My feet still hurt. I have my super special aloe infused spa socks on right now to try to soothe them. Amazingly enough the only blister I got was on the end of my middle toe on my right foot. The same one that had a small blister the other day. I’m hoping the foot pain goes away enough so that we can hit Universal tomorrow. We have passes so if it’s too crowded or hot we can just head back to the hotel and swim and veg.

But like I said, I spent 3 of the 15 miles channeling the Little Engine That Could. But the other 12… well I thought too much. I thought about the house we want to buy, I thought about my business, I thought about how crazy I was to undertake this 60-mile nonsense. I remembered weird things that I hadn’t thought about in 30 years. It’s like all that exercising made my brain synapses misfire.  I definitely think the next time I will go back to audio books. Too much thinking today.

Is it crazy that I took a 4-hour nap and I’m already ready to go to bed? I figure I must need the rest. Oh and I wanted to show the pretty I saw today. At an elementary school on my walking route today I saw this amazing mosaic. It was all sparkly tiles and awesomeness. When I got up close though I realized that all the mosaic work had little hand-made ceramic houses set in which I think must have been crafted by students. Absolutely fabulous. And gave this little engine a must needed boost.

While on vacation, naturally I was knitting. On one of those sooper seekrit projects that I can’t show you. But I can show you this:

Do you know what that is? It is an entire skein of Malabrigo Twist yarn which has been through a hot water wash and a full dryer cycle. It kind of looks like wooly blue brains. But wait, it gets better.

I was nearly finished with said object and had two skeins of yarn left that I had brought along. I was hoping to not have to break into them, but they were insurance, you know? My dear, sweet, lovely husband was doing laundry for us at my dad’s house. I was rolling the clothes back up to be placed in suitcases. When I pulled out the monstrosity you see above.

I might have cried a little bit, I might have screamed. I will not admit to threatening my husband’s life. Not yet. I was comfortable in the knowledge that I had a second backup skein. So I finished rolling up my half of the laundry and went back to doing some slicing for dinner.

That’s when he found the second skein – in the same state. And then I very calmly told my sister to take the knife away from me through gritted teeth. There is no photographic evidence that I pointed the knife at him all “Psycho” like. No one recorded the threats on his life and appendages. So as far as I’m concerned it didn’t really happen. And luckily for him I was able to finish the object without the 2 backup skeins. Very, very lucky for him.

1. America is too much the same. Every city has the same restaurants, the same stores. It’s kind of sad.

2. I have an amazing family. All of them. Even though some of the crazy connections are strange fodder for afternoon talk shows, they are made of awesome.

3. It’s hotter in Ohio than it is where I live in Florida right now. That is just wrong.

4. I miss hills and mountains. Jacksonville is too cussing flat.

5. My new favorite curseword is “cuss”. I blame Mr. Fox.

6. Marking time by how fast children grow is bittersweet.

7. I think there might be some niece or nephew to call me Aunt Coco forever.

8. I need more summer dresses if it’s gonna be this hot all over.

9. It’s really fun to wake up to umpteen birthday wishes on facebook.

10. It’s reassuring how somethings (and some people) never change.

11. It’s disheartening that the ones who really need to change never do.

12. I have the best sons in the world. You can’t have them.

13. Ditto for the husband.

14. The older I get, the more proficient I am at hiding my gray hair.

15. Today for my birthday I am getting a pedicure come cuss or high water. Fortunately musing #1 insures that there will be a nice little nail salon in every strip mall.

16. Short hair is way easier to take care of than long hair.

17. The hills in Cincinnati are more beautiful than I remember.

18. Skyline chili never changes.

19. Nor does LaRosa’s.

20. That’s two of those good not-changing things.

21. Yes, I am running out of profound thoughts. Why do you ask?

22. I love having a business that keeps running even while I am away.

23. Ditto when I’m asleep.

24. Vacation can make you a slacker when it comes to things like training for the 3-day.

25. But a nice hike in the ever lovely Rowe Woods can be a reasonable substitute, right?

26. My 20th high school reunion is this fall.

27. I wish I could go, but October is just too busy of a month.

28. You are never too old for Scooby Doo.

29. I can listen to Jim Dale read Harry Potter over and over again – even though I know how every story ends.

30. Wireless internet is a thing of beauty.

31. A knitting designer can never have too many stitch dictionaries/inspiration books.

32. To that end I bought two more last night.

33. Some of the pictures of me that hang in these homes I am visiting are very embarrassing.

34. No, I will not share them with you.

35. Trying to give up a 26 year addiction to diet pepsi during vacation is not the best plan.

36. Writing 38 things without my morning diet pepsi is also not very wise.

37. In order to see everyone I would like to see on vacation, this trip would have had to be a month long.

38. Being this close to forty is a bit humbling. But I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I can’t complain.

I wonder if tomorrow I could finish up the VBS shopping and then just take my family and disappear to the beach.

