That Post Vacation Glow

We've returned from what I'm calling "The Best Vacation Ever" - back to real life. Work, work again, work at another job, volunteer, etc...

But here's a few photos from said vacation.

Rock City on Lookout Mountain

Katrina still loves her Mommy!

We're in a cave!

 

Our hotel was fancy. And also schmancy.

Oh yeah, a bike race. Go Ted!!

I made it!

 I made it through my work marathon of flowers, Giggles, and Ladies. Now, the countdown of the weekends begins!

This weekend - a wedding in exotic Minneapolis. One of my many, many cousins is finally getting married. I have no idea how many family members will be there, but we're going to have a good time.

Next weekend - Stoughton's Syttende Mai Festival. A weekend filled with fun: Percy Gyland and his musical saw, Krumkakke, hot dogs wrapped in lefse, bunads, all capped off with a big-ass parade.

The weekend after that - V A C A T I O N!!! Seven fun-filled days in Chattanooga, TN. Some planned activities include spelunking in Raccoon Cave, touring the Tennessee Aquarium, touring a Civil War battlefield (actually, Karl and Katrina are doing that and I'm staying behind and knitting all day), and oh yeah, a bike race!

I'll try to fill you in on all the fun as the weekends go by.

Aaargh!

It's one of those insane weeks when I'm working 2 jobs, a little LMS gig thrown in the middle, trying out some new contacts, Pickles is broody, and Katrina is driving me crazy!

This is my fifth day in a row (out of 11) of working at either the store or doing flowers. Actually working at the store is almost like a day off, so it's not too bad. That hard part is tonight when I have to go right to Madison to play for a dance, then get up early tomorrow and go do flowers all day. I'm hoping we finish a little early with flowers, then I'll actually have a day off next week before we take a little road trip to Minneapolis over the weekend. 

Time to fly!!

I want my Mama!

  You are probably aware that I am a member of a band. I may have mentioned that Ladies Must Swing has a new CD available, and that I actually play on the CD. And even though I am playing on that CD, it's a really good CD and people seem to like it.

 

This is our actual CD jacket!!

People like it so much, that we have been nominated for two awards! The Madison Area Music Association (MAMA) Awards are open for public voting, so if you like me at all, please go to immediately to www.themamas.org and click on the **VOTE** tab. Yes, you have to register in order to vote, but don't be afraid, you won't get spammed, and you can opt out of receiving emails. And yes, you have to pay $5 to vote (yes, they take paypal), but that money goes to the Madison school music programs - a very worthy cause! 

  The list of categories is on the left: first click on Jazz Performer, select LadiesMustSwing and submit; then scroll down to Jazz Album, select "Just For A Thrill" - LadiesMustSwing and submit. You can vote in all the categories, but just be sure to vote for Ladies Must Swing!  And just for fun, you should go to the Unique category and vote for the band "Butt Funnel", because I would really love to hear the presenter have to say "Butt Funnel" at the awards ceremony!

In Search of...

  Lately, I've been in search of a lot of things: the perfect frosting recipe, my US 2 circular knitting needles, Spring, just to name a few.  I just found out about the impending arrival of a baby, and it needs a blanket from me. So it was not unusual that I was online searching for the perfect knitting pattern. You may remember that I am slightly indecisive when it comes to knitting patterns. Luckily, I have two favorite baby blanket patterns. But I still have to choose from those two, right? So, I polled my trusty Facebook friends. (Thanks to those who responded!) And the winner? Neither of those two patterns.

  Wait, what?   You heard it right, neither of those two. A knitting friend put a bug in my ear about a super-secret group project idea. So, as I was searching through the extensive Ravelry database of patterns, I came across a blanket pattern that I fell in love with. I may not love knitting it, but I hope I do because the finished product is stunning. I hope the book comes soon, I'm itching to get started.

