Molly Bee's Attic

There is nothing about me that's remotely pretty. Built like an armored tank. Below average to par in every way. Usually in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers...so what is it about getting my nails done that makes me feel girly and pretty? Dunno. Anyway, I went to get them redone this morning and then took over an hour stroll around the mall while they dried. Since it is hotter than the surface of the sun outside, it was nice to walk in the chilly air. It was early enough so that not many folks were in there and it hadn't gotten swampy yet. I haven't been walking like I should because it's been so miserable outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter with dangerous heat indexes. Fun. Looks like it's treadmill time again. Went to Knit Night last night and got a sizable amount done on my comfort shawl-finished the first skein- even though I left at 9:30 because I was so hot I was starting to feel ill. It was packed to the rafters and it's in an old house so the a...

I apologize for understating the rain in yesterday's Emu and Alpaca entry. It was bigger than that it turns out. More of the Rhino and Killer Whale variety. While I was whining about my wet hair and clothes, folks downtown were looking for parking spaces on higher ground! We got something like 5-6 inches in 90 minutes down on the isthmus. Last report I heard was 68 campus buildings with water damage/flooding. My favorite story so far is of a group of UW students who were gathered in a classroom to take a test when the storm hit. Their professor no-showed. When someone finally came in and told them to leave because of the flooding, the classroom looked like this... and they were still reluctant to leave!! They left notes all over the place saying that they were forced to leave. Guess they were afraid of getting docked on the exam. But not afraid of drowning where they sat in calculus class. People constantly amaze me. Chez Bee weathered the storm just fine although I swear our law...

When I went home for lunch it was sunny. By the time I got back to the parking lot at work it was raining...hard...harder than cats and dogs. I think we even bypassed sea lions and iguanas. I'd say it was a full Emu and Alpaca type rain that I had to run through to get to the building. People, I do not run. I am designed for comfort, not for speed. But let me tell you, I ran like I was in the Olympic trials. I haven't put on that much speed since I used to run away from Little Earl in grade school when he used to wipe boogers on all the girls. And yet, I arrived at my destination, completely soaked. My carefully moussed and blow-dried hair-flat. My shoes-squishing and the rest of me looking like I'd been in a wet t-shirt contest gone terribly wrong. And because it's 8,000,000° outside, the air conditioning inside is cranked up to the Arctic Tundra setting . I'm already starting to ice over. It's going to be a long afternoon. On a better note, I have hit a mile...

Heavy Sigh...It's one of those days following one of those nights. I was awake most of the night thinking. I know, it doesn't happen that often so when it does, it keeps me up. I finally fell asleep in the wee hours only to wake up with a cough and sore throat. And a weird, itchy rash on my arms, tummy and legs. My boss is out this week and I am in charge of all twelve 'kids' myself. I've already broken out the 'just wait until you father gets home' threat and it's only Tuesday. AND it smells like someone nuked catfood for lunch in the microwave a few feet from my desk. AND Blogger won't let me upload any pictures. I shoulda just stayed in bed and thunk some more. Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints to join the rest of the world! I worked more on my convergence quilt last night. I did steps one and loved it. Step two and loved it. Did step three and now I hate it. I realize now I misplaced my fabrics and they don't...

Well, we went to the wedding shower yesterday afternoon. It was at a buffet restaurant. The back corner of the dining area is kind of partitioned off for parties and there are ten long banquet tables in there. The bride is the daughter of friends of ours so we knew a few mutual friends but none of the family-from-away or the bride and groom's friends. After lunch I decided to mingle with some folks that had arrived late and were kind of getting ignored. I met some lovely folks, admired and cooed their children, complimented clothing, explained my connection to the bride...you know the normal chit chat. Finally I asked one of the couples how they knew the bridal couple and they were kind enough to tell me that they, and all of the folks at the two tables I'd been visiting with, didn't know the bride or the groom. That they had just been seated in there because all of the tables outside the party room were full. Only to me....I love my life....I'm thinking of maybe just ...

I recently joined the Midwest Knitter's Webring. Thought I'd better add some knitting content so I don't get evicted! I do knit all the time, but tend to take photo's of finished projects, rather than works in progress. I noticed I'm in the minority on this one so have decided to adapt and evolve. So for those of you who have seen my horrendous photos of finished stuff...brace yourself...here are some equally, if not worse,photos of a couple of things I'm working on now. Here is a sock I started during down time at The Ricky Tim's Seminar last weekend. It's just a knit one-purl one rib. I really liked it until the hideous, pukey, pea-green color cropped up. Didn't notice it when I bought the yarn or I wouldn't have. It totally doesn't go with the rest of the colors. I was distracted by the pretty pinks and blues. Ya'll know how easily distracted I am... [As an aside you will be happy to note that Mr. Bee took better care of me at the Fai...

Today is our 16th Wedding Anniversay. Sixteen years ago today we were visiting with a Maine Black Bear named Oscar, getting married on my parents deck, talking my Daddy out of shooting the skunks out by the woods (talk about a shotgun wedding!) and having a wedding barbecue! The man that married us was a family friend, justice of the peace and the local undertaker. (We marry 'em and bury 'em!) I wouldn't trade our wedding for a white lace and church deal for the world. Very small, very private, very unique...and very unexpected...just ask my Mum! Tonight we are going to the Dane County Fair to celebrate. We started this way back in the day when we didn't have money for a fancy dinner or anything and the tradition just stuck all these years. It's an agri-fair so there are a lot of animals for me to visit with. Mr. Bee gets his favorite fair treat-a pickle on a stick. I know... of the the greasy, sugary, fat-o-licious fair yummies he could choose..he picks a vegetabl...

