26/52 ABC's *D*

D is for....



DONE!



Look at Blankie, all grown up and finished, watching the final moments of the Sweden/Finland men's Gold Medal hockey game.

*sniff*
Brings a tear to my eye.

Hand me my gold medal. But could I get one without a hole in the middle? Thanks.

---

Next project, which I will start while the laundry from Nate's overnight piddle accident, and Skip's overnight vomit incident...

A bunnyhug for Kelly.



And I will be using THIS!


I'm so excited to start that I've only rolled one of the skeins into a ball. I just want to cast on.

---

Oh, and D is also for...



DENIAL


(shhh. I'm sure that laundry will just fold itself if I leave it to its own devices long enough. This is the result of a slug-like life yesterday, coupled with a piddle accident in the night by Nate, and a vomit incident by Skip. Woot! Go motherhood!)

Don't cry for me, Blanket-ina

I have that song from Evita roiling around in my brain.

You see, the other night, Blankie and I sat down to get a few more stripes done, and what was on, but the Ice Dancing!

Oh! The thrills, the chills, but most importantly...

The SPILLS.

Blankie had to cover its eyes when Our Beloved Canadians (even if they did move to Nice to train in all that 'natural ice' that the South of France always has on tap) came crashing down in the final seconds. My hip hurt just WATCHING the fall.


Not much better was that other couple, with a stumble/fumble/crash and down to the ice you go! Just sloppiness on her part (says the Ice Dancing armchair champion... cough*me*cough)


But oh! The drama!

Only the Italians could spin a last-seconds crash into a three-day-long soap opera. The glare! The cold shoulder! The fire! The ice! And all because she's a diva, and he needed to lift a few more weights when he came out of retirement.


Of course, we were glued to the set last night, watching the denouement. Oh! Her Look Of Death! It was priceless. And his brush-off backstage! Ken and I were watching from behind our hands. It was truly like something out of Daytime TV. And it was real. Well, as real as Ice Dancing Shenanigans get.

Tonight, I hope to finish off the striping portion of the blanket. It's a little smaller than I'd planned, but there's no way that I'm spending another $21 on yarn to make it 'the right size'. This will just have to do.

And then I'm on to the bunny-hug for Kelly. There's still 29% of the 16 days left. Plenty of time for a kid-sized sweater... right?

C is for Curling

I'm watching curling this afternoon, while I clean up in a random way, and wait for...
.
.
.
.

(drum roll please).
.
.
.
.


The Ant Killer (and his supervisor) to arrive.

Oh joy.

Yes. We got home from Monterey Bay last night to discover a wide line of ants marching across the kitchen floor. This time, they weren't coming FROM the kitchen, but heading TOWARDS the kitchen. And they were coming from a new part of the house: the family room wall behind the TV. And they weren't just little ants. They were Ants in Two Sizes! (And, from my chats with Jim [ yes, we're on a first name basis, after all his ant-related visits], I know that those two sizes of ants mean that the ant colony is SO BIG that the extra queens aren't needed in the ant-hill, so are being sent out as scouts. The bigger ants are Extra Queens!)

I'm so thrilled.

Anyways, so I'm cleaning up (don't want them walking in and saying "Well, if you weren't behind by six loads of laundry, you wouldn't have this problem" or "The ants are being drawn by the pile of newspapers beside the sofa"), and watching curling on TV.

And I have one question:

Why does the American curling team speak Canadian?

Is it, perhaps, the language of the sport? The commentators are speaking some mixture of Canadian and Scottish. All I know, is that I'm really having a good time watching them kibbitz on the ice.

"Whoa, eh! Go dat way, eh! Sweep, ya hosers!" It's bringing a tear to my eye.

And now, there are 2 minutes before Jim the Ant Killer arrives with his smoking gun of Ant Doom.

Showdown at the Olympic Village

Showdown at the Olympic Village

2/16/2006

It would appear that the Cleaning Fairies and Cooking Fairies at the local Olympic Village have gone on strike. Or maybe they're just mad that I'm not speaking Italian to them.

So today, it's time to get this Olympic Pig Sty back into shape.

• Dishwasher is going.
• Kitchen counters are next.
• Butternut squash is in the oven, baking, so I can turn it into soup for supper
• I saw an ant. But just one. That makes me happier than it should. I should be creeped out by an ant, but all I can think is "woot! It's solo!" (while I squish that little sucker into a smudge)
  
• Three loads of laundry are folded.
  
• Another load is drying
• Another is in the washer
• A good Olympic event will be the 2000 metre stair climb, as I put everything back upstairs.
• Someone please tell the ClassicYarn soft tweed to stop looking so alluring
• [I almost said "stop looking so positively delicious", but stopped myself. I'm still a little skeeved by yesterday's comment. (even though Ken said I deserved it)]
• Nate will be competing in the Marathon Caterpillar (machine) Documentary Watching event while I go for the gold.

And, as an observation: When one of your kids spills a box of Valentine's Day Nerds on the floor, it creates a surface that is dangerously slippery in a 'floor full of ball bearings' kind of way.

I'm just sayin'...

---

I did check my reflection in the mirror as I walked out the front door this morning.

Yup. Lipstick in place.

Maybe a non-creepy person might tell me I look delicious today. Heh.

You know, the funny thing is this: Yesterday, I woke up, looked at my hair, and thought "Good grief, THIS IS IT! I am going out and getting a hair cut. This is atrocious. I'm the hairdo love-child of Camilla Parker-Bowles and Keith Partridge!"

And while I'm at Nate's Kindergarten Try-out day, the Principal's wife comes up to me and says how great I look, and what am I doing differently.

Then I get the "You're looking positively delicious" comment from the creepy dad at Kelly and Skip's school.

Then, at Skip's band concert last night, another mom comes up to me out of the blue, and says she's never seen my hair looking better, and how it really flatters my features this way.

What. Are. The. Odds?????

Needless to say, I didn't go out of my way to get a haircut today.

---

I guess this would be a bad time to back out of volunteering to take the class group picture (from the school's ROOF!) that's scheduled to happen in... tick, tick, tick... four hours and fifty-one minutes.

If you don't hear from me by tomorrow morning, you'll know that I got blown off the roof, and something BAD happened. Either that, or I ran off and joined the circus.

