Just Jump

We took the kids to Maine this weekend.  It was to visit my college friends Lexi and Maureen, but ironically, we were going north and avoiding the snow.  That sounds so weird to say!

We had a good time, visiting, going out to eat, shopping, etc.  We went to the LL Bean store in Freeport, ME. I always forget just how big that place is, it's really a complex!

Another thing we did---we took the kids swimming in the hotel pool.  They LOVED it and it wore them out.  One of the things that they really like to do is jump off the side into the shallow end.  they coaxed me to do it from the deep(er) end and I told them that I was trying not to get my hair wet.

As soon as I said it, I paused:  "Did I really just say that?  REALLY?  Do I want to be that Mom?  No.  And so I jumped.

The cheers were worth it.  The awkward SLAP against the water, was not.  Nothing a little trip to the hot tub couldn't fix.

There.  I'm still a cool mom.  Thought we were slipping there a little bit.

A Very Scattered Wednesday Post

-My calendar, both personally and professionally, is looking ridiculous for March.  I'm wondering how to clone Brian and I and see how we can get things done.  Doctors appointments (my first with the kidney specialist), birthday parties, school stuff, etc.  Aughhh!

-But on the good news front, Maureen is coming to visit this weekend!  We're going to eat delicious food at home, and do some serious knitting.  It sounds so, so good.

-Piles of snow everywhere.  It's all anyone can talk about, that and the condition of the roads.  It's getting depressing.  Spring is coming, right?

-We had a pipe freeze in the house again. With the re-zoning of the house, it only took out the bedrooms while the rest of the house was toasty.   Brian and I went out to a nice sushi dinner last Friday and afterwards we had a romantic time trolling the local 24-hour Walmart and scoring the last two space heaters in the place.  Brian's finally isolated the issue in the garage, and we're making amends so this doesn't happen anymore.  And hurrah...no broken pipes when it thawed!  I love plastic pipes.

-Speaking of house things....we're re-doing the master bathroom!  No more pale, newspaper-background paint and white beadboard.  It's going to be lovely when it's finished.  Right now it's not-so-lovely and on it's way to being trashed.  When it's done in hopefully a few weeks though, it's going to be pretty and so worth it.

-Knitting for some babies being born on Brian's side of the family this year!  Now that the Wallaby sweater for Will is done, I'm working on a scarf for my old assistant, Leona.  It's in bright pinks and purples because she loves brights best.  THEN bring on the baby knitting!!!

I guess that's all the news that's fit to print.  

My (Almost) Waterloo

This sweater.  It's called the "wonderful Wallaby" and I've been working on it since June.  I remember starting it while binge-watching the second season of Orange is the New Black.  Every time I came to an intimidating part, I'd put it down and fret.  The first spot was the pouch.  But then I just pushed through and did it, and the construction was fun.  A little unorthodox but fun!    Then came the fusing of the top of the pouch, and I hid from that for a little while.  I was hoping to finish it in time for Will's birthday in October.  That deadline whooshed by and then I was caught up in Christmas knitting.

 Finally I determined that this thing needed to be done before my big kid grew out of it.  I picked it back up and cast on the sleeves, and carried them everywhere until they were done.  Each sleeve was thirteen inches long, so this went on for awhile.  I joined them to the body with much fanfare, and started to make the yoke.  Everything was going great!  I wasn't even worrying about the kitchener stitch for the underarms.  (Kitchener stitch,  for the uninitiated, is a way of joining stitches together in a bit of a daunting way.  It's also how you finish the toes of a pair of socks.)

Then the big roadblock came.....ready to rib the neckline and make the hood.  That's when I discovered that I had 54 additional stitches on the needles.  And naturally, I had removed the stitch markers that were showing where the decreases should be.  Ahhhhhhhh!  Brian gently suggested I put it down for a couple of days instead of ripping out rounds like a maniac.  And a bit of a pleasant surprise....I listened.  Two days later, I was ready to take action.  It took an entire evening in front of the TV, but I managed to rip out a couple of rounds and re-place the markers.  This is a testament to how far I've come, because there was a time that having to pull out several rounds would've been my undoing, I've put projects in permanent time-out for less!

