Fffffffinally Ffffffriday

Tonight there is a potluck dinner to celebrate the end of the anatomy class -- several weeks after the fact but we had visiting faculty from Australia who have been taking advantage of being here and doing a bit of traveling.  So on the way home last night I stopped at the grocery store to pick up ingredients for a salad I'm making.  On the days I drive in to work, like this entire week, I take a little Victoria's Secret shopping bag to carry my fruit and milk that I bring for breakfast.  As I got out of the car in the parking lot I looked into the car next to me and at first thought I was seeing a reflection of my car but then realized that this person not only carried the same little shopping bag to work with her but the plastic container I keep my strawberries in was the same container she had in her bag!   Which all leads me to believe that I am much more ordinary that I would like to think. 

I have a few errands to run tomorrow, Tinkerbell to bathe and then I should be able to have a nice two or three hour quiet time to work on the fancy shawl.  I want to see some serious progress on that this weekend and so will do more on Sunday as well.  If I can get all my errands done tomorrow before I go to rehearsal at 7 then I will only have laundry to do on Sunday -- oh, and watch football. 

The weather has been decent as I have driven my car in every day this week.  I certainly hope it continues next week as well when I get back on the bike.  I am coughing much less and feel that I should be able to get back on the bike without compromising my health.  Only time will tell.  And on that deep note, nose back to the grindstone.

I fooled myself

I woke up last night, I'm guessing around 1 or so since I didn't look at the clock, and had myself convinced that it was Saturday early morning for a little while.  We went to a lovely little restaurant last night called Preservation Kitchen and when we got home I played with my latest Wii game, Rabbids Go Home.  That was enough to convince my sleepy self that it was Friday night rather than Wednesday night.  Ah me ....  But it was raining this morning and I slept late, most likely because I was awake too long thinking about the lovely Saturday ahead of me, so I drove in again.  It's probably for the best since I want to kick this sinus thing ASAP.

My sister called me last night saying that her boyfriend was just then making reservations to come up to visit us for New Years!  Yay!!!  I am SO excited!!!  They're coming December 30 and staying until the 3rd.  That will be so perfect.  We can have our Christmas up here only a few days later.  And then I'll have my January vacation to look forward to after they leave so I won't be too depressed. 

I have been working on the Cloisonne jacket exclusively at noon knitting on Wednesdays.  I am now finished with row 18 of the color work portion.  Nearly half way there.  Once I get the color work done I will take it home and go to town on it.  Certainly it will be a very warm garment and it is turning out to be quite lovely.

Pet Peeve # ..... well, who can keep count?

There are tasks that most people find boring and tedious and it drives me crazy when someone asks me to do one of those tasks saying I'm so much better at doing X than they are.  The fact is, I'm not better at it, it's that they're too lazy to do it themselves!   For example, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to find a decent airfare.  It takes me just as long as the next person to sift through the garbage and find the fare.  Plus, if I'm doing it for someone else, then there is the back and forth -- what time do you want to leave and if you have to have a lay over what is the most time you're willing to spend waiting for your next plane, etc. etc. etc.  I'm going to have to stop being so nice.

......... that was a joke.

What's not a joke is my on going sinus problem.  I did get to the doctor yesterday, and I am quite proud of myself for doing it.  I am going to get this problem handled once and for all.  It puts my race schedule back a week since I haven't been able to run or even bike since last Wednesday.  No matter, I shall get right back up on the horse as soon as I can.  Maybe as soon as next Monday.  Well, surely by then.

The band leader, Doug, booked us a date at the very same community center where we did the band reunion set a few weeks ago.  I would much rather play in a real venue, as in a bar or club, but he is set on doing it here.  It's going to be really stupid - some type of pot luck or something like that.  The only good thing is that Mr. M will be able to do the sound for it so I know I'll sound decent.  Hopefully he can get a good recording as well. 

I was very late getting home last night because I had a hair appointment at six, therefore dinner wasn't until 8:30 leaving me precious little time to knit.  I got another gusset done on the Coquille.  I'd like to finish that up this weekend but I also really  need to carve out some quality time with my fancy shawl.  I should dedicate an hour or two both Saturday and Sunday.  I don't believe there's anything else going on this weekend except rehearsing Saturday night and football on Sunday.  I need to put that bad boy to bed as well.  I have too many WIPs and a queue as long as my arm. And not near enough knitting time. 

