Sophie's Story

   I had found a simple pattern for a crocheted sweater. It's really more like a pair of sleeves. You crochet a rectangle and then fold it over and seam it. I found some blue yarn with red and green in it to use for this project.   I was sitting on the couch working on it when I heard a voice say "Hey!"   I looked around the room. No one was there. I knew it wasn't the cats because they were both sleeping in our bedroom. I started working again. "Hey! Look down here," the voice said. I looked down at the floor. "I'm right next to you," the voice said.   I looked next to me. All I saw was the ball of yarn that I was using.  "Are you taking to me?" I said to the yarn.  "Of course, do you see any one else in the room?" I let that comment pass.  "Sorry, " I said, "I didn't realize that yarn can talk."  "Well, normally we don't. However you aren't paying attention to what you are do...

      Hi This is Scamp. My Christmas present to Sophie this year is to write the Christmas column for her. I decided that the best time to write it would be this morning. It's still dark outside. Only Sophie,Colby  and I are up. Sophie turned on the Christmas tree lights for us. It's beautiful.    All the presents were given last night. There weren't very many. It's not that we can't afford them. It's because we have everything we want and everything we need.   Really we do. We have a nice house with a good furnace that keeps us all warm. Sophie and C have running water. (As cats the only running water we need is in our drinking fountain. We do have one.) We have soft places to sleep and exercise equipment. (They are not toys.) We have plenty of food. We have cat trees to sit in while we guard the front yard.   Most and best of all we have each other. I have Colby who is the best brother I could ever imagine having. (I come from a litter of s...

   Last year I purchased a new pair of glasses. I was in a rush to purchase as I needed to get this done before the end of the year to use my flex plan money. I wasn't sure about the nosepiece. I always got glasses with thin frames and two small silicon pads for the nose piece.  This way they can be adjusted and the glasses won't slide down my nose. The new glasses had a solid plastic piece that I was told would not slide down.   After several weeks of constantly having to push my glasses up as they slid nearly to the tip of my nose, I gave up. I was tired of having to hold them up all the time and tired of the skull crushing headaches I was having from the sliding lenses. I was not about to tape the nose piece to my face which was the only option I had for keeping them up. I decided to go back to wearing last year's pair.   My prescription had changed only a little bit. I didn't notice any difference except that I was much more comfortable.   I went t...

   I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but I can't keep my mouth shut any longer. (Big Surprise)    Most of you who read this column on a regular basis know that I am a fan of the Green Bay Packers. This is not a popular stance to take living in Minnesota and living in the Twin Cities area. In fact I think the team is now based out of Eagan which is not far away from here.   As a Packer fan I am supposed to dislike the Vikings (also the Bears and Lions). As a good Packer fan, I don't root for any of those teams unless they are playing San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo or New England.   My problem with the Vikings isn't the team. It's the fans. I don't like most Minnesota Vikings fans. They tend to get rather obnoxious. In the interest of fairness, I don't live in Green Bay.  I'm sure there are some obnoxious fans there too. In fact I have heard that there is a group of fans that moon the opposing team's bus as it leaves Lambeau ...

   Yesterday C and I were running errands. We had to grocery shop and purchase a few other things. The last stop we made was at a local Target store. I needed to buy some things and I didn't want C to see what I was getting. (Saint Nicholas Day is tomorrow.)   I did not get a basket because I was only going to pick up a few things. As I was walking through one section to check out, I dropped a Christmas tree ornament that I found. It was glass so it shattered on impact. The pieces were spread all over the floor. I didn't want anyone to get cut, so I went in search of a store employee to call for clean up. I went to the jewelry section. No one there. I checked the dressing room. There were people trying things on, but no employees. I looked in the aisles to see if maybe someone was restocking or facing shelves. No luck. There was a long line at the return desk and every cash register had a line. I was frustrated. I'm sure that if I didn't need help, I would have se...

