Smellyann Strikes Again

You Know Things Hurt More In Your Shoe!

It's always crazy around here on half-days. Today and tomorrow are the last two days of school for my kids, and they are "adjusted dismissal" days. Half days. Just go on, you can say it.

I had no idea what time to expect Jack's bus this morning, given that she is so variable on regular days. I was thinking 10:15, so I was lazily checking email this morning at 9:38 when Jack shouted from the kitchen, "MOMMMMM! My bus is here!!!" Wha? Thank goodness it was only a half-day, as I hadn't bothered to put anything in his lunch box yet. I sent him out, for the first time, without his backpack. He was completely bewildered by this. I had to tell him three times that it was all right before he was convinced.

Of course, I should have sent it. He came home with his hands full of papers!

And his AM bus driver walked up to the door to show me she had a picture of Jack, and a picture frame, but his picture was too big for the frame. She wanted me to have it anyway. Which makes me feel rotten that I haven't gotten anything for the teachers and bus drivers. Wait. There is still time to run to Farm Fresh for some gift cards. Should I go?

Nah, I think I'll just have them write letters/make pictures like my friend Jen over at the Daily Mish Mash suggested. We need to save all our pennies for Europe right now, too!

So when Sophia finally woke up, I put her in her favorite new sundress before setting off for Chloë's school. We had to pick up the awesome movie prize pack we won from their Relay For Life raffle. It contained:

The huge popcorn bucket

Four new DVDs

Four boxes of movie theatre popcorn

Two bottles of Green Tea with Citrus (ick)

and substantial gift cards to AMC Theatres and Blockbuster!

Totally worth the $5 I paid for my six raffle tickets, I thought as we lugged our loot back to the sweltering van. I just hoped that chocolate wouldn't melt in the summer heat. I think it came out all right.

Back at home, Sophia insisted we open everything in the "party box," as she called it, right away. She was so excited about it and couldn't wait for Bro and Sis to get home so they could watch a movie and, of course, eat some snacks. "I loooove snacks!" proclaimed Soapy.

By the way, birdies of all shapes and sizes are her favorite animals. Jack's are bunnies and Chloë's are kitties. What you'll do with that information is up to you, but I just thought I'd share now that it's become so clear.

Next things Soap wanted to do was color in her sister's new coloring book. I didn't see the harm, so I sat and watched as she oh-so-carefully scribbled with ten different colors all in the same spot and then declared that page finished. She did that on two more pages before she'd had enough with that activity. She wanted some "juice," and by that, she meant the green tea.

I let her have at it, after I'd had a big swig and decided it was not for me, or, I was sure, her father. Here she was, sitting quietly drinking her tea at the table, so I got back to work sewing Chloë's shorts.

Y'all. I have made a lot of mistakes with these shorts. The inside-out and pocket mishaps of yesterday were just the beginning. I sewed the crotch all wrong, and now it looks like the wearer has been riding a horse for too long. I knew it didn't look right but figured it would just fix itself as I proceeded. The directions said nothing of the right way to do it, which I have since learned from my former home-ec teacher MIL, who is valiantly trying to teach my dumb ass to sew from halfway across the country! Of course, I'm now ten steps ahead of the crotch (that doesn't sound good), so I have a lot of ripping out to do. Sigh. It just doesn't come easy to me, this sewing business.

Jack's bus pulled up a mere two hours after he left, so it was time to stash the sewing for a while. You have to keep your eye on that one. Shortly after that, Chloë arrived, wanting to know what was new.

What's new?! What's new, you ask? I have new things for you today, my dear!

First, I showed her and Jack all the goodies we'd won from her school. She was just mystified that I could have snuck into and out of her school without her spotting me. I'm a sneaky one, my dear.

Then, I showed her the packages that their Aunt Gail had mailed from them, apparently just for some summer fun.

Sophia received the most adorable outfit ever, which she insisted on changing into right away. Cuteness personified!! I want to make that!

It always amuses me when two or more of the kids are opening presents at the same time, but they're so interested in what the other person got, they're not looking at their own goody! Jack's eyes were glued to Chloë's new outfit (which she dubbed "a China shirt," after the also-embroidered she-dubbed "China outfit" that we actually bought her in Morroco, in Epcot!), so much so that he nearly missed the fact that he'd gotten a new pair of Cars swim trunks! This brought much glee on his part.

Next, the kids gathered 'round as Chloë opened their group present, a summer catching toy for outside! I'm saving it for when they go to Stephanie's, so they have something new to play with and retain their interest.

Gail also sent this freaking awesome cookie cookbook, which has tons of mouth-watering recipes for every cookie imaginable. I haven't even used it yet, but I can already tell it's going to be my go-to book for cookies now! Mmm, I'm salivating. You must get this book!!

Thanks for our goodies, Gail! Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em (that's a quote from Chloë's monologue, btw).

Once that fun was over, the kids were clamoring for their promised candy. I let them pick the movie (All Dogs Go To Heaven, which is way more violent than I'd remembered from my own days watching it as a kid) and the candy (JuJubes, I think). They settled in, and I picked up my fuzzy yarn for the scarf that man had ordered for his daughter, and which I'd completely forgotten about yet again. Whoops. I used to be able to knock out the whole scarf in two hours. This time, being rusty and having fakety-fake nails on, I barely got past the keyhole before the movie ended. Oy. I'm not looking forward to finishing it, but I'll go do that tonight after I finish this.

Once the movie was over, the kids were acting ornery and bossy and pushy and not-so-nice. I gave them the choice: naptime, or clean up the living room time. They chose naptime, small wonder. Once they were in their rooms, I lay down "for a quick shut-eye," I told myself. I didn't wake up for hours! Way later than I'd planned, and Stephanie was on her way over to babysit!

I hopped into the shower as Rob was getting home, very late from work. Of course when we've got somewhere to go, he gets stuck in traffic. It's a rule, you know.

Anyway, we went out, had dinner, had some drinks, laughed a whole bunch and generally enjoyed each other's company. I'm so thankful for that. He didn't feel well, though, and barely touched his dinner. And we were stuck in a booth with an immovable table, and I barely had room to breathe. It sucks to be fat!

