I got in the car this morning and wondered, "Is this even real? Yesterday??"

...

I was going to be working on tax-related tasks and thought I'd throw in a load of laundry, too... nothing extraordinary. A little while later, I went in to transfer said laundry from the washer to the dryer but I could see that the washer was still full of water and then noticed an error code, which ended up having to do with draining.

So, we checked the drain... all clear. I reset and thought I'd try a quick "rinse & spin" cycle. A-ok until we got to the part where it should drain and spin... no error code, but an unusual grinding noise and no draining or spinning.

I'll spare you the play-by-play, but suffice it to say that I drained the washer twice (what a fantastically tedious task that is) and flooded the laundry room once, using up every towel at my disposal.

A repairman is coming tomorrow.

Did I mention sleet & freezing rain? Weird gusty winds from the NE? The drip that appeared in the kitchen right around the time the laundry room flooded? The few minutes that I misplaced the plug for the stupid washer drain hose and my vessel was filling fast?

There were swear words.

I loaded up the wet laundry from the washer and another basketful of all the wet towels and headed over to Ann's. I wore Yaktrax!

I lost myself in an afternoon of space adventure with Picard, accompanied by knitting, while getting all that laundry done. I'm halfway through the third row of that new blanket! I've been contemplating whether I'd pack it to take to Mexico... but it might actually be finished by then. Wouldn't that be great?

After the slushy mess of the day, it snowed a little last night. Sometimes there's a lot of traffic in our backyard and sometimes not. Last night there was a lot!!

Wish me luck with the washer repair! (Trust me, I've already done a little online investigating in case it's not easy/too expensive to fix.) (And then say a preventive prayer for my dryer, which must be going on 20. The Neptune washer was a POS but the dryer is a champ!)

You may or may not know about our excruciatingly embarrassing situation with the mural installation in Mexico. In a nutshell: it fell off the wall.

Other than that, we had a great time.

Seriously, though, it was mortifying and since we were actually staying in a casita/apartment attached to the home/villa of the collector/buyer, we couldn't even hole up in retreat. Which is fine, really. The mural wasn't damaged, we weren't thrown out, were graciously given the opportunity to rework the plan... and that is where we are.

The painting is rolled up and stored in a closet, we each left a drawer filled with a few summery things in the bedroom, along with some toiletries in the bathroom... and I booked our return flight/car yesterday. In the meantime, the design for the new stretcher frame/hanging structure is done, Rusty has purchased the needed lumber, and construction will begin this weekend. He'll build & assemble it in sections, number all the pieces, disassemble & ship it to Mexico, and we'll put it back together, stretch the painting, and hang it on the wall (instead of gluing). In the end, given the situation, it's for the best, and I am incredibly grateful that it happened right away instead of a week or month or six months down the road.

I'd rather not be returning to Mexico so soon, but thankfully it'll be a shorter visit and I'll only burn two vacation days!

Meanwhile, I started a new knitting project a few days before we left and even though it's a project involving a lot of mini-skeins, I deemed it travel worthy.

It sort of slid into the queue unannounced -- a perfect storm of wanting/needing to make a special gift, the recipient's favorite color matching up with a collection of mini-skeins I purchased on a whim a few years ago, and the perfect pattern. Even better, it's started to remind me of tie-dyeing with indigo, which is just another bull's-eye. I'm having a ton of fun with it and think I'll probably cruise on it until it's finished!

In other family news:

• Ali's kids are still passing germs around like there's no tomorrow, but I'm hoping they're well enough for a weekend visit.
• Maddy dropped a knife on her foot and ended up having surgery to repair a nicked tendon. She's in a cast for a few weeks and then will wear a boot for a while... is hoping that she can return to work in some capacity at that point.
• Kate published an article about Bisa Butler in Colossal the other day...

...which Bisa Butler herself shared in her IG stories. You may recall that it was a Bisa Butler exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute that was our first real outing after lockdown and it was extraordinary. Kate said that she was amazed at how generous, thoughtful, and thorough Ms Butler was with the interview questions (she is a former teacher, so I'm not surprised!).

Anyway, I hope that all your artwork is staying on the wall, that your knitting is making you happy, and that you've got some good news sprinkled in with the not-devastating-but-not-terrific news.

Happy Weekend!

It's the 100th day of school for Junah & Ginny!

So, naturally, it's "Dress Like You're 100 Day"!! Aren't they just the cutest old timers?

I only wish you could see that this 100-year-old "grandma" has also lost her first tooth!!

I just had to leave you with a smile on your face. We begin our journey later today! Thankfully, the bad weather that's been threatening our departure for days (6-8" of snow, at one point) is fizzling.

I might post while we're in Mexico, who knows... if I don't, I'll see you on the flip!

My sister Ann & her family departed for Peru very early this morning. It's been so great to have her/them around so much and it was a nice break from the Airbnb grind. The boys were back & forth to Madison quite a bit, so they never even had time to get bored. Ann did a few little projects around her house. Addy & Rusty made great progress on a Little Free Library that will get installed over there this summer. And I really enjoyed getting away to Boston with Ann.

On Thursday afternoon, Rusty & I will head to Chicago to more easily catch our early morning flight to Mexico on Friday. There are a couple of art events in Todos Santos, plus the installation of the giant mural he painted, but there should also be plenty of time for soaking up some warm weather & sunshine... and relaxing!

After that, things are going to be pretty quiet around here until mid-summer when everyone's back, including Kate & Maddy!

I have a Musselburgh that's growing quite nicely, and it'll make great travel/vacation knitting. I'm also starting another blanket project using a stash of mini skeins that I've had for a few years. It's still in the planning/will it work/will I like it stage and portable, so I'll be bringing some of that along, too. It's destined to be a graduation (!!!!) present for Mack!!!!

In other news, I found buttons for the kids' sweater in Boston and finally affixed them on Saturday night.

I took a few pictures yesterday. Davy's the cutest little stinker...

Did you catch that on the IG last week? I'm so excited. Stay tuned!!!