You didn't beat me, Wallaby.  I beat you.  And now Will has a great sweater that goes with everything.  See that smile?  That's what this is all about.

By the way....Will wanted to make sure everyone saw the pouch, so he used his two favorite stuffed animals to illustrate.  That's Brownie on the left and Oshawott from Pokemon on the right.  And nope, he's not photogenic AT ALL.  :)

The One-Upper

I'm such an overachiever.  Apparently, when my family gets sick, I feel the need to trump whatever they've had.  I started to feel crappy after the Superbowl, and then woke up with a fever and burning in my chest.  And here comes another Snow Day.  (Mondays are shot up here in New England.  We've had something like 75 inches of snow in a two-week time period, it's crazy.)  It was my turn to stay home with the kids and I was sick besides.  Then another snow day for the little kid the following day.  I finally rouse myself out of my bedroom around lunchtime and decide:  it's time to go to the doctor.  So off we go to the urgent care place in town where I get a big, unpleasant surprise.....THE FLU.    Awesomesauce.

So that's a week's worth of missed work, snowed in and feeling like death.  Good times for everyone.  I don't wish it on anyone, it's pretty damn awful.  I'm getting myself back on track, and hoping that it stops snowing long enough to get some normalcy back in our lives.

In other news, the only place I was able to drag myself out to last week (once I wasn't contagious) was to register Sean for kindergarten.  That's right, the "baby" is heading to Big Boy School in September!  I feel like I just did this with Will and I guess in a way, I have.  But the difference this time is that I'm looking forward to it.  I'm thrilled with the idea of both boys being in the same town and going on the same bus, albeit to different schools.  And man, this kid is READY.  He's bored with preschool and can't wait for the next thing.

So that's how life goes in our house.  Hopefully soon we'll all be healthy again!  I'm really looking forward to it.

French Toast Fever

Brace yourselves!  It's a New England storm warning!  The storm to end all storms!  They're predicting more than two feet of snow in our area.  Better get all the ingredients for french toast (gotta get the milk and bread, gotta get the milk and bread!)  and don't forget the toilet paper.  :)  This reminds me of an old Bill Engvall routine..."There is a snow warning in your area!  Go to the store, buy bread, horde gas....if you are an elderly American you will not survive this storm."  :)

We've had a good year thus far concerning snowstorms, so hey, whatever.  We've got plenty of gas, food, batteries and flashlights, and (hopefully) entertainment.  Well, I've got plenty of knitting,  so bring it on.

That Neverending Cleaning Thing

The Craft Room Cleanout marches on.  The floor is finally clear, but every surface is littered with stuff.  I've got all of my knitting needles tossed into a laundry basket, which is kind of pointless since they're all poking OUT of the basket.  I've put aside a bunch of yarn from leftover projects and single, lonely skeins (Looking for love on Match.com) that I'm putting to use in a new yearlong charity project.  I'm going to make hats and mittens for the local Youth and Family Services outlet, and donate them at the end of the year.  And man, do I have unfinished projects, a lot of cross-stitch stuff mostly.  Some baby blanket squares that just need to be sewn together, then donated.  Some things require more work, but many are just a couple of hours away from being a work in progress to a finished object!

two things I learned at Christmastime this year...to avoid excess stress, upload pics throughout the year instead of all at once and WEAVE IN YOUR ENDS, DAMMIT.

But now it's time for another game of:   Finish or Frog?

This damned, damned sweater.  I started it in March of 2012...at the wedding of my brother in law in Pennsylvania. Literally....I was working on it in the church during rehearsal.  All that's left is button and neck bands, and short sleeves.  Why is that, you say?  The sleeves have too many stitches to do them on double-pointed needles and FOR SHAME I have not yet taken the time to learn the Magic Loop method.  From what I understand it will take a Youtube video or two and I'll be good to go.  So....laziness?  It stays in the "finish pile."

