Jack Frost is Making Some Warm Blankets

  This yarn appeared at K&CC at a perfect time.  I had received some green yarn from one of the ladies at Monday knit-night and was going to use that for a blanket I had in mind.  Before I cast it on I changed my mind on the pattern.  While trying to decide if I had enough yarn of another color for the first pattern, this one showed up on Saturday.  There is definitely enough and I love the color.
  I'm glad that I went with a nice and easy pattern right now.  The one problem with working on a costume and putting off some of your work is that it won't magically get done and it is easy to get behind.  Luckily it hasn't become too busy yet, so I'm not too far behind.  One thing that doesn't help is that we are trying some new things, but if those things go smoothly, it will be easier in the long run.  I'm also working on a How-To Guide for everything so I won't have to do what Linda did when she retired from the job and I took over.  She wrote me a list of things to do in order, but as she was getting to the end of the list she remembered things she had forgotten.  The list went from being in order to being a bit jumbled.  I am keeping a file going and as I do something I am making sure to include it.  Hopefully that will keep me from skipping any bits that I just do without having to think about.

  Dawn told me that I was going to teach a class using this new-to-Jo-Ann-Fabrics-yarn.  It is fuzzy yarn with loops built in so you don't need to know how to knit or crochet to make things with it.  I thought that sounded fun and looked at the pattern that I was supposed to teach.
  The pattern was to make an infinity cowl.  That sounded fun so I looked at the instructions.  The first instruction was to count 109 loops.  That is when I knew we were not going to be following those.  The class is only about 2.5 hours and I knew a lot of that would be to count to 109.  I also knew from playing around with it that someone would need to get a few rows in before it was stable enough to be moved.

  This was what I had them work on.  It is 12 stitches wide and I made them turn it over each row so they learned how to do both knit and purl stitches.  There were many instances where they had to take out some stitches because something went wrong and had to take some out.  One of my students got about half-way done, another got about 3/4, and the last actually got her whole scarf done.  This makes it a pretty quick project and only used about one skein.
  Dawn mentioned to them about the pattern that they were supposed to learn and they all agreed that the cowl pattern sounded like a cool idea, but that it sounded way too hard for a first project.

I Feel Much Better Now

  This is what I started and worked on during Turkey-day week.  Bill and I headed north on Tuesday and spend until Sunday in New Jersey.  I joked that I was going to hang out with the Jersey Devil.  Never saw him, but I did keep an eye out.
  A week of dinners with anywhere between 12-32 people probably doesn't sound relaxing, but it was what I needed.  We went to the spa, chased small children around, found some goodies while antiquing, cooked, ate way too much, drank a healthy amount, and laughed too loudly.  It was perfect.

Here is a quick breakdown of what all happened:

• Wednesday: Spa, cheese and champagne, pizza dinner
• Thursday: Mimosas and 3 soup lunch, wine and a whole buffet of options for dinner
• Friday: Bagels and lox lunch, antique shopping, beer tasting, distillery visiting (kitten petting), and 4 types of salmon and sides for dinner (accounting for the following dietary restrictions: Kosher, allergic to black pepper, vegetarian, allergic to turkey)
• Saturday: blueberry pancakes, hanging out, and smoked brisket, smoked ribs, and veggies for dinner
• Sunday: Eggs Benedict brunch, hike, beer, then a long drive home

  Now I feel like I can tackle the craziness of work and trying to find time to knit without too much trouble.  I'm a little behind because of the trip, but I'm not worried because we will work it all out in the end.  That just means less knitting time for me until I get caught up.

When It Rains...

  I have started this post about 5 times so far.  Everything has just been moving so fast that I can't seem to get my head around it.  At first I was going to ask for some warm wishes to help a friend get better, then things went downhill before I could start that post, then things fell off a cliff.  The last few days were a whirlwind of trying to get things moved out of an apartment in a gated community, getting work done, and dealing with everything going wrong at work.  I'm pretty sure there was some knitting in there too, but I might have just dreamed that.
  I am pretty proud that I was able to move Bill's truck in a small parking garage a few times and even backed into multiple spaces.  Back-up cameras are magical.

