So the new piano is plugged in.

The kids moved the new end tables in as well. One is in Middlest's room, and the other is in my closet, topped with the small blond bookcase, and spiffing up my room considerably. Yes, I'll get you some pictures. No, it's not happening tonight.

I've safely delivered Fourthborn to her home. Middlest stayed here and tried to sleep off a migraine. I picked up contact cases for Middlest, another pint of half and half to make a second batch of potato leek soup, and two cases of water.

We didn't make any more progress in getting the small tree decorated, and I haven't knit a stitch all weekend. My bed is still piled high with all the stuff I hauled up off the floor and out of the bookcase so we could move the end table in there. I've found new, logical places for a few things, but basically when I go into my room in a few minutes, I will make new piles on the bedroom floor and worry about it over the next few days. Or weeks.

Still, it's been a great weekend so far, and I'm looking forward to church tomorrow. I'm physically and mentally tired, although peaceful and happy. And maybe allergic to something I've eaten, but that just might be the diuretic arguing with my ankles. I'm going to do some discreet slathering with a vitamin E cream, take my meds, and call it a day.

Oye with the poodles.

Fourthborn and I watched all six hours of the Gilmore Girls marathon while Middlest mostly slept.

I found two clear plastic containers into which I could decant the cake/cupcake stand from my wedding reception and get it out of the house. Along with the larger Christmas tree, they are massively in the way, because we haven't actually opened the door to the garage and schlepped them.

I've hung two items on the dining room wall and temporarily shoved the armchairs which normally occupy the head and foot of the table to either side of the piano so that we have clear access on both sides to the small Christmas tree, which is set up on the table in front of the window, just as it was last year and the year before. The tree is skirted and partially decorated, which we did between episodes of Gilmore Girls.

The house smells like potato leek soup, because we have been eating cookies and milk, or pumpkin pie with the last of the squirt whipping cream, or hummus and crackers, all day long and wanted some real food. It also smells like Scentsy, because I've had the small burner going in my room most of the day.

I'm girding myself to go back into the kitchen and put the last of the soup into pint jars for my lunches next week, then feed the dishwasher and oh holy cow, I'm half an hour late for my evening meds. Be right back.

Except the Oh Look Shiny kicked in, and I went out to the kitchen and fed the dishwasher. And then I got my meds and discovered that the only bottled water left was out in the car. So I put on my shoes (but not my bra, because it's dark-thirty out there) and schlepped a couple of bags out to the recycling bin. They've been breeding like tribbles by the front door.

Unlocked the car on my side, only to discover that the bottles were under the jump seat on the passenger side, so I clicked again and walked around the Tardis. Grabbed the partial case of water, and the bottom of the wrap died, and two bottles made a break for it. I found one at the side of the driveway. Came back in and took out the rest of the recycling. (Sorry, tribbles.)

Got in the car and drove it as far forward as I could without hitting the garage door. No bottle. Just a vague gleam in the gutter across the street. So I crossed the street and sure enough, it was my runaway bottle. I showed it who was boss: brought it into the house, set it down on my desk, and carefully took the cap off. This batch of bottles has been consistently more full than the usual lot, and Middlest and I have frequently ended up with wet shirts or laps while wrestling with them.

So it's after 11:00, and I'm waiting for the muscle relaxer to kick in so I can maybe get some sleep. I'm a little wired from six hours of Gilmore Girls and virtual coffee. But I'd call it a successful day. I may have set foot outside of the house, but I haven't gotten out of my pajamas.

Take that, Black Friday!

Hemming and (yee)hawing.

I just finished hemming the first pair of Middlest's new slacks. It's a task I don't mind doing if there's no hurry. Pin baste. Try on. Thread baste. Try on. Now with the other shoes, please. No, I insist. I want to see how they hang in taller shoes. Yes, you're right, they do need to be a quarter of an inch longer. Pull the basting threads. Re-pin. Thread baste again. Press the hemlines so they're nice and crisp. Turn the slacks inside out and pin baste two inches from the new hemlines. Trim off the excess. Pull the basting threads. Fold the raw edge to meet the pressed line. Pin baste. Fill a bobbin. Thread the sewing machine. Stitch the first hem. And the second. Press the creases with a nice burst of steam. Unplug the iron. Hand the slacks off to a pleased and grateful Middlest. Ta-daaa!

Just enough fiddliness to be satisfying. An evening well spent.

We are going to Firstborn's tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner. I picked up the makings for my sweet potato and mandarin orange casserole. I'll do that tomorrow. I also picked up a 10" pumpkin pie for Middlest and Fourthborn and me to share.

The big rolling chair that has been hulking in a corner of my studio, works very well as a sewing chair. Especially after I hiked the seat up a good six inches. Because I am not twelve feet tall, and it's hard to sew when the sewing surface on my machine is about eye-level.

I slept so well last night. Hoping for more of the same tonight.

Happy almost-Thanksgiving, y'all.

In which Middlest sleeps, but Mom does not.

I went to bed as soon as decently possible last night. And woke up at least twice. Once around three, when I wandered out and played three hands of solitaire. Again just before five, and I was more or less able to go back to sleep. At some point I had thrashed all of the covers off and sent them slithering to the floor. Bed 1, Ms. Ravelled 0. To say that I was something of a Momsicle would be an understatement. I'm only glad that it didn't happen night before last, when it got down to 40F outside.

I am stiff, and a little sore. You would think I helped moved a piano last night. Oh, wait. I did. It's still not plugged in or screwed together, and frankly scallop I don't give a clam. My body has been screaming for sleep all day.

Tomorrow we get to wear jeans and T-shirts and sneakers to work. I'm kinda wishing that I still owned my "Baroque: when you are out of Monet" shirt, but I gave it away (to skinnier people) after Katrina.

I just realized that I didn't bring in the trash can after work. Not happening before morning.

Middlest was asleep when I left the house this morning, and sleeping when I came home by way of Trader Joe's. I was a little envious until said child woke up and told me (I promise I did not go in there banging pot lids together) that there'd been a long stretch of being vertical and conscious that corresponded with regular people's hours.

Friends, if you were looking for wit and wisdom tonight, you might want to look elsewhere. I'm going to take my meds and my heavy eyes and my crabby knee and mosey on off to bed. My heart is happy and grateful. The rest of me says PHBBBBT!

Yes, we have a piano! We have a piano todayyyyy!

Picture to follow as soon as practicable. It's set up (sortof) in the dining room, but somebody needs to screw the keyboard and the stand together again. Neither of us has the spoons to manage that tonight. Middlest saw a lot of keyboards like this while working at a resale shop in Virginia and says that this is no rinky-dink keyboard, but a real electric piano. It's a little worn, which pleases me. My knit-sib sent a sheaf of piano books home with me, so I will have an orderly way to teach myself how to play.

I also have two gorgeous new-to-me end tables, one of which is likely to end up in Middlest's room, and the other in my studio(?). Pleasantly worn, and more than a little quirky. Right now they are still in the back of the Tardis, because no spoons.

We went to Target and found two nice pairs of dress slacks for Middlest, and a V-neck pullover. Plus a surge protector for the piano, because my friend had owned it for twelve years, and their kids (now grown) were still kids, and the "on" button is permanently on. And two Kind bars, because it was nearly 9:00, and big gut was chewing on little gut. We hit In N Out on the way home, for burgers only, and I just ate a sliver of pumpkin pie.

I am going to take my meds and play a couple of games of solitaire while dinner settles. Hoping to be in bed and unconscious before midnight. Am thinking that Knit Night is fast becoming a dim possibility this week.

Night, y'all.

Need feedback, please

If you are reading this from somewhere in the EU, can you see a notice which Google says they've put on my blog?

The following three paragraphs have popped up on the nuts-and-bolts page of my blog:

"European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.


"As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.

"You [Ms.Ravelled] are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities."

While rooting around, I discovered that somebody in France (or several somebodies) has/have accumulated 2109 pageviews. Merci beaucoups! How on earth did you / y'all find me?

In other news, when I wake up tomorrow morning I will PayPal $50 to a friend in my local knitting group. After work I will drive to her house and bring home a full-sized keyboard with weighted keys. Once Middlest and I have set it up, I will proceed to hang any number of pictures and quilts on that wall.

In preparation for this, I bent the Sabbath slightly. A couple of weeks ago I pulled the bins which hold my considerable stash of wrapping paper out from under the table in front of my dining room window. Those bins are now stacked neatly in a corner of my studio. Before church, I shoved eight of the thirteen boxes of food storage that were lined up against a dining room wall, under that table. After church I moved a rolling cart a few feet north in my studio, and I stacked the other five boxes where the cart had been. I've moved the basin sink (which I devoutly hope will be installed next year) into my studio, atop a stack of storage tubs, and an impressive pile of fabric for doll clothes is sitting inside it.

Except for a small box of makeup and the disassembled large Christmas tree, that wall is now bare. It should be easy to bring the keyboard in and set it up. Another hour or so of work, and the dining room / conservatory will be usable as such.

The age of miracles is not past.

New doll

Joy arrived at work on Wednesday. I had fun dressing her at lunch, after switching her human feet out for sheepie hooves. Here she is with the stapler, which she appears to be trying to heft one-handed while appealing for help.

 

This is a close-up, showing both her elfie ears and her sheepie ears. And the leggings with tiny bells.

Here she is at home, having ousted Middlest's doll October from the papa-san chair and relieved Chutzpah of her bear. (Grace is still hanging out half-dressed in the studio, waiting for me to finish her dress.)

