Indulgences

Yesterday was shorter than I anticipated.  Not the whole day, of course.  The day was still 24 hours as usual, but my alone portion of the day was only five hours.  Still, five hours is more free time than I ever see at once, so I wasn't going to quibble. 

I built myself a little nest:  a cocktail ( I don't normally imbibe in the afternoon, but this was a special occasion), a bowl of Doritoes (not on my diet these days, but again, special occasion), my Aurora Borealis shawl, my cross-stitch, and my remote control. 

I only had time to watch the unaired pilot and first season.  Well, most of the first season.  I didn't quite finish episode 3.  I can't speak for Benedict Cumberbatch, but I enjoyed myself. 

Since I had neglected it for years, I started working on my Monet Waterlilies cross stitch.  It is incredibly intricate and challenging.  You only work one 10 by 10 block at a time, and those 100 stitches are difficult enough.  The colors are almost imperceptibly different from each other, so you really can't tell what you have done and what you haven't, except on a stitch by stitch basis.  I completed one block (only 7 by 10, it was on the edge of the page), and started another, before I started needing colors that I hadn't bought yet.  So far, I had only been working on a great big patch of mottled blue, with the occasional swirl of gray or lavender.  But I can come to the first rock/lilypad, and hadn't bought any of those colors yet. 

I thought that I had made a healthy re-start on the stitching, and moved onto Aurora.  I cranked out another ball of yarn on that shawl, before I heard the joyous peals of my children's return. 

Tonight is Knitter-vention, and I am very close to the last ball of yarn for the shawl.  I will no doubt start that last ball tonight, though finishing it may be overly ambitious.  I was only joking when I wrote it last week, but his shawl may really be finished by the 4th of July. 

Which leads me to the need for an apology.  Last week, I wished for a cold snap over the holiday, so I could wear the shawl.  And now, the entire midwest is experiencing temperatures 15 degrees below normal.  No swimming this weekend, I was too busy pulling out hoodies for the boys.  Brrr.  I apologize to the entire midwest for my thoughtless and selfish wish, and humbly request the return of summer.  I understand that Arizona has heat to spare. 

Today, it is all about humility