Button Button Who's Got the Button?

Don't you love the buttons on blogs? Several of the groups that I like have buttons, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to insert one. I've looked at the information, but just can't get them to work. I guess I need to get a Flikr account first, so that'll be the next thing to work on.

It looks like it might finally be nice enough for tennis on Friday. The boys are anxious to play and the princess misses her friends. Can you play tennis with wind gusts up to 50 mph? We'll find out.

One of the nice ladies on Rachel's knitting group suggested keeping your knitting in a basket on the table. I have a basket that my friend Mary made me 10 years ago that's just been sitting, lonely, looking for a special purpose. It is just perfect. Holds a small knitting project (like a dishcloth), and looks cozy on the table.

When you have a lot of books, organization is key. We bought two new little book cases from Target, and they fit exactly under the bar. I just guesstimated the height, didn't measure. There is less than an inch to spare. Now I just have to move, reorganize and reshelve the kids current school stuff. Maybe a trip to Starbucks is in order first!

New Scanner

My scanner finally bit the dust, so off to Frye's I went. I called dh and asked him to figure out which one I wanted, and then I took ds4 with me to pick it up. I tried to buy exactly what we had so that I could just plug it in and use it, but nooooo. There wasn't one to be had at our store or any other stores in the state. I ended up with the one that dh wanted (same brand, different model than what we had). Came home and ran the install.

A bunch of things came up that I wasn't sure about, so I called dh to ask him if I wanted to accept the options or not - he was pretty good about not reminding me that the point of me installing the thing in the first place was so that he wouldn't have to do it and if I had him on the phone the whole time he was pretty much doing it himself.

Good news is that it's installed, and it works!! DS3 isn't too thrilled - it was his math that was being scanned, and he was hoping that I wouldn't be able to get it finished.

My DVD's got here for the class that ds2 and I are doing.

It's called Movies as Literature and should be fun. We're going to be watching old movies and doing a literary analysis of them. The first one is Shane, which I've never seen. I'm looking forward to it, not sure ds2 is quite so happy, but he's a trooper. Here's a picture of the book we're using. Best part of all, the answers are included!! Don't you just cringe when there are questions, but no answers? It's got great movies - like Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET; so the little ones can watch the movies and ds2 can learn from the "literary" aspects.

High Tech in the Kitchen

With dh's blessing, I've set up shop in the kitchen. We've got wireless internet, and can use a computer anywhere in the house. We also have a laptop that the kids had claimed so that they could play their online games at the same time.

I've been having this terrible problem as of late -- my practically perfect children think that whenever I leave the room (even for a moment) that it's time for a free for all. This does not go well with my idea of peace and harmony in the home. So, whenever I wanted to do anything on the computer, I would instantly hear screams.

In an "I shoulda had a V8" moment, I realized that we have a laptop, wireless internet, and a kitchen counter that is really in the middle of all the action. Today, I brought it in, and plugged it in. So simple, yet so effective.

Now I can shout at the kids and surf the web, all without hurting my throat!

Always something new to learn

I finished my January mid-month cloth and love the pattern and the colors (although the photo leaves something to be desired).

Also, thanks to Andi at the MonthlyDishcloth group, I am no longer such a slave to bloggers placement of my pictures.

I'm getting close to turning the heel of my Ripples sock. DD tried on the completed sock (over her nice, warm footie jammies) and asked if they could be for her. I will have enough leftover yarn to make her a little matching pair. I haven't knit socks for my little ones yet - they all tend to walk around in socks and wear them out, so I've been really reluctant to knit socks for them. But - since I've been wanting to try an afterthought heel, I may knit dd a little pair as practice.

Today all of the kids have their art classes. The boys are all taking guitar together, and have promised to teach dh what they've learned every week. We bought dh a left handed guitar on Friday. He's thrilled. I told him that he should just learn to play right handed, and he had pretty much agreed - but we found a left handed guitar on craigslist. Happy birthday, honey.

A Cold Weekend

It's shivery cold here. This week Barnes & Noble is having a teacher appreciation sale, so we're going to head over and see if there's anything we don't need, but will get anyway. DD loves to read Junie B. books, so we'll see if there are any she doesn't have.

Actually, I've been trying to figure out how to insert a link and have it say something besides the actual link name, and it looks like I might have figured it out! Yeah, me!

