Obsession du Jour

Best Laid Plans....

This was a blog-filled weekend for me.  Not MY blog, mind you, but others'.  See, Mr. ODJ had a bunch of social engagements over the last week or so, meaning that I was putting in a little extra evening bedtime work in while he was out - he's in charge of bath and stories most nights, usually while I'm trying to scrounge us something resembling dinner out of the pantry/freezer.  What that meant for ME (aside from some extra quality time with His Cuteness this week) was that I got to negotiate a little non-baby time for myself here on a nice chilly Sunday afternoon, time I could spend however I chose.  Normally, I would choose to a) sleep; b) finish up one of the eleventy-million projects littering the house; c) make some underpants clean for the Mr and I for the upcoming week; d) drink heavily; or e) make some calls/write some emails to catch up with the friends and family that I can never seem to find the time to keep up with anymore.  Not necessarily in that order.  Oh, um....right...also maybe write some damned thank you notes already.  Ahem. Oh, and did I mention sleep?

Instead, as a measure of the mature and responsible Adult (and also Parent) that I am, I chose to spend this fine and glorious Sunday catching up on the Bloglines backlog, a backlog of posts numbering in, I kid you not, the THOUSANDS.  I will admit it. I briefly considered marking all of them as 'Read', and just starting with a clean slate. See above...THOUSANDS.  Y'all are a chatty lot, and I mean that in the best possible way.  I thought about it, and then realized that I couldn't.  I too badly wanted to know how everyone had spent their summer.  So I read, and read, and read.  And then I read some more.  Then I made us some clean things for the upcoming week because really? Clean underware.  I'm just saying. There was little to no commenting, I knew there was no way I could afford that luxury and still make it through.  No commenting, just lots and lots of reading.  And I almost made it, I did.  About 2/3 of the way through, some thing fantastically screwy happened to the laptop.  I have no idea what, as I was not in the room - or on the same floor even - when it happened, but when I came back with my hot chocolate, the computer was frozen, Explorer was closed, and my Bloglines slate had been wiped completely clean.  Completely.Clean.  Insert your preferred string of obscenities here. I did.  No, the Mr. wasn't in the room either, and shame on you for thinking that.

**SIGH**

It was fun while it lasted.

So I went and played in Ravelry for the first time in months.  Lemons to Lemonade, says me.

Hey look!  Knitting!

The Seaweed Set.

Knitted over Thanksgiving weekend during the 4-hour drive to St Albans, VT to visit family (and back).  There is just so much joy in the instant gratification factor of a beautiful, giant yarn on giant needles.

Specs:
Pattern: Seaweed, found here.
Yarn: Decadent Fibers Cream Puff in (I believe) the 'Indian Corn' colorway. This yarn salvaged from a failed sweater idea.
Mods: While mine is a bit longer than the one in the pattern, because I have a longer coat, the only modification I made was to add a few short rows to the center ribbed section at the top.  I wanted it to stick up a little higher than the rest of the piece and sort of make a little half-hood.  It works perfectly, and just flips down like a little shawl collar whe not in use.   Also, despite the lopsidedness going on at the top of the Seaweed (the left of the picture), it IS actually a normal arc, not all wonky like that.

Hat:  No pattern.  Just started knitting and decreased as necessary to make it the shape I wanted, trying it on a couple of times in the process.  Knit flat and seamed up the back because a) I didn't take any DPN's with me since I wasn't planning on knitting a matching hat (er...do I even own #13 DPN's?)  and b) I really wanted it to stand up and not be floppy so I thought a seam would help, structurally. 

Neck Warmer:   Betcha didn't realize that's what that freaky thing at the bottom was, eh?  Wearing this seaweed thing over a carried baby - a GRABBY baby, I might add - when one's primary base garment is a nursing tank with some sort of cardigan-ish top over it leaves a LOT of flesh exposed to the elements.  None of my scarves survived 5 minutes hanging right there in front of B's curious little eyes, hands and mouth, so I had to come up with something different.  I just cast on enough stitches to cover the exposed neckline of my favorite nursing tank, knit for a bit, started decreasing to a size that would wrap aroud my neck, yet lay flat.  I did 3 or 4 shortrows to get the bump for the back of the neck (nothing worse than the wind whistling down the backof one's collar) and then straight on to the end of the piece.  Add one button and voila.  Neck warmer.  I knew the thick and thin nature of the yarn would give it that little scalloped edge, so I didn't even have to dress it up any.

