* Support the magnetic ribbon industry: You can even make your own magnetic ribbons. [via Aaron]

* If you’ve ever wondered what ribbon colors represent, this chart explains them.

* Retro Phone Handset [via Dorota]

Back in May, Olivia developed a fever while we were visiting my parents in Virginia. We took her to an emergency center at the suggestion of her doctor. It turned out to be nothing more than a minor cold, but we all wanted to be on the safe side.

A week ago, I got the bill from the E.R. I was rather puzzled by it, because it said the billed amount was $140.75, my insurance company paid them $392.40, and yet they were billing me $143.60. I checked our claims online, and it showed basically the same thing. Very confused, I called the insurance company. It turns out that our insurance company contracts with the emergency room. They have a fixed rate of $536.00 they pay for visits to this E.R., regardless of what the actual bill is from the E.R. Our coverage requires a $100.00 copay, plus 10%. While this is great if something big happens that results in a large bill, in this case it meant that we had to pay the E.R. more money than if they’d just billed us directly.

$536 - $100 copay - 90% coverage ($392.40) = $43.60. That, plus the $100 copay, is what the E.R. has billed us. That’s $2.85 more than if the E.R. had just billed us directly. Crazy.

I’ve just uploaded almost 40 photos to Olivia’s Gallery (under 5th Month, 6th Month, and Funny Face) including the photos below:

This photo was uploaded by Dale a week ago, but it was so funny I wanted to go ahead and give a preview of it here:

(Note: Registration with the Gallery is required to view these full size and to see all the other pictures.)

[Crossposted from Olivia’s Blog]

Snap judgments - Photo printing places have refused to print digital photographs for customers because the photos look too good. Fearing copyright infringement suits, photofinishers are requiring signed releases by copyright holders for “professional looking” photographs. Problem is, most of those photos are being taken by amateurs. [via Daddy Types]

For a while, we didn’t think we were ready. Later, we knew we’d never really be ready but we decided it was time. Then it turned out to be a more difficult and heartbreaking process than we had ever expected it to be. But from the first moment we knew, we were in love with her.

Nothing makes me happier than to see the two of you and know what a wonderful little family we are now.

Thank you, Dale, for helping me to bring Olivia into our lives. Happy First Father’s Day to you, my love.

Much love and good wishes to the many fathers in my life, not least of which is my own. I miss you, Dad, and love you very much. I wish I could celebrate this day with you.

I just bought tickets to see Bruce Campbell live at the Alamo Drafthouse screening of his new movie Man with the Screaming Brain. I’m so excited!!

I <3 Bruce Campbell!

I finally finished my first larger scale crochet project. By larger scale, I mean larger than the baby hats I’ve previously made.

During a trip to Hancock Fabrics, I noticed the labels on Lion Brand Landscapes yarn said it was a wool blend that would still felt. I really wanted to try felting a project, but I’d been wary about working with wool since I’m allergic to it. For some reason, I thought I’d be less likely to react to a wool-blend than to pure wool. Even though I didn’t really like the color of Landscapes that I got (Rose Garden), I liked it better than any of the other varieties present. Plus, I’m a terrible impulse shopper and I didn’t feel like shopping around more or trying to find wool yarn online. I knew I was going to make a bag or purse, but I didn’t have a pattern in mind and had no idea how much yardage I would use, so I just grabbed three balls. Thinking back, that may also be because Hancock only had three balls in that color. Then I didn’t do anything with them for days.

Later, after my Kool-Aid dyeing experiment, I took my dyed yarn and a ball of Landscapes with me to Wal-Mart. I still wasn’t sure about my pattern, but I had seen the Jackie O bag and really liked the combination of felting and fuzziness, so I looked for fun fur yarns to either coordinate with my dyed yarn or with the Landscapes. (I also figured that the felting and fuzziness would nicely hide any mistakes.) I discovered that Lion Brand Fun Fur in Fireworks perfectly matched the Landscapes, so I bought three skeins.

Not long before I bought my yarns, Miftik had posted about knitting and felting a (very cute) bag based off the Lucy Bag pattern, and I thought the design was neat, so I decided to see if I could freehand a Lucy/Jackie O hybrid bag with my Landscapes and Fun Fur yarn. I started it weeks ago, then stopped when I ran out of Landscapes. Bought more, then ignored the project for a while. Then I ran out of Fun Fur. Then I ran out of both. And during my last supply run, I discovered that I’d bought the wrong Fun Fur somewhere along the line.

I thought I had originally purchased Fun Fur in Fireworks, but I guess I bought two Fireworks and one Confetti. Both yarns are *extremely* similar in coloring. So similar, I hadn’t even known I’d bought two different colorways. My last shopping trip, I took the yarn labels with me so I’d know exactly what to get. The Fun Fur label I had was for Fireworks. Hancock didn’t have any Fireworks, just Confetti. Wal-Mart didn’t have Fireworks either, just Confetti. After I got to Hobby Lobby and only found Confetti, I called Dale and asked him to double-check the other labels. Half of them said Fireworks and half said Confetti. *sigh* And, Dale told me the color change was noticeable on the nearly-finished bag. Just as I was about to give up and get Confetti, I saw some Fireworks. I thought, “what the heck,” and grabbed 3 more skeins.

