Alli needs to learn to sleep in when Mom has a late night!  She was up earlier than normal this morning, and I went to bed later than normal - not a good combination for Mom.  I went to the Fur Ball last night - not quite what I was expecting, but still fun (thanks to the people I went with!)  There were 320+ people (40 tables of 8 set up for dinner, plus wait staff and assorted volunteers) in a room that wasn't quite big enough for that, along with LOTS of items up for auction.  It was a fund-raiser for Another Chance Animal Welfare League (a no-kill animal rescue sanctuary), and I think they got some funds raised!  I did my part - I bid on and won a dog leash and olive oil from Happy Valley combination (yes, an odd combo, but....I figured I would probably use both)  The leash is pretty, and I didn't know we had anyone in Happy Valley producing olive oil!  I'm not an expert of olive oil, but this looks pretty.  Ralph checked behind me when I got home to make sure no furry friends followed me home.  Good thing they didn't have the animals there to be adopted - the pictures they had were so cute, one just might have followed me home!  I'm such a sucker for the older animals.  I always feel that if I don't adopt them, no one will, because everyone wants cute little puppies and kittens.

I'm learning the joy of making very short to-do lists.  Yesterday, my list consisted of things like vacuum, wash a few loads of laundry, go to the dinner, go to a memorial service, do my normal shopping, etc.  And I got them all crossed off!  Such a nice feeling.  I almost didn't make the memorial service - I googled for the catholic church in Red Bluff, and came up with the name and address.  I verified the name - but when I got there, it was the catholic school, not the church.  I could not get an address at all for the church!  So....I went for a drive.  Red Bluff isn't that big, and the church is old.  It should be in the town itself, not in the suburbs, right?  I found it right at 1:00, so it was a little after 1:00 when I got in.  Not my original plan - I thought I would be there at least 15 minutes before the services started, not sneaking in after it actually started.  The best laid plans.....

Today's list is also short - laundry (again, or still, I'm not sure which) and some quilting and some crocheting.  I have my quilt blocks ready to sew the applique down, which won't take very long at all.  I also found out why I had my afghan so confused.  It is a graph afghan, and the beginning block only shows 9 rows, not 10 like the rest of the blocks.  I was probably just fine with a lot of what I had done.  I was completely confused when I was trying to reconcile to the number of rows I had done to where I was on the chart.  Hopefully it really will be easier now that I can count!

Also on my to-do list for today is a bike ride.  Ralph got my bike finished up yesterday, so AJ and I went for a quick ride.  He finished up around 4:30, so I didn't have much time, and I didn't grab a jacket.  It was a bit cool in the wind, and the dinner started at 5:30, so....just a quick lap around the neighborhood.  The bike works great!  One of the many things he fixed was the brakes, and they work really great - I almost crashed the first time I grabbed them.  Ralph is also working on rebuilding a smaller bike we had here - so eventually, Dawn will have a bike to ride too, if she wants to join AJ and I for a ride.  Spring and Fall are such great times to bike in the valley.  (Summer - not so much)