Smellyann Strikes Again

Knitting For Vinnie

I mentioned that I've been knitting for Vinnie, Stim's (Stephanie and Tim's) younger son. He's allergic to all synthetic fibers (which is fine, since I'm sensitive to at least acrylic, too), as well as cotton and other plant-based fibers, and some animal fibers, including alpaca. (He has some food allergies, too.) Poor babe breaks out in horribly painful rashes, especially in the diaper area, which is why Steph dresses him in mostly 100% wool, along with some silk and cashmere. This makes for an expensive toddler to dress. Since I have a pretty decent-sized stash of some excellent wools, as well as wool-silk-cashmere blends, many of which I stashed without a purpose in mind, and since I also adore knitting itty-bitty-sized things, I've taken it upon myself to clothe the child for the upcoming Summer season and, hopefully then, into the Fall and Winter. I do plan to take some time off to knit a sweater for each of my kids for Christmas, since it does get a little cooler here in the Winter months, but for the time-being, it's All Vinnie, All the Time. Here's what I've made so far:

I loved knitting this heavily-cabled vest for Vinnie, although at first I did not like the colorway. I'm usually not a fan of such crazy colorways, either, but I think I got this at a steep discount and figured somewhere, some way I'd find a use for it. Well, I'm glad I did, because when I finished and seamed it all up, I absolutely loved it! It reminds me of a mix of hot peppers. The pattern was super-fun to knit up, too, and went very quickly. I made it a little big so he'd have room to grow. The only problem with this pattern in this colorway is that, unless you're actually holding the thing in your hands, you can't see the cables and ribs! Certainly not in pictures. But that's okay, because there's the element of surprise if you're lucky enough (ha!) to behold it in person. Anyway, Vinnie looks great in these colors, and Steph likes it, so I'm happy with it all the way around.

Since I had enough yarn left over, I made Vinnie a pair of socks, too! Steph said he only had a few, and these fit perfectly. Win!

After that, I started a 64-different-square afghan for Vinnie, since the only one he has is the "Bandaid Blanket" I'd given to his older brother, Lucas, three years or so earlier! It's also cabled, but it accidentally got felted, and either way, it's much too small to cover the babe. So I'm making that, too. I'm about 8 squares in and having lots of fun with that, but I'll hold off on posting pictures until they're all finished. The fun part is, Steph has some yarn from other projects for Vinnie (and maybe Luke, too; I forget), and also, I have some yarn left from the NYC trip we (Steph, me, and my three kids from before she had bebes) went on in 1998. She helped me pick out some of that yarn, and it's purple (her favorite color), so it works.

Next, I made another vest. Smaller, this time, it turns out, but this time, it fit just right. The collar looks a little wonky in this picture, but I think it's partly because it hadn't been blocked yet, and partly because of the odd position in which I caught him. The fun part about this one is that, though it's again hard to see in the pictures, there are owls on the front! I never knit owly cables before, but they turned out so cute. What a fun motif. Look, you can see it better here:

You see it, right? Isn't that cute? So twee.

I had some yarn left over from this yarn, too, so I knit another pair of socks. Well, first, I started to knit a hat and got well into it before it became clear that I was going to run out of yarn. And since this was a discontinued yarn, I had no hope of getting more to finish the project, so I had to frog it. (If you're not a yarn enthusiast, you might be wondering what in the world that means. What do frogs say? Ribbit. When you frog something, you rip it. Get it? Rip it = ribbit. Hey, I didn't make it up!)

I couldn't find another pattern for a sock that fit the thickness and amount of yarn that remained, except for the same one as the last yarn, so I made it again. Appropriately enough, the pattern called for exactly this yarn! I made it a little longer in the foot, so he could have some room to grow. I like this less-crazy colorway, too; so pretty!

Lastly for now, I made Vinnie another owly knit, this time an earflap hat for him to wear next year. It was supposed to have long i-cord ties for under the chin, but I ran out of yarn, so I had to adapt the pattern to make it button instead. And I added embellished eyes, in the form of embroidered French knots, to go with the blue button. I nearly died when I got the hat on Vinnie; he looked so stinkin' adorable in it!! The boy was made for hats. Hats were made for Vinnie.

That's it for now, but there will be many more to come, as well as an Eastery post later. Cheers!

Fin.

Advent-ures 2012, Days 4-6

I took a few "mental health days" through the middle of this week thanks to a deep depressive downswing in my lovely bipolar cycling, but I hit the upswing again last night, so we played catch-up for the past few days of our Advent activities. On the 4^th day, the Advent activity read: "4. Decorate all the doors in the house with wrapping paper!" The kids couldn't WAIT to do that. Here's Chloë helping wrap her door...

... and standing front of her finished door. (As an aside, I cannot wait until her hair grows back in more!!)

We worked on Jack's door next. They each got to choose their own paper from Mom's stash, and this is what he liked best.

They each were allowed to pick their own ribbons from my stash as well, and as you can see, he was quite enthralled with the results of his door!

Southpaw Sophie's door was last. (We may do the rest of the doors in the house... or we may not. I haven't decided. Time's flying this month, so we'll see!) See those purple-handled scissors of mine in her hand? She's FOREVER stealing them from me, because they're the only ones that work well for Her Lefty-ness. I really ought to buy a nice pair of lefty scissors for the poor girl...

It was no surprise to me when she picked the Hello Kitty holiday paper. My girls LOVE HK, but lately Sophia is all about it. They absolutely loved their doors, so that activity was a win!

The 5^th day's Advent activity read: "5. Make glittery snowflakes to hang around the house!"

I got this craft from the Daily Spoonful (formerly Disney's Family Fun website), specifically here. I chose that instead of the glittery ones I'd originally planned on doing, because, I'll be honest, I didn't feel like dealing with glitter all over the house, and I thought these would be fast, fun, and easy. Surprisingly, though, the younger the child, the more difficulty they had making these. It's definitely a parental-help project, with more input from me than I expected. You never know!

In the end, the four of us only ended up making eight snowflakes (two per), before the kids decided they'd rather move on to the next craft and maybe make some more snowflakes at a later date. Fine by moi. (P.S. Fiskars cheapy shaped scissors don't work so well with these snowflakes; we broke two pairs, dangit!)

The kids LOVED the effect of their hung snowflakes and declared it a "winter wonderland!"

I love the look on Jack's face in both pictures, and the girls' in the latter, which is why I'm including both! You can't quite get the feel for the final effect, but you get the idea. So fun. Another WIN for this project!

(By the by, please don't look at the background in any of my indoor photos. We have never fully moved into this house, and we have unpacked boxes and general disarray all over the place. It's driving me cray-cray, which albeit is a short trip, but I'm counting down the weeks now until our move outta here! Back to Advent...)

The 6^th day's Advent activity reads: "6. Make Toilet Paper roll candlesticks craft!" which I got from the Daily Spoonful site here. (Their photo is above. Parents and grandparents: I highly recommend this site for kid-friendly crafts, recipes, and s'more good stuff, if you haven't had a chance to peruse it yet.)

