School Day

Kind of a cool day at school today; Jay Pharoah of SNL was a guest speaker. Definitely a fun way to end the week.

 

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Thanksgiving, the Recap.

Eating. Playing Rock Band and Scattergories. Reading. Knitting. Napping. Eating. Mostly just hanging out. It was too short of a visit for me, but probably just right for everyone else.

 

I brought the cat, Sinon, home with me for the month until Christmas, because with Meredith and Ryan moving, and then visiting his folks in upstate New York immediately after the move, we agreed it would be less stressful for the cat. Plus, I get to enjoy his company for the month. Which means I will have a lot of cat photos here.

I was able to finish one of the second socks and most of the sweater during the sixteen hour round trip, so I'll soon start something else. Maybe even the second second sock. (No, that's not a typo.) I'm also going to dabble in a bit of quilt making on a small scale; a pillow top to begin with. It's something that's been in the back of my mind for awhile, and now that my "studio" is in pretty good shape, I want to get started. For tonight though, I'm going to try and finish up my sweater. And dote on the cat.

 

Oh, the cat scared me this morning because I couldn't find him for quite some time, despite shaking his food container. Here's where I finally found him:

 

In the coat closet. Sheesh.

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Thanksgiving. The Day After.

I forgot my cable for uploading photos, so I'm using the iPad camera.

 

Second sock.

Eating leftovers.

Sinon.

 

 

Ollie, eating peanut butter from the kong toy.

 

Hanging out.

Just enjoying some family time, which is the best part of Thanksgiving, isn't it.

 

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Creating

I am as excited as a kid at Christmas that it is almost time to visit Meredith for Thanksgiving! I keep getting texts from her about the menu and I can tell she is as excited as I am! So very lucky to have such wonderful, talented daughters! I can hardly believe my good fortune. So thankful.

After work the other day, I stopped in at Hancock Fabrics and bought six little bundles of Christmas print fabric; I have no idea what I will do with them, but they may end up as gift wrapping if I can't come up with any other use for them, and that would be just fine. Last year I made the decision to not buy Christmas wrapping paper, and instead, I used brown paper grocery bags, or old maps, or even by mistake, a poster of Stephanie's. Oops. Other than the mistake with the poster, it turned out just fine and I'm never going back now.

The doctor's office called me yesterday afternoon to tell my my strep culture came back positive and I needed to stay home today as I'm contagious until I'm on antibiotics for 24 hours. Too bad for the people i may have infected on Monday and Tuesday I guess. Anyway, I felt guilty about missing the last day before break, but it's a good thing I did, because I felt wiped out today. At least I can sleep in the car tomorrow if I need to rest.

I did knit on my shrug a little bit today.

I am planning to take that plus my sock knitting with me. I have two second socks to complete so I don't imagine I will run out of knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families!

 

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Craft Room

My youngest daughter just moved into a house with three roommates, so I have officially taken over the room we had designated for her in our house. I had been taking it over bit by bit, albeit guiltily, for the past year or two, but now it's completely mine. At least, unless oldest daughter is visiting, which only happens about one or two times a year.

I bought a used desk and chest of drawers from the thrift store this month, and I'm figuring out how to organize it all. The chest of drawers is the main storage for my newly zip locked bags of yarn, and the closet is holding the fabric stash, but I want to cheer it up. I'm thinking a paint job may soon be in order, as well as a bookcase or wall shelf to hold some craft books and magazines, but I don't want to overcrowd the room either. I have a twin bed in there for now, but am in the market for a double, so that it can be more useful to overnight guests; if I buy a bookcase, it's going to do double duty as a night stand. Anyway, I'm keeping my eye out for something, but I'm not really in a big hurry. Meanwhile, I'm perusing the craft blogs for ideas. Although plastic bins make a lot of sense for storage options, I don't think I'm going to use them. I still have a huge collection of baskets and mason jars, so I think those will be my major storage containers. I just want to make sure it doesn't look junky.

Today is a grey, drizzly sort of day and I'm enjoying the quiet pace, before the holiday week kicks off. So excited about visiting Meredith! Plus, I think we're cat sitting for her until Christmas, which will be lovely. Her cat, Sinon, is such a cool cat, so expect to see lots of cat pictures soon. You've been warned.

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Autumn Leaves

Yes, we still have leaves here in southeastern Virginia, and I'm still marveling at the gorgeous colors.

 

 

The top three photos were taken earlier this week, when the skies were gray, and the one of the ginkgo tree below, was taken today.