This is a cute sweater.  I started it...oh I don't know, two years ago for my niece?  It certainly won't fit her now, and I screwed up royally on the lace bottom.  But for some reason I just cannot bring myself to frog it.  Maybe I'll put button bands on it and give it a good soak, then put it in a pile for gifts.  The only person that knows there are mistakes is me.  Well, now YOU know, but are you gonna tell??  :)

An adorable baby blanket that I started last year.  It's more complicated looking than it actually is, the hearts are pretty easy to make.  What happened with this project is that I started working on other things and didn't note where I was in the pattern......so I'm going to frog it.  Perhaps I'll start it again later, it seems less maddening to do that than try to figure out what the hell I am supposed to do next.

 My 2012 Ravellenic Games project.  The idea is to start a project during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, and be finished with it by the end of the Closing Ceremony.  There are people out there that start adult-sized sweaters during this time, AND finish!  I chose a shawl, the Marrowstone Shawl to be exact.   Major fail, I got the lace edging done and never went back.  I should've chosen a freakin' hat.  Time to frog, my dear, no matter how pretty the lace is.

Lastly....a pair of plain vanilla socks for me that I started in the old house.  I moved 18 months ago.  (Have you noticed that "Projects for me" always take a backseat?) I'm at the toes of the first sock.  Finish Pile.

And now, instead of "having to" buy a second bookcase, I have room for things!

These Winter Blues

I'm not typically a whiner about winter.  I live in New England, I expect snow and cold.  But this winter can turn even the cheeriest person into a gripe.  Polar vortex dropping temps into the negatives, huge snowstorms, surprise snow totals, freezing rain, freezing pipes, permafrost, cracked sidewalks, icy roads, cracked skin, etc etc etc.  Kids out of school due to storms.....MOTHER NATURE WE GET IT YOU ARE ALL POWERFUL.  Now, please think some warm thoughts like spring breezes and crocuses.  No one likes Easter egg hunting in a winter jacket.

So how does one beat these winter blues?  Well, I like to knit.  I know, when DON'T I like to knit.  And in defiance to Mother Nature, I cast on a cotton summer dress for my niece.  It's using up several skeins of purple worsted cotton in my stash and should be ready to wear when the weather warms up.  I don't care if the pattern says that it could be worn over a long-sleeve t-shirt, I'm choosing to ignore that!   I'd like to say that going to knitting meetup on Wednesday nights is helping, but two of them have been cancelled recently due to weather.  (Mother Nature, you're killin' me.)

Getting out of the house helps, too.  Brian and I had tickets to see Alton Brown's "The Inevitable Edible" tour last weekend.  Despite getting some more of the white stuff, we got there.  If you've ever read my food blog you know that A.B.  is my husband's idol.  When I heard that he was coming to town I just KNEW that we had to get tickets.  What I didn't know was how funny and sincere he is, and how hard I would laugh during his show.  If you ever get a chance to see him live, you should.

Let's see, what else helps?  Oh I know.... planning our first garden for this house!   I didn't get to have a garden last year due to the move and I was seriously bummed.  This year Brian and I have all sorts of plans, starting with deck boxes of fresh herbs.  We're also going to build a raised bed and grow carrots, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.  That's the plan anyway.

So there you have it....my plan to keep Mother Nature from getting the best for me.  And besides, she's got to crave sunshine and warm weather sometime.  

Another Snow Day!

Another New England Storm....another Snow Day.

So far we've made the best of it and had dog-piles:

and sculpted towers with hangers.  Oh, and my craft room is pulled apart due to an energy audit yesterday.  The guy had to get into the attic and guess where the entry is?

We've also had a little bit of productivity.  When we moved out of our old house, we sentimental types took the piece of trim from the boys' room that had all of their height measurements on it.  Since the trim in this house isn't the same, Brian took the time to transfer all of the measurements to the trim by the boys' closet door.

So all in all it's been a good day so far.  As long as we keep the kids busy and entertained, we'll be OK.  The dead TV in the family room certainly isn't helping, though.

E-Z Bake

We gave Will an Easy Bake oven for Christmas this year.  He loves to bake with his Dad so I thought it would be a cool gift.  He thought so too....upon peering in the bag, before gleefully shouting the contents he said "AWESOME!!!  Now, Dad....this is mine."  :)  We've already made chocolate chip cookies in it and I have to say, they weren't half bad.  it also came with mixes for vanilla and strawberry cakes, chocolate icing, whoopie pies and pretzels with nacho cheese sauce.

