On Epitaph Contest Dec, 07, 2008:

Here are the rules for writing your own headstone epitaphs and having them shown on my blog.

1. No more then 8 lines, but the shorter the better.
2. It does not have to rhyme.
3. Just words. No pictures, cartoons etc.
4. Nothing ‘overtly’ sexual, violent, disgusting, or racist will be considered.
5. Leave a name of who sent it. (It doesn’t have to be your real name.) But it will be attributed to that name. No name, no entry.
6. If the words are not your own. Add the original authors name if you know it. Otherwise just add ‘Anonymous’ and add ‘Sent in by’ and your name after that.
7. Spelling counts. Please proof read it before you hit the send button.

We are now starting week five of the Epitaph Contest. No one entered the contest last week. I know it is a busy time of year so there is no new winner to notified and last weeks prizes are going back drawing this week.

This Weeks Prizes are:

1-K Tatted Lace Edged Handkerchief. Pre-embroidered handkerchief with tatted lace designed and made by Lady Euphoria. Choice of Black or Purple.

2-D Knitted lace Doily. Knitted by Lady Euphoria from Tea Dyed Cotton, Pattern from The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont.

3-NB Tatted Lace Necklace. Made of Crochet Cotton, Lady Euphoria designed and handmade by the lady herself. Choice of black or blue.

I will ‘return email’ to inform the winner of the week and get information for delivery. Name of chosen will be announced on the blog. I do not use any information I get to sell or trade, nor to contact you further. I myself value my privacy and would not like that trust broken. It is only for the purpose of delivering your package.

Send in your Epitaphs for this weeks contest and Good Luck! Lady Euphoria

On Mice and Dogs:

First I'd like to say Black Crow won the Epitaph of the Week Contest and requested the Tatted Black Necklace. It will be going out to her very soon. Now back to the blog.

We have two small dogs. They are old ladies and not so fast anymore. But that doesn’t stop them from giving it a good try. Being country dogs they know how to hunt and are good mousers. Yes, they are mouser dogs. Sorry any mouse lovers out there.

Lady Short the Pug is the older and can barely get around. But Lady Long the daschund though she is missing some teeth has not diminished in growl power.

Once the weather turns colder every year, one or two mice manage to get into the house looking for a good place to spend the winter. Mountain Man sets traps though it is rare that they are used.


















The dogs sniffed and hunted following the scent of the prey. There were barks and whimpers from them in frustration as they realized that the mouse had made it to the indoor wood pile in the family room from the kitchen door where it snuck in while the door was open for another lode of wood or groceries from the car.

Lady Short gave up soon after the miscreant was discovered. She tires easily and slept under the wood stove while Lady Long sat in wrapped attention staring in wait for the slightest movement. Mountain Man told her to give up because he wasn’t moving the pile for her.

Lady Long sat and sat for hours quivering in anticipation. We finally stopped looking at her in her insane hunt. We would check on her every once in a while wondering when she would finally give it up.















Over four hours later she triumphed. Here she sits over her kill just before Mountain Man took the germy thing away from her. He cleaned up the mouse trap and put it away for another day.

We fear no mouse here, we have a mighty mouser dog.

On Small but Important Things:

I know I did a thankfulness thing back last month, and this was going to be on something else but I have to say that first and foremost I’m thankful and appreciative for the Bloggers and Readers that have embraced me and helped me along since the start of my blog.

I know that everyone else is busy with their lives and projects, work, family and friends, yet you take time to read what I have to say, comment, and join in my silly little contests and projects.

Not that I feel that the ‘Kevin’s Mittens’ is silly or should be little but it is still in the starting stages. Total strangers for all I know have knitted mittens and donated them to others in need because I asked them to, all in my son’s name.

I’ve only talked about how he worked helping homeless teens to get back in school and either back home with their families or in other supportive services so they could get back on track, a few times here.

