesale only. Dang!

8. While in Plant City we had the best. lunch. evah! Home grown southern food, veggies, sweet tea. Yummy.

9. Then we went to this produce place that sells huge quantities at a great price. I bought a 10# bag of blueberries for 15 bucks.

Help! She’s going to squish me up and make blueberry jam.

10. I also bought a 10# bag of conk peas, already shelled. Now if you don’t know what conk peas are then you ain’t been livin’ right!

Conk Peas….southern yumminess

This concludes our little list today. What have you been doing this week??????

We updated the shop yesterday. Lots of pretty colors.

We added 2 new lines. First, Blue Ridge Yarns out of Virginia. We’re carrying their Jubiliee line and will have another of their lines in the coming weeks.

Hot Peppers

Toucan

The other line we added was Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom. These are the smaller skeins of the Fiesta Boomerang but they are the same base yarn, same great colors.

Rhubarb

Sandstone

We also did some restocking/adding of new colors for 2 of our established fibers. First, we have loaded up on  ShibuiKnits Sock …some restocking of your favorite colorways and added a few new colors as well.

Peony

Pebble

Finally we got a new batch of Yarn Love Marianne Roving in stock. More is coming in addition to another batch of their wonderful sock yarns.

Fairy Tale

Fling

That’s all for this week. Enjoy.

This blog is a-political.  I don’t go ranting off about this, that or this other.  And it is staying that way.  I just want to show you a website that Dana and I discovered a little over a year ago and during this election season, it is quite helpful.

I’m big on the importance of voting.  It gets me irritated when folks don’t vote.  But it causes me great concern when folks vote based on what their neighbor said, what they saw in a t.v. commercial, or based on what they received in a multi-forwarded email.  I wish that folks would do their own research and make their decisions based on the things that they’ve learned.  The problem is that folks just don’t have time to go and dig through all of the “spin” and locate voting records, etc.  And I think candidates are counting on this… that Americans will vote based on sound bites, not based on facts.

So how do you separate fact from fiction?  Well, one tool is a bipartisan website called FactCheck.org.  This site takes a political commercial and all its little sound bites and then tells you the facts.  It then backs up their information by citations, including the candidates senate voting records.  While the focus is on national elections they do cover some local issues as well.  The site  is also useful for looking at the facts in things like the state of the union address, a presidential press conference, etc.  Each post is brief but provides links to all the info you need if you want to do more digging.

So, next time you hear something on the news, see a commerical about a candidate, check the facts and go to FactCheck.org.

Anna Grace was asking what exactly was on our agenda for the day.  I started trying to sell the idea of going to the “park with no swings” (’cause y’all know how much I hate pushing swings).  Anna Grace wasn’t thrilled but I spun a tale about all the kids she could meet, how fun it would be, etc and eventually she signed on

All along I had an evil little plan.  Just because the park has no swings doesn’t mean it can’t have a spinning wheel.

Spinning at the Park

I packed up the spinning wheel, the roving I’d been working on, even the Lazy Kate, the whole shebang, and hauled it all to the park.  I sat and enjoyed lots of spinning time while AG had a ball playing with some little boy she met.

There was just one problem with my little plan.  It is very humid here today, more than usual, and our expected heat index is between 105 and 110 degrees.  In other words, it was stinkin’ hot at the park with no swings.

I was reading Fleegle’s blog recently and she had crocheted this cute little snail.  I, with minimal crochet skills, said “I could make that”.  And, the pattern was a freebie.

So, I got started.  And I understood the directions and thought I followed them.  But, my snail is a bit wonky (not to mention bigger) So his name is now and forever will be… Wonky the Snail.

Wonky the Snail

Cascade 220

I think this is adequate proof that my crochet skills are just meh.

Do you Plurk?

I finally got the values statement finished and it is posted on the shop’s sidebar.  Here’s the statement:

Sonny & Shear is founded and operated based on a set of values, beliefs.  The principles and practices that guide our daily business decisions are based on these values.   

or…. another rant against Weather Wonks.

Now, I have kept my mouth shut for many a year around this old blog when it comes to Weather Wonks. But I can’t take it any more.

1. If a “thing” isn’t even big enough or strong enough to be called a tropical depression, it shouldn’t be the leading story on the news.

2. If a “thing” or even a hurricane is over 2000 miles away from “the little pointy thing”…i.e. Florida…. it should not be in the “news” section of the “news”.

3. If the hurricane does not have a snowballs’ chance of coming anywhere near US waters, must less hit an actual state or territory… why are we even talking about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In regards to the “little pointy thing” reference:

Years ago there was a weather man named Danny Trainer (God bless his little pea pickin’ heart!) who, lets just say liked to over indulge a bit and was well known for being on the air while plastered. He narrowly escaped being fired on more than one occasion. Then one day there was a hurricane by the name of David and good ol’ Danny was havin’ to tell all of us about it. But before he could do that he had to enjoy a delightful beverage or two or thirty. And so as he slurred his dire warnings and such he kinda forgot where he lived and stated that “David” would be “hitting that little pointy thing” at the bottom of the country sometime later.

And that is how “the little pointy thing” ended the long and liver-pickled career of Danny Trainer.

This concludes today’s episode of Florida Historical Events Tainted by Alcohol .

We  updated the shop yesterday and added some beautiful new yarns.

First up…. Blue Heron Yarns.

Soft Twist Wool (a whopping 400 yards per skein)

Egyptian Cotton: Lace yarn with 1000 yards per skein.

We also added Dyed in the Wool Handmade.  If the name sounds familiar you may remember the Yarn Harlot raving about this dyer.  Great yarns from the great white north.  And FYI… colors are a one shot deal so if you see something you like, grab it.

Fingering Sock

Fingering Sock Mediumweight 

Sea Sock

Next in line…. Sheep of a Different Color.  This company specializes in lace weight yarns and their skeins have amazing yardage!

Cloverfield

And last but not least…. we added Misti Alpaca Handpainted Sock.  These are so soft and the colors are vibrant and beautiful.  Each skein is a combo of alpaca, wool, silk and nylon.  Super soft.

Birds in Paradise

Taos

That’s it for this week.  Next week we’ll be adding another great find from the trip to TNNA: Blue Ridge Yarns!