The bubble truck is coming to our house tonight. It pulls up in the drive. We throw the Wee Doggie in the back. The truck jiggles...it hums...bubbles and water come out the back...and then, by and by, the Wee Doggie comes out-freshly scrubbed and trimmed. Smellin' good. It's magical. He even likes the Bubble Truck Lady which is a small miracle considering what must go on behind the closed doors of that poor panel truck. We used to take him to a chain store for grooming but he came back twice with fleas and several times cut and traumatized. Plus it took them three hours a pop and since he is deaf, mostly blind and kinda on the high-strung side, it was terrifying for him. This is much better. The magical, doggie-washing bubble truck. The cat sits on the guest room bed, staring out the window, eyes agog, watching the truck shimmy and shake. He can't imagine what horrendous atrocities are happening to Wee Doggie... but he doesn't particularly like him and thinks he deserve...

Look! It's me and Ricky Tims Ya'll!!! I spent the last two days at Ricky Tim's quilting seminar in Middleton, WI. I have come away so inspired and rarin' to go that I can hardly contain myself! I had no idea that I had become such a mindless drone of the Quilt Police; rigid rules...this is the way it MUST be done....you caint do that! (Ricky has a pronounced Texan accent that is highly contagious!) The message that I brought away from this seminar is to screw the rules and play !! If you can think it up, it can be accomplished. So maybe it's not according the Quilt Police Book of Methods and Standards but it can be done. I have so many ideas that I've never even attempted because it goes against all rules and I wasn't sure how to accomplish it. Boy! After this weekend, that is no longer an excuse! I was up twice in the night writing things in my sketch book lest I lose them by morning! I have spent most of this morning listening to Tim's beautiful piano...

Does anyone else get as grossed out as I do by that sticky, flappy sound that some folks make when they wear plastic mules and flip flops? Not the normal 'click' 'click' click'...more like someone peeling a sticker off something before the click. It's a really hot day here...humid...sweaty... and all you can hear is varying paces of 'ffffwick' ffffwick' ffffwick' up and down the hallway. YUCK! Dr. Sholls makes a foot spray people! Let's use it! I have no knitting news because I hate knitting and I'm never going to do it again....well until I get home from work anyway. I am having problems with the honeybee sock from heck. I shall not speak of it further....That'll teach it! Was out of the office Tuesday and Wednesday. Don't feel much better today but I am upright so I came in. Mistake. No injured reserve list around here. I've been running my back pockets off all day...back and forth...up and down...to and fro... But the impor...

It's been a nutso day here at the old TechnoFarm. I have more work than one person can handle and the new girl from the department next door started today so I spent a lot of time training her for a job that I've never done....I hope there's a quiz later! She seems nice although a bit unusual at over 6 feet tall with a short dyed black pageboy, thick black cat glasses, all black clothing and numerous facial piercings. We make quite the pair walking down the hall together. I'm 5'2" and about at un-punk as you can get! I did wear red shoes today which is about a crazy as it gets in Molly Bee Land. Had a nice weekend. Went geocaching on Friday night. Got one that I'd been working on for over a year. It had a vicious puzzle that ultimately involved turning the bit map of the background upside down, translating it to get a clue word for another cipher and running the scrambled satellite coodinates through that. Sheesh! No wonder it took me a year and a threat t...

It was hotter than heck at work today...inside and out. We came out at 5PM, got in the car and I slumped over exhausted. Mr. Bee asked me what the matter was. I told him that I was hot, tired and couldn't face cooking supper. I just wanted to jump in a clear, cold mountain spring somewhere. He thought for a moment. And then this wonderful man who 15 years ago would have said: "Let me whisk you to the nearest Alp and carry you in my arms to the top where you can bask in the cool, clean waters whilst I feed you Godiva chocolates by hand..." ...who ten years ago would have said: "Let's check into that romantic hotel that has the in-room pools. We can order the lobster from room service." ...who five years ago would have said: "Let's get Subway and go to the State Park pool and lounge around." This gentle, caring man looked me right in the eye and said... "I could squirt you with the hose....". Yeah! And he wasn't kidding. He said it...

Mr. Bee has been bamboozled by a hybrid fruit. He was with me at the grocery when I bought four pluots; the on-sale fruit of the week. He was intrigued. He was concerned. He was baffled and borderline distraught that a supposedly new fruit had been invented without his input. So we had a short scientific in-store discussion on how sometimes apples don't just love apples and oranges don't just love oranges and that the lowly, little, purple bundle of joy imbued the very best of both of his parents; the plum and the apricot. Crisis averted. I talked him down. Or so I thought. But it must have been weighing heavy on his mind because he asked me twice over the weekend who the pluot's parents were again. And I explained it again. Twice. So when I handed him one for this afternoon's snack and he asked me the third time, I decided to change my tactic. I told him in drawn out exaggerated tones that it was a p-l-u-o-t....a cross between a pluuuummmm and a .......what? He thoug...

It's been a very relaxing four day vacation...Well not relaxing really-I've been sick some, cooked some, cleaned some and generally just got things caught up around here. I will never understand how some women can work a full time job and still have houses that look like they fell out of Better Homes and Gardens. We have a rule around here. You can draw in the dust...just don't date it. It's nice to get caught up again. I did find some time to knit a pair of the teensiest-weensiest baby socks for friends of ours who are expecting any moment now. Well, not for them...for their baby. And I started spinning up some beautiful roving that Sandy from The Sow's Ear dyed. And I went to a movie with Mr. Bee, "Keeping Up With The Steins" with my hero, Jeremy Piven.... Hmmm, I beginning to get an inkling of an inkling of an idea of how nothing houseworky gets done around here....Oh well, off to the fireworks! Happy Independence Day!