  Here is a picture of Tank being cute to keep you entertained until I can manage to get out of this whirlwind and get my feet onto more solid ground.

Time for Hats and Sweaters

  As you can see, Tank is also excited for autumn.  I am too!

  There has been some radio silence on here because a few things have been happening.  Work is starting to pick back up again, but that was expected.  What wasn't expected was that Bill suggest we do a couples cosplay for the anime convention this coming weekend.  We talked a little about ideas and how I was going to have to do most of the work for both costumes.
  I then did some research and found some pictures of the version of the costume I wanted to do for mine.  I started working on it and everything was taking a lot longer than I thought it was going to be.  I had planned on finishing the under-shirt and jacket the first week, the accessories the next week, and then anything for Bill in any 'between' times, weekends, and just his stuff on the last week.  Well, the undershirt somehow took me five days to sew.  The jacket only took about two and I made three samples for it before I found a pattern that both fit and I liked how it looked.  Everything else has both been pushed back a few days and also some of the things have also taken longer than I thought they would.  So some things got pushed back by a few days, and then a few more.  I know I won't be able to get everything I wanted done, but I think I will be able to get the costume to a place where I am alright with wearing it and having people see it.

 In knitting news, the blue sweater is almost done.  All it needs now is a good soaking, some blocking and drying time, then finally, the two buttons.  I have also started a blue hat for the Hat Not Hate project started by Lion Brand Yarns.  I know that October 1st has come and gone, but Shira from Lion Brand says that the project spans the entire month.

It is Possible!

  This is the first lipstick that I have ever used up! I know I could go in with a lip brush and dig more product out, but it is getting really old and I feel that I have enjoyed it enough.  I also have a lot of other lipsticks that are in line to get some love.
  I also finished the Skin79 BB-Cream sample I have been using.  They do not mess around with those samples.  They look like it would be easy to use them up in a few wears, but they seem to have more product in them than the little squeeze tube lets on.

  I have had these sitting around for way too long.  I remember they were from a demo a long time ago at JoAnn Fabrics.  This was back when we had enough people to spare someone on a Saturday just to demonstrate something.  It was also a good time before I switched to just teaching there.
  The demonstration was to sell the little baby hats and headbands that were ready to wear.  The twisted ribbon flower things are clips that were also ready to wear and can be taken off the hat/head band again.  The strawberry and frog were iron-on patches.  I liked this because everything turned out to be really cute.  It was also really quick and easy.

  This is another one I have been unintentionally aging.  The store where I worked had three mannequins on a display.  A child sized body, a teen/young adult body, and an adult body.  We would receive seasonally appropriate clothing for the mannequins to try and sell patterns and fabric.  This was the one for summer child mannequin.  The problem we had with this was that it kept wanting to fall down, so we would put straight pins near the top.  Then people would try and see how it was made, so they would pull at the top and then there would be straight pins on the floor.
  The way these are made is to measure the chest of the recipient, take off an inch or two from that number, and that is how much of this style of fabric you should get.  Also, make sure the person cutting the fabric cuts through the ruched part, and then tears the bottom because it won't want to lay flat for cutting.  The last step is to either sew or surge the seam along the back and you are all done.  You could add ribbon straps if you would like to help hold it on, but those are optional.

  This is something that I have actually made.  I started it soon after I finished my Shear that I posted about not long ago.  While I liked the pattern, you know how I like messing with patterns as well.  I think this would be really interesting as the body of a sweater, so you can really get a feel for the stitch pattern on a larger scale.  A scarf might also be fun because both sides are interesting looking.

Is it Fall Yet?