I'm not going to bother to promise pictures of this ON since it gets dark here just sortly after luchtime, for pity's sake, but I'd like to think we could make that happen.  We'll see.

And now, since it is a couple of HOURS past my bedtime, I'm off.  If anyone wanted to send B some sleepy vibes so that he doesn't wake me until morning, that would be grand.   

I don't think I can actually add anything of value to this:

Except maybe this:

Look! Knitting!

Hey, something changed since yesterday!

I started knitting something new!  Wheee! 

Knowing that I was probably behind on my knitting mag viewing, Elisa sent me this link  http://www.magknits.com/Nov07/patterns/seaweed.htm the other day, bless her.  Here's the picture:

It really struck a chord for me as it gets colder here in Boston and I still want to traipse all over my little city with a baby strapped into my current favorite carrier.  It's our main way to get back and forth to daycare, for instance, so it's a daily issue for us.  I thought this idea was a simple, cleverly designed, easily customizable solution to the 'baby wearing coat' thing.  And?  Bulky yarn!  Fast!  Easy to knit!  Very little counting!

After thinking about it for a couple of days, in my cloudy, sleep-deprived way, I realized that I had the perfect yarn for this already in my stash.  Actually, yarn lying dormant in a dead WIP that I hadn't been able to let go of yet.  Sold!  Match made in heaven, even.

After WB's bedtime last night I pulled out my winter coat, a tape measure, and the wool, and went to work.  Ten minutes later I had a plan, and 20 minutes after that I had an inch of knitting.

And then it was bedtime.  Confession, it was 10:30, which is actually 30 minutes past MY bedtime these days, so I stayed up past my bedtime to knit.  It's wild times here at Chez Obsession. 

Random....er....Tuesday

Greetings from Sleep-Camp 2007! 

1.  We apparently ran smack into WB's 4 month growth spurt\sleep regression (at Rhinebeck, erg.) without having any earthly clue that such a thing existed or just how much it would suck.  Not knowing what was going on, we obviously thought we had somehow 'broken' our previously 'easy' sleeper, and that we were consequently facing 5 years of sleep issues and night terrors.  Of course, we may yet have those, but at least now we know that this, at least, is just a phase, and eventually (I hope) we will all get to sleep again one day.  Preferably before he goes off to college.  The solid bed time routine we've instituted has definitely helped, as has making sure one of us goes to him when he wakes up, obviously freaked out by.......whatever it is that freaks out a 4 month-old baby.  It's basically my itchy brain theory.  All that growth and re-wiring and crazy brain development has to occasionally make their brains itch - sort of like when you break a limb and they stick it in a cast and then you can't get to it and it itches and itches and itches and itches until you think you might go MAD?  Yeah.  Kinda like that.  So. His brain itches, consequently there's not so much of the sleeping happening here at Chez Obsession.  Wheee.

2.  Speaking of sleep? The end of Daylight Savings TIme?  Can kiss my ass.

3.  Um hello?  Why did no one ever tell me about this?  Oh.My.God.  And you call yourselves my friends.

4.  Can we talk about how annoying it is to still look 5 months pregnant?  I mean, sure, I'm fine, and I'm not beating myself up or anything because I know that it's burning off in the milk production, blah, blah, blah, blah, but seriously?  I'm done BEING pregnant, and would like to stop LOOKING pregnant, thankyouverymuch.

5.  Oh!  And the working full time?  Can kiss my ass, too.

6.  See Number 5, and add - not.sleeping.  Just sayin'.

7.  I got it, I got it, I got it!!!!  A Field Guide to Knitting is finally out! Hooray!  I love this book.  I would love it even if I didn't know Jackie and had nothing whatsoever to do with it.  I do, however, know Jackie and let me just say that I believe she did an amazing job of distilling a ton of information into this fantastic, easy to use format AND got it all into a small, sturdy book that I can absolutely just toss into my knitting bag so that I always have a quick stitch reference.  It's perfect. Honestly?  The yarn usage guidelines ALONE are worth the price of admission for me. I think I may have to re-jigger the Sudoku throw to use this book.   Someday. 

