A Case of "the Sorries..."

Lately Will's favorite thing to say is "I'm sorry." He apologizes to us, the daycare, our dog Joey and even his toys! It's very polite, but I have no idea where he picked it up. I was starting to think he said it just because and didn't really understand what "sorry" means. Then, at the beginning of this week I discovered that he had gotten into my knitting bag. I'd carelessly left it out in the living room instead of tucking it between the table and chair like I usually do, and the project that I had been working on had been completely frogged, with the needles thrown across the room and yarn stretching from one room to the next.

Panic!!! I wasn't really mad per se, as I hadn't gotten too far into that project. But I still don't want him to go into that bag. So I called him over and asked "Will, did you do this?" He said "Yeah....." and instantly put on his pouty sad face. I told him that he had done a naughty thing and shouldn't play with Mommy's knitting. He ran away because he was upset, but two minutes later and he's back, putting his head in my lap. "I'm sorry Mommy.......I'm sorry."

"Awwww Buddy. I forgive you!"

Felting It!

I've completed my first felted item. I knit a multicolored, striped scarf and with baited breath, dropped it in my washing machine and set it on the hot cycle. I was really freaked out about letting it go in there....but took the plunge anyway. (ha ha)

Finished knitting, pre-felting

I liked how the sides curled inward, and the fuzziness. It really does feel like thick felt!

The end results were surprising, but good altogether. I did learn a few things though:

1. Be prepared to clean out your washing machine when finished. The basin of my washer looked like a multicolored yeti had taken a bath!

2. If you are going to felt a knitted project, make sure that you make it bigger and wider than what you want your finished product to be. I was a little shocked at how skinny the scarf got!

3. It will take several runs with the lint roller or a comb to get it to stop shedding so badly.

4. Felting really does take care of all those little "mistakes!" Like the little holes left from dropped stitches, and the fact that the ends weren't even. Yahoo! I might felt EVERYTHING!

So, all told, I'd definitely felt something again! So different...and cool to look at!

Progress Report

Swim, swim, swim.........lots of activity lately and not much time coming up to breathe!!

First, I think my family's recovered from the sickness. Seems like everyone I know has had a bout with this stomach bug. Luckily, I was never affected other than having to do stinky laundry and try to be a "boo-boo fixer," hug administrator and errand-runner. I feel very lucky, but refuse to gloat in it, because you know only too well when you do a victory dance. :)

I FINALLY got my tooth fixed today!! As freaked out as I was by it, I have no more throbbing and can eat without tears. No crunchy foods just yet, I get my crown next week. But that night's dinner will be hard shell tacos and raw carrots!! Doesn't sound appealing? It doesn't sound great to me either but I COULD have it if I wanted it!

Anyway, in the true spirit of taking a break, I used a sick day today to recover from the root canal and take care of myself for a change. I've needed a "mental break" for a while now, and today was a justified reason. Justified by ME. No dishes. No laundry. No cussing out the vacuum. No stressing over the calendar. No paperwork No phone ringing off the hook. Just me and Joey, watching TV and knitting. (Joey's a waayyy better knitter than I ever could be!)

I ordered a copy of "Stitch n Bitch, A Knitter's Handbook" which came highly recommended by some of my knitting friends. (Not Joey, he prefers "Knitting for Dummies," when he isn't creating his own patterns) I'm more than halfway finished making a striped scarf for a friend, and I am going to try to felt it. I'm told that this is easy to achieve by putting said scarf on the hot water cycle, then letting it dry naturally. I'm also told that this will make my mistakes on said scarf invisible, which I am all for! I made a white scarf for another friend that I am going to try to add fringe to the edges. I feel a bit like a one-trick pony, with all of the scarves, but I am trying to learn something new with each one of them. I did also see a cool Christmas present idea that I could make for my friends this year. It's never too early to start thinking about these things....

Bunch of Sickies...