---

Kelly has a play-date coming over today after school (and after I take that infernal photo from the roof of the school).

Of course, seeing as it's going to be this little girl's first time visiting, I feel the need to make things ship-shape (ooh, maybe that's my motivation for all this mid-Olympics cleaning? And here I thought I was just avoiding Olympic Blankie) around here. Kelly's room really could use the liberal application of a bull-dozer. And Skip's? I think we should just move, and start over. I don't even know where to start with that one. Maybe I'll just close his door and lock it and tell the girls not to go near it.

(seriously, I SWORE I would never be one of THOSE kinds of housekeepers when I grew up! What happened to me?)

---

Ironing.

I'll do some ironing now.

Ken needs some more Hawaiian shirts to choose from for tomorrow. (Every Friday, he wears one of those loud shirts to work. Kind of a tradition, started by one of his friends back at his Old Company. I hear the tradition is catching on at New Hip Company, too)

---

Speaking of New Hip Company!

I'm on some list of Secret Testers for some of the new stuff that'll be hitting the market in the near future.

And can I just say "WHOA!"

it's killing me that my lips are sealed, but this stuff RAWKS!

Trust me, the MINUTE I can spill the beans about this stuff, y'all will be the first to know.

All that's needed now is for New Hip Company to design a "Very Safe Place Reminder Button" for our computers, and I'll be set. Just think about it! I could click a button, and the computer would say "what did you put away for SAFE KEEPING?", and I could just scroll down the list, and it'd say "Oh, silly. Didn't you look in the cupboard over the washing machine?" or "If you've asked me once, you've asked me a thousand times. Go check in the drawer under the toaster oven!"

Which reminds me, I've put a few of our important tax documents somewhere... I should start looking for those while I'm putting away the laundry. Four loads down, two to go.

And then Olympic Blankie will get some attention.

Blankie's Crush

Blankie's Crush

2/13/2006

Blankie and I watched more Olympics last night. Now that Blankie's getting a bit older, I see a bit of the adolescent in it. A little post-childlike stirring when public figures come on the TV. I was worried that Blankie might make some poor choices. Like falling for the long-haired bad-boys of snowboarding. They'll only break your heart, sweetie. But much as Blankie may have admired the boarding prowess of The Tomato, I didn't sense that this was The One. Maybe Blankie was more interested in the mature players. Most of those luge men seemed to be peaking in their game in their later years. But Blankie didn't seem at all interested in lycra clad men flying down ice tunnels on their butts. (I don't really blame Blankie on this one, either) What about the short-track skating groupies? Would Blankie become one of those? Nope. Look at Blankie turn down its nose at that boring round-and-round business. Good Blankie! After we'd had company over for supper, we turned on the TV. We missed a bit of the early bits, and so, when we turned on the TV, we were just in time to see Bodie crashing down the slope. Was this file footage? Blankie and I had our hearts in our throats. Blankie was so nervous I thought it was going to throw off my knitting tension, and I might have to rip out a few rows... But it looks like it was just file footage WHEW!), and Blankie and I breathed a little easier while we watched more than adequate footage of him. Close up! Blankie swoons. Look at Blankie! Just dreaming about that hunk of burning ski-hood emerging from the snowy fog towards the warmth of the cashmere embrace. (cough*badboy*cough) Blankie and I both shed a tear while we watched Jennifer Heill take the gold, and sing along with the Canadian National Anthem. But what REALLY captured Blankie? Well, it would appear that Blankie is more Canadian than I thought. OOH! CURLING!!!!! (eek! Is it REALLY that time? I've gotta get the kids to bed, and I'm still in my jammies. And so is Nate!)

Blankie watches more Olympics

Blankie watches more Olympics

2/11/2006

First, may I just say that there should be a law against eating an entire pound of prime rib in one sitting. Stuart Anderson's Black Angus, I salute thee.

*burp*

Now, on to the knitting.

With three stripes nearly finished, Olympic Blankie gets going while watching the freestyle. Um, I think this is the Norwegian chick.


Then Skip came home from the snow day.

I should take a picture of his face. You can see quite clearly where he applied three stripes of sun screen with three fingers. Or, more correctly, you can see quite clearly where he did NOT apply sunscreen.

Ouch.

Then I knit some more.

ooh! The first successfully landed (or attempted?) triple axle throw in Olympic competition. And Blankie was there to cheer.



Then it was time to put Kelly and Nate to bed. Skip got to stay up a bit longer and polish off a loaf of bread. I do believe he's heading for another growth spurt.

More knitting.
clickety-clack, clickety-clack

[whispered aside: I went off with Nate to the LYS to pick up another ball of that plum cashmere yarn to continue the border on the blanket. I just had to buy ONE ball of yarn, let the record show. But I'd given Skip all my cash yesterday, so I only had two dollars, and I didn't want to pull out the credit card for a six dollar purchase... so I got a shopping basket. Just to make the purchase have a bit more weight. I've now got some nice microfibre pink variegated yarn for a scarf for next year's boutique, and some purple wool tweed twist for a hoodie for Kelly (just in case I finish Blankie before the closing ceremonies and neet to turn the Knitting Olympic Event into a biathlon.). And Nate loved the Lego corner in the LYS, so it was hard to pull him away. He'll be happy to go back, should I want to do that.]

Another stripe down, another chance for Blankie to ogle the speed skaters.

Olympic Blankie Watches the Opening Ceremonies

Olympic Blankie watches the Opening Ceremonies

2/11/2006

OK, could someone explain to me why I'm tearing up like a pregnant-woman-watching-a-Kodak-commercial, over the lighting of the Olympic Flame????

Anyways.

Skip left at 5:30 this morning on a Snow Day with the church youth group. That meant getting him ready to go, right? I thought it'd be nigh unto impossible to get up in the morning. Ken set his cell-phone alarm. I set my cell-phone alarm.

We should've just set the Nate Alarm.

Nate woke up screeching at 5:10 this morning.

Bad dream? Kicked off the blankets and was cold? Fell out of bed and scrambled back under the covers before I could get to him? I'll never know. At least his pyjama pants were still dry.

