Smellyann Strikes Again

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.

Tesla II

My friend C has a pet African Gray parrot. Recently, she commissioned me to make a crocheted version of Tesla. I haven't done a lot of amigurumi, and I couldn't find any patterns for an African Gray, so I had to "wing" it (heh heh...sorry). Here are the results! I sent Tesla II to C recently, and she seems happy with her. So, I'm happy, too.

[Click picture collage to embiggerate.]

Fin.

Friday Fragments

 

Link up here if you're fragmenting along with Mrs.4444 today!

I can't promise my fragments today won't depress you. If you don't feel like it, shuffle on along now... ;)

☼

So I had this friend. A really, really good, close friend, who I cared a tremendous bit about. I knew him a very short period of time, but we clicked immediately and got along like two people who get along real well.

Anyway, things got too intense, and when I posted this, he had enough. It cost me the friendship.

That was what, a week ago? My heart is still broken.

Actually, for the first time since I was a teenager, I did this:

 

 

I never considered myself a "cutter," because I have always used my fingernails (I have attempted scissors and knives but couldn't ever manage to break the skin with them), but apparently that counts. It's worse than it looks in the picture; that was fresh. Don't ask me why I took a picture.

Right now it looks like this, though:

 

...because Hello Kitty was all I had in my First Aid kit. Hey, whatever works. It hurts like hell. I won't be doing it again anytime soon. That's a promise.

 ☼

I did try not to cut. I even put on my sneakers - which I never, ever wear - and went out for a run to try and stop the pain I was feeling. I don't run. I just don't. But I did. And I liked it. So I've been gathering up a Playlist of run-worthy songs on my iPod, and as soon as the weather isn't crappish, I'm going to keep doing it. I WILL run that 5K this year!! Another promise.

☼

Anyway, CM, if you're out there reading this (which I doubt, but you never know), please stop this nonsense and be my friend again. Please?

☼

Here's another thing I posted this week, that I think you should read. I'm actually kind of proud of it. I printed it out and mailed it. Kinda hoping it makes the old man cry again. Is that wrong?

☼

I have to admit, I feel like I've been falling down on the job when it comes to homeschooling. I think we do okay at it when we DO it, but we haven't spent enough time on it since Christmas. Granted, my 5yo went from not knowing all her letter sounds to READING, and my 7yo went from a mid-kinder reading level to a mid/late-first grade level so far this school year, and my 9yo went from being TERRIBLE at math to adding up $80 worth of groceries in her head and only being 3¢ off the actual total... and oodles of other things, but... I'm slacking. There. I said it. I'm slacking. Time to get back in the saddle and be more gung-ho again.

☼

We've been doing lots of Valentine's arts and crafts projects this week, including all these on Tuesday and more stuff today:

 

our bedecked chandelier, and

 

our Valentine (eucalyptus) tree, and

 

our bannisters, and 

 

this little love-note to my alma mater, the U. of Miami. Fun times. I had every intention of doing more academic stuff today, but we had a rough, tough morning, so I made it up to the kids with an afternoon full of buttons, ribbons, glitter and hot glue!

☼

Tonight, I continued the craftiness by finishing up the African Gray (amigurumi) parrot I've been making for a good friend of mine. I had no pattern or experience, really, with amigurumi other than one or two little things, so it was a real challenge for me. I can't show you the picture yet because she hasn't seen it and reads this blog, so I'll just show you my starting point a few weeks ago:

 

She approved of my color choices, but that's it! Everything else will be a surprise. Eek! I'm nervous!

☼

At Bunco last night, Skinny-Minnie T totally made my night by standing next to me and joke-angrily saying that SHE was supposed to be the skinny one, here! At the time, I was wearing size SIX jeans and really needed a belt!! :D

☼

I'll leave you now with this funny (and totally wrong!) little conversation that my husband texted to me. It happened a little while ago:

Hubs, to son Jack, 7: "I'm trying to take a dump, can you leave [the bathroom], please??"

Jack: "I'm trying to look at the damn [valentine] tree!"

I busted a gut. I probably shouldn't share that, but I think it's hee-larious. Some - maybe all - of you are shaking your heads, and I don't care. It's funny to ME!

☼

All right, good-night and happy weekend.

Fin.

Peep. Peep. Peep.

I'll be brief.  I made this today, being highly desirous of some instant gratification.

 

It satisfied the need. His name is Flappy. He's cute as a bug, and I love him.

It's my first amigurumi, unless you count this rocket I made Lucas for his first birthday:

I always think amigurumi should have eyes, though.

Now, I'm itching to make more. I bought four bags of safety eyes, and I have lots of yarn, so... what's next?

 

Fin. 

Your Name Rhymes With Snot

On Friday morning, I drove out to EBF Chesapeake to pick up Stephanie and wee baby Luke (who, at 8 months -8 months already!!!! - is really no longer "wee" at all) and carry them back to our house.

They spent the entire day and well into the night with us, so that I could knit Luke a redeux pair of wool shorties that would actually fit his cloth-diaper clad little butt this time, unlike the last pair that came out, well, rather ginormous. (As Steph says, "They go up to his boobies.")

As for the title of this post, I believe it was Chloë who joked to his mama, "Lucas Mucous, your name rhymes with snot!" I giggled and was relieved when I looked up to see if Steph was offended and found her giggling, too. Phew!

The knitting took about 10 hours. We tried the shorties on at one point, but since I was using DPNs (double-pointed needles), a bunch of stitches fell of the needles. Even though I'd used big rubber bands to hold them in place. Fecking stitches. Steph quickly grabbed me a crochet hook, and I was able to save every last one of them (sending a silent "thank-you" to the anonymous yarn shop employee who taught me how to do that, four or five years ago). Phew again!

I didn't take many breaks, knitting almost continuously through the full 10 hours. To say my hands were cramped afterward is an understatement! The only real break I remember taking, aside from inhaling a crab cake and using the powder room, is getting up to show Steph my dance skilz to "Cotton-Eyed Joe" on Wii Just Dance. I think she was impressed and amazed. Or amused. I don't really know.

Oh yeah, and I took a shower, because we were going to go go this awesome (so I heard afterward) Etsy-sponsored crafting party in Norfolk, but we mutually decided not to go and continue on with the knitting. My new mail-order bathing suit arrived from Land's End, and I tried that on. I'm wearing all size 12 stuff from Old Navy right now, but since they were out of size 12 suits, I bit the bullet and ordered a size 10. Well, it fit!! I had to squeeze it on, but Rob said I looked "hot" and that a 12 would probably have been too big. Yay! That means that after I get my abdominoplasty, I should be at least an 8, if not a 6. (I have a LOT of skin to remove.) Single digits, baby!! I can not WAIT.

Anyway, the shorties finally got finished, and I held my breath while Steph tried them on Lucas Mucous. The final decree? They fit!!! Woohoo!! The hard work paid off.

He does look rather cute, doesn't he? I mean, with the shorts. He could wear a brown paper bag and look cute, though. =D

********

In other yarny news, I had to work through the night into Friday morning, but I finished crocheting the blanket I was working on at the HEAV convention last week:

Oh, my bad, did you want to see the whole thing? Here you go:

I like the finished product very much. I didn't like it at all at the beginning, because it's made with icky-crappy Red Heart yarn (with my apologies the people who donated the yarn to CARE Package the day before I started making the blanket from a pattern book donated by Bunco-friend-Linda) that squeaked throughout the process. I wasn't a big fan of the colors for the first half of the blanket, and maybe the first 7/8 of the blanket but finished, I actually think it looks pretty. And it's softer finished than it is started, if that makes any sense. In the end, I'm satisfied that it will make a nice blanket for the full-term baby girl who will be unfortunate enough to need it. :(

********

In much happier news, Thursday was Bridging Day for Chloë's Brownies troop. The girls are now officially Juniors! After a year of Daisies and three years of Brownies, I couldn't be more proud of her and the girls, most of whom have been together since they were five. I spent a good deal of time on Thursday sewing on the patches she'd received in December and asked me to sew on ever since; after the ceremony, I sewed on all the rest, in completely the wrong places (ie, non Try-It patches on the front, since I ran out of room on the back). But she's never going to wear it again, so does it really, truly matter?

(I also sewed the patches Sophia has earned on her Daisy smock (Early Bird registration, plus a Make-It-Build-It patch from Lowe's for the trellises they made me for Mother's Day, and a soccer patch from Fall Soccer), and the ones Jack has earned on the back of his Cub Scout shirt. I KNOW those are in the wrong place, so Rob will probably have to take them off and re-do them, as the boys actually have uniform inspections.)

Miss Nikki, the Troop Leader, introduced the girls and sent them across the bridge, and Miss Karen, the assistant TL, gave them their certificates and pinned on their new insignia. Congratulations, Chloë!!

Is she giving me that tween look that says, "Moo-ooommm, stop taking my picture"?? Is she old enough for that yet? My word.

Before the ceremony, we ate dinner, and Miss Nikki passed out all the patches and things the girls had earned. She even gave me a Volunteer certificate and a gift bag with goodies and a couple of patches of my own. Everyone had to bring something to eat to the potluck; we brought the McNuggets and fries and all the Shrek godies that we were supposed to have at our Shrek party last Sunday. Since almost no one was going to come to that, I canceled it and decided to bring the Shrek party to Bridging Day, instead! It worked out.

After the party, during which the girls also sang and recited some things for us, Chloë was completely exhausted. She passed out immediately, which sucked, because we had more than an hour's drive (with traffic) up to Newport News for an audition.

H, the casting director, had called us as we were literally ON OUR WAY to the Girl Scouts party, asking us to come up immediately. Um, no can do, sorry. He said that he was sure that if they saw her, they would want to hire her, and since it was a national commercial, I hemmed and hawed and finally decided no, we really have to go to this party. He countered by saying they would stay late just for her, if we could come up right away after the party. Well, we had plans to go to Michaels to make a Father's Day craft for Rob, but we couldn't really say no, could we?

So we went.

Rob took The Littles downstairs to Maggie Moo's for some amazing (but not cheap) ice cream, while Chloë had her on-camera audition with H. I had forgotten to mention her teeth situation (she's missing several, and others are half grown-in, at the moment) on the phone, but he said it was no big deal. She "slated" for the camera, which is basically saying your name and age and whatever else they want you to do by way of introducing yourself. She was much too tired for that, so it wasn't great, but then she had to take a potty break.

During the break, she really woke up and became her regular, silly, "on" self, so the rest of the on-camera part was really cute. You never know how they'll perceive you, though, so I'm not holding out much hope. H said we should find out by Tuesday if she gets it. It would be a great gig, though!

********

Lookee!! Rob was a busy boy today. He put together our new compost bin, hauled all the compost we've been making from behind the bushes in the front "yard" and filled it up. Doesn't it look great? I'm SO excited to have a proper bin now.

Also, he built the first of our two cedar raised beds. Unfortunately, he had a dickens of a time actually getting them into the ground, so he had to take it all apart again! D'oh!! Poor Rob. He's going to put it in separately tomorrow, I guess. But still, it looked nice, right? LOL

Can you see my two pretty Tiger Lilies under the tree in the bag? Love. Those are my faaaaavorite flowers.

And finally, Jack snagged my camera and took about 800 pictures with it. Most were crap, but here are a few I kept. Chloë, busy playing games on my iPhone - a favorite activity for all three kiddos.

Sophia, looking completely enthused.

An amusing self-portait

Daddy working; see his hand all bandaged up? He got some horrible blisters trying to pound the box into the ground. Poor Daddy!!

That's all. Back to working on promoting the new blog. If you haven't entered the giveaway, please, please, please go do. :D Thanks, I really mean it. Thank you. There will be a new one posted later on Sunday!

Fin.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  

I'm The Only One Who'll Leave A Light On For You

Don't ask. It won't make sense anyway.

Today:

Sophia looked particularly adorable. She dressed herself, as always, and even though I told her it was about 1100º out and she would be far too hot, she insisted on wearing the sweater.  

I've never met a cuter child being rude to her mother. (If she hadn't done that, the resulting picture would have been even more adorable; oh, well.)

Jack has been all about rockets. He built a rocket, talked about rockets, "saw" rockets in ordinary objects, and asked to learn about rockets this year when we home-school. Is he trying to tell me something?

Sophia had a routine hearing screening at the Naval hospital. Perfect in both ears. She kept saying through the microphone, to her tester, "How long is this going to take, anyway?" She has places to go, things to do, people to see... you know.

 

The Littles played together quite nicely, for most of the day. 

Chloë took this picture, noting growth of our transplated tomato plants from the Keeneys. It's doing quite well, thanks!

