The End of Summer

It’s over! Really and truly finished. How do I know? It’s not just the fact that today is the last day of August. I know we’ve reached the end of the summer because today is the day that I take my girls to go meet their new teachers and deposit their school supplies in their classes so that they’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.

This afternoon we’ll go to the school and join the excitement as we search the lists posted in the halls to find out who their teachers for the next year will be. It’ll be a mob scene for sure. I remember when I was a kid and they’d print the name of your teacher for the upcoming year on your end of year report card. What was wrong with that? Is the summer of suspense really a better idea? I’ve been told that they do it this way so that the parents don’t have any time to complain and beg to have their child assigned to a different class. I can understand that to a point but, then again, I’ll bet that those parents will still complain.

Anyway, as I drove to work this morning with my car loaded up with school supplies, I saw these plants again. I love them. It’s a dark a dreary day here so the picture is dark and dreary as well but, trust me, these are beautiful. They look like a group of flaming fountains. I wish I knew what they were – any clue?

I’m still working on Lily almost exclusively but, with my notorious lack of focus, that is sure to change. Right now though, it’s a good project to work on while watching television. It’s much less difficult than I remember. Pictures and more discussion of that tomorrow. Speaking of TV, PR last night was just ok. I think I just wasn’t really excited by the challenge and the designers didn’t seem to be either. What do you think? Is it just me?

Way Better than Fuzzy Dice

Isn’t this cute? I saw it on a blog (I forget which) a while ago and I had to have one. I knew instantly exactly what I’d do with it. I sent in my order to Felt Up and my mini sock blocker key chains (yes I bought a few) arrived on Monday.

Last night I took a little time out from working on Lily and made a tiny sock. Of course my girls were fascinated. The sight of me making tiny socks was inspiring to them. They’re having visions of socks for their AG dolls and B**ld-a-Bears. I’m sure there is no end to the applications that they can find for tiny socks. I had other things in mind.

Please excuse the crappy photo but this picture of the sock and blocker in situ was taken at o-dark-thirty this morning. It’s hanging from the rear-view mirror in my car. How perfect is that? It replaces a little hockey goalie (Lets go Rangers!) that hung there forever. I still like hockey but I LOVE knitting. I may not be able to knit while driving (except at really long red lights) but I can enjoy my knitting every where I go. Even more fitting is that this sock was made out of a small scrap STR left over from the first pair of socks I made. I just love little connections like that.

Thanks for all of your kind words about my dad’s flooded house. He was out there all day yesterday and returned to my house yesterday filled with excitement over all the action taking place at his house. Walls and flooring are already being ripped out; his stuff is being removed for possible restoration or replacement; and the insurance machine is in motion. For a guy like my dad, who loves home improvement shows, this is positively fascinating. See that... yet another silver lining on this cloud - entertainment for my dad.

Lily Returns

I hope that my post yesterday wasn’t a huge downer. It wasn’t meant to be. Actually there is so much irony involved in the situation that I’m more amused than anything else. I’m not referring to the fact that this coincides with the anniversary of Katrina, which flooded many homes, either. You should all know that, almost exactly 9 years ago, I was in nearly the same spot as my dad. At the time I had a toddler and we had just moved to a Virgina when some idiot on the 3rd floor of our building put her cigarette out in a paper bag before her nap. The fire didn’t reach our apartment on the first floor but the water surely did. We lost most of our furniture and learned the value of good insurance in a way that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

It sounds like a horrible experience but, it really is only stuff. Today we laugh as we recall the little frustrations and coincidences. I still find it ironic that the fire happened the day after I finished unpacking and removed the very last box from our house. I can remember watching angrily as someone used the brand new grill I got my husband for his 30th birthday as a step to get to the second floor balcony. I recall feeling silly after I used the one brief moment I was allowed into the collapsing building to grab a basket of dirty laundry rather than a diamond necklace that later disappeared during the restoration.

I remember all of that and appreciate that, after all was said and done, we were much better off for the experience. We got new furniture and a new home. It’s with this perspective that I can assure my dad that this is really just an opportunity in disguise. The saturated laptop will be replaced with a newer, better one. The leather furniture that collected more dust than he would have preferred will be replaced with something that suits him better. All the stuff that you look at on a day to day basis and say - “someday I’ll replace it” – will be replaced. I’m no Pollyanna but I do believe that things tend to work out for the best.

Before all of this happened I was all set to tell you about the two movies I saw last weekend. TWO!!! I never get to see first run movies. Between the girls’ schedules and everything else – it just doesn’t work out very often. Not only did we see TWO movies but they were both very good.

On Saturday night we saw Invincible – the new Marky Mark movie. Yes, I know he doesn’t go by that any more but, to me, he’ll always be Marky Mark and as long as he maintains that six-pack I’ll enjoy watching him. I’m not a huge football fan but the story is a true underdog tale and who doesn’t love that? Some of the scenes could’ve been shorter but the acting was good. I especially enjoyed Greg Kinnear, who was also in the other movie we saw this weekend – Little Miss Sunshine. This movie is a must see. The whole audience was ROFL! I’d never really seen Steve Carrell before but he was great – spot on perfect. The story is about a family of oddball characters on a long road trip in a beat up VW bus. I could easily watch this again.

Finally, I decided last night that, rather than starting something new, I went back to a few UFO’s. I pulled out Lily, my linen camisole and, after I figured out where I left off all those years ago, I got to work. I’m not really enjoying working with the linen but the pattern is easy. I find myself wondering why I found it so difficult back then. I took this picture last night right before I sat down and started working on it. As you can see, I didn’t get far the last time. I’m making decent progress now so I hope to show you another shot later this week.

A new knitty toy arrived in my mail yesterday too but I’ll show it to you tomorrow. I am such a tease!