Well THAT shouldn't have been there!

That's what I get for multi-tasking after two glasses of wine.  Friends en route to an enviable two week vacation in Italian wine country were asking for conversation starters, jokingly.   I thought I was sending a MMS but instead posted to my blog.  At least the picture went missing - a blurry shot of the TV screen, Monday Night Football.  Which, by the way, I did NOT win a single quarter plus I've got HORRIBLE numbers for next week.  Ah but can you imagine?  Two weeks in Italy.  They're staying in a house for a week and then driving to the coast and wherever else they feel like going for the second week.  I can't stand it, I am so envious.  Especially since the weather is now typical Seattle autumn - windy and rainy and cold to the bone.  Only twelve weeks to go before we head to the Caribbean for what I hope is a sun drenched week.  I am sure I'll really be ready by then if the predictions come true for a snowy winter.

We are very very close to getting the house wired up.  Mr. M needed help getting the ends terminated correctly so by the time I get home tonight we should be all set.  It's not a huge deal but we'll be able to stream Netflicks through the Wii and whatever box Mr. M gets for the theatre, plus I'll have hard wire to my office laptop which will make downloading faster.  Our wireless is pretty good but sometimes when I'm downloading audiobooks or movies from iTunes it takes a long while. And I'm sure there are things we will be able to do with our Dish Network boxes too.  Oh, and I found out that now I can stream from Netflicks right to my iPhone!  Trouble.

When we were out Sunday night to see Mike sing some friends came in with their new iPad.  Oh I want one!  Mr. M is going to get one for business because there are apps he can download so he can mix his digital boards from the iPad anywhere in the venue.  That is super useful.  I know he'll not want to share it, and I want my own anyway.  I think I'll wait for the second generation though.  I can wait to January.  It'll be perfect to bring on our vacation.

Felting in a front loader

Oh yes you can!  I saw this adorable pattern on Ravelry Friday afternoon when my headache had subsided enough to be able to mess around on my laptop.  It was for these adorable slippers.  The soles are knit first holding 3 strands of worsted weight yarn together.  I had some Lamb's Pride worsted in a beautiful fuchsia but only 2 skeins so I used some other pink yarn for the third strand.  Then you knit two sides and a strap for each slipper.  Since it is done on size 15 needles it zips right along.  After sewing them up I popped them into a pillow case, tied the top and put them in the washer with a couple of towels.  When you're felting you don't want to rinse with cold before you're finished with the felting process, so it makes it a bit tricky and messy.  Since the whole idea with these newer front loaders is to get as much cleaning done with as little water as possible, one can stop the machine in mid-cycle and fish out the project to check on the progress.  I set the washer going with hot water and a longer cycle first.  After about twenty minutes I could hear the washer start to drain in preparation for a rinse so I stopped it and canceled the cycle and checked on the project.  It was felting!  I took out the straps, which felt fastest, and chose another hot cycle, this one a bit shorter.  Again, when I heard it start to go into the rinse cycle I stopped it and checked the slippers.  In hindsight I should have run them a bit longer because you can still see the stitch definition,  but I was so thrilled that it was working I sent them through their rinse and called it good even though the soles were still a bit long.  I figured I could mold them while drying.   I shaped them and the next day they were dry so I sewed the straps and buttons on.  And then set them out to photograph them and that's when I realized I sewed one strap on differently than the other.  I was going to take it off and try again, but after wearing them for a little while I realized my mistakes and I am just going to have to make another pair so that they are perfect.

My sinus problems hung with me through Saturday so I didn't go to rehearsal.  We have a gig booked for the Saturday after Thanksgiving and that's not so far away so I had better get this problem handled and quickly.  So I was home to watch the Huskies get humiliated on TV again.  Again.  It was terrible.  Frankly I turned it off after the 3rd quarter when it was apparent that they were not going to win or even put up much of a fight.  And again a 2nd string quarterback to boot!!  The Seahawks did well on Sunday so that kind of evens out.  Now if I can win a couple of quarters with the Monday Night Football game I'll be happy.  I came THAT close to winning my fantasy matchup.  I don't think I'm going to be last this week, which is better than nothing.  I'm in such a deep hole from the first few weeks that I'm just going to have to be happy that I'm pulling myself up from the basement.

