What to Say?

Caution ~ extremely long catch up post ahead. Missed you all and I am glad to be back!

Wow, can I get a fabulous guest blogger or what?! My big head is taking up most of my living room right now. Thank you JJ for the kind words, they left me speechless (which as anyone who has ever talked to me knows, can be virtually impossible).

A word about JJ. Don't let her fool you, she is kind hearted, emotional (in a good way), eloquent (check out her new blog, mum's the word if you don't believe me) and the best sister anyone could hope for. Though we haven't always seen eye to eye (understatement is strongly implied here), I will always loved her. BTW - She was not as naughty as she would have you believe . . . dealing with past grief in an uncomfortably tense situation is hard on anyone. I give her substantial credit for staying as cool as she did.


Like fish, family house guests begin to stink after a few days. I'm not certain that's how the saying goes, but it works for me. I'll be the first to say Arizona at 104 degrees, mom having surgery, mom's 70+ smotheringsignificant other, and a three hour time difference and hospital food all add up to Very. Stinky. Fish. Yet Mom is recovering nicely and life is returning to normal. Plus I got to see LG - a lot. I just love him and he never got stinky. His #@&! doesn't stink.

So on to some things I learned while in Arizona:

1. NEVER ride with 70+ people in a vehicle if you need to be somewhere fast. Standard driving speeds . . . 5 miles BELOW the speed limit. Yep, slow, rotting torture in a vehicle with minimal air conditioning.
2. You know it's truly not hot until you have sat on a porch drinking coffee at 6:30 am with temps already in the 80's . . . knowing it will get up to 104+ in only a few short hours.
3. Grass is a truly beautiful thing.
4. Tucson has a drug store on every corner - it's true.
5. When you want to go somewhere with my mom, start getting her ready two hours before so you will only be 20 minutes late.
6. You can get lots of knitting done while waiting in hospitals.
7. Some neuro-surgeons are really good looking.
8. Every house in Tucson is some shade of . . . brown. Call it brown, tan, beige, taupe, camel, whatever it's still all the same. No offense to any Arizona residents, I just couldn't believe all the brown.
9. If you are going to haul a baby from hotel to hospital some seven thousand times, a car seat bungee corded to a luggage cart makes an instant stroller. CJ, you saved our lives on that one.
10. Upon arriving home, my definition of clean and RM's definition of clean are two entirely different things.
11. All sorts of things can go amok at home when I was gone. Toilet repairs, water softener replacements, boards on deck broken/repaired, no-show sitter, truck dies - purchase new one (yea, you heard me right), and install surround sound in the living room. RM was a busy, busy man while I was away.
13. In Arizona there is no time during the course of 24 hours a can person run outside - it's just too damn hot.
12. Purls is a fabulous yarn shop! I did make some fabulous purchases.

Did I mention it was hot there?

In knitting news, I completed the Marigold socks, JJ's Jaywalkers and Mom's On-Your-Toes Socks. Sorting out all the photos I took is taking some time, so they should be posted in a few days.

It's good to be back in temperatures I can stand . . . by the way, it was hot there!