This year in review

Here are last year's resolutions:

Painting the spare room, dining room and hallway
Well, I'm one for 3 on this. The "spare" room is now Dorian's room. And it is painted. But the dining room has only been prepped and the hallway is still a hideous pale yellow with diarrhea brown trim. So this is a bit of a fail. Oh, well. At least I'm motivated to get the dining room done first thing in the spring.

Building a fence
It was built. It works.

Growing a great garden and canning some of my own produce
I grew a fine garden. I did not can any of my own produce. Only produce from local farms. I also don't foresee being able to can any of my own produce for a few more years. The raspberries and blueberries are too small just yet, and I'm terrified of pressure canning, so we'll ignore this one.


Not allowing myself to get roped into anything I don't really want to do, especially where Sebastian's school is involved
We all know what a joke this one is. I have resolved to not take over the nature program next year, so I have made some progress on this front. Just not as much as I should have. Where were the reminders of this resolution when I agreed to be Treasurer for the PTA? I need some sort of alarm other than my conscience and the friends who always warn me--- okay, I need to just plain get a grip. Gripping.

and trying to find realistic, non-pharmaceutical solutions to my mental health issues.
This didn't really happen either. But I'm not locked up in the Retreat yet, so I must be doing something right.

I'm going to try not to look at this year as a failure. Plenty of things have been fine if not good. The kids are doing well in school. Owning a house hasn't bankrupted us. I fell into a job I really enjoy. So what if I have gained a little weight and been a little lazy on the painting front? There's always next year.

As for next year, I will try to:

• get back in shape again.
• get the dining room painted and the laundry room painted and the organization system installed. Forget the hallway for now.
• continue doing things I enjoy and make my life better, and learn to stop doing the things that make me miserable and don't positively impact my life or anyone else's.

Wish me luck...

Color of the day

Knitting has recently become somewhat compulsive for me-- partly because I wanted to finish a lot of Xmas knitting and partly now force of habit. I hardly read anything... It took a month to finish the last book I read and the magazines languish next to the couch sometimes for months before being touched. (This changed a little yesterday when Katrina showed up at my house with EZ's Knitter's Almanac which I almost finished before bed last night, so I guess the reading just needs to be about knitting, too.) Anyway, here's what's on the needles, or recently off of them:

My cousin sent me two skeins of wool that I decided to turn into arm warmers. Normally, I would knit these from the bottom up, but since I wanted to use the whole skein and not knit a thumb, I went from the top down, left a thumb hole, and knit until I ran out of wool, so they are a nice elbow length. However, I can't decide what I think of the colorway. It isn't really me. And it keeps making me think of Trix in chocolate milk. The jury's still out.

This is the cowl that I designed as a store pattern. It is a feather and fan stitch pattern that makes little scallops. Even though I designed the pattern, I am still not following it properly because I didn't want it to be as wide as the original one I made. So I left out one pattern repeat. I'm not sure why I'm making this since i didn't really enjoy making it last time, but the result is nice and it's an easy project to keep in my purse for emergency knitting.

And here are the socks I started yesterday. I love my brown mary janes, but all my socks are too brightly colored and clash, so I'm making this neutral stripe. Not very exciting, but functional.

And this little lovely is the unbearably soft alpaca yarn my mother gave me for Xmas as part of a shawl kit. I have never made a shawl, but was thinking about it, and now the decision has been very nicely and luxuriously made for me. Can't wait to get this one on the needles. I just need to get the needles first...

And since I'm quite sure you've seen enough brown today...

These are the arm warmers I designed for Kaci. It was hard to part with them. She always signs her emails with X's and O's so I used this cable to represent that. It isn't a true x and o cable, but I liked it.

Unfortunately, though, I was in such a rush to wrap gifts that you will just have to imagine the felted pouch I made for Christine and the headband I made for Amanda (both my design) and the hat, scarf and skirt set I made for Lydia's American Girl dolls.

My 'do is a don't

I just had to cut my hair because I was putting plastic over the window in the kitchen.

How on earth does that make sense? you may ask.

Well, let's just say that when I leaned forward to inspect the plastic to determine whether or not there was a hole in a crease (there was), my hair got sucked into the motor of the hair dryer I was using to shrink the plastic. I turned the dryer off, but not fast enough, and then had to cut my hair or spend my life with a hair dryer hanging off the side of my head.

Another glamorous day...

Socks and mittens

Sebastian has been a bit jealous of Dorian's "Mommy socks" that I have made, since he doesn't have any. The guilt trip has been long and ridiculous lately, including an Eeyore-esque statement of "I guess these must be Dorian's since Mom never made me any socks." (Actually, they were mine.) So, the little whiner will get these for Christmas.

And Dorian's old mittens are looking a little sad since his thumbs are way too big and are splitting the knitting open. So I decided to whip up these for him.

Now I just need to finish everyone else's presents in 3 short days...

Weirdness

Today the kids went to the rec center for their "Holiday Drop Off" from 9am to 4pm. For the low, low price of $15 per kid, Jeremy and I had a whole day to ourselves.

It's weird enough to have a night to ourselves, but a day? Odd. We dropped the kids off and came home to make coffee and play RockBand and I felt bizarre. I'm used to a little time alone at home now that both boys have school, but having Jeremy with me was a nice treat.

We played RockBand, did a little shopping, had falafel for lunch, picked up some pastries, and came home to watch Bill Cosby: Himself while I was finishing knitting Dorian's Xmas mittens. We hadn't seen Himself since we were kids, and it is frickin' hilarious. The beginning is a little slow, but the parenting stuff in the second half was breaking my face I was laughing so hard. Laughing and duplicate stitch don't mix too well, but I made it work. It's only on Netflix Instant until the 22nd, so if you need a little nostalgia, you'd better get it quick.

I'll try to take some project pictures soon, but some still have to stay secret. Since the kids don't read the blog, I can at least show you all the socks and mittens...

It's official!

I literally have yarn coming out of my ears. I was cleaning my ears after a shower and a scrap of sock yarn was embedded in my earwax.

Awesome.

I'm terrible with secrets

It is extremely difficult right now to do this blog since most of my life is spent doing things I can't show you or tell you about or I would risk ruining a surprise or 10. So I'll tell you a little All School Sing story instead.

This morning, we were singing the ridiculous song "Down by the Bay" which always makes me think of Raffi (not good) and this picture (terrible). If you don't know the song, there is a verse that always ends with a silly rhyming question like, "Did you ever see a moose kissing a goose... down by the bay?"

So the music teacher is roving the crowd where children had prepared silly questions for the song. We would sing the chorus and then he'd hand a kid the mic to say "Did you ever see a star driving a car?" etc. The last child he comes to is sitting on her mother's lap and halfway through her question, she clams up and covers her face. The teacher says "Take 2!" and indicates that we should sing the chorus again.

"Relax," he says. "You just have to say, 'Did you ever see a teacher kissing a creature?' Here we go."

"Did you ever see a preacher kissing a teacher?"

Perhaps a little more risque than he was going for.

A prize in and of themselves

So, I didn't get them done in time for the contest. Oh, well. They are a prize on their own-- so soft and warm. I finished them last night, but I won't be wearing them today since it is almost 60 degrees outside for some strange reason.