And then I was up. Got Skip up 5 minutes early. He was *ahem* thrilled. Oh yeah. I think he came >this< close to asking if he could just stay home. He does mornings as well as his daddy. Ken and Skip got out the door a few minutes early. Woot!

So what does one do, then, when one is up at 5:30am?

Why, one phones one's best friend, and tries to pretend to be an annoying telemarketer WHILE knitting, and watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, which one had the foresight to record the night before.

After the casting-on debacle of Thursday night, I managed to make a good recovery while watching Nate's gymnastics class on Friday, so by the time the opening ceremonies were on TV (tape delayed. I didn't start knitting until the flame had been lit REAL time, though by the time I SAW the flame lit, I was already well underway). I didn't take any pictures last night, as I couldn't remember where I'd put the camera.

But this morning, once I'd gotten my second wind (and Nate had gotten up, complained about his tummy, curled up on the couch with me while I knit, and then suddenly looked at me with his "I'm going to throw up" face, and we'd gone running into the bathroom in the NICK of time), I hunted down the camera, and took some shots of Blankie watching the Olympics.



Those renaissance balls were pretty wild. Blankie seemed unimpressed.



Sorry, Sophia. I don't care that you're an icon at 71. You still can't have my Olympic Blankie. Look at how she's eyeing those cashmere stripes!


Oh, but when the acrobats came out, and took to the vertical stage, goodness, did Blankie sit up and take notice.


Unfortunately, I miscalculated the amount of the darker plum yarn that I'm gonna need, so as soon as I get the kitchen cleaned up, I'm going to head down to the LYS and snag another skein. At least I'll get my member discount...

I'm a Crafthlete

I'm a crafthlete

2/10/2006

I think that the Olympic Flame has already been lit in Torino. What with the time-zone things, and all that. It must be nearly 8 or 9pm there.

And that means I get to start my Knitting Olympic Project.


Of course, last night I couldn't wait, so while I was watching CSI, I secretly cast on...

And then had to rip out the 155 cast-on stitches, because I hadn't made my long tail long enough, and I ran out of cast-on yarn with 12 stitches to go.

Pooh.

That'll teach me.

And wasn't that the cringe-worthiest episode in a while? Those ghostly images of that woman in her undies, handcuffed in that basement? *shudder* I didn't need to see that. But of course, I watched, anyways.

---

After taking Kelly to school this morning (Ken was kind enough to pull early-duty, and take Skip in for his early-hour Senior Band rehearsal), I took Nate down to Home Desperate, so I could snag two wooden dowels, to use as curtain rods, for the side linen panels, which I was GOING to hang on the second EXTRA-LONG curtain rod that I got from Ikea, which turned out to be Not-So-Extra-Long. I think having short rods on the sides will look better anyways, so ptooey on my bad shopping of Monday.

Question: Do you think I measured the spaces where the new curtain rods needed to be?

If you answered with a resounding "no!", you'd be RIGHT!

Why do I do this to myself?

I'd eyeballed it. And stood in the space with my arms out to my sides. Wasn't that good enough?

And besides, how many different sizes of dowels COULD there be, anyways?

Someone shoot me now.

I knew the 2 foot long ones were not going to work. Three? That looked too short, too. Four? Well, that's barely longer than Nate is tall. Surely I need something bigger than that...?

Next size? Six Feet!

Well, at least they won't be TOO SHORT, I say to myself, as I'm patting my back all the way through the check-out ($2.75 each! Woot!)

Good grief! I think I needed the 3 foot ones. The 6-footers are just comedic. I'll have to take the hack-saw to them... if I can find it in the garage.

---

Oh, and I'd like to just cry on one other front.

I ironed the linen panels.

And then I realized I needed to hem them.

Which involved threading them onto the dowels, putting the dowels up on the rod-hangers, holding the dowels, as I take the screw-driver to the little holding-screws on the rod-hangers so the dowels will drop INTO the rod-hangers (and could I have put the dowels DOWN while I did this? Apparently not), dropping the dowels into the rod-hangers, smoothing out the panels, pinning the hem, taking the rods down, and then realizing that all that futzing around had made the panels EVEN MORE WRINKLY THAN WHEN THEY CAME OUT OF THE PACKAGES!!!!!

---

And here I thought I'd be putting up those curtains, taking a picture of my new zen bedroom, posting it (because why TAKE a picture if I'm not going to share it with you?), and then REWARDING myself with 5 or 6 rows of knitting on my Olympic Baby Blanket.

How much knitting have I done this morning?

None.

But thanks for asking.

