Vacation Week

Mary and I had decided to go shopping on Friday morning, but after looking through the newspaper ads, there wasn't anything that we just had to have except for the free Christmas ornament from World Market. So we woke up with enough time to get there so we could be one of the first 100 shoppers after they opened at 7 a.m. Surprisingly, there wasn't a huge rush at the door.



I mean, who could pass up an opportunity to get a monkey holding a globe Christmas ornament? Apparently for some, cheap 50 inch plasma screen TVs are more appealing. Go figure. We spent the rest of the day shopping, hitting Michaels, Joann's and the mall and we bought very little. But we did have one goal: to buy the materials to make the box bags described in this tutorial. We hit the Great American Quilt company and found the perfect fabric.





There are a couple of things I'll do differently for the next one I make, but overall, I'm thrilled with how my first one turned out.

Aside from getting ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, I have spent my week of vacation being crafty. I finished the first of a pair of handspun socks.



This was yarn that was spun for me by a swap pal earlier this year. I love how the yarn has striped, and the sock is super soft and warm. I have already made it through half of the second sock.

I've also been enjoying the sunflowers that I bought as a centerpiece for my table at Thanksgiving.



The kitties have enjoyed them too. Ashford seems to enjoy their taste. To increase their longevity, they are safely locked away when I'm not at home to supervise.



And finally, I've been spinning this.



It's superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms. It's eventually going to be a three-ply sock yarn.

It has been a great week. Tomorrow, it's back to reality.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving! Today Mary and Phil, Phil's parents, Joe and Monica and my neighbor Jinhee were brave enough to join me for Thanksgiving and eat the first turkey I've ever baked.

I started out by brushing the turkey with olive oil, garlic powder, basil and sage.



Xena offered to keep an eye on the turkey when I had to take a shower.



I declined her help and shooed her off the oven, as that is against the rules. In spite of no kitty supervision, the turkey came out great.



Here is me pretending to carve the turkey. Joe took over after the photo was taken.



I also made chicken and noodles. Yum!



And we had a lot of other delicious food including a chocolate tart and homemade pumpkin ice cream, thanks to Mary and Phil, but didn't get photos. It was great day with friends and family.

Nobody Puts Ashford in a Corner

Well, except for Ashford. We had a bit of an incident earlier this week that could have been much more traumatic for the kitty had I not been on vacation from work and home during the afternoon. I was sitting on the couch when I heard something sliding and then a thud. I knew it had to be kitty related so I went to investigate. Purl was sitting next to me and she was immediately ruled out.

The noise sounded like it came from my powder room but a quick inspection found nothing out of the ordinary so I ran upstairs. I found Xena fast asleep on a pillow in the guest bedroom, easily narrowing the noise down to Ashford. I looked in all of the rooms upstairs with no sign of the kitty. I came back downstairs where there aren't too many places for the cats to hide. I went back into the powder room, said her name and heard the saddest kitty cry I've ever heard. So I looked in the only place she could be in that room and found my poor kitty, trapped in the corner behind a shelf.



I thought she would be able to jump out since I've seen Xena do it, but apparently the 12 year old cat with arthritis is a better jumper than the 18 month tortie. The crying got more pathetic, and Purl joined in to the whining, so I freed the kitty by moving the shelf. The day was saved.

Visiting Friends

I spent last weekend in Bartlesville to visit my friends. I was able to see almost everyone I wanted to see, and had some tasty meals at some of my favorite restaurants.

I had dinner with my friends Andrea and Jennifer



I spent an afternoon catching up and knitting with Stacy from Tempted. I didn't get any photos of her or her amazing yarn and fiber, but I did get a photo of me meeting her two puppies. They are little bundles of energy!



I also got to play with her Rio Grande spinning wheel. It is a beautiful wheel, but it is very different to spin on than my Matchless. I definitely need more practice.



And I was able to fit in some running. It happened to be the weekend of the Route 66 Marathon, and some of my friends were doing a relay. They needed someone to run the 6K (3.7 miles) leg, which was just my speed. It was a beautiful morning for a run. Our team came in just under 4 hours with a time of 3:59:23. Speedy!



It was a great weekend.

Back on the home front, I'm going to start sleeping with one eye open:



But how could this innocent looking kitty be plotting to kill me?



Well, maybe not so innocent looking...



Yep, sleeping with one eye open. I can't be distracted by cute pink nose and fluffy face.

Oh, Happy Day

IMG_0690, originally uploaded by zimmerml.

I was looking for something that I'm pretty sure the kitties have hidden from me, and I took a yard stick to see if it had rolled under the couch. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found 25 toy mice and at least 10 other cat toys. Pretty impressive for only having lived here for 9 months.

The kittens are very excited to be reunited with their toys. I'm sure that they'll all end up back under the couch in no time.