* I did pick up the "Bluey" yarn (well, MOST of it) yesterday. Once the stuff they're mailing (using the annoying "UPS to USPS" method, which adds several days - of late, UPS has done a slimy little thing with some deliveries, e-mailing me and basically asking me to "upgrade" so I can have UPS deliver the package, and that it'll shave from 1-4 days off the delivery time but already shipping costs a lot these days, and I don't like being upsold after I've agreed to a price, so I just accept the "mail innovations" or whatever they call it).
Anyway, the darkest blue yarn - which is the one I'd need first - is the one that is supposed to come either tomorrow or Monday. Not sure if I'll start Bluey right away, I've got socks on the needles and am still working on the ribbing for the Moon Moth sweater. But it's also crochet rather than knitting and it's nice to trade off.
And yeah, it was maybe my error - I ordered off the app (because I get "points" towards the loyalty club, and I don't remember my password, so I had to go through the app) and I think I messed up and chose "pick up at store" and the ones being delivered are one they didn't have in stock locally.
At any rate: the pick up was easy enough and I was then able to run over to Brookshire's in Pottsboro for groceries, so it wasn't a wasted trip.
* I am still enjoying The Spellshop. I read a bit on it while waiting at the doctor's yesterday. I think one of the enjoyable things about it for me is the idea of someone building a life for herself - figuring out how to earn her keep (so to speak). It seems like Caltrey is more or less a barter economy - she gets eggs and bread in return for the jam (and maybe cheese? Maybe someone brought cheese?) and while barter is a hard way to live in this world, it's pleasant to contemplate in fiction. And also the idea that she might be helping heal the community by encouraging more bonds of trust there. And she healed a bunch of trees after being "directed" to by forest spirits that basically looked like bears made out of fog.
I mean, I can pretty much guess how the book will end (she will heal the island, maybe the magic will all come back/people will learn to do their own magic to care for things, she will wind up with Larran (whatever form that takes, whether marriage or just togetherness), Caz will be there...) and I'm fine with that. Sometimes a predictable happy ending is good and is what you need.
I mean, I could be totally wrong and it could all "break bad" but I also suspect this is not the type of book that does. (And maybe I need to find more books like this, that are just like a warm hug that soothes you)
* I got a few new chigger bites from the field work, despite having loaded up with repellent. Also my knee bothered me a bit yesterday and today - I made myself do a workout this afternoon and that seems to have helped. I'm glad I'm done until August with that. Well, I still have to process the soils and count the samples, but that's indoor work.
It's supposed to get extremely hot again next week. I liked the cooler temperatures but I knew they wouldn't last.
* I did also go to the bookstore when I was at Michael's; bought a book of "one pan desserts" - basically different things scaled to fit in an 8" square pan (or you can double the recipes and do 9x13). I often get called on to do small things for various places, and also the 9x13 versions would work for CWF or a potluck at church. Also the 8" square makes a small enough amount for just me. (And a lot of cake and cookie type things freeze really well, so you can just cut the pan's worth of stuff and wrap most of it up for the freezer). There's a bakewell-tart bar recipe in there (Bakewell Tart is a British thing; it's basically an almond custard with raspberry jam, on an oat crust (or a shortbread crust). Next time I'm at the Amish store I'm going to look for cherry jam because I'd like to make that some time.
they were also doing their usual book drive before school - for the school libraries. (I presume the books on offer that you could purchase to donate were ones that....uhhh...."passed" whatever issues their PTAs have.
At any rate: they had a copy of a kid's picture-book biography of Dolly Parton and that seemed really appropriate (given that one of her things is to give a lot of her money away in the form of books for kids) so I bought a copy of that to have to donated to one of the schools in the area. Hopefully the kids enjoy it.
Also, as I found out today: she and I share at least one trait. (No, not the obvious one!). She doesn't have biological children. There's an ugly meme making the round, started by a particular politician, deriding "childless cat ladies." Mainly because the D presumptive-nominee doesn't have biological children (but is a stepmom, and her husband's ex actually spoke highly of her).
A big part of it is he claims we "don't have skin in the game for the future" like someone with kids would, and I don't know.....my friends have kids and my relatives have kids and I want them to have a better world. But that doesn't count I guess.
But the whole "deriding single childless women" thing is ugly and feels like punching pretty low, given that BEFORE THE 1970s WE COULDN'T HAVE CREDIT CARDS IN OUR OWN NAME AND IN SOME STATES COULD NOT OWN A HOUSE. And it feels like there are folks who'd like to go back to that, and I guess in that case I just starve or something?
And thinking about it.....one thing I really am troubled by is the idea that someone somewhere hates me simply because of who I am, even without them knowing me. Even without them knowing I had a lot of rejection as a kid and was kind of afraid to date, and then got too old, and now don't have a dating pool, really, and anyway, am past having biological children. And my Ph.D. and years of teaching "don't count," and my publications "don't count" and it just feeds into my "I'm never good enough for people" and "I haven't done anything with my life" and while INTELLECTUALLY I know that's not true, EMOTIONALLY it's still hard to hear the punching down. And it's not in my nature to get angry and figuratively flip-off people who think that way; I mostly just feel sad about it.
But anyway: Dolly doesn't have children, but boy darn has she done a lot to make the world better.
* I also went ahead and ordered......yet another stuffie.... Sugar Bunny Shop, which is run by an artist I follow on social media, FINALLY had the plush deer back in stock (I think I first saw them 2 years ago but they've persistently been sold out). She finally got more back in stock and so I ordered one of the lavender colored ones. (They're boy deer, I guess; they have little antlers, so I'll have to think of a good name for him.
(Edited to add: OF COURSE. He is a purple deer so his name MUST be Prince. (After all: Bambi was called the Prince of the Forest))
But the little treats. Those are the things that keep a person going. Or at least, they keep me going - having something fun coming in the mail. Or planning to go get an iced tea from the good iced-tea place. Or fixing something special for a meal. Or, like today, going through what I call the "disco car wash" (it has colored lights and it plays thunderstorm sounds in the rinse area). Yes, it costs more than doing it myself would, but the place advertises they filter and recycle the cleaning water so I feel a little better about that. And it is kind of fun, and it's physically easier than washing the car yourself.
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