Dale brought me two dozen roses on my birthday. I love all the different colors!

Here’s some random goodies for a Thursday.

~I am having major laptop issues. It’s fine while in the docking station at work but at home – oy. The laptop isn’t recognizing the wireless network, it freezes at random moments, sometimes it reboots and sometimes it doesn’t. Luckily, the library trustees authorized me to order a new laptop a few weeks ago. Now if it would only arrive!

~Do you watch Big Love? I do and I love it. It’s eerie how much it mimics some real life situations out there in Utah and I have to admit to a sick sort of fascination with polygamy. It’s like a car wreck – I know I shouldn’t look but I can’t help myself. So, when I visited Margene last week and she offered to drive me past the old Warren Jeffs compound I jumped at the chance.

Of course, now he’s been convicted of the charges brought against him. Score one for the good guys.

~Weight Watchers continues but slowly. I actually lost a pound while on vacation but had a hard time getting back into the swing of things when I got home. Slow and steady, though. This weight didn’t come on in a month and it won’t come off that quickly, either.

~Yesterday I heard someone say they were “happy as a clam” and I got to thinking. What makes a clam happy anyway?

~While at the Great Basin Fiber Fair we took a class in dyeing roving for striped socks. The class itself was lame and we got no real information on how to actually do anything. But we managed to muddle through together and wound up with some roving that doesn’t really look too bad.

~This one is especially for Norma: fry sauce is good.

The end.

This past Sunday was the Race for the Cure and Team Spun and Run was well represented. The race was much bigger than I expected, having never done anything like this before. It was actually pretty easy to get caught up in the excitement of the event – speeches and testimonies and free give aways – were the order of the day.

There was the money raised, too. And our team raised nearly $2500! Woot!

Of course, there was also the walk. 5K isn’t much but I sure was tired afterwards! Thank goodness for BBQ with friends.

I got to do some really cool things while I was in Salt Lake City. I had sushi. I had Chateaubriand. And fry sauce. I had huevos rancheros. And I even had a martini or two. But surprisingly, the coolest thing I did had nothing to do with food. Those of you who know me may need a moment or two to absorb that statement. It’s true, though. The coolest thing I did was to participate in a waulking.

You can read all about waulking wool at House of Scotland. And yes, that’s the same site Margene linked to last week. Honestly, it’s the most information I found about waulking on the internets. And I love all those photos.

My photos are perhaps a bit less serious but I think they are remarkably similar in feel to the ones at House of Scotland. Wanna see?

We laughed and laughed – it was just so much fun and also so cool to participate in such an ancient ritual for finishing woven fabric. Should you ever be invited to a help at a waulking, I strongly suggest that you participate. You might get a little wet and soapy but you’ll have a blast, I promise.

As I’m sure you’ve figured out, my trip to Utah was wonderful. There was time for everything, it seemed. Eating and drinking, knitting and spinning, talking and laughing. It seemed to go on for days. And then, all too soon, it was over and I was headed home. But I took a lot of pictures and I’d like to share a handful of them with you.

A wonderful group shot of us at the fiber fair.

The setting for the fair was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the days were warm and sunny. And everywhere you looked there were the mountains.

I just love this photo of Kim up at Silver Lake.

I got to meet Kim! And had more time with Susan than the last time I visited. Of course, I’m going to have even more time with Susan next month. Yay.

Temple Square is not to be missed.

And, of course, no trip to Salt Lake City is complete without the Margene Treatment – a meal at Silver Fork Lodge and a walk around Silver Lake.

The scenery is gorgeous, the friends are genuine, the Stitch ‘n Bitch group is terrific, and I can’t wait to go back.

You knew it would be a mountain, right? I do love me a mountain. And, while my birthday posts in the past have been of a more personal nature, this one suits me just fine, too.

Happy birthday to me, Happy weekend to you.

I am home. And it was a wonderful trip. I know you’re all anxious to hear about it (because you have nothing better to do, right?) but I need some time to process it all before I post. So, tomorrow I will have an Eye Candy Friday photo and Monday I will tell you all about the trip. ‘Kay?

In the meantime, I am missing this:

Margene. And the mountains.

See my new Converse sneakers? Are they perfect for sheep and wool festivals or what? You can bet I’ll be wearing them while attending the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair this weekend.

I’ll be at Margene’s until Wednesday if you’re looking for me. I’ll talk to you all again on Thursday. Bye!

I finished my Locksins! just in time for my trip west.

Aren’t they purty?

The pattern, of course, is Cassie’s and the yarn is Judy’s Ball and Skein.

I can’t even tell you how tickled I am to have socks made with one friend’s pattern and another friend’s yarn. Particularly when the pattern and yarn are such a great match.

They are absolute perfect and I love ‘em!

I don’t know what your schedule is like but I bet it is a lot like mine. And that means that days and nights and whole weeks go by without getting a chance to spend some quality time with the people you love. Dale and I had such a fabulous time on vacation this summer with Hannah, our stepdaughter Jessica and her son, Patrick, that we decided we need to set aside a specific time each week to spend with them and not just wait until vacation time. You know – like Sunday dinner. Except no one is available on Sundays.

It seems like there’s something going on every night of the week but we finally agreed to set aside Mondays as family dinner night that includes the extended family, not just Dale, Hannah and I. Because, don’t misunderstand me, Dale, Hannah and I eat dinner together as a family most weeknights. But we wanted to start something special and include Jess and Patrick once a week. So, Dale is now picking up Patrick from his after school program on Monday afternoons. He’s bringing him back to our house so that Patrick can hang out with us until his mom arrives. And then we are all going to have dinner together. It probably doesn’t sound like much but I think it’s going to be a really good thing for all of us.

While the kids do homework

I cook dinner – which we actually ate in the dining room.

Dale said it felt like Thanksgiving. I agreed – except, of course, that we didn’t have turkey, gravy, stuffing or mashed potatoes. But there was food in the dining room and two vegetables. And it did sort of feel like a holiday since we were all together.

Of course, next Monday, I’ll be away and Dale will be in charge of dinner. I bet there won’t be any vegetables that night. Kraft Dinner, anyone?