And home again

Wow. This weekend was kind of different from last one.

So, so, so many kids melting down in public: kids that got dragged to the antiques shop with their parents (protip: try not to take your kids places you know they'll be bored and that probably aren't appropriate for them. I might have been able to handle an antique shop at 7 or 8, but not all kids can).

I did get to the yarn shop. Bought a cake of James Brett's "Northern Lights" in an icy blue colorway. It advertises that you can get a shawl from one ball. I had seen it advertised on the shop's Facebook page and kind of wanted to try it.

(And I wonder: when Brexit finally grinds to life, how's that going to affect exports from British companies? I mean, this yarn was made in Turkey - as many of them are, now - but the company is a British one. I have stocked up on digestive biscuits and Golden Syrup just in case; those are two things I use a lot - the digestive biscuits because they are something sweet without being TOO sweet, and the Golden Syrup is just a good all-around sweetener for things)

I also got a cake of Cascade's "Whirligig" in a pink colorway for Thursday Afternoon (a free Ravelry pattern - a shawl). I am kind of a sucker for those color-shifting yarn cakes (which is what Whirligig is) and the pattern calls for a heavy worsted (Whirligig has a gauge listed of 4 sts per inch). This might become my replacement "knit and invigilate" project because the Harvest cardigan is getting kind of big and unwieldy and it may be time to turn it into an at-home project.

And a skein of Berroco Sox in what I think of as "wildflower" colors (color 1462).

At the antique shop I bought an older row-counter for $1 (you can't get brand new ones for that) and a couple of funny old Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks ($3 each). I don't know, I just like these.They are like some of the cookbooks my mom had when I was a kid, though I'm guessing they pre-date me a bit  (the Lunch and Brunch one is copyrighted 1963).

If nothing else, looking at them might inspire me to do some different things for light meals:

They are just kind of fun to look at, the dated photography, they feel a bit like relics from a time when people put more effort into things like entertaining. (I suppose for some women that was the "bad old days" when they were expected to stay home and cook, but I admit I fantasize a bit about having a life where I would have more time - and more friends inclined to such things - for doing stuff like having "bridge parties' (I learned how to play bridge, once, but haven't in years) or afternoon teas. I suppose you want what you can't have....)

I had planned on going for a little jaunt around parts of Sherman I don't normally go to (with the idea of seeing if I could find a way back to the Town Center that didn't involve the over-trafficked corridor that I usually take, or to see if I could find a new to me restaurant that looked good). Unfortunately, I saw Accident 2 of the day. (#1 was a busted water main on a side street spewing gallons of water, it looked like, or maybe someone hit a hydrant. The fire department was there so I presume they were dealing with it). Accident #2 was some kind of car wreck. Fortunately, it did not look like anyone was seriously injured - an ambulance was there but then they left at a leisurely pace so I'm presuming there wasn't someone on life support in there - if there was anyone in there and they weren't just going back to their station. I misjudged trying to navigate around it, though, and wound up on the cross street where it was, and finally the cop just sent us back the way we went....so I decided, as it was almost noon at that point and I was getting hungry, I'd just go back to Cackle and Oink. Got almost the same thing as last week: ribs, but this time with a side of baked beans and their "cheesy ranch potatoes" which is like scalloped potatoes but with a little bacon flavoring it. The ribs were especially good today (they seemed like maybe they JUST came out of the smoker, and they were a bit more unctuous than the ones last week - and yes, healthy eating be darned, once in a while a little good meat grease tastes good. And anyway, my blood cholesterol is something like 120, so I don't have to worry too much about the occasional greasy ribs)

I also did go to the Ulta and probably buy more stuff than I need but at least I do have face powder ahead now and more nail-polish remover pads (I'm going to take the chipped up "Tourmaline" off my toes and replace it with "rose gold" - a new color, light pink with little gold flecks in it)

There was a child *seriously* melting down. He was probably 2, probably was over tired or over hungry, maybe felt ignored (his older sisters were getting some simple basic bath-type stuff) and he started trying to pull stuff off the displays and kept screaming MINE MINE MINE MINE and sobbing. They were ahead of me in line....you can bet if they were behind me I'd have quietly turned to the mom and said "Hey, I don't have anywhere I have to be, do you want to go ahead of me so you can get him out in the fresh air faster so maybe he'll be happier?" Sometimes doing something like that makes everyone's day a little nicer. (I didn't LIKE listening to the kid scream, but I get that sometimes kids that age just can't deal any more). The poor check out people looked kind of frazzled...

I also got to the Kroger, which was slammed (it always is midafternoon on a Saturday). I was almost run into by a couple of 13-ish girls having a mock kickboxing battle in one aisle. (No, I don't know. And their mom was there, she really should have said something). At least I was able to get my milk for the coming week and a few other supplies and scram.

And I came home to three new packages. One is from my mom, the thing she said she was sending so I'd have a surprise. The other two I assume are gifts from someone - maybe my brother and his family this time. I think I'll open them a bit later after washing my hair and doing my nails.

I'm glad I got home before the wind. It's become terribly windy here and I think I'm glad I paid all that money last fall to get my trees trimmed back; I'm sure I'd have had at least smaller branches down today if I hadn't.