Anyway, our glue is still drying on our tubes, which, rather than being toilet paper and paper towel tubes, ended up being one long cut up wrapping paper tube. Someone got rid of my stash of tubes that I'd been saving for this stash, and when I went to get it last night, 'tweren't there. Hello, chagrin, thy name is Smellyann. So I unrolled the emptiest wrapping paper tube and chopped that up into different lengths. Whatever works, right? I will show you that finished project on the next Advent-ure update, since we haven't been able to finish it yet.

To add to the Christmas decoratin' that's happening 'round these parts, I broke out the cats' new embroidered stockings (picked up on the super-cheap from Vistaprint) and hung - okay, more tape - them on a clear wall. The kids wanted to know, what about our stockings? Umm... yeah, they're still at the old house. Hopefully we'll get them out before Christmas Eve, because I have things to put in them, and opening them is a tradition for that night!

Stay tuned for more Advent-ures, 2012! We've got big fun planned for this weekend!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting today!

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I have a headache, which isn't responding to anything, so forgive me if I make no sense, cop an unreasonable attitude, or anything. When I have the migraine pain in the brain, all bets are off!

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I stayed up all night working on the kids' Advent calendar, then got ready to put it up... and it ALL FELL APART. I said some words I won't repeat here. Not because they're foul; I just can't remember them. I believe they were amusing to whomever was listening at the time, but alack. So, I used the opportunity to teach my kids about perseverance. "What's perseverance?" they asked. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" Now they keep repeating that...

So here's the finished project, such as it is, which is not at all what it started out to be:

That's part one. Ugh. It's completely overhauled, and I'm not loving the results, but the kids are, so I guess that's all that matters! It's a magnetic dry-erase board with the 24 days 'til Christmas on it on bottlecap magnets, with a stupid dumb bow on top and all the activities for the 24 days on strips of ribbon down below. Yeah. I kind of hate it.

Oh, and yes, that is duct tape holding it up on top, because the magnetized dry erase board wouldn't stay up, even with NOTHING ON IT!! BAHHHH!!!!

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That's part two, the be-ribboned bucket of 24 packets of treats, because there MUST be treats with any Advent calendar I make, after all. With another stupid dumb bow on top. There was not supposed to BE a bucket at all. Can you sense my annoyance with this thing?

The only thing that makes me glad about the calendar o' Advent is the list of activities I've prepared, most of which are brandy-new for us this year, and full of fun they will be for all five of us. I can't wait 'til tomorrow!!!

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I'm bald. Did you know that? I "pulled at Britney Spears," as someone I know so eloquently and delicately put it, and chopped off all my hair. You know what? Wintertime is not the best time to be doing that mess. Just sayin'.

On the upside, at least I can knit myself lots of cute hats and berets an' stuff.

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Finally, I asked in my Aloha Friday question already, but I'll ask again here: Do you want to exchange holiday cards? I have lots to share and love getting lots from all over, too. If so, drop me a line in the comments! Please, pretty please?

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That's about it from me for this week. Shortish and sweetish. Back to my grocery list, yay.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Fin.

GIVEAWAY & Product Review: Creativity For Kids Craft Kits

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner, MamaP of Fostering Love. Enjoy your prizes, MamaP & Kids!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Creativity For Kids and bsmmedia.com, in which we were given three craft kits to use for this review. No monetary exchange has taken place. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own.

Wow! Like I've said, sometimes this blahgging thing has its perks, and this time we really enjoyed that. We received three kits from Creativity for Kids in the mail to review:

(1) the Deluxe Glitter Art Kit (MSRP: $29.99);

(2) the Mossy Meadows Gnome Garden kit (MSRP: $29.99); and,

(3) the Tile Art Necklaces kit (MSRP: $15.99)!

The first kit we broke into, per the kids' request, was the Deluxe Glitter Art kit. At first, it being on the 'girly' side, Jack had no interest and stayed in his room watching plane crash videos on YouTube on the laptop. So the girls and I dug in with the first of three separate activities within the kit:

(click on photos to embiggerate)

Sophia, Chloë and I each made our own trinket boxes. Everything was included in the kit that we needed, from glue to glitter and rhinestones to the boxes themselves, so there was never any need for me to get up and go get something that we didn't have. Well, except plenty of newspaper, since we were working on Chloë's bed!

I thought all the boxes were lovely, but since my girls declared mine "the best," here's my finished product! I used lots and lots of glitter, glitter pens, and glue to make my box, and here it is, over a week later, still intact after plenty of drying time. Isn't it so cute?! I gave it to Chloë, but now I'm wishing I'd have kept it as a memento of the fun time we had crafting together.

Having wandered in and discovered that, hey, this is actually pretty fun, Jack sat down and joined us for the second activity in the kit: decorating pre-glittered gift tags, which will be super fun to use for birthday and holiday presents! The only problem we ran into with this activity was keeping our four cats off our drying table! They kept hopping up and smushing our glitter glue. (We eventually got smart and kicked them out with the door shut, but that took an embarrassingly long time to figure out.)

Our finished tags: the kit came with 12, so we each got to decorate three. Pretty cool, huh? (There are ribbons to tie them to packages and what-not, but at this point they were still in the drying phase.)

 

The third activity in this first kit saw us making eight glittered and bejeweled cards, which came with envelopes. What fun it'll be for the kids to send out their thank you notes and other correspondence on note cards they decorated themselves!

Our finished cards - two for each of the four of us to make.

The kit comes with a detailed instruction sheet, as well as project ideas, so you'll never be at a loss for what to do with this Deluxe Glitter Art set!

The second kit, the Mossy Meadows Gnome Garden, has been the most anticipated project by the kids, especially Jack, since it's less girly than the other kits. Like all the Creativity for Kids kits, at least in my imagination, it comes with thorough instructions and wildly colorful depictions of what to do with it. The back of the box is cute, too, showing all the contents and even telling a little background of what's being made.

I insisted this kit be worked on outdoors, but unfortunately, the weather hasn't cooperated, and we haven't had a dry day in weeks to complete it. (Apologies to those suffering with a drought!) This is what I found when I first opened the box and pulled out the pieces: Lots of "stuff" to explore here!

Look at all this cool project material! The kids are absolutely chomping at the bit to get into it, and truth be told, so am I, because it looks so cute and fun. There are little ladybugs and wee gnomes and everything! Rain, rain, go away...

 

Finally, after several days, we gave up and got into the last kit, the tile necklaces. Just like the others, everything necessary came with the kit so that we had every last thing we needed to make our necklaces from start to finish. Even scissors and glue were included! I think that's really smart, because busy moms like me are often willing to do crafts with the kids, but we're pressed for time and often don't "want to get into it," when it comes to searching for and procuring all the necessary materials for a given project. Creativity For Kids is awesome, because it solves that problem - at a wide variety of price points for every budget.

As you can probably tell from all the pictures in this collage, this project was a bit more involved. Some parts were a little troublesome for the kids, each of whom was able to decorate three tiles, though the project technically only comes with ALL the materials for eight necklaces. I merely sat by at the ready with my handy-dandy camera and a helping hand where needed. It took several hours to finish - well, more if you count drying time - because it's geared for ages 8+, and it really means it, darn it! There were quite a lot of steps, but they enjoyed making the necklaces every step of the way.

How much did Jack like making these projects??

Yes, this was literally his answer to my asking that - no staging required! They had SO MUCH FUN.

