So I'm paranoid

Our neighbor Bob came by the other day. He likes to come by and talk about random things. Most of the time I think he's coming over to ask a question that is prefaced by a very long explanation. Usually it turns out to be just a pointless story that he has to tell someone. I wonder if his wife just really doesn't listen to him.

So last week Bob comes by and rings the door. He said he needed to discuss the situation with the new neighbor at the end of the cul de sac. I didn't know there was situation. It seems that the new neighbor is using up his new neighbor good points by driving too fast down the street. I haven't noticed it, I'm not aware of his driving habits.

I guess the D family is very concerned about the safety of our kids, especially B. Bob said that he knows how possessive B is with the soccer ball and that if one went in the street he wouldn't hesitate to go after it. Then he went on one of his long winded explanations about how his brother's best friend is the head master of new guy's kids' school and how he can use his connections to talk to the new guy and ask him to drive with more caution. And if that doesn't work then he can use his lawyer-ness and say that the neighborhood will be ready to sue him when he causes an accident.

So here's where the paranoia comes in. Why did Bob really come by? Are the neighbors really concerned about the new guy's driving habits or are they really concerned that we're not watching our children enough? We let our kids play in the front yard and ride their bikes around. Do they think that we wouldn't be paying enough attention to B that we would let him run out in the street and get hit by a car? A lot of times we let the kids play in the front yard and we sit in the adirondack chairs. Sometimes we even enjoy a beer or glass of wine. Are we negligent parents and Bob is trying to find a nice way to tell us to keep a closer eye on our children?

DH says I'm crazy. Maybe I am.

Knitting update

I ended up giving the too small hat as a baby gift. They might use it and style-wise, it fits the parents well. I found out the baby's name. Rhett Rocket. Interesting, but again, it fits the parents.

I'm finishing up the second wedding scarf. I'm actually down to just a bit of yarn, a ball about 2" in diameter. I was debating whether I could do one last pattern repeat or if I should just finish it off. So I left it for the night. I should finish it tomorrow!

Next on my plate. I'm not sure. I want to make Koolhaas for Chicago BIL. But Calgary BIL called today to say that it is -24 F there today and that was before the wind chill. He probably needs a hat first. I'm not sure what I'll do. I have a feeling Koolhaas will win out. Plus there is a new hat for J. I still have to make him one that actually fits.

The last bit is my Touring wrap that has been lingering for a long time. It is starting to make me feel guilty. I have it hibernating in Ravelry. Its picture with the little "ZZZ" mocks me. I need to get back to it eventually. So three more hats and then I will tackle the lace again.

How could I have missed it???

Yesterday was National Chocolate Cake Day!!! I didn't bake a cake. I probably should have. I heard about it on Friday. My sister M emailed me asking if she could come check out a recipe. I figured that M would bake a chocolate cake and I could just enjoy the fruits of her labor without all the mess.

M did bake a chocolate cake, in fact she baked two chocolate cakes. First she baked Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie by Orangette. (I think this is the one, yes M???) And then by the off chance that the first cake didn't turn out so good, she baked a texas sheet cake. This is an old family favorite, except that my mother made it so much that I got really sick of it and it isn't so much a favorite of mine anymore.

But did M bake a cake and bring it to me on National Chocolate Cake Day??? No, instead she threw a cake party. 2 chocolate cakes, 6 friends, Sunday night partying until the wee hours of 10pm. What a carefree life she leads. If only I was young again. Luckily she has only 5 friends (just joking, M!) and the six of them couldn't possible eat 2 whole chocolate cakes in one evening. This morning I got an email from M offering to come by with the extras. I think she got the picture that my family wanted cake since we called her cell phone multiple times last night wondering when we were going to get cake. I swear this was all at the urging of J, he really really really wanted chocolate cake last night!

I was gracious enough to invite M to come for dinner. We enjoyed a lovely evening with a wonderful dessert. DH and I shared the french chocolate cake which was deep and rich and divine. It was wonderful. The kids each has a piece of the texas sheet cake. I picked a couple of pecans off the top because I still like that part. They were good too.

M tells me that there is a National Bundt Cake Day in November. I'm not going to miss that one. Maybe I'll use it as an excuse to buy me a pretty new bundt pan from WS. I can always find an excuse for a new bundt pan.

So how did I marry my husband?

