Wednesday night business

Yesterday got fairly busy. Maggie had Adventure Club at 6 as usual, she does enjoy that. I like how she gets connections with kids of different ages. Case in point - we got there a few minutes late, and headed down. They usually meet in the big gym-type room, and I could hear voices there, and also in the 2-3 year olds room. So we went into the gym. Janelle said hi to Maggie, and said her group was split off doing music, and told Tyler to take her down there. Now I was standing right there, I could have taken it - but Janelle took the opportunity to build on a connection and keep working on teaching the older kids to take care of the younger ones. I like it. Maggie knows Tyler and likes him, I've heard her talking about him.

Evening service was very good, they're using the Holden evening service again, and oh I love it, the music, the way the parts interweave, ahhhh....

Karl actually got to have movie night with us, he showed up about 2 hours earlier than I had expected - he was on standby and managed to get on an earlier plane back from his business trip. Yay! The kids were glad to see him, too. Jamie had been having a Very Cranky Day, and I think seeing Daddy and getting to have some horseplay (and horsie rides) helped.

We watched a B5 ep, then put the kids down to bed and watched a movie the others know and like, Bedazzled. Oookay. Interesting in points. Brought out a lot of my insecurities - one of my greatest fears in life is that I'd be like Elliot, trying to put myself into social situations where I'm not wanted and not catching the cues others were giving to say that. I tend to really want to hold back and wait for invitations in most social situations. I've been told I miss a lot - told "oh, you should just call So-and-so up and get together for lunch or something" lots of different times, but that isn't something I'm all that comfortable doing. Repeat stuff is easier than first overtures, but still difficult. I prefer to wait for invites.

Today seems to be a quiet day so far. It was nice to have Karl back last night and this morning, I got up and made him breakfast again. I am looking forward to us having a three day weekend.

Birds!

Karl finally fixed the birdfeeder for me, got the tray back on with some sort of caulk stuff. I put it back out today.

BIRDS! I have birds again. Finches. House finches and red-headed finches. On the birdfeeder. And on the windowsill where I put seed, driving Karina nuts again. I have missed my birds....

It's like suddenly having another half-dozen pets.

And, as Karl points out, getting more entertainment from the existing ones. Well, at least one of them. See, the western windows have that special dark screening to keep out heat, so the birds can't see Karina in the window, but she can sure see them. This is why in addition to filling the feeder, I put a layer of seed on the brick windowsill.

I've seen a couple of doves in the yard off and on, the last few days, which was part of my reminder to get the feeder back out. I hope they start coming back, too. I used to practically have my own flock. I love the sound they make.

Braids cardigan update

As I posted before, I'm working on the braids cardigan for myself.

And I'm very excited - I've gotten to 13 inches of the body. See that horizontal line where the bottom of the sleeve comes into the underarm? Working from the bottom up, I've gotten to that height.

Now I get to stop doing 292 stitch rows alllllll the way across and back, and get to divide it up and start working on front and back yokes, more interesting stuff.

So far this project has been... 84 rows, 24,528 stitches. Not counting casting on. I started swatching for this in the evening of Sunday, Feb. 19th. I feel like I've made a lot of progress.

I'm *going* to get this thing made and completed.

Oh dear. This pattern does not tell you what size button to use. Nor how many. Heck, it says "...Buttonhole Row: Knit up the right front as many buttonholes as you need, using your favorite buttonhole;..." Oh dear. I suppose I'll figure something out.