Still Crazy Busy!!!

Good Morning!

Whew!  It is still crazy at work.  The weekend flew by, starting with dinner at Colin & Mailing's on Friday.  I completely forgot to take pictures, but they made pizza with home-made crust, home-made sauce, etc.  It was all delicious.

Saturday I met Dee for coffee and a bit of knitting which was such a welcome relief.  Sunday was mostly doing work I had brought home.  Long story short:  it's that time of year when bonus calculations are completed.  At our units we have Directors, Assistant Directors and Operations Managers who are all eligible for bonus payments.  The world that I support includes roughly 600-700 facilities/units.  That equates to roughly 1,800 eligible employees.  I need to verify that 1) there is funding, 2) that payments requested have not exceeded the funding, 3) that everyone has been captured.  Two things have happened:  1) I found out that the summary of available funding provided me by accounting is incorrect.  YIKES!  2) Yesterday it was discovered that the calculation sheet used for the operation managers is not correct.  DOUBLE YIKES.  My summaries need to be completed by close of business tomorrow!

So, all of that to say that I have not really had time to read blogs or comment.  I'm sneaking in this quick post and then will be back next week.

I have done a little bit of knitting on Colin's blanket - the first cables are finished:

I'm really liking the way this is turning out.  It's a fun knit (as long as I don't try to do too many rows with the bulky yarn and big needles!!).

My good news is that this weekend is Sisters' Weekend!  I fly to Providence, RI Thursday morning.  We have massages booked for Friday and we plan to eat, drink and talk!  I am more than ready.  My flight back is Sunday morning and then I'll be right back to the mess at work on Monday.

I do hope you all are doing well and enjoying Fall.  Did anyone go to Rhinebeck???

Unraveled Wednesday 10/16/19

Good Morning!

It is a grey, damp day here in Eastern PA.  It's not raining yet, but heavy soaking rains are forecast beginning around Noon and lasting about 12 hours!  I may need to build a boat to get home.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, a bit of unraveling did occur this week.  In my defense I was not feeling well (the tooth issue and a cold?  or allergies?) when I started Colin's blanket.  The pattern is North of the River and instead of starting with the bottom border I skipped those rows completely and jumped right into the set up rows.  LOL  I have since re-started.  The border (seed stitch) is almost complete:

That is a bright yellow!!  This is a bulky yarn (using a size 11 needle).  The pattern calls for Super bulky yarn and a size 15 needle, but I think that would ruin my hands...so instead I am adding pattern repeats to make the blanket a good size.  I'm hoping to make a bit more progress on this tonight.

There was no knitting at lunch yesterday (working straight through these days), but I'm hoping to sneak in a little bit today on the socks for my sister-in-law.

Now that it feels like Fall has finally arrived, I changed out the runner on our buffet and am back to lighting candles at dinner time.

The vase is holding Beauty Berry - so pretty.  We don't have that on our property, but Fletch was at a client's on Monday and brought some home.

We do eat by candle light each night now that it is a bit darker.  The little tray with gourds, candles and pine cones just about blends into my Fall tablecloth.  The gourds are some Fletch picked up before we went on vacation and we had them on our table in the camper.

I'm between books right now and have been too tired at night to start something new.  Fletch and I did finish Tom Sawyer while on vacation and are now reading "Tender is the Night" by Fitzgerald.  I had read this years ago, but am enjoying it once again.

Linking up with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday.  Hop on over to her blog to see what she and others are making and reading.

At Last - Better Late Than Never!

Well Hello All,

I fully intended to write a post yesterday, but after starting the day in a dental chair, by the time I got to work I was swamped....

Yup, the dental work I had done before vacation (repairing a broken tooth) didn't hold (as my dentist thought it might not...) and Friday afternoon part of the work he did plus another piece of tooth came out.  After my visit yesterday morning I now have a temporary crown and the permanent one should arrive in a week or two.  Yikes!  Just another jewel in my mouth - lol.  Luckily there was no real pain with it other than my tongue scraping raw from the rough edge of the tooth.  As long as I didn't move my tongue I was fine - so eating and talking were issues.  A diet plan!

We did have a nice weekend, visiting my oldest brother and his wife in Delaware.  My nephew and great nephew were there and Colin & Mailing drove down as well.  My great nephew just turned 5 and oh boy!  What a ton of energy...and noise...LOL.  I completely forgot to get any pictures.  That was Saturday and we were home in time to do grocery shopping and settle in for the night.

The "Better Late Than Never" title was inspired by this:

Our first Morning Glory blossom this year opened on Sunday, October 13th!  Geeze, we used to get a ton of blooms every year, but lately it has been a struggle.  There are some buds and hopefully more will open before this plant gets killed by frost.

Fletch also picked up several mums a few weeks ago.  One of them is going gang-busters:

Look at how full this is!

