Rant Alert!!

So, it's been a really long time since I've posted. The last time I did, I blogged about THE wheel. Yes, I'd finally found the wheel I wanted made. WELL!

Mr. Carson Cooper assured me he could make it. Me, being the good little do bee, adhered to his requirements and sent him half down as a deposit. That's $1,200.00, folks. A few months later, I sent him $300.00 more.

$1,200.00 + $300.00 = $1,500.00. Just so we are on the same page.

Fast forward one year. Since shoring up the deal; choosing the wood,  bearings, right side flyer, etc, I hadn't emailed him, so I sent him a "touching base" email.

Fast forward one more year. (We are at the two year mark here) I send another "touching base" email.  After hitting send I thought I ought to take a look at my paperwork.  It had been over two years. Unsure as to what to do; I confidentially contacted a few friends who had wheels made by other wheel makers. Consensus was, it was perfectly appropriate to ask for a potential completion date.

So I did.

Mr (I use this term lightly) Carson Cooper immediately shot back the most hateful, nasty email I have ever received. Mr. Spiritual has a really dark side!

Next thing I know,  June 13 of 2013 I receive a notice from PayPal that Mr. Hyde has sent me $30.00 toward refunding my deposit. That is THIRTY dollars. He had not even told me he was flaking out on our deal!

I did eventually receive the whole $1,500.00. I considered myself fortunate. I ordered a Schacht-Reeves Saxony 30" in Cherry. She's beautiful!

Back to business: this year I was contacted by someone who I'd seen on the Rav Cooper Spinning Wheels forum, asking if is ever received my wheel. This led to my discovery that he has fucked many people over who in good faith ordered wheels from him, turning over hard-earned money.

Carson Cooper is a lying, hateful thief. In the hateful email he sent (over a year ago) he informs me 10 years ago he only had 7 years to live. And he still takes orders.

I have remained quiet for over a year now, and I WON'T be quiet any more!!

DO NOT GIVE THIS MAN YOUR MONEY!!

Don't be a victim. There are many reputable wheel makers out there. This fool gives them all a bad name.

BTW: I have hard copies of ALL communication through Ravelry, email, and PayPal. If you want a copy, let me know and I'll mail it!!

This has been incredibly therapeutic.

I Did It. I Really Did It.

Yes, folks, I specified in a message to Carson the wheel that I am looking for him to make. So grateful Kelly was here to assist me in the details I never would have thought of!

So, after composing the message in a word document, I copied and pasted it into a Rav message....

then......

wait for it.....

I hit "send."

Yup I did it. I really did it.

My Wheel

And here she is; or at least my "muse" for a custom wheel. I am truly in love. When I first spotted her, it was on a thread on Ravelry in the group Longbacken by Renee Darley. These are all her pictures, so I must giver her credit!

"The Lady in Black is mine" she said.  

My best friend, Kelly, was amazed that I FINALLY found a wheel that I became "twitter-pated" about. (Those who have watched Bambi know what I mean) I am not one to be drawn to the chunkier wheels, or ones that IMO appear "thick." This pretty lady is all about delicate, elegant details, and most definitely, not chunky. Oh, the tall pointy thing on the left is called a distaff. It holds the fiber while spinning. Usually for flax. I do not spin flax, so that won't be there.

See what I mean? I have no idea how old Renee's is. I hope that "my" wheel maker, Carson Cooper can replicate her as close as possible. *sigh* The most important details I am looking for are the "Maidens" which are the long, pointy pieces to the left of the picture, and the thinness of the wheel rim. The slanted bed is awesome! 

This view of the wheel shows the rim a bit better. There is also a routed detail around the side of the rim that I am looking for. The color is another detail; Black Walnut with a dark tung oil rub. I want it as dark as I can get it.

Kelly and I both are normally right-handed, but we found out that we spin left-handed; spindle and wheel spinning! Once I discovered that I realized that the main reason I hadn't felt comfortable with this type of wheel is because they were all right-handed. Yet another detail I am putting in: Left-handed! 