And once the socks were off the needles, I immediately made this little cutie:

An ornament for the store. I'm in the middle of a tiny stocking also. I'm trying to use up all my extra bits of sock yarn left over from other projects. And in the midst of all that I need to find the time to finish all my Xmas knitting for presents...

A quick recap

Thanksgiving weekend was very busy, with my mother in town Thursday lunchtime until Sunday morning and then work on Sunday.

Wednesday

• Took Dorian to Little Peoples and had a cafe date with Sebastian.
• Did the last shopping of the year at Walker Farm. (Sob.)
• Made an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce.
• Watched Singin' in the Rain with the kids which they loved and I am so happy they loved. Dorian was crying he was laughing so hard during this scene.
• Went out with Christine, Steven and Rosemary for a little pre-holiday fortification.

Thursday

• Made a 13 pound turkey. As usual followed the directions and as usual had the turkey finish cooking an hour early.
• Had a lovely meal with the kids, the husband, the in-laws and my mother.
• Made several quarts of turkey stock to put in the freezer.
• Was very tired. Can't remember anything else.

Friday

• Had a lazy rainy morning and then went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was fantastic. My favorite part was when one of the characters called something a "cluster cuss".
• Made a pot pie-ish thing out of leftovers with mashed potatoes on top. Starting to be really sick of turkey.
• Played dominoes. Lost every time.
• Somehow got sucked into a show about wedding dress shopping. Can't explain it. Clearly swept up in some holiday weekend vortex.

Saturday

• Took the kids ice skating. It was Dorian's first time and Sebastian's second. Sebastian's first time was when he was Dorian's age and he started screaming a quarter of the way around. Jeremy barely got him back to the door to get off the ice. Dorian's first time almost went the same way, but he relaxed at about the halfway point and ended up doing fine. I had not been on ice skates since 7th grade, so it was an exciting experience for me as well.
• Went to lunch in Greenfield and then to the Montague Bookmill-- "Books you don't need in a place you can't find."
• Had a popcorn dinner while watching Hard Day's Night. The kids also loved this one. We're riding a large wave of Beatlemania around here these days.
• Played more dominoes. Lost every game.
• Played Waterworks. Won the last game.

Sunday

• Got my mother on the road. Sent Jeremy out for donuts. Breakfast of champions.
• Went to work. Tried to work on my second mystery sock which is supposed to be finished by midnight tonight if I want to enter the contest.
• Had none other than John Hodgman sitting on the couch in the store while his wife shopped for yarn and his kids all took turns needing to use the restroom. I couldn't decide whether to say anything to him, so I opted not to. Later I realized I had missed an opportunity to punch him for all the times I couldn't sleep because Jeremy was laughing so hard next to me while reading his books.
• Played more dominoes. Lost every game.

Now I need to put my fingers to a different use and get these socks done. Only 14.5 hours to go. I don't even know what I could win, but I want to dammit!

One thing I'm thankful for

I realized the other day how glad I am that Rachel opened her yarn store-- not just because she has beautiful yarns, or because I now have a job, but because I have found such an interesting community of younger knitters there.

When I first moved to town, the only knitting circle I could find was at the original yarn store and was a bunch of older women who met on Tuesday mornings. Taking a toddler to that would have been impossible anyway, but it just didn't feel like the right group for me. Then I tried one at a library in the next town, but it wasn't really for me either. Granted, I have had some issues at this one, but they seem to have resolved themselves.

It is just really nice to pop into the store anytime and find a really interesting crew of people knitting together. There's a girl who helped found a roller derby group. There's a graphic designer who is just learning but is cranking out some awesome projects. There's an acupuncturist who is leaving town today to travel the country for a month before moving on to Spain or Colombia. (And I will miss her amazing sense of style.) There's a guy who is helping out a good, if odd, cause. And there is another guy who is a stonemason in the summer and ski patrol in winter. There are plenty more, but you get the idea. All of them are in their mid 20s to early 40s, and they are all good company.

So, today I am thankful for a knitting community that I didn't have to create myself by forcing my friends to learn to knit. (Although, I have been known to do that, too.)

0 for 2

Jeremy and I suck royally at finding a good movie to see in the theater. Last month was the Invention of Boring. And this month was the reinvention of boring aka Paranormal Activity. Save your money, people! Unless you are a tween, in which case you will probably think it is awesomely scary, when in fact it is not.

However, last night we found a movie that was actually scary and combined 2 elements that I am ashamed to find unsettling.

1. Burlap sack masks (Mildly ashamed-- I think everyone can agree they are creepy.)
2. Caves (Somewhat ashamed-- They're just geography. Or geology. Either way, they probably shouldn't freak me out so much.)

So, this little gem is called The Orphanage and is available on Netflix Instant if you are interested. In addition to the aforementioned creepiness, there's the "mother with a secret", the "impossibly large house with too many rooms to get lost in", the "kid who has imaginary friends who might be ghosts" and the "weird, bespectacled old lady" to keep you on edge. I screamed at least once, maybe twice, where I spent a lot of time yawning during the other films.

Sweater show

Sunday night I finished the raglan sweater for myself:

I really need to wash and block it so the sleeves will stop creeping up my arms, but otherwise I'm happy with it.

And Wednesday after lunch I started this little green number and finished it this morning-- a mere 47 hours later. I think that's a new record for me and sweater making. (Probably because it has short sleeves, but let's not diminish my victory shall we?)

A quick and easy knit on big needles with bulky yarn, it is very cosy and I plan to wear it today.

We can thank Dorian for the photos which made the first sweater look lighter and the second look darker. But you get the gist of it.

The little stinker

Last week when Dorian slept until 10am, he got up and announced to me that he had "slept as long as a skunk." As baffling as this initially seemed to me, I did have to concede that I don't know how long skunks sleep and that 14 hours may be right on the money.

Then today, Dorian asked me to blow on his pizza because it was "as hot as a skunk on fire." At least it didn't have the accompanying smell.

My awesome idea that will never come to fruition

The other night it came to me-- what the world really needs is a knitting band. A band that plays music about knitting, and-- get this!-- has a pattern in each song. So if you listen to the song (which would of course be amazing in its own right and feature cookie monster vocals like this) and follow the knitting instructions, you would end up with a sock or a hat or something.

This is pure genius, I know, which just makes it sadder that it will never happen. I just don't have any musical talent. Having a 94% average on Medium drums on RockBand just isn't enough. Maybe I should pass the idea along to Kelley Deal.

Boo to that!

Friday night, I was almost finished with my sweater. I was so close I could taste it. Then I noticed a mistake and I ripped back 10 rows. I redid the ten rows and then I did 8 more, but something was nagging at me. The yarn, which is somewhat variegated, was doing a sort of stripe thing. But I thought it might not be that bad, which is why I knit 68 of the 92 rows.

And then I looked at it in the cold light of day and it was striped alright. No doubt about it. The only problem being that none of the rest of the sweater is striped. And I didn't set out to have a sweater with one striped sleeve. No, sir. And thus it was frogged. (When you rip it! rip it!) Almost 3 hours of knitting undone in about 30 seconds.