Also:

• I continued to crochet that multi blanket, which I had planned to finish over the past weekend. At this rate, I will definitely be finished by NEXT weekend, at least.
• I scrubbed down all three bathrooms, including three pretty gross toilets. I feel accomplished. The last two, I washed in the nude after taking a cold shower, and Rob walked in the kids' ladybug bathroom as I was bent over to scrub the tub. "Hello!" he exclaimed. "It's a full moon out tonight!"
• After dinner, which Rob made, the kids and I sat on the front porch to enjoy the nice breeze. I crocheted; Chloë sketched pictures of herself, her sister, and various objects; Jack drove his truck around the driveway; and we all pointed out fireflies.
• The Littles and I cleaned up the entire downstairs in about 45 minutes, except for the kitchen (Rob's domain), and except for the clutter in the office (my domain, which I attend to 24/7/365 and still can't seem to manage to tame). Anyway, it looks pretty good in here for the moment.
• I found out that Chloë will need to head up to DC early next month to reshoot part of the beginning of Boom. She'll actually get paid this time, a per diem and travel rate. Awesome!

Back to my crocheting. Until midnight, when Rob's pay hits, and then it's time to pay bills and make plans. Have a good night!

Fin.

Convention

 

 
That guy is supposed to be "overwhelmed," which is what I was when I first arrived at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Thursday afternoon, but I don't know if that's what I think of when I look at it. But never mind him. OMG, the GRCC is huge, the amount of people there was huge, the number of things to see and do was huge, it was all just... huge.

I was really wishing that the rest of my family, or at least my husband, were with me, but alas, I was alone. (They were supposed to come, but then Chloë had a mandatory dance rehearsal on Saturday morning, and Sophia had preschool graduation on Friday afternoon, followed by a picnic, followed by Chloë's party for being Super Citizen of tte month for her class...)

After checking into my cheaper-than-cheap hotel room in a not-so-classy part of Richmond, I drove the 2.5-mile, 25-minute (yes, I'm serious) drive down to the convention center, paid six bucks to park, and followed the crowd. I was semi-organized in that I had highlighted in green all of the workshops I definitely wanted to attend, and in orange, those that I might possibly want to attend... but I probably should have studied the maps more, because I had no idea where to go.

Fortunately, the home-schooling community is made up of Generally Nice People, and one such GNP noticed me standing in the middle of things, wide-eyed, looking around in bewilderment. She walked me to the registration table and then pointed out where I should go after that. She told me to try not to get too overwhelmed (too late) and before walking away, said, "You're here alone, for your first time? Oh, bless your heart." I think my poor heart was blessed about 75 times during the course of the convention.

Anyway, for the next 5½ hours, I sat through four workshops on, basically, "how to homeschool." There were half-hour breaks after each hour-long session, during which I crocheted on a baby blanket for CARE Package. Unfortunately, I have done a TON of research on home-schooling, homeschool laws in the state of Virginia, and choosing curricula, so I really didn't get a single new piece of information out of that period of time. Suckage. But, had I not gone, of course I would not have learned that much, right? And there was nothing else that I really could have done in that time, so it wasn't a total waste.

After the workshops, I had about an hour left before my parking garage closed at 1900 (lame!), so I went to explore the ginormous Exhibit Hall full of vendors selling everything from Christian Curriculum (80%) to crafts (5%) to gadgets (5%) to miscellaneous stuff (8%) to, uh, oh yeah - secular curriculum (2%). YEAH. It's VERY hard to be a secular home-schooler, at least in the state of Virginia. Er, commonwealth. Whatever.

Which brings me to the point where I could editorialize for hours about home-schooling from a Christian-based point of view, but I will try not to do that. Suffice it to say, I am Christian, but I am also a scientist, a biologist, and I not only "believe in" evolution but know that is an actual, real, observable phenomenon. I can do nothing but roll my eyes at the people who believe and teach their kids otherwise, and I do. A lot. Sorry if you're one, but oh, my God, learn some science. Evolution does NOT contradict Creationism, and if you want to read a great explanation about that, read the top of this page. Just the top. ;)

Anyway, before I get myself worked up, let's move on to this funny sign I spotted on one vendor's table:

I asked her before I took the picture, and I think she was tickled that I noticed it. Maybe you've seen it before, but I hadn't and thought it was too funny!

I looked through half the Exhibit Hall, spending just a tiny bit of money on a couple things for the kids, before I had to go rescue Vanna from the garage and head out for something to eat. On the short-but-long drive "home" to my hotel, I took a few pictures of some of the houses. Richmond is full of really great, old architecture, and I would have loved to have more time to walk around, take it in, and snap some pictures. But I have one more, and that's it:

I look at houses like that and see faces. I see faces on cars, too. Do you?

One picture that I really wish I had been able to take: near the GRCC was a very old apartment building, very stylish and well maintained but obviously as old as the country itself, probably. Well, probably not that old, but OLD. But smack-dab in front of it was a sign promoting a "move-in special," and it was bright and splashy and couldn't have been more in contrast with the old building. I stopped and looked at it every time I passed it.

I tried to find this place to get something to eat, since I wanted to continue eating local, organic food and this was definitely The Place to go for that, but I couldn't find it. Not because the GPS on my iPhone wasn't sufficient - it was, and it was my lifeline while in the city - but there was so much construction going on around Broad Street where I mainly traveled, that I couldn't figure out where to actually turn to stay on path. So I skipped it in favor of a tiny Mexican restaurante that promised authentic food.

Um, so why was half the menu Greek food? I didn't get it. I ordered a vegetarian plate, subbing beans for the rice I can't eat, and ate about a third of it, and two sips of my drink. The service was terrible, and no one came to ask if I needed anything. I was reading many of the things I'd picked up at the Exhibit Hall, so when the server came to check on me, finally, I told her I was "all set." Normally, when someone leaves a ton of food, you'd think they might want a box, right? Or at least you'd ask? No. She whisked my plate and drink away and dumped them in the trash! I was mortified! I planned on eating more later that night, or the following night. I was so dumbfounded, I just paid and left. But holy cow, I was not happy.

I had stayed up all night the night before, planning my trip and generally being too excited to sleep, and my two cups of coffee had long since worn off. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Hard.

********

Friday.

My phone had died, and I forgot to set the room's alarm clock, so I slept really, really late. I missed the free hotel breakfast, and I missed the first workshop session at the convention center. It wasn't that upsetting, though, because I really hadn't settled in on one that I felt I had to attend. I would have liked to have gotten something out of it. Oh, well.

For breakfast, I spent a buck and had a bag of seeds and nuts out of the vending machine. It more than filled me up. I'm glad I can eat so little, so cheaply, since I had very little to spend!

Driving back to the convention center, I happened to find a GREAT parking spot that someone else was just vacating, just two blocks from the hall. I tried the parking garage, but it was full, as was every parking lot around, so I sent up a prayer of thanks when I happened upon this space. And it was FREE! The limit was two hours, but I decided to chance it and stay there the whole time. I was right, no ticket. Yay!

It was during the long lunch break when I arrived, so I meandered around for a minute, until I decided to which workshop I wanted to go. These two home-schooled students were playing classical music for the crowd during breaks, and they were great. Very talented.

I settled on a class about teaching your children art. I was the first person there, so the presenter, Barry Stebbing, asked me to run the projector for him. We chatted for a minute, and he asked where I was from. I told him, and he said, "Oh, Pat Robertson! Right? Do you ever watch the 700 Club?" I should have known that he was yet another deeply conservative Christian, but I didn't, so when I replied, "Uh, well, I've seen it, but I don't go out of my way to watch it," his face changed slightly. He didn't really chat with me much after that, at that time.  But remember him, because he will come back later in this post.

The class was great, and I learned a great deal. It changed a lot about how I planned to run our art classes this year, from willy-nilly and unfocused, to fundamental and well-planned. I knew what I needed to buy and where I needed to start.  Perfect.

I headed down to my next workshop room and crocheted for the half-hour until it started. I did that a lot: got there early, sat and crocheted, and listened to the people around me whispering about what I was doing. Sometimes I saw them point. Sometimes they tapped me on the shoulder and either said I was really fast or asked what I was amaking. Sometimes they said I was industrious or something like that. Some lamented that they hadn't brought their own needlework. That surprised me. Why wouldn't you bring it? I can't even imagine why not. Knitters and crocheters never complain about having to wait.

 

 

  
The workshop was on evaluating your child's writing, and I enjoyed the speaker. I got a lot out of it, but maybe not as much as I would have liked, since it was mainly geared toward older students. The main thought in my head when I left was that I definitely needed to find a grading rubric for my kids' writing assignments.

After class was over, I was finished for the day, so I decided to explore the second half of the Exhibit Hall. I loved these tiny violins, which were about the length of my forearm; I should have put something in the picture for scale. They were too cute. 

I do think it's time to get Chloë playing an instrument, but we can't afford lessons. And I certainly am not the one to teach her. We'll do music class as best as I can, but... I don't know. I guess I'll just pray and put on my thinking cap and see what develops.

 
After I left, I was starving, so I decided to check out the little hole-in-the-wall pizza place on the corner near where I parked. For $1.76, I ate one huge slice of cheese pizza, and that was more than enough for me. It was delicious, so I intended to go back the next day for more! If you're ever in Richmond, go to Romanza pizza at the corner of 1st St and Marshall. It's run by Africans. The service and ambiance are non-existent, but the prices and food more than make up for it!

I had three hours to kill, so I decided to take a bath. I hate baths. I get bored. I don't want to just sit there and do nothing, but I can't do anything much, because it'll get wet. I tried to read, but my magazine was getting wet, so I hurried through it and hopped out of there in five or six minutes. Baths are so boring for me! Rob laughed that I actually took one, but I told him, "hey, I've got a clean tub, no kids to interrupt me, and nothing much else to do."

Actually, I was living in the lap of luxury at that seedy hotel room. It was clean and clutter-free, I had all the AC and TV I wanted, and no one wanted my constant attention. So different from home. I decided to enjoy it... but truthfully, I missed my hubs and kids dreadfully.

 

 
A friend of mine was coming into town to hang out and have a drink or two, so I got dressed up for the occasion. A stranger in the hotel said I looked "really nice," and another stranger at the bar called me a MILF when told that I had three kids at home. A MILF! Hello, I am a MILF! I have arrived! I derived great pleasure out of that one!

********

Saturday.

I wasn't out that late, but I couldn't sleep well and didn't get to rest until about 0400.  I tried to read, crochet, watch TV, but nothing was holding my interest, so I just kind of lay there and stared out the window. It sucked, because even though I set my alarms this time, I still woke up late!

Actually, I didn't. I woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast (a muffin, whoop-de-doo), and then I went back up and fell asleep again. I did set an alarm, but... I didn't hear it. So again, I missed the first workshop session. Damn it!

When I got to the convention center - after finding another free parking space, across the street from the one the day before, woot! - it was lunchtime again, and I was starving. I should have just gone to the pizza place, because I ended up spending over 7 bucks on a sandwich I couldn't eat, and I threw most of it away. I hated that. Hated it. I had nowhere to put it, though, and I didn't have anyone else to take it. Boo.

Remember Joel Salatin from Food, Inc.? (If you haven't seen it yet, you should!) He was the speaker I was most excited to see, and he was giving two back-to-back workshops. I was a little star-struck. I loved the man in the documentary, and I couldn't wait to meet him. I crocheted nervously away, waiting for him to arrive. And then he did:

He was busy setting up his book table, so I got a lovely picture of his butt. No cowboy hat, which I had expected, so I almost didn't recognize him.

I was sitting front and center for both talks. I didn't like the first one at all. He made jab after jab at liberals and tree-huggers like moi, and I thought for a moment about walking out of there. Except for that, though, I liked his message, and really, I was interested in the questions that would be asked at the end. The main thing I got out of it was when one lady asked, "What should we eat when we're traveling? What about eating out, what about eating at someone's home?" And he answered, "Be gracious. If you're served (whatever, can't remember what he said, but basically non-organic, non-local, processed food), smile and be gracious. But remember, I didn't say you have to pig out!"

Smart answer. I hadn't even thought of that myself.

I decided to sit through the second talk anyway, and see what else he had to say about hippy-dippy types like me. Really, I had no idea he was such a "fundy," as my friend J put it, and I was pretty surprised. But the talk was good, less insulting to types like me, and I learned a lot. Nothing about home-schooling, but a lot about his business ethic.

Immediately after that last workshop, I hurried right over to him and asked to have a picture with him. He was more than willing; he's a very nice, approachable, regular guy, even though he gives talks all around the world and is well sought-after at the moment. He cracked a joke just as this picture was being taken, if you can't tell!

