Eastburn Adventures

Last weekend was been the hottest "heat index" in Springfield in 30 years, and we had a few days with a heat index of 106. I am so thankful that we got our air conditioning replaced before this started, because I believe this would have done in the old one! It's been so hot that I haven't picked up my knitting needles since last Friday night, and even then I only did a couple of rounds on the toe of my second No-Purl Monkey. We drove to Branson for some shopping on Saturday morning, and I didn't even feel like knitting in the car. I've about decided that SOS08 doesn't stand for Summer of Socks, but instead, Sick of Socks!

Speaking of the car, it is now sporting 4 brand new tires - which, thanks to Dave Ramsey - I just swiped the debit card and poof! they were paid for. I think the debt-freedom is finally starting to sink in, now that we've had a month where we weren't socking away cash for the A/C. That doesn't mean that we're not still putting cash back for a big expense: We're planning on going to Italy in March as part of our church's annual European choir tour! I've wanted to go on a couple of these before, and something always happened to keep us from it. Now it looks like it is going to work out for us to go, so we're saving up! I'll be more excited after our fall vacations. Only 23 days until we leave for Alaska!!

Although today the temps dropped back to a rather pleasant summer's day, I'm still zapped of all energy and strength. I picked up some stupid bug or virus and spent all day yesterday in bed - I didn't even make it to the couch. I'm better today, but still coughing and sneezing. And, nope, I didn't knit today either. Ravelympics starts tomorrow, and although I'm not officially signed up, I'm still contemplating challenging myself on another (non-sock) project. We'll see how I feel tomorrow night.

I'm still playing with my new camera some, and still have lots to learn, but Sammy seems to love to pose to have her portrait taken.

I am having the hardest time keeping up with the blog lately. I think every blogger has down times where they go several days without a post, and I've never been one to keep a journal, so I feel that any update I make is progress. But I do feel bad when I see the date of my last post and it's well over a week between.

So this is a photo-less catching up post. First, I've had the flu. I'm still a little blah and don't have my full voice back, which is part of the reason Kate and I haven't recorded another episode of our podcast. Second, I gave Robert the flu. Even though he slept in the guest room all last week and we haven't kissed in that long - drats! I miss that! - my germs apparently got to him. He says he's feeling better today though.

Being sick, I haven't felt like knitting, and I've completely lost all interest in my 2nd No Purl Monkey sock - even with the Casbah yarn. I know. It's really sad. I was going to try to join Zarah and make the February Lady Sweater as my unofficial Ravelympic project, but I never even got the yarn wound. I'll get to it someday. I think my next sweater project is going to be the Hey Teach! pattern made from Knit Picks Comfy in Planetarium.

On the work front, we got great news today in that our company is giving us 3 more paid holidays that we didn't get before: MLK Jr's BD, Presidents' Day, and Columbus Day! In times where other companies are cutting benefits, I'm so grateful for my job and the blessings it provides to us.

In other news, I've pretty much given up on Plurking because I don't have the time, but I've joined my first Fantasy Football league! My team is the Knit Wits, and we have our draft next week. Even though I'm not a huge football fan (this is something I've learned since Robert and I got married), it's something I can share with my husband. Now if I can just get him to learn to knit!

. . . Or why I can't keep up with knitting and blogging.

Monday - work, Springfield Cardinals game with our Sunday School Class, finish recording podcast

Tuesday - work and Fantasy Football draft

Wednesday - work and choir rehearsal

Thursday - work and Knit Together

Friday - work and annual Choir Retreat

Saturday - annual Choir Retreat

Sunday - church and get caught up with laundry, house cleaning, etc.