  I've been trying to figure out if the lipstick I've been trying to pan has gone bad or if the wax is just sweating.  It is also pretty old, so I might be retiring it before I totally finishing it.  I have finished a few more items and have made note about it on my 2018 Project Pan page.  We'll see how it looks in a day or two.
  I plan on adding a small eye-shadow palette to the list to go with the gold eye-shadow and the bronzer.  While I still like my usual look I make with the two of them, I like being able to change it up.  I didn't like it at all the first few times I tried it, but this last time it really impressed me.  I used a different eye-shadow base, so that is probably the big difference and what helped it perform better.

  The light blue sweater is coming along nicely.  I was trying to think of something fun to do along the sleeves, but I think that keeping them plain will help to really test my theory.  If I make more like this, then I can mess with sleeve patterning more.

 While I'm glad that summer will be coming to an end at some point, I'm not looking forward to it becoming busy at work.  I don't mind the work, it just means that I will have less time to knit and pretend that I'm cleaning my house.  There will be some more changes on how things get done, so I'm hoping that the entire process will be sped up a little and give me more time to knit again.
 I am really excited to wear longer sleeves and not have to worry about the temperature of a building when knitting larger things too.  I would add that I'm excited to drink hot tea and hot chocolate, but Bill likes to keep our house a bit chilly, so I can do those things all year long.

A Deconstructed Cold

  I went to Otakon for the first time in a few years.  Overall it was pretty fun.  I had forgotten that it has grown so big that unless you want to wait in line for two hours, there is a good chance that you will not make it into all the panels you want to.  Otakon had become more of a dress up and see everyone else's costumes kind of convention.  That being said, Krissy and I got into a few of the panels we were hoping to.  We learned about 3D printing(Spoolishness), traditional kanzashi making(Atelier Kanawa), and silicone mold making(BlakAnubis Cosplay).  I've linked to their various websites.  I feel smarter and now have a bunch of ideas for how to make things for future costumes.
  I also brought home some con-crud with me.  If you don't know what that is, it is the germs that people share with you while you wonder around a crowded convention center.  This cold has been the weirdest I have ever had though.  On Wed morning I had a scratchy throat.  I did everything I could to keep it at bay.  I felt like I should also have a stuffed up nose, but didn't have that.  For a few days I felt like I was on the edge of getting something, but wasn't quite getting the full force of it.  Sunday evening was when my throat had been fine for most of a day and then my nose got congested.
  I figured this happened so I could fully experience each part of a cold.  There were no other symptoms to distract me.  I was fully immersed in the sore throat or the inability to breath through my nose.  At least that is the fancy way I have been thinking about it.  Either way, it is weird.

  I also realized that even though I did my math for the raglan sweater twice, I still didn't totally do it correctly.  When I figured out the numbers for the half-way points for the increases and added them to the starting numbers, I somehow forgot that each section gets an increase on both sides.  I only accounted for one of them.  So instead of increasing to the halfway point, I only increased to the quarter point.  This meant that I got to take out about 20 rows of knitting.  It gave me something to do to take my mind off how I missed being surrounded by anime fans.


Donated:
Poly-fil: 4 24oz bags
Yarn: 60 166 172 174 183 193 skeins

Discarded:
Poly-fil: a few handfuls
Yarn: 7 skeins

A Leafy Set

  I finished the leafy dress!  The bottom flares more than I had planned on, but I still like it.  I don't know if it is too long or not, but I was having so much fun making it that I just kept going.  I made the increased the size of the leaves on every third repeat, that way it wasn't going to grow too quickly, or on the same side.  It looks like it is a gradient in the picture, but it is a solid color in real life.

  I had planned on trying to find a cute leaf button, but since the dress itself is already so busy, I decided to stick with a plain button.  I think it goes nicely.

  Since I already had a new idea on how I wanted to do the last row of leaves, I decided to make a cowl.  This time I cast on too few and it became the hat on the left.  I tried the decrease and felt like I liked it a lot better, but it didn't help me decide what to do at the bottom after the leaves so it wouldn't flare out as much.
  I had enough to make a short cowl.  I decided to try and do the decreases again with some ribbing on the bottom.  I don't like the decreases as much while it wasn't on the top of a hat.  I might have to keep working on it.