   I trudged in to work on Monday morning. The Thanksgiving weekend was over. It is the time of the year that I dislike more than any other. I opened the door of the pharmacy and shut off the alarm. I took off my coat, stowed my things away for the day, took my mug of tea to my work station and logged on.   Something was different. I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Whatever it was, it was making me feel pretty good. I didn't mind the fact that I wasn't getting as much work done as I'd hoped. I wasn't even worried that the overnight snow fall was going to make my tech late. In fact, I was borderline cheerful.   Then it hit me. There was no sound. It wasn't because the store was deserted. There were a few customers shopping in the store. What I wasn't hearing was the sound of Christmas music playing. The Musak was turned off. It was quiet.   At that moment I would have turned a backflip if I could. I would have done a bunch of fist pumps and a vic...

  It's been a rough year. People are getting shot everywhere. Terrorists are wrecking havoc wherever they can. Refugees trying to flee violence have nowhere to go. There's unkindness and hate just about everywhere.   Now it's Thanksgiving. It really doesn't look like there is much to be thankful for.   It's been truly hard for me to feel grateful for anything lately. We're training in new staff at work which means my short day is nine hours. I'm running at top speed  all the time and feeling like I get very little done. I came down with a head cold that just won't go away and I haven't had time to practice my instruments, get my summer clothes out of my closet or knit or crochet anything.   Can we just cancel this holiday?  I know the retail outlets wouldn't mind. Thanksgiving is just an impediment anyway. If we skip it, then we can so straight on to Christmas which is the more important holiday. Right?   Wrong. We really need to pause for ...

  The past few months I've noticed a couple of habits I have that I don't like. I decided I wanted to break these habits. I've got a lot of willpower. It's not going to be hard. Let me tell you how I'm doing.   The first bad habit I noticed is that I start many sentences with the word "so". I wasn't sure if this was just me or some sort of Midwestern thing. I posted the question on Facebook and several people replied that they have the same habit. It seems to be a Midwestern thing.   As a seasoned Toastmaster I know that the first step to getting rid of filler words is to notice that you say them. I had that part done. The next step was simple. Stop using the word "so" in front of a sentence.   It's not as easy as it seems. It kept coming out. "So what are you going to do this weekend?" "So this is how you do this...." So....when are you planning to take your break?" A line from "Sound of Music" kep...

   About a year a go I decided that I wanted to knit a scarf for each of my stepdaughters. Since my stepson did not want a scarf, I knitted one for his wife. Each scarf was going to be in the owner's favourite colour. I bought all the yarn I needed and went to work. Now, a little over one year later, the last scarf is finished.   It's been an interesting exercise to make these scarves. I decided that I was not going to use a pattern. I was going to use several types of stitches and then randomly change them. Each scarf was going to be unique. The scarves I made for Denise, Carrie and Carmen were made from different colours of the same type of yarn. Mariah (my daughter-in-law) has a scarf made from a thinner variegated yarn. Elin's scarf is made from black and silver threads. Today I'd like to write about some lessons I learned from knitting these scarves.   It's all right to not use a pattern. This was something of a leap of faith for me. I've never made any...

   A month or so ago I saw an ad on TV. Part of the Professional Football Hall of Fame was going on tour and stopping in Minneapolis. There would be displays, Minnesota Vikings players that had been enshrined in the HOF and games and activities for the children. At the bottom of the logo announcing the  tour was something I found a bit offensive. It said, "Honor the Heroes".   Now, a bit of disclaimer is in order. I enjoy football. I have been known to yell at the TV screen. I can sometimes be found wearing a Packer jersey and cheesehead hat rooting for my favourite team. I like the fact that it's kind of a human chess game with each side trying to figure out how to take advantage of the weaknesses in the other team. I do admit, I prefer games where my favourite team gains a comfortable margin and keeps it. I'm not a big fan of nail biters. (If neither teams is of interest to me then bring on the close games.)   That being said, I don't consider football pl...

   I enjoy listening to talks or sermons by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are a couple of reasons why I do this. The first is that these leaders are all very good public speakers. As a long time member of Toastmasters, I enjoy watching and learning from the example of good public speakers. I also like the messages of the talks. You don't need to be LDS to appreciate some of the topics. (although it may help to understand some of the references.)   One of the talks that I listened to lately was one by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland titled "Israel, Israel God is Calling". In this talk he tells a story about a young friend of his who played college basketball. The school he was playing for didn't really need his particular skill set so the young man didn't play much. The young man decided, with the support of his coaches, to transfer to another school where he could be of more use and perhaps be able to play more. A while later the ...