On the knitting front, I started knitting a blanket for Colin.  I forgot to snap a picture, but it is not very far along.  He requested a blanket for wrapping up in while watching TV and picked out a very bright "Canary" yellow color.  I ordered the bulky yarn from KnitPicks and it arrived while we were on vacation.  I started it over the weekend and after 16 rows realized that I had completely forgotten the border rows - lol.  So, that was ripped out and now the border is almost finished.  Bulky yarn with size 11 needles is a little tough on my fingers, but I am getting used to it and hope to get this finished before too long.

I also started knitting a pair of socks for my SIL in CO for Christmas.

I forget the brand of yarn - will get that to y'all later.  The pattern is Hermione's Everyday Socks and the yarn is so busy that the pattern doesn't really show, but at least it keeps me from getting bored.  The yarn with all the colors in it reminds me of confetti, so I am calling them Hermione Confetti Socks.

Still nuts at work...and will be through the end of October/beginning of November.  It's this way every year.  So, I need to run, but will get back here when I can.  I'm catching a few blogs now and then, not always able to comment though.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Back in the Saddle

Well Hello Everyone!

I have missed you all.  We had a wonderful vacation and I will attempt to be brief in my recap for you.  I was reading some blogs while out and about, but wifi was not always accessible...or it kept cutting out.

Anyhoo, we survived and Tyg survived with Colin watching him (and the frogs).  One night Colin texted that he had saved a frog that Tyg had carried from our little water feature out onto the lawn!  Luckily the frog survived that trip.  Tyg was extremely affectionate when we got home - very unlike him - lol.  We got home on Monday and that night he slept right up against me all night, purring loudly. 

So, the trip.  We were camping in our (tiny) camper and headed North.  We started out in Woodstock, NY where we had been a couple of years before.  A very pretty area with many great yarn shops...none of which I visited this time😝- we only stayed one night in Woodstock and then headed to southern New Hampshire.  We saw some color - mostly while driving.  But here was a bright spot at one of the campgrounds.

It was a bit overcast that day.  After one night in NH, we headed North to Maine where we stayed in the Bucksport area.  This is where we had lunch:

I love that HUGE inflated lobster.  Again, it was an overcast day and a bit chilly.  We both had some chowder and Fletch had fried oysters as well.  And this place was just about next door to the restaurant - I couldn't resist getting a picture.

We were two nights in Bucksport and on our *free* day - meaning we were not on the road with the camper - we went into Bangor where we stopped at a shop that sold yarn.  It was really more of a gift shop - just a little yarn, lots of gorgeous pottery and jewelry.  I did buy one skein of sock (of course) yarn.  All the yarn was local and this colorway is *Tapped Maple* - love the Autumn colors in it.

After that we headed back down to New Hampshire - this time to the Lake Region by the White Mountains.  We drove by Squam Lake (where lots of lovely knitting retreats go on) - the entire area is just gorgeous.  I've spent so much time in Vermont, but very little in New Hampshire and it was just lovely.  We were two nights again in that area and I found a yarn shop, but instead of shopping we met up with a former client of Fletcher's.  Lois met us for lunch in Plymouth, NH and it was just so nice to catch up with her.  I forgot to get any pictures though.

After lunch we headed to Castle in the Clouds.  Unfortunately it was pretty chilly/windy when we got there late in the day.  We did not have time for a tour and it was really too cold to enjoy a walk on the property.  We did go out on the patio area briefly:

There were a few folks sitting out there having drinks.  If it had been a bit sunnier and a tad bit warmer, I would have enjoyed that.

We made it back to our campsite and Fletch got some charcoal going for a steak dinner.

You can see he is a bit bundled up!  We ate inside the camper.

I cooked up some Brussels sprouts and potatoes (from our garden!).  Delicious!!

The next day we headed down to Niantic, CT and visited the Connecticut River Museum which is in the quaint town of Essex, CT.  It is a very small museum, but had some fun exhibits.  Then we were on our way back to Woodstock for our last night out.

The entire week I only did a very little knitting.  I did manage to finish my Cascading Leaves socks and I just love them so much.

I started another pair of socks our last night out, but the yarn is some I've tried to knit with previously and I guess it is just not interested in being socks...or being knit by moi.  It is giving me all kinds of fits - lol.

As I said, we arrived back home on Monday.  Tuesday was spent doing laundry, paying bills and the like.  Yesterday it was back to work.  CRAZY times at my office.  So busy!  End of one fiscal year, beginning of another and suddenly all kinds of reports are due NOW.  Oh well, I do prefer to be busy.  It doesn't help that I'm scheduled to be off the 24th and 25th for my annual Sisters' Weekend (this year in Providence, RI again).  It will be pretty much nose to the grindstone for me from now through the end of the month.

It was such a nice vacation, but as always, it is also so nice to be home.  Hoping everyone is doing well.  I'll get back to commenting on your blogs in a bit.

Friday Miscellaneous

Good Morning!

