Doug and i are flying into Harrisburg PA to visit my grandfather (pic to the left - he visited last year and we picked apples at Apple Hill - he's 90!) on Wednesday... we'll spend Thursday doing a tour of the Hershey factory, then head over to his retirement kingdom in Mechanicsburg... then dinner with him and Derr (his friend).

That night we'll start driving down towards NC for the wedding of my elem. school best friend (i grew up in Raleigh, Cary and Apex). Allison and i are having lunch on Friday (we'll see how far we get thursday night, then drive the rest on Friday morning), then getting our toes done, and then all heading to the rehearsal dinner that night. Saturday is the wedding - my dress is all pressed and ready to go (whew - i barely fit in it - tough winter). Doug flies out of Raleigh on Sunday - back home to see the dogs - and i'll drive up to Fairfax, VA to visit my other grandpa (pic on right) for a few days.

This grandpa (Bob - and he's 81) has been my best friend for all of my life. I honestly can't even tell you how much he means to me
- he taught me to use a computer, how to email, how to play golf and how to be a good person (at least how to try!). He and I used to email almost daily before he was struck with a form of alzheimers and dementia. Just 4 years ago, he went from running 3 miles a day and playing tennis to having a tough time with balance and cognition. Even though we can't email anymore, i still get to see him twice a year! As the only ones left in the family, our visits now mean more than ever. I'm a lucky girl!! I'll stay with him until Tuesday night, when i drive back up to PA and stay with grandpa above (whom i also love very much!) before flying home next wednesday. A whirlwind tour in 7 days - i'd have it no other way!

Yay! Our shipping team at the store (the A-Team: Amber, Amanda, Ashley) has been running more efficiently than ever... in fact, they are so good that they are finding themselves near the end of the day with almost nothing to do...

Well, bored no more, i'm telling you! Last night the latest Sale List from Rowan showed up in my inbox and i almost couldn't sleep, i was so excited. I quickly jotted down my choices (then checked it against my budget) and emailed an order off.

This time next week, UPS (poor Jerome!) is going to be delivering about 30 LARGE boxes of yarn. Of course, the A-Team is so efficient these days, i guarantee that they'll have it unpacked, counted, sorted, and stored away in about 3 hours. Then what will they do? (Last time we got a shipment like this, i heard that they had the yarn version of a pillow fight... oh boy. good thing we have worker's comp.)

That said, I'll working over the next week to put the order into the system, but here are some examples of what we're getting (all will be 50% or more off):

Kidsilk Spray and Night: all colors
Alpaca Soft: all colors
Country: all colors
Cashsoft 4ply and Dk again!!
Calmer: select disc colors
Wool cotton: select disc colors
Kid Classic: select disc colors
LOTS OF REGIA

Oh yeah - did i mention that we're in the middle of a whiteout right now? Yep, snow in April! (and the photo above is of the A-Team - and others - at the cooking class we all recently took together)

Ok - i'm an idiot (but most of you already knew that!).

I was making coffee (yes, every once in awhile i actually make one for doug - it just doesn't look as cool) and noticed the "Clean" button on my oven. Hmm... why, yes! i'd like for things to be clean in here - i'm getting kindof sick of doing dishes and folding laundry (don't laugh doug - i HAVE done dishes before.... just not lately, ok? haha). So i pushed the button - the oven even made me push it twice, as if making sure that i really wanted to do this. Yep - i do!

The oven started going - making noise and heating up. Now, my desk is on the opposite side of the room, maybe 20 feet away. All of the sudden my eyes were burning and my throat hurt. Uh oh - maybe i should have pushed the button when i knew we would be gone? I opened up a few windows and that seemed to make things better. whew.

Not 10 minutes later, doug comes up stairs and asks why it's so cold... and why the heater is running full blast. (Keep in mind - it snowed all day here yesterday - and is a balmy 33 degrees outside right now. see above photo for example.) I told him that i was 'cleaning'!! He just started laughing - and then laughed even harder when he asked, "um, maybe that's a good thing to do .... in the summer??"

anyway - the timer said the cleaning cycle still had 2 hours left, so i went over and cancelled it... it was either that or wear goggles at my desk for the rest of the day. :)

p.s. here's one of my favorite photos of wiley - from a camping trip we took 3 years ago... ah, summer!

p.p.s. yes, jeanne, i know i am supposed to be taking the day off - i'm just doing a few hours of stuff and then i'll goof off - i promise!

I haven't yet torn out the knitting below (the one with Buddy in the picture), but saw this book in the store on Friday and decided to try Modular knitting instead (i just wanted to do something different)! The finished blanket will be about 32"x32." You can see more details here:

Just want to share with the world how lucky i am to have Doug as a husband and a barista (barister?).... He gets up about an hour earlier than i do (i spend that hour engrossed in my dreams - with Buddy lying on my chest - or right next to me). In that hour, he feeds the guys (then lets them back in the room with me), starts up the computer and gets the coffee going...

How can my mornings not be happy when my coffee looks like this??!!

Last night Doug and i had dinner at Diane's house - the knitting genius behind my favorite Knitting Pure and Simple patterns. If you've ever ready our newsletter - or visited the shop - you're probably sick of hearing how great i think she is. Well, get ready to be sick again - cause i'm going to rant and rave about what a good time we had :)

To put it bluntly, Diane Soucy & Lorna Miser (the original "Lorna" from Lorna's Laces) are almost solely responsible for the opening of Jimmy Beans Wool. If i hadn't met Lorna - and she hadn't introduced me to Diane, I don't know if i would have ever had the guts (or the expertise) to open a store - especially since i had only been knitting for about 9 months! So, not only am i forever indebted to Diane for her contribution to my happiness, but i think of her every morning as i sip coffee out of one of the mugs she bought me many years ago... and i think of her every afternoon as i work on the computer and wear the slippers she made me! She's a wonderful person - and has a permanent place in my heart. ok - enough with the sappiness... (please don't tell anyone i got all mushy - i do have a reputation to protect - ha!)

Anyway, dinner was fantastic - Diane, Renie (a mutual friend) and I spent 30 minutes looking at blogs and checking out photos of Diane's grandkids - while doug and fred (diane's husband) sat and talked about... i don't know, cars??
Even though it had been years since we had all gotten together, it felt like we were just together yesterday. Friendships like that mean everything to me!

Like old times, Diane helped me with a knitting question (as usual). This time, however, my question wasn't as much technical as it was about color selection. I just started a blanket for a pregnant friend - in pink and brown - and i'm struggling with how to stripe the colors... (you can see the photo below). Armed with lots of options - and good advice - i think i'll go for 2 rows of brown to 12 rows of pink (it's a 14 row pattern). I hope it looks ok!
p.s. her 3 boston terriers are almost as cute as our dogs... Almost.