It was storming most of the weekend so I didn't get finished pictures of the patio - he came on Friday to finally add the last bit of sand.  Here are a couple pictures - one before and one during.  The first picture - the before - is looking north.  The during picture is looking south and the two bushes from the north picture have been removed so one can move from the deck to the patio without having to go around.

Colds all over the place

Wednesday afternoon I was so tired I didn't think I would be able to bike home.  I mean -- seriously exhausted.  And that usually means only one thing -- I'm getting sick.  I had Mr. M pick me up and I went straight to bed but not soon enough to outrun the virus.  And I'm not being a sissy either!  After last year and that horrible horrible sinus/chest thing that went on and on because I was sure I could take care of it on my own, I don't take any chances if I can help it.  That being said, I spent all of yesterday in bed, snoozing and reading, fighting this blasted sinus headache.  I read LeCarre's latest, which I quite enjoyed.  Nothing too deep.   I had a hair appointment at 4:30 yesterday which I assumed I'd be able to make but realized that I was sicker than I thought when even the thought of being out and about and able to pick up a bottle of whiskey so I could make a hot whiskey later couldn't get me out of bed.  I did the responsible thing and moved the appointment to next week.

Today I'm feeling marginally better.  Still have the sore throat but it's not so bad as yesterday and the headache is also, for the time being, under control.  But if I'm not 100% by Monday I'm going to visit the doctor.

The contractor is coming by today to finish up the patio and get paid.  It was pouring rain last night but not now so maybe I can get some pictures soon.

A jarring trail

I have been noticing lately a bunch of new bumpy patches on the trail.  The more treacherous patches have been marked with fluorescent paint by the Parks Department or maybe the bicycle club.  The beautiful trees that line the trail are, of course, the very reason we get these cracks and bumps and holes in the first place.  Right now it's not that much of a hazard because it's still light enough, both coming and going, that one can navigate around them.  However, it won't be long now when we will be turning the clocks back and the days are getting shorter.  It will be dark and more difficult to avoid them. 

I had a pretty decent run yesterday afternoon considering it's been over six weeks since I've been out running.  I thought I might be sore this morning, but I'm not.  I didn't have much stamina but I believe I should be back to speed next week.  Then I'll look for a race to sign up for.  I  know there are several in November.

I wanted to knit last night but I wanted to go out to dinner more, to celebrate my Monday wins.  This is restaurant week in Seattle when over 100 restaurants all over the city offer a 3 course dinner for $25.  I chose the Sandpoint Grill because it's close and I love the food.  The only thing that bothers me about the place is the number of children that will sometimes be there during dinner hour.  Mostly they're well behaved.  Nothing like a noisy child to put one off one's grub. 

We won!

Not once, but twice!  I am in a Monday Night Football pool, sharing a square with my friend's husband.  Every week the numbers change according to the final score of the previous week's game.  And it pays out every quarter.  We had Tennessee 7 and Jacksonville 0 last night.   That was the score for the first quarter and then in the second quarter the Titans' kicker missed the point after and we ended up with the same score for the half.  So yay!!  Not only are we square but now we're up.  What shall I do with my windfall? 

The football game was so exciting that I didn't get much knitting done.  I did start on the second half of the Coquille, which is decreasing back down.  These larger gussets are taking me about an hour to do the entire 12 rows including the short rows.  But at least it's TV knitting.

I am going to run at lunchtime today.  First time in weeks and weeks.  It's going to hurt for a while but hopefully by next week I should be back up to speed.  I think I should shoot for a November race to be sure I'm ready.  I don't want to commit to the Dawg Dash because it's too soon.

The patio didn't get finished yesterday.  Hopefully today.  I don't think it's really going to look much different with the rest of the finer sand put on.  Maybe I'll just snap some pictures tonight when I get home if it's still light enough.  Oh it was so beautiful on the way in this morning and if I hadn't been running a little bit late I would have whipped out the old iPhone and shot the lake.  The mist on the lake was apricot colored and the sun behind the clouds looked huge.  Just beautiful.

