Friday Fish

In a nice sort of tuna salad way. I was headed out early Wednesday night and needed a quick, easy, dinner. Since I was alone and absolutely NO ONE in my house will eat tuna, it was the perfect time for me to make my favorite tuna salad.

OK - there is at least one other person who shares my appreciation for tuna. But he's not allowed on the counter during food preparation. Shoo - get down Tigger!! So, where were we?

Start with pretty bowl and 1 can of tuna. We prefer solid white solid albacore. If Chris is coming over, make sure that the contents are just tuna and water - no broth with soy! This is very important.

Add this must chopped celery ......

... and this much chopped onion ...

... and this much chopped cornichons.

Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste.

This much mayonnaise...

Some ripe tomatoes, fresh spring greens, and voila: dinner for one!

Wanna see what Jon had that night? Really, it was so good on Monday!! It was chicken with black beans rice and tomatoes. But mixed in bowl as leftovers, wouldn't you really rather have the tuna??

I'm driving to pick up Kathryn from camp tomorrow! My girlfriend visited them on Wednesday and reported that the girls are having a grand time. They had zero time to talk to her! That's the best news I could have heard. Have a great weekend

A Knitterly Visit

Chris and Jeanne were kind enough to invite me let me crash their knitting time this week while I manage through my childless week. A dose of other people's kids is sometimes just what you need when you're really missing your own. The presence of a box in the room had its usual hypnotizing effect on our friends Chaos and Mayhem.

"May, if you stay in there too long you'll wind up in some place called the U.K."

"Oh, that sounds very bad indeed. Do they have tuna there big kitty?"

I thought perhaps I was overdressed for a slumber party (Jeanne got a pair too, blue with sheep I think) but this is just a teeny bit of someones haul from her recent trip to through the Rockie Mountain area recently. Jealous much?

Oh look! There was something in that ginormous bag for me. But wait - these pictures are not for the sock-knitting faint-of-heart. Sorry - they're commercially knit!! But look how cute!!!

It's good to have friends!!

Everybody Has a Boss!

Meet my Job Site Supervisor. He sits in this box all day while I work on my home-improvement project (think small here people!). This doesn't make me want to work any faster or harder. It just makes me laugh hysterically because I think - if he knew that the box said "bear" (at least phonetically) he'd be SO embarrassed!!

"Hey - get off the computer and get back to work or I'll -- fluff you!. And you need to finish by 6:00 if you want to go knit with Chris and Jeanne! And don't bring that strange kitty smell home either!"

Just for fun...

... some night, take your dog to Culver's for dinner and have her sit at the table (outside, of course) with you. It makes the people going through the drive-up lane laugh their butts off!

"Um, I ordered the double cheeseburger please.""What, no fries? Oh, the humanity! Or caninity!"
"Sis, get me a scoop of custard too will ya?"
"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on my hips."

Thank you all so very much for your supportive words yesterday. Your own camp memories, or your experiences dropping your own children off are helping me through this. That and the fact that Mr. has given me a huge house project to complete while Kathryn is gone. Just remember, I'm not usually allowed to work on house projects - and for very good reasons! Fear not, I'm documenting it for you. Lucky you!

Don't Mind Me...

... this morning if I'm out of sorts. I'm tired and really cranky from spending 9 total hours in the car yesterday taking Kathryn up to camp and then LEAVING HER THERE. For a week. Alone, in the middle of nowhere. See, even the really sophisticated navigation system in the car proves it:
Mr. seems undeterred in his mission to deliver our daughter safely into the arms of the certain danger I am just sure awaits her at summer camp.
Wild animals are abundant in northern Minnesota. Did anybody think about that? I mean, what if a wild lion happens to come into her cabin?
Even Holli doesn't want her to go. See how sad she is? She spent the whole trip up to camp with her head on Kathryn's lap.