Back at home, Rob took the kids upstairs to get ready for bed, and Jack turned around and peed in the laundry! He was wide awake, so there was just no excuses for it. What the f  HELL?!! Why would he DO that??  I am just completely baffled by it. Completely baffled.

Oh! I almost forgot. I've had multiple requests for the bread recipe and for the story about why I deserved to be peed on. First, the bread. The recipe is from here, but I will post it below for those of you who are as lazy as I am:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees F)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• Cornmeal

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the sugar, salt, garlic salt, cheese and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each half into a 14-in. loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
4. Brush loaves with water. Make three diagonal slashes about 1/2 in. deep with a very sharp knife in each loaf.
5. Fill a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan with 1 in. of hot water and place on the bottom oven rack. Preheat to 400 degrees F. Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes. Remove to wire racks.

And now, your story.

Rob hates to be poked in the sides. Haaates it. It makes him jump and squeal like a little girl. For that reason, I do it all the time. ALLLL the time. He asks me constantly to stop. I have tried. I just can't help myself. So one time, he was in the bathroom taking a leak, and I came up to him with my finger a-twitchin'. He knew that look, so he warned me, "If you poke me, I'm going to pee on you!" I laughed and poked him anyway. With that, he turned and peed up and down the whole front of me, clothes on and everything.

And that's the rest of the story.

Fin.

Out Slumming

Welp, because I was up all night being sick to my stomach, I was pretty much worthless during the day today. I wanted to do something crafty with Sophia, but I just felt weak and not up to it. I'm afraid we watched entirely too much Noggin today.

In the afternoon, the mailman rang the bell and dropped a box on my porch. It was for the CAT, the monthly charity crochet-a-thon that I do. This month, CARE Package is a co-sponsor, so we're getting some handmade donations. These are the first, from Linda G. in New York. She made two blanktets and three sweaters. They're beautiful, thanks Linda!

By the time Chloë came home from school, I was feeling more revived. I wanted to go out and do some things, but I didn't have the energy yet to go upstairs and take a shower. So I took my nasty-ass self out, with no bra on, no shower, no teeth or hair brushed, with the kids - Sophie still in PJs, no less - to the public library to sign them up for the summer reading program that started today. We've never done it before, but now that I have a reader, it's time! I didn't know reading to littler ones counted too, so I signed them all up. When they complete ten hours of reading time, they get prizes and incentives! It should be fun for them. Steph, will you keep up the reading for us whilst we're in Europe? Only two more weeks to go!

By the way, it was over 100 degrees out, and when I haven't showered, I sweat even more. So I know exactly how gross I was and that I should be embarrassed for my ghetto behavior. I was!

After the library, Rob called to say he was home. Perfect! I swung over to the house and picked him up, and then we five headed to the fabric store. MIL has created a monster; now I want to do more and more sewing and learn wth I'm doing. I'm not going to make all their clothes from now on, oh no, but it will be fun to make them some matchy-matchy stuff.

I bought six different kinds of patterns, each with multiple variations, and the fabric and 'notions' for four of them:

This little dress will be made with the blue flowers for Chloë and the pink flowers for Sophia. Otherwise, except for size, they'll be identical. What's cute about this fabric, which you can't see because it's folded inside-out, is that there are little sparkles all over it. The girls love it!

This will be a pretty little ruffly dress for both girls. I'm going to be working with lining and netting, so I'll probably say a lot of bad words over this one!

With this cute little froggy fabric, I'm going to make some adorable little scrubs-type jammies for all three of the kids. I can see using this pattern again and again!

With this cool green batik fabric, I'm going to make matching shorts for all three kids and the bandanna head covering for Jack. I'll probably just buy matching tank tops (or whatever) so I don't have to mess with stretchy knits.

How'd I do, Mom???

Rob surprised me by giving me these "made by Mom" labels to sew into the kids' clothes. I thought that was really sweet of him!

After we did all that damage in the fabric store, we headed to Michael's. A gentleman in the blogosphere has purchased a scarf, the kind I still have up on the fundraising page for CARE Package.  I sent Rob in there, with the 50%-off coupon, of course, while I ducked into Panera next door, with the kiddies, to order dinner to take home. It was already after 8 PM, after all. I was finished and back in the car before Rob got out of Michael's! Men.

Turns out they didn't have the colorway of yarn the man wanted for his little girl, so he had to buy the next closest thing. We'll see if it passes muster. In the meantime, between that, all my sewing goodies, and the little sundress I just started crocheting tonight for Steph's little niece, I have my hands full with projects!

Now I think it's time to take that shower...

Fin.

P.S. At the fabric store, I found shawls and wraps on sale for $2.50 each! So I bought three for the cruise, in pink, black and ivory. Sweet!

P.P.S. Confidential to MIL: There were NO Jodi Picoult books at my library! I'll have to wait awhile if I want to read My Sister's Keeper. Bummer.

Ah, Food. It's Good You're Back.

I just wanted to share more of the loveliness that is, officially, the "How Deena Got Her Oohs and Ahhs" Blanket from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits. I have finished the triple single-crochet edging and now just have to weave in thousands of ends on the back. Steph, sorry I didn't stick precisely to your color scheme on the edge, but the purple was closer, so it went on the inside! I think I like the turquoise (aka "cayman") better on the edge, since it's more prevalent in the afghan.  Sarri, if you're reading this, I need your collage/mosaic help! I just did this in paint, but how do you do the fine-looking ones you've been doing on your blogs? Help a girl out!

Today was quite active, though I just couldn't shake the sleepiness out and wake fully up until the evening. I way overslept this morning, waking up with just five minutes to go before we had to leave for the bus. I was like a marathon runner's coach, getting Chloë ready: "Come on! Let's go! Go potty! Take your clothes off! Hurry up, let's go, go, go! Shorts on! Here's your shirt! Get some socks! Here's your shoe! Here's your other shoe! Don't undo them all the way! C'mon, c'mon, you can do it, almost there...!" and so on. But, hallelujah, we made it with two minutes to spare! I call that a victory.

