Monday, April 24, 2006

Oh joy, oh bliss, oh crepes Suzette!

They are gone.

Not forever...just until 3 PM, but it is enough. I am breathing a large sigh of relief. I love my solitude, I crave it and having everyone here makes it hard to find. I know, I know, summer is coming with 2 1/2 months of them being here 24/7, but until then I am going to savor every moment.

And it's been too hard to blog with them here. It's like I can't talk about them with them in the room and they are always in the room!

Okay, some pics...here is the tree in front of our house. I always have to remember to notice these little green leaves, because it seems like in no time at all they turn into big dark green leaves...not as pretty.

We've had beautiful weather for our spring break, I will say. Most days were sunny and in the 70's. You can't ask for better than that! But, just in time for school to be back in session, we've gotten our more normal spring weather back...lots of rain with a few sunny days stuck in there now and again and lower temps...60's and 50's. I'm okay with that. I don't like jumping right from winter to summer...I like to enjoy some spring weather.

And in about ten minutes, I will be right out in it. Yes, I am going to start walking again. I actually have lost a little weight, I don't know why. I don't question weight loss, for fear it will reverse itself out of sheer cussedness: "What!!! She dares question why the Body shed some pounds...well, we'll just show HER!!" I only am thankful and hoping it will continue. I did have some weird sort of flu thing that did a number on my appetite. Or it could be the new supplement I've added to my morning line up. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to enjoy and enjoy. Life without a thyroid has taught me that weight is not for losing easily most of the time.

Now, here's that Jaywalker sock...amazing isn't it? I've gotten a ton done because this yarn and this pattern together are just so much stinkin' fun to knit! The pattern is not so difficult that you can't memorize it and do it without thinking too much and, with the few brain cells that motherhood has left me with, that is a boon. I worked on it at knitting class and a number of women asked for the URL so they could copy it themselves. I like this yarn with this pattern; the Harlot did some in a very contrasty yarn and for me that was too much...but this is subtle...it doesn't bang you over the head with the zig zags.

And here is my birthday present...well, one of them! Two balls of sock yarn and Nancy Bush's latest tome, "Knitting Vintage Socks". I expect to have lots of fun with this. The red, white and blue knits up into red and white stripes with bands of blue with white spots...too cunning! Gosh knows when I'll get around to knitting them, but since my knitting speed seems to have improved dramatically, maybe sooner than I think?






And if you look closely, you will see the other ball is treated with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil. I love how that's expressed in German: "Mit Aloe Vera und Jojoba Ol!" It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? I think it's a gorgeous color...not my usual blues or purples, but a girl needs a change, doesn't she?

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Tell me they all will go back to school soon?

Okay...I'm sneaking this chance to update the blog...shhhhhhh....don't want to alert the natives that I'm actually writing about them since most of them are still in the room with me.

My kids have all been off since the 13th...they get Maundy Thursday off as well as Good Friday at their school. Dan has been off since Good Friday as usual. So far...I haven't gone insane yet, but it's only a matter of time.

Maybe it will be having to listen to Zoe on Roly Poly Ollie one too many times that will drive me over the edge. Or, that horrible bete noire of my existence, Caillou. I hate Caillou! I hate the whiny voice he uses...ugh. Zoe is not much better...hate the way she talks. Yuck. My kids all love these shows, but they are horrible, horrible....

Could be having to listen to Patty on CBC Kids (out of Canada) sing "You're my best friend and we like it that way." Sorry...she has a kind of thin voice that goes right through my head. Oh, no...now they've got Nanaland on...I can't stand it!!!

Dan got up first this morning and turned on "Imus in the Morning" and promptly fell asleep in his chair. I had to turn it off when the kids got off because Imus gets a little raunchy. Now Dan went back to bed and the parade of annoying kids shows has been going on for a while now.

Now, not all kids' television is bad. I can tolerate Arthur pretty well...mostly because they put some jokes in that are meant for older people and so it can be very funny to watch! They had an episode once where Arthur's parents were watching a knitting marathon on television...it was a real hoot!

And I'm very grateful that I weaned my children off of Nick Jr. We removed it from the channels viewed when you use the up or down channel arrow, so they have forgotten all about it. No more Blues Clues! Just think of it! The freedom from the horror of listening to that little blue pooch say, "bowowowowowow!"

I don't want you to think my kids do nothing but watch television all day. But during spring vacation, especially when you have a husband with a nasty cold who wants to do nothing but sleep, then a little television is a welcome way of keeping the natives from getting too restless.

Think I'll head downstairs to scrapbook after I take a shower...I can't hear the television down there.


In the meantime...knitting content:

I didn't mean to start something new...but somehow...rampant curiosity got the best of me and I started the Jaywalker socks using the latest sock stash acquisition. I have a knitting class tonight, so I think I'll work on it there.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

On Being the Mother of a Boy

If anyone had told me how different it was being the mother of a boy, I would probably not have believed them.

