Molly Bee's Attic

I hope you all had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend. I certainly did. I started it on Friday by going to Milwaukee to the Mummy exhibit at The Milwaukee Public Museum.  I'd been wanting to go but it never seemed to fit into the schedule and then I heard that the exhibit was packing up and moving on today so I figured I'd better get moving. I find looming deadlines motivational. First of all, if you've never been to the museum you should go. It's an AWESOME natural history museum that covers all regions and major cultures of the world. It even has a live butterfly room that I could spend all day in if it wasn't 1000° in there! The Mummy Exhibit in particular was simply amazing. They had it set up so that only a certain number of people got in at a certain time which was fortunate because it seemed that every school age child in the tri-state area was in the building; spring field trip season being in full swing. First you started off with small things that wer...

I have several folks complain that they forget to check  the Doodle Blog since I update it so infrequently.  Doodles take a long time the way I do 'em!   So when I update that blog, I'll just put a little tickler in there so that you can pop over there if you want. Save you remembering to check both blogs: http://mollydoodlesallday.blogspot.com/2011/05/string-theory-challenge.html My work here is done. Have a happy Saturday!

I took my first Tai Chi class this morning. I'll give you a minute to stop picturing it and pull yourselves back together. OK now? Good. My company is offering a 6 week introductory class. Even though it starts at 7:30 AM I still loved it and learned some valuable lessons: Chai Tea and Tai Chi...two totally different things as it turns out. While I do have some beautiful tea cups, I don't have any 'loose and comfortable' gym clothes that I wish to wear around  my coworkers . I agonized over this for days, then when I got to class, I realized that no one else does either. I have come to view my coworkers in a totally different and disturbing light. Tai Chi is an actual martial art. The moves are slow and graceful (theoretically graceful in my case) but the premise behind them is that they are strike postures. Today we learned the 'poke someones eye out' move.   So don't tick me off and then stand totally statue-still without blinking for 3-5 mi...

The little pond across the street from my house is a source of endless fascination for me. I'm a water girl. I LOVE the ocean but I'll placate myself with a lake, pond, stream or large puddle if I can find one, so the little pond with its cat tails, ducks and geese  fits the bill nicely.  This morning while Ben and I were out for our morning constitutional, I stood for a minute and watched two ducks paddling around near the far shore.  They paddled to the edge and  then hopped up into the grass. Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity as they ran all around then then flew back into the water. Apparently the spot they had chosen to come ashore was where the resident muskrat was working on his new digs.  He chased them all over the place until he got them out of his neighborhood and back in the water. It was hysterical. I've never seen anything like it before. The ducks were totally shocked, feathers flying, and quacking their heads off in a manner that sounded ...

It has been brought to my attention that I've been neglecting my bloggerly duties of late.  I'll try to remedy that by updating more often.  I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger but have been doing the same old-same old and it hasn't been particularly blogworthy but if folks don't hear from me in a while, they assume I've been abducted by aliens so I'll try and check in more often.  Took Ben to the vet today-AGAIN.  He has begun limping again and the vet doesn't know why. We're giving it another week and if he's still limping, he needs to start antibiotics-AGAIN.  If that works, we'll know it's an infection.  If it get infected after the antibiotics run out, the titanium plate has to come out of his knee and I get a $3500 key chain. It also could be a miniscle (sic) problem which means another surgery. Or it could just be lame. I just feel so bad for the guy because he doesn't deserve to be in pain of any kind. A braver, t...

My 1,000 mph life hit a small roadblock in the form of an ear infection that gave me a case of vertigo that dropped me like a Southern belle with the vapors last week. I'm so far behind on my blogging that I no longer know what happened when but I'll plop it all down here and let you sort it out. I got a mysterious email message from an address I didn't recognize one day. It said only, "Tardis at Westfield Comics." Nothing else. Now when one receives such a message, it can only mean one thing...THE FINORKIN TARDIS IS DOWN AT WESTFIELD COMICS!!!! Sure enough, The Doctor had parked her right out front!  I went for a spin. 1934 was lovely. My twin sister, Mary had sent the mysterious message. She took a spin too! This time traveling only added to my timeline confusion, so i couldn't tell you when I actually finished this pair of socks, but it was sometime in the last two weeks and here they are. They're knit from a Plymouth yarn that I picked up at Yarn, Gl...

