I not even sure other than having a good time, relaxing, spending time with friends and chilling out with watching Ghost Hunters on Disney +. It was nice though I about had some bad words with one of our sister divisions and their factory manager who is clueless. It was nuts and its Monday afternoon and no response to my very carefully edited/curated email response. Sighs.

But I worked Thursday, had my ass kicked at PT and relaxed watching tv with the cats. Friday was work from home and try not to kill that manager in Texas. Then I texted ari and found out we were both alone for the weekend and I said we needed to do BFF dinner and parallel play. We headed to BJs and got to watch some of the Diamondbacks playing in the World Series Game 1 which went to 11 innings! They lost by 1. We headed to my house during the 4th inning to knit and watched the Grey Man. OMG. Chris Evans is loving his villian era and Ryan Gosling...OMW. So much snark and sass and nice fight scenes. I got into the decreases of my hat which is awesome but didn't knit past that night. Oh well. :)

Saturday I lazed a bit with lots of snuggles from Spicy. She loved that I was under a blanket on the couch...she had biscuit factory time. Then I got dressed up in a psuedo cottage core outfit with my run underwear, corset, german house frau shirt, dance skirt, linen apron and had my hair up in two space buns with flowers. Its super fun but I'm out of practice wearing a corset. I headed to Grandma's Spinning Wheel for their 16th Anniversary special day. I got some fiber from Cassie and Jess's hands. I hope to get my wheel up and running to help with my PT. The ankle is feeling better.

It was comfy but after sitting for a while I was not. Its not made to me its OTS but still was cute and worked for my intent. Angi also dressed as her wizard. I played Cami (the i has a heart for the dot) Bramblecliff a halfling wild magic sorcerer who is a baker. Erika had set up a fun adventure where a pop up goblin market holds a "Blink Dog Catch" contest. There is a prize which you found out at the end what it was. But it was fun. We had all cool concepts: CJ was a forest gnome, Ari was a Tebexi dog catcher, Nico was a war cleric, Dom was an artificer, Angie was a wizard. There was lots of fun and peopel getting hit by sleep spells (Ari) or getting hit by some of the crazy that the dog could do (allergic hair, bellows etc). I used my cantrips well and almost got the dog but Angie swooped in and picked it up and put it on the table. I twas a big loveable pug type and was in reality a construct with a 16 intell and could cast spells like "counterspell" which made me not light people on fire. (darn). BUt we had fun. Willa made nachos (with DF options for me) and there was a great chocolate cherry cheesecake (DF) for dessert.

Got home and had a beer with the kitties and finished watching "My Ghost Story" on Disney + and started in on Ghost Hunters. I played on my phone and relaxed. Spicy was super cute and more cuddly. Benton won 3rd place at the tourney which made me so happy for him.

Sunday I slept in, got a good ritual shower and then headed to give blood. Then I went to Trader Joes and back home to relax. I got somethings picked up (the pile of mail on the piano), the trash, recycles and cat box dealt with. I then I made a new to me dish: Air Fryer Wonton Pizza Rolls. So take a wonton wrapper, rub some olive or avacado oil on it, add a dollop of pizza sauce (I made it with a can of sauce, lots of spices, sugar, including lots of chili flakes etc), add a pepperoni and a smidge of cheese. Fold it, since mine were vegan I did diagonal tucks and then smoothed them down. Put in air fryer at 375 for 6 mins adn then shake to flip and 4-5 more minutes. There were tasty...yes needed more cheese, but vegan shreds can be odd I pay try a softer cheese next time. But tasty and crispy and salty. I liked it. Mel really liked the sauce. I had them ready when the boys got home from Cali. I will make them again and make some not dairyfree. But I really liked the sauce I made. I will do that again but cook it down further to make it thicker. I think that would help as well. But for the first time experiment it was good. And not too bad for us either.

So it was a nice relaxing weekend. I did not finish my book or my knitting but it was okay. I rested, had fun and spent time with friends.

I had a a dentist appt today and drove the car. The ankle wasn't happy so I will still have to wait on that for a bit but it means I really need to work on the pushing strength needed for holding down the clutch. But at least I drove and it was okayish. I could not do that a month ago.

So there we are...weekend wrapped up and the end of the work day. Time to carve some pumpkins.

Here we are at monday...I swear I just left work last week for the weekend and here we are again. Thursday night was good. Picked up Benton from daycare and he was tuckered out. I put him to bed for a nap and then worked on getting dinner for myself and getting ready for house practice. Laura arrived, I showed her the ropes of where things were at and then headed out to practice. It was a good night and I did not leave cramped up and in pain and things started to feel more natural. I still need to work my stance but things are coming back quicker than I expected. Got home and chatted with Laura and then had a nice evening relaxing watching tv before it was an early bedtime.