This was not his job, he didn’t have a degree in counseling. He was just a guy working in a store in the city, trying to get the funds for college and he saw a need so he filled it. All the time never saying a word to anyone about what he was doing. We only found out about it after he died when all kinds of people from all over the place came out of the woodwork to tell us how much he had helped their family to heal or how he helped individuals to finish high school and get a job even to the point of loaning them his own clothing so they could do it.

I know that mittens are a little thing compared to that, but I also know that little things make up the whole picture.

I have been knitting mittens for those in need since the kids were small. For every pair I made for my own kids I’d make two pair to give away to children that didn’t have any. Most folks in the neighbor knew that there was always extra hats and mittens at my house for the taking. The box was always by the door and only what was needed disappeared and reappeared on the heads and hands of those that needed them. I knitted them for people that came to the homeless shelter I volunteered for when we lived in the city too.

So now I’m knitting Mittens in Kevin’s name. I asked anyone who wanted to, to join me where they lived, but I must say I didn’t expect much. So many requests are made each day on the web. But when the anonymous notes came in saying that they had each made mittens and had donated them in Kevin’s name I cried. I only wish they had used the comments so I could have posted them here, but they didn’t want it that way. They wanted to do it invisibly just like Kevin did. But I just have to say…

Thank you ever so much, whoever you are.

Sincerely, Lady Euphoria

On A Foggy Head:

I woke up foggy today. I hope I’m not getting sick.

I know you know what I mean. Your brain stumbles and fights to get it and your body fumbles along after it. You find yourself in the wrong room looking for something you know is kept in say the kitchen like the refrigerator. You have to try to remember where the light switch is. You spend your time trying to catch up with yourself. Things like that.

I wear glasses. Not like Mountain Man who just uses them to read. My glasses go on my face almost before I open my eyes and stay there throughout the day. I dress with them on, even for my pull over clothing. In fact I only take them off to bathe, sleep and enjoy some privet time with my husband.

This morning I got up and some how forgot to put my glasses on. I pumped into the wall trying to find the door in the darkened bedroom. (Mountain Man is still asleep at this point.) I stumble to the bathroom and forget to turn off the water after I wash up. I pick up my knitting and can’t remember where I am in the pattern even though there is a sticky note on the pattern under the place I stopped last night sitting in front of me. It’s all foggy anyway so I put it down again.

I turn to my computer and turn it on. The screen comes up where I put in my password and my foggy brain stumbles again. No, I didn’t forget my password. (I just love naming new passwords like I love naming my characters in my stories.) I typed in p-a-s-s-w-o-r-d instead of my real password. Something I have never done before or even have to think about. My fingers usually just pump it out like magic, even within hours after I’ve changed it yet again.

Meanwhile I am still half blind without my glasses and wondering why everything is so foggy in the house. I know it’s not the woodstove smoking. I checked on it and added more wood already. I look again just to be sure, and I don’t smell any smoke. I look outside to see if it is foggy out there too and somehow the fog came inside. No the same outside as in.

Finally my brain is starting to catch up. I think maybe the lens’ of my glasses have something on them so I reach up to take them off and look at them and poke myself in the eye because they are not there.

I get my glasses and the day starts to look up until I start to sneeze.

Five minutes and a half a box of tissues later I have to admit I’m sick. I’m heading back to my foggy bed and I’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully the fog will have lifted by then.

On Wash Worries:

My Washer died as I told you yesterday. For me those old Maytag commercials held true. There were occasional belt replacements but my 35 year old olive colored washer from the 1970’s lived a long full life. It cleaned many muddy jeans of Mountain Man’s.

A shopping plan was put in place as we mapped out the best route for gas and time constraints. Six places were on the list but alas a washer was not purchased. No, I found a good replacement. We were still on the hunt for the best price and delivery date when I twisted my ankle badly.

Sadly, I like Crazy Aunt Purl, I was just crossing a street when it happened. No grand story just klutziness. Aunt Purl wins, if you can call it that, because hers required medical attention. But it did put a stop to the shopping trip.

I did get more yarn for mittens and a new printer to replace the one that had a red head problem before my unfortunate kafuffle. I finished knitting the mitten thumb and started another while in the car.