But it is very different. I really enjoy watching my son and his essential maleness developing. I can understand the girl things going on with my daughters, hey, I've been through it myself, but watching the Squatter growing up has been fascinating.

We were watching our new DVD of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last night and I was thinking about this yet again. We saw it in the theatre and really loved it (especially me!) I read and read and read the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a child...I spent a lot of time wishing that Narnia were a real place and I could go there. So when I saw the movie, it brought back lots of happy memories for me. I actually cried at the end, it made me that happy.

Billy's reaction to the movie was definitely different than the girls. While Laurel watched it last night and tried to make a few snarky comments (teenoidism is creeping up!) and Emily watched raptly with wide eyes, what did the Squat do? He went and got his "sword" which happens to be the handle of a kids' golf club with the head knocked off. He swished it around and said, "The witch is mean...I'm going to kill her!" He put his sternest expression on and made light saber noises as he went through his moves.

I know that women can do most of the things men can do, but you can't tell me there aren't differences between boys and girls. Billy loves the adventure movies the best; the ones where the characters are active in overcoming evil, even when it isn't always certain just what evil is. He loves Star Wars, Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings (even though it freaks him out), and now the Chronicles of Narnia. When we were in the theatre watching it and he didn't have his sword, his was making moves in his seat like you see in men watching prize fights...like he wanted to jump up there, grab a sword and fight a few wolves himself.

But he's still a little boy. When the first wolf came on the screen earlier in the movie as we were watching it last night, he went in his room. Wolves are scary...he only stayed in a minute, then crept back in the hall and watched from there a few moments. Pretty soon he was back in the living room. He has a huge imagination and movies hit him harder than Emily, for instance. Laurel also has always been more easily frightened by movies...Emily seems to be much more pragmatic.

Yesterday was memorable for other reasons as well. Our tax returns landed in our checking account, allowing me to pay off the big credit card bill we had, pay the registration fee for the kids' school next year, and start planning on where the rest needs to go. Laurel is getting braces this summer, so part will go towards the deposit on those and will be refunded by the insurance, hopefully rather sooner than later. I'm hoping there will be enough left to do the kitchen floor, my bete noir. It is sheet vinyl and very worn...impossible to get it clean looking no matter what is done to it. So I'm going to make measurements and start pricing.

And I ordered my birthday present, an Epson Picture Mate. I'm hoping that being able to print my photos easily on the fly will get me to scrapbook more than I have been. I'm excited...can't wait for it to come!

And yes, I did some knitting while I was watching the movie last night. The mitered square baby blanket has a couple more squares added. Yawn! I'm really, really thinking I need to start a small project; something I can get done quickly and get the knitting juices flowing again...

Yeah, rationalizing, aren't I?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Alone again...naturally

Here I am, coming back from two days of two children home sick. It was a close call today, but I managed to get them all off for school. Phew!

Laurel stayed home Monday and Tuesday. She always felt really, really rotten in the morning and her condition always improved quite rapidly once she knew she was staying home. Of course, she did have a fever (tiny one...99.9) or she wouldn't have stayed home at all. But this morning she had no fever so off she went. She was not happy.

Emily, on the other hand, went to school on Monday. I had to go get her on Monday afternoon because she wasn't feeling well. And when she got home and I took her temp, it was 103.7, so she definitely wasn't feeling well. When Emily is sick, she gets very quiet and doesn't say anything at all. She doesn't even have the strength to be cute!!! Emily sick generates far more sympathy than Laurel sick. Laurel is noisy about being sick, she moans, she weeps. Funny thing is, I'm much the same way. Now that I see what it looks like, I'm trying to be more like Emily.

When the girls got up yesterday and were hovering around 100, we let them both stay home again. But neither one had a fever today so both went to school, Emily quite cheerfully and Laurel moaning and sulking.

Of course, having them home was not fair to me, considering next week they only have a 3 day week because of Easter and the following week is spring break. I'm luckier than most, since Dan's school vacations have been coinciding with the kids' vacations. So I can leave the house alone and not be arrested for child endangerment, since he is there to watch over them. So this week, I have 3 free days before the weekend and 3 free days before next weekend. I must use them well.

I have myself had some sort of something that has caused fatigue (besides the usual madness, that is!) I slept half the day away on Sunday and in the morning on Monday...read my email and said to myself, "Is there any reason I shouldn't just go back to bed?" Couldn't think of one, so off I went.

All of this has not been good for the knitting bottom line or for any bottom line. There are a host of things I *should* do, but whatever it is I end up doing, I better be moving around because sitting still for too long and I will probably fall asleep. Knitting is definitely in that category; especially knitting because it tends to make me sleepy anyway!

So hopefully I will soon have something more interesting to report. My wrist continues to improve. I'm almost caught up with laundry! I know, fascinating stuff, isn't it? Hey! You didn't fall asleep...did you?