Week 29 - 'twas Quite Thrilling

After the busy weekend, Carolyn and I took it easy on Monday, sleeping in and then enjoying a leisurely morning. We headed to Bob’s for lunch, stopping at Gem Ravioli for some pasta on the way. It was another gorgeous day so we sat on Bob’s lanai and chatted over lunch then headed home for, you guessed it, pasta for dinner followed by Revolutionary Road – a total downer movie, which I knew because I’d read the book.

Tuesday was our day with Auntie Margaret. We had pedicures at 11:00 (it was her first one at age 87 and she loved every minute of it!), lunch at Corner Tavern and then took her to the beauty salon for a wash, cut and set. We then hit our favorite store, the Hack and Livery. I didn’t buy much, which was disappointing because it’s usually great for stocking stuffers, but we left with sour grapefruit candy, which is always a hit. We had put the leftover pork in the crock pot so had salsa pork over rice for supper. Frost Nixon was the movie choice that night.

Wednesday was the designated Sharyn day. She’d taken the day off and her husband was dropping her at Carolyn’s on the way golfing so we’d get an early start on our annual project – reupholstering Carolyn’s dining room chairs. Yeah, right. I’d woken up with a cold so Sharyn and I headed out for Claritin D (bless the chemist who created that drug!) and Dunkin’ Donuts to keep our energy up (hee, hee.) We sorted the project out and each took our positions. I was in charge of removing the old fabric (many, many staples) while Sharyn and Carolyn cut the fabric then stretched and stapled. I hammered the staples that needed it. Now you’d think with 3 able bodied women it wouldn’t take that long to recover 6 chair seats. Well, we didn’t finish until 3:30! As Sharyn said later, “At first it was quite thrilling,” which it was, but by chair number 6, we were toast and ready to be done. We did a fantastic job though and you’d think they were professionally done. We did some shopping and, too exhausted to care, ate dinner at Burger King before heading to Attleboro to drop Sharyn off. It was a long, fun and productive day. Nothing like friends to make tedious work tolerable.

Carolyn and I had another leisurely day on Thursday, which we both needed at this point. We did do some shopping in the afternoon but mostly just vegged. I ended the day by meeting my Uncle Ed and his wife for dessert. It was a nice day.

Friday was our big planned excursion to Tiverton to hit Sakonnet Purls, the best local yarn shop in RI according to the Ravelry gang. We were also hitting Evelyn’s for clam cakes, based on a recommendation from Guy Fiori on Diners, Drive Throughs and Dives. (Is that the right order?) We had planned on it being just us but Sharyn had taken the day off because it was her 32nd anniversary but Butch, her husband, was in a golf tournament all day so we headed north to pick Sharyn up to join in the fun. Sakonnet Purls is in an old colonial house (when I say old, I mean hundreds of years old.) The problem with this is that it was hot and humid and they didn’t have AC. At least we got there early enough to stand the heat but it also was dimly lit, which doesn’t help when you’re trying to select yarn. Add to that the lack of help from the 3 staff, which was all the more perplexing because we were the only customers so it was a 1 to 1 ratio. To be fair, one woman was attentive but didn’t seem to be the yarn guru I’d hoped to find working there. Despite it all, I still managed to find more yarn for socks plus a book and Carolyn bought the softest yarn ever for a scarf.

