Mondays, Tuesdays. . . they are all the same

The only problem with long weekends is that eventually you have to go back to work. . . so it's Tuesday (kinda like Monday) and I had to get up early, hunt for my keys and try to remember what was on my agenda for the day. Gone are the three days when our only agenda included getting up (whenever we wanted), eating and perhaps brushing our teeth.

Our long weekend was marvelous thanks to our visitors from the north, Needlefingers and Pilot. I won't provide a full review, as Pilot has done a wonderful job of that. However, let's say that our weekend did include good food (we even cooked and they even ate it), some open house going, some knitting, some Euchre card playing, a sad Trivial Pursuit loss, some internet surfing, caffeine, inappropriate jokes (mostly on my part), some awesome 80s music, multiple discussions regarding the dipping temperatures and some late nights. Oh, and I did torture them with the soundtrack to "Once". . . but cut it short as I feared they'd never make a return visit.

I learned that we can never, ever live without our internets. . . how else would we find out the answers to burning questions such as "Who sang that?" or "Why is it that pregnant women must avoid kitty poop?" or "What was that creepy movie with Bill Paxton in it?" or "What's in your movie queue?"

Eventually Monday afternoon came and even though we tried to avoid the inevitable, our guests had to leave. And the moment we shut the door, we were left kinda sad and kinda bummed, because our guests were gone, our house was quiet and reality had sunk in. We missed them already. Glad they had safe travel, sorry they had to go.

Oh, and grateful to Needlefingers for the extra skein of yarn and the two wonderful surprise ones!

It's Wednesday. . .

It's Wednesday and I couldn't be happier, because that puts us within arm's reach of Friday. . . and the arrival of two very important guests to Chez Ragged. We've been anticipating their arrival since an afternoon phone call a few weeks ago. (Yes, I talked on the phone. Actually I talked on the phone twice that day, and it was nice, very nice, of course I am certain that has to do with who I was talking to.)

We have several hurdles to jump before they get here, but it's very, very much worth it. You see, our house is a wreck, we don't have a shred of edible food (unless you count three tins of butter cookies, cans of soup and frozen fruit slushies), and I still have my winter clothes in plastic bins in the guest room. Something tells me that as gracious as our guests are, they don't want to leap over plastic bins of my sweaters to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's bad enough that they can't even pee alone. . . (as the cats join them, not Cynical as you first suspected.)

And then there's the towels. Our towels smell funny. It's one thing for me to notice our towels aren't as fresh as they oughtta be, but it's another thing for our visitors to recoil in wonderment. So, hopefully I'll figure out what's up, over-use softener and take care of the problem.

We've had a little talk with the cats, and they will try not to shed, which isn't such a big deal as it's cold in our house and they are wanting to keep as much fur on their bodies as possible. I also had a discussion with Cynical about the fact that our guests, as gracious as they are, might not want to wear knitted hats and gloves while watching television, so we're turning the heat up. Anything for Needlefingers and Pilot.

Now if I can just usher them quickly into the house so they won't notice our tree stand and my gardening gloves are still on the front porch. I think it sends a bad message: no we didn't just take down our tree and we aren't gardening in January; heck we don't even garden in June.

In truth, our guests have always taken us as we are, for which I am eternally grateful, but I'd like to think we put up a good front, smelly towels, tree stands, cat hair and all.

PS: We're also supposed to have snow, safe snow, not feet and feet and feet of snow; just enough to keep you inside where it's warm, where you have soup in the crockpot and SVU on 24/7.

All good things must come to an end

Weekends slide by much too fast, particularly when you share them with some of your favorite people.

Needlefingers and Pilot visited us over the past few days, beginning our visit on Friday. Gorgeous weather pulled us out of the house and all over the town. We spent the bulk of our time geocaching and dragging the poor couple to a few open houses. In between there was ice cream, gabbing, visiting, a trip to a Japanese restaurant, laughing and a little Halloween shopping. In big news, we hit our 100 cache on Saturday and celebrated with a photo session, snagging 21 in all over the weekend.