Success

What a grand football weekend!  The Huskies beat Oregon in double overtime!  It was so exciting but after the first overtime started I had to turn it off and let it record.  I couldn't stand the suspense.  And on Sunday the Seahawks beat the Bears on the road!  I watched the entire game.  They looked pretty darned good.  It's been tough for that team to win on the road so this was a big game for the new coach.  And finally -- it looks like I'm going to be beating my nephew in the matchup this week!  I have 71.6 points over his 61.33 and I've got another player in tonight's game.  He is done.  I have to resist the urge to gloat.  I messed up my other team though - the one in the league where I'm first.  I had made some roster changes, moving out the players who had a bye week and must have neglected to click the "submit changes" button because they're still sitting there.  I am winning my matchup but it's going to mess up my points total.

The patio is nearly done.  They have to finish it up today with some finer sand.  I am quite pleased although I wish it was a bit bigger.  But to keep within my budget I had to make a couple of small adjustments to my original plan.  Maybe this spring if I find it's really bothering me I can have them add more bricks.  For now though it's nice.  I'm take some pictures tonight and post before and afters.

I had plans to work on my Shining Birds Eyes shawl but ended up relaxing and listening to my book and working on the Coquille scarf/shawl.  I am exactly half way through now.  Even if I block this thing super aggressively it's not going to be what I would call a shawl, but it's going to be a really nice scarf.

The baby shower went off fine even though someone brought their 3 children even though they were specifically told NO CHILDREN ALLOWED.  *sigh*  I managed to get them all in, fed and out in a little over two hours.  I must not have been doing a very good job of hiding my desire to be rid of the lot of them because my brother in law's girlfriend asked me at one point if I had somewhere else to be that day.  "Only alone", is what I wanted to answer.  She's one of those busy bodies who insists on "helping" clean up and tidy up.  I don't want to sound ungrateful for assistance but I neither needed it nor wanted it.  Oh wait, no I did need a little bit of help moving one of the couches back to its spot but other than that, no help needed.  Good heavens, I really am a bitch, aren't I?

I am feeling a bit of a let down now that anatomy is over.  Maybe even a little depressed.  It's my favorite time of the year because I'm so busy. Now it's just back to the same old thing.  I have a little more time in the day to do other things.  First on my agenda this week is to give my office and good cleaning.  Yes, we have janitorial service but that only means that they empty out the wastebasket and maybe once every few months they'll sweep the floor.  This entire closet needs a good dusting and my desk needs to be cleaned up.  And I've GOT to get running again!  I just need to force myself a couple of times and I'll be right back in it. 

I'd like to finish up that scarf I'm working on as well as the blue Green Gables.  Then I can start thinking about what I want to make for gifts.  Still plenty of time for that.

A new patio!

Oh I am so excited!  Finally yesterday they started work on my new patio.  I took some before pictures yesterday.  I'll snap a couple of work in progress pictures today ... I worked from home yesterday and again today so I can be here while the work is going on.  Yesterday they got all of the plastic covered with weeds out of there and moved in all the pavers and sand and gravel.  First thing this morning they had a machine for flattening it.  I imagine they're going to start putting in the edging and then the bricks.  It is going to be just wonderful to be able to look out those windows and not be looking at a weed field.  And they've lucked out on the weather.  It was lovely and sunny yesterday for most of the day, started raining around 3 and now this morning the fog has lifted and it is a beautiful day.

I did a couple of rows on my "fancy" shawl yesterday evening before I cooked dinner and nothing on the Coquille.  Mr. M has to do a load in this evening so I'll have some nice quiet time and hope to get some done on both projects.  I also have to prep for the baby shower I'm giving tomorrow.  I know - not exactly something I'm up on. I think I've been to one baby shower in my entire life.  I had to go on line and read about what you do and get some games, etc.  I've got a nice menu planned and I've got to get it ready to go tonight so all I have to do tomorrow after picking up the balloons and cake is pop the strata in the oven.  They'll be here at 12:30 and hopefully I can get through this in a couple of hours. 

