The best laid plans...

We had been planning for months for a birthday party at the beach for my daughter. We literally spent five minutes there before it started raining...hard (it has never rained in the month of May the 14 years I've lived in the Bay area). Whatever...we are flexible parents and we adjusted...but then life became complicated.

We discovered a major leak (waterfall) in our basement, a direct benefit from the aftermentioned thunderstorm. While hubby was visiting neighbors to locate a ladder, I'm on my hands and knees under this waterfall trying to unplug the drain with a screwdriver (we could not have a flood on top of everything else). After checking on the kiddies, I notice out of the corner of my eye, our living room lamp was smoking (Hiroshima-like). Now I have 9 girls shrieking and barricading themselves in a back bedroom (they definitely need a fire drill refresher course) while I'm trying to figure out how to put it out (flinging my wet clothes on it was a brief option).

Anyways, the fire was put out (somehow the finial had fallen into the halogen lamp) and it was time for the parents to return. I'm trying to explain why my husband is on the roof, why all our windows are open despite the rain, and why there is a 2 foot layer of smoke in my house. Not sure how many will return for next year's party!

My agenda for the next day:
1) meet with roofer at 7:30 am
2) shop for a new lamp
3) fly to Barbadoes

Thanks for listening!

A bit of crafting amidst the chaos...a crocheted rosette square for Nikkishell's Wall of Yarn display. The flower is made from a strand of fingering weight wool/acrylic and Berroco's Opulent X. The other is a quickie beach tote from an ulpholstery sample. The texture remined me of those $1 straw mats in Hawaii.