Thursday already?!

This week has flown by!

I am hanging out before I head off to the yarn shop where I help out. I will be there for the larger part of the day helping out, then I have a mittens class from 6-8 p.m.

It is going to be a full day!

I am looking forward to the mittens class. Even though I have been working on a pair of fiddlehead mittens, I have never done a thumb---you'll notice in my post about the fiddlehead mittens that they do not have thumbs yet--so this will be a good opportunity to learn. I am working on the mate to the fiddlehead I posted about earlier, but I also have a quickie hat on my needles since I like to have something easy and mindless to carry with me to appointments. The fiddleheads require pretty good concentration, so they are my "home knitting" project. Since winter is right around the corner, I want to learn to make a pair of simple and basic mittens so I can have several pairs for the glove/hat basket by the front door. A really basic pair of mittens works up quickly and I won't freak out if they go missing, as gloves tend to do...

Any plans for the weekend? I have a drawing class at a local art museum that I am pretty excited about. I have tried to take this class a couple times but have had such a schedule conflict that it never panned out. Hubby is picking the kids up from their Saturday football practice, so there isn't anything that is causing a schedule conflict this time. As parents know, when kids schedules conflict with parent schedules, the parent activities will be the first to go...Anyway, I want to take this drawing class to refresh my skills and to work towards taking an oil painting and a print making class at the same facility. I already do pottery, but would like to be able to have stuff I paint on my walls. It just makes it more personal, don't you think?

On the drive home from my son's pottery class last night, there was a smell in the air that reminded me that Fall is right on us and winter is just hanging out around the corner. We had such a mild summer, I am hoping that doesn't mean we are going to have a crazy winter. I like snow, which we got plenty of last winter, but I do not like ice, which we also get every year to varying degrees. I tend to stay home a lot in the winter and just venture out when it is absolutely necessary, like for classes, grocery shopping or to pick kids up from school. I tend to spend a lot of time on the Internet when I'm at home. This season I am going to work on making sure I work on the decor of the house and the maintenance instead of hanging out in cyberspace! Especially any site that might encourage pulling out the credit card

I am trying to do a short run from a one a month cooking cookbook I got recently. I figured I would prepare single meal sized batches so I can make sure my family likes the entree before making it in bulk and then ending up wasting it. The good thing about bulk cooking is that it makes meal times pretty mindless--you just pull something out that morning to thaw and pop it in the oven, add sides, and you're done. I have a friend that will be going through a divorce pretty soon and is going to be cutting her income into a tiny fragment of what she is used to living on, so it would be nice if I could have a couple spare meals to take to her weekly to help her out a bit while she is transitioning.

We have talked about the fact that once her divorce goes through, we will be creative in our get-togethers and try to find all the free things to do in the city or just get together and read at the bookstore and knit/crochet. It will be a good opportunity for me to see how creative I can be at finding cheap or free entertainment for us. There are lots of things to do around the city, we just have to search these out a little. Once a month, the city has Final Fridays. It is an art event where several downtown businesses and galleries stay open late and have varied exhibits from artists. There is a trolley that runs around town and several other things going on. We have never gone to one before--this is a good time to start.

I guess I'd better sign off and get ready to head to the yarn shop. I'll have pictures later, I'm sure!