I’m testing out my cool new WordPressDash widget. It’s a beautiful day outside, and I spent a few highly enjoyable hours with Nichole and Kari at Lakeside Fibers. I think it’s the first time I’ve gotten together with anyone expressly for knitting (crocheting, in Nichole’s case). Lakeside just added a coffee bar, and it was lovely to sit outside with a mug and my knitting.
This is exactly why I so love having Fridays off work.
The doggie is fine. We refrained from feeding her until evening, and then gave her about half her usual meal. No treats today, just kibble. This morning she was barking and eager to go on her walkies, so we cancelled the vet appointment.
I don’t think I mentioned that I broke our front window blinds yesterday, right before I drove Peter to school as a result of him missing the bus. Nothing like a day off work for cleaning messes, breaking things and driving kids around. Today I helped Pete install Roman shades, one for each of the three window panels. The 93″-wide blinds had been my idea, and I’m finally willing to admit it wasn’t my best thinking.
I figure it’s time to show you some evidence that I’ve been knitting. Some days I only do a row or two, but I daresay I pick up the needles every day.
Bad Penny, which I’m modeling here, took me weeks to finish. First, I broke my size 5 Denise needle when I was coming home from vacation. (Remember that?) Then when the replacement arrived, I became frustrated working in the round using the smallest Denise needles. The cable is nearly as big around, and it was a pain because it was so difficult to slide my work along. I was much happier when I switched to Addi Naturas.
To get gauge, I had to use size 5 for the body of the sweater, and size 3 for the ribbing. Cotton-Ease is a bit thicker than the yarn called for in the pattern. Those little stitches kept me busy through many DVDs, but I was glad to be able to work on baby stuff periodically as a break in the routine.
Speaking of baby stuff, Sister #4 is scheduled to deliver her second baby (and first daughter) in a few days. I decided to make a sweater and some booties for the little one. (Click to see the full-sized photos, of course.)
The pink booties ended up being much bigger than I had expected them to be. SpiritMan says the baby’s 3-year-old brother could probably wear them, but that’s an exaggeration. I’m having trouble visualizing how big baby feet are supposed to be, but I’m guessing they’ll fit in about a year. I decided I needed to make a smaller pair, so I knitted the multicolored ones. They look a little big, too.
Truth be told, I can’t really remember how big newborn body parts are. I have a vague idea of the overall length and heft, but otherwise I’m lost. That’s what happens when you get to the point where your kids can look you in the eye. (And borrow your shoes.)
Carrot chunks on the stairs. More nasty evidence on our bedroom carpet. Hacking sounds coming from near the front door, followed by slurping. Three clean-up jobs before the day even began. Another hack, and a foul puddle on the rug.
Then, after returning from my morning drive to the high school, a pea-soupish puddle in the kitchen and another behind the door to the garage. And yet another at the bottom of the stairs.
In one puddle, a two-inch square of rawhide, which may or may not have triggered this yakfest.
Tomorrow, a trip to the vet.
I think I could fix a flat tire by myself now, although I shouldn’t need to for some time. Of course, Tuesday evening I did not possess such confidence about matters of car care. Moon and I were heading home from her music lessons, and as I listened to her chatting away about school and such, I noticed the car was handling differently. I turned from one busy street onto another, rolling to a stop right out of the intersection. We had a flat tire. And basically, I panicked, because it was dark out, I didn’t have any handy phone numbers, and I couldn’t remember ever seeing a compartment for a spare in our trunk.
A cop pulled up behind us, asked me to pull s-l-o-w-l-y into the turn lane, confirmed that we had a cell phone… and left.
Once upon a time, just for kicks, I enrolled in an auto maintenance class at the community college in Hometown. Oddly enough, the instructor had been one of my high school classmates. He had been one of those quiet gearhead-slash-burnout kids back then, but was quite the authority in the classroom. We learned the difference between a crankshaft and a camshaft. I vaguely remember changing spark plugs on a disembodied engine and doing a brake job on a big ol’ ’70s-era gas guzzler.
I’m pretty sure I learned how to change a tire, but the time lapse (and my panic) rendered me useless. So I called a towing company, and a nice young man charged me $55 for the job. (He found the spare.) The next day, I took the car into the shop – and drove home with four new tires.
I’d much rather spend the money on yarn. Or Michael’s Frozen Custard.
Okay, so even though Pete and I had been talking about the Unitarians for months, our plans to start going to the UU church over the summer kind of faltered. Mostly due to my affinity for sleeping in on Sundays. After our vacation, we decided that it was time to really check the place out. We’d visited there a few times, but hadn’t really gone on a regular basis.
I also was having a hard time visualizing what it would be like to be “real” members. The service is very different from the ritual that I had become accustomed to as a Catholic and then an Episcopalian. The faces in the congregation were unfamiliar. It helped to know that open minds resided behind those faces, but still.
Then one Sunday we went to church and saw that the week’s theme was something to the effect of “What being Unitarian means to me.” During the service, several different people from the congregation went to the podium and spoke about their spiritual journeys. A youngish guy talked about being a devout Methodist but always questioning his own beliefs. A cute teenager told a funny story that ended with a kind of a punch line about Buddhism. I felt a real kinship stirring in my heart. Then a distinguished elderly man with a booming voice went up to the podium, spread his arms wide, and said something in Latin.
This obviously wasn’t his first time speaking before a congregation, he said. He was a former Catholic priest. I was astounded to hear his story, which included a complete break with organized religion — until his wife coaxed him into checking out the UU.
After the service, I looked around the room and saw those unfamiliar faces in a different light. Any reluctance I had melted away. Pete and I ended up introducing ourselves to the ex-priest, and we discovered we had a few things in common:
We also talked with the music director, another great guy. And we haven’t missed a Sunday since. (We also signed up for the new UU orientation, so I think that means we’ll be official in a few months.)
The weird thing is knowing that nobody is going to think my weird beliefs are very weird. But it’s also cool.
In case you’ve been wondering, I’m still getting up at 6 am for an eye-opening workout at the Y. I kind of dig driving over there when it’s still dark out… it’s like I’m headed for some secret adventure.
Yesterday, though, I must have been a bit groggy or something. I grabbed the bottle of thyroid medication for my first-thing-in-the-morning-empty-stomach dose, opened the lid, swallowed a pill and took a few swigs of water. As put the bottle back in the cabinet and turned to walk away, I thought, hey, that was a capsule.
I accidentally had grabbed my OCD medicine, which I had already taken the night before. The main side effect? Drowsiness. That’s why I take it before bed. Duh.
Most of the day, I desperately wanted to lay my head on my desk and go to sleep. No such luck, though, because it’s still crunch time at work. Lesson learned: pay attention to what you’re putting in your mouth.
You might be wondering how Project: Morning Person is going. Well, the answer is pretty frickin’ awesome. Not that those first few days of hauling my butt out of bed at 6 a.m. were easy. And going to step class after being away for more than a year? Pretty comical, actually.
But somehow I feel more energetic and upbeat than I have in a long time. Maybe it’s the extra few hours of sunlight. (I’m not hiding under the covers until 8 or 8:30 anymore.) Or maybe it’s the endorphins from the extra exercise I’ve been getting.
In any case, I’m actually looking forward to my morning workouts. And that’s cool.
Ugh, I’ve been trying to figure out PHP and mySQL stuff for the past two hours, and I’m throwing in the towel for the night. This weekend, I accomplished a number of things…
Hey, aren’t you wondering about that photo?
