Thread Count Tip: More is More.

Subtitled: Why R Continues to Rock.

R helped me bake Snickerdoodles at 10:30pm Tuesday night because I forgot I was supposed to take them to Pie's class the next morning. Do other husbands do that? Cooking with R is one of my favorite things we do together.

I know that I've mentioned that R works every Saturday. And I know I've also mentioned that, as a result, Saturdays suck. But Wednesdays are wonderful. Wednesdays are our Date Days. Beebie goes to school, then we take Pie and Tito to Mom's Day Out, and we are sans les jeunes until 2pm. Oh, it's lovely. We do grownups-only stuff, like shopping in stores that sell breakable things and taking the escalators and eating at restaurants that don't have a Play Area. So nice.

We usually plan our next Date Day at least a few days in advance so as to maximize our kiddo-free time. This time the plan was to go shopping for new sheets. We sleep in flannel sheets about nine months out of the year because we don't really have nice lightweight cotton sheets. We got some sheets as a Christmas gift a few years ago, but I've washed them over and over and they're still so itchy I dread putting them on the bed. I'd rather sleep in sweaty flannel sheets, at least they're soft.

We did get some very nice sheets for our wedding but at that time we were sleeping on a Queen-Sized Waterbed. That bed was finally put to rest after the same leak was patched way too many times, so we got Pie the toddler bed that Tito's in now, and we took the double bed that Nat had been sleeping in since she was 2 (the one I bought for myself when I first moved back to STL in '95, the purchase of which was a big fat lesson in what "No Payments/No Interest for Six Months" really means), and put her in the twin bed we had been storing.

So we needed Full-Sized sheets for summertime, and this was to be my Mother's Day Present. When it gets closer to Mother's Day I'll tell you why I hate Mother's Day. It's not because I hate my mother or anything.

Reason #232 why R Rocks: He understands the concept of Thread Count. Not all men do. We got a set of 600-ct 100% cotton sheets marked down from $149 to $59. Now, that is the most I've ever spent on sheets, by far. But let me tell you, kids, it was so worth it. These sheets are spectacular. SPECTACULAR. They're Like Buttah!! They're like sleeping in a vat of warm, melted buttah, er... butter. Yum.

Like all I needed was one more excuse to stay in bed and knit all friggin day.


In other news, I got a call yesterday from Mrs. L, the mom of one of Beeb's school friends. Cue the violins and grab your Kleenex.

Next week is the school's Variety Show, which last year was emceed by Beeb's friend Jack. Click here for the backstory on Jack. He was so good at it, totally at ease speaking into a microphone in front of a gym full of people. In fact, he was more entertaining than most of the Variety Show Acts. It's one of my favorite memories of Jack. Mrs. L was working on incorporating a little tribute to Jack at the beginning of this year's variety show. She had talked to Jack's mom, who was really hoping that Beeb would be a part of it. Mrs. L gave me an overview of what was going to happen.

This year's hosts would introduce themselves and then say that they'd like to take a moment to remember a very special friend. Then the Boy Scouts would come up and read a poem (she read me the poem and I can't even bring myself to type it, seriously), and then they would introduce Beeb as Jack's Best Friend. Her part is to talk about how much he liked to be behind a microphone (it's scripted, so she doesn't have to speak extemporaneously or anything), and then she is presenting Jack's family with a plaque with a microphone on it and a picture of him. She told me all this on my voice mail, which I checked from my cell phone when we were in Marshalls. I was a de-mascara-fied mess. R hugged me really softly. I couldn't even speak to tell him what the call was about, but he figured it out. That's another reason why he rocks.

When Beeb got home from school I told her about this idea for the presentation and told her that I wanted it to be her choice whether she wanted to do it or not. I was so glad she was willing to do it. I think she knows it's going to be hard, but I told her that everyone in the whole room will be feeling exactly how she's feeling, and if she felt like crying, it would be totally okay and nobody would think she was being a baby. I told her I was absolutely positive that I would cry (I'd been crying all day and I'm still crying now). Jack's parents are going to be there, of course, and because they moved a few miles away, Jack's little sister Lily actually goes to a different school now. To my knowledge, they haven't been back to Beeb's school at all since the last day of school last year. I can't imagine how hard that's going to be for them.

Then I started thinking about last year, the days right before school let out for the summer. That was the last time I saw him, too. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, replaying the scene in which I promised to teach him how to knit and jokingly asked his mother "What would we do without our Jack?". And then I fast forward in my mind to the image of the Boy Scouts in their uniforms at the funeral.

I wasn't even going to go to the Variety Show at all this year because of how much it would remind me of him. I'm really glad they're doing something so everyone can remember him together, I think it's important. It's just so hard. Tomorrow is the school carnival. Last year Beeb bid on and won a trip out for ice cream with her teacher and one friend. She took Jack. It's that sort of bittersweet memories that are flooding my mind right now.

In Financial News, yesterday I re-organized both the linen closet and the pots and pans cabinet. Today I'm doing laundry (the basement leaked again and the ginormous pile of clothes got wet, again) and cleaning the living room.

In Entertainment news, tonight is SurvivEarlEofficER! Did you see The Amazing Race last night?? Those Hippies are the luckiest bastards alive, and I love them.

In Knitting News, more dishcloths! And more Fellow Knittyheads need to sign up for the Cheapass Hootenanny! Click the red button in the sidebar. C'mon, people, it's a HOOTENANNY, fer cryin out loud. What's more fun than a Hootenanny?? Plus, I had an idea for the next wave of Fug-swapping. Click on the Get the Fug Out Button if you're interested.

Both of my SP gifts made it to the intended recipients, so that I can now out myself as both KickassCheapass and FunFurIsTheDevil! I had fun compiling giftie-poos for Teleknitter and KnottyGnome! Next round of SP's starts soon... stay tuned!

What else, what else... I think I'm going to go ahead and hook up with the Knitters Guild. Maybe I'll learn something and meet cool people. I at least want to meet Shannon so I can tell her I know Tim!! It's a small world after all... laaaaaa la la la laaaaaaaaaa la la...