Chugging along TooT-Toot

Thomas The Train, hooks together with magnets. How cool is that? New stuff I guess. This little guy, my pseudo grandson and hubby are playing trains on the deck. He's 2 1/2, very physically capable for a child his age.



The concentration in play is something to watch. It's been a very busy and hectic week for us. Hubby's had one of his long multi-day convention type work activities and so being able to spend some down time like this was perfect. He's worked all wkend from early am til well past 8 most nights. Fingers and toes crossed tonight should be earlier.



I've had a couple of almost regular days at work, which is odd for me. Spent extra time with Daddy this week, we even went out one night to dinner which was nice. Did boring necessary things like running errands, got my hair done (you know out with the grey), did laundry, mowed, cleaned, shopped for groceries. Blah blah blah.




Looking forward to a visit from our daughter this evening. She's driving in from Baltimore. The visit will be super short, as she'll be heading back to Baltimore tomorrow am. She's got a car load. You might remember we brought back a car load when we joined her there for her hooding about a month ago. This 2nd load has been delayed due to car troubles. She still has odds and ends to take care of there in Baltimore ...and another car load needing to be transported, thus her quick turn around back to Baltimore. In a few weeks she'll return with the 3rd load and spend some time with us here before heading out to St. Louis. She's moving back to St. Louis. She loves it there and will be rooming with a good friend. She's job hunting and we're hoping she hears something positive soon. Hard to know, with all the cut backs, even good school teachers aren't guaranteed a job. But, she's very reliable and I know of no one that works harder or is more dedicated then she. She teaches, she tutors, she helps kids before and after school as well as during lunches. She attends their ball games, their skating performances, their family funerals and more. She is a teacher that children and their families long to have. And...I'm just a wee bit proud.

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Proud Mommy here!

We left town on Thursday after hubby got off work and drove to Morgantown, WV...half way, or there abouts. Left after breakfast the next day to arrive in Baltimore in time to check in, unpack and head to an afternoon reception. Our daughter and a friend from DC joined us at the hotel briefly before we headed to the College for the reception.
She's part of Operation Teach, similiar to Teach America except through The Church. The reception was very nice. The program is a two year program where you teach, live in community housing and live on a stipend; work full time teaching and go to grad school for your Masters. She's been teaching 5th grade in a need based area. She's worked very hard these past 2 years, working and going to school full time, singing in the Handel Choir of Baltimore.

After the reception we attended The Baccalaureate where they spoke alot about service to others and giving of yourself. It was very moving. Then we collected a 2nd friend of our daughters from the train station and headed to dinner. We ate dinner in Little Italy in Baltimore, near the Inner Harbor at Cafe Gia's. Food was very good, service ok...laid back and friendly. Hubby walked with another gentlemen to a nearby store to buy several bottles of wine as they do not have license yet and allow bring your own bottle.

Sat...way too early, the 5 of us were up showered and making our way downtown to the convention center for the graduation. Graduation's always seem long as you sit in not so comfortable chairs most of the time; but still very exciting. We're very proud of our daughter. Congrats Chrissy! We then headed to lunch in the Federal Hill area (also near Inner Harbor) at Ropewalk, where the 3 other girls in her community house who were graduating were collecting up with their families. Got our daughters 2 friends back on the train to head back to DC, and then we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. Later we ate pizza in and called it a day.

Sunday after breakfast at the hotel we headed to her house to pack up as much as we could. Our car was really loaded, leaving just enough room for our suitcase for the return trip home. Packed up her office primarily, books and supplies that she'll not need for the remainder of the school year. Left our car at the hotel and used her's to go to dinner that evening, again in Little Italy. Italian food is always a plus for us. Dalesio's, a very quiet and relaxed location, right across the street on Eastern from Cafe Gia's where we had been on Friday. They do serve wine here, so no need to walk and purchase, definately not as laid back. One room was filled with Italian speaking folks, which was pretty cool.

I highly recommend both establishments, though I believe the veal was better at Cafe Gia, the connolli' was better at Dalesio's.