Comedy of Errors

Comedy of Errors

2/9/2006

Good grief. How hard can it be to hang a set of curtains? Apparently harder than I imagined. Of course, if I was an organized person, this would've gone swimmingly. I would've had everything measured. I would've known where everything was in the house. I would've been prepared. yeah. Like that'll ever happen. First off, I decided I was going to be just so high-tech, and use Ken's laser level. If I could find it... I looked everywhere. Found the drywall anchors, though, that was a bonus. AND I found the new cordless drill, AND the drill bits. Another bonus. Finally had to resort to calling Ken. I think I got him in a meeting. Of course, he knew where the laser level was. If I'd been thinking, I should've been able to find it, too. Next stop, drawing a bead on the wall, to level up the curtain rod hangers. Now, WHERE did I put those drywall anchors? I had them IN MY HAND. Commence wandering around the house, trying to retrace my steps. Feel the time ticking away in my head. Get frantic. Isn't this SUPPOSED to be easy? Ah, there's the anchors. And the drill bits. And the curtain hardware... that'll come in handy. Go upstairs. Get the laser level out of it's package. Um... how does it, um, work? Futz around with it, coming >THIS< close to pointing the laser in my eyes and blinding myself. OoH! There are little needles that come shooting out the bottom to attach it to the wall when I push THIS button. Ouch. That was a close one. Reach up to put the level on the wall. Um. I'm short. Run around the house to find a chair. Put a chair beside the bed on Ken's side. The curtains are going up on the wall by the head of the bed. I can't do it all standing on the bed (although I started off thinking I could just stand on the bed and do all the handy-man business.) Attach the level to the wall about a foot from the ceiling. Turn it on. Ooh! There's a red line that goes across the wall! (I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure was cool). THIS deserves a picture for my diary! Get down from the chair. Find the camera. Grab the camera. Look up. Red line has vanished. Apparently, leaving the level turned on drains the batteries in a big way. I turn off the level, and turn it back on. I get about 3 seconds of red-line-on-the-wall. Repeat. 3 more seconds. I think "Hey! If I'm fast, I can turn it on, draw a mark, lather, rinse, repeat, and I won't have to go downstairs and get another set of batteries...." Yeah. That was a stupid idea. I nearly killed myself jumping from the chair to the bed, and then pulling a Spiderman off the far wall as I tried to jump AND draw a mark while bouncing off the other wall. Yeah. The stupid paint isn't even dry yet. This isn't working. Maybe new batteries? No worries. I'll just grab some more AAA rechargeables from Ken's secret stash.... which is... EMPTY! OK, We've got a dozen (or more) rechargeable batteries. Where are they? Hunt around the house. This is fruitless. And I'm NOT going to bother Ken *again* over something I can't find in my cluttered disorganized mess. I'll just suck it up and keep looking. After more fruitless minutes (wherein my armpits start to stink, because this is now beginning to stress me out), I remember that Ken keeps a secret-secret-extra-secret stash of 2 AAA batteries in his shaving kit. I pilfer those. And I decide that I'm not really Spiderman material, so I grab another chair from the computer room for the far side of the bed. The super-secret stash-batteries have March2003(!!!) expiry dates on them. But they work. And I'm smart and decide not to risk battery life to get a photograph (even though it would've been cool). And by now, I've got 3 different sets of pencil marks on the wall. Which ones to line up with? Oh, I'll just start a Whole New Line. (Did I mention that the WHOLE time, Nate's underfoot, chanting "When can we go to Mollieland?" repeatedly?) OK, finally the marks are on the wall, with big arrows by the marks that I'm ACTUALLY going to use. Time to pull out the drill/driver. And can I say how much I love self-sinking drywall anchors? But what are the odds that FOUR of the five marks would be Right Over The Studs????? Argh. I can smell my pits getting stinkier by the second. So I sink one drywall anchor, and decide that the other four screws will just go straight into the studs, and the mounting hardware will cover up the unsightly holes. OoH! The rod-hangers are up on the wall!!! Time to take the curtain rods out of the package. Wow, these rods look short. But they open up to 158 inches. That's GOT to be wide enough.... Um, first rule of home improvement. Measure TWICE, buy ONCE. Yes. I bought TWO curtain rods that are 4 feet too short. Seriously, watching me work this afternoon would've been like watching a One Woman Show of an Abbot and Costello remake. Or maybe the Three Stooges, starring me, myself, and I. With a bit of dipsy-doodling, I've managed to put up ONE rod, which will hold the semi-sheers. And after I snag Skip, I'm going to go to Home Desperates, and pick up two pieces of dowelling, which will double as curtain rods for the linen panels at the sides. I just don't want to make the pilgrimage to IKEA for the matching rods. I might even save a bit of money by using dowels (which will be hidden in the panels, anyways. And the extra rod (that's too short for my window) will easily be wide enough for Nate's. And I haven't put up his curtains, either, so there's another project for me... seeing as I've got all the hardware and tools in one place, now. Sheesh. Could I Make it ANY more difficult? Oh, and I decided that I'm afraid of putting the linen in the dryer, so I'm going to hem them, and then iron them and stick them straight onto the rods. The cotton sheers came out of the dryer not quite as attractive as I'd hoped, so I'll probably run an iron over them, too. And I've gotta hem them up nearly 3 feet, too.

Yarn Porn

Yarn porn

2/9/2006

OK, I'm giving myself another break.

Why?

Because I just opened the packages of my drapes, and they're LINEN! (Who knew I could get 100% linen for that el-cheapo price?) Linen is nice, but the care tag says "DO NOT TUMBLE DRY", and I was just heading down to the dryer with those puppies, and now I'm thinking "Do I just take a chance and tumble out the creases? Or do I spend an hour ironing the eleventy thousand square metres of taupe linen?"

And that's where I'm stuck right now.

Well, that, and I'm stuck on the phone. So here's some yarn porn. (What's the deal with pr0n? Is it to stump the text-crawlers and nanny-filters? I'm so behind on my lingo)

This is some of the stuff I snagged at my LYS on Sunday afternoon. Seriously, I walked into that store to buy a SINGLE set of circular needles.


OK, I wish you could reach out and touch this stuff. The 'soft tweed' is wool and silk, and the 'soft lux' is merino and angora with a metallic twist through it. Like petting a bunny, I tell you.


Ah, Elsebeth Lavold yarn. I've never had any, but by golly, it's enough to make you want to get naked and roll around in it. That angora? Great yardage, and $7-something? A steal. And the Silky Wool? 175m on a skein, and it was seven bucks. For wool and SILK! (and may I just add that those were the prices BEFORE my 15% member discount!)


Kelly picked out the silvery skein. They had it knit up into a scarf, and she fell in love. It's the most expensive yarn I bought that day. But really, $8.50 was less than if I'd taken her to McDonald's, and the yarn will last longer. The fluffy Tingle yarn on the left was an impulse purchase. It was in the bargain bin. I couldn't resist. I have NO idea what I'll do with it. Maybe a single row in a funky scarf for next Christmas' boutique.


Baby Merino! Who knew that 100% wool could be SO soft! And it's machine washable. I'll be making a blanket out of this, too. Maybe if I'm just a whiz-bang knitter during the Olympics, I'll pop out TWO blankies. Goodness knows I've got enough pregnant friends right now


Kelly and I loved the baby rainbow colours on these skeins. And the price point was sweet, too. I bet that'd knit up in a heartbeat into an uber-soft baby blankie.


Two words: Kid. Mohair!
Like a cloud, people!

---

And this. THIS! This is my Olympic Event. Cashmere and microfibre, and it feels like baby-skin when you pet it. The colours aren't QUITE exact. The blue on the left is really more grey-green. But oh! Oh! The softness!

---

See, this is the other swatch:

You can't really even see the intricate textured brocade pattern, although I'm loving on the colour of the yarn, and the feel of it. Maybe I'll find a less fiddly pattern, and knit that up for Ken. A plainer gansey, rather than the brocade textured Guernsey with cables that I was going to do.

