O is for...

Optimism

Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow at 3 Daughter and I will be driving to Indiana and one of the items on the agenda is to give a new mom a sweater for her new baby.


Yesterday, before I had the second sleeve started, I was a little concerned that this wasn't going to happen in time. Today I'm feeling fine, and even planning on putting on the optional hood. This is the Wonderful Wallaby made using Bernat Camoflage yarn. It's supposed to have a pocket on the front, but really, what newborn needs a pocket in her sweater?

After I finish the sweater this evening I can start to feel optimistic about having the house in some semblance of order before Mom and Dad get here on Saturday. Have I ever mentioned that the guest room is also the yarn storage room? And when it's been a while since we've had guests it starts to get a little... cluttered? And we haven't had guests since Christmas?

N is for...

New Shoes

This year I'll be running in the Morton Arboretum 5K run again. I'm hoping to do at least as well as I did last year. I got a late start on training, so we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

When I filled out the registration form, I asked Daughter if she wanted to run in the kids dash, which for her age group is a half mile. To my surprise, she said she'd like to. Since then she has been training, sort of. Every few days she goes out and runs around our block, which is close to a half mile. She's also mentioned that she would like to keep running so that she can run the whole 5K with me next year. After I regained consciousness, I figured that she should probably have some actual running shoes, rather than her super-cute school gym shoes.

We went to Dick Pond and the sales guy measured her foot, had her walk around in her socks so he could see how her foot hit the ground, then he earned my loyalty by first checking in the "Last year's model" bin. He found some nice ones that fit her well and were comfortable. I told her that it was OK that they weren't a color she really loved, and I managed to convince her that running shoes don't have to look nice. We got her shoes and as soon as we got home she put them on and went out to run around the block.

I figured if she had new shoes, it would also be sensible for me to get a pair to replace my old, beat up shoes. I went back and picked up a pair from another very helpful salesman who also started in the "Last year's model" bin. Mine ended up being one of this year's models, but they were still very reasonable. Both hers and mine are the same size. Daughter finds this terribly exciting, as it means it will be no time at all before she can steal my shoes.



Here's the irony of the situation. My shoes are the ones on the left. The purple ones. Daughter's favorite color.

M is for...

Mantis on My Mailbox





This is the second praying mantis I've ever seen in real life. The other one was on our front porch last year. Maybe it's the same one?