The Messiah

We flew into Baltimore early Sat am, caught up with our daughter after her dress rehearsal and got lunch in Federal Hill at The Rope Walk. Back to the hotel for a little visiting while she and I graded papers. Then she dashed out to pick up a friend coming in from DC on The Metro and we met for an early dinner in Towson at Cafe' Troia, then headed to the concert. The Handel Choir of Baltimore performed The Messiah in Towson at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Flight was quick and thankfully on time -- uneventful, the best type of flight
Lunch was very good, bet The Rope Walk, a historic tavern is fun in the evening. I would indeed recommend and return to this tavern. Cafe'Troia is listed as one of the top 10 Italian Resturants away from Little Italy. Frankly I thought it far superior to the 3 resurants I've eatten in in Little Italy and highly recommend it. Nice, quiet, good service, good food, and prices aren't bad. Pretty much what one expects at a fine resturant.

The concert was FABULOUS! Seating, left much to be desired though. Hard church benches, wooden narrow no cushion; very hard on the back. Beautiful old church with wonderful acustics; but with the large pillars lots of places where vision is impaired. For such a longgggggg concert, would much have perferred an auditorium witih a real seat, for comfort and site.

Our daughter was thrilled we made the time to pop in and out for this special concert. She and the choir have worked hard with lots of extra practices during a very busy time of the year, making life hectic.

Worked on scarf for The Bridge Project and a sweater for a newborn (need to check my lists and see which charity is up next for the donation.

Have a good week, happy stiching, happy shopping.

My first Scarf

This is my first scarf for The Bridge Project

Crocheted with 2 shades of blue and 2 shades of grey. I just delivered it to my sister-in-law who will delivery it with other items this evening at dinner meeting with Rae.

Excited to see our daughter tomorrow. We're heading to Baltimore where she's singing with The Baltimore Handel Choir. It's The Messiah!

Have a good wkend all.

***GIRL TIME in Baltimore***

My daughter looking at something on the computer facing our little kitchen area (which we hardly used beyond making morning coffee and having a place for our water and wine to stay cold in the fridge). Our accomodations were very good. First time I've stayed at TownEPlace Suites. Definately recommend TownePlace Suites at BWI

Getting to Baltimore was a HUGE HUGE deal. Due to leave here Sunday at 3:15 and arrive in Baltimore at 4:30. Wouldn't that have been very civilized? We had dinner reservations for 7 pm at Sabatino's in little Italy. However, that didn't happen. We had one delay after another at the airport and I never got off the ground until a little after 8:30 pm. I hadn't had lunch or dinner. I had had a shared snack and drink with hubby when he brought me to the airport at 2 ish. Didn't arrive in Baltimore until about 10:30. So, when my daughter picked me up; we were both really tired and the best we could do for something open to eat that hour of the night on a Sunday near the hotel, was the sports bar at The Marriott about a mile from our our hotel. Had a quesadillas and wine, then we headed to bed.

MONDAY......We dubbed scrubbing day. Remember the song from Pippi Longestocking...it was stuck in our heads. We had our complimentary breakfast at the hotel (ok, not great...but included in the price of the hotel), picked up a shampooer at Home Depot and scrubbed her room, the dining room, and the large common room at the Community House (previously a Convent), where she lives. She picked up a carry out order of something Greek......was good; but I have no clue what it was called; and we continued with our cleaning. Returned equipment, back to the hotel to shower and onto school. She's attending grad school at The College of Notre Dame

She gets a little break in class (runs from 6-9), so we picked up something for dinner to eat later. During her break she ate her sandwich, and I ate my salad while crocheting in the lobby. Was working on a blue-green-yellow baby blanket. Sorry haven't yet taken a picture. A neat little wine bar is near school, so we enjoyed a cheese plate and glass of wine there after class. This is the bottle we enjoyed there, and took remainder with us. A nice Pinot Grigio



TUESDAY we dubbed pamper day. We took a walk around the harbour area which was very pretty, hot and sunny. We stopped at the half way point and had our breakfast at Bonaparte where we could watch the activity on the water. Some of what we saw on our walk



Once back at the hotel and showered, we headed to our massage in Fells Point at The Healing Path. We both had an hour massage that was wonderful! We both highly recommend it. Good Good massages. We grabbed a fruit smoothy and headed for our pedicures which were in WhiteMarsh at Spa on the Avenue. I would have thought it a bit nicer to have both massage and pedicure in the same location; but she thought this was more cost effective; plus she really likes the Healing Path for massage and didn't want to switch from there. We left with pretty toes wearing the familiar and soooooooooooo stylish black flipflops (the only time I wear them), and headed back to the hotel for yet another shower.

