Amanda's Saturday

Hi, Amanda here.

I started my day by taking a walk around the track at Lawrence High School while Jared did one of his special sprint workouts. It was a great morning for a walk, but I did wish that I had worn a hat. It was cold and the wind especially made it feel pretty frigid. Fall is my favorite season, so I can't complain. I love the way the leaves sound when they crunch under my feet.

I then put a second coat of paint on a coat rack that Jared will put out in the breezeway. One thing about the breezeway - even though it's insulated, it still gets pretty cold out there. I'm not sure how it's going to work out with keeping coats and shoes out there in the winter, but I guess we'll see. I also painted a couple of spots on our garage doors that Jared had filled with wood putty.

Then came the exciting part of my day... going to Hallowell to meet Mom so we could do a little shopping. Water Street Yarns, in downtown Hallowell, is closing at the end of this month. Mom has worked there for the past 9 years, helping her good friend and owner of the shop, Libby. I also worked there a couple of days a week when Jared and I first moved here after college. It was a wonderfully cozy place filled with yarn, chairs and lots of women sitting around knitting. I say 'was' because now it's been reduced to a mess of scattered balls of yarn, about 10 huge piles of free patterns and TONS of women all going crazy like it's the Filene's Basement wedding dress sale. I have never seen anything like it. Granted, all the yarn and needles are 50% off and patterns are free, but some of these women were just ruthless. Some woman literally grabbed a skein of yarn out of my hand and walked away with it. How rude! Libby feels pretty good about the store closing though. She sees it as a chance for her to do something she's always wanted -- get her CNA and work in a hospital. I wish her all the best.

After Mom and I left Libby's we headed to Waterville to get fabric for our latest project -- a quilted table runner which we're making during a class we're taking through the Lawrence High School adult education program. I've shown you a sneak peak of the fabrics I've chosen. Stay tuned for the finished product on a later blog... Meanwhile Jared was home here making some lentil soup (which you can see that we're freezing in a loaf pan before we vacuum seal it with our FoodSaver. It's really kind of sad how excited we get over this thing...) The evening was topped off by Mom, Dad, Jared and I watching the Red Sox battle the Indians.

I love fabric and yarn, I love spending time with my Mom, and I love having family over for dinner so today was a pretty great day.