Tonight, Will wanted to make "pretzel appetizers" for when Dad got home from work.  We've got an "extended" winter break with two snow days, so we are all developing a bit of cabin fever.  So any ideas of new activities is great at this point!

The pretzels?  Tasted horrible.  The cheese sauce?  Beyond reproach.  Even Will said so, though not those exact words.  They had fun though, and have absolutely decided that it should be done again and again.  "Only we'll make just sweet things, Mom."  I've  played around on Pinterest a bit to see if one can make their own mixes for this thing instead of just buying the mixes that the Easy Bake Oven Manufacturer puts out.  Because that is obviously where they make their money, and I'll bet there are better-tasting ones out there.  After tonight, I know it for sure!

Let it Snow.....Dammit Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

Not even Christmas yet and we're on the second snowstorm.  This weekend involved eight inches of snow and a birthday party on Sunday morning.  What kind of sadistic soul schedules a birthday party on a Sunday morning?????

Today's snowstorm brought on an early release from school.  That's a special kind of hell, getting your kidsready for school, and then messing up the day to be home for when they get off the bus, etc.  I got the call from Will's school that there was no afterschool program today, which wasn't in the original call.  Naturally, this call came AFTER Brian had left to take Sean to preschool.  Had I known that, I would have kept Sean home with me.  Instead I went to work for 2.5 hours.  And I did it in jeans, a sweater and no makeup.  Yep, I sure did.  The world didn't end, and only one person said "You look really pale, do you feel alright?"  

Now the boys and I are home, and Daddy is at work.  And will likely be at work because his boss doesn't believe in closing early.  Ever.  I've baked cookies though, and am about to settle down and watch Phineas and Ferb with the boys and work on that blue sweater for Sean.  Which is knitting up nicely by the way.  Optimistically, he might be able to wear it on Christmas.  Pessimistically, it will somehow wind up having a third sleeve at the neck.

So keep snowing, dammit.  Snow all you want.  I'm not going to let you break my spirit, Mother Nature.  It's way too early in the season for this New Englander.  :P

Autumn on the Brain

I think that I must have been a teacher in a past life, because as soon as the calendar hits August 1st I'm all "Oh crud....Summer is OVER."  Where it really isn't...and we still have a lot of plans coming up.  However, school starts August 28th so I guess I'm not so far off the mark.  The commercials for "back to school shopping" on TV no longer seem ridiculous, and fall TV promos are starting to leak on Facebook and Direct TV.  So I guess it's only a matter of time.

My head must be in September, though.  Because lately I've been looking at sweater patterns.  I started a sweater for Hubby the other day, and last night I screwed it up promptly.  I was four rows in when I realized that I hadn't changed to smaller needles as the pattern indicates.  And like every other delicate knitter at 10pm that discovers this, I said "screw it" and put it back in the bag to deal with tomorrow.  Or maybe even another day.  I'm doing a really good job not going crazy Christmas-Knitting and the sweater will be done when it's done.  MY sweater still isn't done, and I started it a year and a half ago.  I started it while on a trip for my brother in law's wedding in Pennsylvania.  The sleeves have me flummoxed, because the stitches keep falling off the double-pointed needles.  My friend is going to help me master "Magic Loop" so this frustrating thing can be mastered but she's expecting a baby any day now.  (And yay!  a new baby girl that I got to knit a sweater for...this comes from having boys.  Whenever there's a girl to knit for I just get so excited)

I think that Mother Nature has autumn on the brain, too.  The past few mornings have been cool, crisp and without a cloud in the sky.  Perhaps autumn is her favorite, just like mine.  Chilly night air, apple picking, sweatshirts and jeans coming out of the closet, leaves falling off the trees, I love it all.  The leaves will be interesting this year too, since this is the first time I've had trees in my backyard in a long time.  Also, once the leaves hit the ground it will be "interesting" just to see HOW CLOSE the MassPike is to the house.  Close enough to hear nighttime construction pretty well, is what we found out the other night.  Despite the cool air outside, the windows needed to be shut and AC turned on just to drown out the noise and get some sleep.

