Brrrrrr!!!

It is unbelievably, freakishly cold out right now. A combination of some Canadian air and big wind. I think we're scheduled to get a few more inches of snow on Wednesday. Yesterday I successfully ignored the cold and made up handsome looking tags for all of my tomato varieties. Today I went out to this tree farm/country store type place that I've passed often, but never been in. I had the twins so it was a whirlwind tour, but it was a cute little place with a kind of alternative attitude. Birchbark baskets, exotic varieties of honey, and lots and lots of flower and vegetable seeds. They were charmed by Ben (who charms on purpose, and thus is supremely satisfied when he gets the desired result) and Milo and I found some good onions, but not the specific plant I was looking for. They said they get that plant only in plant form (not seeds) and put me on a calling list for when it comes in (brussel sprouts, if you're wondering. Chris is always threatening to feed them to the kids, so I thought I'd call his bluff and try growing some.)

I miss him. I made the plane reservations and I drew up a list of what he should do there everyday and I was the one who decided he needed this long stretch of time, so there is noone to blame buy myself. But I tell you what, even a happy little introvert like myself NEEDS her Chosen Few and when she counts them and there is one missing . . . it's tough. But our weird life is such that we are rarely without each other for more than a couple of hours. This will be our longest separations since the twins were itty bitty infants and Honda got the bright idea . . . well, anyway. We don't spend all that much time apart.

Where was I? Oh yes, the twins and I were shopping. After the garden place, we went to Sam's Club where we stocked up on ketchup, mayonnaise, Raisin Bran, various varieties of frozen nuggets, cleaning solutions, and dairy products. We went home, unloaded the truck, and went to fetch Max. Then we went to Wegman's where we got a very early (and light) dinner of chinese food from the buffet and sat and planned out the meals for the next two weeks together. (It is funny to meal plan with two five-year-olds and a 10-yr-old. Luckily the 10-yr-old has a basic understanding of good nutrition and the 5-yr-olds weren't hungry--having just eaten--so they weren't feeling very demanding.) This gave us our final grocery list, which took us no time at all to round up. We paid for that stuff and went home and collapsed. The kids watched Treasure Planet and I balanced the checkbook.

Now, somehow, it is a quarter to ten and the house is quiet and the boys are sleeping. I am going to knit for a few minutes and then join them.

Peaceful, Snowy Sunday

It flurried on and off today. I happen to think falling snow is one of the prettiest sights there are (assuming you're not stuck, say, on an interstate with no gas, three kids in the car and six inches of ice on the road). We were late to church because by the time we got home last night I had three kids hysterical with exhaustion. Max kept waking up for the last 45 minutes or so, not being able to recognize where we were in the dark, and assuming we had hours more to go--then he'd start crying his odd keening cry and I'd reach out and try to comfort his half-awake self there in the dark. So I couldn't bring myself to wake them this morning--and we were late.

But we did go and we had fun. The twins made pinwheels (I missed the pinwheel/Jesus connection, but I'm sure it was in there somewhere) and Max's scout leader found him and gave him his Pinewood Derby Kit (which made his morning) and then . . . then it was noon and time to go home again.

I spent the Sabbath reading about tomatoes and snoozing in the green chair in the living room while trying to get some knitting done. In between I made phone calls trying to hook up Chris with some Northern California missionaries because he really needs another set of hands.

Tomorrow is Monday and that means school and preschool and meal planning and grocery shopping and cleaning the kitchen top to bottom. Oh, and knitting on Chris's sock because the sock yarn apparently came in to the LYS on Saturday while I was away. There was a message on my answering machine. So maybe Chris will come home from California to a finished pair of socks.

A and B, Chris, and the National Boogie-Man Convention

Today we took Chris to Philly so he could fly to CA for a few days to help his Mom get her house ready for market. We saved $230 or so after you take into account the amount spent in gas there and back twice. I'm not sure what the return trip will be like when we bring him home, but I have nothing but pleasant things to say about today. This is because I have family in Philly. So we didn't have to turn right around and come back home.

We went to the home of my cousin, A, and his wife, B. A's sister, my cousin B, was also there, as was their mother, my Aunt G-G. These are good people and *every* time I am with them I find myself thinking that I have *got* to find a way to get together with them more frequently. But it is 3 hours and 45 minutes from door to door and that does spread out the visits. (They also have a strict no real names on the internet rule which is very smart of them and we would too if we hadn't already used our real names for so many years that that would just be hopeless of us.)