I came home, checked email, chatted online with a friend for a bit, and then lay back down to snooze for an hour until I had to get Jack ready. Well, I overslept again and this time had just ten minutes to spare before his bus arrived. And he was still in his jammies! Normally he jumps right up and dresses himself, but not so this a.m. So I had to do the whole marathon coach thing again, shouting up at him, "Your bus is here, your bu is here, get your pants on, let's go, buddy!" etc. At least this child had breakfast, since no one wrapped up the leftover strawberry biscuits and he'd eaten four of them! Rotten mommy, I know I am.  Thankfully, they both had a decent lunch, since I had time to pack him one and she buys at school.

I got Sophia dressed shortly after that and jumped into the shower, so I could go visit my nemesis Dr. Pal, aka my prescribing shrink. He tops my list of Medical Types Not to Love. He's just so... cranky! For no reason. It's not necessary. Sophia is a lovely, charming, ingratiating child, but he always glowers miserably whenever I walk in with her. Jerk. But then she starts chatting away while he's writing out my scripts (my visits invariably last less than ten minutes and go like this: "How are you doing on your meds?" "Fine, I feel good." "Good, here's your prescriptions, see you in X weeks") and he softens considerably. Finally today he acknowledged her by saying, "She talks a lot." Which, I think, was a compliment to her verbal abilities. In any case, I'm going to take it that way.

I've been seeing him a little more frequently lately because of the allergies. We have narrowed down another suspect: Trileptal. It's now eliminated from my medicine diet because, having gone off it, I'm taking far less Benadryl and having fewer reactions than before. So right now the Big Baddies are: Trileptal, Anceph, Percocet, chlorine, manmade fibers, and apples. Who knows to what else I will fall prey? Hopefully not strawberries, but either way, I'll no sooner give them up than I will my beloved pool time!

Anyway. So he's a jerk, but I can handle him for less than 10 minutes a month, right? At least he makes me laugh and not cry, with his crotchety self.

It's two weeks tomorrow since I got my nails done, and I definitely turned out to have fast-growing nails. Who knew? They break so easily. So, Sophia and I went to the nails shop for a fill, and OH. MY. LORD was I IN PAIN. She kept burning my nails with the motorized file thingy, and I kept having to jerk my hands away. This was a different nail tech than the first one, who was very careful not to hurt me. And oh! I can not stand all the filing and buffing and filing and buffing that it takes. I'm very sensitive to filing anyway, so getting my nails done is like pure torture for me. I very nearly gave up all the national secrets I knew, but she couldn't break me.

We ran next door to Farm Fresh to get the grocery ad, and then we went next door the other way to Subway for lunch. Sophie saw the marquee and wouldn't stop pestering me about it, and right now I am a pushover when it comes to a tuna sammy. But in the end, she refused to eat, having only one bite of sammy and maybe four chips, wanting instead to go home and have some juice. Uh. So we did just that.

I was going to go upstairs and tackle the laundry, but we had less than an hour left by that point before Jack's bus would come, and I didn't feel like going up and down, up and down. I was so tired, after all. So we watched a little PBS Kids while I completed the two edgings on the blanket to end all blankets.

The boy came home and wanted to finish watching Super Why! with his sister (they love, love, love that show). I agreed and told them it would be nap time when Chloë arrived, which appeased them. I kept my word, and as soon as they were all in their rooms, I finally collapsed under my loverly blanket for an hour. The dog wiggling around in her kennel woke me right up after that, and surprisingly, I wasn't tired any longer.

Good thing. We still didn't have any food in the house, and that's my job to rectify. I got out my previously-fetched grocery ad and wrote down all the sale items that we use on my list, then retrieved the Sunday paper to scour for coupons. I found a lot of good ones and saved nearly $40 this trip, 11% of my total. We were darn near out of everything except meat, which we rarely eat nowadays except when I go to the fishmonger at the Farmer's Market for seafood.  I shopped for an hour and a half; my cart was full before I even finished getting half of my list. For the first time ever, I tipped the bagboy who loaded up the van (hurts my back to do it) because it was so much. But the cashier forgot to give me my 5-cents-per-bag discount for bringing in my own. Grr. It annoys me that the policy isn't better known among the cashiers and isn't advertised to customers at all. Come on! That would bring more people like me into the store!

I'm starting to ramble, aren't I? I know some of you are saying, "Isn't that what all your posts are?" Yeah, it's true, I'm a babbler. And yet you stay!

We had dinner plans (by that I mean, I had picked out what Rob was to make), but the kids just kind of ended up eating as we unloaded and put away the food: some baby carrots (shared with the bunny), some Italian bread (still as delish as yesterday's), milk, Tic-Tacs. So they went to bed when they'd had their fill, and then we cooked our crab-stuffed whitefish pinwheels. They were good. Not as good as fishmonger food, but I'd had them in the freezer for a few months and wanted to get rid of them.

So do you want to know about our plan?

We've talked about this many times over the past 7.5 years of our life together, but tonight we really started being serious. Rob retires in five years. After that, we may just sell off a bunch of our stuff, put the rest in storage, and buy a boat on which to live. We'll travel around, bipping around the country, the Caribbean, go through The Canal, see where we go... and homeschool the kids as needed. I like to call it "worldschooling" them, because they'll gain such an education from traveling and meeting different cultures. Once our European cruise is over, I'm going to start putting us on a tight budget, so we can pay off our ever-accumulating credit card debt, start building a retirement fund, and see what it's going to cost us to live on this boat. I'm excited about it, and I know Rob is. It's his dream!  Sound fun?

Of course, there better be room for my yarn...

Fin.

Welcome Back, Hurricane Season!

At home last night, Jack came downstairs and went to sleep inside the cat scratching post tunnel thingy! So funny.

We were up late last night, so we slept late this morning. It still wasn't enough, and I was bleary-eyed for quite a while. Let me tell you, blear looks really hot on fat people.