So we're enjoying the last few weeks of playing at the park in the warm sunshine, eating ice cream at all the local places and in a week or two, heading to Maine for a short vacation.  You enjoy your rest of the summer, too.  Because all too soon, it will be first grade homework, preschool for the little one and then the dreaded W-word.....WINTER.

Sunshine, Is that You?

It's March 1st!  February is finally over!  I feel this way every year.  For such a short month, February drrraaagggggs.

Today is quite cold, but there's sunshine.  Lots of it.  We're almost there, folks.  Daylight savings time begins in about a week, with spring following shortly after.  New England spring is such a mixed bag, but the snow cannot go on forever. 

It's been a long, busy, sometimes craptastic week.  Work stress, house stress, school stress.  Dentist appointments, specialist appointments, general craziness.  If it can make you crazy, trust me, it's happened in our house in the past week. 

Moving forward:  We've selected a realtor and she is coming this weekend for us to sign the contract, and talk about when we're going to be ready for "primetime."  I've procured boxes from friends to start the big packup for storage.  The house looks like a bomb hit it in some places but hey, it's a selective bomb, only hitting the office for the most part.  We're plugging away. 

And a very happy birthday to my friend Jen!  We miss you bunches and hope you have a great day!

That's it from our neck of the woods, back to you in the station, Bob.  :)

Snow Panic!!!

Leave it to me, to buy a ticket to Tampa in February, thus inviting the biggest blizzard that New England has seen in 20 years.  There's been snow maps and radars that are estimating wildly, somewhere between 18 and 40 inches.  Holy S*!) that's a lot of snow!

Yep.  No school tomorrow already, and I'm trying to think up some activities and pack tomorrow.  Because I know that if I DON'T pack, it will magically work out and I will be frantically trying to throw crap into a suitcase and forget half my stuff.

Any other weekend and I would be absolutely psyched to get snowed in.  I'll let you in on a little Crafty Mama secret:  if all four of us are here, I LOVE getting snowed in.  The world stops for a couple of days and it usually is movies and popcorn, reading books, plenty of knitting time, playing board games and just plain hanging out.  Yes, there's some yelling involved, as well as horseplay, tattling, and possible mini injuries.  (Mommy....Bubby stepped on my foot....kiss it?  my finger hurts....kiss it?  I don't feel so much good.)  

So to all my snow-lovin' friends, you are welcome!  Fingers crossed, but I don't think it's going to do much good.  Plus, crossed fingers are difficult to knit with and I'm finally coming out of the rut.  :)

Three

And now a bright spot in winter:  Sean turns three today!

He woke up this morning kind of like the day he was born with a big healthy screech.  Only this time it wasn't about the cold, bright place, but not wanting to get out of bed.  So I guess it IS kind of the same thing.  Upon wishing him a happy birthday, my "baby" rolled over sleepily and informed me that it wasn't his birthday yet.

Now he's watching "Princess Week" with Bubby on Disney Jr. and enjoying the donuts I bought on the way home from knitting last night.  Tonight, in family Tradition, dinner is whatever he wants.  So we're having chicken, french fries and birthday cake per his request.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!  Mommy, Daddy and Bubby love you more and more every day!

Admitting Defeat

Sometimes, although you hate to do it, you have to admit defeat.

Some time ago, I saw a pattern for a gorgeous lace wool cap, and I decided to make it for myself.  I chose a charcoal gray yarn with a little bit of silver shimmer.  (Berroco Flicker)  Off I went, full speed ahead!  I sat watching the Superbowl, knitting furiously, determined to have a finished hat by the end of the game.  (Alas, it was not meant to be, but sooo close!)  After finishing the hat, I thought that it looked a wee bit small.  Nah.....I'm sure it'll stretch.  After all, it looked small on the model in the pattern but she looked pretty good.

Fast foward to last week:  the only snowstorm we had all winter.  I remember my sparkly new hat and pull it on to go to work in the snow.  Um......it barely covers my ears.  I examine my reflection and come back laughing.....I look ridiculous!

