A near-perfect Sunday

Yesterday was nasty. The boy behind us (12) had friends over, and for some UNGODLY reason they were up at 7a, in the backyard, shouting and laughing and causing a ruckus. AT SEVEN A.M. Gah. Thank goodness the reigning adult over there finally got done with his/her 30-minute shower (I'm horribly biased, I'm guessing it's a him) & settled them down, but it was too late for me. I had gone to bed at 1a after cropping in Chelsea, and I was awake for good. Actually, awake for the worse.

Today went much better. E took the kids at 9a to our gym's daycare, then took them swimming there, then visited his mom for the afternoon. A whole day to myself! I almost wasted it sitting around drinking coffee (in PEACE) and reading the paper (again, in PEACE).

I finally got motivated, showered, and spent about an hour working on my Thanksgiving swap cards for stamp club ("the first rule of stamp club...we don't talk about stamp club"). I won a pound of handmade paper at crop Friday night, and I've already started using it for cards. Some of it is really pretty. I used up some of the uglier stuff for this card, and now I find I have a fuzzy sort of fondness for the crinkly brown paper I used. Go figure.

Then, I ran my favorite Sunday afternoon "errand" -- hanging around poking through the stacks at the Ann Arbor Library's Friends of the Library Book Sale. They have raised their prices drastically, though, so I had to do some serious weeding before I got up to the cash stand. Two bucks for hardcovers and trade paperbacks! Zut alors. Anyway, here's what I snagged:

Great Little Quilts, Eleanor Levie -- just for the fleur-de-lys pattern, and the elephant and donkey picture quilts
The House, Teresa Waugh -- started reading this at lunch. Gotta love eccentric British characters
Pushkin's Children, Tatyana Tolstaya -- just trying to figure out E
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls -- to help me get over my mild childhood
To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife -- I need a laugh
Made in Detroit, Paul Clemens -- because I collect Detroit books and I've been meaning to read this.

I ate lunch (in PEACE) at Seva's, one of my favorite restaurants (and vegetarian, so E never wants to go there) and had two of my favorite dishes: Enchilada Calabaza (stuffed with butternut squash -- hee, I can sense my friend Gabby curling her lip in disgust already) and Cocoa Cake, which I was surprised to find on the menu. A waitress there told me a while ago that they take it off the menu when the temperatures get over 78 degrees. My piece was certainly refrigerated, but still good. I can never finish it, though. Mmm...late-night snackage.

Came home to an EMPTY house, had coffee, relaxed before E came back with the kids. He put Ben straight to bed and Tess is listening to Harriet the Spy on CD. Hee. I'd better go in there and listen, too.