Lucky for me I had another skein and it seems to be working out much better. Maybe I'll even get to wear it tomorrow...

But I'm thinking I maybe need some more stripes in my life and I might need to make one of these, just in a different colorway. You know, because I didn't get enough yarn the other day. It's a miracle I make it out of that yarn store empty handed most weeks.

Fits like a glove... but it's a sock.

After the multiple distractions of samples for the yarn store, I finally finished sock #1 of my mystery socks.

As I have said before, I think I would like the finished product better in a more solid colored yarn, but that isn't what I used and I do love this yarn anyway.

And because I was done with one sock and one sleeve, I obviously deserved to cash in my chips at the store and take my yarn that I get in trade for the samples. More distractions!

Now the question is: More selfish projects, or do I actually make things for others for the holidays?

I'm not dead and the computer isn't broken.

I just haven't felt much like blogging lately. I'm trying to wind down from all the PTA rigmarole and remember what to do when I'm not counting other people's money and having meetings and answering endless emails. (Hint: it involves laundry. And having coffee with Amanda while we both fight falling asleep in our armchairs.)

Not having all that to do certainly doesn't mean that I'm not busy, but it has been a more positive kind of busy-ness. Like the boys' birthdays happening last Friday and today. 7 and 4 is a little crazy to think about, but sounds about right. And Rob's birthday falls in the middle, so it has been a week of birthday celebrations, including a trip to the Montshire Museum on Saturday.

Poor DeeDee has been a little under the weather. Friday he was very sensitive and a little snippy. And Saturday he slept until 10am! (I'm not sure when I will stop thinking that oversleeping is a sure indication of my children's deaths, but if I don't get over it soon I'll have quite a time when they are teenagers.) He was healthy and happy when he did finally wake up and was fine Sunday and Monday. But this morning he didn't want to wake up for school and fell asleep again before dinner and then at 6:30 announced it was time for bed. (He did find time to open his presents first.) He doesn't have a fever or anything, but has complained of some leg pain and a headache, and I wouldn't put it past him to be growing again.

Sebastian has been doing well and we had a good parent teacher conference yesterday, which was much better than the other four where either his teachers didn't know what to do with him, didn't think he belonged in their class, or provoked me into an argument. He even won a little prize at All School Sing for doing some extra math problems, so he was excited by that.

I have been trying to fit in the knitting time and am about 10 rows from finishing the first sleeve on my sweater, just have the toe to complete on the first mystery sock, and finished the knitting for the purse and purchased the lining fabric and buttons and just need to buckle down and get it done. Of course, all that has been interrupted by another design for the store. So I am also in the middle of a lacy cowl done in this yarn.

And Jeremy is up to his usual nonsense, monkeying up the English language. In one day he managed to admonish the children to use a "food towel" (napkin) and to ask why all my "hair bops" (rubber bands) were lying around.

As Dorian would say, "The End. That's it."

What I learned at the swine flu clinic

• I made the right choice in not vaccinating my children. Sebastian would have lost his mind in that situation.
• Holding down a child who is not your own is somehow easier.
• Managing 160 children in grades K-6 who have just received vaccines is not easy, but it is possible. At least I didn't have them all at once.
• 4th-6th grade boys will choose a picture of a seahorse to color over all the other choices available, including monkeys and dinosaurs. Who knew?
• Out of 160 kids, only one had absolutely horrible behavior, but she did write me an apology so I'll forgive her.
• And out of 160 kids, only one needed to call her mother. She was a 5th grader.
• Older kids found this to be a fantastic opportunity for bragging, ie. punching themselves where they got the shot to prove it didn't hurt, and for picking on the ones who cried and/or limped off. (Why a shot in your arm would cause you to limp I do not know.)
• Kids whose parents were there were much more likely to cry, scream, and attempt to kick the Health Dept. workers in the head.
• Third graders think that if you get the shot you will die in 30 years.
• A parent thinks the next shot is administered in the lip.

One clinic down, one to go.

Roller coaster day

Today started with my being very ashamed of myself and feeling like a giant ass and is ending with my being very proud and having kind of a big head. So where are these extreme body parts coming from?

Well, yesterday I found out that one of the girls at Dorian's school has a sibling who was diagnosed with (gasp!) swine flu. So, this morning I was leaving the school after dropping Dorian off and on my way out the door, I ran into the mother of this little girl who has decided that since the little girl is not exhibiting any symptoms that she is going to bring her to school. Because I'm an insensitive moron, I greeted her with a lighthearted "Hey, plague-bringer!" Big surprise, this was not received well and she glared at me and said, "That was NOT okay for you to say!" Of course I apologized immediately and profusely, but she was not having any of it. It was a joke. A bad joke to be sure, but a joke nonetheless. I was not trying to be mean or judgmental. That's apparently how I sounded though, and I felt like shit all day.* I wrote her a very nice apology which she will not receive now until next Tuesday when the kids are back in school, but I have done my best to make amends.

Then, this afternoon I decided to stop by the yarn store to drop off the bowl I made but kept forgetting to bring in for a display. When I got there I asked if the owner had had a chance to review the pattern that I wrote for my striped arm warmers. She asked me to write one up using a new yarn we are carrying, so I finished one arm warmer on Sunday at work and typed up the pattern. And, she told me it was exactly what she wanted, and-- get this!-- someone already bought the yarn and got the pattern. My pattern! Someone is knitting my design.

See-- I'm not all bad.

*I felt like shit until I found out that not only did she bring the kid to school (which is questionable enough under the circumstances) but she also brought a snack that she cooked (pasta) and not something like crackers in a sealed package.

Halloween roundup

We had some really lousy weather for Trick or Treating this year. Let's just say that the smartest costume I saw all night was the girl decked out as a jellyfish in a costume made out of an umbrella. But that didn't deter the children. I even ran out of candy by 7:15.

So, here are the grown-up costumes:
Dr. Acula-- his teeth are horrifying, but his bedside manner is impeccable.Two of Heinz' 57 flavors ready to go to the party featuring the Scary Home Companion Arkestra.

And the one that I didn't get to see in real life but I'm sorry I didn't:

My awesome little brother who was ready for the Day of the Dead a little early.

And I am conspicuously absent from these since I was too lame to dress up this year. I did dress up as Heidi for Sebastian's school parade and party the day before, so if any random pictures surface, I'll pass them along.

For the third time in my life

This morning I was, yet again, obliged to pronounce that "there is no use crying over spilt milk" when Dorian was covered in spilt milk from his cereal bowl and was, of course, crying.

That Christian Bale sure can act...

I defy you to find a better Wolfman. See for yourself.

What do accountants get paid?

Whatever it is, it probably isn't enough and is certainly more than the $0 I made after spending 8 hours today dealing with the money from the raffle/Halloween event. My money counting muscles hurt, the numbers stopped making sense around 3:00 and my hands will probably never come clean.

Good times.