Then I'll have an entire afternoon and evening to get my house back in shape and knit before the football game at 7.  Oh man, I sure hope the Huskies do better this Saturday.  The Seahawks are back from their bye week and we can only hope they win.  My fantasy team is looking pretty good and evenly matched against my matchup this week, who happens to be one of my nephews.  The one that is first.  I would lllllove to beat him but he seems to have some sort of voodoo going on.  Fingers crossed.

It's still looking good ...

for me working from home Thursday and Friday.  I need to be here today so I can go to lab with the Histo students and help them, if they need it, with the Virtual Microscope application I made.  Every year at least some of them have a hard time getting connected or they use the wrong browser.  Now there's nothing I can do about the bandwidth problem.  The school is aware of it and when anatomy starts it's not much of a problem, but now all of the schools are in session - medical, dental, nursing, etc. etc. - and things tend to get sluggish.  They will figure out soon enough which one of them in their 4 person group has the laptop that pulls the strongest signal but until them it helps ease the frustration if it at least looks like we're helping.

I am sure Chris the contractor had the best of intentions, but he did not contact me yesterday.  Hopefully today.  I don't want to bug him because I know he's got a lot on his plate at this time, personally.  His wife of 20 years up and divorced him about six months ago.  He's still dealing with that and the fall out.  Poor guy.  Of course, there are always two sides to the story so I'm not going to judge.  I just want my patio done.  And I want him to double check the measurements before he orders the materials.  I'm not 100% sure Mr. M's calculations are accurate and he missed about 150 square feet when he made his initial diagram.

I did another gusset on the Coquille Shawl yesterday evening and then called it a night and went upstairs to read.  I was fighting to keep my eyes open at 9:30 and finally gave up.  I had a pretty good sleep for a change.  I've been working so hard and it's difficult to stay awake after dinner.  Things should calm down here in the next couple week though and then maybe I can start running again.  The weather is perfect for it.  Not too hot and still dry -- for today anyway.  But no running for me today.  It's noon knitting.

Full speed ahead

Saturday afternoon the nice contractor, Chris, came to take a look at my patio project.  He is the guy that fixed up my house on 20th and did such a fabulous job.  He took a look, understood exactly what I needed and even had a wholesale place to buy the pavers I wanted.  Last night he stopped by to show me the paver to double check and to give me his price.  He's just a touch over what I wanted to pay, but not by much so I gave him the go ahead.  He's going to be in touch today and hopefully they can start tomorrow or the next day.  I am SO excited!!  It's going to really make that back yard more useful and prettier to boot.  Definitely adding to the worth of the property.

Today's the first day in a very long time that I didn't have to stand around in my office in front of the fan to cool off before I could get dressed.  In fact, I'm sitting here in a skirt, top and cardigan and my legs are cold!  I don't believe they're going to turn the heat on in the building until November.  It's not a big deal to me, but I surely notice it.

Yesterday was a huge day.  I didn't get home until after 6 and I think the only time I stopped was for about 20 minutes for lunch.  This bunch of students is the nicest bunch ever and at the social after the final they gave all of the faculty and me a card and a gift.  Isn't that sweet?  That's a first in all the years I've been doing this job.  Histology starts today and I am hoping that once I get them launched I can work from home Thursday and Friday so I can keep an eye on the work.  After the ground cover disaster I don't dare let Mr. M be alone to supervise since he does not.

And in fantasy news .... I won my match up this week in my nephew's league!  Triple digits even!!  I am very very happy.  Now I don't look like a total loser plus just maybe I've got the hang of it and I'll win again next week.  I'm going to have to really put some thought into it, do a little reading, make a couple of adjustments (like get a defense that doesn't suck) and give it my best shot.  And in  my public league -- still number one!  That makes me happy too.  I still haven't won a square on the Monday night pool but it sure makes the games more fun to watch.

Blisters from knitting??