FYI, the yarn knit up to 21st/4inches over the brocade pattern on 4.5mm needles.
(yeah, like you really needed to know that)

Sigh.
Back to the draperies. I think I'm going to stick them in the dryer, and just watch them like a hawk.

Scholastic Follies

Scholastic Book Order Follies

2/9/2006

I swear, this year has been the year where Every. Last. Book. Order. has had something wierd going on. And it's all OTHER PEOPLE'S FAULT.

Yeah... well, except for the fact that I'm starting to DREAD phoning in these orders, and so I put them off, and THEN I find out that folks have screwed up their orders, so I have to call them, and they wonder why I'm just calling them NOW, when they sent in their order before the order deadline, which was weeks earlier... which makes me want to call them less... oh, the slippery slope.

Anyways, I already mentioned the first 5th grade order.

Wherein ONE mother wrote a cheque to the PTA (the book order letter I send home with EACH set of orders says "Please write a cheque to SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUBS), one mother wrote a cheque for half the amount she owed for the order (paying on the installment plan? Or just having a Math Moment? Because yeah, I have those, too) and a third mother, sheesh, what did she do? Oh, and then the mom who taped DIMES to a piece of cardboard, and sent it in for her son's order. But I digress.

This week's seen two Book Order follies.

First: Skip brought home a book order in his backpack on Monday. It had twelve dollars stapled to the front of the catalogue booklet.

Say what?

Ah, it's from Julie. Her mom tallied up her order, and rounded up (that was nice of her). Unfortunately, Scholastic does NOT accept cash. Oh, and she wanted to sign up for one of the Scholastic Clubs. The clubs are monthly deliveries to your house. Hmmm. What do you think you need to fill out to have things sent to your house?

Maybe the part of the form that says "Please fill out your address HERE if you want to join the Clubs"? Those lines were blank. Oh, and the other part of the form that says "A parent's signature is required HERE, to process the Club Membership"? That was blank, too. Oh, there was a parent's signature on the form... on the FRONT of the form.... ? What? Does me no good there.

So I had to write a letter to Julie's mother, explaining how to do this. This woman is a BANKER! Remind me not to go to her if I want to renew my mortgage.

And today? This morning I decided I'd put off phoning in Kelly's class order, so I pulled out all those envelopes, and started tallying up the forms.

Now how did I manage to be six dollars short?

Argh. I added things up and double re-added them (on my trusty cell-phone-calculator), and finally found the glitch. Emily's mom had made a little math error. Happens all the time. But now, because I've been so lax about putting in the order (I made the order deadline THREE weeks ago. What was I thinking?), I'm embarrassed about talking to her about the $5.90 that she owes me.

I'm THIS close to just eating that, and calling it a Late Filing Fee. A penalty on me for being such a sloth.

But otherwise, the order is in, and I'm rewarding myself with a little tour around online.

---

Tell me, can you see this little Knitting Olympics badge?



I'm fooling around with a new hosting thingy, and I don't know if I'm stashing my images in the right place, yet.
(some of you couldn't see it on my last entry... oh wait. Duh. I think I pulled the image off the editing page... that might be the problem. Dur)

As you were.

---

My drapes are all creased, with those 'fresh from the package' criss-cross folds. Time to pop them in the dryer with a wet towel.

And I still haven't found the laser level.

Maybe I'll take pictures of my swatches instead.

I'll be your witness

I'll be your witness

2/7/2006

Yesterday I was driving home from the "snag Skip an early dinner/ pick up carpool kids/drive boys to Ragazzi/meet Ken/switch kids/pick up extra theory homework/snag some groceries/talk about dinner on the fly" errand, with Kelly in the back seat.

We were driving behind Ken, as we'd stopped all together at the big Safeway, to choose supper fixin's, and Ken had taken the groceries (and Nate).

We were about two miles from home. Driving up the hill on the major road before our subdivision. It's a 4-lane road, pretty busy. There's a few crosswalks in the middle of it. Ill-placed crosswalks, but otherwise, there'd be no way to get to the grocery store, so I guess you stick a crosswalk where you can, and hope for the best.

Ken was about 4 cars ahead of us, and as I came up the hill, I noticed a man walking a dog on the far side of the road. He was waiting at the edge of the crosswalk, and, um, I think it's the law to stop for pedestrians, so I slowed down, and stopped about a half carlength from the crosswalk. There was no traffic coming down the hill, so the man started walking across. I was in the fast lane, so he walked to the median, and then watched through my windows until a car beside me in the slow lane stopped. I counted, and there were 4 cars that just blew through the crosswalk before a woman in a pale blue compact car stopped beside me.

If I had to guess, I'd say she was maybe not going to stop, but thought better of it at the last minute. She was nearly in the crosswalk, but far enough back that the pedestrian could go around her. He waved to us, and walked in front of me.

JUST as he was getting out of the protection of my front bumper, I heard an incredibly loud screech.

BANG!

And before our eyes, the little blue car jerked forward suddenly. All the way through the crosswalk. All the way through the intersection. UPHILL.

The guy that hit her had to be going 30 when he hit her. The entire back end of her car crumpled right up.

And they came within about three inches of hitting the man and his dog.

We were all startled, and the dog was cowering. Traffic was piling up behind us, and Kelly started to cry, thinking that the dog had been hurt. I saw someone pull out a phone, so I kept going up the hill, called Ken on the cell, and told him I'd be dropping Kelly off, and going back to see if they needed witnesses.

Five minutes later, I was driving back to the scene. Now there were 2 police cars, and a fire truck, and a backlog of cars, all trying to squeeze past in the one open lane. I drove down the hill past the accident, and pulled into the grocery store parking lot. It was about a 2 block walk uphill to the scene.

When I got to the scene, the pedestrian was just giving his report to the police officer. Paramedics were examining the woman in the little blue car. She was out of the car, which was good to see, but she looked really badly shaken. The policeman waved me past, thinking I was a pedestrian, just walking up the hill, so I cleared my throat.

"I was in the fast lane." I began.

"Oh! Are you the White Pilot?" he asked. He looked surprised. The pedestrian looked at me, and smiled. "Yes! You were the one who stopped."

