Homemade

Here is my first hat made from, as Eric said, nothing but sheep:



It took three days to dry. It's a thick hat. I'm utterly pleased with it, even more so when Eric tried it on and said he might not mind having a hat such as that, except that the wool was a little itchy. So I may have to get some merino/silk or merino/cotton blend in gray or blue to make him a hat out of nothing but sheep. (A spindle and needles will be involved along the way.)

I've finally sent out an e-mail about the housewarming. This is not to say that everything's done--the seventh curtain of the twelve is still lying, hems pinned, on my sewing table, and the end tables that are destined for the basement are still in the living room--but we can be done in a short enough time. Plus we want to make more homemade ice cream.

I have yet to hear from Lisa on the results of her visit to the other shop. I called her to no avail yesterday, and I forgot to today. I'm vaguely figuring that she's calling her insurance company out of spite and is perhaps arguing with them about how she has to get the scratches fixed. If that happens and they refuse to pay for the damage (and therefore to get me to pay for it), am I still responsible for it? Dunno. I imagine my insurance company would probably have contacted me, though, so perhaps she won the lottery and is too happy to pay attention to little matters like her car and my peace of mind. I'm hoping I'll find out tomorrow.

We've made some progress around here other than the hat: Eric has confirmed he has a best man, we worked on the wedding favors, I put up the curtain rod in my sewing room, we ascertained that the basement has only one leak, though we don't know exactly where or what to do about it. I also called my mom for a long talk about the wedding, relationships, etc. Bev called me yesterday and (among other things) told me that Dad had been asking her questions about the wedding in a manner that made her think they wished I would share more of the wedding plans with them. I haven't been doing this principally becuase we haven't been developing the plans yet, but I called anyway and got Dad's advice on the basement and Mom's advice on dresses, food, after-wedding parties and so on. When they come out in September I foresee Mom and I spending a lot of time doing wedding-planning stuff and Eric and Dad doing a lot of house-repair stuff.

I also ended up asking her if it was okay with them that I was getting married, because I had never really asked them if it was okay and I knew they had had some reservations about how my relationship with Eric got started (well, the romantic portion of it) and the timing of the engagement. Mom said of course it was, and that she was happy I had someone to take care of me instead of living alone, and why was I so worried? I've been tense and anxious and irritable for a while, mostly due to all these changes that I'm still adjusting to, I think, plus extra stressors like the car incident and the check-ordering fiasco. (I think I've got that one sorted out now.) Plus the job is dissatisfactory. I've been trying to be quiet and bear things and get through my probation period, but Eric suggested that maybe that wasn't the way to do it and if I started asking questions and making suggestions about the things I find dissatisfactory, maybe they'll change or at least management will know that I'm thinking about such things. I'm going to try to be more active in changing the other things that are making me unsettled.

We went shopping Saturday and getting into my car Eric discovered that on the side of the driveway, right in front of the pile of wood slats and old weeds that the previous owners said he would get rid of but didn't, are a bunch of tomato plants with huge green tomatoes on them. The tomatoes I planted in the back are tall (apparently I'm supposed to pinch the tips so that they won't grow taller and will instead grow outwards) but only have flowers on them. I don't know where these tomato plants came from, but I was happy to see them growing and thriving, even in a bad place with no attention paid to them at all. I don't know that it's a metaphor--it's probably only a renewed hope that I'll have homemade salsa sometime this summer after all--but I'll take happiness however I can get it. I'm not nearly as miserable as I was before I moved up here, but there's still room for improvement. Which I will try to make happen.