I've always been a pretty big sports fan. I was born a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, and can still name the lineup of the 80's glory days team; I'm a pretty big fan of tennis, and miss the brilliance of McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Martina, Steffi, and Monica, although I don't mind watching Federer and Nadal, women's tennis doesn't rock my world these days; and although I don't watch as many races as I used to, I previously enjoyed watching Champ Car races (CART before it merged into the IRL league) (no NASCAR for me - I like the cool cars). In fact, on our honeymoon cruise, we had a pit crew member for a CART driver at our dining table - poor Robert - I wasn't good conversation for him when I was talking to the mechanic! I also get caught up in March Madness to a point (college basketball for my non-sports fan readers), enjoy the gymnastics and swimming events at the Olympics, and love to watch Tiger play golf in the majors.

You might notice that one major sport is missing from the above list. Football. I've never been a huge fan of football. In spite of the fact that my dad was a pretty hot player in high school, and, in his words, turned down a college scholarship to play to instead go to the "University of Korea" (where he served in the U.S. Navy), and in spite of the fact that Robert is a huge football fan, especially of the Dallas Cowboys. For most of my life, I was in the other camp. I found football to be boring; I didn't really understand the ins and outs of the game; and I was the anti-Cowboy fan. I rooted for whoever the 'Boys were playing. (I did appreciate the Joe Montana days with the 49er's - especially the Hanes commercials that followed - but that was about it.)

Then Robert and I had a heart-to-heart about how my hatred of his beloved team was hurtful to him. I had to question my reasons for despising Dallas, and take a good, hard, honest look inside myself. I determined that my love for my husband was much, much greater than holding onto old prejudices about - of all things - a football team, and made a conscious effort to stop hating the 'Boys. About 3 years ago, I started watching a couple of games a season with Robert, and he was very patient in explaining the game to me, along with strategies and player familiarity, which helped. I had to really try hard to maybe not root "for" the Cowboys, but at least I was not rooting against them. The next season I watched more games with Robert, and upon occasion cheered for a couple of plays they made - it doesn't hurt that Tony Romo is kind of cute. Last year, watching at least one football game a week with Robert became the norm, and I continued to learn about the game and tried to get involved in discussions with him about his fantasy league.

This year? I'm in the league! We're headed off to my first fantasy draft for my team - the Knit Wits. Robert's team is, of course, Da Boys. I really don't have high expectations for the success of my team since I'm still learning, but I can already see the payoff of investing in my marriage and sharing something with my husband that I otherwise would have disregarded.

And honey? If you're reading this - How 'bout dem Cowboys?

With all the traveling that Robert and I have done this year, it seems funny to think that we're finally going to be on our first vacation of the year at the end of the month. (All of our other trips were business related.) We're heading back to see Spunky and Co. in Alaska. Since this will be my 8th trip up north, this is going to be the "all about the Robert" trip (with some yarn shopping thrown in for good measure). :-D We're planning on going to the Alaska Zoo again, driving up to Talkeetna (the little town that inspired Northern Exposure), panning for gold at Crow Creek Mine, pizza and a movie at the Bear Tooth Theatre Pub, and a train ride to Seward, where if we're lucky, we might get to see a bore tide at Turnagain Arm (Robert's checked the schedule, and the train will be in that area at the right time - the problem is one really can't "schedule" a tide, but we're hoping for some good luck in that regard).

With all the fuss about airlines raising fare prices, charging for checked bags, etc., even though we're going for free on frequent flier miles and the bag fee doesn't apply to us since we booked the tickets a year ago, we're taking a different route. This is a Chick-fil-A fry box, compliments of Steve & Ginger. The box has our clothes, personal items like shampoo and toothpaste, and some extra Space Saver bags (for the trip home). We shipped the box to Michelle today, and we'll ship it back on our last day up there. We'll have to do a couple of loads of laundry while we're there, but the box means that all we have to have with us on our travel days is a small carry on bag. Robert bought a cool "MTS" or "Mobile Technology Solution" backpack to carry his laptop, MP3 player, a book, and his cell phone. Me? I just have to decide which knitting bag will be my carry on to hold some yarn, my iPod, and my Blackberry. I'll also have my Chi and my makeup that I couldn't ship ahead, but nothing that has to be pulled out for security screening. I wish all our trips could be like this - a true, no stress, relaxing vacation!

