Not Just a Mom

Two Long Years

2011-07-27T08:44:00.003-05:00

It's been two years since I've added to this blog. A very long and difficult two years. So much has changed, so many tears have fallen.

Since I last blogged, I have become both a widow and a cancer survivor. I've lost 70 pounds (the widow/cancer diet). My hair is much grayer, but butt is much smaller, my will is much stronger. Survival is no longer a question; living, truly living is now the problem.

How do you go on when you loose your husband of 20 years? How do you find the strength to face the days ahead? When does the fear of returning cancer leave your thoughts? How do you help children learn to trust in life again? These are the questions that haunt my nights.

There should always be hope. Finding joy in each day is sometimes a challenge, but one that I am grateful to have. I am grateful that my body is free of cancer (almost 1 year!). I am grateful that my children are with me. I am grateful for friends that I never knew I had. I am, and always be, grateful that through all of this grief, I can still see the flowers, still enjoy the sunshine, and still see hope for a new tomorrow.

Chick Trip 2009

2009-07-26T15:52:00.004-05:00

The princess and I are getting ready to go on our inaugural girl trip. She's old enough to be a fun travel buddy, and I want to take advantage of her desire to do girl things with just the two of us.

Apparently part of this trip will require the wearing of matching t-shirts, so we bought bright pink shirts and will write on them with glittery purple paint.

She's very excited. So am I. The boys are vacillating between jealous and bored of the whole thing. Lucky they don't want to go with us - I don't think any of them would be willing to wear a bright pink t-shirt.

Finished my Anni socks for the month (Ripples socks from 10/07). I let the princess pick out the yarn. It almost glows in the dark.

Nothing Is Easy

2009-07-22T10:18:00.002-05:00

The teen said that I needed to download Google Chrome so that we could watch youtube on the laptop in the kitchen. I'd ignored the continued nagging of Google for a long time (eventually it left me alone), but couldn't ignore the plea of my sweet teen.

So - we Google Chromed.

Now, I believe that you stay young by continuing to learn/do new things; but this is truly annoying. I had diligently saved the internet things that I need into my "favorites" box so that I could find them easily, but apparently Google Chrome didn't think I needed them anymore.

So - I searched the FAQ section.

After a few clicks, I had my favs back again; but I want the old way back again.

I don't want to search, I just want to find.

I don't want to know how it works, I just want it to work.

But in the spirit of learning/doing new things, I found the answer to my question. Not sure I like the new Google, though. Your history is displayed for all to see. No more hidden searches - everyone knows that I was looking at new spinning wheels. I know the kids played Runescape while I was gone.

Some things are better left unchanged.

Things That Make Me Smile

2009-07-18T17:55:00.002-05:00

The princess loves her little brother (the dog). One of her favorite things to do is to sit with cubes of cheese and some crackers and make herself a cheese and cracker sandwich.

Oh, and she also likes to share this with the dog. He sits and waits patiently while she doles out little pieces of cheese. Remember, this is the dog that snatched a HUGE piece of turkey off the table a few Thanksgivings ago.

She takes a bite of cracker sandwich then gives a little cracker sandwich to the dog. He'd rather not eat the cracker, but she insists: Eat the cracker boy. She won't give him more cheese until he eats the cracker. He doesn't want the cracker, he wants the cheese; but somehow he knows that there won't be more cheese without the cracker.

So, he eats the cracker.

The princess insists that the dog likes saltines the best. I'm not sure that's the case. The princess prefers saltines; I think the dog prefers goldfish crackers.

Oh, well, I'm not the one with the doggie tea party.

Seussical Socks

2009-07-16T14:53:00.002-05:00

The rain did not come

The shade went away

So I just kept on knitting

On that hot, hot, hot day.

I made me some zebras

And a blanket or two

Then I looked at the leftovers

And knew just what to do.

"Knit Cat Socks" I heard

From the voice deep in my head

Knit them now, hurry please

Before going to bed.

So I gathered the yarn

Scooped it up in my hands

Got some tea, got the fan

Sat down in my chair with a plan in my head

And I knit

And I knit, knit, knit, knit

And suddenly, there they were

The most lovely socks in the land

They were cat socks, sir, cat socks for me

And all I could say was tee hee hee hee.

Looking For My Calm

2009-06-29T11:40:00.001-05:00

Usually I love homeschooling; these days I'm rethinking my position.

The princess is screeching, the smiling child is in tears, the middle child is questioning everything I say.

It's HOT and we're pretty much stuck inside for most of the day. It's too hot to take them to the pool; cause the pool has no shade, and like I said, it's HOT. We'd all be burned to a crisp within minutes.

The man I married suggested just throwing in the towel and going to the movies. That would be great except for the fact that I can't reward the awful behavior that's going around. We're in a quandary.

The teen (bless his heart) says that I need a trip to Starbucks. Now, lest you think that the teen is being supportive and sensitive; he just wants to drive me there. He could just as easily suggested going to buy dog food - either way he wants to drive.

So, if you see me around, don't comment on the bald spots on my head. That's just where I've pulled out my hair in quiet desperation.

There Oughta Be A Law

2009-06-22T13:52:00.005-05:00

So I decided that the root of all that is messy in my house is the pantry. If the pantry is disorganized we don't put things away; if we don't put things away they end up on the counter; if the counter is cluttered things get dumped on the table, and so on and so on.

Today the mailman (yes, it's a man) brought one of those coupon packets and inside was an advertisement for a storage/organizing/shelf building place. I decided to see what magic they could perform on my pantry.

Here's an example of what they can do. Jeez, if I had that much room in my pantry, I'd put a rocking chair in there, call it "mom's room" and close the door. Organization problem solved.

Socks, Yarn and The Heat of the Sun

2009-06-21T12:43:00.004-05:00

I finished the socks that I've been thinking about for two years. The picture doesn't do them justice. The colors are so rich, and it was mesmerizing to watch the colors change. Each time a new color would show up I thought it was the best color there was; then the next color would show up.

Since I spent more money on this yarn than on any other yarn, I waited to find a perfect pattern. Pablo Blue proved to be just about the best pattern. It's easy to memorize (and very easy to figure out where you are) and looks wonderful. I may even break my rule, and make another pair with the same pattern.]

Also, I got some Wollmeise yarn in a swap with a fellow Raveler in Germany. This yarn is highly sought after here, so I am very lucky. Now that I've seen the yarn in person, I think that it prized because the colors are so rich. I know it will be a while before I find a sock pattern for this new acquisition.

And, may I say, it's HOT, HOT, HOT!!! All of these beautiful wool socks and the only shoes I can bring myself to wear are flip flops.

When You're Hot, You're Hot

2009-06-17T10:45:00.002-05:00

Between this insufferable, stifling heat and my hot flashes, I spend most of the day and night wilting. Staying inside with a bunch of active kids doesn't work for long, so I need to find some creative ways to keep cool and give the kids the energy buster they need.

I keep looking at the neighborhood pool, but it has absolutely no shade; so is not much of an option during the heat of the day. We just put in some new grass (to fill in the dirt patch left from taking down the derelict playscape), so the kids can't run in the backyard through a sprinkler.

What happened to the summers of my youth? I used to spend most of the day outside. Were the summers cooler? Probably - California is not as hot as Texas. Also, there were actual trees where I grew up - we're not so lucky here. Our lone tree is still a relative baby. It's an oak tree, and they grow pretty slowly.

Will the summer memories be happy ones for my children? As homeschoolers we tend to do more schoolwork during the hot summer months, so I worry that their memories of those 'lazy days of summer' will be full of math equations and grammar.

Yesterday we watched "The King and I" because the middle child and I had just finished reading "Anna and the King" and I'd promised to watch the movie when we finished the book. I've seen the movie before (or so I thought) and it wasn't at all like the book. Guess that's a good lesson to learn. We agreed that the book was much better.

Oh no! Time for the smiling child to listen to patriotic songs for school - something about a boll weevil. In the meantime, the middle child is practicing his guitar (the song is totally unrelated to boll weevils); the teen is doing calculus - even though I told him he didn't need to do any math this summer; the princess is waiting for me to do music flash cards, and the dog is trying to find a cool spot to sleep (it's his job).

No wonder I'm loosing my mind.

Socks and Such

2009-06-15T13:55:00.004-05:00

I finished my Anni socks for the month - Lazy Leaves. The pattern was leaves, and since I had green yarn, I went with it. Love the socks, but since it's heading into the depths of summer, I won't be able to wear them for months. The one and only benefit, as I see it, to the extreme heat is that my lovely wool socks will last a lifetime.

Also, Saturday was Knit in Public Day, so we went to Yarnorama because they had advertised that they were going to set up for sock yarn dyeing. Well, the princess chose colors for me (red, blue and green) and I set to dyeing my yarn. As I was the first guinea pig, all of the ladies wanted to watch; then they wanted to "help". Soon I had additional colors added: Yellow and orange.

The yarn is colorful, to say the least. The middle child thinks it looks like clown yarn, the princess says it looks like lots of rainbows. Me, I think it looks like an explosion at the sno-cone factory (or, more accurately, it looks like the easter bunny threw up).

I've started knitting socks from this wacky yarn. No blobs of color like I expected; more like teeny confetti sprinkles. The man I married says they'll probably end up being my favorite socks. We'll have to see about that, but they are quite colorful and bright enough so that I can knit on them in the dark.

Haven't started the pattern yet (I'm almost done with the toe), but I think that I'm going to use the Waterfall Socks pattern from WendyKnits. It looks like a perfect "carry around" pattern - easy to memorize, not too boring, and looks pretty. Just hope she doesn't cringe when she sees what I've done with her pattern.

Choose Your Colors Wisely

2009-06-09T13:51:00.005-05:00

I admit it - I'm a sock knitting junkie. I always have a pair of socks going at home, and also like to have a pair of socks to take along with me so that I can knit when I'm waiting.

Take along socks have to have an easy to memorize, yet fun to knit pattern. My current take along pattern is Pablo Blue. The pattern is great - several rows of pattern, but it makes perfect sense and is easy to remember.

The yarn, on the other hand, is problematic. It's beautiful, but the colors are so dark that it's hard to see what I'm doing. I sat waiting for the middle child to have a guitar lesson, and the room was dim, and I made a mistake that required so much frogging that I just decided to start over. This is against the concept of a "fun, take along" project.

So now the Pablo Blue socks have been moved to home knitting and I'm on the lookout for a new pattern. I'm going to use pink yarn - that oughta be easy to see.

How I Came To Be 31

2009-06-08T10:38:00.004-05:00

For years I told my kids that I was 29. It was a joke, they knew it, I knew it; but somehow it made me feel younger. That is until the princess learned about birthdays.

Two years ago, the princess realized that on birthdays you become a year older. Until that time, this concept had eluded her; but after her 4th birthday she knew.

On my birthday that year she announced that I was now 30. Being as how that's a bit younger than my actual age, I accepted this new fact of life. Then the next year, I became 31.

All was well until my boys started trying to confuse the situation. How could mom be 31, they'd ask the princess, if the eldest child (aka Thor) was 25? For a while I was able to distract her with shiny things, but I knew that could not last.

"Mom is 31 and Thor is 25?" Her little brain works diligently at this math problem. Her beautiful, trusting eyes look up at me.

"Time was different when I was little." The answer seems to have quieted her for now.

In the mean time, the boys have been threated with dire consequences if they bring up my age again.

The Sun Is Out

2009-01-31T11:11:00.003-06:00

We've had quite a few days lately without the sun shining. I know that it's the end of January, but we're used to the sun. So today, it's sunny and not too cold (52º), so it's time to be outside again.

In the spirit of fun, the man I married is going to work on the grill. Being true Southwesterners, we love to grill. We'll grill anything. We love our grill. But, alas, our grill has a problem.

Fire! Something has been wrong with it (as in - there is a blazing inferno everytime we try to cook), so the man I married took the thing apart and discovered that the burner is toast.

Normally this would mean a trip to the grill store (or an order over the internet), but our grill manufacturer has gone out of business. So, we will now have a Frankengrill.

He bought a new burner and will now configure it to work with our old grill. Fingers are crossed, meat is at the ready. We trust this man, so we know there will be meat charring on our grill in time for dinner.

And, in case all else fails, salad is good too.

edit: It's working! Hot dogs for lunch!

When Your World is Spinning, Make Yarn

2009-01-30T10:06:00.007-06:00

I've always been fascinated by spinning wheels. Not really sure why, but I love them. In October I had the opportunity to watch someone spin on a drop spindle, and I was smitten.

Thanks to craigslist, I got a really great deal on a barely used spinning wheel. So, now I spin with drop spindles and with my wheel. Actually, I mainly use the wheel to ply, but who's counting.

Anyway: There is something hypnotic about taking a wad of wool and spinning, spinning, spinning. You end up with yarn! It's amazing. I keep thinking that there must be some piece of me that is autistic - I just love the spinning. It's like meditating without actually having to think. You have to focus, but you don't have to count (kinda like knitting stockinette). And the wool is very forgiving - if you make a mistake, or don't like what's going on; you just unspin it and do it again.

So now I have actual yarn that I've made. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. It's pretty to look at and pet, so it may just have to find a pretty bowl and sit around, wowing all who see it. I found a pattern for a purse that I'm thinking of making. I need a new purse, I've got lots of balls of yarn that need a purpose in life. Seems like the perfect match to me.

All I have to do is break down and use my precious balls. As my family is fond of saying: Those are some good balls.

A Clean Dog is a Happy Dog?

2009-01-29T11:26:00.002-06:00

Ed is a very dirty dog. When clean, he had a beautiful, curly, very soft, white coat. But Ed hasn't looked like that for a while.

It's the poodle in him: It matts at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, I believed the middle child when he told me that he wanted it to be his responsibility to brush the dog. The middle child lies.

What he actually does is to sit on the couch and brush a teeny tiny spot on Ed's back and then just pet him while everyone else does their chores. To be honest, the middle child does anything possible to avoid work, so I should have seen this coming.

Today I finally got up the gumption to give the dog a bath. Ed is very good when he's getting a bath. He stands still for the indignity of it all, and doesn't shake until I tell him it's okay. Unfortunately it's very cold outside today, so he has to stay inside until he's dry. Also, it has been very dry here, so our yard is mostly just a bunch of dry grass and dirt. This means that on a normal day Ed rolls in this mess and gets full of sprigs and twigs - but on a day when he's wet, those sprigs and twigs combine with the dirt (that was our lawn) and he becomes a brown muddy mess.

Not gonna happen on my watch!

So, for now, Ed must stay inside, must stay clean, and must deal with my haphazard grooming attempts. He looks like a poor little lamb who was shorn by Mike Rowe.

Do you think that the other dogs will make fun of him?

Things and Thoughts

2009-01-28T10:46:00.008-06:00

I haven't posted for a looooong time. Holidays, family dilemmas, flu and cedar fever kept me busy and not wanting to share. But, the man I married keeps asking why I'm not posting, so here goes.

My new years promise for 2008 was to knit every pair of Anni's socks for the year, and I did it. I now have enough hand knit socks so that I can wear only knit socks. What a treat it is - although I am questioning my choice of sock yarn colors. What was I thinking? I've already knit my January 2009 pair, so I'm planning to continue the knit-ahton. Here they are, in all their glory, my Sockamania socks from 2008.

I've already finished my first pair for 2009, so I'm on my way. Here's that picture:

I'm currently knitting the BareNakedLacy socks with leftover Sockotta yarn. I've been wanting to knit these socks, but never seemed to find the time. I've been calling these the "Bare Naked Lady" socks because I misread the pattern name the first time I saw it - may have had something to do with the fact that the smiling child was smitten with the Bare Naked Ladies at the time.

And happy birthday yesterday to my teen - now 16. He's a joy and all he wanted for his birthday was a special meal and dessert and an entire day alone in the house. Gotta love that boy.

What Makes Me Feel Young

2008-10-10T10:33:00.005-05:00

They say that smell is one of those things that can take you back. No one forgets the smell of a crayon or the smell of freshly cut grass on a warm summer day.

For me, songs work the same way. I can hear a song from long ago and suddenly I'm transported to the past. Luckily the only songs that seem to do this are ones associated with happy memories.

Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUBTX9kKEo

The Who "Baba O'Riley" - this reminds me of hanging out at Mary Sue's house (yes, I had a friend named Mary Sue - how 50's). They had a cool pool and horses. What a great place to be when you're a young teen aged girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6h0Od2F1wk

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - Marge and I spent many hours singing into our brushes listening to these guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQTRIrFmL94

Orleans - "Still the One" combined with M*A*S*H - Does it get any better? This clip combines high school and college for me.

Now my poor kids will have to listen to oldies for the rest of the day. Luckily they don't seem to mind - they probably just think it's funny to watch me dance around and sing.

Shopping and Kids

2008-10-07T16:27:00.003-05:00

Lately the princess hasn't been willing to let me leave her sight. I had been in the habit of leaving her with her brothers so that I could go to the grocery store by myself. This cut the shopping time in half, and cost less since I didn't have any little people asking for food and saying that they were starving to death (even though I'd just fed them).

But, since returning from vacation, the princess has been uber attached to me. Today she actually threw a fit insisting that she needed to come with me or she'd cry. I decided to dig in and told her that she absolutely was not going to come with me. In the end we agreed that if she stayed with her brothers (without crying) while I went to the warehouse store, she could come with me to the grocery store.

The teen reported that she'd been good, so the princess got to come with me. I also needed to run a few extra errands, so it was a long trip. Every time she got naggy I just reminded her that coming with me was a privilege reserved only for the best behaved children, and she settled down.

It still took a lot longer with her in tow than it would have taken without her, but I reminded myself that it wouldn't be much longer that she'd actually want to come with me and I let her pick out new yogurt. Isn't it nice when children are still young and sweet enough that picking out yogurt flavors is a treat? And besides, she put on her nicest dress and brushed her hair. How could I say no?

Knit and Glo

2008-10-06T16:04:00.002-05:00

A year or so ago I got the bright idea that if I could find yarn that glows in the dark, I could knit things like moons and stars and they would glow in the dark and my kids would be thrilled. I even found yarn, but it was very expensive. So that plan was abandoned.

In the Sunday adds, Michael's advertised that they had Glow in the Dark yarn on sale, so I went to check it out. The skeins are pretty small (less than 200 yards), but the idea that I could knit something that glowed had me willing to make do.

Currently I'm almost finished making the princess a pink glow in the dark scarf. This should come in handy if it EVER gets cold here, and she is outside in the pitch dark (after spending at least five minutes in direct light). What will really happen is that she'll spend time running back and forth between the lighted bedroom and the dark bathroom so that she can watch her scarf glow.

My suggestion for the smiling child was to make a stuffed animal that glows. He thinks that sounds cool, and is currently deciding what type of small stuffed thing he'd like. I'm hoping he picks a bunny, because that is a very easy pattern. With my luck he'll want some complicated thing for which there is no pattern.

The middle child will probably want a knitted something related to fencing. But there is no fencing/knitting projects. I'm thinking of combining the glo yarn with some regular yarn and making him an illusion something. I'm thinking that an illusion scarf with a skull would be way cool. Of course, my other color would probably be black, not pink.

The teen isn't into knitted things. He has his big afghan on his bed. He doesn't have a hat, but it is so rarely cold here..... I'll have to do some thinking.

I got started on the new scarf for my MIL. It's a beigey color and very soft. Hope she likes it. Last Christmas when she opened the slew of knitted dishcloths I'd made her (she always swipes the dishcloths I knit while driving to her house for visits) she got all excited and thought it was a shawl. Expecting/hoping for a shawl and then seeing a bunch of dishcloths is apparently quite a letdown. So this year, she'll get a shawl.

Why We Didn't Go

2008-10-04T09:35:00.011-05:00

Juniper Pollen

Ragweed Pollen

These lovely pollens are making me miserable. I just couldn't bear the thought of being in the beautiful outdoors and feeling like I might succumb at any moment. For some reason (probably the extreme lack of rain) my allergies are much worse this year. There doesn't seem to be a concoction that helps much. So, we took the trailer back to it's home away from home, and resigned ourselves to trying another weekend.

The teen had his braces adjusted on Thursday and isn't feeling too great, so he was more than happy to stay home this weekend. The smiling child and the middle child were still itching to go, so the man I married took them to an outdoorsy festival. They'll be shooting, fishing and paddling all day. They'll arrive home this evening tired, dirty and sunburned; but it is the best we can do. If they'd gone camping, they'd have also added mosquito bitten, but this will have to do.

The smiling child didn't want me to tell the princess where he was going; he was afraid that she'd want to come and that would ruin the "guy" day. Since she's been in a "I need to be with mommy" mood lately, I knew that I could tell her the truth and she'd still want to stay with me. I was right. She's excited to have a girl day (she knows that the teen will just want to hang around the house anyway) and is already planning what color we'll paint our nails. I might even pull out the hidden stash of "fairy dust" and fill her with glitter!

Wish me luck - I still haven't gotten the glitter out of her hair from our visit to the mouse, and we've been home for three weeks.

Camping Plans

2008-10-01T16:07:00.003-05:00

We bought a trailer at the worst possible time (probably why we got such a great deal). It was summer, it was hot, it was a miserable time to be outside. So we parked the trailer and waited.

Now it's finally time to go camping again. The weather is lovely. The man I married and I decided that we should go camping this weekend. The reservations have been made. But (insert whiny voice here) we don't want to go camping - we feel yucky - it's too much trouble - what will we eat?

But we're tough, the man I married and I: yes we are. We're going camping this weekend. I'll pack lots of allergy medicine. We'll have fun. We won't whine.

I'm sure that the reason it seems like so much trouble is that we've only gone camping once. And that time was VERY hot, and the campground was really not much more than a parking lot. We pretty much spent the entire time inside the trailer playing games. The only outside fun was watching the park rangers catch a stray dog.

To make life easier on this, our first trip, I've decided that I won't even try to pack food. We'll set up camp and go to the nearby WalMart and shop. The kids love to have bacon for breakfast and we can get by for two days on hot dogs and sandwiches.

We're taking the dog too. Last time he got a bit (a bit?!!) nervous and wanted to sit in my lap the whole time. I'll give him a bath tomorrow so he'll at least be clean when he sits on my lap. We can give the bird some extra food, so he should be fine.

Hope we still remember how to do everything. If you see us looking confused, please feel free to help us out.

I Wanna Be A Princess

2008-09-30T16:58:00.002-05:00

When I was little I always wanted to be a princess. When we were at the land of the mouse, I took a picture of Cinderella's coach. We hadn't paid the over $50 extra per person to go to the fancy party, but I got a picture of the coach and the man I married has the ability to Photoshop me into the coach.

It's okay, my castle would probably be drafty anyway. Although, since it's still hot here, I wouldn't mind a little draft. We are all having a dreadful time with our allergies, and I can't wait til the first really cold night so that all of those pesky pollen things will get out of the air. It doesn't help that we've also had almost no rain for months.

The smiling child has been so sweet lately. He's decided to take the princess into his loving care and is teaching her baseball. Since baseball is his first love, it was a natural that he would want to teach someone else. The middle child is totally unwilling to let his younger brother teach him anything, and the teen is much to mature to play baseball out in the yard; so that leaves the princess.

I have a princess - I must be the queen. Yes, the queen of all the land. Right now my royal minions are setting the table for dinner. The queen has proclaimed that we will have lasagna for dinner. All hail the queen.

Just hope that the minions do the dishes.

Ed and the Socks

2008-09-28T15:58:00.003-05:00

After all of the commotion during the beginning of September (vacation and hurricane) I didn't think I'd ever get around to starting my Sockamania socks. But, since I'd sort of promised myself that I'd make a valiant effort to knit all of the socks for the year, I went ahead and started them.

Turns out these were pretty easy socks to knit. Easy in that I didn't have to keep looking at the pattern, not easy in the knitting. I had to keep counting to make sure I put the cables in the right place. But they're worth it. All orange and yellow - sort of Longhorns meet cheddar cheese.

I always have to take pictures of my socks to post to the knitting blog, and since the sun was getting lower in the sky, I went outside to try to get a nice picture. Everytime I put my feet out for a picture, Ed had to get in the frame. I had pictures of my socks and Ed's nose; my socks and Ed's tail; my socks and Ed's hiney. This was the best picture of my socks and Ed. Isn't he a cutie?

Just Call Me Lois

2008-09-25T15:31:00.006-05:00

When the show Malcolm in the Middle came on the air it felt like they had a hidden camera in our house. Every week we would sit, nodding our heads and laughing. Not that our house was quite as bad as Malcolm's house, but there were enough similarities that when Lois got pregnant at the same time as I did we became really suspicious.

Anyway, in the first episode Lois is doing laundry and decides to put her shirt in the wash. She picks up the basket full of clothes to fold and answers the door; forgetting that she doesn't have on a shirt.

So...I was putting clothes in the wash and realized I needed to wash the pants I had on. I took off my pants, put them in the wash and like a good mother, went into my bedroom to put on new clothes. You would have thought I was nekkid!

There was yelling, eye hiding and lots of groaning. Jeepers - I only took off my pants. I didn't answer the door or anything!

Reminder to self: If you want to clear a room, just take off your pants.

Ode To Joy

2008-09-24T11:41:00.003-05:00

Music is alive and well in our home. The princess has learned how to play Ode to Joy and since her brothers know a lovely version as well, it's a song we are hearing a lot these days.

Is there anything that makes the $$$ spent on music lessons more worthwhile than hearing all the children playing a song together? Next we'll be cutting up the curtains to make clothes and climbing mountains while singing. Who will play me in the movie version?

Did Freud Like Bagels?

2008-09-22T18:30:00.006-05:00

For the past two nights my dreams have been full of bagels. Eating bagels, buying bagels, smelling bagels. I told the man I married about my bagel dreams and he asked why I hadn't just gone to the bagel store. I'm not sure of the answer. I woke up this morning really wanting a bagel - even decided that I'd take my refillable coffee mug so I could save money on the coffee I would drink while eating my bagel. I wondered if the bagel store was making their fall bagels yet - they have a cranberry walnut bagel that is heavenly.

But I didn't go to the bagel store this morning. I'm still thinking of bagels, so I've told the kids that there will be a bagel trip in the morning. The smiling child suggested that we buy three dozen bagels. This is not as crazy as it sounds. We generally buy two dozen bagels: That's five bagels on the drive home, five more for a mid morning snack, five for lunch. The end of the first day sees us with with less than a dozen bagels remaining. The boys especially love the chocolate chip bagels - they're like cookies for breakfast. I love the cranberry bagels with turkey and spinach for lunch.

If the bagel store was open in the evening, I'd be on my way. I'm going to set my alarm clock. See you at dawn in the bagel store. I'll be the one with the coffee, bagel and several quiet kids.

Another Day, Another Load of Laundry

2008-09-21T11:24:00.007-05:00

Oh, how I wish there was a laundry fairy! Or, a washing machine like they had in Lost in Space. They just put the dirty laundry in, and a few minutes later, took out clean, folded and covered in plastic wrap laundry. Being ecologically sensitive, my fantasy washer would eliminate the plastic wrap part; but clean and folded would be wonderful.

The man I married and the middle child are still at the fencing tournament. They seem to be enjoying it, although the middle child was too young to fence and was a bit disappointed (you had to be 13 to fence with the adults). The man I married thought it was for the best, though, because he didn't think adults would be comfortable fencing against a child who might just beat them!

All of this has left the smiling child feeling a bit left out. The teen loves to have time away from the middle child, so he's happy. The princess is a princess no matter the situation (she's currently outside with three dolly strollers, three dolls and the swing set). I have to do laundry, so it doesn't matter who's where as long as there's some ice tea and the possibility of knitting.

This leaves the smiling child.

He's playing video games, but they aren't quite as fun without his brother. He played tennis with the princess for a while; but she wanted to include the dolls and he had to draw the line. We're going to grill burgers for lunch, so at least there's a bright spot in the day for him. We may also go get the car inspected - and that always means that we'll sit at the DQ and have an ice cream cone. That should return him to smiling status.

Is it wrong to wish for rain? It's been so dry here, the grass is brown, everything is covered in dust. A nice rainy day would be lovely. While I'm at it, I also wish for cooler weather WITHOUT increased allergies! We only have a few weeks a year when the weather is perfect, and those are always the weeks when the allergy counts are highest.

When I was young I used to spend most of the summer outside; barefoot, running in the grass, sitting under trees with a book. Summer here is too hot to do any of those things. If you are outside barefoot you'll burn your feet. The grass is brown because we're on water rationing. We don't have any big, shady trees to sit under. So I wait patiently for those few weeks a year when the weather seems to want us outside. I live for those weeks. And when they arrive, so do the itchy eyes and runny nose.

I'm going to save up my pennies and move to Tahiti.

Where Has The Week Gone?

2008-09-20T14:36:00.013-05:00

We got back from vacation a week ago. Already it feels like we never left. I always promise myself that the "vacation" mindset will last for months, but it usually fades by the time the vacation laundry is done. Since there was the possibility that we would have Hurricane Ike guests, I did the laundry quickly and the vacation feeling was gone within a day or so.

But, luckily the hurricane didn't destroy our potential guests home, so we didn't have house guests. Now all we're left with are pictures and lots of lollipops (one of the few things that I could buy with our snack tickets and bring home).

Thus far this week, we've adopted a bird and I've been knitting like crazy. I had two KAL's to knit, 5 name cloths for Marilyn, a pair of socks to finish, and a pair of socks that need to be finished. Here's pictures of everything except the socks that aren't ready yet.

As usual, the name cloths will become swiffer sweepers. The princess likes the floor to be shiny and I don't like to dissuade her from cleaning, so she can have as many swiffer covers as she needs.

The man I married and the middle child have been gone most of the week because our local fencing club is hosting a tournament. The middle child fences (and very well, I might add) and the man I married likes to take pictures of fencing - so they make a great pair. So the teen, the smiling child, the princess and I are on our own this weekend.

I took the smiling child and the princess out to Taco Bell for lunch because the smiling child loves Taco Bell burritos more than anything else in the world and he hadn't had one for several weeks. Such a small thing to do for such a huge smile! Then we went to see if our local bookstore had a game magazine that the teen wanted (no luck), and ended up buying the smiling child another book about baseball (he loves baseball almost as much as Taco Bell).

We finally decided that we would make burgers on the grill, so we dropped by the store to get the fixin's. Now the boys are playing video games; the princess is watching tv, the bird is singing and the dog is following me around and would be sleeping at my feet if I were to be kind enough to stay in one place for more than a few minutes.

For the dog's sake, I'm going to sit in the living room with a nice glass of ice tea and knit on my socks. I'm a giver.

Mei Mei Escapes

2008-09-19T18:20:00.005-05:00

Here's the bird story:

When you start to train your little bird friend, you stick your hand in the cage to get them used to sitting on your finger. Apparently the idea is that the bird bonds to you, thinks you're a fellow bird, and when out of the cage, will happily fly back to your finger. Now, I'm not sure how/why this would work - birds don't hang out sitting on each others fingers, but then I'm no bird expert.
Anyway, I was standing there with my hand in the birds cage, and he just flew out! There was lots of running around and screaming - I like to think it was more like controlled chaos; the smiling child took the dog to another room, the middle child turned off the ceiling fan and the poor little bird flew into the wall a few times before finally landing in a corner behind a chair.

Cool headed as always, the brave mom went over, climbed over the chair (no small feat) and picked up a scared bird. Now that I think of it, prior to the wall banging the bird didn't hang upside down in his cage (or get his head stuck in the little ladder that leads to his mirror).

On a more positive note - we found a web site with recorded parakeet/budgie (Hi C!) sounds and we play them for Mei Mei. He listens to the sounds and tweets and chirbles along with the recordings. So sweet.

A Bird, A Dog, My Life

2008-09-18T09:17:00.005-05:00

Confession: My kids like to watch Super Nanny. They call it the naughty kids show. Anyway, there's one scene when the father is totally out of control; the child says that he wants a toy back and the dad replies "I want my life back." Our entire family thinks that this might be one of the funniest lines on television.

So, whenever things get wacky at my house, everyone shouts, "I want my life back." This never fails to bring great guffaws of laughter. Unfortunately, it's true! Aren't there moments in everyone's life when they just wish that they could go back to a simpler, less complicated time? The question then becomes: Just how far do you need to go back in time to get to a simpler life; and would you really want to go back?