 

I awoke today with every intention of finishing Grace's dress, or at least creating the lace which will finish off the hem of the collar. I got as far as shuffling things around in my studio, liberating the large rolling chair to use at my sewing machine, and determining that #30 crochet cotton is not fine enough to make lace in the proper scale for a Pukifee dress.

I bought groceries, and I picked up what I need for my Secret Santa gifts. Also a piece of sheep folk art and some blindingly white #80 crochet cotton. And nuked a sweet potato, which I split with Middlest for the main part of our dinner. And discovered after slicing up the goodies to go in our salad, that both the baby spinach and the mixed greens were no longer edible. So, two of the weirder salads I've made, ever.

It's nearly 10:00. Just enough time for me to clear off my bed, take my meds, and dive under the covers. The house has been a comfortable 68-69 degrees all day. I suspect I'll sleep like a rock.

In which your intrepid heroine signs up for a Medicare seminar

My HMO provider recently sent me a flyer on their Medicare Advantage options. I turn 65 next spring (I know, right?), and I understand pretty well how insurance works, and I am going to have to create a spreadsheet to investigate my options and keep them straight. I will just state for the record that my HMO provider's Advantage options do not seem all that advantageous to me. I now understand why so many elderly folks have to choose between food and medicine.

I'm reasonably sure that once I retire, I will not need the Lexapro and muscle relaxer. The diuretic is most likely a temporary thing, and the Metformin will be with me until I rejoin Beloved in the sweet bye and bye. But if I were to take all four of them from now until I kick the bucket, we are looking at $360 to $600 a year just for insurance premiums and somewhere between $4,000 and $5,500 for total out of pocket.

Which only confirms the wisdom of my paying off the mortgage early, so that I will be able to live on my pension, my 401K, and my Social Security. And suggests that I might want to keep working beyond my currently estimated retirement date of eight years from now.

We shall see. Meanwhile I have signed up for a free insurance seminar that allegedly explains the benefits and disadvantages among 20 different companies in an entertaining fashion.

In knitting news, I put a few rounds on the current baby sock while waiting for Grandparents and Special Friends Day to start at the bitties' school. And Firstborn brought me back three lovely balls of wool from her recent business trip to Germany. Achtung, baby!

Secondborn's TV has been re-homed to Fourthborn, as the stand wouldn't fit on the table which Middlest uses. It's still a win/win in everybody's book, as Middlest's TV is very nice, just smaller.

Trying to hit three kids' classrooms today was more complicated than toggling between two kids' rooms in the past. BittyBit is a 6th grader and comes up to my shoulder. BittyBubba is a 4th grader and is catching up fast. Bittiest is a 1st grader. The first two made the honor choir and will be singing in Philadelphia in March. I'm hoping that finances and workload cooperate so that I may tag along to the city of brotherly love. And Fresh Prince. (Don't be silly.)

I had a big old nap when we got home from Fort Worth, spent a couple of hours mucking out my inbox, and am going to sew a little. My muscle relaxer is kicking in, so I don't know how productive I will be, but I'm definitely in the mood to stitch, and if I do some of that tonight, it's far more likely that I will finish Grace's dress tomorrow and she can come out and play.

Doll should be here tomorrow!

She left Denver last night and is en route. Apparently there's a bug ~ malware ~ on the USPS tracking site, because my dragon with the boiling oil and the moat says I can't go there.

I managed to add two rows to the shawl.

I did not touch the baby sock.

While I got ready for work this morning, Middlest assembled three lunches and three dinners. I still have some of my food left.

Enjoyed about an hour of Knit Night before Middlest and Fourthborn were done [signs "finished"].

One of Middlest's critical Rx's is out. I called the pharmacy last week, and it requires authorization. I called again this morning (left a voicemail) and didn't hear back. So I've emailed the pharmacy, and Middlest's wonderful doctor, and my office manager. I may be doing a whole lot of running around tomorrow morning, but Middlest cannot miss a second dose of this medicine. I don't know if it was filled and has been stolen (heading to my card's website to check) or if wires got crossed between the pharmacy and our doctor.

I'm not heading into work at the usual time tomorrow, so I'm not setting my alarm. And I'm taking my meds, playing one game of solitaire while they kick in, and going to bed. Perchance to dream.

Oh dear. I should be in bed.

I just looked at the time. I'm about to turn into a pumpkin.

Exciting news: my little sheepie girl is on-shipment. The package was picked up from Denver Doll this afternoon. I wasn't expecting her for another three months!

Knit did not happen today. But I did make a pot of potato leek soup for tomorrow's lunch or dinner. Fourthborn is still here (yay! and she and Middlest got to hang out with Squishy and Mel today) and will go home after Knit Night tomorrow.

I signed up for next year's health plan. My basic premium has gone up $50 a month, and I'm taking the maximum amount possible out for my healthcare flex spending account. Which means that until my raise kicks in, we are back to the amount of take-home I had before I paid off the line of credit. Middlest and I have started brainstorming about ways to economize, and the three of us figured out what to do about lunch and dinner tomorrow. Hence the leek and potato soup.

Bueno will not be getting a lot, or maybe any, of my business for the next four or five months. I'm hoping for a good raise and a generous bonus and a decent tax refund.

I'm not worried. I've lived on far less and thought myself well-off. But we're going to have to start menu planning and not simply flying by the seat of our pants. (Which will probably be a blessing, but still...)

Way past time to take my meds and go to bed. I'm so excited about the doll that it might be difficult to fall asleep.

Not much to report here.

Fourthborn is spending the weekend with us, and we've invited her to stay through tomorrow night and to go to the office with me on Tuesday, as Middlest does, and hang out in the atrium while I slave over a hot keyboard. After which we'll go to Knit Night and take her home.

It's been a rough week, with welcome intermittent bright spots. We three are stunned-to-appalled that the election went the way it did. I have hope that good people, some moderate and some conservative, will be appointed to the Supreme Court. I am reluctantly appreciative that the POTUS-elect is emulating Presidents Kennedy and Hoover in abstaining from his salary. That is the first classy move I've seen from a man I've cordially despised for decades.

(When the Church does a complimentary search of his genealogy, I will probably discover that he is some sort of cousin. I'm related to most of the former presidents, righteous or rascal. But we all have family connections that are a little unnerving or downright embarrassing. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I am related to some of the Missouri mobbers in Joseph Smith's day. I had family in that part of Missouri at that time. And I would imagine they were surprised to get on the other side and discover that they'd fought against a true prophet of God. But I digress.)

I am wryly amused at the folks who said that a vote for a third-party candidate would be a vote for Hillary. I was hoping against hpe for enough of a turnout among the independents that it would go to the House, and maybe they would pull a moderate out of the hat. (The day of miracles is not past.) I didn't care which party.

I am concerned about some of the hate speech voiced by his more obnoxious followers. Especially for those who asked on Tumblr "what are we going to name the Mormon holocaust?" Dudes! Do you not realize that we are the designated drivers for conservatism, and for those among us who are impassioned liberals, of the stamp that is not so open-minded that their brains have fallen out? I am concerned that the loonies on both ends of the political spectrum will see this election as an opportunity to drive the last nails into the coffin of civility.

Given that at least two of my kids, and I, take medicines to keep our personal demons muzzled, I have to wonder if we fall under the umbrella of "those who would be better off dead": the mentally ill, the gay, the members of religious minorities.

So my reading and pondering for Sunday School this week has been a lifeline to peace and sanity. We reviewed 3 Nephi 27-30 and 4 Nephi, which were the scriptures that began my testimony and conversion. I love the Lord's promise of peace, not as the world giveth, but peace nonetheless. And His promise to protect us, or avenge us, as need be.

I guess I had something to say after all.

Happycrazybusy.

Doll meet last night, followed by doll ordering. I waited too long on the PukiPuki Ante, and someone had bought her. So I ordered the Pukifee Zoe full package with a faceup on the sleeping face, two dome caps for Middlest's dolls, a killer pair of boots for Celeste, and two pairs of shoes for Middlest's boys.

Today I woke up at dark-thirty, ate a quick breakfast, cut the pieces for our quilt blocks, and sewed while Middlest pressed. We had sandwiches then drove to the quilt shop to pick up the next blocks. From there to a new yarn shop which is on my way home from work (this could be a problem). I bought matching skeins for my sister and I, to go with the matching books I picked up after her birthday last month. Then we hit Bueno for dinner and came home.

I had just kicked off my shoes and was preparing to lose the bra when I got a text message from the pharmacy. On with the shoes, out the door, picked up the Rx, drove to Braum's for more milk, buttermilk, and orange juice. Then to Hobby Lobby, where I found a simple and relatively inexpensive frame for the other print I bought at Main Street Arts Festival in April. Headed for home, then looked at the gas gauge and pulled into Racetrac.

I am home, Middlest is sleeping, Fourthborn is three-fourths of the way through the second Magnus Chase book, and I am setting the alarm for 10:00 and taking a nap. After I pay the light bill, which is what I came to the computer to do in the first place.

Oh. Look. Shiny.

All righty then.

Spent some time cooking with Middlest tonight. Browned a pound of ground beef. Added a package of sliced mushrooms and half of a red onion. Tossed in a pinch of granulated garlic, some black sesame seeds, some dried parsley, a bit of Mrs. Dash. When the meat was brown, we tossed in maybe a cup of sun-dried tomatoes and a (drained) can of black beans. Just about perfect. I'd made a pot of brown rice last Saturday, so we served the jollop over rice, had a few bites, and decided it needed a dollop or two of sour cream.

