sherriknits

I’m not dragging along hanging my head, I really am fine…but what I love is that people stopped to pray for me! 

God has never failed me yet and He’s not going to do it now. 

I got my Ravelry order today!  I ordered it last Saturday afternoon, very shortly after the store opened.  I’m really bummed that I did’t get the canvas bag, I really wanted one and do hope they get more in.  But I love the bag I got!  I also got the t-shirt but I didn’t take a picture of it.

And see my cute pin?

I got the daily dose of fiber tshirt, too…and I love the color!

After virtually no sleep, I am not sure how I am going to make it through the day.  It is supposed to be record-breaking heat.  We had no spring and now we go from cold to hot.  Today is supposed to be 88 degrees on the coast. Yowee.

Yesterday did end up being warm and everyone in town, at least those I talked to (yeah, I guess I don’t know *everyone*) was shocked because it didn’t start out that way. 

Our espresso machine at work broke so we got a new one.  When my sister went to get it, we all got Starbucks.  I was struggling to reconcile the checkbook and that was a welcome break.  We tried a new drink  that was a triple shot of espresso and silly me was still drinking it when I came home last night.  Since I have really cut back on the caffiene, it really affected me. 

If anyone was visiting my blog last night they would have gotten a show.  I was trying out new themes, some were not widget-ready and some didn’t have “pages”, which I miss.  Then I had to upgrade my wordpress which meant I had to switch to the default theme to do that (I learned that one the hard way!)  When I went to bed last night, I had yarn pictures but during the night I started thinking about my teapots and trays and linens so after I watched the sun come up (and hubby had left), you would have seen me on my porch taking pictures.  I hope to have #1 son take better pics but I like the colors and using my own things.  I often wonder if the neighbors see me in and out and in and out, their front door was open when I was busy taking pictures, probably to get some cool air in the house before the heat hits.

I also worked on my next 20 things about me but I think I will wait to post those.

Want to hear something wonderful?  One of our co-workers (our Saturday girl) popped in yesterday with a surprise.  Her daughter and son-in-law bought her a brand new Saturn for Mother’s Day!  It has leather seats that heat up, a sun roof, automatic start and all the bells and whistles that come with all of that.  She is one mom who has sacrificed for her girls and raised them alone.  She put one through college and babysits and does anything at the drop of a hat for her girls.  If anyone deserves that, it would be her.  We were all so happy for her.  Now they don’t have to worry about her on the road.  She said she hasn’t quit smiling since Sunday.

Last night hubby and I had a heart-to-heart talk.  Life really changed for us after the wedding…it has now become the 3 of us pretty much even though #1 son still lives at home and is definitely a help, he does work a lot and isn’t home in the evenings.  I am concerned for how we are going to work this out but hubby keeps telling me to just rest and wait it out a little before I do anything about it.  Our kids are all caregivers for the little imp but now he ends up with me at the shop a little more than he should be there…late afternoons at a yarn shop are not exactly his cup of tea.  When mama-to-be is out of school in a little more than a month, she will pick up a lot of the slack.  I was in tears with her on the phone and with hubby last night.  I think it might just be the adjustment.  There is no question that I love that boy, it is just a little overwhelming looking ahead…which is never a wise thing to do.

I had a very special time with #1 son, though.  The little imp and I had gone to Home Depot and bought a watering can and a strawberry pot…and an extension cord.  I sat on the porch with my laptop for a while and then when he came home he joined me.  It was so sweet.  He is so sensitive and caring and while I didn’t get emotional with him, we did talk about some of the things we have gone through in the past few years that have really affected our family, he asked me a lot of questions and we had such an adult conversation.  I told him how much I appreciate him….for the millionth time in the past few months.

It makes me want to post a picture of the card he gave me on Mother’s Day.  Please don’t think I’m bragging.  I know how hard the day can be for so many people…but on the other hand, I am needing the reminder of how great my kids are for me, I am feeling so emotional these days, in a good way at the same time being overwhelmed with change.  I want to be able to look back and see that I have a lot to be grateful for and that there was sweetness to these days, too.

