Wow, it's gone by so fast

Here I sit, thinking of all of the things that have happened in the last couple of weeks. Each time one of them was happening I started to compose a blog post about it in my head but now I can hardly think of a single one.

Here are a few blurbs:

- We had the Army ball on Friday. It was the first time I've been away from Frieda for an extended period since she was born. We left her and two other kids (Princess was at a sleepover) in the kind and tender care of a good friend. I was nervous for his sake but was so relieved to come home and find that they were all good for him. I had an interesting moment at the ball recalling dances of yore. This one was held at a large hotel on one portion of the military grounds and everything was ornate, vaulted-ceilinged, and generally felt out of my league. We had been enjoying cocktail hour (the chatting, not the cocktail), people watching and catching up with a few friends when I was suddenly taken back to my senior prom. I was all dressed up and wildly out of my comfort zone. In the ladies room I felt that old teenaged panic and unease and that sensation of drifting high and away from solid security. Then I remembered who I was attending the dance with, who my dining partners and dear friends were, and my center returned. The walls around me were faux marble, the sinks of faux granite. I was legal drinking age but calmly uninterested in partaking. I had a guaranteed dancing partner who I could kiss in comfort at the end of the evening. And I knew that I had a place there. It was just an interesting moment to recognize where I came from and how far away that is now.

- Miss Frieda has cut her first tooth. Say it with me: AAAAACK! My youngest, last baby has a tooth. Ok, so it's not a tooth yet but a tiny little saw blade that she cheerfully and voraciously employs on every surface she can grab and stuff in her little maw, but it'll be a tooth some day. There are no signs of its companion but more will surely follow soon. She spins on her stomach, scoots backward, sits like a pro and can even occasionally recover from falling backward if the boppy is behind her. She also eats solids at such a rate that I'm sure she would get by with nursing only before naps but I'm not ready for her to take it to that level yet. Soon. Just another few months. -sigh- It's going by so quickly.

- Yet another dear friend will be leaving me soon, followed shortly by another dear friend. I don't know what I'm going to do. Hopefully we'll be out of here soon and I can just move on from this place where so many people I've grown to love have left. I know that this is a huge part of this new life style but I think I'm emotionally done with this place now. I've been parted from enough friends for a while. Time to move on. I don't know when that'll happen. We're still in limbo and could move in 3 weeks, or 8 months, or any time in between. We're cleaning the house out like we're leaving soon but making dr's appointments and preparing to enroll two kids in school in the fall like we're staying. It's so nice to purge the old and breathe in our new elbow room.

- A friend and I went to World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIPD) and enjoyed it tremendously. It was fun to visit with ladies who are old hat at knitting and observe demonstrations on felting, cabling, and drop spindle spinning. My interest in drop spindle spinning has been reignited now that I've actually seen how easy it is. Time to get those old cd's out, make one, and give it a try. I think I'm finally comfortable with the correct way to knit now, after four different people trying to show me how. Ha! Same story with crochet.

- Muffin combos tried: apple cinnamon with caramel sauce drizzled on top; dried fruit, fresh ground nutmeg, orange peel, and a crumble on top made of brown sugar, butter, and ground almonds (tres yum); chocolate, chocolate chip; and cherry almond, which mysteriously turned the batter an odd green color. We havn't had a truly horrible combo yet but I'm sure I'll get around to it.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling. I'll have to carry a little notebook with me so I can bring some more coherent ideas to my keyboard next time. If you've made it through this far give yourself a nice hooah, Army style (top of your lungs in your lower register).