Erica's Blog

Mommy, why are you DUSTING?

Because it's been a really long time since I've done it.

[From the dining room] NOOOOooooo!

[small giggle] AND because Grandma and Grandpa are coming tomorrow....

1. Does what you read vary by the season? For instance, Do you read different kinds of books in the summer than the winter?
2. If so, do you break it down by genre, length of book, or...?

Not really.  The closest I can come to this is that when I read The Lord of The Rings (which I do every few years), I seem only to read it in the winter, around Christmas.  That's about it.

...over the ocean blue....

Yupp, last night Hubby made our plane reservations for our July sailing trip.  Squee!  We leave SFO for Acapulco on the morning of July 6th.  July 7 - 13, we sail from Acapulco to Los Cabos.  On the evening of July 15th, we fly from Los Cabos back to SFO. 

I guess that, even though $1,600 of damage to the Pilot trumps buying Sean's futon, it doesn't trump the July trip with Sean.   The fact that we used frequent flyer miles probably had something to do with that. 

I wonder what kind of yarn they have in Mexico....

Both Things went to work with Hubby today for Take Our Daughters & Sons To Work Day.  They had a blast!  Me, I had coffee with Lisa @ Starbucks for three hours, ran an errand, came home, ate lunch, lay down to read, and took a long nap.

Pictures coming soon.  Uh, of Hubby & the Things, not my nap.  He even got some video of Thing Two doing a somethingorother scan.  Very cool.  She was too young for the organized activities, so he had her "helping" him all day.  Thing One got to do some experiments, precipitated out some strawberry DNA (came home with it in a vial on a hemp necklace), got a t-shirt and came home wearing a disposable lab coat and safety glasses, and a cheapo backpack with the company name on it.  Very cool. 

[Pictures from last week, courtesy of Kathryn, via 'Nette.]

Back Row:  David, Jennifer (zee DomiKNITrix), Kathryn (proprietrix of Cottage Yarns), Matthew (Doily Dude), 'Nette

Front Row:  Diane, Helga, Lucy, Bea, moi, Julie

Seated:  Emily the Knitting Chemist

Crazy Child:  Nico ('Nette's son)

[All pictures taken by the oh-so-kind and oh-so-not-drunk Jackie next to me.  Her companions were...in varying degrees of an alcohol-altered state.  At least she made it home to Lodi safely.] 

Before the show started.  Do we look rain-drenched?  See the pizza box?

Ryan Auffenberg.  Wonder what I'd just said to Hubby to make him laugh like that?  Seeee how close to the stage we were?

LUCE!!!  The guy in the left foreground is the excited kid in the wheelchair.  As you can see, Tom Luce doesn't appear to be fazed by the occasional cries of Tom, you're so frickin' cute! from one of the women on our table.  Thank God she didn't fall off the chair she was standing on!  I was terrified that she would fall forward and onto the guy in the wheelchair.

Pardon my big melon...One of the women at our table kept telling Hubby to reach out and touch Mr. Keyboard Man, but he said Mr. Keyboard Man wasn't his type.

Horns.  SO cool, even if the trombone guy looked about 17.

BABY SHAWL:  Mailed it off via Priority Mail yesterday and emailed Bob this morning about it.  Hope they like it!

CAR:  Got an estimate this morning.  Victor says $1,600+ and at least a week to fix it.  Hubby wants me to call the place Vinny recommended, too, just to see if they're any cheaper.

CAMERA:  It's all put back together, but it won't turn on.  Hubby thinks this has something to do with when he got shocked the first night he was working on it.  Dave (his new/old supervisor) found a good digital camera online for a really good price, so Hubby may just bite the bullet and buy one.

CH-CH-CHANGES:  'Member the whole mess about the futon in front of the fireplace?  Well, it stayed there for the better part of a year.  I'd show you pictures if I could, but the way things stand now is this: The futon Hubby rescued from the dumpster at our old apartment complex nine years ago (the red one w/the arms, for those who've actually been IN our living room) is now in pieces in the back.  Its cushion is in the attic.  The other futon is still in front of the window (the one we got from Sean & Connie before they moved to Idaho 10 or 11 years ago).  In the corner, sort of under Paul's shadow box, is now....the big blue chair from Poppa & Nana's bedroom.  I grew up with this chair.  It matches my parents' loooooong couch and was always in the living room (till they got recliners, which bumped the two other chairs into the living room, which bumped this into the bedroom).  Yes, it's 40+ years old but, structurally, it's in great shape.  It needs to be re-upholstered, but we'll probably first buy a cheap queen-sized sheet @ Anna's Linens or something to cover it, then eventually get a decent (washable!) slipcover.  The bottom cushion is a simple square, so if we decide to replace it, it would be quite easy.  The next change will most likely be to buy the nice queen-sized futon Sean's going to be selling and replace the existing futon with it.  Maybe get some decent lighting for the living room and an little side table for next to the blue chair.  Yes, there's less seating in the living room, but it looks SO MUCH more open now.

[NOTE:  Don't get all excited about these pictures, thinking that my camera's all better now.  Hubby took it apart and fixed the broken part, but he's not sure he can get it put back together.  These were taken with his camera phone.]