How sweet is he! He’s always been such a joy to my heart.

Gosh, this is going to be an interesting day….heat, tired, emotional!

But you know what?  I am headed in to it with a smile and trusting that God has it all worked out even if I forget to realize that when I let myself get overwhelmed. 

I think I’ll watch some “I Love Lucy” until I have to get myself upright.

Have a great day.

This sock is just what I needed.  There is enough to keep me interested but fairly mindless other than the increase/decrease rows.  There are 32 rows in the pattern and those rows are only 4 of them.  I had a minor mishap yesterday, I missed 2 increase stitches and didn’t notice until the next pattern change.  I frogged those rows but had a heck of a time getting it back on the needles in the right place.  I had to shift and shift until I got it right but it’s fine now.  I’m really getting excited to get to the foot of the sock, that is where it really gets interesting.

We’re supposed to have a hot day today.  It was a cold 53 yesterday because the wind made it feel much cooler.  This morning we have clouds and breeze, not warm, but they still are saying today that we are supposed to have record-breaking heat.  It will be a surprise to me if we do…they are saying upper 70’s today.

I have a friend who is bugging me to make a 100 things about me list.  Ecto ate my first attempt at it, so here is my second try at the first 20.

In no particular order:

100 things about me  

1. I married the love of my life.  We’ve been married for almost 34 years and have gone through some pretty wonderful times and some very rough times, but we’re still here.  He’s my best friend.
2. I am a Christian.  My faith is the base of my whole life, for all the things I’ve been through, there is no way I could have done it without having a relationship with Jesus and my heavenly Father to keep me anchored.
3. I don’t like being the center of attention.
4. Knitting has become therapy to me and I love it, even if I don’t often have FO to show, it’s more the process that is important to me.  I’m also a yarn snob.
5. I like to laugh.  Sometimes I think I don’t do it enough.
6. I value my friendships.  That is an understatement, but I don’t know how to say any more without writing a book.
7. I love quiet.  I don’t live with it so every time I get a chance, I grab it.
8. My favorite part of my week is sitting with hubby at Barnes and Noble, reading a book and drinking coffee together.  Love those quiet easy times together…we talk if we want but we don’t have to.
9. My dream vacation is to go toNew England in the Fall.
10. I could drive across the country and still feel like I wanted to keep going.  I felt that way after a car trip to Illinois so I assume I would still feel that way if I went clear to the other coast.  I don’t like having to be there by a certain time, though.
11. I collect tea pots but I hate tea.
12. I don’t have an athletic bone in my body.
13. I love old movies of the chick-flick variety.  My kids tease me about always wanting to watch black and white.
14. I’m going to be a grandma for the first time this August!!!!!
15. I don’t like to drink water…a constant struggle.
16. When I make a sandwich, I have to have everything spread to the edges and the crusts must line up.  Don’t make me a hot dog on a piece of bread and fold the bread the wrong way. (but I don’t eat hot dogs that often)
17. I love dark chocolate.  I have gotten more picky about what chocolate I like as I get older, but I’ll eat almost any.
18. I love, love, love my Starbucks coffee.  I often just get decaf drip…and I love that at Barnes and Noble they will make me a fresh pot when I get there because they never have a pot of decaf in the evening. 
19. I am terrified of heights. 
20. My favorite getaway is in our friends’ RV but I don’t like camping in the wilderness, I have to be near civilization and good window shopping.  I don’t care if I spend money, I often don’t, but have to have the shopping as a possibility!

or why blogging has changed my life 

First the knitting….

I am really enjoying the Francie socks.  This is halfway through the pattern.  The increase rows can be a little awkward but not impossible.  I’m using size 0s and slipping 2 then passing those 2 over a purl stitch gets a little tricky.  Also left and right purl lifts…but it looks right so no worries.