I made my way downstairs where Rob was feeding the kids, and set to work sewing the panels of my stripey blanket together. I got about halfway through the first seam when I remembered Rob needed to finish his LensCrafter's shop for his new eyeglasses, ie, pick them up so I could do the pick-up section of the report. And there was no food in the house and he'd be right nearby, so I wanted him to go to Panera, too. Yum, yum.

Shortly after he left, Stephanie called me to say she and Tim were on their way over for our Day O' Fun. Rut-ro, Raggy! I was still in a nightgown, Rob was out, and the kids were in various states of undress. But we quickly got our bathing suits on, just in time for Stim (their name together, see) to come a-knockin'.

I kept on seaming my blanket while we waited for Rob, and then I gobbled down my brunch while he got ready for the pool. Mmm, mmm, Panera. Good stuff, man. We shared some cookies with Stim and the kids, and then scrambled to get our pool necessities together. You can't just go to a pool these days. Of course, there must be towels - five. Then there must be "some scream," no matter what time of day or how short or long your visit. And most importantly, there have to be pool toys for each child. We ended up bringing all the blow-up toy prizes from our night at Motor World last weekend.

The pool water was frrrreeeeeeeezing. Rob barely made it into the pool at all. No meat on his bones. The rest of us managed to acclimate just fine. We didn't have any water wings (must put those on the shopping list), so Chloë clung steadfastly to the wall as she played with Stim and her school friends. Jack and Sophie were in and out, in and out, cold and hot, up and down. Little monkeys, they are. It was a good time. The adult swims were very much welcome, as the neighborhood kids were there in abundance and got quite rambunctious. Can't tell you how many times I was pushed and shoved with a baby in my arms. Don't like that. Not a bit.

After a while, we left and came back to our house, where everyone changed and showered and dressed. Oh. Ask me what's the worst that could happen? I'll tell you: Being allergic to the pool, my oasis in the summer months. But not just allergic. Full-body-welt highly allergic.  The hives were huge and angry, and my face swelled up, and it was all very uncomfortable and unattractive. Once in the house, I chugged some four or five Benadryls and waited for the ugliness to depart. The ugliness caused by chlorine, anyhow. It took a while, but I'm back to "normal" now. I use that term loosely.

Then Steph and I took Jack to the grocery store for some dinner needs: Dog food for Lily's sup, and sangria, green beans, linguine, strawberries and Italian bread for ours. Jack picked out a new car (I'd promised him a few days ago for something), and I picked up some Cottonelle wipes four our tushies. I love those things. No more TP for me!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rob was peeling and cooking up some shrimp scampi to go atop our linguini. Linguine or linguini? I'm too lazy to go look at the box right now. When we arrived, he set to work boiling water for the pasta while I sliced up the strawberries for our dessert. Those things were almost as big as my hand, look:

Ginormalous!

The kids (and Rob) kept buggering me for some berries, but I threatened them with my knife and kept the thieves at bay. (Not really, put down the phone.)

Then I remembered I didn't have any whipping cream for the strawberry shortcake, so Stim took Sophie back to the store for some heavy cream and, oh, yeah, can you pick up some more Bisquick too?

Dinner was excellent, and we all ate our fill.  Even the kids did pretty well with no complaining, other than Jack repeatedly tell us he didn't want his shrimp even though no one was making him. I should have bought more than one loaf of the bread, though; it was awesome. I had two glasses of wine and got quite inebriated, and Stephanie soon joined me so we could be silly together. And we were. I said a lot of dumb stuff and giggled at myself. 

We went back to the living room to rest our bellies and let the kids play while I tried to show Steph briefly how to crochet. She did a stitch or two and looks like she's going to be an easy student, so we'll have to sit down together soon and do it fo' real. I had finished seaming up the second seam earlier and was working on the edging of my stripey blanket. We were also running back and forth, Steph and I, to the kitchen so I could show her how I make the biscuits (big tongue stuck out to Stephanie-Canada!). It was a lot of back and forth. I got a little dizzy. Remember, I was drunk. (Hey, let's call a spade a spade. I wanted to say 'a worm a worm' just there. I don't know why.)

Um, so, what else...

The shortcake (biscuits :P) were finished, finally, so everyone regrouped in the kitchen to down some strawberries. It wasn't our usual shortcake: I'd added more sugar to the biscuits than usual, and I didn't have milk so I used some of the heavy cream in them. And Rob whipped the cream and some sugar together instead of using the canned stuff. It was so-o-o good. We all scarfed it down pretty well. I never get tired of strawberries. Maybe I should think of some new things to do with them? I don't know, if it ain't broke...

Rob made Tim give Jack his growth hormone shot after that, so he'll be able to do it while we're in Europe. It went as well as expected. Jacky cried, and it's sad, so I showed Steph how much he's grown since taking the shots for the past almost-two years, versus no growth over the previous two. They'll be fine. I'm sure of it.

Drunken self-portrait of Stephanie

Rob and Tim, overjoyed about sticking little boys butt's with sharp needles

Stim left shortly after that, and the kids went to bed, so I finished up my single crochet edging. I have two more rounds of single crochet to do, and all those ends to sew in, but for the most part, it'd finished! Yippee! I've only been at it for a few months, off and on of course. It's cotton and really heavy. I'm loving the colors together. Steph really liked it, too, and she called it funky. I think. Now she wants one. A day after I told Rob I was never going to make another one of those again (it was my third). Haha! But of course I will, if she wants.

I fell asleep under my new allergy-free blanket right after that, from the effects of the pool and too much good food and fun times with our friends. Very comfy. I love it!

Fin.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Okay, it looks like Typepad has totally revamped its posting software, so who knows how this is going to turn out?

The middle panel of my stripey blanket - finished at last! Onto the third and last panel. Whew. It's the blanket that never ends. I'm really loving the color play in this panel. It's working for me!

So after I woke up early this morning, I decided to grab a shower to officially start my day. I rarely shower first thing in the morning anymore, even though it used to be my must-do to get the day jumping. And it worked. I was ready for the day. Note to self: do that more often.