So, the money should be here soon ~ a week or so? Whatever. As soon as it hits the bank; I am on the phone with Carson. 

I have decided to call her "Renee" because if it weren't for her; I wouldn't have found this magnificent wheel that sent me down this road.

Updates to come!!

running in circles

I'm Not Martha Stewart... or Betty Crocker

SO!

I had been looking in the freezer for dinner ideas the other day. There they were; a 24 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips left over from Thanksgiving. 

COOKIES!!!

Then, today I decided was the day to bake the cookies. The recipe is ON the bag! I gathered said ingredients, and began whipping up the creamy wonderful batter I see in my "I can bake" fantasy. 

Oh, the butter is not at room temperature. Damn. Can't figure out how to defrost in my fucking microwave, so I put the butter in for about 15-20 seconds. Hmmm. Butter soup. It'll do. This was in the middle of me measuring out the dry ingredients. 

Fast forward to mixing the sugar, brown sugar, butter and vanilla in the "larger bowl" with my $9.99 big-box store mixer. Looking yummy! I even managed to crack eggs without getting shells mixed in! The next step was to "gradually add the dry ingredients." How gradual do you have to go to add this??? 

Oh, well. Mixed in the chocolate chips... getting what I can only call short of orgasmic thinking of eating a warm from the oven cookie with a glass of ice-cold milk. swooning

As I am scooping the "rounded teaspoon" segments onto the pan I am wondering exactly how they get 5 dozen cookies out of this????

Into the oven they go ~ batch #1. Halfway through the baking time, I peek in (because we all do that), and see what look like sunny-side up eggs made from poop with corn in the "yolk." 

WHAT THE FUCK!!! 

This was after I scraped the middles out; it was chocolate after all!

After that; I realized what happened. I forgot to add the FLOUR! 

FUUUUUUCK! 

So that is why it didn't seem as though there was enough batter for 5 dozen. Just a side note; it really is possible to add the flour after all the other ingredients. (although MARTHA would be just horrified; perish the thought) Here is the proof:

Now. As the above batch was baking, I began to channel Rachel Ray and her creativity. No, no EVOO, just the chocolate that I scraped out of the first batch of poop eggs. (the chocolate yolks) In the balance of the batter it went! Whoo-hoooo!!

 So, okay, it looked like I was getting ready to make cookies out of rocks. This will be interesting! When I took them out; I was impressed that they actually puffed up a bit. As they sat on the plate cooling, I was impressed with the taste. Considering I added the pre-cooked chocolate back in the batter, these were pretty tasty! Hey!! Twice-baked cookies! I invented something!

Now that I look at the picture closer; I realize that I actually made what looks like fried chicken!

Chocolate chip chicken anyone?

Oh, and Kelly? I guess I shoulda worn the FUCKING APRON!!

And everyone else; specifically my spouse; SHUT UP!!

Time for silliness

I haven't had skype on my computer for very long. In my attempt to act as though I am doing something important to everyone else in the house; I started playing around with it. Well! Here is the result of the "test chat."

You just can't leave me alone with communication devices.

Long Overdue Update

Well! It sure has been a while since my last entry. Life has been overwhelming, and I admit this has been the furthest task from my mind.

My 79 year-old mother fell at the end of June. Like the gal she is, "Oh, no, I don't need to go to the emergency room or my doctor."

On July 4th, she was at the ER. Nothing showed on the X-ray, so they sent her home with a few pain pills. 10 days later; the pain was progressing. So, a bone scan, followed. That was wednesday. we waited until monday, no word. It was time to call the doctor's office; and the Red Head had to take charge.

"No, the results haven't been faxed over yet. But we'll set your mother up with an appointment today to have another look at her."

"Could I give radiology a call?"

"let's see, (silence) I'm still checking to see if it's on the computer."

