A Knitting Break

Thursday:

It's double-dollar time (or something, whatever) at Harris Teeter again this week, so I had a bunch of coupons laid out to get us some free or almost-free shit. The kids and I got up at the crack of dawn (okay, so it was more like 9 or 10) and set out for the grocery store to get the goods. I made out like a bandit: {and sorry for the crappish photos, but right now all I have is my iPhone :( }

 

I paid $20 for all that, getting over $65 in free stuff! The five cartons of ice cream alone were worth more than that! And I have more to get when I get the time. Coupons rock. Seriously. Use them.

We made it home just in time for the kids to consume half that stuff on the table up there (at least, so it seemed) and then head out to the park to meet Steph and her gang. Sophie found a bunch of boys squatting, looking at something, and ran over to see. She loves critters. Rob insists she's going to be a biologist some day. Wouldn't I be the proud one? Anyway, it was a toad, though she kept insisting it was a frog.  She was very disappointed when he finally hopped away. 

The rest of the park was fun; Steph and I chatted for like three hours while the kids played, running by all the time to get some water or a snack. We finally left so I could go home and get a quick shower before heading back out to Chesapeake for some Girl Scouts training.

Stephanie and I sat together at that training for the upcoming Fall Product program and giggled and made remarks throughout the thing. I think we earned a few dirty looks, but it was fun. Ish. And guess what? The Girl Scouts have lifted the ban against selling online! And guess what else? We'll be selling magazines - new subscriptions and renewals - as part of the Fall Product sale that starts on September 19th. That part of the sale (not the candy and nuts) will be entirely online, and no money changes hands, so let me know if you want to get in on that and support her troop! ;D

And Steph will be happy to know that when I got home, I worked on and finally finished this:

 

It's the first sleeve of her baby Luke's sweater, at last. I started it in New York, but my knitting mojo has all but left the building lately. I have less than one month to finish everything, so my goal is to knit for no less than one hour every day until her shower on the 20th to get it done. And yes, I know the sleeve (and everything else) is badly in need of blocking! I've already cast on and nearly finished the cuff for the second one, rest assured, so there will be no "Second Sock Syndrome" happening here.

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So Friday, Rob didn't have to work, which was cool, but as is almost always the case when he gets a day off, he still had to go in. This time, it was just to medical to have his annual check-up and get shots and stuff. Still, we didn't see him until almost noon. But that's better than nothing, right?

He got home just in time to join us at the $1.75 movie theater (I'm not supposed to call it the dollar theater when it costs more than that, he says) with Stephanie and her gang of chirren, to see the movie Up!

Have you seen Up!? We missed the short at the beginning, and then I missed a lot of the movie near the beginning, because we were at Cinema Cafe and I was ordering our pizza lunch, so I'm dying to see it again. Steph and I both agreed that it was a keeper, one for which we'll have to buy the DVD when it's released. 

We parted ways after the movie ended, and we lounged around for a little while until it was time to go to the Cub Scout Campout. Only it wasn't a campout after all, because it rained, and they canceled that part. And, truth be told, it was kind of lame. I was expecting a lot more activity, but for the first hour, we did nothing but stand around and watch the kids chase each other (before the rain came). Rob and I mainly kept to ourselves, because no one but the Pack Leader and the cookie popcorn lady bothered to acknowledge us, and I ended up sitting on a stoop playing with my beloved iPhone. Ah, I love that thing. Have I mentioned that lately?

Sophie was very excited to find this little guy on a building. I immediately decided it was a moth, but Rob disagrees. I still say "moth," and most people seem to agree with me. So take that, Bobert! The poor thing had a torn wing.

Pretty cool-looking, no? She literally held on to that thing for two hours, if not more. She ran around showing everyone and didn't care that no one was quite as enthusiastic about her "pet bug" as she was. I have never seen this particular creature before, so I don't know what its name is, but no matter.

 

Meanwhile, the boys and some of their tagalongs sisters were listening to a presentation by a local canine Search and Rescue team. I had to sit and keep Sophie company from a distance, so I didn't get the greatest pictures of that. (She hasn't quite learned how to whisper yet, and she was very distracting!) Jack asked a million bazillion questions, like, "Can the dogs help find my missing toys?" It was hee-larious.

This here is Roxie, a female German Shepherd who happens to be much smaller than our own. She was amazing, finding items they would hide for her to find. It was lots of fun to watch; definitely the most exciting part of the night for me.