The suggested yarn is a more solid color to show off the pattern but when I found this yarn in my stash, I actually thought this out.  The green in the sock represents the tree, the brown the bark and the bleakness of the neighborhood.  The blue is the sky that Francie would see through the leaves when she laid on her balcony under the tree.  That was one of my favorite parts of the book, she was so able to find beauty in the midst of such need.  I need to re-read the book, as I said, so I can refresh my memory…but the book so affected me in her ability to see what so many people would miss.  Poor hubby had to listen to hours of my interpretation of her insight. 

And now to the mom part.

Since I have started blogging, it’s funny how I can look at things differently.  Instead of getting frustrated and angry over a situation, I begin to see the humor of relaying it to others.  I’ve commented to friends a few times, “my life is a blog!”  haha.    Funny how that will change an attitude, but it does.  I’ve always tried not to fall into the pit in my thinking, but sometimes it does happen.

I wanted to share the little snippet of therapy yesterday.

I can do this from Sherri Knits on Vimeo

Last night, I looked at my Mother’s Day cards again.  I think it’s so funny how when you read things when everyone is watching, you miss what things say.  This is my card from mama-to-be:

This is what I missed originally

Thanks, sweetie, I needed that.

Technorati Tags: blessings, family, littleimp

For that, I can rejoice because that is a high calling in this life.

But does it ever make me weary?  You bet.

Before I tell a little about my day, I’ll show some knitting since this is supposed to be a knitting blog.

These are the beginning of Francie socks named for Francie Nolan in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, one of my favorite books.  They are fascinating and like the designer said, it is full of unexpected beauty and character with stories hidden in the folds.  Just reading her description of the socks made me really excited because that book was so full of so much for me.  I may have to load it on to my iPod because I have the audio version of it. 

(see my new porch cushions?  the little imp and I bought them today)

Now to my day.  We started back to therapy today.  We got to Olympia early so we drove out to our favorite water front to hang out for awhile.  I started my socks and the boy stood outside and watched the water and told himself stories.

Today we did some sensory work.

His OT had hidden animals, people, and money in the beans and he had to find them.  There would have been a day he could not have done this.  Progress.

Mom, go away with the camera.

Ok, I will.

Then we went here there and everywhere looking for cushions for our porch furniture.  I ran into an old friend I haven’t seen for many years at K-Mart, a store I probably haven’t been in in at least 2 years.  We finally found some cushions and they were 20% off.  I always start looking for things too late.

We got headed home about 3:45 and I thought that seemed perfect to get us home before 5.  We stopped for a treat and the little guy got cheetos for himself. I got grape water. 

We were about 15 miles out of Oly when my cell phone rang.  The caller ID said it was the little imp, but when I looked in the rearview mirror he was not making a call to me.  It was Target and he had left his phone in the bathroom.  We turned around and headed back.  grrrrr  After I picked up the phone, we saw a Verizon store right next door so we went there directly and bought a case for it.

It will stay on his pants (or let’s say “should”) and he flips open the magnetic flap to pull out the phone, just like his brother-in-law.  When I went to pay for the case, I discovered my wallet was in the car….halfway across the parking lot.  I said I’d be right back and we ran, ran, ran to the car.  I decided to drive back over there and discovered the little imp had brought the case with us.  lol.  I am such a rule follower and I started getting nervous that they’d think I was driving away.  I have to say the sales guy looked rather relieved when we came back in the store, I’m glad he didn’t see me jump in my car. 

Sooooo, by the time we were back on the road, it was more than an hour later.  The drive was long after that.  I am listening to a book but it felt irritating to me and the boy was tired out so he just kept himself company.

We weren’t home long when the dog got all riled up.  The high school marching band was turning on to our street and the boy was headed out the door.  I dragged the dog to the bathroom because all I need is to have him lumbering out there and getting in the middle of that. Our street isn’t really narrow but we still have the RV parked in front of the house so there were kids marching on our sidewalk and in the street and up on the other sidewalk.  Then there are the usual crowd following.  I had to run in and put my shoes on and by the time I got outside, the boy was well on his way down the street.  I motioned for him to stop but when that band is there, he is oblivious to any rule there is.