All pretty, and relaxed we headed to dinner at Germano's My Scaloppine A Modo Mio was VERY dissappointing. It was tough and dry and not served in white wine sauce as the menu indicated. It was in a red sauce. Pooey!! My daughters Lobster Lasagna was excellant. After our desert 1/2 off bottle of wine (Tuesday special), we headed across the street for a night cap at Sabatino's. We wanted to at least see what it was like, since the ill fated attempt to dine there on Sunday.

WEDNESDAY Was our shopping day. We got a slow and relaxed start in our room. She had some things she needed to attend to on her computer (work and school wise), and I knitted. Then we headed in search of a brunch place where we shopping in Towson. The brunch place was gone, so we ended up having lunch in the food court.........nothing special;, but got the job done. She needed silver shoes for a wedding. Made our rounds and she ended up with a pair from Aldo's, a little big (didn't have a smaller size), so she's using those insert things. I found a much needed purse at Macy's. We made our way then to a little mall by school. Had some time to relax, cool off with our iced chai's at Panera's. I switched over my purse stuff, and knitted and she read/prepared for a reading assessment appointment she had. This was part of her class assignment and she needed to meet with a little 7 year old before school. She dropped me off at The College of Notre Dame while she did her interview/assessment. Spent some time walking around, enjoyed the view from the gazebo, and then headed to the computer lab to cool off and check email while waiting on her to return.
We weren't able to get dinner or even pick up something to eat during the break of her class, as the assessment ran over and there was no time before her class. So, we headed to Waterfront Hotel for dinner after her class. NEAT PLACE! Built as a private residence in 1771, converted to tavern in 1861, housed soilders during The Civil War, used again as a hotel for wayword sailors--continuing as a hotel until 1955 when it was converted to a restuarnt. This brick building is the 2nd oldest brick building in Baltimore. Now thats history!! GOOD FOOD. I highly recommend it. My daughter and her group come here often. I had the veggie quesadillas....yummy and a good marquerita.

THURSDAYPack, check out, breakfast nearby at Bob Evans, and head to BWI. No travel problems this time, thankfully. Girl time came to an end, sadly; but we truly enjoyed ourselves. We're already talking about what we want to do next time!! After she dropped me at BWI, she headed home to unpack, do laundry and repack; and headed out to the train to DC where she was connecting with a couple of friends to share driving to Peoria, Illinois for a wedding this wkend. They went to bed super early Thursday and began driving at 12mn. Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was yesterday and the wedding today. My daughter is the maid of honor. Long drive back to Baltimore for them tomorrow.
**Project updates:
Finished Mom's yellow shawl (cept for tucking in threads...will post picture later)
Frogged pink and blue blanket, just wasn't coming along right...started blue blanket--about 1/4th done with it--though it might end up being frogged for yarn troubles
Super busy yesterday, unpacking, laundry, mowing (man was it hot), and spraying again for the Japanese Beattles.
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND ALL

Wednesday and wackiness!

This green wool scarf was a bit of an experiment. The green yarn was left over from something my mother-in-law made YEARS ago. I had no label to know it's weight, composition etc. but, feel certain it is mostly wool, a very light fingering weight yarn. So, I used to 2 strands and knit it on my Bond. The tricky part of that was pulling the yarn from the 2 sources at the same tension so as not to have a knotted mess. It was still thinner than I like scarfs to be, but I made it wide enough with this in mind and so doubled the scarf itself over. Rather than stitching up the side, I folded the two ends toward the middle which I think makes a softer edge for the scarf. This is for my daughter, who's not a lover of fringe and so I crocheted scallops for the edge. She loves it and wears it everyday. Though Stella is mifted she no longer has the green scarf around her neck. lol It's snowing like crazy here today, was bitter cold and windy yesterday...the day before that I was in Baltimore and it was 65 wonderful degrees. Wackey Weather!!!



We had a nice visit with our daughter in DC and Baltimore over this past wkend, and so I'm now trying to catch up on household stuff, and knitting and crocheting.



Last night I started a green and purple pillow cover thing for my daughter. Her room is purple and green.......... she does love green!



I finished a 2 tone pink scarf last night also and need to determine which charity it should go to. Am feeling behind on my charity count, so need to shift some gears and get some projects finished.