Glad to know that they made it safely home, but sad they ever had to leave.

As for the rest of our Sunday, I spent it on Ravelry, catching up on laundry and pondering why weekends couldn't be four-days long instead of two.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good shots during our geocache adventure, so here's a snap of the sock that will never end. It's the Uptown Boot Sock from Favorite Socks and for some reason this one is taking me forever.

Driving back to reality

I have the ability to completely remove myself from the stresses of my everyday life. All I have to do is take a vacation or go on a road trip. Distance, it seems, is a temporary cure for me.

That's just one of the reasons that this weekend was so welcomed. The main reason is the fact that we had a chance to visit some of our favorite people. You see, we trekked north for what has become an annual event: the celebration of the 4th of July and Pilot and Rudy's birthday.

We snuck away from work early, stopped along the way for lunch and a little shopping, all in celebration of the fact that Cynical is now down to one job. (And the angels sang, "Hallelujah!")

And thus began a wonderful weekend. We started out with dinner and visiting at the northern homestead, got a chance to view the big project complete and fully operational, stayed up too late (when I say "we", I don't mean me, as it seems I went to bed and missed all of the late night fun) and awoke the next morning ready to meet a full day thanks to a wonderful breakfast prepared by Needlefingers). The crew headed out for lunch at a restaurant perched along a beautiful lake.

Soon thereafter, Rudy and Brando hosted a big gathering and cookout at their place, a birthday party and patio/pond christening all wrapped into one. (By the way, Rudy and Brando have two of the most entertaining, interesting and articulate children I have ever met. I seriously considered kidnapping.)

Added surprises included quality time with other fellow bloggers and knitters, Hope and Jenny from the Blog. Sadly, neither had brought along a sock to knit. (By the way, much thanks to Needlefingers who very patiently walked me through my first short-row heel. It's all part of my first toe-up sock, which I wrapped up tonight. . . but sadly I probably won't start another until I see her next. . . darned that Figure 8 cast-on. It has just been so long since she last showed it to me. My memory fails me.)

A great fireworks display wrapped up our evening. After a full day, we lugged our lawn chairs to the car and called it a night.

We reassembled for breakfast this morning, enjoyed the incredible weather a bit and then, sadly, it was time to head home. Cynical and I, wanting to take advantage of this incredibly cool weather, stopped along the way home, picked a restaurant with an outdoor eating area and enjoyed a meal as the only two on the whole patio. Isn't that romantic.

So many thanks to all of our hosts for their hospitality, for feeding us, housing us and making sure we didn't get into any serious trouble. I truly do want to move north, but I fear eventually you'd see us for what we truly are: useless mooches.

And now we have returned. I am sad to have said goodbye to everyone, sad to have left behind a relaxing weekend and wishing I could close my eyes, wiggle my nose and be back there again.

We have a break in our week, as Wednesday is a holiday. . . now if I can just convince my Cynical to venture from home once more.

Above is a shot of a lilly pad bloom in Rudy and Brando's pond. The pond, by the way, is amazing. I could lose hours just watching their fish swim about, the fountain trickle and and the flowers float. It's truly beautiful and soothing. Quite an oasis. Also included is just a shot of the fireworks display. I am certain the other photographers will post some that will put mine to shame.

All good things must come to an end. . .

Some day, some day many years from now, when we have left behind our day jobs in favor of a peaceful retirement, we won't care when the weekends end, or when they begin for that matter.

However, that's a distant dream at this point. Our current reality means that each Sunday night, we are somehow disappointed that once again, our mere two-day weekend has come to an end and come tomorrow morning we'll re-enter our professional lives and live by the clock.

It's saying farewell to such a pleasant weekend that's hard. Our relaxing Friday night at home prepared us for a lot of walking, a lot of shopping and a lot of talking per our meet-up with Needlefingers and Pilot in the big town across the river.