  This was a fun knit.  Shear by Emily Greene(Ravelry link) and it was a huge hit when I finished it on Wednesday.  The second it was off the needles everyone at the table wanted to see it and were asking about the pattern.  I'm pretty sure I got her four sales right there and I'm waiting for my commission to come in the mail.

  I have always both liked and disliked raglan style sweaters.  I like the diagonal lines, but I don't like how there usually ends up being a bunch of fabric bunched at your armpit area.  I know that happens because of the way the increases are made, but I was wondering if there was a way to "fix it."
  I had such a hard time with this before I even cast on.  All I wanted to find was a raglan style sweater with a smaller neck opening to begin with.  I wanted the numbers telling me how many stitches to start with and how many to end with.  First I had issues finding a sweater with the right neck shape that wasn't for a child or baby.  Then I had problems finding both sets of numbers.  The ones I checked told you your beginning numbers and then to work in the pattern until it was X" in length.  Then in the next step they would just tell you to work until you hit various stitch markers.  I finally used the gauge to reverse-math how many rows that would be and then how many increases I would be doing.  I finally got some numbers to work with!


Donated:
Poly-fil: 4 24oz bags
Yarn: 60 166 172 174 183 skeins

Discarded:
Poly-fil: a few handfuls
Yarn: 7 skeins

Taking Full Bags into the Grocery Store

  I finished that hat that I had started on the train to Florida.  I seem to be good at getting projects to come out larger than I picture in my head.  I know there are many things I can do to prevent this, but since most of my projects aren't for a specific person, it doesn't both me too much.

  I had planned for this hat to be for a kid, but it fits me just fine.  Since I was just trying out the pattern from a picture, I count this as a success.  I might try again to see if I can make a kid hat.

  I've moved the long list for my Project Pan to it's own page.  It was starting to get a bit long and I felt like it was starting to take over the post.  It also didn't change much each time, so I felt like it also wasn't adding much to each post it was in.  It can be found here.  I've added food and beverages to the bottom since I'm still pretty proud at how I'm getting through those things too.  I'm also not going to go overboard and record anything I use, only things that take some time or have been sitting around a bit too long.

  I got some funny looks on my way in to Wegmans on Saturday, but when the ladies were starting to go through the bags, there were a bunch of 'Ooh's and 'Ahh's.  A bunch of things disappeared really quickly.  I'm glad that people looked at those things with so much excitement.

Donated:
Poly-fil: 4 24oz bags
Yarn: 60 166 172 174 skeins

Discarded:
Poly-fil: a few handfuls
Yarn: 7 skeins

So Many Basement Things

  I'm still plugging away and have found another 106 skeins of yarn, and that is just a rough count.  If there are too many skeins in a bag, I just either count general lumps, or try and count labels.  Even after just typing that, I found another 6 skeins.
  I'm pretty sure that I have pulled everything that will be going out of the items from the basement, but since I was so successful with that, I will be doing something similar with the bags I have in my crafting storage room and the overflow in the guest bedroom.  There are a lot of those that I haven't looked at in quite some time.  All of that will free up some space and I can start moving some of the things out of the corners of the other rooms in the house and then we should start seeing some real progress.

 

  This is my set-up to dry the first batch of washed yarn.  I have been soaking them in a bucket with enzyme soap made for pet stains for a while, then soak again with more pet soap and some laundry detergent.  Plenty of rinsing to make sure all the soap is out and a quick spin in the washing machine before being put in front of the fan.  I find that while washing the yarn in the washing machine would be a bad idea, putting it in for a spin cycle gets most of the water out quite quickly.

  I was moving the last of some boxes that I will need to go through when this little friend landed on me.  I carefully walked upstairs and we both went outside.  I was worried that he/she would fly off before we got out, but they just enjoyed the ride.

