Homeward Bound

 

I'm packing up this morning and heading home this afternoon. My little staycation has been fun but yesterday I was bored out of my mind. Even with all these projects I brought, I couldn't find the energy or the interest to care. I napped and binge watched Scarpetta on Prime. I've never read the Patricia Cornwell books and after spending many hours with her main characters yesterday, I have more questions than answers. 

Daughter and family are on their way home from Connecticut with quite the haul in awards. This is her little one showing off the prizes. He was as tickled to win them as the skaters. Her team came in 3rd overall out of 23 national high school teams. One maneuver team got first, another got second and the entire team got the competition's spirit award. 

Her skaters surprised her by having a temporary tattoo made of a funny photo of her that they all wore to compete in. 

Now I've got my long drive home to look forward to but before I leave, I'm making sure this little Miss is where I can see her. No more kitty hide and seek for me. 

Working Out

 

When I first got to Daughter's house I thought they either had moved and didn't tell anyone or that they had been robbed. The usual explosion of toddler life was gone. The place seemed eerily bare. Then I realized that the robot cleaner had been at work making the place spic and span for the kitty sitter (me) who has kitty allergies.

Daughter's house is big and in its uncluttered state it was perfect for........

...knit walking. I've been trying to keep myself active by doing 30 minutes twice a day.

Once after breakfast and once after dinner. 

At home I always knit walk around the house to the 40's Junction on Sirius Radio. I don't have that here but YouTube has some good swing stations also. I love WWII era music. I love hearing Bing et al singing about kicking Nazi butt. 

Then there's the stairs. If I want a really good workout I climb these a couple of times a day mostly to take care of kitty business which is up in the laundry room.

Speaking of kitties, this one had quite the adventure. I spent my first 24 hours frantically searching for her after she didn't show up for dinner. I was heartsick thinking I was going to have to tell Daughter that one of her kitties might have gotten out while they were packing to leave. They are all indoor only cats. On Friday morning I did another search and found the little lady locked in SIL's golf simulator room. I had checked there once before but she was probably too scared to let me know she was in there. She was spooked and hungry and drank a lot of water but seemed healthy enough. I told Daughter of the misadventure and she thinks the poor thing must have been in there since Wednesday because that was the last time anyone went in that room. They were so busy getting ready to leave they never noticed her absence. Miss Kitty's paid me back for her rescue by keeping me up all night. She and her sister run up and down those stairs from sundown to sunset and they are not light on their feet. It's hard enough to sleep in a strange place without the sound of a herd of elephants going up and down the stairs all night.

In Someone Else's Kitchen With Betty

 

I left my Big Bettys at home but I ended up bringing a little hybrid Betty with me. I know, it's a sickness at this point but it would feel too weird not to have one with me. I took 10 grams of Brown Betty and 10 grams of Betty White and mixed them together. She's been very happy here as you can see. 

I don't tend to cook meals when I'm on my own. I go completely feral and just snack all day. I had a terrible craving for sweets last night so melted some dark chocolate chips on top of some plain discard crackers. I ate them all and felt bad about it but they were awfully good. 

I've already put my Ikea purchases to work. I'm collecting the discard in my new jar in case I run out of crackers and need to make more while I'm here.

I've also put my new scoops to use. I'm glad I brought Little Betty along. It's a long day when you're all alone without something to do.

Pit Stop

 

It takes about 2 hours to get to Daughter's house and halfway there is....... an Ikea. When we have Pup with us, The Mister and I stop at the park down the street from here but since I was alone, it was time to shop.

My house is nothing but Ikea stuff but it never looks like this...sigh. 

I haven't been inside an Ikea since they started delivering to my area so I was surprised to see how much it's changed. It was filled with pretend shops like this bridal salon. It was very authentic right down to the smallest detail. Along with several racks of gowns, there was jewelry, shoes and even sparkly purses all beautifully displayed on Ikea's finest wardrobes and shelving units. Being a former Mother of the Bride, I was impressed.

I didn't come out with anything very interesting. Some jars and flour scoops. I wasn't even tempted by the food section. I usually come out with cookies but I couldn't trust myself with them since I'll be all alone and bored for the next four days. I'm just getting my glucose under control. I don't want to ruin it now especially since I was notified by my insurance company yesterday that I qualify for their diabetes program complete with an on call counselor, free scale and daily weigh in. No thanks. I'll keep my weight to myself, thank you very much. I can handle this. I've done it many times before. 

 

And Away I Go....

 

Daughter's ice skating team has a competition this weekend in Connecticut and her whole family is going so I'm doing the kitty sitting until Monday starting today. All week long I've been filling the freezer with soups to take with me. 

Yesterday was a marathon of cooking making food to fill up The Mister and Pup while I'm gone. 

I made a lot of crackers to take with me and will be packing a bag of frozen sourdough bagels, waffles and bread. I knew I was saving all that for something.

I had to make a hard a decision about the Bettys. I decided to leave them home. I've never put the original in the fridge for a time out but I really didn't want to drag all that stuff with me. I'm going to give them a good feeding and then tuck them in for a long nap. I did have success bringing Betty White back to life from some sleeping discard so I have hopes that this will work out. 

Right in the middle of getting all the things on my list accomplished, I realized I'd been forgetting about Easter. The Big Grands are in China for their spring break. The Middle Grands will be up in Michigan celebrating so Daughter decided she wanted to come here for Sunday dinner. Yikes. I haven't done Easter in years. I had to go on a hunt to find what little I have of it left. It looks like I'll be doing some shopping when I get back home. 

I did take the time to knock out a few cards yesterday afternoon to send off when I get back on Monday. Easter really snuck up on me this year. 

Wednesday WIPs: Off to the Frog Pond

 

Farewell Glennis, I hardly knew ye. I hated everything about this. The yarn. The colors. The mosaic knitting. When I discovered I had misread the directions and would have to rip back to the garter stitch border I was done. Life is too short to spend on something I hated working on and would never wear. 

What I have been fixated on is the Hue Shift Afghan. I love working on it but it's been a regular visitor to the frog pond also. I can't get those blocks lined up right to save my life. 

And....I was asked about the origins of my stitching project yesterday, so here it is. This was one of my first purchases ever from 123 Stitch. That's a site I have to stay away from. It's too easy to lose a whole day planning things there that you'll never live long enough to finish.

TNT: Music Among the Trees

 

I think it's hilarious that after a morning of dragging heavy hoses and wheelbarrows full of mulch around the yard (which I should mention is not flat but very hilly), I come in to catch my breath by working on....a project about trees and gardens. Argh. I said I was going to get the sentiment done in March and I'm close even though I can barely manage a couple of words a day.

If there is a new Dateline podcast I work on the Patchwork quilt. I should be calling it the murder quilt because I did the hand piecing while bingeing Stephen King and now I'm doing the quilting to Dateline. I did finish another whole block last week so I'm not sure what that says about me. 

Dear Jane is getting assembled. It was a pretty easy block-so far. Now I have to figure out how to applique the little squares in the corners. As usual, Jane never makes anything simple.