April is a busy month for birthdays around here, from beginning to end! This is us on Monday night at Belts' Soft Serve in Stevens Point, after celebrating Kate's (4/22), Ali's (4/16), and Maddy's (4/25) birthdays with a family dinner at Mikey's in Plover.
It's actually a composite of THREE photos, because the youngest of the group wasn't in the mood and the second-from-eldest was making (even) goofier faces, and there were various eye closures, etc.! Heh.
Two cousins already had birthdays this month (both on 4/1), as did an aunt (4/16). My uncle's 82nd birthday would have been (4/17).
And my granddad's 106th today!!
A nephew's is still to come (4/29).
And my new grandbaby still has time to make the cut!! His mama would love nothing more... IT'S PINS & NEEDLES TIME!
Anticipating...Rites of Spring Fiber Frolic - a tour of yarn shops, fiber farms, coffee shops & cafes in NE Wisconsin. Make.Do and KC&T are on the map!
It'll be a fun few days... lambs, yarn, trunk shows, classes, tons of door prizes! And it could be even more fun & exciting with BFF's daughter's bridal shower and a new grandbaby's due date in the mix!! We'll see how it goes...
Celebrating... April Birthdays!!!
Drinking... G&T, the occasional IPA -- so many to choose from these days!
Eating... I've reinstated my subscription to Plated, and was sent an invitation to try Blue Apron, so have had a few deliveries lately and a lot of fun cooking -- samosas, chicken, salmon, meatballs, catfish. Yum.
Enjoying... finally, some summer-like weather!
Wearing... Sandals. Yay!
Itching... to PLAY WITH ALL THIS FABRIC. At the end of January, a "friend" from Utah shared an ad on FB by someone out there who was selling many yards of Alabama Chanin cotton jersey. My "friend" was even willing to pick it up and ship it to me. It was all just too good to pass up, so arrangements made, money transferred, parcels packed and posted, and voila! I have a ton more fabric to play with -- quite a few colors, many that I'd likely never order (minimums) but I'm happy to have/see/play with in person. My little color swatch cards are great, but there's a huge difference when you actually have enough fabric to hold and squeeze and see in so many more ways.
Sewing... my Alabama Chanin skirt. I'm closing in on the quilting of the third panel. I am considering starting the fourth right away and possibly not cutting those two pieces (which would be the back of the skirt) -- at least not right away. I don't know... it's been a design-as-you-go project from Day 1, subject to whim!
Knitting... because of the concentrated effort on sewing, the knitting has stalled. (Where has all the free time gone?)
LOLA is underway, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. In the meantime, digging through a bin of WIPs (a small bin), I discovered that I've had more of the Tsumugi silk all along, in the exact colorway!
Romi's Mystery Shawl is also underway, but late one night I pulled the needle out of a few stitches at the end of a row and I haven't yet returned.
I never got started on the Healthy Knitter KAL.
Listening... to The Golem and The Jinni. I had borrowed it on Overdrive, but holy cow it's a long book! The reading is lovely, but quite slow... combined with not a lot of listening time, I was barely past the quarter-mark when it was due! I even sped it up a bit. I was unable to renew it right away, so had to put it on hold again... not a fan of this aspect of Overdrive! I recently signed up for Audible, though, and used this month's credit for that book, so I should be safe. (I've still sped up the reading just a tad, even though I now have all the time in the world.)
Reading...The Whole Fromage. The author is a native of Wisconsin... so knows a little bit about cheese! I'd given this book to my mother a few years ago, but I don't think she ever read it.
Needing... to CLEAN UP & ORGANIZE! I know I say it at least once or twice a year: MY WORKROOM IS A DISASTER! It is worse than ever and I can't even imagine when I'm going to get to it. (Where has all the free time gone?)
Planning... June. Three weddings, three weekends in a row! And the start of our Farmer Market season (which, given new baby & etc., may take a June hiatus).
These are among the albums that come to mind when nothing else is cutting it. They're comfortable, familiar, meaningful, and/or transportational -- in that they "take me" to a time or place where I find happiness or contentment, or just wanna ROCK OUT.
It's almost embarrassing to admit that I've never visited the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan before. That wrong was made right on Saturday.
Our first stop was the restroom:
I've been known to take photos in the bathroom, but usually not of the bathroom. The name KOHLER + the word ART definitely puts a different spin on the subject.
These photos were all taken in the same bathroom, but I popped my head into ALL of them! Amazing.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing stuff like this:
When Ali brought him over yesterday, he clung to her for a bit and then reached over to me after a few minutes. Soon, he was pushing his mum out the back door, waving and saying "BYE!," firmly closing the door behind her! Hilarious!!
Sand & trucks at his house, sidewalk chalk at mine. He helped Grampa with some yard work, and also chased cats around the yard (two of ours + one of the neighbor's), asking, "WHAT YOU DOING?"
My other big accomplishment was getting our home network figured out (again and, hopefully, for good) so we could continue watching Hinterland on Netflix! It was so aggravating on Saturday night, wanting to watch but TiVo telling me that there was no internet. TWC recently sent us a new modem and... yeah. I narrowed it down to a possible problem with our old hub -- at least I hoped -- so I ran to Best Buy for a new switch yesterday and, voila, back on track!
No internet for half the day during an office move, with messages from "beyond" like I've never seen before, is one legitimate reason for having a shitty day today.
Another very legitimate reason would be this:
It is April 8th... WTF?
But I was NOT having a shitty day. I was having NO PART OF THAT!
OMG, TACOS! I haven't had tacos in years -- possibly a dozen (or even more, considering that my youngest will soon be 25)! My hankering for a hard-shell taco has been steadily growing for weeks!!
The internet issues were finally solved with a new modem/router (no thanks, really, to A T & T). And I made good progress in moving from temporary digs to a swanky new (not quite finished but well on the way) office area with storage and cabinetry the likes of which I never dared dream... all of which makes me quite happy.
And a taco for lunch! My friend & co-worker experiencing increased stress lately (for various reasons) possibly didn't quite hear me when I said that I was having tacos for dinner tonight, instead, apparently, subconsciously registering "TACOS" and bringing them for everyone at lunchtime today!
At peak hankering, I could not resist one (but did manage to resist the offer of a second...).
The snow might have put a damper on attendance at tonight's fundraiser, but the money raised is nothing to scoff at! The tacos were just as expected and quite satisfying, the beer was delicious and cold, and the company and conversation, with friends new and old, was quite lively and fun.
And so, the power of tacos (twice in one day!), restored internet, friends & good conversation... and swanky new digs.
We still have Cheerio time! Lately, it involves getting out the "nilk" and a bowl, and two boxes of cereal from the cupboard. He then eats a bowl or two of Crispix, drinking the extra milk straight from the bowl or with a straw. Sometimes we don't even open the box of Cheerios!
I lunched & shopped & hung out with my sister on Saturday.
On Sunday, I FINISHED OUR TAXES (was finished with them, at any rate)! I also finished some overdue newborn photo work.
There are some major ch-ch-ch-changes happening at my workplace! Work has been going on for a while now, but is only directly affecting my space as of today. It's like working in a beehive around here! I hope to be nicely settling into the reworked/rearranged space by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.
