A bit of a blur

The past week has been busier than usual for me. The big burner on the stove was finally repaired last Monday - yippee - so I am cooking on all four burners again. The repair happened just in time to do some extra cooking. James had a potluck at his work on Wednesday and he requested that I make macaroni and cheese. This is the good stuff...an Emeril recipe with homemade creamy cheese sauce and a spicy bread crumb topping; in other words, no one under the age of 16 will eat it. It was a big hit at the potluck and James brought home an empty dish.

On Wednesday afternoon after returning from my tour of duty in Aidan's class, I made a batch of sketty and meatballs to take over to the parents of a new baby. Baby Nora has been in the world for about four weeks now, but her mother and I agreed that I wouldn't bring dinner over until all their out of town guests had gone home. When I got up on Thursday, I baked a pan of brownies, and then took the meatballs/sauce, spaghetti and brownies over to their house after I left my tutoring gig. My car smelled so nice and chocolaty!

The weekend was fun. On Saturday, we went over to Falcon Field in Peachtree City for WWII Heritage days, sponsored by the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing. The event had re-enactors, vehicles, vintage aircraft and exhibits; we particularly enjoyed seeing the airplanes.


Aidan was thrilled to be allowed to get into a ball turret from an aircraft:


We took with us Flat Stanley, who was sent to us by a friend in North Carolina. We will send him back to NC with photos and a copy of the program for the event.

Yesterday we hosted a business colleague/friend of James, also from NC, who is in town for two weeks of training. He appreciated the opportunity to get away from the hotel and eat a home cooked meal. Despite a steady drizzle, we grilled some spicy chicken and I made twice baked potatoes and cucumber salad. We finished it off with fresh strawberry shortcake, since the strawberries are now in season. Yum!

Off the needles

I recently completed a few knitting projects.

I am still finding cloths (dish, wash, whatever) to be a quick and economical way to practice. I made a butterly cloth out of very pink yarn that Aidan liked and asked to use.


It's yours, love! The color scheme in his bathroom be damned, he is using a hot pink washcloth. It's a little hard to see the butterfly in the photo but, trust me, it is there.

Using a variegated cotton yarn, I made a cloth in a basketweave pattern called Alex's cloth.


It is a simple combination of knit and purl stitches but for some crazy reason, it vexed me. Terribly. I had to rip out numerous rows three or four times, trying to fix silly mistakes. At the end, it became personal and I was determined to conquer this dishcloth…and I did. It will go into the Mother's Day gift box for my mom.

I also finished the first of my practice gift scarves. The recipient is my friend Ann who lives in North Carolina and I think the fabulous color of the yarn and the delicate texture of the yarn will suit her beautifully.


Ann and I worked together several years ago, in a department headed by The Evil Executive Director. Despite the toxic environment (or maybe because of), we found much to enjoy and became good friends. I will ship off her scarf once I receive the cool "knit with love by MaryAnne" tags that I ordered from a crafter on Etsy.