A good time was had by all.  We fed crackers to the giraffes (like Rye-Krisp, except for animals!) and had ice cream ourselves — and a carousel ride!  I have color in my face!!

The giraffe pair we saw yesterday are very young (more) and not nearly as large as those pictured yesterday — just as fascinating, though.  That 18-inch, black tongue is something else!  It was very cool to be so up close and personal!

Everyone came over and we grilled turkey burgers (WW recipe) and zucchini last night and had strawberry pie (WW recipe) with fresh berries and it just couldn’t have been a better day.  Just what I needed.

BTW, the moronic mantra running rampant through Long Island WW meetings appears to work by osmosis, since I lost a solid 2 pounds last week, bringing my total to just over 7.  You know what?  I can tell.  Even that relatively small amount has made a difference.  Just a few more and I will not have to be quite so choosy every morning, standing in the doorway of my closet, wondering about which pants I should wear (stretchy, elastic, drawstring… what kind of day is it today?).  OMG, one of the things I found in my cleaning/purging/organizing the other day is my original WW Lifetime Membership card — I even still had the last few meeting card thingies from way back when (I tossed ’em, thank you very much).

; )  After today, I have four days off.  There will be more cleaning/purging/organizing.  I’m on a roll now!  I’ll have some fun, too — and as Bob is my witness, there will be knitting!

Giraffes are my favorite animal, but apparently it didn’t start out that way.  Mom & me, ca. 1960, possibly Denver.  Today, it’s the NEW Zoo — Mom & me, Mack & his mom.  ; )  We’ll see lions and tigers otters and bears, too.  Oh, my!

Guess what?  I have knitting news!!!  I have chosen the colors for Maddy’s ROBOT!

And…  I did not make any long-distance calls last night.  I did, however, receive one!  ; )  I was very, very busy… sorting, tossing… first one box… then another.  One by one.  It’s so nice (I think) to know that I’m not the only one sometimes overwhelmed by the stuff and your emails and comments (still some trouble with those) are so nice (even if I totally suck at replying).  I was visiting in Katie’s room last night (she’s painting and rearranging — it’s so cute!) and she happened to have my blog up on her computer screen… she said that I’ve been frustrated a lot this year.  I guess I have… is it really showing that much?  It’s been a weird year, I’ll say that (again), but I do think I’ll survive.  ; )  A trip to the zoo will help, I’m sure.

…and we’re working on it," according to my second Typepad help ticket email notification (which I am receiving, loud and clear).  Unusual because I’m receiving some (7 of the 11 to date on the last post) but not all (2 of the 10 on the previous post).  Yeah.  I’m not the only one and it doesn’t appear to be related to Yahoo so much.  We’ll see. I have no gripes with Typepad’s help ticket system — I’ve only needed to use it a few times and it’s been great.  It’s a good way to practice patience.  I need to practice patience these days.  I’m trying Victoria’s suggestion to turn off notification and then turn it back on.  La, lala, lala.

Let’s see, I’ll call this picture Iris Seeds and Scamp.  I guess I usually snap off the spent iris flowers before they get this far, so I am kind of amazed.  This is way in the back and I just haven’t been down there as much this year… actually, since I quit smoking.  I used to go down here numerous times a day and then often get caught up in the weed-pulling and dead-heading and tidying, etc.  Now, the bleeding heart and bloodroot have obliterated the garden path; thankfully, I prepped really well when this was first planted, so the weeds aren’t a huge problem.  They’re a huge problem in the front garden, which I see on a daily basis and still manage to ignore, but that’s another story.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Well, yes I do… there are a lot of things going on in my life and in the lives of people around me — some close, some far.  There have been big, huge, monumental changes in the dynamic of some of the people in my life and a lot of frustration dealing with people problems.  And the kids are changing gears again — Katie has applied, last-minute, for fall semester rather than spring because, surprisingly, she can’t stand her new job/mostly new boss (who is a friend of a friend and, yeah, so, ICK) and she hates it so much that she is looking for a new job and had a promising interview (actually two) yesterday and, well, let’s just cross our fingers for her.  It’s no fun when your daughter cries because she’s so unhappy with a stupid part-time job.  And Alison!  She, too, has applied for fall semester — at a different yet still nearby school, and is actually thinking about living in a dorm.  I’m happy and all that, but not quite sure what’s brought about the sudden change.

I really am overwhelmed, too, by all the stuff that’s been displaced and the task of sorting, organizing, tossing… dealing.  DH moved a few things to the queue yesterday and it just about put me over the edge.  I am angry with myself for letting it get this bad.  No… I’m more angry for not paying attention.  Maybe my house is too big.  The days are too short.  Really.  I need to practice patience here, too, and realize that it didn’t all pile up in a day, so it’s going to take some time to deal with it.  Eventually it will be over.  The kids will find their way — I know they will.  I’ll be happy, they’ll be happy.  I will knit again.  Deep breaths.  Small bites, don’t worry about the big picture.  You can only do what you can do.

I went through one of two old boxes of cards and letters last night (from back in the olden days, before email), a few pictures, report cards (mine) — wow, Grandpa really sent me a lot of postcards! — I mostly sorted, but did toss some stuff.  Maybe the other box tonight… while I talk long-distance for cheap on my new cable phone!

Tomorrow, I’m goin’ to the zoo with my favorite one-year-old nephew.  I’m gonna show him the giraffes.

I see that there are a few comments to my earlier post… not that I’d have known without actually looking at the post, though, because I haven’t received notification of a single one!  Has anyone else been having a problem with comments/email notification of comments?  It started late last week, actually, but I’d get a few..  I don’t know if it’s a Typepad problem or Yahoo — and I hate to go barking up the wrong tree, you know?  Anyone???

Above:  Sunday morning; DH is finishing off the screwing.  Um, yeah, that would be the keyboard tray of the computer desk that had a whole bunch of screws.  I’d already done my part.  ; )  (Forgive the mismatched orientation of the pictures, please.)

Below:  Sunday afternoon.  It’s cozy and it took some doing — that desk is 72" on each side and (to me) it doesn’t look all that huge until you actually try to put it someplace!  There is barely an inch to spare anywhere.  A special shelf had to be made for the printer and new arrangements for all the laundry supplies (the washer is at my right hip, you can see the top of the Tide).  We all agree that it looks very office-like, and mostly due to the new ($16.00 at Home Depot, indoor/outdoor — the better on which to roll a chair — and easily cut-to-size) blue rug.  I have since filled up much more of the shelving.  ; )

It’s also a room with a view.  No doubt I’ll be sharing shots out this window in the future.

This has provided a tiny little peek into what it would be like to move.  OH MY GOD WE I WE I WE HAVE A LOT OF CRAP.  I have to get organized and I have to get rid of some stuff.  Yesterday, I printed out rummage sale labels for all of us!  The big event at my sister’s is little more than a month away.

PURGE!

Glad y’all got a kick out of my Central Park knitting.  That’s pretty much all the knitting I actually did over the weekend, too!  So much vying for my time these days.  I think about it all the time, though, ‘cuz there’s certainly one or two extra balls of yarn around here.