When I got home I examined my bag. The bulk of the bag had been completed the night before in an all-night marathon crochet session. It appeared that I had started out with Fun Fur Fireworks then switched to Fun Fur Confetti about 1/3 of the way up. Some how, with two different yarns, I’d used them in blocks instead of alternating them. This did cause a subtle color shift in the fur, but I figured once I finished the bag with Fireworks, it would look like wide deliberate stripes if anyone even noticed.

I decided the bag was done when I had one ball of Landscapes left but no more Fireworks. Dale took some Before photos for me, then I put the bag into a cotton pillowcase cover and threw it in the washing machine with three tennis balls. I added a bit of detergent, set the machine for hot/cold and the longest agitation time, then set the oven timer to go off in 10 minutes (since I had no idea how quickly or easily the Landscapes would felt.) After 10 minutes, I just had a big soggy bag. I gave it another 10 minutes and there was no noticeable difference, except for the a lot of pink fuzz collecting in the pillowcase. I decided to put the tennis balls inside the bag inside the pillowcase, and I added a big old towel to the machine. (Neither Dale nor I own blue jeans.) After that, I started noticing a difference. I also decided to let the machine go through a full cycle, so the wool would agitate in hot and then get a cold water shock. I did that twice, then decided I was satisfied with the results. The bag shrank by about 8 inches, most of that in the strap length.

I did the entire bag in single crochet. Pre-felting, the fabric had a very nubby texture interspersed with fun fur and the stitches were loose enough to let me poke my fingertips through. After felting, the stitches were much tighter with no gaps and the bag has a very soft fuzzy look and feel to it. The fabric is pretty thick and holds its shape well, so I don’t think lining it is necessary. I do think I’ll need to shave the inside of the bag though.

There are some things I wish I’d done differently. The Landscapes was a pretty thick yarn to start with, so the bag has some pretty good heft to it. I would have preferred the end result to be a little thinner. I also wish I’d paid closer attention to the Fun Fur and not mixed colors. I also wish I’d made the bag longer and the strap shorter, though I think the proportions still came out good. Finally, I started the bag by turning after each round. Once I started on the strap and the strap loop, I just crocheted in a spiral. I had been leaving all my yarn ends on the “inside” of the bag, but I discovered that working in a spiral, the bulk of the Fun Fur hairs were on the “inside” of the bag since that was the way the yarn was pulled through to make the stitches. I tried combing more hairs through to the outside, but it wasn’t successful. After felting, the woven-in ends were hidden so I just turned the bag inside out and it was fine.

I am very pleased that I figured out how to do the Lucy Bag strap and loop. They work perfectly, though the design is lost in the fur.

I went through seven balls of Landscapes and six skeins of Fun Fur. At nearly $5 per ball/skein, this turned out to be a ridiculously expensive bag, but it was a fun experiment.

Probably within an hour of my post about the bad luck with my last Amazon order, the doorbell rang. I peeked out the window and saw a UPS delivery woman walking back towards her truck. Dale beat me to the door and found an Amazon box sitting on the front step. It turned out to be the memory card and crochet book that had been in limbo over the weekend.

May 31st I gave up on the SCSCamera order (the seller that hasn’t shipped my item or contacted me) and bid on an Ebay auction for the same camera. It arrived today (yay!) and ended up costing $40 less.

I still haven’t heard anything back from SCSCamera, nor have I gotten a refund. Today I was able to file a reimbursement claim through Amazon’s A-Z Guarantee, but it could take up to two weeks to get my refund. *sigh* In addition, I’ve sent this comment to Amazon:

Your Contact Us page doesn’t really list an easy way to contact you. In addition, I haven’t found any information or links on how to lodge a complaint against one of your Marketplace merchants. SCS Cameras and Electronics has been selling items without delivering. Customers are being billed immediately, yet over thirty days later, people still haven’t received their items. Nor is SCS Cameras and Electronics responding to customers. I purchased a camera on May 16. Today, I filed for reimbursement through your A-Z Guarantee. If you look at SCS Cameras and Electronics’ feedback, you’ll see the same complaints over and over from numerous people - paid but no merchandise received. You’ll also see a lot of positive ratings, but they’re all from the same half-dozen people, over and over and over. It appears SCS Cameras and Electronics is artificially boosting their rating to cover all the negative feedback. I strongly urge Amazon.com to drop SCS Cameras and Electronics as a partner. They’re stealing from your customers and the affiliation makes Amazon look bad. In years I’ve been an Amazon customer, this is absolutely the worst experience I’ve ever had with you. Thankfully, it’s also the only bad one. Please, save your reputation and spare any more unsuspecting customers from falling victim to these thieves.

One more thing that irked me was that the confirmation page you see after submitting a reimbursement claim has a “Continue Shopping” button. Sure, I’ll use Amazon again, but I’m definitely not in the mood to shop with them right now.

Oldest Married Couple Celebrates 80 years. The secret to their success?

Her: You must never be afraid to say “sorry.” “You must never go to sleep bad friends.”
Him: [My] secret to marital bliss was just two words: “yes dear.”

I hope Dale and I can live long enough to celebrate OUR 80th Anniversary! That would make us 105 years old!

*According to this list.

[via SuizaLisa]

Happy Birthday, Phaedra!

As usual, I’m late with your card and gift, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss you and love you!