With Gratitude

Thank you all so very much for the Birthday wishes!  Dan ended up working late, but he and my friends are having a BBQ for me today.  I'm looking forward to doing nothing all day.

We've had the most perfect weather all week long.  I swear we went straight from Winter to Summer here in Germany.  I got the spring cleaning fever on Wednesday and have been doing all the little things in the house that have been driving me nuts all winter.  Dan had the day off yesterday so we went and bought all the flower boxes and garden stuff. I'll post pictures in a couple of days.  I got a little sunburned while I got everything planted.    I LOVE summer.  I put some fibery things up on Ebay that I realized I really don't have the room for or don't use.  They end today.  I'm sad to see them go, but I need to get rid of some of this clutter.  There's tons more that should go, but it's so hard to give up our toys, isn't it?

I finally talked to the neighbor about Daniel yesterday.  I was in the garage getting planters out and she was walking by.  I asked if she had a minute to talk.  It turned out much better than I expected.  I think she already knew.  I suspect that one of my well-meaning friends might have already spoken to her.  It's almost as if she reads the blog because she said a lot of the things that was mentioned in the comments.  I started off by apologizing for my rude behavior and explained that I had just been so angry at her.  I told her why and she was immediately apologetic.  In the beginning she said that she'd thought about Daniel and that she should have come talked to me and in the end the story was that she just hadn't thought about Daniel.  Her explanation was that her son just kept adding guests and before it got to Daniel she had told him that was enough, no more.  Daniel was the only child that age in the neighborhood that wasn't invited and I explained to her that he did realize it and it hurt him.  She did say there was no excuse and she felt bad.  She wanted to make it up to Daniel.  They are moving and on top of that she's leaving a little early to go to her family's home in France to have her daughter baptized before they move back to the States.  I know how stressful moving time is, so I told her not to worry about it and that I'd just wanted to clear the air before they left.  I think it just hurt so much from her because she does know about Daniel and I thought she was one of the ones that really understood.  And as I explained to her, if it had been me it would have been like water off a duck's back, but as a mother, it hurts so much more when you're child is hurting.  She completely understood.  She said that she was glad I had because she could use it as a lesson should she ever meet another child like Daniel.  So... all's well that ends well.  I feel so much better now that I've talked to her.  It was really eating away at me.  When will I ever learn that stuff just gets worse as it festers?

I finished the Fortissima (color 8040) socks a few days ago.  I love the way the yarn bloomed after washing.  Okay, Katy, do you see why I won't show you my naked feet now?  lol.  My feet have such a weird shape to them and they aren't even the same.

I've been working very little on Dan's raglan but I really want to finish it before I get into the full swing of Summer or it'll sit until Fall.  I want to cast on another pair of socks, but I'll use that as my incentive to finish up Dan's sweater.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. 

Comments

[stephanie]

Happy Belated Birthday, and congratulations for handling the scenario with your neighbour so well. You're a good Mum.

[Anmiryam]

What a relief. I can just imagine how hard it was to start that conversation and yet how good it must have felt that you did!

[Chris]

Glad to hear it went well. I guess we all learn from these situations. Now you know to not leave it too long. Take care!

[Tracy]

Bet you feel like a weight off your mind as well as getting it off your chest, I'm glad it went ok.

[kendall]

I'm looking. What's wrong with your feet? I think they look like my feet, and my feet are beautiful!!! :)

[janet]

I'm glad you've cleared the air over that incident. Better feelings all around.

[Li_B]

It's nice to hear a good end to a difficult situation. Belated Happy Birthday! Li

[Teresa C]

Ummm....did you mention the auctions before and did I miss it? I waaaaaaaant a wheel! Ah well, next time. Hey-hope your bbq was awesome, Happy Belated Birthday!

[Kathleen in Nuremberg]

Noooooooooooooooo! I missed the Ebay auctions! That'll teach me to slack off on my blog reading. I didn't miss any carding drums, did I? ;) Also, I'm curious to know what temperatures you're getting - we went from mid-60's to mid-90's in like one day. Yowza!

[Gracie]

Hurrah for a husband that cooks for you! I hope that yall have a wonderful BBQ! I could do a bit of spring cleaning too! I'm off to check out your ebay listing..... Have a great weekend!

[Wool Winder]

I'm glad the talk with your neighbor went so well. Now that the weight is lifted, enjoy the good weather and the BBQ (Texas style?).

[Kathleen]

I am so glad you were able to straighten things out with the neighbor. I can understand that situation where you just say "enough is enough" with the invites but if Daniel was the only one left out...that's still not too cool. But, you said your "peace" and she learned something for the future. I am happy you are feeling better and I hope Daniel has forgotten. Nice looking socks. :) You are funny about your feet. It sounds like I have a fetish or something. I don't, I swear.