Just heard at my house

5 1/2 yo Monkey Boy is talking to himself....
"I'm so bored. I wish my teeth would fall out."

Happy Third Birthday, Bobo

My New Year's Resolution.

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Learn how to dismantle land mines. Get your resolution here.

Ho ho ho, ha ha ha.

Does anyone remember that song they used to play on the radio around Halloween time when we were little kids? You know the one---"They're coming to take me away, ha ha..." That's what came to mind when I re-read my title up there.
Benjamin's had a puke-y bug for four days now, beginning on Saturday. It's not agressive as most stomach bugs usually are, which is what has me concerned. He goes twelve hours or so without throwing up and then there it is again. We're all wiped out tired, to say the least. Funny how he's the only one who got it. Hoping he's the last to get it.

Christmas felt weird this year, partially perhaps because of the vomit and all, but partially for some other reason, unknown, really. I'm not sure why I'm feeling funky right now, but I am. I hope this week off will get our batteries chargin' again.
And no more hurling, kid.

ZZZZZZZZZ...., or Why the Stinkin' Zithromax Did Nothing For Me

Two months, antibiotics, and a CAT scan later, it has been determined that I have not only a severely deviated septum but a rather large nasal polyp on the side opposite of the deviation. 2.5 cm by 1.5 cm, to be exact. "There is also significant blockages in the Something or Other Sinuses and a general thickening of the mucosa signifying chronic sinusitis."
Hmmm.... you think?
The doctor recommended that ugly sinus surgery ( you know, the one with three miles of nasal packing? Yup, that's the one) and suggested a referral to an ENT...but with my new position at the school I can't afford to be out now, so I pleaded her down to two weeks of amoxicillin and Rhinocort. Yay.


It wasn't until two days later when I was thinking about knitting and looking over a pattern (Didn't get to pick up the needles yet, though) that I realized that 2.5 cm is a freaking inch. I have an inch long polyp (hate that word, ick) in my nose. Ew.
Don't hate me after my nose job, now, y'all.

Bah humbug.

I posted too early and then blogger wouldn't let me back in to edit.
I was just talking about the fact that I have little time to knit right now. Long story short, I just accepted a position as the preschool teacher at a local Christian school. My older children are in second grade and kindergarten, and the littler two are in with me. It's a big change from what we've been doing, but I really felt it was a good move for us.
Oh, and I'm teaching 7th and 8th grade Literature, Grammar, and Composition. Can't forget about that. Sublime to ridiculous, she says. They're a lot of fun.
Sorry I've been scarce. I haven't knit a stitch in three weeks, if you can believe it. I'm asleep on the couch at 9...

Finishing, slowly

I'm still sick as a dog. I have an appointment with the doc this afternoon for that sinus infection or whatever I've had since we went to CA. Yes, it's been that long. I actually fell asleep on the couch last night at 6 pm and woke up at (yes, I did) midnight, whereupon I went to bed and slept until 6 this morning. I slept through the kids playing, I slept through bath time, I slept through bed time, and they usually put up a stink for Mike if I'm not there for bedtime. So hopefully this woman can figure out why a Z-pack and Nasonex can't do the trick.
In knitting news, though, I have made some headway, finally. I finished 'Sideways Spencer' and am almost done with the front of hub's 'Na Craga'. Such a fun knit.
Pics to come later when I have time...hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

You can't finish everything in one afternoon.

For your viewing pleasure....my UFOs. Brought to you by my former LYS and the cutest kids on the planet.

There's Beth, from DB Junior Knits.


There's Dancin' Daisies from the Fall '04 IK.


There's Forecast, by Stephanie Japel for Knitty.


There's Sideways Spencer, again from Fall '04 IK. No photo because Photobucket is currently killing me. This is my closest to FO, needing only buttons and a good blocking.

I've got a wrap cardigan from Vogue Spring '04, I think, inspired by Mamma's

But it's in Woolease, and I hate to knit with WE. Don't ask me why I bought 15 skeins last week when it was on sale at Joann.

I've also begun DH's sweater, Na Craga, only to find out that I screwed up the center cable. That will bug me, so I stopped and planned to restart.


The problem? I've misplaced the pattern. Pooh.

Here's a sleeve from a Drops Alpaca design. I got bored.


Don't ask me why the pics are so big. I have no freaking idea. I've resized them in photobucket three times and they're supposedly small, but freakishly large here.

Lacevember Q&A #2

What are your ideal lace making conditions?

ie. Do you prefer to knit with a cuppa coffe nearby? Music, lighting, favorite chair?


IN THE TOILET. THE POTTY. THE BATHROOM. THE WC. WATER CLOSET, IF YOU WILL.

WHY?





(wait for it)








Because that's the only place that I can think straight and get a bit of time to knit.



I'm kidding, really. No, really.
I usually knit at night after everyone's in bed and hub is watching football or what have you.

Another reason to move to CA

Not that I needed one.......

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

The Infamous Lacevember Questionnaire

My answers may surprise some, and then again perhaps not.

