More Cake? Well, Sure!

The question isn't will I turn older next week. The question is whether I'll gain 5 pounds before my next birthday. Because I have the best coworkers!

OMG. Steff created the most tasty 3-layer coconut cake I've ever had the privilege of tasting! So good!

A little back story on how I fell in love with coconut cake. 

Throughout my growing up years, my mom and her sister Virginia would visit each other quite often. I felt like it was weekly. Taking turns at each other's homes. It always required some bakery items to go with the coffee, of course. Occasionally, when Mom was "hosting," she'd buy one of those Pepperidge Farm Classic Coconut Layer Cake. Could not get enough of that flavor! So good. So that was a lovely treat today!

My almost birthday twin Darcey and I felt spoiled yet again! We had to pose one more time by my ice cream light (my real twin gave me a few years ago) before I unplugged it and brought it home. 

Tomorrow's the last day in our current digs. I said loudly this afternoon, "OK, is anyone bringing treats of any kind tomorrow? Otherwise, I'm packing up my little plates and bowls." 

No response so I think the party's over. I mean I guess we're still pre-gaming!

After work, our team went to Guu's on Main in Stevens Point because our Nashville team member is with us this week and they have at least 6 flavors of deep-fried cheese curds. She was suitably impressed. Even though it's funny sometimes how we want greasy, gooey goodness to represent our state!

Go, cheese!

P.S. Unrelated to anything... my friend at work and I went to the Herrschners warehouse sale at lunch today. Holy million people but also million deals. Get there! I think it goes through Sunday.

P.S.S. It has rained all day. Apparently hubby still had golf league. Probably wearing his long underwear. Yep, mid-June and temps in the 40s and 50s. Be careful out there!

Well That Was Fun

I could dub thee Sarcastic Sunday. Because some parts were not that fun.

Take church choir for example. There were 4 us. Not a fancy barbershop quartet. Just 2 men, 2 women. Not the strongest singers. Myself included in that. And our director sang with us to bring it up to 5. Yes, it was just the melody for On Eagle's Wings. But still. Cringe. 

But then it got fun. 

Ran up to Herrschners for some baby blanket yarn (bless them for Sunday hours) and worked on blanket #3 (boy them #2) while watching golf.

I love watching The Masters – especially on Augusta Sunday. And frankly, I want it to be a close competition. And today delivered big time. So many lead changes and people climbing the leaderboard. In the end Rory repeated for a back-to-back win, but he tried to blow it on the last hole – driving it into the woods!

I noticed his daughter Poppy is getting big. Yes, I do "know" some of the kids. I just wonder if they understand what the big deal is when Dad always wins things! You know?

And as the leaderboard was heating up, so too were the temperatures. The windows in the house and the screen door were letting in fresh air! Also, maybe something related to pollen. Not pollen yet, but I sneezed no less than 20 times this afternoon/evening. Grrr.

Did get out for a jaunt around the neighborhood after golf concluded. 

There was a hen party going on around the bend but since I just saw 5 out of 6 sisters the other day, I kept on walking. C'mon, that's funny, right?

Ok. Break time is over. Time to get back to hookin' something! Hope you had real FUN at some point today!

Weekend Yarns

 

Long before I became acquainted with yarn I though a yarn was a story or a tale, especially one that is incredible and probably made up.

But then a couple of years ago my friend Julie introduced me to crocheting and what the magic of yarn can do.

For awhile after that I was obsessed with making scarves of all kinds. But since then... baby blankets.

So we have 2 sets of young adults in our life who are expecting babies next month. Contrary to popular pre-parenting practices, neither is finding out the sex of their child.

With my self-imposed deadline looming, I commenced to hooking today. With a 50-50 chance I said, let me start with girly colors. Well that didn't last long because my stupid skein was somehow messed up and in knots. So, not that it will effect the outcome, I switched to some typically boyish blues. 

Got a good start... but do you know baseball is on TV now (yay, Twins) in addition to March Madness hoops? Yup. This might take me a day or two. Good thing it was cold and windy with no forecast of me doing anything outside today!

Love is Baby Soft

Us "girls" of a certain age remember begging for Love's Baby Soft perfumefor our birthdays and Christmas. Did I ever get it? No. Because the ads talked about how innocence is sexy. Not Mother Hedberg approved, that's for sure.

But apparently it is back on the shelves if you or your BFF want some now! 

Why was this on my mind this week? You're probably scared to find out. Don't blame you!

So I started crocheting this baby blanket the other day. Was halfway done and was not satisfied that the yarn – even though called Blanket Yarn – was soft enough for a baby. It just seemed too stiff.

So off to Herrschners I went at lunchtime on Tuesday. Love that the store is a few minutes from work. Found just the soft "Baby Blanket Frosting" yarn I needed in my life!

Now I'm cruising along with the Lilac Lounge color scheme and it IS baby soft! Sometimes it pays to make that special trip. This crocheter will be happier.

And so, I'm sure, will the baby! Cannot wait!

By the way, the perfume is allegedly available at Wal-Mart and Amazon if you're interested!

Purely a Medical Thing

I laughed out loud when I saw this a few minutes ago because I literally dropped some serious yarn cash at Herrschners last night before a very fun golf night at SentryWorld. Then made a trip to Hobby Lobby at lunch today for an additional skein.

It's purely because I was following this scientific doctor's diagnosis from Facebook.

That and I had already planned to create a blanket for my nephew and soon to be niece-in-law (you know what I mean), but suddenly realized the clock is ticking! 

Since the bridal shower is just 2 1/2 weeks away, I am going to be doing some "speed hooking" – which I've done before but this time I have something scheduled at least 9 of those evenings in between. Backup plan is that if it's not done in time, it'll have to be for the wedding in mid-September. 

It's my own fault. I've thought about this for quite awhile and I even got their bedroom and living room color schemes a month ago. Don't you dare accuse me of putting golf before crocheting. 

Even though it's true!

Gotta go. Let's get that chain started!

Battling Bankruptcy

I sometimes wonder how a store I feel that I often single-handedly keep in business can go out of business. But for whatever reason, I couldn't save JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, who I just call JoAnn's.

There was a point in time when I learned to crochet just a few short years ago that I noticed Michael's (for you non-crafters – the other craft big box) was reducing their yarn selection. So I hopped on over to JoAnn's and was thrilled they had a good selection for my 8 out of 10 projects baby blankets.

I saw the news about many JoAnn's locations were closing and then the subsequent announcement that ALL were. My notification about the "everything up to 40% off" came on a Sunday. So I thought I was safe going on Tuesday when I was in the office and in the "not making a special trip to JoAnn's" radius.

I was a bit too late.

First of all, I noticed the yarn was only 25% off, not nearly close to 40%. Secondly, I was greeted by a lot of empty yarn bins (pictured above). My typical baby blanket yarn colors were out of stock. But I did find a few skeins to make a fun blanket for someone in the future.

I can't be too sad since there is a local spot in Stevens Point called Herrschners, who much to my marketing mind's delight now has a yarn sale. Will this be my pot of gold yarn on St. Patrick's Day? I'll let you know.

For you non-central Wisconsin folks: Where do you get your yarn??