I'm under surveillance. Every time I look into the backyard, Eyes are watching me from the pond. There's a big frog living in the pond and he watches the house all day. I have a Paranoid Frog. This frog is terrified of me - when I go into the backyard he screams very comically and dives to the deep end (a big 2.5 feet down).

So tonight I went out to turn off the sprinkler and saw frantic motion in the tomato patch. It appears that the frog has been spending his free time eating bugs that threaten my small, seedy garden. He had a little froggy coronary when I came out there and caught him. He made a hasty retreat from the tomato patch, obviously in a panic at being seen. He paused at the edge of the pond and we had a moment of eye contact and bonding. I told him he was a great frog and my hero, and he could eat bugs in the tomato patch anytime, and he screamed and threw himself into the pond. Let's all join hands, and/or amphibian appendages, and warble, "It's the Cirrrrcle of Liiife..."

I unloaded my kitchen countertop and began dumping stuff from cabinets into boxes. I will do this for one hour every evening, and that should do it. Tomorrow night my electrician/handyman is coming over to give me an estimate on my electrical and patio woes. I hope he can take on the patio, I can't wait to sit out there and admire the yard that has been born of sweat and, well, cash. Who are we kidding? I'm far from rich, I'm a working cog in a corporate machine earning adequate but hardly "buying a ticket to a Bush luncheon" wages. But I'm glad to be able to keep the house from falling down and take care of it as I should.

I'm totally loving that Trinity Stitch shawl. It's easy, it's addictive, and in the purple Cotton Fleece the little gathered bobbles look like little blackberries. I'm thinking a few discreet silver or crystal beads on the fringe would be very cute. There will be photos, maybe as soon as tomorrow morning but Saturday for sure. But I foresee difficulties, when that sucker gets wide enough that a row is all I can accomplish with my morning coffee. Oh, and I think that Senseo coffeemaker is going to be a reality. My cheap Mr. Coffee has become incontinent - you know how you're supposed to be able to get a cup before it's done brewing? This is really important to me. Well, sometimes Mr. C. has An Accident. It's cheap and I more than got my money's worth out of it, but I think the sexy black and cream and tan granite countertop would look very hot with a sexy black Senseo machine on it. Plus it makes a mug of coffee in a minute.

The need to drop my projects - this is why I have renewed my interest in crochet. One stitch. That's all you have on the needle anytime you put it down (unless it's Tunisian crochet but we won't go there just yet, okay?) Even in a lace pattern, there's only one stitch on that hook when you have to put it down, and the repeats are not as do-or-die complicated, you can back it out and fix it much more easily.

So this is the reason there will be two shawls in play shortly.