The invention of boring

Jeremy and I got to have a much needed date night on Friday which I will rate thusly:

• Food: B. We went to the restaurant in a local brew pub and while my Indian turkey burger was fine, they forgot to bring me my soup that I desperately needed to warm myself after Sebastian's soccer game.
• Games and Tea: A. I won both checkers and Trivial Pursuit. And the chai at the Twilight Tea Lounge was delicious as always.
• Movie: C- to D+. We saw The Invention of Lying. It was truly boring. Sadly, profoundly boring. I do not recommend watching it, except for the part with my favorite Wallace lookalike. Except for that all too brief moment, it was deadly dull. And all the more depressing for the abundance of actors that I like. Boo.
• Companion: A+. Jeremy's still my favorite person in the whole wide world.

And in other news, the body of my sweater is finally done. I am not fond of the angle at which this shot was taken, but it is the only one I've got.

And a closeup of the edging (which I cribbed from the mystery sock):

And on to the sleeves!

If only it weren't true

After driving to Sebastian's school for the third time today, this time with a bagel for the boys to split before soccer practice.

Me: Sebastian, here. Put these shorts and things on for soccer.

Sebastian (in his skivvies): Mom! It's almost like we live in the car.

Because it actually can get worse... or at least weirder

So, after my rotten day of rottenness, I decided to go to the grocery store alone. Should have been a pretty easy thing to do. So I get to the car and realize I don't have my 2 fold up reusable bags. I go back in the house and get them.

I get to the store. I toss them, along with my purse, in the cart. I shop. I get everything on the list. So far so good. I put everything on the conveyor belt.

But where are my bags? They are not in the cart. They are not in my purse. They are not mixed in with my groceries.

Okay, I think, it has been a rough day, maybe I just think I put them in the cart but they are sitting on the seat of my car. Stranger things have happened.

Stranger things have happened. Somebody stole my store brand reusable bags! They were not in the car. I wasn't crazy after all.

My wallet full of cash and credit cards with absurd lines of credit? Nope.
The boys' awesome space hat? Nah.
The keys to my car and house? Not so much.
But my banged up reusable bags? Score!

Metal or bamboo?

The knitting needles may have to become a weapon now that I have found out that a certain insane person in charge of a certain crazy event thinks I'm not doing anything even though I have wasted both of my free mornings this week doing shit for her. And I already have an hour tomorrow to look forward to as well as Monday morning. She's lucky I don't know the first thing about how to fire bomb a house.

I knit so I don't kill people

This is a somewhat popular slogan amongst knitters, and it has never been more true for me than lately as my stress level continues to rise. But I won't mention the PTA or the out of control event we are throwing this weekend or the fact that I haven't had a day off in over a month. No, I'll just show you my handiwork. Because even though I am sure a knitting needle would make an awesome murder weapon, I don't want to get blood on my wool.

My mystery sock:

I do wish that the yarn weren't quite so stripy so that the pattern would be more visible, but I like the pattern so much that I will probably knit it again in a color that shows it off a little better. The second clue took me almost the whole week to complete because it was a longer section and I didn't set aside a lot of time for it, but I finished the third clue in one day. I like how the fake cables and the ribbing continue down the heel. I'm really happy I started this project.

My sweater:

The heathery gray simplicity of this knit sort of depresses me, especially since it has been reflecting our weather for the week, but I'm sure that what is not so fun about it to knit is exactly what will make it a staple of my wardrobe. So now I'm on a search for an interesting edge for the cuffs and the bottom, so I can spice it up a little bit.

And, finally, a purse:

Kaci gave me this yarn from her trip to Ireland and I decided a long time ago that I would use it for a bag of some sort. I found a pattern yesterday while I was working and started knitting last night during Mad Men. I have 4 more rows for this piece which will be the front. What I thought was cute in the pattern book is looking suspiciously like underwear. But I'm going to ignore that and keep going. I'm sure when it is finished it won't look like it belongs over a cloth diaper.

It's official

The weather this year has been insane. After a Summer that was only hot for approximately two weeks (not that I minded that), we have had a very cold Fall-- at least at night, with frost and temperatures in the 20s. I have already had the heat on for a week, where normally I would have tried to hold out until some arbitrary date like October 15th or Halloween or something.

And now it is snowing. That's right. Snowing. It's not sticking. It's not accumulating. But it's snowing.

I think I'll go knit.

Is it wrong of me to be happy that our raffle didn't sell a single ticket over the weekend so that, instead of counting money for the PTA, I am sitting on my couch in an empty house enjoying a cup of coffee?

I didn't think so.

Putting the "mal" in malabrigo

Well, just as I was about to get to the part where I put the sleeve stitches on holders, I discovered that I had screwed up yet again and was going to have to start my sweater over from scratch for a fourth time. And therefore, this skein of yarn is cursed.

I will be starting with a new ball. And I will be understanding the directions a little better. And I will not be giving up. But it is pretty disheartening after two perfect sweaters for the boys for which I didn't even use a pattern to not even be able to follow one properly, or to follow it only to have it be wrong.

The first pattern I used was a formula that you plug your gauge into and it spits out a pattern supposedly tailor-made to your knitting. Well, after two goes at that pattern where it became obvious that nothing but a newborn's head would ever fit through the neck hole, I found a different pattern.

The second pattern is already at my gauge and had many glowing reviews on Ravelry. And it was free. But it is also very confusingly written and involves doing one thing while also doing two other things AT THE SAME TIME. Somehow I misunderstood one of the AT THE SAME TIMEs and didn't do it which left me with perfect sleeves but a chest measurement of about half what it was supposed to be. I am not that flat that I can wear a top that measures 17 inches around.

So, I'll be casting back on later with a new ball of yarn. But maybe I should just focus on clue #2 for the mystery socks.

The knitting is the only thing keeping me sane

I think the only way to make my life more hectic right now would be moving. So thank goodness I'm not doing that, even if there is a cardboard box in the background of the picture.

No, I'm just busy regretting ever joining the PTA or a cooperative preschool. And having wonderful, interesting children who feel the need to do things to make their lives more wonderful and interesting, like soccer and spelling team and such. Doesn't the world know I just want to wear my slippers and eat chocolate? Ha!

But I digress... I have gotten as far as I can get with my mystery sock until the next clue arrives on Thursday. Here is the cuff, with a background of sweet peas from Christine who brought a little Spring back to my life this early Fall:

The colors are 10x more intense than that, but I couldn't get them to photograph better. Think peacock. And I tried to photograph the (3rd) start of my top down raglan sweater, but it is not so impressive at this point, being gray and 3 inches long. (Insert joke here.)

Sock it to me!

I forced myself to finish these babies yesterday so I could retrieve my needles for a new project-- a mystery knit along. I apparently started these socks back in February (!) to use up the leftover yarn from my socks. And then I was done with one and most of the other and somehow they slipped to the bottom of the basket and the back of my mind as other more pressing matters arose. If you are my facebook friend, you already know that these socks are up for grabs. They don't fit anyone in this house, that's for sure. They are size ~6-18mos, soft machine washable and dryable wool, and available to whoever wants them.

The gray day is not ideal for photographing my new socks, so they will remain even more of a mystery to you than they are to me. But this is the yarn and here is the pattern. The way it works is that every Thursday in October there will be another part of the pattern. So right now, I only have the cuff to work on until next week, meaning I will have to also start my other project for me, my new sweater made with this yarn which is mostly charcoal but with a greenish cast.