8.  What am I knitting right now?  Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahahahaha.

9.  I'm discovering that I utterly adore being a mom.  Adore it even though it is kind of eating up my soul and is sometimes very, very hard and also kicks my ass on a regular basis. Oh man, and we haven't even hit the crazy toddler years yet.  Sometimes I can't believe we got ourselves into this mess and yet I also can't believe we didn't do it earlier.   I could start gushing here about how fantastic our son is and how much I love him and how cute he is and how he steals everyone's heart with his big lopsided grin, and so forth, but I think maybe I'll spare you that heaping helping of cheesy mommy goodness.   Just ask me the next time I see you and I'm certain that I'll go on and on and on and on until you're sorry you asked. 

10.  Last year at about this time (OK, I'm two weeks behind, but I'm going to do this anyway) we were off celebrating this:

As we reminisced about it recently, Rick and I were hard-pressed to get our minds around how differently this year has gone - for so many of us - than we imagined when we were standing there watching these two wonderful people that we loved so dearly taking such a fantastic leap into a new life together.  These guys decided that they couldn't live without that California sunshine, and these guys decided that going home was what they really wanted, and she published a book and she learned to spin despite fairly vocal opposition to the idea, though this one is still holding out so we still have some work to do.  With all of these changes, we're a bit more scattered now, but thanks to the power of friendship and the mighty interwebs, we're still as close as the next email.  (Sort of.  ONE of us, namely me, has been horrific about keeping in touch recently, but I have hope that I can get my shit together soon and stop being such an ass.) It's not the same, for sure.  For one thing, the drinking games are less fun, but it's still good, and we - Rick and WB and I - couldn't have done this year without you guys.  I guess maybe what I'm driving at with all of this crazy rambling is really CONGRATULATIONS.   Here's to another interesting year filled with hope and joy and laughter.   

Starting with all of you deserters moving your asses back to Boston. Pronto.

P.S.  ALSO?!? We have a new member of Team Boston.  Everyone go say hi to Caro at SplitYarn. Welcome to the neighborhood! 

Let's make a deal, shall we?

You guys don't give me TOO much shit about up and disapearing like that, and I won't bore you ad nauseum with the minutia of our breastfeeding issues and the crazy schedule they induced. Deal?  Deal. 

It's kooky how things go, though. I never expected the term 'maternity leave' to extend to this here blog, or to the world of friends I've made here, but when the crazy-making ensued, this blog and the related social circle were the first thing that suffered.  In a sense it was good, b/c I needed the mental energy and whatnot, but it really taught me a lot about community and how much we need it as human beings.  What I'm saying is that I've missed y'all.  Heaps.  Bunches, even.   I didn't even know Cara was pregnant for pity's sake, and we're practically neighbors.  THAT'S how out of touch I am.   

In honor of National Ms ODJ Is A New Mom Drop Out day, everyone should pop into the comments and share any big news you feel like spouting.  You get to toot your own horn all over again, and it will ALL be new to me, so you can count on some renewed excitement (from me) just by saying hi.

What?  Yes, I did go to Rhinebeck, but only made it into about 4 barns the whole weekend and only bought 3 things. I know, it's like the twilight zone. Turns out that having a babe with me was a bit on the distracting side.  That and I can never seem to get away from Dave.  I swear, I think there's a time warp in that man's booth.

Now I'll move on to pictures of the babe (you can't fool me, I know what you're REALLY after), and then later we can finish catching up on the promised pictures of the pre-birth-nesting-baby-craft-extravaganza.  I'll probably stretch that out a bit because, honestly?  There's been no time for that sort shenanigans recently, and mama has a blog to feed.

So.  Baby pictures. LOTS of them.  If you're here for knitting, I'm really, really sorry, it'll be back soon. Promise.

Meanwhile - baby.:

Proud Papa:

One and a half men:

Wee and tired, this sleeping thing is HARD work:

Time to go home:

Milk drunk:

Daddy rocks:

Awwwwwwww:

Seriously - could he please still sleep like this?  Please?

Baby's got back:

Duuuuuude:

First night out drinking with the girls:

Football day at Chez Obsession:

Auntie Juno:

Arrrrrr-gyle:

Stylin':

Tummy time is fun:

Leisure suits are fun:

Toys are fun:

WHEW!  S'that enough baby for you for now?  Hmmmmm?

Free to be...you AND me.