From there we headed to Evelyn’s, which did NOT have good clam cakes and had surly staff (was it the heat maybe?) The frosting on the cake to that dining experience was the shirtless fat man who sat down with his wife and dog at the next table and then lit a cigar! Now it was picnic tables outside but come on! Was he for real? We took a wrong turn on the way home (totally my fault) and ended up in traffic on the Mount Hope Bridge, which was a bit disconcerting because we were on the bridge for 20 minutes or so, feeling it shake with every passing truck. We then hit Wayland Square, only to find out the yarn shop and cheese store we were there for were both gone. So we stopped at Starbucks for a refreshing frapucino (sp?) because it was blazing hot by this time. We decided to hit one more yarn store that we knew was open on Hope Street. Well, this shop was everything a local yarn shop should be! They were uber helpful, the atmosphere was bright and it was downright chilly. Have I mentioned the humidity? Both Carolyn and I were looking for patterns and they cheerfully brought us entire binders full of patterns sorted by type to look through. Despite having bought out Sakonnet Purls, I still managed to find more yarn I couldn’t live without (Miazy yarn made from corn fiber that is super soft without being fuzzy) and a new sock pattern. Sharyn, who does crafts galore but doesn’t knit or crochet, even enjoyed it and scoped out future projects. We’ll get her knitting if it kills us! We did a bit more shopping, dropped Sharyn with a big hug and headed home for sweet potato ravioli for supper. I then met my old friend Janice at the Creamery for a mint chocolate awful awful (a cabinet in RI speak or milk shake for everyone else.) I’ve been friends with Janice since I was 12 and it always feels like we just talked even if it’s been a year.

Saturday was my departure day so after a hearty breakfast (Carolyn makes the best scrambled eggs ever so I had to have them before I left), I started packing. I’d bought so much that I needed to upgrade to a bigger suitcase. After repacking it, I got it down to 49.6 pounds by Carolyn’s scale. She picked up Matt and Aaron, which was nice because I at least got to say hello, and an hour later dropped me at the airport. I had a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis that I wasn’t looking forward to but it was fine. I found a chair, pulled up a table and then ate the lunch I packed, finished my book and started knitting a new pair of socks with my new Maisy yarn. Everything was uneventful and I got home at 1:00 and was in bed by 2:00. It felt good to be home.

Sunday was all unpacking, changing stinky litter boxes, watering plants and doing laundry. Now it’s back to reality and work tomorrow. What a fabulous week I had. Life is good!

Week 28 - Headed Back East

I’m here in RI trying to remember what last week was all about and, at this point, it’s a blur. I spent the week cleaning up from my 4th of July cookout and preparing to leave for RI. My flight was leaving at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday so every night had to be a model of productivity. I went to bed at 9:30 on Friday, all prepared to hit the road by 4:00 the next morning.

It was blazing hot Saturday morning – 76 degrees and humid at 4:00 a.m. I made it to the airport in good time and all went well. It was a teeny, tiny jet (the kind where the middle arm rests are up in the entire plane because the airlines know even skinny people can’t fit comfortably in those seats) but took off on time so it was all good. But then it was pouring rain in Detroit so we couldn’t get to our gate so just sat on the tarmac. Once we got in and I made my way from one end of one terminal, through the underground connector (what’s with the music and light shows they play down there?) and to the extreme other end of the 2nd terminal, my flight was already boarding. After a brief potty stop, I got on that plane. They kept announcing it was a nearly full flight but it appeared half empty to me. They shut the doors right on time and announced that there’d be plenty of room because there were lots of missed connections because of the weather but they weren’t waiting for them. While this meant I had an empty seat next to me, which was nice, how pissed would I have been had I been 10 minutes later? Big time! Especially because we pulled 20 feet away from the gate and then sat there for an hour and a half because a line of storms had shut down eastern airspace. Why didn’t they wait at the gate and make all those late arrivals happy? Only Northwest knows.

It was a very bumpy flight but I still arrived in time, albeit 1.5 hours late, for the planned Ikea excursion to Stoughton, Mass. John and his friend Eileen picked me up at the airport, we stopped to get Carolyn and offload my luggage and then headed out for a lunch of Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce. Ikea was fun, as always, and I managed to fill a bag with stuff – about half gifts and half for me. It felt good to finally start my stocking shopping.

Now I had noticed an exit for Taunton on the way up route 24 and so made my case for going home that way so I could stop and see the soon to be demolished Taunton State Hospital. My friends humored me and we took the exit. While the hospital was surrounded by the densest, black coated chain link fence I’d ever seen, it was totally cool. There had been a fire in the admin section of the Kirkbride but there was still plenty left to see. We drove around the perimeter and then I got out and took some pictures. I was happy to get to see it before they knocked it down, which had been delayed so I called myself lucky to have seen it at all.

