Apologies for being a bit behind on emails and the like.

A close family member passed away last week, after a long (7 years) battle with ovarian cancer, and her services were this weekend/Monday. Everything was just beautiful and I'm sure she would have approved. It was humbling to see how many people turned out for her (well over a hundred) but that's the kind of person she was. Everyone who met her loved her - myself included. She was 57 - the same age as my father when he died. Too young. Too too young. :( 

Anyhoo, I got a little behind on emails and stuff but I'm trying to catch up today with it all.

"Retail therapy" is always good when feeling sad, I've found, so I treated myself to a pair of fabulous (to me) shoes to wear but then only got to wear them Sunday. (I work from home so 99% of my clothing budget goes towards buying schlumpy type clothing. Spending money on something nice is a very rare treat.) I assumed (rightfully so) that trekking about the cemetery in these would not be advisable so I switched to a pair of sensible Docs for yesterday. OH SO GLAD I DID. The church parking lot was a sheet of ICE. I certainly would have fallen and made a wreck of things there. (I've broken my right foot/ankle THREE times so to say I'm klutz is a serious understatement.) And the cemetery...........wow. I got the sense they plowed it about 20 minutes before we showed up. Did I mention we got two feet of snow last week? Yeah. The trek to the grave (and it was a loooong trek because there were about 40 cars to fit in there) was quite the, ummmm, adventure. My fabulous shoes surely would have shot me face first into a snow ditch, on top of some other poor soul's grave. As it was, it was 15 degrees out so there was plenty to be mindful of (like not freezing to death) without worrying about breaking another limb and making a scene. Now the challenge is, I guess, to find somewhere else to wear these so I don't feel like I wasted $50 on them. I might have to class up my trips to the supermarket or something. lol

Afterward the funeral was a big buffet-style family dinner at this wonderful restaurant (River Falls). I'd never even heard of it before but they were so accommodating and the food was fabulous so I'd love to go back under better circumstances. (Every last detail of everything, by the way, was planned by Carol before she passed. She left strict instructions, even down to what we would be served, as to what she wanted. Ha! I love that.) The room fit 70 people and we BARELY crammed in there, having to add chairs to the end of tables, etc. so I'm sure there was more than that there. It was just crazy loud and messy and I'm sure Carol would have loved it. :)

I stole off towards the end when everyone was gearing up to leave to get some air (it really was LOUD in there) and sneak off to poke around a yarn shop (Yarnia) that was just a short walk away. (The restaurant and yarn shop were in side-by-side old brick factory buildings that have been converted into shops, etc.) What are the chances of that? I leave no yarn stone unturned, no matter the circumstances. *ahem* (I am weak in the face of Retail Therapy okay?? I admit it.) The owner was delightful and we had a great conversation on what he was working on that day, my spiral scarf that I was wearing, etc. He didn't have a whole lot in the way of what I would call 'premium' type yarns that I like, like Dream in Color, etc. but I managed to ferret out a couple (new to me) sock yarns for a good price.


Do I need anymore yarn? HELL TO THE NO. I'm chalking these skeins up as doing a good thing by supporting a local business. *cough*

And yes, 90% of this post is filled with mindless fluff because I don't find that I have anything expansive or spiritual to say yet about losing another wonderful family member this year, at a relatively young age, and to a dreadful, horrible disease. It sucks and it makes me angry. No, not angry. Rage. I have a certain amount of rage over it, mixed in with the sadness and right underneath the surface, threatening to spill over, so I'm not going to go there. 0_o