Our Day Off

Hi Knitters,

I didn't really have a day off but my daughter did so I kind of did, too. Remember Peachy? I don't write about her much on here because she doesn't want me to but today she said it was okay. She is 13 years-old and she is the only one of my kids with a day off from school today. All week she kept counting down to Friday plus she kept telling me she wanted to spend the whole day with me. I have so much work to do but how could anyone resist a girl like Peachy. It's impossible.

Right away in the morning Peachy asked if I would play Monopoly with her. Recently we got the new version of the game with a really cool calculator and credit cards. You can add and subtract and transfer money on this calculator. Peachy loves it and has to be in charge every time. This new version makes Monopoly so much more fun because it moves a lot faster without all of the paper money set up and counting as you go. I love the new electronic upgrade here. Genius.

A little later we went to the Scrapbook Superstore where she picked out stickers and paper and blank cards. She loves to make homemade cards with sweet little notes. I love her cards. She had never been to this store before and she was so fun to watch. She walked up and down every aisle looking carefully at all of the choices. She loved it. She is never greedy either. She only picks out a few things. I never have to tell her how much to pick out because it is never very much. She is content with so little.

Next we went to a swim shop so she could get a couple of new suits for swim team. Those suits start to disintegrate from all of the chlorine. She was in great need. She felt really good about that. Right near the swim shop is one of my favorite local restaurants, Villa Dolce. This means sweet house in Italian, we asked our waitress. This teeny tiny spot makes me so happy. We had lemonades, carrot bisque with a crunchy cheese bread on the side and yummy salads. Peachy loves a good salad ever since she was a little girl. As we were leaving we spotted a brand new bakery right next door, Bloom Bake Shop. We popped in to take a look.

Bloom Bake Shop, on Parmenter in Middleton, is really interesting and adorable. Take a look at their site to read about the pieces they gathered to put in their shop, all recycled, reused, locally made and it looks like it is straight out of a movie. Their boxes are biodegradable with ribbon made out of recycled plastic bottles. Their ingredients are seasonal and locally and organically grown. Little did we know that the bakery had opened its doors for the first time only a couple of hours before we walked through the door. It was packed full of customers but Peachy thought we were the only non-related customers, I agreed. She is funny how she notices things. The owner was the cutest thing. She was bubbling with excitement as she told us all about her shop. She was so proud. This is a little shop on a mission.

When Peachy and I got home we got the tea pot fired up and made some hot chocolate to go with our Bloom Bake Shop cupcakes. If you look at the menu on the site you'll see how cute the choices of cupcakes are. We each got the Be Silly cupcake which is banana chocolate chip with cream cheese frosting. Oh, was it delicious. Really. Can't stop thinking about it type of delicious. We picked up a Be Decadent chocolate cupcake with blue frosting for TC. We couldn't leave her out. That wouldn't be right.
Peachy also got a hair cut at Cost Cutters and then I gave her a blow dry and flat iron treatment at home. She loved it so much. We asked about the getting her hair styled at the shop but it would have added about $45 to the cost. That seemed a little steep for a 13-year-old.

We continued our Monopoly game along with The Collector because she came home from school by this time. Monopoly is a looooong game so we eventually called it quits. It was really fun. It was a busy and full day of activity. Peachy asked me what was my favorite part of our day off. Being with her. Easy.
My son is swimming in his last high school swim meet tomorrow. He is a senior so this is his last year. Last night he came home with a mohawk with a star cut out in the back all done by a team mate. Tonight he will come home completely bald. It is sad to think his swimming will be coming to an end but he is so happy that it makes it all feel okay.

There is a lot going on around here right now. I will probably end up working tonight and off and on all weekend to make up for my day off but it was worth it. I love my Peachy. She gets her braces off on Monday, too. Another count down has been going on for that event. This is big time stuff.

On another subject, Knit Circus Magazine just came out with their first online magazine. It looks fantastic! This is a Madison based magazine and I met the editor Jaala at the Madison Knitters Guild meeting. She is wonderful.

Click here to check out the new Knit Circus online magazine. The articles and recipes are free and the patterns are for purchase. It is a lot like Twist Collective. Knit Circus is well-done and the patterns are fantastic. I love the new online version just as much if not more than the paper version.

I've gotten a lot of questions about the pattern or how I made the kitchen towel bags. I honestly didn't use a pattern but to learn how to make a basic bag I love and recommend the book, Sew What Bags by Lexie Barnes. There is a basic tote kind of like the versions I made. I added a rounded gusset at the bottom so the bags would stand. The width of the bags I made was determined by the towel size. I like a longer and thinner handle so I made my extra long, about 28 inches or so and about 1/2 to 1-inch wide.

Have a good weekend everyone!

best, susie