So vacation is officially over. I can't believe how fast it went. Of course, I did pack 9 million things into it. Earlier this week I went to the beach with some friends-great fun! I did get slightly sunburned, but not too bad. You would find me at the beach more often if not for all that sand.

I did finally finish the blanket I was making for Carla

Here's an up close view:

As you can see here, it's longer than I am tall:

On a side note-it's a rather nice picture of me, don't you think??

The next order of business is to wash it and get it sent to Carla. Easier said than done. I think I'm going to temporarily stitch the sides together so I can wash it in the machine (can you imagine washing this thing by hand?) without getting the "waves" -don't laugh, that's what the pattern called them-stuck on something in the washer. Then to decide whether to lay it out to dry, or give it a go in the dryer. Decisions, decisions.

Yesterday I got the last of my "needs" for furniture-I have a platform for my bed and am no longer sleeping with my mattress on the floor. So far since I've moved I've obtained for little or nothing (mostly for nothing) a full mattress and bed platform, a extremely comfortable microfiber couch, a very nice bookshelf (a necessity considering my obsession with books), a refrigerator, a tv, a vcr, a dvd player, and a good solid kitchen table with 4 chairs. So I was going to post some pictures........

but unfortunately they're on my desktop which is currently incapacitated, and my surgical knowledge of computers has been exhausted. So you'll have to wait...until Christmas, when I hopefully can rescue my data with Dad's help, or until I actually remember to take my camera and walk around the place. Anyone's guess as to which one comes sooner.

Tonight was also fun getting a backpack-Staples had this deal that ended today, where if you get a backpack, you can get the entire purchase price refunded as a staples gift card-and I've needed a backpack for my laptop, since it's kindof annoying to be carrying 37 different bags through the airport as I did when I came down this time. I used to have a backpack, but it reeks of things associated with the beach. Not any of the good things, I assure you. I went to look online, but, and BIG SURPRISE here, they were out of stock of all their backpacks on the site. I almost gave up, but remembering that my mom taught me better than that, I called her. She happened to be in the vicinity of a Staples, and she went in and asked if she bought it, could I fill out the rebate-there's no Staples here in PR, and the rebate is one per person/household. They said that would be fine, so mom went to check out the backpacks. She would describe it to me, tell me the name, I would look it up online, then ask her and Anna what they thought. We talked about 4 or 5, and probably would have done more if it hadn't been 10 minutes til closing time at Staples. Finally we decided on one, and finally the deed was done. After she got home, we got on the phone again, and Dad filled the rebate form online with my address and everything. So, pretty soon I should be getting a Staples gift card in the amount of the backpack. Any suggestions as to how it should be spent? laptop accessories? school supplies? a computer desk? (scratch that one, I'd have to ship it) I guess I'll wait and see what things I'm really going to need this school year. Although, if they have my pentel RSVP razzle dazzle pens (medium point, black ink with colored barrels) I may just have to get a lifetime supply.