Oh what a great day I had Saturday!!  I got up and out at a very reasonable time and got my nails out of the way quickly.  I was ready to shop and got to the mall before it was packed.  You know how sometimes when you go shopping you can't find a single thing?  And other times .... watch out.  This was one of those times.  Everything I tried on with the exception of one dress, one top and one pair of pants worked out at the first stop.  And similar luck at the second.  I had to stop after that - for clothes that is.  Then I went on to DSW and found the absolutely BEST pair of boots ever!  I stopped at Bath and Body Works for a couple of prizes for the baby shower games and then made a stop at the party store for more things for the shower.  What a mistake that was (not that I had a choice).  Display and Costume was super busy because of Halloween, even though it's weeks and weeks away.  And I have to go back next Saturday to pick up the balloons.  At least it'll be early.

So after all that shopping I stopped to pick up a pizza to bake for dinner,  then home to reorganize the closets.  Since I had done such a thorough job this spring I didn't have much of a fall wardrobe so I really  needed this shopping trip.  I go the closets switched and all the new clothes in place and I felt SO good!  I even had time to do some knitting on the fancy shawl before the football game.  It was pouring rain and Jake Locker had been sick with the flu all week.  The Huskies lost and they lost ugly.  Very disappointing.

So, about the blisters from knitting.  I've been working on the Coquille Shawl and while I was clothes shopping Saturday I noticed that my thumb was slightly blistered.  I had been knitting Friday night on that project.  The yarn is a bit rough and the needles are small (oh when will I learn NOT to knit scarves/shawls on teensie weensie needles??).  I really didn't think my thumb could be blistering from knitting but I paid attention yesterday and indeed, that's what is happening.  I'm going to have to try it with a band aid tonight and see if that makes a difference.

We went to dinner to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving last night.  I got to bed at a very decent hour, watched a program on TV and was asleep by 10:30 or so.  And then I woke up and I was awake for hours.  There is so much going on.  I've got to make some lists so I can make it through this week without insomnia again.  I just hate that.  And I'm tired.  Nothing I can do about it now but I'm going to keep some Benadryl by my bed tonight.

Do you want the job, or ??????

Yesterday I contacted one of the three contractors I found to see if he'd like to come take a look at my project and make a bid on it.  He said he could be there at 5 to take a look, so I dashed out of the office and biked home in record time.  He wasn't waiting for me and so I looked at my iPhone and saw that he had left me a message.  The message said he'd be there around six.  I returned the call and said that was fine but if it was any later it'd be too dark to really get a good look at the project.  So of course he didn't arrive until after 7 pm.  And long story short, he was an A-hole!  I didn't like the way he was talking to me, he couldn't see even though I had a flashlight and he was making ridiculous assumptions.  As he left he said he'd be in touch with a bid.  My guess is this is the type of guy who is going to make me an outrageous bid.  What a jerk.  I am going to call that nice contractor who did the work on my house before it was sold.  He was great.  Honest and very reasonable and mostly always where he was when he said he would be.  Not a trait that very many contractors have, it seems.

Dinner was sushi out.  I couldn't face cooking dinner.  I was wrecked from the day I had yesterday - super busy.  I still have lots to do today AND I have an appointment downtown so I have to leave early so it's going to be frantic today as well.  Ahhh but my weekend is still looking good.  I'm just going to keep thinking about that.  A nice quiet day - just me and Tink and knitting and a little shopping and football.  Oh!  And I made some killer (I think) moves in my fantasy team yesterday.  Fingers crossed I get some points on those boys!!

Getting near the end

Things have been SO busy here but the end is in sight.  I had an early meeting yesterday and, since the weather is still decent, I wanted to ride in.  So I got everything ready the night before and was able to get up, showered and out the door in record time.  I got to work before eight so I could cool off and have a cup of tea before heading to my meeting.  I had slept quite well the night before even though I stayed up later than usual.  I wanted to start another project Wednesday night since the little blanket was done, so I sat down right after dinner and got started.  Mr. M had a finished theatre to enjoy so he was off watching something or other and I sat there for over 3 hours.  I am doing the Coquille Shawl from Knitty's early fall.  I would call it a large scarf rather than a shawl.  The construction is intriguing and is perfect for the Noro Kureyon sock yarn I got recently.  I was going to take a quick picture this morning but it's still rather small and looks more like a curl or a ruffle.  I will later when it's larger.

