Taking Charge

I’ve turned into a monster. Seriously. Every time I sit down with nothing to do, I start crocheting. Yesterday and Today, I was playing with some really pretty cotton thread-like stuff that came from Peaches & Creme. I didn’t like it to make blankets, it didn’t work up as nicely as what I usually use. It was heavy and I didn’t care for the feel of it. So, I went and found a dishcloth pattern that I really liked. It’s called Over The Rainbow. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, just from looking at it, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. It worked up quickly and I really like the results of it.

Mom didn’t care for the openness of the dishcloth, so she recommended that I find a different pattern if I was going to make more. I can see the point, since you want a surface to work with and the holes are defeating the purpose, so back to the site I went and found a really pretty heart dishcloth. It worked up easy, but I ended up miscounting the stitches, so it’s uneven. I think I know how it happened, since I was watching a movie and chatting while I was working on it.

You can always tell who the NASCAR fans on the road are. You either see their vehicle painted in the color scheme of their favorite driver or they have a car spoiler that looks like the rear spoiler on a stock car.

Think I’m kidding? I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it first hand, more than once. Living near a NASCAR track, you see a lot of odd things when it’s time for the local race. Even when it’s not race fever in the area, you’ll still see it. Someone has a van that has Dale Earnhardt’s #3 painted on it.

It’s funny to see what fanatics will do to celebrate their favorites, no matter the sport of choice.

So one of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately is the fact that it was 8 years ago that I spent 3 days on a bus going from New York to Las Vegas to meet Rob. It was 8 years ago on January 21 that I got my first glimps of a hotel in Vegas.

I spent 3 days traveling through different states, through part of the North and some of the South even. Eating meals whatever looked edible from crappy bus terminals. I think the worse one was Amarillo, Texas. Middle of the night, packed full of people. Dirty, nasty and just creepy.

Some days, I wouldn’t mind making that trip again. But I made the cross country trip four different times (twice each way) in a year and a half. The first time coming back to New York, we came through Colorado and I had a RAGING double ear infection. Yeah.. It’s been eight long years. Years that I wouldn’t trade in.

So, yesterday when Rob and I were out, I saw the new sign for the local nursing facility and just shook my head. They recently changed hands, so a new name was inevitable. The problem is, they gave the entire facility the name Elderwood. Now, I could see if it was a senior living community, but this is a full fledged nursing facility.

The majority of patients are lifers that need care all the time. Elderwood would be a fitting name for the assisted living facility that is part of the campus, but overall? I think they need to rethink it. Everyone thinks I’m odd for not liking it. Maybe I am. Maybe I just preferred Tioga Nursing Facility. Kind of hard to teach an old dog new tricks and I told my husband that. It’ll always be Tioga to me.

Hell, it was Tioga General Hospital when I was growing up, then Tioga Nursing Facility. Now it’s Elderwood? How are you going to break a 32 year old habit?