Aspartame: The Bitter Truth Behind This Toxic Sweetener

Very Scary. Check out this video about aspartame tonight while eating your Halloween candy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB6L9S_jc5E

Aspartame is found in over 6,000 products worldwide. It is the most consumed artificial sweetener in the United States. It accounts for 75% of adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA, including seizures and death. There are over 900 published studies revealing the detrimental effects of aspartame. Aspartame can make you gain weight by stimulating your appetite, increasing your cravings for carbohydrates, and promoting fat storage.
Then there is also high fructose corn syrup which I wrote about last April.

 Happy Halloween

Finishing Friday

I finished the little black shrug.

I finished the hat made from the leftovers of the camo yarn.

I also made 3 more hats.
Thermosby Yarn-Madness

 the cap quadratoby pamela w allen

 Terzettoby Lisa Gutierrez

I started another hat, Bus Hat by Kylie McDonnell-Wade, but my "Energizer Bunny" decided to eat it when I wasn't paying attention. The hat is fixable and washable, but I need a new needle.

Tapping at the Window

Waiting, tired.

Fell asleep.

Tap, tap, tap.

What is that?

It's a bird,

back window.

Take picture.

Where's my phone?

Find the app.

Just in time.

Flew away.

.....................

Tap, tap, tap.

Sounds familiar...

Tapping at my window,

Isn't there a poem?

Rapping at my window,

That's it.

Wee Willie Winkie

By Mother Goose

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,

Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown,

Rapping at the window, crying through the lock,

"Are the children all in bed, for now it's eight o'clock?"

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176325

That's horrible. If, when I was putting my little kids to bed at eight o'clock, somebody rapped at the window. The dogs would bark, and startle my kids awake. It would take a long time to settle them back down. I would grab wee Willie by his arm, march him right back home, and fuss at his mother for letting him run around at night, in a nightgown, rapping on people's windows.

I never thought of this poem so literally before being startled awake by the bird. There was no going back to sleep after the bird left. He startled me awake, but I didn't mind. A bird pecking at his reflection in the window is not something I have ever seen before. Thankfully, Wee Willie Winkie is make-believe and does not run around at night startling people awake.

I used to read this poem to my children when they were little because it reiterated to them that eight o'clock is bedtime.

My Energizer Bunny

This bounding, biting, barking, black and brindle Energizer bunny follows me everywhere, every move I make. I stand. He gets up. I sit. He slobbers on me. I've been taking him for walks, but I tire before he does. He's not a bad dog, just young, teething, and full of energy.

He belongs to my daughter, who bought him for her two year old. She's a busy young single mom who has to work many hours to support herself and take care of her daughter (who is annoyed with, and afraid of him. He takes her dollies right out of her hands to play 'keep away' and then chew on them).

My old dog recently died. Maybe that's why I volunteered. “Bring him to my house. I'm home. I'll train him.”

What I Knit Last Weekend

I worked on this afghan. It's easy to knit in the car.

  I finished the third of the three hunting hats (for husband, brother, & nephew).

 I started a black shrug for my granddaughter. It's this pattern called Eve, by Debbie Bliss.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eve-8

 

The back and left front are finished. Working on the right front. I bought the purple yarn, but will use that for an aran pullover sweater. I decided to make this little shrug for her first out of some yarn I already had. She can wear it in our cool evenings as soon as I finish knitting it. The purple sweater will be for colder weather. I also started another hat for charity from the leftovers of the camo yarn (also easy to knit in the car). It will not be reversible. I will edge it with orange if there isn't enough camo.

Marigolds by Robert Graves

With a fork drive Nature out,
She will ever yet return;
Hedge the flowerbed all about,
Pull or stab or cut or burn,
She will ever yet return.

Look: the constant marigold
Springs again from hidden roots.
Baffled gardener, you behold
New beginnings and new shoots
Spring again from hidden roots.
Pull or stab or cut or burn,
They will ever yet return.