  I've also almost finished the green leafy dress.  All I need to do now is to sew on a button, and block it.  I'm now working on my purse hat while I'm trying to figure out what size I want to make the leafy cowl.

Donated:
Poly-fil: 4 24oz bags
Yarn: 60 166 172 skeins

Discarded:
Poly-fil: a few handfuls
Yarn: 7 skeins

Basement Stuff

  With the demolition of the basement walls means that I need to deal with all the things I have stored in the room that will be my craft room someday.  I didn't want to think of it because when we got some mice in the house they loved all the soft things in there.  Most of the yarn was in bags, so they weren't affected, but I was starting to organize some to be put into my cube wall, so not all yarn was protected.
  I'm going through and pulling out all the clean stuff first.  I'm also using a part of the KonMari method of cleaning.  Her style tells you to gather all of one style of item you have and then go through them all one by one and see if any bring you joy when you hold it.  I'm not gathering all of my yarn together, but I am looking at my yarn as I pull them out.  If I don't want to start knitting with it right now, it goes.  I'm up to about 60 skeins in this picture.
  The dirty stuff will be delt with on a case by case basis.  If it looks too dirty to be worth trying to save, then it goes in the bin.  I already had to throw one out because it looked like it had been made into a nest.  If it doesn't look too bad, I might try and wash it.  Also, before anyone worries, I have read many websites on how to keep myself from catching any mouse cooties.

  I'm super close to finishing the green leafy dress.  I think I'm going to start the green leafy cowl right after I'm done.  Though I might also work on a summer bracelet that I have planned out.

Other Kinds of Project Pan?

  I know Hailey (Just Buy The Makeup) mentioned on her video about how people will use the Project Pan idea for things other than makeup.  I have started using it for food and beverage items.  I used to make one kind of tea one day and then another on another day.  Then I would get something new and forget about everything I had already started using.  I have also been working my way through a large container of oatmeal because we forgot a few times that we had some and bought more.
  It feels good to get those things finished too, especially since I have not been doing my best to work on my Makeup Project Pan items.  I used to wear more makeup when I worked my retail job, but since the cat doesn't care about what I look like, I have been wearing a lot less while working from home.  At least since I have all the items I want to use up in a separate bin, so I am using them more than might over-wise.

  I also finally got the video I took at the Tiny House Festival edited and uploaded.  Not sure why it took so much effort, but after re-saving the file twice and using two different browsers, I finally got it to upload.  I'm pretty proud of this one and I also forgot how much fun it was to edit videos about events or going places.

  I had planned on just using the same kind of decreasing for the bottom of the leafy dress, but then I realized that it would not give me the effect I wanted.  I wanted to give the effect of the dress being of one pattern and then these leaves are sitting on top of them.  So it wouldn't make sense for the background to cover the leaf, so I had to rethink my decrease style.  I took out about ten rows and tried again.  It isn't perfect because the new edges look really flat and not slightly rounded, but it looks a lot better.  I'm thinking of trying to make a cowl with this similar pattern to try something else.  I'm thinking of a center decrease.

  This might seem like an odd picture to show on here, but it is something that I'm proud of doing.  I have had these for at least five years since I got them at SaladWorks.  I had plans to use them for salads at home since they are a combination of bowl and plate.  This is the first time I have touched them since I had brought them home and washed them off.  I have been using a mixing bowl to eat my giant meal sized salads out of because it is also easy to mix them up in there and then I only make one dish dirty.
  Yesterday one of my friends brought me a bunch of purple items that had a fun glaze finish on them.  I had no idea where they could fit, then I realized that the place they would fit into the most was the cabinet with these plate/bowls in it.  The only problem is that there was no space to fit them in.  I started pulling some things out and when I got all of these out of the way, there was a perfect space.  These are now destined to head to the recycle center and become something new.