It was a fun-filled week: Cirque du Soliel on Tuesday night, movies with Steve and Joey on Thursday night, lunch with Pat on Friday and then there was the Royal Wedding reception of course. Saturday I went to Joey's Seafood with Mary, Jen and Elizabeth and then to  knitting. Our normal Last Saturday Knitting place had to close early at 3PM, so we moved the party over the The Sow's Ear until it closed at 5PM. I had forgotten that the Alpaca Festival was this weekend until someone mentioned it yesterday afternoon. I'm glad they did, I would have felt bad if I had missed it. I got up bright and early and went down there this morning. I usually go on Saturday and there are a lot of folks around and the animals are wicked skittish, but this morning was really quiet and I got plenty of alpaca kisses and love. It was wonderful. I visited each and every alpaca and then watched the judging for a bit. I went to the vendor area but stayed true to my vow to not buy f...

The kids and I were mightily disappointed that our invitations to Katie and Willie's shindig got lost in the mail, but always open to an opportunity to party (and eat cake), we decided to crash their reception. Who else would lead the Chicken Dance if we weren't there?  So we parked the  little bus around the corner and  waited until the guys on the gin bottles had consumed enough royal punch to be more than a bit tipsy.[ Aside: They also become very 'tippy'  when tipsy, what with those top-heavy fur hats; more fun than cow tipping and less work...just sayin' .] Then, with the kind of stealth that only 15 Ph.D. scientists and their sleep-deprived nanny can pull off , we stormed the gate.  There were a couple of tense moments when we discovered two of the Beefeaters upright, but found that we could easily distract them but asking "What WAS that thing Beatrice had on her head"?  While they were arguing about what it actually was,...

Today is Administrative Professionals' Day.  This morning, as a treat, we admin types were treated to breakfast and a neat video about goal setting called Mt. Fuji-The Fool Climbs It Twice. It was very amusing and inspirational. I recommend trying to find a copy if you haven't seen it. And I've gotten little treats from my kids and my company all day. One of my kids gave me this lovely pen and note paper set...  Later on these arrive from all of my kids!  They know how much I LOVE tulips and pink!  Then my company sent this box of chocolates.... Great day! I'm a lucky girl!  PS. (Later)-To thank my 'kids', I baked a batch of Snicker's Brownies tonight.  The recipe is over on my kitchen site: http://mollybeeskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/04/snicker-bars.html

I had the best of intentions of starting a new knitting project this weekend but time got away from me. I puttered happily 'round and 'round in circles  for two days.  Saturday I went to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in almost a year. She brought two friends and their 3 children. OOOEEE!  Cheeseburger in Paradise was not prepared for our party. It was good to catch up.  Afterward, I trotted over to Michael's Crafts to buy some of the spendy pens I like since I had a 30% off on my entire order coupon. The best laid plans to run in, nab the nibs and run out met with disaster when I saw the watercolor tables were BOGO and the fixative that will keep my pencil shadings from shading everything BUT my drawings was right there...  Sigh. I went to World Market next to pick up Easter treats for friends and the line was 20 people long-no exaggeration.  I thought maybe I had spent so much time (and $) in Michael's that it was Black Friday already....

Night before last, my imaginary husband, Colin Firth, and I were walking, hand in hand, in a lovely English garden. There was a light breeze and the sun dappled through the cherry blossoms. Colin was telling me how he couldn't have won all of those awards for The King's Speech without my love and support. He was showering me with compliments, kisses and expensive jewelry, when the light breeze turned decidedly fetid. I felt several huge drops of rain and looked wonderingly at the sky.  It felt as though a storm was coming but there wasn't a cloud in sight. What was going on? Suddenly a clap of thunder ... Waaahhhh Shooo !  I awoke with a start. Colin and the cherry blossoms were gone in a 'pooff' as were the breeze and the sun.  Wait a minute...since when does thunder go 'Waaaaaahhh Shoooo '!? I opened my bleary eyes and peered into the darkness of my bedroom. First the clock...4:45am.  Then, once I focused... directly up the double barrel of a...

A new blog for Molly Bee!  I've decided to move my Zentangles to another spot.  Check out: http://mollydoodlesallday.blogspot.com/ if you are interested. I will add a link to it in on the side bar as I move the Zentangle blog links to the other site.  Otherwise, all of the usual suspects; life, knitting, spinning, baskets, books, Ben and the typical messes I find myself in will remain on this site.

