In Threes

Things I did this weekend:

1. Attempted to go to Great Falls, but it was full. (They were turning people away! Unbelievable.) Turns out, just up the road is Riverbend County Park, which has a trail network that links up to Great Falls. Also, turns out, Sam loves to scramble over rocks.

2. Discovered that the CR-V holds more than half a cubic yard of mulch, plus 2 adults, at a time. Neighbors over-ordered mulch and were giving it away free. We estimate we retrieved about 1.5 yards from their driveway. (Side bonus: No need for an upper arm workout at the gym.)

3. Enjoyed the first Pimms & ginger ale of the summer. Delightful.

Things I am surprised at my depth of feeling for:

1. My new Thermos: love. Totally leakproof, really good at keeping coffee hot. A little spendy, but when you consider that it keeps me from stopping at starbucks, a small price to pay.

2. Bows on shoes: hate. Not sure why, but I can't stand them. And once I realized that, I also realized that bows on shoes are EVERYWHERE.

3. Shopping: Total, extreme exasperation. My sister dispatched me to H&M to find her some cute, cheap summer togs that aren't available in her corner of the world. I went to the one downtown, since it's tourist season in Georgetown. If I weren't on a mission, I would've turned around and left immediately. The dressing room line was 9 people deep. It took me 20 minutes just to reach the cash register. Granted, I got a ton of clothes (and a few for myself, too) for not very much cash, but oy. I felt battle-weary upon leaving.

Things I am impatient for:

1. All my flowers to start poking up to bloom. Come on little flowers!

2. Another three-day weekend.

3. Finishing school. This is a tough one, since there's at least another full year. It's fun, but the three weeks of no classes really spoiled me.

Things on my to-do list this week:

1. Fix a leaky bathtub faucet. (my first foray into plumbing.)

2. Finish a knitted baby shower gift, and perhaps do a round of freezer paper onesies to accompany it.

3. Read for my class. (One week in and I'm already behind... ugh.)

Oh Hi.

W      ell hello there. Sorry, I didn't mean to drop off the face of the internet for that long. I'm not really sure what happened. (Hello, Father Time? Can I have my month of May back?)

In any event, I've enjoyed the past two weeks of not-schooling and trying to put the pieces of my day-to-day existence back together. Hope I got enough done... summer classes start tonight. Only one, though, so I'll hopefully have a better grasp on this "balance" concept.

And, believe it or not, I have actually completed some knitting. Clapotis is waiting to be blocked. AND... I have a sock. Granted, I normally wouldn't be so tickled at having completed a single sock. But this sock--this Drunken Bee--represents pretty much the only complicated knitting I did all spring.

I rarely had the time or the brainpower to sit down and knit on it for more than 30 minutes at a time, so it was positively glacial in progressing. I started it the first week of March, when we first drove out to meet Sam. (Little did I know how much that cute pup would eat into my knitting time!)

I also added a Dutch heel, and extended the little bee pattern all the way down the side. My first Dutch heel - I reveled (with Sara) in all it's Dutchiness. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of the sock.

A close-up of the cuff. Now that I've made one of these, I hope that the second one won't hurt my brain as much. (I hope.) I really am delighted by the sock - the pattern, the color, the process... I wish I had a weekend to just curl up and churn out the second one.

Instead, my weekends are dominated by a little furball. We finally remembered to take the camera to puppy play. This coming week will be his last puppy play - he's graduating out of it. This weekend, he spent most of the time romping around with Romeo, a tiny little dachshund that had no idea he was 25 pounds lighter than Sam.

And he obeyed the trainer. (Doesn't her job look fun!?)

After a midday nap, we decided to really spoil him by taking him to Theodore Roosevelt Island, you know, just to see how he liked being a hiking puppy. I think it's safe to say there will be more hikes in his future.

Sam LOVED the hike, loved playing in the mud and chasing birds and butterflies. Even better - it tuckered him out so much that it was a snap to bathe him and clean him up after. Success!

F Is For...

A fantastic weekend!

Seriously. The last two weeks crushed my sanity and robbed me of any free time. (Full-time job + end-of-term for 10 grad school hours + puppy = ANN AT HER BREAKING POINT.)

But I soldiered on. Put my head down, listened to a whole lotta iPod, and kept my focus. JT was a champ and kept me fed and let me sleep a little extra here and there while he tended to the puppy. And at 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, I turned in my last paper. (I hope it makes sense.) And then: Freedom!

I could not have asked for a better weekend to celebrate the end of my semester from hell. On Saturday, I got up early with blogless Gwen and Mollie to hit Maryland Sheep and Wool. We were so lucky that the rain held off and it turned into an absolutely gorgeous day. Some highlights:

A mama sheep with her two babies. They were only one month old so they got to hang out in the stall with her. So cute!

Rasta Sheep. (Okay, I think they're technically Rambouillet.)

Alpacas: so cute!

This little guy had to hold still to get shorn, and boy was he fussy about it. You'd think they were pulling the locks out one by one, they way he was bleating at the top of his lungs.

Blanketed sheep. I thought they were covered because they were cold, but then I saw a sign that said that if their wool is going to be judged, they get covered to keep all the hay and straw bits from getting in their fleece. Don't they look so cozy?!?

Here's me with Jody at the Cloverhill booth. So nice to finally meet her! Also at Cloverhill, I ran into Stacey, who was working like a champ, and Mama-E.

I actually saw far fewer blog-friends than I expected. I didn't hit the Ravelry meetup - we were having too much fun watching the sheepdog trials. Also, because of my lack of sleep, my brain was firing on far fewer neurons than normal. Which is why I didn't recognize Christy in her sassy new haircut. (Sorry again Christy!) But seeing her with Jody put her back into context. Funny how that happens.

Also spotted: Former KH Irregular Erika, Rossana, Holly, Kel, Olga, and a ton of other folks from the happy place.

My shopping was extremely restrained, mostly because my knitting pace was slower than glacial this semester. I did find two sock yarns at Cloverhill I couldn't resist:

Wollenstudio sock in Tangerine Dream, and Spritely Goods in Peppercorn Blend. Neither one of these are my "normal" sock colors, but they both totally called to me. I'm excited to try them!

So, that was Saturday. The other thing I bought was seeds and seedlings from the D. Landreth Seeds tent. I think I spent more on garden supplies than yarn! [Note to Grandma: Thank you for the seed money!] But I am so excited. Ever since we bought our house, I've wanted a little vegetable garden. JT built me a garden bed over the past couple of weeks, so on Sunday, I spent all day outside.

If everything cooperates, in about 2 months that space will be a cornucopia of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant and herbs. We'll see. I joined the gardening group on ravelry and hope to pick up some tips.

All in all, it was just a perfect weekend. After many many days and nights of sitting in front of a computer writing, spending two days outside in gorgeous weather with tons of fresh air was just what the doctor ordered.

Also, Sam liked being outside with me. So fun.