We briefly entertained the idea of going to the zoo there today because it was so deliciously beautiful out and the zoo was celebrating Seuss's birthday. But the clouds rolled in and the sky acted like it was thinking of bringing in real rain--and so we settled in for an afternoon of board games and watching a movie and playing with an old XBox and that sort of thing. A and B's son, K, wasn't quite sure what to make of my gang, but eventually seemed to decide that they were as good an afternoon's entertainment as anything else, and he played happily around us in the way that very young people do. I worked on fixing a knitting problem and tried, unsuccessfully, to keep from getting sucked into Ice Age. But I failed. It isn't long before you really want to see Manny return the little squirt to his grieving Neanderthal father.

Eventually we packed up and hit the road and I called a neighbor friend to take care of Emily when I was an hour into the drive and still seemingly in the gravitational pull of Philadelphia. She very kindly agreed to take care of the dog and I drove the rest of the way with some really tired little boys. Three hours later I pulled into the driveway where I was astonished to see a fresh coat of snow all over Pine Grove Mills. We really do live on the side of a mountain. Sometimes I forget that.

Anyway, we came in the house through a side door and up the stairs and found the front door WIDE open. Oh, jeez. I have a HUGE fear of the Boogie-man when Chris is not home. I can really make myself nuts worrying over nothing when he's not home. I check the level of the wood pellets and it was clear that there was no way the door had been open all day. It made perfect sense that the door just hadn't been closed perfectly behind the neighbor when she came to take care of Emily and that anxious Emily had opened the door herself when she found the opportunity.

Nevertheless, I had to call Chris (who had just landed in CA) and have him reassure me. He told me in no uncertain terms that there was NO WAY that the Boogie Man was hiding in the house somewhere since he had sat elbow to elbow with a large number of Boogie Men during the trip out and it turns out that this week is their annual convention in the Bay Area (which, if you think about it, makes sense. I mean, the weather is a little warmer there and the Bay Area is strange enough to host all those guys.)

So, reassured that the local Boogie Man is at the convention taking seminars this week on how to be a Better Badder Boogie Man . . . I now feel I can go snuggle up with my littles and my dog and go to sleep. (The littles and the poodle all know that when Daddy is away, they get to sleep in Mommy's bed ALL NIGHT. They think this is because there is more ROOM in the bed. Only Mommy knows it's because Mommy is a BIG CHICKEN.) Good night, everyone. I hope your Saturday was as full and satisfying.

P.S. B, if you're reading this, I humbly request your recipe for the lunch meat we had today. Max *never* eats that much (real) lean meat. He'll only eat pseudo meat like chicken nuggets or faux-hamburger. I *know* Chris would love that recipe, too.

Ahhhh, That Was Nice

It was a beautiful day. It was 50 degrees and blustery and sunny and I was out and running errands in it.

Since I've picked up a short but full-time project, I let myself get some of the gardening supplies I wanted for this year. I also needed some groceries to get us through the weekend until I do a full shopping trip on Monday.

I put some sweet pepper and hot pepper seeds in some seed-starting trays and put them under the light box.

And somehow, that was most of the day. It's leftover night, so I'm off to see what the kids might want and then retire to a comfy chair. We'll spend the day in Philly tomorrow, so we'll be up early again. I'm going to bed just as soon as I can justify putting the kids to bed.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

You know what today is? That's right, it's the last day of February. So tomorrow? It's the first day of March. And you know what March is? It's the beginning of the end of SAD season. In March the sun shines with the same regularity and intensity that it does in September. September is a nice, calm month (minus all that running around for football, anyway) and by the end of March we've all got a spring back in our step and we're feeling hopeful again. (And hopefully I've been buried by work again. If you're running out of things to pray about at your house, pray for a nice big job to come my way. I'm kind of hoping for math myself, but I'm not feeling picky.)

I'm on the neck band for Max's sweater. I'm going to finish up a little job writing up reading cards and two sweaters this week.

Tuesday

I got up at 5-ish and got to work on a small project. Submitted it at 7am, and then got to spend the rest of the day "not working." I took the twins to swimming, grabbed a few groceries, came home and put potatoes au gratin in the crockpot, then took a nap. Chris woke me an hour later and I truly didn't know my name, but I got up and wandered around the house until it all came back to me. Then we all went over to school, picked up three of the kids in the skiing program (the rest get there with their own parents), and headed over to Tussey Mountain. It was a good day of skiing and Chris took many pictures. I'm going to write a little article on the program for the school newsletter and hope that gets more people signing up next year.

