Muddling Through Monday

How did it get to be Monday so soon? There really should be some law against weekends being so darned short!! Daughter has the day off school (some sort of independent school association conferences), so husband and I are poking around wishing we had the day off, too! She's happily settled in with her spinning wheel and a great looking batch of pencil roving to spin. What a life!

Someone commented about the bunny pictures I posted yesterday. No, the picture does not do Phoebe justice. She is much more beautiful in person. Her coat is amazing, particularly when you brush it apart and see all the colorations in her hair; it's like a bullseye effect. It is hard to capture that in a photo. Also, I don't think Phoebe is particularly thrilled to have a new bun in the house, so she was sort of hunkered down in the darkest corner of her cage. We have a new cage ordered for Patrick (his present cage was bought in an emergency, because we didn't plan to get a new bunny), and it is due in this week, hopefully today or tomorrow. I think he'll be happier in his larger house! Patrick had busted both his hocks, and that's a big part of why he came to live with us. Karen could not sell an injured bunny at SAFF, and she knew that we are experienced in taking care of buns and would give him a good home. One of Patrick's hocks is healing nicely, but he busted the other on Saturday night. It is coming along, and I think he'll be just fine in another week or so. We're keeping a close eye on him and giving him lots of TLC.

So...last weekend after SAFF, I had to fly off to Orlando for a business meeting. The flight out of Asheville and into Orlando was fairly uneventful. I must admit I was expecting a lot more from the hotel in Orlando (Double Tree Club near Downtown Disney) and it was a bit of a flea bag!

We had meetings Monday through Thursday, with Tuesday afternoon off for visiting the Disney Park of our choice. I went to Magic Kingdom, and it was great. We had about 4 hours to see the sites, because the parks are closing early this time of year. I paired up with a friend, and we managed to do everything we wanted to do in Magic Kingdom. We ended the night with a big group in Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping.

Wednesday and half day Thursday, we had an outside trainer come in to "help us work through problems and concerns" the management group in my department has been having. What a waste of time and money she was--and I'm not the only one who thinks that! She really had her own agenda, and to heck with what was on our minds. I was thrilled when she left on Thursday morning.

Theoretically, I should have been home by dinner time Thursday night, but dear old Delta was having none of that. For some as yet undisclosed reason, they delayed my flight out of Orlando by half an hour, thus ensuring that I'd miss my connection in Atlanta. When I arrived in Atlanta, the gate agent said the next flight to Augusta was in an hour. Well, I took that to mean I'm confirmed on that flight. No such luck. When I arrived at the gate for the flights to Augusta, they could not confirm me on anything until 8:15 the next day because they'd been canceling flights (again, for some unknown reason) since noon!! I made an executive decision then and there and booked a rental car to drive home. A lady near the gate heard me tell the Delta agent there, and asked if she could come with me. Sure. The more the merrier. I was actually quite pleased to have the company. That drive home (2 1/2 hours) can be boring. I made it home by 9:30 Thursday night, and my luggage managed to get home by noon Friday.

OK. Enough belly aching. That trip is over and done, so on to better things. I finally started some Christmas knitting last night. I cast on for some felted slippers for my brother. I'm using Nature Spun wool and the Fiber trends pattern for felted slippers. I finished the first sole in no time last night and started the second. Hopefully these things will continue to work up fast. I could use 6 pairs of them by the holidays, but I don't know if I'll manage that many!

Today, I want to do a test swatch of the hand spun pencil roving I showed you a couple of weeks back. I want to use it as an accent on the cuff of my slippers, but I'm not sure how it's going to felt.

I've been spinning some more. I re-plied some yarn last night. I was not putting enough twist into my yarn, and it looks a lot better with the proper amount of twist. I also tried spinning some mohair blend fiber that came with my spinning wheel. I have probably 8 zip loc size bags of the stuff, and it is in gorgeous color combinations. Unfortunately, it is not easy to spin and doesn't draft well. Husband got hold of it with his combs, and it spins better after combing. Unfortunately, the combing is resulting in almost a 50% loss to short fibers and neps. Oh well. I'll save the waste for making felted soap. Daughter wants to felt some for teacher gifts and grandparent Christmas gifts.

Public Service Announcement: Tomorrow is the big day--Election Day. Don't forget to cast your ballot. Maybe we should take a poll of who actually thinks we'll know who our president is on the morning of November 3rd? I'm not holding my breath! I think it'll be a while longer, but one can always hope this election goes more smoothly than the last.