Why you couldn't pay me enough to knit sweaters for anyone larger than a 6 month old

Yesterday, all the pieces of Sebastian's cardigan were done, so at 8am I commenced putting it all together. It is my least favorite part of the process and involves a lot of hand sewing. Can you guess when I was finally finished? 9:30pm. Yes, 9:30. I will not pretend to have worked on it the entire time, but I did put in an hour from 8-9am, work on it off and on until 1:15pm, did a half hour's work while making dinner, schlepped it to Sebastian's soccer game, took it to knitting circle, and finally brought it home to insert the zipper during Survivor and something called Husbands Who Murder.

And here it is:

Note the "DNA" running down the side:
A handsome sweater for a handsome boy. Let's hope it makes it home from school today.

Totally inappropriate

I was at a birthday party for a 3 year old tonight. There was a woman talking loudly about the abortion she had when she was 16 and advising all who would listen to just lie about your dates if you go past 3 months.

Thanks for the hot tip.

Longest day

Today I:

• got up and helped hustle the boys out the door.
• wasted the hour and a half I had to myself doing laundry so Sebastian wouldn't have to go to school pantsless tomorrow.
• went to work.
• had Dorian dropped off at work where I somehow managed to keep him occupied and do my job for 4 hours.
• was hit on by a drunk man who also asked me if I sold anything alcoholic at a yarn store.
• came home for 5 minutes to find 2 messages from the school about how Sebastian thought Christine was picking him up at school instead of the bus stop like I told him 20 times and could I call them to let them know whether to put him on the bus. (No, I can't because now it is 4:50pm.)
• found out he was with Christine and had taken the bus like he was supposed to.
• went to the last of a series of parenting classes I've been attending where I could at least sit down and eat a pizza I didn't have to cook myself and have someone else watch the kids.
• brought the smelly boys home for a bath while I folded the laundry.
• read aloud another chapter in Ralph S. Mouse, a book that just isn't doing it for me but is almost done, thank god.
• put those kids to bed. (Fingers crossed that Sebastian actually sleeps after a cup of caffeinated root beer-- thank you very much, babysitters.)
• collapsed on the couch.

Good night.

All the good news

While it has been an exhausting couple of weeks, they haven't been too bad. I managed to sell all but one of the pies I needed to sell for Dorian's fundraiser. I can handle buying one for myself, but I was getting a little concerned when I thought I might have to buy 5.
I had a meeting with the principal about Sebastian's schooling and only got good news about how he is doing this year and we were in agreement that he is getting what he needs, so that's nice.
I made the best batch of whole grain chippers yet yesterday, and in a completely neighborly way. I realized too late that Jeremy used the last of the eggs for breakfast, and as I was walking with the boys to buy some more eggs, we ran into some neighbors who offered us the egg we needed for our recipe. And then we returned the favor by bringing them some of the goodies. Makes you want to gag, doesn't it?

And I finished this little guy:

Scampy the ram, named by Sebastian, loved by all who meet him. He'll be living at Knit or Dye, if you'd like to visit him. This is what he looked like before he took his trip through the washer:

And now I have 2 days of work, a field trip, and an in-service day (no school Wednesday) to look forward to.

Are you ready for this one?

No, you probably aren't.

Remember my neighbors, the ones who don't use toilet paper? Well, I happened to overhear a conversation today in which the oldest child was telling someone how the youngest had nursed until she was 4 and a half. And then proceeded to tell about how her brother nursed until he was... wait for it... 7 years old.

Maybe that's why he "never yearned to spell his own name." He was busy with other things.

SPOILER: The answer is "yes"

Is it completely ridiculous that this morning, I sold a $10 apple pie to Christine for Dorian's preschool fundraiser, only to turn around and hand her the same $10 bill back this evening for a 5 pack of allium bulbs for Lydia's elementary school fundraiser?

Yes, I have fallen off the face of the earth. Why do you ask?

Remember when I told a fellow board member what was what about how I wanted nothing to do with a certain event? Well, the event apparently is not letting me go so easily. Poor Hott Mama, wanted by diminutive Hispanics and overlarge fundraisers alike... I have been spending the last week sifting through an average of 15 emails a day on this mind-numbing topic, at least several of which require some response on my part.

Today, though, I got to escape to my hobby job and ignore that shit for 6 solid hours. I also managed to:

• finish that bulky baby sweater*.
• use the sample to sell 2 copies of the pattern and enough yarn for 3 versions.
• help some people with their knitting troubles.
• assist a woman in a one-person fashion show of all the adult-sized samples in the store.
• sell 5 out of the 6 skeins of this yarn that we had in stock.
• have the exact same conversation with the 3 different women who bought that yarn about how those yarns usually are more red, but the ones they bought were blue, green, or white.
• start knitting a sheep, which sounds a little backwards I know, but it should be cute when it's done.
• make more in sales than it cost the owner to pay me to be there all day which is more than I can say for last week.

And now it is time to fall asleep in front of Mad Men so that I can wake up refreshed and ready to perform the newest installment of nature puppet shows in the morning.

* Whether the "bulky" refers to the weight of the yarn or of the child is anyone's guess. The finished product certainly looked like it was designed to accommodate Humpty Dumpty, Jr.

J'aime le futbol!

That's what I'd say if I were a good little French soccer mom. Instead, I'm an okay medium-sized American mother who happens to take her child to soccer because he asked her to and it only costs $15 for 8 weeks. (Let's pretend I didn't spend the morning having the oil changed in my minivan and buying soccer socks to help hold up the shinguards on his scrawny little legs.)

After today, I should never have to do PTA again. Ever.

But y'all know I will, so let's not pretend. Basically, though, I went in for a tangentially related PTA experience from 9-9:30am and then went back to the school where I was in 3 consecutive meetings from 5:30-8:45pm. That is not an exaggeration, and I barely had time for the one pee break I took.

Overall, our first public meeting went well. We only went over by about 5 minutes and the attendees were positive and interested. So that was good.

The only dicey part came when one member of our board decided to not only accuse us all of not appreciating her enough, but also decided to imply that I personally would not be doing enough for the school if I chose not to help her with her fundraiser.

That's when I finally got to tell her what's what (in a mostly respectful way) and totally shut her down. My dear friend who is also the secretary told me I "toed the line" a little bit in the way I handled the situation, but whatever. She's just lucky I left my knitting needles at home.

My first day was definitely not my worst day

I did my first whole day of work at the knit shop today and it was pretty good. I still haven't gotten over the fact that I am being paid to look at pretty yarn all day. And not only am I also paid to knit, but if I knit for the store (samples and stuff), I get free yarn. Not too shabby. So I started a top-down raglan for the store in a 6 month size with this yarn which is exactly the yarn that I want for a project for myself (although not in that color).

Other than the occasional reminders of the high percentage of freaks there are in this town, it was a good day.

He doesn't just have a potty mouth

Yesterday, Dorian wore his new sweater to the bus stop to pick up Sebastian. Along the way, he showed it off to the neighbors announcing, "Look at my beautiful sweater! Mama made it." That would have been heartwarming enough, but then we had this exchange:

Dorian: My shirt says, "A is for Astronaut."

Me: Yep.

D: What does my sweater say?

M: I don't know. Does it say something?

