Roller coasters and autumn activities

Another non-blogging day for me yesterday, sorry. :) Mike and I took Henry to a local amusement park, which we had promised to do before school starts in a few weeks. Mike starts teaching again next week, so now was the time. It was great in that the weather was cooler and the park was less crowded. The only bad thing was that August heralds the beginning of my allergy season, and I was MISERABLE yesterday. I must have sneezed at least 100 times, plus my eyes were watery and itchy and I felt stuffy and pathetic. Sounds like I was a lot of fun to be around, huh?

But I fared ok. Truth be told, I don't enjoy amusement park rides the way I used to when I was younger. Has this happened to anybody else? I used to love every and all roller coasters. As an adult, I'm so much more fearful. I think it's because as a child I felt invincible, whereas as an adult I recognize my own mortality much more keenly. My babies need me, and I don't want to leave them. I think this is probably very common, but mine has really translated into a much less enjoyable experience at amusement parks. Sigh.

Anyway, we're planning in earnest for Mike's return to teaching and Henry's return to school. I've also commenced my Christmas knitting list and am ankle deep in fall sock knitting. Shelia asked me in the comments area about the self-patterning yarn that I mentioned ordering last week. Behold, the magnificence that is the ghost yarn:

She asked if you have to knit them a specific way in order for the ghosts to work their magic. And the answer is yes. You need to knit the socks at a specific gauge (x number of stitches per inch) in order for the yarn to align properly. I haven't received my yarn yet (could be awhile since she has a waiting list) but I'm assured that the seller includes instructions on proper gauge for each pattern. If you do not get the appropriate number of stitches per inch with the recommended needle size, you'll need to change sizes until your gauge is right. Otherwise I'd speculate that your ghosts will look disembodied, and that wouldn't be a good look for them. Even if they *are* ghosts.

I'm absolutely dying for my custom listing to materialize, so excited. But it's not like I don't have other yarn and other projects to work on in the mean time.

*unladylike snort*

On a different note, but still related to my excitement for fall, Michelle at Liturgical Time has a wonderful post up about getting your Advent candles ready for the season nice and early. I enjoyed her post very much because Advent candles are also on my mind of late. :) I ordered a new Advent wreath for this year, along with accompanying candles from Christian Book Distributors. I've had a very pretty Advent wreath for a few years that I bought at a local Christian store, but I had a hard time getting the candles to stay in the cups and my attempts to finesse the cup holder thingies resulted in a near puncture wound as well as me breaking the cups. Hence, I knew I needed a new one, and now is the perfect time to look, since there's plenty of time to shop and have the wreath here before Advent. Unfortunately, the wreath that I chose is back ordered, and I'm feeling ridiculously anxious about it. Right now the ship date is next week, but that date has already been pushed back a few times.

Gotta make sure it's here before December, lol. :)