Into the donation bin it goes.  There's got to be someone that this hat will fit and flatter.  Likely, it's going to be a child, a little girl out there that's going to be thrilled with her sparkly new hat.  Rock it, girl!

As for me?  I still have four skeins of the stuff.  A few tweaks to the pattern, and perhaps I'll have my own sparkly lace headwear NEXT winter.  Winter things are kind of already off my radar, I'm dreaming of cottons and spring colors.

Snow Day!!

After an impressively light winter (heck it was practically SPRING a week or so ago!)  we've got some of the wet, slushy stuff.  Last night as I was switching cars with Brian I looked up into the sky and marveled that it's a weird feeling, thinking snow is still "beautiful" come the end of February.  That's because, like many New Englanders, I'm pretty much done with the stuff come January.

No school for Will today.  He's going to spend the day with his Papa, and is totally thrilled to get the alone time! Brian and I, well, we're wishing that grown-ups got snow days still.

There's Always One More....

Putting up Christmas decorations is exciting.  You're full of anticipation, and excited to see the things that celebrate the holiday.  By the time Christmas is over, you want to take it down because you're a little sick of looking at it and kind of just want your living room back.  It's also a well-known fact that for however much time it took to decorate your house for the holidays, multiply that by two and that's how long it's going to take to get it down and put away.

And in our case, after the holidays are over we always find at least ONE thing that we forgot to take down or put away.  Say hello to this year's item, spotted right before Sean's birthday celebration this past weekend:

A fabric wreath, above the family room TV.  Ah well.  January 8th to find the item is actually not bad, usually it's closer to Valentine's Day.  However, this probably means that there's another thing that I just haven't spotted yet.

A Chalky Start

The first day of the year is always a slow, lazy one.  I stay in my pj's until the afternoon, and I putter.  A little knitting, some TV time with the boys, or perhaps even a little "sit and do nothing" time.  But we had to cure some cabin fever and it was pretty nice out for a January day in New England, so we went off to do some shopping.  When we got home, the boys still had some energy to burn.  So hey, why not run around the backyard for a little bit?

And if there's sidewalk chalk too, then that's great.  :)

Yeah, I wear hats now.

I used to be such a priss about hat-wearing in the winter time.  I grew up in New England, I mean, c'mon, it's cold enough here for hats a good part of the year.  As a kid, I'd take it off, because I was "too cool" and apparently hat-wearing was a sign of weakness here in the Bay State.

Well, those days are over.  I am a dork, a weakling and most of all, a hypocrite.  Especially when it comes to my own knitted hats!  The older I get, the colder I get in the winter.  So there.  I wear hats now.  And I'm proud of it.  :)

Donning Mittens for Halloween

I've been listening to the squirrels in the trees in my backyard for most of the summer, and September too.  I've spent a bit of time in my backyard over the past 9-ish years, and I've never heard or noticed them quite like this before.  Every time we open the back door, there's usually two or three (sometimes five!) running along our back fence or skipping along in the grass.  They've been going beserk out there, running up and down and shaking the trees.  They're feverishly storing acorns for the season, and I think I understand their need for speed now.  Dude, it's gonna be an early winter!  Make that a really early one.....first snowfall was the other night and we still have autumn leaves on the trees.

Early snow is nothing new in New England, though usually that happens more often in the Northen parts.  But  they're predicting our first Nor'Easter, bringing down 6-10 inches of snow overnight and into tomorrow.  Now THAT is a little bit ridiculous.  I don't think the kids' Halloween costumes will fit a winter coat underneath!  Yesterday morning I was breaking ice off my front stairs before work, my car doors were frozen shut and we were doing a mad scramble for hats and mittens.  Sean's hat that I made for him last year of course doesn't fit, but he's thrilled with wearing it.  Funny how that works, huh?  Last year he would cry and rip it off in the car, throwing it to the floor.  Will's old hats suit him just fine, and I do have yarn in the house to make them new hats and mittens.  (Of course I do....my stash is legendary!)  I was just hoping that I could hold off and put them in their Christmas stockings.  Perhaps not....