We are very different people. He's a social guy, I'm not. He's outgoing, I'm not. I guess the whole opposites attract thing holds true.

So yesterday afternoon about 3:30, he says, "We should invite the L family over and you should make the pork tenderloin."

I just balked. It was 3:30 on Friday. You don't call people up and invite them over at the last minute on a Friday night. And I don't make the pork tenderloin in 3 hours for D.L. (the husband who is a fabulous cook) and potentially mess it up and embarrass myself with either an undercooked or overcooked tenderloin. Ever since we ate at the L's house this summer, I've been dreading cooking for D! After DH promised to call and do the inviting, I promised to make the pork as long as he went to the store. Luckily the pork on sale wasn't a tenderloin and he came home with chicken instead.

The meal was fine and I wasn't embarrassed to serve it to D. We had a great time sitting around talking with D & C and D's mom who was in town. The children played together very well. They put together a play for us that kept them busy finding costumes and practicing. There was no crying until the end of the night. J was getting tired and someone stepped on his toe. It really was a lovely evening.

It was such a nice evening, it made me happy that I married the kind of guy who makes me invite people over for dinner at the last minute on a Friday night. I need that every now and then.

My first really bad FO

So last week it was cold, really cold and my poor baby J cried because I never made him a hat. So what did I do, I immediately cast on a hat. It turned out so cute. A london beanie pattern with a nice stripe pattern using the leftover yarn from his sweater.

It was so cute until I tried to try it on his head. It wasn't happening. Way too small. So I said, that's okay. We'll give it to B. Nope, doesn't fit his head either.

So what went wrong. The pattern called for size 7 needles, which I don't own. I picked up my 8 dpns or so I thought. It turns out I had my 6s and hence very small hat. I thought great, it's a baby hat. I can use it for a present for the shower I have on Sunday.

Nope. It's too big for a baby hat.




I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll frog it. Maybe I'll keep it because even though it doesn't fit anyone, it is a still a cute hat.

Another weekend gone

This one wasn't nearly as hectic as the last one.

Friday we picked up J's glasses. I still don't have a picture yet. He's still a bit shy about them. But he looks handsome in the glasses, and older too.

Saturday was A's basketball & indoor soccer games. B-ball was awful. They played the other 2nd grade team and lost by a lot. A's not into the game and didn't care. Indoor game was a bust, the other team didn't show. They scrimmaged instead.

My big news was I got a haircut. Again, no pictures yet. I just keep forgetting. I like it okay. The layers are more distinct than I'm used to. It looks a lot better than it did before. Not many people have noticed, which I find strange since I had 5-6 inches cut off.

Yesterday night we had a good time. A had a friend over to play, the daughter of one of the GS leaders. We ended up going to their house for dinner. I like this lady but haven't spent much time with her outside of GS. It was an enjoyable evening. The food was good, lots of talk & laughter. I'm glad we went. Also, she has the same sewing machine as me. We talked about taking the classes for it together. DH keeps telling me that I have a new sewing friend. He's excited about that for some reason. Funny coming from the guy who got really grumpy when I bought the thing.

On the knitting front, I'm working on a hat for J using the leftover sweater yarn. I'm making a london beanie. And I'm making a scarf for the rest of the wedding present. I've made adjustments to this pattern because I only have one skein of 220. But I'm getting worried that it will be too short. I told my niece I would give it to her it is too short. Again, no pictures. Not sure why I have no pictures. I'm going to that to work on that.

One's for the junk

Yesterday I was driving with John. We got stopped at a light right by a big mansion. This is truly a mansion. Huge. Rumor is that it belongs to devil-worshippers/drug dealers/very rich eye surgeon. I think the last one is probably true.

We were stopped just to the east of the house and you could see 3 of the garage doors. The garage area in a "L" so we could only see the north wing. J asked how many garages the house had. When the light changed, he counted 6 garage doors. Then he asked why people would have 6 garages. I asked him what he thought. Here's his response:

"One's for the junk. "

I laughed and asked what the other 5 were for.

"Well, one is for the Daddy Sunday car, one is for the Mommy Sunday car, one is for the Daddy regular car and one is for the Mommy regular car."

I said that is only 5 garages, what is in the last garage? There was a pause.

"The kid toys. They must have a lot of kid toys."

I had to laugh.

Cold Morning

A cold front came through last night and it is cold this morning. In the 20s. The teachers warned J's class that it was going to be cold and they had to wear hats & mittens & scarves to keep warm.

Last night J cried because I haven't knitted him a hat and a scarf yet and he's been waiting and waiting and waiting.

Luckily I dug out a ND stocking cap that we bought at a navy game a couple of years ago and found the lady bug mittens that A used to wear. He took them and said he would wear them but it didn't mean that I didn't have to knit him a hat and a scarf for him and I needed to start on it today.

I guess my orders have been given. I have leftover yarn from the sweater. I just need to pick a pattern and get to it.

I was planning on making something babyish for a shower I have at the end of the month, but I think I can squeeze in a hat real quick. Anything for my J.

Promise I will never break

Today we had a nice day. I was exceptionally productive in work. B took a long nap. He had trouble going down. I soon realized he was pitching a fit because I put him down in the crib. He's been napping in the other bed in J's room. I moved him and he went right to sleep. He was still sleeping at 2:45 when I left to pick up B and go to A's brownie meeting.

It was a hectic meeting. The mom who was bringing snack was late. The cookie mom who was suppose to do a presentation on selling cookies was even later. Eventually snacks and moms showed up and the meeting went well.

When we arrived home, I walked into the kitchen and DH put his arm out to stop me from walking through. He said I want you to repeat after me, "I will never put my son down for his nap ..." At this point I didn't bother to repeat. I knew what happened. I put B down without pants on. He had been running around in the diaper & a shirt all morning. I started apologizing. I really didn't think about it, I just was happy that he went down. I asked if he wet the bed. DH said "No, it was worse. He pooped then he took off his diaper in the bed." He said it was everywhere. B must have stood in it while he was in the bed. Then he got out of the bed, walked around the room and sat down to play trains. There were poop footprints on the carpet. I had to laugh. Poor DH.

What is it about B? First the "Baby Ruths" in the bathtub & now the poop prints all over the floor. Well, we solved the first issue by switching to showers. We'll solve this one by always putting him down with pants on. I promise. I promise. I swear I won't break this one. I don't want to clean up poop footprints!

DH cleaned the carpet up as best he could with resolve. I promised to handle all the issues with getting the carpets cleaned professionally. It's the least I can do for him.

I'm so glad that it wasn't me!!

Goodies in the mail

My new Clarks arrived today! I've been waiting. I expected them on Saturday and wanted to wear them to the party. But I'm happy with them now that they have finally arrived.

My favorite pair of Clarks I've worn for years. A couple of months ago, they split right through the middle of the sole. But they are my absolute favorite, easy to slip on, match pretty much everything shoes, so I've kept wearing them. I've been looking for new ones, but hadn't found anything I liked.

A couple of weeks ago I found link on Slickdeals. These were on sale at Amazon for $34. Great deal. I took the free super shipping and they took forever to get here. It was one of those deals where DHL shipped them to Dallas (well, actually Waco) and then passed them off to the USPS. But I think they were worth the wait.

Of course I had to take pictures. Excuse the track pants, they don't really match.
Top View:

Side View:

Monday morning

Last week I thought we didn't have much to do this past weekend. I thought I had it easy. Then I made the mistake of making a list and found out we had too much to do. But I got through it all.

Here's a rundown.

• Friday night - nothing (which is why I thought our weekend was easy)
• Saturday morning - A's basketball game. The boys and I skipped this because we were having "issues" and decided it was best not to take J and B stayed home by default
• Saturday afternoon - trade the kids playdate. A went to M's house and her brother J came to ours. This was great. The boys played so well together. No fighting, some bossing but it was on both sides and they worked it out themselves. Aside from reminding them that B was sleeping, it was wonderful playdate.
  
• Saturday afternoon continued: A was suppose to have an indoor soccer game but it doesn't start until next week. Bonus!
  
• Saturday night - engagement party for friends' brother that we attended because they invited my sister M so she could meet the single friends of said engaged brother. Not sure if anything will come of it for my sister, but we had a good time. Ended up the last guests to leave and I didn't get much sleep.
  
• Sunday morning - RCIA thing at church. DH is a sponsor for the husband of the friends who had the party. They had to do some candidate initiation thing. We had to be up early to get everyone to the church not just on time, but early. Normally we're walking running in as mass is starting. It was a feat, but the kids cooperated with bribes of donuts afterwards. Luckily the church was doing coffee & donuts and I didn't have to go buy them.
  
• Sunday afternoon - major grocery shopping. I spent all my money. Bought tons of stuff and I have no idea what I bought because I'm thinking about dinner this week and I seem to have nothing. How does that happen?
  
• Sunday afternoon continued - I made brisket & potato casserole and sort of watched the Cowboys debacle while doing some work & laundry & playing with the kids. One of those multitasking get it all done afternoons that gave me major tired head. At least the children didn't whine too much.
  
• Sunday late night - more work. I kind of messed around on Friday and didn't get as much as I wanted done last week. I made up for it by working last night. I got a lot done. But all of the sudden, it was after midnight. Another night of not much sleep.
  

So now it is Monday morning. Busy week ahead. I should probably get back to work so I don't end up working until midnight next Sunday night!

My Wii Boxing Baby

Baby B has been unhappy ever since we plugged in the wii. He really wants to play. We have given him an extra controller and told him he was playing but he knows its not true. He knows we're tricking him, appeasing him.

Last night, I gave in. I let him play boxing. Here he is in action.

Jab

Punch

Knockout!

Brownie waffles

I just read another thread on Ravelry. It says that brownie mix works in a waffle iron too!!!! Yum!

Making things

So, I tried making things for Christmas this year. Unfortunately we had very little success. The kids liked the ideas, but when it came down to it, I didn't set aside the time to do it.

The kids and I picked out fabric to make soft Christmas trees to give to Daddy. I cut the trees out using my mothers glue paper piecing method. She uses a fabric glue stick to paste the pattern to the fabric and then cuts it out. It was fabulous. I sewed the side seams and stuck them in my purse to bring home to finish. That's as far as we got. Maybe now that I have my own sewing machine, I'll be able to make a whole forest of soft trees for next Christmas.

My own sweet J took the idea to heart. He really wanted to make something for his sister for Christmas. I gave him the idea of making her a blank book. He decided that the book should be for her poems. Here are the results.

A's Poetry Book

 

A's first poems

 

It makes a Mom's heart melt!

Cake Waffles

A random thread on Ravelry mentioned cake waffles. It is simple. Use cake batter in a waffle maker and you get cake waffles.

I've been curious ever since. I had a white cake mix in my pantry so yesterday we tried it. And the results were good.

We had them fresh off the waffle iron with a smear of chocolate icing. Yummy. We had them fresh off the iron and plain. Still good. Then for dessert, I toasted them and served them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. I didn't have one of these but the kids said they were delicious.


I'm dreaming up cake waffle concoctions now. I'm thinking that chocolate cake waffle mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches are in our near future.

No more cartoon cakes

December 30th was J's 5th birthday. We had a nice small party for him, family + godparents + one family friend. Here's a picture with J's favorite gift, a big bike. He's loving it and out riding all the time despite the cold Dallas weather.

I asked J the day before what kind of cake he wanted this year. He had mentioned a couple different ideas. Batman, Spiderman, Mad Scientist (I have no idea how to make this cake so I discouraged it.) He finally said he wanted an army cake. So here's what I came up with. Camouflage icing and lots of plastic army men, thanks to his cousin M. We don't actually own army men.

Here's a close up of all the men. J put them on the cake. He made sure to point them in the same direction so none of them killed each other. Good thing he's aware of friendly fire!

My christmas present

I went shopping with my mom the other day. Here is my present to myself. DH isn't so happy about it. He thinks "it will make me withdraw from the family, get too involved in projects, leave messes around the house and take over his desk, aka the dining room table" I told him "I was aware of his concerns and I would try to be considerate of him."

Of course he has already found a sewing project for me. We found curtains at Pier One. They were on sale for $35 a panel. The winter sun shines right into the living room causing a glare on the TV and making it downright hot. It doesn't happen in the summer, the sun is too high. Now we have curtains, but they are way too long. I need to hem them with the new machine. First I have to figure out how to use it.

This picture is just there because B is too cute in his football helmet. This was his Christmas present from his aunt & uncle and he hardly takes it off. Its a baltimore ravens outfit that she found for $.99 on ebay. It is great. He runs through the house yelling football and touchdown all the time. I love it.