When he turned the corner, I started running.  I ran 2 full blocks at my top speed (maybe not saying a lot) and by the time I was finally gaining on him, he was headed out across the street as they turned up a hill.  With all the confusion of those following and the little kids who live on that block, it was intense. I was yelling, “Stop!  Stop!  Stop!”  He chose to ignore.  When I got ahold of him, he was determined he was with the band and we almost had a scene, but at the last minute I was spared the embarrassment.

What is funny is, I thought I was taking video of him when he was not yet in trouble but I actually didn’t start recording until I thought I was turning it off.  YouTube is down for maintenance so I can’t show you that or his swinging lesson today.

I am beat.  Really beat.  Hubby was very late getting home and I had to throw the imp into the shower, much against his will,  before the band incident because not only was that face a mess but he was just plain dirty and too much to clean up.  I had just finished eating when hubby came home, I thought I had misunderstood him but he just got hung up.  I think this little family that is left in this house is headed to bed early tonight. 

I do love my boy.

Technorati Tags: knitting, littleimp

I hope all the mothers out there have had a great day.  At the same time, I do hope those of you that find this day painful found a way to be blessed.  It is definitely a day that is charged with emotion for many of us… both positive and negative.

It was a very nice day here in our home.  The kids were all able to come for a barbecue after church and then we just spent the day hanging out.  It is always so much fun for me to hear the kids having a good time together.

The little imp was just himself.  He talks to you if he feels like it and doesn’t talk if he doesn’t feel like it.  I don’t know how many hours into the day we got before I got a word from him.  Actually, that is typical.  He is usually bugged on the Sundays Dad does worship because he leaves before any of us get up.  Then he just has no words and he makes a point of sitting just enough by himself to make it clear that he is a little bugged.  We’re just used to it.  Once in awhile, though, he does shock me by being silly and talkative early on.

Friday I got the idea that I need to do some kind of project that I could finish quickly to get me jump started knitting for baby, it has just been so busy that I haven’t been able to put any time into baby knitting.  So, I made the Baby Bolero from the One Skein book.

The new mama was thrilled, it was her little mother’s day gift from me.  I went down to a size 7 even though the pattern suggested 9 because it was too loose.  I used Cascade Sierra and it feels so nice and soft.  The pattern said 2 rows of ribbing around the edge but I did 3 because I went down to a 6 on the last row and it is perfect.  I had a hard time getting a good picture so use your imagination. 

I read on all kinds of blogs that Spring has sprung everywhere.  I guess the Pacific Northwest is getting left out of that.  It continues to be nippy although they do say we are getting a few warm days sometime in the next week.  I try not to get too excited because near the coast we can be 20 degrees cooler when Seattle finally starts getting summer. 

Don’t let this picture fool you because it looks nice and springy but it’s just my reminder that it is trying to arrive.

Today after church, I got the rare opportunity (for lack of a better word) to leave church alone.  The imp stayed with his brother-in-law so he could go to kids church…as of this Sunday we only have it 2nd service now.

I drove through Starbucks and treated myself to a Java Chip frappacino which I am trying to stay away from but since I have weaned myself from Pepsi I decided to grab a small one.  When I pulled into the drive-through, we got the worst rain fall all week…whirling wind and heavy, heavy rain.  I got wet just ordering!  But yummmm, it was worth it.

It’s sometimes nice to grab a few minutes in the house alone, it is a rare day that happens.

Tomorrow starts therapy again after about a 2 month break for the wedding.  We’ll leave early enough to have lunch together so that we break the monotony of the ride in the car.  If we don’t take that break, he does not do well with the handwriting part of the hour.  She’s really good, though, to break up the time with fun play, work, fun play.

I am so tired I don’t know if I even make sense.  It was a long week going back to work after 2 weeks off.

Tomorrow I am going to figure out how to spend some of the fun gift cards I got today…one to the kitchen store (do you now how hard it is to watch your kids get all this fun stuff as wedding gifts and then see all the old worn out stuff that I have?  no complaints here, but it will be fun to get something fun and new!) and the other one I got is to the Bare Escentuals store….my girls and I love the make-up.  I also got an iTunes gift card and it is loaded on to my account so I’m going to see if there is a book or something fun like that.