Oh, you wanna see the finished necklaces? Okay, of course:

One of Sophie's findings came unglued while she was threading the cord, so it's re-drying now. She's keeping all of hers, natch. She is seven, after all.

Chloë was going to give two of hers away, but she's capricious like her mama and keeps flipper-flopping about that decision! The third needs a finding and cord still, too.

Jack's decided to give his three away for presents, and to help with that endeavor, the kit even came with three cute little gift packets! He's all excited now, to give his presents to some very nice ladies we know. :)

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So now that I've told you how awesome Creativity for Kids can be, how would you like a giveaway, hmm? Oh you would, would you? Well, one lucky reader of this blog is going to win not one, but TWO kits from Creativity for Kids!!! YAY! The winner will receive the Deluxe Glitter Art kit:

...along with yet another awesome kit that I didn't review:

the Beach Buddies Shell Crafts Mini Kit (MSRP: $5.99), which, I have to admit, makes me jealous, as a marine biologist! Ooh, pick me, pick me!

Contest Rules:

- The winner will be chosen from the Random Number Generator at 11:59 PM EST on September 1, 2012.

- ONE entry per person, please.

- To enter, you MUST leave a comment on THIS post telling me which Creativity for Kids kit intrigues you the most, who you will use it with or give it to... and your favorite colour.

- You may refer friends via Facebook, Twitter, your blog, etc., but there is still a limit of ONE entry per person.

Any questions? Let's begin! Good luck!!!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmented today, too!

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I'm all in a blahgger's tizzy right now. Why? Typepad, for some unknown reason, stopped auto-saving posts during composition, and my stupid feckin' PC shut down 2/3 of the way through my initial FF write-up! What the heck?! On both counts. Argh. So now you're REALLY going to get the fragments, instead of my usual run-on blather. Well, maybe. It's still me, after all.

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I'm still trudging along with the same sorry-@$$ keyboard as last week, should you care to know. I tried a replacement, but it was a dud. So frustrating!

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I'm super annoyed at my 9yo son right now. Why? We have a Keurig (♥), and I was down to my last two K-cups of coffee. Meanwhile, I make sure to keep the hot cocoa K-cups stocked for the kids, which they love. Well, Jack, my boy, LOVES coffee, and while I was in the shower, he helped himself to both of those last two cups of mine! And NO, we don't allow him to drink it, save for the blue moon sip here and there, so I'm doubly annoyed! I can't believe he managed to fall asleep and isn't bouncing off the walls. Actually, there's my silver lining. It could be worse.

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If your blood type is O- like mine, and you've ever given blood, I'm wondering if you get sick of all the calls from the American Red Cross, too? After three calls begging me for more blood - which I'm honestly happy to give, don't get me wrong - three more to remind me of my appointment, another to thank me afterward for being a 'hero,' and then probably one last to ask me to take a survey about my experience, I'm over it!

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Speaking of blood, I'm actually excited to go see my oncologist/hematologist today. I don't usually get a thrill seeing any doctor (well, unless they're cute, like my OB/onc, but anyway), but today I'll find out if my labwork from Tuesday shows the need for another iron transfusion. I soooo hope so; I'm really dragging my butt around lately. It's bad. Between that and a recent onslaught of horrible migraines, I barely got out of bed the last two days. No good!

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And speaking of excited about tomorrow, I can't wait to go to the big Etsy Craft Party at my friend Michelle's all-handmade goods shop, Kitsch! Woot! I'll get my craft on, mingle with my artsy friends, and sample some local eats. Big fun!

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During my downtime, I'm forever on my iPhone, playing my favorite games: Words- and Hanging With Friends, and my latest addiction, Jewels (multi-player as well, but not from Zynga). Do you play? Challenge me! I'm Smellyann there, as well.

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If you've got kids, be sure and check back tomorrow when I post a fun giveaway for you to enter and win a really fun prize for them! Don't forget!

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I hate not to end on a photo or kid-quote of some sort, and since I didn't get out much to snap any personalized plates this week, I'll leave you with this one of Chloë & Sophia getting some arts & crafts goodies from a recent Crayola sale at Toys 'R Us. My girls love to craft as much as their mama, so they tore them open and got started right away. Oh, Jack got something, too, but he didn't want it "right now," which is Jack-code for "pretty much ever, thanks." My feelings aren't hurt. It was free, after all. Hee.

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Y'all have a good weekend now, y'hear?

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up with Mrs. 4444 if ye be fragmentin' today!

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I've got thoughts pouring out of my head like crazy right now, so I hope I can get them all down here before I forget some. I'm sure I will, though; some always escape. But where to begin? At the end, I think.

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Thursday, after a week or 10 days of being seriously ill, I finally felt well enough to finish testing the kids for their end-of-year homeschooling proof of progress submission. I did the math tests with all three kids individually, as opposed to Language Arts, which I managed to run more or less simultaneously, so they could concentrate better. Each missed 2 or 3 answers at most, so overall they did extremely well, and I'm very happy, proud, and pleased to be finished!!

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I got them each an m&m cookie from 7-11 as a quick reward for finishing and doing well, but tomorrow will be the real reward. Depending on the weather, we're going to hit the beach for the first time this summer! If it rains, then my back-up plan is melting all our (TONS OF) broken crayons down into new, fun ones. We're just going to use simple muffin tin this time around - no fun shapes - because we've never done it before, but I'm excited to finally make use of all those broken pieces they don't deem fit to use!

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My CPU bit the bucket earlier this week, and of course I didn't have all my files backed up, so I'll be stressed about that until I get a technician of some sort to retrieve them for me. Do you back up regularly? I don't. I just can't be bothered, and then I kick myself every time something like this happens. Of course. It's so me.

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Speaking of being sick, I went to the hospital Friday, Monday and Tuesday mornings for various procedures. My entire GI tract is all messed up and revolting against its owner at the moment. I admit, I spent a week wearing (and very necessarily so) adult diapers because of it. That wasn't fun, and now that I'm back in my own undies (thank you, Imodium, for finally kicking in), I am relishing the joy! ;P

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I finally went to the doc on one of those days and got the prescription lice treatment from the kids' pediatrician, and guess what? They are STILL alive in Chloë's hair. So I did something rather drastic and chopped about 8" off, which was traumatic for her, but far less than the head-shaving I was (semi-seriously) threatening. She went from this:

to this:

The next day, when she saw how cute (and easy to take care of) it was, she felt much better about it. I think it makes her look soooo much younger! Do you?

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I cut her sister's hair (and my bangs, lol) while I was at it:

I've since straightened hers up a little bit, but I think she also looks cute and younger than she did before, with the shorter 'do.

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Three packages came in the mail today, including some new shirts we bought for Rob's retirement days starting in a few months, a bunch of Jafra goodness for various clients and me, and this:

Lovely yarn for a project a friend has commissioned from me. I can't say much more than that about it at the moment, but I'll show you the finished works when I can! It's always exciting when good fiber shows up in the mail!

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Well, I'll leave you with this image snapped by Rob for my license plate project, since I lost all the ones I had captured in the CPU debacle:

I don't know why eleventy-nine % of the picture is pavement - that crazy hubs!

