Where to Start?

I've got so many little odds and ends I want to discuss today, that I don't even know where to begin! The weekend was a blur, as usual, and it seems that by the time I had a few minutes to look around and get my bearings, it was Monday again. But let's recap, briefly.

Friday I stayed home with Maxime, because he had his one year vaccinations in the morning, and since he gets all his shots at once (4 of them!), I figured he would be cranky or feverish the rest of the day, and deserved a little down time. He did really well, actually, and it was nice being home for the day. I managed to get the jump on the weekend (laundry) and even had Kate-the-Enabler over for a SnB. Since I went back to work, our little SnBs have been few and far between, and I missed them.

Friday night Phil's parents came to watch the kids, and we paid a visit to our local Honda and Nissan dealers (oh, how I hate car shopping). The experience at Honda was actually quite pleasant, but we met the most obnoxious, cheesy, full-of-himself salesman ever to walk the face of the earth at Nissan (think Bill Paxton in True Lies). Seriously, the guy was like a caricature of a car salesman. He actually ended our meeting with "There's one thing the other models don't have, and that's me, and I'm the best there is!!!". Uh.... yeah, OK buddy. Smile and nod honey, and slowly back away...

Saturday morning was busy as usual, with the kids' swim lessons in the morning leaving us all completely drained. Nevertheless, I had decided that Saturday was the day I would finish cleaning out my flower beds and planting my annuals (I just love going to the nursery and choosing my annuals each year - it's one of my favourite times of year), so with Émilie's help (Maxime is still a tad young), I spent the afternoon happily playing around in the dirt.

I also decided to re-seed my vegetable patch. I had sown a bunch of seeds the previous weekend, and didn't have a single shoot, despite an abundance of rain during the week. I suspect that I planted them too deep? Ever the optimist, I planted more.

(Seen here: cherry tomato plant, zucchini plant hanging in there, basil seedlings, and some miscellaneous sprouts [where Émilie dropped a huge handful of seeds].)

Then Saturday evening Phil's parents invited us over to their house for dinner. Actually, all they had to do was call us up, wait for someone to pick up the phone, then mutter the word "Lobster" into the receiver, and we were dropped everything and ran over. Émilie didn't care for it much, beyond looking at it's insides, but I came back home with the top button of my jeans undone, rubbing my belly and smiling contentendly. Mmmmmm, lobster....

Sunday? Uh..... Sunday is a complete blank. Errands, groceries, food. DORMA. 'Nuff said.

On the knitting front, I'm quite close to completing Émilie's Good Stripe Dress. Of course, I not only ran out of my main colour, but also of my main contrasting colour (a mere 4 and a half stripes from completion!!!!). Thankfully, it was Ravelry to the rescue once again, with Bambers

(I don't have her real name) graciously stepping in and offering to bestow her precious Key Lime CotLin in lot 5540 on me. I'll be eternally grateful, I promise.

I also signed up for Secret Pal 12! I've never participated in a Secret Pal exchange, but I've been reading off and on about them for what seems like forever, and they seem like a lot of fun (provided you get a good partner), so I thought Why Not?

Oh! And I almost forgot! Did you know that Madonna is coming to town in October??? Well, when she last came to Montreal, I didn't go, mainly because I felt the tickets were too expensive. But upon later reflection, I regretted it. Say what you will about her music, she's a world-class star, and I've been listening to her music most of my life (even though I don't actually own any of her CDs besides the Immaculate Collection). So when I heard that she was coming again last week, I decided cost be damned, I'm going to the show!

Of course, I totally forgot about the tickets going on sale Saturday at noon, and now they're sold out. Aaaaargh!!!!! You'd have thought that my yarn-purchasing skills, which are quite formidable, and might even be considered legendary in some circles (did I not score some impossible to buy Twisted Fiber Art during the last update? Who da Woman???), would have served me better when it came to concert tickets... Oh well, here's hoping she'll add another date. If not, there's always the New Kids on The Block....

Happy Knitting Everyone!