Week 37 - Downton and Wheel

The week started out with beautiful weather but was in the 90's by the end of the week. This ridiculous heat impacted my to do list big time. But I had lots on my calendar - knitting on Monday night, to which I took a pineapple upside down cake I'd made, a library board meeting Tuesday night, went to Omaha Knit Night on Thursday night and was in Lincoln on Friday.

I didn't have much motivation to start the week but did a few things inside like gave my African violets some love and potted up a begonia I'd had rooting, did some dishes, made tortilla casserole - that kind of thing. But with the heat looming, I went outside on Wednesday and weeded a huge amount, starting at the alley and working along the fence by my veg beds. It was the biggest load yet and I thought I'd have to make two trips to the burn pile but I loaded to the roof and made it in one. By then the heat had arrived so it was a good thing I had more inside stuff to do.

My internet was down on Tuesday morning so I called Windstream and they scheduled an appointment for Thursday. It came back later Tuesday and was still up on Wednesday morning so I cancelled the appointment in the app. Well, something didn't work because I got a text that the tech was on his way. I tried to cancel again to no avail and he was at my door. He said it happens all the time and when I asked about when I could get fiber, he went into my backyard to look at the wires. I told him to be careful near the old grill because there was a hornets nest in it. He then offered to kill them, explaining that they find hornet nests all the time in the boxes on poles. So he got out his spray and killed them then opened the grill and pulled out the nests (there were 2) and threw them in the trash. Now to get rid of the grill, which I only kept because the cats sleep on it in the winter when the metal is warm.

I have followed Omaha Knit Night on Facebook and have been to one event they held - a potluck picnic at Elmwood Park in Omaha for World Wide Knit in Public Day last spring. I enjoyed the group and said I'd make an effort to go to more, which are usually evenings or weekends in a coffee shop somewhere in Omaha, so went to their meet up at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, which has a coffee shop in the lobby, on Thursday night. It was fun and I need to keep making the effort to go more often.

The last Downton Abbey movie premiered on Friday and since Dodie and I have gone to all the Downton movies together, I bought tickets on Monday for the first showing on Friday at the theatre near Dodie's house. If you want good seats, you have to pay an extra $3 to get them online before the day of the show. Rip off but oh well. I drove down Friday morning and we were front and center (actually halfway up and center) for the first show and it was wonderful. They wrapped things up nicely. I will miss Downton Abbey for sure.

After dropping Dodie, I hit a few thrifts, of course, and found the score of the century at St. Louise's. It was a Ashford spinning wheel, which retails for ~$900, for $32. The clerk said that it had been in the basement for a long time and they were going to throw it out but she convinced them to price it and see if anyone would buy it, which I happily did. It was missing its flyer but Helga from my spinning group sells Ashford so I could order it from her. I have always said that I'd spin after I retired so now I'm all set to give it a go. Yay! Here's a pic of it in the grungy back of my car, which I won't clean until I'm done with burn pile runs. Sorry.

I had finished a pair of navy blue socks that Helen had requested so I stopped at her house just to drop them off. Yeah, right. I sat down just for a minute and two hours later, Charlie walked in from work. I still had to hit a grocery store but was tired and hungry so had to force myself to stop, which I did. Adulting! I drove right by St. Theresa's when I left HyVee so popped in there (they're only open on Friday evenings and Saturdays and I'm rarely in town then) and scored 2 vintage Pyrex lids. I have many casseroles without lids in my garage and getting back on ebay to sell vintage linens, Corelle and Pyrex is on my short list. 

With all my trips here and there done, it was time for another hanging at home retirement weekend and catching up with friends. Andrea stopped by the check out my new wheel (she's the one who found the Ashford name on it) and I caught up with Carolyn and Dee. Otherwise it was streaming, knitting and chores.