No matter how hard we tried, we were unable to spend our hard-earned money. I came home with a tank top, kitty and furniture brush, and a book of sweater patterns, quite a haul in comparison with my shopping companions. However, we came home so very glad we'd met up with our family and friends; happy that we had some quality time with them.

Today was a bit busy as well. Cynical's family came in for a visit and lunch. We enjoyed catching up with them; playing with Princess M and giggling at her rendition of "Thwinkle, Thwinkle Little Star."

Anxious to stretch our weekend for all it was worth, we dropped by my folks to torment the visiting Prince E. He's in for his summer visit, but make no mistake it's not his grandparents or his aunt he was anxious to see, it was his Uncle Cynical.

Even though our weekend was full, I was able to squeeze in some knitting. I finished up yet another pair of socklettes, this time in pink, made headway on my Rusted Root and am nearing completion on a pair of socks. It appears my mojo is back.

Movies, socklettes, cat names and road trips

I keep thinking of things I want to share on this here blog, but for some reason I am nowhere near a computer whenever those thoughts strike me. Also, it's been a bit of a random week, so it's appropriate that I include a post of unconnected, extraneous bits, right?

-Went to see "Waitress" last night. Loved the film, it was so much more than I expected, so much darker, so much deeper and so much more entertaining than the previews and promos lead me to believe. I was a bit worried it would be a sappy love story. . . something I have seen before, but this was much more twisted and interesting. Loved it.

-For a while now I had been wanting to make some short socks in something cotton, stretchy and comfortable, just to wear around the house. I had also been hoping to check out Cascade Fixation. Marry those two thoughts and you get my new obsession. I'm a woman obsessed. I can't quit making them. The pair at top are a gift and in keeping with the current Project Spectrum colors. The pair at the bottom are mine, all mine. (Details are in the Finished Objects section at right.)

-We are taking a little day trip on Saturday to meet up with some fellow bloggers, family and friends (Needlefingers & Pilot). A little shopping, a little lunch, a little visiting. All adds up to a day of fun. We'll also be trekking north for the weekend prior to the 4th of July for some birthday celebrating, some fireworks watching and some trouble making.

-My nephew is coming next week. Prince E will be here for a few days before departing on a trip with my folks. I cannot wait to see this kid. It's been ages since we have tormented him, filled him up with ice cream and let him get by with murder.

-I am convinced that my cat, Ike, knows his name. Cynical is less convinced, but I have spent most of the week calling him to see if he'll turn around, using false names to try to trick him. . . thus far he's right on target. The cat knows his name. In this testing process, we also learned that I need more to do, a new distraction or to simply get a life.

Little Bunny Faux Foo

People do the nicest things, don't they? And I am always amazed at their generosity and thoughtfulness. I often hope some of it will rub off on me.

For instance, I had been coveting Blue Moon Fiber Arts Little Bunny Foo Foo sock yarn for some time and had even pondered ordering it. However, after a little "googling" with Needlefingers, we quickly learned, much to my dismay, that the colors pooled in the most unfortunate of ways. Needlefingers assured me that we could come up with something much better. And that she did.

She surprised me with a skein of her very own hand-dyed Little Bunny Faux Foo for my birthday. It's so very gorgeous and right up my alley in softness and color. She did such a wonderful job. How thoughtful is she?

Birthdays are the bestest

You might know this about me, but if you don't, hang around long enough and youll be able to figure out that I like holidays, all holidays. I really do. I must admit I even enjoy my own birthday. That may seem very narcissistic, but darnit, who doesn't like their birthday?

It kinda all began on Friday when my work buddies and I, per a tradition established for all of our birthdays, went out to lunch, opened gifts, started a birthday shrine and skipped outta work for an hour.

My folks took us to dinner at my new favorite restaurant where there was more gift opening, some canoli and cards. Our night concluded with the season finale of the first season of "Veronica Mars". What more could a girl ask for? Well, let me tell you. . .

