I know, I know, I am insanely overdue for an update. What that means: this is going to be a LONG post, so grab a cup of coffee.
The week of the 4th was pretty much a blur. I had to work on Monday, which meant it really wasn't a long weekend for me. On the actual 4th, we went up to C's aunt's house, which was fun, but we left for home when everyone left for the fireworks, as we both had to be up at 6 am for work the next day. Apparently, as usual, no one in my neighborhood has to work on the 5th because they were all shooting off fireworks and such all night. I cannot get it through my head why people think doing that is a good idea. It takes all my willpower not to hope that one of the neighbors or their kids at least gets a finger blown off, to stop that nonsense.
Last weekend was mostly spent on gardening. We have some INSANE weeds, some of which are taller than the fence. They are too well rooted to pull out, so I actually cut them with pruning shears. Then they need to be dug out of the ground with a shovel. I only totally cleared one section, on Saturday, to put in a bee balm I'd bought. Then I mulched tomatoes. Well, I decided that if I was going to have plants making a jungle in the back corner, they may as well be perennials I chose rather than weeds that just took up residence. So I bought 2 more bee balms and some ornamental grasses. The problem was after that, not being home for a few days and when I got back it's close to 100 degrees every day. So, the new plants are still in pots on the patio and hopefully it will cool off enough in a few days to let me do the heavy work digging out the weeds.
Monday after work, Mom flew out to get my old Neon (I'd decided to give it to her - long story - after the Toyota dealership wanted to give me squat for it). We were up until midnight or so (huge deal for someone like me who is normally in bed between 9:30 and 10), and then she left at 5 am the next morning. Ouch. I got up to say goodbye, and then went back to bed until 6:30, but I'm pretty sure I didn't fall back asleep at all. It feels weird with the Neon gone. I had that car for 7 1/2 years. But I'm glad it's in a good home instead of off at some car auction. It was a good car.
Tuesday I worked a half day, came home and frantically packed, and then we left for Spring Green, WI (it's about a 4 hour drive from here). We got to the B&B with barely enough time to check in, and turn around and drive to the
theater. We met up with C's mom, cousins, and two aunts. As we ate supper, we heard about how everyone else got cornered by the owner of the B&B, who talked NONSTOP and was insanely uber-conservative. As he spewed offensive rhetoric at my MIL and wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise, she finally had to just walk away while he was talking. Anyway, so we saw Romeo and Juliet, and it was amazing. I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare - as a Literature major I had to study Shakespeare, and I hated it. But these actors are of such a high caliber that they bring everything to life. It was phenomenal.
Oh, here was our room at the B&B:
Very nice and all (though it looks bigger in the picture than it actually is. The picture pretty much shows the ENTIRE room.), but we'll stay somewhere else next time we go up there. Whenever I have a choice I prefer not to support businesses with ultra-conservative owners. It's bad enough that a lot of the time I don't have the choice.
Wednesday, we went into Mineral Point, a nearby town with a big artist community. We wandered around, going into a bunch of art galleries. I did buy a few smallish things, but I haven't taken photos of them yet - I will try to do that later today. Wednesday night we saw another play at APT called The Matchmaker - this is where the title of my post comes from. One of the main storylines in the play (it's set in the 1900's by the way) is that these 2 coworkers decide to go into New York City for a day for an adventure. The younger one isn't sure how he'll know when they're having an adventure, so he selects a code word "pudding" to be used as confirmation once an adventure starts. As the adventure gets underway, there are several points where he yells "PUDDING!" at the especially good parts :) It's one of those things you take away and make your own...but maybe you had to be there to get it. I'm not sure.
Thursday we just made our way back home in a leisurely fashion. And work on Friday. Bah.
Now we're smack in the middle of the weekend and it is insanely HOT. I think the chances are good I am going to be spending most of the day hiding in the basement (where it's actually cool) and knitting. I started a sock last weekend (on teeny tiny size 1 DPNs) and it is maybe 3 1/2 inches long. It needs to be 8 before I even start working on the heel. I have no idea how some people can do a whole pair of socks in one week!!!!!