With the chaos that is my life (the reavers did it), one might think that I'd want to go back to a child free life. I'm not so sure that's true. While it would be nice to have a child free day or two; I can't imagine my life without my children. What about a life without anyone to worry/care about?

I had my adult, living alone time. It was nice, it was quiet, I wasn't lonely. But I outgrew that and wanted more. I do miss those wonderful days of only having one sweet little baby. The ability to expend all of my energy on my precious child. Unfortunately, you don't realize how fleeting those days are until they're over. I've always been a bid sad that none of my other children got that one on one time; that sense of newness, that my first child had. I know intellectually that each child has a special place in my life, and that each one benefited by being born into a large and loving family. But still, I wonder if they missed out by not being a first child.

We've recently acquired a baby parakeet. A friend of the man I married found himself with a slew of parakeet eggs and was more than happy to share the joy. So now we have a bird. The princess insisted on getting a green bird - the middle child and I wanted a blue/purple one, but the princess won. The princess also wanted a girl bird, but alas, I think that our bird is male (don't tell her).

A bit of quarreling left us with "mei mei" as the name. It is an homage to Firefly, and is a Chinese word with a loose meaning of dear little sister.

Now, I love parakeets. They're cute, easy to take care of, live quite a while and make sweet little sounds. Mei Mei fits right in to my dream. Unfortunately, we didn't consult with Ed.

Ed (who can, incidentally, jump quite high for a dog his size) was instantly interested in the bird. We set the bird cage on the table so that everyone could watch as it just sat there (birds take a bit of time to settle in). Ed wanted to see the bird. When he looked at the bird, he wanted to touch the bird. It should not be a surprise to say that when Ed touched the birds cage, the bird squawked. When the bird squawked, Ed got excited and jumped up on the table.

The bird cage is now sitting on the kitchen counter bar. It's at least four feet off the floor. Ed can jump at least four feet. There's nothing quite as funny as standing by the bird cage, talking to the bird and seeing: Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed as he's jumping up in the air.

For now the bird is safe. He sits in his food dish, and hangs upside down a lot; but he's safe. Tomorrow I'll tell you about his first foray into the house.

Life Lessons From Disney World

2008-09-15T09:47:00.011-05:00

We just got back from two weeks at Disney World. Here are the things I learned from the experience.

1. It IS the humidity.

2. Lines don't get shorter just because you whine.

3. Daddy's sweat marks look like Mickey Mouse.

4. When someone says to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, they really mean it.

5. When a mommy and daughter walk around aimlessly, they still look mah-velous.

6. It is actually possible to provide my family with too much food.

7. Even rich people look frumpy when they're sweaty.

8. Crocs with socks are better when it's hot.

9. You can fit two weeks worth of dirty laundry into four suitcases.

10. I have wonderful kids.

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

2008-08-28T11:25:00.005-05:00

Hormones are a terrible thing when you're getting older. They run your life. They make you cry, they make you scream. Sometimes it feels like the world is spinning so fast that you have to hold on tight or you'll go flying off into space.

I totally know why women take homone replacement. If one little pill a day can relieve these symptoms, then the side affects seem like a small price to pay. Maybe one day I'll break down and just get a prescription, but until then, I'll continue to scream and cry and hold on tight.

It doesn't help at all that I'm living with a pre-pubescent child who is apparently feeling the same things!

For now, I'm planning to keep trying to eat right (although I truly believe that chocolate should be counted as a drug and that my prescription insurance plan should pay for it), get some exercise, get some sleep and try to find humor in each day.

My humor for today: I was complaining to a friend that I was too old for something, and the princess came in and said that 29 wasn't old, and that I wouldn't be old until I looked like grandma.

I'm going to go buy the princess a present.

He Loves Me, He Really Loves Me

2008-08-27T14:10:00.002-05:00

Well, after my tears on Monday, the man I married marched down to the dog boarding place to make them apologize for upsetting me. After lots of "sorry's" it turns out that what they so indelicately called "coping issues" turned out to be that Ed just really, really loves me.

Apparently Ed loves me so much that he just can't seem to cope without me. He doesn't mind me leaving him at home - he's got the house to guard and all; he minds me leaving him somewhere else. He's just worried that I won't be safe and happy if he's not there with me.

After being reassured that the dog place will indeed take good care of our baby, the man I married and I decided that it would be better for everyone concerned if he took Ed to doggie camp and not mom. It's a good thing too, I would have just been crying the whole time anyway.

We never leave our babies, and he's my baby. The man I married knows that Ed's my baby, the kids all know that Ed's the baby of the family. The princess even calls Ed her little brother and says that we need to get Ed a little brother.

So, we'll be leaving our baby in capable hands. The man I married will call the doggie camp from time to time to see how our baby is coping. We'll have fun; we won't worry; everything will be okay (repeat over and over until convinced).

Now I just have to figure out a way to pack without the dog seeing me. We've been told that if he sees us packing it will stress him out. My decision: Stress out the dog or stress out the man I married. You see, the man I married would prefer that I have all of the packing done now - a week ahead of time. But since I have to pack under the cover of darkness, I won't be finished until much closer to departure.

Now I'm stressed. Where's that margarita machine?

Homeschooling, Dogs and the "S" Word

2008-08-26T09:40:00.004-05:00

The biggest question people always ask about homeschooling is about socialization. How do you socialize your kids? Do your kids get enough socialization? I've never had a problem with my kids and socialization. My dog is another story.

Poor Ed has to go to doggie camp while we're on vacation. We tried and tried, but it really won't work to take him along with us; so he's got to go.

We found a place that looks like it should be fun for dogs. Apparently it's not fun for Ed. The dogs are divided into groups and spend the day playing in fenced in yards. They go on a hike in the morning; the take an afternoon nap. Sounds like lots of doggie fun. Not to Ed.

Ed doesn't like to spend the day with other dogs playing in a yard. Ed doesn't believe that he's a dog, and doesn't like the commotion. Now, we have four kids around all day long, so it's not the noise. I really believe that it's because Ed doesn't know he's a dog. He thinks he's a real boy (like Pinocchio).

So, here we are, a week before we leave, trying to help Ed develop the "coping skills" that he apparently lacks. I'm used to people having negative comments about my parenting skills - we do things outside of the norm. I'm confident that we are doing what's best for our children, and they are wonderful kids who have proven us right. Unfortunately, I'm not so secure about my doggie parenting skills. When the doggie place told me that Ed didn't have "coping skills" I was reduced to tears. Multiple questions about how to help him develop coping skills was always met with "We've got trainers who can work with you." I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars to change my wonderful dog. I just want him to not be so sad at the doggie camp.

The man I married and I have lost hours of sleep worrying about poor Ed. Will we be able to enjoy our vacation knowing that Ed is sad? Will Ed suffer permanent damage from this? Will our poor baby be mad at us forever for leaving him?

This morning I decided to Google "dog coping skills" to see if there was any helpful advice. Amazingly, it was all about "We've got trainers who can work with you." Finally I found a little article containing some helpful information. So today we begin the week long attempt at helping Ed to develop his coping skills. First on the list is a visit to Pet's Mart. The we'll drop by a restaurant that lets dogs on the patio.

Wish me luck. My poor heart just can't take the stress!

The Good, The Bad and The Itchy

2008-08-23T16:59:00.005-05:00

First, the good: I finished my August mid month dishcloth for The Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It's pretty, and since I have tons of variegated yarn that I need to use up, it's wonderful.

The bad: Fireants. Why do we have fireants? Normally I'm totally willing to accept that some, otherwise yucky, animals have a place in the ecosystem. But fireants - they serve no purpose that I can even imagine if I try. The poor children of the south can't really ever just run outside in their bare feet to play. They must always be mindful of fireants. Even little bitties understand about fireants.

You really can't get rid of fireants; you can just encourage them to go somewhere else for a while. They're always around, and they always return.

Now to the Itchy: I got hot last night, so I took off my shirt in the middle of the night. I set it on the floor next to the bed. So far, not a problem. Ed woke me up to go outside around 7 am. Still, no problem. I reached down, picked up my shirt and put it on. Problem.

I walked into the kitchen and felt stinging all over. I turned on the light to see what was going on. Fire ants were crawling all over me!! I swatted off what I could and then went in to wake up the man I married so that he could get the little demons off my back.

For some reason, the fire ants had decided to colonize my shirt during the night. Now I know that Ed loves my dirty clothes; but I had always assumed that was because he loves me and likes to be near my smell. Yucky, yes, but it makes sense - he's a dog. But why the fireants? There was no food, no water - just a shirt.

Needless to say, the fireants are now gone. There weren't any that we could find outside of one or two who'd been shaken from the shirt when I picked it up. The shirt is in the laundry (even though I don't normally do laundry on Saturday - this was a special load). I'm a bit gun shy about putting any clothes on, but because the teen would probably die if he saw me without clothes, I'll conquer my fear.

All of this is actually due to hot flashes. Another reason to be a grumpy old lady.

Reading and "Mental Pause"

2008-08-20T11:37:00.004-05:00

This is our second year of using Sonlight for school. The kids all like the books - yeah! Unfortunately, I now have four kids reading a minimum of 2 books each a week. My original plan was to read along with the kids.

That plan flew out the window almost immediately. The teen was reading Scarlet Letter. I kept up for the first two days - then fell behind. I tried to convince him to give me a few days for catch up, and he agreed - but even with that help I couldn't keep up. So, Scarlet Letter was abandoned.

I can usually keep up with reading for the smiling child, but am currently two days behind. My plan is to catch up today. What do they say about the best laid plans?

The books for the middle child and the teen are all hard enough that I really need to have my own copy. The teen and I tried to share a book once and it always worked out that he was actually reading the book at the very moment that I had time to read. So I decided that whenever there is a book with chapters that take me more than ten minutes or so to read, I would just get my own copy.

This is a great plan - we have Half Price bookstores all around us. Since the books are almost always classics, they are generally easy to find. I say "generally" because some of the books have proven impossible to find used. For those books, I order them new and acknowledge that I won't even try to read them.

So there I was, trying to read along with my kids (I don't read the novels aloud because there is always someone who feels the need to either talk or sing or play guitar whenever I start reading), and I was somehow unable to finish my reading.

I finally discovered that my biggest problem is that there is NEVER a quiet moment in my house! I really mean never. Either someone is talking, asking questions, practicing music, or in the case of the princess, just jabbering and singing. I find myself re-reading the same sentence over and over and still not remembering what I read.

You'd think that I'd just start reading at night, but nooooo! It's not quiet then either.

So here I sit, trying to make it through the reading with the smiling child. Luckily (?) I don't have copies of the books the middle child is reading. I've admitted to the teen that, although I really wanted to read My Antonia with him, I just won't be able to do it. Thank goodness that the princess's books are simple. That I can handle. Let me tell you about "Pat the Rat."

Good News:

1. I got an "award" for finishing my socks on Ravelry.

2. The middle child was playing something that sounded so much like Stairway to Heaven, that I have him listening to the opening so he can have something new to play!!

Olympics and Knitting

2008-08-19T12:26:00.002-05:00

Ravelry had a knit along called Ravelympics and I joined. The idea was that you would sign up as part of a group and knit something during the Olympics. I decided to knit socks (the Sock Put). As a member of Team Browncoat I decided to knit my own pattern called "Leaf on the Wind" in honor of Wash.

Well, they're finished! It sure is a lot more fun to knit someone else's pattern, but I may have to try my own design again.
The sad part is that now I've finished my Sockamania socks and my Ravelympics socks for this month, and I'll need to find something else to knit.

Hmmm.......that blue and green yarn is calling my name - maybe the Whale socks? Or I could wind and use the pretty yarn the man I married got for me - but what pattern - maybe the Magic Mirror Socks? No, they don't remind me of leaves and the fall. Whoa - here's a pattern called Falling Leaves! That's just the thing I was looking for. Just gotta remember to make sure the leaves will be falling down when I knit (cause I knit toe-up) - so we don't have a replay of the upside down waterfall debacle.

Music and TV in Our Lives

2008-08-18T16:10:00.008-05:00

Today we had the first little bit of rain in a long time. The Beatles's song Here Comes the Sun keeps going through my mind. Not sure why, cause that song is not about rain - but there's no rhyme or reason to earworms. Anyway, we had to drive to our music/art lessons today and it picked that exact 15 minutes to pour. I'm not going to complain, though, because we REALLY need rain. And to make it even better, the rain meant that it wasn't hot today.

This was the princesses last piano lesson with her teacher. Ms. Katie is moving to Ireland next week. I'm not sure that the princess understands that Ms. Katie won't be back for her next lesson, so we'll have to see how that goes. Fortunately, the princess will be taking piano class with the "big girls" next session, so I'm hoping that the novelty of being considered a big girl will outweigh the fact that there will be a new teacher.

The boy's guitar teacher agreed to let them take group lessons for the next session, so that is wonderful news to my bank account. He really wanted the teen and the middle child to take private lessons; but since it only takes three to make a group, my three boys will be a "group" and lessons will be a lot less costly. The only person is really affects is the smiling child, and he's keeping up with his older brothers (more or less).

We're recently re-discovered our packed away stash of video tapes. One old favorite enjoying a renaissance is Amazing Animals. The teen loved these when he was little, so we have most of the series. Now, ten years later, they're still good shows. I think that watching them can count as science for the day. Don't you hate it when you find a good show for children and then it's gone?

Speaking of great shows for kids - let's hear it for Magic Schoolbus! When I first started homeschooling I would watch that show and feel like a terrible teacher because I didn't take the kids on wonderful field trips like Miss Frizzle. The man I married lovingly pointed out to me that all of the episodes he'd seen were actually impossible field trips anyway. Not sure it helped, but he was sweet to point out an obvious flaw in my logic without making me feel like a goofball.

Feeding Kids

2008-08-14T11:52:00.003-05:00

It's hot again! Not as hot as last week; but then, anything is better than 104°. We've been pretty much stuck in the house during the day, and have been eating at home the whole time.

While it's healthier and cheaper to eat at home, sometimes I really just want a big salad. The teen has us all watching Seinfeld episodes in the afternoon, so the term "big salad" is in our collective consciousness. So now, when I say I want a salad the whole crew replies: "You mean a BIG salad?" And then everyone giggles.

It's lunch time. I don't want another sandwich. I don't want saltines (the princess currently wants saltines). I don't want mac and cheese. I don't want leftovers. There's nothing cool for lunch in the freezer. I want a big salad.

How disgusting do I have to make going out to lunch sound before I can go get a big salad and not have to share? Will I need to put tofu on it? Will it need to include sea urchin? The smiling child won't want any as long as there's anything green in it, so he's not a problem (at least as far as having to share a salad!). The middle child would eat the tofu just to share food - he loves to share everyone's food. The princess will eat anything. The teen will eat most anything; and he doesn't make sick faces when he's picking out things he doesn't like (unlike the smiling child).

So, there you have it. Most of my kids would be willing to get a big salad for lunch. Now to find a place.....

Socks, Yarn and Wonderful Husbands

2008-08-09T19:00:00.002-05:00

I finished my Sockamania socks today. The pattern is "Little Flowers" and they are so cute. I used Panda Cotton for the first time, and it's cozy (although a bit of a pain to knit with). Cotton yarn means that I can wear them even during these 100° days.

The man I married and I decided to hit a local Home and Garden show today. We've been talking about re-doing the awning on the back porch, and also doing some landscaping, so this seemed like a great place to hang out. While there wasn't really any information on what we wanted to do, there were lot's of gimme's. We got coozies, highlighters, caps and even two thermal coffee mugs! Score!

After we finished the show we were hungry, so we went to one of those restaurants that we always think of eating at after we've already finished eating somewhere else. Lot's of veggies - this place gives you free refills on the veggies!

Then, the man I married wanted to go look through a local "green" store, so off we went. Since this store is right across the street from a yarn store, we decided to check that out too.

Well, and here's the wonderful part; the man I married actually picked out some new sock yarn for me! I usually buy pink/purple/red yarn, and he found this beautiful orange/brown yarn that he said I should get. This yarn reminds me so much of fall. Totally out of my comfort zone, colorwise, but they'll be so beautiful (and I think I saw a smidge of purple in there too!).

