Weekend Wrap Up with Yarn Aboard Loot!

As I mentioned on Saturday, Henry Hudson (of Yarn Aboard fame) showed up on my doorstep. I was so surprised because I thought it would be a little while till he arrived. I was also not completely prepared for his arrival. Naturally, he came bearing gifts, as any good visitor does.

Along with a lovely skein of Interlacements Toasty Toes, there were a bunch of cool treats – a bookmark that says “Serenity”, foot lotion (for my nightly foot rubs), an eye mask, cute post-its, and Junior Mints lip balm. Detect a theme? It seems to be relaxation and, when the package arrived I was really stressed – so the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Saturday was just a mess. There was so much to do in preparation for our huge BBQ on Sunday and, instead of going out to do the last minute shopping, I got stuck at home waiting for someone who never showed up. She had sent out an e-mail saying that she’d stop by to tag items in preparation for a tag sale that my daughter’s troop is running next Sunday. Unfortunately she put the wrong date on the e-mail and never contacted anyone to correct the error.

I could have done some cooking while I waited but I was missing key ingredients for most of the recipes. It’s also hard to settle in to cooking when you know that you’re going to have to stop in the middle. Ugh! It was so frustrating and threw my whole day off. In the end I got almost everything done on time except for the poor blueberry pie that still – 2 days later – needs to be assembled.

I made cole slaw, potato salad, carrot salad, chicken kabobs, steak, chocolate cake, molasses cookies, and brownies. It all came out well and I forgot to take any pictures at all. You’ll just have to trust me – it was good and, at the end of the day, it was mostly gone. I was really thankful that the party was held on the only good day of the weekend. My house is not big but, with good weather, I set up tables inside and out and it works well.

On Monday I rested. At least, I planned on resting. As I sat down to work on a project I looked over at the mess of knitting stuff that was threatening to take over the living room and felt the spark of inspiration. I dragged all of it out of the baskets and cabinets and sat with a box of Ziploc bags for most of the afternoon – organizing and taming the stash. Hubbo, my dad and the girls all watched at times. I think I saw fear in their eyes. I have to admit it was a little overwhelming.

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Today is the first day of school here and it’s raining. Not just any rain but horrendous, soak-you-to-the-bones, torrential downpours. At least Stinkerbelle and DQ are starting 2nd and 5th grades (respectively) with style. In this picture, taken at o-dark-thirty this morning, DQ is wearing her trademarked "Mom, you're embarrassing me" look and Stink is too cool for school because she's wearing her new vans.