After our scenic ride home, we headed to Oakland Beach for take out clam cakes and chowder from Iggy’s. It was so chilly by the water that I had to take shelter in the car or risk goose bumps. Quite a change from 76 degrees at 4:00 a.m.! After we ate our RI eats, John headed to Aaron’s room to put the armoir together while Eileen and I polished off a bottle of wine (Carolyn doesn’t do wine.) The conversation was fun and a great way to end a full day.

I had made arrangements to meet Deanne on Sunday morning since it was the only free time she had my whole trip. We started at Starbucks in Garden City and then went to brunch at NYLO, a fancy new hotel in an old converted mill in Warwick. The atmosphere and conversation were great but the food, which looked so fun – cheddared polenta with poached eggs and apple wood smoked bacon – was only so so.

When I left Deanne, I stopped at the market for fresh fruit and headed home for the Cuban themed dinner party Carolyn and I were throwing at 4:00 for all our friends. Carolyn had done the lion’s share of the work – shopping, cooking and cleaning – so my only contribution other than funds was buying and prepping berries. Sheesh! We had twelve people over, including Carolyn’s friend Peter whom I’d heard so much about but had never met. It was great to hang with everyone and the food, as usual, was great – cilantro lime pork, black beans and rice, grilled veggies and flan and berries for dessert. What’s not to like? And what a great way to end my week with anticipation of more fun to come. Life is good!

Week 27 - Celebrating True Independence

Well, it was a good week for many reasons. The weather was unseasonably cool and ended with a long weekend to celebrate the 4th – what’s not to love about that? But the best thing this week was Jonathan got out of jail.

My cousin’s husband has been in jail since winter because he was the sales manager for an investment company that ended up being a ponzi scheme. The company had been shut down and Jonathan was cooperating with the SEC’s investigation when the Madoff scandal hit. The Attorney General of California saw his name in headlines and decided that all the executives under investigation should be arrested, so out of the blue, Jonathan was rounded up with 5 others and slammed in jail. With bail set at more than $3,000,000 (more headlines?) he was stuck there. His public defender was useless so while all the others had their bail reduced and got out, Jonathan languished in jail.

Well this week, after a flurry of fedexed legal documents – sign here, notarize this, fax that - he was finally able to get out. Hearing that gave Independence Day a whole new meaning.

On a more ordinary front, I had my 2nd annual 4th of July cookout. It was nice that we had Friday off so I could enjoy the preparations instead of running around stressed. It’s always a good thing to have people over because I did things I’d been putting off for too long, like going through all the paper on my desk and bar (my 2 hot spots) and getting the entire house neatized to a higher standard than normal. I had gotten a head start on Wednesday morning while I was waiting for Fedex so I had time to go the extra mile. It always takes external motivation for me to get stuff like that done. Since the cleaning lady comes tomorrow and I’m flying to RI Saturday morning, having all that done puts me ahead of the game for this week. Life is good!

The weather Saturday was weird for July – dreary with intermittent sprinkles and very cool. At least the sprinkles stopped by the end of the day and everyone (I had 21 people come this year) had a good time. I had the usual burgers, hotdogs, chips and beans and everyone brought something to share so there was tons of food. This year I bought s’mores stuff and those were a big hit. When the sun went down, it was so chilly that I had to get a blanket for one of my friend’s kids to wrap around her shoulders and we all wore sweatshirts down to watch the fireworks. It was a fun night and I cleaned up before I went to bed so I didn’t have to face a mess the next morning – so unlike me but worth the effort.

Sunday was a gorgeous day but I was tired, not having gotten to bed until 1:30. I had a leisurely day of vegging interspersed with the usual chores. I even gave up on my fancy 360 degree antenna, which worked in the dead of winter but was now useless. I was getting zero reception, not even PBS, which even comes in down in the basement with just rabbit ears. So I dug out my old satellite dish antenna and got that hooked back up and rescanned the channels. It means changing the position every time I change the channel but since I’ve gotten used to watching no TV, I figure that’s better than nothing. I also did a lot of cooking – sloppy joes, taco salad mix, yet another burger on my newly fixed grill (it had been out of commission since last summer – dumn!) Do you see a trend? I only used half of the hamburgers I made so was cooking with ground beef prior to freezing the rest. I ended the day by trying out the new mulching mower I got from my friend’s husband on a trial basis, which worked great so I will be buying it from him.