Chloë and I went to the bus stop and were greeted by, as you read, the smokin' grandpa of two little girls with whom we wait. So annoying.

I came home and fiddled around online for a little while until Jack joined me, and we shared a nice breakfast together. He was smiling and in a good mood, which made me happy in turn. Then while he played downstairs, I went up and started in on the mounds of clean laundry that needed folding and put away. I only got through about two or three loads before it was time to get back downstairs and put him on the busl though. Still haven't made it back up to finish, but I plan to after this...

Once Jack was in school and Sophie had  had her breakfast, we jumped in the car and headed to the post office to get some one-cent stamps. On the way there, we had a redeux of this incident: my mirror fell off the side of the van again. Augh! Irritating. Oh well, at least the temporary voodoo Rob put on it lasted almost two months. A man stopped at the P.O. to try and  help me, but he had no luck either.  You never know how much you depend on that thing until you don't have it.

Afterward, on a whim, I decided to get my nails done. I wanted a (yes, fake) French manicure for the cruise. I know, I have fat little sausage fingers. And yes, I know, it's more than a month 'til we leave, but I wanted to have plenty of time to get used to them so I wasn't stuck preoccupied with my stupid nails and enjoying myself less than I should be, y'know? I didn't realize it was going to take more than an hour and a half! Sophia was so patient and sweet while she waited all that time, and she was rewarded with a little bonus manicure of her own:

So pretty, so cute! Both her sister and her brother were jealous of her little treat when they came home and saw her cherry-read nails, so we'll have to rectify that situation for them when we get a chance. Jack keeps asking for green nailpolish, which I don't have, but maybe we can find some!

While we were at the nail salon, Sophie practically threw her dress over her head and shouted for the entire room, "Hey, I need to fix my panties!!" and all the techs (and I) laughed. Silly girl. No modesty there.

After Chloë put her leotard on, we headed out to her ballet class just as the first fat raindrops were starting to plunk down around the van. I love fat raindrops like that. Little did I know... before we left our neighborhood, the thunder and lightning came and kept coming with no reprieve. The rain was pounding down around us, and it grew so dark the kids were in awe of how fast it became 'night time.' Chloëped we wouldn't be "stroked" by lightning. They were all scared, especially the littlest one. She kept screaming when branches would fly around us. It was bad out there, especially with no side mirror!

The rain didn't let up once we got there, so I did something I've never done before: I left Chloë there and drove the little ones home to get them out of the rain, hoping Rob would be far enough on his route home to pick Chlo up in time. I  never should have left. The rain was driving down now, and then once we hit the highway, we were hit with hundreds of humongous hailstones (how's that for alliteration?). Sophie was really scared then. I pulled up to the house and carried the babies in as fast as I could, sending them upstairs to get dry clothes. I never did reach Rob on time, so we ended up going right back out again 20 minutes later to get Big Sis. No nap for the Littles; oh well, they're sleeping great tonight.  The return trip was much better, and the rain even stopped by the time we came home again. But if you were on the Atlantic coast today, you know something must have upset ye gods above!

Man, it is a PITA to type with these nails on! I'm constantly backspacing...

OH!! I forgot my biggest news: We are not moving to Pensacola this fall. Repeat, NOT going to Pensacola. Sorry, Gail. :( Rob's request for that duty station wasn't granted. Someone else filled the bill. So now we have no idea where we'll be living come this time next year. There aren't a lot of favorable choices for shore duty. There's Jacksonville, FL, which means a lot of long hours for him. It's a possibility. And there's Maryland, which is... not south of here! I don't want to find us inching North even a little bit. There are some sea duty billets in Japan and Southern California, which means, der, he'll be away at sea and he's supposed to be coming off sea duty now. So he's going to wait two weeks and see what new billets come out then. We shall see.

Anyway, after ballet, we decided to go out to a different Mexican restaurant for dinner. I'd redeemed some Coke Rewards points for a free $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate earlier today, and I know the Bob is always up for some yummy Mexican food. As usual, Jack ate nothing but tortilla chips, Sophia and Chloë had quesadillas, and I had my vegetarian fare. Rob loved his. Mine was eh, okay, but I think I should've chosen a different entrée. For the record, I think potato enchiladas are nasty.

I took a short nap when we came home, while Chlo worked on her homework, the Littles played, and Rob worked on my mirror. I'm glad it wasn't longer, so I'll actually be able to sleep tonight. Maybe even with the CPAP on. I'm still trying with that damn thing.

All right, hasta mañana.

Fin.

Pookatello, Pookatello

The second panel of my stripey blanket is coming along now. The first two times I knit this blanket, it seemed to fly much faster than this one is. Now it seems like it's dragging on and on forever.  I think I'm going to stick with it for a while, at least to the end of this panel.

So my shrink paid me a visit at home today. No, I wasn't having any mental crises - she came to pick up the 36 packages for the hospital. It was weird having her here. I've said it before, we could totally be friends outside of our therapeutic relationship. We shot the breeze, talked about the kids and the Farmer's Market and strawberries (note to self: go see Uncle Chuck tomorrow), and then she was off before the school buses started coming to hamper her escape.

The big kids came home from school shortly thereafter, and I quickly got everyone's teeth brushed for their visit to the dentist. We had but five minutes, so I knew I was going to get some comments from the dentist, and I surely did - but mostly about their thumbsucking. It's a hard habit to break, for sure, and we try. But I sucked my thumb until I was nine! I know that if they want to suck their thumbs, there's not a whole lot I can do about it.

It was Sophie's first time in the dentist chair. I thought, being the brute that she is, she would be the bravest one and take her treatment like a tramp. Er, champ! :O But no, she started wailing as soon as he began to raise the chair. He tried to calm her down, but she wouldn't have it. She was skeered. So he let her go without touching her, and that was that. He doesn't push it; he wants little kids to have a good view of the dentist. So far, it works. My big kids love going, even though Jack had a similar first visit.

