a little relaxation

I did get all the marketing done; hopefully I have at least the makings of food for a good while, and I have a few "treats" (the pre-prepared refrigerated flavored beets: they are more expensive but they are so EASY that I am more prone to eat them, and some better cheese, and the makings (for next week) of bolognese sauce....).

I finished my Sunday School lesson and the piano practice, the two big OTHER essentials of the day.

One thing I have noticed: for me, these days, stress comes in the form of  "oh my pizza, I have fifteen things to do, when will I get them done" and I can deal with that stress effectively by just sitting down and starting on the first thing.... once I get a few things done and it doesn't look like I have a giant tipping-over pile of stuff I have to do, I feel better.

I did also buy two dresses. Well, Kohl's had a sale. I originally went in there to see if they had pantyhose (long story, but: I find I suffer less from hives-on-the-legs when I wear them. I don't know either.) I buy the most dead-cheap kind I can wear (L'Eggs "Everyday" or whatever they call the multipack boxes). But, of course, even most Southern Ladies (let alone Southern Women) have given up on pantyhose so they can be hard to find.

The wal-mart reliably has them, but, ugh - making a special trip for that? No.

So I thought I'd try Kohl's, not wanting to fight the Friday-afternoon Target crowds.

Nope - they carry Hanes, which cost perhaps 3 times as much and have no guarantee (I have never worn them) if they will last any better. (I am hard on pantyhose - I go outside sometimes where there are snaggy plants, and I tend to bump into the corners of filing cabinets, and I stretch in ungainly ways, and I'm a little bit fat even though I DO buy the Q size.)

I didn't feel like buying one pair for the cost of 4-5 of the cheaper kind, so I didn't. BUT I found two knit dresses, ON SALE (and there was an extra 15% off). They had them both in my size. And they are super cute, especially this one (it's sort of a taupe, with tiny "squares" made of lines in pink and cream. And it has bell sleeves, which I kind of love.

this is the other one.  (They call it "confetti blue" but the color really looks more teal to me)

Both of these are kind of at the absolute limit of "short" for me. (They are longer on me - like, mid to bottom of the kneecap - than they are on the model).

I needed some "transitional" clothes for when it's not 80 degrees out but also not 40 degrees, and some of the dresses I've had are like 20 years old, and even with careful washing, they are wearing out.

(And as it turned out, Kroger's had the L'Eggs on their "women's stuff" aisle - with the shampoo and tampons and that kind of stuff)

So anyway. I got what I needed. I got most of what I needed to do done - I did the piano practice and the Sunday school lesson and I thought, "You know, there's still time before bed, I COULD try to grade those exams" but then I decided: I already work too damnably hard for my continued health, and if I happen to wake up extra early tomorrow (my student and I are meeting at 8) I could start them then.

I also have a sore shoulder which concerns me a little. I'm hoping I either slept funny on it or I carried something in a "bad" way - it's my right arm and earlier I had just a tiny bit of weakness in the hand, but I think it was from the pain. I did worry a little because that's the arm where I got the flu vaccine last week - but I think a serious problem would have developed before now. (And heat seems to help). It does feel more like I slept funny on it.

Also, I do need to stop buying myself "treats" when the week is hard - because every week pretty much is, right now, and I do need to remember to save money for next summer. But this came:

Yes, it's a round bird. A borb. It's supposed to be a barn owl; it's one of those "Squishable" toys. No name as of yet, I will have to think about that.

I have a few of these - they are very soft and have a nice shape and

They also make good small throw pillows on the sofa.

I did finish the first sleeve on Grasse Matinee and started the second; it will be good to have that done. I have a few exams coming up so I need to have it set aside as an invigilating project. (I also want to get back to Augusta, though I've mostly been working on the owl vest - on that, I am up past the first band with spectacles on it)

I finished "Greenwitch" the other night and immediately started "The Grey King" which is the next in the series. I'm enjoying these a lot - more so than some books, they are "immersive" to the point where I forget the stuff that's bothering me when I read them and they are that kind of writing that, for me, comes alive when I read it - I can imagine the places and what the people look and sound like.

The Grey King is interesting in that it is set in Wales - Will Stanton is sent to recuperate (after a bout of hepatitis - I presume Type A, as Will is an innocent pre-teen) with his Welsh relatives, and, in the mysterious way these things work out, the next thing he will have to do to prevent the Dark from gaining a foothold.

(The books are not explicitly, or even outwardly, Christian: in fact, the imagery seems to be older and more Druidic, but there is still the idea of Dark and Light and that the Light will win yet needs to fight against the Dark)

There are some bits of Welsh in the book - a language I know little of, and it doesn't really match to the Irish Gaelic I am trying to learn (they are more different, I think, than are, say, French and Italian - I can suss out some Italian from knowing French, but I can't even guess at what some of the Welsh is, other than from context - I now know diolch is "thanks" but I may run some of the other bits through Google translate (or pester my Welsh-speaking Twitter buddy with them) because I'm curious.

These are "kids'" books but again, like many "kids'" movies, I find them a more enjoyable entertainment and perhaps even being able to teach me more than many adult-oriented things. And Susan Cooper assumes her readers are curious and intelligent; she does not speak down to them, and I like that.