   The Toastmaster requested that those attending the Halloween meeting dress in costume. I told her I would wear my Renaissance noblewoman's costume. The only thing that I asked is that she also wear something and that she come to the post meeting coffee hour in costume as well. (because I would not be able to change clothes.)   I refer to the outfit in question as the big blue dress. Actually, there is a question as to whether the dress is blue or purple. It depends on the light. It's a four part outfit as it is an authentic gown. There is a white gauze shift, a satin underskirt with an insert of taffeta, a velvet overskirt which shows a little of the underskirt and an ornate bodice. The top of the bodice sleeves are made of a dark gold material and are puffy. The puffy part ends midway down the upper arm. The rest of the sleeve is blue velvet that matches the overskirt. I have a matching blue velvet hat and pouch.   Since it is made authentically, there a...

   We're back from Door County. We're working on unpacking. It's a long process because we spend one day shopping.   As I wrote last week, there are no chain stores on the peninsula. All the stores (except Shopko) are owned by local people. We have several stores that we like to patronize. One of them is a British import shop. C likes a certain brand of cologne that is stocked there. We buy a years supply of it. We also buy lemon curd, toffee sauce and sometimes mustard. We buy some strawberry jam and drinking chocolate.   Our next stop is to buy some maple syrup and buckwheat honey. We buy it from a family that has been tapping trees for over 50 years. The shop is run out of a small shop next to the owner's home. The lady we buy it from comes out of the house with her walker. C and I enjoy her stories of her growing up years in Door County.   There's a small shop that sells cat related items. I go there to find a present for my friend Mickey who is a big c...

   C and I are enjoying another vacation in Door County. We got here last Friday and have been having a good time and a restful time. We always do.    There's a lot of things we like about this area. I think I've written about most of them. One thing I have not written about is the food.  There is a lot of good food here.   One thing I like about Door County is that there are no chain restaurants here. None. No chains of any kind really, unless you count the Shopko near Sister Bay. That means that a lot of good chefs start reaturants here and do not have to worry about competition  from cheap places like McDonalds. This makes for a lot of nice places that are run by real folks who are interested in making good food and giving thier customers a good experience. I'd like to mention a few of our favourites and what we like to eat there. These are in no particular order.   The first one is Wilson's in Ephraim. It's an old soda fountain type resta...

  In January I shipped my wedding dress off to my friend Sarah. (Goodbye Dress January 2015) She sent me a few pattern ideas. I tried to pick the least complicated one. I didn't want this project to be a burden on her. I chose the wedding ring pattern. It just seemed appropriate given what I was sending her for materials.   Over the months I would email her and ask her how it was going. I didn't want to seem like I was being impatient, I was simply interested in the process. I wondered how it would work having a wedding dress instead of a bolt of cloth for materials.   She wrote to me in August and apologized. She had wanted to have it done by our anniversary. I didn't mind. Things of quality take time and I wanted her to take all the time she needed. I know that she's busy and has a young son. I didn't want her to feel like she was  under any pressure to get it done quickly.  She had sent me some pictures of the quilt in its almost finished state. The...

   Now that the weather is starting to change I've been pulling my winter and fall clothes out of storage. I don't usually pay attention to them except to note items that are too worn to wear to work, thinks that need replacing or washing.   This time I really looked at what I had. I noticed that I wear mostly three colours, white, blue and pink. The vast majority of my wardrobe is a variation on one of those shades. It made me wonder if I was stuck in a color rut. One of the things I'm trying to do these days is to step slightly out of my comfort zone. Things like trying to knit something without using a pattern, training to run a 5K (No, we have not done this yet.) or attempting to cook a main dish that doesn't involve meat or pasta.   I'm sure that some of you are shaking your heads. Nothing I've done so far is really outside a comfort zone. To me, it is.   I know that when a woman finds colours or styles that look good on her, she tends to stay with t...