Gardener, cursing at the weed,
Ere you curse it further, say:
Who but you planted the seed
In my fertile heart, one day?
Ere you curse me further, say!
New beginnings and new shoots
Spring again from hidden roots.
Pull or stab or cut or burn,
Love must ever yet return.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_graves/poems/10549

 

Deciding What to Knit in Court

Last time I was knitting in court, I was working on another Spanish Armada, like this except red.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spanish-armada

Mine isn't finished yet, but is too big to carry around. So, now I must start something smaller to bring with to the courthouse.

I've been debating whether I should start the baby blanket for my friend who is expecting a little boy, or should I start the little purple aran sweater for my granddaughter? I have the yarn for the baby blanket, but the baby isn't due until next year. It will be getting cold enough for my granddaughter to wear a sweater by the end of this month, but I need to buy the yarn.

Or, I could work on the already started sweater I am making for a friend of mine, that should already be finished, but it is a boring pattern and I keep putting it off. I'm sure she would like to have it as it starts getting colder. That's what I should probably bring to work on in court. It is a pretty turquoise color and has a matching furry yarn to add into the collar and cuffs. I'll get that out, figure out where I am in the pattern, and get it finished up for her.

If I get a chance to run to the store, I will buy the yarn for my granddaughter's sweater. It is a complicated pattern that I can work on when I'm riding in the car. If there's no time to yarn shop, I will bring the baby blanket as a car project. It's complicated too, and it's crocheted. Then I can knit one project and crochet another to change up the motion of my fingers, hands, and wrists.

October Flower Calendula/Marigold

Symbolizes winning grace; protection; comfort; healing

Calendula, marigold, is a genus of about 15–20 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family Asteraceae. Other plants are also known as marigolds, such as corn marigold, desert marigold, marsh marigold, and plants of the genus Tagetes.


The name calendula is a modern Latin diminutive of calendae, meaning "little calendar", "little clock" or possibly "little weather-glass". The common name "marigold" possibly refers to the Virgin Mary.
 
The most commonly cultivated and used member of the genus is the pot marigold (Calendula officinalis). Popular herbal and cosmetic products named 'calendula' invariably derive from C. Officinalis.


Calendula species have been used traditionally as culinary and medicinal herbs. The petals are edible and can be used fresh in salads or dried and used to color cheese or as a replacement for saffron. A yellow dye has been extracted from the flowers.

Calendula is known to cause allergic reactions. It should be avoided during pregnancy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_flower

The Outdoor Pre-owned Auto Parts Warehouse

I went to the junk yard with my husband today. I was surprised at how not junky it was. The cars were lined up neatly in numbered rows, and divided into labeled sections of different types of cars. It was like an outdoor warehouse, like a Sam's Club for car parts with no ceiling.

At Sam's Club

you walk through the giant parking lot to get to the store (sometimes in the rain)

you show them your ID

they point you in the right direction, but don't wait on you

you procure the items that you want

you buy your items

you bag them yourself with bags you brought, or fumble with not bagged items

you walk through the giant parking lot to find your car (sometimes in the rain)

At the junk yard

you sign in

they point you in the right direction, but don't wait on you

you walk through the giant parking lot to find your car (sometimes in the rain)

you procure the items that you want

you walk through the giant parking lot back to the check-out (sometimes in the rain)

you buy your items

you bag them yourself with bags you brought, or fumble with not bagged items.

Very similar, except it's up-cycling when you buy parts at the junk yard.

They should call it the Outdoor Pre-owned Auto Parts Warehouse.

Today, we were lucky. We missed the rain.

Finish, Finish, Finish

I like to work on more than one project at a time, and more than one craft at a time.

Working on several projects at once keeps me from getting bored with a project, and then setting it aside for too long.

Making sure that those projects are from a variety of different crafts keeps my hands, wrists, and elbows from developing repetitive use problems.

It is fun to finish them one right after the other. Finish, finish, finish. Yippee!

I have just finished a knitted afghan, a crocheted hat, and a crocheted granny square lap afghan.