On the knitting front, I've been working on the 2nd No-Purl Monkey again, and am just a few rows of ribbing shy of being done. I will be so glad to get these finished. I'm a little frustrated, too, because I apparently miscounted the knit rows between the pattern repeat on the foot, and am going to have an extra repeat on the foot of the second sock. I don't care. They are just going to be mismatched monkeys. I also finished my Denim Dive bag tonight, using the Everlasting Bagstopper pattern from Knitty and displayed by my lovely model, Zarah. It's made using Rowan Denim in Memphis, and I loved Kate's so much that I had to make one, too. Kate only made her straps 10" long, though, and I wanted mine longer, so mine are 20" inches. Well, the first one is 20"; the second one was about 17" - at least until tonight. I ran out of yarn, but never fear - Ravelry is here! I searched for recently finished projects using the same yarn, and found a kind Raveler willing to mail me her leftovers. I only needed a yard to finish it off, and l got it in the mail this afternoon!

Counting down to Alaska . . .

Finally! The No Purl Monkey socks are finished.

As you know, my schedule for the past two weeks has been insane, and to top it off, the past two days at work have been extremely frustrating. I won't go into details, because I don't think that's appropriate, but I am so grateful to be leaving on vacation tomorrow to get some distance between me and the situation. I just pray that it will be improved upon my return.

I'm really excited about going back to Alaska, and will try to at least send some Twitter and Facebook updates. Poor Robert - he'd saved his money and bought a really cool laptop that he could play his online gaming on, and this was the first trip he was going to take it on - and last weekend, the hard drive crashed. He had to ship it back to HP and it will be 7-10 business days before it's replaced, so no laptop for him. Which means I'll have to rely on my Blackberry and Michelle's computer for some brief updates.

In spite of everything this week, I am very excited about my knitting progress on the Hey, Teach! sweater. I did my gauge swatch last weekend, and cast on for it Monday. Last night at Knit Together I finished the ribbing section on the back and am ready to start the lace pattern. I'm so tempted to take it with me on our trip and try to finish it - it's going so fast - but I'm going to stick to the original plan. I'm working on my Swallowtail Shawl so I can return Zarah's Addi Turbo Lace needles to her, the Flame Wave Socks, and a Moss Grid hand towel for Lisa/Lola's Christmas present. Yes, she reads the blog, but she already knows she's getting it, so no secret.

Tonight we've got one last load of laundry, a quick trip to see my parents, a stop at the Junk-Mart Stupid Center to get snacks for the plane, then home.

Is it tomorrow yet?

Like thousands of others, I grew up reading the daily comic strips in the paper, and with the internet age, was able to follow my favorites online. But over the years, only one comic strip stood the test of time, maintaining a superb level of quality, with the artist bringing characters to life in such a way that they seemed to be part of my family. That strip is "For Better or For Worse" by Lynn Johnston.

Sometime last year, Lynn decided that it was time to retire, and we've known for some time now that FBOFW would end - the characters and stories frozen in time. Michael and Elizabeth are now grown and married, and Elly and John just have April at home. Grandpa Jim and Iris are still with us, as well as the many family pets. It's a satisfying end to the main story line, if bittersweet, because we'll always want more, and we'll always wonder "Whatever happened with . . ."

But Lynn has given us a partial reprieve. Starting September 1, 2008, she's starting over at the beginning. We'll learn how the Pattersons adopted Farley, and April isn't even imagined yet. She's going to resurrect old strips and sometimes let them run as they were 20+ years ago, and with some she'll add new material, and add to the story. It's a do-over - a chance to re-live and improve the original material, but now with years of experience behind her and the characters fully developed. What an opportunity!

Thank you, Lynn, for letting us share in this part of your world and best wishes for a new beginning. It's been a pleasure!