Rob arrived right after that, on his motorcycle. He had left the kids home with our friend Linda, so that he could come up with the credit card that we have been trying so hard not to use. But, I really needed to get some things for "doing school," which I'll show you in a minute, and I'm going to aggressively pay that back, so it'll be okay.

Before we left, I picked up a copy of Joel's book (yes, we're on a first-name basis now, didn't you know?) for him to sign. I had been wanting to get it, from either Michele at the organic food shop we patronize or from Amazon, but I figured this was the perfect opportunity to have him sign it. Right?

Can you read it? It says, "To Melanie and Rob - Thanks for being on the right side of the food system. Joel Salatin." And now I can cross meeting him off my bucket list. I'd still like to go for a lunatic tour on his farm sometime this year, though!

So... after that, we ran through the Exhibit Hall once more, to get the goods. We shopped 'til we dropped, or at least, until we hit the credit limit on our card. I didn't get everything I wanted, but it's okay. I was going to buy the huge Spelling Power book, but I can easily find spelling plans online for free. And I was going to buy a Spanish program to teach all three kids, but there is a German teacher in my home-school group who wants to trade lessons for knitting and crochet lessons for her kids, so I might do that instead.

Here's what I did get:

This small kaleidoscope for the kids, because they've never looked through one before, and I think every kid should have one. 

Some really inexpensive flash cards that the kids couldn't wait to get their hands on

Sophia really liked the Disney-themed Phonics flashcards. Jack helped her read the words when she couldn't guess from the pictures.

Chloë was, hm, a mite less thrilled about the division and multiplication flash cards I'd picked up for her, but she was still enthusiastic about them.

And before I could take the picture, Jack was already putting away the fourth set of cards, dealing with time and money. "This is boring! I hate this!" LOL we'll see...

The kids delved into the box from Math-U-See right away. I bought everything from the Primer to Epsilon, which will teach them for years. Well, the younger two, anyway. Hopefully Chloë will progress quickly through the levels, although I am going to start her off on the primer, just to make sure we fill any gaps she has. I know there will be some; she really flounders when it comes to math, and unlike at school, I am going to stay on a concept until she masters it. We will not just move along because it's time to teach something else, whether she gets it or not, which is the beauty of schooling at home, isn't it?

Math, math, math!

The math manipulatives, about which Jack was very excited. Apparently they used something similar in his class at school, and he knows all about these. He wanted to know if we could start using them right away!

I ended up going to Barry Stebbing's How Great Thou Art booth in the exhibit hall. Remember him? He's the guy who taught the art workshop I attended. I really liked his presentation, so I decided to go ahead and get the goods. We have a manual, paint cards for each kid, paintbrushes, paints, markers, drawing pens, colored pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners... we are set! His wife, Sandra (I think), told me that this should last us for three years! Unless the kids are really gung-ho about doing art, in which case we could get through it all in a year. Either way is fine with me; I have a feeling they'll want to do it a lot, as they were very excited and wanted to get started today!

I wanted to share something really heartwarming that happened while at his booth: Our card got blocked, because it was a new card, and we had already charged a large amount at the Math-U-See booth. So while Rob was on the phone with the bank to get it unblocked, I was letting the Stebbings know what was was going on, since we had already picked everything out that we wanted to buy, and they were waiting to charge us. Mr. Stebbing told me to just go ahead and take anything I wanted, and if the card didn't go through, I could send him the money in a month or two when I had it. What! I was all, "No, no, I can't do that," but he insisted, saying, "I've never had a homeschooler not pay me." Wow. What a guy. But the card got unblocked, and we were able to use it, so that was good. Still. I was touched.

And last but not least, I picked up this book from the Kids Love Travel booth. It will provide lots of information for taking field trips with the kids throughout the coming year and beyond, and I can't wait to get started. Should be lots of fun!

Okay, I've held you captive long enough. And I need a drink. Ciao!

Fin.

  
  
 
  
 
  
  
  

 

 

 

In The Still Of The Night

I should probably go to bed soon, but I'm wide awake. I hope that changes soon. I have to go up to Richmond - and back - tomorrow for Day One of the homeschoolers' convention. Tomorrow is just preliminary stuff, like learning how to homeschool, but for me, that's the crux of the matter, so I intend to be there. I planned to get a hotel room, and I still might for Friday, but we couldn't afford it for both nights. Friday and Saturday will be long days, starting early and ending late, so it kind of sucks that I have to drive home tomorrow night. But, such is life.

Anyway.

This afteroon, we all gathered up and went to Sophia's dance recital for her Creative Movement class.

Look, she is the tallest one in her class! Kind of funny, isn't it, since the other two are always the smallest in theirs? Rob whispered to me, "She gets that from her father... who isn't me." He can claim that all he wants, because there isn't a thing on her that she gets from him... except her blood type. And, well, her DNA. The rest is ALL Simmons (my maiden name, btw).

The recital, as always, was pretty cute. Here is a video of Sophie and the class singing "Where is Thumbkin?":

 

(Let me know if that works or if I need to change the way it's embedded. It looks weird on my screen.)

They do lots of fun things in that class, always with children's music that you probably know. Sophia has a blast. She is a bit of an attention whore right now, too. See where she's looking? Back at herself in the mirror. Chloë was exactly the same way at that age!

Here, they were doing a train song, and toot-tooting the horn. Sorry for the red eyes; these pix are unedited.

Jack was not heavily invested in the proceedings. He kept whining to me, "When is it over? When can we go out to the car? I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm thirsty. Etc." At this point, he refused to watch any longer. Brothers!

 
They do a lot of "animal action" in this class, and this is Sophia pretending to be an elephant. She had a silly noise to go along with it!

I think she was a snake here. (No shoes, because she just outgrew them a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn't about to drop more cash for new shoes at the very end of the year!)

A frog. Sorry about the dirty wall; not my fault.

Here, all the girls kids are waiting for their end-of-class stickers. What I love about this is that for the last song & dance, all the siblings kind of spontaneously joined in, although Jack had to be urged at the last moment. It was great fun! 

After the recital was over, it was picture time. Sophia took that to mean she should do a couple of sweet poses for Mommy's camera.

Sophia with her teacher, Miss Jessica. What a ham she is, look at that hand on her hip! Do you think she knows she's cute? It's kind of sad for me, because she plans to do gymnastics next year instead of continuing on with ballet, but she has such a natural affinity for dance that I won't be disappointed if she runs from the gym again, like she did two years ago. I think she'll be great at anything she does, though - she's just got a great physicality that I totally envy. Too bad she was unmotivated on the soccer field, because I think she could have been great at that, too!

We totally failed on getting her a mini bouquet of flowers, which is a post-recital tradition, so I was so pleased when another little girl gave Sophie one of hers! How sweet.  And someone else gave her a Silly Bandz, which she also loved. I think those things are, well, dumb (and ugly!), but whatever. They're harmless.

Then she started gathering props and posing for Mama. Silly girl! There are a ton more pictures from the recital on my Facebook page, if you're interested. If we're not friends there, and you want to see, add me! I keep pix for friends only on there.

After that, Jack and Soap played on the ground next to the van while Chloë was in her Jazz class. Rob napped - sorta - and when he was awake and playing on his iPhone, I was busy peeling his back. He got a wicked sunburn the other day, which is horrible, but also a big gift to me, a born peeler. It's kind of like my crack cocaine. Poor Sophia's fingernails peel like crazy, and I am always attacking them! Anyway, what?

Oh.

Tonight was also Bunco night, so after we came home, I rushed through a shower and then mixed up some brownies to take with me. I always pick a dessert, but next time, I have a side and have no clue what to make.  Hummus? Maybe. We'll see.

Tabitha, our everymonth host, now lives right down the road from me. I would have walked, but I was already a half-hour late, because the Brownies wouldn't cook through. And I had to carry five chairs, and my prize, and my Brownie pan, back home again. So Rob dropped me off and picked me up again when the night was over. Kind of wasteful, but necessary.

Bunco was a lot of fun this time. It usually is, but occasionally, it's kind of not. I had a bunch of caffeine onboard, though, so I was really into it. We had a lot of laughs, and I really enjoyed myself. Good times.

When I came home, I'd won a butter dish, so I decided to whip up some butter. We were out. I'd never made it before, but Rob had informed me that all I had to do was whip the crap out of some heavy cream, and it would turn into butter. I took his word for it and didn't bother looking up directions. I now know that I should have, but it's okay. Half-decent, anyway. Edible.

Here's the beginning, with the cream just dumped into the KitchenAid. How I love that thing. On top speed, it only took about 4 minutes from cream to whipped cream to butter to whatever I ended up with last.

You can see I overwhipped, and it started to get kind of curdy. And also, I tasted it at the stage after whipped cream but before butter, and it was quite bland, so I added two pinches of salt. Now I know I should have stopped at one pinch. Salty!

Sorry for the flash; it looked greyish without. That's my new butter dish, sans top. I like it! I also baked bread in the machine while I was at Bunco, and it finished at the same time as the butter, so of course I had to have a little of both together. I had improvised a bread recipe, just kind of throwing in some stuff willy-nilly, and it turned out great. I like it. It's a small loaf, though, so I'll have to make more this weekend.

And lastly, remember this sweater from a little while back, for CARE Package? I'm putting sets together now, so I decided to whip up a hat. It's the Puff Stitch Baby Hat, which I was glad to find on Ravelry, since the sweater also has puff stitches. Does it need a pompon? I can't decide. Next, of course, I'll improvise some puff stitch booties, and then a wee blanket. I think after that I'll move onto that pink kimono I made a while back and didn't love...

Okay. Off to get ready for the convention. Have a great Thursday!

Fin. 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  

 

 
 

Donations For CARE Package

As most of you know, Rob and I run the charity that we started in our son Robby's memory, called CARE Package, Inc. You can read more about it on that site; I won't go into it here in this post if you're not already aware of what we do.

Anyway, a while back, I received a large box of goodies for CARE Package from "Lady M," a friend who found me on Facebook and has been working diligently ever since to create items for us. She was very generous with her time and sent about a dozen sets, including sweaters, blankets, bonnets and booties! It is always so gratifying to receive such packages, from both strangers and friends/family alike. My mother-in-law has been a supporter of our efforts since we began, and I appreciate each and every stitch that she, Lady M, and our other volunteers create!

Here are a few of the items Lady M sent:

Lady M made several of these blue sets with green blankets to match. I didn't photograph them on the blankets because they just didn't show up in the pictures as well as in real life. I'm so thankful for these, because we receive many more girl items than boys', and unfortunately, the majority of losses are little boys. These will definitely help!

 
  
Lady M made several of these sets, too - do you think they are unisex? I always have a hard time deciding. I think they are, but you let me know what you think, please! At any rate, they are so soft and cuddly!

We also received one of these "pouches," which are perfect for the smallest and/or most fragile babies who can't be traditionally dressed. I never get enough of these.

Lady M even sent me six cameras for some of the packages! It has always been my desire to include such a camera in each package (I wish we'd had one with Robby), so the parents can capture their final moments with their child, if they wish. I wrote to both Fuji and Kodak requesting donations, but sadly, both companies turned me down. 

Thank you, Lady M, for all your kind and generous donations! We look forward to receiving more work from you in the future and are happy to have you with us!

****

I never showed you, here, the latest sweater I have made for CARE Package, myself. I intend it for a boy, although I suppose there's no reason it can't be unisex thus far. Hopefully the rest of the package will make it more so:

 
  
These are the original buttons I chose for the sweater, but Stephanie, my Official Button Chooser, vetoed them. I still like them, but I defer to her!

Steph still hasn't seen the buttons in person to make a final decision, but this is the set she chose - and most others did, too - based on a survey of buttons I posted on Facebook. What do you think; are these better?  Hopefully I'll remember to bring all the buttons with me to our lunch date on Wednesday, so I can get them sewn on and the next project begun! Oh, who am I kidding, the next project doesn't have to wait 'til then...

Until later, my dears,

Fin. 

Shenaniganizing

I was a trouble-maker at the doctor's office today, but you know what? I don't care.

After I posted last night, I ended up soaking in a tub that Rob says was very hot but felt like lukewarm to me. It did the trick, though, and I was able to stop shivering. And crying.

When I got up to go to the doctor this morning, I put on layer after layer after layer to keep warm. It worked. I looked like the Michelin man, but I was warm, dammit!

So when the nurse or whatever called me back, and took me to the scale, I half-jokingly asked if it was really necessary to be weighed, since I had about ten layers on and was just there last month. She looked at me and said, "Well, you'll need to take them off..."

