the Weekend Update

 Not as funny as Saturday Night Live's (used to be, at least)

* Spent Friday afternoon cleaning house. It's still not done but it's better enough to make me feel a LITTLE less twitchy about the plumber coming. (I really do not like that they have to go into my bedroom, my sanctum sanctorum to do the work, but there's no way around it). I am going to change the sheets this evening and just stow MOST of the truly bonkers number of stuffed animals I keep on my bed in some extra laundry baskets and hide them out of the way. (I will sleep okay for a day or two like that; I sleep in an empty bed when I travel, and I can always keep Squishy Dog and maybe my big Blahaj shark in the bed). 

Also I need to move a few more things out of the closet but I'll do that Tuesday and just stack the things on hangers on my bed, perhaps as a reminder to "hey please don't lay tools here!

* I'm still nervous about it; afraid the plumber will look and recoil in horror and say it can't be fixed (old house, lots of things have been kludged down the years). I did peek in behind the access cover (it fell off; normally I keep it held on with a short expanding curtain rod because it doesn't really fit in the channels made for it). At least there's no evidence of raccoon nests or anything horrible like that (I was afraid; in the past I heard evidence of critters under the house, though lately I think it's only been cats - though I did see an armadillo running around). 

Also if it looks like they can't fix it from the truly tiny access port, it looks like they'd JUST have to saw out (and replace, I hope, after) some of the paneling - it does not look like there is a solid wall between the pipes and the paneling back there.  

No, I didn't try turning the water on to see if I could see where the leak was; that seemed unwise. Also the area has since dried out. I'm assuming the leak JUST started; I got my September water bill (yeah, the city is a month behind, go figure) and the amount of water listed as used was no more than I ever use - actually the minimum amount you can be billed for. Also, I didn't notice a loss of shower pressure until Tuesday night. And I can't hear or see a leak going with the water off. So maybe I got lucky.

I will be SO glad to get a shower back, and I really hope the plumber can fix it/can fix it in one day. 

* I started a new project. I saw linked somewhere a National Park Service (Voyageurs NP) crochet pattern. Yes, a crochet pattern! For a stuffed-toy walleye. I figure either an NPS employee or a volunteer there is REALLY into crocheting and decided to make this up. The pattern is here. The instructions are a little minimal; you should be somewhat familiar with making amigurumi if you're going to attempt it.

I went to Sherman yesterday - it was probably good for me to get out, to stop obsessing about the broken plumbing - and bought yarn for it. (It's Lion Brand's Wool-ease Thick and Quick - bulky weight - in the color Beach Glass). I realized I had never seen a walleye that wasn't already skinned, cleaned, and cooked on a plate! So I guessed. 

(I decided, once 9:30 am had rolled around and no one called, it was safe for me to leave town; that I wouldn't miss a shot at getting the plumbing fixed, and I was right. Anyway I needed part of a day out, and a shot at better groceries than I can get locally)

it's not a perfect match (the colors on the pattern on the NPS site are closer to real walleye; I looked them up online just now) but it's not TOO far off, and maybe if it's a leucistic form? 

There was NO camouflage colored yarn (it seems that the basic worsted weight acrylic has been hit a bit by supply chain issues). There was one close, but it was the Red Heart Super Saver, and I find that shreds my hands a little bit. And anyway, the idea of a BIG fish - this is going to be small throw-pillow size - amused me. 

I'm using a size L hook. I probably could have dropped down to a K (tighter, up to a point, is better, for amigurumi - and K is smaller than L) but I don't think I have  a K sized hook. 

I have some dk weight Encore in an acceptable color; I might make another one as a "shared" Christmas gift for my brother's cats. (I also have two toy balls to give so each cat will get a thing, but I will leave it to the cats to claim their thing)

* I also bought the toy to donate for AAUW - every year we do a "bring a toy, $10 or less, for Toys for Tots" (the price limit is because many members are on fixed incomes). I found a small blue unicorn from the Squishmallow people at Target - it's actually lying on its stomach and has all four legs unlike the typical Squishmallow toy. It's very cute and while I know lots of "small kid" toys get donated, well, I admit I'm 52 and I'd be tickled to get something like that for Christmas, so maybe it will make some kid happy. (One woman questioned whether we should do it again, after claiming a toy donation event she was at had kids coming through saying they "didn't like" any of the things on offer but really? I suspect there are some kids happy to get a toy, and parents relieved to have something to give - I think Toys for Tots does it by having parents/guardians come through and pick things out, so at least for little kids the nice fiction of "yes your caretaker got this for you" can be kept up). I dunno. Just because some folks are ungrateful doesn't seem to me reason enough to not do it. 

* I'm considering a simple hat I knit out of a cream-with-pastels yarn, and never wore, as the gift-exchange gift this year. People kind of EXPECT I will knit or crochet something, and I'm happy to, because I can have a nicer gift for (often, especially if I "repurpose" stash yarn) less money than if I bought one - they suggest a less-than-$15 price point and while that's fine if you have a lot of time to shop the sales, I don't. But this year I'm not sure I have the time or really the motivation to make something specifically designated for the gift exchange. And I do have a lot of hats, and I don't love this one as much as some others I have, so I could let this one go. 

I find I move a lot slower on making things now. I guess that's just how it is - either for now or forever.

* I also went to the natural-foods store for the first time in a long, long time. Was able to get the one shampoo that seems not to dry out my hair (Desert Essence coconut shampoo, and the matching conditioner), which is only sold there in the area (I have ordered it online), so that was good. Even if I am still washing my hair in the sink.

They didn't have many of the special holiday foods out yet, though, that was what I was kind of hoping for. In the past they had some nice special cookies and chocolates and things but either not this year, or not yet (I think some of the things were imports and probably are snarled in shipping issues)

* And yeah. The time change was this weekend. Unlike some folks, I don't hate it - I'm an early riser and it's really nice to have it light for going IN to work - but it does get dark earlier now (not quite 6 pm and it's already past dusk) so I decided when I took down the spider-lights and the blinking orange-and-purple halloween lights, maybe it was okay to put up the winter/holiday ones:

 

I think I bought these snowflakes (ordered online) last year, in a fit of sadness over not being able to travel

And when I went to get the new shower head that I so mightily had hoped would fix the no-pressure problem, I did buy a very short strand of LED lights in the old "C9" size. They're giant:

I patched them in to the fairy lights I always have up (set on a timer so they come on every evening). The strand is just long enough to go over the tops of both doorways (the doorway to the dining room, not seen, is to the right). Yes, it was an expense maybe I shouldn't have gone to, facing (at least) several hundred dollars' worth of plumbing work (but I didn't know that then). But the amount of electricity they eat is truly minimal and they make me happy. And honestly these days any small thing that makes me happy is valuable to me, because there's been too much unhappiness.

* And more - a friend of mine from church, in fact the person who came to my house and helped me pack when I had to go up to Illinois in a hurry in late July 2019, when my dad was dying - is suffering. She lost her (94 year old) mother late last month, and now her husband of less then a year (second marriage for both) is apparently dying of cancer - she commented that all his kids and his brother had come into town for a visit, and that sounds not-good. She's tried to be upbeat about it but it makes me sad and angry - they have been married just over a year, and it seems like such a cheat for both of them that she's going to lose him so soon. 

I hope I'm wrong about what the visit means, but....

So anyway, I need all the light and pleasantness and humor I can grab onto right now. (And I really, really hope on Tuesday the plumber will go "Oh, I see the problem, this will be an easy fix" and by the end of the day I'll have my shower back)