Even though there are a couple of mistakes in the edging (places where I lost track of my rows and started decreasing again before I'd increased the full amount, so the diamond was about half the size it was supposed to be), the only part I don't feel good about is the awful, messy-looking center.  Not sure why it did that, but all along I kept thinking it would somehow be fixed when I pulled the center tight.  Denial is a powerful thing.  When that didn't happen, I couldn't come up with a way of fixing it that wouldn't have been really obvious and looked just as bad or would have thrown off the triangles or added a lot of bulk, etc., etc., so I decided to leave it.  I'm SO proud of the rest of the blanket that leaving the awful center helps keep me humble, remembering that I'm not really all that, ya know?   I think Bob & Ginger will like it anyway, though.

PARTICULARS:

Yarn:  Bambino Ull by Idena, approximately 6.5 balls (yikes!)

Needles:  US 7's

Pattern:  None, just the basic guidelines of EZ's baby shawl, plus Double Diamond Edging from here.

NEWS FLASH:  I ain't 21 any more.  Great weekend, but boy, it took its toll on me. 

Friday:  Great time at Marco & Mia's, but that second cup of Starbucks coffee was a big mistake (thanks to Michele for bringing it, however!).  I didn't get to sleep till about 2:00.  It kept me awake while Patricia was over from 9:30 - 11:00 to talk, though, which was good.

Saturday:  Did well at Grace's baby shower. I stayed a bit less than two hours, but I think she was happy anyway.  Went up to Poppa & Nana's and hung out briefly, then went to eat before the Luce show.  It was pouring rain, but we had to walk a few blocks to the Sweetwater b/c we couldn't park closer.  B/c we're grown-ups and can do what we want (w/in reason), we stopped at Baskin-Robbins and had two scoops of ice cream each first, before dinner.  One scoop of chocolate fudge and one scoop of jamocha.   Mmmmmmm.  A glass of house red while waiting for a pizza at La Ginestra, then over to the Sweetwater.  Good thing we didn't show up any later than we did b/c we got the last two seats at the last table. Everyone who came later had to stand.  The only reason we got those seats was b/c Hubby spotted them and politely asked the four women if we could sit there w/them, and he offered them some of our pizza.  (I told him later that they wouldn't have said yes to me; they only agreed b/c he was so cute.  He laughed to think he was "eye candy".)  The show was GREAT.  The opener, Ryan Auffenberg, went on just after 9:30.  The kid was really good; I'd like to hear more of his stuff, but people weren't that into it b/c they just wanted Luce.  There was another guy who came on afterwards who only did three or four songs, but I don't remember his name.  Luce were the bomb.  It was great to finally see them live, and it's really impossible to beat seeing them for only $13 each.  It was fabulous to be w/in arm's reach of the stage (Hubby was practically on the stage).  I really liked how Tom Luce made eye contact with so many people in the audience during the show.  There was a young guy w/CP or something along those lines who was in a wheelchair right @ the front, and Tom made a point to make eye contact w/him and even stepped away from the mic once, stood right in front of him and played right to him.  I thought that showed a lot of class.  Here are all these drunk women in the audience who would have jumped his bones in a heartbeat, and while he doesn't appear to pay any attention to them at all, he does that for the kid in the wheelchair who was SO excited to be there.  Yupp, no matter what the rest of his life is like, the guy's got some class.  Show let out at 12:30ish, and we were back at Poppa & Nana's around 1:00.  We're SO lucky that Auntie was able to watch the Things and that it was OK to go stay at Poppa  & Nana's house. 

Sunday:  Woke up at about 6:30 with a headache.  Took all my various meds and went back to bed.  Alarm went off at 7:00.  Got up at 7:30ish.  Hubby packed up the Pilot w/the big blue chair from Poppa & Nana's house, our suitcases, and Jenna, and we all headed back in time for church, sans coffee b/c there was no creamer @ Poppa & Nana's, and we didn't get an early enough start to stop @ the Starbucks around the corner from church.  Phoenix came home with us so she wouldn't have to tag along w/Michele to her various committments during the afternoon.  By 2:30, I was dozing.  By 3:15, I was out cold.  I got up once around 5:15 to eat something and again around 8:00 to say goodnight to the Things, brush my teeth, take my pills, and throw some laundry in the washer, then I was back in bed.  Fell asleep around 9:30 or 10:00 and slept through till this morning.  SO grateful to Hubby for letting me sleep like that.  With nary a complaint.  What a swell guy I married!  I tell ya, I scored big-time:  all this, and a hunk, too! 

Today:  Hubby & I both woke up w/headaches.  I'm doing better now, but my allergies are still bugging me.  I can tell it's going to be a slow day.  Gotta make an appointment to get an estimate on the Pilot.  Bleh.

Me:  Hi, kid.  It's Mom; can I talk to Dad?

T1:  Sure, Mom.

Hubby:  Hey.

Me:  Hi.  You love me no matter what, riiiiiight?

Hubby:  What'd you do?  Crash the car? [see "This Week" post]

MOOOOOOOM!  Thing One isn't making ME any scrambled eggs!

Well, did you TELL her you wanted some?

NoooOOOO....

[small smile] Well, then, how was she supposed to know you wanted some?  She can't read your mind.