So it was a good week. By the end of this one, I’ll be enjoying a cookout at Bob’s surrounded by all my RI friends, which will be wonderful. Despite Bob’s contention that summer is over after the 4th of July, I’m looking forward to this one. I’ve only had my AC on for 5 days so far but I’m sure the heat will arrive and I’ll finally get my purse made. But if the cool weather holds, I’ll just get some more gardening done. It’s all good. Happy summer!

Week 26 - Au Revoir Connie

It’s that time of year again where I walk around like a zombie, sleep deprived and exhausted. The problem? There aren’t 8 hours of darkness so I can’t get enough sleep. It’s not full dark until close to 10:00 and the sky begins lightening somewhere around 5:00 a.m. Then add that the 4th of July fireworks tents are up and running and, no matter how bad the economy is, my neighbors seem to have no problem finding money for fireworks, which they let off some nights as late as midnight. Last night, I was struggling to fall asleep (I even got up and took a pain pill) and was just drifting off when my neighbor, who was outside enjoying a fire in her firepit, let off some salutes at 11:00 o’clock not 15 feet from my bedroom window just as I was finally drifting off. I woke up with such an adrenaline rush that I was awake for hours. She’s my age and couldn’t resist lighting fireworks to end her evening? WTF! (Monday evening update - it wasn't her! She thought someone threw something up her driveway but didn't see it, just heard it like me. I should have known better.)

Sleeping has become a luxury but I figure I might as well get something productive done so have started doing things before work. Thursday morning I cleaned 3 Husker Cats feeding stations (I had scheduled it with other volunteers for Wednesday at 2:00 but it was so blazing hot – heat index of 110 – that I cancelled) and Friday I picked up a donated load of cat food on the way to work. I also had an appointment at the podiatrist, where I found out I did not have another wart but only a clogged sweat gland so no acid on my foot this summer. Yay! The heat wave broke on Friday too, so it was a good day.

Anyway, the highlight of the week, if you can call it that, was that Connie moved to North Dakota. She’d been talking about moving back since I met her and when Mark died right after she lost her job, there was no reason not to do it. Saturday was her last day in Auburn so I drove down to say goodbye. We had a pleasant day. We went to lunch at what I call the Therapy Café (it’s actually called Family Connections, which I think sounds more like a counseling center than a restaurant), went to the thrift store and Serendipity, a wonderful gift shop that I still can’t believe Auburn can support, and hung out all afternoon doing a bit of last minute packing but mostly talking. I had brought steaks and salad for dinner but there was no way to cook the steaks without unpacking so we ended up going out to dinner with her son Dylan. The actual goodbye was a bit tearful but not bad. There’s always email and the phone so it’s not like our friendship stops. We’ll just be lacking in face time, which I’ve gotten used to since she moved to Auburn. So I drove away, forcing back tears, with my car full of the contents of Connie’s freezer and a whole array of sad looking plants, facing another long distance friendship.

Sunday was supposed to be my productive day but I realized early on that I probably wouldn’t get much done. I was reading a good book that was making me cry (maybe I would have been crying regardless) and figured I’d get the bare minimum done between stints of reading on the deck in the beautiful weather. I had lots of laundry to do and hang out and needed to mow but everything else could wait. I had done my regular laundry – one load of clothes and one of sheets and towels that I hung on the line – and was starting on the pile of blankets, pillows and such that was the end of my garage cleaning from last weekend. I put in the first load of that stuff and headed to the deck to read another chapter. But when the load should have been done, I went downstairs and the machine was buzzing. I opened the lid to find that an old pillow had disintegrated and there was fiberfill everywhere. I sieved it out with my hands, removed the clothes and started bailing. Despite googling how to fix it and my best efforts to take the machine apart, it was dead. I was not a happy camper.

