In which I am not required to do my duty.

I could not be happier! I got called for jury duty - again - and first the case was postponed, and I was supposed to go on Tuesday, but I called yesterday to see if I need to show up on Tuesday, and woot! It was cancelled! Is this not happiness?

Maddy had a sleepover at our house last night, and when I got home this morning, Rich was sitting on our bed, giving her a bottle and watching television. It was so cute! We played with her on the bed until Rachel came to take the baby home.

Kim had to get up early to run a booth at the farmer's market (she was helping a friend who couldn't be there today), but I was asleep by the time she left. When I woke up, Kim was back home and had brought home some good bread and a jar of plum jam!

Rich spent most of the afternoon cutting back a bush in the yard and then disposing of the branches, and when he was done he took a nap. Kim went to Rachel's to watch Maddy for a little while, and when she got home, she took a nap too!

While they were sleeping I made some ratatouille and grilled turkey burgers, which were really good! I'm going to buy those again! Rachel and Maddy came over to eat with us, and Rich and Kim got up from their naps, too.

After dinner, we took Maddy in the stroller and all of us went out for the two-mile walk. We walked it backward from the way we usually go, so that we could look for a neighbors missing turtle! That walk is a lot harder when we do it backwards! There is a lot more uphill walking! (We didn't see the turtle.)

And I'm back at work tonight, with some knitting and a book. I'm reading The White Cat by Holly Black. I'm almost done with another Baby Surprise Sweater, and I'll take pictures of this one before and after it's sewn together and post them for your delight.

Road Trip!

Okay, I didn't go anywhere near as cool as Diana did this past weekend, but I can guarantee that the bathrooms were cleaner on my trip!

Rich and I went to Michigan to visit his parents with Rachel, Maddy and Kim, and it was very pleasant and low-key, in that we hardly left the house and we all just sat around admiring Maddy. My sister Inger came over to join in on the baby-worship, too.

It was just a quick trip - we got there late Friday night and left again on Sunday morning, but I did have time to drop off three boxes of yarn for a friend who makes lap blankets and slippers for charity. Don't panic, it was three boxes of yarn I would never use, just some skeins of yarn that people have given me. In ugly colors.

When we got home again, it took Maddy a few days to recover from the trip and we thought that maybe she was traumatized by all the strangers around, but today when she was at my house for a couple of hours while Rachel went to a meeting, Rich reminded me that she doesn't need to be entertained all the time, it's okay to let her play by herself for a while. That's when I realized that Maddy wasn't traumatized by all the attention, she was just a bit spoiled by it. She got used to people playing with her and talking to her every minute, and maybe had a hard time getting used to being home again, without so many of her loyal subjects around.

What I am knitting today:

Starting another Baby Surprise Sweater, because they are fun to make, and Maddy looked so cute in the one she wore on the Michigan trip. I have had the pattern for years, but I misunderstood the pattern the first time I made it, so it didn't look right when it was done, and also the sleeves are too short.

When Karin was talking about how much fun she was having, making these little sweaters, I got a copy of the pattern from her, since mine is lost somewhere in the Yarn Room, and I made it again, but when it was almost done, I ripped it out, because the sleeves? Were still too short.

However. I made another one, for a friend's grandchild who is a little younger than Maddy, because Karin said they were fun! And it's true, the making of them is fun, but the sleeve length was still bothering me. Until I tried the finished sweater on Maddy, just to see how it looked, and oh my goodness, it was darling!

The sleeves are still short, and I have seen versions on the internet with instructions for longer sleeves, but after seeing Maddy wear that sweater all weekend (it was cooler over the weekend, not sweltering like it is now), I can see that the shorter sleeve length is perfect for the babies! It's about a three-quarter length sleeve, and it stays out of the way of their little hands while they are chewing on them, or while they are twisting their hands together or whatever they do. I didn't even put buttons on Maddy's sweater because Rachel grabbed it as soon as it was done and said she never buttons sweaters anyway, and nothing makes a sweater better, in my opinion, than not needing to sew on buttons. And it was darling without them.

I have made another one since we got home and I'm casting on for one tonight. Baby Surprise Sweaters for everyone!

What I'm cooking today:

Kim and I worked together on dinner, and we made a recipe I got from the internet that had chicken, mushrooms and spinach over bow-tie pasta. It was very good and garlicky.

What I'm reading today:

Tuesday Tells it Slant by Holly Christine. It's a book I got for 99 cents to read on my Kindle, and it is pretty good. I recently discovered a Kindle discussion forum where people are mentioning books for the Kindle that cost less than two dollars, and I have bought a few of them, and not been disappointed in them. Anyone can write a book and publish it for the Kindle, and we are encouraging Kim to finish one of her novels so she can sell it this way.