You know how you always look forward to three-day weekends? I don't know why I still do. It usually ends up not going as planned. Will was sick on Saturday. The most romantic way to celebrate Valentine's Day? You and your lovey mopping puke, changing pajamas, sheets and t-shirts. Several times. Nothing says "committment" like that! It was weird that Will was sick, because the throwing up was the only thing going. No fever, cold, etc. And it came without warning. Crazy! Yesterday he was fine, if not a little whiney. Todayhe's flat-out whiney and I can't figure out why. Brian's also sick now, and I'm suffering still from "The Toothache from Hell." It has varying stages of pain; once the infection cleared up I was doing a lot better. Now it's really bad again and I'm back to soft stuff like oatmeal and smoothies whenever possible, or cutting my food into miniscule pieces. Wednesday's my root canal and (gulp!) I'm really looking forward to it!!

Comedy of Errors

It's been a banner of a week.

So far, I've bought Valentines for everyone except MY Valentine! I picked out two cards for Will and none for Hubby. Then we were in Walmart tonight and I picked up sandwiches at the Subway inside while Brian checked out our merchandise. How romantic, he checked out his OWN card! I've replaced toiletry items that I thought I left at Target, at the end of the week they turned up under the guest bed. And my personal favorite? I came thisclose to backing out of my driveway with a pan of spinach manicotti on my hood! I was bringing it to a friend after work today and they were a pain-in-the-butt to make; watching them splatter perfectly all over my Escape and then driveway would've been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Hooray for a three-day weekend! And not to mention mine and Hubby's joint Valentine's Day Gift to each other--Nintendo Wii!!! We're both going to be hopelessly addicted by morning. :)

Happy Birthday, Joey!

Sundays are a nice day. We wake up a little later, have breakfast and then get about our day. Usually it involves grocery shopping, cleaning and running around like crazy! But this week I banged out all of the shopping on Friday so there's a bit of time to just hang out. Plus, it's Joey's Birthday today!!!

Happy Birthday to my furkid, Joey. I simply cannot believe he's 7 years old today! We got Joey at the shelter seven years ago this summer. He was "the baby" before Will, and he still remembers! So Happy Birthday, Sweet Joe. We love you!

The cake at Joey's First Birthday in 2003. It was a special dog recipe, and the damn thing weighed like five lbs!

Hanging out with his Nana at the first birthday party. (Yes that's a party hat, go ahead and laugh)

Watching Eagles football with Daddy in 2004

Posing like a good doggie

Being the protective "Big Brother" to a 2-month-old Will

Joey this past fall with Alana. Everyone that comes to visit gets the same treatment: "Pay attention to me!! Nobody loves me here!" :)

"Shout out to the 508"

My husband got a new cellphone a few months ago. Before, he had a company-issued one, so when he left his job for a new one, he had to get a new cellphone added to our account with my cellphone. When the phone company gave him a choice of phone numbers, he picked one with a different area code.

I've got to admit.....remembering his number is kicking my butt!! It's an area code that I'm familiar with, but I always go to call him, enter "(508)" and then curse because I did it again! Augh!

Maybe I should give up and read my phone's manual on how to program numbers into speedial. Then that would just be giving in.......

Drive Safe!

Our little piece of New England got a bit more snow today, it was a few flurries early this morning that morphed into heavier snow later on. I dropped Will off at daycare this morning, lately he's really excited to be going to "Auntie's." He talks about it all the way there and then bursts into her house yelling her name and rushing to give her hugs. It makes me feel good, knowing how happy he is to be going! Anyway, as I was pulling the car out of her driveway, I noticed that he was playing with her Thomas trains on the front windowsill inside, so I beeped my horn, waved and blew him a kiss. He got kind of excited and was yelling something to me that I obviously couldn't hear.

A few streets away while waiting for a light, my cellphone rings. I glance down and it's the daycare. My first though is "Oh God, what's wrong??" I answer, and she tells me that she just had to call and tell me how cute my kid is. Here's what he yelled after I beeped the horn:

"Bye Bye Mommy! Careful....raining!" :)