D: It says, "I love you, Dorian. You are my sweetie pie. I'm so glad I have you."

I was speechless and a little teary-eyed. That's exactly what it says.

And then this morning he used the word "muff" at the breakfast table.

Check!

Trying to catch up

I'm feeling rather behind on things lately, mostly due to my complete inability to refrain from adding more projects to my life. So, I'm working on knocking a few things off the old to-do list and have made some progress in the last 24 hours.

This morning I put the first coat of paint on the floor in Dorian's room.

And last night, I started the fronts of Sebastian's cardigan. He picked out a couple of cables including one he thinks looks like DNA. That DNA cable should be a DNR. I hate it. It looks fine, but it is a gigantic hassle and I am going to have to tell him that I will definitely not be putting those cables up the sleeves as he requested. And I made (gasp!) a mistake at the beginning of one of those cables and even though it will probably annoy me for life, it happened far too long ago for me to be willing to rip it back and fix it. Oh well.
And later today I get to mow the lawn and make dinner for some friends before Beatles RockBand takes over our lives.

Please don't remind me about the quilt I haven't finished or the Halloween costumes I need to start making.

An exciting day!

Today was a banner day at the Hott Pockets house. First we made oatmeal this morning and Sebastian ate it and liked it for the first time ever. Maybe it was because I let him spoon the brown sugar on himself... or maybe he finally realized how perfectly delicious oatmeal is. Either way, I foresee an autumn full of yummy hot cereal for breakfast. Maybe I can break their fried egg habit once and for all.

Then Jeremy and I finished the second coat of paint and the trim for Dorian's new room. All that's left is painting the floor, getting the window installed, and having Rob help me build a box to hide the exposed pipe. Minor details...

Then we took the kids to a park a little south of here that is still awesome enough to have seesaws. And it was there that history was made. On Saturday I decided that Sebastian really needed to try riding his bike again after a summer of refusing to ride and putting me off with a series of "maybe later"s. And boy was it ugly! Jeremy got all frustrated with Sebastian, Dorian was whining about his tricycle, they all came home and disappeared into the house while I searched for the pump to fill Sebastian's tires. Then I hollered something about being fed up with all of them and stormed outside. Jeremy threatened to call his mother to cancel her babysitting so we could have our date. It was not pretty. But then I took over with Sebastian and Jeremy dealt with Dorian, and things got much better, but his riding was still pretty awkward even with the training wheels. Sunday, his riding was better but he was still relying on the training wheels a lot.

In the big parking lot at the park today, though, we could hardly hear his training wheels at all. One of them was a little loose so I asked if I could take it off. And he was totally fine with just one, and didn't really need that one either. At this point, Jeremy had taken Dorian to the bathroom, so I convinced Sebastian that we should take the second one off too and really surprise Daddy when he returned. I almost cried when he took off across the parking lot on two wheels with no trouble. Much better the tears of pride than those frustrated ones two days ago. Now he just needs to learn to tie his shoes and he'll be all set.

While we were at the park and the kids were busy looking for trolls and Jeremy was busy cackling while reading a John Hodgman book, I finished these:

Dorian's new socks! Autumn here we come...

It's not a party without Lenny

Last night was the big night for my September date with Jeremy. We were invited by his boss to a party she was having at her house in the middle of nowhere. I knew that this would not be date enough for me so I insisted on being taken out to dinner first. This was a very wise choice on my part.

We went to a restaurant on the west side of town that I have never even considered going to, but my mother gave us these gift certificates to random places we've never been before that have totally expanded our horizons. The dinner was delicious (lots of butter) and the weather was lovely and other than a fly drowning itself in my salad dressing (I was finished with the salad when this happened), it was a wonderful meal.

Then we went to the liquor store to fulfill the BYOB part of the invitation to the party and headed down a series of winding dirt roads to the boss' house. And what a scene we arrived for! I haven't been to such a ridiculous party since the last party I attended.

• There was a man named "Lenny" dressed in a tuxedo and sneakers dancing on a rock while singing Frank Sinatra karaoke. (Even the hostess didn't know where this dude came from.)
• One of Jeremy's coworkers was so drunk that she tripped down the steps and rolled ass over teakettle all the way down the hill into the backyard.
• There was a dog fight.
• I looked over at one point to see a woman who Jeremy is in the process of interviewing for a job kneeling at her boyfriend's crotch level. (It looked like things were going to get much more inappropriate than they did.)
• Another drunk woman was "dancing" and fell against the furniture more than once before Jeremy's boss' boss decided it would be a good idea to spin her.
• Lenny came over to offer to sing "Moonlight in VT" to me and Jeremy so we could "kiss and cuddle... or fight about the kids."
• I met a man who holds 2 jobs: one as a firefighter, one at a pet crematorium.

That was enough "party" to last me a good, long time.

Things I have seen when picking DeeDee up from preschool

1. Dorian waiting by the fence watching for my car. "Mom, I think you are late!" "I'm actually 5 minutes early." "Well, don't forget to check my mailbox."
2. A scabby child hugging Dorian goodbye.
3. Kids that I sincerely wish were not attending Sebastian's school being picked up from 1/2 day kindergarten.
4. Dorian happily playing with all the new "guys" at his new school.
5. A woman driving a Hummer take out 2 orange cones used to direct the kindergarten traffic.

I need a little more practice with this whole no kids thing

The boys started school today in pants that are too long and with backpacks that are too big. But they were happy and excited. And so was I. Four whole hours to myself on a weekday?! Turns out I don't really know what to do with myself in such a situation.

Allegra and I drove downtown together to meet Amanda, and that's when we found out that the cafe was closed for renovations. So we went to a different cafe and I called Christine and Rosemary who didn't get the message in time, so we never hooked up with them. Long story short: we quickly ran out of things to do. I did find some jeans at the consignment store, but mostly Allegra and I would poke around and then look at each other pathetically and wonder what to do next.

But that's okay. It was our first time and we have a whole year to figure this out. Besides, I don't think I'd have the same problem at home with my endless to-do list. I just obviously cannot be out in the real world alone for that long.

Another school year begins...

And it is abundantly clear that I learned absolutely nothing last year. In the space of a half hour "Meet and Greet" I have embroiled myself in doing the healthy snack again and upping my puppet show quotient from 4 to 8. That is on top of the treasurer duties which keep piling up and doesn't include whatever chore I will be assigned by Dorian's cooperative preschool. And I decided to take a job in addition to this?!

Today was one of those days...

... where I actually felt like I was doing something right. It is easy for me to get bogged down in the little dumb stuff in life and parenting. And it is even easier to get bogged down in the big dumb stuff. For example, I am happy that the kids have been much better behaved since I pitched a fit last Thursday, but I don't feel particularly good that I frightened them by threatening to leave them on the side of the road. I know that I don't always make the best choices or do the perfect thing, and that is really hard for me to accept so I have a tendency to beat myself up a little.

But there are days where I just want to cry because I think my kids are so goddamn lucky to lead the life they do. (Crazy mother and all.) And today was one of those days.