   I've just spent the last 20 minutes looking at knitting patterns. There were plenty of other things I should be doing, like writing this column or washing the casserole pan that has been sitting in the sink for the last hour and a half.   I get patterns delivered to my email about every other day. I have to look through them all to see if I want them, right? Don't I? I have to keep my in box clean.   I think this is another addiction that knitters and maybe crocheters are prone to . If you can't get to the yarn shop to buy more yarn than you will ever need in your lifetime, then you must go online and find patterns.   The challenge is that the patterns have such cool names all designed to tempt you. There's the Wrapped in Clouds shawl, the Autumn Rose shawl and the Chocolate Cake  cowl. There's the Goddess Dream wrap and the Angel shawl. Who wouldn't  want to knit any of these things? (Well... someone who doesn't know how to knit probably...) I...

  This is Scamp. I am writing today's column.     Every morning Colby and I eat some wet cat food and some dry cat food for breakfast. The dry food is served in two small metal dishes near our water dish. (We have a really cool water dish, it's a fountain. I love it. ) A few months ago part of the dry food was in the dishes and the rest was in a food ball. A food ball is a plastic ball with holes in it. There is a way that the holes can be made larger or smaller. The food is inside the ball. The way to get the food out is to roll the ball with your nose or paw. I would eat the food out of the dishes and then go to the food ball and get more. It was kind of fun.   A few weeks ago when I went to eat some dry food the dishes were gone. There was one food ball in their place. I immediately went to Sophie and asked her what was going on.   She explained to me that she and C were trying to eat healthier and she decided that should include Colby and...

   We had just got home where the phone rang. It was Ben from next door. They were going to have a fire and wanted to know if we wanted to come over and roast a few hot dogs with them. We had picked up a pizza on our way home, so C told Ben that we were going to eat and then we'd be over.   I was sort of surprised that they were home this weekend. Like 3/4 of the people who live in Minnesota, they have a cabin that they go to on weekends. (Which makes me wonder, where do people in northern Minnesota have their cabins?) I was looking forward to spending sometime getting to know them better. We always waved to each other when we were coming or going. Our two driveways share an outlet into the street. Ben is very good about pushing the snow away from the entrance after the plow has gone through. C and Ben have talked a bit, but I didn't know either of them very well.   After we got done eating we walked across their yard to where the fire was. I wasn't sure if ...

   She told me that the cancer had come back. I was sad for her, but not surprised. I've seen this happen many times before. We've made great strides in cancer treatment, but cancer is a slippery devil. A few cells can hide themselves and slowly grow until one day they pop out of nowhere like unwelcome guests at a surprise party. That wasn't the worst of the news. The cancer had not only come back, it had also spread. It couldn't be cut away, chemoed away or radiated away. Her future had been cut down to a couple of years.   The next time I saw my tech, Rae, I told her. This customer was one of her favorites. We take good care of all of our customers, but all of us have a couple that we get a bit closer too. I didn't want Rae to be blindsided by this news.   A few days later the customer came in. Rae went to help her. I listened in on as much as I could. I caught a few snippets here  and there. After the customer left, I asked Rae what had happened.   ...

   There are times when I know what I'm going to write about. I have my column written in my head and all I have to do is log in and type. Then there are the days when I have no idea what I'm going to write. Sitting in front of the computer is sometimes excruciating. I've been known to sit in front of the computer for as much as three hours trying to write something that is worth posting. Then there are the days when I have a few ideas, none of them really enough to make an entire column.   Today I've got a few topics that have been rattling around in my head. I'm going to write about them in no particular order. None of them are related to each other. I hope you find them interesting.   This past Sunday I taught in Relief Society. Part of my lesson was on chastity. With that, the topic of modesty came up. Modesty is incredibly out of fashion.   This is something I have never understood. It seems that if you choose to keep you necklines high and your h...