After that, it was Brownies time.  I have officially come down with the cold whose existence I've been denying all week, so I didn't feel like sticking around. The bitties and I just dropped her off, and we went back home to chill for an hour. When we returned, all the girls were waiting outside with the moms, who were chatting. Normally I'm over there with them, so they all kind of looked at me quizzically as I scooped up my Biggun, waved, and drove off!

They probably just think I have quite the busy little life.

Nah. I sent everyone upstairs for quiet time, and I zonked on the couch myself. I think Rob woke me to tell me something when he came home, but I can't for the life of me remember what. And now he's passed out upstairs, Jack hasn't gotten his shot, and it's garbage and recycling night. Guess I better go get busy.... waking him up, what'd you think, I was going to do it?!

Fin.

Mother's Day

Ohhh, I can't brag about what a wonderful day I had with my family today, because I didn't. Not that I had a bad day with my family, but it was mostly solitary. As in, snoozing and napping. On the couch. It's almost midnight, and I'm still in my pajamas.

Rob woke up around 0400 this morning to hang out with me and try on his new sock:

As you can see, it's a little lose in the ankular area, as he is a skinny, skinny boy, and I followed the Yarn Harlot's (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) basic sock recipe for women. We're hoping it'll firm up some after a spin in the washer. And not felt. I don't have any plans right now to start the second sock, but I'm planning to get it done at least before we go to Europe! I really do like the colors in it, though, and fortunately, so does the new owner.

After that excitement, I knit yet another pair of Saartje's booties, this time to match the pink set I made a while back.  I just tried to do a search for it, and apparently I never posted it on here?!  I will have to do that tomorrow... my shower is calling me.

Anyway, we were still wide awake at 0700, so Rob went out and picked up some (drumroll) Panera for us for breakfast. And lunch. He bought cinnamon rolls (eh, not hugely impressed) and sandwiches (always stellar) for us. The kids woke up many hours later and wondered where theirs were. Sorry, children, you snooze, you lose!

Shortly after, with the Sunday paper on my lap and a full belly, I finally fell asleep and did not wake up until well into the afternoon. This does not bode well for the coming week, but I'm hoping we'll do all right.  Rob was upstairs with the kids, keeping quiet, even though I implored him not to let me sleep all day! Oy. So I woke up and was checking my email when they came tiptoeing down the stairs, Rob shushing them all the way. I tiptoed into the kitchen myself and shushed them even louder, which made the babies laugh.

It was pouring and cold and miserable all day today, but there was a monster truck rally on the beach I wanted them to go to - both for Jack's sake and mine! Call me cold-hearted, but I love having quiet time on Mother's Day to myself. And Jack really does love his cars and trucks, so I hated for them to miss it. They quickly bundled up into warm clothes and headed down to the beach.

What did I do? Well... I had my usual grand plans. Today's included taking a shower (not done), finishing all the laundry (nope), finishing getting out all the spring/summer children's clothes (nyet) and doing a little grocery shopping (uh-uh). Instead, I sat back down on the couch "for a minute" to read a little more newspaper, and the next thing I know the evening was fully upon us, and Rob was waking me up, asking me what I wanted for dinner.

You see, he had tried to do the right thing. Only, he never quite thinks of it on time. I had told him long, long ago that I wanted a great big basket of tulips from a real florist - but he only went yesterday to Walmart to get me a bunch of roses. Hm. So I went on FTD.com and bought them for myself. They'll be here Tuesday, and I don't care how pathetic it is, I want a bunch of tulips! And he made reservations for Mother's Day dinner, but not in time, so he had to make them for Saturday night. Only I was annoyed about the not thinking ahead, and the flowers, so I refused to go, because I am a huge bitch like that. (Plus I really wasn't in the mood to go to the sushi place.)

So, I thought about what I wanted, and I bashfully informed him that I wanted (drumroll) Panera for dinner! Again! All tuna, all the time! He gave me that "oh, you" look, threw on some clothes, and headed out.

BRRRRRRINNNNGGGG! Rang the phone. Panera's out. It's closed. How about Subway? Ugh. All right. BRRRRRRINNNNNNNG! Subway's closed. Um, Wendy's? Crap. All right.

So I had a crappy tough, dry grilled chicken sandwich for my Mother's Day dinner. I don't really care, though. I don't know why, but I'm not overly sentimental about this day. If I had a mother to call up and talk to, or spend the day with, or even argue with, for Pete's sake, it might mean more to me... perhaps I should get over it, though. I have had four beautiful children, and three shining faces greet me every morning, and I am indeed quite blessed.

So.

The kids had dinner and went to bed, and then I remembered. The strawberries! Shortcake to make! Whoops! Well, it was too late now to wait until tomorrow. Once I've remembered something tasty like that, we've got to go ahead and go through with making it. I sent Rob to the store for Bisquick (sue me, I like their recipe for shortcake) and whipped cream, and the free yogurt for which I'd won the coupons - and for once, he came back with exactly the right things! Woot!!

So I immediately set to work making the cakes and then assembling when the buzzer went off. They tasted every bit as good as they looked. There is still one more left - who wants it?

I hope you all had a great day, with whomever you were, wherever you were, whatever you did.

I enjoyed my naps and skipping the laundry, yes I did. But those three shining faces... always the best.

Fin.

Take The Long Way Home

Hiya, folks! We're baaaaack! Now that my camera's uploading to my computer again, I have to backtrack and do some Friday stuff here as well, before getting to the festival.  So, no one knows how to get pictures from a camera phone to the computer? I have some pictures of sheep-shearing and wool-spinning and -weaving that I wanted to share.

Anyway. Friday.

I started getting some of my Bloggy Giveaway goodies in the mail!

Free yogurt coupons! Woot! We go through lots of Yoplait around here.

Laundry Tree SoapNuts. Wth is a soapnut, anyway? Well, I'd tell you, but you probably don't care to know anyway. I used them for two loads of laundry on Friday, and I loved the way my clothes smelled after they came out of the wash. Seriously, loved. And you can just throw them outside after they're used up (after 3-4 loads!); they're entirely biodegradable, of course. Love that. I have a feeling I may be buying some of these babies in the near future.

