A Quick Post

Here it is going on midnight and I'm just getting to this blog. But I wanted to touch bases as I'm going to try for balance here as Robin recommended. I'm such an all-or-nothing kind of person that I forget other people manage to keep abreast of several interests at the same time. There's no reason I can't knit AND blog. It's just a matter of balance. That's what I need: balance. I'm striving for it and hopefully I can do both things.

My friend, Kathleen, came up to me at church yesterday morning and invited me to ride down to Stockton with her today. I was torn. I wanted to go but then I wanted to stay home too. Ever have that sensation. We left her house before 9:30 and we got back about 4:15. Whew! Long day! But it was fun. Rain had been forecasted for the day but we drove down in bright blue skies and sunshine. Our first stop was Office Depot, then we hit Joann's (arts/crafts) Bed, Bath, & Beyond (just what it sounds like) Best Buy (electronics/computers) Michael's (arts/crafts) and we made a trip to Bud's for a wonderful cup of steaming clam chowder with San Francisco sour dough bread and real butter! And I spent way too much money. This is money that I'd been squirreling away for many months now for just such an opportunity to go to a big city and shop. That is a rarity for me. It has probably been 3 years since I spent any time off the mountain and down in the Valley. I have decided to make my sisters' afghans/throws for Christmas next year and I internet- ordered the yarn for one but I needed to find the yarn for the other one. So I bought what I think she will like (I hope). And then when we got to Michael's I found the knitting dept by accident (I really didn't know Michael's carries yarn) and came across some beautiful yarn for only 1.99 a ball. I bought 6 each of two different colors. One a really nice blue (in fact I've been kicking myself for not buying enough of it to make BJ's throw and use the yarn I bought at Joann's for something else) and one a darkish camel. Really pretty yarn and I couldn't let the price slip by me. I just wish I'd bought more of that blue. Oh well. I didn't. I'll live with it. The yarn I ended up buying for her throw is brushed varigated blues with white. Nice and different than that I ordered on the internet for the other sister. Her livingroom furniture is a deep blue. I can't remember the color of her bedroom and I'm not sure where she'll keep the throw, whether in the livingroom or the bedroom so I ended up going with blues. But the blues in the varigated yarn are really nice blues; nothing bright just subtle shades of blue. And I think she'll like that. As I said, it's a brushed yarn which I hadn't thought about but it was listed for a price I thought was fair for a throw and it will make a very pretty one.

Traffic was horrible in town not bad going or coming much at all but downtown? I was ready to scream!! I've lived up on the mountain too long to be comfortable in all that traffic. I'm always amazed at all the businesses though. I always feel like a little kid that's gone to the big city and just hypnotized by all the stores; just store after store; it was endless. Up here we have only one of what we have. In the Valley they have 12 of everything. Art supplies stores, department stores, computer stores, bookstores, the list is endless. And people!!! I've never seen so many people! Best Buy had enough people it in to qualify for a county! One like ours anyway. And the lines. Bear in mind that I am not a patient person and these lines were unbelieveable. At Michael's the line snaked back almost the length of the store. (I'm exaggerating but only a little.) And Kathleen wanted to purchase some white T-shirt ribbing and so we had to take a number and wait there too and then go stand in line there at Joann's. The only place we didn't have to wait in line for service was at Bud's. We went in and went directly to our table, ordered the chowder, and had it in front of us within 5 mins of walking through the door. I guess you'd be stupid to think there wouldn't be lines and people, people, people this close to Christmas. When I agreed to ride down with her I really hadn't thought about how frantic it would be being Christmas and all. I'm so stupid. I absolutely amaze myself at my own stupidity. No, actually I had a good time today. I hate to shop and I hate to be away from home and I did both and enjoyed myself. I think Kathleen's about as in need of a friend as I am. She's the only friends I have. Oh I have people I know real well from church and all but as a true friend I'd have to say that Kathleen is my only one and we just started our friendship. That was back when we had the heart 2 heart thingie at church and she and I agreed to email each other to get better acquainted (which was the purpose of the program or ministry) and when our 6 months were up we just kept on emailing each other. She and her husband took their vacation and she took me along via email (and I had a blast!) and then I joined the knitters group which she co-teaches and she offered to meet with me on Friday afternoons for more knitting and we have just really hit it off. We're so much alike even our birthdays are in the same month.