"Oh, no," I returned. "I'm not taking it off."

"You're not taking it off?!"

"I'm not taking it off."

"Okay, then. Let's go," she muttered, walking me to the exam room. Then, she told me I had to take all my clothes off so she could check my vitals. I took off my coat, but I told her I wasn't taking anything else off.

"You have to take it off!"

"No, I don't. My blood pressure is good, really good, like 110 over 60 the last time I was hear, and I promise it hasn't changed. I'm freezing, and I'm not going to get naked in here."

"Listen, you can't just come in here for a weight loss follow-up and not be weighed, not have your vitals checked..."

"I'm not in here for a weight loss follow-up!"

"Well, that's what your paper says!"

"Then the paper is wrong!"

"Listen, they don't just write down any old thing, they write down what you tell them!"

"I didn't write it down, they can write down whatever they want, but that doesn't make it so!"

And 'round and 'round we went, until she huffed out, muttering under her breath, and into the provider's office next door. Still bitching; I could hear her for several minutes. I didn't care. I was NOT going to take off all my clothes and ruin the good warmth I had goin' on, you hear me??  One layer, and that would have been the end of it. Chills and shivers all over again. No thanks.

The provider (he's not a doctor, but I'm not sure if he's an NP or a PA or just what) came in after a few minutes, shrugging his shoulders and telling me he's sorry it's cold, but it's standard procedure to take the vitals of every patient, for every visit.

I said, look, all I need is to get my referral to my surgeon updated, and maybe some chelated iron if you can prescribe that. You don't even have to look at me.

He agreed, wrote "refused" on my chart for the vitals, and told me that the next time I needed this same referral, to just call him up - I didn't even need to come in! So I could have saved myself the trouble of dealing with the angry nurse.

Who was probably in a fine mood until I came in wearing my ten layers, but whatever.

I stayed warm, people!

I relayed the above to Rob after I got out, and he called me a trouble-maker. Laughingly, of course. So the word "shenaniganizer," I think from Cloudy With... has been in my head all day because of it.

********

The Girl Scout cookies are coming in this Saturday, so to make room for dozens and dozens of cases in the office, here, I planned to finally get clean it up and clear it out. Well, that didn't happen. I was so tired after I got home from the doc, after being up all hours of the night taking a bath, that I just needed a nap. And so I did, for two hours, until the kids came home.

Chloë didn't come home, though, because she started back to the math tutoring today. Jack and Sophie played and snacked, until it was time to pick her up. I was going to let her come home on the activity bus - last time I picked her up each time - but between Ballet lessons every Tuesday and Brownies every other Thursday (the two days of tutoring), it's just not going to happen too often!

We picked up and intended to rush right over to dance class, but we sat in traffic for ages instead. So she was ten minutes late. Have I mentioned that I hate being late?? Hate it.

While she pranced, the Littles played in the back. I made their dentist appointments and my follow-up with the plastic surgeon (for this morning at 0830, which is why I'm still up instead of trying to get any sleep), and then I read a magazine. Pretty uneventful, which is why I'm telling you. I think you need to know every breath I take, don't you?

The rest of the evening went quickly and calmly. The kids wanted pizza (groan) for dinner, and they ate the entire thing. At least they're not sick of it, and it's somewhat healthy...

Homework was done - but not without Jack getting pizza grease all over his math paper, ugh - and everyone washed up. They took a shower, I worked on laundry, The End.

After they went to bed and the laundry was all folded, I finally got the motivation to do some work. I swept the floor and then got out the CARE Package bins containing donated items for the layettes (the vast majority of which came from Rob's mom).  There was a lot more going on in there than it may look like; my office was covered with knit, crocheted, sewn and quilted goodness!

I'm glad I went through the bins. I found this cowl that I knitted a while back and promptly forgot about. I wore it for over an hour, until I was so hot that I had to strip down a few layers to a single one! And I found the kids' tooth pillows that have been missing for over a year (did I really need to buy three? What's the likelihood of three kids losing a tooth on the same night? Probably nil), along with all those nice dishcloths and towels that I made to sell at the craft shows. But didn't. So, they're ours now, and now I don't have to make more! I never did do that last night...

I worked for hours assembling packages - stopping only to cook yet another pizza for Rob's return from work, and ew, don't eat the buffalo chicken one. Too spicy! - and printing out cards to put in them. Each package gets a sweater or gown or other body covering, a hat, a pair of booties or socks, and a blanket. They also get a card with information about our charity on one side and suggestions for what to do with their baby as they're saying good-bye on the other, our business card, and a "CARE" silicone bracelet.

I've long wanted to include disposable cameras, but of course we don't have the budget for that. I've been meaning to write to the various camera companies (Kodak, Fuji, etc.) and see if they'll donate some, but I haven't yet. Then I got the idea tonight to see if Ziploc would sponsor us, too, since I use a great deal of their bags for the packages!

I do have lots of gift bags from baby showers, but I haven't started using them yet. First, because that would only be a temporary solution as I don't plan to buy more when they're gone and don't get a lot donated, and second, because it doesn't work well with the way I like the packages to work. You can't really see what you're getting through a gift bag, and my stickers labeling size and sex might not be seen as well on the gift bags. So... I don't know. Maybe I'll just give them to the hospital and let them deal with them?

In the end, I was able to assemble exactly 30 complete packages for donation to the children's hospital, without having to lift a needle or hook myself to add something! This is exciting; usually I have to work for ages to make booties or hats to finish half the packages, but I had everything I needed and more. Thank you, to all of you out there who made this possible!

There were a surprising number of items in the packages that I did make, though, just not tonight. Beautiful sweaters out of Rowan yarn, and Malabrigo, and other fancy stuff. I love to squish and squeeze those soft, fine wools. Ohhh, how I do.

The hardest part of the night was assembling two or three toddler packages. I would just sit there with the items on my lap, pouting and frowning and trying hard not to think of the child who would need to receive them. So very sad. Of course, they're all sad... but the longer you have your child with you, I think the harder it is to say good-bye. Just my theory, anyway.

Remember this Baby Suprise jacket that I made? Probably not, it's been a LONG time. I never put buttons on it! Sorry, Steph, I had to take your job tonight, and these are the buttons I ended up with. Not too exciting, but they'll do. They'll do.

And that was the last item for the 30th package. Tomorrow, after I get home from plastics (and hopefully scheduling my abdominoplasty!!), I'll call up my contact at the Children's and see if I can arrange a drop-off. I haven't talked to her in over a year; that's how long it's been since CARE Package has made a substantial donation. We've mailed out packages to parents here and there, but this is the first one in a while, as I took 2009 off to mostly do what I felt like.

I'm ready now, though, to get back into working hard, full-time for our charity. I do have to make some longies - or shorties, now that Luke is almost 4 mos? - that I promised Steph, but otherwise, I am going to pick up hooks and needles for CARE Package again. I'm excited!!

Fin. 

P.S. I keep forgetting to add that I got a letter Monday, saying that Chloë had some artwork chosen to be put on display down at the airport! Her artwork will be exhibited throughout February. I can't wait to go and see it. She asked me not to, though, very modestly saying it was terrible and that she's "not creative." Whatever! She is SO crafty and clever. She thinks it's a clown, of which she doesn't seem to be very proud, but she's not sure. Will keep you posted.
 
 
  

Where The Hell Is Summer?

I'm freaking FREEZING. It's about 28º out right now, and I can't get warm. I have no adipose fat, the brown fat that keeps us insulated against the cold. I think I've complained about this before, maybe more than once. Well, it doesn't get any easier. I haven't acclimated. I'm cold, I'm miserable, I'm cranky, and I want to cry.

I stayed up until about 0530-0600 this morning, watching the Diane Keaton-Queen Latifah-Katie Holmes vehicle Mad Money on Netflix streaming, and knitting that kimono. I finished at the same time the movie ended. Being so preoccupied with movie and yarn kept me unaware of how cold I was, but as soon as it all finished, I became acutely aware of my nonstop shivering.

(The movie, by the way, was entertaining and amusing. It wasn't a bad choice; if you've got nothing else to do, it's worth seeing.)

So I was so cold, I went straight upstairs, with a magazine tucked under my arm, to the kids' bathroom to take a bath. I rarely take baths. I hate taking baths. But sometimes, it's the only way to be warm and comfortable.

I walked right back out. Oh, my God. Let me just say that my children are disgusting, and that every visible surface of that bathroom was COVERED in toothpaste, except for the tub. I was pissed!

So, I went back to my own bathroom and took a hot shower instead. A very long, very hot shower. When I was all done washing up, I started shaving everything there was to shave - except my head, natch - just so I could stay in the water longer!

I had been wide awake up until that point. That warmth knocked me out, though, and I was yawning furiously by the time I got out. I am a creature of strict bathing routines, and I always, always, always brush my teeth as soon as I get out and towel-dry my hair, then do my various facial creams and what-not, before applying body lotion, combing out my hair, and blah blah blah. Last night - nay, this morning - I didn't do any of that. I was just so tired. I went straight from the shower to the bed, without even drying off, and fell fast asleep immediately!

Needless to say, my hair looked quite... interesting when I woke up. Rob did the ol' point-and-laugh routine at me.

Thankfully, he gets the kids off to school nowadays, so I didn't have to worry about that. I was aware at some point that he crawled under the covers and snuggled me, but I didn't really wake up until 1400. And then I freaked, because my phone was downstairs, and my alarm clock was flashing numbers much later than that. I thought I'd missed getting the kids! It turned out to be okay, and Rob was still home, and he came up to cuddle me some more before we both had to get moving. He normally leaves between 12-1300 for work, but he didn't have to be in until 1600 today because of the Super Bowl. Really? That's a reason to... oh, whatever.

We left the house at the same time, he for work and me for the bus stop. The kids were late, and I stood out there, freezing. Bah, no fun. They came home, finally, and had a snack, and then I started them right to work on their homework. Sometimes I let them chill a while first, but we had too much to do tonight for that.

Jack finished his up quickly, but Sophia was bothering Chloë too much, so it took her a long time. I had to scold the girls every couple of minutes, so she could get her work done. I got tired of nagging, so that's when I took the kimono upstairs to press it and block it out on our bed. When I came down, she was somehow miraculously finished. Maybe I should just leave the room more often!

We hopped in the van to pick up a Freecycle after that. I was supposed to get it two weeks ago, but then it snowed, then yesterday, but I forgot...  The lady was very nice and patient, though, and she had a bunch of things for CARE Package as well as the stationery I was there to pick up! Nothing photo-worthy, just some used gift bags for packaging up the layettes, but a LOT of them.

Back at home, I gave the kids their marching orders. I let into them about the toothpaste-covered bathroom upstairs, and then I handed each of them a wash cloth and sent them away to clean it up. I haven't even checked it yet, but Chloë said it was all clean except for the vanity drawer. I have a hard time believing that, but if it's true, I will be amazed and impressed!

I made dinner while they cleaned. I use that term loosely, though, because tonight's dinner was - guess? Guess? Give up? - yet another stupid DiGiorno pizza. I shouldn't say it like that; I'm grateful for many nights of free, easy dinners, but it's getting to be a little too repetitive! When I have some freezer space back - because we definitely need to make up those pizzas and free up some room in there - I'll be able to stock more foods. And really, like I've said before, with Rob working nights, it sucks to cook meals that the kids just aren't going to eat anyway. At least with the pizzas, they are eating well.

After dinner, it was time to head out to Cub Scouts. Chloë brought a pencil and some paper so she could do some writing (she ended up making lists of names, for whatever reason); Sophia brought her "Raising a Reader" bag of books from the preschool. At the beginning of the meeting, the boys colored pictures of Boy Scouts setting up camp, while they waited for all the kids to arrive. We had seven tonight.

When everyone was there, Den Leader Beth told the boys that tonight's activity would be to make balloon decorations out of their Tiger manuals, for the Blue and Gold ceremony/party commemorating today's 100th Boy Scout birthday, next Friday. They had to decorate empty soup cans with birthday wrapping paper scraps, pompoms, feathers, stickers, and whatever else Beth had brought, for the centerpieces. They tore into it and made such a mess! I was mostly busy keeping the girls, so another dad helped Jack out a great deal, and I appreciated it.

Jack mostly used pompoms and stickers. He had a blast gluing things on!

