Jeremy's week off by the numbers

8 number of days Jeremy was home with us

2 children's science museums visited

1 staple* inserted in Dorian's head to hold it together after a playground mishap

1.5 hours spent in emergency room to get said staple

1 cavern explored

52 degrees F inside the cavern

100 degrees F outside

1 night in a hotel

8 times we went swimming

1 pair of socks for Jeremy finally finished

2 average number of cucumbers picked from the garden each day

4 days, starting today, that Jeremy will be in Chicago on business-- feast or famine, I guess.

* Can you believe it's actually a metal staple with no discernible difference from the kind that holds papers together?! It makes me shudder every time I see it.

Yesterday was yet another dreary, cool and rainy day in a string of such days. And so it seemed a perfect day to destroy my clean and pretty new dining room by filling it with all the crap from the laundry room and painting. My bogus trip to IKEA has left me with no organizational unit to fill the newly painted laundry room, but that is neither here nor there.
Gone are the weirdly mustardy beige walls and ancient linoleum floor, replaced by three white walls and one pink wall and a floor that I can't decide if it is shabby chic or just plain shabby. Which ever it may be, it is better than the crumbling, blue, water-damaged linoleum that was there before. And this means that I finally get to use my washing machine and dryer instead of the old ones that came with the house! (Well, after I have Jeremy help me move them from the workshop...)

Now I get to drag Dorian around with me today on a quest to find some appropriate storage furniture and a work table.

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And in totally unrelated news-- I had this conversation with Dorian a couple of days ago:

Dorian: Mom, you're the greatest woman in town!

Me: You think?!

Dorian: Well... maybe Miley Cyrus is.

The fact that Miley does not live anywhere near our town, probably has never heard of our town and quite possibly will never visit our town did not matter to dear DeeDee. So, currently, I have a 4.5 year old obsessed with Miley Cyrus and a 7.5 year old who is in love with a video game character. Lord have mercy on me this summer vacation!

Mental Health Day

Jeremy's boss decided he needed a mental health day on Friday, but it really turned out to be one for me. And not just because I had had 2 kids home for spring vacation* for 6 days at that point either.

No, I took the opportunity to strong-arm Jeremy into helping me paint the dining room-- an event I've been waiting for for too long. (Note that this post was written one year ago exactly.)

We picked white for the dining room, since all the other rooms have color, and my dishes are all different colors and I didn't want too much clashing. And my cousin pointed out that I don't want to have a "clown house." Unfortunately, all I could say when it was done was, "It's so... white." So we hung up our artwork, and it is better. Now we just need an appropriately sized table.

And lest it seem finished, I have this little reminder until I make it to the hardware store to buy one of those silly plates to cover the chimney flue:
Now I just need to do the laundry room... I've got the paint-- I just need the time.

*During vacation, we went to an artist's workshop and Sebastian's picture was taken for the paper.

March Miss Lady Sweater Done!

It looks boxier lying on the floor than it does on me. (I hope.)

I may decide to change the "sleeves" a little, but otherwise it is fine. And with Ben's help, I found the perfect buttons. Not the ones I had in mind originally, but I'm happy with them.

My hands are sore

I'm not sure that the 4 to 5 hours of knitting I did yesterday were entirely advisable, however I do have something to show for it.

I finished the body of my little red riding hood. Jeremy's boss gave me a ton of red yarn she decided she would never use, so I am using two strands at once to make this bulky, top-down jacket. I'm just expanding on the bulky shrug pattern that I made a while ago to add long sleeves and a hood.

And I finished my socks this morning. All that was left last night was the toe of the second sock, but the pain in my wrist at 10pm told me it was better to stop and pick it up again in the morning. I'm glad I listened to myself for a change.

And, look! They match almost exactly!

Finally, check out this scrumptious little stack:

All it needs is an ice cream cone underneath. This pile will eventually become a color work beret sample for the store. If I don't eat it first.

Finally!

I love it, Jeremy! Thank you!

Uncle Jack came to visit this weekend, which was a pretty momentous occasion. For one reason or another, we only got to see Jack twice in the first 3 and a half years of Dorian's life. But now, we've gotten to see him twice in less than a year. Yay for that! You see, he hadn't gotten around to mailing the boys' Xmas present so he decided it would be easier to just deliver it himself. (And it probably was, since it was a giant slot car track which has taken over the dining room.)

We went sledding, had a visit with my aunt Marian and my cousin Chelsea and Chelsea's son Lincoln, and just enjoyed Jack's company for the little time we had with him. Sunday we went bowling before he was on his way South again and I was off to work. And if I hadn't accidentally taken his turn once, he would have beaten me.

I hope this is the beginning of a new trend of seeing him more often. I certainly wouldn't mind going back to Chincoteague this year...

The phone call

Yesterday morning I got one of those calls that puts you on edge, certain that there has been a death or some other tragedy. The phone call early in the morning*, serious voice at the other end of the line.

But then it was just my little brother asking if he could come visit this weekend! For which the answer could only be, "Of course!" I've got plans, lots of plans, to fit into a 36 hour period. Can't wait...

*Okay, so it was already after 9am and I was just pretending to be asleep so I could read in peace.

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...

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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...