   Today was a really nice day. The alarm went off at 5:15 this morning and I rolled over and shut it off. Since my alarm clock is also my Ipod,I checked my email. There was a little bit of junk mail and one unexpected surprise. I had an email from one of my former interns. She was thinking about her time with me and decided to write.    I seldom hear from an intern after they finish my rotation and recieve thier grade. The last time an intern wrote to me she wanted a reference for a residency. I wrote the required letter, but never heard if she got it or not.   This intern had never written to me before. It was a short newsy letter that detailed some of the travelling she'd been doing. She asked me how I was and what I was doing.   What a nice start to the day! After I read the email, I changed into my workout gear and headed for the eliptical.    C gave me an Ipad for my birthday. Lately I've been using it to watch talks by LDS leaders on ...

   One of the big stories in the news right now is the continuing saga of Kim Davis. For those of you who don't know she is a Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Her reason for doing this is that it violates her beliefs.  This made me think of the healthcare provider conscience clause. These are laws that allow health care providers to opt out of having to perform certain procedures or provide certain products based on personal or religious values. The most common application for this law is to allow physicians refuse to perform abortions and pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control pills or the "morning after" pill. (After searching the internet, I have not been able to determine if Minnesota has a conscience clause or not.)   I remember many years ago when discussion over these laws was a hot topic in the pharmacy  profession. It was criticized by everyone. Those who opposed the law felt that it wa...

     Early this morning while the rain was pouring outside and the thunder and lightening were keeping me from sleep, I was racking my brain trying to think of something to write about. I was sort  of in a bad mood because I had discovered that a family member (not C) had lied to me. If you know me at all then you know that this is a special irritation of mine.  I firmly believe that one should always keep one's word. Honesty is the best policy.   I was all primed and ready to write a column on the evils of dishonesty and how it ruins so many things. I was planning on ranting about how people just don't seem to think that they need to keep their word. I was going to write about those who lie to get what they want from other people and seem to have no guilt about misleading people.   Before I got started writing I had some things to do. I needed to call two friends of mine. One of them was Agnes and the other was Evelyn. Both of them are elderl...

  Yesterday someone asked me what my favourite or most memorable birthday present was. I was stumped. I honestly couldn't remember any. I know I got some, but I just couldn't think of one. I can remember the nutcracker that I got for Christmas one year. (We did the Nutcracker Suite in orchestra that year.) I remember the blender that an ex-boyfriend gave me for Valentine's Day. (I still have it.) I remember some of the things that we got as wedding presents. I just couldn't think of any birthday presents aside of the ones I was given last year. (A lovely collection of scented soaps and a book on how to crochet along with a brand-new crochet hook.)   I thought about it the rest of the day. Then I remembered another custom from my days as a single woman. Since I spent most of my birthdays alone, I would buy myself a birthday present. Now it was starting to come back to me.   At that time in my life I liked jewelry.(I still do.) I'm fond of semiprecious stones in...

   I couldn't decide what I was going to write about today. I decided that I would ask Scamp what he thought, He's got good taste and he's been hanging around me for the past several hours hoping that I will give him a treat.   I thought I might write about the recent release of hacked information from a website for people who want to arrange extramarital affairs. I was thinking of musing (or ranting) about how no one seems to care about the amount of damage that something like that can do. If a public figure can be caught and unveiled as a hypocrite everyone is happy. No one cares about the spouse, children and family of the person who has just been exposed.   My other option was to write about how I started hosting the Annual Birthday Lunch which will take place later this week. Scamp told me that I had done quite a bit of ranting the past few weeks and that readers would probably prefer something more positive. Colby chimed in to let me know that he agreed wit...

   This Friday C and I will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. I tend to read articles on marriage about this time of year just for fun. Today I'd like to share a few thoughts I have.   On Sunday one of the speakers at church mentioned that she and her husband had nearly forgotten their wedding anniversary. She received a happy anniversary message from someone that reminded her.   I must admit I was a little shocked. I can't wrap my head around the concept of forgetting such an important date. How is this possible? To be fair, she and her husband have been married longer than C and I have. They also have children and I can imagine that their busy family life could result in losing track of time and forgetting an anniversary.   I sometimes wonder if anniversaries become less important when you are certain that there will be many of them. When young couples marry there is a sense of great optimism. They will be together and in love for many, many years. ...