The knitting questions, or the usual suspects

How long have you been knitting? I have been knitting on and off since I was seven. I suppose I didn't get really serious about it again until about three years ago.

How did you learn to knit? My Grandma taught me!

Favorite thing about knitting? Can I choose one thing? There are so many things. I suppose that the connection I have to thousands of other knitters, past, present, and future.

How long have you been knitting lace? About a year.

Favorite thing about knitting lace. My favorite thing is that with a basic knit and purl, thrown together with a couple of YOs and decreases you can create something *fantastic*.


The yarn questions, or flash your stash -I'll flash ya later.

Favorite lace yarn? I like a fingering weight or heavier. I'm still not using laceweight despite its heavy presence in my stash.

variegated or solids for shawls? I love the variegateds and am really drawn to them in the skein, but I'd have to say solids for the shawls.

Favorite lace color? Red. Hands down.


Technique, or show us your skillz

Circs or straights? I only knit on circs, with the exception of DPNs for socks and mittens.

Favorite lace knitting trick? Trying to knit lace in the middle of four children eating chocolate frosted donuts and watching 'Cars'.

Lifelines? If so with what? Nope. I knit commando.

Fancy blocking wires, or just sewing pins stuck in your carpet? I really want blocking wires. That being said, I'm about to try the method that Stephanie described in one of her posts. The one with the thread run through the straight part of the shawl. Look it up.

Pattern, or can you follow directions

shawls or lacey items? Shawls.

triangle, rectangle, or circular shawls? Triangular.

Charts or printed instructions? I used to be a printed instruction gal but now I think in charts. I'm flexible that way.

Favorite lace you've knit? I can't pick just one. I really like the Flower Basket shawl, but that Shetland Triangle is so easy and repeats itself well. I also like Faina's scarf, but I only completed half of it and have to rip it out and start over in a new yarn.

Favorite lace you want to knit? I'm looking for one.


Just Fun, yup that's right, just for fun

Favorite jelly belly flavor? Strawberry daquiri. Who am I kidding? I get together all the fruity looking ones and throw a handful in my mouth at one time.

Tell me everything you know about Eric the Red..... I resemble that remark.

Coke, classic or with lime? Bring on the lime, bub.

Holiday carols, sing along, or wish they would be banned from all public airwaves? Sing along of course! I'm a singer!

What is the definition of irony? It's the opposite of wrinkly.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? The world may never know!

Why is my cat always puking in front of my son's bedroom door? That's your problem, Amy. I'm done with puke.

What is your superhero power? Intercepting the brain waves of three children who are daring each other to __________________ (fill in the blank) and diverting them just in time.

If the laundry is 9 foot by 11 foot (just dreaming, that's a big laundry room), and the walls are 8 feet tall, and you are going to tile the entire room in tiles that are 3 inches by 5 inches, what color should those tiles be? Pink, of course.

What's for dinner tonight? Depends on whether or not my husband has the stomach flu by then. If not, then we're up for homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

What is clogging my children's bathtub drain? A Buzz Lightyear toothbrush, two matchbox cars, a Barbie shoe and a Binky.

Murphy's Law, or Why I Never Will Let My Husband Out of My Sight Again

Two words, folks.
Power Puking.
Hub has been in Las Vegas this week for business.
I took the monkeys trick or treating by myself. Took them to my Bible Study by myself. If it had just been them puking, I could have handled it by myself.
But no, it was ME.
Now I can count on one hand (three fingers, people) the number of times I missed school as a kid due to the stomach bug. Now that I have four kids, it's inevitable that I get it once a year.
But I've never been this sick before. I didn't realize it was possible.
I don't even want to knit.
Two of the four were sick alongside me, and my super-gracious lovely MIL came up to take care of the other two while I slept and ran to the bathroom yesterday.
This is how sick I was:
I've been waiting for the new IWK to come in the mailbox and have made an audible sigh at the mailman three days in a row this week as it wasn't here.
Yesterday, it came.
And it sat, untouched.
I thought I was going to die.
Hurry home, babe. Fly safely. We need you here.

Wrote a song about it....here it go

Imagine me, that person who looks semi-dignified on occasion, for a minute if you will.
Now imagine me, running through the house, singing at the top of my voice,
"I'm so proud of Benjamin,
'cause he pooped in the potty and not in his pants!!!!!!
I'm so proud of Benjamin,
'cause he pooped in the potty and not on McQueen!"

If you're a potty training parent of boy(s), you'll get the Cars movie reference in that last bit.
Only three days until Big Papa comes home. Not that I'm counting.

I'm almost extinct....give me some candy.

Hub left this morning for a four day trip for work.
To Las Vegas.
Can I say that I'm just a bit, um, meh, about this?
"But I'm in meetings for two days," he protests.
"Didn't you just get off the phone with the golf course confirmation, though?" I ask.
"Um, yeah, but we only have time to play 9," he says.

I leave you with this. Pictures of my four trick or treating monkeys to follow tomorrow if I remember to take pictures.