Also in the mail was my latest Bzzkit, but I'll be reporting on that in a future post, probably this week's WFMW.

And finally, I received my latest shipment of kids' clothes from The Children's Place, using the discount code I was given on Jack's birthday. Or Sophia's, I don't know. The non-twins each received three new shorts sets, and Chloë got a new dress - no more, because the site just would not let me add her clothes to my cart. Irritating!

When she came home from school, Chloë insisted on wearing her new dress to modeling class that night. And of course, she demanded a picture be taken in it.

It amused (and still does) the hell out of me that Jack followed suit, with the little curtsey-motion and everything. This is one of his new outfits; the others are nearly identical but red and blue. He's wearing a 3T, my boy's in a 3T!!! Doesn't he look so big?! 'Course, the shorts fall down and need to be folded over, but that's just a fact of life when you have skinny kids.

Then, Sophia wanted to model her new clothes and do her curtsey, too. So funny. Her other outfits are a nearly identical one in pink and turquoise, with solid color shorts instead of white. I was going to buy Chlo the exact same outfits but t-shirts instead of tanks so she could wear them to school. Still annoyed that I couldn't, since I'm so into matching outfits for the girls lately. Actually, I'd adore having a three-way match, but you rarely find his-n-hers matching outfits in kids. At least, that's been my experience...

Sophia's hair has finally grown out enough from the severe chopping I gave it in the fall, to wear piggie tails! She asks for them all the time and looks so cute in them, I think. Here, she is telling me the candle is thirsty and wants some water. I obliged. This amused her.

Okay! Now onto today's visit to Maryland Sheep & Wool! Of course, since I can't share the other pictures with you right now, all you're going to get to see is the yarny goodness with which I came home. And that might bore some of you - sorry!

Here are some highlights of the trip:

• Rob on the phone with the hotel: "Hi, I'm coming to Sheep & Wool - do you allow sheep?"
• As soon as we checked in and I found the hotel stationery, I immediately set to work writing a dirty love letter to Rob. I think he may have left it for the maids to read!! :O
• Free parking and admission to the fair!
• Tons and tons of varieties of wool and other yarn to be had (and had, I did), many of which came from small, local farms that only sell at this and other festivals. I love this aspect of it and came home with yarn grown in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Virginia and Maine. Um, "yarn grown" - yeah, you know what I meant! :p
• The freaking sheep were hilarious, sticking out their tongues and "maaaa"ing all over the place. I am still imitating them. What silly animals!

Lowlights:

• Hello, homespun yarn is not cheap! I spent all of CARE Package's budget and then some. Can you say, "hurry up, tax rebate check"?
• Sheep poop. Sandals. Get the picture?
• All the freaking bellyaching from the kids on the way up. My God! I wanted to shoot myself in the skull. Fortunately, we got smart and moved Chloë back to the third row on the way home; peace and quiet reigned supreme.
• Rob did a lot of the driving, after I did what I could and got that eye-rolly sleepiness going on. He is just not a great driver. I can't tell you how many times I woke up from the passenger seat, alarmed, saying, "What's wrong? What happened!" Ahhh! Not relaxing.

So, without further ado, my purchases:

This wool was less than $7 per hank! That's a really great price, considering the yardage. Rob was asking for some thick wool socks, so I bought these mainly for those, and with the leftovers, I'll...make a blanket? I dunno, but there should be plenty. The colors (brown, charcoal, dark red, forest green, dark teal) are pretty accurate. Sorry it's such a dark picture, but using the flash distorts the colors.

Tinkerbell went really nuts over that wool! She just dove in and wizzled all around in it. Funny video of it can be found here.

Of course I had to buy a couple of cute patterns, for $6 each. That is one ugly baby on the left; s/he looks like Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies.  At least the sweaters are cute!

I bought these frog closures for $2 apiece. I have a couple of patterns that call for frogs, plus I just love the look of them. I find it very hard to take pictures of black items, if anyone has any tips...!

Wooden buttons! They were almost a buck apiece, so I didn't buy many - and these were the cheap ones! But they're very cute and will look great on a couple of sweaters. Keep them in mind, Steph!

400 yards of 100% merino wool in fingering weight. Great for socks, or a baby sweater pattern I have already. I bought this yarn specifically for that, at $11 per hank! The colorway is called "Spring Garden" and I think it's great, except there's no green in it!

Natural, undyed wool - no price or anything on it, and of course I can't remember the details. It was one of the things I was coming for, since I want to make a white blanket to go with the red sweater set I just finished. I rarely, if ever, use white for anything - yarn, colors in my house, you name it - and just this once I thought the situation called for it. I'll trim the blanket in the red I have left over from the set. Okay?

Remember this blue set I made earlier this year? Well, here's the yarn that's specifically made for that (and other) Sockotta pattern. I found it! So I'll want to make that pattern again - I enjoyed it so - in the "right" yarn this time. Look for that in future projects, too!

This rich, very dark purpley-blue handspun merino was discounted from $35 to $21, and it was calling my name from the sale basket! It's so soft. I don't know what will become of it, but I'm imagining a baby blanket, since I have so many I need to make for the charity.

This is a German wool/nylon blend yarn that I bought to practice making socks for Rob with, before I venture on to his thick wool ones. I have only made that one pair of baby ones for the blue set, so I need to build my confidence on "sock weight" yarn before I work up to something thicker. He choose the one on the right for his socks, so the left one will be for CARE Package. I think it goes well with that tan and blue sweater I goofed on (remember, the zig-when-I-should-have-zagged one?), so maybe a blankie to match.

Probably my favorite unplanned splurge, I found this $25 ball of 100% silk yarn at the check-out when I was buying the "Spring Garden" sock yarn above. There were many other colorways available, and I liked them all, so I had the vendor pick out the color for me. At first I thought it looked like puke, but now it has very much grown on me. I have no clue what I'm going to make with it yet, but I'm open to suggestions!

