Monday Meanderings

• You know the weather is miserable when you wake up every morning and can barely see out of your windows because of the condensation.
• Likewise, when you start cheering for thunderclouds....
• At any rate.
• The girls started VBS this AM - it's the Pixie's first year - and so I am determined to have a happy week!
• In a very happy stroke of fate, the Princess's VBS teacher is her beloved Pre-K teacher.
• The Pixie seemed a bit overwhelmed this morning...but she is eager to go back, and that's what matters.
• This particular VBS is not at our own church, which has sadly seen a big decline in children's activities over the last few years for a variety of reasons. Also, they have held evening VBS programs which just doesn't work for this family.
• I would like to point out that just because I put my children to bed at a reasonable time does NOT make us aliens from another planet.
• I digress.
• I take the girls to a traditional daytime VBS program which is run by a good friend of mine from P.E.O. I can't say enough good things about both the church and the program, and I'm very grateful that my children get to enjoy such a wonderful week!
• And it is rather fun to go to the gym by myself. (insert quiet giggling)
• I came to a rather momentous decision this weekend. Alpaca is just not my fiber, and I don't care if I ever work with it again.
• To that end...I finally tossed that garbage spinning fiber that I'd been waffling about for so long, and I pulled all of the alpaca yarn from my stash. Out the door with all of it, although I'm not entirely sure yet what I will do with the yarn.
• What prompted this? I sat down at my wheel with the fiber - intending to do just a fast, rough spin because darn it, I just hadn't been able to throw it out when I realized how awful the stuff was - and it was so rough to the touch that I couldn't bare to work with it for more than a few minutes. I then went and pulled out the yarn and realized that all of it - even the stuff that came from the finest suri - feels like rough straw in my hands.
• And it smells bad.
• Yes, I am well aware that my perception of how it feels is probably all in my head. I remember that fiber being buttery soft when I first bought it.
• Thank You, Alpaca Show.
• On a happier subject, I promptly pulled out a silk spinning project that I started last summer, and got to work once again.
• Luck was with me because - despite the fact that I hadn't photographed the drive band ratio last year - I managed to correctly guess the right settings. I know this because I was able to immediately start spinning a single identical to what was already on the bobbin.
• Yep...I had been nervous.
• So, Yay me!
• Below is the official picture for the records so that if I get distracted again than I won't have to worry. We'll discuss later why this became the one and only UFO spinning project I've ever had.
• I didn't manage any embroidery this week, but I DID wind all of my floss onto bobbins yesterday. It will now be soooo much easier to work with!
• Oddly, I rather enjoyed that project.
• I also prewashed, dried and ironed a piece of linen that I would like to embroider on.
• All that's missing is the time!
• It's pretty cool that all of my embroidery fits into one tiny box.
• Just sayin!
• I'm hoping to finish knitting Damsen either tonight or tomorrow.
• That's about as excited as I could get about knitting this week.
• Speaking of knitting, my high school sweetheart wins the award for "Most Creative Use Of Old Shawls." He suggested - via Facebook - 'paraglider.'
• I did take the two circular shawls down to my little 'work area' (as the girls are calling it) to aid in the decor.
• My Emily's Firmament I pined to the wall as the color is a pretty close match to the wood trim in the basement. Plus, it takes up a lot of space and is fun to look at!
• For now it's up with straight pins, but if anyone has any brilliant ideas as to how to display a large lace piece on the wall....I'm open to suggestions!
• The silk Rose shawl is draped across the back of my rocker to help soften all of the brown. I love natural wood, but it does sometimes seem a bit much.
• Today is day six on the yeast/sugar free diet....and it is the last official day on this diet until I go in for allergy testing in October. I've been a total crab for most of those six days (ask my poor BKB), and quite honestly don't want to keep putting my family through this until I have an official diagnosis...and hopefully better guidance than that from a 20-year-old book.
• I am going to stay sugar-free, though. That certainly never hurt anyone!
• After a week I can definitely say that I am sleeping much better, my face is much clearer, all of the swelling in my face, hands and joints is gone and my digestion shows signs of improvement.
• One unlooked for blessing that has come from this was a very obvious allergic reaction to the cashew butter yesterday. I call it a blessing because it was really a scary sort of reaction (tingling mouth and throat, and then my throat became swollen to a point that was uncomfortable for the rest of the day...leaving me feeling today as if I've had bronchitis), but because of the diet I've been on I was easily able to identify the cause and can now avoid it.
• It's definitely the type of information one needs to know about!
• And don't worry...I am going to see my GP Wed. since I couldn't get in to the allergist until October. Tree Nut allergies are not something I want to mess with.
• And like that, my love affair with the cashew butter is over.
• By the way, do you know how difficult it is to get 1,600 calories/day eating mostly meat and veggies?
• Crazy.
• I had a glass of milk tonight, and it was quite possibly the greatest pleasure I've ever known.
• I am having one cup of coffee tomorrow...because until someone tells me otherwise I'm going to continue believing that one cup of decaf is the perfect way to start the day.
• And now - because it's late and because I want to - I am going to go watch mindless tv and knit.

Have a great week everyone!