Not so long ago (5 days to be exact) WB and I were one and the same, peacefully (mostly) inhabiting the same body.  He had no choice but to share my life, my plans, my days & nights, my music, and my food.  (OK, so actually that last one hasn't actually changed so much.)  Together, we looked like this. 

Now, he is his very own person.  A whole wee person with a life and destiny, while certainly intertwined with ours, now all his own.  Today he rules our little roost, someday he may even rule the world - but not today.........

.......today, we're napping.

Please note that, in yet another example of knitterly power, see those bee shoes up there?  The ones that I posted about last time?  One of the very first things I began knitting for him way, way back in February?  Apparently he was just waiting for them to be done, because within 24 hours of me getting them finished, he started trying to get out here and join us. 

Welcome to the world, young Beckett.  We're very, very excited to meet you.

We interrupt your blog reading with this special announcement. Chet?

Chet: Good afternoon, Stitchy. I'm standing here on the sidewalk in front of a local hospital with breaking news. Strange reports are afoot here, some claiming that a brand new person has materialized inside the hospital behind me. We've heard people say a young male appeared out of thin air, others seem to be referring to that "thin air" as "Kellee". Let's see if we can talk to some witnesses and find out exactly what's going on here.

Man with breifcase in front of his face: No comment!

Chet: Ok, well, clearly he knows something but doesn't want to talk. How about you, miss?

Woman in a nurse's uniform: Yes Chet, I saw it with my own eyes. It was crazy. First, there was this red-headed woman laying there in one of the rooms. I remember her distinctly because it seemed like she was willing to show just about anyone her nether regions. I'm not one to tell anyone what they should do in their private lives, but it seemed a little excessive, what with all the groaning and whatnot.

Chet: Yes, I've know women like that. Go on.

Woman: Well, I don't rightly know what to say. One minute she was laying there alone, and the next minute, this little person, a baby, really, was laying there. They said his name was Beckett Trent. She and her husband seemed pretty relieved to see him, it was as though they'd been waiting for him to show up.

Chet: Wow, amazing! So he just kind of showed up? This is one for the record books, folks.

Passerby with Crazy Eyes: Pssst . . .  hey . . . I heard it was over 9 pounds with a head THIS big around! (holds hands in a 14 inch circle) It's 19 or 20 inches long and someone heard the red-headed woman refer to it as "a bit of a chunk". Pffft, I guess that's what they're calling shape-shifters these days. C'mon man, it's the only explanation!

Chet: Sir, that's a strong accusation. What do you base that on?

Passerby: Dude. (whispering and looking around suspiciously) Her perenium is intact. Shhhhh!!!  . . . I mean, how else do you explain a thing like that?!

Chet: Well folks, you heard it here first. I guess all we can do is wish a hearty welcome to one Beckett Trent du Jour and hope that he is a kind and merciful supernatural overlord. We have heard that his caretakers, Kellee and Rick, are accepting their new station wonderfully, are in good health and spirits and look forward to serving his every need for the next decade ot two.

Back to you, Stitchy

Stitchy: (looking a little shaken) Ok, Chet, thank you for that incredible report. We hope to have some footage of this incerdible event later on. I'm Stitchy McYarnpants with News du Jour, thank you for joining us for this special bulletin. We now return you to your regular blog reading.

Still here......

...and STILL pregnant.

I'd like to be able to say that I've taken the passing of my due date completely in stride, secure in the knowledge that a due date is just an estimate, that no one ever goes on their due date (OK 5%, whatEVER), and that it really, really, really doesn't matter.  Honestly, I didn't think it mattered at all to me.  He can come when he's ready.  However, I must admit that it didn't happen that way.  When our last pre-natal visit (last Wednesday) came and went with no signs of labor (mind you, three weeks ago I was having almost nightly sessions of pre-labor/practice labor, whatever you wish to call them, that were consistent enough that we were all pretty sure I wouldn't even MAKE it to my due date) and then Sunday, the big day, came and went with no baby.....well...OK, I'll admit it.  I was grumpy.  And then it got hotter than the sun, and that makes me even grumpier.