Perfect.

I've been staying with the hydration today. There's very little swelling in my left ankle, and hardly any redness.

For dessert, Middlest and I pored over the FairyLand and Denver Doll websites. We have an order cobbled together, and I'll call the store tomorrow while the attorneys are in their monthly meeting, or maybe when SemperFi is at lunch so I can go into his office and close the door. I'm going to do a three-month layaway: 25% down, and 25% each month until it's paid for. Which means that three dolls, a wig, two silicone dome caps (which fit between the head and the wig, to keep dark wigs from discoloring a doll's head), two pairs of boots, and two pairs of shoes will all hit Chez Ravelled at approximately the same time. Or more accurately, hit my office and then come home to Chez Ravelled if they arrive while we are en route to Tennessee to get the rest of Middlest's stuff.

Time to take my meds and call it a day, if I can resist the call of the current novel.

The Princess and the P

Quarterly bloodwork yesterday, and when my doctor asked how my feet were doing, I said my feet were doing fine but my ankles not so much. In spite of all the sleeping last weekend, the left cankle has remained more cankle-y than usual. I pulled up both pant legs, displaying bright red bands of crabbiness and significant swelling on the left. She pushed gently with her thumbs (it didn't hurt), looked up and said we should try a diuretic.

"Bumex?" I queried, as that was what my mother was on at one time.

"Bumex is way stronger than you need. You'd pee like a racehorse. No, this is a mild diuretic. We'll try it fora month and see how that goes."

I have to take it in the morning or risk waking up all night to the call of nature. Took my first dose at 11:11 yesterday morning. Middlest observed, "It's the magic hour. Make a wish."

"I wish the swelling in my ankles would go away."

"No, Mom, that's what the medicine's for."

I took my second dose at 6:00 this morning, and I weighed myself when I got to work. I'd already lost 3-4 pounds since weighing in at my doctor's yesterday. I spent much of yesterday sprinting to the loo, or holding it and praying like made the last few miles before we reached whatever destination. (I did two round trips to Arlington yesterday.) The kids are used to me hitting the loo before we leave the house and as soon as we get home, but yesterday it was like every 45 minutes to an hour. Today has been easier on my shoes and my kidneys. I am now lugging a case of bottled water in the space behind the driver's seat, and I've drunk well over half a gallon today alone.

Time to grab my bottle of water, take my evening meds, and hope that I've wound down enough to sleep before 11:00. Middlest and I watched "Secondhand Lions" tonight, which helped us both immensely. I am not ready to talk about the election yet.

Hangry.

No, not personally. Just angry that in this country, moms and their little ones go hungry. (I'm not happy when men go hungry, either, but frequently they have more options to solve their problems.) There was a dear young woman outside the grocery store tonight with a sign. Two babies. I didn't have cash to give her (and I'm almost never prompted to give cash, anyway). She was still there when I came out with my groceries, so I loaded up my truck, moved it a little closer to the store because of the rain, and went back to where she stood, hoping that she spoke English.

She did. I told her that I didn't have cash to help with her rent, but I could buy food. What did she need? Bread. Juice boxes. Back I went. Two loaves of honey wheat, wishing I could give her my Dave's Killer Bread but knowing that her little ones probably wouldn't like it. The big box of Capri Sun, since that's what she said her kids like. A couple of those fruit cups with fruit juice instead of syrup. Flour tortillas. Corn tortillas. She'd said she didn't have a stove. So peanut butter, hoping her kids weren't allergic.

Other people had been cleaning out their wallets of small bills and change. A man had bought baby food and was getting ready to walk away when I put my bags down at her feet. I told her, I've been there. I raised five kids. The man looked at me, put his hand respectfully on my shoulder, and said something kind. I looked him in the eye and told him, Nobody goes hungry on my watch.

I'm not sharing this so that you think I am some sort of angel. If you've been a reader for very long, you'll know that I am a feisty middle-aged (how many more years am I going to be able to get away calling myself that?) woman who has risen by the grace of Heaven out of a third-world life. Poverty makes me want to braid whips and kick over tables. I cannot save the world. (They already have a Savior.) But I can give my widow's mite here or there, not for praise or glory but so that when the mortgage is paid off and I'm rebuilding my savings, I will be minded to use my surplus to help others rise.

I only wish that I hadn't been so crabby because my sister needed to beg for help, that I forgot to remind her to trust God, to follow Him, and He would lead her, a little at a time, out of her present struggles.

Just as he's done for me.

Puttering

This morning I caught up on my KnoWhy's at Book of Mormon Central. I have used a spreadsheet to keep myself on track with the Sunday School lessons and Relief Society lessons. Somebody wonderful created the Book of Mormon Central website, and it has deepened and enriched my understanding this year. I hope there is a corresponding one for next year, when we study the Doctrine and Covenants + church history.

I also added pages to my spreadsheet for 2017, 2018, and 2019. The completed lessons for 2016 are color-coded to match my entries this year on my financial spreadsheets and on the spreadsheet I use for conducting music in sacrament meeting. Yes, I'm a geek. And an artist. And I need to keep both aspects happy. Color-coded spreadsheets serve me well.

In listening to this week's chapters from 3 Nephi while driving to work, I was impressed that I need to follow the Savior's counsel to the Nephites and make time now or very soon to read Isaiah, in addition to everything else I'm reading and doing. There is a new book available from Deseret Book that I may add to the several already on my bookshelf (and maybe get all the way through).

I've noticed that since Beloved's death, my desire to deepen my understanding and discipleship has grown, while my ability to focus on serious matters for any useful length of time is somewhat iffy. Hence the spreadsheets. There are times when even reading light fiction is difficult because Oh Look Shiny. I have been blessed beyond measure for the manner in which the study spreadsheet has kept me more on track than at any time since the early months of my conversation, when as a college student I gradually dropped one class after another and majored in Institute (for at least one semester) while working part time. I was starved for gospel knowledge, and I feasted and drank deeply.

I love my job, and the people with whom I work. I look forward to Monday mornings (especially when I've had a reverent, restful Sabbath). And during a particularly dull segment of a mandatory meeting on Friday, I made notes of all the things I would like to be working on here at home, and how best to accomplish them. Naturally, I got distracted and left that list at work, but it's waiting for me when I get back to the office tomorrow morning.

At church today we had testimonies, and one of the grand old brethren in our ward bore his, specifically about how he had correlated the six segments of General Conference with the six months between sessions. One month to study the addresses from the General Women's Session, another for the Saturday morning session, etc. I could hardly wait to get home and add a column for that to my spreadsheet. (Because we know what is paved with good intentions.) My November issue of the Ensign arrived earlier this week, so I will spend some time with it before bedtime. I had a four hour nap this afternoon, with a vile dream that woke me, so reading Conference talks will be a good preventative for more of the same when I'm finally ready to go back to sleep.

Butterflies

Continuing with the critter theme, I present the wildlife du jour. This is the smaller of two prints which I bought at Main Street Arts Festival in April. I ordered the frame from Jerry's Artarama, because my beloved Hobby Lobby told me they couldn't get me a frame less than five inches wide. Jerry's had no problem delivering just what I wanted: a basic black frame that wouldn't overpower the print. I bought this print specifically to hang in this space, between the alcove in the dining room and the entrance to the hall that's near the door to my studio.

 

The next piece to be framed will be the cranes silhouetted against a full moon. Might be awhile, though. I need to finish clearing the bits from the medallion quilt out of the dining room and get that set up in my studio, get the Christmas tree out of the dining room (which will probably not happen until we set it up the day after Thanksgiving) and figure out what to do with the half-dozen boxes of food storage that are stacked against one wall.

Just had a flash of inspiration about the wrapping paper. If I mount a narrow basket (or two) on the inside of the door to the big IKEA wardrobe in my studio, and attach curtain rods or towel bars a couple of feet above them, I could get rid of the rolling tub and the red and green bin. Be right back. I need to go see how that is set up.

OK. Have created a new folder in Evernote and have put the door width and the height of the shelf from the bottom of the wardrobe. Have determined that the pre-fab Elfa solution is more than I want to pay, but at least it gives me a starting point. Will let this marinate until a frugal alternative makes itself known to me.

Muscle relaxer is kicking in. Night, y'all.

Flamingo!

This is what I sent my sister for her birthday. The flamingos are a reference to a long-running joke that she had with our Aunt Meb. These flamingos are paper clips. The chocolates are from an artisan shop west of downtown Dallas. I made the button bracelet I-don't-know-how-many years ago. And bought myself a copy of that book when I bought hers.

This has been a stellar day. I was one of the winners of an enterprise-wide contest and was startled to see my name at the top of a list of 30 winners. (So far as I know, 15 minutes of fame is the sole reward. Made the office manager and managing attorney very pleased, at any rate.)

Late in the afternoon, a complicated case (with our answer due Monday morning) was assigned to SemperFi. Our valiant admin got it mostly entered into the system and will finish that task on Monday. Another coworker got our team linked to it so I could generate documents. I was quite happy to stay late to file the answer after SemperFi went over it. I got 28 minutes of OT, which will come in quite handy, as I've found a doll I want. Two, actually. I think I've mentioned the one with the wee mandolin. There's another, a mini-me of Chutzpah, and there's a Leia-bun wig available for that size.

