Lamb Butter and Egg Licker

If only all weekends were three days long, life would be so much more relaxing and so much more fun. After having the day off on Friday, I met Becky for dinner at a Tibetan restaurant. We ate, we knitted (purple sweater got lots of attention this weekend) and we caught up on our lives. One topic of conversation was marital finances versus dating finances, an area that was much examined between Paul and I this week. I think Paul and I have concluded that a joint checking account is not for us unless we want to spend our lives getting cranky at each other.
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On Saturday it was date night, which is something Paul and I need to do more often. We saw Jeffrey Foucault in concert at The Atwood Tavern in Cambridge. It was nice to be out and away from the who-is-walking-the-dog-did-you-mail-the-rent-the-garbage-needs-to-go-out type of talk us old married folks tend to have. We liked it:

Today is Easter. I spent a part of the day hanging out with some ladies that were generously brought together by Beth and Susan.

We feasted on a variety of foods, many of which were linked to the contributor's family traditions. Apparently Chicagoans have the need for lamb-shaped items during Easter, including this lamb cake:

Beth and Susan also put forth a mighty effort to procure a lamb shaped butter to no avail. Lamb butter! That is craziness. When comparing other family Easter traditions I discovered that I was the only one who had Cadbury Creme Eggs hidden for me in addition to regular hard boiled eggs. That might explain why I am amongst the adults who like them. I can see why so many people think they are foul but I dig 'em.
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Last but not least, I went to see Becky and Erin who were preparing their Easter feast a few blocks from Beth's. Since I skipped out before the egg dying at Beth's, Erin was nice enough to dye me an egg. I wanted a photo for you all but at this time of night it was hard to find a place that was lit well enough for a photo. So I was trying some shots out around the house. Let me walk you through what happened.
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What about in this room where the dogs are?

Yeah. That works but I don't like my hand in the shot. How about on the dog?

Nooooo!!! Don't lick my egg!

Tchazo (the egg licker) is now following me around the house, staring at me, seemingly wondering why I took away his tasty vinegar and dye coated treat.

Field Trip for Grown Ups

Remember when there was nothing more exciting than a field trip day at school? Well, luckily there is a yarn store in Boston that keeps the thrill of field trips alive for adults. Allison, the owner of Circles, just put out an invite for a day trip and I signed up immediately.
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Here is what I am going to do at Sunshine Alpacas of Maine:
Please join us as we visit Lori Malloy and her Suri alpacas. We'll tour the farm, the on-site cottage industry spinning mill and hear about raising alpacas for a living. We'll also take a dying workshop and have a lunch from the Sebago Brewing Company. This is sure to be a fantastically fibery way to spend a spring day!
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Apparently they not only have alpacas! They have, and I quote, "24 suri alpacas, 5 llamas, 6 angora bunnies, a million chickens, 2 Shelties, 5 cats, an African Grey Parrot named Buddie and 2 crazed people."
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I can't wait to get my country girl fix. Do you want to come?

Junk mail or dog treat?

That is the question.

After Party, Purple Success and African Dance

This weekend Paul and I had some friends over for dinner. After we ate we divided by gender and the girl faction made jewelry while the boy faction played with the Wii. I used to make lots of jewelry but have been much more fiber driven over the past few years. It was nice to have someone to make jewelry and drink wine with. The gratification can be so instant with jewelry. Knitting a finished object takes a lot of time, even if it is a small project. I made each of these pairs of earrings in 15 minutes. To be honest that time quote involves many sips of wine, some tool sharing and some jewelry making, so in reality it was probably closer to 5 minutes of actual construction time.

On to knitting...I am making progress on my purple sweater. I am going around and around and around as the world turns. I am sort of a sucker for the mindless working in the round and am enjoying it.

What is adding to the enjoyment is that I took the sweater off the needles a few inches ago to check the fit and IT FITS!!! That is such a relief. I think this will be a very wearable sweater. Simple, but practical. My only worry is that since I plan to adjust the sleeves so that they aren't tapered I may not have bought enough yarn to compensate for the adjustment. I think the yarn is discontinued so it could be a challenge if I need to locate more of it. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough. Maybe you Minnesotans will see me wear it when I visit in a few weeks.

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You may think with all this crafting to report that I have just been sitting on my booty, but no no no I have been shaking my booty a bit too. I don't generally make New Year's resolutions but since I graduated from grad school in December I have room in my life to consider some changes I would like to make. One of my resolutions was to pursue dance classes. There is a great dance studio in Cambridge called the Dance Complex that offers just the level of commitment I can handle: None! They don't require any advance registration or schedule commitment. You show up when you want to take a class and pay for it. I went on Sunday to the African dance class and loved it. The first half hour was a warm up (Ouch! My legs have not participated in a stretch in a long time!) followed by a half hour of learning the history of and steps to the dance and a final half hour of dancing to the live drum circle. It feels like a big ole party being there with the drumming and the stomping. My ears were ringing when I left. I can't wait to go back. If you have never tried it, I would suggest it.

It takes a village...

It takes a village to watch over 24 second graders. To keep them in their seats. To keep them from crying. To keep them from saying unkind things to each other. To keep them from stealing from each other. To keep them from yelling. To get their attention. To give them permission to leave the room. To put their bandaids on. To listen to their stories. To calm them down. To make them feel special.
Not even to mention the part about teaching them. Teaching them to read, to spell, to do math, to think on their own, to learn history, science, social studies, social skills, nutrition and anything else under the stars.
It was one of those days where I needed help from the rest of the village to get through. Luckily in my village there are a few kind souls who were willing to help. Even with help it does seem like a losing battle some days.