I read another chapter and then decided to mow the lawn then rather than waiting until evening so that I could feel like I got something done. Well, my neighbors had borrowed my mower and hadn’t returned it yet, which would be odd for normal neighbors but not for them. So I went over to get it and found it with the handle mount rotted out and broken. Now my mower was dead too and my grass was way high. Damn! What else would go wrong? I went to my neighbor on the other side and asked to borrow her mower . What a monstrosity! It was super heavy and required me to bag the clippings, which made it even heavier. What would have taken 20 sweat free minutes with my little mower, took closer to an hour and I was drenched, exhausted and achy. I sat for a bit to cool off and then decided that since I was already pitted out, I might as well weed at the library and take all the blankets, both the soggy, half washed ones and the rest of the pile, to the laundromat while I was weeding. I ended up at my friend Lorri’s dropping off the pile of weeds (she takes her yard debris to her brother’s farm) and her husband, who was born and raised in Wahoo and knows everyone, had the name of a local man who repaired appliances. This could only happen in a small town – I called him and he came out at 8:00 on a Sunday night and fixed my washer. When he took it apart, there was fiberfill everywhere – in the body of the machine, clogging the drain pump and the water tube – but once he removed it, it worked like a charm.

So, despite my frustrating day, I at least got my must do list done. My house is a wreck and I still haven’t made my new purse (although I stopped on the way home Friday and bought the missing fusible fleece so as soon as it gets icky outside, I’m headed downstairs to sew) but the day wasn’t a total loss. Plus Lorri’s husband Bob offered to sell my a spare mulching mower he has that he only used for a year. After using Cara’s behemoth, I’ll have to see how much it weighs before I commit. I may just get another lightweight cheapy if Bob’s too heavy but at least it’s an option. Life is still good!

Week 25 - Motel Merry Closed!

Well, Monday wasn’t too bad. I arrived home to find my new plant brackets installed and opened the door to the smell of salsa pork. There was also an under current of unwashed male but I ignored that. The evening was uneventful, probably helped along by the fact that I was barely awake, having slept for only about 4 hours the previous night. We had dinner, watched some TV and the men went to bed earlier than I did. They also got up super early and headed out before I did, which meant I could relax and eat some breakfast in peace, rather than sneaking out to eat in the car like the previous day. My life was back!

The week was pretty uneventful but the thwarted theme from last week wasn’t over yet. Tuesday I went to water aerobics and then came home to an empty house and just enjoyed the evening, eating leftovers for dinner and popping in the first DVD, released that day, of Burn Notice Season 2. That meant the beds didn’t get stripped, the laundry wasn’t done, the dishes were still in the sink… but it was worth it just to be home ALONE in my house.

Wednesday was the first really hot day so I closed up the house in the morning and put on the air for the first time this season, knowing I’d come home to a cool house and a productive evening of getting everything done that I’d put off from Tuesday. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home so I could put some yummy spinach stuffed shells in the oven and then get busy. Well, I wasn’t home 10 minutes when the power went off for no obvious reason and it stayed off ‘til almost 8:00! So much for supper, laundry, air conditioning! Thwarted again.

The end of the week flew by as I was looking forward to my weekend. All I had planned was everything I hadn’t done last weekend – cleaning the garage, making my purse and catching up on chores. Some might not be excited by that but it was what I wanted to do.

I got up early on Saturday and headed to the garage. Now I’d done a major clear out a year of so ago so it was really about clearing out the detritus and cleaning up the possum poop. Yes, I had a possum living in there this winter. I leave the side door ajar for the cats and he just wandered in, found the bags of nyjer seed I had from the Husker Cats pick ups and decided to stay. I had a pile of poop and nyjer seed smack in the middle of the floor. Nice! Anyway, I was outside from 9:00 a.m. until almost 1:00. By the time I was done, I had 4 leaf bags full of garbage, just 1 box to donate and the garage looked great - so great that my knee with singing. Oh, but that was in pain, not for joy!