I know what yarn I'm using next (after I finish my Homage to Wash socks). Knitting with fall color socks can only help cope with this heat. Yeah - for the man I married! He knows me well.

Legos in the Computer Age

2008-08-07T09:31:00.006-05:00

The smiling child and the princess were playing Lego's. Normally the smiling child goes off to a protected corner and builds elaborate Lego creations and then lets us see; but this morning he was feeling benevolent and allowed the princess to play along.

Not wanting to disrupt the magic, I quietly eavesdropped while pretending to ignore them. The conversation went something like this:

Princess: Can I just email my order to you or do I need to do it online?

Smiling Child: Our internet connection is down, you'll have to wait.

P: Do you have any girl clothes in your inventory?

SC: I'll have to check my database. Wait, the internet is up again; you can order online.

P: Will you deliver it tomorrow? Do I have to pay extra for that?

This went on and on. Finally the decision was made that the Smiling Child didn't have any girl clothes and wasn't interested in delivering girl clothes anyway, so they just had a war with Lego horses.

Then the middle child went in to practice guitar; the Princess had to accompany him with her chimes and the Smiling Child went in to read.

There's never quiet, but at least the Lego war is over.

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

2008-08-06T17:21:00.004-05:00

Hurricane Edouard hit Texas yesterday. Now, we never want anyone to have damage; but we were hoping that we would get a bit of rain from it.

What we actually got were a few drops of rain and a day of only 95° (a brief respite from our days and days of over 100° weather).

It has been so bad that the princess brought out her Christmas CD and we listened to it in the car. Unfortunately, we also had the air conditioning going and were sucking on ice cubes, but it was fun.

I continue to knit socks in the hope that one day it will dip below 90° and I'll be able to wear them. Until then, I can wear them with crocs and shorts. Amazingly, wool socks aren't any hotter than cotton socks. Although, when it's this hot, no socks at all (no shoes, no shirt, no problem).

A snow cone machine looks great about now.

And Now We Weave

2008-08-01T16:48:00.011-05:00

My local basket weaving store was offering a class. This was the basket we were supposed to weave.

This is the basket I made. Not too bad.

When we lived in Florida a lot of the people were weavers, so I joined in. My complete experience in weaving involved two small baskets and a lot of left over reed. So, after the class I asked how to tell if the reed was still usable. When I came home, I checked the reed stash and found that it was all still good!

And now we weave!

The pottery was a lot of fun, but really needs to be done outside (we don't have a big enough house to have a room dedicated to pottery). The basket weaving can be done inside (yeah!) and as a plus, involves water. Great for those of us who never really outgrew water play.

I can even sit outside with my feet in a kiddie pool, reed soaking along with my hot tootsies, and watch my kids play. I'll just need to convince the dog that the reed isn't for him to chew on.

MAS*H and Music

2008-07-31T10:55:00.003-05:00

The middle child has been trying to appease me by learning to play the M*A*S*H theme on the guitar. It is truly a wonderful thing to be able to hear the music from my very favorite TV show. Currently he's in my bedroom watching the DVD (over and over) to copy the theme song. Since he's able to play by ear, it shouldn't be long before he gets it beautifully.

Next, I'm sure he'll be trying to get his brothers to play harmony. This is so much nicer than the days of nothing but Ironman and Smoke on the Water - almost makes the guitar lessons worth it. And, as an added bonus - I might just have another M*A*S*H fan in the house!!!

In other news: I almost had a mommy cry today. I thought that the princess had finished her kindergarten math book. Noooooo! I'm not ready for that! Luckily, I discovered that she has two chapters left. How long can I make those chapters last?

The smiling child is happily doing his schoolwork with a pony tail in his hair. His golden curls have gotten so long that we pull his hair back when he needs to get serious. The princess says that it makes him look like a real guitar player. I never thought of myself as a mother of rockers, but it looks like it's up to me to parent the future rockers of America.

Ed Eats Bread

2008-07-28T17:40:00.003-05:00

The man I married came in very early this morning and told me not to eat the bread. I was still asleep and agreed that I wouldn't if that was what he wanted.

After a few minutes, I wondered why he cared about the bread. I still had half a loaf, didn't I? If I was running low on bread, I would have time before he got home from work to run to the store and buy more bread. Why couldn't I eat the bread?

All this wondering woke me up, so I straggled into the kitchen to give him what for about being so darned possessive of the bread.

Well, it turns out that he was just concerned that my "yuck" factor would come into play when I found out that our dear dog had decided to have himself a little midnight snack.

Now, you remember that Ed was supposed to be a Maltipoo - a little 10 pound thing. Let me tell you, Ed ain't no Maltipoo! He's cute and white like a Maltipoo, but he's twice the size of a Maltipoo. He's a Maltipoo on steroids.

It seems that Ed has finally grown enough to reach far enough onto the counter so that he can get food - namely my quite expensive, specialty shop, delicious and still more than 3/4 left of a loaf butterscotch walnut bread!

I'd been making the kids take teeny slices so that it would last longer; but it looks like Ed couldn't reach the knives, so he just dug right in. If the man I married hadn't told me, I would have thought that the kids had gone bread crazy. The bag wasn't even ripped, just torn open a little. Considerate Ed doesn't like to leave a mess. Maybe he thought I wouldn't notice?

Anyway, now we don't have any fancy cakey bread to snack on, and Ed isn't hungry for dog food. When the doggie boarding place asked if we were having any problems with our dog, I didn't mention the bread thing. As long as they don't have any expensive butterscotch walnut bread out, we should be fine.

Summer, Baseball and Little Boys

2008-07-23T10:01:00.004-05:00

Part of my waxing nostalgic somehow comes back to what I think should be the "real" meaning of summer. I grew up in Southern California where summer days rarely got much into the 90's and kids ran around in bare feet, enjoying popsicles, climbing trees and riding bicycles.

The reality of Texas summers is that it's been at or over 100° nearly every day for the last three months. If you run around barefoot outside you're likely to get serious burns on your feet. If you ride your bike outside the perimeter of our immediate neighborhood you're taking your life in your hands. Popsicles have too much sugar and artificial ingredients for kids these days. The lone tree in our yard wouldn't support the weight of more than the princess.

So, we're left with the last real joy of childhood and summer - baseball.

We're lucky enough to have a minor league team in our city. And it's a minor league team in the best sense - they have fun giveaways, crazy theme nights, snow cones and foot long corn dogs.

The smiling child and the man I married have been going to the games for a few months. They go early so that the smiling child can collect autographs (on baseballs) of all of the players. One of the great things about a minor league team is that they really appreciate the fans. The smiling child knows the names and stats of his favorite players. He watches and cheers for them when they finally get their chance to move up to the big leagues; and he welcomes them back when they return to the minors.

The giveaways this year have been hats, shirts; the usual stuff. Finally there was a giveaway that we (the entire family) couldn't resist - Mr. Potato Head dressed like a baseball player!

We love Mr. Potato Head!! We've got your usual - the mustache, earrings, red nose. We've also got the Disney versions - Tinkerbell, Mickey Mouse ear hats, Mickey Mouse ice cream cones, glass slippers. We've got Darth Tater; we're saving our pennies for Indiana Jones Tater. But to get a free minor league tater! Now, that was something worth getting our shoes on for.

So, we bought "berm" seating (sitting on the grass out past the outfield - as Ellen DeGeneres would say - the "riff raff" area). Normal tickets are $12, berm tickets are $6; so the smiling child and the man I married got their usual seats, the rest of us got berm seats (cause Tater Heads are certainly worth $6, but not really worth $12).

We waited, and the day finally arrived. The princess woke up with "today's baseball day" on her mind. We went in two cars because we knew the smiling child would want to stay for the game, but were pretty sure that the rest of the crew would not.
Parking is $5. The man I married paid his fee and drove in. I asked the money taking guy if there was a discount for "wives who are here involuntarily" and he told me that he'd been there, and let me in for free!!! The man I married was amazed and said that it made the tater heads even cheaper. Gotta love that man.

Now, let me say, we were at the ballpark more than 2 hours before the game started. Didn't want to miss out on the tater heads! Luckily they open the gates about two hours before the game, so we only stood outside the gate for about 15 minutes. The smiling child was thrilled! It was the first time he'd been first in line. Also, it was our ticket taker's first day on the job, so the smiling child got to have his ticket scanned early so that the man could learn what to do.

We finally got in, got our tater heads and headed off to the seats. All the princess knew was that she was to learn all the ropes from her older brother. She happily followed along after him as he pointed out all of the rules and interesting sights. All we heard were snippets:

- Don't stand there, you'll get hit by foul balls

- That's where we get popcorn

- Those aren't good seats

- That's where I got my mug

Being a boy, he didn't point out what I wanted to know - where's the bathroom?

After about five minutes sitting in the seats we were glad we'd brought two cars. The princess wanted cotton candy, popcorn and to jump/run up and down the stairs. She was easily placated with a corn dog and some cotton candy to eat at home. The middle child got a corn dog, coke and a snow cone (too sweet - gave it to the princess -- now she's got cotton candy and a snow cone?).

The man I married was happy that we left. The smiling child got a bat from one of the players (which will take up a position of honor in his room), and they caught a shirt from the air cannon shirt throwing machine.

The princess spent a good two hours bouncing off the walls once we got home. The middle child said he'd like to actually stay long enough next time to see some baseball game. I thought it might be okay to stay for the game if I could sit in those rocking chairs in the outfield and knit. The man I married wondered why in the world you'd knit at a baseball game.

Aaaah, the pure joys of summer are alive and well.

Cable Socks

2008-07-20T13:25:00.003-05:00

I finished the Celtic Cable Socks from Sockamania. We had a choice this month of doing a "whole" sock or a shortie sock. Since it's been 100° nearly everyday for two months, I chose a shortie sock.

When I pulled out the plastic tub of sock yarn, the man I married walked into the room and asked what I was doing. I told him I was selecting yarn for my July socks. He carefully studied the picture of the sock to be made and looked through all of my yarn (picture soon). Then he picked out some purple and black Tofutsies yarn. I actually had two skeins of the same color - I'd purchased one and I'd received the same color in a yarn swap.

Being the yarn conservationist (i.e. kook) that I am, I decided to make one shortie sock from each skein so I'd still have enough yarn to make a full pair from each skein. Apparently I didn't think ahead - I could have returned one skein and gotten another color; but it's too late now.

The pattern was pretty straight forward. Plain sock, very fancy cabled heel. I got to the cables on the first heel. I read the instructions several times. They seemed odd to me, but since Anni's patterns have always been wonderful, I decided to trust them.

All was well. The pattern is 16 rows long. I made it through the first 16 rows of cables; very proud of myself. Then, and I swear I read the pattern at least seven times, I thought the pattern said to do row 11 and then continue on to the sock. (For non knitters, you read patterns by the row, and for some socks you work on the heel and then reconnect to the front of the sock).

So, thinking that the directions were odd, but trusting Anni; I did row 11 and continued on.

Well, that was wrong. What the pattern ACTUALLY said was to do row 1-11! I'd missed 10 rows of pattern. Not only did I have to un-knit three wrong rows, but two of the rows were cable rows. That meant that I had to un-knit stitches that were in the back or in the front. Eeek! I almost threw in the towel.

But - I'd sworn that I would always at least give it my best try to get each months patterns finished for this group. So, I carefully pulled out the stitches that were wrong and knit them again.

Sometimes it's the strangest things that motivate us. For these socks it was learning that even if I made a huge mistake (not life altering, but still big), I could fix it and move on. Not exactly a "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" type thing, but still a learning experience. It's good for my kids to see me mess up and keep going. It's good for me to mess up and keep going.

Also, it's hot here and these are the only socks that I've knit that aren't wool.

Knitting Fun

2008-07-18T09:29:00.016-05:00

I am lucky to be a test knitter for Marilyn. At her site she designs knit cloth patterns so that you can have a dishcloth (or an afghan square) with your name on it.

Usually I'm knitting names I don't need, and I make them into swiffer sweeper cloths. Since the princess loves to swiffer sweep the floor, and since I love for her to swiffer sweep the floor, and since swiffer sweeper disposable covers cost so much, I started knitting covers.

We use our knitted cloths for napkins, and after listening to my kids say things like "Who's Brooke?" I figured out that I could easily turn my test knitting cloths into swiffer sweeper cloths. This continued happily along: I test knit cloths for Marilyn, and had an expanding stash of swiffer sweeper cloths.

Then, one wondrous day Marilyn sent a cloth that said "I [heart] Nascar." Well, the smiling child is almost obsessed with Nascar. He was tickled to have a Nascar cloth and waited patiently while I knitted "his" cloth. When it was finally finished he couldn't wait to take possession. I take pretty pictures of the finished cloths to send to Marilyn, and the Nascar cloth has his little hand in the picture because he saw me with the camera, saw the flash (I take a few pictures to see which one is best), and figured I was ready to give him the cloth.

Cute, but not the end of the story.

The very next cloth that Marilyn sent for me to knit was a cloth that said "We [heart] LittleBit." Well, the man I married named his photography business LittleBit Studios! We began to wonder if Marilyn knew us! What are the odds that I'd be sent two slightly wacky cloths that both related to our lives?

What will she send next? A cloth that says "I [heart] fencing" for the middle child? A cloth that says "I [heart] to read" for the teen? Surely someone has requested a cloth that says "I [heart] the princess" for the princess.

We'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, if you heart Nascar or you heart LittleBit, Marilyn has a pattern for you.

Books

2008-07-17T10:48:00.009-05:00

We've got too many books. Folks we know (homeschoolers) always say there is no such thing as too many books; but we've got too many books.
The man I married and I have an agreement that if a child wants a book, they can have a book. Our children love to read; love books. But enough is enough.

The princess is almost completely independent in her reading and has outgrown most picture books. There is the obvious exception of books like Magic School Bus and Berenstain Bears, but for the most part, she ignores picture books.

We've also got a lot of books that are not being read. My children don't like to "like" a book that an older sibling has enjoyed, so we are the proud owners of book series that no one will read.

So, we've got too many books.

The middle child and I are in the process of making "sell it - keep it - trade it" boxes right now. This entails bringing three HUGE apple boxes and the laptop into the living room. The middle child types the ISBN number into paperbackswap.com to see if anyone wants the book. If so, it gets listed; if not it goes on a gigantic list with a minimal price to post to our homeschooling group. Then, if no one wants it in the homeschooling group, the list will go to craig's list. If the book is still unwanted, it'll go to half price books (or Goodwill if I'm too sick of it).

I'm hoping that this whole process takes less than two weeks. I'm also hoping that I can keep the princess out of the boxes. She tends to decide she really loves anything I'm getting rid of.

Wish me luck!

Visiting Mount Gonnaspewa

2008-07-15T13:56:00.004-05:00

Or: Why I'd Rather Be in Hawaii

The toy mess in my house is like an active volcano. It's gonna blow, it's gotta blow - it's just a matter of when.
I send the kids in to "clean up that *&$!!# mess" and end up with a worse problem than I started with. The middle child ends up bringing one item at a time to the princess and announcing in his best stage whisper that he's brought another one of her things to her to put away. The smiling child ceases to smile and gets quite teary eyed at the thought of perhaps having to get rid of any of his treasures. The princess hides and creates a mess in another room. In the end, the teen sends them all out of the room and makes a valiant attempt at blocking the inevitable volcanic flow of toys.

Unfortunately, it's up to mom to deal with the problem. The man I married is sympathetic, but isn't home to deal with the flow.

So here we sit, in a small oasis in the middle of flowing lava; the volcano grumbling and shaking, occasionally sending ash into the atmosphere. We know that the blast is coming, but don't know when. Should we grab our most precious treasures and flee? Should we stay and make what will be an inevitably futile attempt to protect our homestead?

Luckily for me, my life does come with a soundtrack. Currently it's Malaguena. I've always maintained that people would lead happier lives if we all had a laugh track, but I guess I'll have to settle for a soundtrack.

Here's hoping out guitar teacher finds new sheet music for the boys next week. Right now they're trying to find the theme to M*A*S*H, knowing that it's my favorite show. Unfortunately, the song is "Suicide is Painless."