I think I'm over that now (the baby grumpy, not the heat grumpy), and back to a pretty good place, but I must admit that I'm not very happy about the knowledge that the clock is now 'ticking'.  That in just a matter of days, people will start bugging us about induction and so forth.  I'm not a big fan of deadlines when we're talking about natural processes, and it brings out my latent rebellious streak to have people telling me that there's some sort of arbitrary deadline for when this kid needs to show his face.  Don't get me wrong, I'm R.E.A.D.Y. for the bowling ball to get the hell out of my pelvis, and the last thing I want is to push out a baby that reached 11 lbs because  he baked too long, but still.  Back off on the stopwatch, people.  His dad and I?  we're used to being fashionably late.  It's sort of a cosmic creed with us.  So OF COURSE our kid is late.  That said, I think 3 days late is late enough and he should come on out now, so if anyone wants to give us a little knitterly mojo-ish shove, I'd be OK with that too.

Meanwhile, since I've been so absent from the blog-world over the last month or so because of all the gearing up and the wrapping up of the work stuff before maternity leave and so forth, why don't we take a little review of a few more of the nutty nesting adventures around here? 

First up - 39 1/2 weeks along:

This is Josie's favoritest place in the whole wide world, second only to stretching out across my head in the middle of the night.

Next up, we are finally approaching something close to 'Done' in the downstairs renovations, and it's nice to have clean living spaces and floors that can be mopped and...I kid you not, walking barefoot in my house has never felt so luxurious.

This set of transformations deserves a post all it's own, and soon, but for now we'll just go with a quickie shot.  Rick would also like you to please note the schmancy new TV.  More evidence of our boundless romanticism here at Chez Obsession....for our anniversary back in May, I got the dishwasher and he got the HDTV.  Ain't this the epitome of the American Dream?  ;)

And now the knitting:

Most of the stuff I've been knitting and/or sewing has to do with the cloth diapering that we'll be doing.  Mind you, NONE of this is actually necessary to cloth diaper, so if anyone out there reading this is considering cloth diapers, don't let this nonsense scare you off.  It's all just another excuse to knit/craft/sew stuff for the baby that isn't a sweater.

Wool soaker - Curly Purly pattern
Newborn size
Cascade 220 Quatro - aprox 1/2 skein

Wool soaker - Little Turtle Knits Ribby Wrap pattern
Newborn size
Arucania Nature Wool - aprox. 1/2 skein
Snaps (ahem, new snap press) instead of the pattern's called-for buttons.

Yet another wool soaker.  This one uses basically the same pattern as the cloth diapers that I've been sewing, cut out of a felted failed sweater project in some lovely mystery coned wool from the Webs warehouse sale a couple of years back, and edged in a very soft foldover elastic to keep the thing snug to the body.   This wool felted out SHOCKINGLY soft, considering that, while a lovely wool, it really was only usable for outwear in it's original state.  Um, and yes....more snaps.

KPS Hoodie - Baby Tunic #211, sized (I hope) for next fall/winter.
Cascade 220 Quatro

And finally.....though I finished knitting them AGES ago, I was resentful of the amount of finish work involved in these wee things, so I kept putting it off.  Now, finally, I have the mostest adorablest baby slippers ever.

Bee Shoes
50 Baby Bootees to Knit
Dale Baby Ull

There's lots more to show, but I think this has gone on long enough, how about we do the sewing and spinning tomorrow?

Newborn Essentials

Things learned in last night's 'newborn essentials' class:

1 - Papa Bear learned how to change a diaper.  Hooray!
2 - Apparently, that hair dryer I haven't touched in almost a decade (but for some reason have been unable to convince myself to dispose of) might actually be able to pull it's weight now in that it can be used, apparently, to calm a fussy baby.
3 - There ARE actually women out there who are MORE pregnant than me. I had begun to doubt that fact, but it's true.  Also?  That there really IS a huge difference between a 28-week belly and a 36-week belly.  Huge. Difference.
4 - Disappointingly, depite thousands of years of civilization and our ability to put men on the moon and rovers on mars, there is still only one reliable way to get a newborn baby's temperature.  And yes, it still involves vaseline, if you get my drift.  Sure, later there are other options, but not for the newborn.

For those that might someday like this to go back to being a knitting blog:

Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting in Cotton Ease (old skool) 'Popsicle' ** (see?  I do still knit.) and Buggy pants sewn by moi.  Baby pants, it turns out, are addictively easy, so expect to see more of this sort of sewing project on here. I have a fabric stash that - while nowhere near as aggressive as the fiber/yarn stash - has the potential to scare the uninitiated. Next we learn how to install snaps on these puppies for easy diapering access.