I finished the first volume in Riordan's Norse trilogy about half an hour ago. I'm torn between starting the second book or finishing the gusset decreases on the current baby sock. My primary goal is to stay awake until 9:00, take my meds an hour early, and crash. I've been up until 11:30 for the past four nights, and I'm feeling it. Planning a deliberately quiet day tomorrow, punctuated with a dash over to the airport to visit with a friend who has a substantial layover. And then back into jammies I go.

Chicken nuggets of sorrow and regret.

We were taking Fourthborn home from the performance at Bitty-Bit's school. And I said something or did something that caused Middlest to say, "I'm going to throw something at you. Chicken nuggets. That's what popped into my mind to throw at you."

Fourthborn queried, "Chicken nuggets of victory?"

And Middlest replied in a mock-somber voice, "No, chicken nuggets of sorrow and regret."

~~~

A couple of minutes later, out of nowhere Middlest said, "So when I heard the Cubs won the World Series, the first thing I did was check Snopes (insert uproarious laughter from Fourthborn and me here). And the second thing was make sure it wasn't an Onion article that got reported as real news. Because that happens sometimes."

~~~

In other news, I adulted today. Our wonderful dentist is paid in full for all three of us. I told myself sternly that I couldn't order another doll or put one on layaway until that was taken care of. I've fired off an email to Denver Doll, and now I am going to bed.

A calculating woman.

What have I done tonight, you ask? I have played with spreadsheets and numbers and receipts and the like. Tomorrow I will pay off the dentist for this year, for Middlest and Fourthborn and me. I've also figured out what to do about the flex account for next year. In two words: max it. It will effectively negate the cash-flow improvements I've made over the past two months, at least until the reimbursements start flowing back in. I'm hoping for a good raise next year, because next year I will also have to start paying Medicare premiums. I'm not worried. We will make it OK; it's just going to be tighter than either of us would like. And it will ease significantly in 2018.

After work I'll head to the Bitties' school, as Bitty-Bit has something or other going on, and I want to see it. This is not the annual grandparents' day (otherwise known as, isn't our school great, and don't you want to give us all of your retirement money?) but a play or a concert. It will be fun.

Speaking of fun: The Piano Guys' mashup of Pachelbel's Canon with U2's With or Without You.



You're welcome.

So, I looked at Squishy's doll.

He's cute, and he's not for me. I spent five minutes or more wrangling a pair of slightly too small britches over his thighs. The waistband kept getting caught in his mobility joints*, then at his bum, and the whole process was Not Fun. Dolls are supposed to be fun. I peeled him out of the britches and swaddled him up again and put him in his box. Somebody will love him.

*Some dolls are cast with mobility joints. Every doll company that uses mobility joints, designs them differently. Picture a string that circles a thigh. Now picture a horizontal plane bisects that thigh where the string is, so you have two circles that touch, or a ball in a socket, and you can rotate the lower leg in or out. Squishy's guy has one like that. My unicorn girl, Faith, has a different type which enables me to balance her in various positions when she's wearing her hooved legs. Temperance has one in her trunk which enables her to sit up straight, slouch forward, or lean back. She doesn't sit well, so I need all the help I can get.

It's been a good day. I got a new answer ready for SemperFi and another one for The Kid. I picked up two new-to-me skirts from a friend in the ward, and an ethnic-embroidered shirt and a really cool knitted vest. Also one of my Rx's. And a box of padded envelopes because six or twelve of them were one price, and 25 of them were a dollar more. And bananas and apples and tomatoes.

I found out tonight that the Ante sculpt (Chutzpah) is available in an even smaller (PukiPuki) size. I knew she was available in LittleFee size (like Hope and Charity), and Middlest informed me that from time to time she is available in MiniFee size (like Steadfast). She has one of the sweetest faces around, no matter her size. And the tiniest size has a wig with Princes Leia buns, which would be perfect for someone who grew up into Chutzpah's exuberant mop.

I need to get the mortgage paid off so that my doll budget can increase without impacting my quality of life, or my desire to help lift the downtrodden and frazzled (because I have been both).

Bed. I am going to bed now. Or soon. Ish.

Knock it off emoji.

This is the best that I could come up with. Pink shirt. Fierce expression. I tied with two others for third place, and I got a stress ball with a particularly goofy emoji face, which is probably more than I deserved for the effort I put into it

Years ago, when I bought Faith, she came with the unicorn head that I use and a spare, fully human head. Soom does not sell body parts a la carte for its dolls. So I've had an unused head tucked away in a box ever since. Middlest was given some odd doll bits and has several floating heads that need bodies.

We found out that there is at least one doll company that will resin-match. One of these nights I'll take the spare head to Home Depot and try to find a paint chip that matches. For about $80 I can get a perfectly serviceable body to be Faith's fraternal twin and save myself about $400 (if the Beyla sculpt were still available). And I learned recently that Beyla is a winged centaur baby, and not a unicorn girl. Could have fooled me. Edited to add: no, the faces were reissued three years ago as unicorns with wings. And they were just precious.

Middlest has been hosting two of Squishy's dolls to see if either of them fits into one storyline or another. Middlest is thinking "yes" for the larger doll and "nope" for the other. I like the elfin ears, but I need to dress the doll and put on his wig before I can tell if he will fit into the crew. Steadfast is my only male doll, and he would probably like some company, but the male sculpts in general do not pull me the way the female dolls do.

I am too sleepy to safely handle a doll that is not my own, so I will set the box aside until tomorrow. I need to take my meds and hit the sack.

Speaking of meds, I got a letter in the mail which said that CVS will no longer be a preferred pharmacy for my HMO as of 2017, so it looks as if I will be signing up to get my meds by mail. I feel a little crabby about that. But if it means that my meds will be even less expensive than they are now, I can probably get over it.

Night, y'all. Where did October go?

Not much to see here.

Sleep, church, more sleep, a little eating, a lot of water, no loss of balance while conducting the music at church, and one really cool thing.

Middlest's shoulder went out yesterday. (That's not the cool thing.) This is something that happens fairly often to Middlest and Fourthborn, and they know how to put things back in place fairly quickly. Middlest remarked that several friends with the same autoimmune problem have airplane pillows (those U-shaped ones) which they tuck into their armpits to partially immobilize the joint, and could we pick one up tomorrow (Monday)?

I mentioned this to the RS president before church, and her face lit up. She had bought one for a trip, didn't like it, and it was just taking up space at their place. After my post-church nap, I called first then drove over to bring it home. Middlest is quietly elated, and we're hoping it does the trick tonight.

In other news, I noticed last week that Middlest's name was not showing up on the roll for Sunday school. I mentioned it to my bishop at the service project yesterday, and he said to get with the membership clerk and it would be taken care of. Said clerk was not at church today, but the financial clerk said that he could help. We found Middlest, linked my kid to my household, and then updated the name change.

I'm not sure how to handle that on Ancestry or FamilySearch, but that's a problem for another day.

It is now past midnight, I've successfully resisted the urge to whip out my credit card and order another doll (who has a tiny mandolin and a right hand in plucking position), and I'm going to bed before my willpower crumbles. I don't particularly want the doll (who is cute but doesn't tug at my heartstrings like the one I might have ordered recently), but I want the mandolin, and it only comes with the fullset.

The thought came to me this morning that if I were to buy this doll, I could name her Praise. She might be able to keep Chutzpah and Grace out of too much trouble by strumming madrigals. Or In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. I just read this to Middlest, who said that Praise would be my bard, and must have a high charisma rate.

Bed. I'm going to bed. Now.

Thursday's project

I've already posted this on Facebook, so please excuse if you've seen it. The colors aren't true; that wall is a much more bluish green. And if you look carefully, reflected in the glass of the shadowbox is the bargello printed upholstery which graces my wing chair.

The two rectangular plates were a Christmas gift from Firstborn and 1BDH. The ceramic tile inside the shadowbox was a handout in Relief Society earlier this year. I thought that my friend B had made it, but she commented on FB that it had been done by the sister in the missionary couple who had served in our ward. I knew the three pieces would work together, and would fit in the space between my large picture of a smiling Savior and the front door.

I have the glass to finish my narrow butterfly print that I bought at Main Street Arts Festival, for which I scored that bargain of a custom frame at an online shop. I had (vaguely) planned to finish putting that together today, but Middlest is finally sleeping, and it's late, so I will defer the hammering and finagling until a more reasonable hour.

In other news, when I awoke from my much-needed nap an hour ago and looked for my knitting bag, it was not hanging on the back of my bedroom door. I looked around my room. I looked around the living room. I looked at the back of the door; it had not magically appeared while I was looking elsewhere. I wondered if I had left it at the restaurant on Tuesday night, so I called them to see if it was in their lost and found. Finally I looked inside a large reusable shopping bag which typically hangs out in the kitchen but was sitting in a corner of my room. Bingo! So now if you will kindly excuse me, I'm going to work on my shawl.

Phone is dead again tonight.

I'll try to remember to post pictures in the morning. It's been a good day. Costco run is over, likewise Trader Joe, and the Tardis is tanked, and I've picked up an Rx, and we had mini pizzas for dinner.

Tomorrow there's a ward service project at 8:30. We are going to help clean up the fire training center. I don't know how useful I'm going to be; I had a charley horse shortly before the alarm went off this morning, and now that I'm tired it keeps threatening to come back.

I got about a round and a quarter worked on the current baby sock, which makes (I think) the first actual knitting since Monday. Or maybe even Sunday.

In the afternoon we are going to visit one of the doll folk who lives nearby. She's asked to see two or three of my dolls, and I don't know how many of Middlest's, and it will be fun to see what she collects.