Yesterday's ride home was lovely.  I was supposed to be having dinner alone but Mr. M's business dinner turned out to be a quick meeting instead.  I was anxious to get back to the new project so I threw together something easy and spent a little while on it.  Wednesday night is "Inside the NFL" - a program I enjoy immensely.  I had gotten the hang of the new pattern so I was able to watch and knit.  I need all the football pointers I can get.  I have GOT to get something going with my fantasy league.  My primary Yahoo fantasy league, the public one, I am first now.  The other one with my nephews I am dead last.  I have been making adjustments and need to make a few more before this Sunday.  I was  going to put Randy Moss up for trade but then he was traded to the Vikings yesterday and you know that Brett Favre is going to be throwing to him all day long.  Maybe I'll get some points finally.

Even though this is only Thursday I am already looking forward to the weekend.  Yes, it's going to be raining and ugly.  But I don't care.  I am going to have all of Saturday to myself and I'm going to get my nails done, and do some shopping.  I need some fall clothes and a new rug for the kitchen.  And then in the afternoon I'm going to knit and later the Huskies will be on TV.  Oh it's going to be fabulous!  Also I've found 3 people I"m going to call to come make bids on the patio project.  I cannot wait to get that started.

But it's two long and full days left to go before the weekend. 

No good light this morning

I did want to take pictures/video of the spiders this morning but it's cloudy and cold and dark.  Maybe this weekend. I wish I would have thought of the video before.  I don't use that enough.

It was only 47 degrees this morning.  Much cooler than I'm used to.  I wore my fleece head band and full gloves as well as a long sleeved shirt.  It won't be long now when I'll have to put the shorts away as well.  I need a better pair of biking pants/tights.  The ones I got last spring are too light for winter.  They'll do for a month or two at most.

I was so very tired yesterday.  I got home and showered and watched Monday Night Football.  Still no win.  All we need is one square to be square.  The rest would be gravy.  There are plenty more games to go and we didn't really have terrific numbers.  7 and 9.  Seven is okay but 9 ... that's not really great.  I didn't get the final score so I don't know what the numbers are for next week yet.  

I finished up the hood for the hooded baby blanket and got all ends woven in.  Maybe tonight I'll sew the hood on or maybe I'll put that off to Saturday.  I was too tired last night.  I went up and watched TV in bed for an hour and then, even though I wanted to finish that book, I fell asleep.  And oh it was good!  But I couldn't wake up this morning I must have hit the snooze button four times but I can only remember two.    I feel rested so that's good.

I was folding clothes yesterday evening and came upon my cotton brown Green Gables. I had mistakenly popped it in the dryer and it is shrunken beyond wear.  That's okay.  I liked it but it was starting to look a bit shabby anyway.  That gives me reason to finish up the one I have on the needles that I'm making with the nice Debbie Bliss cotton cashmere.  I thought that I might make the sleeves long and echo the lace panel in the sleeve cuff, making it belled at the same time.  I can follow the Simple Knitted Bodice pattern for the sleeves.  And I'll make the body of it a little longer than the original as well.  Isn't it nice to have goals?

As predicted

It was a very very busy weekend.  I don't feel like I got much rest at all.  And this week is going to be very busy as well.  I do have next weekend to look forward to, thankfully.  Mr. M is going to be gone with shows from Friday again and I don't have a single thing planned for the weekend except a little shopping and plenty of knitting and football.  But it's a long way to the weekend from where I'm sitting Monday morning.

I was up and out early on Saturday to get my grooming essentials out of the way before running out to the venue to meet with the sound guy to get my In Ears monitor up and running.  The hall was a madhouse but Larz was a very nice man and took the time to get the unit going and tested.  It was a revelation!  Whoever invented them was a genius.  I had a few hours then before I was due back to walk Tinkerbell and run through  my songs to make sure I had the lyrics down.  The Husky game with USC was on at 5:30 so I had that going.  It was an exciting game and they pulled it out at the end, just like last year, and beat them!  The Huskies looked so much better than they did against Nebraska. 

