Spring Is Here So Summer Is Not Too Far Behind!

Just love, love, love the sound of spring peepers as the sun starts to set!  Because that means it is warming up and going to stay that way for awhile!  Yay!  But that also means it is almost time for the WEBS annual tent sale in Massachusetts.  Double yay!

For any fiber lover or spinner, this is heaven on earth.  Our Graceland.  The Vatican of fiber. The Royal Family reunion.  You name it, this is it.  WEBS is a great online source for all things yummy. It may be all sticks and string but ooooooooooo do we love the string!  Cashmere, baby alpaca, merino wool, angora, kid mohair, silk, milk fiber, bamboo viscose; the list could go on and on and on...and on, and on, and on.  And what makes it great for me (Karen) this year is that I am finally going to be able to experience this breathtaking, choir of angels softly singing above me, sunbeams lighting the glorious path to "Ahh-Aaahhhh".

I encourage anyone who is a fiber addict, like my sister and I, have a fiber addict in their family, or if you just have a general morbid curiosity as to who all these odd crazy people are squeezing skeins of yarn like they are checking the ripeness of a tomato.  Trust me, one squeeze of some baby alpaca, you're gonna be running around knocking people over squeezing, touching, feeling, rubbing on your cheek (hopefully face), and emphatically sounding off the Campbell's "mm-mmm-good!" slogan over and over again.  You get hooked (crochet pun - haha) from the first time your gently glide your finger over a soft hazy pillow of superfine kid mohair.  It's like being wrapped up into a burrito made from big white puffy clouds lined with angel feathers.

If anything, come and watch the loonies get all starry eyed over something the size of lemon that costs more than a nice dinner for two.  But my thought is, who needs dinner?

Daddy's Girl

Even though this post is completely going to date me (and poor Karen, too), I'm going to plow ahead anyway.  I'm a child of the 70's.  Born in 1971 (which puts me at 44), I graduated high school in 1990.  Go, Bulldogs!!

I wasn't lucky enough to have hippy-dippy parents, though.  Nope, no wandering the countryside with stoned-out loons for this kid.  (And by the time Karen came along, in 1976, things were rolling into the 80's and the hippy-dippy-parent dream was dead.)  Our dad was a chef.  A chef who combat-served with the 82nd Airborne, and more** in Vietnam.  All my life, I remember people coming up to Dad - really, really excited - and begging for his autograph.  Everywhere we went they thought he was Jerry Garcia.  No matter how he changed his look - the requests would come.  Eventually, he gave up trying to explain that he was not the famed Garcia and instead just gave them his autograph.  His OWN, that is.  Lots and lots of people walked away with a quickly scrawled, 'all the best, Dan the Man'.  Seriously used to crack us up to no end.  But, as he was a Dead fan, I don't think he actually minded much. ;p

I've been thinking quite a lot about my Dad lately.  Having grown up a tried-and-true Daddy's Girl, I truly enjoy watching the same bond between my daughters and husband.  All three of my girls are Daddy's Girls.  They truly adore that man.  So, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all the Dads out there and all the Daddy's Girls.  Love him lots while you have him, girls, and be sure to pick a man that will adore YOUR baby girls just as much.  I did and it's a blessing.

Thanks, Daddy. I love you!


**our dad spent time in Special Forces - he entered a PVT, left a PVT and his jacket only states TDY for the entire time in-between with no destination or designation assigned**

Holiday Goodies

I hope this finds everyone well rested from all of the holiday excitement.  From stuffing the face with all sorts of Thanksgiving goodies, to stuffing the car full of Christmas goodies.  I tip my hat to those brave enough to face the swarm of madness that is Black Friday.

I have experienced it from both sides, retail and the customer, and both equally, well, suck.  From the retail end, you have absolutely no tolerance whatsoever.  I worked at Macy's.  In New York.  I remember the two women who tore a garment because they were arguing over it.  It was the last one in a particular size.  I was ringing out lady No.1 who originally had it.  No.2 came up to snatch it out of No.1 hand.  No.1 (who had to be 200 years old and 4 feet tall) swung on No.2 (who was about 35 and close to 6 feet tall).  Once the garment tore, (within seconds) No.2 looked at me and screamed why did I not step in and give it to her.  I smiled, and in a very even and pleasant tone, "Because you are a disrespectful bitch.  Goodbye."  I called security and had her thrown out of the mall, not the store, the mall.  You don't do that to Grandma.

On the other side, my sister and I went together.  That right there is just all sorts of bad, on a daily, much less Black Friday.  And honestly, we never start it but by God, we finish it.  But we went with awesome attitudes and if we ended up not getting what we wanted it was a total, meh, whatever. That was until some woman behind us started grabbing our stuff.  Our first stop was Kay-B-Toys.  They had reset the aisles to work like a cattle chute, gave you one large, clear coroner's office body bag and got out the way.  So I took one side, Dori took the other, the bag was in the middle.  The lady behind us started reaching into our bag to grab things.  Oh silly woman. Needless to say, she did not retain any of our items and we ended up blocking her into a corner to let many other people pass through. She needed a bib with amount of spittle that was flying out of her face.  It was funny.  We were belly laughing while waving people through like traffic cops.  Then we walked locked elbow to elbow.  For two chicks at roughly 100 pounds and within inches of 5 feet tall, we are a very effective road block. Yup.  Never again, from either side.

But Thanksgiving was awesome!  We do Italian style.  Stuffed manicotti, three cheese Italian loaf crisped with garlic infused oil, mesclun greens, and fresh baked blueberry bread for dessert.  I made mini-lasagnas as well.  Good eats, talking with the fam and football!  Just awesome!  Perfect!  

We truly hope that you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day!