I'm working on 10 days since my last post and I'm sorry about that.  Life really hasn't been that exciting that I couldn't find the time.  I'm not quite sure where the days went.

We have been trying to clean up the yard after the reno work but it has rained or snowed every weekend here since Christmas.  We still have a dumpster in the driveway.  I can't wait to call the company and have them come pick it up.  One of the reasons we chose them is that they don't charge by the day.  We can keep it as long as we want and then call them to pick it up.  We pay by the ton for anything over 3 tons (6,000 pounds.   that's a lot of debris)

We did learn that our back porch area has some asbestos shingles and we're not sure how we're supposed to dispose of them just yet but I know it will be expensive.

Pk turned 55 this past weekend.  He asked for a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting.  I found a recipe and got some good cocoa powder and then made some chocolate/raspberry frosting.  It was yummy.

We had already planned to take the Friday and Monday surrounding his birthday off to give ourselves a long holiday-like weekend.  There are no days off until Memorial Day (May) and we thought it might be nice.

Well, on Wednesday I had a sore throat.  It felt like swallowing razor blades so I left work early.  I called the dr because the pain came with some fever and swollen glands.  I got an appt on Thursday and it was indeed the dreaded strep throat.

I have a history of serious infections, two of which led to hospitalizations for IV antibiotics for a week at a time.  I am a MRSA carrier so I don't play around when I think I may have an infection of any kind.  The dr reinforced this and told me that I should never hesitate to call if I think strep is involved (untreated strep in adults can lead to heart valve damage and/or kidney damage).  I had scarlet fever as a teenager and the evidence of it shows up in my kidney tests to this day.

He said "you didn't need me to tell you this is strep".  I said "no, but I need you to write the prescription for the pills to make it go away".  So he did.  The antibiotic wouldn't do anything for the cold I was brewing on top of the strep but it would make the strep go away.

I slept most of Thursday and then made a grocery store run with Pk on Friday.  It was all I could do to choose items and come home.  I slept on and off most of Friday. (when I wasn't sneezing and blowing my nose.  thank all the dieties for Puffs)

Sat was Pk's birthday and he planned to go to a Woodworking show with two of his brothers-in-law.  He left and I made the cake and with the help of Kate and Patrick, decorated the living room.

Pk wanted to buy something called "illooms", illuminated balloons.  Each one has a small LED inside and "glows".  Well, they glow but only when it's really dark.  He will get more enjoyment out of them after we take them down and he gets to pull the LEDs out and play with them. 

I made tacos and red beans and rice for dinner and the girls and their SOs came over to spend the evening with Pk.  We had a really good time but I was so tired by the time they left.  It was all I could do to clear up and drag my sorry self upstairs.

Oh, and that's the Giant Birthday Peep.  We've tried to decorate him for holidays but his head is too amorphous to wear a hat.  He's just kind of cute.

Arucania sock.  Great stitch definition.

I declared that Sunday was a pajama day and I caught up on my hulu queue and worked on a birthday sock for the next birthday (which thankfully isn't until April).  I finished Pk's socks on Friday and he wore them on Saturday.  I wanted to take a photo but he was dressed and out the door before I was fully functioning.  He loves them.  They're Noro Silk Garden Sock.  Coarse but colorful. 

Today I haven't done too much.  I've sat and read since my mind feels fairly lucid for the first time in days.  I am thinking about spinning some but haven't made it past the thinking-about-it stage.  We were also considering a trip to the movies this afternoon but maybe not.  I'm kind of content to just sit here and watch the world out my front window and listen to a book and probably fall asleep.  I have to go to work tomorrow so I need to nap while I can.

Pk is working/playing outside in the "shop".  My birthday gift to him was cash to spend at the woodworkers' show.  He wants to try his hand at making pens/pencils so he bought some tools for that.  He originally wanted something called a "chuck" for the lathe.  I suggested he go to the show and see if there was anything he really wanted and if not, we'd order the chuck (which is a part that allows you to turn bowls on your lathe).  He was so glad he did this because the chuck (which was expensive) turned out to be a very small (3 inches or so) part that would not have allowed him to do what he really wanted.  Instead, he got a variety of useful, interesting things AND got to hang around with grey haired men wearing plaid flannel shirts at the same time.  win/win.

I think I might also play with the app I bought for my ipad.  KnitCompanion is supposed to be "wonderful", "so useful" and other good things.  I think (so far) that it sucks harder than any sucking thing has ever sucked in the entire history of sucking things.  It is the most user unfriendly piece of software I have ever purchased.  There are hours of tutorials I am going to have to watch just to figure out how it works.  THAT to me is not what I want to be doing with my time.  I guess Microsoft has made me lazy.  (except for Windows 8), their products are fairly easy to figure out.  KnitCompanion (which is supposed to allow me to import my patterns and "mark"them up and make them easier to use) could use a lesson in that. 

Are you ready for Spring? (or Fall if you're below the equator?).  Our bulbs have a healthy bit of growth and we've got another month of winter.  This up and down weather has been crazy.  I'd still like a good snowfall but my chances of it happening are getting slimmer and slimmer.  Soon, I'll have to just give up hoping and start thinking about the garden.