I almost bought another doll tonight. Cute sculpt (another Pukifee) with a costume which includes a wee mandolin. I wish it were possible to just buy the costume, but no dice.

My goal for this weekend, as expressed to my coworkers just before quitting time, was to stay in pajamas until time to get ready for church. I had forgotten about the service project or the dolly adventure. Both of which I truly want to do (because firemen ... and friends). So I'm hoping for a nap between service project and excursion, and maybe another after we get home from our friend's house.

I'm done. Night, y'all.

Finished project goes *here*.

Or it would, if snapping the picture hadn't taken the last bit of enthusiasm from my phone. If you could see what I see, you would see two white rectangular plates to the left of my "smiling Savior" picture, and hanging between them is a shadowbox holding a tile that one of the RS teachers made to illustrate a lesson before she was called into the presidency. And they all look great, and I'll try to remember to show you when my phone isn't sulking.

The other major accomplishment tonight is that I browned a pound of hamburger and added taco seasoning. Middlest added a portion to the leftover chicken and rice. I added a portion to a cup of easy mac, and there was just enough left for me to take to work tomorrow with another container of easy mac.

I closed another case for SemperFi. I didn't knit a stitch all day. I managed to keep my energy level more or less constant. I caught an oversight on a case that we're closing for The Kid (I can't think of anything more clever to call him) before it blew up in our faces. (The Spirit gets credit for that one.) I didn't say anything snarky to the two 30-somethings who were dissing their husbands at lunch. Maybe that was yesterday. "At least yours are mortal and here for you to fight with," would be a real conversation stopper.

The weirdness of my dreams is decreasing slightly. I don't know if they're related to one of my medicines or if I'm picking up ambient anxiety from coworkers or family. Heaven knows I have enough of my own stuff to wrangle. (Hello, Lexapro?)

It's interesting to read the reports that SemperFi sends to claims on a periodic basis and to recognize the names of the medicines that some of the plaintiffs are on.  Ooh, I take that. Middlest takes that, and that, and that one no longer because side effects. I'm thankful to only take three, and at very low doses, and that they work for me.

Speaking of which, I should have taken mine nine minutes ago. Later, gators.

Knit Night, Trunk or Treat, and precious little sleep.

We went to a new-to-us Mexican restaurant last night. I loved the food. I loved the conversation. I loved that both Middlest and Fourthborn had enough spoons to be there. And it made for a very late night, with no knitting because I was so busy talking and listening. We left the restaurant at 9:00, took Fourthborn home, came home by way of the grocery store so that we would have candy for Trunk or Treat tonight. It was nearly midnight when I crashed.

Middlest had a rough night of it. Awoke with an anaphylactic reaction, possibly to the cilantro in the salsa. I'll spare you the details, but I was awakened around 4:00am by my kid violently coughing in the bathroom and struggling to breathe. Multiple carefully spaced doses of Benadryl, the inhaler, and ibuprofen gradually restored some semblance of order. I was able to get back to sleep before the alarm went off at 6:00. Middlest finally felt well enough to fall asleep after I left for work an hour later, and slept through most of the day.

We took two large bags of candy to Trunk or Treat after work tonight, and we passed it all out in roughly half an hour then came home. I've been reading Facebook, eating (too much) ice cream, and tidying my inbox.

Middlest is feeling well enough to try eating the entree from last night, and I am taking my meds and going to bed. Night, y'all.

I learned something really wild (and true) today.

I read it to three of my (female) co-workers at lunch, and we all got a little teary-eyed. This, from the Yarn Harlot. Here I am with five kids, and I didn't know this thing.

So I guess one of the things I might be doing after I retire, is helping women in difficult situations get enough good quality food that their grandchildren will flourish.

Heavenly Father really does think of everything.

Taking upon us the name(s) of Christ.

One of our missionary elders spoke on devotion in sacrament meeting today. One of the topics that he touched on was taking upon us the name of Christ. The most obvious way that we LDS do this is in the name of the church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS for short, and to avoid the too-frequent repetition of the Lord's name. Just as we call it the Melchizedek (higher) priesthood, to avoid saying The Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God.

The elder went on to list some of the names of the Savior that we find in the scriptures: the Prince of Peace, the Holy One, the Redeemer. And my mind started to drift onto a rabbit trail, so I wrote down a prompt and redirected my focus to his talk.

If you look in the Bible Dictionary under "Christ, names of" there are four subheadings:

1. Names, titles, and concepts of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament (25 links, not counting the cross-references to other scriptures)
2. Names, titles, and concepts of Jesus in the Gospels and Acts (I lost count at 65, and I was maybe a third of the way down that section.)
3. Names, titles, and concepts of Christ in the Epistles (stopped counting at 30, and there were lots more)
4. Names, titles, and concepts of Christ in the book of Revelation (42? I got a little distracted.)

And this does not count the references to Christ in the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine & Covenants. You could take just one of those names and keep busy for hours, bouncing back and forth among the scriptures, making notes in the margins, journaling. My favorites are the ones from Isaiah which Brother Handel set to music: Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

How could I take those names upon myself? It will be eons before I have progressed spiritually to a point where my children can call me capital-W wonderful. But I can live a life here filled with wonder and a greater sense of awe. I can take counsel from the Spirit and counsel my descendants in righteousness. I can, with the help of the Spirit and by the power of the Atonement, gradually accrete more of the virtues and practices of godliness, becoming a pearl of great price. I have the promise that, as I honor my temple covenants, learn to subdue the grosser inclinations of mortality, and strive to follow my Savior, I can prepare to live the kind of life my Heavenly Parents have. As a daughter of the King, I have the potential to become peaceful and wise. I am a princess in embryo. As I find my ancestors and provide saving ordinances for them, I bring them even more closely to their Savior than they were during mortality. As I share the gospel in its fullness with my friends when they express interest, I am a messenger of the covenant.

This Sabbath has not been wasted.

This was supposed to be a last-night post.

However, I took a nap at 6:00 or so, slept for four hours, then remembered that I needed to hit the grocery store to replenish our bottled water and Middlest's caffeine source (for migraine relief). I took the scenic route home, by way of In N Out. Once we'd eaten, we unloaded the Tardis, and now it's 1:00am 2:00am, and I'm [still] not quite tired enough to go back to sleep, but I'm getting there.

I delayed taking my muscle relaxer and other meds until after the dash to the store, because I rather like this being-alive thing, and I don't want to harm anyone else, either.

I pre-ordered a doll from Denver Doll Emporium to be the embodiment of Joy. She should arrive in 12-18 weeks, or sometime around Valentine's Day. Another PukiFee to join Chutzpah and Grace. Grace is fully human. Chutzpah has elfie-ears. This new one is a sheeple. I couldn't resist those floppy ears.

The city delivered our new recycling bins late yesterday afternoon. I heard a THUMP-rumble-rumble repeated half a dozen times before I got curious and opened the front door. They put it square in the middle of my driveway, so I had to move it before I ran to the store. This will be a big improvement over the smallish open red bins I've been using. Less chance of wind scattering my recyclables hither and yon. And it's easier to roll a large covered bin to the curb than to schlepp two brimming boxes, especially if one of them is loaded to the gills in paper and cardboard.

I picked up more gold tissue paper in the morning and finished wrapping my sister's birthday gifts and sealed up the box to mail after work on Monday. Also bought the glass for my 4" x 28" butterfly print ~ the one where I ordered the frame online, and it came fully and perfectly assembled. I opted not to use museum glass for this print, nor the non-glare option. Just a UV-resistant clear glass because I want to be done with this and get it up on the wall in the dining room.

Speaking of things up on the walls, I finally hung one of the ceramic plates that Firstborn gave me for Christmas last year. About five minutes ago. I'm waiting to hang the second until I find a shadowbox that I like for the tile I got in RS earlier this year, because I want to hang it above the first plate and below the second.

One last random thought: the problem with ordering clothing online is that I'm now getting all the catalogues. Good thing I now have a large recycling bin.

Wrap session.

Tonight was mini pizzas for dinner, a few hands of solitaire while they baked and while visiting with Middlest afterwards, then into my room to wrap four of the five packages. I found one of my small silk scarves in my studio while looking for the last of the gold tissue paper (which I never found). So there is one box left to wrap after I make a quick trip to the party store in the morning, and then I can run the box to the post office and get it to my sister in time for her birthday. I have one last Priority Mail label and one last Priority Mail box. I've productively used up saved lengths of ribbon and one small bolt. Feeling frugal and creative and at peace with the world.

I've taken my meds and am waiting for the muscle relaxer to kick in. I fought sleep off and on all day, but now that I have an opportunity to give those impulses free rein, they are standing on the corner singing doo-wop and refusing to look me in the eye.

This was my third day of adding songs to my Eva Cassidy station. I'm skipping male vocalists at this point, but I did add one male pianist because I liked his style. So I've added a bit of Adele, a couple of Alison Krauss (skipped a couple of hers as well), decided after hearing two songs that I'm not fond of Colbie Caillat, really like kd lang's version of "Hallelujah," and Fleetwood Mac is a yes, because all I can hear is Stevie Nicks, but I don't really need three versions of "Landslide" thank you very much.

I need to go to Costco tomorrow, because I have one last dose of Zyrtec, and I will not shop on Sunday. I think I will make another pot of potato leek soup and maybe bake some cornbread. But mostly I want to read, visit with Middlest, think, and craft. This week has been more slowly paced than last week, and I'm thankful, and I would like more of the same next week. I think a gentle weekend might help to make that a reality.