While they worked, we parents talked with Beth about all the requirements for rising to Wolves next year, as well as making sure the ones who wanted to were signed up for the Arena racing (Rob's taking Jack), the Blue and Gold (I'm taking Jack and the girls), and summer camp. We signed Jack up for the 4-night Cubs camp in July, and I talked to Beth at length about it. She's going to be there, looking over him, which relieves me greatly. I let her know that he still wets the bed sometimes (privately, of course), so we talked all about that and making sure he's fine. He may not be my youngest, but he's definitely the one I tend to worry myself about the most!  But after seeing his big sister go to sleep-away camp for the past two years, he is beyond thrilled to be going himself!  My big boy ♥

After the den meeting, we headed to the Girl Scout Cookie Chair's house, nearby, to pick up a new cookie packet for me. Rob accidentally recycled my entire cookie sales stuff last week, a fact that had me in a major panic Sunday morning! She rescued me and calmed me down, though, reassuring me that she could replace everything I needed. Whew.

After a quick stop at the bank to deposit a mystery shopping check, it was time to get home and work on the laundry. Rob's been washing up a storm, so I had about eight loads in need of folding up in my room. The kids all had more pizza first, and then we got down to business. Actually, now that I think about it, I sent the Littles into their bathroom the scrub it some more, and then they went right to bed. Chloë stayed up for more than another hour, helping me put away laundry. When she started saying, "Am I done yet, Mommy? I'm so tired," of course, she was excused! 

I only got about halfway done with it before my back was in agony from the way I was sitting on the bed, so I gave up for the night. Unfortunately, there are piles of folded clothes all over my bed now, and it's too cold to sleep downstairs on the couch! Guess I'll have to... thankfully, Rob brought me down some long underwear when he came home, because I was in tears from the chills. He's a good man, that one. I love him.

I finished up the kimono, and now I think I'll crochet a few quick dishcloths. I threw away our last sponge today, because it was gross even after washing it in the dishwasher AND zapping it in the microwave, so I need to have something to wash with before I can buy some more this weekend. Fortunately, I have the know-how and plenty of kitchen cotton yarn for it in my stash.

Welp, that be it. Hope the start to your week was just dandy.

Fin. 

P.S. Call me crazy, but all this scouting stuff has me in a tizzy lately, and I am seriously considering being Sophia's Daisy Troop Leader next year! Am I out of my mind?!

Goodies From Grandma

Hey again, y'all. I'm yawning like crazy here, but I think I slept well enough that I really don't need a nap. And besides, I have stuff to do and the kids only have a half-day and it's 1100, so I really can't take one even if I did require a little more sleep!

Anyway.

Tuesday night into Wednesday, I didn't get a lick of sleep. I was just wired! For no reason that I could think of, other than maybe I'd slept so much during the day? Duh, yeah, that has to be it. Damn those naps.

I got super sick of eating all this DiGiorno pizza we've been having (and I don't think I've lost an ounce in two weeks because of it), so I decided to actually cook something real for dinner instead. Plus, I had three about-to-expire containers of sour cream to use up, chicken legs aplenty in the freezer, and a desire to send Rob to work with something more than a can of soup and a Coke.

So, after some serious SwagBucks searching for a recipe with chicken legs and sour cream, I decided to make this. It was 0500 and at least 12 hours from dinnertime, but who cares? No time like the present, I say. Okay, I really don't say, but I did say this ONE time.

{First, speaking of SwagBucks, I have two things to tell you: I just redeemed them for my first AND second Amazon.com $5 Gift Cards! I had 44 and did a number of searches with no luck to get that last one for the 45 needed to redeem, so I decided to complete a couple of free offers. Less than an hour later, Bam! $10 in free money. Sweet, right? My goal is to earn two $5 Amazon cards every month by Christmas, and I'm well on my way!

The second thing is that I did a LOT of searching for all kinds of weird things to earn that last buck, and I ended up getting hit with the "rules" page the last few times. I finally figured out why: when you do a lot of searching like that, it picks up on what you're doing and stops you in your tracks. Their FAQ tells you this. So... don't think you're going to be able to search all day and get loads of SwagBucks. I usually win twice per day, as do most folks. So, be aware!}

Back to the dinner. The first thing was to cook the chicken. I had just taken out six drumsticks from the freezer, but I was itching to start cooking, so I had to defrost them in the microwave. I hate defrosting meat that way, but I'm the impatient sort and, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. I think it's the "mania" part of being bipolar when I get in the mood to do something in the middle of the night and have to do it Right. This. Second! You know?

I probably should have taken out more meat than that, but after all, we are trying to stretch the buck these days. After thawing the meat, I had to boil it. Now, I'm a little embarrassed to tell you, but I have never in my life boiled chicken before. I didn't quite know what to do. So I put the thawed chicken in a big pot, added two cans of Campbell's chicken broth and filled the rest of the way with water, to cover the chicken. I added two bay leaves and a small chopped onion, some salt and pepper, and that was it. Brought the chicken to a boil and then, like the recipe said, let it boil for 20 minutes. I crossed my fingers the whole time that the chicken wouldn't be nast-ay!

It wasn't! Oh, my gosh, y'all. I boiled it skin-on, but I removed the skin after cooking (it's easier that way, don'tcha know). As I was taking the extremely moist and appealing meat off the bones, I started salivating for a taste. (So did Tiger Lily, at my feet, and she was not disappointed.) So I sampled once, twice, thrice... so good!! I will definitely be boiling chicken this way again soon, even if that's all I do with it instead of further recipying it up. Yummay!

So after feeding Lily all the bits that I deemed unacceptable (ie, toughened from being nuked) for my dinner casserole, I mixed up the rest: a whole pint of sour cream, and a can of cream of chicken instead of mushroom. Because mushrooms are gross, y'all. I don't like 'em. It seemed like a really low chicken-to-cream ratio there, and I was kind of worried it would be nast-ay, once again!

The topping was super simple. I used a box of generic stuffing, since it was older than the Stove Top I also had on hand, a melted stick of butter, and another can of chicken broth. Good thing I'd stockpiled broth recently! Patted that all on top of the creamy stuff, covered it with aluminum foil, and refrigerated that baby for later.

Fast-forward to dinnertime, after the kids had been begging me for pizza all day (apparently they didn't get the memo that I was sick of it), et voila:

The kids were complaining that they didn't LIKE chicken casserole as soon as I told them what we'd be having. Well, guess what folks, you've never had it and you ARE going to try it. Jack cried. Sobbed, even. He wanted pizza. The girls were equally dissatisfied, but at least they tried a bite. They all hated it. I told Jack if he was going to pitch such a fit, to go do it in his room. He left and wouldn't taste one bite. Hmph. 

So I was thinking dinner was going to be a big FAIL, but you know what? I don't care. I liked it just fine. There was plenty of chicken in it after all, and if I made it again, I'd still only use about six chicken legs. Rob ate two plates of it when he got home from work at midnight. We both liked it just fine. Did we love it, was it the best thing we ever ate? No, not at all. But we both agreed it was good enough to make a second time, and that works for me.

********

As for the rest of the day, let's see... I slept after premaking dinner, finally lying down at about 0751. The kids were on a two-hour delay from school WITH a half-day, so they were only going to be there 1030-1430. Rob got them up and off on the bus, and then he woke me to make sure I had an alarm set for 1430 to pick them up. I assured him I did (I really did).  

Well, guess what, folks. Either it didn't go off, or I slept right through it, and I popped awake at 1445!! Aaah! My bladder was completely overloaded, my hair was a mess and my mascara was running down my cheeks, but ther was no time to worry about any of that. I flew out the door with my coat open and my boots barely on and not zipped up, and ran, ran, ran to the bus. Which was already there, having barfed out all the kids from our stop except Sophia. They won't let preschoolers go without their parents there, which is a pretty damn good idea except this particular preschooler's parent is late half the time!

Thank goodness she stopped and waited for me, knowing I'm always late for the bus. I always think she's going to be there at 1515, which she usually is, but sometimes she shows up at 1512. Luckily it's only a 30-second walk to the bus stop, but still, I bet she's tired of waiting for me! I think I'll make it a point now to get out there by 1510, even if i am freezing. Yeah, that's the ticket.

What now? I forget what I was talking about. Oh, yes, so I got the kids home and then burst through the door just in time to pee all over the floor. Not really, I made it to the bathroom, but I sure did not have any extra time to get there! Whew.

Aren't you glad you read this post today? Now I really DO tell you everything, including when I have to go pee. 

Enough of that.

None of the kids have homework this week, because it's such a short one, so we didn't have to worry about that. Yay! There wasn't a lot of playtime before it was time to leave for dance class. The only thing was, we were still late getting there, because I'd forgotten all the dance clothes were in the laundry! And Sophia couldn't find her ballet shoes. Agh, those things are always going missing, even though I'm constantly yapping at them to put them away IN the dance bag and zip it up. Fracking ballet shoes.

So, they danced in tights, t-shirts and shorts, with my apologies to their teachers who have strict rules about what to wear to dance class. Ah, well. It happens.

Jack, who had been extremely grumpy after school, fell asleep on the way there, to my utmost relief. He snored through Sophia's Creative Movement class. Chloë had brought a book with her, so I took that opportunity, once again, to take a nap! Only, I didn't sleep at all. I was tired but too cold.

When Sophia came out and Chloë went in for Jazz, I was hoping for more peace and quiet. The first thing she did, as is typical for her, was to bug her brother and wake him up! I'd warned her to leave him alone the second beforehand, too, so I was really annoyed when he woke up screeching and complaining. For an almost-7yo, he really does behave more like the 2yo he appears to be outwardly, at least when he is tired!

I tried to get him to settle back to sleep, and I brought Sophia up to lay on top of me and be quiet. I got my daily warm fuzzies from the feeling of the weight of her body on mine, and her little blond ponytail tickling my nose. I held her for most of the hour, with Jack grumbling in the back seat, until it was obvious neither of them were going to snooze at all. That was fine, because I really couldn't, either.  Whatever, I had enjoyed my time snuggling with The Little Girl, as I like to call her.

********

After dance, we ran to Farm Fresh, since it was Double Dollar Wednesday. I didn't have stockpile-worthy coupons and didn't take a picture, but I did manage to get my $23.20 order down to $5.61, a savings of 77%. For that little bit of cash, I got another box of Wheat Thins, two boxes of Crackerfuls, a can of Ro*Tel tomatoes, two packages of 7-ct Hebrew National hot dogs, a 4-pack of Yoplait YoPlus yogurt, and two gallons of milk for the kiddies. Not too shabby.

The hot dogs came in handy at dinnertime, when the girls scarfed five (!!) of them after refusing the chicken casserole. Whenever they refuse to eat dinner, I like to have something like this or a PB&J sandwich or something available. I will not let them starve, but I'm not going to make them a whole 'nother time-consuming supper, either.

Jack never came down to eat. Tsk, tsk. I would have gladly given him a hot dog or twelve if he'd returned, but he fell asleep. Guess he needed some sleep more than food last night.

********

When we got home from dance and the store, two packages were waiting in the rain, on the porch. I don't understand it. The row of mailboxes are right across the street from our house, and at the end of the row are two large boxes, presumably for packages. When I lived in apartment complexes, and there were packages to be had, the mailman always left a key to one of those large boxes in our regular mailbox, so we could fetch the package out of it. Not once in seven years here has the mailman utilized those big boxes for our packages, instead of leaving them on the porch to be stolen or rained upon. I wonder why??

I didn't get a chance to open the packages - both from my MIL -  until after the kids went to bed, so they haven't oohed and ahhed over everything with me yet. I'm sure they will in an hour, when they're home (another half-day).

The first box contained crocheted goodies for CARE Package. MIL has been our most ardent supporter from Day One, a fact that pleases me greatly. Who else can you count on, if not the grandma? No one, that's for sure. I get an email at least every other week, from someone saying they want to make things for the charity, but after I email them back with details, I almost never hear from them again! Guess that's the way it goes. Here's what Grandma made:

 

This little boy's set is so soft! Very squishy, and yes, I did give it a few love-squeezes before putting it away. So cute!

I always have the hardest time deciding whether color schemes like this one are appropriate for being unisex, or are just for girls. I usually decide on the side of unisex, but my Assistant Manager, whose job seems to entirely consist of helping me make these decisions - as well as underwriting a large portion of the cost of running this enterprise - always decides they are just for girls. So, you help me decide - could a boy wear this? And is that not the most perfect pompom you have ever seen?!

 

This is definitely a boy's outfit, right?! ;) I kid. How cute are those little teddy bear buttons? I love them.

Another supersoft outfit, and I just LOVE the buttons MIL chose for this outfit. I'm turning into a button-lover lately. Sweet set, and thanks so much for all your hard work, Mom!!

The second box contained goodies for the other kiddos in the family:

A Hallmark T-shirt, which I assume is for me because it would float on Rob... although I'm getting to the point where it'd be too big on me, too! After my abdominoplasty, I'm hoping to be in mediums for everything. Yay!

