Took the Day Off...

 



... sorta.  I went to the library book sale this morning and found a couple drawing books and some knitting books that came home with me.  Today was the last day of the sale so one paper grocery bag full (FULL) was $3 and additional bags were $1 each.  But this is all I found.  I didn't look at any other books, not kids' books, not fiction, not travel books, just knitting and drawing.  I don't need any books but thought it'd be fun to look through these and then pop them one by one into Little Free Libraries in the neighborhood.  If none of my friends wants them.






 



When I got home I went out looking for the missing rat trap.  I found it, sans rat, among the ferns and I also found where the rat lives.





While I was out looking for the trap I noticed that the honeysuckle is blooming again and the New Guinea Impatiens is blooming too.


 
After lunch I called and then went to Ace Hardware for Rat X, rat poison, so I cut up a couple weenies into fourths, cut a slit into each end, and shoved a pellet in.  Then I put some into both of the rat holes I found, the one under the ferns and another at the base of the crooks where the feeders hang.  Hopefully this works.  I'll put out more pellets tomorrow and then fix more weenies the next day.





When I wasn't putting out rat "treats" I sat and knitted on the watch cap.  I decided to make 4-row/1-inch alternating stripes so there'll be 5 stripes before the decreases for the crown, which will be brown.  I like it but it seems like it's going to be too big for a kid.  Ah, well.  Maybe there'll be a big-headed teen in the group of siblings the gifts are for.

28 September--Barbara Malcolm, Horizon. 

MayMM

            Sweaty palms.  I got sweaty palms every time I thought about introducing Abel to the boys.  I'd been giving little hints in my weekly emails about how much time we spent together.  I had told them about the trips to galleries and art shows, about meeting Gil, and having my paintings in his shop.  They knew about the movies we'd seen and how Abel had completely revamped my garden, at my invitation this time.

There was no way I was going to share the more, well, intimate aspects of our relationship.  I didn't expect any of them to share that part of their lives with me and I certainly wasn't ready to expose mine.

I had cleaned the house to within an inch of its life.  I plumped the pillows and moved the furniture around six times.  I changed the sheets on my bed twice because every time I went in the bedroom I detected the warm cinnamon fragrance I smell when Abel and I are together.  I figured that would be a dead give-away, even if Able and I managed to keep our hands off each other while they were visiting.

Only Aaron and Sara had been home since the house redecoration was complete.  I couldn’t imagine what Sam would say when he saw that I’d changed everything in the place.  Sam had always liked things to stay the same.  I had the feeling that Matt wouldn’t mind or even really notice.

I had to admit I wasn’t nearly as nervous about their reaction to those changes as I was terrified at the thought that one of them would figure out that Abel sometimes slept over.  If I had to bet, I'd put my money on Sara and Lisa being the ones to figure it out.  I had a picture of the two of them huddled in a corner swapping theories.

That reminded me of something when I was upstairs checking to make sure everything was ready for the invasion.  "Abel," I called down to him from the top of the stairs, "be sure your razor and things are out of the bathroom, please.  I don't want to give any of them cause for suspicion."

His sexy chuckle wafted up as he passed the foot of the stairs.  I heard him mutter, “All that nervous energy wasted on grown kids.  I could tell her how to use that energy.”

“What was that?”

            He walked back past the foot of the stairs with his aftershave and razor in his hand.  “Nothing, Gail, not a thing.”

            I went down the stairs and slid into his arms.  “Listen, I spent a good piece of the last year complaining about you to them.  It’s going to take them some time to get used to us dating.  I just don’t think it would help any if the first time they met you was also the first time they were certain we’re sleeping together.”  We kissed.

“Sleeping together isn’t the most fun part, you know,” he said, sliding his hand down my back to rest it on my behind.

            I pressed into him.  “I know.  And no butt grabbing while they’re here or I’ll send you home.”

            The pressure of his hand grew and held me closer.  “What time are they supposed to arrive?  It would be a whole lot easier to behave if we…” He nodded toward my bedroom, eyebrows a-waggle.

            “Oh no we’re not.  I’m not going to get caught in the sack with you by one of my kids, not at this age.”  I pushed myself out of his grasp and started back upstairs.  I wasn’t halfway up when I heard tires on the gravel drive.  “Hah!  You see?”  I came back downstairs and joined him in the kitchen.  “You’d have had us undressed and in a compromising position when they drove up.”  I noticed he was still holding his shaving things.  “Hide that stuff.”  He put his razor and aftershave into a paper bag and shoved it into the cupboard under the stairs.  I peered out the window.  “That’s Matt and Lisa.  They were supposed to pick up Sam and Merry, but I only see children’s heads.”

            I stopped at the mirror in the hall to make sure my hair looked okay and that I didn’t have any dirt smudges on my face.  I grabbed Abel’s hand and pulled him outside to greet the first arrivals.  “Now, behave.”

            “Yes, ma’am.”

I spent a bunch of the afternoon roaming around looking for an old drawing instruction book I had years ago.  I know I found it downstairs last fall or winter but for the life of me couldn't find it.  I'm confident I wouldn't have tossed it but can't imagine where I'd put it.  I've always wished I could draw and every once in a while I dig out a book and practice, get a little skill, and then put it aside.  Like I need more to do...  Oh, and I folded a big basket full of laundry this afternoon and put it all away.  I make a lot of laundry for one little old-ish lady.
--Barbara