Friday AM mel was awesome and got up to give Benton his pacifier so we could sleep just a bit more. 7am was early but got up and got the boy going. Mel on the other hand was way too tired and didn't get up until way late. We met Tati for breakfast at Joe's at 815 (we were late) and had a nice time. Gonna miss her lots. Mel and I then dropped of Benton at daycare and then headed out to do the shopping. We got good stuff at Target and the grocers before heading home to clean up the house.

Mel took on the family room and I got the front room and my studio cleaned up. The front room still needs more work, as does my studio but its much better. I can see my studio floor and that let me find some things I needed for upcoming projects. I still need to move all of my stash into its normal spots and get my table back but its working so far. I also need to figure out how to suck down my space bag that has all of my maternity clothing in it. The Dyson doesn't hook up to it or I just need to go on a purge of clothing and get rid of it. Uncertain. I sat and swatched for Benton's new sweater and mel napped in the later afternoon. I picked the boy up and got home just as it was starting to rain. We had a nice storm on Friday night before we headed to Ed's for Holly's 3 year bday party. We got he Candy Land and that went over really well. I had a nice time with everyone and got to visit with Jenny and James. Mr. Benton was crashed out pretty early as you can tell from this picture.

( Benton asleep )

Saturday dawned and I got up and got the boy going so I could head out with Ari for dorinda2212's funeral. We had the kids and we dropped them off at ezabella's house to play before we drove to the funeral across town. The funeral was hard. One it was at and LDS church and they kinda creep me out. Things just feel very weird to me. Second everyone was walking around in a state of shock and sobbing and that it hard to take when you are trying to be calm for others. Third funerals just suck but well they do. It was uplifting hearing her sisters speak. The fact that her sister Rick Rolled us was fabulous and Xstoff's story of Dorinda chucking things at him during his first month of work at her office was priceless. It was so Dorinda that I felt better. Ms. Ari was having a hard time a bit but that is okay and I expected it. We were all crying in our row at the end and I just thought about it and bonked Ari upside the head with my soggy hanky and that helped break up the tension. Dorinda would not want us being sobby/melty/weird...she'd want us to go out, make stuff with string and enjoy. BTW, ari and I played with string the entire funeral. She worked on the cuddly naptime squid and I worked on Storvarr's Tardis mitts. I drove us back to Eza's and then it was time to pick up the kids and head home. The kids were zonked just a few miles down the road and didn't wake up until we hit the massive storm that hit Tucson.

Got home in the rain to a happy boy and a grateful hubby. Fed the boy and then we headed out to Sean and zippdclown's birthday party bash. At the time for cake both boys proposed to their ladies and that was AWESOME! So proud of them both and so happy for the couples. Mr. Benton would not stay down for his sleep and we kept checking on him in sean's room and he had rolled himself to the middle of the room. LOL. We left a bit after 10pm cause we were all tired. Benton fell asleep in the carseat on the way to the car and we all went to bed early.

Sunday I got up with the boy and we played a lot. Mel got time in the workshop and I made zucchini bread and muffins. I used the Cook's Illustrated recipe for the bread and for the muffins I used Simply Recipes Muffins. They turned out really nice. Mr. Benton was pretty crabby when he needed a nap yesterday I managed to get him down for one in the afternoon after carrying him around for a while. He took a long one in the morning. Growth spurt time again I think. One thing we didn't expect though was that with the rain we had the front door open and the skeeters got him pretty bit up. He doesn't seem bothered by them at all but he's got some good bites. One thing we did notice with him though was that he has been rolling over during his naps. Not sure what has started that but he's been doing that over the weekend and that is good.

He goes in for his helmet fitting on the 30th and then we will have it the following week. So that is progressing. On the project front here are pictures of his sweater and the pattern motif for Storvarr's mitts. I'm thinking the pattern is going to be better done by Pattern B but please comment since I'm about to frog them back to the start to fix it.

( projects )

Recipe From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens 1984, Good Books PA Page 308
1 cup flour sifted (half white, half whole wheat)
1/4 oatmeal, uncooked (I used quick oats)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 tblsp cornstarch
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups rhubarb, diced

1) stir together flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until crumbly. Set aside half of crumbs. Pat remaining crumbs in bottom of 9" square baking pan. (I used a glass pan).

2) Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add rhubarb and cook until mixture becomes thick and clear. (its kinda clear...not see through)

3) Pour rhubarb sauce over crumbs. Crumble remaining crumbs over top of sauce. (I used my hands to give a good converage.

4) Bake in a 400 Deg F oven for about 30 minutes or until GB&D. (Golden Brown and Delicious).

Mel is all about eating this still warm. It reheats really well.