Mommy swap #3, part 2

After the excitement of Lucy receiving the swap package that I prepared for her, I settled in to wait for my own package. I did not have long to wait - my box arrived on Monday. And the moment I saw the owls on the outside of the package, I knew that I was the lucky person who received a box from Laura, whose Ravelry ID is indigonightowl.

Lucky, lucky, lucky me! I opened the box to find it packed with brightly wrapped goodies:


I took out all the little packages and dove right in. First I unwrapped what Laura calls The Elegant Pirate Hat:


Laura knows that I have a strange fondness for skulls/crossbones and cute pirate gear, and she created this hat in two of my favorite colors. The accompanying note says "I had a constant vision of you wearing this hat the next time you had to shovel, and show that snow who is boss!" And indeed I will. She even lined it in skully flannel so my noggin will stay nice and warm next winter:


Laura also knew that I wanted a pair of fingerless mitts so she indulged that wish:


They are knit from MMMMMalabrigo so they are super soft and she knit them in a pattern that I have marked as a favorite on Ravelry. My hands are almost always warm so the fingerless mitts will work well for me in winter.

Laura is a spinner, so she made a custom skein of yarn for me using greens and blues from previous dyepots with bits of orange and yellow:


Again, the colors are so me.

But, wait, there's more! I am always short row counters so Laura sent me three of those, she sent a box of yummy assorted Mrs. Nelson’s chocolates (that surprisingly I am sharing with James and Aidan) and a skully cat toy for Spenser. Spenser was sound asleep upstairs when I opened the box and before I knew it, he was right there to investigate. I put the box on the floor while I found the camera, and guess who stuck his head in:


Wow, wow, wow. Laura really knocked my socks off with this package and sent things that are so me. What a wonderful way to extend and end an excellent Mother's Day.

The "mutha" in Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day weekend. The weekend festivities began for me on Saturday morning when I attended the monthly meeting of Twisted Stitches, the knitting guild to which I belong. The May meeting includes the annual luncheon, so after the business meeting, sharing of projects and swapping of yarn, we enjoyed a yummy catered lunch. It is always a treat to eat a meal prepared by someone else.

My special Mother's Day dinner was Saturday evening. With plans to go to the ballpark for a Sunday afternoon game, we knew that we would probably be full from snacking on ballpark food when we got home. So James fired up the grill on Saturday instead to cook his specialty, rib eye steaks. Mother Nature tried to intervene by cooking up a storm, but James gamely stood under the overhang of the communal garage and grilled delicious steaks.

Sunday morning began with Aidan crawling into bed with us and saying “Happy Mother’s Day! It’s snowing!” And he was right...there were snow flurries. But we stuck to our plans to see the Syracuse Chiefs play baseball, snow or no snow. Aidan brought his presents for me: three cards/pictures. Is there anything better than drawings of hearts and flowers and "I love you, Mommy!" on them? Then James prepared his caramelized oatmeal breakfast, complete with strawberries, blueberries and fresh whipped cream. Yum.

We bundled up and headed over to the ballpark. It was strangely quiet when we arrived: few cars in the parking lot, gates latched, ticket windows closed. Hmmm. We called the ticket office from the parking lot and learned that the game had been canceled. CANCELED? What's a little snow? Shortly thereafter, a man came out of the building and James asked him why the game was canceled. It seems that when the storm hit on Saturday afternoon and they canceled the game that was being played at that time. the grounds crew was not able to get the tarp on the field fast enough and the field was still a wet, muddy mess. A "quagmire", to quote our spokesman.

Harumph. So we drove over to Zebbs for burgers, then went on home. On a very windy, snowy day, there just wasn't much else to do. But despite the dramatic change in plans, we had a good afternoon of Wii, board games and reading. I also was able to do two loads of laundry; not exactly my usual way to celebrate, but always necessary.

So despite Mother Nature's attempts to dampen the weekend, I had a great time. We will exchange our tickets for another game (maybe Father's Day?) and enjoy our inaugural visit to Alliance Bank Stadium another day. But wouldn't it have been fun to reminisce about the time we watched a baseball game in the snow?