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Well, I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I apologize being bad about responding to comments and getting around to other fragmenters (always, but especially lately). It's been a bad time with whatever's goin' on in mah belleh, y'all. Hope you forgive me.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Howdy, folks! Link up here if you're fragmenting along with Mrs. 4444 this week!

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I'm pretty sure it's Friday, but this week has been such a blur of suckitude that I'm not entirely sure. Since Aloha Friday (answer my previous post about hatin' if you're game) and FF are both up, though, it must be, right? Of course, I could be dreaming this too, like all the weird dreams I had last night (I was eleventy months pregnant; I had long, long white hair; I married someone else; I won big money on Let's Make a Deal... and more I can't remember), but I don't think so. Now that was a weird fragment.

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Speaking of weird fragments, hey Mrs.4s, what happened to "Favorite Friday Fragmenter?" I loved that part. ;D

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Don't read this if you're eating or are easily grossed out. I'm serious:

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Last Chance....

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So last December, I had the runs for about 3½ weeks straight. It was miserable and depressing, and my quality of life when straight down the gutter. I don't think we did any school that whole time, or at least not much at all. Well, fast forward to now, and I'm on day six of the same infirmity. I have put back on about 10 pounds since my rapid 206-lb weight loss, so I'm eating a lot of salads these days. This, uh, whatever it is that's going on, is so aggressive that 20 minutes later, there is straight-up chewed lettuce floating around in the toilet bowl. Nasty! (Kind of cool for a biologist like me, but still gross, I know.)

And it's immediately sent me into the same plummeting mood state that it did the last time, so I saw my GI doc on an urgent basis this morning. (Yes, Mamacita, I actually made myself a doctor's appointment in a timely manner, if you can believe it!) I have to have a "flex sig" (flexible sigmoidoscopy, like a mini-colonoscopy) next Tuesday morning to rule out, you know. Bad stuff.

The only thing that's different than usual and the same about both incidents is that it almost immediately follows a trip involving a waterpark. Coinky-dink? I really don't think so, but who knows??

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I came across this when I was looking for a picture to go along with the last fragment. Disgusting. I absolutely abhor this small-minded thinking....ugh.

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Gotta admit I rather enjoyed this one, though. Not that I wish cancer on anyone, but whoever still smokes in July 2012 has got to know the risks, amiright?

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We're halfway through the kids' end of year testing - um, like 1½ month later than I planned, but ah, well - and have finished up all their Language Arts sections. Now it's just math. I'm happy to report they're all kicking butt and taking names on LA, and proudest to report that so far as I can tell, Sophia's gotten 100% on hers! Woot woot!! Go kids!!

They could get zeroes on their math scores, and the composite score would still be high enough to keep us off probation, so yippy-skippy for Team Odette! ;D

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I made this card last night, and it's one of the hardest things I've ever had the pleasure to make. I fought tears the whole time. Of course, I purposely made it for boy-girl twins so there would be no chance of it being for identical twins. That would be too much for me... guess after almost ten years, I still have my fair share of healing to do. (I know it's not that 'professional' with all the handwriting and stuff in it, but it felt like it needed to be made that way, and so I did.)

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We brought our dryer (and other stuff) over from the old house last night, and Rob is still recovering from his hernia surgery(ies), so I feel immensely guilty that he's in discomfort now. I didn't ask him to do it, though; he insisted, but I should have put my foot down more. Besides, it's the washer we really need; clothes can air-dry, but I've no interest in hand-washing load upon load of clothes.... Heh.

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Some of you may know, I'm a Jafra Consultant, but I'm really not meant to be a salesperson. I do my best, but mostly I just wear my awesome complexion and Jafra pin and let the people come to me about it. Anyway, I got an order from a new customer through my website last night, and when I called her, I totally upsold the order another third of the total! Woot! Go me. I know she'll love the products, so I have no shame in my game, because it really is good stuff. But I was seriously patting myself on the back, yes, yes I was.

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There are days when I think we have four cats too many. Of course, there are days when I feel like I have four cats, three kids and maybe even a husband too many, but then I count everything I'd miss, and that feeling goes away faster than you can say "being alone sucks!"

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I was boohooing the other night, missing our old house, our old neighborhood, and our old surrounding region. There's a lot there that we don't have here, and I didn't get lost anymore like I have twice this week, and ... and... and. But I've ventured around some more since then and, you know, this place isn't so bad, once you go a few streets this way and a few streets that way. And our Lord of the Land is kicking our upstairs neighbors - the bane of my existence at the moment - out, so there's another plus. Even if we get new neighbors that suck, we'll now be Big Man on Campus. Ha.(Seriously, if you knew the driveway/parking dilemma we deal with on a daily basis, you'd understand how exciting that prospect is...)

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The lice are STILL HERE.

It has been a MONTH, and I have treated it a dozen times. Can I say WTF on this post?! Because WTF?! I am so OVER it. We have treated it with OTC stuff (Nix and its generic counterpart), combed nits for hours upon hours upon hours out of Chloë's curls, and are now using a triple-threat combination of tea tree oil, coconut oil, and Fairytales shampoo... yet they're STILL THERE. I totally give up. I can't take it anymore! Do y'all think most kids' hairdressers would professionally treat this crap?? Because that's my next move. UUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH.

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Anyway. This week's license plate, the only one I could safely capture, is:

which I can't really say anything snarky-amusing about, but the one I wish I had been able to capture was a breast cancer survivor plate that read "ALIVE." I loved that. Almost made me tear up a little.

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And that's all she wrote, kids! Have a fantastic weekend!

Fin.

I Done Been Creatin'

For the last four days or so, I've been working on this purdy li'l thang. I finished less than an hour ago!

The sweater, technically called a "sacque" because I don't know why, was the first piece I made. I almost ran out of the light pink on this, but not quite.

The bonnet, on which I pretty much did run out of the light pink, was next, followed by the booties. I hate crocheting booties. I don't know why; they're just not my favorite a-tall. But they turned out nicer than the picture shows, so all is good, right?

The soaker (a cloth diaper cover) was the last piece. The pattern looked harmless enough... it's not really crooked; I just didn't notice I laid it out that way when I took the photos.

My favorite part is the ruffly tushy!! So cute! Deceptively yarn-, time-, and labor-intensive, I was fixin' to give up when I finished the first one and saw how adorable it looked. Can you imagine this on a wee baby girl? I so wish I had a model... le sigh.

Anyway, this-here's what's been keeping me up nights. Well, this, and caffeine, anxiety, stress... ;)

You like it? I like it. Good enough.

Fin.

Premature Exposure

I've been knitting hexipuffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt. I bought 12 differently-coloured mini-skeins from the UK's The Knitting Goddess, but I've only finished knitting up nine of them. I don't care, I still want to show and tell, so you'll just have to wait for the other three. I showed you a few already, but I'm going to show you them again, just because I'm wild and crazy like that. Here we go, wheeeee:

Aqua

Colour Pop Pink

Draw Breath

Fibre Flurry

Happy Feet

Red Desert

Soft Sky

Summer Sun

Twirl

So do ya wanna see them all together now? Well, do you???!! (I love saying that; it's from the movie Up, from the beginning...) There are about 155 or so now, maybe more:

They kind of remind me of Easter eggs right now, but I suppose that's appropriate. Chloë thinks there are too many dark ones; do you? Well, do you???!! Okay, okay, I already did that once. I think it's dark with plenty of pops of color to make up for it, so it's aiight. And no, like many people do, I didn't go for any particular color theme, scheme or dream. I just went with what I had and bought some things I liked. Works for me!