The officer turned a page in his book. "It's so unusual for people to come foward, or to come back to accidents. Usually, they're just in a hurry to get somewhere."

I preened a little bit on the inside.

So we talked to the police, and I petted the dog, who was still looking a little spooked. And it looks like all will be well. Everyone stuck around, and the woman should be fine, and on the second Tuesday of the month, we may be going to City Council meeting, and petitioning for in-ground Pavement Flashers for that crosswalk.

Apparently, it's not the first time someone's been hit there.

Knitting as an Olympic Event

Knitting as an Olympic Event

2/7/2006

At the very last minute, under the wire, I found out about The Knitting Olympics over at yarnharlot. Of course I had to sign up.

The premise is that knitting (for you) is an Olympic Event. And so, as such, to get your medal, you will complete an entire knit work, as complicated or not as is challenging to you. Something that will stretch you.

And you will complete it, start to finish, between the moment the Olympic Flame is lit on February 10th, and when it's finally extinguished 16 days later.

When I was over at my local yarn shop on Sunday, during their Superbowl Sunday Super Sale (15% OFF to members), I snagged a BUNCH of stuff for my stash. And to justify it, while it was ringing up, I mentioned that I had to have something to choose from for the Knitting Olympics.

Oh my goodness! I didn't realize how widespread this phenomenon was. The women behind the counter practically squealed, as they talked about YarnHarlot, and how funny she was, and how great the knitting olympics were going to be, and what was I going to knit.

And that's when I realized that I didn't exactly KNOW.

So when I signed up, I said I was knitting a baby blanket. The yarn I've bought to use is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. It's a machine washable cashmere blend. And I got this rainbow of fantastic muted baby colours. It'd be grand.

But it knits up at 24-26 stitches to the 4-inch. That's pretty teeny. It'd be, um, 220-250 stitches on a SINGLE row. I might go cross-eyed.

On the other hand, I've got this lovely bunch of 2-ply brown heather wool from Briggs+Little mills. It'd make a fantastic Fisher Guernsey sweater for Ken.

Once again, though, 240 stitches to the row... well, if the front and back are put together as a 'row'. It's almost the same number of stitches. And this'd be fiddly. All texture patterns, and a bit of cabling.

But it'd be more fun... er... well, it'd be a bit more variety, anyways.

In the end, I caved, and just said "baby blanket". Ick. Sounds like I'm using 9mm needles, and knitting it up in Red Heart, or something. If I get cold feet on the cashmerino, I do have some nice soft baby worsted-weight superwash wool that I can whip up in a jiffy.

So this evening, after choir (and missing House, AGAIN!) I'm going to swatch up the 2-ply, and see how close to the gauge it'd be, if I tweak the needle size a bit. It's been 17 years since I knit Ken a sweater. It's about time I made him another one.

26/52 ABC *C*

26/52 ABC *C*

2/5/2006

For those of you playing along at home, 26/52 is a year-long photo-journal project started by aya. Follow the link for concept and rules. Every fortnight, a different letter of the alphabet rolls around. And we're up to...


C is for....

COLDHEARTED, CALLOUS, and CRASS

What else could I be, for posting pictures of my kids in bathing suits, frolicking in the sprinklers on Superbowl Sunday?





C is also for CRYSTAL


What? Doesn't everyone have a six pound quartz crystal decorating their garden?
Yeah. Rock geeks line up to the left, please.


Don't worry. Those "after" pictures are on the way. Just as soon as I hide some of my stash-augmentation from my local yarn store's Superbowl Sunday Super Sale for Members (yes, I shelled out and became a member... for the extra percentage savings)

26/52 ABC *B*

26/52 ABC *B*

2/3/2006

Another break from painting to give my arms a break.

Yes. I'm a Grade A wimp. With flabby grandma-arms.

A few B photos.

B is for....

BEFORE:


(Ooh man, I can't believe I'm posting this. But suffice it to say, I doubt that it's ever been this bad. Things were moved around so the Window Guy could put a new window in over Christmas, and then things got stashed here when we had unexpected company. And then more stuff got stashed in the Lightning Round of cleaning that happened for the Chinese New Year dinner last weekend. Oh, and two birthdays, where we've been stashing stuff for the kids in our room. Yes. I'm all about making excuses instead of making time to fix it)

But just you wait. The after pictures tomorrow? They'll be stunning.

(if I'm not dead first)


And another BEFORE picture. Because I want to beat myself up like that.

---

BUT

What else starts with B?

B is for BLUES (comma, twelve-bar). Skip's really taken to playing blues and jazz. He'd FAR rather play out of his Blues books than anything "written by a dead guy".

In fact, if you've got a kid who's just losing interest with the basic piano lesson learning, I'd recommend the whole series:

We've got volumes 1 through 4, AND the CD that goes with them. I just did a search, and there's a Christmas edition, that I'm gonna hunt down for next year. Ooh. And duets?! I'm SO gonna find it, and see if I can work something up with Skip. What a hoot! And how more embarrassing could it be, playing a piano duet with YOUR MOTHER in a recital? Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.

---

B is ALSO for BANE of my existence!!!!!

I'm getting a kink in my neck just THINKING about priming and painting that edge.

OK, I've officially wasted as much time as I can stomach. Those edges aren't going to paint themselves (much as I might pray that they would)

First Coat

First coat

2/3/2006

OK, the primer's on everything except half of the wall that the bed's against. Only because I am lazy, and piled everything on the bed in the early stages of painting, and now I'm saying "GAH! I have to move that bed, and it's piled high with a hundred thousand pounds of precariously piled JUNK." So I am taking a break so my stinky armpits can air out, and my burning arm muscles can regain a bit of composure.

And having an iced tea.

Why did I pile all that stuff on THE BED?

Yeah, that's foresight for you.

Anyways. The primer trip was successful, if SLOW. Apparently, with the fog and mist, every last person who was going to get in an accident in February chose THIS MORNING to do it. I've never seen all the major arteries clogged like they were this morning. It took me nearly half an hour just to get to Home Depot. I think that's 6 miles. Maybe 8.

So much for getting the primer on before I had to be working in the library at Kelly's school.

