Not crying over burnt milk!

On Monday I came home from eight hours of Bitty-wrangling, happily weary and starving to death. When I went shopping last weekend, I bought half a dozen new pasta preparations. We eat a lot of pasta chez nous, and I am still grieving the disappearance of the rotini with white cheddar and broccoli sauce from market shelves. So I am trying other options. This box called for a measured amount of water, a smaller amount of milk, and a dollop of olive oil. I put the pan on the stove, covered it, and promptly forgot about it until it boiled over five minutes later. [I told you I was tired!]

That pasta was too salty and not particularly inspiring. I won’t buy it again, but I’m glad that I tried it.

On Wednesday night, I was thinking, “fettucini and a nice sploosh of clam sauce and I wonder if there’s any parmesan cheese left in the fridge?” Filled my big pot with water, salted it lightly, and gave it a couple of goody-goody’s of lemon juice. Forced the lid down onto it – the pan has been a little warped for more than 20 years, not unlike its owner – fired up the stove, and sat down with my knitting. Less than five minutes later, a smoke alarm that I didn’t even know I had, went off. Guess who had forgotten to wipe the spilt milk out of the burner pan on Monday night?

First trip to the park with BittyBit, on Wednesday.



Pondering her next move:



Unblocked Swallowtail:



I don't know if you can click on that and get it to fill most of your screeen, but when I did so while editing, it was breathtaking! Corner of unblocked Swallowtail:



Progress on the Sabbath Sock. Note how nicely it continues to play with the skirt that I want to match.



I put another series of stripes on it yesterday. And the first little bit of MS3, taken yesterday morning. If you look carefully, you can see beads marching up the outer border. At this point I was nearly done with Chart A of Clue 1. I am now several rows into Charts B, left and right.



This will be my last day of Bitty-wrangling. Other Grandma is back from helping her other son and his bride move to TN for med school, and I will most gratefully hand over the short people into her keeping. I need a vacation to rest up from this vacation!

On other fronts, the packing continues. I packed three boxes yesterday; the contents of two went to Firstborn’s and joined her makeup inventory. She brought me five boxes from work, and I brought the two empties back. I hope to have seven boxes packed before leaving for Secondborn’s in two hours.

By emptying all the translucent rolling carts of inventory, I now have somewhere to put the craft supplies that have exploded all over my boudoir. I will not be Bittying this weekend, and I hope to greet the Sabbath with a tidy bedroom. We moved into these apartments a little over four years ago, and for the first six months all was cleanliness-is-next-to-Godliness around here. [For most of my life it has been cleanliness-is-next-to-impossible, what with too many bodies in too little space.]

And then the children’s father was out of work for a year, which meant no child support, which meant (A) I put that year on plastic and (B) I am still paying it off and (C) I also became an independent beauty consultant to try to make up the difference and (D) housework, other than cooking and dishes and laundry and taking out the garbage, was the first thing to go.

I am now in the process of taking my life back, at least the part of my life that is not consumed by sticks and string. Part of that process includes the realization that I am ready to become a homeowner again, and that I want a house about the same size as this apartment, with neighbors who know words longer than four letters.

I am now going to pack all my old VHS tapes and then curl up on the couch with some knitting and an audiobook until it's time to go play with the Bitties.