Free At Last!

After an additional TWO WEEKS of summer vacation, my kids are headed back to the salt mi.....ah school, tomorrow! Thanks to the Bellevue Teacher's Strike, my kids have be underfoot, at each others throats, and workin' my last nerve for the last fourteen days!

The oldest has been back at college for three weeks at this point. His last year in college.....I should be sad. He's not my baby any more. But no. I've been excited to see how he will turn out as a person for quite a while now. The first real glimpses of the man he is becoming are just starting to show through. It's exciting.

Hey! maybe I'll try to get his high school graduation blanket done for his college graduation!

Number Two Son is starting his senior year of high school.......late, as usual. Can't pick on the kid, too much, though. He has been getting up to get to school an hour early for a special 6:30am welding class for more than a year. My boys love their welding! It's about the only thing the older boys would ever get up early for.

The Baby is starting his first day of middle school today. I thought he was cool with everything and then I heard some snuffling behind me. He's my emotional one.....my worrier....my nervous wreck! He'll be OK though. He doesn't realize, yet, that about a third of the kids there today are just as nervous as he is. And when he sees all the kids he already knows there (only one of his elementary school friends will be going to middle school with him), he'll calm right down. He has older friends there, sibs of some of his brothers' friends, baseball teammates. He'll be fine.........Still, I think I'll make sure I'm home when he gets home. Should I have brownies or rice krispie squares waiting for him?

On the knitting front, things have been getting done.....some little projects..... Hats.........and Fetching fingelesss mitts

I've also started a sweater for me......Hey Teach. No pics of my own, yet. My first experience with shaping lace in a garment. A bit challenging in spots, but I will survive. My hope is to have this done by the end of September, so I can wear it to a professional event at the beginning of October. Pushing it, I know, but I want something no one else will be wearing. I have a reputation for my hand-knits to uphold. There are also a couple pair of socks wandering around here, too. They get a few stitches when I get the chance.

Right now, I feel all adrift, suddenly. No kids arguing underfoot, my days are (kind of) my own again........OK, so NOW what do I do?