And all the fun flowed over to yesterday (my actual birthday). Cynical and I jumped in the car for a little trek across the river. A marathon shopping trip resulted in summer clothes, yarn (of course), and a whole sundry of goodies. Apparently the apparel gods were smiling upon me as I had anticipated a disappointing day of clothes shopping, but in reality I came home all set for the summer. We ate a wonderful lunch, wasted time over iced coffee, perused book stores, sang with the radio, and drove along blissfully in the sunshine.

Then we came home and crashed. Lack of sleep the night before, lots of walking, trying on one too many pair of jeans and too many celebratory meals had worn us down.

Cynical baked me cupcakes, yummy, milk-chocolate-iced cupcakes. Intermingled Saturday were calls from my brothers, dear friends, beautiful cards and mysterious packages. However would I celebrate without those that I love and love me back. Thank you.

Today we celebrated Mother's Day with each of our moms, got some quality time with Princess M and managed to tackle all of the chores I had been putting off all week. The sweet smell of just mowed grass is being carried in on a cool spring breeze. The perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.

Sunday night. . . already?

Once again we are bidding farewell to a beautiful weekend. What began as a big wet, rainy mess transformed into two warm and breezy spring days, for which we are eternally grateful.

Our Friday night centered around a play, "Picasso at the Lapin Agile". Cynical and I met for dinner prior, some Starbucks and a little potential house stalking. As we walked to the theater, it poured, leaving us drenched and cold as we sat through the play. However, the Steve Martin penned humor was well worth it.

On Saturday I left my Beloved at home, joining Queen of Cool for a little early birthday celebrating. We made our way for a little shopping escapade, some lunch and a little bookstore browsing. Even though we live only minutes from each other, Queen and I don't often spend quality time together, but keep up with each other via e-mail. Nothing is better than a day with her in person: giggling at her humor, appreciating her insight and enjoying her friendship. Mark these words: no one can make me laugh like Queen of Cool, her sense of humor is smart, witty and edgy. I love it.

It occurred to me recently that the two of us have been friends for over 25 years. What ever would I have done without her all this time. Make no mistake, however, we are still hip and happening, despite those 25 years.

Queen gifted me not only with her presence, but a beautiful Etsy necklace find and Fig Newtons, yes, Fig Newtons. Remember the fate of my dear little fig tree? Seems she had pity upon me and went to the final product, saving me the loss of yet another species. The necklace is gorgeous, absolutely the coolest piece of jewelry I own. Of course it is, Queen gave it to me.

This weekend we have both been battling some sort of a sinus/weather/cold related sort of thing, so we spent a lot of our beautiful weekend inside, windows open, watching all of the goodies Blockbuster Total Access bestowed upon us including the fourth installment of Season I of "Veronica Mars", "Little Children" and "An Inconvenient Truth".

The weekend wasn't a complete waste, however, I did manage to finish off "Glee" save some minor seaming and blocking; as well as a few dish cloths bound to be a birthday gift once they are coupled with some soaps and other goodies.

My day has been full of chores, laundry and reading.

I went to Greencastle and all I got was this. . .

hunk of woolly stuff and a drop spindle. That's not exactly true, but it's better than that whole t-shirt reference.

I have been absent from blogging for a little while, but not because I have been caught under a large, heavy piece of furniture, choking on butter cookies or involved in some sort of highly confidential police sting operation.

In reality, I ventured to Illinois to meet up with Needlefingers and Jenny from the Blog for a little trip to Greencastle, IN to attend the Fiber Festival there. And the party began when I drove up on Thursday night to stay with Pilot and Needlefingers. (Thanks for dinner guys!)

In transit north for the meet-up, I was able to make a stop or two along the way and found myself with yarn well before the festival was even in view. At one break in my drive, I ended up with enough stuff to make a Paton's sweater. Another stop yielded some Trekking in 126 (aka Brach's candy yarn) that I have been stalking for some time, but feared I'd never find. I addition, I picked up a few balls of Regia wool and some Online that caught my eye. (Note that this is all sock yarn, a theme that would continue throughout the weekend, good, bad or ugly.)

