Count down to vacation

Next week I have a birthday, so I'm taking off work the whole week as per my usual routine of having a Polish birthday. DiscoDame & I went to WallyWorld & found the plastic bangles I was wanting, for a price that I was willing to pay! So I can get started on the Bracelet Bags (from Laurie Perry's book--I think they're in the first one, Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair)for the nieces. I'm going to use some of the stash enhancing gift I received from Debbie Stoller, though I'm not sure which yarn(s) as I'll have to check them against the bracelet colors. I'm knitting another pair of fingerless mitts, with corrugated ribbing at the cuffs -- whew! what a PITA! I have a piece of knitted fabric made up to felt for Sis' latte cozy; just haven't done the felting yet. But I'll have a whole week to play with yarn, so I imagine this will get done soon. I found a site that sells undyed sock yarn in cones, about 1 lb of 80% merino/20% nylon sock yarn just waiting to be dyed. It's very tempting! Of course, dyeing would mean winding off hanks (I have a swift!), figuring out what dye to use (lots of ideas on the Innerwebs!), and setting up dye pots, utensils, etc etc.
I bet you're wondering at the hopeful attitude expressed by all the knit blather above. The Plaidman has cashed in one of his retirement accounts, so we can get all caught up on the bills & likely stay that way at least thru the winter. It's so nice not to worry about whether the mortgage company will foreclose on us, or if the cars will be repo'd. It's a bit sad for him, but he has another account and it's kinda his fault we got in such a fix anyway, so I don't feel too badly about it. Anyway, the Captain of the Plaid Patrol should be able to take one for the team. Now if we could get DiscoDame employed somewhere, we'd be able to stretch his cashout even further. But I'll think about that another time--it's too depressing for the day before I start vacation!
ETA: We just had our Departmental Meeting/Birthday Luncheon (combined, so we can all have an hour to dine!), and boy did we eat! We had pulled pork BBQ, turkey BBQ, fried cornbread, white beans, turnip greens, mac 'n cheese, squash casserole, sliced tomatoes, homemade chow-chow, and topped it off with CocaCola cake with ice cream. I'm stuffed. I'm so stuffed I'm almost in pain. It's naptime!

How to put this...?

YIPPEEE!!! The Plaidman's been called back to work!! Break out the Champale, folks; this news calls for a celebration. That's after the prayers of thanksgiving, of course. So the boss called Plaidman on Tuesday, to ask if he'd be available to work starting Thursday (the start of their workweek--I know, it's odd), then called back a few hours later to say they could really use him on Wednesday. So, his first paycheck will be for one 10-hour day. Just in time to help pay for gas for the chariots; the local BP has regular up to $3.99 US now. I did make a fuel stop early today, & paid $3.59 at Kroger. DiscoDame had her last Friday class of the quarter, and we met up at the WalMart afterwards. We ate lunch at the Subway in the store, I pushed her into a "near" spit-take & almost got sprayed with chip crumbs--we need adult supervision. I hadn't gotten a cart, because I didn't really mean to get anything but one skein of Red Heart yarn. She's got her backpack fulla books, her purse, and a lunch bag (so why did she need to eat at Subway?), & I found my yarn. Then the store waylaid me: I found the thin plastic placemats I wanted (to be cut up into sock blockers!), and then the shoe department ganged up on us, and we came home with two pairs of red patent shoes (look! twins!), 3 placemats, and the skein of yarn. I have a serious love-hate relationship with Wally World. On the way home we spotted a BIG YARD SALE sign, and wound on over to it in the hope that there might be some crafty goodies to be had. Alas, no yarn or other crafty stuff, but they had some new & nearly new dresses in my size. I spent $15 for 3 dresses, which all need to be hemmed but are otherwise just dandy. DiscoDame spent $3, for a long khaki twill skirt, a vest & about four tops, and a nifty tote bag. Now I feel like I should empty some stuff out of my closet. DD says she's already got a sack full that needs to go to Goodwill; I'd like to get up another sack full.

OK, I said I bought some Red Heart, and yes it's a Super Saver. It's the bright white, needed for my Christmas stockings. The progress on the stockings: I now have 50 granny squares about 4.5" on a side, in various combination of red-green-white rounds. That's enough squares for 5 of my big stockings. The next step is to stitch 10 groups of 5 squares together in socky shapes, half with the toe to the right & half with a left toe. I just have to make myself do this, and it ain't happening today. In other craft news, I went to the Sit 'N Stitch last night. I hadn't planned on going, but after work I got to talking with a coworker, and in the midst of our conversation I found myself wringing my hands repeatedly. That sign means I NEED TO KNIT! So I rushed on over to Bliss Yarns, and borrowed a set of needles & some unidentified bulky yarn, and started knitting Aunt Maggie's slippers. It was a good night to be there, as we had a demonstration of the use of a portable Ashford loom, by a really wild & crazy kinda gal--she talked about gamers & DragonCon & other stuff that meant jack to me, but the loom was fascinating. I can so totally see me weaving on a loom; I'd have to research Celtic patterns & figure out what plaid to make for my Plaidman. But if I were to take up another yarny craft right now, I think it would be spinning. One of these days I'll make one of those CD spindles I've seen on the innernets, score me some fiber, & give it a whirl. Stop laughing, I mean it! Anyway, while I'm there anyway, I have a peek at the sale yarns. One of the other knitters (newbie--first time using dpns) came over to the sale section with me, and I pretty much talked her into buying some Karabella laceweight mohair. Sigh. I wanted it, but I have entirely too much mohair on hand as it is; besides, I wanted the Berroco sox yarn, so I got two balls of that and the Magic Loop booklet. So I've totally blown the yarn diet. Oh well. I will master the Magic Loop, and start turning out socks, by golly!