Got my mojo back!

Every evening, DH brings Squirrel out of her hidey hole of the day and encourages her to sit with us while we quietly watch TV. Here, she is pretending to be a parrot. The conflicts are settling down. Pepper is becoming less hostile as Squirrel learns her place. Now Ben is trying this intimidation thing on for size, but even though he's bigger than Squirrel, she's still feistier than he is.

So while we're sitting on the sofa, watching TV with our Squirrel, I have been knitting. I got this much done since Sunday. (Thass my foot to give things scale. Size 10 narrow) When I have finished a square in the mitered units, I will then crochet around and around the edges to use up the leftovers. Aunt Lydia's Sugar and Cream cotton. Mostly yellow,white, green held double, but occasional squares with one strand yellow,white, green, and one strand of yellow, white, OR green. There's a green square under my foot. Und in the top right corner. And on the right side, a yellow dominant square. I am just feeling the kinttiy LOVE on this one!

This morning, I am gonna sit down with "Dancing with the Stars" and my knitting while my robot servants wash and dry my clothes. At noon, I'm going to the hairdresser for the first time in years for a professional cut. And taking my knitting. And this afternoon, I plan on xploring Xfinity again and continuing to knit like a mad thing while watching free movies.

Yesterday I got a wild hair up my back, put on my work pants, and went outside to clear the backyard. Wish I had taken before and after shots. I whacked down a small forest of suckers coming up from the roots of the plum tree we had taken out this spring, and pulled weeds that had grown up among them (a couple days of rain have made weeding reedonculously easy) and whacked off dead branches from the walnut tree that is shading out the plums, and made three huge piles of yard debris. Our garbage company takes yard debris in a seperate can and recycles them into compost. So I went to the front of the house for the yard debris can, and found it full of grass clippings. Looks like I've been forgetting to put the can out for recycling for, - how long since we last mowed? - Three weeks now? Soooo, on Thursday I will put out the yard debris can, then as soon as the studmuffins come to empty it, I will drag it around back and fill it up again and put it right at the curb so it can be picked up the next Thursday. Don't want to bother the house sitter with this.

Oh, yeah - house sitter. Why a house sitter? Well, we're going on a trip. Every year we go to Southern California and spend time with DH's family. He hates the madness that is LA almost as much as I do, but family is important and we do like seeing them, so we gird our loins and make the annual hegira. Thiss year, he figured a way to sugar coat it. He found a killer deal on a re-positioning cruise from Vancouver BC to San Diego. (Re-positioning cruises happen at the end or beginning of the summer cruise season when ships are moved up to Alaska or, as now, moved back down south for the winter.) Since it's a short cruise (5 days) and one way rather than round trip, the cruise lines don't charge as much. All the merchandise in the shops will be Alaska souveniers, and the staff will be at the end of the season, so may have a bit of a short-term attitude. SO, we can get the cruise for almost the price of two first class plane tickets. We are taking the train up to Vancouver (How Exciting!! It's been fifty years since I rode on an American train!) then catching the ship and spending five lazy days sailing down the coast. We will cross the Columbia River bar - the most difficult passage in the US, for a stop in Astoria, Oregon. Since we could drive over to Astoria in 90 minutes any time we want to, DH and I will loll around the ship and maybe indulge in discounted spa services. Then a day at sea. and a day at Catalina Island, which DH has never been to, though he spent his entire youth in LA. Then our beloved brother-out-law will pick us up in SanDiego and convey us to our hotel in Manhattan Beach where we will stay for four days of intense familial bonding. Then home again. On an airplane.

So we need someone to watch the house, feed the cats, take in the mail and papers. Thank you Lisa! Thank you, thank you!

I asked Lisa what I could bring her from LA. She asked for Johnny Depp. I said I would do my best. She then asked if she could have him chocolate covered, as she wanted to lick it off. My reply, "Milk or dark?" her response: "Bittersweet, of course." She can lick it off, but I get to paint it on.