Friday Loving

It's been a great week. I loved Spring Break. But I've also loved having the children back in school. I'm also loving...

I'm loving my new bird.

Isn't he cute? There's so much personality in his little beak. I just need to decide where to keep him. He looks good everywhere I set him down.

I'm loving my tree.

(Neighbors house gets stickers for privacy reasons. I could have avoided that if I had gone outside and taken a better picture, but I was feeling lazy.)

(and wearing my bathrobe)

(Sorry)

This poor tree has looked like the largest dead stick, just stuck in my front yard, for the past nine months. We've watered it diligently but quietly wondered if the neglect it suffered before we moved in had done it in. I kept bending branches to reassure myself I was watering a live tree and not wasting water on a dead stick. But the branches always bent, never snapped in half, so something was going on. About a month ago all the trees on the street exploded in leaves and flowers. But not my dead stick imitator (it really did the best impression of a dead stick). It continued to look, well, I know I've over used this word, but it looked dead. Once again I was bending twigs and quietly wondering if there was any hope left. Then one day, in its own good time, it bloomed. I love the springy green. It looks like tangible hope to me. My tree weathered the drought, and I can weather hard times too.

I'm loving my Man!

(For privacy reasons I've covered the most identifying parts of his uniform.)

(Then I went a little crazy with the stickers.)

(Sorry.)

I don't put much about his work on my blog, but today I am too proud to be quiet. He received a medal yesterday for service he performed during the course of his employment. He saved a man's life under circumstances where most would have failed. I'm so proud of him. He's always been MY hero. But I enjoyed seeing other recognise him as such. It made me so happy to see him being honor by his employer. He is a good man, who does good things. It was nice to give him his day.

What are you loving?

P.S. I'm not loving my brown sweater. I once read a snarky comment on a knit blog about how she hates seeing poorly blocked knit items. I wonder how you could poorly block something. You get it wet, you stretch it out, you let it dry. Wet blocking is kinda idiot proof.

Well, I'm an idiot.

Not so much an idiot. But I had a saboteur.

Some tiny person is very pleased with her fine motor skills.

She is so pleased she snuck into my room and used the unusually well developed pincer grasp to remove half my straight pins that were holding the sweater in place. She proceeded to line the pins up in a PERFECTLY STRAIGHT line across my carpet. It was actually kinda impressive.

The rest of the pins?

She grouped those decoratively in one of the armpits.

But I can't really blame it all on her.

She appears to have waited until the sweater was mostly dry. The hem is uneven is a way that can only be blamed on bad pinning (which may or may not have been the result of her original "assistance").

Oh the shame of it all!

And in a related note Meaty has decided he wants to share a room with the dog. To facilitate this he took the dog's bed from my room and placed it in his room. Fine with me.

Just one small snag.

The dog does not appear to want to share a room with Meaty.

Upon finding no comfy blanket by my bed to sleep on last night she decided to sleep on my sweater.

Back into a soapy bath the sweater goes.

Stay tuned for "Blocked, Take 2."