Toad Lickin' in Texas

2008-07-14T16:31:00.002-05:00

Well, it's an urban legend that's actually true. Don't lick toads - you'll get sick. Unfortunately Ed didn't read the warnings and has apparently been licking toads. Let me tell you, it sure makes a dog sick.

He's always had fun chasing the toads when they're around, but I guess he's never gotten a juicy one before. Without going into details, he got sick Saturday night. I woke up to a lovely mess on Sunday morning. The rest of the day he seemed relatively normal. A bit sleepy, but we decided it was because he must have been up all night.

Late Sunday, he was very pathetic. Didn't even ask us to rub his belly when we came near. Since it was late, we decided to wait and see how he felt in the morning.

This morning he seemed better. Still a bit schmoopy, but at least he wanted his belly rubbed. So, being the techno savvy people that we are, we Googled dogs licking toads and found that it's true! Licking toads can make a dog sick.

Ed seems to be surviving the Terrible Toad Lick of '08. Now we have to go outside with him to keep the goofy mutt from lickin' toads. The boys seem kinda excited to catch the toads. We may have a new home based business brewing here.

Who Says Math Isn't Fun?

2008-07-12T17:32:00.003-05:00

The teen had a problem. He's on the last chapter of the Algebra II book and finally decided that he really needed a new calculator. Up until that point he'd been making due with a $30 calculator that he'd had for the past few years; but after spending a few months pressing 13 keys to get to the answer that a nicer calculator would reach with just one key, he asked for a new calculator.

Seemed like a simple enough request. He's about to start a pre-calculus book and needed a stronger calculator. How hard could it be? Super mom would just check with her trusty online buddies and see which calculator was best and then go to the local Target and buy one.

Whoa, slow down. Not as simple a task as one would assume. Finding out which calculator was needed was easy (TI 84 Plus), but life is not so cooperative. Super mom loaded up the two youngest kids and headed off to Target.

First, any calculator over $40 was locked up, and on the bottom racks. Old ladies can't just bend over, adjust their bifocals, and read the specifics on a calculator when it's only 2 feet from the ground. Especially when the princess takes any bending over of mom to mean that it's time for a piggy back ride.

After finding a very nice employee to unlock the calculators, Super mom realized that not only was there a TI 84 Plus; there was also a TI 84 Plus Silver and a TI 84 Plus Platinum! The nice employee unlocked all three security racks and let me look at all of them at one time. Unfortunately, she also insisted on standing right beside me to make sure I didn't loose my mind and create some kind of havoc in the store.

So there I stood, three calculators in hand; the princess and the smiling child alternately standing next to me and bounding off down the isle; trying to decide which one of the TI 84 Plus calculators I wanted. I couldn't see any difference on the key pad, so I bought the cheapest one, figuring that if it wouldn't work for calculus it would work for the middle child to use in Algebra next year.

I paid my $100 for the calculator and brought it home - quite proud of my achievement. The teen looked at the calculator through that lovely, only a nuclear blast will open it plastic packaging, and said that it didn't have the key he was looking for. We looked through the 200 some page instruction manual and decided that the key was apparently no longer needed in the math world and he should just skip that problem in the book.

Another catastrophe averted.

Just to show that he was actually using and loving his calculator, the teen came in this morning and showed me what he could do with his fancy new calculator - here's a picture.

Oy vey.

All Tucked In

2008-07-10T16:04:00.003-05:00

I went into the bedroom to picture. The dolls were all tucked in and asleep (although their eyes don't close). The princess had changed their diapers and fed them and put them down for a nap. These days she loves pretending that I've had a new baby and since I'm not as accommodating as she'd like, she has to pretend.

Sadly, one of the baby's lost a leg and needed repair. As I was putting the leg back into place (requiring me to hold the doll upside down, naked), she turned her back and told me to tell her when I was finished. As I pronounced the doll "cured" she informed me that we were just going to say that I had merely changed a diaper. I guess the memory of Alice loosing her head was still a painful thing.

The story of Alice:

We were driving 70 mph down the highway on our way to visit relatives and the princess was happily in her car seat playing with her doll Alice. Alice has beautiful red hair and is an 18" doll that was the favorite playmate of the princess at that time. Well, she was combing Alice's hair when the head flew off. I mean, it really flew! Good thing the windows were closed. Anyway, the princess screamed out in horror and her loving brothers burst out laughing.

As the princess screamed that Alice was dead, trusty mom pulled out a paperclip and cut off some yarn (yeah, I was knitting), and put Alice's head back on. That trip is forever known as the time Alice's head came off.

Well, apparently the princess is still having nightmares about Alice and her head. So we just went along with the story that the doll needed a diaper change.

FYI, if you're ever traveling, always keep yarn and a paperclip in the car in case someone looses their head.

Memory Lane Monday

2008-07-07T16:51:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been reminiscing about the world of my youth. It's interesting what people remember. When I was in college (the first time I was around a lot of people of different ages) one of the things we always talked about was "Where were you when JFK was killed?" Tragic events tend to cement themselves in our memories, and that was certainly one of them.

That day in 1963 symbolized the loss of innocence for America. It was also a day so powerful that it seems that everyone knows exactly what they were doing when they heard the news. So, in college, the questions you asked were "what is your major?" and "where were you when JFK died?"

I've realized lately that close to half of the country wasn't even alive then.

Then we watched a show about the first man on the moon. The man I married and I were talking to the children about our memories of that day. As they watched the show they commented on the poor quality of the pictures and the low tech look of the space capsules. We remembered how amazing the whole thing was - how entire families were glued to their little black and white tv sets - and all the kids could say was that the IMAX space station film was so much better.

My kids have joked about how dinosaurs were probably around when we were kids, but they really do have a hard time believing that tv wasn't always in color. Or that we only had a few stations. When we tried to get the kids to get excited about the Tournament of Roses parade, they said that it was boring!

But there's hope! For generations little boys have bonded over baseball stats, and that continues. The smiling child has taken a liking to baseball (we have a local AAA team) and often rattles off the stats for players. He also has the wonderful luck to be able to watch players move up to the "show" after he's seen them play and gotten their autographs.

This somehow gives me hope for America. We'll keep boring our children with memories of the past and rewarding them for their feigned interest with homemade ice cream. Nothing is as bad as it seems when you're eating fresh from the bucket ice cream on a warm summer evening.

How To Make Your Mother Crazy

2008-07-06T15:55:00.002-05:00

The princess was the last one to get hand knit socks. She'd wanted some pale pink socks, but one of my KAL's had a cute pattern that I thought would look good with pink so I talked her into it. From the start these were cute socks. They looked like cotton candy, or maybe peppermints. Anyway, they were easy to knit and turned out really cute.

Here's where the problem lies. I finished one sock and the princess wanted to wear it while I was finishing the other sock. Mind you, all I had to do was finish the heel and then weave in the ends - just a fraction of time in the sock knitting universe. So she was happily running around in one sock while I worked on the second sock.

I drank coffee and worked on her sock. Dreamily planning to make myself a matching pair - is there anything cuter (but not terribly annoying) as matching mother daughter socks? I don't think so.

The last little piece of yarn was carefully woven in, the needles were put away, the camera was ready (gotta take a picture to post completed socks 'ya know). I called for the princess to bring in her naked foot so that the socks could be a pair for the first time.

In runs my precious youngest and informs me that the sock is lost! It's been less than an hour since the sock was completed and now it was LOST!!! I told her to get her bum into the bedroom and find that sock. No use, I was informed, the sock was gone for good.

At this point, I marched in to tell the man I married that he needed to get in there and tell his daughter that she'd better find that sock. I mean, it wasn't even photographed yet, and I needed to provide pictorial evidence that the pair of socks had been completed. I'm not entirely certain if I was more upset that she'd lost the sock or that I hadn't taken a picture yet; but I digress.

The man I married told me to calm down, surely the sock was somewhere in the house. He'd never heard of aliens coming down to our world to steal single socks - wasn't that the domain of washing machines?

Anyway, after a half hour of everyone in the house looking for a small pink sock it was found. Right under the bed where it was supposed to be. As I muttered something about no one caring about anything I did for them the socks were put on the princess's feet and photographed before they became lost again; and I swore never to make another pair of socks for another living being again.

That is until I cast on the next pair.

So I'm Avoiding Work

2008-07-03T09:01:00.006-05:00

Old people always need to keep learning new things or they'll become stagnant (and they'll develop "old people" brains). The thing I decided to learn today is how to put a banner across the blog.

The first thing I discovered is that the picture needs to be long and narrow or it will just look like a little picture - not what I was hoping for. Then, as I was clicking from one thing to another, I ended up gravitating to a Firefly site on Ravelry. Let me tell you, those knitting Firefly fans are fun! Here are a few pictures of the wacky things they've created in homage to the Jayne hat. A Jayne golf club cover, a Jayne hangy for the rear view mirror and a Jayne tree ornament. Does this inspire or repulse? You be the judge, just don't judge me! I'm thinking very seriously of getting some solid color yarn and making Jayne socks.

But I digress. I found a site with lots of graphic stuff, and found some stuff labeled for banners. So, I clicked and fiddled, and came up with a Serenity graphic. Not sure it's exactly what I want as a banner, but it's there and it sorta fits. Now I just have to figure out how to make the edges a bit rounder, and the fit more exact.

Now that there's a banner of sorts (won't last long - I'm looking for something more "me"), it's on to more pressing issues. Gotta finish the pink scarf for the princess, gotta get the beans a'cooking, gotta get ready to make ice cream this afternoon, gotta fix the vacuum cleaner, gotta get the laundry going, and gotta convince the princess that her new music thing MUST be used with headphones so that the rest of us don't go loopy.

And Now We Weave

2008-07-02T14:55:00.005-05:00

I took a class last weekend at the local weaving store and got to bring the loom home to finish the project. The nice loom lady said that she didn't need the looms back for a week, so we could take our time to finish up. Well, it only took me about an hour and I was finished. We were supposed to bring the loom back with our scarf on it and she would show us how to complete our looming work.

I ended up taking it back on Tuesday and lamented that I had thought of buying some additional yarn and making another scarf. Well, sweetie that she is, the loom lady checked and said I could take the loom home for an additional week! Now I had 13 more days to weave. The smiling child and I bought some more yarn and came home to weave til we dropped.

I finished a burnt orange scarf for the smiling child and have started a fluffy pink scarf for the princess. In this process I've learned that some yarns are just not meant to be woven. EEEWWWW! Too late to back out now, but never use stretchy, fluffy yarn to weave. I almost pulled the whole thing out with the intention of just knitting the scarf.

The middle child finished his big weaving project on our tapestry loom. I really didn't give him much instruction - the loom didn't come with instructions. Actually, I just gave him some general weaving information and let him work it out. I'm currently trying to convince him that he should make us all place mats. Grandma would love a table runner, don't you think?

Our cupboards have been bare lately, and the grocery bill really showed it today. I've taken to filling the car up before it gets empty to avoid the sticker shock; now I know I need to go to the grocery store before we run out of everything. Not only is it too much money, but my car could barely hold all of the food. On the plus side, we're having homemade ice cream after dinner tonight. Yum! Not sure if it's a money saver, but it will remind the hubby and me of our childhoods.

What Kind of Ant Are You?

2008-06-30T11:14:00.008-05:00

My life today has reminded me of ants. Not the beautiful, organized lines of ants quietly going about their business in an orderly fashion.

No - I mean crazy ants. No order, no method to their madness. Just a bunch of busy movement from place to place. Do they ever get anything accomplished? Probably, but only because they're ants and there's a lot of them. Perhaps there's a method to their madness.

Within the past fifteen minutes or so I've:

-folded 1/3 load of towels
-hung up 5 princess dresses
-assisted the smiling child with 4 division problems
-listened to the princess read a story about a big bug
-been questioned by the fencer as to why "The Westing Game" fits into the current reading schedule
-assured the teen that the book he found on a bookshelf is the same book that is on another bookshelf and is okay to read
-okayed each individual section of the newspaper to go to recycling
-pushed the dog off the unfolded laundry on the bed
-fed the princess a very late breakfast
-turned the dryer on again (the last load is still on the bed)
-washed the dogs feet (it finally rained a little bit)
-refocused the smiling child on long division
-retied the warp on the fencer's weaving project
-printed letters so the princess can learn to write "but"

So, whenever I wonder why I never seem to accomplish anything, I'll remember the crazy ants. They're constantly following a path that no one can see; a seemingly chaotic path. But, at the end of the day, they find their way home to the nest; dinner in hand. Family fed - task accomplished. Are their lives better or worse for the chaos? Who knows, who cares. For now, I shall be content with my crazy ant status, and remember to be grateful that my life's not like a fire ant invasion.

Tennis Takes Over Our Lives

2008-06-26T10:22:00.010-05:00

The boys started tennis lessons in September and are HOOKED! It's rare that we find something everyone likes, and they love tennis. It doesn't hurt that our tennis teacher, Ms. Sarah, is wonderful. Somehow she manages to take a bunch of kids with a huge range of skills and turn it all into a fun class. Even the princess likes to go to tennis - doesn't hurt that we usually go to Starbucks for the first half hour.

Anyway, DS3 (the maniac) has discovered Wimbledon. Now he begs to watch the matches on TV. He talks about the players, he's read up on the players, and he has his favorites. Not sure if he actually likes to watch tennis or if it's another method of avoiding school; but, since my sports goal for the kids is to have them learn "life sports" then this interest in tennis is good?

Off to get the princess "one of those floaty jackets" so she can feel more secure at the pool. She likes to say that she knows how to swim and can breathe underwater, but mom's not so sure.

Every Day's A Party

2008-06-25T15:44:00.006-05:00

What if you threw a party and only socks showed up? It would look like this:

I finally found a pattern for my stars and stripes yarn. This month Anni gave us two patterns to choose from and I picked this one. The pattern is called "Rainforest" and looks like lovely waterfalls. Well, I did the pattern toe up and was happily knitting along when I realized that while the pretty waterfalls looked lovely from my viewpoint, when I was standing up and actually wearing the socks they would be upside down! My socks (stand on your head and you'll see what I mean) look more like theater curtains pulled aside than waterfalls, but they're wonderful none the less.

Since it's so hot here, my poor wool socks will be living in the drawer with all of my other hand knit socks for quite some time. DH and the kids have the right idea - they ask me to knit them shortie socks in a cotton blend yarn and then they can wear their socks all of the time. Those socks are pretty quick to knit, but they are boring. I always have a fancy pair of wool socks and a plain pair of shortie socks on the needles. The best thing about knitting plain Jayne socks is that I can take them anywhere and knit without having to worry about a pattern. If I knit and chat while I'm trying to concentrate on a pattern all hell breaks loose.

Speaking of Jayne, my kids are all bugging me to make them Jayne hats. I made a baby one for a friend, but didn't get around to making any for the kids. Goodness knows I've got enough yarn - I bought cheapo acrylic yarn and could make three more hats out of it. They won't be authentic, but they'll be washable. And besides, I make a mean pom pom.

Forecast Today: HOT!

2008-06-24T10:51:00.005-05:00

It's going to be hot again today. The summer weather is always hot. I don't know why they even bother to forecast the weather - it's always hot, never cool, never cloudy, never rainy. Just hot.

It's a Cat In The Hat kind of day.

The rain did not come.

It was too hot to play.

So we sat in the house

All that hot, hot, sad day.

I sat there with four kids.

We sat there, us four.

And I said, "How I wish

Some fun would come to our door."

Too hot to go out

And too hot to swim.

So we sat in the dark,

A mom and her kin.

So all we could do was to

Sit!

And fight with each other.

And sometimes we knit.

And then

Something went BUZZ!

And that buzz was because...

The dryer was finished. Back to chores. So much for Cat In The Hat, back to reality. It was fun while it lasted. Now to figure out something to do.

Whatever happened to the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer? They weren't spent in day after day of 100° heat. The kids can't ride their bikes anywhere except around the block - we're surrounded by busy streets with no sidewalks. A simple ride down to the corner store for ice cream cones is a thing of the past - we'd surely be smooshed if we even attempted that.

So, we sit inside during the heat of the day (for those of you who live in more pleasant climates, that's between 10 am and 4 pm). Our local library has fewer books than we do, so that's not much of an option. The kids have already finished their school work, and are almost finished practicing their music. We can always start lunch a bit early, but then what?

