(Not Quite) Seven Quick Takes

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I don't have seven quickies today, so I'll just give you what I have.


We're taking a three-day weekend. Josh has a four-day weekend at S.C. for the Ohio Catholic teacher's conference or something. I didn't want to squeeze everything into a three-day week, but I'm giving them today off. Three day weekends are nice, aren't they? We could do it more often, but then the week days are so long. Is it worth it? Every once in a while it's a nice treat.

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The boys have a football game to see tonight, so Peach and I have another girls' night. Since high school football started, we've been doing our grocery shopping on Friday night -- grabbing soup and sandwich at Panera and then going to the grocery store. It's a nice routine, but I think tonight we'll stay home and make something yummy. Maybe tuna noodle and biscuits. And watch a movie -- maybe Meet Me in St. Louis -- that's our go-to girls' night movie.

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I started a new knitting project last night. I had made four children's hat and scarf sets for our church knitting ministry and really burned out on the same pattern. Regina sent me a knew one yesterday and it ignited the knitting flame again. I love working on dpns -- and these knew ones I got for my birthday are really nice, sharp and smooth. I just have to keep the dog from getting her mouth on them or they'll be toast. The pattern is here, if you're interested. I had a heck of a time getting the four stitches on all four dpns to stay straight, so I used two, laying them on a throw pillow on my lap, and worked my way up to where I could use all four. Now I have to keep it in my knitting bag until I truly have extra time -- it's easy for me to become all-consumed.

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Speaking of the puppy -- she is chewing everything. None of our other puppies ever chewed this much. She has loads of rawhide, nylabone, I even broke down and bought her a stuffed toy, but she still mouths everything, from leaves, to shoes, to the corner of my coffee table. She hasn't really done a lot of damage yet because I watch her like a hawk, but any suggestions? How long does it take for them to grow out of this stage? And how long does it take for them to be truly house broken? I just don't remember. Every couple days she pees on the floor -- last night I stepped in it. Ugh. She does really well and then, boom, pee puddle. Other than that she's very sweet and lovable. But if she chews my coffee table, she's in big trouble. Big.

The other day I walked into the family room and saw this book stuffed into the foot rest of Doug's chair. It's an older leather chair and has seen much better days, so I had to laugh when I saw the book stuffed there. It was St. Francis and the Wolf, appropriately, and Peach had put it there to keep Maggie's nose out of this hole. She didn't make the hole originally, but she made it much bigger in an effort to pull the stuffing out. Maybe I should talk to St. Francis.

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My last little bit is a housekeeping bit. Last spring I mentioned that we had done some moving of bedrooms and Geoffrey, college boy, was in the basement. That sounds awful doesn't it? I used to think that was so awful that folks would put their kids in the basement. But, now I realize it's sometimes a necessity and that basement bedrooms are just as nice as upstairs bedrooms. We have a large L-shaped finished area in our basement (we have a full basement, so the other half is laundry space and storage space) and the bottom part of the L, if you will, used to be Peach's play space. The other part was school space (see here).

Last spring, after Geoff moved home and there was much bumping of elbows and several verbal exchanges between testosterone-producing young adult males, we decided to transport the oldest to the basement. We removed the toys and shelves from Peach's play room, painted it, built a platform bed, and moved his stuff in. Now it is a nice quiet space for him when he comes home. After he moved out in September, I cleaned it up (again) and I snapped a picture.



The long "desk" at the back of the room is wall-to-wall counter top. When I worked at home, this was my office, and we installed the counter top for workspace. We decided to keep it in the space and Geoff used it for his computer and television. Sometimes he pulled a chair up to work at the desk. He doesn't have doors on his room, but we rarely use the basement, so he has privacy most of the time. Ultimately I'd like to put another wall up and make a small studio apartment (sans kitchen). Maybe he'll move back home junior or senior year and we'll do that.

That's all for today. We have a nice relaxing weekend ahead -- some Buckeye football tomorrow and no plans at all. What do you have going?


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