Back later with more pics and posts.

Fin.

P.S. Chloë says there are 158 puffs.

Join Lisa Loeb and Crayola "Inside the Crayon Box" LIVE on Wednesday, March 7th!

Creativity matters. It´s a skill that all children can learn and when it´s practiced every day, kids become the critical thinkers, problem solvers, and leaders in the classroom, and they´re better prepared for professions of the 21st century.

Crayola wants every child to be creatively alive, so they´re inviting parents "Inside the Crayon Box," for a special live chat with celebrities and trusted parenting experts that will inspire and spark ideas to expand your child´s creative thinking. If you find yourself looking for new ways to inspire your children to express their ideas and build their creativity, you´ll want to join us to learn and share!

The first "Inside the Crayon Box" live chat is Wednesday, March 7 at 9 p.m. EST. Join Crayola and musician, children´s author and mom, Lisa Loeb for a 45-minute live streaming video chat on the Crayola Facebook Page. Lisa, best-known for her number one hit "Stay (I Missed You)," will share as personal stories, practical advice and ways she brings a little creative play into every day for her daughter. We want to hear from you - participants can ask Lisa questions during the event, too!

Interested in the topics to be covered during the chat?

• Why Does Creativity Matter? Creativity is not about who´s the best artists or becoming an architect. It´s a way of thinking that encourages kids´ original ideas and develops their confidence.
• Growing Up Creative. Lisa will share stories about growing up in a home where creativity was encouraged.
• Simple Tips. Easy Ideas. Like most moms, Lisa juggles a lot. She´ll share simple, easy ways she sparks her daughter´s creativity as part of their daily routine.

The chat will occur here in the Crayola YouTube channel on Wednesday. I'm going to be there - will you join me?

Also, be sure to check out Lisa´s book Lisa Loeb´s Silly Sing-Along: The Disappointing Pancake and Other Zany Songs (Sterling Children´s Books, 2011) available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Sing, laugh, and play with pop Lisa in this fabulous collection of ten of the silliest songs ever. Fun activities, games, and recipes accompany whimsical songs. Take Lisa's Silly Sing-Along with you wherever you go and get the high-spirited good times started. Includes a 10-song CD recorded by Lisa!

Information about the Crayola "Inside the Crayon Box" live event was provided to me by Crayola through MyBlogSpark.

Thanks for reading!

Fin.

Wordless Wednesday: Fiber Frenzy

Mini-splurge on mini-skeins of luscious sock yarns from The Knitting Goddess in the UK. I can't wait to get hexipuffing with them!

Link up with 5 Minutes for Mom if you're wordless in the remainder of this Wednesday night.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up with here with Mrs. 4444 if you've got bits and pieces floating through your brain today!

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Right off the bat, I have to say I'm excited that tomorrow is the day I'm spending ~8 hours getting my iron transfusion! It's my first one, and it's not unusual for gastric bypass patients to need them. I'll probably be getting my first of many Vitamin B12 shots, as well. My hemoglobin levels are abyssmally low, which means it's a struggle and a chore just for me to make it through the day, every day, let alone cover everything that's on my plate. I've been dropping a lot of balls lately, admittedly, and I'm hoping this will make a huge difference for me - and my family, who have to put up with me. Hopefully, too, I'll be able to stop consuming the massive daily amounts of caffeine that I do to stay functioning and focused. So, yay!

The only downside is I won't be able to knit during the procedure... but I have about eleventy-billion magazines to catch up on, so I'm covered there. And I can always nap. What I'm wondering about now is, when do I pee? And eat? (I'll let you know. Hee.)

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In awesome news, my kids have been focusing on their reading in our homeschooling so far this new year, and they have progressed dramatically. My oldest, a fifth grader, had to write her first book report, after much gnashing of teeth over it, and she did a splendid job. I had to make just a few corrections - all mechanics - but the content was fantastic. I was so pleased!

As for the two Littles, my son is in 3rd grade and came out of 1st grade public school hardly literate at all. So I remediated him from the Kinder level with our K-2 Hooked on Phonics program, and he just "graduated" from the program! It only took him a year and a half to do all three years' worth, so that's pretty great. Yes, I'm proud of him, but even more incredible is how visibly proud of himself he is! I love it!

The youngest, a first grader who was a late bloomer with regard to reading (she's the most active, physical of the lot), has suddenly pushed through the block and is now almost to the 2nd grade level of the program. So go, kids!! Starting next week, we'll slow down on so much all-reading, all-the-time, and focus more on math, with which all three of them also need remediation. No child left behind, my butt! But the buck stops here. :)

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We were supposed to go on a field trip to the Food Bank with our two respective Girl Scout troops today, but I found out two hours before the trip that they had to reschedule it. ARGH! I had no choice but to cancel our regular meeting, since I have it planned to have a guest speaker come in, and there was no way to get her on such short notice. It was pretty stinko (my word of the month), and I was bummed, since we're behind where I wanted to be in my Daisy troop at this point. But with the iron deficiency, I have to say, I wasn't too terribly disappointed to get a reprieve! Just sayin'.

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We've had Sophia to the Emergency Department 3-4 times this past week, as her breathing struggles have suddenly kicked back into high gear. It's not the weather, since it's barely cold here, and it started in the summertime anyway (in 2010!). We've seen 8 or 9 different doctors and gotten just as many "suggestions" about what it could be, with no real answers. It's frustrating for me, as her mom, to watch her go through this, so I can only imagine how much of an annoyance it is for her. My husband thinks it's entirely stress-induced, but I disagree. That may be a component, certainly, but since it frequently comes on when she's just sitting around, doing nothing remotely upsetting, how can that be?? I just wish I could help her.

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A local-but-online-only friend of mine is a potter, and she fashions these awesome, funkadelic business card holders that I've been coveting for a long time. Last week, she made this red one, and I KNEW it was the one I had to have. It arrived today. Do you love it?! I do! So cool. Check out Lisa's Etsy shop for more awesome clay-mations!

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We drove up the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Sunday (here's my view out the windshield of the Chesapeake Bay), for a high-paying mystery shop. Great, except I kind of screwed it up a little, and now I don't know if I am going to get paid for it. Argh. Well, if that happens, at least we had a fun trip and enjoyed lots of interesting scenery, right?

This is the kids in the back during the trip, watching Judy Moody and the Not-So-Bummer Summer, which they've been waiting for me to rent from the Blockbuster kiosk for ages. I waited until it dropped to $1, so I could get it for free (lots of codes out there, folks!), because I'm cheap like that!

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Speaking of mystery shops, Rob and I finally went out for a nice dinner - with the kids, so it was only semi-romantic! - to celebrate the 11th wedding anniversary we shared on the 2nd of this month. Here's my Appletini. The kids love cherries and all clamored for mine, but um, no. Not the ones all soaked in Smirnoff, kiddos! It was really strong, and I got drunk very quickly. I drink maybe once a month, if that, and wow. I'm such a lightweight since my surgery!