We've been going back and forth between movies and reading and games. Maybe I'll pull out the backgammon board again. Unfortunately games often start fights, and then everyone ends up pouting in a separate room. We could always go right to the punishment stage, but that seems too easy...

I think I'm going to go to the "post office" again. Amazingly it looks just like a Starbucks inside. Go figure.

Say What?

2008-06-19T13:57:00.006-05:00

This is why I am loosing my mind.

Princess: Mom, smell Eddie's balls.

Mom: What????

Princess: Eddie's balls smell terrible.

Being conscientious dog owners we've had our dog spayed or neutered, so I couldn't imagine what she was talking about. Then, as the ball was shoved in my face for a smell, I realized that she was talking about the little tennis balls we'd purchased for the dog so he'd stop playing with the teeny balls he keeps finding, and not end up suffocating and falling dead on the floor.

By the way, Eddie's balls smell awful.

Socks for the Boy

2008-06-12T18:38:00.002-05:00

I made socks for my honey, for my oldest and for my third boy. The youngest one waited so patiently. He really wanted mom to knit him his own socks. He even went to the yarn store to pick out just the perfect yarn (and it's burnt orange, like the Longhorns he adores).

The sock yarn sat in the dark recesses of my closet, and still the boy waited.

Another pair of socks for dad, and still the boy waited.

The older brother wore his mom-made socks and waved them in the boy's face, and still the boy waited.

He was patient. He even learned to knit to entice mom into knitting with him (and hoping that she would knit on his socks).

Finally it happened. Mom had the needles available. Mom had the yarn. The socks were cast on. The boy offered to try them on as each row was knit. He wished he had smaller feet. When it was time to turn the heel he watched and wondered how the magic happened.

The first sock was finished. The boy carefully sat and wore one sock. Knit as fast as you can mom - the second sock was needed.

At last they were finished. The boy smiled, and slipped his feet into his own mom-knit socks. They were perfect. A few moments for mom to take a picture and then the shoes went on.

The socks help him to ride faster and run farther than he'd ever imagined.

If only mom-made socks were available to everyone - the world would be a better place.

Worms Live In The Dirt

2008-06-12T10:14:00.015-05:00

One day the princess came in and declared to dh "Worms live in the dirt." It was just a statement. She's full of declarative statements. Yesterday she came to me and said, "Dogs don't get their ears pierced until they're married." How can you argue with that?

Backyard Ballistics is a popular book at our house right now. The children have been promised that this summer we will go to the movies twice a month and work our way through the less destructive activities in the book. Right now I'm trying to find projects that don't require explosions. Since we've had quite a dry spell the grass is quite flammable and I don't want to be responsible for burning down our neighborhood. We might start with a simple pneumatic missile or a flinger. Who doesn't like a good fling now and then?

We're also going to go around today and sign up for all of the summer reading freebies. Since we read all summer anyway, we might as well get a treat for it. We live in between three libraries and are going to go sign up at all of them. Half Price Books gives one $3 coupon a week to kids under 10 if you fill out their little card. I have two under ten, so that's $6 per week. And the coupons last through November, so that will come in handy. We can always find something there we like, and the boys are searching for old rock cd's right now, so that pays for almost half of each cd.

DS3 is finally playing something different on his guitar! His teacher is teaching him more complicated stuff and right now he's playing something that sounds very flamenco-ish. It sounds really nice, although I was willing to listen to almost anything that wasn't Smoke on the Water or Ironman.

Knitting When It's Hot

2008-06-09T09:10:00.004-05:00

It's fun to make afghans. They grow and become this wonderful, warm thing to snuggle under when it's cold. The cold, hard truth is that we have very few days when this lovely picture is actually a reality.

Right now it's becoming summer. It's also been close to 100° for weeks now. That doesn't stop my need to knit, it just forces me to become creative. Luckily there are dishcloths to knit. Here's my latest one from the Monthly Dishcloth group.

There are also socks to knit. Even though it's hot and the socks are wool, at least they're small and don't overheat me while I'm knitting. Here are my Sockamania socks for June so far. They're called "Rainforest" and reminded me of fireworks, so they seemed perfect for my patriotic sock yarn.

DS3 and DS4 are both fighting over my stars and stripes socks, so I may have to go find some yarn to make them patriotic socks too. Not sure if they actually want the socks or if they just wanted to fight. I haven't quite finished ds4's Longhorn socks yet. They are my "take along" sock project, and they've been neglected. He's been very patient, but ds3 has been egging him on, trying to make him jealous, because his socks were finished first.

And - ds3 wears his socks almost daily! I have to request them to wash them. Maybe he thinks of them as little socks of love - he said that he likes hand knit socks better than store bought socks. His wife is going to hate me!

Cleaning and Kids

2008-06-02T15:59:00.002-05:00

We made the decision to stay in our house. It's too small, really, but in a great location. So, in order to find a place for everyone, everything has to be in it's place. Unfortunately, there really isn't a place for everything.

Thus the cleaning.

DS2 is a great helper, but since none of the common area mess is his, he really doesn't know what to keep, what to put away and what to throw away. DS3 cleans by giving everything to his younger brother. While this eliminates ds3's chore, it greatly increases ds4's mess.

DS4 is a pack rat. We have three boys in one bedroom, and to make space where there really isn't any, we bought ds4 a loft bed. When we set it up, we put a bookshelf and a small drawer set under the bed. The idea was that he would put all of his treasures either on the shelf or in the drawers and then he would also have a little hiding space.

As they say, the best laid plans....

DS4 is a pack rat. The space under his bed became a black hole of things. When he pulled it all out to sort through it, ds2 said that laws of physics had been defied. Really, this small space (twin bed size and about 3 feet high) held and enough stuff to fill an entire bedroom.

There were many attempts to help him sort through the stuff, but every time anyone touched anything he was sure that we were secretly planning to throw all of his special things away. He finally agreed to put stuff in boxes and bags and move them into another room so that at least we could create enough room on the floor so that it wouldn't be a safety violation.

The bags and boxes sat on the floor for a few weeks and ds2 agreed to go through the stuff and "delicately" sort/toss the contents. Amazingly ds4 agreed to this. Apparently ds2 is trustworthy. The under the bed space is still full, but at least it's no longer overflowing.

Next it was on to the books. We have a LOT of books. I always find it interesting that we have almost no duplicates. The princess is really the only one who looks at picture books, and her books are in the living room. To make them easier for her to find, we put them in plastic tubs on the shelves and labeled the tubs. Unfortunately, the princess can't read well enough to put the books back in the proper tubs. So, she pulls out books and then puts them back in the tubs, but not the right tubs. Then the next time she wants a specific book we point out the correct tub and she dumps the tub to find the book (which is not in the correct tub, 'cause she can't read). It's a vicious cycle.

Lego's are also a problem. DS4 loves to build Lego's, but can't bear to take his creations apart. We have a large tub of Lego's, but we also have lots of little tubs of "special" Lego things. And since you can't really label Lego tubs with what is actually in them, the Lego tubs are just stacked.

Maybe I should stop trying to clean and try to find a new place for the kids!

Do You Really Need A Rule?

2008-06-02T10:02:00.003-05:00

Being a mother means that you make up rules for things you always figured were understood. Here are some of the rules we've had to enforce lately.

1. If you have dog poo on your shoes, take them off before you come into the house to tell mom about it.

2. If it doesn't taste good, don't try to get your brother to eat it.

3. Never try to make you little sisters brain explode.

4. If the dog is hiding under the table, you may not drag him out and claim that he asked you to do it.

5. If mom puts your brother's underwear in your laundry basket, just give it to your brother; don't throw it on the floor, stomp on it and scream that your brother has committed a crime against all that is human.

6. When someone is enjoying a book/tv show/movie, you may not tell them that it's a "baby" thing.

7. Never write on daddy with a Sharpie (even if it is very funny).

8. Never write on your sister with a Sharpie (even if she asks you to do it).

9. The dog doesn't need a leash in the house.

10. Mom will not, under any circumstances, correct math homework while using the bathroom.

Shopping With A Princess

2008-05-29T15:06:00.004-05:00

First, let me say that I've always wanted a daughter. I mean, from the time I was very little, I always wanted to be a mom, and I always wanted a daughter. Karma apparently felt that I needed to prove myself first, and gave me four boys before I had a beautiful baby girl.

Here's where the problem started. Boys and girls are different! Yeah, I know, but they're REALLY different! The latest example came today when I took the princess to buy new sandals.

When you buy boys sandals, you find something that fits and that they can get on themselves - then you go get ice cream.

When you buy sandals for a girl, it's a full day activity. First we had to make sure that her outfit matched (down to the underwear), then we had to decide which shoes we would wear to go buy shoes. Then, we changed clothes again (including the underwear, which must match the outfit). Then we had to complain and whine that mom hadn't painted our toe nails as had apparently been promised some time last night when mom was half asleep. Then we had to fix our hair, including a barrette that matched the clothes we had chosen.

Next, we're off to the shoe store, which is in the mall, and which was also just past the Big Dog store, which was having a sale. So, after 35 minutes in the Big Dog store, and selecting shirts for all of our brothers and our dad, and whining that we didn't get the dog a squeaky toy, we were off for the shoe store.

Oh no, there's the Gymboree store! Luckily the shoe store was across from Gymboree so that shopping trip was averted.

Once in the shoe store, we must remind ourselves that we are there to buy ONE pair of SANDALS. Nothing else. Yes, I know that those shiny pink shoes are pretty. Yes, that pair of sparkly tennis shoes would go great with the new ice cream cone shirt. No, those cowboy boots don't come in the correct size.

Wow, there are a lot of sandals in the store. This is the first time I've ever been glad that my kids have wide feet. That seriously limits the number of shoes we can try on. Unfortunately, that still leaves 14 (not kidding) pairs of sandals to try on. There was quite a bit of cajoling required, but we finally settled on a nice, simple pair of white sandals. We wanted these sandals, but since they wouldn't go with some of our clothes, and since mom wasn't willing to buy two pairs of sandals, we agreed to the white ones.

Only a few more months and it will be time to go buy new tennis shoes. Sounds like a great daddy/daughter activity.....

Planning For Next Year

2008-05-27T11:41:00.003-05:00

We started using Sonlight this year. To make things easier, I put the reading for the year on an excel spreadsheet and just labeled the days. We eliminate some books, add other books, and don't do school everyday - so it seemed easiest to just label the days by number rather than the more detailed way Sonlight does their schedule.

Everything is going well. The boys like their reading, and since it's on the schedule, they know exactly what they have to do every day. Next year for ds3, there were quite a few books that I was planning to eliminate, so I really needed to fill in the gap. Since he likes Genevieve Foster's other books, I decided to smoosh in the Beautiful Feet schedule that corresponds with his Sonlight for next year.

The actual added cost was minimal, since we had most of the books anyway. It also added minimal effort on my part - just configuring the new books to fit into the old schedule. I think I've got it right. I was able to split the new books up and insert them where the yucky books were previously taking up valuable space.

Hope it works out. I keep the schedules on the computer, and make any adjustments as we go along. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that for the next child in line, I will just have to pull out the grade box of books, print a schedule and purchase the consumable workbooks. Here's to hoping that my planning actually works for once, and doesn't just contribute to the downfall of humankind :o)

Ikea's Mistake is My Gain

2008-05-24T15:37:00.010-05:00

We've been wanting a new couch for ages. We've been eyeing the couches at Ikea for about a year. They're not too expensive, and they have slip covers! The idea of being able to wash our couch is so blissful that even when I started hinting that I'd really, kinda like the pink and green stripes, dh went along with it.

So, on Thursday, while flipping through the junk mail I found an Ikea coupon for this weekend. The coupon said "20% off purchases over $100" which seemed much too good to be true, but I pulled it out anyway. I called dh and told him about the coupon, and suggested that this weekend might be just the right time to get a new couch. He suggested I call ds1 and see if he'd also gotten the same junk mail, so that we could use two coupons, just in case it was 20% off of a single purchase.

Also, Ikea has a deal going on that if you put a purchase over $400 or so on an Ikea card, you can pay it off interest free for a year. We don't have an Ikea card, but that didn't deter our shopping. When you get to the store, there's a little kiosk to sign up for an Ikea card, so I signed up (and got one!).

Long story short, we have a new couch, loveseat, chair and two ottomans! It makes me feel like a newlywed - buying new furniture. The only new furniture we've ever purchased was a rocking chair, a mattress and furniture for the kids. Pretty much everything else came into the marriage with one of us.

We've been married a long time, and I've always wanted a new couch. DH had the couch when we got married, and I've never loved it. For the past several years, I haven't even been willing to sit on it - it's just not comfortable to me. It's also been through two teenage boys, three younger siblings and a slew of dogs. It's been sewn up more times than I can count, and one of the cushions finally fell off and fell apart, and is currently housed in a king sized pillow case - and leaving a little trail of foam crumbs in it's wake.

So, now, like a real grownup, I have a new sofa. We're getting the room ready - we have a lot of rearranging to do to fit it in, but it will be worth it. And all at 20% off!!!

And, since I still have the coupon that ds1 saved for me, we're going back to get a second set of slip covers for the sofa (I'm thinking beige for the sofa and pink for the chair - definitely "moms" chair), and probably a chair for dh. He really wants this wacky chair - it'll make him feel like Captain Tight Pants and I'm sure he'll love it.

A Hectic Life

2008-05-23T07:35:00.003-05:00

Sometimes we all just need a little Serenity.

We have tennis today. The kids all love it, therefore I am willing to drive the 30 miles each way to take them there. It is so rare that all of my children actually like the same activity. So far, the only things that fit into this framework are tennis and their art/music classes.

While tennis is quite far from our house, we continue to go because the teacher is fabulous and the price is great. It even balances out when I figure the gas cost into the equation. Next year (September), the tennis teacher said that she would be happy to teach a class on our side of town, but I'll need to find a core group of kids willing to go every week. When I mentioned this to dh, he said that was great, I wouldn't have to make the trek every week. What dh doesn't understand is that we would then be taking tennis lessons twice a week.

The boys already take their tennis rackets with them to their art/music classes so that we can go to a local park and play on the tennis courts. They also beg us every weekend to go play tennis with them. It's fun (although dh and I end up huffing and puffing), but since we are heading into the summer heat zone, I'm not sure how often the old folks will be willing to play tennis.

That leads me to my question of the day: Why aren't tennis courts ever shaded? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could play on a court that was shaded by a majestic oak tree? If I ever get millions of dollars, the second thing that I'll do (after paying for Firefly to be put back into production) is to build tennis courts shaded by trees.

Well, off to get ready for our weekly excursion. Water (not in plastic bottles, in refillable bottles), check. Tennis rackets, check. Scooter for the princess, check. Bathing suit for the princess (to splash in the little water park), check. Huckleberry Finn on cd, check. Grocery list to stop by the organic food store on the way home, check. Something for mom to do with the 3.5 hours that will be spent waiting & watching, check.

This is why I have so many hand knit socks! I'm a waiter - with no tips!

Empty Nest?

2008-05-22T11:30:00.004-05:00

There's a name to label your life when all of your children leave home

- Empty Nest Syndrome.

There should be a name that labels how you feel when you no longer have a preschooler at home.

The princess is half way through her 100 Lessons book, and we always celebrate this occasion with a trip to get ice cream cones. She's thrilled to finally be almost reading, but I'm sad.

Last weekend, she pointed out to dh "That word says need" and he wasn't nearly as impressed as I thought he should be. Maybe he's got the syndrome (whatever it's called), just like I have.

She's almost always got a book in her hands, and loves to look for words she can read. If we do a lesson a day, she'll be reading like a pro in a few more weeks. I must admit that I don't like to do a lesson a day with her - I want to postpone the inevitable as long as I can. Once she's reading like the big guys, will she still want me to read to her? What will I do with all of the picture books? Will she still want them, or will she move on to only reading novels? I am still clinging to some baby board books which haven't been opened for years.

This new stage of my life shall be called "Open Nest Syndrome" to symbolize that while the nest is still full, the doors have opened to new and exciting discoveries for my little chicks. The world is always full of wonder.

