63,728 Miles Traveled Through The Mail

On my old blog, I posted about pen pals and using the postal system more.  While looking around at pen pal sites I came across www.postcrossing.com.   This is great for people who do not want to be tied down by a pen pal but still would like to receive mail and see the world.  Since I joined three months ago, I have been receiving nice post cards.  Fair warning though you have to use international stamps.  I send out between 5-8 a month and they only let you send out so many at a time.   The family has enjoyed seeing the postcards that come in.  Here are two of my favorites from Russia:

I have sent postcards to retired people, college students, children and everyone in between and have received some nice thoughtful ones.  Some people jot a quick note and fill up the postage with many different low currency postage stamps which is also neat!

If you are looking to receive real mail other than bills and junk mail but don't want the commitment of writing long letters or keeping up a pen pal you might want to check out www.postcrossing.com.



 

Ready for Fall Weather

I know I have a couple of months before we have fall weather, but I am ready.  School has been in full swing for over a month now and there have been all sorts of fundraisers, parent meetings, and whatever else.  Furlough was cut short by six weeks with an ominous side note as to how much expenses will be next fiscal year if we do not have a budget set in place. 
It was a wonderful day to find Vladimir Putin giving advice on democracy,  and the President at a meeting with cabinet members actually said that they had to return to figuring out a budget and something to the effect of improving customer satisfaction.  Comparing Americans to customers doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  Can we shop somewhere else??  I guess if we wanted to be Ex-pats we could. 


I am still crocheting away and here is my new favorite hat:

 

 

 

This uses a self patterning sock yarn.  I am working on scarves and hats for the homeless at the moment.  I sent the shawl off to my pen pal and now she is having warm weather.  I also have to start on blankets for the winter.   Hope all is well!

 

 

News Fast

Yes, I've taken a little bit of a news fast this week.  I turned it on this morning to hear yet another rant about Snowden.  Yeah, we spy on them they spy on us.  I turned it off.  Right now Obamacare is what is bothering me the most, that and the big F (furlough) that starts in a week.  It seems that my insurance company and it's underwriters or whatever, are in renegotiation with a lot of it's doctors, I am only assuming it for the upcoming changes in January.  So, my dermatologist, is one of those doctors, and I am due for my cancer screening.  She is a great doctor (remember when Obama said you can keep your doctor?), well either I go as out of provider and try to recoup some of the cost or I wait six months to see if maybe they worked it all out.  Why don't I try another doctor?  Most of the ones in my area are in renegotiation, I have already had skin cancer, and did I mention previously my doctor is great?   As long as the children's doctor is o.k. that is all that matters right now. 

I have been busy crocheting, my youngest likes bears:

I made the one on the right first and so much fun with it I made the one on the left.  Now they hang out together.  The pattern is from http://www.lalylala.com/.  I bought it a while ago and finally sat down to make them.  Small hooks are starting to get to my hands and I might have to buy the ergonomic hooks.   

Previously I did a rant on writing more letters.   I read an article not too long ago about a 22 year old man having to have his grandmother's diaries translated.  Not because they were in a foreign language, but because they were written in cursive.  Did I not hear a blurb about a witness in the Treyvon Martin case signing a statement and couldn't read it because it was in cursive?   I have a pen pal in Australia, a lovely woman in her 70's that I write to.  She sent me this chalk picture that I have to have framed:

I love it.  It is winter there so I am working on a shawl for her:

This pattern if from Ravelry and it's called Anna's Shawl.  It is a free pattern and easy to do.  I am 95% finished with it but unfortunately I did not pick up enough yarn, it takes 4 skeins and I had to go up two hook sizes because I crochet too tight, I am hoping the dye lot won't be too far off when I pick up another skein.  I hope she likes it, you can't see it too clearly in my picture but if you click on the link you will see how nice it really is.  I also plan on doing more crochet for charity, which I will share in a future post.

Also, my pen pal is looking for other pen pals in their 60's and 70's to write to.  She asks that they are born again.  Now her handwriting is a little rough but she really is a lovely woman.  If interested let me know. 

On to food,  I am mixed up mutt of nationalities which makes me an American, that means if I wanted to experiment with foods from all of those nationalities, I would never run out of new things to try.  Italian food makes my heart sing.  My husband jokes that if I don't have sauce (and it is sauce not gravy), I go through withdrawal.  Growing up on Italian food and cooking it, I rarely look at Italian recipes.  One morning I saw this young Italian guy cooking on T.V. and thought I'm buying that book.  So here he is:

I have tried a couple of recipes and I like them and hope to make more.  Fabio Viviani is proof that the American Dream is still alive.  He is young, cocky and works hard.

My oldest is here from New York, we actually got him here without having to drive to another state to pick him up unlike last year.  That is the main reason why I haven't been posting lately.  Week one of his visit is over and we are starting on week two.  So far so good, he hasn't been bored enough to run screaming.  

Hope all is well with everyone, try to stay cool!