Christmas Really?

I saw them yesterday. Christmas trees. In Kmart. Knitting panic set in as I realized that there are only 90 knitting days until Christmas. I meant to start early -honest I did. Behind again...sigh.

Busy, busy week between our business, my volunteer responsibilities and doing householdy things like cooking. Can you believe I'm actually using recipes and cooking after years of thawing and take out? I've discovered that if Nicole doesn't have dinner waiting when she walks in the door after a 12 hour shift she doesn't eat well. Guitar Guy is loving it - he gets real food (even though he has to wait until 8 PM or after to eat) I'm actually discovering I do like cooking, I just don't like the clean up :)

This may all change again soon as Nicole and her guy are considering a move to our community. It is a toss up whether she misses him or her cats more when they are separated, but being away from them seriously sucks. They did some looking at rental houses today that would accomodate them, the two cats and a 180 lb. English Mastiff. Keeping fingers crossed that a potential landlord will be impressed by the fact that the gigantic dog soon will complete her Canine Good Citizen and is not destructive. Now if she would just quit lavishing drool on the cats..

So a couple of weeks ago I took everything out of my bedroom except the basic furniture and cleaned the carpets. Since that time I have been enjoying the open space and relief from the odor of eau de cat vomit. Unfortunately, the enormous pull of stuff too valuable to throw away is still sitting in the middle of my living room floor. Who knew I had 20 years of photos I never put in albums and that they were all in my closet? This weekend I have to start sorting and finding homes for all of my memorabilia, Christmas books, decorative bric-a-brac I don't even remember buying and so much more. Can you say major garage sale?

I think I need a nice Friday afternoon nap to prepare. What do you have planned for the weekend?

Cat lovers unite!

Two weeks ago I posted this picture of Merry as my avatar in Facebook and on my page in FB's Fairyland game. Since that time, many total strangers have come out of the woodwork to share their cat pictures and stories.

I have talked with people in England, Australia, Indonesia and across the US about our spoiled felines . We all agree that we are excellent staff for the fur people who run our homes :-)

Merry has a very swelled head after receiving many compliments on his beauty. I have not shared with his adoring public that he finds the bathroom floor and tub equally as attractive for deposits as his cat pan!

Things are slowly moving in to a routine after the traumatic events of a few weeks ago. Nicole is making herself crazed trying to keep up with a full time college schedule online while working full time and commuting 3.5 hours from Phoenix. She'll soon be through orientation at the hospital and will have more control over scheduling her work around school requirements.

The summer heat is beginning to ease here in Arizona (at least in the evenings and mornings). That means that the activity level of the community has now kicked in to high gear. I've had events to attend every night this week which keeps life interesting. I'm always amazed when people say there is nothing to do in our community. We obviously aren't living in the same place!

Nothing new on the knitting front other than another pair of socks for Rowan. I'm being a knitting slacker these days. Hopefully the cooler weather will inspire me to get moving. Hope all is well in your worlds and you are looking forward to a wonderful weekend.

Sometime routine is good

It's not a very exciting day today and I'm good with that. Routine is sometimes the glue that holds us together. The turmoil of last weekend has roiled through the town all week. People are holding memorials, raising money, making food and generally doing all of the things we do to comfort ourselves in times of tragedy. Nicole keeps putting one foot in front of the other and trying to help out those who can't.

She's due back today for her next group of work days so I'm picking up the house, cleaning and getting ready for the weekend. I awoke early for some reason so went to the grocery store early before the heat and crowds set in. Holiday weekends in our community are a good time to hibernate with all of the visitors! My daughter brought us all of her Buffy seasons so there may be a Buffy marathon in our future.

I started another pair of socks for my grandson and realized yet again that I don't need any more yarn! My stash likely will likely outlive me! On the other hand, I always have a project available :-) I need to start another pair of fall socks - so many great colors in that palette.

Today I'm taking everything off of our bedroom floor to clean the carpets. We will not discuss how long it has been since that happened. Everything from the closet is sitting in my living room and needs to be sorted. I've been putting this off for years because it involves bags of pictures and other memorabilia that I have no idea what to do with. Keep a good thought for me. If you see a massive cloud of dust bunnies hanging over the Southwest you'll know I finally got down to the floor :-)