I am a real person

I spent the whole morning thinking about how little of myself I've shared here. Part of that is because I had no camera with which to share anything, and part is because I don't know how much is appropriate, really. That thin line between what I'm knitting and how crazy our life is here. I can show you the sweater I'm knitting for the boy, but can I show the journey it took to get there? Do I show the baby ripping it out while she giggles? Can I show another photo of my boys using #15s for swords? How about my two year old, pantless, sitting on the floor and 'pedalling' my spinning wheel?
It's insane, people, to homeschool with four children. Insane. Some days we have history of knitting, complete with sheep discussion and the Knifty Knitter. We watch mom draft a bit ( but not spin, as the brake on my wheel disintegrated and the new one isn't working well) and then it all breaks down. Most days are a bit of Math and History and teaching the five year old to read. It takes a couple of hours and is mostly chaos, but I guess it works.
So, dear reader (I've always wanted to say that, but I really do mean it) I leave you with two pictures. One is of myself, so you can see that I'm a real person. You have no idea how many of these I took of myself so as not to have a double chin or crossed eyes. The other photograph is of my morning, all wrapped up.
Have a great day.

Rhinebeck, or what I missed

Before I begin, I would like to say that next year, I'm sneaking off under cover of darkness before anyone realizes that I'm gone, and I will make it to the Fold booth before there's only two skeins of Socks that Rock in Olivenite left. And yes, I did arrive at 11 am but those knitters are tenacious, man. Tenacious.
To sum it up....
I have few pictures. My friend and I got a bit of a late start, but not a big deal, I thought. We brought three of our eight children, thinking that they'd be excited to see sheep and wool. Because we home educate said children, we thought it would be a fun little field trip for the girls and lots of fibery luxury goodness for us.
We were so naive.
This child


Turned into this child

and whined the whole way to NY. As did her seatmates.

I was informed later that my partner in crimes of wool and alpaca doesn't really like crowds and felt overwhelmed with all of the people there.

I just wanted to shop. I wanted to meet up. I wanted to wallow in Grafton batts.

From afar, I saw several bloggers that I 'know'.

This is what I got, and it was in the last fifteen minutes because I couldn't go home emptyhanded. It's Brooks Farm Duet, and three skeins of wool/silk fingering weight from Spirit Trail Fibers.


I've been sniffling over other blog posts but so far people have been fairly merciful to me.

YAY!

Mommy finally got her camera running.
Just in time for Rhinebeck.
Check back for the haul shots on Monday.

And just to be silly

A meme I spotted elsewhere. I always got a good chuckle out of this type of thing as a kid. I suppose I haven't grown much in that area.

The Name Game

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( pet and current street name)

Fish Baldwin

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy)

Ruth Cadbury Mini Eggs (Now that's catchy)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name)

H Eli

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Brown Alpaca

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Elizabeth Westbrook

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)

Harambewes

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink)

The Caramel Machiatto (although I'm leaning heavily towards the Pumpkin Spiced Latte these days)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers)

Harry Clifford

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes)

Michael Flip Flops. (And no, they're not my favorite shoes, but I couldn't pick one. I'm not a flip flop type of girl unless I'm getting a pedicure.)
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name )

Eldred Edward. How's that for weird. Guess whose name is whose :)

That dent in my forehead?

There's something about homeschooling that is remarkably like herding sheep. I once heard someone say that sheep are the dumbest of the animals, and I would hardly compare my children to them in that regard, but they repeatedly do not listen to the voice of their shepherd and go off on tangents all day long. I love these kids but I have to say I'm getting tired of beating my head up and down on my desk here. Add to the mix a teething, clingy baby and I have to say that the hair on the back of my neck is beginning to stand up. Breathe in, breathe out. Serenity now.
I haven't had time to get that camera up and running, so I'll leave you with a teaser of what's to come.

Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle
My second FBS, which is at 75% completion
Stephanie Japel's Forecast
Bonne Marie's Cutaway
Annie Modesitt's Sideways Spencer, sans acceptable buttons
and several other projects in various stages of completion

Blog, Interrupted

It's been a crazy summer, and now Autumn as well. I don't think I stopped much to knit, let alone write about it. I also had the disadvantage of not owning a digital camera, so uploading progress shots was daunting at best, not happenin' at worst. I decided to take a break based on the fact that I had nothing good to report.
But that's all changed.
Hub works for a major auto dealer that happens to reward its employees from time to time and we just spent a lovely weekend in Laguna, CA. We were gifted each night with clever, thoughtful gifts, such as a relaxation basket with Land's End robes and a Jack Johnson CD, a gorgeous painting of our resort by a local artist, and....
a digital camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just in time for Rhinebeck and everything. Yippee for yay!
SO....I now have no excuse for not updating anything as I can just take the pic and upload it right away. I'm so the opposite of anything technically gifted, so it may take a day for me to get ready, but I'll be there.
I can't imagine that anyone who used to even read me is still around, but if you are, hey. I missed you guys.