Went to Knit Night for a while on Friday night. I had my cranky on and left at 8:00PM to catch up on some much needed sleep. I have the pair of socks that I've been working on for a month almost done. I do almost no knitting at home anymore. I've been doodling up a storm in order to get pieces ready for an art show this fall. Fortunately and unfortunately, I can lose myself for hours in the pen and paper. I had several plans this weekend. I wanted to go to the Bat Festival and see the African Fox Bat. I was going to go see Jayne Eyre at Sundance Cinema. I was going to go to Farmer's Market. I was going to go shopping at Hilldale for art supplies. But the wind, snow, sleet, and cold put the kibosh to all of it.  The roads weren't bad, it's just after spending a week in Vegas and then coming home to 80° weather...I couldn't being myself to venture out in the slop except to quickly walk Ben three times a day. So I spent hours doodling, reading, taking a long ho...

The day after we got home from Vegas, we rested up for our big trip to Paris on the weekend. We drove there.  No, I don't have water wings on my car; Paris IL where my brother and his family live. 5.5 hours down in the haze and clouds  then it was 80° and sunny when we got there. Their magnolias, cherries and tulips were all blossomed and springy. We got to see beautiful niece, Kelsey, in her prom gown.  We went to see her in the Grand March at the High School gym before she left for dinner and then we spent the evening with my brother, BubberKev, and his lovely wife, Shiela. We ate Monocal's Pizza, which I'd never heard of but is awesome , and played dominoes. [Aside: I always play dominoes when I go to Maine, but by the time I get back here and think to ask folks over to play, I've forgotten the rules.  If you are a Mexican Train player, call me while the rules are still fresh! It's wicked fun!] Sister Shiela too us shopping at Goodwill in Paris ...

Our flight didn't leave until 3PM and we didn't have to be out of the resort until noon, so we spent the morning on the casino floor playing pennies. Despite the fact that we tried to play a slot machine or two in EVERY hotel we toured, we both came home about even which was nice. Our biggest wins were in the neighborhood of $80-100 except for this one: Vegas was a blast. Everyone told me that it would be fun but that you only need to go once. I totally disagree. I loved it and would go back any time. Next up...I Love Paris in the Springtime!

We decided to take a more sensible approach to Day Three and The Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The Conservatory in the Bellagio was amazing  Poppies  The Carousel Poppy Lane    A 'painting' made out of flowers  A class greenhouse full of butterflies.  Dozens of Daffodils  Tons of Tulips  A Sweetheart Tree and a Ferris Wheel... Flowery cranes in the fountain and a water tunnel. This was the amazing fountain in front of Caesar's.  I even ran into Elvis in our travels! We had a nice buffet dinner and  then went to Freemont Street for the evening. It was like Madison's State Street on steroids; shops, saloons, gentleman's clubs, casinos, live entertainment, celebrity impersonators (I saw Michael Jackson, Austin Powers, Stevie Wonder and Prince) and even a zip line that ran the length of the entire street. Plus the entire street is covered by a curved television screen (two blocks long) which plays a music video show on the hour...

To bring you this week's Diva Challenge entry.  Look away...it's awful.  The challenge was to make a tangle in only 15 minutes. I take lots of time when I draw but I told myself that I would do it and post whatever I came up with. I wish I wouldn't tell myself stuff.  Obviously my test anxiety in HS and University was because of the time contraint. I panic under pressure, but here it is in all its glory!

 We hit the ground running on Tuesday. We went to the discount ticket place to buy tickets for the show we would attend that night and then started touring hotels. We took the bus to the other end of the strip and started with Mandalay Bay.  We went to the Shark Reef and Aquarium there, had lunch and then toured the Luxor. What an engineering feat that is! Then it was off to The Excalibur, Monte Carlo: Paris New York New York MGM Grand Which has a lion sanctuary... Then we walked to The Rio for our show. Everyone kept telling me that things are farther away then they look and they weren't kidding. Turns out the Rio is on the other side of a major highway.  Getting there was much like playing the amphibious role in the old Frogger video game but we made it just in time to see.... Chippendales! That's right. Not as prim and proper as I look am I?  It was fun and very campy.  I got kissed by one of the guys who came into the audience. They did...