Today

I have a sick kiddo at home today with a pretty high fever and few other symptoms to clue me in on what's going on. My big boy - he pretty much takes care of himself in so many ways anymore. It breaks my heart to see him feeling so rotten and not be able to really hold or comfort him like I did when he was little. His fever spiked up pretty high about an hour ago and I came in with a washcloth and a bowl of lukewarm water and sponged down his back. Secretly? I kind of enjoyed it. It was nice to feel like I could do something to help him out and it was nice to have a slow moment to take in just how grown up he is and remember how small he used to be.
So, it has been a wandering-around-the-house kind of day, attending to my lists and doing small things to busy myself.
I finished up a little shrug I've been working on. It was the simplest thing - just a rectangle with ribbing on the long sides and a super-easy lace pattern in the middle. Then you seam up the ends of the ribbing to make arm holes. For the life of me, I can't remember where I got the pattern, nor can I remember the name of it. If I ever run across it again, I'll be sure to let you know.
**Edited to add: My friend Brandy found the link! It's the Ribbed Lace Bolero.**



After yesterday's rant about pesticides and pests, I pulled in all of my semi-ripe tomatoes to let them finish ripening on the windowsill. There are a few green ones out there still, but this is the biggest haul I've taken in yet:


I loved how they looked in my dark kitchen this morning. What we have there are mostly Red Zebras, with a couple of Pink Girls and a Jet Setter tossed in for good measure. There is also one tomato from Emma's school garden and one from Andrew's. I love that their schools both give kids a chance to poke around in the dirt and watch some things grow.
I've also decided not to sprinkle my plants with Sevin dust. It really does kill bees and I love my neighbor's honeybees so much that I couldn't bear to put them at risk. My friend Susan left me some helpful advice in the comments. I'll probably look into that soon. In the meantime, I will keep up with the neem oil and hand-picking. I squashed a bunch of squash bugs today on my, well...squash plants. I did a thorough search for eggs and didn't find any, so that's good. The eggs are kind of coppery and very tiny, but they're not too hard to spot if you know where to look.
I am already looking forward to next fall, though. I have one more, last-ditch-effort idea for the upside down tomatoes that I will try. They seem to have so much less trouble with pests, but I have so much trouble getting them to be healthy plants! Argh.

Here's one more vignette from my day:

I actually cleaned my bathroom today. That's because knitting night is tomorrow night and girls will be coming to my house. I guess I tend to stack things when they're in the way. I turned around and liked how my soap (that's what I ended up making as Mother's Day gifts) looked, stacked up on the glass jars. I don't know why. I just did.

I suppose I'd better go take that kid's temperature again, just so I can be sure he's OK. Give him a portable DVD player and a stack of Sci Fi movies and you don't hear a peep out of him all day long!

Daily Bliss: A finished object that I actually like and will actually wear!
Wake-up Playlist: My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges