Friday, December 28, 2007

December 28

Nothing exciting to write about.

Here's my day:

  • made banana bread
  • worked some
  • went to the Y for the first time in 7 years or so
  • played a game of Mousetrap
Now I'm waiting on my mother to come over to babysit the kids. She offered today. I took her up on it. Now at 8:15, I decided to call. She thought I meant tomorrow night. She was still in her pajamas. I should have learned my lesson by now. She did say that she would get dressed and come over. But I'm sure she's not happy about it.

She's suppose to sit for us on New Year's. I think I'll tell her no. I'm sick of the flakiness. I love my mom, but she's like that.

FO: Celeste's hat

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FO: J's sweater

 
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FO: sidekick

 
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FO: Dream swatch

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

My year of knitting

So I decided back in March that I needed a hobby and decided to knit.

Here is my list of FOs for the year
  1. Stiped felted bag
  2. Clapotis
  3. Fetching
  4. Marrakesh bag
  5. Leg warmers
  6. Safi hat
  7. headband
  8. wristbands
  9. baby hat
  10. camo hat
  11. calorimetry
  12. dream swatch
  13. sidekick
  14. J's sweater
  15. vine lace baby hat
I only have one UFO, the touring wrap. Plus I have yarn for more projects, MSCS, dashing & something with my second skein of suri blue. J&A are asking for hats & scarves. So
Wow. That's quite a bit. I guess I'll continue my hobby into 2008

Christmas is over

We survived the holiday. Children are overly laden in gifts. Way too much stuff but they had fun. A hasn't put down her new Felicity doll. And she's carrying her around with Kaya. I was afraid that Kaya might get left behind, but they are sisters and best friends and they go everywhere together. J is all into the wii and he's been playing with his new games. B just wonders around following J trying to play whatever J's got.

DH came home from his parents on Christmas night and said, they got our kids more than we got them. Both of us are feeling the excess and not liking it. His mother is all about spending a certain amount on them. I'm all about not getting $600 in toys for Christmas. Not sure what we'll do about that, but we have about 300 more days before she starts bugging us for a Christmas list.

I had a lovely Christmas. First of all, my gift of the Wii was the ultimate gift. DH opened it and exclaimed "You win!" He always surprises me and I rarely surprise him. I definitely got him this year. Only poor baby B isn't happy with it because we won't let him play. He doesn't like watching, he wants in on the action.

I got a bunch of books: Dorie Greenspan's Baking, Chronicle Books Birthday Cake book, a Pie cookbook, a mother/daughter craft book, Last Minute knitted gifts. DH laughed at me because I went to bed reading a cookbook last night. I also got little stuff, a card reader, a phone charger and Ultra Fine Sharpies in all colors. I love my new sharpies. They make such nice crisp lines.

Overall, it was a nice Christmas but now I need to get some work done and start thinking about going to the grocery store. Today it is back to regular life.

I hope

Sunday, December 23, 2007

I think I can I think I can I think I can

The sleeves are done. I'm weaving in ends in every spare moment I have. I might never knit another sweater but I will definitely never knit another single stripe sweater. Too many ends.

I'm very tempted today to tell my children to leave me alone and be quiet, I have a sweater to finish. But I did promise cut out cookies for Santa & soft trees for Daddy's Christmas present. Plus I have some bananas that need to be made into bread.

I will do all of this and stay up all night if I have to. I want this sweater to end.

Friday, December 21, 2007

A miracle may happen

Okay, it might not be a miracle, but I might possibly maybe perhaps finish J's sweater before Christmas!

I have 7 rows left to do on the first sleeve. Then the second sleeve. Then the seaming. Then picking up and knitting the collar. I have until Monday late morning to get it done. We're celebrating Christmas at my sister's on Christmas eve and then attending the afternoon Children's mass at 4:00. So I have about 72 hours to get it done.

Here's why it might happen. Kids get out of school at noon. We're taking them directly over to the ILs to spend the night. DH is golfing in late morning tomorrow. I'm leaving the kids at the ILs and taking advantage of the quiet time. I'll be able to just sit and knit without interruption.

Shoot, if I can just get the sleeves done by tomorrow, I'll stay up as late as I have to on Sunday to finish the darn thing. But it does require a trip to the store. I need a 16" circs to pick up and knit the collar. I'm not sure I want to try it on dpns.

I'll just be the Little Engine that Could. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Done!

I volunteered for the position of room mom, but I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time.

I found out on Tuesday that they don't plan the class parties for the preschool like they do in the grade school. In the grade school, the party comes in a bag. There is a craft, a game, a snack and goody bags. You split the kids up and follow the directions and everyone is happy. I talked to the grade rep who directed me to the teacher who directed me to the other teacher who said my room mom planned our party. You can just do whatever you want.

That was on Tuesday. The party was Thursday morning.

Well, it is now Thursday morning and somehow I managed to pull it off. Last night the kids and I made chocolate chip cookies. I spent an hour cutting out ornament shapes for the craft. Then I was worried that I wouldn't have enough for the kids to do and I didn't have a goody bag. I made a quick batch of rice krispy treats, cut them big and wrapped them up for each kid.

Today was chaotic but we got it done. The one mom who offered to help actually forgot. Okay, I only asked one mom to help so it wasn't like the other moms refused. It was so last minute, I figured it was too late to try and round up help. I happened to run into this mom in the parking lot and she asked what she could do to help. I said, "Bring coffee filters." Then I saw her running down the hall after the play with keys in hand. Luckily the teacher was able to find a stack of filters in the lounge and all went according to plan.

We made coffee filter snowflakes, iced & decorated graham crackers and made these ornaments The room was a mess when we were done. Green sprinkles, little triangles of coffee filters and tissue paper squares were everywhere. The forgetful mom and her husband were a blessing. They manned a couple of tables and helped the kids with the crafts. But best of all, the children had fun.

I meant to take pictures. I wanted pictures of the kids with their ornaments but I was a little bit busy. Oh well.

Now I can relax until Valentine's Day.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Transformers are a whipping

Last night was J's birthday party. We did it Pump it Up with one of his best buddies. M's birthday is 12/20. J's birthday is 12/30. M likes to remind J that he is 10 days older!

This was his first 'real' birthday party where we invited friends from school. J was very excited about it. The party went pretty well. He only cried when he got a small rub burn on his chin when he slipped off of something. I'm not quite sure what happened.

We got home last night and opened all the presents. This morning we unpackaged everything. All I can say is girl toys are soooo much easier. DH & I have been reading diagrams and transforming and un-transforming StarWars guys, Megatron, Power Rangers all day long. My finger tips actually hurt from pushing & pulling plastic apart. If we ever lose the directions, we're in for it. I'll never be able to turn Chewbacca & Han Solo back into the Millennium Falcon again. I have never bought these toys for J before. I'm much more of a car/book/train/blocks kind of mom. But that's what birthday parties are all about. Getting a bunch of stuff that Mom normally won't give you.

Friday, December 14, 2007

All I can say is

URGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Work is a beating today, and yesterday and the day before, well since I got back from Jamaica. It isn't post vacation blues, it just that everything is going wrong.

For the most part, these are existing errors that I did not create. But the task of figuring out all of the legacy code and trying to explain the problem to people who aren't programmers and have been using this code for years and it has always worked before. Not fun.

I'm ready for a break but I don't know when I'll get it.

I think I'll go do sudoku and relax a bit.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

So what's wrong with being Mom?

My husband & I were laying in bed talking. We do this often because it is generally the only peaceful time we get to talk without interruption. The original topic I don't remember, but the conversation turned to F (the BIL) and DH musing about how they are worried that I'm going to turn into Wowa (the grandmother name for my mother.)

DH says that he and Frank are concerned that I'm going to turn into a reclusive old lady who only knits. I'll spend all my extra money on yarn and I'll turn out (probably unwanted according to F) presents for all the family members. I asked him what he would like for me to do instead. He said that when we retire, he wants season tickets to all the sport teams in town and we'll got to games 3-4 nights a week and travel. That he would not sit home and watch me knit.

I had to defend my mother.

My mother still works a long hard fulltime job at the medical school but she spends all of her spare time and probably most of her money quilting. She goes to multiple quilting groups during the week. She does First Saturday quilt blocks at one shop, Third Sunday at another. She has multiple quilts being pieced at the same time. She goes on quilting weekends where she and a bunch of women take their machines to the country and sew. She lives for quilting but she is by no means a weird recluse locked up her room sewing. She is very social, she goes out 2-3 nights a week, she spends time with her friends, she is so busy that we hardly see her.

I told DH that his sporting events are to him as quilting nights are to Wowa. (How SAT of me!) Just because he doesn't enjoy what she does, it doesn't make her wierd or strange. They just like different things.

He agreed that I had a point. Besides, he pointed out a quilt that he liked and mom made it for him. He can't complain too much.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Total DH Vent

Okay, I don't think he reads this blog, but he knows I'm pissy right now so I don't care if I vent and he reads.

I know I've got it pretty good. He doesn't treat me like a possession, he isn't demeaning to me, he doesn't try to make me look stupid in front of people, he doesn't tell me I'm wrong when clearly he is wrong, especially in public in front of strangers and friends. And I know a husband like this, so I know I've got it pretty good.

He does do the dishes and sweep the kitchen floor. He does his own laundry and he is really handy at fixing things. He normally gets up with the kids on weekends. My oven, which has not been working since we bought this house and failed on me at many family gatherings involving lots of oven cooked food, finally seems to be working since he Macgyvered it. So I do appreciate somethings about him.