  Bill is having some fun in the basement now.  It has been longer than we had planned, but we are finally starting to tackle the basement.  Some of the things that were done down there are quite interesting.  The walls extend up higher than the ceiling and in some places they put some boards over top of the dry wall.  It will be interesting to see what other things we uncover along the way.

It's Been Raining so Much, no Wonder it's Growing!

  It is starting to look like a real item.  I am about to join under the armscye (arm hole) and be able to just knit in the round and not have to remember if I have to do a p2tog or a p2tog tbl when I come to a decrease.  You also can't tell yet, but I'm doing something fancy with the body lace pattern.  You are going to have to wait until I get farther along before I tell you what it is.

   This is Tank's little friend who he stalked through various parts of the house.  At one point he was staring at the pile of cans we have near our food shelves, then he wouldn't leave the area around the stove.  I heard a big commotion from him in the living room/dining room area and wondered if his friend had come out of hiding.  I was trying to figure out how to catch him/her while also trying to make sure Tank didn't do too much damage.  It was good for me that I had recently clipped Tank's claws.
  Little Squeak had managed to crawl into Bill's crate of papers while Tank was distracted.  I quickly dumped everything out of the donation box I had and leaned the crate into it.  This little guy/gal fell out and I was able to move them without Tank knowing what had happened.
  I don't know if Tank did anything to cause their back legs to become non-functional, but that is how I found him/her.  Part of me wanted to keep Little Squeak, but I knew a lot of reasons not to.  You can't really explain to the animal that you are going to take care of it and not eat it.  Tank would have also figured out where I was keeping it at some point and become obsessed trying to "play" with it.  So I put him/her outside and I hope the best for them.

FL Day 8: Back to The Train & Day 9: Home Again

DAY 8:
  We stayed at a hotel about half an hour away from the train station.  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, lounged around the room some, and still made it to check in before they officially opened.
  I asked about upgrading to a sleeper again since it was so nice the first time.  We had been told that sometimes there are last minute cancellations and you can sometimes get one.  We did not get it, but we were the last coach car before the sleeper cars, so that should count for something.  Our car attendant kept warning us that he was new and had only been doing it for 2 months.
  The train still has 15 people cars, but has 30 vehicle cars this time.  There are 246 cars and 10 motorcycles, which four of those are BMWs.  It is going to take even longer than the previous 1.5 hours to get the motorcycles off.
  Bill fell asleep while they were coupling the train back together and the guy across the isle from us kept muttering "Oh God" every time Bill snored.  He then said something about snoring but I didn't catch all of it.  I found it amusing.

  The dinner menu between the sleeper cars and the coach cars are a bit different.  I really wanted to try something on the sleeper menu, but didn't get to.  Maybe someday.
  We did get to sit with new people this time.  We talked with a couple who were heading back to their up-state NY home and had 7 hours of driving after they got off the train.

  Bill convinced me to play Gin with him after dinner.  I've never played before but I seemed to pick it you quickly since I won a few games.  I even won two games with a single hand each.
  I had seen another knitter in the train terminal, but I didn't see her again on the train itself.



DAY 9:

  The neck pillow helped a lot but I didn't get the best sleep.  The rocking of the train was nice.  It didn't help that our seat was one of the ones with an exterior light still on.  I also heard our friend grumbling that he couldn't even sleep near 'That Guy' and that he 'hoped he woke up bright eyed and ready to drive.'  The worst part for this poor guy was when the guy in front of us started snoring and then the lady in front of him joined in at some point in the night.  His wife had no problems sleeping through it all.
  I also learned a fun fact.  If the door to the bathroom is perpendicular to the motion of the train and the door wiggles, the rocking of the train will unlock it for you.

