Englishman in New York (or Boston rather)

Narrator voice over: As we last left our protagonist (heroine just sounds so dumb), she had just finished describing her great day with her husband on the coast of Maine and New Hampshire.  Now for the continuing story of eclectic pursuits:

Think of the quote above being said in the narrator voice from the intro for Pigs in Space from the Muppet Show.  I know I'm easily amused, but I'm cracking myself up again.  You all may tell me I'm a dork again, and appropriately so.

So anyway, to continue, on Thursday of our vacation I went to see Sting and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra with Laura V, Linda D and her sister Barb L. It was so great! We had really good seats and had a really good time. Linda D cracked me up the whole time, but she really enjoyed it too. I tried to take pictures on the blackberry, but the camera on that thing blows or I'm just not able to figure it out. I had to photoshop the bejesus (is that how you spell that?) out of them, but here are the sort of decent ones.

Linda D just looks rapturously stunned in this picture which was actually pretty accurate.  I really liked the concert and the orchestra was wonderful and it was much more vibrant than I expected.  The conductor of the orchestra was almost dancing and pirouetting like a ballerina and it was making Laura V and I laugh through the whole show.  But I really liked the music and the re-arrangement of the songs. And it was Sting, so how could you want more?

The only bad part was that I didn't get to bed until about 2 a.m. and then, on Friday morning, me being me, I went into the office from 8:30 a.m. or so until about 10:45 am.  When I got back, we took Shawn's grandparents, Shirley and Al, to lunch at Taipei Tokyo.  We hadn't seen them for some time because with Shawn's schedule, we barely see each other.  There may be a possibility of Shawn getting a different shift and still having some time off on the weekends, so we are crossing our fingers.  I'm hoping not to jinx it.

The rest of the day Friday and the rest of the weekend we kind of laid low.  I did a boat load of knitting, as I was supposed to have finished both of the remaining Secret Projects outstanding, to wit, Secret Project IV, Part B and Secret  Project II, by the end of vacation.  However, it didn't quite happen.  

As a result I knit obsessively the following week to try to get it done. Last weekend I was in shouting distance of the finish line. I was watching my friend Kat's daughter Kenna on Friday and Saturday night, so after she went to sleep on the couch waiting for her mom, I was able to make significant progress.  (Funniest quote of the weekend - I asked Kenna what she wanted for dinner while she was playing sword fighting on Wii Resort with Shawn.  Answer "I want revenge for dinner!" She's seven.)  On Friday night I knit obsessively until 2:30 am or so until I started to mess up as I fell asleep while doing it.  On Saturday I was able to finish both parts of Secret Project IV, Part B by mid afternoon.  On I went to Secret Project II for Chris and Kristie.  In between playing Wii with Kenna, I was able to have most of it done.  I finally finished it by 11:00 pm on Sunday, bringing an end to this wave of the baby invasion.  WOOO HOOOO!  I can't post pics until the recipients have received their gifts, but for those of you on Ravelry, pics of Secret Project II are out there, because Chris and Kristie are not knitters.

The rest of this week has mostly been about getting things back on track.  On Monday I blocked the projects and Shawn was home on a rare night off having traded day.  Tuesday I visited with some of my knitting friends and had a swim at Tracy's.  Since I'm not sure what I want my next knitting masochist project to be, I'm doing some purple fingerless mitts in a worsted Malabrigo as a quickie project.  Plus I've needed some of these forever, and keep getting sidetracked.  After figuring out my yardage totals for finishing each of the Secret Projects, I updated my knitmeter, I'm edging in on almost four miles of yarn for the past year. Yes, again, I am a knit geek. 

Since my writing group is meeting at my apartment for our monthly meeting next weekend, I also tried to get some writing in, but I only gained about 480 words.  I'll need to get more together by tomorrow night, which is when our submissions are supposed to be put on the website. 

In other news, Shawn bought me Beatles Rockband and a microphone.  Which I think is hilarious because he must be a glutton for punishment.  Since we got it, I've been requesting that he serenade me with a song on it.  So far, no dice.

I think I'm mostly caught up to date, which is my cue to either go work on the novel or clean the house for the group.

Stay tuned.