And that's a wrap.

Shopping.

When Middlest and I were at the Container Store a few weeks ago, we spotted something that would be a lovely joke to include with my sister's birthday or Christmas present. I bought it after work tonight and will photograph it for a future reveal, along with the story of why it is so funny.

And I needed a pink shirt for Friday, because we're all supposed to Think Pink, and I'm fresh out. So I went online to my favorite place for layering tops, and they had one in ballet pink. After work I called the local shop to see if they had one in stock in my size. They had one left and set it aside for me. The last batch I bought were two for $30, and there was an extra sale that ends today, where I could get two for $25. So I did. I bought another dark brown shirt to replace the one which got stained a few months ago. The one where I sewed on buttons carefully in a triangular pattern from the neck and shoulders to mid-chest, alternating various values of brown buttons from one of those color-themed packs at Jo-Ann. When I tried the shirt on, I discovered that I'd not been quite as careful with button placement as I had thought. Two big light brown buttons exactly where they should not be. So I hung it up in the back of my closet where it could think about how it had tricked me. I will eventually remove the buttons, cut up the shirt into four sections, and share it with Middlest, Fourthborn, and Mel. (I just realized that if I were to have Middlest or Fourthborn doodle on it, I could say that it was hung, drawn, and quartered. A little gallows humor. Sorry not sorry.)

Tomorrow we have the monthly doctor's appointment for Middlest, after which I will drop my kid off at the house, and Squishy will come by at some point to fetch, feed, and get into mischief together.

I've begun an Eva Cassidy station on my Pandora. I was just in the mood for female voices and mellow tones. So far I've given the thumbs-up to Bonnie Raitt (oh yes, please) and an unusually mellow song by Aretha, and the thumbs-down to one and possibly two songs by Norah Jones. I adored her voice when she first began recording, but not so much in recent years. Much as I love Sweet Baby James, I passed him over, so the only guy currently on this playlist is Izzy and his version of "Over the Rainbow." I love the orchestration. I love his voice. And it makes me a little nuts (hush!) that he scrambles up the phrases. I think this station will be slow to build, because I think I want it to be almost exclusively female voices. I've come a long way from my man-bashing days. The first couple of years after divorcing the children's father, I listened to very few male singers, primarily as an antidote to all the years of unavoidable talk radio when we were married. (Which was probably his desperate attempt to counteract the estrogen-fueled atmosphere in our home.)  [Middlest nodded vigorously when I read that.]

I'm going to see how much knitting I can do before bedtime. I'm trying to re-establish my bedtime routine. I think it's hilarious that going to bed sensibly is referred to as "sleep hygiene." I'm a widow. And I bathe regularly. Come up with your own punchline.

Minutiae.

Good day at work. Got my desk back under control.

Put three potatoes, a leek, and a can of chicken broth in the tiny Crock-pot before leaving for work. Middlest plugged it in around 9 or 10. The aroma bowled me over when I walked in the door tonight. All that remained was to stir some cornstarch into some half and half, add it to the pot, and wait a bit. Two generous servings for dinner, and a small one to take for lunch tomorrow.

After dinner, we hopped in the Tardis and hit three game shops for Pokemon codes for Middlest, Fourthborn, Squishy, and M back in Tennessee.

I added maybe two rounds to the current baby sock.

We skipped Knit Night.

And my eyelids are getting heavy, which I take as a good sign.

That's all I've got for you tonight.

Feed His sheep? Sure!

Woke up this morning well ahead of the chickens, to head downtown an hour earlier than normal so that I could meet five coworkers and help serve breakfast at the cafe which is operated by a downtown church in conjunction with the homeless shelter. For a little over an hour, I filled glass after glass of milk. I think I emptied at least a dozen tall pitchers. We fed over 400 people. It was a lovely, tender, energizing, and intermittently hilarious event. I want to do this again.

One guy told me, "Just one more glass, and then no more. I gotta drive, and I don't want to be pulled over for driving under the influence of milk." I told him that I've been really lucky, because I've never gotten caught, and I'm definitely guilty.

At another table, the guy on my left looked up and grinned, "Hey, you gave him more milk than me." I looked down at the two of them, grinned back, and told them they were just like my kids. And then I told them about how, when the kids were little, I had to divide up the Easter M&Ms by color and make sure that nobody got one more than a sibling. (Bonus: I got to eat the extras.)

I should have taken my pedometer (not that I know where it is), because I'm pretty sure that I got my 10,000 steps in. If I had been standing in the serving line, I'd probably be pretty miserable by now, but because I kept moving nothing really hurts, and it was relatively easy to put my sneakers back on at the end of the day.

I also had a reasonably productive day at work. I didn't get everything done, but I got a lot done. And that will just have to do.

I ate breakfast around 5:30, before leaving the house, and by the time I finished my shift at the cafe, I had blown through all of those calories. I got a plate at the deli (eggs, bacon, biscuit) washed down with a pint of orange juice, and that lasted me until lunchtime at 1:00. At which point I went back to the deli and got a single puff pastry filled with (really) spicy beef, because I didn't want a large lunch after two breakfasts. Around 3:00 I inhaled the muffin half that I'd brought to work, and now that I'm home, I'm eating a ginormous salad.

It is wonderful to feel awake and clear-headed at 7:15p.m. I hope that I can wind down enough to go to sleep in two or three or however many hours.

Oh hi! And Plan B.

I really am trying to blog every day, but we went to IKEA last night, and all three of us came home exhausted. Middlest bolted for the middle bedroom, I went into my room and closed the door, and Fourthborn communed with her laptop.

I slept until approximately my usual waking time and woke up feeling human again. Both kids slept until approximately noon. So I had a quiet morning of reading and snacking and knitting. The third section of the Geology Shawl is finished, and when I post this I will commence the fourth section.

I'd been looking forward to tonight's bluegrass festival ever since it popped up on my calendar, but as it rained off and on all morning, and while I ran to Costco and the grocery store early this afternoon, I decided it would be wiser to go to the doll meet with my kids. I took Blessing. Fourthborn took Xavin, and Middlest took Orion and Twinkle. We all had a good time visiting with other doll folk until Pie Five turned up the music around 9:00, when Middlest signed "finish" and we picked up our stuff and left.

I did more or less finish the cuff of the current baby sock while we were out. I will probably finish the sock while at the singles conference tomorrow, or at the adult session of stake conference tomorrow night.

If I were a sensible woman, I'd go to bed right now, but I just finished the last of my pizza, and it needs to settle if I don't want to wake up in two hours with a crabby stomach. So I'll play a hand or two of solitaire, noodle around on Facebook, and go knit until it's safe to be horizontal.

Feeling mischievous.

I discovered the perfect thing for one of the few people who actually gets a birthday gift from me these days. And that's all I'm going to say for now.

Had dinner with one of my visiting teach-ees tonight. Mediterranean, and I brought home hummus (which will go to work with me tomorrow) and the other half of my gyro. It was good to catch up with her. We are planning another dinner in January, after the holiday madness is over.

I am two and a half rows away from finishing this section of the Geology Shawl chart. (There are three rows of garter stitch after every chart. I'm not counting those.) If I'm lucky, I'll finish the half-row tonight. My body is screaming for sleep, and I intend to be in bed before this hour is up.

Work went well. I have four cases this week that are pending closed, and I did the initial tasks on all four over the past two days.

I washed a load of whites this morning and got them into the dryer before leaving for work. I just emptied the dryer and brought the basket inside. Pretty sure that nothing is getting folded before I go to bed tonight.

And that's all she wrote.

Blogging from my phone.

This was not a good night for knitting. I had to slip in extra markers and recount stitches at least three times before I could confirm that I was two rows ahead of where I thought I was in the pattern, mark those lines accordingly, and add one full row of new knitting. Most of my time at Knit Night was spent scowling at or mystified by the chart and the shawl. But finally I got them to agree, put my project in my bag (after triumphantly making the row done, and took my kids to two different game shops to pick up Pokemon cards. It's almost 11:30, I haven't taken my meds yet, and I am even more done than my knitting. Tomorrow's gonna be a long one.

Decidedly delighted digits.

So I've said that I don't knit while I'm up on the stand during sacrament meeting, because I don't want to be a distraction to the congregation. I sit quietly with my hands more or less in my lap, and I listen. Sometimes I pick my hands up slightly and massage one hand with the other, then switch off. But mostly I try to be invisible until it's time to stand up and conduct the hymns.

I noticed yesterday that after two months of a low-dose muscle relaxer at bedtime, there is a greater range of motion in my hands. I can't quite bend my wrists back at a right angle, but my hands go back farther than they did, and my fingers remain straight instead of curling stubbornly. And it doesn't hurt to do this.

In news of the crabby, when I walked out into the parking garage after work, I noticed a big Lexus SUV-type vehicle parked halfway in one space and halfway in the handicapped spot. I determined to take a picture of the license plate and pull into my office manager's parking space on the upper level and go show the picture to security. I got into the Tardis, opened up the camera on my cell phone, and backed out. When I was halfway to the other car, a woman came out of the elevator, around the back of her car, and got in. She did not appear to be handicapped (yes, I know that some handicaps are invisible, but she was walking briskly).

I was slightly tempted to park right behind her and take that picture anyway, but I figured she'd do something unpredictable, so I kept going. And fuming. She followed me up the ramp to wait for the light to change. I was tempted to sit there until it turned yellow, but there was a chance she'd pull around me and go up the downhill side. And maybe there'd be an accident.

