Pummelos, Publishing and Pampered Puppies

Settle in, it's been a while since I've been here and I have a lot to say. I apologize in advance.

First of all, just talk amongst yourselves for a minute, this one is for my Mum.

Visual Aid
(The big green one is a PUMMELO. Go get 'em at the dinner party, Tiger! :-) )

OK, now that THAT'S out of the way, thanks for the nice comments on the last post, Sue! And welcome to my merry band of readers. I should get the four of you together sometime so you can get to know each other!

How'd you like The Ear? Cool place, huh? It's my home away from home, if you haven't guessed. In fact it was Knit Night on Friday. They had a Pampered Knitter's sale going on with all kinds of roving, jewelry, baskets etc. All the vendors had little tables set up in the front room so it got a little cozy and I relocated to the back room. S.E Management frowns on me going back there after what happened last time... I would tell you but, what happens in the back room stays in the back room! But beings as how there were special circumstances, with the little craft show and all, they turned a blind eye and somehow I got by them. I certainly won't get away with it again. In fact, by now there's probably legal documentation barring me from ever going back there because...it happened again! It got downright outta hand and naughty back there! I'm not claiming full responsibility, but (guilty confession) I was a partial contributor. And I'm NOT the depraved soul responsible for the fact that no one will be able to look at an artichoke the same way again. I'm not mentioning any names.....Jane....just sayin'. I wish I could elaborate, but my lawyer says not to discuss it. Wild cows couldn't drag it out of me.

Friend Anne met me at The Ear and then came back home with me to spend the night after they kicked us out at 11:00PM.(Quite honestly it should have been much, MUCH sooner.) She spent the night so we could strike out early on Saturday morning. Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill in Mount Horeb was having an open house and I had wanted to get the Braidy Cat sweater pattern. I got that and also came away with the Snowshoe Aran pattern and some yarn. It was pan.de.monium in there but fun nonetheless. We made friends with a lady from Chicago, who was behind us in the check-out line, and munched contentedly on awesome molasses cookies. Ann and Julia know the way to soothe a savage knit beast is with yummy baked goods!

From there we headed towards New Glarus to go to Rainbow Fleece Farm and Carding Company. I got some pretty roving and communed with the sheep herding dogs; Sundog, Flower and Rudy while Friend Anne got roving for her future needle felting endeavors. [By the way, Happy Birthday Rudy. He's 1 today!] I honestly thought we were going to freeze to death before we left. Gosh it was bitter out! But totally worth it for all of the treasure we found!

Shiny green and white blend

Celtic Woods-Deep purples, browns and forest greens

Autumn colors-golds, reds, browns

(Click on 'em to biggify and really see the colors!)

There are folks in this world (and maybe others) who live in fear of showing up in my 'memoirs' one day. Their numbers are not small. They are a rightfully fearful lot. People, I am here to say, that day has come! That's right, I am a 'published author'. (Somebody catch poor Dale Harriet over there! She's been pounding her fingers to the nub to get her 50,000 novel done by midnight on November 30th and here I'm running around saying 'I'm 'published'! That's it, fan her face. Give her a little room. She'll be OK in a minute.) My Mum watched Oprah the other day and saw that Snapfish was having a deal. Oprah watchers could make a 20 page, printed photo book for free! Just pay the $7.95 shipping an handling! Voila, about two weeks later, the UPS guy shows up with MY BOOK! And it's HARDCOVER, none of the paperback treatment for me! My book is just too good! It's a limited edition (ahem...one copy), so I'll just have to show you a teaser until ya'll can come to my house and see it.

It was kind of a rush job because the offer was only good for 48 hours, so I just used photos that I already had in the computer. The title on the spine is 'Molly Bee's Favorite Things' and it has pictures of friends, family, animals and hobbies. It's totally awesome! You can change the layouts, background designs etc. to really customize it and it looks just like a hard copy children's book when it's done. I highly recommend checking it out. I have so many plans for using it for gifts in the future, well I could just pop!

Before I sign off here is a gratuitous doggie shot for you Ben fans. He and I have been fighting over the sofa pillows since I got them. I think they make pretty decorations. He things they need chewing and lengthy baths. I put them on the back of the couch to keep him from soggifying them and inevitabley when I am knitting, he will crawl up and knock one down with his foot and look at me. I put it back up and give him the No-Bad-Dog-No-Lickey speech. Over and over and over again. Monday night he did it again. I said (because, Heaven help me, I seem spend a lot of time talking out loud to that dog like he understands every word I say), "Fine, take it down...but the minute your tongue touches it, your furry butt is mine!" He moved it all around the end of the sofa with his nose and his feet until he had finally settled down with it under his head. He proceeded to spend the next hour or so alternately snoozing and giving me a look like, "See! I didn't want to lick it. I just wanted to take a comfy nap all this time and you've just been mean about it. I'm so misunderstood." Maybe THAT'S why he locked me out of the car last week..

(Mo, are we really all that sure that it was a different Bentley dog? )

Stay tuned next time for Tales of the Product Police and the Great Papaya/Pomegranate Mystery and How You Can Get Your Cilantro For less By Saying It's Parsley.