A New Home For Some Old Yarn

2008-05-21T10:53:00.002-05:00

The age old question is what to do with yarn you really don't want anymore. Since almost all yarn comes in dye lots, I generally buy a bit more than I think I'll need - that way I won't run out in the middle of a project. This unfortunate event occurred a few years ago when I started a beautiful pink and cream afghan for the princess and ran out of the raspberry yarn well before the blanket was big enough. I could always frog it and make it into something else, but the darn thing is pretty big (although not big enough), and there aren't enough tissues in the house for the tears this would elicit.

Anyway, when I was doing my major closet reorganization, a problem came to light. I have WAY too much yarn. But, you can't just throw away perfectly good yarn. And I can't bring myself to sell it. So, it's been sitting in the garage waiting for me to make a decision. Today I found the perfect solution -- I'm giving it to someone who makes caps for cancer patients.

Her home is amazingly near my LYS :0) - so I'm going to go through the pile quickly and put it in the car. The kids have their arts classes nearby, so we'll be dropping off our bag'o'yarn after class. I get a clean garage and she gets free yarn to make her caps. Everyone benefits.

The goal is to get the yarn stash down to a point where every bit of yarn has a purpose. The only real issue is the acrylic yarn. I've got some skeins that I bought in college! I'll keep some for a shawl for my MIL, and some for the afghans I have planned for the kids (geography afghans, of all things), and then the rest will be off to donation land.

Then there will be enough room in the garage for the really important things -- garage sale stuff!

Knitting Pictures

2008-05-20T19:34:00.007-05:00

Today I finally got around to taking pictures of my Sockamania socks for May and my KAL for mid May. Here they are.

The socks will be gifted to a friend, who I know will treat them with love. The cloth has already been used by the princess and is currently in the laundry (with all the other cloths I've made).

Since it was 100 F today, it will be quite a long while before I can wear any of my wool socks, so I'm really planning to focus on making "croc socks" out of Fixation. It knits up nicely, and since we like to wear them as shortie socks, they don't take too long. I make them in a plain stockinette, so I can work on them anywhere (and since they're small, they don't add any heat). The perfect summer knit.

The Princess and the Piano

2008-05-20T09:35:00.002-05:00

The kids are taking lessons at a local arts school. DS2 & 3 are taking guitar and cartooning, ds4 is taking guitar and theater, and the princess is taking art and piano.

We initially looked into the lessons because ds2 & 3 had been wanting to take cartooning. We got there and found out that there was the potential to take guitar. Since ds3 had been playing Iron Man and Smoke on the Water (only the beginning of each song) by ear for some time, I was quite happy to find actual lessons with the hope that he would at least be able to finish each song.

DS3 & 4 both jumped at the chance to take guitar lessons, but since the class needed three students to "make" I talked ds2 into taking lessons too. We live in a very musicy city, so finding two additional guitars on craig's list was very easy.

Now I had three boys in guitar, two boys in cartooning, and decided that I would just jump in and let all of the kids take two classes each. DS4 got to take theater (which he LOVES), and the princess took art and piano.

Things went swimmingly. The boys now play guitar (all together, one song, all the way through!), ds 2 & 3 are cartooning like pros, ds 4 is the narrator for his class play, the princess created an artistic masterpiece (I'm not kidding - it's very cool), and is actually quite good with the piano.

Here's the rub: The princess CANNOT SING! I mean, not at all! You'd think that with all the singing she does, she'd at least hit one note - but no, never on key. All of her little music books have words to go along with the songs and she sings along (belting out the tunes like Ethel Merman), but she's NEVER on key. Even her piano teacher has to stifle giggles. My little princess is enthusiastic, so that counts for something, but she'll have to find another profession.

She's found a way to guarantee that we'll keep up with the piano lessons. Harder music doesn't include cute little words for the cute little songs. She's definitely going to get to that level, and none too soon for us.

Parking a House

2008-05-18T16:08:00.002-05:00

Let me just say, I'm glad that dh and I are happily married. If there was any doubt, we would have definitely had some issues while learning to park the trailer.

First of all, they say that you turn the steering wheel of the car the direction you want the trailer to turn when you're backing up. THEY are wrong! We wanted the trailer to turn to the left - so we turned the wheel to the left -- the trailer went right. So, we turned the wheel to the right, the trailer kept going right.

Figuring the trailer just needed to straighten out, we drove the car straight forward to "even" things out a bit. As an experiment, I backed the trailer straight back -- no wheel turning what so ever. The trailer still went right.

And -- the trailer groans when you're pulling it, when you're raising the tow thing, when you're lowering the tow thing ... pretty much anytime anything at all happens (this includes butterflies landing on it). We have decided that it must be haunted. That would also explain the backing up/parking problem. It's not us, it's the ghost.

Now we just have to decide what type of haunting it is. The ghost show people say that you have to take back control of your home; so next time we see the trailer I'm going to walk around it and tell the ghost to leave (or at least give me a little parking help).

Until then, it's parked. It's even straight.

Now We RV

2008-05-17T21:17:00.003-05:00

We picked up the trailer today. Actually, we took possession yesterday, but didn't bring it home until today. Soon we'll be waving good bye to our house bound life and hitting the open road.

What a difference there is driving with a trailer behind the car. DH and I both tried to practice in the lot next door to the RV place, but it was so wonky that we just drove home. It was strange cruising down the highway with that thing behind us. We were suddenly quite glad that we decided to buy the shorter trailer (actually there was a bit of discussion about rethinking the whole camping thing).

But - we made it. It's parked in the street in front of the house, and the neighbors have even been over for a "visit" in the new trailer. The sweet lady across the street even suggested that the neighborhood would have fun on a giant camping trip. Not sure we're up for that - too much pressure until we can comfortably deal with all of the details.

We've told the kids that we won't be using the bathroom in the trailer, but I'm sure that rule will go out the window the first time someone needs to go in the middle of the night.

DS4 wants to sleep in the trailer tonight, so he'll be spending the night out there with dad. The princess wants to sleep out there too, but mom isn't so sure about sleeping in the trailer without any electricity (it's hot and stuffy in there).

We've compromised -- ds4 and dad will sleep in the trailer and the princess will join them for breakfast in the trailer.

Remember, all of this is happening on the street in front of the house. I'm really surprised that the kids didn't drag out all of the camp chairs and roll the barbecue out from the back yard and make a night of it.

Tomorrow we're going to the high school parking lot to practice backing into spaces. We've been told that sometimes people will help you at the campground; but sometimes they just pull their chairs around and watch.

Eddie Looks So Pretty

2008-05-16T09:11:00.002-05:00

If there was an award for the most patient dog in the world, Eddie would have to be the winner. He puts up with so much, and here is a picture to prove it.

The princess (for some unknown reason) decided to put her old ballet recital costume headband on the dog, and he LET her! He just sat there looking for all the world like the proud maltipoo that we think he might be. He didn't even try to take it off - just sat there.

Of course, I yelled for someone to bring me the camera.

Ed actually seems happy to be the focus of attention. He doesn't even appear to be a bit embarrassed by the "Mike Rowe" haircut we've inflicted upon him.

Note to self: Try to at least make dog grooming a smidge higher on the list of things to learn.

Is It Ever Okay To Lie?

2008-05-15T08:20:00.005-05:00

Yesterday ds4 and I made a pilgrimage to the big W. Sometimes you just have to shed your pride and go there, ya' know? I mean, they have the cheapest light bulbs around. And we were out of light bulbs. I tried to be ecologically friendly and buy those fancy bulbs, but since almost all of our lights are on dimmer switches (this "smart" house is sure a pain), we can't use the fancy light bulbs and must buy the earth killing kind.

Anyway, we were at the big W, and decided to look through their cheapo DVD's. We found Dances With Wolves, and the homeschooling mommy in me decided that the movie would fit in nicely with our history studies, so it went in the cart. Then ds4 found SouthPark and wanted to get it for ds2. This was the root of the problem.

We went to the self check out (did I mention that ds4 was with me?) and proceeded to begin the scan. When we got to the SouthPark dvd, the screen flashed, telling us that we would need approval.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that the look on the face of the employee could have melted a weaker heart! It also took her a good three minutes to move the 15 feet from her station to the checkout scanner. When she finally got over to us, she said that ds4 was too young to purchase the dvd. I said that I was certainly over 17. She used her little card reader thing and ran it over the scanner and then asked for my birth date.

Now, this is where the lie came in. Without really thinking, I gave my correct month and day, but subtracted 10 years from my birth year. What was I thinking? It came out so naturally. She didn't blink (although I'm not entirely sure that she could have done the required math that quickly). I got away with it!

Where will the web of lies end? Next time should I try subtracting 20 years? 30 years? DH asked if I had calculated how many years to subtract and still be legal to drink. I may just have to sit down with a calculator and do the math. I've been telling the kids for years that I'm 29.

The princess used to even have a schtick - we would ask her the ages of her brothers and she would give their ages. Then we would say "How old is mommy?" and she would say "29" and the answer to "How old is daddy?" was "Older than dirt." It never failed to amuse me.

Loosing 10 years seems to make me happy for now, so I'm gonna stick with that one until I have to provide actual proof. It's not a lie if I actually believe it.

Today I'm Just a Mom

2008-05-11T14:29:00.003-05:00

Mother's Day 2008

A day to celebrate all the joy my children bring to me. DH and ds3 are at a fencing tournament, so the other children are busy telling me that we can do whatever I want. Unfortunately for them, what I wanted was to clean up the playroom. You've never seen children volunteer so fast to spend their own money to take me out!

We compromised - we cleaned for a while, then went to Wendy's for lunch, then the grocery store so we could get hot dogs for a barbecue dinner. The children decided that we should have a family dinner out next week when everyone could be here.

DH bought me some t shirts from my favorite tv show - Firefly. What more could I ask for? He also got me a sticker for the back of our trailer. We decided to name it Serenity, so he got a sticker for it with it's name.

I also got a gift card for my LYS so that I can buy some yarn guilt free. I don't really have any guilt when I buy yarn, but it's the thought....

Dogs Love Taco Bell

2008-05-10T14:30:00.002-05:00

Today was the second bike repair class for mom and ds4. We learned to take apart and repair brakes. This all belongs in the category of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" as far as I'm concerned. The first thing he wanted to do when we got home was to take apart the brakes on his bike!

Our tradition (if you can call twice a tradition) is to stop by Taco Bell on the way home. Being the sweetie that he is, ds4 wanted to take three tacos home for the princess. He was so proud - carrying in the bag of tacos for his little sister.

Well - he left them on the table and went off to do whatever it is that boys do. About an hour later the princess came running in and told us that Ed had eaten the tacos!

Upon investigation, we discovered that Ed had, indeed eaten all three of the tacos. And I do mean ALL of the tacos. The only reminder of our trip to Taco Bell was a few pieces of errant lettuce and three neatly opened taco wrappers.

For future reference, dogs like tacos.

We're the Griswolds

2008-05-07T14:17:00.005-05:00

The problem:

Mom wants to camp

Dad hates to sleep on the ground

The solution:

We bought a camper

Six years ago we decided that we could have a great time as a family camping in a pop up camper. We had the boys, we loved geocaching and hiking -- we could combine it all with a pop up.

Then, we had a princess.

Not that the princess is too frilly - she's a tomboy in a tutu. But, she loves being outside, so now we're once again back where we were 6 years ago, except that now we have an additional body when we calculate sleeping accommodations.

We'd pretty much decided that we could still use a pop up camper, but would just need a slightly bigger one. At the camper store (yes, the camper store), we discovered that not only could we get a regular camper for less money than the biggest pop up we'd been eyeing, but since the camper has a regular (read: flushing) toilet, we can get a tax break on it.

So, now, we're the proud owners of a camper. Next weekend we're going to pick it up and have our first camping experience. Luckily we have a margarita machine that will make it all a lot of fun! And, the good news is that we can now take Ed with us for vacations and not have to worry about where he'll stay while we're gone.

Egads - planning vacations around a dog!!!

May Cloth

2008-05-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

The first cloth of May is finished. It was a pattern by gimpykat and for a while I thought it might be an alien. But it turned out to be about marriage and love - and just in time for my anniversary! Well, it's photographed and has been added to the pile.

After I plow my way through the remainder of my Amazon yarn luck (yarn was supposed to by 48% off and instead, for an hour or so it was $0.48, so I bought a BUNCH), I'm going to make these dishcloths in acrylic and join them into a wacky afghan.

Almost finished with the first of my May Sockamania socks. This is the first time I've done an afterthought heel with sock weight yarn (the Cascade yarn is quite a bit thicker, not to mention stretchy), so I've got my fingers crossed that the sock will fit. Since the heel isn't put in, I can't really try it on like I usually do.

Birthdays and Bikes

2008-05-05T17:27:00.002-05:00

Saturday was ds4's 9th birthday. He was so excited and had the day fully planned.

First, we (mom and son) went to the first in a series of bike repair classes. We learned to repair a tire. Even though replacing a tube costs less than $3, we learned how to repair one. Probably won't use the skill, but I learned to remove a tire and replace it. We've always had the problem that when we have a bike problem we have to wait for dad to come home. Now we can fix any tire problem that arises. In the coming weeks we'll learn more and poor dad won't be needed for bike repairs.

The next thing on the birthday boy list was to go to a baseball game with dad. They went and purchased a baseball (for player signatures) and a new mitt (for catching those foul balls), and some tickets. DH also discovered that if you tell the ball park ahead of time, they will display a birthday message on the giant score board. He didn't tell ds4 that this was a possibility, and ds4 was thrilled.

They got home after 10 and ds4 has talked of little else since. Aaah, nothing cuter than a little boy discovering baseball!

Lotsa Socks

2008-05-03T19:22:00.005-05:00

I finished ds3's socks. He happened to be with me when I went to the LYS to buy yarn (on sale!) and found this Day-Glo green yarn and wanted socks. Luckily it was Cascade Fixation (super easy to knit with) and it was on sale.

Afterthought heels have been on my to-do list, and this seemed like the perfect time to try. His feet are smaller than dh's and so I got to the heel part pretty quickly. I followed the directions from this site, and after a leap of faith, I went ahead and put in the stitch to take out.

Knitting socks without having to worry about a heel is NICE. You just get to the point where you will, at some future date to be determined, put in a heel and then just keep going. The only trouble with this is that it would be very easy to miscalculate how high to make a cuff (or how long to make the foot if you knit cuff down).

I finished the sock and bound off the stitches. Then it was time to deal with the heel. I picked up the stitches above and below the "holding" stitches and then started pulling out that pesky yarn. It was a lot easier than I expected, and viola, there was a lovely circular opening in the back of the sock right where a heel was waiting to be born.

Then it was just a matter of doing some very easy decreases, and that pesky Kitchener stitch, and I was done! There are a few more yarn ends to weave in when doing a heel this way, but it's a lot of fun.

I'm even doing my Sockamania sock with an afterthought heel. When I learn a new technique I like to use it a few times. That way I can feel confident with something new before I make any final decisions. So far, I think this one's a keeper.

Calgon Take Me Away

2008-04-29T18:12:00.007-05:00

Do you ever have those days when you just want to scream? My kids have decided that the best way to deal with each other is to yell whenever someone comes anywhere near them. DS3 let out a shout when ds4 barely brushed against him. Then ds3 screamed again when dh brushed up against him -- although in all fairness, he thought it was ds4. And ds4 screamed "stop it" when dd walked into the room and sat beside him.

It's out of control. I'm tired of yelling. Being quiet about it doesn't work. Can't punish the screamer, they might actually have been hurt. Can't punish the non-screamer, sometimes they didn't do anything. Gonna punish everyone in the room at the time! At least if I send them out of the room it will be quiet in the room I'm in.

Does that make me a bad mother?

Rainy Days and Mondays

2008-04-27T16:23:00.004-05:00

It was a grey and rainy day, so we decided to get some household chores done. The children were bribed with promises of dinner out (actually dinner brought in), so there wasn't too much complaining.

My choice of chores was to clean out my closet. Since we don't have a linen closet (I mean really, who designs a house without a linen closet?), I bought some wire basket/shelves from IKEA and decided to give up part of my closet so that the towels and sheets could have a real home.

