Oh, look at what arrived in my mail today!

My friend Erica kindly and beautifully embroidered our names on towels, so I know who to yell at when I find a towel lying on the floor.








They are so perfect for my new bathroom, I am giddy. I made those curtains, btw. My second ever sewing project. I won't disclose how long it took or how many times I had to rip out the little hole I was supposed to leave open for the curtain rod to go through.

























Dominic enjoyed snuggling his towel:
























Thank you, Erica! You are a queen!

It was a g&t kinda night tonight...

I drank my first while making dinner. The second while making the kids clean up after dinnner. Gotta do that more often.

The 6 yo son is scheduled for a t&a on Oct. 3rd. At first, I couldn't believe that the medical professionals actually call a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy a "t&a" with a straight face, because I could hardly stand to look them in the eye when they said that. Anyway, now that my son knows the term "t&a" I can't wait to see how the public reacts the first time he says it.

So, now that I got that childish bit out, I'm searching the web for enough soft foods to sustain him for two weeks. He's kind of on the skinny side, so I'm a little worried about him losing too much weight after. Although, he did inform me that marshmallow shakes would be just perfect.

Homecoming--*sob*

Yesterday was Homecoming at my daughter's school. First of all, I was floored to hear that middle school kids have Homecoming. Second of all, I couldn't believe it was treated like high school Homecoming. To an extent--no dinners out, but the manicures, the dresses, the hair, the tears over dates, ay yi yi.

My daughter is on the left.


She would kill me if she knew I was posting this picture on the internet. This is my reward for being perpetually on the road yesterday to get her beautiful and ready to dance with the infamous Ian.

This is sleazy...even for Republicans


I got a phone call this morning from a Deborah Cochran from Senator Tom Reynolds' office. I won a congressional award and they need to send me a press packet.

Instead of being thrilled, I was instantly suspicious and Googled the good Senator and looked up his phone numer. It didn't match the number I was given: 866-338-8289. So, I Googled the number and found this.

Can I just say how pissed I am at the underhanded way this is handled? How I am writing a letter to the editor of my newspaper today about this? Tsk tsk.

What to do about Twinkies?




I try to pack nutritious lunches for my son and bypass things like Flamin' Hot Cheetos because they just freak me out.

Now, I'm not totally anti-sugar. I include homemade pudding, cake, stuff like that. However, I found out that the son is just eating that junk from his friends' lunches. They share the Fruit Roll Ups, and the Twinkies and the damn Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Do I just give in and buy that stuff? It's so irritating because it's so much cheaper in this country to eat that crap. You can buy a box of 12 Twinkies for something like $2. TWO DOLLARS. I pay more than that for a bag of apples.

I was listening to the radio this morning and am heart-sick to hear that the issues in Darfur are not getting better and are, in fact, expected to get much worse. Nothing bothers me nearly as much as genocide. It's human nature at it's very very worst.

The Genocide Intervention Network is doing wonderful work in the Darfur region, helping to protect the innocent. Please go read about their mission and how you can help.

I get a kick out of bands who don't take it all so seriously. OK Go seems to be in that vein, along with bands like They Might be Giants and Bare Naked Ladies. If you need a giggle (and I did because the President is on TV right now) watch this video. It's a much better use for treadmills than the norm, I think.



- "Here It Goes Again"

EDITED because the direct video link was messing up my blog. I think it was coded to work with My Space users.

If you love Project Runway, raise your hand


I don't know why, but I am totally addicted to this show this season. I usually really don't get into any reality TV, but I suppose since it's about the designs and less about the designers, I like it more.

This week, one of my faves, Kayne was out. Good-bye, sweet Kayne. For what it's worth, I thought your couture gown was beautiful. Here's a nice interview of Kayne that I found online.

Dibs on who wins? I think Michael.

*Whew*

I don't know why the pictures insist on staying where they are instead of letting me move them around. But I'm too tired to worry about it right now.

Hold my hand, please


I'm about to send this into the washer and dryer to felt. Eeks.

Been buying books


I bought this yesterday from Barnes and Noble online. Also bought this for my daughter.

I was looking for the father of that mean girl last night at Open House, but he wasn't there. Darn. I did, however, receive glowing reports from all of my daughter's teachers that she is doing well so far. She is also the Editor in Chief of the yearbook this year! That is totally rocking since I was a total Publications geek in middle school and high school.

I like this seller at Etsy and think I'll buy something to give to the daughter as a congratuations gift.

Mean Girls



Suck. Seriously, sometimes I loathe the fact that I am female. And that I had a daughter who is female. Because girls suck. Mean girls suck even more. Today's post is not going to be about womanly comradeship, it's gonna be about middle school girls who are awful.



My daughter has a friend who is pretty manipulative and always manages to get my daughter feeling bad about calling this girl on her lies and crap like that. So, today is the beginning of Plan B. I told her there's no rule that says she has to be best friends with this girl forever. That there are, in fact, a whole world full of girls out there to be friends with. Many of whom are not little snotty punks who take pleasure in being mean.