But now we're back on track. Mostly. I completely forgot that Nate had a gymnastics class this morning. It starts in 3 minutes. Shhhh. I've got him watching Rolie Polie Olie. This way, I bet I can get the primer on all the walls before noon. I still have to do all the freakin' edging, though. Golly, that's gonna be a pain in the backside. And when did my bedroom develop all these nooks and crannies? It's gonna take forever. That's the afternoon's job.

Then I can still be putting on a coat of paint in the afternoon, and finish up when I get home from the wine party and book exchange tonight. I'll sleep in the family room. Or maybe I'll just creep into Kelly's bed at 2am. She'd never notice.

I found a few more books for the book exchange. Things are looking good in the 'purge' department. And I haven't even gotten to looking under the bed yet. I wonder what literary gems got lost under there. They'll come to light as soon as I finish this second glass of iced tea, when I go up there to carefully move the bed away from the wall.

Oh, golly! And on my next break, I have GOT to document more Scholastic Book Order idiocy!
(a little bit of foreshadowing, there. Heh)

Primer

2/3/2006

Yup. I'm gonna need primer.

I've slapped a coat of Manatee on two of the blue walls, and it's just not gonna work. Even in the foggy greyness of early morning, the colour's not right.

And I'm already behind schedule, because Ken was kind, and stayed home long enough to take Skip to band practice at 7:30 this morning. I was expecting him to be gone 45 minutes earlier. That'd have been the time window when I should have be emptying the room of all the detritus (didn't want to do too much last night to tip my hand, now, did I?). Now I'm scrambling.

I think there's a big enough window between taking Kelly to school, and working in the library that I can swing by Home Depot and grab a gallon of primer. I actually went into the garage late last night, and looked at all the leftover paint from the painting of the other rooms, wondering if one of those tins was light enough to work as a primer. No such luck. And I just (this week!) dried out and discarded the tin of white that I'd used on the garage door in 2004, or I could've used that. So it's off to school, off to Home Depot, and back to school, before I start the REAL painting. I hope to have the first coat done by lunch.

But I did want to just pop on here to mention that the ball was now rolling.

Cleaning begins

Amazing what a little bit of cleaning uncovers.

I wondered what happened to that Gap cardigan that I'd gotten Kelly when school started. There it was, under a laundry hamper filled with puzzles-missing-a-piece.

Ooh, and there's the egg separator that I was going to give to Ken for Christmas... last-last year.

And oh, the books I've uncovered. Wipe a little dust off the jackets (hey! That's what dust jackets are for, right?) and they're just like new and ready for the book exchange tomorrow night. I took a picture of the piles. Maybe I'll post it if I'm feeling techno-savvy later.

But what I've uncovered the most of, is clothing. Piles of random clothing. All needing laundering. Oh, maybe it was clean, but it'd been in the witness protection program long enough that it needed a good bath, just to get the cobwebs out. Literally.

Five loads, people.

And that's just MY room. Oh, I'm ashamed to even mention it.

And of course, things are grinding to a halt as I find old knitting books, and bits of my stash that really shouldn't be THERE, they should be over there, or there, or even THERE. And the ADD in me picks up a ball of yarn, and walks around with it, picking up a pile of underwear to put away, and adding to it, a necklace that should go in Kelly's room, and a single rubber boot, and a book of crossword puzzles, and a few receipts that really SHOULD get shredded first, and the next thing I know, things are worse than when I started.

Am I crazy to think I can have that room painted by Saturday afternoon?

Eleventy things to do

I just tried to log into the Paint By Numbers page, so I could solve some more puzzles and increase my solver's number. The operation is timing out.

Could this be some Divine Sign that I'm supposed to start working on the eleventy things that I want to get done today, instead of farting away my time online?

Naaaaah.

---

Ken is REQUIRED to go off on this big Tahoe Ski Trip with his work.

Let's all shed a little tear for his hardship.

Alas, his knee is still too wrecked for skiing, so he'll be *forced* to bring an assortment from his collection of 430 board games, and run gaming groups for the two days that they're up there. The man is practically giddy at the prospect. He'll have a grand time.

And me? Why, I always see these times when Ken goes out of town as times to put on the after-burners and roar through Major Home Improvement Projects.

Let's review:

April 2003. Ken and Skip go to Mexico to build houses for a week. While they are gone, and I'm at home with the other 2 kids, I:

• Scrape, repair and paint the garage door
• Rip out some nasty juniper hedges
• Build a brick patio for the sandbox to live on
• Re-do the front garden with slate stepping stones

June 2005. Ken goes fly-fishing with two other guys from church for 2 days. I: (ok, I had a little LOT of help from the parents for this one)

• Rip the carpet out of Nate's room
• Lay laminate floor
• Paint Nate's room
• Empty the computer room (yeah, Ken helped with the computer re-location before he headed out)
• Paint the computer room
• Lay laminate floor in the computer room
• Make a run to the dump

So, what have I got up my sleeve for the next 2 days?

****I'm tired of the colonial blue that I've painted our bedroom. I never really did a good job, and never got around to painting the window wall, anyways. It's too dark, a bit dingy, and it's just not working for me any more.

I took Nate to Home Depot this morning. We picked out a nice shade of pale warm greyish green called Manatee. I hope it covers the blue in two coats, max.

I think it'd be fun to surprise Ken with a new bedroom when he returns. Right now, our room's been a catch-all junking ground for everything that didn't have a home, while we've been entertaining and hosting stuff since before Christmas. I bet all the "stuff" that's just accumulated in our room would fill my car... and then some. I wonder where I'll put it all. Sheesh. And I just donated over a hundred pounds of STUFF to the Cancer Folks (yes, I did. I should've taken a picture of the pile of boxes and bags). I should've given away more. It'd be less to clean up now.

I need to move the desk in our room downstairs. That'll free up a nice corner, and help me paint easier. I think I also need to move the bed to under the window. That'll free up an entire wall, that we can put bookshelves against, or just have the dressers side-by-side. And that'll also make room to move the exercise bike up there (instead of in the garage), so that Ken can get back to working on strengthening his knee, so he CAN go skiing next year if he wants. And the vanity corner of the ensuite doesn't need to be used as a diaper area any more (hallelujah!), so I can reclaim that as a sewing nook...