Hope you all had a great day!

Technorati Tags: knitting, family

I’m glad I found something to kniit on during vacation, but try as I may, I just cannot like the colors.  I liked them in the skein, but I do not want to wear a rainbow on my back. 

After I snapped this picture, I tore out all of the orange and partway into the yellow.  I’m just not sure.  I think it’s just going to have to sit for awhile while I ponder this.  I managed to get it all back on the needles just fine and it is going to stay there safely hidden in the dark  (lol, those who know me know how many of those I have…..)

The pattern…I love.  I plan to make this for sure. 

We are now home, boo hoo.  I don’t know what there is about me, but I could have just kept on staying in that RV doing nothing.  I don’t start feeling like I need to get home, I don’t get sick of being away.  I wonder what it would be like to stay until I was actually ready to come back.  I’m not sure my friendly helper in my shop would have loved that, though.

Today was my first day back in the shop and I absolutely accomplished nothing but that’s ok.  My co-worker thought I wasn’t due back for another week, I offered to oblige but she said no.

(in order to not confuse anyone….my extended family has a business and my shop is located in the back of the building.  My real job is doing bookkeeping for the family business and prior to having my shop, I worked at home.  So, I have company during the day and they like to come back to my little haven all the time, less stressful.)

We came home on Sunday night.  If you can believe this, there was a big parade in Long Beach (where we went) on Sunday.  The campground filled up with Shriners on the weekend because they were in the parade, too. 

This is the first parade the little imp ever came home with much of anything.  None of my kids were ones to fight for the candy that got thrown.  We were in the first block of the parade and I couldn’t even count the times someone came over to him to hand him candy…or they’d throw a handful to the little girls sitting near us, then when they’d see him sitting on my lap under the blanket, they’d throw him his own.

Not one picture I took during the parade could I see…it was sooooo cold and windy and the sun was bright so I just snapped.  He’s sitting on my lap when I took this picture.  He kept me warm!

Oh, hey….I got candy.

And my cell phone fell out of my pocket and I had to chase it to get ahold of it!

They let us move out of our space after the parade so we walked 2 blocks back to the park and moved right out.  We’d gotten all the securing of everything done before we walked over to the parade.  We pulled out onto the street to hook the jeep up.

Oops.  The little imp had opened the bedroom windows and after I helped get the jeep lined up for hubby to attach, I went inside to find the holly tree trying to overtake the bedroom.  I had quite the time getting it out of there without harming it.

I forgot to show this the other day.

This is the skylight at the Hotel Elliott roof garden.  It was so pretty and we were surprised when we leaned over to see what was inside.  I’d like to go stay there and hang out on that roof for awhile!

We just got home from a potluck/meeting and I’s a tired girl.  I made that fun spinach~strawberry salad.  The whole dinner was just great.

Before I head to bed, I am going to do what a friend challenged me to do and start a list of 100 things about me.  I told her I didn’t think I could think of that many things, but I’m thinking I can and should.  Hmmm, that oughta keep me busy for awhile!

Technorati Tags: knitting, vacation

He can make his own fun…

When my older kids were growing up, they would always take their May Day flowers to the neighbors, but rarely did they ever appear on my doorstep. I think they never thought of it as much as running around the neighborhood.  Well, yesterday Daddy and Little Imp left for a few hours.  I was really tired because I’d woken up really early so they thought a nap would be nice for me.  I did nap, and I read, knit, played on Ravelry and just relaxed.  I was lying on the couch when there was a knock on the door, I opened it to find some beautiful flowers laying on the steps and saw two sweet heads poking around the corner of the RV.  I was very blessed and really got a kick out of the thrill it gave them to surprise me.

We do wash that face once in awhile but you’d never know it by the pictures. 

Today was the day I decided I’d get my elephant ear.  I’ve been thinking about it all week, I love the ones with cinnamon and sugar.

We sat in the window and watched people walk by.  The little imp had an ice cream cone, Dad had a corn dog and I enjoyed my elephant ear.  We walked into a few shops, but mostly we wanted to go for the treats.  I’ll take pictures in the daylight tomorrow of the little things I bought for baby.