Did I mention that camp was just for one week?
Finally! The best friend!! Her cabin is just around the bay. Her mom will not spend 9 hours in the car today. You will not see her picture because - well, she look freaking fabulous!! However, we depend on that mom all week as the "emergency call" mom since she'll be at the cabin all week. She's going to Jet-Ski over and visit the girls on Wednesday. God Bless the cabin around the bay.
Looks just like home doesn't it? And it smelled just as good. And this was the good cabin choice because it is partially underground so it's naturally cool (damp) and refreshing (musty).

So, OK. The counselors don't look like serial killers or any other sort of freaks. In fact they are charming, wonderful, young ladies. The kind of girls whose parents probably worried about the same things I'm worrying about right now when they sent their girls off to camp. They promised to take good care of my little girl. I believed them.
Acceptance. She's staying. She'll be here for a week. I have to drive home now. I promised her I wouldn't cry if she wouldn't. She didn't. I didn't....until 9:00 last night when I was getting ready for bed and I was surrounded by all the baby pictures and little girl pictures. I lost it. Big time.

Have a great week at camp my sweet little girl young lady. I love you T & B. Mom.

Friday Friends

It's just a miserably damp and dreary day today. Even Tigger came in off the porch early from his morning nap to see what was going on in the kitchen.
Ooooh, scones. With chocolate chips added. Because you know the rule, anything worth baking is worth adding chocolate chips to!Looks like we are expecting some friends - on a miserable, dreary Friday no less!
Well, who would have guessed - friends with knitting!! Let's see, we have Becky (worked at the yarn store with her), Brenda (from the Tuesday Knitting Group), and Shauna (adopting Lou from Guatemala).

Becky is showing off her gorgeous "Garden of Eden" shawl. She's wearing in a wedding in Texas next weekend. It's absolutely stunning in person - not bad here either.


Kathryn is giving Brenda's Debbie Bliss afghan a trial run. We tried to keep this here for us, but Brenda was not in to all that noise.

It's just 2:00 in the afternoon and my pals who arrived at 9:00 this morning just left. It's still 65 degrees and damp and dreary outside. But inside, my house it's warm and sunny with the memories of a wonderful morning and afternoon spent with my dearest friends, knitting and laughing and sharing stories of our kids and husbands and our lives. Sometimes, being a "no-life-housewife" is the best job in the whole wide world!

Have a great weekend.

Off Kilter

Like 2528 other knitters I'm anxiously awaiting the first clue in the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. Since the first clue is to being released next Friday, I decided to swatch early in case I decided to change my mind. I'm using Misti Alpaca Lace, which I've used before in the Swallowtail Shawl and loved. It's also dirt cheap inexpensive in case this is just a passing fancy and I don't decide to finish the thing. It also includes lots and lots of teeny, tiny beads.

At this point it could be a wadded up tissue or a fine work of art. You just can never tell until you've had a chance to block it out with a little water, a bit of tugging here and there and some time.

Here you can see that even all that didn't really help all that much. Hmph. I followed the chart, I think. I counted diligently, I think. Still looks pretty much like crap, I think. I had an eye doctor appointment earlier and the drops had worn off but there was on casualty I forgot about. Thanks, Nurse Practitioner! The arm snapped off at a place that can't be fixed and the frames are discontinued. Well, I needed to update my prescription anyway. It seems my bifocal part needs to be strengthened.

"To Knit With!"

When I first started dyeing yarn, about two years ago, it was on a whim. I was just playing with old wool yarn and Kool-Aid. It was fun and creative and I enjoyed it. I have since graduated to more sophisticated techniques, yarns, and dyes. I've surrounded myself with a small group of other talented individuals who also love to dye fibers and who are an inspiration to me. You know them as The Usual Suspects. We've gotten together probably a half dozen times to dye together, with each of us dyeing 400 to 600 grams of mostly sock weight yarn each time. That's a lot of yarn. My husband looks at it all the time and asks "What is it for?" My answer has usually been "I'm not sure." I've gifted some to other knitters. I've pushed some on some unlucky recipients. The failed attempt at black, silver, and green comes to mind and the lucky child who thought it looked like camouflage - not the look I was going for! But mostly it's been accumulating in the yarn room - waiting.

