I’ve had a few exciting packages in the mail recently:

First came a skein of yarn from Allison at Simply Sock Yarn, who runs a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway every year. I won a skein of Socks That Rocks in Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which you may recognize from the latest pair of socks I’m knitting.

Then, a package from my college roomie arrived containing birthday presents: a delicate necklace and a soft shawl in purple. Also a bow to wear and taunt the cats with.

Every February, Porto Rico Importing Co., a coffee importer in New York, has a sale on their tea, during which time, I order a whole year’s worth of loose-leaf teas. I was pretty much out of everything (we’d been drinking mostly Darjeeling since Christmas), so this is more than 10.5 pounds of tea. It’s been lovely having choices again, but I haven’t found a convenient place to store such a big box…

Finally, on Christmas morning I won a giveaway Bex held on Twitter that reserved me a spot for her February Ninja Book Box. The Ninja Book Box is a quarterly subscription service that sends you a parcel containing a book from an indie publisher and other bookish goodies. Her February box was a Shakespearean mystery and included The Bookman’s Tale, tea and a quill charm in an adorably tiny book-shaped box that Corey thought had been sent to him. I’m looking forward to reading my new mystery (and sharing it with my folks once I’m done)! And should you be looking for a literary subscription service, I’d definitely recommend checking Ninja Book Box out. Despite coming from England, it arrived quite quickly and always seems to contain fun things for the book-lover.

This weekend was split between sleeping in and not. There were trips to grocery stores and the farmers market and libraries. Cat food and Girl Scout cookies were bought and videos, the Megan Follows version of Anne of Green Gables and A Man Called Ove, were procured. I chatted on Twitter, considered recipes for pie, watched a rather touching episode of Elementary, and knit on a sock.

I caught buses. I missed buses. I took a bus that didn’t go where I thought it would, but that instead introduced me to a new grocery shop and a rather purple mural. I rode a bike. I admired greatly the full moon rising in the east after watching the sun set in the west only an hour earlier.

I saw cherry blossoms and dandelions and some azalea bushes that are going to be very sad tomorrow when the snow comes in and my first violet of the season. I cuddled cats — all of them my own. I talked to my parents and to Rudi, who’s away in Vermont.

I read from several books, but finished none. I felt well enough to eat the chili Rudi had made for me back on Tuesday, took myself out for a late lunch of vegetable tacos, tried a Turkish bakery, and drank a London Fog in sunny D.C., soaking up the waning rays on the first day of later light.

This weekend included a final trip to the main branch of our library, which has now closed for a three-year renovation, to pick up a bunch of dvds to watch during Sock Madness, which began on Friday.

There was a meandering walk home, including a stop at for chaider (a combination of apple cider and chai), potato-Parmesan focaccia, and a clover-shaped spritz cookie. I admired lots of spring flowers and flowering trees, even through the temperatures dropped back to February lows. (It’s good I admired the magnolias while I could. Their flowers literally died on the branch Saturday night.)

I listened to an audiobook and watched Paper Towns, did chores, and knit.

I bought broccoli at the farmers market and books at my local bookshop’s member sale. I planted arugula, Bibb lettuce, and four types of peas in the garden.

I welcomed Rudi home from his penultimate ski coaching trip of the season.

How was your weekend?

Since we were already in Virginia, I suggested to Rudi that the new hat I’m going to make for myself might benefit from one of the faux fur pom poms that are very hip right now and I thought I should buy one for myself as a birthday present. It’s blue. You’ll have to wait for the hat to see how it looks, though.

We stopped by a local coffeehouse for some hot beverages and to enjoy a late-afternoon sunbeam, picked up cupcakes and doughnuts for dessert and breakfast respectively, and played some ping pong at a park we walked past on the way back to the car.

We supper with our friends John and Nicole and their baby, all of whom are moving away on Saturday, at our favorite pizzeria. We went back to their place to talk and collect some of the food goods they aren’t moving, before bidding them a tearful farewell.

We timed the bus wrong, so walked home, which let me enjoy the new purple coat my parents gave me for my birthday.

We finished up the night with our cupcakes, hot tea, and some presents. All in all, a lovely way to mark turning 43!

A quick Yarn Along, since today is Wednesday:

I have put my Very Important Books on hiatus in favor of reading lighter romances this week: Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments (her first novel, which I’d put off reading until she stopped being quite so prolific), Stephanie Perkins’ Isla and the Happily Ever After (the final book in a loosely linked series of teen romances), and Gemina, the much anticipated sequel to Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s space opera, Illuminae.

The knitting du jour is the Violet Waffles hat (previously seen balled up here) and the Partridgefield Cowl, which gets knit on when I don’t want to pay attention to my project (tonight it was while we were watching Minions).

Make sure you stop back on Friday, because I have my first FO of the year to share.

With civic responsibility becoming part of my new weekend norm, I need to be a little more organized (and a little more early rising) than is my wont.

Here are some things I hope to get done before weekend’s end:

• Get outside while the sun is shining.
• Buy makings for pizza for supper tonight.
• Finish a knitting project. Start a new one (or two).
• Mail a card.
• Order new checks.
• Read.
• Unearth my rocking chair from beneath the pile of clean laundry.
• Complete my first ukulele lesson.
• Wash handknits.
• Make pie dough.
• Paint my nails.
• Pick up roll of quarters for laundry.
• Go to the farmers market.
• Catch up on book reviews.
• Stand up for democracy.

How about you? What’s on your to-do list this weekend?

My weekend is looking very full, but I think that’s okay. I have a lot I’d like/need to get done, and Rudi is off in Pennsylvania for the first week of his team’s ski training. (He’s there right now, in fact, since winter weather was predicted to make the roads slick come morning.)

Here’s the to-do list:

• Go to the post office, the grocery store, and the library.
• Do laundry. (Most of the hand-knit socks are done; on to the stuff that needs to go into the washing machine!)
• Write Christmas cards.
• Complete a knitting project.
• Poach quince.
• Work on my holiday mix.
• Drink egg nog. (We polished off the light stuff from Trader Joes; but I’ve got a full-octane version from my local dairy. I expect it to be a sipping beverage.)
• Paint my nails.
• Wrap some gifts.
• Watch cheesy, made-for-tv Christmas movies. (Two down; more to go!)
• Hang up the Christmas cards we’ve received.
• Finish my shopping.
• Sleep.

I think it’s doable, but the amount of time I just sit idle watching those cheesy Christmas movies is going to have to be limited. Time to multi-task!

How about you? What are you hoping to accomplish this weekend?