The Tally

It's not a secret that Paul and I love, Love, LOVE ice cream.  Especially soft ice cream, which is seasonal.  Often in the summer, dinner will revolve around whether or not we are going for ice cream.  And sometimes dinner IS ice cream.  So, I've decided to keep a tally of the ice cream that Paul and I get this season!  Don't ask me why -- chances are you will be shocked by the number of times we go out for ice cream (for example in this past week it has been 3).  Then again, I'm trying to eat a little healthier these days, so maybe I'll be able to exercise some restraint once the novelty of ice cream stands being open wears off....  When I figure out how, I'll put a little counter somewhere on the blog page.  Ok, full disclosure -- this is more for me than for you.  I was curious how much ice cream we ate and a blog counter seemed a good way of keeping track.  You probably don't give a hoot.  Hopefully there is something else in this blog post that interests you...

Yesterday, we ventured down to Chappaqua, NY to the Northeast GS/GN Buick club spring meeting.  Paul usually goes to this by himself, or with Rob and Raymond, but for some reason this year he invited me to come along.  I was one of three women there (all of us guests of club members, not members ourselves), among about 60 car-loving-racing-loving men.  Lots of bench racing going on....

I chatted a little, but mostly daydreamed listened intently.  I can usually keep up with the conversation, but then there's a point where I get a little overloaded.  So, what else did I do?

Sold tickets for the 50/50 and raffle prizes.  Gave me a chance to walk around a little.  There was a "business" meeting first (upcoming drag racing events to participate in, nominations for new officers etc) and then we all ate an 80 foot long sub.   Paul and I didn't win any of the raffle prizes (mostly car wash things, which I, of course, would put to good use.....).

On the way home was:

#3 of the week and the season.  The Red Rooster Drive-In in Brewster, NY.  Yum.  Isn't that such a classic looking drive-in??????

In Knitting News:
On the drive to the meeting I worked on the Summer Flies shawl:

I can't spread it out too well yet, since there are so many stitches on my needles, but I'm almost done and will show it to you next post.  So, here's the thing.  I wasn't supposed to start anything new without working on/finishing-if-possible a work-in-progress right?  Ha.  Apparently I'm having trouble with that.  In my defense, this was a potential summer time class project so I wanted to knit it asap to determine if it would be a good class. And if so, it should also be finished soon so it could go up as a sample in the shop.  Pretty good defense, I think.  Jury is still out about the class. I'm waiting to finish it before I decide.

I've also been working on my Cranberry Capelet, also a potential class, but in the fall:

The collar and beginning of the decreases.  Getting familiar with the pattern took some doing but now I'm on a roll.  Looks weird right now.  That's a cable in the middle, which will be more obvious when I do the next one.

Finished my Swirl Hat for the charity knitting collection at The Spinning Room yarn shop:

Great pattern - very easy to remember.  Knitted up fairly quickly, but it's fingering weight on a size 3, so at times it didn't seem so quick.  But, really, it was.  Wonderful, lightweight hat for spring summer, or even as an indoor accessory in the winter.

In Gardening News:
The crazy weather continues, as now it is back to 40 degrees, and it's expected to get to 16 degrees tonight.  I'm worried about our daffodils:

...which actually will be started to die off soon anyway.  But they are in full bloom now!
And our pretty Bleeding Heart that did horribly last year and we put it in a new spot for this year and already it looks a gazillion times better than last year....

....I think we had about three leaves on it last year (really).  I don't want it to die before the pretty pretty pretty flowers come out.

And our rhododendron:

...Just about to bloom.  This one also seems to be doing better than last year, with tons of buds.  We'll do the best we can to cover everything up.  But SIXTEEN degrees????  I hope they make it.

In Book News:
I'm in the middle of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel, by Beth Hoffman and will give a review of it soon.  I have also met yet another person who told me that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really does get much better so I'm thinking about picking it up again.
But, in real book news, Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3), has been purchased for the Nook!Paul has started it, so i have to wait for him to finish it before I can read it. I hope he hurries up.

Ah, Spring

Gorgeous, gorgeous weather, warm temps, light breezes and crocuses blooming:

But, there is a downside to spring for someone in our household....

Mandy is mad at us....

She desperately needed a bath and yesterday was so nice and warm, so she got one.  We even filled up buckets with WARM water, instead of using the hose (except to rinse her belly).  Now, I think that's pretty considerate of us.   I was soaked, my shoes were soaked, Paul was soaked, so it wasn't all fun and games for us either. But no, still getting the cold shoulder.

But now she is nice and soft and fluffy and smells nice.  I'm sure she'll forgive us soon.

Since it was such a beautiful weekend, Paul and I took the opportunity to take a drive.  Just around.  Nowhere special, as long as we ended up at a Target to run an errand.  We also ended up here:

Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park.  Mmmmmmmm...... bar-b-q.

And to Guptill's Coney Express for our first ice cream of the season:

Sorry, too excited to remember to take a picture of the actual ice cream.  It was yummy.

In Gardening News....
Not much news, since it's still too early to do much, but I just ordered these from Amazon:

I'm very excited to have a garden this year!

In Knitting News....
I've been crazy busy this week teaching knitting classes.  Thursday was the first Daybreak session, Friday was the first Car Seat Blanket Session, Saturday was the first 2-Socks-on-1-Needle session and the first Baby Kimono session, and Sunday was the first Sycamore Vest session.  Whew.  I was a little wiped out Sunday afternoon (at which time we decided to tackle the aforementioned bath....).

So for knitting I've been sticking to the Skew socks:

A little less complicated than getting into the Cranberry Capelet which I hope to work on this week.  Yes, they are crooked.  They are supposed to be, hence the name "Skew".

I also started the Swirl Hat which The Spinning Room is doing for a charity knit-a-long:.

Yes, that's my new favorite way to take a picture of my yarn...

These hats will be donated to a local hospital's child and adult cancer centers.  The pattern is nice and easy so it's nice to have that to knit while I watch tv.

In Book News:
I'm reading First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1) by Darynda Jones  (kindle version:First Grave on the Right) on a sort-of recommendation from a knitting friend.  She actually recommended the next book, Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson, Book 2) (kindle version: Second Grave on the Left )  but I didn't remember the name correctly when I went to get it.  I didn't mind, though, because sometimes I get a little finicky about reading a book series and I would have wanted to start from the beginning anyway.  At any rate, so far I'm liking it and I will give you more details when I'm done (soon).

Also book related, Paul went on a business trip and I convinced him to take my Nook with him so he could read The Hunger Games (kindle version: The Hunger Games).  It actually did take some convincing because Paul is not really a gadget guy.  First, he sort of wrinkled his nose because I think he was resisting the idea of using a gadget since he thinks there are too many in the world (and he thinks I have all of them, which I don't.  I have a couple.  There are way more people who have way more gadgets than me.), and he didn't want anyone to think he was one of those gadgety people.  Then he was all, "I don't know how it works."  And I was all, "I'll SHOW you."  At that point he was really out of arguments.  So I showed him and he read on the plane.   He couldn't put it down either!!!!  Then, he started reading the second one and is in the middle of that.  We both can't wait to see the movie.