august

it's cliche, i know, to say "the summer has gone by so quickly," but it really has.  suddenly it's almost the middle of august!  what have we done this summer?

i've been doing a lot of knitting with cotton, making dishcloths.  or washcloths.  depends on where you use them, i guess.  the ones above are a double strand garter stitch version; nothing fancy, but they look pretty and are extra thick.  working with cotton yarn so much usually makes my hands ache, but either i'm doing it right or my  hands are getting tougher; i've made a billion things and my hands feel fine (knock on wood). i say "hands," but what i mean is my left hand, with the cyst.  that is the one that gets achey and goes numb.  in any case, i can't possibly keep all the cotton dishcloths i'm making, so a fair amount will become presents.  i have friends having babies, and making smaller cloths for babies is too fun.  the lovely thing about cotton is how soft it gets after being washed, and you can make a bunch of little ones quickly; that way parents aren't stuck with a giant handful of washcloth when giving baby a bath, and because i can make a billion, you don't feel like you have to re-use it. you can clean up baby with a new one each time so you don't run into stinky washcloths!

they boys keep getting bigger and bigger!  we took them to the vet for the first time last week; they were both crazy well-behaved sweethearts and everyone who met them adored them.  tali is a bit bigger than vince at 2.9 lbs, vince is 2.6.  they got their first rounds of shots, tested negative for feline leukemia, and got some flea drops.  in two weeks they go back for boosters and we make the appointment for their fixing.  their distinct personalities are definitely also becoming more apparent.  vince is bit needier than tali; he wants more of your attention, more of the time.  tali is very playful and a bit more outgoing when he meets new people.  they still pal around together all the time, which is nice.  i like that they have each other. i don't like litter boxes, though, or making kids clean them.  i clean them too, don't get me wrong, but i don't think i should be the only one doing it.  why does every domestic chore immediately default to that?! even in my hippie family, when something is dirty or needs to be tidied, the onus falls to me to work on it.  if i were a quieter woman, i guess i'd go with it, but i feel okay saying, "no, it's not all my responsibility."  most of the time, anyway.