So I'm Avoiding Work

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

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?

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

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

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!

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!

Sit!

Sit!

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?

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.