the first day

one book, the better part of two magazines, half a poncho, a pair of socks…………some things i finished on my sunny vacation!

is it possible to be healthier when you look healthier because you have a “golden glow”?  i know they say that the sun is bad for you but i look and feel so much better without that pastey white (sp?) winter skin.

home yesterday afternoon with a camera full of fun pictures, five loads of sandy laundry, that i stayed up and did last night, (while i put the finishing touches on my knitted socks) and a head full of memories that i’m sure will last forever.  spending a week with the whole family together.

re-entery wasn’t too bad today.  i’m thankful for that.  i hate when you have a first day back that hits you like a ton-of-bricks and by the end of the day you are already thinking and feeling “what vacation”!!!!  and believe me, i’ve had some of those.

now i just have to tackle taking down the christmas tree and all those christmas decorations..Yuck……yep, i left here and didn’t look back.

just finished taking a hot bath.  made myself a cup of tea.  the washer and dryer is on the third load and i’m ready to sit down to check in on three days worth of the blog world and then watch taped shows from last week.

we went camping this last weekend from friday afternoon through today.  we had a great time but it was chilly, okay it was cold.  the first evening i think it got down to 38 degrees!!  thank goodness i brought an electric blanket.  but those mornings where a slow, cold, start!!!  no rain and sunny tho so that was great.  we were right on a dune and just a few feet over the other side to Lake Michigan.  so during the day we would bring our chairs and sit in the sun and read and relax.  all-in-all it was a relaxing weekend.  but i’m ready for my flannel sheets tonight and my bathroom just down the hall.

i didn’t get as much knitting done this weekend as i thought i would.  my hands were a bit cold and most of the time when i was sitting in the sun i chose to read.  but on the car ride to and from Michigan i did make a pair of fingerless mitts for a gift.  i had made the ones from Last Minute Knitted Gifts but thought they were too plain, so re-work my own pattern and came up with something that i like.  they were a very quick knit.  now i plan to make some knitted flowers  to “spruce” them up a bit.  cute!!

today we “packed up camp” as soon as we woke up and headed out.  we drove a bit and stopped in Grand Haven, Michigan for breakfast and one of my favorite yarn shops is just down the street.  i really was not going to even stop in. i was “grubby” from camping, needed a shower, had no makeup on, (i never go anywhere without mascara, i have on mascara right now after my bath, and i’m going no where, i feel like i can’t focus correctly without it, seriously) and i probably smelled like campfire. 

but after breakfast my DH said to me as we were paying the bill, “are you going to stop in the yarn shop, you should, it’s you’re favorite”.  how could i say no.  i looked around, i wasn’t even going to get anything, nothing that i HAD to have, i’m trying to stick to this yarn diet.  and considering how i CAN go crazy i really did well. 

 i walked out with the brand new booklet of patterns designed by Louisa Harding called: The Accessories Collection and she has just come out with her own line of yarns so i bought two balls to make either the Narrow Lace Scarf  w/ Rosette or the Fingerless Gloves to go with the new fall jacket that i bought a few weeks ago. 

fell off the wagon…………

creative title huh?

don’t know how my brain was working yesterday to have the fore-thought of christmas break, the beach, and florida, (considering it’s 90’s here) but called and made our family reservations for a week in Seista Key!!!

spent a lot of time yesterday working outside sanding and refinishing an old, old, old wooden baby high chair. 

 it was a gift from one of my neighbors.  she is in her 60’s and it was her high chair when she was a baby.  she was an only child and never had any children of her own.  when she heard that we had a grandchild she thought that we would make a “good home” for her high chair. 

i have refinished furniture before but this one has been MORE than a challenge.  and i’m not really sure why?!  it’s not a really hard wood, that may be one of the problems.  it had many coats of paint.  first i tried chemicals to strip it, that made it worse.  so it has just been sanding, sanding and more sanding.  i have a Black and Decker Mouse sander. (they are great).  and i have probably gone through $40 in sandpaper.  i think i am seeing the end. 

 then i will paint it.  it will not fully recover to the point of being able to be stained, which is really fine.  i think it will look charming painted.  i think (which through all this sanding time i have had lots of ) i will paint it some shade of red.  i really thought i would have had it done a loooong time ago.  but it WILL be done for little grandson’s next visit!

speaking of him….the knitpix yarn arrive last night for the Wild Stripes baby blanket.  i cast on for that and re-watch Under the Tuscan Sun before i went to bed last night.  the colors are so fun to work with. ( i like the idea of  weaving in the ends at each color change!)

NY is still ?  check out www.yarnstorm.blogs.com and she will make you want to hop a plane right now.

today…..i think i will give my hands a rest from the Black and Decker.  maybe even treat them and my feet to a manicure and pedicure……….and then stop at the hardware store for some new rubbergloves so i can be right back at it tomorrow!  (oh, and maybe some more sandpaper just for grins, i buy it kinda like yarn!)

this week marks the half way point for me for this summer’s vacation.  i always get a bit scared at this point that the second half of the summer will go too quickly, and it usually does.  i will try to use it wisely.

i have another trip to my daughter’s planned for the week of july 25th.  that will be very fun to spend some time with her little family, time with the grandson, and  another pottery lesson.

i have free tickets for Great America that need to be used!

the first week in august there is the possibility of a trip with a friend to New York City.  i’ve never been, and she has lived there in the past and has a work trip there that i may follow her on.  that would be so fun.  i will get to see the Statue of Liberty!!!! 

the middle of august will be a long weekend visit from my daughter and her family, they are coming here.  and my daughter and i will spend a day at Midwest Sitches. yarn, yarn, and more yarn!!!!

then the weekend that i head back to teaching is the Air Show here in Chicago, one of my favorite things to do, and my hubby and i are looking for a hotel downtown to spend the night. we will attend that on saturday and sunday of that weekend.

so, we still have some fun, summer things to look forward to!!!!!

in knitting news….i cast on for Soup Du Jour last night in Peace Fleece.  i’m using a dark carcoal color.  kind of boring but i think it will be a sweater that will get lots of use.  i was in that mood to make something for my wardrobe that would be an old favorite.  i think this will be it.

i’ve also pulled out a project that is a few months old.  i haven’t worked on it for awhile.  it’s the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole from Scarf Style.  i’m using Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd’s Bulky in colorway goldhill.  i’m about 1/3 done with the project. (it is actually going to be a lap blanket for my chair in the living room).  i forgot how much i enjoyed that project, and in looking through the book again, how much i love the patterns in this book!  so… i will work back and forth on those two projects.  (and i have the little grandson blanket project, that the yarn will be coming from Knitpix next week.)  i will also throw that into that mix.

i think i will start pouring thro books and magazines to start a wish list for my possible yarn shopping in NY and my Stitches yarn shopping in August.  i need to make a plan!  i think i will start my “post-it-noting” right here in this Scarf Style book!!!!