a fifth monday.

...back in april when I blogged about my mondays, the days were differentiated by cleaning, or not. I think about those posts every week when I go through my "monday routine". and I realize that things are a lot different now that it's summer. and today, it was especially different because this fifth monday in july means no class.


6:40 pm saw me at my computer (checking up on ravelry) with a glass of wine and popcorn (not dinner, just a snack :-), freshly showered but no makeup (sorry, marc!), and a clean house (yes it's that week).

...and time to blog. feels like it's been way too long.

I thought a lot today (cleaning is good for that!) about how much has changed since those april mondays. and since a fifth monday is an unusual occurence (the last time I didn't have class on a monday night was memorial day - but really, a holiday doesn't count right?), the time seems ripe to reflect on a few things new...or unusual:

first, summer means bible study is done - my monday morning is now a two-lap walk with holly, barre class, and needlepoint. I miss the study time, but I'm completely enjoying my classes...and monday mornings in the park.

holly has learned to jump. two weeks ago she figured out how to jump up onto my leather chair. the ottoman is 13" and the chair is a short 4" step up from that. it's her new favorite place to be. I'm still not used to finding her there. but yesterday, she made it 18" up into my tv-watching chair. she scratched a bit to make it the whole way (which could be bad - the chair is covered in fabric) but she was just as pleased as could be when she made it.

I measured - it really is just 18"!!

I took finally took a yoga class on saturday. enjoyed it immensely, but not as much as zumba. and it's a 75 minute class, so it cuts a bit more into my saturday. look forward to taking the class again, but not for a few weeks - my next six or so saturdays are booked!

starting to realize how great it's going to be that katie lives so close. we met for dinner thursday, and she came up for church and birthday knitting yesterday. still have to pinch myself that it's real!

my first needlepoint piece is nearly finished...and I've ordered canvases to stitch for holiday gifts. yes, this definitely means my holiday knitting will be low-key!

sara arrives back from oxford this weekend. and then moves into her apartment the following week. I'm wondering what I might do with another empty bedroom upstairs? (no, even I don't need two yarn rooms). suggestions welcome!

I've been watching sports! beach volleyball, diving, swimming, gymnastics... yeah, it's the olympics but still, it's the first weekend I can remember that we didn't watch golf on sunday afternoon. (and that I paid attention more than I knitted :-)

I burned (yes, #bakingfail) a batch of blueberry muffins yesterday morning. convinced I need to calibrate my oven. and really hoping this is an "unusual" and not a "new normal". ugh....

would love to know what's new and/or unusual with y'all....