But yesterday I wrote stories again. It was like water in the dessert. Yes, my foot was up, packed in ice, on a chair with a pillow next to my desk and I didn’t get all my exercise into my day. But new characters bubbled up to the surface and saw the light of day. No, not all of them are alive and well I must say but they dutifully served their purpose and moved on.

My ankle is still sore but I can walk today. I’m back to knitting away on mittens and perfecting the pattern as I slowly get feed back from my test knitters. (They are all busy with their own gift projects right now. And I thank them for trying it at all.)

Later today or tomorrow we will be back at the washer shopping again as the laundry pile grows around us. If not you can find me down by the pond with a basket of clothing and a rock. Mountain Man is not the only one who knows how to work with rocks around here.

On Gaining a Balance in Life:

Today I am off from making 38 Kevin’s Mittens in 38 days. I’ve made five pair and four singles, waiting for their mates, checking sizes and yarn choices. And so far fourteen mittens in eight day’s is too much for my hurting hands and why I didn‘t pledge to making a pair a day in the first place. I don’t feel guilty because I’m now almost a week ahead of my stated goal and my writing has been being neglected.

Other then writing out the pattern for the mittens in multiple sizes and doing my blog, I haven’t written a word for a week. Not a list or a note, not a grocery item or post card. My hands hurt and my brain is screaming for a break. (Those of you that have been reading my blog from the beginning know I don’t do one craft for too long at a sitting each day because it hurts my hands. So I usually knit, write and craft for smaller amounts of time before going back to work at all of them in turn again.)

Characters have been vying for attention, standing on their heads and doing tricks to recapture my time. ‘Write about me and I’ll make you rich and famous.’ they each say, while trying to elbow the other out of the way. I’m seriously thinking about getting a better voice recognition program so I can sit and exerbike and knit and write all at the same time. Not wanting too much from my day am I?

So today I’m sitting and doing nothing but writing. Nothing but writing and going out to buy a new washing machine because my 35 year old Maytag that faithfully washed very many of Mountain Man’s muddy jeans and socks over those years finally bit the big one. So today, nothing but writing, buying a washer and straightening up around here, because I’m ankle deep in all kinds of yarn for mittens and there is dishes and dust and dog toys and the indoor wood pile needs more wood…

Okay I’m going to have a mitten free day and write some more of my stories while getting caught up on everything else I have to do. And maybe I’ll just finish off that one thumbless mitten sitting waiting to be done. But not until I’ve finished a chapter or short story first.

Don’t you dare laugh. I have to have something to do in the car when we go for the washer you know.

On My Forgetfulness:

Venus Flytrap, Sundew (in the back) and Butterwort.

A few weeks ago I was forgetful, not that I’m not forgetful of things a lot of the time, but this piece of forgetfulness was new to me. I care for my plants with love and tenderness as I do my animals.

So it was with a sad heart that I found I had forgotten the terrarium of carnivorous plants on the window sill at night. That I had in fact closed it away from the heat and into the cold on the window side of the insulated drapes on a particularly cold night.

I have been trying to nurse them back to health but I fear all may be lost. The few small bits of plants left are weak and peaked.















I know that the last time I talked of them Mountain Man had fed the Venus Flytrap a slug of which it survived with the help of a crutch. We have caught many a bug and fed them in turn the Sundew, Butterwort and Venus Flytrap, but no more slugs. The Sundew and Butterwort had many babies and I had great hopes for them.















If none survive I will start over again with new ones in February when they are available again for sale but I will remember to care for them better then I have these few to date.

Right now I am readying the Venus Flytrap for it’s regular winter hibernation in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. I hope there is enough life left in it to come back happy and healthy in the spring.

(Sorry if my turn of phrase is strange to your ears today. I have been watching movies like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility’ all weekend and sitting here in my long skirts and lace makes me inclined to think and speak so at times.)

I am working on the Kevin’s Mittens in all the sizes and checking the pattern out for each size as I work.