Mixed Blessings

My last chick has left the nest and bought a house of her own. I'm very proud of her, but I told her older sister I felt a little sad to see her go. She cheered me up by reminding me, "You must have done SOMEthing right; she's leaving!"

I realized this morning that last night I had just spent the first night in my life in a house where no one else lives. Not my first night to be alone, but the first time ever to be in my own home with no one else in residence. No parent, no roommate, no spouse, no child, no pet. Just me.

Yep, just me, with a bathroom of my own. A washer and dryer of my own. A thermostat of my own.

Maybe I should call in the house keys from my grown-up kids so I can run around the house naked if I want to.

Happy Mothers Day!

Yesterday, nobody had a plan for What To Do About Mothers Day.

From elder daughter: "Is anybody planning to do anything for all of us mothers in our family?" Me: "Have you talked to your siblings lately?" She: "Well, no . . ."

From middle-child: "Mothers Day is TOMORROW?!! Nobody's gonna get ANYthing!" (It's the week between paydays for him.) "What do you want?" Me: "A geranium?"

From younger daughter: "What do you want for Mothers Day?" Me: "Quality time?"

I went to the grocery store to pick up - I promise! - only two things, then decided I should make a backup plan in case the kids, with their dizzyingly busy lives, didn't talk to each other. Can't have anyone going off on a guilt trip, or me having a pity party. So I bought the makings for tacos and a fruit salad. Tried to call the younger daughter (she's the one who makes things happen) but only got her voice mail. Called the son and told him what I had done; he said he would call his sisters.

Younger daughter called me later, invited me to go to church with her this morning.
I resisted - "I can't wake up that early. I don't have anything to wear. I need to cook the tacos."
She insisted - "We'll go to the late service. I'll pick out your clothes. I'll help you cook when we get home."

She picked me up, made me pick out my own clothes. We heard a nice sermon about family relationships that brought tears to my eyes. Why did he only talk about husbands and wives when so many of us are alone? I wanted to leave but I toughed it out. Didn't want to embarrass this wonderful girl.

On the way back to my house, we picked up elder daughter, granddaughter, and the queso sauce and brownies they had made (Who knew?); stopped and picked up tortilla chips and Dr Peppers. We got to the house to find there was even MORE to the plotting behind my back; daughter-in-law was cooking and slicing and chopping and mixing while son added leaves to the table, set out the plates, and kept an eye on the grandson. Son-in-law came and joined us after he got off work, completing the crew.

We had a yummy meal and a lot of laughs. After we finished eating, the little one insisted we go out and "wing" - he really likes his Grammi's new porch swing. My granddaughter, age 15, actually let me show her my 1964 high school yearbook with the girls in bouffant hairdos and skirt and sweater sets and the boys with short haircuts and button-up shirts with the tails tucked into belted pants. She thought my cat's-eye glasses were weird.

After they went home, I sat in my porch swing and finished the heel on the sock I am knitting.

Thanks, kids! It was a great day. Happy Mothers Day, everyone!

How many Colorsburgs are there?

I just had this off-the-wall thought about the coincidence of recent tragedies in towns whose names begin with a color and end with "-sburg". So, naturally, I googled "blacksburg knitting" and "greensburg ks knitting" and found that each city has a group accepting knitted squares with which to make afghans.Just in case you wanted to know, or have a yen to knit or crochet squares...

The Greensburg project has no color preference, but my brain says green for Greensburg:

http://specialstuff.typepad.com/sugar_bunny_boulevard/2007/05/rebuilding_gree.html

The Blacksburg project prefers Hokie school colors of maroon, burnt orange, black, and white:

http://mosaicyarnshop.blogspot.com/2007/04/mosaic-yarn-shop-is-asking-that-all.html

Don't pay the ransom, I escaped!

I know, it's been a long time. It's my procrastination kicking in again. I think I should post something here, then I think I need to include a picture, but I don't have my camera handy, and my cellphone cam pix are just not really very good.

So, what have I accomplished since you last heard from me? Well, I haven't gone out and bought the materials I need for my door frames and baseboards, but I have made the measurements.

I filed my taxes. This is the first year since 1975 that life has been uncomplicated enough for me to do this without an accountant.

I put together the porch swing the kids got me for Christmas. I know, it's been a long time since Christmas, but the weather hasn't been nice enough to use a porch swing until recently. I picked a beautiful day in April

and got all the stuff out of the box

and put it all together.

Then I had to make sure it worked okay. Alice came over and we sat and swang and looked at the neighborhood. Even talked to some other neighbors who were outdoors. It was really nice; everyone should have one of these things!

It was really easy to do, especially compared to laying a floor. I didn't have to cut a single thing to make it fit together.

A much less pleasant task

was unstopping the tub drain, but I still got that heady feeling of wow-I-CAN-do-this-myself! Made me feel really good when one of the good ol' boys told me about paying eighty dollars to have someone else do it for him.

On a more fragrant note, I finally started a sock! I signed up for Susan's Horcrux Knitalong almost a month ago, and I have finally made some progress.

Just for the record, the yarn is J-Knits's hand-dyed Superwash Me - Light Sock merino wool, color "Massachusetts." The needles are KnitPicks double-points, US size 2.

I made a pair of these back in February, using Susan's Horcrux pattern for worsted-weight yarn. Those worked up more quickly - fatter yarn, fewer stitches.

That's probably not all my news, but I think I'll go enjoy my knitting for a while before I can keep my eyes open no longer. G'night!