Before hitting the Pilot/Needlefingers homestead, we made a stop at Needles' LYS, where I became the proud owner of some blue Pace wool sock yarn and tiny, tiny double pointed needles. (Note the trend.)

On Friday, after joining up with Jenny from the Blog, we headed out bright and early, stopped by the Olive Garden and Starbucks for sustenance and then trekked to the Fiber Festival. Fortunately, the weather cooperated as we made our way from building to building, outdoor vendor to outdoor vendor. We spied all sorts of goodies, and with some restraint, decided to make our rounds before making any large purchasing decisions. . . that was until we spotted the Trading Post, where we dumped out bins of Fleece Artist merino and sea wool, wallowed in it, refusing to leave, even after security was called. (In reality we very politely handled each skein, oohing as we raised them above our heads in homage.) I scored a skein of each (one in red, one in green, destined to be some pretty lacy socks, in keeping with said trend).

We made our way through the booths, touching each and every item in each and every one. And thanks to some careful planning, we met up with fellow knitter and blogger, Knitterbunny and pal, who joined in our searching and scouring. We perused, we petted bunnies and a blind goat, we found lots of good stuff including a too-cute vintage fabric project bag, an even cuter yarn-oriented charm and a good start on my very own Elizabeth Zimmerman book collection, Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Loden, pretty green alpaca mittens and some Fiesta extrafine superwash merino in Wild Oak.

Having felt the gentle tug of want of a drop spindle, I convinced Jenny from the Blog to join me in searching for an inexpensive version (one that wouldn't be too large a commitment, but would give us an opportunity to test our skill at such a thing.) That lead to a big hunk o' roving.

Our little gaggle of knitters opted for pizza for dinner. We required the use of a luggage dolly to transport all of our haul into the hotel, where we proceeded to spread it all over the bed to admire it.

Then it was time to put that drop spindle and roving to work. Having a master spinner in our midst, we took full advantage. Jenny picked up the technique immediately while I, much like the time I first put on ice skates, took a while to remotely get the hang of it. However, we did make yarn. . . we did create yarn where there was fluff.

We then rested in anticipation of the Sock Madness pattern being dropped the next morning. Our favorite sock knitter and leader, Needlefingers, has been annihilating the competition with her enviable skills. Feeling the need to support our leader in any way possible, Jenny and I joined together to form Team Needlefingers, there to support our candidate at any cost.

The next morning we stalked the Internet, awaiting the pattern. Once we had it in hand (or in PDA to be precise) Needlefingers commenced to knitting and we commenced to packing up. Cold rain and temperatures meant that our last run at the festival would be short and purposeful. I found yarn for my Secret Pal 10 recipient.

Cold and wet, we were ready to head back. After lunch at the OG and a few hours of driving later we were back in the state of Illinois, where I parted from my pack o' knitters and headed home, where my beloved Cynical awaited.

I have wasted away my Sunday with laundry, yarn photography, White Castle eating and open house going. And it's time to start yet another work week. Maybe I should wear my pretty green alpaca mittens, that's sure to cheer me as I approach Friday.

Warm sunlight this afternoon allowed me to photograph the test drop spindle and roving I nabbed at the Fiber Festival.

Thanks Easter Bunny

When our guests left today I was sad. I was sad because our wonderful weekend was coming to an end. I was sad because soon we'd have to re-enter the real world. I was sad that Needlefingers and Pilot don't live closer.

Our weekend began early when the duo made their way to Chez Ragged on Thursday night. We don't often get the luxury of a long weekend together, which, by the way, passed much too quickly. Cynical had to work, so we consoled Pilot with lots and lots of cheesy pizza, as he was silently fretting over his speeding ticket. And we topped it off with stuffed breadsticks. Frigid weather kept us inside where it was safe and warm. The rest of the weekend was absorbed by Trivial Pursuit playing, ice cream eating, movie watching, knitting, knitting and more knitting, laughing, giggling, tell-all-ing, trip planning, internet surfing, plotting and coffee drinking. Can you think of a better way to spend a weekend?