  So what else is new, you ask? Um... nothing. The snow is slowly melting. I'm in the middle of the "icebox cookie" section of the cookies, and I have not had much success with them - hard, dry dough makes hard, dry cookies. I'm hoping to finish them up soon and move on to the Spritz cookies. I've fallen off my diet wagon mainly due to cold weather (cold salad just does not warm me up!). We finally got better cable to go with our new fancy TV, and I'm actually finding myself watching some TV at night. And, today, I'm going to City Hall with my fence plan to get our permit for the new back yard fence. The landscape plan is done, so I'll just need the ground to thaw so we can get started on our new chicken-friendly back yard.

Obligatory flower picture - not my back yard

Just One More, Please?

  I haven't even had the job interview yet, but I've already planned out how I'm going to spend my paycheck! 

  Yes, today I have an interview for a summer job. I told my (current) boss about it, to reassure her that I was definitely NOT planning on leaving. And her reply: "Another job to add to your list." Yes, I guess I do have a bit of a list: one regular job at Giggles, one "when they need extra help" flower job, and one moonlighting with LMS job. Add to that: one summer volunteer position at the CSA and (hopefully) one more regular summer part time job. It looks like I'm going to have a busy summer!

  Today's interview is at a local greenhouse - the one that I shop regularly in the spring for my vegetable plants. I'm hoping for a position at one of the "satellite" greenhouses that they set up, the one that is just a few blocks from my house. And since I spent much of yesterday working on the landscape plan for our "new" back yard, I hope the employee discount is substantial.

  Yes, I'm going to be doing some major work in our yard this summer (oh, yet another job!) putting in a fence for the chickens, then hiding said fence with plants and bushes (a Currant bush in the corner - Yummy!). And since I'll be taking some plants out of the front garden (it's too shady for them there), I'll have to replace them with something. So, some work in the front yard as well. Our original plan in the front isn't working very well, there's a lot more shade than the designer anticipated. I've slowly been replacing things and moving  them around. I'm sure the drought last year killed off a few things too. So, needless to say, I've got quite a list of plants to buy.

  So, on this first full day of spring, the temperature outside is definitely un-springy: high of 17°F, a couple of feet of snow still on the ground. So I'm wrapped in a blanket in front of the computer, looking at pictures of flowers, dreaming of warm summer days.

Edited to add: Interview done. It doesn't look promising since I can only work one weekend in May.

AAhhh...

  What a great weekend I had!

  It started on Friday, when I went to Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park for Women's Day. It was kinda scary. I think I prefer riding on a trail in the woods. That way, I can't see what's around the corner, and I don't worry about getting over it. I'm not sure if I picked up any new skills, and I certainly didn't conquer any fears. But I had fun and missed rush hour traffic on the way home.

  On Saturday it was Katrina's Middle School Solo & Ensemble "festival." Since the kids are still beginners, they don't have a full-blown contest, but they are judged. Katrina did a solo and a trio with her cello. She played very well, and the judge was impressed with both the solo and the trio. I think they'll get the results on Monday. After she performed, I spent the afternoon mucking out the chicken coop - chopping up and removing the ice, then shoveling out all the wet bedding. I got it all cleaned out and left it to dry/freeze overnight. We capped off the day with a fun dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, stopped at Menards (Yay!) for a few things, then settled in and watched Skyfall. 

  It's been a while since I've seen a new Bond film. I honestly think the last one I saw starred Timothy Dalton as 007. I've been slowly introducing Katrina to some of my favorite movies, with Goldfinger and Dr. No in the last two weeks. So, she was ready for more Bond. We all loved it.

  This morning, the coop was sufficiently dry/frozen, so HOORAY! The girls got to stay in their house. A nice fluffy bed of wood chips and they were some happy hens. Karl and I cleaned out the garage, but we're keeping everything handy for the upcoming spring thaw - whenever that decides to happen. There's still a six inch thick bed of ice in the back yard, and that's going to take a while to go away.

  Everything is back to "normal" here: Sunday night game night had us all laughing so hard that all three of us were in tears, Karl played the piano while Katrina accompanied him on the slide whistle, and we were having way too much fun to do the dishes.