Three Valentine's puzzles for the kiddos, which will be great for the newly-growing game stash (did I tell you that the kids destroyed all the games and puzzles we have? They're no longer able to have free access to them. Shame).  A Valentine's craft, which they love doing, and two books from Rob's childhood! How cool! Finally, another recorded book with Grandma's voice. They went absolutely fargin' NUTS over the one she recorded for Christmas, especially The Boy, so I know this will be a hit, too!

Thanks for all the goodies, Mom!

********

Welp, I was going to go take a shower before the kids got home, but Rob just did and surely used up all the hot water, so it'll have to wait. Instead, I'm off to finally watch The Hangover (we've had it at least two weeks from Netflix) and work on the long-ignored kimono. Maybe I'll finish it by the weekend. Hope so.

Fin.
 
 

The "S" Is For "Super" And The "U" Is For "Unique"

Friday:

I had to go to work to sign papers and get my schedule for the rest of the week (which runs Weds to Tues) as soon as I put the kids on the bus. I was there for an hour and was happy when I found out that time was on the clock. She scheduled me for all day Sun-Mon-Tues, so that's good! Hopefully I'll continue to get good hours.

I was on my way to my S***c shop afterward, the food from which I was going to bring to Rob. He, of course, didn't take anything to eat at work, as per usual. He called, though, and said not to come, because he was going to be somewhere else all day, running a training session. So after I did my shop and finding myself with the whole day ahead of me, I decided to skedaddle on home and bake brownies to take and eat lunch with the kids at school, for a surprise.

While they baked, Birthday Girl Steph and I chatted online, and she invited Chloë to come with her Girl Scout troop to Disney on Ice that night. She had a free, spare ticket; did we want it? Sure! I had thought about taking the kids, but the money just wasn't there. I knew she would be thrilled to go, so we made the arrangements.

I was so excited to bring the brownies to the kids and sit with them, because I think I only did that one other time - maybe when Chloë was in first grade? It's just too much confusion with a toddler in tow, I think. At least for me. I brought in an extra brownie for each of the kids' teachers, and for the security officer at the front desk. She (security) turned it down, patting her belly rolls. But Jack's teacher, quite rotund, was happy and snapped hers right up!

When Jack saw me, he was so shocked and excited! He was already sitting down and eating his lunch, and the lights were off. On Fridays, they play a movie in the cafeteria. He snuggled up against me, but he didn't talk much because he was really into the movie. That was fine; I was happy just being near him and rubbing his sweet, soft head.  The cafeteria attendant turned on the lights to be able to yell at the kid to be quiet and watch the movie, so I was able to snap this picture real quick. I'm surprised he didn't hide under the table!

The other first graders were so cute, too. I really love the K-2 set (and younger kids); they are my favorites.  I just love little kids! The girl on my left was really chatty, and she told me her life story. When another girl across the table asked her if I was her mom, she laughed and then hugged me tightly, saying, "NO, she's my FRIEND!" I loved it; I'd never seen her before in my life! She kept offering Jack apple slices from her lunch, and to my surprise, he kept eating them. Sweet girl. I wish she was the one he had a crush on! (He likes a little girl whose name I can't remember at the moment...)

When it was Chloë's lunchtime immediately after that, I said good-bye to Jack, which was not an easy proposition. He did not want me to go. He held me tight and started to follow me out of the cafeteria. Poor guy! I hugged and kissed him, but of course I had to make him stay with his class.

Chloë's class was lined up in the hallway, and I went out there and surprised the knickers off her, too. Her teacher informed me that they eat lunch in the classroom on Fridays, but I was welcome to join them. I told her I'd baked brownies, and did she want one? Turns out, she baked brownies for the whole class, too; I was a little disappointed at that, because naturally Chloë wanted one of her brownies and not the treat that I'd brought her. Hey, mine was three times bigger! But I tried not to let my feelings be hurt and just enjoyed her company. She was so excited I was there and kept thanking me for coming to see her. They watched a movie, too, so while she was engrossed in that, I asked Mrs. B. if there was anything I could do for her. She let me do some filing of the kids' papers in their folders, and I was glad to feel useful and do a little classroom volunteering. I'd have done more, but she couldn't think of anything else at the time.

I had a brownie for Chloë's other teacher too - Mrs W., who was in the math LD meeting on Thursday - but when I passed her in the hall, I decided not to give it to her. She's such a grumpy sourpuss face all the time, and those are not the nicest words I have used in reference to her. She just seems mean and cranky, and I keep forgetting to ask Chloë what she's like. At first I thought that she didn't like me, but why? What reason have I given her for that? So I've since decided she must be a mean ol' crankypants, and I don't like her. So there. (Yes, I'm 12.)

I think I went home and took me a little nap after that, but I really can't remember. The kids came home, and the Bigs were all atwitter about my visit to school. I was kind of sheepish about it, because I didn't want Sophia's feelings to be hurt, but I'm not allowed to visit her class until October to get them accustomed to preschool. No visitors in September, and I already blew it once!

When Rob came home, we took Chloë to the meeting point for Stephanie's Girl Scout troop. (Steph has been the leader of this troop for a few years now, and they convinced her to continue even though she's not teaching at their school anymore. I think she's nuts, trying to do that with a baby on the way, and then a newborn! But then, maybe it's just 'cause I'm not really "leader" material, I don't think.) Anyway. My kids were happy to wish Steph a happy birthday, and then Stim took our Chloë away to the Disney show.

Sophie and Jack had each saved up enough Dad Dollars for the Happy Meal/Wacky Pack-level reward, so they wanted to go to Sonic and get their prizes. I realized later that Jack just wanted the motorcycle toy and didn't care about the food, which he barely ate. Ugh. I could have taken him to Toys 'R Us and gotten him a Hot Wheels, saving three bucks. But Sophie ate every bit of hers, of course. Kid was born to eat!

We drove to another S****c for a mystery shop I had to do, which took care of Rob's dinner. Sophie mentioned a million times that she missed her sister, which was terribly sweet. Except that Jack mentioned a million times that he did NOT. Hee.

Rob went out to get Chloë later, because I was stuck at home doing my monthly online charity crochet-a-thon thing. She came home bubbly and full of tales, happy to have received a nice big Disney patch for the back of her vest.

Gosh, I'm tired. I am going to save Sat & Sun for tomorrow, because I can't stay awake. I"m a working woman now, no more naps! ;)

Fin.

Working Title

We've been busy.

I was, ugh, up again (more than) half the night again Friday into Saturday, so I was pretty groggy when the kids woke me at ten or something. I found Rob was gone with my van, without his phone or a note left, and I had no clue where he went. I was exhausted and annoyed. This didn't bode well for the weekend... but it wasn't too bad.

Rob and Jack to the Lowes on Holland Road at noon, to sell popcorn with his Cub Scout pack or troop or whatever it is, for two hours. Apparently he did really well, politely going up to everyone and asking if they'd like to buy some. Probably because he's so tiny and cute, they couldn't resist! Overall, they sold $860 worth of popcorn, which is $10 for a very small canister - that blows my mind! People buy that?! Apparently they do. I never even heard of Boy Scout popcorn until maybe two years ago. Nuts.

While they were gone, I set the girls on various tasks around the house (cleaning up their room, or whatev) so I could catch a few zzz's here and there. At one point, I gave Sophie an entire M-shaped stickie pad that I was never going to use, and told her to go crazy sticking it around the house. So she did. Next thing I knew, I had two or three on my arms, face, you name it... and they were all over the house.

Did I care? Nope. Harmless.

So they eventually came home and we all went out to do a bowling mystery shop. We always play two games, with the kids the first game and by ourselves the second game. I had a picture of Rob helping Chloë bowl, but I can't find it, so you're stuck with this one of Sophie, 4, lifting Jack, 6, up to the water fountain. She's as huge as he is tiny!

Bowling was a ton of fun. Rob finally broke a hundred, and I bowled a much-better-than-usual 87! Not much to be proud of, but for both of us, it was an achievement.

Found it!

Sunday, we (I) slept in a little late and had to rush around to get to a popular boob-themed wings restaurant for a lunch shop. We got there in time, though, and it was fun. The waitress talked me into buying a themed "I'm Kind of a Big Deal" pink shirt for the girls, which is cute. It'll fit Chloë for a while, and then Soap.

Then we went over to the AT&T store to switch Rob's phone to an iPhone. See previous post about how awesome they are.  The kids did NOT behave in the store until they came to the big iPhone display, and then they were thoroughly engaged in playing with those so Rob and I could conduct our business. Phew.

When we got home, we were supposed to clean up downstairs (me, the bathroom; Rob, rip up the living room rug), but it was so late by that time that we didn't have time to do anything but get ready for our special date. We had a dinner shop at a fancy-schmancy steakhouse, obstenibly for Rob's "birthday," which isn't really 'til the end of the month.

 

They brought Rob out a special dessert for his birthday, and the server took our picture together with it. We had a really nice time, and dinner was absolutely perfect. It was the best visit we've had there so far. I absolutely love spending time with my husband, just the two of us. We had fun, lots of laughs, and I was just so happy that he was happy about his new phone. Makes me glad to make him glad, you know?

I ♥ my Bob

After dinner, we went to the bar for a couple of drinks. Normally, there, I have the German chocolate martini, but this time I went for the pineapple upside-down one. Both are pretty damn good. Next time I think I'll have the mint chocolate martini - in a year when I'm eligible again. Of course, now I can only drink a sip or two and then I'm drunk - and done. Rob gets the rest, but it's nice to get a taste!

So that was Saturday. We were going to go get massages after dinner (for free!), but the place was closed when we left the restaurant. Bummer. Oh well, next time.

We went home to relieve Steph, so she could get home early and get to bed and off her feet to stop the painful BH contractions she's been having lately. Nobody better be having any preemies on my watch! The kids were just eating dinner when we got there (we'd gone to eat really early), so she helped get them fed before taking off. They went to bed shortly after, and Rob and I just played around with each other and our phones the rest of the night, not really accompishing anything. Oh, well.

Today was a lot of running. I'm so tired; I can't believe I'm still awake! I only got four hours of sleep or so before my phone woke me up with incoming text messages, and then Sophia was downstairs before I even shut my eyes again. Early.

But that was okay, because we had a fast-food breakfast shop again. So once the other two woke up, had a little something to eat and got dressed, we headed out for the day. We did that shop, and then we went to the library to return the 9 books they picked last week and rent out 10 more. I didn't get any new ones, because I'm still only four chapters into A Thousand Splendid ... oh, shit! I'm reading the Kite Runner, not that! Hahaha, I returned the wrong book. D'oh! Well maybe I can go switch 'em later in the week. Dummy. Ha.

Next, we headed out to Lynnhaven to do a pretzel shop at the mall there. I had a teensy-weensy bite (required) and split the rest amongst the kids. They were so thrilled to get the treat. I kind of forgot about lunch then, because Steph wanted us to come out and go the movies with her and her niece. So we got some gas and drove out to EBF to hang at her house for a while before the movie.

The kids started watching Night at the Museum, which we'd never seen before. Steph showed me how to do stove-popped popcorn, because I'd never learned. It was fun, except when we caught a potholder on fire! Hehe. I'm going to get some stuff and do it like that next time. Less waste!  The kids ate a ton of popcorn while I started teaching Steph how to crochet. She did really well with chaining and is now working on single crochet, which is going great, too. She's a fast learner!

Soon it was time to go to the movies. We loaded four kids and the crocheting into Vanna and headed to Greenbriar for the $1.75 movie at Cinema Café. This was Night at the Museum II, which was really funny! We laughed a lot, Steph and I. The older two girls sat well and quietly, Jack was so-so, but Sophie was pretty restless until I let her play with apps on my iPhone. Thank God I thought of that, or I'd have had to take her out and have us both miss the movie we paid for.

Rob was home when the movie ended, so we said good-bye to Steph (whose husband, Tim, had joined her at the mall by that point) and headed home to Daddy. The drive took over an hour; traffic was so bad. I should have used the Traffic app on my phone to avoid that, but I didn't think of it. 20/20 hindsight...

So that's it until tomorrow, when the running begins again!

Fin.

Fantastic Friday

Or something. Heh.

Well, I hadn't been getting any kind of sleep all week (we're talking up past 0500 and back up again as soon as the kids woke up between 0700-0900) and it showed. I was miserable, bitchy and out of sorts. Being stuck in the outrageously hot house with the kids who were misbehaving terribly didn't help, nor did my Thursday migraine.

