I'm thankful for...

Having survived this weekend. Actually midweek, as the actual weekend starts tomorrow and I'll be headed "home" tomorrow. It's been a rough autumn and it ain't over yet. But for this holiday I got to drive 20 hours, sleep in a room with a freezer full of 15 year old food and a ghost (seriously, you should hear this thing groan), cook dinner for 12 or so, who the hell knows; have lunch at the senior center, clean out a pantry and I'll skip the bad parts. But no one died (yet, there is still that drive looming), and I think I'm only up a couple of pounds on the all gravy diet. Oh, but I also share my sleeping quarters with a Singer Touch and Sew and some other Singer in a white box on the floor that my MIL regularly swears at.

My MIL is about 86 now, and starting to slip a bit. Short term memory isn't great and the more stress she's under the worse it is. And it doesn't take much stress to show. My neice and her daughter (see below) live with her so she isn't alone, but it's becoming concerning. She's a food horder - always has been - and there is food everywhere. Not all of it purchased this millinia. So you always have to check before you use anything. Even Campbell's soup doesn't last forever. But Twinkies might. Haven't found any Twinkies anywhere, though.

My grand-neice is now 3, her birthday just a bit before Thanksgiving, so we're dodging turkeys and helium balloons. And I'd forgotten how tiring a 3 year old can be. Whew! Now I know why children are given to the young, the rest of us just can't keep up. And she's a good little girl, as long as you do things her way....

I started a scarf that may end up as a gift if it turns out well. Using my first ever actual "fancy" stitch. Meaning not just a plain old knit or purl. I'm using the Twisted Drop Stitch pattern and got about a foot of it done today. I found out I'm a much more efficient knitter without assistance from a 3 year old. Who knew? Not in love with the yarn, the color? Oh yeah. Well, it's purple, need I say more? But there's no spring to it at all, Lion Brand Homespun. But not itchy either and my eyes like that - I've been noticing some problems when I use actual animal products I think. Acrylic will do that for you, I suppose. Sorry, I haven't even warmed up the camera this trip, so no peeks yet.

Yes, I am quite aware that this was a quite lame post. Sorry, apparently they can't all be winners. I'm going to read for a few. I'm reading Bringing Down the House on my Kindle. A good read, I recommend it, much better (as usual) than the movie 21 . Does Amazon owe me a commision on sales for these references? I could use a good retirement back up plan.... Good night.