We came home, ate, and now I'm putting all the kids to bed early because they're tired and gwouchy.

I heard from the community garden people. I officially have a plot number now--I appear to have landed one of the "organic" plots (this is in quotes as last year was the first year the land wasn't commercially farmed, so I imagine the land is still getting some stuff out of its system). This is fine with me--I could have gone either way--but since I don't have the money for chemicals, I'm good with being in the organic section. Remember, I get my horse manure on freecycle. A girl can't be too picky. They put up the soil test results from last fall and according to this, I should add a little Epsom salt to my plot in April. Hokay. That stuff is cheap.

Now, I want desperately to get an email saying that a new project, or three, is starting so that I can buy some grow lights (and you know, groceriesutilitiesmortgageblahblahblah) and start my tomatoes.

Goin' Bowlin'

So Chris took us all bowling today. Saturday afternoons are smoke free at the bowling alley, but they're also packed. Dawn and her son Zeb joined us (and Dawn's mother, who didn't bowl).

Everybody improved over the last time we played. Ben befriended the group of women next to us and offered them bowling lessons. They thought he was hilarious and darn-near adopted him before the afternoon was done.





One big (no pun intended) downside to bowling pictures, is that they inevitably involve shots of your back side. Maybe I should put this one on the fridge to motivate myself to stay on my diet.


Here's Chris in action:


And Max:


Milo, using the ball aiming device thingy. He's doing his victory dance there.

Ben

Zeb celebrating with his mom and with Ben:


Otherwise it was an ordinary Saturday with pumpkin muffins for breakfast, a big family pick-up-the-house activity, and a nice post-bowling nap for me.

On the Needles

I'm attempting an intervention on myself by posting all my works in progress on the Internet so I can be reminded why I do NOT need to go buying yarn for this sweater that Max wants or casting on for the nice summer hoodie in cotton that Ben requested.

First, the three items I didn't photograph--the Orenburg shawl--because that would just be depressing, and the afghan, because you can't outgrow an afghan, so it sits in a canvas bag by the green chair upstairs and when I want to knit long rows of garter stitch back and forth, I do. Otherwise, it doesn't weigh on my mind. And the Finnish Mittens--I've got one done and one to go and I don't want to photograph them until they're washed and blocked. And anyway, they're a Christmas 2007 present, too.

Next, the things that people could outgrow and soon:

There are the three sweater vests for church. I knit the small one larger than needed, so they'll fit just fine, but it's really hard to knit anything large enough for Max right now. He's growing so fast.

Next we have this sweater for Max. I just finished the right sleeve this afternoon and plan to pick up the stitches for the left sleeve after the kids are in bed.
Then we have this romper for baby Oliver. It's a very generously cut size 12 months, and it's in a cotton blend, so I think it'll fit him just fine for a few months if I can get it done in the next few months, but . . . I'm having second thoughts. I just don't love it as much as I thought I would. Of course the dangling strings don't help. It just looks like a big mess right now.
This is another striped sweater sized for the twins, but I think at the rate I'm going, I should finish it up and stick it in the gift pile. It'll be perfect for baby cousin Konrad in, oh, two years.


Here's Chris' sweater. Must be finished by Christmas 2007.

Oh, and here's another sweater for Milo:

Then here's the Faorese shawl (for me, doesn't have to be done anytime soon):
And here are three socks. The top left one is a swatch for making two pairs of striped socks for Ben and Milo. The top right is the start of a thick pair of socks for Chris in a gauge that won't take me a year to complete the socks. The center bottom socks are the ones I meant to have done for Christmas and which are now waiting for my LYS to find me a second skein of. That yarn has been discontinued.
Then just because I'm emptying the camera . . . photo of Ben and Milo playing a computer game together.
And photo of a cake I made for the fun of it earlier in the week.
Anyway, this weekend I think the sweater for Max is top priority. I can finish that sweater this week if I try. Maybe if I go in order of "things close to being done already" then O-bear's outfit would be next and then the sweater vests.