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And here's me, that night (tipsy), showing you my hair in its awkward growing-out phase. I can't stand my hair right now. I want it to be long NOW. I'm half-tempted to just chop it again, but it grows soooo slowly, I may never have another ponytail. Is 35 too old for ponytails, anyway? Not around the house, or in the summer at least, right? ;)

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Last week (which I can tell ya, because I skipped FF then, sorry), we totally kept the kids up and took them to the 12:01 AM first showing of the newly re-released Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It was AWESOME. I think I had as good a time as the kids did. It cost a small fortune; I had sticker shock, but it was worth it for the "cool mom points" I earned, I think. At least Rob managed to stay awake during the whole thing - he'd had a nap first to make sure! Have you seen it? It was great.

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Lastly, speaking of Etsy, I have to share this story. I bought this gorgeous yarn on clearance from Summer of Perfectly Handmade, and the whole situation quickly turned into a comedy of errors: First, she accidentally sent me the wrong yarn, and then she sent me the correct yarn after I mailed it back (and she was GREAT through this whole process, and I totally recommend her, so don't think I'm speaking too badly of her). Well, it was badly skeined, and when I wound it into center-pull "cakes" with my swift and ball winder, it took about two hours vs. the 10-15 minutes it should have, because it was such a mess. I finally got it, though, and managed to knit ONE hexipuff for the Beekeeper's Quilt I'm making before going to bed for the night. Well, I stupidly left that troublesome-but-lovely yarn out overnigh, and our two kittens decided to make it their plaything overnight. When I woke up early, before the kids, I went to go knit another puff with it... and it was GONE. So I instantly knew "the twins," as they are, were the culprits and headed upstairs to look for it. I found two 8mo kittens, each with a shred of the yarn hanging out of their mouths and looking at me guiltily. They immediately dropped it and went to go hide under my son's bed! Then I searched around and found the yarn strewn all over my older daughter's room, some of it chewed it into short strands, some of it just a gnarled, knotty mess, but all entirely wrecked. GAH!!  However, I kept plugging away at it, and look! Up there! I managed to eke out 13 or 14 hexipuffs out of the yarn, which I eventually sorted out, and they'll look great in the quilt. But what a pain!!

P.S. Summer sent me some more yarn as a gift, for all my troubles. So if you're a "yarnie" like I am, don't hesitate to check her out!

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I'll leave you on that note. No, this one: "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

RIP, Dr. King.

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Fin.

Christmas Continues With Crafts And...Stuff.

I took advantage of a few after-Christmas sales and picked the kids up some small things at AC Moore last week. All three picked out their own colors of plastic canvas and some embroidery floss for some crafty-time fun. The girls wanted to use theirs before I was ready, so I gave them the needles and thread and go crazy. It's hard to tell here, but Chloë made a face and a flower on hers; later, since it was New Year's Eve, she stitched "Happy New Year" on hers, too. I neglected to get Sophia's project, because her floss knotted up and she threw it down in frustration. (Hey, she's her mother's child.) I'm going to check out this site soon to see what we can do together with the rest of it.

 

I also snagged some Learn-to-Draw books for the kids, and Sophia's was horses and ponies. She started sketching right away, and this is one from the next day. I'm not sure where the others ended up, but they were equally impressive, for a six-year-old to whip out, in my mind!

Mindware had several cool items on crazy clearance, too, so I grabbed a few things from there for the kids, too. Jack wanted to start painting his car bank inmediatamente!

Chloë at least waited until after dinner to paint her scooter bank. Look, she even painted a little road on the paper. Silly girl.

For Christmas, the Littles each got a three-month subscription to Kiwi Crate from a Plum District deal, and they've been eager to break into their first boxes and see what goodness was contained within. I worried it would be a little young for them, but so far, they've had a blast with what we've done. Here they are decorating and putting stickers on special dates in the calendars therein. (The scissors came with the crates; they have everything you need to do the crafts and activities, which I like, even though we obviously own scissors and tape and stuff. They loved getting them.

 

The next activity was to make these super-simple but nifty "rockets," receiving enough supplies for about a dozen, each.

Jack was oh-so-careful making his. I mean, rockets! Right up a boy's alley!

The first launch was directed at his mother. It really flew, too! Good job, Bud!

When Sophia's first one was finished, the two of them were in competition to see whose could go the fastest, the farthest, the whatever-est, and they had an absolute BALL. I mean, days later, they are still making and playing with these things. Even Chloë made one or two of them, and they've been running all over the house, up and down the stairs, launching these rockets. WIN!

Finally, the kids each got gift cards from both sets of grandpas, and they opted to spend them entirely at Books-A-Million. (If you'd like the pictures individually, just let me know. Figured a collage was in order for this one.) Chloë shopped frugally and ended up with four books and a Gordian's Knot; Jack got two Legos packages, and Sophia bought a book and a Barbie DVD. Plus, all three of them bought Angry Birds stuffies; they are huge fans of the game app on my iPhone! Thanks, Grandpas!

Whew. So, I think I'm done blogging for the night. And now... back to my hexipuffs. At least one more before I turn in for the night. Have a great week!

Fin.

The Only Puffing Going On Here

Life has been hectic and crazy and chaotic and unruly and all that usual gar-bazh, but I'm still hexipuffing away in between moments of crazy and... all that. The Bob just took this picture of me knittering away on the latest puff, which I just now finished. That's how current this post is. I know. I'm so up-to-the-minute like that. I'm freakin' CNN.

In fact, this morning, I finished my 100th puff! 'Twas brillig, because I was all excited to tell Chloë that when she woke up, and she instantly got to counting them, saying, "There's no way there are 100 in that bag already!" And she was right, dammit. There were 98. So my 10-year-old bursted my bubblage, which was fine, because that meant I couldn't do anything until I had finished two more puffs, right? And so here they are, in all their glory. 100 hexipuffs. (I'm a few past that by now, but I don't know how many. I'm sure Chlo will tell me tomorrow. She's constantly counting and rearranging them, the little Rainwoman.)

What the dickens is a hexipuff, you ask? You don't remember my linkage? Go here to see what shall be made of all these glorious little works of knitting art. Go now, do it, see for yourself. Then come back.

Cool, right? And no, I'm not selling it. I'm keeping this hard work all to my - well, our - selves. I don't know how many more I'm going to make. I'll just know when I'm done. I'm not there by a long shot, though.

I looked up after the knitting-in-action shot just in time for The Bob to take this librarianesque photo of me. Yes, I have a lot of freckles. No, I can't stand wearing these glasses, because they slide down my nose like they belong in my mouth, and that drives me crazy, which you all know is so short a trip we don't even have to get in the car.

Anyway. That's the latest knitting news. Now let me go through the pictures and see what else I can share with you, m'kay? 'Kay.

Fin.