Now, I'm not for a second thinking that my daughter is 100% innocent--I know how girls are. But I also know she is not good at defending herself and is too kind for her own good sometimes. She and I know this girl comes from a messed up home situation. She thinks being a good friend means taking all the crap from this girl. Nuh-uh.

So, back to Plan B....she has a friend from ballet who is really wonderful. I'm encouraging more time spent with this girl and a few others who manage to stay out of the drama and focus on the things that are more important and fulfilling--dance, school, having fun without worrying that the next day at school will bring some kind of twisted argument.

Please wish us luck.

On a brighter note

This is some yummy Montana yarn that I dyed these pink and green shades. What will I do with them?









Here's a hint--and NO it's not a sleeping mask for a cat, but an experiment with felting:

5 Years Later

Each year, the pain of 9/11 does not get easier. I don't know if it ever will. Now, I know why they reminisce about where they were when JFK was murdered. This is a universal pain, more for others, less for some.

On that day, I was keening in the bathroom over the loss of a baby. I had only found out one week prior that I was pregnant. It had been a tumultuous week as DH and I struggled to deal with this unplanned pregnancy. Then, in a wink, it was gone. Taken out of our hands. Loss.

After I stumbled out of the bathroom and tried to resemble a normal parent for my then one-year-old son, I turned on the TV for cartoons and saw what had happened. It took me about 2o minutes to realize it was not a joke and take in the horror of what had happened. To me then, my pain was greater than the pain of 9/11. I was not able to grieve for 9/11 until a year later when the shows on television discussed it and re-showed the footage from the people running for their lives in the streets of New York City. Right now, I am crying for them.

My then one-year-old is six now. Listening to NPR this morning for the news, I was awakened to the fact that today is 9/11 again. He heard the discussion and asked me about it.

"Honey, five years ago, some bad people hijacked two planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York City. Lots of people were killed."

He thought about that for a second and asked the defining question:

"Mom, was it an accident or did they do it on purpose?"

It broke my heart to have to tell him. "On purpose."

I have seen flags all around today as I drove him to school. To all of us, being patriotic means different things. Hold your flag in your heart, next to your hope for the future of our children. Hold your loved ones today and hope.

Today is being spent dealing with something like 20 lbs. of tomatoes.

Also, finished felting some slipper socks that are up for auction to benefit the Fiber Arts Avengers here:

http://www.wahmchicks.com/auctiondetails.php?id=1418


Need to take the daughter to auditions for the Nutcracker today, as well. Tell her to break a leg!

Yesterday I made some really great banana bread using this recipe from Cooking Light. It has RUM and COCONUT in it with a lime glaze. YUM.

WOOT! Brenda Dayne is a goddess!

I don't know if you listen to Cast-On but I love Brenda Dayne and think her podcast is one of the best. I sent her an email about a group of fiber artists I belong to called the Fiber Arts Avengers

and asked her to spam us on her podcast for our fund raising efforts. We raise money to sponsor ladies who walk in the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. This year's auctions are starting up NOW so go and see if you can find something you love. More goodies will be going up soon, including a pair of felted slipper socks I've been working on, please don't mind the funky picture, it's a quickie so I can finish knitting it's mate:

I've never been able to adequately capture this colorway in a picture--it's a mix of teals, turquoise, periwinkle and blue that I kettle dyed so it avoids pooling too badly. This is a very nice soft yarn, so they won't itch and will keep your tootsies nice and warm :)


So, go and bid, it's for a great cause!

I'm dipping my toe into eBay. I haven't in a long time, but what the heck. I saw that they have added this category since my last foray for custom, hand-made clothing. WOOHOO.

So, here's the auction , if you want to take a peep, it's for a little "Snug" if you need a warm sweater jacket.

I used a new program called iSale to list the auction, made for Macs and I gotta tell you, it's pretty slick. They let you try it out for three auctions for free. They have lots of nice templates although if I decide to purchase it, I may give creating my own template a shot so I can incorporate my logo and all.

The downfalls are:

not totally easy to get rid of the pictures they stick in the templates
you cannot do any html coding in the text boxes, so clickable links are out
you cannot use an online photo server like photobucket for your pictures, they want you to use eBay's photo service, .Mac (great if you have an acct.) or ftp.

But the rest is really great. If you're not totally computer savvy, you can use this program with ease. You can drop and drag photos from your computer, or click a button and up pops your photo library from iPhoto. The program makes it easy to track your auctions, tracks your hits and is really pretty to look at. :)

the bug is back

creativity abounds tonight. i'm tackling some of the "how will i do this?" portions of some patterns that i keep sketching and have a question for you--

do you know of a knit stitch that looks like weaving besides the slip stitch variations?

i could use a little loom if have to, but i don't want to.

the bug is back

creativity abounds tonight. i'm tackling some of the "how will i do this?" portions of some patterns that i keep sketching and have a question for you--

do you know of a knit stitch that looks like weaving besides the slip stitch variations?

i could use a little loom if have to, but i don't want to.

If you're a wife--How have you evolved?

This is something I've been thinking about for a while here.

Stage 1:

I started out in the Honeymoon stage. I pampered my husband and did all the housewifely duties cheerfully (and sometimes quite enthusiastically).