When they brought out the next dog, a bloodhound, the rain started to fall. I wasn't into that, so the girls and I ran to the van for cover. I had brought my knitting, so I sat in the van and worked on that for a while. The girls left me to go brave the sudden downpour and watch the dog trials, and then I noticed that everyone had disappeared. Rob texted me that they were now watching a movie, so I texted back telling him I was going home!

I wasn't there very long, just long enough to harvest my crops on Farmville (hehe, it's a Facebook game, and I am addicted) and shuck my clothes off to take a shower, before he texted me to come back and get them. Bah. So I put my clothes back on and went back.

The kids came home, had some dinner, and went to bed. Then Linda from Bunco came over at 2300 to babysit while Rob and I went out on a mystery shopping date. This time it was for a moonlight cruise up and down the Elizabeth River, from 12:30 - 2:30 AM. Nice, right?

 

The stern of the Spirit of Norfolk

Part of the Norfolk city skyline in the middle of the night. It's not that exciting. The cruise was okay. I had to work, and we don't dance, so we really didn't partake of the club atmosphere going on down on the lower deck. We had some of the crappy food, and then the rest of the time was spent at the various bars, ordering drinks and evaluating... stuff. But we always enjoy each other's company on these dates, and so it was a nice night out for good conversation. I'm glad we went.

We got home around 0300, and Rob immediately fell asleep. Linda talked my ear off for another hour, until I basically kicked her out so I could get some sleep! Love her, but she is a loquacious one!

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Saturday, of course, we were exhausted, but the kids got up around 0830. Rob stayed asleep, so it was all me. Grumpily, I got up, made sure they had some breakfast, and pretty much just fooled around on Farmville until 1100, when it was time to wake him up to go to a noon Show and Sell with Jack to sell popcorn.

He was hungover still, and he wanted to cancel, but I wouldn't let him. So the girls and I drove the boys to Dick's at Lynnhaven Mall to sell and then picked them up two hours later when it was over. I guess they did well, I don't know. In the meantime, the girls played up in their room, leaving me to do something I absolutely should not have done: I opened a tin of Boy Scout popcorn - the mud puddles, which is very chocolatey and for which I was having an intense craving - and ate at least a good-sized handful. Oh, man. No time at all passed before I was on the couch dumping like crazy! 

I was still dumping when it was time to get the boys, so that wasn't a fun drive at all. I could barely speak. I couldn't get home fast enough!

After that, I needed a nap, since I often get Carb Coma (self-explanatory, I think) after a dumping session, so Rob covered me up and told me he was going to start packing up the living room. The floor guys are coming on Tuesday to do the living room, so it needs to be done NOW.

Little did I know, he'd turned on Noggin for the kids and fallen asleep himself. Argh. But let's not dwell on that...and no, he still hasn't done any packing, and it's now 12 hours later!

I woke up two hours later, and then I had to rush to get ready and go out for the five back-to-back compliance audits I needed to do at a well-known toasted sub shop. But not before I harvested some more on Farmville... hey, like I said, it's an addiction. And my farm rocks.

The audits went quickly, and I got them all done between 6-8 PM, bringing home some subs for everyone for dinner. I talked to my sister and my dad while I was out, apropos of nothing... Jack barely ate his turkey sub, but the girls ate a great dinner of tuna sub and chips. We haven't done anything all evening except fart around, playing with the kids, reading library books, and listening to them squeal and have a good time with each other.

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So now, Sunday, is Rob's 37th birthday, and we've got nothing exciting planned. I will make him a plain chocolate cake, his very favorite. I gave him $6 in scratch-off tickets the other night. I took him on the moonlight cruise. We went to Ruth's Chris for dinner earlier in the month. He got a week off work. And I've given him $35 in gift cards to REI, with the promise of another $10 redemption for one from MyPoints very soon. And all that, he says, is enough. It will have to be, I'm afraid!

Have a spectacular week.

Fin.

Comments

[darc]

Happy Birthday Rob!
Great photos of wild creatures.
too bad the camp out got rained out.

[Nicole P.]

Yeah, I loved "Up" also. Pixar = gold, in my opinion. As for the short in the beginning, the one with the clouds, it was good but not great. Nowhere near the magician's bunny short before "Wall-E".

And you are the mystery shopping queen! Dang!

[Nadine]

Maybe Sophia will be a naturalist when she grows up! ;-)