I headed out to the gig and it was a zoo!  I had to park blocks and blocks away on a dark street with no sidewalks.  I had the foresight to bring a small flashlight so I wouldn't get run over.  It was packed at this thing --- what to call it?  It was a reunion of sorts for a high school I didn't attend, but my band mates had.  Of course with a bunch of groups going up and doing 30 minutes we were behind schedule but less than an hour.  I met up with the bass player and his wife and headed out to get a beer.  I believe I got one of the last ones.  The keg was empty!  The musicians were actually quite good and some of the blues was really good!  We got up there sometime after 10 and of course Doug had problems with his amplifier.  So he had to switch to another one which wasn't such a bad thing because tow trucks were towing people away who had parked illegally and we needed to make announcements.  It was pretty crazy.  When we actually got to play it was SO much fun!  The In Ears completely made it for me.  It was very loud up there on that teensie stage, all squished together but I just heard myself in my ears and a little bit of the band.  Perfect.  It breathed some life into our little group.  We've been rehearsing now for a year with the bass player and it's time to get out and play in public.  Anyway .... I had fun in spite of my bad attitude. 

Of course I couldn't go to sleep until about 2 am so slept in on Sunday until 11 and therefore didn't get to make any last minute changes to my fantasy roster!  My nephew had given me some good tips and made a very generous trade with me.  I had intended to get rid of some of my guys anyway so on Friday I made a few changes but our trade hadn't gone through.  I didn't get the email that it had gone through until 12:30 am Sunday morning.  I didn't think I was going to sleep until 11 so I didn't make the other move thinking I'd have time in the morning.  Gah!  I am going to lose my matchup again!  I have a couple players in the game tonight so hopefully it won't be a total blow out again.  My other team?  The one I don't have any money on .... I am KILLING there.  Next year ... just wait.

Yesterday therefore was shortened by the sleep in.  I had a million and one chores to do, the dog to wash, etc. etc. etc. I was going to put the Seahawks game on to record so I could watch it later and as I was running out to start my errands I turned it on, only to find out it was in St. Louis and was almost over.  Oh and they were getting their asses handed to them!  By the Rams!!! Unbelievable. I was glad I hadn't known and wasted the morning watching it.  I didn't have any me time until after 4.   But I sat in my comfy chair and worked on the fancy shawl for a couple of hours.  I have a long way to go but as I said, it's going to be very nice.

It was a gorgeous ride in this morning.  Just a hint of the cold weather to come in the air. And the leaves are falling on the trail.  There is a certain combination of colors this time of year that I particularly like -- the blue of the sky contrasted with the yellow gold of the leaves.  I wish you could see it.  I've been trying to think of a way to show the spider webs in a particular part of the garden in the front and I was thinking that maybe if I use the video on my iPhone it'll catch it.  If the light is good tomorrow morning I'm going to give it a try.

Happy Friday!

I wish I didn't have such a busy weekend to look forward to.  At least I'll be able to sleep in some and Sunday shouldn't be too bad. Mr. M was up and out before I got up this morning for a show and won't be back until late tonight, then up and out again tomorrow so I will have a nice, peaceful afternoon at least.  I sure hope the Huskies snap out of it and get some wins!  And speaking of wins -- I had better get some with my fantasy league pretty soon.  So far I'm 3 and 0 with my nephew's league.  It's embarrassing!!

It was a beautiful day yesterday but I didn't get to enjoy much of it since I was working hard.  We had such a lovely end of September and looks as though October is going to be nice too.  That's fine.  I can surely wait for the cold weather.

Tonight is our last rehearsal before our set on Saturday.  I am going to try very hard to pare down the list from 10 songs to 6 or 7.  That should be plenty but I think Doug will be stubborn about it.  I am very grateful that I have my In Ears monitor.  All I have to do is get it to the sound guy in the afternoon and make sure he can get the feed to the monitor mix.  I control my own volume and he controls the volume in the mains.  This way I won't be blasted by the guitars on stage and I'll just have to trust that he knows how to mix.

I sure have lost my knitting mojo.  I didn't pick up a project last night either!  This has to be some sort of record.  Why didn't I knit last night?  I have three words for you my friend - Angry Birds update!  Not that I spent all evening playing Angry Birds.  It is rather addicting though.