And if I'm moving the desk downstairs, then I need to relocate the main phone from the kitchen (crowded in behind the KitchenAid mixer, right now) to the desk, which will be in the family room. Good thing I bought 25 feet of phone extension cord. I haven't decided if I'll run it through the ceiling yet, or just run it along the edge, yet.

And if the desk is going down to THAT corner in the family room, then I need to move the green leather chair. And if I move the green leather chair to that OTHER corner, then I really should set it up with its own bookcase, which is in the living room, and will turn that corner into a bit of a room divider for the kitchen eating area... probably should sew up a bit of a screen for the (ugly) back of that bookcase, then. Or maybe I could paint it....

So If I'm going to be doign all this painting, WHY did I buy 30 primrose and pansy plants this morning? Yes, spring is in the air. But did I really HAVE to buy all my onion sets and strawberry roots and shallots and garlic and rhubarb NOW? Good thing I threw a Garden Weasel in the cart, too. In this hard clay, I'll be needing it.

And if I only have tomorrow and the next day, WHY did I just arrange for a babysitter for tomorrow evening so I could go to a wine party and book exchange at a friend's house? Oh right, it'll give me a chance to get rid of another hundred pounds of stuff (aka books).

And I bet by 7:00 tomorrow, I'll be ready for a break from the painting.

Eleventy things to do

Eleventy things to do

2/2/2006

I just tried to log into the Paint By Numbers page, so I could solve some more puzzles and increase my solver's number. The operation is timing out.

Could this be some Divine Sign that I'm supposed to start working on the eleventy things that I want to get done today, instead of farting away my time online?

Naaaaah.

---

Ken is REQUIRED to go off on this big Tahoe Ski Trip with his work.

Let's all shed a little tear for his hardship.

Alas, his knee is still too wrecked for skiing, so he'll be *forced* to bring an assortment from his collection of 430 board games, and run gaming groups for the two days that they're up there. The man is practically giddy at the prospect. He'll have a grand time.

And me? Why, I always see these times when Ken goes out of town as times to put on the after-burners and roar through Major Home Improvement Projects.

Let's review:

April 2003. Ken and Skip go to Mexico to build houses for a week. While they are gone, and I'm at home with the other 2 kids, I:

• Scrape, repair and paint the garage door
• Rip out some nasty juniper hedges
• Build a brick patio for the sandbox to live on
• Re-do the front garden with slate stepping stones

June 2005. Ken goes fly-fishing with two other guys from church for 2 days. I: (ok, I had a little LOT of help from the parents for this one)

• Rip the carpet out of Nate's room
• Lay laminate floor
• Paint Nate's room
• Empty the computer room (yeah, Ken helped with the computer re-location before he headed out)
• Paint the computer room
• Lay laminate floor in the computer room
• Make a run to the dump

So, what have I got up my sleeve for the next 2 days?

****I'm tired of the colonial blue that I've painted our bedroom. I never really did a good job, and never got around to painting the window wall, anyways. It's too dark, a bit dingy, and it's just not working for me any more.

I took Nate to Home Depot this morning. We picked out a nice shade of pale warm greyish green called Manatee. I hope it covers the blue in two coats, max.

I think it'd be fun to surprise Ken with a new bedroom when he returns. Right now, our room's been a catch-all junking ground for everything that didn't have a home, while we've been entertaining and hosting stuff since before Christmas. I bet all the "stuff" that's just accumulated in our room would fill my car... and then some. I wonder where I'll put it all. Sheesh. And I just donated over a hundred pounds of STUFF to the Cancer Folks (yes, I did. I should've taken a picture of the pile of boxes and bags). I should've given away more. It'd be less to clean up now.

I need to move the desk in our room downstairs. That'll free up a nice corner, and help me paint easier. I think I also need to move the bed to under the window. That'll free up an entire wall, that we can put bookshelves against, or just have the dressers side-by-side. And that'll also make room to move the exercise bike up there (instead of in the garage), so that Ken can get back to working on strengthening his knee, so he CAN go skiing next year if he wants. And the vanity corner of the ensuite doesn't need to be used as a diaper area any more (hallelujah!), so I can reclaim that as a sewing nook...

And if I'm moving the desk downstairs, then I need to relocate the main phone from the kitchen (crowded in behind the KitchenAid mixer, right now) to the desk, which will be in the family room. Good thing I bought 25 feet of phone extension cord. I haven't decided if I'll run it through the ceiling yet, or just run it along the edge, yet.

And if the desk is going down to THAT corner in the family room, then I need to move the green leather chair. And if I move the green leather chair to that OTHER corner, then I really should set it up with its own bookcase, which is in the living room, and will turn that corner into a bit of a room divider for the kitchen eating area... probably should sew up a bit of a screen for the (ugly) back of that bookcase, then. Or maybe I could paint it....

So If I'm going to be doign all this painting, WHY did I buy 30 primrose and pansy plants this morning? Yes, spring is in the air. But did I really HAVE to buy all my onion sets and strawberry roots and shallots and garlic and rhubarb NOW? Good thing I threw a Garden Weasel in the cart, too. In this hard clay, I'll be needing it.

And if I only have tomorrow and the next day, WHY did I just arrange for a babysitter for tomorrow evening so I could go to a wine party and book exchange at a friend's house? Oh right, it'll give me a chance to get rid of another hundred pounds of stuff (aka books).

And I bet by 7:00 tomorrow, I'll be ready for a break from the painting.

26/52 ABC *A*

26/52-ABC's. *A*

1/31/2006

I found this from sparkli, who took it from aya. Play along!

Photos for the first fortnight, all with A.

A is for...


ANTS! (yeah, like what ELSE is on my mind?)

Admit it. You want to have these guys seething all over YOUR floors, too.

A is also for....



ALBERT EINSTEIN

And last, but not least.

A is for.... ATHLETE and ACROBAT

---

Come on, folks. Play along! It'll be fun.

I'm off to find my photos for the second fortnight. B. Ooh. Don't you just want to jump in and post B-photos?

---

Eek. How could I forget?

A is also for ACCORDION! (And bonus points for getting ANGELINA Ballerina in the photo, too!)