I Rule at Groceries

This is not a knitting post, sorry to say.

I just have to crow a bit. The other day, Anne and I sat down and made dinner menus. We did two and a half weeks' worth of (reasonably) nutritious, interesting meal-planning. Then we made a shopping list. Last night we went on the Major Food-Buying Excursion, and even with a few impulse buys and a six-dollar drain snake, our total was under $100.00.

A hundred bucks for two and a half weeks of meals for two adults. To be fair, we had previously gotten quite a bit of meat at Aldi, so there wasn't much meat on our list last night--but still! I feel pretty awesome about our shopping trip, and I'm really excited not to have to think about what to cook for a while.

And Mom, thanks for the menu idea!

I'm Not Dead Yet

We're just going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted in 3 months, m'kay?

I have no pictures to share today, but here's an Ann Update.

• I am working on getting over the swine flu. So far, I've gotten rid of the fever and the body aches, but the cough, sniffles, and fatigue are still hanging around. I'm taking this opportunity to eat ice cream with impunity--I'm sick! I need ice cream!
• During my convalescence, I knit an entire skein of yarn into most of a scarf. Of course, the scarf didn't end up as long as wanted it to be, and I was knitting from stash. I had purchased that particular skein of Patons Classic Wool literally months before I started knitting, and I had only gotten one. I went to the Michael's where I had gotten the yarn, and of all the yarn bins in the store, only one was empty--obviously, it was where the yarn I needed should have been. So after work yesterday I puttered over to the other Michael's in town to look for my yarn, but I wasn't very hopeful. As luck would have it, they had exactly two skeins of my yarn! One had a ballband and the other didn't, so just for kicks, I checked the dyelot on the one with a band. It was the same as my months-old, other-store yarn. Score!
• Quarantine is boring.
• I had a plumbing emergency before I got sick that resulted in lots of Drano-infused water overflowing onto my kitchen floor. I currently have two rooms in my house blocked off so the cats don't get in there and get sick (which will end when I rent a carpet cleaner and get the nasty chemicals out of the carpet). The cats aren't thrilled to have their running-around space basically cut in half. Must rent a Rug Doctor.
• I had something compelling to say when I started this entry, and I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.
  

Update: Part Two

Anne made me a birthday cake! It was her first cake, and she made a layer cake. I think she did a fabulous job. Very festive, and extremely tasty. Thanks, Anne! (Also, that's a lot of candles. I'm old.)


Next up we have the Tiny Sweater of Enormous Cuteness, otherwise known as a Baby Surprise Jacket. Extremely interesting construction, and fairly cryptic instructions. I wrote the pattern out row by row, because I need to have things to cross out in order to really keep my place. (I don't trust row counters.) It needs to be washed and blocked, and then it can be sent off to its future wearer's soon-to-be mom. It's cotton, so it should be a good weight for a late-summer baby--not too sweltering. Anne guessed that it's probably about a two-month size.


Of course, you don't get a good idea of its real size in that picture. So what's a knitter to do, when she has neither a baby nor an appropriately sized stuffed animal to model the Tiny Sweater of Enormous Cuteness?

Torture a cat, of course! The sweater is officially Pippin-sized. It fit him very comfortably.

He didn't seem upset by the sweater, just a little perplexed--but I still didn't leave it on him for too long. (This is what comes of me being really tired when I finish a baby sweater and happening to have a shaved cat nearby. It was irresistible.) I can't stop laughing at these pictures, but Bakers, I promise not to start clothing your cat on a regular basis.

Only when I need a small model for knitwear.

Update: Part One

Ta-da! All three cats in one place. Yes, Pippin is running away, but he's still mostly there.

I made a pretty red dress. It's ridiculously simple--basically just a big tube with sleeves and a neckline. So I added a belt. Ooh, look at me, I'm a fashion designer!


And my garden is going so well that I harvested and ate 9 beans in one day!

My cauliflower and cabbage are starting to show signs of life. The broccoli is still mostly just hanging out, but I'm hopeful that I might get just a little broccoli.

In the next post: Birthday cake, baby sweater, and more cats! Stay tuned!

Naked Pippin

Isn't this the most adorable thing you've ever seen?

Surprises

I just dropped Pippin off to get a physical, a rabies shot, a bath, and a shave, and holy crap--all that stuff is expensive! It will cost me between $200 and $250 to ransom the cat. Aaron, Samara, how would you feel about me leaving him there to wash dishes until it's paid off?

The other surprise came when I took a look at my garden last night. I have some baby green beans! And one baby snow pea! It's very exciting.

In other news, last night I cast on a Baby Surprise Jacket for Kelly's forthcoming baby. I'd take a picture, but right now it's about 4 rows, which isn't very exciting.

Exhaustion

This is just a quick update to tell everyone that I survived the Pride Festival!

It went so well--I'm ridiculously proud of everyone who was involved with putting it on. Committee members and volunteers were already at the venue getting things ready when I arrived at 7 am; the vendors and exhibitors all got set up with no problems; the entertainment was well-received; the crowd was high-energy but not rowdy; the weather was gorgeous. It was an all-around wonderful day.

I only got sunburned on my upper arms, and I made it to bed around 11 pm. I slept until noon. I don't think I moved at all during the night. The reckoning with the alcohol vendors went smoothly. I was in bed again by 10pm yesterday, and I could probably have slept until noon again today!

I am extremely tired and extremely happy.