Once Upon A Time...

Griffin doesn't know it yet, but within 2 days his face and business will be swollen more than 2x their normal size

...there was a couple who woke up obscenely early in order to get in line for an REI sale. They were up SO EARLY that their favorite local coffee shop wasn't even open yet (i.e. way too early)...

We waited in line sitting on the cold, hard cement until 7:30 when we were rewarded with tickets to be the first group in to the Berkeley sale at 10am. With 2.5 hours to kill, we decided first to get coffee (took FOREVER and had grounds in it - hate you Tully's) and then decided to go on a quick morning hike in Tilden park.

We got to Tilden and hiked in for about an hour, and then decided to turn around and head back to the car.

For some reason, and I can't remember how the discussion came up, we were talking about PE classes in elementary school and then I brought up Field Day. Where I grew up, Field Day was a glorious day near the end of the year where you competed in events some more like picnic games (3-legged race, some sort of egg on a spoon relay) and some real events like the 50-yard dash and who can kick a kickball the farthest. It was a lot of fun and pretty much every kid ended up with a pile of ribbons. All good fun.

Griff said they didn't have Field Day in Minnesota, but they did have a shoe-kicking contest. Wha? Have you ever heard of such a thing? Because I sure hadn't. He was all yeah, we did it in PE.

Before I realized what was going on and could stop him, he had taken his shoe, loosened it on his foot and proceeded to give me a demonstration of said shoe-kicking.

Unfortunately his aim was less than true, and apparently he didn't know his own strength, because his shoe went flying WAY up into the air and also WAY OFF THE TRAIL. Into the solidly overgrown brush.

I vaguely remember saying that perhaps it wasn't a good idea to go into the brush after the shoe. But it was too late, Griffin was already in there with one sock searching for his shoe.

I wish I had stayed on the trail. But no, I decided to help. I scrambled up the brushy hillside after him and even loaned him one of my shoes so he could CLIMB THE POISON OAK. I spent about 2 minutes in the brush, he spent 20 minutes. And still couldn't find the shoe.

In hindsight, it isn't surprising that the shoe couldn't be found. It was a tan colored hiking shoe and as it hasn't rained in ages all of the scrubby ground was golden brown.

So, we ended up wasting 20 minutes we didn't have looking for a shoe we couldn't find. And then Griffin had to hike back to the car barefoot. Not a single person said something to him. I mean, wouldn't you ask someone about it if you passed them on the trail and they were holding some socks and one shoe? I like to think I would. But nobody did.

We made it back to the car and realized that we were going to be late to the REI sale, if we could even make it before our 20 minute time slot was over. Of course, he'd need some shoes to enter the store...

Luckily, this was the only time I had brought extra shoes - some white flip flops with teal ribbon straps with white tennis rackets printed on them. What can I say, at 5:50am it was just too early to bother putting on shoes.

We made it to the sale 10 minutes late, but we made it. We managed to snag a couple of good deals.

Unfortunately, in hindsight, it SO WASN'T WORTH IT.

On the plus side, once they make shoe-kicking an Olympic event I'm sure Griffin will make the team and even win the gold medal. Then it will all have been worth it.

P.S. If there's anybody out there with a TIME MACHINE, could you PLEASE CONTACT ME?

Chez Grumpus Maximus

We've got a lot to be grumpy about these days, especially since Griffin and I both managed to contract poison oak this weekend. His is REALLY BAD (covering over 50% of his body)!!!

Mine isn't too bad (a little on each arm, a little on left leg, a little on my face). Before last night I thought I had managed to get off scott free, but last night I started itching like crazy.

The good news is that after day 4 (tomorrow) we shouldn't see new breakouts/patches of oozing itchiness. The bad news is that I/we can't sleep with this business. Literally. No sleep. Even with Benadryl. Argh.

OMG, such extreme cuteness should be outlawed!

Originally uploaded by talbot_family

A friend of mine is fostering some kittens. They are SO UNBEARABLY CUTE that I just want to cry. Must...snuggle...them...now...

Cat News

Monkey is continuing to make total box annihilation progress whilst attacking two sides of the Charles Shaw box. He has deemed these two particular sides to be an eminent threat and cannot continue on his path of destruction until those two sides have been completely destroyed.

In other news, in my quest to continue with some stash knitting and reclaiming, I have "reclaimed" two yarns from UFOs (unfinished objects - this is knitting slang). I wound them, soaked them and hung them and am getting ready to once again try to knit a pair of socks.

I started the Brother Amos socks a while ago, but didn't like how the fit was coming out (I have a rather narrow ankle and the socks were just blousing around it). So, here's the question. What is a good and easy toe-up all purpose sock pattern?

Yesterday I tried the knitty toe-up but didn't like how the toe came out (totally pointy and weird). Any suggestions?

Secondly, any good ideas for unexpected mother's day gifts out there? The fallback ideas are chocolate, flowers, or fabric, but I'd love to mix things up. Has anyone heard of a good fabric of the month club?

New Hair

Yesterday, I adventurously went to a new to me hair salon within a few blocks of my house. They were highly reviewed on Yelp, and rightly so. They were just wonderful and were able to turn my mangy mop into a sleek summer do! (Side note: cannot help but make wry face when on this side of the camera...)