My Singular Goal for Tomorrow

Is to return Max's football uniform. After a very bad scare on Wednesday in which we thought we'd accidentally thrown away his uniform--which would have meant owing the football people a ton of money--we discovered that well, yes, we HAD thrown it away, but in our trashcan, not at the dump (where Chris had done a run the day before). AND given its position (very bottom of the trashcan) it had been there the week BEFORE which meant it was just dumb luck that we still had it because that means that it's only because we both forgot that it was trash day last Thursday that we still had the stuff.

So I brought the bag back inside (why was I digging through the trash? Because the bear had and I had rebag a lot of it) and ran it all through the wash again and NOW I'm going to turn it in (like we should have three months ago).

Eesh.

Otherwise I have a wee bit of work to do (yay paying work!) and a lot of housecleaning (not so much with the yay!) and the goal of finishing Max's right sleeve before the weekend is out. Otherwise I expect it to be a quiet weekend. NEXT weekend we have a road trip to Philly to take Chris to the airport and swing by and see some cousins. All I really ask of early March is that the kids not get seriously ill.

In further athletic news, Ben had a breakthrough so huge that he can no longer be considered a YMCA beginning swimming flunkie. He floated on his back alone. Twice. And then he and his teacher made big cheering noises and waved victoriously at me through the YMCA swimming window. (It's 120 degrees in there with 95% humidity. I sit and knit on the other side of the glass.) Ben and Milo have both announced their intentions to graduate from Eel with this next round. This would make them Rays in early April. All of a sudden my dream of having two kids who can swim from one side of the pool to the other so that they can be on the 5 yr-old swim team this summer is once again achievable (thereby allowing me to have all three boys in the same activity at the same time, since the 10-yr-olds practice at the same time as the 5-yr-olds and have all their meets together).

In the meantime Ben announced that since he can float on his back alone, he can take his own shower thankyouverymuch, and put his own swim trunks in the spin-out-the-water machine. And so could Milo, said Milo, and that meant that it took us like 45 minutes to get out of the changing room after the 30 minute lesson. ::deep breath::

Off to finish dinner and feed people. (And perform an intervention. Chris has been painting all day and I think is on his fourth movie of the day.)

Tuesday

Today I worked on Chris' socks, Max's sweater, took the twins to swimming, started the next leg of dieting (whoo-hoo! I really want it to be the LAST leg, but we'll see how much progress I make before the next plateau), and supervised another Tuesday afternoon of skiing. Max made it off the bunny slope and onto the first real beginner slope and I saw him come down two of the three times he went down. He's got one more Tuesday of skiing and then he's done for the season. Which is good because it was in the mid-forties today and started raining as we were leaving. I'm sure we'll get that last day of skiing in, but I'm not exactly sure when it will be. It could be a few weeks away. The snow is melting fast.

The other day I printed out the state requirements for certification in Pennsylvania. Then I left them there on the printer. Ever since Max's school got approval for middle school I wonder what it would be like to have 20 kids maximum in the classroom. (The first year the class would be 13 or fewer students because of limitations the school agreed to in total enrollment for the school.) When I was getting my credential the first time around, it was my intention to teach middle school. I ended up in fourth grade and mostly stayed there. I don't have any immediate plans to do anything more than mull. I am very reluctant to go back under contract. Heck, I can't even AFFORD to go back into teaching until Chris is earning something regularly AND we're debt free except for the house.

So it really means nothing.

BUT, if two years from now I post on the blog that I decided to APPLY for that 8th grade position . . . I don't want y'all thinking it was some kind of hasty decision. And if two years from now I decide NOT to . . . well, I guess I don't want Max thinking I didn't give it some careful thought. Because he thought of it back when YSCP was still applying to get the middle grades. He said one day in the car on the way to or from school, I don't remember which, "You should think about teaching one of the new grades. Wouldn't that be cool?" And of course I can't really love him any more than I already do, but it was genuinely one of the sweetest things he could possibly say to me. The part of me that desperately misses homeschooling him had a good cry over it. And the part of me that genuinely misses teaching public school started tapping her pencil thoughtfully and the part of me that gets a little burned out writing curriculum was grateful for the excuse to daydream. But that's mostly what it is--a little daydream sitting on my printer waiting for me to find the time to look at it more carefully. And that is all I have to say about that.

