Saturday, April 23, 2011

This and that...no photos

So, I've been meaning to blog, but can't seem to settle enough to actually write something.  Same with knitting, weaving,  and spinning.  I have a several projects on the needles that I want to finish, a blanket for a stuffed animal  on the loom,  and a couple bobbins of singles spun up, waiting to be plied, but can't seem to settle down long enough to actually do anything.  I just flit around from one thing to another, never actually stopping long enough to do much of anything.  I have lost my mojo and need to find it again. 

My local Borders is closing.  Believe it or not, I feel like I am losing a friend.  Shopping at Borders was my reward.  If I was having a bad week, I would leave work a bit early on Friday and go wander around Borders for a while.  It was my reward for going to my doctor's appointments and for surviving my treatments.  The staff at the store is awesome.  They would recomment other books that I might enjoy based on what I was purchasing.  If I was obviously having trouble finding something, they would offer to help.  I have lots of stories of how wonderful the staff was.  I will miss Borders and the awesome people who worked there.  I have been a couple of times since they announced the closing.  I get angry at the people who are shopping the closeout sale.  The vultures that never stepped foot in the store until it announced it was closing.   I swore I wasn't going to go back, but I found myself making the familiar drive to the store after work on Friday.  It was so depressing to see the once full shelves, depleted.  The happy, helpful staff are still very helpful, but there is sadness there now.  I really don't think I will go back again.  It is too painful to see the store waste away.  I don't know what I'll do now for my book fix.  I HATE Barnes & Noble.  I used to be a loyal B&N customer, but I had to deal with one too many rude employees that I don't want to ever give them my money.  I know I can still shop from Borders on-line, but buying on-line isn't the same experience.  I like to feel the book in my hands, and smell the ink on the pages.  Oh well.  Maybe I will have to get over my book germ phobia and start going to the library or Half Price books.  On the bright side, since I won't be spending as much money on books, I should have more money for fiber and yarn and more time to craft since I won't have unread books to distract me. 

I have been thinking about getting a Ukelele.  I know, total change of subject.  Ukeleles are so cute,  and seem to be happy little  instruments.  I played the guitar a bit when I was a kid so I'm hoping that I will be able to pick up the Ukelele pretty quickly.   I was checking on-line and you can get a starter Uke for under $50, so if it doesn't work out I didn't waste a lot of money and I'm sure one of my nephews or my neice will play it if I don't.   Haven't quite decided.

I just want to go on record as stating that Kathy is a total enabler.  At knitting group the other night she was talking about how trindleman was having a sale through the end of the month.  If you ordered one of his spindles, you would get a free set of extra arms.  I have been looking at them for a long time, but never took the plunge.  The spindles are pretty cool.  You order the shaft and then you order a set of arms.  You can get the arms in different weights, so you can  change the weight of your spindle by switching out the arms..  He is a physics teacher and came up with the idea after watching his wife spin.  It looks like he just updated his shop because there is a lot more out there now than when I placed my order.  The justification for the purchase...they were on sale and I can remove the arms so they should be more travel friendly.  I won't have to worry so much about the spindle breaking while in my checked bags.  I haven't tried carrying a spindle in my carry on.  I'm afraid that the TSA wouldn't know what it was and would confiscate it.  I am pretty attached to my growing collection of spindles and it wouldn't be pretty if they tried to take them from me.

1 comment:

Kathy... said...

Just always happy to share the joy!!!