Lemming, Lemming, Lemming

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday. I’m a little crazed as usual. I really do look forward to a day when there is sanity and a little bit of quiet in my life outside of knitting. Till then you’ll have to settle for the frazzled version of me. Can I make it up to you with a picture of a lovely lily from my yard?

My Fourth of July was wonderful. Naturally, being water lovers, we went to the pool where we spent a terrific afternoon. It was perfect. Not too crowded. Blue skies. A lounge chair to knit in. Perfect water temperature too - this was the icing on the cake for me. I’m a total baby when it comes to cold water and I always have been. (Thankfully my daughters don’t have these issues.) I’m also not big on being splashed so I usually only go in during break when its adults only time. I got in the water and found that it was just this side of a bathtub – very refreshing. It was so nice that I just didn’t want to get out so, after the break, my girls got in and we all splashed around for a while. It was fantastic.

After the pool we went home to get ready for the party that evening at the country club. As we were closing up the house to leave the heavens opened and torrential rain came down. My dh went out to pull the car up under the carport so that is ladies wouldn’t get wet and slipped on wet grass – drenching his new linen shorts. The wind was so strong that the rain was horizontal at times. Then, as quickly as it started, the storm was over and we hit the road. As we drove we could see how forceful the storm had been. There were traffic lights out, splintered trees leaning on power lines and emergency vehicles everywhere.

We arrived at the party and it was great. In honor of the holiday and my good friends birthday we were treated to a lovely meal, adult beverages and a fabulous fireworks display. It was grand!

I bought a new bag on Monday. It’s great, with lots of pockets (for organization you know) and because it’s fabric it’s much lighter than my other bags. I still feel very conflicted about it though. Why? I fear that it confirms my status as a sheep. A lemming perhaps. I know that these damn bags have been around forever but lately – they’re EVERYWHERE! It seems like they exploded and I see then every place I go. I started noticing them a few weeks ago. Gradually, I found myself admiring them - which is odd because they’re sooooo not me. All my other bags are classic leather Coach or Kate Spade. Suddenly I needed one! Monday I went to one of the many shops that have them (I looked it up on the ‘net) and agonized over the purchase. Did I want it because they were so ubiquitous or was I actually attracted to it? I didn’t want to buy it but I HAD TO. I know that certain people (you know who you are) will laugh at me – a lot! Just so you know – it holds my knitting along with my other stuff really, really, well. So there!

By the way, I’m nearly done with the U-Neck Top and I hope to have pictures tomorrow.

The Reveal

The girls came home on Saturday and, due to what I can only assume was an extreme lack of sleep, they were seriously crabby. Stinkerbelle was really snappish and started fighting with the Drama Queen before we left our parking spot at the bus stop. She was following DQ to her room to continue the battle but stopped and did a double take when she passed her open door. Instead of seeing this…

She found this…

Surprised doesn’t even begin to cover it. She clearly had no idea that such big changes were in the works. She loves the bed, and the colors and everything. She climbed up into the loft and explored the new layout. She spent the rest of the weekend telling people about her new room.

Some of the details that you can’t see in the room shots are the mezuzah that we got for her (left below). I love it. The picture really doesn’t do it justice. For those of you who are not familiar with mezuzahs, it’s a decorative case with a prayer inside that you post on all of the doorways in the house. This one says “Ahava” on it in Hebrew. Ahava means love and it’s also part of Stink’s Hebrew name. The other picture below is of the new mirror which I made for her. It was a plain Ik*a mirror that I dressed up with mosaic tiles.

While Stink loves the new room she did have a suggestion for improvement. She asked Bruce last night if he painted the ceiling. When he said yes she suggested that clouds would’ve been nice. She also asked if we’d re-do her room every time she went away. As if!

Now that the room renovation is done I’ve returned to knitting and I’m nearly done with the front of the U-neck Top. I worked on it and the two-at-a-time socks exclusively over the weekend. I’ll pick up the Trekking socks again this weekend as I head south to deliver DQ to sleep-way camp in North Carolina. I’m hoping that she’ll be able to wear the U-Neck Top for opening day. Please don’t laugh. It could happen. Really!

Saturday Sky 1

This is the sky as I saw it here in Northern Virginia just a few minutes ago. After a week of rain it’s so wonderful to have a bright sunny day like this.

My girls returned from camp this morning and the noise level in my house rose immediately. Right now I’m running everything they brought to camp through the washer. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt it necessary to use the “Super Wash” setting. There stuff is just that dirty. The mud has melded with the fabric in ways I’ve never seen before.

Daria’s room got finished late Friday night and she loves it! More on that to come.