Weekends Are Too Short

I wish weekends were longer and the workweek shorter. Our weekend was quite nice. My friend Val came out on Saturday and we went to the farmers market and bought some yummy fresh local dairy products, baked goods, salsa, and asparagus, then wandered around the downtown area, ostensibly to check out Mrs. Tate's Bake Shop and Tea Room. What we actually were trying to do was create a calorie deficit so we didn't feel quite so guilty eating coconut cupcakes for before lunch.

Later in the afternoon, Tom and I went up to his sister's place to celebrate Mother's Day a little early. His brother was up from North Carolina, too. Linda and Nikki fixed a delicious dinner: Chicken Oscar, Caesar salad, tomato and fresh mozzarella, bruschetta with olive oil and Parmesan, and cake for dessert. It was good to see Steve and my mother-in-law again and it was really good to see Linda's family. Even though we don't live all that far away from them, it seems like we rarely see them, given school and sports schedules and such.

On Sunday, I got up and (are you ready for this?) ran six miles! And I lived to tell the tale. It wasn't too bad; my knee behaved and didn't hurt. I had done a couple of two-mile runs during the week, just to make sure that I remembered how to run. Seriously, it's been a long time since I last ran.

After the usual post-run snack at a local coffee shop, Tom and I visited some nurseries to buy some ferns for the deck and to see what else was available. Our yard is in serious need of some major landscape work. We got some ideas. The trick is going to be remembering what we decided, since we didn't write anything down.

Of course, I called my mother to wish her a happy Mother's Day. My brothers feted her with dinners and cards. All she got from me was a phone call. I'm terrible about sending cards on holidays and such. I start out with good intentions, even buying cards in advance and putting reminders in my calendar. But I never send them. So I've stopped trying. I'll call instead.

The rest of Sunday was spent trying to eradicate the plaster dust from part of the house. This effort involved vacuuming and washing the floors and took up most of the afternoon. I swear the absolute best way to wash floors is not with any of these new-fangled gadgets but the old-fashioned way, down on your hands and knees, with rags for washing, rinsing, and drying. The problem is that it also takes a long time. And that's why I rarely wash my floors.

Knitting News
I have a confession to make. I started a new sock, using the Sockotta that my secret pal sent me. I know, I know. I haven't finished the Sweaters of Despair (although I did knit a couple of agonizingly slow rows on the Jenna sweater) and I still have to knit the other Spirit Trail sock. But I've been feeling that I need something plain and simple to knit and what better project than a stockinette stitch sock?

This turned out to be a good move. I was feeling a bit queasy most of yesterday and didn't want to do much of anything last night besides watch cooking shows (nothing appealed, imagine that) and knit. But I didn't feel well enough to tackle the Sweaters of Despair. There's a lot of comfort in simply knitting around and around and around and around...

Today brought more of the same...queasiness most of the day. I decided not to go to work and managed to knit a couple of rounds. In the afternoon, I started to feel somewhat better and organized my fiber room again. It had accumulated all the stuff from the back bedroom and was a bit quite a disaster area. It's now much neater and feels less claustrophobic. Of course, some of the stuff went back into the back bedroom; my nephew and his girlfriend are visiting later in the week and I didn't want them tripping over bed frames and closet doors.

Yesterday's surprise was the first delivery of the Wooly Wonka Exotic Fibers Club. Anne sent about four ounces of beautiful grey Rambouillet. She included notes about the breed and fleece, as well as spinning tips and a pattern for a neck gaiter. I was beginning to feel a bit intimidated about this club, but Anne recommends using a short draw worsted spinning technique. This is good, because that's about all I know how to do!

Whew! This post turned out to be much longer than I expected. And it's getting close to dinner, although I still don't have much of an appetite. Hopefully, all the queasiness will be gone by tomorrow and I can get back to my regularly scheduled activities.

Have a great week!