Oh, and just for the record:

This is 14 wks vs. 20 weeks vs. 32 weeks, that last being four weeks ago.  Maybe I can enlist some help this weekend to get some 36 week belly shots in slightly more interesting settings.  Like....say.....MA S&W out in Cummington?  Belly + sheep = giggles.

Who's going?  C'mon, fess up. Inquiring minds want to know.

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**OK, and can we just take a moment or two to contemplate all the reasons that this outfit in this yarn is impractical and inadvisable for most human beings?  Seriously.  Think about it.

Kellebrate good times, c'mon.....

I know we've talked before about the perils of flaming out on re-entry, though I'm too lazy to go back and find those previous discussions right this second.  Know, however, that it is especially difficult to go back to one's work-a-day world after one's friends have traveled from far and wide, some even crossing state lines, and successfully spoiled one rotten and generally made one feel like queen for a day - and also maybe bestowed upon one a wide array of incredibly thoughtful gifts - ALL against the backdrop of one's favorite S&W festival -- not to play favorites or anything.  So it's taken me a while to process all of this and get back here to talk about it.  There may also have been some of this in between:

This was my 3rd year at New Hampshire S&W.  It was my first festival gathering, and still remains at the top of my list both because of it's place in my fibery history, AND because it's just a damned great festival.  It's big enough to feel worth the devotion of an entire weekend, and yet small enough not to overwhelm.  There's plenty of time to shop, socialize, pet all the cute animals, and STILL have time to actually learn something from the folks at the fleece judging.....assuming of course that one can stay out of purchasing trouble at said judging, right **COUGH**Cate**COUGH**?  It also says something for it that even last year, in the midst of the nearly Biblical monsoon rain and flooding, we all still had a remarkably great time despite our discomforts, and that was BEFORE we started drinking at Margarita's.  THIS year, we needed no such fortifications because it was quite beautiful.  Stunning really, in that way that I have only ever experienced here in New England, where it's warm enough to make you eager for summer, but still cool enough to remind you of the winter we've just barely left behind and yet somehow keep the dread of the summer's humidity at bay.  I love the times of year when it's almost too cool to sit in the shade and yet somehow also almost too warm to sit in the sun. 

But I digress.  We were talking about how effing cool my girls are.  Oh, sorry, you didn't realize that's what we were talking about did you?  Well, we were, and they are.  In addition to completely overwhelming me with the aforementioned Queen-for-a-day thing - complete with enlisting many of my favorite festival vendors (hello? predictible much? ) in a bit of a treasure/easter egg hunt - they also did something even more extraordinarily cool...something that makes a girl feel almost famous...something which will be a great sustaining energy in the coming months of being covered in poop and spit-up.  They went to Ms. Boogie, our favoritest pusher, and asked her to dye up some lovely, yummy merino-silk for me.  Not just in colors I'd like, mind you, but.....and here's where I get a little girlishly giddy and embarrassed......in my very own colorway.  Can you STAND it?  LOOK!!!!

Spunky Ecclectic Merino Silk in the colorway *giggle* 'Kellebration'.

Dude. Amy is my hero, and yes, the colors really do glow like that.  I can't even STAND the beauty of this, or the perfection.  Someday soon I should round up the past and present Boogie fibers just to prove how bad the obsession has really been.  It's no wonder that about half of my stash used to live in her house before it came to live in mine, nor that I am powerless in the face of her fibery-dying mastery.

And my girls?  I won't even pretend to have the ability to express the all the love, joy, and admiration I carry in my heart for these women, or how thankful I am to have them in my life.  Each of them is amazing, unique, and awe-inspiring, each in her own way and each with her own special place in the equation.  It's not because they're famous or anything - though they might be a little infamous, some of them - but that they are inspirational in that they just keep rocking along in their lives, taking care of each other along with the rest of their lives and families, never too busy for each other, and never too busy stop and celebrate....well, anything, really.....whether it be a new spinning wheel, or a new venture into motherhood, or just surviving a day at work without succumbing to the desire to kill one's boss.....these girls always have each other's backs, no matter how far away that back might be.  This was probably our last chance to all come together with relative ease because of some fairly momentous changes - many involving moving trucks and the cossing of state lines - and I love that we were able to do it at such a great place and have such a fantastic time.    But then, we always do.

I love you guys.