After yesterday’s tire troubles, we went to Michael’s to pick up a frame. Sam finished graduate school more than five years ago, and her diploma’s been sitting in a drawer this whole time, but she finally got it framed and taken care of.

In addition to the baby blanket for Sam’s coworker’s new boy, she’s also working on a little toy sheep. She needed to buy circular plastic canvas to fit into the hooves…but Walmart didn’t have any, and Michael’s didn’t have any either! So, we went to Joanns and found those, plus some yarn that Sam hopes my next host might like. She’s not quite ready to send me off yet; she wants to show me around the farm a little bit more. We hope that’s okay and still counts towards that two week max, even though I was waiting in the post office for a bit?

Afterwards, we went to Moe’s and got some burritos to take home :)

Today was another lay low kind of day. I helped Sam steam block the baby blanket.

We spent some more time working on the sheep toy, and then got some exercise in. While I couldn’t exactly reach the pedals on her elliptical, I got my share of exercise by hopping up and down!

We made a dish called mujadarra for dinner, which is rice and lentils topped with caramelized onions. It took a bit of time to mix. It was like a magic trick, seeing how small that big pot of onions goes down to while cooking!

Here’s what the second part of my travel journal looks like.

I also took some time to call home while rereading the lovely note from my mom <3 I miss her and it is always so good to hear her voice. She is very happy that I am meeting lots of new animal friends this week, and that I am taking the time to relax a little bit, too.

Sam really liked the “you are beautiful” magnets included in my travel book!