And Friday's here

And I met my deadline of "stuff I need to have done in order to take Saturday off," so YESSS!

It's supposed to rain like crazy here tomorrow so staying home looks definitely appealing. I have enough food to last for the 3 1/2 days until I leave for Thanksgiving break, so no running to the Mart of Wal (which would not be appealing the weekend before a big, food-centric holiday).

(And my teeth are STILL better this morning. I wonder if that was just some crazy persistent virus that I've finally beaten. I've found that with me the aftereffects of respiratory viruses last far longer than the major symptoms - I'll be tired or borderline-dysphoric or off my feed for weeks after I've ceased coughing and sniffling. And yeah, maybe the "off my feed" has been part of the reason for needing a belt but I needed to put one on again this morning and with a pair of slacks I know I didn't have to belt last time I wore them a few weeks ago....)

Anyway. My plans for today, outside of teaching, are to grade the big take-home exam that comes in today and take my car in for an oil and filter change. (Luckily, those two can be combined - my shop doesn't do loaners, a fact which frustrates me slightly, but apparently NO ONE in town does that. So I have to either go and wait or else finagle rides from people, and finagling rides takes more emotional energy than I have some days, so....)

And then I am going home. And taking a hot shower and washing my hair and getting into pajamas and just sitting and knitting for the rest of the evening. And doing the same tomorrow, with breaks for piano practice and *possibly* the workout. (I didn't do it as many times as I intended this week - 3 rather than 4 - because I think I pulled something one day and I had to take yesterday off because I was hurting. I was still hurting a bit this morning. But hurting slightly is a sign that my muscles are being worked, no?)

Anyway. My partial goal is to finish the first armwarmer and maybe start the second. (Sunday is pretty much a washout in terms of knitting: it's decorate-the-church day and as we are small and few and not too many people who can climb and stretch, I plan on being there a while, and then it's the community Thanksgiving service, which I think I will go to, as the local Ministerial Alliance runs it, and the offering taken goes to them, and they do good work in town - they are the ones who make the arrangements to help stranded travelers and direct people in need to food banks, while at the same time getting some verification that they're not being ripped off by someone who ISN'T genuinely in need)

I'll probably take the armwarmers, if not finished, on my trip. I'm probably not going to take MUCH knitting, as it's a short trip AND my brother, sister-in-law, and niece will be there, so I will need to be more "social" and also I am thinking having knitting out with a curious 2-year-old around is probably not the greatest of ideas. (I suppose I could take yarn, hooks, and pattern for something like a simple crocheted hat or scarf; I suspect it's easier to recover crochet after grabby hands get to it)

I am really eager to get done with the gift knitting (I still have most of a pair of socks and the very end of a pair of socks, sigh) and on to something for ME. It's starting to feel like an obligation and I am slightly annoyed at myself for being so enthusiastic to do this again. Oh, I'm sure it will be all better when people ooh and aah over their gifts (at least my mom will, even if no one else does), but for now, I keep thinking about the Queen Chrysalis amigurumi and about how the yarn for another big ami - this one being Cheerilee - is on its way to me in the mail. And how I still have the unworked Mabel Pines pattern and yarn for that, and and and.