I had planned to be done by noon, shower and eat some lunch then head to the library to neatize the basement, which I’d volunteered for at the last meeting (so much for just saying NO!) and had originally scheduled for Monday night but had to postpone when my brother-in-law arrived. I took the shower and called the library to postpone yet again. I figured if I did anything other than sit watching more Burn Notice for the rest of the day, I’d pay the price with my knee. I did arrange for my friend’s sister to pick up my rabbit cage and called a locksmith because my doorknob had come off in my hand Friday night. I also had the stuffed shells to make and the spare bed to change because my friend Susan was coming for dinner and to stay over that night. That was enough for the rest of my day. Susan arrived late and we didn’t eat until 8:30 but it was good to see her and catch up.

Susan was up and out early on Sunday so I was sure there was some sewing in my future. I did load after load of laundry, mostly sheets and blankets but some stuff from the garage too (that pile isn’t gone yet), and hung them out to dry. Twice my knee got funky (it does this thing where it feels like nothing is stopping it from bending the wrong way, which is accompanied by a zing of pain) so I was doing the stairs one at a time. So pathetic! By late afternoon I was downstairs, prepping the sewing room for some actual sewing. I even set up the digital converter box on the downstairs TV so I could at least watch PBS while I sewed. There was nothing stopping me now!

I found enough of the purse pattern to work, figuring I’d wing it on the pieces I couldn’t find, cut up an old pair of jeans to coordinate with the fabric for the bottom of the bag and was ready to go when I read the directions and realized I didn’t have the fusible fleece the pattern called for. I hadn’t used it the last time I made a purse and it showed. So after all that, I decided to wait until I could buy some of that to make this purse. I did do a bit of mending but the purse will have to wait. I had already emptied the old purse (how’s that for positive thinking?) so I did at least retire that for the season and found an old red leather purse in the closet that will do until I make the new one. Maybe this coming weekend. : )

Week 24 - At Every Turn

The word for the week was thwarted. I had a normal week and was in the home stretch to a weekend with few commitments so I'd filled in my mental to do list with cleaning the garage and making a purse. And this was all supposed to start early Saturday morning, when my friend Andrea was coming over to dig up plants and take the trundle bed since I'd finally gotten the mattresses back from Connie last weekend. That was the plan until the phone rang Thursday at 9:00 p.m.

The fact that my sister was calling at 10:00 South Carolina time was odd in and of itself. Then she asked if my brother-in-law, who is not my favorite person, and his friend Frank could stay at my house Sunday and Monday nights. They would be in the midst of a road trip to pick up various eBay purchases in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. It didn't dawn on me to lie and say I wouldn't be home so, before you knew it, I was agreeing. The minute I hung up, I began fretting.

I live in a small house and only have one guest room, which Frank, being 79 years old, would get to sleep in. That meant Bob would be sleeping in either the front room or the family room, either of which is completely open to my kitchen where I'd need to be getting ready for work both mornings they'd be here. It also meant I wouldn't be getting rid of the trundle bed because I'd need it for Bob. I'd also have to cancel the plans I'd made for Monday night to go through the junk in the library's basement, dredge up linens for the twin bed and wash them plus plan and cook 2 dinners. With one phone call, my weekend was no longer my own.

It did start early Saturday, when Andrea and I dug up all kinds of perennials for her yard. She was gone before 10:00 to open her shop so I headed out to run my errands. After lunch, I decided I needed to do something creative with the few hours I'd have (not enough to finish my purse so I didn't want to start) so tried to adhere the big vine thingie I'd bought for my front door (see the pic of the decal on someone's fridge, which is what it showed in the catalog but I immediately thought of my boring door. The vine in the pic is in 2 pieces. Mine will not be.) I had shown the decal to Andrea but told her I was waiting to do another coat of paint on the door and she suggested I put it on the glass of the storm door - genius! I went online and read the instructions, washed the window, got out a credit card to do the rubbing and started. Well, when I started pulling it apart, it stuck to the paper instead of the sticky stuff. I didn't realize that was backwards until I had the entire thing pulled off and was attempting, to no avail, to get it to stick to the door. I emailed the consultant who sold me the sticker but she's out of town. Talk about frustrated! I did some therapeutic baking - chocolate chip cookies with chopped up Chunky candy bars in place of the chips. That helped some. : )

Shortly thereafter the phone rang and it was Connie, who was in Lincoln and had been stood up by her contractor. She was looking to kill some time so asked if she could come up. Good thing input is one of my strengths because I took some shrimp out of the freezer and whipped up roasted broccoli with shrimp and put a bottle of wine in the freezer for a quick chill. As usual, it was fun hanging with her and helped improve my frustrated mood.

