Thursday, May 22, 2008

Chapter Eight, in which Our Heroine Ponders Why it is that Blogging is so Difficult in these modern Days

I did start a post on Tuesday, which was Abby's 9th birthday, but since I was running around like mad trying to get the components to her birthday dinner, then trying to cook said dinner, I didn't have time to complete it. Then it was sort of stale. So here I am on Thursday, attempting to summarize all the things, interesting and otherwise, that have been happening around here of late.

Let's see...I made a cake! Wanna see it?


It was awfully yummy and it lasted almost a full 24 hours. I got one piece of it. Of course, I much prefer my cake unbaked (which means that I like the batter better than the cake) but this one is pretty good baked. She wanted me to make another one for her slumber party tomorrow night but I talked her down to cupcakes. Something about making two 4-layer cakes in a week makes me a little hysterical. I mean, I could do it but I don't really want to.

What I really want to do is to play Pack Rat on Facebook and to plant my garden.

The garden has been a bit problematic this year. I made 3 new ones last week (hee hee hee) and the soil is dreadful. It's almost solid clay. I don't know how anything survives in our yard. So I told Friend Husband that I was going to have to suck up and buy some topsoil in bulk so I could mix it in the gardens, make a layer around the house for drainage, and maybe put some in the yard for the poor grass. Our local soil outlet wanted about $150 for 3 cubic yards of dirt (their minimum order) and I reluctantly agreed. When Friend Husband heard about it, he didn't exactly hit the roof but he was decidedly unthrilled about the whole thing. Uncharacteristically, I had a mini-tizzy and told him that, quite frankly, I was sick and tired of loading, unloading, and moving eleventy-million bags of topsoil and that it would be a lot easier on me if I didn't have to do two of those steps. He pondered that for a moment then offered, "Ok, I'll go get the bagged dirt and we'll cancel the delivery." And we did. So now I'm waiting for him and eleventy-million bags of topsoil to arrive. We do get our exercise in the spring.

While I'm waiting and not playing Pack Rat, I'm knitting on the Hedera socks from Knitty and reading a couple of books. What can I say? My socks are not nearly as beautious as those pictured on the website. I seem to have issues with lace knitting and randomly end up with more or fewer stitches than I need. I decided not to worry about it since these socks are supposed to be for me (yay!) and it's a practice thing. It does make me much happier to knit socks than the dishcloths and sweaters I've been doing. I like my cute little dpns and the danglingness of the sock being formed beneath them. I like the idea that I can knit socks, for Pete's sake...who'd have thunk it possible? Not me.

I did really really like Knitting in America or whatever that knitting book was that I mentioned on my Xanga blog last week. A knitting book with a historical bent is just what the doctor ordered for Geek Woman here. I'm having other issues with a book I'm reading now.

I am concurrently (and accidentally) reading Eat, Pray, Love, and Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair. I waited a long time to get the former title and have discovered that I really don't like it at all. The adventures she has are interesting but I just don't like it. Perhaps I don't like the tone in which she writes. I don't know. I am enjoying DD & CCH, though. It's written by a woman whose blog I enjoy reading and it's not as bad as the title would make it out. It's been interesting, though, that the books have paralleled each other in many ways as I've been reading them. Each woman is adjusting to life without her husband. Each (at the point in the books I am right now) is traveling in another country. Each is attempting to find the definition of who she is after a big loss. I still like Laurie Perry's better. If EPL doesn't improve, it's going back to the library, unfinished. Life is too short to read irritating books.

And, now that Abby's birthday is past, it's time to think about camp. It'll be here before we know it. It will be nice to see Friend Janet and family, Friend Jennifer and family, Friend Cherylyn and family, and so many others. I do dread the drive though, and the cost of the gas. We're going to have to get up way too early in the morning after the camp closes to make it back here Saturday night...I'm getting to be too old for that. Oh well. Next year, Sarah can help drive.

And what else? Seems like I can blog up a storm in my brain while away from the computer, but not much in front of the computer. Oh well, it's probably time for me to go knit on that sock some more anyway. Sorry about the bizarre update, but I guess a bizarre update is better than none.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been reading for a couple of weeks now, thought I'd take a minute to say hi.

I've also recently started reading EPL. I found it at the library and picked it up because everyone raves about it. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise because I caught the author once in an interview and she really rubbed me the wrong way. I just started it but based on your review I'm thinking that I'll end up returning it unfinished as well.

msta62 said...

Stopped by to say "Hi"! I have been scarce... Do so love your blogging - you are so good at telling it like it is and making me laugh :-) Happy Tuesday Cousin L!