What I'm whining about today:

Since Kim came home from school for the summer, she has been happy to take the two-mile walk with me, and if Sando is around, he is always willing to go, too. Today Kim and I walked the walk with Rachel and Maddy (in her stroller), and it was 85 degrees out and the humidity was about 100%, so it was one of the sweatiest walks I have ever been on. Luckily for all of us, I got a phone call from a friend I haven't talked to in a long time just as we were leaving the house, and talking on the phone kept me entertained for the whole time we were walking, so Rachel and Kim didn't have to listen to me whining about the miserable weather conditions!

That's the news for now - I have to go cast on for a baby sweater!

If you drive too fast in the country, maybe it makes the cows nervous.

When I got home from work this morning, Rich was sitting up in our bed with Maddy, giving her a bottle. They were watching TV, turned to the Food Network, and he asked me if I'd ever seen this show before, Almost Homemade? I said rolled my eyes and said yes, if he meant Semi-Homemade, and I went on to tell him that every desert she makes starts with half a container of Cool Whip, and that she always makes a fancy cocktail to go with the meal and also presents a creative 'tablescape'. I pointed out that she wears a lot of white or light colors to cook in, too, and how impractical that is - and she was making a desert with raspberry sauce at that moment - you know that's gonna stain! Rich just nodded and watched, captivated by her tall skinny blondeness. Ass.

So we played on the bed with Maddy for a while and then she and Poppa went downstairs to wait for Rachel to get home from work, and I settled down in the bed to finish reading a chapter of a book and do the binding off of the Baby Surprise Sweater I've been making for a friend's grandbaby. I tried it on Maddy, holding the unfinished seams closed, and it was a beautiful fit, so I'm going to make another one for her! It was really fun to work on, and I'm ignoring a couple of more urgent projects so I can have fun with this one.

When I woke up in the afternoon, Rachel had texted me to see if I wanted to go visit a friend of hers who hasn't met Maddy yet. Rachel was really tired and had not had enough sleep, but she isn't working tonight, so she'll catch up. I went with her for the long drive through pretty country to her friend Kat's house, but we never made it there. We haven't been out there in a while, so Rachel went the wrong way, and we were just pulling out the GPS to find the right way, when we got pulled over by a cop in a polo shirt (is that your uniform? really?), who gave her not a ticket, but a village citation for speeding. Apparently we were going 40 as we passed an area that was posted at 30, but when we pulled over, we were right under a sign that said 55. Okay whatever.

After that Rachel was not only still tired, but disgusted, so we headed back home, where Kim had been cleaning the floors! She had done a beautiful thorough job, and they looked good! She had also taken two more boxes of her stuff up to her room!

Rachel went up to take a nap, and the rest of us played with Maddy so she could rest. While she was sleeping, RA called and I went out with her to get a pop and do a couple of little errands. By the time we got back, Rich had fed the baby a bottle and she was sleeping on his lap, and Kim was settled on the couch with her DS. It was a lovely scene to come home to.

I made a broccoli salad to go with some leftover spaghetti, and after we ate, Kim and I took the two-mile walk (we cut through the cemetary, but it was still light!), and Rachel, who was awake by then, stayed home to watch Dr. Who with Maddy and Rich.

So that was my day and I'm back at work tonight with a skein of yarn to wind for another Baby Surprise Sweater. Oh, I almost forgot to mention this, but I called the number you're supposed to call the night before you go to jury duty, just to see if there was a message yet, and found out that my group's case has been postponed! What's better than that? Not much!

Sleepover at Nan's house!

So Kim has been home for a week, and it's been nice to have her home. A lot of her boxes have been carried upstairs or downstairs, but there are still some in the front hall Also the box containing shoes, Pasta Roni, and cleaning supplies (Contents of Kim's Kitchen for $200, Alex!) is still in a corner of our kitchen. We're working on it.

She's been applying for jobs, and working on her novel, the one she wrote during NanoWrimo last November. She and Sando finished their 50,000 word goal, but they hadn't finished their stories, so they are working on them now, trying to finish them by July.

Last night they challenged themselves to each write another 5,000 words, and they did it, and then stayed up playing video games until it was late. They've been staying up late every night, and Kim said today that these late hours with Sando are taxing her!

Maddy is having a sleepover at our house again tonight, and I hope it goes as well as the last time. She went to sleep at 9, in her portable crib that we set up in our bedroom. Rich took some diapers and formula upstairs so he is prepared if she wakes up in the night, but her parents say that she sleeps through the night, so we'll see.

In which Kim comes home.

On Friday Rich and I left in the morning and drove the five hours to E-ville, listening to an audiobook of Dead to the World. I had my knitting and once we got the heat adjusted (too hot, too cold, just right), we had a comfortable ride.