Crazy mother went out with several other crazy mothers last night, and when I say went out, I mean until last call. So I wasn't home until midnight and didn't go to sleep until later than that and woke up as tired as when my head hit the pillow. But I got some pants on and went and picked up Amanda and her boys and we all headed up to Putney to go to the orchard there. The plums weren't ripe, but there were blueberries, so Amanda and I picked nearly a gallon apiece while the kids played amongst the bushes in the glorious sunshine.

And after a quick return to the farm stand for an urgent bathroom visit (inevitable with 4 kids in tow) we put the kids in 2 wagons to go look for the reindeer. We didn't see them, but the kids were enjoying the wagon ride and I thought that Sebastian and Riley would probably have more fun (and I wouldn't hurt my back so much) if they tried to ride the wagon down the hill by themselves. And so Sebastian was the Hobbes to Riley's Calvin. And they loved it! And all I could think was that this was what summer should be-- riding in a red wagon down a dirt track amidst a beautiful orchard in this beautiful state that we are fortunate enough to call home. What more could these kids ask for than 2 mamas who love them enough to take them to an orchard to run and play and crash a wagon into a fence while the mamas pick berries for jam to enjoy all winter? Will they think of today when they eat a piece of toast with jam 3 months from now? Will I remember to? Who knows? But it is very nice to be able to appreciate these times as they happen. And now I sound too much like a certain other blogger who tends toward the sappy and often makes me gag a little but takes very pretty pictures, so I will leave you with this pretty picture in her honor:

A ginormous dragonfly I found in the grass...

(But I won't leave before telling you that as usual I have bit off more than I can chew by not only buying enough blueberries to make 4 pints of jam, but also a half bushel of apples I now have to turn into applesauce. It was only $8... how could I pass up the opportunity to add more work to my life for that price? And I finished making up Dorian's sweater... other than the zipper and button... but it is sewn together.)

It's getting worse...

So apparently at breakfast this morning Dorian decided to say "boobs"-- apropos of nothing, of course. But the topper came at the lake today. There was a naked baby girl wandering around.

Me: Look at that chubby little baby!

Dorian: Oh, what a sweet pussy-puss!

Me: [trying not to sound alarmed] What was that, Dorian?

Dorian: What a sweet pussy-puss!

Me: Where did you get that word?

Dorian: I made it up for the sweet pussy-puss.

Rainy weekend activities

It is nice to have a rainy weekend every now and again to catch up on things instead of running off to find a spot of sand at the lake. So, did we make good use of our time? I'd say so.

Yesterday, Jeremy and I primed the walls in what was the music room. We did, that is, until we ran out of primer with only 7 square feet to go. Then we went out to lunch and to the grocery store. A brief respite at home and then we were off Chez Flapdoodle for a pizza party to celebrate a variety of things including their refinancing of their house and our friend Henry getting out of the "clam shell" he has been wearing all summer after breaking his spine. Yes, his spine.

Today was spent making banana muffins from some fruit fly magnets, taking a quick trip to the hardware store for more primer, and blocking Dorian's sweater.


All that remains is to sew it up, add a collar, and insert a zipper I have not yet purchased. Details, details.

I also harvested some stubby little carrots. 4 months of growing for that.
And our first eggplant! Yum!

I also went to see Food, Inc. It was okay. But here's the thing. Even though I am all for organic agriculture and try to shop locally as much as possible, that movie was so over the top at some points that I basically left the theater wanting to eat a Mickey D's hamburger just to spite the filmmakers. Whoever was in charge of the score saw fit to have a horror movie soundtrack during portions involving Monsanto or slaughterhouses. We got it already! And any time there was a corporate farm or a corn field depicted, everything was brown and dusty; but if an organic or small farm was on screen, all you could see was green mountain vistas and idyllic red barns. Please. And don't make Stonyfield yogurt out to be some fabulous company whose president is raving about all the tons of pesticides and antibiotics that aren't being used because they are "organic". Well, I have to ask about all the oil that went into both the plastic packaging that went swirling past as the film went through the factory and the trucks that will transport these dairy products across the country.

But enough of that little tirade. If you've been under some sort of rock lately and have no idea about sustainable farming or the horrors of corporate agribusiness, maybe you should see the film, but otherwise I wouldn't waste my time if I were you.

After I came back from the movie, Jeremy and I painted the ceiling in the former music room, and then I broke out a pane in the window simply by painting the frame. And now for the room news: the music room aka Dustin's room is going to be Dorian's room (or miniDust's room). The drumset will go in Sebastian's room. Dorian is excited to have his own room, since he never has, and I think Sebastian will enjoy having a room of his own again.

After dinner, I cut the boys' hair.

And now I have 2 hours to kill until Mad Men...

Big doings!

So, guess what? I'm now gainfully employed. That's right. In 2 weeks, I will be a working mom-- you know, as opposed to all the loafing around I've been doing for the last 6+ years.

And here's the best part: It is only 6 hours a week, and it's at the yarn store. So, I will get paid to-- get this!-- knit. Well, when I'm not helping customers and shit. Starting the 2nd week in September, I will be there every Sunday from 11-5.

I did not plan to get a job, but I always thought that if something came around that

1. did not involve watching someone else's child(ren)
2. did not require my paying for childcare
3. didn't involve a lot of office politics
4. seemed somewhat enjoyable

I would take it. And then last night at knitting circle, Miss Rachel said that if I knew anyone *wink, wink* who would be interested in working on Sundays and had retail experience and happened to be a good knitter who could answer people's questions, I should let her know. I presented the possibility to Jeremy who thought it would be fine, but said it was up to me. And then this morning, Dorian and I went in to hang out and knit during Sebastian's cooking class at the co-op and I told her I would like to do it if she'd have me.

I will be making twice as much a month as Dorian's preschool costs, so I'll have enough left over to hand right back to Rachel for more yarn. Sounds good to me.

Argh.

About 3 minutes after arriving at the lake on Monday, a certain friend of mine announced to the entire world that she was "not a patient mama today!" And despite her announcement, she totally was, but sometimes you just have to let everybody know how things stand.

Well, you know what? I am not a patient mama today. I'm not. I have screamed at the children several times for being, variously: rude, whiny, obnoxious, holier-than-thou, tiresome... you know, all the things I have been accused of being my whole life.

So far today I have had to put up with

• being woken up by Dorian screaming about all the miseries of life.
• finding out that during his sleepover, Sebastian and a girl friend of his were kissing in bed. (But it's okay because they are "in love").
• listening to complaints about what kind of sandwiches I had to offer for lunch and how Sebastian would not suffer the indignity of eating a peanut butter and jam sandwich.
• taking the kids to the pool for an hour (even though I was already pissed about their behavior) because we had made plans to meet someone else there.
• allowing the kids to have ice cream mainly because they had been promised it as part of the whole pool excursion, only to have them end the experience by screaming at each other about whether or not a tagger should continue to tag after tagging someone.
• listening to Dorian shriek about how he needed to hold a CD case that he had just handed to me of his own volition.

I almost left them on the side of the road. It was only my slight fear of police intervention and my greater fear of the vicious gossip mills in this town that prevented me. And to think that when someone asked me if I was looking forward to the start of school I said "no".

Sartorial shenanigans

Yesterday at the mall in my favorite teenager clothing shop as I tried on a coat with a "fur" hood:

Sebastian: I just love a woman such as yourself in a fur coat such as that.

