Life's blessings

Here is some embroidery I did when Big City Girl and Tech Guy were very young. Although you can't tell, it's on the side of a tote bag. I used it to carry all of my mom stuff when I spent lots of time driving kids to and fro. There were some days when I really needed to read the message over and over--like the day I made 4 round trips to BCG's school. I was one of the lucky moms though. Neither kid ever had an inclination to be on a travel team, which I understand can take over a family like an invasive virus.....

So I finally turned the sock heel (the phrase used to describe the process whereby the sock changes direction from north and south to east and west and heads out toward the toe--the sunset of the sock-knitting adventure). Hubby occasionally notices that I'm knitting a sock and makes comments to make me think he's really interested. Last night he proclaimed that I seem to have mastered the five essential skills of knitting: 1) yarn buying, 2) knitting, 3) frogging, 4) tinking, and 5) yarn buying. I would say he's pretty perceptive.

Today I will be spending a little time getting ready for a visit from relatives this weekend. This would be hubby's brother and wife, and our niece and nephew. They live in Kansas and are doing a driving vacation. They should be easy to entertain since the tourist attraction at the top of their list is the beach. They don't have those in Kansas.

I was trying to remember some of the ways I used to entertain BCG and TG when they were small. It was always fun to see just how long I could keep them going without batteries and joy sticks and remotes. One of the things they enjoyed the most was a treasure hunt. I would leave written clues around the house--one leading to the next. At some point I started doing two-lined rhyming clues that were really silly and didn't always make sense. This really got them going. One of my best treasure hunts was the one I did for Tech Guy's birthday one year. I made about 20 clues (lots of poetry practice) that finally led him to his new bicycle that I'd hidden in the bathtub.

So I'm hoping this marine layer (aka June Gloom) that's been hanging over southern California will lift pretty soon. I did notice that ever since we left Connecticut last week, it's been rainy and cold back there. It's not that I'm complaining or anything. Oh, and do you remember that daikon salad I made a few days ago? Hubby says I have to eat it in the garage. It seems to have gotten a little too happy........