Advent Calendar, Year 2011

So, if you've been reading here since the beginning (four years now!), you should know that I like to make an Advent calendar for the kids every year, with a toy or candy and activity for each day. We used the matchbox one for two years, but it got ruined last year while we were traveling, so it is no more. I liked that one the best, but Jack insists that this year's is better (I disagree; I loved that derned box *sniff*, but I'll accept his opinion as the God's honest truth). Henceforth, I shall show you photos of this year's attempt at awesome Adventism:

First, I traced 8 large circles out of coordinating 12x12" scrapbook paper. I didn't have a circle template that large, and I couldn't print one out (my printer only prints 8½x11" sheets), so I used the lid of my crystal cake plate. Which may or may not now have ink on it. I haven't checked; it should wash off, though, right? Then, I cut each circle into thirds, using my keen eye for angles. Which is to say, I couldn't find a protractor, or I would've measured with that.

Then, with Rob's help, we hung up the cones, using cute little bitty clothespins from A.C. Moore (which, conveniently, came in a pack of 24), on some spare crochet thread. I really wanted all 24 on one garland, but it wasn't going to work out, and there just wasn't room for two strands of 12, so this lame-arse way was how it worked out. Eh. Whatever. It's not like I have to live with it forever. I can stand four weeks of this. Well, really, not that long, because I'll take down the top strand after the third of December. {End babble.}

I had double-sided taped the cones closed, but they wouldn't stay shut, so I totally stapled the heck out of them, oh, yes, I did! Normally I'm not a fan of such, oh, slap-dashery in my craftiness, but I was OVER IT by that point. I mean, really. Tape made for scrapbook paper not working? Color me bah humbugged about it. At least the tape did work for the numbers I one-inch-circle-punched out of beigy semi-matchy card stock. Humph.

I really didn't mind having Jack and Chloë (Sophia's been sound asleep on the couch for hours now) help me fill the cones with candy, since they were all with me when I bought it. Normally, I like for it to be a big secrety-secret surprise, but since the cones are low enough (and, in some cases, dipped forward), they can see in 'em anyway. When Soapy awakes, I'm going to make them do a repeat-after-me oath to not touch the contents until the day on which they are supposed to open them. Think it'll work? Me neither. One can make an attempt, however.

Since all three kiddos are now literate, and since I changed up some - if not most - of the Advent activities this year, I put those in myself. We do need to leave some things a surprise, after all.

And that, my dears, is that.

Fin.

Origami Sonobe Ball

I'm figuring out how I'm going to be making the kids' Advent calendar this year, and in doing so, I ended up making this:

Another view:

I guess we'll make an ornament out of it. So now, Rob thinks we should have a Christmas tree decorated entirely with cool origami. I agree. Send me a tree.

Also, if you know of a totally awesome, cool, radical Advent calendar I can entirely make by hand, linkage would be spec-tack. Gratzi.

Fin.

On Being Crafty

Since this guy:

has been freaking me out since Thursday with his possibly having had a stroke or several (hi, two ER visits later and we have yet to have him see a Neurologist, grr), I've been what you might call "productively unproductive." Huh? Welp, instead of doing (mostly) what I ought to do, like school the chillens and clean the house and sech, I've been spending the time trying not to be One Big Worrywart by being crafty instead. Crafting helps soothe my frazzled nerves and so, in this case, I gave myself a free pass to do whatever it was that I needed to do.

Firstly, I was determined to conquer this beast, which all of our girls - including the little 5-7-year-old Daisies - were supposed to have made at our encampment last weekend, but which proved to be next to impossible for just about everyone (including us adults). Chloë massively impressed me - and, I think, several of the other Leaders there - by reinventing the wheel and coming up with her own successful way to do it, but even then, it wasn't "right," as the directions given were confusing and, well, it turns out, just wrong. Since we had several 2-L bottles in the recycling bin, I decided to take another whack at it, and behold! Once you follow the dang directions, it's really not too bad. And it looks kind of cool, so I ended up making, like, five. (Hey, it was nerve-soothing, remember??)

Ignoring the background, and the fact that I couldn't get off the entire Coke label, I think it turned out pretty well. I filled it with glass beads and water, then went outside and snipped what may be my last lily of the year to snap this picture. My mistake was leaving it there alone. Half-hour later, I went into the kitchen, and I found our two wee kittens had battered the flower and drunk all the water they could reach out of the vase. Cats!!

Ah, but they're so cute and sweet and innocent when they're sleeping (not unlike the kids, eh?), it's hard not to forgive them and just laugh it off...

I was enjoying the craft so much that when I ran out of 2-L bottles, I decided to try making one out of a much smaller and more rigid SoBe LifeWater bottle. That took all my strength to cut! But, I rescued what was by then left of the flower and think it turned out mighty purty with some blue glass beads (I almost typed "glue blass" instead, as I am the queen of Spoonerisms). Right?

I then turned my attention to making my SWAPS ("Something Whimsical Affectionately Pinned Somewhere") for my Outdoor II (camping) training session that I was supposed to be at, well, right now. (After the Rob scares, I had to cancel my attendance, but I didn't know that at the the time.) So what's this jumble of mess?

Since our group's chosen Patrol name, with the overall camp theme was "Under the Sea," was the Sassy Sharks, I came up with this SWAP(s) first: A Sassy Shark intentionally pinned to the TOP of the crocheted chain. Get it? Sharks are apex predators, at the top of the food chain? Yes? You see? C'mon, it's jeenyus. Okay, okay, whatever, I liked it.

This was the second set of SWAPS I worked out. Up close:

A baggy containing a little card reading, "Make no bones (get it? Get it? Sharks have no bones! I'm so damn clever) about it, we Sharks sure are Sassy!" with another sassy, dancing little shark clip-art photo, and some frou-frous thrown in there for extra sass. I wanted to make a third set of SWAPS, but time was running short, and I still needed to make our Patrol's name tags, for which I was responsible.

A lot of Google Imaging, printing, cutting, laminating, and badge-attaching later, and my name tags were done. I was SO proud of them, and that's probably the one disappointment I had about not going camping this weekend; "that" being able to explain to each of our participants why I assigned them the sharks that I did. So, you'll have to sit through while I explain them to you, 'cause someone has to know the truth of the matter.

Top, L to R: Hard to see, but N was our "Ghost Shark," because she was absent for our initial training and planning session, so we only had her in spirit. J was our Hammerhead, because they're one of the few sharks that really school in groups and they're quite dominant, and I got the sense that J was a real team player but also a natural-born leader-type. See?

Middle, L to R: S was our Wobbegong, one of my favorite sharks, because she struck me as gentle and shy, like these more docile fish. D wanted to be the Great White, and I forget why, but I gave that to her. She had a strong personality as well, so it seemed fitting, anyway. And, my Assistant Troop Leader, Miss D, was our Patrol Leader, a.k.a. the group cheerleader, so I made her our Megamouth Shark. Get it? Like she had a megaphone to cheer us all on with? Ha. I kill The Me.

Bottom, L to R: I made myself the Nurse Shark, because I was our Patrol's elected First Aider (which makes it suck even more that I couldn't go! Hope no one gets any boo-boos...). The next one was a Chimaera, which I LOVE because it belongs to AD: The overall camp trainer, she gets a name tag from EVERY Patrol to keep for her collection. So why a Chimaera? Well, they are related to sharks, but not really sharks, for one, and for another, in mythology, chimaerae are thought to be able to change themselves into different things, and since she gets to be part of all the Patrols, technically, she's changing roles depending on which one she's with. Love it? I do!! Our Patrol Trainer, C, is a runner, so I made her our super-fast Mako Shark. And last, but not least, A, the oldest (by far) in our group, was the now-extinct but long-lived Megalodon Shark. Heehee.

