Doings

Audrey (my daughter) turns 11 on Sunday. Tomorrow after school I am driving 3 girls to Renton (just south of Seattle) to A. Check into our hotel, B. Go to the Gigantamundo mall in Tukwila, C. Eat dinner someplace fun (fortunately "fun" places to eat no longer means loud pizza places with video games), D. Back to the hotel to swim, E. Sleep (wishful thinking, right?) and after a fabulous inclusive hotel breakfast, to take a lunch time ride on the dinner train ( www.spiritofwashingtondinnertrain.com ) which includes a tour of the Columbia Crest winery, then home again to Longview (www.ci.longview.wa.us ). Sounds like fun, and it was all Audrey's idea, but it makes me tired just thinking about it. I think I'm getting old. Because of this birthday trip, I will miss our first home soccer game (James' team, which John is coaching and I am therefore assistant coaching.) They will have to do the whole put the nets up, coach the game, distribute snacks, take the nets down thing without me. Hope it goes well.

I have been taking the first part of the Wilton cake decorating class at Michael's. This has meant baking a cake and making over 2 lbs of frosting every week. It is very, very busy. Next week I have the last class of part one on Tuesday and the first class of part two on Thursday. Everything I own seems to be covered in powdered sugar and Crisco.

I have officially started my BackTack III stuff. It is not all in my head (and a bag of fabric in the basement) anymore. Cutting out and embroidery has happened. I had to make a trip to the fabric store for buttons today, and I managed to lock my keys in the car. Fortunately it was a beautiful day for a walk home to get the keys and beg a ride back from a neighbor.

Time now to go clean the car for the Renton birthday adventure.

Ten Random Thoughts (footloose and fancy free)

1. If I didn't have a daughter, I wouldn't have sparkles in my dryer lint.

2. Guinea pigs are the most charming rodents I have ever had. I love to hear them talk (though not when I'm trying to sleep.)

3. Spring! Glorious SPRING!! Cherry trees and dogwoods and hawthornes, OH MY!

4. I should exercise more restraint with my nursery buying urges. Those 3 flats of primroses are not going to plant themselves.

5. Wilton buttercream is not BUTTERcream, it is CRISCOcream, but if they called it that, no one would eat it.

6. It's funny, when the weather changed, I lost all interest in any projects done in autumnal or wintery colors. The dark green sweater I am knitting for my husband, yuck. The nearly finished to-be-felted handbag in black, taupe and gray Cascade 220, humbug. Give me pink and lime and yellow and orange and robin's egg blue!

7. I like my husband.

8. I REALLY wish I hadn't fallen off the ski lift a couple of weeks ago, my knees are still bugging me. But I REALLY, REALLY wish I could ski well.

9. I wish I could do my housework outside when the weather is nice, I might do more of it.

10. It's time to make the popcorn! (I make popcorn at my daughter's elemenatry school once a month, and every Friday afternoon at my son's middle school for PTO, and it's Friday afternoon.)

Am I able to post a picture?

I am not having an easy time of this. I have dilligently tried to upload a picture for the last 3 days, leaving it for over an hour once, and still nothing. I don't know if it isn't possible with my dial-up connection, or maybe I need my pictures to have less resolution, or maybe I'm just trying to use Blogger during peak hours. My most recent attempt is to open a Flickr account and try to upload it to Flicker and then use that address to transfer it to Blogger. So far no luck there either. So I guess for now the answer is NO, I am not able to post a picture.

In the beginning. . .

It all started with a question I had about knitting that led to the Yarn Harlot. Knitting blogs? Craft blogs? I wasn't really aware of such things. I read archives, YEARS of archives. As other sites were referenced I checked those out. I read their archives, I looked at the websites they liked to read. Not only about projects started and either finished or abandoned (what ever did happen to Stephanie's awful smelling goat fleece?), but about weddings and babies and everyday familys' goings on. And I started to think: I knit, I crochet, I embroider, I paint, I bead, I craft, I have a family and I life, I can write! Therefore, I can blog, right?? I'm not going to post a picture today. I'll try that next time. Small steps.