A time to breathe again

Wednesday evening Brandon's dad, Harold and stepmom Debbie, drove up from the Bay area bringing along a sectional couch that didn't fit in their apartment for us to have. It's big for our living room but still allows a walkway in and we're enjoying having it now. We all went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (last time we're eating there).

I found cards in the mail for $15 off to Stanford's and Newport Bay each, but they expired on Thursday. So we had the plan that Brandon would get his main dinner at Stanford's, I ate a nice bowl of French Onion soup and we'd then go over to Newport Bay and I'd get the main meal, since Brandon doesn't like seafood. Well on the drive over grandpa called and said that he wanted to take us out to buy a new washer and drier as a thank you for all that Brandon has done for him lately. So we ended up going to Stanford's then going to Judy's to meet up with them and then head over to Lowe's.

Spent a bit of time looking over the options and the sales person ended up suggesting two different machines but ended up going with the Maytag set with a 4.0 cu ft capacity washer and the 7.0 cu ft capacity drier. I really like the drying rack and the fact that you can have a wool sweater dry on it with no heat just air drying. Very cool. We'd also picked up William and since he hadn't eaten, headed over to Newport Bay where we both ate Halibut Fish & Chips while Brandon chatted with us.

Friday Will and I talked with the FA person at Rock Creek PCC and then he worked on his paperwork for it. I have it to drop it off on Monday for him. This is his last week of work and he's excited to have a few weeks of vacation time before classes start on the 22nd.

Brandon and I have done six years of volunteering for Hood to Coast. One year we have done a Saturday morning shift but we prefer doing night shifts. It's easier to stay up late and then go to bed then it is to get up really early and then work a shift. We had Will in the volunteering with us for a friend's team. Our shift this year though was 7:15am to 10:45am - not the best time of the day for me. ;^) We were also almost 13 miles west of the Columbia County Fairgrounds near St. Helen's. We got there later than planned because of slow moving race vans but it worked.

This year though after our shift instead of going home to bed and sleeping, we needed to head over to Columbia Park for a family reunion on Brandon's side of the family. It was nice seeing some of Brandon's side of the family that we don't always get to see, especially since Kari is pregnant. Food wasn't too bad and we didn't have to bring anything except drinks for ourselves, that we found out after we got there.

Kari and Todd's baby shower was Sunday, so another afternoon spent with family. Nice getting socialize again before Will headed out. Also more good food. This time no need to bring drinks. ;^)

Kari and Todd liked the burp cloths and baby quilt I made for Madeline (full name to be Madeline Yvonne):


The burp cloths were, one knitted and two flannel ones from the same material as the quilt. I think they both liked them. Kari also said that she hadn't gotten any burp cloths, so I'm going to make up a few more for her.

Now what to knit? I was going to start another hand towel, still may. Leaning towards a desire to do a pair of socks and then continue on holiday projects and finishing Sinuate and the Peace of Mind shawl. But tonight would probably be a better night for a hand towel that's easy cause I'm tired!