Sunday, September 12, 2010

My Hectic Friday and How I Found Purls in Omaha

 Have you ever had one of those days where nothing seems to be going right?  I took Friday off work to go to a couple of doctor appointments and pick up Rob's contract from his new employer which was being held at the FedEx office.   I went to one doctor in the morning and then drove to FedEx where I had to show Rob's passport and my driver's license in order to sign for the package.  I went home for lunch and a little knitting and  when it came time to leave for the second appointment, I found myself in the garage without my keys and I had already locked both doors! To add insult to injury I couldn't find my cell phone. I ran next door to my neighbor who has the spare key and he wasn't home.  I ran to the other neighbor and they weren't home either.  I admit I panicked at this point.  All I could think of was that not only was I going to be late for my appointment but I would miss my plane to Omaha where I would get to see Rob for the weekend and deliver the paperwork for him to complete so he could continue to be employed.  So what idea sprang into my fevered mind?  I would see if I could bump hard enough on the inside garage door to pop the lock.  It looks a lot easier on TV to break down a door than to actually do it.  Needless to say, all I managed to do was bruise my hip and ruin the door, which remained locked.  At this point I decided to say a prayer to St. Anthony and look for my phone again. To make a long story short, I found the phone, called my neighbor who drove back and retrieved my spare key, and went to my second appointment of the day.

Fast forward to the airport check-in at the self-service kiosk.  When I scanned my itinerary barcode, a message came up that said I could upgrade to first class for $90.00.  I felt like I had won the lottery.  My day rewound through my mind: 2 doctor appointments, 2 shots, 4 vials of blood drawn, a mammogram, the hassle at FedEx AND the fiasco of locking myself out....yep, you guessed it...I said "oh yeah, I deserve this" and I went for the upgrade. Now I'm not the traveler that Rob is and I had only flown first class once before nor do I casually spend money (unless its on yarn which doesn't count, right?) so I financially justified it by reminding myself that I had used air miles for the ticket so I really wasn't adding to the cost of the ticket.  Once in the air happily knitting I had a brilliant idea.  Airlines may have first class and business class but what they really need is knitters class.  Perhaps it was the 2 glasses of white wine that helped fuel this idea but think about it.  Nice big cushy seats with plenty of elbow room so you aren't hitting your neighbor with your arms as you knit away.  The flight attendants could even pass out free knitting patterns.  It's a thought.

My weekend improved once we landed in Omaha.  After completing the paperwork and FedExing it we visited a stamp show, an arts festival where I bought some hand thrown pottery, and the String of Purls, one of Omaha's LYS.  Rob had already visited this shop about a month ago and had bought me a couple of skeins of Claudia Hand Painted sock yarn.  The store is medium sized with its large inventory of yarn displayed along the walls by color and weight.  They had several yarns that aren't available in my area and I purchased a ball of Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball which I had definitely never seen.  If you find yourself in Omaha, I encourage you to stop by String of Purls and see what they have to offer.