  We once again got in early.  This time it was at 7:37am.  The employees at this station arrive a little earlier, so we could start getting off the train at 8:15am instead of 8:30am like on the other side.  Still not sure why they are so proud of getting us in early if it doesn't actually benefit us at all.  The dining car closes breakfast at the same time, no matter when we get in, so it doesn't help that section of crew.
  The motorcycles were unloaded soon after the 40 priority cars, so that was a nice surprise.  Bill helped to get some of the bikes off for anyone who might have been struggling a bit to get the wheel out of the scoop or back it over the ledge to get it onto the ramp to the parking lot.
  Bill asked me on the way home if I wanted to go do Rolling Thunder but I felt too tired.  I wanted to get home and unpack everything and deal with the mess I left when I was trying to decide what bag would fit everything I would want to be able to easily grab for the hotels when we only stayed one night.
  Time to go do that and get some more knitting to ease back into normal life again.

FL Day 6: The Theme Is Pizza & FL Day 7: We Become Loners

DAY 6:
  We got started around 9am again because we were worried the rain might catch us.  There was a moment of sprinkling, but nothing to really make note of.
  The nicer weather let us get a much nicer video of the 7 Mile Bridge.  It was a long ride and we didn't get to have lunch until 3pm, but we all made it in one piece.

  We passed this place and it sounded like the best option nearby.  Bill and I split the white pizza and it was so good.

  Bill and Glenn wanted to meet up with someone at 26° Brewing Company.  I liked the sign they had out front that said they were dog friendly to friendly dogs.  There was a fluffy one there wanting to say Hi to everyone who walked in.
  They didn't have food there, but the food truck Pizzaiolo's was sitting out front in case anyone needed any food.  We got a pizza and some wings from them.  It was a good way to end the night.



DAY 7:
  The rest of the group wanted to get moving around 7am because they were nervous about the rain delaying them too many times and then missing the train.  They also wanted the handy excuse that if they got there really early that they could stop in at the Harley store.  I did not like that idea and since we were heading in another direction we did not go with them.  Bill saw them off but I was asleep when they left.
  We did some thinking on what we could do before meeting some friends and the Kennedy Space Center sounded like the most unique option.  There was also the option to go to the zoo, but I thought the space center sounded more interesting.  On the way I even did a little Geocaching.

  It was definitely cool.  I liked that the center was also involved with the wildlife.  Sea turtles use their beach to lay eggs.
  It was really informative, but not in a boring way.  There is a bus ride that takes you around the launch pads and where they build the space vehicles.  I liked seeing the different space suits through time.
  I wanted to look at everything and we ended up staying later than Bill had thought we would.  It really is an all day event.

  Mary mentioned meeting at City Walk to get dinner.  Bill and I pictured it as being some shopping area or some city street near the park.  Nope, it was in Orlando Park and we got to go through security to get there.  That was unexpected and very crowded.  Neither of us are big on Amusement Parks.
  We met at Margaritaville and I finally got to get the grouper my mom kept telling me to try.  It was pretty good but at one point they decided that the music wasn't loud enough and that they needed to turn it up.  The whole place was a bit too loud to easily just hang out and talk.
  Before too long we had to go our separate ways so they could catch their bus back to their hotel and we could get to ours.  Bill and I got some beverages at the local gas station before falling over into bed.

FL Day 5: Kitties!

  Turns out I had partied way too hard yesterday and had to take it easy this morning.  I drank a lot of water and watched some TV while Bill was at breakfast.
 We had two things in mind to go see today but decided to stop here at Martin Hellings House where the Woman's Club meets.  It was a small tour because we only looked around the bottom floor.  We also got some history on the area.  One of the things we learned is why the buildings have metal roofs.  They were also putting together backpacks with school supplies for kids who need them.  It was pretty cool.

  We saw a bunch of roosters and a few chickens on our way to Mile Marker 0.  They have such pretty feathers and it seems weird to see so many in such a populated area.  We might also have an answer on why the chicken crosses the road.

  We didn't get any Mile Marker 0 stickers, but we did get some pictures of the sign where US 1 begins.

  I knew I wanted to go to the Hemingway House so I could see the cats.