It's Friday!!!  And it is FOGGY outside, and damp.  Not trying to wish away my days, but today is my last day of work until October 9th!  Yup - I am on vacation once I leave the office this afternoon (hopefully early).  I'll be checking in on your blogs via my phone, but most likely won't be commenting much.  We are taking our camper and heading North.  Once again we will be in the Rhinebeck region of NY a few weeks ahead of NY Sheep & Wool, then heading further North into CT, NH and the coast of ME.  Hoping for gorgeous Fall colors and excellent weather for hiking and exploring.  Yes, I'll do a little yarn shopping, but I'd like to find some different stores/shops since we've covered this area in the past.  I'm sure I'll find something - lol.

Meanwhile, Colin was over last night and brought flowers!

Yes, that's my messy kitchen table (the garlic in the bowl is what we will be planting when we get back from vacation - the "we" is Fletcher - ha!).  The flowers are from Colin's garden at work.  He has had a garden at his corporate office for several years.  Since he and Mailing bought their house in February, he put in a large vegetable garden at home and decided just to throw a bunch of wildflower seeds in his garden bed at work.  He kind of forgot about it until earlier this week he was leaving a meeting and happened to glance out a window by the garden plots and saw a riot of color in his plot.  So pretty.

A surprise package arrived in the mail the other day from my aunt & uncle in Maryland.  My aunt does a lot of charity knitting, but sent me a scarf she knitted for my birthday:

Such softness!  And lovely Fall-like colors.  I think I'll take this along on vacation in case we have a chilly morning or night (I'm sure we will).  I'd best remember to pack some fingerless mitts too.

I have been able to knit a little bit at lunch the past couple of days so there has been some progress on the second sock:

I should be able to finish up the leg, do the heel flap, turn the heel (one of my favorite parts - always like magic!!), pick up the gusset stitches and head down the foot before we leave on Sunday.  There are some errands I need to run tomorrow (groceries for the trip), and cleaning before we leave, as well as packing.  And - most important - I need to decide what other knitting project(s) (and maybe some stitching??) to take on vacation.

Meanwhile, I smell bacon & eggs - the caterers just set up breakfast in our main kitchen at work.  I'm headed over there now.  Then a conference call at 10 and hopefully out of here by mid-afternoon.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead.  I'll be back here on the 9th or 10th.  Be well!

Unraveled Wednesday 9-25-19

Good Morning All,

A little bit of a nip in the air this morning as I left my house.  The sun had just risen and the fields I passed looked all misty and foggy.  Definitely a Fall look (and feel) this morning.

Yesterday ended up being busy!  I had an eye doctor appointment early which went very well (YAY!!) and then ran into road construction on my way to work.  I needed (ha!) to stop at Trader Joe's on my way into the office and eventually got in a little after 10.  After that the day sort of got away from me.  I had a meeting at 12:30 that I had completely forgotten about and I wanted to leave a little early as yesterday was Fletcher's birthday. 

Bottom line, not much knitting was accomplished.  I only managed to knit four rows on the 2nd Cascading Leaves sock.

The pattern is just beginning to emerge...hopefully I will get some rows knit at lunch today.  I had hoped to finish this before we leave on vacation this Sunday, but I know that won't happen.  So this will go with me along with another project or two.  Perhaps I can finish it before one of the days we have planned for hiking!

On the reading front, I am still making my way through "Before We Were Yours."  I haven't read anything for a couple of days (too busy or too tired).  I had two books come through at the library (*real* books as opposed to Overdrive) but I turned them back in since we will be on vacation and they would be due before we return.  I'm anxious to read them both (Inland and Lanny). so will put requests in again once we are back home.

This is another busy day at work.  After months of basically nothing to do, we have entered the time of year where everything gets crazy.  Our fiscal year runs October-September, so closing out one year and starting another is always nuts.  Add in another meeting this afternoon and my day is pretty packed.  I'd best get a move on.

Linking up with Kat on this Unraveled Wednesday.  Head on over to her blog to see what others are making and reading.

A HO...or One Finished and the Next Started

Good Morning Friends!

Let me tell you, it was SO wonderful to have the gift of Friday off.  I managed to get up (ha!), get 3 loads of laundry finished, pay the bills that were due, run some errands AND knit!  Getting all of that stuff done also allowed me to have a fun day with Dee on Saturday.  Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day to be out and about and we went to a great craft show, walked around Skippack a bit, had a wonderful lunch and then went to a coffee shop for some knitting time.  Perfection!

On Sunday I finished the first of the Cascading Leaves socks in the beautiful Make Do yarn.  Love it!  And # 2 has been started (cuff ribbing complete).

This guy kept me company while I knit.

Minutes before I snapped that picture he had his right paw covering his eyes - too cute.

Fletch and I ran some errands yesterday and when we got home, Tyg was by the water feature.  Next thing I knew, he had a frog under his paw!  I yelled and the frog got away.  Tyg was not amused, but this guy is safe, at least for a little bit longer.

Today should be a nice day.  We have an employee lunch off site (Bahama Breeze).  Since we had Friday off, I doubt that Bobby will tell us to just go home after lunch, but you never know! 

How was your weekend?