Take the Edge Off

This weekend was a busy whirlwind of family visiting (Dad from Illinois), moving (my brother), working (me representing at the Annual Boy Scout Fair), baseball, fireworks and eating (ball park food, Italian, jumbo pretzel, kolaches, Mexican brunch). In the midst of all that, I still found time to buy yarn.

Five more skeins of Lion Brand Thick & Quick in black for Big Brother’s Never Ending Humongous Yeti Cabled Afghan. Purchased with the aid of visiting Dad – he brought Big Brother a baseball glove and me a Michael’s gift card. Given the sad state of my current bank balance, I re-gifted (something I don’t usually do with gift cards) and purchased as many more skeins as I could, and a little something for myself.

Since when do I cross-stitch? I’ve never really had the desire to, but for some reason on the way to the store, the urge hit me and I decided to run with it. I went for the cutie-pie pillow case (Eeyore is hands-down my favorite terminally depressed children’s literature character) and figured it was as easy starter-kit as could be managed. Everything is included (even the needle!) except the embroidery hoop, of which I have my Nana’s. Not sure when this will commence, but it’s kind of nice to have something else on the horizon, if not on the needles.

All of this was a direct reaction to this:

BassPro Outdoor World. A somewhat terrifying experience for my non-camping bug-attracting personality.

Let me explain something. I don’t camp. I’ve been camping twice: once for Girl Scouts where I slept on a stable floor and my mom’s allergies were so bad she sounded like the teachers in Peanuts cartoons. The second time for a week with my 8th grade class, called Outdoor Education – kind of like a field trip, but with tents and campfires and more psychologically damaging. Now I live with an avid camper who has reminded me on an almost daily basis that he wants to go camping. SOON. With a tent. And sleeping bags. Outside. Away from home. I’ve done everything I can to put this off, but he keeps buying supplies (gas for the camping stove, pots and pans, silverware) all meant for camping. I’m afraid I’m running out of weekend excuses, all commencing at the worst time of year in Houston –soon the temperature will not drop below 75 degrees even after the sun sets. Humidity is thickening and the bugs are getting bigger. Please keep me in your thoughts, fellow blog-readers … I fear the end of my non-camping persona is coming to an end, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.

Coming up next: Adventures in Blocking, or I Hope I Never Have to Bind Off 547 Consecutive Stitches Again (the Completed Damsen).