An Expensive Day

I had to work today, but the hubs stayed home. He decided that, since he was home, it would be a good day for the plumber to come in and fix that filter on our water softener that has been leaking. Now, you may think there is a recession, but someone forgot to tell the plumbers. It was a huge bill, considering the work he did.

Unfortunately, when the hubs tried to open the garage door to let the plumber in, a spring that holds the door snapped, and kept it from opening. So, the next call was to the garage door folks, who also have not heard about the recession, apparently!

How did I end up spending hundreds of dollars on Black Friday, without even going to a store??

Getting the Carpets Cleaned

It's that time of year again. Although I generally don't like it to get this close to the holidays, we have the carpet cleaners coming this week. So, the hubs and I had to get everything ready today. He says this is like the old joke about cleaning the house before the maid shows up. But really it's a matter of getting all the funiture out of the way so they can do their job. And, of course, once you start to move furniture you uncover all sorts of things...

Now the carpets are cleared and ready for their semi-annual bath. Thank goodness we aren't entertaining for Thanksgiving. Instead, we will be spending much of that day putting everything back where it belongs. While we are at it, the Christmas decorations will start going up. And, no doubt, we will be more than ready to sit down to a relaxing dinner at my sister's!

Homemade Bread

This morning over breakfast, I was reading the Free Press. That is the way I spend most Sunday mornings. This morning there was a recipe for a pumpkin braid, which sounded pretty good. It is a yeast bread made with apple cider and pumpkin pie spice. Thought I would try it today, although I haven't baked my own bread in many years (I just never could get the hang of it well enough to do it regularly). Anyway, since I also go grocery shopping on Sunday mornings after breakfast, the time was right to pick up all the necessary ingredients.

It went together very easily, actually. I even kneaded it by hand, rather than use the dough hook on my mixer. I guess I was in the mood to get down to the most basic level (save the wood-burning stove, or course). And, it turned out beautifully. The hubs and I enjoyed it, still warm, with our dinner tonight. Now I just need to get him to take the leftovers to the OPC tomorrow so I'm not tempted to eat them all!

Finally Finished!

I haven't posted for a while, because I have been spending every minute of my spare time working on the baby outfit for a girl who used to work for me. I finished it last Thursday. On Friday, she met me for lunch so I could give it to her. It came out really well. It's a favorite pattern of mine, and I have made it a couple times before. This one is pale lavendar, and perfect for a little girl.

Now I have to start on a baby boy blanket. It is for my grand nephew, who is due to arrive in January. It is not an intricate pattern like this one. Its all stockinette stitch, but with different colors of yarn that make a picture of a snowman. It is done on #10 needles, so hopefully it will go fast.