Take a moment and hug the people you love…

…because life is unpredictable. Many heartfelt thanks to all of you who have checked in on us here in the Twin Cities in the aftermath of the I-35W Mississippi bridge collapse. There are still people missing and we’re all kind of shellshocked. That bridge is just a few miles from where I live and I’ve been over it hundreds, if not thousands of times (although it isn’t part of my regular route). We aren’t famous for bridges in the Twin Cities, but since both the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers cut through the metro area, we have a lot of bridges. I’ll be thinking about them a bit differently for a while.

“I’m glad I’ve never been over a bridge. How scary! I’m sending out nips and licks to those poor people.” -Mayhem

Handy Mayhem butt

I’ve mentioned swap-bot a few times recently. Kristi has a great post on how to establish a rating on swap-bot.

Check out the Biteberry yarn in its new habit!

A sign I saw yesterday that amused me – so that’s where preteens go to get rid of pesky parents! Do you need to bundle parents with twine like you do newspapers and corrugated cardboard? 😉

Monday evening I was unlocking my mailbox after work and my (admittedly large) bag fell off my shoulder onto the mailbox key and snapped it off in the lock. Ugh! I could still get the key pieces to work – but so could anyone else with a screwdriver. I was calling a locksmith yesterday when my coworker interrupted me and got me off the phone before I could make an appointment for an expensive locksmith house call (because of course the lock can’t be removed and taken into the locksmith, as it requires a special removal key). Turns out my coworker had a lockpicking kit on him. . . . I didn’t ask, either. Usually it’s best not to know. Anyway, he loaned me a “key extractor” and after a bit of fiddling with the key extractor and a leatherman tool, I once again have a secure mailbox. Make sure you have copies of all your keys for times like this!

“This stuff is too boring to even bother sniffing.” -Mayhem

Is it just me, or does it look like May is mocking Chaos’ tail? Anyway, she wandered off to play ghost paws on the Kitty Casa instead.

“This is much more fun! Whee!” -Mayhem