"Could I give radiology a call?"

"Oh, no... I'll do that."

"Okay, bye."

(waiting a while, decided to call radiology myself)

Yeah. Called radiology. It was just signed by the doctor who read the films. The gal on the phone said she hadn't heard from the doctor's office yet, but she'd fax them over right away (which she did). I mentioned to her that she will probably get a call later from the doctor's office for these results. She gave a knowing chuckle and agreed. Go figure.

Sitting in the exam room at said doctor's office. NP finally comes in, checks the computer for the written report. She has a fractured her t11 vertebrae.

"We'll set you up with the Spine Clinic, they are very good."(Gave her a prescription for 30 vicodin)

Checking mom out at the front desk:

"She's all set; you can go ahead and go!"

"But wait, you're supposed to set her up with the Spine Clinic."

"Oh... (looks perplexed) do you know which one?"

"You don't know?"

"Well, we'll find out and set it up. It may take a few days."

SOOOOOOO......

After waiting 3 days, the Red Head called the Spine Clinic. (Here we go again) This was thursday.

"They are working up the case now."

"Could we go ahead and set up the appointment?"

"Let me transfer you back there to talk to them."

"You have reached ____, Please leave your name.... " You know the rest. Left the voice mail.

Friday, while I was at my internship; they called with the appointment.

August 17 - gee, let's see..... that's three weeks and three days from then. Really????? That long with a fractured spine? 

I really wish I was home when they called. FUCK!

Mom ran out of pain killers sunday, so off the the ER we go. They were baffled how long she would have had to wait to get in to this famous (at this point) Spine Clinic.

Today: mom is in the hospital where she will get the care she needs for her back, bed sore, and diet. She has lost 10 pounds which she could not afford to lose. OT will evaluate her and most likely send her to inpatient rehab. Chances are; she will be out before her appointment would have come around.

Aside from my issue with the idiots we have had to push out of the way, my fear was that mom would become so downtrodden that she would just "give up."

My message in this update?
Don't assume that people are looking out for you or your loved ones. Get on the horn and start making phone calls. Get pushy. Find out where the next step will take place and take the initiative to get the ball rolling. If the result is bullshit; work out a plan B.

If you are not comfortable doing that; find yourself a fiery Red Head like myself who will call for you. Please!

That is all. I will now return you to your regularly scheduled web surfing.

Fiber Frolic 2010: A True Test of Fleece Dedication

There we were a few months ago; Kelly & I plotting and planning for Fiber Frolic in Windsor, Maine. Last year was the first time we attended, and scored some pretty decent fleece. Yes, we were pumped for this year.

Special note here: We are a pair that travel very well together. We leave early to hit the road, always get a primo parking spot; and have plans of action for when we arrive at our destination. And, we know when to leave. 


Kelly spent Friday night at my house, where we tightened up the plan of action. Left at 6 am to get up to the fair. At the time we were just mildly concerned about the weather. If we get wet, no big deal. This kind of sugar just don't melt....

before the weather tuned bad

SO! About halfway there, it started to rain a bit, and the skies went almost black, as though it were 8:00 at night. Then there was the lightening. Then there was the thunder. Then there was the blinding rain. Kelly pulled off the highway, and we sat on Rt. 1 for a while, just waiting for one or both of us to burst out crying! It didn't happen; and the rain let up a bit. I took over, but we ran into another storm band that wasn't too bad, but there was sooooo much water on the road we were hydroplaning like a bastard. Uh-uh. No way.

Pulled off in Topsham and chilled at Starbucks. I smoked a LOT, then we hit the road again. The thought of turning back never occurred to us; as we are TRUE fiber whores!!! We had a wonderfully pleasant day, with the exception that we weren't good to ourselves nutrition-wise.

