Good morning ladies. It is still a bit cooler this morning but it is going to be hot again today. We can't seem to get under 90 degrees here.
I am back to knitting. I still have some shoulder pain, but it is a lot less than it was. I put a pillow under my left arm and that seem to have helped a great deal so I can knit now. I have Susan's, Jean's and half of Gail's slippers finished so I am rolling along. I am anxious to see what they look like when felted because they look a lot different felted than as regular knitting. I need to get to Joann's and get some cute buttons for all of yours and my girlfriend's pair and the other pair I did. Maybe I can do that sometime this long weekend.
I guess I didn't tell you that the mayor backed off the holiday pay thing and sent out this lie of a letter to the employees and to the media saying he felt that maybe it was too much of a burden to do it that way so was giving the employees a straight 4.6% pay cut. Truth is, the union has a signed contract that was signed by him before the budget was even finished that says so holiday or regular pay cuts. They are taking him to court I guess as he is still going to cut pay. If we have to go that route at least now I can adjust my budget. The sad thing is that 50 people lost their jobs yesterday and none of them are white collar workers of course. None of his cronies got axed either.
Maggie: Thanks for the offer, but I have read all the Jack Reacher character books and I am trying to keep from having actual books accumulate as we have no where to put them. I am putting everything on my Iphone that I read as Amazon stores them for me after they are read. I like the Mickey Hailer character as much as I do the Harry Bosch character of Michael Connelly's. I also like Robert B Parker's Spenser novels (though he passed away late last year so there will be no more of those) and Stuart Woods Stone Barrington characters except that his novels have him in bed with some woman more than anything else anymore so I quit reading them. I am a huge fan of DicK Francsis who passed away a year or so ago. I think his son is going to write his books now as they collaberated on his last two before he died. He was in his 90's I think though when he passed away. I am a fan of character books and read Sue Grafton's books, Janet Evanovich's books, Sara Paretsky, Edna Buchannan and I could go on and on. Oh and I love J D Robb's "In Death" series which if you don't know is a female detective set in the future New York and they are really good.
Jean: Michael Connelly books are considered mystery/thrillers and I have to say out of the bazillion authors I read, he has yet to get boring and rehash plots. He does bring in previous books but as a reference point not because he can't think of anything new to write like a lot of authors do. If you like novels that lead you on a red herring chase you will like him. I can almost always pick out the killer by the middle of the book, but he throws you a curve all the time and it usually isn't who you come to expect. His writing is top notch and if you can, go to www.michaelconnelly.com and look at his books link and read them in order either his lawyer character or his polic detective character and a couple of the later ones bleed into each other, which was fun. They won't let Jack have it all done close together because it lowers his resistance to infection too much so they have to be done one at a time and his hand replacement needs at least 12 weeks. He doesn't know what the schatski's ring surgery would cost him, but his knee surgery will almost wipe out all his saved sick time.
Susan: That is exactly why I do because I tend to lean forward in the chair as I knit. I don't know why I didn't think of it before as I used to put a pillow under my left arm, which is my knitting, and throwing hand when I had the old recliner. It lifts that arm up just enough to keep from putting stress on that back muscle and the arm and elbow and wrist. I keep telling him we just need to cut him off at the neck 'cause for the most part, the head is still good! He told me the other day he wasn't too sure about the head anymore. Poor guy is at the point in his life where he just wants to retire and stay home. He has 4 years to go and he is just worn out. You know in our parents generations and before folks retired when they were around 40-45 with a full pension to live on. Now folks have to work until they drop dead to have enough money to live on. If he hadn't had two full careers each with a partial pension, he would have to keep working. We will still lose about $1000 a month with the medicare adjustment over our premium insurance and the pension only funding 35% of his finally salary for the year he retires.
Gail: I hope this weekend you will be able to do something fun or get to enjoy the grandkids or something!!! Can't wait to finish all you gals slippers and ship them to you.
Have a good weekend all of you. Faye