I have actually been knitting but I just couldn’t make progress on the baby knitting I brought.  The peapod sweater is not hard but I’m making silly mistakes on it, it requires concentration I can’t give it in this tired stupor.  The baby surprise jacket is stalled because I’m considering how I want it to stripe (and I am mulling it in my mind most of the time). 

On my travels through Ravelry, I did find something fun, though.  I’ll give details on it later, but here’s progress.

The colors look washed out here.  As I knit, I am constantly considering whether or not to clip out the orange and yellow.  It would go from purple to dark green to rust if I did.  Since the rows are getting longer, those sections might not be too wide, though.  I’ll probably put in a lifeline and experiment a little.  The pattern is easy, I can’t show it any better right now because it’s on a 24″ needle and scrunched up.  Aren’t my felted sheep stitch markers cute? 

I have no way to print out the pattern so I’m knitting in front of my laptop screen.  This afternoon I tried to sit outside awhile.  I wrote out the directions but forgot the middle sections and decided it was too much work to add them.  Hubby was amazed that I could turn the chart into gibberish and understand what it meant.  lol

Yesterday we got the first previews of the wedding pictures, about 65 of the 600+.  Here are 2 of my favorites.

And this one captured the thing I love that she does.  When she gets really tickled at something, she does this silent laugh and her eyes disappear.

I am more than a little impressed with the pictures.

We ran out of propane last night.  Why is it that it always happens that things like that happen right after the store closes?  We were trying to get the stove to start and it just wouldn’t so we had to change dinner plans.  After we ate, hubby started playing with it while I was washing dishes and I commented that I couldn’t get hot water.  It wasn’t long before he discovered the tank was empty.  The park owners told us there was a place down the road besides the one 2 blocks away that sells propane.  The thought of a cold night made it easy to decide to secure everything and head off to find help.  Well, we found it alright…but they were closed, too.  So, we came back and settled in to a night without heat.  It actually wasn’t bad at all.  We just put on sweats.  It didn’t get too cold in here at all, even by morning. 

I barely slept last night (again) because I was a little out of sorts so I got up for a few hours and had to sit quietly at the table with my laptop as the little imp was sleeping on the couch nearby.  I got to bed around 3 so they let me sleep in.  We all slept late, but I was the last one to wake up…at 10!  As soon as I was upright, we pulled up stakes again and drove the 2 blocks to the RV shop and got filled up.  We were back in 15 minutes and got all situated before the park started filling up all around us.  Hubby was happy that we got a little more space between us and the 5th wheel next door.  Since the little guy can’t have free reign all around us any more, it’s nice to give him more space outside our door.

Note to self:  do not walk into a darkened movie theater on a bright afternoon wearing transition lenses.

We decided to go to the movie this afternoon.  When we decided to hit the matinee, we had to leave immediately.  When we got there, the movie had just started.  I led the way in and let me tell you, it was dark…seriously d.a.r.k!  I couldn’t see a thing other than the red lights lining the stairs  Hubby said he was going to suggest we stand right in the entry until our eyes adjusted but I must have barreled ahead.  I kept asking him where to sit but he was trying to get the silly boy in and carry popcorn at the same time.  I embarrassed myself a great deal by choosing a row and taking ahold of a lady’s shoulder when trying to take her seat.  I honestly couldn’t see a thing.  It wasn’t until I sat down that I realized my glasses had turned dark.  When I took them off and could see how easy it was to see I was really embarrassed.  Thankfully the movie had started and I’m sure no one was paying attention other than the lady I nearly sat on.  lol  I waited until she left before I got up.  I’m not going to say what we went to see, it was very disappointing and we’re sad we took the boy to it.  I read the review on IMDB and it didn’t indicate much of what we saw.  I think the boy was totally bored and paid more attention to his food.

Tomorrow the mama-to-be and hubby will pay us a visit!

Technorati Tags: blessings, knitting, littleimp, vacation

Haha.  We just can’t believe the things we did not bring with us.  However, does it matter?  No.

