Keeping busy.

I spent yesterday having more fun than I thought I would, as I was invited to Rei's parents' house for Rei's birthday dinner. I used to be invited to many dinners there, sometimes even weekly, but my last job conflicted with that and so the invitations stopped coming, and I never felt comfortable asking if I could come on days that I was able to. Of course, my reclusive nature kicked in strongly and I started to find ways out of the few invitations I did receive, because it had been so long since I'd seen them and we didn't have much in common. What do you say to your friends' parents when it's mostly understood that you're only there out of respect for your friend?

But it meant a lot to Rei that I go, and I was happy to. The biggest problem for me then was that Rei's nephews would be there too, and I don't get along well with children. They're too loud and rambunctious for me, I don't understand them or relate to them, and they tend to view me as a person to play with when I never want to play. But it would only be a few hours, and I reasoned with myself that I could tolerate them for a while, especially because some of that while would be spent at the dinner table and not having to tell kids that no, I don't want to run around the house with them.

Turns out that the day went better than I thought. That branch of the family brought their golden retriever puppy over, so there was a snuggly furry thing to play with. My hand regrets playing with him as much as I did, though, because he's still in the stage where he puts everything in his mouth, including people, and he seemed to have the notion that my hand and arm were just really big toys to play with. He once tried to carry my arm off like it was a stick. The back of my hand is covered in little bumps, less from him biting and breaking the skin and more from a mild allergic reaction. But it was fun anyway.

I actually played with the kids, too, since it was a nice day and they seemed content to just play catch with me while I sat and enjoyed the sun. Little trouble on my part, big enjoyment on theirs, so it worked out well for everyone.

In other news, if you can call it that, Google Books has provided me with many fascinating things to entertain myself, mostly consisting of domestic manuals and needleworks books from the 1800s. When a good deal of them are over 400 pages long, it's a safe bet that I can keep myself happy by reading them and working from some of them for a long time to come, and they're just so fascinating to read. I even managed to find one that detailed how to care for the insane, which I'm looking forward to reading.

I haven't been doing as much knitting as normal lately, since I seem to be in a sewing mood. Specifically an embroidery mood, and I think today I might find a cross-stitch kit I put away and start working on that again. It was meant to be a Christmas gift last year, but didn't get finished. Hopefully I can finish it this year instead.

It's not even June and I'm already planning Christmas and Yule gifts for people. The cross-stitch is a pattern of butterflies, which I will give to Rei's aunt. I'm planning to knit a hat for Cass, since he's got a thing for 19th century clothing right now and the pattern I found is one from a Godey's Lady's Book from that period, which I think he'll get a kick out of. So far those are my only planned gifts, but it's a start, and hopefully I won't find myself scrambling at the last minute to find even small gifts for people to make up for the big gifts that I didn't leave myself enough time to make properly.