Until yesterday. These could be the fastest socks I ever knit. I love that even though I only used three colors when I dyed this yarn, there are hundreds of colors in the strands as I knit with it. I love that I picked the colors because I liked them - no other reason than that! I love that there will never, ever be a pair of socks just like these anywhere in the world because of the uniqueness of this yarn that I dyed. Every stitch makes me happy because I can't wait to see which of the little color variations pops up on the needle. I love that I can now answer the question "What is all that yarn for?"

"To knit with - duh!!"

Happy Feet!

"Check out the new socks!" "Oooh, pretty!" "How come we don't get socks like that?" "Because we don't wear socks at all." "Do you think she could make flipper warmers?"
"Hurry, Kathryn's coming!!" "C'mon Little Guy, you have to keep up!"
"This way to the penguin shelf."
"Don't worry. We'll pull you up. Hang on. We're pulling as hard as we can!"
"Safe at last. What escape? We've been here the whole time!"

Seed Stitch Rib socks in Colinette Jitterbug #117 Alizerine

Size 0, 32 " Addi Turbo circular needle

Toe-Up,Turkish Cast-On, Short-Row heel

Started May 30, 2007 -- Finished June 17, 2007

My feet are very happy indeed, especially since I finally lost the air conditioning war on Saturday. The penguins are happy too. But me, I'm freezing!!!

Five Dads

One thing our family does really well is dads. There are three of them, my father and two of my three brothers. Each one has his own parenting style which mirrors his personality. No one of the three is like the other. We gathered at my house last night for a celebration of the fathers. Of course we had to wait until the completion of the US Open to eat - because that's what we do.

My dad became a father nearly fifty years ago with the birth of his number one daughter, me. Five other children would follow in rapid succession. Dad is a sports guy. He spent his career filming professional and college sports. He is also an avid golfer. If you grew up with my dad, you knew sports. Even as a girl you knew the important things like how to read a defense, what club to use to reach the green, and where the top of the key is. But you also knew the important stuff too like, "Your daddy loves you" and the only sure fire birth control method in the world, "KYLC": Keep your legs crossed. I adore my dad,
My brother Dan, third kid in our family. Clueless. That's what he was when he came into parenthood 16 years ago. With twins. A boy and a girl. Then he was okay for a while when they were manageable. Now he's clueless again. Because they are 16. Dan's style has always been sort of "What?" as if he's forgotten all the stuff he did or that he had a childhood or the fact that compared to him, his kids are saints! He is a loving and wonderful dad; you only had to see his 16 year old daughter curl up in the chair with him last night to know that.
Dave, number four of the six kids. Dave has been a dad for 11 years. He has two darling daughters who Kathryn gets to see quite often as they live only 4 mile from us. Dave has a high-stress, high-finance, high-travel job. The kind that can ruin families and relationships. It hasn't. Dave, by sheer force of will and the love for his family, will not allow it. He's more of a strong, silent type. Not much for expressing emotion or words for that matter. Dave has inspired a sense of adventure in the girls that I wish I had. On weekends, they cook gourmet meals together. There isn't much that the girls won't eat.
After the US Open we ate. Pulled pork, potato salad, cole slaw, rustic bread and tomato salad, home-made ice cream cake. Wait, I said 5 dads ... that's only three.

Jon, Jon's dad, Jon's sister, Jenny. Confession time. Yesterday was not the day Jon wanted it to be. I caved to family (mom) pressure and the fact that my mom hosted the Mother's Day celebration. I couldn't say "no" when the call went out for a place to have a Father's Day celebration. Even though we had just talked about what to do on Father's Day minutes before, how he wanted to spend the day, what he wanted to do. Considering the only other choices (the other two moms) weren't even at the party yesterday....nope, I should have said no and I didn't. I'm really, really, sorry honey.

You know that in Kathryn's eyes you are the best of all the dads in the world. And if you promise not to tell my dad, I'll let you in on a little secret, I do too. Happy Father's Day!