So I behaved myself (at least outwardly) and started praying crabbily. First I prayed for her to be blessed for whatever it is that she was doing right (because obviously, it didn't include knowing how to park). And then I started praying for an attitude change, because nobody died and made me her judge. And then I prayed that she would never need to use a handicapped spot, but that if she ever did, she would remember the time that she hogged half of one and reinforced my prejudice against Lexii and their drivers. As soon as I got to a long light, I fired up my Pandora and switched it to my Mormon Tabernacle Choir station.

By the time I got home, I was singing along. And meaning it. I love how music can clear the cobwebs out of my mind and heart, giving my spirit a chance to get back in charge. I didn't want to bring any crabbiness home to Middlest, who is just coming out of an off again, on again week long migraine.

We had a successful shopping trip to Bed Bath and Beyond. Middlest has a manic cat timer, and I have an anxious (or possibly just cross-eyed) ladybug timer. Neither of them are magnetic, so eventually we will want to get some of that magnetized tape and make them so. I used the cat to time tonight's pizzas. Works like a champ.

I am now going to knit for half an hour or so and go to bed like a sensible adult. Stop laughing.

Good Sabbath!

It was! the music went well in sacrament meeting. The Young Women sang a beautiful song with words by my friend Sandy and melody by my friend Bruce. (They reprised it at Young Women in Excellence this evening.) I set the timer for a short nap, got up and added six rows to the shawl, got dressed again and went to YWiE. I'm home again, half an hour earlier than I'd planned, having disciplined myself to eat only one small brownie and a small piece of toffee.

I've looked at the spreadsheet for next payday, and I am going to have to move money around to make everything come out even, and it's all right. I have faith that there will be means to pay for the inevitable surprises.

Speaking of surprises, I signed up for next weekend's singles conference, the General Relief Society president is the keynote speaker, but I will be attending the adult session of stake conference. I've signed up only for the workshops during the day, because two of my friends are presenting, and the topics interest me. I don't plan to go back to that stake center after my evening meeting, even though my yenta's band will be providing some of the music (which means that it won't stink).

There is a tri-stake devotional Sunday morning before the regular session of stake conference, and Sister Burton will be speaking to us then, so I won't miss out on hearing her. I just won't be able to hear her twice. The last time we had a member of the General Relief Society presidency come to a singles conference, I had just been called as the ward relief society president, but it hadn't been announced, and I hadn't been sustained. There was a meeting of all the regional relief society presidents with that good sister early in the morning, which necessitated my telling the sisters that I'd been going to give a ride to, that they needed to find another way there, without telling them why.

Our good RS president sent around a sign-up sheet for drivers and riders for next Sunday. Parking will be at a premium, so they're encouraging us to carpool. The Tardis can only seat two comfortably, so I will be one of the riders.

Time for me to figure out what I'm going to wear to work tomorrow and hang it up with socks and accessories. Buying that little over-the-hanger organizer was an inspired decision. It has made getting ready for work faster and easier for the past three or four weeks that I've been using it. I'm also going to portion out some carrots for this week's lunches.

I'm off on Friday, so I'll be picking up Fourthborn after work on Thursday night to keep Middlest company. They will be picked up for a doll meet Friday night, and I will be going to a bluegrass festival. Sunday they will hang out here and play Pokemon or whatever, and I will be at the singles conference, then stake conference, then home for an early bedtime because we're meeting at the church at 6:00a.m. I will need to figure out snacks to keep my blood sugar stable all morning.

I'm going to spend some time visiting with my kid, and then I'm going to bed.

In which your intrepid heroine kills her ladybug timer.

So my ladybug timer died. One too many high-dives off my end table. I bought it at Target about ten years ago while shopping with LittleBit, and I figured that I could find another one there, plus a different cute one for Middlest's use.

All they had were utilitarian timers: boring and/or ugly. So it looks like part of Family Home Evening on Monday will be spent at Bed, Bath and Beyond, which allegedly carries them, or shopping online.

On the other hand, we found something on sale that my kid needed, and those sharp eyes spotted the "clearance" sticker on a pint of Ben and Jerry Raspberry Fudge Chunk Greek yogurt for me. So the trip was not a waste of time and gas.

I used the new, on-sale crockpot today, to make a pot of lentils. I'd sauteed a bag of frozen chopped bell peppers and onions in the lemon-infused olive oil from Trader Joe's, then divvied that up into small containers to take in my lunch to jazz up a cup of mac and cheese. The rest went into the crockpot, then half of a pint jar of lentils inherited from my mother-in-love, a can of Costco chicken chunks with broth, and the broth leftover from last night's ravioli, which brought everything up to the 3/4 mark. This crockpot is either plugged-in or off. No messing with Mr. In-Between. And the vessel and lid are both microwave-safe. I got enough to fill a half pint jar to take to work next week, and two nicely filled latte cups. And it was yummy. We will definitely be doing this again.

Middlest and I talked about a rice cooker. I love rice, but I don't eat much of it anymore because I know that white rice is one of the worst things for a diabetic. I don't have the patience to cook brown rice properly, but Middlest has been eating a lot of rice for the past ten years and misses it. So I think it makes sense to get either a stand-alone rice cooker or a microwave version. That way Middlest can have rice as often as the mood strikes, and I can have it occasionally, and I stay healthy, and Middlest has wholesome comfort food.

In knitting news, I completed the second pattern in the Geology Shawl and the first row in the third pattern. We are now going to carefully take my bed apart, because of an incident in which a generous handful of chocolate covered ginger ended up leaping out of its container onto the floor, including between the back of my mattress and the headboard. Plus, I think that Beloved's baseball made a similar leap a week or so ago, because I can't find it anywhere in the perimeter of that side of the room. And occasionally I like to fall asleep holding it in my hand as a tangible reminder of the dear man I've married. (Several weeks ago I'd fallen asleep with it lying nearby on the fallow side of the bed and awoke to find it cupped gently in my left hand.)

K, if you're still reading the blog, every so often I pick up that lovely bell you sent at his passing and give it a good shake, and smile. Thank you again.

It's been a slightly weird day but a mostly restful one. I awoke a little after my weekday time, cut a slice of the pumpkin bread and sorted out my vitamins, poured a mug of buttermilk, and settled onto my bed for a leisurely breakfast. I had washed my hands and was ready to commence knitting when I looked at the notifications on my phone and realized that I was 45 minutes late to help clean the chapel.

You have never seen a middle-aged woman get dressed quite so quickly. I did arrive in time to help with a few last bits, so I feel properly repentant. I spent the rest of the morning re-reading the lessons for Sunday School and Relief Society, alternating with knitting, frequent healthy snacks, and intermittent drowsiness. Mid-afternoon, Middlest awoke from a Benadryl-fueled nap, and we visited for a few minutes before I decided to stop fighting the drowsiness and take a nap.

When I woke up, the soup was nearly ready, and I set the timer for half an hour, and when I got up to do something (I don't remember what) the pillows shifted and knocked the ladybug timer to its doom.

It's almost time to take my meds and think about sleeping again, but I'll sleep better knowing that there are no chocolate covered tempting bits under my bed to invite the attention of bugs.

Sleep well, y'all, and have a blessed Sabbath.

I'm in a holiday mood!

I took an orange artificial pumpkin to work today, along with my shoebox of Halloween things, and I put them up on top of the cabinets in my cubicle. (I used to have a lot more Halloween stuff, but I gave it away when I was living in Fort Worth, because the duplex was so small.)

Had a calm, productive day at work and came home by way of Trader Joe's and Braum's. Ginger cookies, chocolate covered ginger, pumpkin bread mix, those tiny pumpkin cookies I brought home a couple of weeks ago, and some pumpkin spice salted caramels (!). The pumpkin bread is almost ready to come out of the oven. Breakfast tomorrow will be pumpkin bread with cream cheese. I threw in half a cup each of craisins and freshly chopped pecans, as the box suggested, but am passing on the powdered sugar glaze. (As a celebrity who is famous mostly for being famous once said, you don't slap a bumper sticker on a Bentley.)

We are also stocked up on milk, buttermilk, and orange juice for the weekend. My goal is to stay in the house (preferably in my pajamas) until it's time to get ready for church on Sunday morning.

I've worked about half of the second pattern section on the Geology Shawl. As soon as the pumpkin bread is out of the oven and I've washed my hands, I'm going to curl up either in my wing chair or on my bed and knit until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

For dinner we had the tiny ravioli from Trader Joe's, simmered in chicken stock, with half of the chopped onion I'd been sweating added to the cooked pasta (the other half is helping to wilt a batch of spinach) and a little over half a jar of very simple tomato sauce heated and stirred in. I portioned out one day's lunch, and we inhaled the rest of it.

The pumpkin bread is cooling on top of the stove. A ridiculous amount of objects are soaking in the sink, because the dishwasher is running. The spinach is more or less refusing to wilt, so I think I will pop it into a large glass bowl and into the cooling oven and leave it there awhile.

My Christmas prezzie is here!

Every year we get to browse through a catalogue and choose our own Christmas gift from the corporation. (There are other catalogues for "milestone anniversaries": one year, five year, ten years, fifteen years, etc. Which is why I own an expensive leather bag that still looks good after two years of being overstuffed with knitting.) This year I chose a Cuisinart Mini-Prep Processor. It was waiting on the chair by the front door when I got home tonight, which means that I can delete an email from my inbox when I get to work tomorrow.