Well, the nether regions of my closet are know as the "bonus closet" and contain all of the stuff I buy when it's on super clearance and save for a rainy day (ie surprise gifts). As I was digging out the boxes and bags of goodies, the princess was claiming new treasures. I guess I should be grateful that she only chose a new little tiny baby doll (newly named Matilda) and a Dancing Princesses Barbie. There was sooooo much more in there, and she only picked two things. By picked I mean, grabbed the package and snuck into another room and opened her new things.

On a much sadder note, I finally purged my closet of my nursing clothes. I nursed for 14 years straight, and it was a huge part of my life (and part of my identity). I don't want any more babies, but the idea that there will never be a new baby in our lives is a very sad thought. Well, the stuff is in the garage, and I'm eyeing the margarita machine.

It will all be worth it when everything has a place (and everything is in it's place), but for now, I'm a bit blue.

Chicken Socks

2008-04-23T11:24:00.011-05:00

The Sockamania socks this month were called Bluebell. I wasn't going to knit them because they involve color work, and I have this fear......

Anyway, they are finished, they are beautiful, and they are photographed. Even the inside of the socks turned out to be nice - see!

The princess is now healthy. Somehow my kids manage to almost always just have one sick day, then they are better the next day. It's wonderful what a healthy immune system can do for a person. I'll just say that we need to go get new pillows because they are the only things I can't wash. Any more information would be too disgusting to get into.

Ed was really upset by the sickness of the princess. He spent most of the day checking on her. Usually he would jump up on her bed and pester her, but he seemed to know that she wasn't feeling well and just sniffed at her. He also got quite out of sorts because he didn't have the usual routine around the house. It's pretty pathetic when we have to worry about the dog's emotional well being too, but such is life.

The boys are all practicing for their guitar recital. It is so nice to be able to hear something beside Iron Man and Smoke on the Water. Right now ds3 is trying to play both the melody and harmony for Ode to Joy. What a treat for my ears!! He wants to play The Star Spangled Banner for his recital piece and is digging through the cd pile to find the patriotic songs cd I bought a few years ago. If he can't find it, there's always itunes.

DS2 is currently reading The Scarlet Letter, and I'm supposed to be reading it with him so that we can discuss it. He's on chapter 10 and I haven't started. At what point do I just admit that I didn't read it and just take the test?

Nothing Sadder Than a Sick Princess

2008-04-22T12:40:00.002-05:00

The poor princess is sick. She's such a trooper - no whining, no complaining. That almost makes it more pathetic. She's just laying there (actually she's asleep right now). This morning she asked for her brother, because "he always makes me smile when I'm sick" and wanted me to go wake him up.

As soon as ds4 got up, he came in and started comforting her. It was so sweet. He brought in trains for her to play with, and when she just needed to lay down, he put them beside her so she could look at them. Then he got some books and sat on the end of the bed and read to her.

I hate for any of my children to be sick, but it really gives them a chance to shine. Kind of makes all of the bickering seem worth it....not!

New Socks and a new cloth

2008-04-19T14:03:00.003-05:00

I finally finished DS1's birthday socks. He was the one who originally requested socks (Christmas '07), requiring me to learn to knit socks. The first pair didn't fit quite as well as I would have liked, so I decided to make him some birthday socks.

Since he's a UT alum, I wanted to knit him some Longhorn socks. I found some wonderful burnt orange sock yarn and ordered it - forgetting that he would never in a million years want to line dry socks. Soooooo, I lucked out and found some Cascade Fixation yarn in burnt orange! DH loves the socks that he has in this yarn, and they're supposed to be machine dry, so I gave it a go.

I got the bright idea to put a "UT" on the sock. Unfortunately, the Fixation yarn is so nubby that the details don't really show. I'll show him where it is, and point out the UT, but since it's so subtle, he'll probably never see it again. At least he'll have some mom-knit burnt orange socks that he can throw in the dryer.

I also finished the mid April cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth group. It wasn't supposed to be finished yet, but it's a repeating pattern, and I just got carried away. Actually, I got lost on where I was on the lines for today, and just kept going. It's a pretty pattern, and dd has claimed it.

Thursday Blahs

2008-04-17T18:28:00.006-05:00

It seems that everyone has the blahs here. DH thinks it's because anytime you turn on the tv or read a paper there's nothing but bad news. I'm hoping that it's just some sort of weird allergy from Africa or something so that it can blow over. We've got it so bad that we've just decided to have blizzards for dinner! How's that for teaching the kids healthy eating :o)

Tomorrow is one week since my last flat tire. I'm hoping that the curse has been broken. It's amazing how having a flat tire can ruin a day. With three flats in two weeks I was always on edge whenever I drove anywhere. My car has been wonderfully considerate, though, and the flats are always in my driveway. Can't imagine what I'd do with a flat and all of the kids out somewhere.

Off to DQ for blizzards - who cares about the diet.

Potatoes and Socks

2008-04-14T09:21:00.004-05:00

The boys discovered twice baked potatoes last week and were amazed that I knew how to make them. We had everything we needed, so for dinner on Friday we made them. DS2 was the official masher and he really took that job to heart. Apparently you shouldn't tell a teenage boy to "mash'em" if you really mean that he should just mash a little bit!

By the time he was done, they were a sticky mess. The flavor was great, but they were gooey. So, this past weekend, we bought him a ricer. That way he can get the potatoes mushed without killing them. Our plan was to make a large batch of potatoes and freeze them. The kids all like to have potatoes for lunch, and this way they'd have fancy ones without any more work than just popping them in the microwave.

On the sock front, I'm close to being ready to turn the heel on the second of my Sockamania socks. I think that when I finally finish them and post a picture, I'm going to post a picture of the inside too. It's so tidy! Isn't it fun when the private side of work looks almost as good as the public side? Too bad it'll be months before it's actually cold enough to wear socks again. Next pair for SAM5 will be more croc socks out of Cascade Fixation. That way I'll be able to knit my socks and wear them too.

My Life in the Comics

2008-04-12T09:29:00.003-05:00

Over The Hedge had a comic strip today that captured my life. DS3 and DS4 play either "Smoke on the Water" or "Iron Man" until it burns my brain. And since someone got the bright idea to get them electric guitars (a guitar for ds3 and a bass for ds4) along with amplifiers, they can play LOUD! And they play loud and proud, but only the first 8 notes or so. It is so annoying - same song, but it never finishes. Even dd knows the words to the beginnings of both songs. I know that it's important for parents to teach their children all of the important things in the world, but I really wish that dh would have skipped the 70's hard rock stuff.

On the plus side, I finished one of my Sockamania socks for the month! I wasn't going to even try them, but was inspired. As it turns out, since I know how to knit with both hands, it was a lot easier than I expected. Unfortunately, since I wasn't sure that I'd like the outcome, I used sock yarn that I don't really like. Now I have a cool sock in a color that I don't really love. Lesson learned. I still don't want to do color work throughout the entire sock (it makes them double thick), but I won't shy away from future color work patterns.

The Sonlight Core 400 that I'm planning on using for ds2's Sophomore year came yesterday. This is the first time he's used Sonlight, but I think it will be okay. I am using a different government text, and modifying everything quite a bit; but I like almost all of the literature. And best of all, almost all of the books required are available on paperbackswap! Since the books are easy to obtain, I'm going to read a few of them with him. It makes me a bit nervous, because it's hard to switch back and forth between each of the kids readings as it is, and ds2's readings are deep. The first book is "The Scarlet Letter" and since I don't remember if I ever actually even read the book (I know I took a test on it in hs, but I don't think I read it), it should be interesting.

Why I Need To Take Up Drinking

2008-04-10T14:42:00.006-05:00

This was the actual discussion that took place at my house today. It must be noted that the working title is:

Why My Mom Drinks

Homeschool discussion:

(first child): Mom, don't we have a book that has all of the Egyptian gods listed?

-- yes, on the shelf with all of the other ancient history books

(second child): I thought you said we had almost all of the Dr. Seuss books. Do we have the ones under his pseudonyms too?

-- I don't think we have that one (Because a Little Bug Went Kachoo), remember to look next time we go to Half Price books, I think I saw it there last week

(third child): Why don't we have a priest?

-- dad's in charge of religious education

(second child again): Dr. Seuss coined the phrase "nerd"

(first again): Imhotep was real, I told you (making a face at third child who is still quizzing mom on why no priest ever comes to dinner like in his book)

(last child before mom goes to margaritaville): Oh no, the beetles (watching "The Mummy"), beetle time, they'll eat your brain you know

It's five o'clock somewhere!

My Dog Ate My Homework

2008-04-09T15:52:00.005-05:00

I'm a night time jaw clencher. There, I've admitted it.

I always thought I was better than the tooth grinders, but since they share the same name, it's pretty much the same thing. Anyway, a few years ago I got a "bite guard" to keep me from destroying my teeth while I sleep. It was pretty easy to get used to and since I'll do anything to prevent tooth problems, I dealt with it.

A few months ago, my dog decided that he needed a bite guard and took a big bite out of mine. As I'm quite a dental phobe, I didn't go get another one. Today at the dentist I mentioned that my dog had eaten my bite guard and found out that it really quite common! Seems that dogs like the taste of bite guards. No one even laughed.

It will be ready in two weeks, and then I'll again look like a football player when I go to bed. Good thing dh likes football.

Going Postal

2008-04-08T15:54:00.002-05:00

I love paperbackswap and bookmooch.

That being said, I always need to go to the post office to buy postage for the books that I send out. A few weeks ago I discovered that my kids were taking bets on how long it would take me to get back out to the car (not to worry, ds2 is 15 and very capable of maintaining order in my absence).

Today I had to mail two paperbackswap books, a bookmooch book and another package. A few miles before we got to the post office, ds4 shouted out that he bet 4 minutes. In order to be fair, I had ds3 hold up all of the stuff that I needed to mail. DS4 still wanted 4 minutes. EEEK - am I that predictable? Can you really tell how long it will take me to do something? DD claimed 7 minutes, ds3 had 3 minutes; ds2 is the official timekeeper.

I finished up my postal business and was walking out to the car. A little head popped out of the window and told me to walk slower, and a voice from the back of the 'burb said to run. One young soul (the 4 minute lad) said that I was fine, and the others should leave me alone.

Luckily we don't have a history of gambling problems.

Knitting Hurrah's

2008-04-07T09:23:00.008-05:00

First, here is the picture of the April dishcloth. I used a camel color that I had two partial skeins of, and kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn't run out (I had just a teeny bit leftover!). I don't mind doing bobbles, but they don't really work for us since we use the cloths as napkins.

Next, whoo hoo, I won the yarn from Anni for the Sockamania sock group for March. Now I just have to figure out which of her wonderful yarns to pick! I'm so excited :o)

Also, I wasn't going to knit the Sockamania socks this month. They're Fair Isle and I was totally unsure of my ability to knit them. Here's a picture - aren't they beautiful? Also, due to the nature of fair isle, the socks end up being double thickness, and since it's hardly ever cold enough here to warrant thick socks, I didn't think I'd ever wear them.

Well, along comes Anni to save the day - she said that we could do the socks with only the top color work. I can do regular socks on the foot part and do the fancy part on the leg. That would make them wearable!! Now I just need to find two sock yarn colors that will work. Oh no, that means a trip to the yarn store! Although, I just saw a posting on SAM5 where someone used Bernat baby yarn. I have some baby yarn leftover from the fishy afghan that might just work. The problem is that baby yarn probably won't wear well at all. I'll be up near the LYS this afternoon - I'll have to give it some thought.

DS1 is getting socks for his 24th birthday. I found Cascade Fixation yarn in burnt orange at the LYS, and it was 30% off - so that was the yarn I chose. I knit dh's socks in Fixation and it's soft, stretchy and really easy to work with. Since I liked it so much for dh, and since it was on sale, I got burnt orange for ds1, dayglo yellow for ds3, and dark blue for dh. I'm ready to turn the heel on ds1's second sock and will only end up using 2 skeins. So, ds4, who's also a Longhorn fan, might just get some burnt orange socks. I haven't made my little ones socks yet because they tend to run around outside in their socks - but their feet aren't as big as dh's so I may give it a go.

Not Again!!

2008-04-02T13:50:00.003-05:00

For the second time in less than a week, I've got a flat tire! Last week it was a broken valve stem, this time it's a nail. On the bright side, both times the tire went flat in the driveway, so at least I wasn't stranded.

Called dh - don't need him to come home, just want him to know he's needed :o)

Kinda makes the $50 to join AAA seem like a good deal.

Not to worry, we're going to watch "Shane" for our Movies as Literature course. We've even got enough Jiffy Pop for everyone!

Sock Planning

2008-04-01T18:29:00.004-05:00

I bought a skein of this sock yarn. It's Schoeller Fortissima/Socka 100g 4-ply Sock Yarn 1776 Stars & Stripes, and when knit up it becomes red and white stripes with a stripe of blue with white "stars" in it. When I first saw socks made up with this yarn I just had to have some.

It was out of stock everywhere I checked. So, I looked for it on eBay, and voila, found it in an eBay store that is actually located relatively close! I could have driven over to the store, but it was cheaper to order it and have it shipped.

After searching for an appropriate pattern for this yarn, it seems like most people just do a plain sock to let the striping show through. Since I'm not going to do my Anni's pattern this month (it's a two color pattern - beautiful, but I just don't want to mess with it), I decided to do my patriotic socks.

They should be finished by the end of April, and I can wear them to my family reunion over the 4th of July weekend. It will be hot, but my feet will be full of the spirit.

Death by Allergies

2008-03-31T10:21:00.002-05:00

Is it possible to die from allergies? Sometimes I think it just might be. Welcome to spring in Texas. Trees are blooming and eyes are watering. There is currently some combination that is making everyone feel spacey. Not pleasant.

My biggest issue is that we really only have a few weeks when the weather is wonderful; and that's when the allergies are at their worst. Not to worry - we've got plenty of drugs. Although lately, since the actual illegal drug makers use allergy medications as part of meth labs, you have to give your drivers license and sign something I've never really bothered to read, in order to get allergy meds. We're also limited to a certain amount of each med per month, and with so many people in the house having allergies, we sometimes need to stock up in order to have enough for the bad season. I always feel like I'm being interrogated whenever I try to buy Sudafed!

It'll be over soon, then the HEAT will set in :o(

Not Just a Mom

Two Long Years

Chick Trip 2009

Nothing Is Easy

Things That Make Me Smile

Seussical Socks

Looking For My Calm

There Oughta Be A Law

Socks, Yarn and The Heat of the Sun

When You're Hot, You're Hot

Socks and Such

Choose Your Colors Wisely

How I Came To Be 31

The Sun Is Out

When Your World is Spinning, Make Yarn

A Clean Dog is a Happy Dog?

Things and Thoughts

What Makes Me Feel Young

Shopping and Kids

Knit and Glo

Why We Didn't Go

Camping Plans

I Wanna Be A Princess

Ed and the Socks

Just Call Me Lois

Ode To Joy

Did Freud Like Bagels?

Another Day, Another Load of Laundry

Where Has The Week Gone?

Mei Mei Escapes

A Bird, A Dog, My Life

Life Lessons From Disney World

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

He Loves Me, He Really Loves Me

Homeschooling, Dogs and the "S" Word

The Good, The Bad and The Itchy

Reading and "Mental Pause"

Olympics and Knitting

Music and TV in Our Lives

Feeding Kids

Socks, Yarn and Wonderful Husbands

Legos in the Computer Age

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

And Now We Weave

M*A*S*H and Music

Ed Eats Bread

Summer, Baseball and Little Boys

Cable Socks

Knitting Fun

Books

Visiting Mount Gonnaspewa

Toad Lickin' in Texas

Who Says Math Isn't Fun?

All Tucked In

Memory Lane Monday

How To Make Your Mother Crazy

So I'm Avoiding Work

And Now We Weave

What Kind of Ant Are You?

Tennis Takes Over Our Lives

Every Day's A Party

Forecast Today: HOT!

Say What?

Socks for the Boy

Worms Live In The Dirt

Knitting When It's Hot

Cleaning and Kids

Do You Really Need A Rule?

Shopping With A Princess

Planning For Next Year

Ikea's Mistake is My Gain

A Hectic Life

Empty Nest?

A New Home For Some Old Yarn

Knitting Pictures

The Princess and the Piano

Parking a House

Now We RV

Eddie Looks So Pretty

Is It Ever Okay To Lie?

MAS*H and Music