When we got there, two of the girls had already moved out of the apartment, and only Cazzy and Kim were left. Cazzy's parents had gotten there the night before to help her move her truckloads of stuff to her new apartment, and they had already gotten most of their daughters furniture, etc, moved out and they were busy cleaning the apartment around the piles of Kim's belongings.

Kim had hardly packed up anything except her clothes, so Rich and I had to throw all of her stuff into boxes and haul it out to our van and her car while Cazzy's parents went on cleaning the entire apartment. They are lovely, friendly people, and they cleaned like machines! That apartment looked good when we left!

We got a phone call on the way home, from our next-door neighbors, and I thought maybe they were calling to say our house was on fire or something, but they just wondered what time we would be home. I told them we were about an hour away, and they said they would wait up then, because they had a surprise for us!

When we got home, Rich and I (well, mostly Rich) started unloading the van and we sent Kim next door to let Judy and Dave know we were home. (She was also very interested in petting their beautiful cat.) A few minutes later, there was practically a parade coming across the lawn - Judy, Dave and Kim, each bearing gifts like the Magi!

Judy had made her wonderful Coconut Pie, and a Hummingbird cake, which is a dense fruity cake made with bananas and pineapple, with white frosting studded with walnuts! The third thing was a box full of fruit, bananas, grapes, apples and oranges, and some of Judy's handmade dishcloths! There was a pinwheel sticking out of the top of the box, and they explained that it was for Maddy!

They had tucked in a note, thanking us for cutting down the big tree in the front yard and telling us what good neighbors we are! I bet they weren't thinking that a few days later when our massive dandelion crop turned to fluff and was blowing around the neighborhood!

They only stayed a couple of minutes and then we went on unloading the van and Kim's car, just piling everything in the living room and dining room, and there was spillover into the kitchen and the front hall, too. We were all sitting down in the living room, on whatever spots weren't covered by Kim's things, when the doorbell rang and it was Sando!

He came in with his Playstation and proceeded to set that up so he and Kim could play uh, something, and Rich and I went up to bed. (We offered Sando some cake or pie, but he is a picky eater and turned them both down.)

I was reading in bed for a little while and I could hear them laughing downstairs, and Kim told me later that he stayed until 4 a.m., and by the time he went home, she was so tired she felt like she was drunk!

Gradually over the weekend we have cleared the living room of Kim's boxes, but there is still a lot of stuff all over the place. When she needs a pair of shoes, she has to dig through the big box in the kitchen.

So we had lots of treats for Mothers Day weekend, and Maddy was very interested in the pinwheel.

In which creepy squirrels can no longer spy on me.

We have an ancient pine tree in our front yard, next to the neighbor's driveway. In the last couple of big storms it has lost branches, dropping them onto that driveway and the second time, a visitor's car got scratched. We decided we'd better do something about that tree before any real damage was done, so we called a Tree Guy.

The Tree Guy recommended that we take some of the biggest branches off of the Locust tree in the back yard, and trim off some branches that were laying on the garage roof from another Cedar next to the garage, as well as cut down the big Cedar in the front yard. He said he would cut up the Locust for firewood, because it's a hard wood that burns well, but the Cedars were too full of sap to burn in a fireplace, so he was going to chip those up.

So this morning when I got home from work, I took two Tylenol PM instead of my usual one, so that I could sleep through whatever noise he made. Good thing I did, and even so, I kept waking up because of the noise! When I finally dragged out of bed this afternoon all was quiet and he was long gone. He had left the firewood stacked neatly next to the garage, and the only other sign that anything was changed was the big stump in the front yard.

That big Cedar tree stood right outside the window of the den, and when I am at my desk, I often look out that window and see a squirrel sitting in that tree, staring in at me, which is creepy. I won't miss that!

I wrote an email to my neighbor and told her we were going to set up a tableaux with Garden Gnomes on the big stump next to her driveway. I'm sure she thinks I'm kidding. Who knows where I can buy some gnomes?

Rich went to TaeKwonDo early tonight, for some special black belt training thing, and I sat in the den and read journals on the internet while winding a skein of sock yarn that I bought at the fiber fair last month. I'm going to knit a pair of wool socks for RA's insane sister, who is always cold, even though she lives in Arizona! RA doesn't knit, but she buys the wool for me to knit socks for her family members.

What I'm reading tonight:

The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes. I love her books. If only they had some murder in them, they would be perfect.

What I'm cooking tonight:

I made a recipe that I got from Carolyn for Broiled Tilapia Parmesan. When Scott and Carolyn were visiting in March, she made this for me, and it was so good! I took some to RA tonight so she could try it, too. It's fast and easy, but it does take a few spice cupboard ingredients that I don't usually have, like onion powder and celery salt. I just left those out this time, and I'll buy some when I go shopping, because I will definately make this recipe again!