I've already taken it out of the box, because the packing slip said to examine it for damage within 24 hours. And I've completed the warranty registration. I took the cute little rascal apart, put it back together, and ran it (empty) on both speeds. It is now tucked away in a cupboard, but if the weather cools off this weekend like they're teasing, I might use it to slice a mess of onions for some French onion soup. When I bought groceries last weekend, I found a small black Crock-Pot on sale for $10. It's still in its box in the living room.

I do love kitchen toys. Yes, I know I only cook when the mood hits me, but when it strikes I want to have the right tools for the job, and I had been thinking of spending my hard-earned money on a new food processor (the other one did not survive the move from Fort Worth). Now I don't have to.

In knitting news, I've completed the first section of the Geology Shawl, and I'm not getting anything like gauge. I'm using the recommended size 6 needle, because I want an airy fabric. The yarn is a merino/nylon/cashmere blend, a little limp compared to the Jitterbug and Claudia and Koigu that I've been churning through to make baby socks, so I'm pretty sure that I would run out of yarn before getting to the last section. And the lighter shade of blue is not a color that exists in my closet, although it's quite lovely, so alternating sections of light and dark will be harmonious and not outshout the patterns. Of which there are a plethora.

I've listened to my Lindsey Stirling station on Pandora the past two nights. Their computer thinks that bossa nova goes nicely with dubstep violin. And I learned the name of a song I've heard most of my life (Manha de Carnaval). Every so often they'll throw in some Celtic fiddle tune, and then I have to back off the gas pedal.

Today went well at work. I'm going to celebrate with some knitting. Night, y'all.

When all else fails, communicate.

So, I've been stewing for awhile. Today while I was filing an answer for SemperFi, he came and asked me a question, then as he left my desk remarked, "Don't forget to file the [thing]."

Really? I finished filing the answer, faxed the discovery to opposing counsel, worked on another task or five, then found a moment when he was off the phone and went in to talk to him.

Me: Are you unhappy with my work?

Him: (big saucer eyes) No! I'm very happy with your work!

Me: It was a little embarrassing when you told me not to forget to file the [thing] where anybody could hear you.

Him: I wasn't trying to embarrass you. I was trying to be helpful. You didn't file it yesterday, and I wanted to make sure you filed it today, so I put a sticky-note on it.

Then he shared with me what the next three weeks of his life are going to be like: an endless round of mediations and depositions, some of the latter out of town, and other tasks that fall under his purview because he's so darn good at what he does. [I have minimal sympathy regarding the mediations and depositions, because he schedules his own, but I do have sympathy for how the other tasks only add to the stress.]

He listened to me, really listened, so it was easy to ask if there was anything I could do to lighten the load, and there's not. Then he said, "You have a lot to do, and you do it well, and if I get up in your [stuff], just tell me to get out of your [stuff]." He acknowledged that he's guilty of micro-managing, and I agreed that there was a lot more of it recently, but now I know why. There are five people in various functions who are out of the office indefinitely due to health reasons or training, which adds significantly to the load the rest of us are carrying.

I resumed my tasks with a much lighter heart (and Middlest could see the difference when I walked in the door tonight). Since I'm not willing to say [stuff] unless someone throws up on me accidentally, I came up with a solution. Pulled up a Word document and started typing and tweaking. When I was done, I printed it off and ran it around the corner to our paralegal. She cracked up. So I took it into his office and said, "Wanna have a little laugh?" He answered that he would like to hear something funny. I showed him the printout, in 120pt type with a 150pt emoji:

You're doing it again. :(

He guffawed, said it was great, and that when necessary, I'm to pull it out of my drawer and wave it at him. Mission accomplished.

Crabby.

In happy news, Middlest has had two good days in a row. We are both delighted.

There were enough seats together for Knit Night. The noise level was lower than usual.

I cast on the Geology Shawl by Verybusymonkey. Other than the lamination starting to wear on my Knit Picks modular needles, I'm pleased. I have another pair of tips the same size and will transfer the stitches before crashing.

I woke up with aching hips and knees. So that sort of set the tenor for the day. SemperFi has been stressed and micro-manage-y (which he usually isn't), and by the time I went downstairs to have lunch with Middlest I was wound tighter than a tick. I need to go in his office, close the door, and have a talk, but workflow does not permit it at the moment. I've had an extra attorney for three days.

I needed both my anti-anxiety meds and my muscle relaxer at lunchtime, nine hours ahead of schedule. But as Middlest pointed out, the reason I take them at bedtime is so I don't face plant into my keyboard or drive drugged.

Lunch with Middlest helped. By the time I logged off at 5:00, I wasn't sure if I would make it to the loo on time, but I did.

On the way home tonight, Middlest observed that I'd been quietly agitated all day. Would it help to talk? After establishing that Middlest was not the problem, I was able to discuss my concerns with another loving, sensible adult. And I felt better.

But I'm feeling rumblies in my tumblies again, so over and out.

Single.

I know quite a bit about being single. Married at 21; divorced at 23. Married to the children's father at 25; divorced at 45. Married to Beloved at 59; widowed at 60. Thus far, 40+ years of being single, with varying degrees of happiness about it.

But that's not the kind of single that I'm thinking about. When I was listening to 3 Nephi 13:22 this morning, the word jumped out and bit me. While I was stuck at a long stoplight, I paused the narrative and punched the footnote. Doctrine & Covenants 88:67, Topical Guide: Dedication. (See also Commitment; Consecrate; Diligence; Obedience; Steadfastness. Each with its own hyperlink.)

Why do I get the feeling that if I followed every one of those leads it would take me weeks and weeks and weeks?

Turn signal on now for a change of topic: when I got home tonight, I made myself a ham and cheese sandwich. [Poof! You're a ham and cheese sandwich! Never mind. Too hard to type without fingers and thumbs.] And I sat down at the computer, intending to scan the rest of the piles and make an early night of it, after watching one of the Conference talks that I missed on Saturday afternoon.

Instead, I noodled around on Facebook and Bloglovin' and Pinterest while whittling down the "social" and "promotions" folders in my gmail. Saw a couple of neat ideas for finishing the kitchen and saved them to Pinterest. Caught up on the blogs that I follow. Finally settled down and got rid of several piles and maybe half the volume of paper that remains to be scanned.

Middlest spent the day chez Squishy and just got home. Did have enough spoons to help me decant the shredder into the bag and wrestle the bag closed so it can go out on the curb tomorrow.

I also had high hopes for winding yarn and starting a shawl from the yarn my sister gave me last Christmas. But it's still sitting here on my computer desk, where I can pet it as the mood strikes. What I am going to do is post this, shut down all my windows, play one hand of solitaire, take my meds, move the boxes of sweaters off my bed so there's room for me, and declare this day finished.

Happy and knackered.

Yes, it's possible to be both. The sessions of General Conference today were wonderful. Between them I started sorting and scanning paperwork that has piled up for the past couple of months. I'm not done, but I'm a whole lot closer.  I also caught up my spreadsheets, thus reinforcing the illusion that I am at least somewhat in control of my life. (Go ahead and chuckle; I'm laughing, too.)

I finished the baby sock and gave the rest of the yarn to Middlest, because I am flat tired of it.

I have neat(ish) stacks of paper on the living room floor, to encourage me to finish this, because they make me twitch ever so slightly.

The new leggings fit like a dream, and are only for wearing at home.

I still haven't found my darker turquoise dressy T-shirt.

But I ran the dishwasher. And I didn't eat all of the ginger cookies.

I'm going to gather up the last pile for the shredder for today, turn off the lights out here, take my meds, and crash.

You should go find the new Piano Guys video on YouTube. Thanks, Tan!

General thoughts about General Conference

We caught all of this morning's session, and the last fifteen minutes of the afternoon session because we went to visit our friend who lost her dad. It was one of those "the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath" moments, in which I felt I would be a better Christian by loving on my friend than by staying home to listen to talks that told me to go love on my friend. Besides which, the afternoon session already available online, so I can catch up before tomorrow morning's broadcast.

Tonight, I took advantage of the fact that the Priesthood session is now broadcast to the general membership, instead of being something the brethren went to the stake centers to listen to, as it has been until very recently. I think April conference was the first time, but it may have been a year ago. Old habits die hard, and I know that last time I wasn't particularly interested in listening to the Priesthood session when I knew I could read the talks when they were printed in May's copy of the Ensign.

This time I had the impression that by not taking advantage of the opportunity, I would be putting myself in the same stinky boots as those who say, "A Bible, a Bible, we have already got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible." So I listened, and Middlest listened until the evening meds threatened a TKO (technical knock-out, for those of you who did not grow up watching prize fights with your father).

I woke up a little past 5:00 this morning, ate a very light breakfast and took my vitamins, and went back to bed, waking up at 10:00, which gave me time to put an Alsatian onion tart from Trader Joe's into the oven and take it out before the morning session began. After that session, I sluiced off in the shower, and we hopped into the Tardis to meet Firstborn and Fourthborn at the quilt shop to pick up the first blocks in the current series. From there to a Hallmark shop to buy a condolence card, then over to our friend's.

It's been a long, full, rich day, and I feel wonderfully blessed. I not only finished the cuff on the second fourth pink baby sock but got the heel flap worked as well. After the Priesthood session I hopped into the Tardis again and made a run for bottled water (because Garland water is vile to drink) and another bottle of distilled water for my CPAP, and a few other things. I am sleepy, and I am going to bed.