But Thursday night, I managed at last to get some sleep, and it made all the difference in the world! Friday was, like, magical. It was just a fantastic day. {I have since resolved to take my sleeping pill after all, if I'm still not sleepy by 1 or 2 in the morning...}

Friday, we were all up before 0900, and I fixed the kids some breakfast. We hung out in the house, dying of heat, until 1100 when the pool opened. Then we hustled to don our bathing suits and sunblock before walking the half-dozen blocks to the pool.

Would that I'd brought my camera! Not that it would have made much difference, I guess, since I was involved in must of the kids' fun that day.  The kids were like natural waterbabies in the water for once! It was a great day for making pool progress:

Chloë, who has always been s a major chickenshit when it comes to the pool, started jumping in from the side. Well, I use the term "jumping" lightly.  More like squatting down and falling in, but it was progress. And until now, all three of them have been clinging to the wall in the shallow water for dear life. Not anymore, now Chloë comes about 10 feet out!

Jack, another chicken, also started walking away from the wall. This was HUGE for him. I would stand a foot away, and he would walk to me, and I'd back up and back up until he couldn't reach anymore. Then I'd pick him up and we'd start over. Eventually, he let me move out farther into the deep end and hold him underwater until he touched the floor. Even at 5+ feet we did this, which is about 3' down for him! Big step.

Sophia also came away from the wall as far as her big sister, and she let me start throwing her! I'd count to whatever number she told me to (usually she said, "Count to one two times, like this: 'one, one'," which amused me) and then throw her as high and far as I could. She would often dunk completely under and then come up laughing. It was great; we did that a lot.

So, big fun yesterday. We stayed for about two hours until the kids were hungry for lunch, and then I came home and cooked what they requested: scrambled eggs. They ate a ton of them, almost a whole carton! Must have really worked up an appetite at the pool.

By that point, I could see their sunburns starting to come out, even though we'd reapplied the lotion at the pool, so we stayed home for another couple hours to keep out of the strong mid-day rays. It was absolutely boiling hot in the house, though (no AC), so I agreed we could go back again at about 1630!

I was hoping Rob would get home, get his truck inspected and then join us, but neither of those things happened Friday. Instead, we swam for the second time on our own, having lots of the same fun we'd had earlier in the day, and he got home really late. When he finally texted me that he was home, we left to go see him.

He had some bad news: he didn't make Chief after all, and he had to stand watch overnight. Bah. He was really disappointed about the Chief thing, and I can't blame him. He's worked so hard for this, and it's natural to be discouraged. But, 2010 is another chance to do it all over again.

On the way home from the pool, the ice cream truck was rounding the corner. I normally buy the kids something from them once or twice a summer, but I hadn't yet this year. So when they started clamoring, as kids will do, I remembered suddenly that I happened to have a fiver in my wallet! I never do. Here you can see the ever-indecisive Chloë taking two lifetimes to pick her treat. They managed to spend exactly five dollars, too, which isn't necessary now that I see here in the picture that they take Visa. Shh, don't tell the kids that.

Of course, they must always sit outside when eating their ice creams, unless it's in a bowl. This pic is now my screensaver; it would be much better without the nice recycling bins in the background, huh? Note Sophie's classy choice of footwear. I guess she couldn't decide? That's my Soapy!

"Eat faster, Jack!!" This mess on Jack's hands was absolutely spoiling his fun! My kids are usually not fond of being messy, and they come by it naturally from their mama. I just wiped him down after with the pool towel and sent the three of them into the tub. Ah, much better, for all parties.

It was hot, and we had absolutely nothing else cold to drink. Yes, he really did drink the pickle juice. BLECK!!

After dinner, Rob took a little nap and we sent the kids to bed. Oh, Sophia had passed out shortly after the second pool trip. {It was an adorable scene, which I'd be happy to show you except she was nakey and I don't want her little hiney out for random strangers on the internet, y'know?} So she never had dinner, and we were going to leave her there, in the middle of the living room, 'cept she woke up right around 2200 when The Mister was leaving for work. Augh.

So she and I hung out all evening, me coaxing her to go to bed, she insisting she wasn't tired. She often tells me, "I want to sleep all day and play all night!" Where she got that, I don't know, but I completely relate.

In the end, we fell asleep together in the living room, both naked and curled up with each other. It was sweet. I love her soft, sweet tush and her blond waves against my face (her hair goes curly when it's humid, don'tcha know).

There was even a great package in the mail for me on Friday. The Loopy Ewe (an online yarn store) was having its 3rd anniversary sale in the form of a kit containing two hanks of a specially-dyed Lornas Laces colorway, a Loopy mug that Rob covets, and a Loopy carabiner measuring tape (I can always use more of those!) - so, I bit. I know, I'm not supposed to be buying yarn, but I loved the colorway and couldn't resist.

I mean, is that not seriously beautiful stuff there? I think I will actually make myself a pair of socks with it and wear them this winter. Oh yeah, because the kit came with a sock pattern specially for this yarn, too. We'll see. I'm not really a sock wearer...

Also, Stephanie reminded me that I never posted a picture of the finished Bandaid Blanket, which will go to wee Luke when he's born. I hadn't done so because I wanted to wait until I had crocheted on the edging, a simple 2 rounds of single crochet. What do you think? Does it look better finished than where it started? I think so.

I like it, in the end. It's hard to appreciate through a picture, though; way more than half the appeal is in the close-up details, which kinda get swallowed by the variegation, and in the texture, which is faaaabulous. (It's Artyarns Ultramerino 6 or 8, I forget which.) So I'm hoping she likes it!

Best part of the day, though? I didn't yell. Not even once. ☺

Fin.

Her Mother's Daughter

 

First, a special hello to Dion-le-mont, Brabant, which I gather is in Belgium. Hello! I see you reading all the time and thought I'd welcome you here. Say hi if you wish.

 

Sophia had a bit of a rough night, sleep-wise. She used to be an excellent sleeper, waking up in the late morning and then taking long afternoon naps, but I'm afraid that's long since gone by the wayside. Last night, she and her mother both stayed up all night. I fear for her. It's an awfully tough life, not being able to sleep at night. She's far too young to be doing that.  This was her at five in the morning.

 

I didn't know she'd been up all night, quietly playing in her room, until she came down at five and put her hand on her arm. She scared me half to death; I screamed bloody murder! Which made her stare at me like I was nuts... Poor thing. At that point, I heated her up some milk to try and help her sleep. I didn't know what else to do; it was too early to call someone. Around six, Rob came down to get ready for work, and he carried her back to bed. Finally, she slept, but only 'til about 10:30.  Tonight, though, she crashed immediately. Phew.

 

I got a lot of work done during my all-nighter. First, I pulled out some rough wool that I'd bought at MD Sheep and Wool last year. I'd originally bought it to make thick socks for Rob, at his request, but I just don't terribly enjoy making socks! So I started a diaper soaker in crochet. Unfortunately, it's charcoal-colored, so you can barely see the pattern... and I'll probably wash it (and felt it) to make it softer. Steph, if you want this for your wee babe-to-bee when it's finished, be my guest.

When I got sick of the rough wool and somewhat simple, boring construction, I started knitting. I wanted something a bit more complicated and challenging, so I chose the above baby blanket in cables and lace.  That yarn was donated to me by Artyarns. What do you think of it? The texture itself is divine, as is anything by Artyarns, but the colorway? Kinda makes me gag. It looks like a giant band-aid. Rob doesn't hate it, so I'm wondering if it's just me. Maybe it'll look better, too, when the thing is all finished and not so squunched up on the needles. I can't wait to see, but this is going to be a project long in the making. I've been working on it off and on all day, but it's going to take many more hours than that.

 

All life is beautiful, in Sophie's mind. I love that about her. She may follow in her mom's footsteps and become a biologist! Today, her obsession was with roly-poly pill bugs. She was in and out of the backyard all day, collecting them, showing them to me, and then dropping and losing them on the carpet. I didn't enjoy that part of it, so I kept ordering her to put them back outside! I don't mind bugs, but I don't want them in my house.

She and Chloë had a run-in last night, which caused Chloë to fall into one of the squared wooden posts surrounding our office. Her elbow swelled up huge and had a big cut across it. Ice really didn't help. This morning, the swelling was even greater, and it was extremely tender to the touch. So I called Rob to come home and take her to the ER, to make sure it wasn't broken or something. Which sucked, because today was Field Day at school, and she'd been looking forward to it for weeks.

They were gone, and Sophie was sleeping, so I took Jack in hand ("Why, Mom?" He's too grown) and walked him down to the bus stop. He didn't stay by me at all, preferring to run around with the other kids his age and forget that I existed. I called out a good-bye to him when he was lining up for the bus, but he didn't look at me or answer. Finally, just before he stepped up into the bus, he looked at me, smiled a small smile, and waved a quick wave. I was overjoyed. He loves me. I know he does. The little stinker.

At last, Rob called with the news that Chloë's elbow was just badly bruised, not broken. That was a relief. I wasn't looking forward to the annoyance of a cast all summer, for her.  He brought her home to get her things, and he whisked her back off again to play some field games. We forgot to put sunscreen on her, I just realized. Crap.

 

 

I took a break from the band-aid blanket to sew in the ends of the little sockies. Sophie claimed them right away, so I let her model them. I don't love the pattern in practice as much as I liked it in the pictures. The ankles are far too wide. I'd change that the next time. Though these are made of ultra soft merino (Artyarns Ultramerino 4 in blue and KPPPM in green), I plan on just throwing them in with the regular wash to see what happens.  Maybe they'll fit better. They are cute.

So the kids came home, exuberant from the fun at Field Day. Although Jack was instantly cranky, as he always is when he's hungry and tired, and barely ate any lunch. I sent him for a nap (that's a boy who still needs lots of sleep), and he was gone for hours. Chloë enjoyed her day, and now there are just four left before school is out. Yay! No more homework for the rest of the year.

We tried to watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 after bedtime, but the DVD wouldn't play. Grr. Back to Netflix it goes. So we started Harold & Kumar - Guantanamo Bay (I forget the actual title), but about 20 minutes in, I needed to sleep. So far, so funny!

Another busy weekend for us, so I better get some more sleep...

Fin.

Sew What

 

I finally finished the baby blanket this morning. Well, I finished up all the crocheting last night while catching up with the DVR, but I did the seaming this morning.

The banket is almost perfect, but I left one tiny little mistake in it that I didn't catch until it was all finished. It goes along with the "only God can make perfect things" thing that I love.

 

I plan on crocheting a sweet little outfit to coordinate with this, but in the meantime, I have begun sewing.

Today wasn't that exciting for the kids. We watched lots of Veggie Tales while Mommy played the coupon game some more. Harris Teeter is going to be tripling coupons tomorrow, and I'm going to be getting tons of stuff we can use for free or almost-free.  I'm so excited, I can't stand it. I'm a dork, I know.

We're getting tired of the same half-dozen Veggie DVDs over and over (well, we haven't watched them in a while, but still), so I was glancing around on eBay to see what else was out there.  I found a discount coupon for movies and music, and then I realized I had an eBay gift certificate in my Paypal account from, like, a year or two ago...! So I ended up getting three new DVDs for practically nothing. A couple bucks, maybe. Sweeeeet.

But you don't care about that. You want to know what I spent the evening doing, yes? I'll imagine you saying yes.

 

Sewing! It's back! I'm doing it! The sewing machine was verrah dusteh.

I was reminded of a few things while getting from point A to point thing-on-the-door-above.  One, I hate ironing. Loathe it. And I hate that it's always called "pressing" in sewing. What on earth is the difference between ironing and pressing?

Two, I hate cutting out the patterns and fabric. I wish I could just buy the pieces pre-cut and immediately start sewing them up. Rob thinks there is a market for that and that I should fill the need, but hello! I don't like doing it for myself, so I don't want to do it for anyone else!

 Three, I love my seam ripper. 'Nough said. I don't know how many times (well, probably three, because that's all the times I've done sleeves) I've sewed my sleeve opening shut. Tonight, I did it again. Dammit.

It's not looking so bad though, I don't think? Definitely too big (this one's Chloë's), but she'll grow eventually. And if not, Sophie will. I'm too tired to finish it tonight, but I will do it tomorrow and then start on the jammie shorts. I totally meant to make them pants, but whoops! Swish, swish went the scissors, right through the pattern, making them shorties. Oh, well.

And now, I sleep.

Fin.

I Get Around

Argh. I've tried to write this post umpteen times, but either IE or TypePoop keeps eating it.

Let's try one more time. (Maybe it's the internet gods' way of telling me I'm too verbose?)

The last two days have been busy.

