I hope.
Got up this morning even though I didn't want to and did 4 miles on the cross-country ski exerciser. Sat down to check my e-mail and....whoops. "Delivery Notice" from DHL.
YOUR CHECKS HAVE BEEN DELIVERED it stated.
I had ordered two packets of checks. One came over a week ago. The other, I've been following its peregrinations online through the USPS system....apparently it was sent to Pilot Point by mistake and then re-entered the shipping stream.
But I thought, wait, maybe it did finally make it here? Checked the mail from yesterday again - no checks, as I thought. So I stared at the e-mail a bit more. Decided maybe the mail guy made an additional run late in the day (Yes, DHL handed them off to USPS. These days, EVERY shipper hands EVERYTHING off to USPS for the "last mile" and it means more delays. Probably cheaper for the shipper and I doubt it makes USPS much money).
So I pulled my raincoat on over my exercise clothes (for modesty's sake; it was warm enough but I was in short-shorts and a sports bra and even though it's not likely anyone's out at that hour, still, no one needs to see great expanses of my pasty skin) and grabbed my little Kirby lamp which, because it's battery powered, can double as a flashlight.
Nope. No checks.
So I thought: great. My mail thief has struck again, only now he's got my checks. How fast before he drains my account? So I searched around to see HOW I let Deluxe know I never got my checks, and in the process of clicking on some links....I discovered that the delivery notice was, in fact, for Box 1 of Checks, the ones sitting on my desk at home and that have been so for over a week. Box 2 is still somewhere in an eddy of the mail system; the most recent update says they are in Tulsa.
So, much fail, DHL: you scared me badly before 5:30 am. Not good. (I think they did this once before, but I had both boxes of checks, so I was just like "wait what?")
Edited to add: it now says "out for delivery" so we'll see. If they don't show up in my mailbox today you can bet I'm calling both Deluxe and my bank
***
I found a $20 "loyalty gift certificate" from Quixotic Fibers in my purse. I kind of half-remembered I had it but didn't remember where I'd put it. I am strongly considering (provided no Wild Meetings appear) taking Friday of exam week (a week from tomorrow) and driving down to Whitesboro for a day of just doing what I want to do.
No, I don't need more yarn or more quilting fabric. But I do need a day out and away from town.
I really need to start something new, or at least wind off some yarn. Two candidates are either Oma's Sokken, a pattern based on someone's Dutch grandmother's system for making socks; they are simple and have a vintage feel and I dug out a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn in the colorway called "Hobbit's Garden" (which will probably pool like mad, but I don't even care) and starting them, or maybe winding off the yarn for the version 2.0 of "Pocketses" (A vest loosely inspired by what hobbits wear, or at least what they were shown wearing in the movies*
Or something totally different. Pulling on one of my little Sitcom Chic sweaters this morning (I am wearing a knit dress and while I mostly like it, I also admit that knit dresses make me selfconscious about the size of my bust) and I remembered that I have some bright pinkish-purple yarn somewhere tucked away (it was one of KnitPicks early offerings; I'm sure it's discontinued now but I know I bought a lot of it) for another one, and maybe I start another one of those? It's certainly a handy sweater to have (I have made three - a pale blue and white marled yarn with a rainbow thread wrap, a cream and tan variegated, and a denim-colored one).
(*Interesting that both of my front-runner "new projects" contain a Hobbitish link but I do find that that's the particular form of "almost hermitdom" I like to imagine for myself when I'm stressed and just DONE with the modern world...imagine living in a nice dim little burrow carved into the side of a hill, and being a craftsperson and doing things like weaving cloth or spinning and dying yarn or repairing/binding books to make a living off of, and maybe having a garden for your fresh vegetables and cooking herbs, and maybe some chickens for eggs....or bartering with your neighbors so you can give them your extra green beans and you get eggs or honey from them, and...I admit that's my big fantasy when I'm dissatisfied with my life the way it is, running off to be a craftsperson of some sort, or raising herbs on an herb farm (and I mean herbs-like-you-cook-with, like basil or sage, not the "herb" that is apparently poised to become a major part of our economy here. And even then....growing and selling cooking herbs would mean dealing with other people, so I don't know. It just seems that Hobbit life has much to recommend it: it's quiet and mostly peaceful and good food is highly prized and no one seems to care overmuch if you're a bit plump, and there's the whole low-tech craftsperson ethos thing going on. I dunno. Given what the world looks like right now, there's a powerful appeal in saying "forget this noise; I'm going to go and set up a loom and make a living by the work of my hands and my ability to create things that are beautiful and useful" And yes, learning to weave and having a "big" loom (a floor loom) has long been a dream of mine, but I don't have room in my house for one, unless I yeet the dining room table out of the dining room and set the loom up in there....of course I also want a longarm quilting machine but have no room for it, either. If the thought of buying a house again and moving didn't give me hives, I'd look into investing in a larger place so I could have both....but then of course all my money'd be sunk into the house so I'd be able to afford neither....)
Other option for a Hobbitish life would be hanging out a shingle as a knitting/crochet teacher, but I suspect that's a worse way to make a living than teaching college is.
***
I do also want to get to Twin Oaks some time and get some herb plants. Another "hobbit-feeling" thing for me is having lots of lavender in my garden. (I don't know why, exactly.I know much discussion has been put forth as to what "pipeweed" was that some Hobbits smoked, whether it was tobacco (unknown until contact with the New World, though I guess Tolkein implied somewhere it was a strain of Nicotiana) and I know there are some who stan it was hemp (I....kinda don't think so).
There's also a plant (what I learned as Gnaphalium but is now Pseudognaphalium) called "rabbit-tobacco" (and I think Beatrix Potter may have mentioned it in one of her books? So maybe it grew in Europe?). Apparently it's used as an herbal medicine and it is smoked. (I will say: I'm not sure I would want to smoke anything for medicinal purposes, but you do you).
(Hm. I wonder if it's commercially sold as a garden plant. It's sort of an interesting looking plant)
But yes, I would like to get more "unusual" plants for my garden - cooking herbs, or things that were once used in cooking (but are no more: I had some tansy for a while and it used to be eaten by people but is NOT recommended now, it can cause some bad reactions. However, it will also drive away bugs, if you dry the flowers). I had a "curry plant" for a while. (All of these things got overrun and died in 2016 and 2017 when I was too busy/too sad/ too unwell to work in the garden regularly but I want now to force myself to keep up with it and have a nice garden again.
Or different sages. Pineapple sage is one of my favorite garden plants...I think Twin Oaks was where I got it in the past.
But really what I need to do is clear the rest of the garden first....they are now saying Saturday will be clear and nice (after some 5" of rain this week) and with wet soil - well, pulling out weeds should go that much easier. (If it's not raining Friday after piano lesson, maybe I spend my late Friday afternoon doing some of that...). So maybe what I do is do local grocery shopping this weekend (I need to get a few things to make chicken enchilada casserole for a potluck Sunday) but plan on going down Tuesday afternoon (after I give my exam) and just have fun shopping for plants? And maybe, if I'm really ambitious, I could have the garden mostly cleared and prepped to put them in...
***
Man, I just need some time to MYSELF. Time to do what I want, without the nagging worries of "the future in the department is going to change" (Chair is stepping down, we are doing a new hire, God only knows what the McGraw-Hill/Cengage merger is going to mean for how we teach gen eds, and the nagging worries of change in some other groups I belong to. And the nagging worries about summer medical stuff.
Being able to sew on quilt tops, or working in the garden, usually shuts up all those worries in my head, at least for a while.
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