I can. . . you plan a meet-up Japanese lunch with Brando and Rudy! And then you get some time to visit with them, provide a grand tour of Chez Ragged and oooooh and aaaaaah over the new bathroom. (For a much more eloquent summary, visit Needlefingers' internet homeplace.)

This morning I celebrated Easter with a church service with my parents, complete with familiar hymns, a brass section and sweet little girls in bonnets. Cynical met up with us for lunch, topped off by the second chocolate bunny gifted to me today. I am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world, not only because I'll soon be nibbling on chocolate bunny ears, but because I got to spend the weekend with my favorite people. I hope your holiday weekend was as blessed.

Short week ahead

Monday morning always sneaks up on me. I suspect it's because it doesn't take me long to fall into "weekend mode" and somehow I start feeling as if my leisurely days will last forever, but come Monday morning, there is always a rude awakening.

Our weekend was busy, but good, full of projects we were trying to squeeze in before the sunny sky turned to a rainy one. Mulching and mowing. Sweeping and garden planning. My first pedicure of the season. Errand running. Grocery shopping. A walk around the neighborhood. The admiring of spring blossoms and blooms. Lots and lots of laundry. Some knitting. Some reading. Some movie watching.

The good news is that this is a short week for us. Both Cynical and I have Friday off. Being as it's Spring Break in most of fair Kentucky, the phone is ringing a lot less and it's eerily quiet at work. That also means no evening meetings or volunteer activities. The week, it seems, is mine.

And in even better news, we have managed to plan a little visit from Pilot and Needlefingers. They'll be coming Friday and staying Sunday until we all must part to spend Easter with our families. I have been busy printing out geocaching information, figuring out some movies for us to see and planning a menu. I suspect that colder temperatures might impede much caching, but it's worth a shot.

You make me so very happy

I am posting the photo above because it simply makes me happy.

Once again, it's Sunday night and I am wondering where my weekend has gone. And in all honesty, I can only seem to account for a few of the hours, the rest are a bit of a blur.

On Friday we spent most of the evening attempting to remove a coating of drywall dust from every single thing we own. I knew we were in for a battle when I walked across the floor and left foot prints. A small price to pay for a beautiful bathroom it seems.

Saturday meant some errand running including the depositing of our recyclables, dropping off donations to Goodwill, picking up stuff at Lowe's and making a Target run, grabbing a bag of sliders at White Castle and meeting up with friends for a long, leisurely and memory-filled dinner.

This morning we donned our finest and headed to a christening and luncheon following. I had not visited this particular church, but was instantly greeted with a level of comfort and ease. The service was personal and inclusive. The baby, of course, was beautiful and sweet and wearing her mother's christening dress. Isn't it wonderful to be included in something so personal.

A little work-oriented duties followed and now we're home. I'm knitting. Cynical is reading. We are both planning for the week ahead: meetings, evening obligations, workmen in the house, cats tucked away in the bedroom, knit group, clean-up post the renovation and painting chores.

Gotta love good mail

My mailbox this week has been filled with "good mail", the most wonderful of surprises. You'll see Valentines for Cynical and I sent from my mother, a handmade card from Madretz and a postcard from Phin.

I love Valentine's Day.

In other news, Cynical, my own personal postman, is dropping CDs in the mail today, bound for those of you requesting a copy. Also, I posted my contribution to the Valentine's Day pun challenge over at Nudge-Nudge.

As for the weekend, here's a quick summary: "You, Me and Dupree", "Loverboy", Mmmmmexican food, ripping out of a Jaywalker sock, new pants, new brown clogs, new tennis shoes, new socks, new shower head, drywall woes.