Monday, FIL woke me up to get the kids ready for school, and then he walked them down to the bus stop. In the rain. They really enjoyed that. The accompaniment, not the rain.

When Sophie woke up later, she was full of hugs for her grandpa. They cuddled and played, and he listened while I read her stories. She read along, anticipating the words. My bet is she'll be reading before she turns five. I hope so. Grandpa took pictures while she did her morning yoga - she's getting good at it and has out-performed Chloë on a few poses!

When Rob came home around 1300, Sophie and I took a trip to Walgreens. I had been playing the coupon game all morning, figuring out their sales and specials, Register Rewards deals, and my own coupon stash. I'll spare you the minor details (unless you're really dying to know), but in the end, I got way more than half my stuff for free and saved about 136 bucks! Go me! 

I had warned the cashier ahead of time that I was about to be a royal pain in her butt, but she kept her smile on the whole time. Not so the customers behind me, but I don't care, because I was saving mucho dinero!

When Chloë came home from school, she was all about her Disney Hannah Montana MixStick, which I'd won for her at Bunco. Great prize! Rob loaded a bunch of music onto it for her, and she shared with the other kids as they rocked out to some kid tunes. Fun stuff.

I drove her to Tap class, so Rob and his dad could hang out together with the Littles. While she danced, I crocheted on that same baby blanket. I'm working on the edging now, and it takes forever. Of course, if I had a mind to, I could knock it out in one evening... but I don't have a mind to. I rather work on my digi-scrapping when I'm home and do the crocheting when I have to sit in the car otherwise twiddling my thumbs. Y'see?

Rob cooked an excellent dinner for his father and family, which FIL really enjoyed. The kids ate a great dinner, because they'd had the promise of the S'mores for which I'd bought the parts at Walgreens. (Free marshmallows, free chocolate, grahams on sale and with a coupon!) Jack ate two S'mores and wanted a third! Ha, fat chance there, Buster. Sophie - my little piggy girl - couldn't even finish hers. Shocking, and I'm not even being remotely sarcastic.

The kids said good-night and good-bye to Grandpa after that, as he left in the wee hours the following morning before they got up for school. They asked about him all day and have been missing him like crazy. There may have been a few tears.

Yesterday was on-the-go, too. It wasn't too busy during the day, because all I did was beg and plead and cajole the Littles to go upstairs and clean. To not much avail. I tried to get Chlo to clean the living room toys, but she was so dawdly. And I didn't work on the mess of a kitchen at all, so the place was just looking splended when Stim arrived at 1845 to babysit. Oh, well. It was clean while FIL was here, and that's what counts.

Rob didn't get home from work for another half hour after they got here, because he had some ... issues. It was a really, really tough day for him. And that's all I can say about that.

When he got home, he quickly dressed to go out, and then we hit the road. First, I had to do a couple of Sonic shops. Apparently they are testing a new company out, because... well, I probably shouldn't say anything more about it. They went easily and quickly, and Rob gained some food for today's lunch from that. Onto the big kahuna.

We dined at Mahi-Mah's on the oceanfront. It was superb, as usual. I'd made a major flub on a report for that mystery shopping company a year or two ago and have been locked out of doing assignments for them ever since. Rob asked me about it a month or so ago, so I humbled myself, sending a couple of grovelling emails about deserving a second chance, and they ended up agreeing and taking me back. I'm really excited, because they have the best shops out there, pretty much. And I'll never make that gaffe again!

We came home to find Steph sound asleep on the couch. She's about 16 weeks pregnant now and doing just fine. Thanks for keeping her in your thoughts! Tim was up, though, and had fiddled with my computer (at my request) to try and diagnose some of the problems I've been having with IE8.  He's my computer guy, y'know. Steph slept a while longer while the guys talked shop, and she looked awful (sorry, hon) when she woke up. She's been having those pregnancy migraines I used to get, too, so I feel her pain. And there's not a whole lot you can do about it when you're in the family way!

So that's that. I didn't sleep a single wink last night and am now dragging ass. I was supposed to go do a lunch shop with Linda from Bunco, but there's no way I could have gone today. We'll go tomorrow, I hope. I have to see my shrink, Dr. Pal, for more bipolar meds this afternoon, and he's right around the corner from dance class, so I guess I'm stuck bringing the girls with me to the appointment. Oh well, for their two hours I can either snooze or crochet, I s'pose.

Right now, Jack is lounging around on the top of the dress-up box (it's cushioned), watching Noggin and wearing his winter gloves. It's 85º outside, but he loves those things. Silly kid.

Fin.

Miscellaneous Weekend Schtuff

 

So Friday (or maybe Thursday, I forget), I made these name bracelets for the kids with the beads I bought at the Beads & Rocks store down at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. The girls love theirs and wear them all the time (when they aren't lost), but Jack was completely ungrateful about his. I can understand that - he is a boy - but it hurt my feelings. I thought he might like to have it, but he pitched a fit and cried about it. So I sent him to his room, which made him cry some more. Oh well, too bad so sad.

Friday night, we got out of here very late (thanks to Rob's pre-Chief stuff at work) and made the 2-hour drive down to Corolla in North Carolina's Outer Banks. I was supposed to check into the hotel by 2100, but I took a crazy wrong turn and got super lost. I was in Nag's Head before I realized my mistake, so we didn't get there until almost 2130. Seems my report was accepted anyway, so that's good.

Everyone was starving by the time we arrived, so I quickly did the room and hotel portions of the shop, and then we went off to get some grub. Only, it's still not the "season" yet down there, so everything was still closed! I expected things to be open by May, but nope. So we went to the little convenience store in the hotel and stocked up on gross microwave food. Oh well, it served the purpose.

Everyone went to bed after that, but I couldn't sleep for anything. Even though I took my meds, I was wide awake until about 0500. That sucked. I begged a muffin from the breakfast lady, even though it wasn't open for another hour, and went to the room and read the paper before finally sacking out.  Everyone else got up around 0800, and my loving husband left me sleeping while he did the breakfast part of the report. I got up around 10or 11, so we packed up, showered, and left the room for check-out.

The hotel clerk said we could stay and use the pools (three!) and beach access as long as we wanted, and we wanted. We floated around the pools and used the hot tub until about 1400, and Sophie "swam" the entire length of the pool and back while sitting in an inner tube. Both the older kids tried and failed after she did that!

Soo... we drove home, but I stopped at the Harley store in Kitty Hawk, so Rob could add another t-shirt to his massive HD shirt collection. Even though he drives a BMW bike. Well, has a BMW bike...

 

The kids and I waited in the van for what seemed like ages while he shopped for just the right shirt. Luckily we had cold water from the cooler and toys to keep them busy. (This was before several things conspired to keep our money from us, like the hotel putting an unauthorized hold on our checking account, and Rob losing his card...) We had stopped in Duck (love that name) to shop for Bunco prizes. I found a few nice things, and some for the kids, too:

 

A gyrowheel for Sophie, which everyone just loves playing with

 

A slinky for Chloë, and a toy VW bus for Jack. He hasn't put it down yet, hardly!

 

While they played, I watched the bikers rev around the parking lot in an effort to intimidate me (or so I imagined!) and sent Rob multiple texts to hurry up!

Anyway, we got home around 5, and Rob worked on his truck while the rest of us played outside and kept him (and our next-door neighbor) company.

The next day was Sunday. Mother's Day. Always bittersweet for me, being a motherless daughter. But I still managed to have a good day. I slept late, received my sweet cards from the kids, checked my email, and then went back to take a long nap! I really caught up on some sleep, and it felt good when I woke up. I lost more weight, so I'm down nearly 82 lbs now.  I spent the rest of the day crocheting a baby blanket and watching the three-hour finale of The Apprentice. Which was eh, okay. From the middle of the season, I knew Annie Duke would be in the final, and I wasn't impressed with either her or Joan Rivers. (What a bitch!) It would have kicked ass if Jesse James won. Whatever. I still love that show.

Today was pretty boring.  I did a bunch of laundry while the kids cleaned their rooms,  drove the kids to Chloë's Tap class while Rob took the truck to get inspected (it failed, so I still can't get my m-f-ing van back) ... and I crocheted the blanket while we sat there. It's almost finished:

 

I just have two rounds of the edging, in the pink, to go and should finish tonight.

Well, dinner's ready (Schwan's stuffed shells), so I'm going to go eat a bite or maybe two.

Hope you're having a decent week.

Fin.

P.S. I found out today that Jack has been recommended for promotion to first grade after all! (We'd been talking about retention.) Rob and I have talked about it, and we think we're going to give it a try. He made need extra special services, but if that's the case, so be it. Go, Jack!

P.P.S. Congratulations, Tabitha! Her sweet baby girl, Lily, was born this afternoon. I can't wait to see her!

Operation Dishcloth: COMPLETE

Rob horsing around with Sophie and Jack

The latest, and I think the last, ornament to arrive for our exchange. Definitely my favorite! A little felt and embroidery owl. So cute, already treasured. I'm definitely doing this again next year!

I'm kind of in the doldrums this weekend. I don't know why. I'm hoping it's not a meds thing. It's not the holidays; they don't make me glum even though my grandma died on the 23rd about... oh, wow, it's been almost a decade. I think I'm feeling kind of lonely. It just seems like everyone is so busy, and when I'm not, they've no time to talk to me.

So today, I threw myself into "my work." I picked up five shops for today and took the family along for four hours of tramping through Hampton Roads to get them done, along with some other errands.

First we ran to the grocery store to get more Cottonelle wipes (have you tried them? Way better than TP IMO) and some cash for the shops. I sent Rob in while I waited outside in the van with the kids.

Then, because my oil was down to a "6," which means, I don't know, but when it gets below 20 I really start getting nervous... uh, we went and got me an oil change. The oil guy was cute and authoritative, which I liked, so of course Rob kept making fun of him. We giggled and laughed in the car together. Oil Guy tried talking me into $100+ worth of extras that I probably would have agreed to if I were alone, so I'm glad Rob was there to pinch me and tell me they weren't necessary.

The first shop was at a Wawa about ten feet away from there. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes, but still long enough for Rob to be snoozing in the front seat. I had to buy a Jr. Hoagie for the shop, and we were all so hungry that Rob shared it amongst the five of us. Delish! We all wished we had more, but...

... we were headed to an IHOP out in Norfolk for another shop. Three people walked in behind us, an the man brushed past me and strode up to the podium, waiting for someone to appear to seat him. He was knocking on the podium, looking around all erratically, and then gave his seating preference info when someone showed up! I went over and said, "Excuse me, we were here first, and there are five of us," but they still got seated first. Then, of course, I was seated directly facing them, and they glared over throughout the meal. Too bad that doesn't count for anything in the report! It made me uncomfortable and annoyed, though.  And my chicken was tough, so there.

Time was running short, so we raced back out to Virginia Beach, where I did two more Wawa shops in the space of 25 minutes. They were all about the same, so I was glad I'd brought along three different colored pens to keep them straight.

Then we had to head way down past the Farmer's Market so I could do an hourlong audit (not a mystery shop) at a pizzeria. I had to take lots of pictures, interview the employees, and check virtually everything in the restaurant for safe and consistent practices. My back was killing me when I finished, but it paid really well, so I'm glad I took the job.

Our last stop was the post office, so I could mail my friend Nicole's tutu. Yay, another sale. Now, what am I going to do with the rest of the the three bags full? (Isn't that a nursery rhyme?) Rob's grand idea: "Sell 'em!" Gee, I hadn't thought of that, dear.

Back at home, I uploaded my shop pictures while Rob took the kids out to the backyard, such as it is, to play with Jack's Cadillac. That only lasted a half-hour, and then it was dark. Suddenly, I was winded and needed a nap. My catnap turned into several hours of crazy dreams, and I was annoyed to lose that much day. I still needed to go out and get some printer ink, but it's too late now. Tomorrow, I suppose. Always tomorrow.

Last, but not least, I set to work watching TV and making the last of the 50 commissioned dishcloths. I'm finished! It was such a relief and has taken me, what?  A month? I never expected it to take me that long, but I guess I don't often have 50 waking hours to string together, and when I do, I like to putter online.  So I'll call the lady tomorrow and hopefully get them out of my hands and cash in.

 

Here's what 50 crocheted dishcloths look like, ends all sewn in and pointing the same way. Now they're bagged up handsomely in the shopping bags I purchased for craft shows.

I don't know what to make next! I'm itching to knit something, I'm itching to scrap and finish my 2008 book, I'm itching to bake, I'm itching to clean this house! (Yeah, believe it.) Guess we'll just have to see what tomorrow brings!

Fin.