In comparison to our experience with the Duchess County, NY Sheep & Wool Festival; we didn't go totally "Filene's Basement" in the fleece barn. It was so nice to be really picky about what we were looking for. (again, the plan) The other reason, I'm sure, was that we each had less than 1/3 of the $ we had for NY! (Damn the almighty dollar)

The first fleece Kelly jumped on (she high-tails it for the show fleece every time) was beautiful! At over $125.00, it was at the top of our budget. She bought another one instead, for about $85.

After paying for our purchases, we wandered around to take in the rest of the festival. I have to post this picture first, as the little one jumped straight into my heart:

Two days old, all legs and ears. and full of attitude! *sigh* 

I wasn't really interested in purchasing anything beyond fleece, so random things caught my attention, such as this sign ~ a quote from the Yarn Harlot.  I love it!

I am falling in love with Alpaca. Those lovable, tubular, luxurious fleece producing beings. There weren't quite as many present as last year, most likely because of the weather and the lack of the Alpaca/Llama parade. (hrmph) Those that were present were mostly momma and babies, so it was difficult to get close to them for 'Paca kisses. (darn it) But they were still cute as the day is long:

The little one kept reaching her head through, and looking around with here long neck! I tried to kneel down to get closer, but momma was there in a heartbeat so I'd back off. I think she could tell I respected her feelings regarding the little one, and didn't get upset. Pretty cool.

There were folks there from the CVM conservation society (if I have that information incorrect, I will correct it later), and we learned so much about CVMs! (That is California Variegated Mutant) It is an amazing fleece. Kelly and I are contemplating going with CVM in addition to Alpaca when land becomes available. It is a rare breed, and we'd like to do our part!

Okay, so about now is when the hunger set in. Turning around to view the "food" area ~ I use that term loosely~ we had to decide which of the "heart-attack-on-a-plate" menus we were going to choose from. Well, call it phallic, or just the least of all evils, but here is what I chose:

It's "naked" because I knew it was going to talk to me later, and I preferred to ride back with Kelly IN the car. (You're welcome, Kelly) I won't even tell you what she got on HERS!!! Mwaaaaah! 

All right, back on track. After I had yet another smoke and a bathroom break, we moseyed back to the fleece barn to see if Kelly's fleece had been judged yet... well, ain't WE sumpin'! Just in time to see them roll it out on the table (several people, including us, gasped at this sight!):

Ahem, the judge had some wonderful comments. (Kelly has it on video) It came in third! Yay!! Damn that girl is GOOD!

We had to wait for all the judging to be completed, so more wandering, me taking smoke breaks. Sitting there chatting, with a small yet significant amount of money burning holes in our pockets, we made the decision to pool it and pick up another one to split. Couldn't find what we were looking for, so Kelly picked one, and I picked this one from Miller's;

Kelly isn't big on Romney, but I love a long wool. The crimp, color, and staple length suited me fine. In addition, the fleece from the Miller's have always been just wonderful. (and they are wonderful people)

Before we left, we had to stop by Amy's booth. She's the shit dealing with anything fiber. (Spunky Eclectic) She had several "yarnies" (not bad people, just not "fleecies") at her booth. When we walked up and plopped our bags 'o' fleece in front of her she said, "Now here are MY people!" We're her peeps! Yay!  

We love you, too, Boogie!

Whew. The ride home wasn't near as long, and I was burnt toast by the time I walked in the door. Oh, a quickie to share with you; as usual, I realized I had to pee. We were damn close to my house, so I wasn't concerned. WELL! Less than a mile from home, there was lightening, and a clap of thunder that was LOUD and CLOSE!!! Quick clenching reaction and nearly knocking over the furniture on my way through the house, and I was fine. Interesting end to the trip.  

Of course that is not all. Kelly and I were splitting two fleece, so we rolled them out to split them. They were actually fairly free of VM, and clean! The husband peeked out in the garage, saw what we were doing, and just went back in the house. Spouses of fiber whores are so understanding.

It was a great day! 

FLEECE WHORES UNITE!!!