I spent Sunday doing laundry, setting up beds and cooking. Bob and Frank arrived late (6:30 when they'd said 5:00) but I'd kept dinner hot in the oven. After the cops got the truck unlocked (Frank had hit the lock button as he got out and the engine was running) we ate dinner, I gave them the 15 minute tour of Wahoo so he could get his tire repaired and see where to eat lunch. Bob offered to fix stuff while they were waiting Monday for a delivery from Minnesota so I left him with mini blinds to hang and plant brackets to install. We went to bed early but I slept badly. I got ready for work in the dark and headed to work for the start of another week. Maybe this weekend will see me sewing, or did I just jinx it by blogging the words. Time will tell I guess.

Week 23 - Finished My Sock

So, the first week of my newly reclaimed life was a good one. I had the normal activities – knitting at the library, water aerobics, yard work, food shopping… you know the drill. I did end the week with a busy, yet normal, weekend.

I broke a tooth on Friday and left a message with my dentist, who was out of the office (lucky bum! It was a top 10 day with perfect weather.) I wasn’t really expecting a call over the weekend but he called at 8:20 Saturday morning and offered to look at it right then. I was still in my jammies so threw on some clothes and was in the chair within 10 minutes getting a temporary filling. I then flew home to grab my Friends stuff and was at the library at 9:00 for a meeting, which was super quick for once. Then I headed back home to sop up the water that had come into my basement during the previous night’s rain before getting in the car to head to Connie’s to hang. It was a gorgeous morning so the drive was wonderful – windows open, arm out and 80’s music on the radio. We went out to lunch then just hung out for the rest of the day, mostly watching movies because the weather had turned and it was blazing hot and humid. We did venture out for a walk after supper but it was so hot I walked with my arms out from my body so nothing would move. Sheesh! I left Connie’s at 9:15 for the 100 mile ride home, hoping I wouldn’t get hailed on (it’s not fun to get stuck in a hail storm on the road.)

Luckily Sunday was cool and dreary (no hail but a front had come through to change the weather) so the cats let me sleep late. I woke to a normal Sunday (something I hadn’t had in awhile) of laundry, neatizing and cooking. By the end of the day my fridge was full of healthy food (enough cut up fruit to choke a horse!) and my chores were done. What a good feeling.

So, what was special about this week? I’d have to say it was my sock. On Monday night, I finished my first sock – the first of many I hope (and based on the 4 more balls of sock yarn I’ve bought, it should be.) It’s got tiny stitches (size 1 needles will do that), is totally fun and I learned a lot of new techniques (thanks to Andrea, my new friend from Monday night knitting.) My hope is that this is the first accomplishment in my Summer of Creativity.

There, I said it. For years I’ve said that when the weather gets too hot to be outside and I hole up with the AC, I’ll head down to my craft room and get creative. Quilting, sewing, prepping stuff for eBay – they’ve all made the list. But summer after summer it doesn’t happen. I usually spend my evenings going to water aerobics and then coming home to watch netflixed dvd’s. Could this be the summer I break the cycle? Could the fact that I finished my sock on June 1st, the first night of my newly reclaimed life, be a sign? I guess it’s up to me to make it so and keep the productivity going. Andrea made me vow to cast on the 2nd sock immediately upon finishing the first one, which I did and I’ve already made quite a dent in it. But getting downstairs will be the real test. My craft room is in decent shape and I have all the makings for a new summer purse. My hope is that next weekend I’ll be blogging a picture of my new, fun purse. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of my fabulous sock. : )