And finally, this is the purchase that made me flee the campgrounds for home, about seven hours earlier than planned! We had only been at the fair for three hours at this point, and had already had our fill of fair food (three hot pretzels, a cup of cheesy fries, a lamb gyro, cinnamon-and-sugar-roasted almonds, and two ginormous drinks) and yarn vendors, when I came upon the huge "main exhibition hall" at the end of the row of barns where I'd done my previous shopping. I thought I was done yarn-buying for the day, but I told Rob and the kids to wait outside while I quickly peeked at all the vendors to see if anything was on sale that I liked. Well, I found these gorgeous Koigu KPPPM mill-ends for 25-cents a gram! That sounded great, but what I did not realize was I had chosen 283 grams - that works out to $75 including tax! Dude! I paid and then ran out of the barn, telling Rob, "We need to leave. Now. Seriously." I could see me outspending that tax rebate check, and then where would we be? Certainly without money for souvies on our Europe trip. Possibly without money for the water bill!

The kids were a little bummed to be leaving so soon - even after whining about being bored, cold, wanting to go  home, etc. - and I felt a little guilty not even staying for the sheepdog trials I promised them we'd watched, but I was in danger. Danger, y'all! That's it. I promise I am going on a yarn diet. Right now.

But I didn't say anything about patterns, or buttons, or...

Fin.

Oodles Of Noodles

This morning, I woke up at 0430 and could not get back to sleep until Soapy and I took a short nap together at about 1330. I spent the first hour or two watching the early morning news and weather. I ate some oatmeal. I read the paper. And then I started knitting.

First, I made up this pair of Saartje's booties, to match the red cardigan I finished last night. I hope you think they're as cute as I do.

After I finished those, of course I needed to make a hat. I'd already gotten Chloë and Jack on their respective buses, and Sophia and I were watching The View or something, so I just kept right on knitting. My gauge was a little off, though, because this hat:

which is not nearly as pink as it looks here, nearly fits the moi, like so:

So I'm debating whether to make another one or just... not. I probably should. I have enough yarn. And this hat looks pretty cute on Sophia. Yeah, I guess I will while I'm watching Lars and the Real Girl tonight. It's supposed to be good. Of course it's good - it's Ryan Gosling! Love!

When Chlo came home from school, I finally got off my duff to take a quick shower, and then the Littles and I took her to Brownies. They were making Mother's Day things, though, so I was shooed out of the room. Instead, we sat outside on the hill, in the grass (where I proceeded to break out in major chicken pox-like spots - aha! another new allergy!) and let the non-twins take off their shoes and run around gleefully. Rob met us there after work, and he helped the Brownies play a game of weird tag after they finished their indoor craftiness.

The weather was beautiful, everyone was enjoying being together outside, and we were all in a good mood. But it was dinnertime. So we decided to head over to Panera to sup outside on the patio.  I was annoyed at myself for forgetting the second MyPoints gift card to Panera and my 50% off coupon to Michael's next door. Oh, well. It's not like we won't be back.

We got four dinners (the three kids can barely eat two meals among them), cookies, and bagels, and spent the most we've ever spent at Panera. Whoo-ee! But it's all good stuff. Have you ever had their Cinnamon Crunch bagels? Yum. I'm going to eat one for dessert later. It was a bit windier there than at Brownies, and poor Sophia was wearing the brand-new strappy dress that came in today's mail from the Children's Place. She was shivering like crazy, and soon we all joined her.

Oh, all right, here's the dress, since you asked:

It looks pretty freakin' cute on her. I've decided I'm going to start sewing - or some bastardization thereof - soon, and since Sophia is so enormously fond of dresses, that's what I shall start with. {Is that hard, Mom? Am I being foolish to start there? Simple ones, of course.}

Anyway, so we ate our dinner and shared a couple cookies, and then Chloë reminded us it was Book Fair night at her school. Oh, all right... we are flooded with books right now, and they are piled up on top (and falling off) of every available surface, so we promised her she could buy one little book. She had her heart set on a Baby Animals Sticker Book.

I dropped Rob and the cranky blondies at home, grabbed my purse, and took Chlo to school. We were greeted by a chorus of "Hi Chloë"s everywhere we turned, by students and staff alike. And then I was met by my friend Christine, who wanted to know why I haven't been at the PTA meetings lately. I just briefly explained about my recent health issues and assured her I was fine now, but she seemed really taken aback to hear. Goodness, that's why I didn't plan on sharing it when many 'outsiders,' because it was hardly a life-and-death situation, you know?  So I feel a little embarrassed to talk about it like that.

Well, we found the sticker book, for $3.99. I thought, hmm, that's not very much of a 'reading' book, and I very much have a reading child, so maybe one more book? We quickly found a Junie B. Jones book she doesn't have - hardcover, so pricier. And then we found a Tadpole book in the same style as the Monkeys and Ladybugs book we own:

for the itty-bitties. And then I found a Jodi Picoult book to read, and then we found a cookbook for Daddy. In the end, it came to almost $60, and I was glad they accepted plastic!

On the way to the bank afterward, to deposit the check Sophia finally received for the Dollar Tree ad (check it out, May 18th!) and to take out some cash for this Saturday's trip to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, I was horrified to hear from my darling daughter that Jack has been ripping up her Junie B. books and throwing them away at night. !!!!! The horror is fourfold:

1. Why wouldn't she tell me this has been going on? She knows that destruction of property is a tellable offense!
2. How could he be treating books like this?!
3. Hello, books are recyclable! Don't throw them away, at least!
4. I can't remember the fourth thing now. But man I am sick of my children's propensity to ruin everything. Everything. Gosh!

I immediately called up their father to tell him that all books were being cleaned up and locked away in their closet tonight, and that if we were the type of parents to actually tan hides, that hide tanning would be happening over that. But we don't, so we're not. Yelling is possible.

After the bank, and nearly getting broadsided by a 90-year-old lady on a cell phone (hello, that's just... no), we finally headed home. Chlo started her homework, and I started this post, and now I am finishing it. The Office  is on, so I'm gonna hit the road!

Fin.