Fondly

Y'all.

I am SO proud of myself.

So. Proud.

But I will wait to tell you about it until the end of this post because it's a knitting thing and you non-knitters can just stop reading when it gets to the knitting part.

Okay, then?

Last Thursday, I got to teach a writing workshop. You can just imagine how excited I was. I couldn't sleep the night before (which had SOMETHING to do with my husband snoring but for the purposes of this story, we'll just attribute it to nerves, shall we?) and I got up early to review my notes. I left way early and stopped and got some refreshments for the class.

Because, y'all.

Second graders are a tough crowd.

I THINK it went okay. Because Jane said, "This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for YOU. Best Mom EVER."

Which made me catch my breath.

And then on Friday, she handed me an entire envelope filled with thank you notes (illustrated!) from the class. (Click on the pictures if you want to enlarge and read.)

I am such a sucker for that.

My favorite (other than Jane's letter) is the letter by the little boy who signed,"Fondly."

So, then we had this great weekend. For one thing, my friend-for-life Lin was in town and she made some space to see me, despite that fact that she had six million friends and family to visit. She stopped by on Friday night and then picked me up at 8:30 on Saturday morning because I was going to accompany her on a personal errand that involved...well...waxing her eyebrows.

I took my knitting, thinking I'd just be waiting around for her.

But I ended up getting my eyebrows done, too! For the first time ever. The woman did this thing called "threading" which I'm sure y'all have known about forever but was entirely new to me. I've never had my eyebrows "done" before.

It hurts like hell, frankly.

But every time I pass a mirror now, I'm sort of...well, enthralled. I look so...

Well, I'd show you except that, true to form, I developed some sort of allergy to the wax the woman used and I have this... leprosy across my forehead. Because no good deed of high maintenance in my life goes unpunished, you know.

(I have ridiculously sensitive skin but only SOMETIMES. The last time something like this happened, my husband and I were still dating and we were about to go on a ski trip to meet this friend of his and his girlfriend-du-jour. This guy... he was just like CATNIP to women and he seemed to lack any sort of conscience that might make him, well, monogamous. So, I (even though I'd never met him) wanted to show him that sometimes the NICE GUYS got the hot babes (which, if you squint, could have been me.) For months, I worked out like...a woman possessed. Seriously, I was SOLID MUSCLE. I had WASHBOARD abs before I left on that trip. And also? Right as I was on my way to the airport, I went into a day spa and had my (non-existent) mustache waxed.

Only, the Allergy of the Damned reared its head and I spent the entire vacation with washboard abs and a red clown mustache.

Very classy. I'm sure he was very impressed.

But I digress.)

(Well, okay, as long as I am digressing, here's what my refined eyebrows look like.
Well, kind of--it's ridiculously hard to try to take pictures of your own eyebrows. Most of the shots I took ended up looking like this:)

(Why, yes, that was two digressions in a row, including TWO pictures. Because I am a digression ARTIST. Other people can only aspire to that sort of digression level.) (Not to mention the ability to raise only one perfectly plucked and waxed eyebrow at a time. I know. I know. I'm GIFTED.)

Anyway, Lin brought me home just in time to greet my house cleaners.

Dudes, have I mentioned how much I love the house cleaners? Are you sure?

Because this time, they cleaned out my fireplace. Without me even asking.

I'm telling you, they know what is needed to take over the world. They took apart the toaster oven and cleaned the glass on it --it hasn't looked this good since I took it out of the box. I bow before them.

So, then my husband and my older daughter Ana (10.75) made chili, which was pretty darn messy but I didn't care, do you know why? Because the house cleaners are coming again this very next Saturday before my mom and dad arrive. Yeehaw! Go on, have a CATFISH FRY.

SO loving my life.
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Okay, begin knitting part:

I don't know if I'm allowed to mention this in my blog because I keep forgetting to ask but my husband's brother and his wife had their first child last week. She is beyond adorable and gave me an excuse to buy this book: (Could the picture on the front possibly BE cuter? I could not resist.)
and then knit a baby hat.

This hat:

Which turned out pretty well but I wasn't happy with the seam.

So, guess what I did? I cast on and knit the same hat IN THE ROUND. On double-pointed needles. I LOVE IT.

AND I knitted it in one day. AND, I only said the F-word once when all of the stitches dropped off of my stupid metal DPNs. (I didn't have the size I needed in bamboo needles.) SO, I will be sending two hats off today to the lovely Hallie Belle and may she wear them in good health should the weather in LA ever actually get cold enough to need them.

End Knitting Part

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In other news: we had snow flurries this morning. You can sort of see them in this picture:
Jane bounded out of bed to see them and then turned to me. "Mom, it's like God gave us a PRESENT."

Well, I know *I* got one.

I should knit her a hat.