Wednesday, August 27, 2008

sigh

Color me disappointed.

I know I've blogged about the fiber guild that I meet with on the last Wednesday of the month. Well due to illness and my just plain forgetting, it's been a few months since I've been able to go. Well, today just so happens to be the last Wednesday of the month.

I got the kid dressed and in the car. We drove the 15 miles or so downtown. And no one was there. The doors were locked and the lights were off. *sigh*

So, I decided to run to the nearest bank for some cash. I always take the kid for some fries afterwards. Well it wasn't too far out of the way, so I drove back past the community center and the lights were on. Unfortunately, the doors were still locked. *grumble*

I just said screw it and took the kid to McDonald's and got him a happy mean. And I gotta admit, the fries I got were the best fries I've had in ages. I wasted some gas, but at least I ended up with some good fries. lol

Been working on the Galveston shawl again. I haven't gotten very far though. heh I should have gotten a few inches done tonight but I'm going to write instead. I've decided to write my own Harry Potter fan fiction story. It's a story that has been knocking around in my head for a few months now. I even dream about it. I'm on the third chapter and so far the two people that have read what I've got, have liked it. I want to get at least halfway through the story before I ask for some betas and publish it. I just want to make sure that I actually finish the darn thing. hehe

Monday, August 25, 2008

been a long time

This last week or so was very busy for me and the kid. Two weeks ago, my folks decided that I needed to take the kid on vacation. Ummmmm ok. They suggested a water park in Rockford, Il or the Mall of America. I have heard nasty things about that water park and well that isn't really my speed.

So, last Monday, the kid and I took off for Minneapolis. We took dad's van because he has a dvd player and well I need to update my plates. heh We made real good time and got to the mall about 11am. I swear I've never spent so much time driving in circles though. There was lots of construction on 35N. Nick spent the afternoon riding on the rides. He only freaked out once and that was because his bumper car wasn't working right. He ended up getting a tummy ache after riding on the Fairly Odd Coaster.

It was a long drive back to the hotel in Owtanna. Big mistake booking a hotel so far away. Oh well. The ride back into Minneapolis took forever. A semi tipped over on a frontage road and spilled corn all over the interstate. It took about a half hour to go about 5 miles. We had to get back into town though because I wanted to meet Bubbo and Joy!! Monday was Joy's last chance to meet up with the Minneapolis knitters because she is moving to NYC like tomorrow. heh I recognized Heather right off even though she went from pink hair to purple. :) She was so totally sweet. Irene and Betsy were cool too. I'm not sure if they are on Ravelry or have blogs. oops

We sat and chatted for a while. They were all so completely funny and super sweet. I could have stayed all night but Nick was getting antsy. He kept asking to go outside but ummm not gonna happen in Minneapolis even if it was uptown and not downtown. I got a bit of a shock when I went to leave. Bubbo grabbed my ass. hehe I totally should have given her a hug. I'm hoping that in the spring the kid and I can make another trip up to the mall and I intend to correct that.

I had to call my dad to figure out how in the heck to turn the headlights on on his van. I think he was ready to reach through the phone and smack me. hehe It was a long ride back to the hotel and we picked up McDonald's for supper. We fell asleep watching Transformers. Unfortunately, the kid woke me up a couple hours later. He ended up puking his guts out in the bathroom. He fell asleep while I was cleaning up and slept all night. He woke up just fine and dandy but boy was I sore. hehe

We drove back up to the mall Tuesday morning and went to the aquarium. We actually went through twice with a break to walk all 4 levels of the mall. Well we really didn't walk around on the first floor cause we did that on Monday. I saw tons of shops that I would love to visit when I actually have money to spend. All in all, I bought a puzzle and some postcards. I should scan them and share em with y'all. The best part of the aquarium was getting to pet the stingrays and the baby sharks. Nick totally chickened out and wouldn't touch them. After that we made the long trek home. It sucked having to listen to the dvd player instead of my mp3 player. (It hid itself in the van and I couldn't find it for the ride home) We didn't get home until 8pm because we stayed at my folk's house for awhile after getting back.

Nick went back to school on Thursday and it was so nice. hehe He did go to vacation bible school for a week, but that was only 3 hours a day. So not the same. I took Saturday and Sunday off from work because my folks were out of town. I was originally going to go with them to Chicago for my cousin's wedding. It's a good thing we stayed home though. When they got there, they found out that the didn't have a hotel reservation like they though. That will teach them to go to Chicago on Stitches weekend. hehe Y'all stole my folk's room dang it. They ended up driving home after the wedding. I think they got home at like 3am. Yuck!!

Nick and I had a better Saturday though. We went to a local nature preserve with Big Brothers/ Big Sisters. It was part of Take A Kid Outside. It's a fairly local program designed to get kids outside doing something productive. A park naturist gave a talk about the geology of Iowa and the local plant life. They primarily focused on the prairie and the push to convert more land into prairie land. After a quick lunch we got to put that into action. The park had torn down a house on their land and we helped plant prairie grass and other prairie plants on the hill where the house was in order to help stop erosion. Out of 80 plants, the kid and I planted 9 plants. Not too shabby when there weren't that many of us there. After getting cleaned up, we went on a little hike to see a prairie that was planted a year ago and to play in a stream. By the time we climbed back up to the welcome center, I was ready for a nap. hehe Thankfully, it was time to climb on the bus back to town. I treated the kid to an ice cream cone as a reward for helping out.

Not a lot of knitting going on around here. I've got a little over one side left to do on the edge for the never ending purple shawl of death. I'm trying to finish it. I swear!! hehe