Stage 2:

Then, I decided all this pampering was for the birds and I am not his mother, I am mother to three kids. I stopped picking up his socks and putting them in the laundry chute. I also stopped putting his clothes away.

Stage 3:

I've actually been actively pushing the husband out of the nest, forcing him to learn scary new computer skills, cooking skills, and ironing skills. I find it most un-sexy when my husband requires my attention in a "motherly" way.

I guess the thing is--I want more than to be a wife and mother. I used to think it was alright for ME, but it's not. So now I have to get my kids and husband to accept this, too. Is this fair for them? To pull this switch-a-roo on them?

Our basement got a little water after the storms last night. I went down today and looked around and pitched a bunch of stuff that had been sitting down there because my husband is a packrat of the worst kind--icky stuffed animals that his parents give the kids from garage sales and other fun items like that.

Then, I plugged in the Shop Vac and sucked up the millions of spider webs and spiders that had been hanging out down there. It was so satisfying, it's scary.

I think I've now earned myself an afternoon of knitting while the youngest is napping.

Today was like spring. Thunderstorms and tornado warnings in SEPTEMBER? Over 6 inches of rain and cars are flooded up to their windshields in parts of the city. Basement walls are collapsing. Power is out in a lot of areas. We made it home from a party just in time to avoid swimming home and have power. We are so lucky.

This weekend has been one long growing pain. In many different ways, there have been pains.

The barely teenaged daughter (13) has been the opposite of fun to talk to, extract information from, and shop with. Her feet are to put it mildly--huge. All the friends are wearing cute slip on Vans but her feet are too wide for these shoes. We finally found a pair of Rocket Dog shoes that would fit but of course they weren't "in" or "cool" or "whatever" enough. Poor thing was in tears over the size of her feet.

Then, she lied to me about using my makeup. So, we have THAT. If she would have been honest and not such a snot when confronted with her lie, it would have gone so much better for her.

Growing pains--they hurt. I am dealing with the fact that I am not cool, and I apparently have no fashion sense. Also, feeling like the only thing she wants from me is stuff and money and rides to places bites.

The 6 yo son has expressed interest in being like everyone else. We've been using the Laptop Lunchbox to avoid throwing plastic bags away all of the time and last year, he loved it. This year? He wants a lunchbox like all of the other kids. NOT THAT PHRASE AGAIN! I'm trying to kick up the menu for his lunches to see if that will help at all. Tomorrow is this kick-ass chocolate pudding from my boyfriend Alton Brown on the Food Network.

On a more fun note, I also found myself a cute pair of shoes since my Bjorns finally kicked the bucket. I brought these home and wore them out today and they are perfect. Comfy and cute.

I'm feeling a drain on my creativity lately. All these ideas I had sketched out are not coming to fruition because I know if I pick up the needles while not inspired, it will all go wrong.

So I'm sticking to tried and true things until it comes back. I think there have been too many different things pulling at my brain and body lately and I need to try to streamline some things.

I wish that old Seinfeld trick worked--

"SERENITY NOW!"

On a more fun note, JCPenney has Chuck Taylors on sale now for kids--buy 1 pair, get the next pair for $1. So both my boys are sporting black Chucks and I think they are the cutest thing ever.

So, Marnie

Please ask The Squid to stop giving Dominic ideas.

The son is successfully started at his new school. The first day went well, and his teacher called last night to give us a report--all glowing, of course. See, I have one of *those* kids. It took me by suprise when I first noticed that I had one of *those* kids.

My son can charm the pants off of anyone around. I thought he was gorgeous and darling when he was born, of course. But then his personality took over (even though he refused to sleep for the first two years of his life and was sick every other week) and I cannot take him anywhere without someone gushing over him. And I'm used to gushing. My daughter receives frequent comments on her looks, her manners and so on while we're out in public. My youngest son is so cute it's silly. But it's ridiculous with my older son. I can't go to the gynecologist without him without getting a smackdown for not bringing him with so they can chat with him. I can't go to the dentist without the same thing happening. The pediatrician's office? Ridiculous. "Look, he said 'I feel nauseous'. Isn't that cayoot?!?" My aunt calls frequently just to talk to him. All of his teachers have loved him. All of the parents in the classes love him. He's just one of those kids. I hope he uses this power for good and not evil. I hope he avoids places like Las Vegas and Hollywood.

Anyway, enough of that, I'm sure your eyes are glazing over at my unabashed gloating.

So, the new school--my poor husband is having an inferiority complex due to his vehicle. See, it's mostly Lexus, BMW, Mercedes there. And here comes my husband in the '93 Subaru station wagon. We're waiting until it dies before going for a hybrid for him to drive to work...but anyway, this is going to be a good way to learn what our values are in regards to money and possessions.

Do I wish I have the money for manicures and fabulous shoes and a better haircut? Absolutely. But, I thank my lucky stars that we were able to afford to send him to this school. And hopefully, one day, with the education he's received at this school and his special skills at charming people, our son can pick us up in his expensive vehicle as thanks.