I finished Laurie's prayer shawl (can't remember if I mentioned that) and I have my pale green shawl almost finished (the body of it) and I'm excited to see it fringed and blocked. It's going to be very pretty. I only need about 4 more inches knitted and it will be long enough. My burgundy shawl is about 2 feet long already. Bear in mind that these are the same two shawls that I knitted out to about 3 feet and then ripped out and started all over again from scratch. I do feel like I've been with the pattern for ages. The thing is, it is a beautiful pattern and I just can't see making only one thing in that pattern. I want several things. So I'll have the two shawls and then my other sister's throw to make all with the same pattern and then I will move on to something else for BJ's throw. And whatever I find to make out of the solid blue and camel I bought. It's terrible to buy yarn and have no idea what you're going to make out of it but it was just so darned cheap!!! I would have kicked myself even harder if I'd passed up that bargain. The other thing I bought was a rotary cutter. It's like a big pizza cutter that I can use to trim the fringe to the proper length and even and all. Kathleen and I used her cutter when I did Laurie's shawl and since I know I've got at least 3 fringed projects to do yet, I could certainly use one of my own. And those aren't cheap. I did manage to find one for $12 and I bought a spare blade to keep on hand and it was $5, which I thought was pretty high but I didn't want to buy the cutter and then not be able to use it because I couldn't find replacement blades for it. Although is is a fiskar blade so that should be pretty easy to find. I hope anyway! Last month at the quilting clinic is the first I knew of rotary cutters and I was so impressed by the ease with which they were able to cut yardage. And then when I put the fringe on Laurie's prayer shawl Kathleen used hers. It worked perfectly for the fringe. Michael has a heavy, thick steel cutting edge I can use . Now all I need is a long cutting board. I've got a couple smallish cutting boards and I'll just have to keep moving it along underneath the edge I want to trim.

It rained on us coming home and has been raining here since I got to my house at about 4:30. We got .98 of an inch yesterday. I don't think this storm is supposed to give us much at all but we'll see because it has been raining for hours and hours. Well I know this has been very boring to you I'm sure. This is a great time in the life of our church. Our attendance is usually low but the month of December just packs them in. And I love that. I love to turn around and see a crowd of people sitting behind me. My son has been working 7 days a week since he started his new job so he hasn't been able to attend. I'm so proud of him. He's only been with them for a month and already they've promoted him. He is just so talented in what he does. I'm still in shock that the last place let him go. I bet you anything they're kicking themselves in the backside for letting him go, especially the way they did it. He had 14 years with that place and they just threw him away. Oh well, he likes this new place so much better.

We'll have our candlelight celebration Christmas eve and Michael is planning on going with me so that will be nice. I wish I could get him to come on Sundays but he would much rather stay home and watch TV, which wouldn't be so bad if he'd watch Charles Stanley or something other than NASCAR and football.

Okay this was supposed to be short and quick because I am really tired after that shopping trip today but I wanted to say something before the holiday gets here because everyone's so busy around Christmas. We actually won't be celebrating until the 28th and 29th this year. The 28th is for the entire clan and that's at the clubhouse across the river and the 29th is just our immediate family with my son and grandkids, etc, and that's just across town. So Christmas itself isn't going to feel special at all.

I have neglected my quiet time lately and I really need to get on the stick and get going with that again. I let knitting get in the way. I just need to do the quiet time BEFORE knitting because once I pick up those needles, it's all over for everything else. But I'm going to strive for that balance Robin spoke of. It's just my bipolar getting in the way of my life. This is it. I will rattle on forever if I don't be polite and just shut up. I have a couple devotions written that I will try to put out soon. Until next time...