Yup. I'm proud of these and hope everyone was able to figure out their sharky identities without my help. Am I a nerd? You betcha!

Once I finished that, I was still distracted by my fretting, so I turned to the one guaranteed nerve-calmer for me: needlework. The knitting project (my Sparkle! dress), I deemed to be at a point to stressful to get the job properly done, so I switched tactics and started a pretty doily (Ravlink) instead. (PDF here) I was so glad to finally finish those 10 flowers last night! After about six, I was bored of that. But sometimes, a little tedium is just what the doctor ordered, so that was okay, too.

Last night, I worked on the center of the doily, a fast work-up, and am now at the point where I'll switch colors again (this is actually a light mint green, if you can't tell from the pic; click to embiggerate, as usual) and start attaching the flowers. I can't wait and will jump into that as soon as I finish this post!

And finally, I made the creamed corn at which my teen cooking class balked,and since I was so exhausted from my ongoing Hell Week, I gave them a pass and let them have Study Hall instead, agreeing to make the four (nope, three, since one student did agree to make the rice dish, so I sent her home with the ingredients for that) side dishes on last week's cooking agenda myself and report back to them. My report? Utter deliciousness, and I have since engulfed about 2/3 of the dish. Rob's pronouncement? "Ugh.That is all you." Fine by me! Yum!

Today, I'll make up the other two dishes and show you those, later.

Have a swell week!

Fin.

A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

Y'all did know that's, like, a palindrome, right? That's not news?

Anyway. Not where I'm headed.  Nor is this collage of silly pictures I took of myself early this morning when I meant to be writing up plans and writing down lists:

I love Instagram.

I also seriously LOVE these Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers, which are so good I can't stand it. I got a case of them from Moms Meet to share with my mommy group today, but I've literally eaten like 10 ½-oz bags myself since they arrived. They're addictive! Perfectly crunchy, wonderful texture, delicious flavor, and just the right touch of salt. Mmm. I can definitely endorse this product! Bonus: They're gluten-free, for those of you needing such a product (but they do contain soy, though it's low on the ingredient list.)

ANYWAY.

The plan. The plans. That's why we're all gathered here together today. And no, we're not moving to Panama. Or Thailand. Or Florida, Or Hawai'i, or Australia (boo-hoo). Nor are we going to live on a boat.

  
No, we have decided that, all things considered, those ideas just aren't going to work out for us, right now. Maybe in the future, but not right now.

Instead, here's what:

Rob'll retire in about a year and a half, after 20 years of service to our great country.

Then a lot of this will happen. Hopefully our shithole house will sell sooner rather than later, and we can high-tail it out of here shortly after retirement.

...After which, we'll end up here, this being a marina in downtown San Diego. Okay maybe not *exactly* here, but somewhere in this neck of the woods. And by "neck" I mean Southern California, and by "woods" I mean United States. It all depends on where we can find affordable (please, God, let it be four-bedroom) housing in a safe place, but the closer to SD, the better.

Now you may be asking, in your grammatically-incorrect way that I love so much:

???

Well, there are a few reasons.

#1. Process of elimination. After deciding we couldn't expatriate for medical reasons (my bipolar disorder and Jack's growth hormone deficiency, chiefly), our list narrowed down to Hawai'i, the Florida Keys, or San Diego. It had to be somewhere warm but NOT the Deep South, and I didn't have much interest in the Southwest, either. No particular reason, just, meh.

#2.

The whole reason Rob got into the Navy in the first place was for the G.I. bill, so he could go to college, never intending to do 20 years. But that's neither here nor there anymore, and now he's ready to get that degree. Between the GI bill and Voc Rehab, he hopes to get his B.S. in Nursing, become an R.N., and then continuing ed. to become a Nurse Practitioner. I think that's great. I'm all for it.

So why San Diego?

a. Proximity to MTFs (Military Treatment Facilities) to minimize our out-of-pocket post-Active Duty medical expenses. (Our prescriptions add up, dudes.)

b. Proximity to family, vs. Hawai'i. As Rob pointed out, "our parents aren't getting any younger..."

c. Quality and quantity of accredited institutions of higher learning, vs. the sole Florida Keys Community College (which, by the way, is supposed to be competitive for nursing, but then he'd have to commute to Miami after two years, and .... nah)

# 3.

There's so much for families to do there! We've heard lots of great things from friends and fellow military members who've lived there, so it will afford many opportunities for exploration, discovery, and fun.

So that's pretty much the whole ball of wax, in a nutshell. Maybe we'll be able to live out Plan B of The Retirement Dream, which includes

Oh. When I first read that, I thought it said "OUR," not "ORR." Heh. Whatever. Sorry I stole your banner, Orr Family Farm.

We'd love some of this:

because we go through, and desire plenty of fresh, healthy, organic:

If the place is big enough, we might even have a goat or even a cow, for milk, and cheese, and yogurt, and all sorts of things I'd learn to make.

Dang. Just dang.

And hopefully a big, beautiful vegetable garden will keep us occupied in the growing season (or is it always the growing season there?), so with the chickens and goat/cow and veggies and whatever else, we can be pretty self-sufficient and organic, food-wise.

In the dream/fantasy, I'd also get an alpaca or several, to raise for the fiber.

Of course, I could either sell the fiber outright, or learn to spin it. Or both. Yes, probably both.

And I could learn to dye it with natural materials, and I would produce the most beautiful yarns.

And of course, I'd keep homeschooling the kids, and they'd learn so much from the farming and the husbandry and the learning. All the learning, every day, from doing. And behold, it would be very, very good.

And in a perfect world, I'd have her body.

So it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Whether any of it does, whether it all does, and we get to grow old together and live happily ever after.

That's the plan, Stan!

Fin.

P.S. I forgot to mention one final "plus" that San Diego had going for it: proximity to

,

should Chloë (or even Sophia, but never Jack) decide to pursue that avocation after all.

P.P.S. Today is Rob's 39th birthday. Happy birthday, Rabbi/Rupert/Ribbon/Rabbit/Robin/Ruben and everything else I call you!

Wordless Wednesday: Mamacita's Card

Link up here if you're Wordless (or not) today!

 

I've been making cards to sell in my Etsy shop lately, and I made one for my MIL (Mamacita) as a thank-you for all she does for us. I kept the outside pretty simple - you'll see why in a sec. Here's the front.

 

I left the back plain, except for the paper clips. Huh? Wha?

You see? When the card is fully opened, it turns into a 3-D five-point star, and you need those paper clips to keep it opened. This, of course, is the top view.

 

Each of the five sides of Grandma's card was dedicated to one of her five grandchildren. Handy how it worked out like that, eh?

I kept this card pretty simple, since it was my first attempt, and it was a little complex to figure out at first. I'm looking forward to making more such cards, though!

Happy Hump Day! ☺

Fin.

Anudder Card I Made

This was a card I made for my Rob's sister, Gail, who's gotten engaged to be married - third time's a charm! We're very happy for her and wish her and her fiance the best.

There you go, I can be concise once in a while. Ha.

Fin.