Today is a very, very good day

Know what makes today a very, very good day? Let me count the ways. . .

-I had a lunch meeting at a very, very cool local restaurant; the only restaurant in town that serves a truly "green" salad without Romaine or Iceburg lettuce (I can't eat either). And, they put this incredible melt-in-your-mouth goat cheese and balsalmic vinagrette dressing on it.

-While at lunch I spied my mom's retired ladies group and stopped to say hello. One of the ladies pulled me to the side to discuss the fact that she has begun knitting socks. We were both so excited that I think we squealed and talked for over 15 minutes before I had to rejoin my group.

-I have been curious about the arrival of my federal tax refund. I tend to mail mine early as it's pretty simple and since I was getting a nice return, I was a little anxious for its arrival. I checked online (www.irs.gov) and learned that it was expected to be directly desposited tomorrow. I literally danced.

-I originally had plans for tonight with a friend. I love spending time with said friend, but I am a little tired after a late night. She rescheduled, so I got the best of both worlds: a night at home and a promise of quality time next week.

I am certain that all of this good luck has befallen me due to good cleaning living and you can't convince me otherwise.

Wishing weekends never had to end

It's Sunday night and once again, I find myself sitting here with the realization that the weekend is over. It makes me sad, particularly when we had such a wonderful, relaxing and memorable one.

Things got moving on Friday whenever Cynical and I headed out for dinner and then did a little bookstore/office supply store run. However, the real fun began Saturday when we made our way across the river to meet Needlefingers and Pilot at a chalet for the night.

Cynical and I rose a little early in an effort to spend a little time running errands before "the meet up" at Olive Garden. We used the remainder of the Target card on a very, very exciting purchase: a new calendar/binder, which makes the obsessive-compulsive in me, very, very happy. Some quality time together over coffee and a few more stops stood between us and our fellow chalet inhabitants.

After a leisurely lunch, a stop by the bookstore and more coffee, we meandered to the park and entered the "center of relaxation." The chalet was gorgeous, A-frame in design, complete with a loft, fireplace and comfy quarters for all of us.

It was there that we visited, played cards and Cranium, made a fire, hoped for snow, drank more coffee, laughed, giggled, knitted and caught up. It was exactly what we needed. I am grateful to our hosts. Thanks so much for making all of the arrangements, feeding us, and once again making for a great weekend.

We had an early check-out and as I jumped in the warm car to escape the cold, cold air, I was sad to go, sad to say goodbye to Needlefingers and Pilot, sad to bid the weekend farewell.

And the good stuff keeps coming

I woke up early this morning, sneaking out of bed well before Cynical even considered getting up. I used my time wisely: doing some work, knocking some chores off our list and grabbing a shower.

You see, we had big plans ahead of us, and I didn't have time to waste. We were heading to visit Needlefingers, Brando, Pilot and Rudy.

After a much-too-short visit, Cynical and I headed home and in an unexpected burst of energy, took down the remainder of the Christmas decorations. However, we lost our umph shortly after hauling the twenty-first box downstairs and an ornament-less-still-lighted-dried-out tree is still standing in our living room. Don't call us quitters, we are just pacing ourselves.

We celebrated by going out for dinner and after one margarita, I was ready to go home and stare at our bare tree, hoping if I wished hard enough it would disappear before my eyes. It didn't work, by the way. Oh, well, there's always tomorrow.

The tree will come down tomorrow. Bet your bottom's dollar, there's tomorrow!

Road trips and day three

I love road trips. Especially when they involve meeting up with a friend that I don't see often enough. As a matter of fact Mommy L and I haven't seen each other in over a year, so this was a very, very welcome get-together. The moment I realized that our long awaited plans were coming to fruition, I packed my Christmas music collection, some whole wheat Gold Fish and tea and hit the road.