We made a trip into Astoria-Cannon Beach yesterday because we didn’t have any bath soap, shampoo and barely any toothpaste.  The things I forgot for myself…my mousse, my toner, big deal.  I can live without it, but it does strike me funny.  We also left coats for the little imp and I home.  Well, this was supposed to be a time away for relaxation so it is just fine.  Hubby laughed over the fact that we “just left”.

Before we left, hubby had gone to wash the Jeep and the little imp was outside acting out some scene in his mind….either he was Troy Bolton or Spiderman…when there was a knock on the door.  It was the park manager asking if she could give him some fingerpaints.  She’d been watching him and since her granddaughter didn’t show up for a visit, she wanted to share with him. 

When I was setting him up at the table, I knocked my water bottle over and it poured into his lap.  I got such a kick out of him jumping up and running in to get new jeans and to hang up his wet ones…and especially speaking in full sentences telling me about it.  Anyone who has a child with sensory issues will understand… he was a little reluctant to get his fingers in the paint, although he has done it before, but he decided to give it a try.  Pretty big considering he had to deal with water on him, too!

These people that run this park are so nice.

When we went into Astoria, I visited the yarn store there.  It’s a combination quilt/yarn store,  Friendly people!  Before I got to the back of the store where the yarn is, I had 3 different people greet me and ask if I wanted help.  One of the ladies walked around with me and showed me all kinds of things.  It wasn’t pushy, she just loves her stuff and I enjoyed visiting with her.  She asked me if I brought my knitting, she wanted me to come back and have birthday cake for one of the customers (although she had to run back and ice it first) and knit with the ladies.  The little imp and hubby had gone to the music store across the street so I couldn’t really stay, but I was impressed with how welcome I felt.  One of the customers standing by the counter invited me to come sit down with them also.  I’ll definitely stop back in.

When I left there, I walked down the street to see my two fellows come out of the store, wait for the light so I headed down to the corner to discover they were no longer there.  I saw them heading down the street so I walked across the street parallel to them  the entire block trying to get their attention, calling hubby on his cell phone (why would he turn it off?) and couldn’t call the imp because his phone was in the car. This is a common scenario  in our family.

He was turning his phone on when he saw me…we decided since we were right there, we’d go see the Hotel Elliott which has recently been restored.  The people were so kind, told us to go upstairs and see the roof garden. 

This is looking out towards the Columbia River.  Looking the other direction (of course I didn’t think to take a picture), there was a cruise ship and the town was full of tourists and trolleys.  What fun.  We’ve been there when huge military ships and sailors have been crawling the streets, too.  Astoria is a fun little community.

If you look really hard, the Astoria Column is far off on the hill behind hubby.  He  took pictures of the little imp and I sitting on the adirondack chairs facing where he is sitting, but evidently didn’t actually click so too bad..no pictures of us.

It’s cool because there are little fire pits around the chairs so even if it’s cold, you can sit and enjoy. 

See the little building behind where they stand?  Look what’s inside.

I pressed my camera against the window and this is the best I could get.  It’s a teeny bedroom…there are steep stairs beyond the little rail there.  How cute!

The little boy used to be terrified of elevators, but no more,

I wish I could have gotten a full length picture of him on the way up, he was leaning on the handrail with both elbows and crossed his feet, trying to look like his hero, Dad.

We drove down to Cannon Beach so I could stop in at Coastal Yarns.  My friend owns it but is there only on weekends. I bought some yarn and may show you later, am playing with it right now.  We went to the pizza parlor and ate pizza-by-the-slice.  The little imp was trying to get water and when the fountain didn’t stop and cold liquid ran down his arm, dousing him, the look on his face was beyond priceless….huge, huge eyes!  We laughed and laughed.  Then we discovered it was lemonade coming out of the water spigot…they weren’t a bit surprised when we told them.  He was pretty amused at his experiences getting wet, twice in one day.

We got some movies to watch, so after American Idol, hubby and I watched one of them.  The boy was busy.

Several windowsills doubled as parking lots.

And then, day was done.

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