The Norfolk Tide, our city's light rail, and the McArthur Memorial dome, taken today when I was downtown. Such a pretty Saturday.

I also managed to finish one sock, and buy some yarn to make a shrug; Plymouth Yarn Company's Top Down Jacket 1756, in periwinkle blue (64). Hoping to finish by Thanksgiving, as it only takes four skeins of the Baby Alpaca Grande.

 

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

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Viral

As in I have a nasty virus. Of course, they're always nasty, aren't they? Anyway, I came home early yesterday, and went to the doctor today to make sure I didn't have strep (I don't), and although I still feel lousy, I can tell I'm on the upswing of this thing. At least, I think I am.

This is the first time this year I've missed work, so I'm concerned about my unruly students. Can't wait to see the note the substitute leaves. Or not. Truly, my second bell is a tough one. Oh well.

In knitting notes, I feel like I'm becoming more prolific. Having two work friends who are avid knitters is having a wonderful effect on me. I started a sock on Monday, and I've just turned the heel on it.

And I didn't even knit on it yesterday. Still looking for the remaining Lorna's Laces yarn for my second spring break sock. If I find it, I will have two new pairs in no time! Especially since I have a road trip coming up next week. Did I mention we are visiting Meredith and Ryan for Thanksgiving? I am so excited! They were supposed to have moved to Brooklyn the first of November, but it has been delayed until the weekend after our visit, so we will be going to Stamford instead. This will just give me a reason to visit her again soon! As they are both vegetarian, we will be dining on Tofurkey this year. Melissa is going up the day before us to help them out, and Stephanie will be traveling with us, but the four of us will be coming back together.

 

Still loving the colors of the leaves this fall. I don't know why I am so entranced by them every year, but I am. They are breathtaking.

 

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Chincoteague Weekend

Steve took me away for the weekend for our anniversary; we spent it on Chincoteague Island, off of the Eastern Shore. The weather was unbelievably beautiful, unseasonably so.

 

This was the view from our room:

Main Street; ever read the book, Misty of Chincoteague? This is the setting for it.

There was a yarn store, but the owners were away for the weekend, unfortunately.

A wild pony, near the entrance to Assateague National Park, which is accessible by a bridge.

 

Assateague Island Lighthouse:

My hand knit socks, which were actually unnecessary, given the temperature.

Six years and still happy. Cowl made by Meredith.

 

Assateague beach.

 

An oyster lunch. Amazing.

I love the colors at this time of year.

Sunset from our room.

 

 

Kayakers on the water in Onancock, Virginia.

Gorgeous yellow leaves.

 

Sunset over the Chesapeake Bay, at the end of our weekend.

Such a lovely trip.

 

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Six

Six years ago, after a whirlwind courtship, I married Stephen in a civil ceremony, just the two of us. We had planned to have a church wedding on December 16, but when we went to get the license, we decided to marry then and there. We still had the church ceremony as planned, but for seven weeks, it was a secret marriage. As a result, we celebrate both of the dates, but consider this one our real anniversary. This year, we decided to eat at home, since Steve has planned a secret destination trip for this weekend. To surprise Steve, I bought shrimp for dinner and to surprise me, Steve bought shrimp for dinner! Not so surprisingly, we ate shrimp tonight.

Thanks, honey. It's been a great six years. So glad we found each other.

 

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Weekend Wrapup

The yarn spent thirty-six hours warming up, and now it's back in the freezer, neatly tucked inside ziplock bags. Hopefully, the damage has been contained, and I've learned my lesson about yarn storage.

My youngest daughter, Melissa, spent her weekend moving into her first post-college place. She and three of her friends went in together to rent a four bedroom house in a neighborhood that has a lot of houses built in the early twentieth century. Their house isn't quite that old, but it's old enough to have some really pretty architectural details. She is quite excited and I'm very proud of her independent spirit. And since she took a lot of old furniture from our garage, Steve is happy about the extra space we've acquired. I'd call that a win all around, wouldn't you?

I've finished grading a set of tests and now I'm settling in for my Sunday night PBS marathon, starting with Call The Midwife through Upstairs, Downstairs. And of course, some more knitting. Hope you had a lovely weekend. November is definitely here.

 

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Sunshiny Day

Thanks to the sun being out today, I pulled my yarn out of the freezer for some moth-killing rays. My understanding is that the warmth will encourage any moth eggs that are dormant to hatch, so that when I refreeze the yarn, all traces of moths will be destroyed.

Two sheets worth of yarn.

Now I just have to keep the squirrels and birds away from it.

Happy Saturday!

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