My old college buddy lives about two hours away, so we decided to meet up somewhere in between. And that would be Corydon, Indiana. I was a little unsure about meeting there, as all Corydon meant to me was a restroom stop and a White Castle slider on my way to visit family. However, a little more venturing and some help from the visitor's bureau, and we uncovered all sorts of treasures in that little town.

After lunch we ventured to the historic district where we found a cute little town square surrounded by a variety of antique and individual shoppes. So, we browsed, and visited, stopped for something to drink and meandered from storefront to storefront.

The visitor's bureau had also directed us to an art glass workshop just across a little stream. We made our way there hoping for a demonstration, which we did not get. However, we did enjoy watching the artisans shape and mold glass using a variety of kilns and rough tools.

Reluctantly, I made my way home, saying goodbye to Mommy L and little Baby M. I miss her already, and wish she didn't leave two hours away, but right next door, just as she did all those years ago. It's amazing that even though you don't see particular friends often, you truly do seem to just pick up as if no time has passed at all.

A shot of some vintage ornaments at one of the shoppes we perused.

Vacation. . . all I ever wanted

Day two of my vacation included a long-awaited trip to my favorite little quaint town across the river. The best part of the trip is that my dear friend, Queen of Cool, joined me. We ventured out for some shopping at the cute, original and sweet little shoppes all along the downtown crossroads.

A light lunch, a trip to a few mainstream stores and our day was complete. A few one-of-a-kind holiday finds including an ornament deemed "Ghetto Santa" by Queen of Cool, yarn for Knitty's Fetching (my first attempt at cabling) and two sock patterns. Queen of Cool, obviously humored me with one quick stop at the yarn shoppe.

Today I am meeting a college friend at a little town midway between both of our homes. I rarely see her and am so looking forward to catching up. Tonight I'll take my dad shopping for my mother; it's an annual event where my dad steps foot into stores he only enters once a year and complains about the prices of items.

Please keep my mom in your prayers. She's going through a bit of a health scare. We are hoping for good news today. In an effort to distract my mom, we visited the bookstore last night and toured around looking at Christmas lights. It was a brief distraction, but also some time together. Please send good vibes her way today.

On Monday I received the coolest of CDs from Farmwife. What a great mix. It accompanied us last night on our tour. Thanks, Farmwife. I luv it. I also got the coolest of Christmas cards from Phinner. Run, Phin, Run.

Another ornament from our tree. This one is huge, so it usually fills a gap in our tree.

Warnings: Calendars can cause panic attacks

I have really been looking forward to my impending vacation. . . that was until I realized that between now and then nearly each of my beloved evenings and weekends is booked, booked solid. That doesn't leave any time for knitting, or watching Christmas movies, or relaxing in front of the tree, or padding around the house in my socks.

I seriously had to sit down and take deep breaths when I realized exactly how little down time I will have. I need my down time.

And some additional random thoughts:

-Big, bad winter weather is coming. They have been heralding it all week, arrival expected this evening. Love snow, hate driving in it.

-I love the holidays, but there is one thing that could drive me to drink regular Coke: cooking! Seems every single time I turn around there is some potluck or cookie trade or open house requiring me to bring some intricately prepared dessert or finger food. I don't cook. I can't cook. I won't cook. I literally begged my bestest friend in the whole wide world to make cookies for me to bring to an open house next week. I literally begged, borrowed and mooched to get those cookies. Thank you, Queen of Cool.

-My starter on my car is acting up just a little. (But my philosophy is let's take care of it while it's little and before it grows up to be a big bad problem.) December is the worst month for car issues: limited cash flow, time is even more limited, it's cold outside and well, limited cash flow. Cynical assures me that deep breaths will see me through the car crisis. (Note the overstatement and dramatizing of the situation. I was trained well.)

-I went to an open house at a yarn shoppe last night. I bought four skeins of beautiful stuff, which I will reveal later. I am in love with them all. I love them so much I may sleep with them, but not in that way. I also got lots of good old quality time with Kissed Knitter. If only employment and cash didn't get in our way, think of all the gabbing and knitting we would do.