And that is why he is my favorite shopping companion.

******************

Today at the library's end of summer cupcake party:

Teacher friend: You and C always have the cutest clothes. I need to go shopping with the soccer moms.

You can imagine what a knife to the gut that was. A very innocent, genuinely complimentary knife to the gut. Soccer mom!?! Just because Sebastian went to soccer camp and wants me to sign him up for the fall soccer team doesn't... mean...

[sob]

Good little Americans

Today, like yesterday and the day before and the day before that, was hot. Too hot. It was too hot to be at the lake yesterday, what with water like a warm bath, and the pools are too sunny to be refreshing. Summer! Probably my least favorite season. If it weren't for the gardening...

So today we beat the heat like good little Americans by driving an hour to spend the day at the mall in the blessed A/C doing some Back to School shopping. My mother generously sent the kids some spending money, so Sebastian got to hone his math skills adding up his purchases. He did pretty well.

This is the jacket he insisted he needed which cost him 40% of his budget. (Sebastian seems to be loving the resurgence of the 80s bright colors). Dorian insisted on the robot hat. They also picked out some new shirts-- a robot one and a comic book word one for Sebastian, an alien one and a robot one for Dorian. They each got a pair of pants. And Sebastian got a new lunch box while Dorian got a backpack and underwear.

Jeremy and I weren't left out in all this consumption... he gets a new pair of jeans and I got some accessories and a sweater and a tank top.

Now I just have to wait a week and a half to ship them off to school...

Parallel paths weekend

Jeremy originally wanted to call it the divorce weekend, but that sounds a little inflammatory and would imply that we aren't getting along and I would never want you to think things were anything but peachy keen around here, so "parallel paths" it is.

It was already decided that Jeremy and Sebastian would take a little trip down to 6 Flags on Sunday, leaving me and DeeDee to our own devices for the day since he is too little for, and I get horrible motion sickness on, most rides. Half the time I can barely watch my own knitting needles at work, much less ride a roller coaster.

Then this morning Sebastian and I wanted to go to the lake, but Dorian and Jeremy wanted to go for a hike. Finally we realized that there was no reason why we had to compromise, so I took one kid and he took the other. And it was nice. I got to have some alone time with Sebastian and not have to scan the water constantly for 2 children or deal with one who wants to swim out in the deep part and one who wants to be on the beach. And Dorian got someone to take him to Putney Mtn, a request he has been making for weeks that I have for no real reason been ignoring.

We were a happy foursome again for dinner and grocery shopping this evening, so don't worry. Nobody's going to be asking to crash on your couch. At least, nobody from this house.

Happy House-iversary!

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of when we bought our house. Twelve months ago, Christine watched the boys so we could sign our lives away and initial repeatedly to be handed 10 copies of the key to our house. And a very short time after that, we embarked on 11 crazy days of getting the house somewhat ready for us to move in. I'm still working on making the house livable and from what I hear, I will spend the rest of the time that I own it doing so. Fine by me.

And the good news is that the insurance company was satisfied with the purple garage and the fixed window and the invoice for the trim being painted and has graciously allowed us to pay them hundreds of dollars to continue having their insurance. They had our back during that whole sewer pipe debacle, so it's definitely worth it.

So, here's to our half-painted, 129 year old, humble abode-- well worth the expense and effort!

I never should have disappointed Cortney in this way

She said she'd never have a friend who belonged to the PTA, and even though she promised me we'd still be friends even though I allowed myself to become treasurer of the organization, I know a little part of her love for me died that day. As well it should have, since I was clearly demonstrating that I was a person with no sense, totally blind to reason.

The two hour meeting the other night actually lasted 2 and a half hours and would have gone longer had I not announced that it must have been after 9 at that point and discussions were devolving into committee level detail. A vodka cranberry later, I was on the verge of quitting. However, I did make a commitment and I don't like to be a quitter, so the only solution that I could see was to air my grievances to the rest of the board.

This resulted in a shit storm of approximately 10 million emails back and forth-- some defensive, some productive, all tiresome (including mine). And now we get to have another meeting immediately before the meeting that we are scheduled, according to the bylaws, to have a meeting immediately after.

All of this just makes me realize that I should just be doing what I enjoy and actually impacts the students, like puppet shows about snowflakes, and not what makes me frustrated, like sitting through seemingly endless meetings about fundraising which was the part I thought we should be spending less time on, not more.

Why didn't I focus more on clinging to a friend 3000 miles away instead of my misguided do-goodery? Because I am a fool.

It's finally summer...

It is hot. So hot that even though I am feeling excessively lazy and a smidgen burnt out on sand these days, I got everything together to take the kids to the lake. Well, everything except Dorian's sandwich which I managed to leave on the counter instead of bringing for his lunch. You can imagine how disappointed he was that I was forced to buy him a hot dog.

I even got in the water pretty much first thing instead of postponing because (not enough sun/too windy/needed a Dr. Pepper first/too lazy). But after each child had his respective breakdown (lost plastic man/slipped underwater), it was clearly time to return home.

Now I just get to stew until it's time to go to a fucking midsummer PTA meeting from 7-9pm. Why, oh why, did I get myself into this?

I finally got my purple fix

The garage is finally done, and since it required the purchase of a second gallon of paint, I had enough left over to do the 2 back doors.

And today we went blueberry picking and I made some nice purple jam. Never did get raspberries, I'm sorry to say. But that's okay. The blueberry jam tasted pretty awesome on the corn fritters I made with my first Walker Farm corn of the year. No better corn in the world. And I also managed to put three bags of kernels in the freezer to enjoy throughout the winter. Good stuff.

The vacation so far

So far on this trip I have:

• Done some of the best boogie boarding of my life.
• Put in some "work" on my tan.
• Gone on a date with Jeremy that involved outlet shopping, an Indian dinner, wandering around Portsmouth with a yummy ice cream cone, and a walk on the beach in the moonlight.
• Given my children 4 desserts in one day-- the ice cream cone cookies pictured below for breakfast dessert, Starburst for lunch dessert, a pint of ice cream masquerading as a "kiddie" cone in the afternoon, and a slice of fudge cake after dinner. Can you say, "Vay-cay-shun"?

• Received a fantabulous present from my sister-in-law of some totally amazing crafting books, as well as some gorgeous yarn from her trip to Ireland. Lucky me!
• Had the following conversation while trying to boogie board:: Man: So, where did you get your board? Me: squinting without my glasses It's my father-in-law's. Man: Oh, because this one belongs to my friend, but it's only rated up to 150 lbs and I'm bigger than that. :: Now, I don't know what he wanted me to say; perhaps, [sultrily] "Just how big a man are you?" I never should have let Dorian talk me into wearing the cute suit today. Either way, when he continued to try to befriend me, I just rode the next wave to the shore and gave Jeremy a turn. Oddly, he didn't try to make Jeremy's acquaintance.
• Finished a pair of arm warmers for the fall with the yarn I got for free. I love the yarn and I am quite happy with the arm warmers. I am also quite happy that I do not need them at this particular moment.

Now I've got my DDR shirt on and I'm ready to head down to the boardwalk and the shooting gallery (not the heroin kind) and the fireworks.