Whoo-hoo! Countertop goes in NEXT FRIDAY! - not two or three weeks as rumor had it. The following Monday I can get the mechanical guy out to hook up the plumbing and give me back my sink, dishwasher and microwave, and I will have a functioning kitchen again. It will lack crown molding and the extra cabinet I added, that won't happen until the end of the month when it comes in (it appears that Kraftmaid starts growing the damn trees when you place the order) but will otherwise be D-0-N-E. I won't miss crown molding or that extra cabinet since I have never had crown molding or that extra cabinet, those things are purely cosmetic. So in two weeks we will return to our normal programming, at least until it's time to do the bathrooms. That won't be until after Girl graduates next May.

Selecting the granite slab was no big deal, I went to their shop and they had a vast array of slabs of granite, every type, color and description, stacked like drywall. I, however, was buying The Kind on Special at Home Depot, which made it a really easy selection. They used a big lifter thingie - a technical construction term, because I am a construction wonk. Seriously, I've never seen a specialized thing like this before. Picture the body of a large forklift with a crane-like snout and a giant padded paperclip at the end to pick up the stone to move it to the door of the warehouse so I could see it in natural light. I was perfectly fine with the first one brought forth in this fashion, it was the stone type I'd selected and it's pretty much a no-brainer in terms of color. Big slab or small sample, it's consistent. It had no weirdness of shading or color, no sudden veins of black or ridges or fissures, so I don't care how they lay out the template, any way they do it will work.

I didn't go to the mall. I did go to Winter Park Mall and hit Ann Taylor Loft. The good news is that the screaming Lilly Pulitzer colors have already retreated in favor of neutrals and blue and red. The bad news is that the styles are still suited to sitting at an outdoor cafe, not an office - very well-to-do-lady-of-leisure appears to be the fashion theme this year. The cropped pants that I would not wear on a bet still outnumber regular slacks, and the dresses were sundresses, very cute ones but also not office attire even in a casual office. I do not spend that much of my time sitting at outdoor cafes. I would like that to be my lifestyle, but unfortunately, there's that whole earning a living thing taking up my cafe time, plus I know from experience that I totally suck at that ladies who lunch crap. But after scanning the incoming I felt somewhat encouraged that at least the colors have improved.

It freaks me out how often Bess and I have similar issues. Her hands are bothering her and my right hand is bothering me. I need to take a couple of days off mousing - typing doesn't bother me, crocheting is okay because I do it with relaxed hands and great economy of movement, but knitting with cotton isn't good, it takes too much pushing to move the stitches around the needles. Mousing is what really gets to me though. A few minutes on the computer and the twinging gets noticeably worse. I think I aggravated everything with painting and now everything I do is making it worse, so I must be cautious - Monday my vacation is over and I'm back at work. So I'm retreating from mouse-intensive activities for a few days - I will probably still post since I have a pathetic need to share every boring thought about buying granite countertops with the universe, but other Internet activities are out for a couple of days. I'll catch up later.

I spent the afternoon winding yarn - I have a ton of Cascade 220, enough for a couple more felted bags (I know, I know....). I have a color scheme in mind for another Constant Companion - my all-time favorite is the one I did in deep purple Cascade 220 with a handpainted rose/blue/purple yarn for a trim. Now I'm thinking of striped Constant Companion in browns and rose, also in Cascade 220. I don't think knitting with wool will bother my wrist, it's the lack of stretch in cotton that takes that bit of extra "push."

I also wound a ton of pink Softball Cotton scored on ebay - I was somewhat taken aback when it arrived, because in the picture it was on a cone. For $5 it was impossible to go wrong, or so I thought. When it arrived it was huge honking 2000 yard hank. It frightened me. I pictured it falling into hopeless tangles if I breathed on it. It overwhelmed and crushed my cheap plastic swift. So I wound it this afternoon using the time-honored "across the knees" hold, in combination with the ball winder. It as awkward as all hell and took a long, long time, but it's done. Now I have to figure out what I'm doing with this much pink. It's pretty, but I don't wear pink. Charity shawls? Clothing for hypothetical future granddaughter? Beats me, but I do like the yarn.

And right now I may go start a bag. Or work on a shawl. Or whatever. It's raining!