   My mom said that they don't let you near the cats, but that seems to have changed.

   You can pet them as much as they would like, but you are not allowed to try and pick them up.

  I took pictures and petted as many cats as I could.  One didn't want to be petted but wanted to play.

   A few others slept through getting a pet and some were all for it.

  There was a long line to get your picture with the marker at the Southern Most Point in the US.  I didn't feel the need to have a picture of myself in front of it, so Bill and I waited until we could take a picture of it without any people.  I took too long spending time with the cats so even though we had planned on meeting people here, they had already moved on.

  Glenn mention a place that was recommended to him to get really good conch fritters.  It turns out that DJ's Clam Shack was even on TV.  They were really good and had big chunks of pepper in them.  I was told that the lobster roll was also amazing and totally worth the price.

  We then stopped in at Key West Distilling and tried some of their items.  I only really liked one and Bill got it.  I'm sure the rest would be good mixed with something.

  Bill grabbed a pizza to go from Angelina's Pizzeria and we went back to the hotel to rest a little before we were going to meet up with everyone.  He said it was pretty good pizza and I did think that it looked good.

  We did another stop at Hog's Breath to see someone that Glenn knew and then we decided to stop in at Wet Willie's on the way to where we were going to have dinner and catch the game.  They are alcoholic slushies and are pretty good.

  It is a good fight when a hockey game breaks out.  I had another smoked mahi dip and was too tired to stay the whole game.  I barely caught one bus back to the hotel but luckily there was one too after that Bill caught.
  I had wanted to get some knitting done, but I was way too tired.

FL Day 4: We Found The Bars

  I finally got my eggs!  I ended up with more than I thought I would.  I asked for two eggs worth and ended up with what looked more like four eggs to me.

  The lobby had these cool looking stools.  There was also a spot light on them so you couldn't miss the fake gold fish.

  Some of the guys went for a quick ride around the town while the rest of us puttered around the hotel.  Around 10:25am a helicopter kept making passes around the other buildings near us.  They were also on their side a lot, so I don't know if that means they were looking for someone or what.

  We hopped on the shuttle and headed down town.  We managed to find a Harley Davidson shop and spent some money.

  The plan had been to go down one side of Duvall St and then back up the other, but Glenn and Trish saw Hog's Breath Saloon and the plan went out the window.  They had spicy Bloody Mary's with pickled green beans.

  After a bit more wondering we found the end of Duvall St and the "selfiest point" in Key West.  I got green olives in my Bloody Mary this time.  I took a bunch of pictures of boats while we waited for people there.
  Around one we left and headed to Capt. Tony's Saloon since we had heard good things.

  It turns out they don't have any food, but there was another dog for me to pet.  A girl there also said that I had a nice smile.

  This was across the street and a local said it was good.

  I got the fried avocado bowl with black beans and it was awesome.  We also had a wide range of weather while we were here.  It started raining soon after settled in and then was super sunny.

  They had the option to try both Kermit's Key Lime Pie(right) and Key West Key Lime Company(left) pies.  Kermit's is more like what I'm used to at home and Key West was more airy and a tiny bit more tart.  I liked both a lot more than the one I had last night.

  Since our bellies were full we swung back by Capt. Tony's Saloon.  I got their Capt. Tony's Amber and it was quite good.

  We finally make it to Sloppy Joe's!  The guy performing was from Maryland, oddly enough.  He was pretty good and I had no complaints about him.

  I found a kindred spirit at Green Parrot.  There was a pigeon snagging any of the free popcorn people dropped.  Loves popcorn, eats food other people don't want?  Sounds just like me.

  Our next stop was the White Tarpon where I got a Key Lime Martini.  It was really good.  We then headed back to Sunset Pier to see if the clouds had parted enough for us to catch the sunset.  All the tables were taken but I kind of inserted myself between two smaller groups so I could try and take some pictures.
  We then headed back to the Hotel and hung around the Tiki Bar before calling it a night.