I cast on and knit the first few inches of my Ripples sock last night, thus avoiding the dreaded SSS. I totally see why SSS happens - you finish the first sock and put everything away for awhile. When you pick up the needles and yarn to start the second sock, you've forgotten all of the little things. Since the pattern was written cuff down, and I'm knitting it toe-up, I couldn't remember how many stitches I cast on. Also, I discovered that I did a different heel than I'd done (and become enchanted with) on my two most recent pairs. Oh well, it's a good learning experience for me. Never abandon a first sock! Everything will be okay - I love the pattern and the yarn, and really want to finish this pair.

I still have my shawl, ds4's scarf and dh's afghan to finish also, so there's plenty of knitting/crocheting to do. Since it's so cold, I may just pull out the afghan and work on it - crocheting and keeping warm. With a nice cup of tea at my side, the day may just be bearable after all.

Monthly Dishcloths 2008

I'm on the Monthly Dishcloth Yahoo group, and they do a KAL twice a month. Quite a few of the members have made a commitment to do all of the KAL's this year - that's 24 cloths.

Here's the first one - it's a football. I had to grab a picture quickly, as ds4 decided it was his cloth and was trying to take it as I was binding it off.

Never too cold to knit!

It's cold and drizzly here, but great weather for knitting. We were supposed to go to tennis lessons, but you can't play tennis in the yuck. The boys were willing to go, but the mom was not; so here we sit.

Can I just say that if I hear "Smoke on the Water" one more time I'm going to cry! DS3 fancies himself a rock star in the making, but only plays the first 12 notes of the song - over, and over, and over..... Maybe it's not menopause that's making me loopy?

Finished my January Sockamania pattern this morning. It has a dropped stitch pattern, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it, but it turned out wonderfully. That tiny bit of pinkish yarn is all that was left when I was finished. Talk about cutting it close! Now I've got to finish my Sockamania Ripple sock (did one, not the other) and I won't have any socks in the works. Not to worry, my February Sockamania pattern will be here soon.

Playing Games

We've recently begun playing a game that I've been dragging around with me since I was a child. It's a board game called "Agoniz'n" that was made in Bakersfield, CA (c 1962). It's a marble game, similar to Trouble.

Growing up, we always played it whenever we got together with my father's family. They were all in Bakersfield; we were in LA. Visits always involved staying over with my grandmother, eating at a great Chinese restaurant (in Bakersfield?), and playing either Agoniz'n or Contract Rummy.

We haven't been able to play the game for years. It requires colored marbles, and I couldn't find solid color marbles. Chinese checkers seemed to be the obvious place to look, but the newer games all come with plastic marbles and they just don't work for this game. The only glass Chinese checker marbles were always associated with a game that was just too costly, and since I'm cheap, I didn't buy them.

A few weeks ago, I happened upon a game store that carried "replacement Chinese checker marbles" for a reasonable price. So, we can now play Agoniz'n, and I can relive my childhood.

I'm feeling younger already!

Should we believe Dr. Phil?

Have you ever heard Dr. Phil say "If you act happy, you'll be happy" or something like that? We've all been mopey lately (turning into an old lady really chaps my hide), so dh and I decided that we would just start acting happy.

Much easier said than done. My kids think that I must be hitting the Valium or something. I tried to do some yoga and Ed (the dog) thought that I was planning to play with him and jumped on me. Not exactly something that brings the zen into your life.

Well - this is only the first week of the act happy idea. We got the purple "don't complain" bracelets from http://http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/ and the boys discovered that they could be used as lethal weapons. That just got me to complaining and the bracelets were soon out with the trash. Not that I'm complaining....

Guitars and Toys and learning to add links

All three of the boys have decided to take guitar classes. Since they will be taking a group lesson, that means that I have to find two more guitars. Thank goodness for Craig's list and our lively local music scene. I found two guitars that will become members of our family without too much financial outlay. If only one of the kids could sing, we could have another Partridge family!

We've also been clearing out the old toys lately. It's always a big decision whether or not to try to sell things. The Little Tikes Green Mountain thing was a lot of fun, but takes up a lot of space so it's the next thing to go. I've been watching http://ebay.com to see what they're going for, and the sales price seems to be around $150! For that amount, I'm willing to let go :) I even think that we have a box big enough for shipping.

My Blue Socks

I started these socks while driving back from WDW in October. I only got one done because it was yucky and raining and I wanted to watch the road (no - I wasn't driving, just wanted to be a supportive wife). This is the only non-pink/purple yarn that I had. I really like the color and as soon as I've knit up the sock yarn in my stash, I'm going to buy more non pink/purple yarn.

Now that I've learned how to add pictures, I'm learning how to add a link. Not bad for an old lady :o)