But for the past 7 1/2 years, I have been getting up and getting the child/ren ready for the day. We are not morning people, except for J who likes to get up at the crack of 5:00 am. We are all grumpy in the morning. A & I growl at each other and suffer through, some days with tears on both our parts. I make breakfast, cajole the kids into getting dressed, make lunches, make sure all bags are packed & teeth are brushed, all while counting down the time. "It is now 7:12, we have to leave in 18 minutes. You still have to finish breakfast, put on your shoes, comb your hair & brush your teeth." It is not fun at all.

I woke up this morning and instinctively knew that this was going to be one of those days. J for some reason slept past 5:00 am. He came into our room at 6:50 wanting someone to turn on the tv. (Why he can't turn on the tv in the morning is beyond me. He can turn it on at any other time of day. He has to wake us up in the morning to turn it on for him, but that is beside the point.) I realized I was late. I should have been up 10 minutes before. I climbed out of bed and just couldn't do it. I jumped back under the covers and told C that today was his morning to take care of the children. He had the gall to say "No, that's your job, I don't know how." I'm still feeling pissy about it. I just wanted a morning without conflict and yelling and to stay all cozy under the covers. I got up and did it.

This what makes me mad. Here is a typical morning for C. He gets up after the kids are up and moving. He gets the newspaper, he takes part of the newspaper off for his daily bathroom trip. 20 minutes or so later, he returns to the kitchen. He fixes a bowl of cereal and leaves the box out on the counter, generally right in the middle of my lunch making stuff. He sits down, eats his cereal, reads the newspaper with an occasional aside "Listen to your mother" or "Put on your shoes." I sometimes will tell J to go have his father help him brush his teeth or put on his shoes. C will grumble and do this. Then as I'm rushing the kids to get in the car, he gets pouty and acts hurt if we don't all kiss him goodbye.

The only good thing about this morning was that C ran out of his favorite cereal. He came into the kitchen and said that he could tell it was going to be a bad morning. Woe is him. Poor thing!

But as he likes to remind me, I've got it lucky, he does the dishes.

The Pink Firetruck cake


This is for my friend in TN. My red always turns out pink!
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Saturday, December 8, 2007

Tinker Tree & Basketball

We saw one of these on A Little Hut and we had to make one of our own.


Look at that form

Player & Coach
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Friday, December 7, 2007

Friday evening

I'm sitting back and enjoying a beer. It is the end of the week. I think this is my relaxing part of the weekend so I'm going to enjoy it.

Tomorrow we've got basketball from 9-11, bday party from 12-2, bday party from 3-5. Sunday all we have is church but I also have to do a bunch of work this weekend. I've got to make database changes that can't be done during the week while people are using the system. It shouldn't be too hard but it is a lot of work.

Knitting - I have to felt the purse I made for my sister. I started trying to crochet bookmarks for the teachers, but I've decided that I don't have enough experience at crochet to handle it. I'll just write a note instead. I need to start the sleeves on J's sweater. I'd love to have his sweater done for Christmas. Of course if the weather here continues as it has been, he'll be able to wear his easter outfit instead of a wool sweater.

Kind of a boring post. But that's what you get.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Making things, part II

I suggested that the kids make things for each other for Christmas instead of buying things. Both A&J thought it was a good idea.

A made a stable for her plastic horses out of paper towels & cardboard. She wants to make one for J too. J isn't sure what to make for A but I think I'll suggest making blank books like one's I've seen on crafty blogs. Maybe SouleMama or Angry Chicken. She loves writing stories so she'll like it. Plus I've been itching to make one.

I need to come up with something for the kids to make for DH. We have the fallback of new slippers and a cd, but making something would be way more fun.

I'm excited!

Room Mom

Well, Friday was the bad boy's last day at school. I volunteered awhile ago so the lack of a room mom wouldn't be an obstacle to removing him from the school. They took me up on it.

I don't have an email/contact list for the class. Thursday is St. Nicholas Day and I have to fill the shoes. There are still a couple of kids who haven't been student of the week but I'm not sure who is left. There is a Christmas party at some point before the 21st. I have to figure all of this stuff out soon. I have to call the class coordinator tonight.

I hope it won't be too hard. I hope the boy gets help. I hope it helps the class and the teacher.

Now if we can just make sure that J's desserts aren't eaten anymore, then life in DK will be good.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Posting from Jamaica

I did it. I managed to finish 13 miles. I was doing great through 6 miles. I was happy to hit 7, half way done. At 8 I was wondering again why in the hell I signed up to do this. At 9 I wanted to turn around. I was told the turn around was at 9. It wasn't, it was at 9.5. I kept going. I did really well walking & running for the first 8 miles, but I walked most of the way after that. But I finished. And I finished it faster than I ever thought I would. So that was good.

Now, we're just lazy around, reading books, drinking drinks (although there is way too many fruity rum things, I've been sticking to the occasional gin & tonic), napping and eating. It is nice.

One bad thing about Jamaica. No diet coke. It is all pepsi. I've gone cold turkey.