You know what? I think I will.

And I run my business on the internet. PDF downloads, paypal, Ravelry – I depend on the internet. I use it daily. Maybe a bit too much, but it is what it is.

But right now I am internet-less. My modem bit the dust last night. And the service I have – well I need a new one. It’s on the way to me. But not fast enough. I tried to ask the nice man to overnight it, but they don’t do that.

So there is no internet at home. It’s really, really strange. I never realized how much time I spend connected. This morning I had a coffee at Panera and checked a few things I could not do on my phone. And now I’m in the library. The boys are taking a much-needed after school break and playing some Poptropica. And I’m blogging. Who knows why.

The good news about my online business is that it keeps going even though I’m not constantly checking on it. Yay for that. Hopefully the modem will come fast. Really, really fast. But until then I will be finishing some last minute sample knitting and just doing what I do. Well, doing what I do – but not telling you as much about it.

Today I have a very long list of things to do. Cover up very grey roots, catch up on laundry, make sure house is tidy, pack all my stuff… We’re leaving at O’dark-thirty tomorrow morning. That way the man only has to take one day off of work to take care of the boys. I’m pretty sure what knitting I will be bringing. I also think I will bring my swift and winder, just in case I buy something that I cannot wait to play with.

Do you not *love* the cute Della Q pouch? It goes with my brand-new Della Q tote that I got to carry around at Stitches. I figured I needed something more tote-like and less purse-like. And the little pouch will hold my business cards and the cards for the LYS where I work.

Oh and I’m trying something new. I’ve been wearing makeup for nearly 25 years. And I’ve worn the same mascara the entire time. So when I hit the Publix yesterday and they had a sale on Great Lash I got very excited! But then I thought, I might branch out a bit, be adventurous, you know? So I got the Great Lash BIG. I imagine my eyelashes will look exactly the same as they have for the past 25 years, but I still feel very spontaneous.

If you’re gonna be at stitches, come say hey! I’ll be mooshing around wearing one of my shawlettes and carrying a big ole pink striped Della Q bag. Ooh, that reminds me, need to add finding my Ravelry name pin to my list of things to do today… Hope to see you there!

But I can’t imagine if my baby needed something healthcare-wise and I had to pay out of pocket and couldn’t do it. A knitting friend needs some help. Her daughter needs dental work that costs a bundle! She is doing a fundraiser – selling knitting project bags. A knitter can always use more bags, right? I bought an adorable one with a cute little knitting skull and crossbones on it!

Isn’t she sweet? So help a knitter/mama out and buy a bag. Ooh and to sweeten the deal if you buy one of her bags, shoot me an e-mail or comment here and I will send you any two PicnicKnits patterns you would like.

When I was a child this picture hung in our house. As an adult my mom passed it on to me. It matches the dark wood on my dining room table. And honestly even though it’s incredibly dated, no where feels like home without this picture. It’s the first thing I hang. My husband likes to mock me for this.

But let’s talk about the mystery. I *think* this is an old Home Interiors print. I don’t even think they have Home Interiors anymore. It was a party thing – like Tupperware – except you bought home decoration items. We had quite a few of them in my house when I was growing up.

The picture has 12 panes. Twelve little mini pictures – all little slices of Americana done mostly in an Autumn theme. Lord how I miss Autumn. Florida doesn’t do Autumn. We get summer and winter here. And winter is short. But I digress. As usual. I know, get on with it.

Each of the 12 panes has a signature in neat print – B. Mitchell. Each pane except one. The bottom right pane – the one with the grass and the broken down wagon does not seem to have a signature. I remember as a child staring at that pane forever trying to find it. It didn’t make sense to me then and it doesn’t now. Did they forget? Did B. Mitchell not paint that one? Was it some anonymous person? Are they trying to drive me insane?

I’ve told this story to my boys and every once in a while they will stop and look at it and try to find the signature. I’ve passed on the madness!!! Have you seen this painting? Did it hang in your mama’s house? Is your 12th pane signed? Can you tell me where the signature is hidden? Or just tell me I will never find it so I can stop looking already.

One Fish Two Fish is a simple ride. You ride around in flying fishes. They go up and down. A silly Seussical song is played. And then the fishes squirt water at you. And the boys smiled and laughed and giggled like nobody’s business. They are getting older you know. They will be eleven and twelve at summer’s end. But it makes me so happy that they still can have fun with something like this. It’s not beneath them.

I hope it never is.

So the laundry is running, and the bathroom is clean, and the kitchen is reasonably tidy. In a few minutes I’m going to take my boys some lunch. Basically because I overslept, and I suggested that maybe I could bring them lunch and they got unreasonably excited about it. So I have an appointment at the Wendy’s Drive Thru in a bit.

I sent out a submission last night. And I inquired about an online magazine this morning. I’ve got quite a few sketches going and a list of places to submit to. After my lunch date, I’ve got a stack of books that I want to look through. Must get to work!