Today’s day can be summed up as “too long; didn’t post.”

Stop back tomorrow when I’m going to tell you about the amazing #giftmasinjuly package that came in the mail today from some very kind people. It may have been the main thing to have saved my day.

This weekend was a weird one. With Rudi being gone, I’d anticipated it being full of sleeping late and eating junk food and watching Jane Austen movies. But with the ceiling leak (it turns out the upstairs neighbor’s dishwasher had gone bad), I had to change some things around.

I did a lot more cleaning this weekend than I’d planned (too bad there’s still so much of it left to do!). Sadly, none of it was laundry, because the washing machine broke on Wednesday night and the promised repair technician from the machine rental company has not yet materialized.

I didn’t attend either the protest march or the craft fair in the neighborhood, but I did get to the Rock Creek Kings concert in the park. I also returned some books to the library, hit up two grocery stores and the farmers market, bought some flowers at the garden center AND planted them, and went swimming. Given the pool closes for the season next Monday, I should probably make an effort this week to wrap up my days on time and get in half an hour on the non-stormy evenings.

And there was pretty much no tv or movies of any kind all weekend. But I did knit some. I finished a book and started another. And I squeezed in some work, because I have new people starting this week and I’m behind on deadlines, and I just needed to put a dent in things so I could stop feeling so stressed.

How was your weekend?

Since today was spent cleaning and hanging around the apartment while our handyman worked first upstairs and then in the Burrow, tomorrow I’m going to spend the day more widely afield, including at the farmers market and at the pool.

I’m also going to sleep in, in my bed, rather than on the couch, like I did last night, in case the water dripping through the ceiling light decided to cause an electrical fire. (It did not.)

My ceiling is leaking.

Yes, I do live in the basement, why do you ask?

(I have banged on the upstairs neighbor’s door (but I think she may be away), left phone & text messages for the landlord & handyman, and emailed all neighbors in the building. Pretty sure I’m out of good options until morning…)

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A nearly full orange moon rises behind the stage of the last outdoor pink show of the summer. (I’ll add a photo to the post once my computer stops updating.)

2. My former boss and I meet up for ice cream sandwiches and spend hours catching up.

3. Respect, the Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, is really enjoyable. Hudson does an amazing job with the role and the songs, but it is only fitting that the final scene goes to footage of the Queen of Soul herself in what I think was her final public performance. Rudi and I are both glad we dragged ourselves out to the theater after a long day.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

While I haven’t made a ton of progress on the shawl since last week, I did drop down about a dozen stitches and fixed some edge knitting I clearly did while drunk (actually it was while I was waiting for pizza). There are seventeen rows left of this ribbing section. I will never be done. I will be stuck doing ribbing until I die. It could be worse: it could be twisted ribbing.

While I am uninspired by my print book choices this week (the graphic novel is nearly done and the historical romance is a third done; the two hardcovers are overdue to the library and I’m trying to get a sense of whether to keep them for a week and finish them or just to return them unread), I am enjoying The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett, a delightful cozy in which the Queen of England, with the assistance of her assistant private secretary, solves mysteries. The second book is due out in November, and I, at least, am glad to hear it.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are crafting and reading.