Charlotte and I have figured out a way for me to go see the Harlot without going broke. The twins don't know it yet, but they get to come along for this one. It does involve us crashing at my Aunt Connie and Uncle Denny's house, but as long as their dog doesn't eat us and the twins don't love their old cat to death (literally), that should be nothing but fun. (Although I can't bring them anything canned as a host gift because they totally have everything I could give them.)

I got official word today that I have a 600 sq. ft. community garden plot this summer and I sent in my payment this afternoon, so now I'm just waiting to find out which plot is mine. Want to see the aerial photo of the gardens? Sure you do. Lookie :) This is where Max and I will be gardening this summer.

I signed up for the rototilling service they have, too. THAT totally ROCKS. We can start working in the garden in mid-April.

I Accomplished Next to Nothing

This weekend was a total bust in terms of checking off things from my things to do list. I got Chris' flu on Saturday and was grouchy all day Saturday, had a rotten night of sleep Saturday night and sat in my green chair and barely moved on Sunday. I had intended to make great progress on Chris' sock (and actually, I did make good progress on it) but I was feeling badly about Milo not having any mittens (when he threw up in Grandpa's car last week the mittens were soiled and then accidentally thrown away. They were in a bag and I didn't see them there.) So I knit Milo a new pair of mittens and even though that's not very time consuming, I was just not a speedy person yesterday. So I got Milo's mittens done and about an inch of Chris's sock and watched Beauty and the Beast twice and Hoodwinked once and that was the day.

Today I feel a little better, but I have no big plans. I'm going to work on Chris' sock and nap and see if I can't feel 100% tomorrow.

Waaahhhh!

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is having a party, I'm invited, and I can't go! We are scheduled to be way too broke that week. (But broke in a "at least all the bills are paid" way.)

Oh well, it's been so long since I was in NYC, that I'm sure I wouldn't know how to behave properly there anyway.

When I'm Not Tromping through The Snow

I'm thinking about my garden. I'll have two gardens this spring. I'll have the small one in the front yard--mostly lettuce, a few bean plants, and the cherry tomatoes. Then I'll have a large one at the community garden area. Lots of tomatoes there, some squash, and some corn.

I'm eager to start seeds, but luckily for my seeds (because they'd be doomed if I really started them this soon), I am short on cash and there's no money in the budget yet for dirt and warming mats and grow lights. But there will be! And I will plant and I will have seedlings and it will be spring :)

Not rushing things! Just enjoying the way time passes.

As If I Weren't a Workaholic

I turned in today the last of the work that I have done on the project that has supported my family since November of 2005. That sort of long-term project is rare in my business and more work will come. I'm ready for something in fifth grade now :) That was a long time to spend back in first grade. But now--a pause in work has opened before me. I worry over it. I fret. So, this weekend I am going to assume that God has intentionally created a work slowdown for me, here in the spring of 2007, so that I can spend more time with my sons and less time with my computer. This weekend I am going to remember that most of the clients I might want to email and harass about work are . . . at their own homes with their own families, and I might as well wait till Monday.

This weekend I am going to try to make big progress on Chris' remaining sock and Max's sweater. I'm going to read parts of The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball since Sunday's relief-society lesson is on that and it's been a few years since I last read it.

I'll clean off my desk and watch Beauty and the Beast with the kids (the only movie in this house that is mine).

I am not going to make Chris crazy by worrying and fretting over April's bills. I will accept the things I cannot change and change the things I can and pray a lot for guidance in knowing the difference.

I will try to enjoy this pause because if I *can* then this will be what my children remember of me when they are older--that I could and would stop and focus on them, and read with them, and sled with them, when the time called for it. I want that. I want them to know that when given the opportunity, I chose snow boots and a plastic sled over pointless worry and fear.

::Deep, Satisfied Sigh::

Today went well. Anything that could go right, did. Everyone who needed a nap, got one. Everyone who needed to shovel the front walk three times in one day, did. I got more time than I really needed at shoveling the (unpaved) driveway, but no biggie. So I'll be a little sore tomorrow :) It's a "good" sore.

Noone threw up. The detailing guy who cleaned out Mom and Dad's car did a good job of it at a price so fair, it wasn't fair. The twins made snow angels and thrilled at going down the hill over and over with Grandma Donna and Grandpa Richard.

I got some work done. And lots of play done. And I am happy.

Snow Day!!!

This is what it says on the school district web site for tomorrow:


This is what it says on accuweather:

I think we're in the 12-18 inches zone. >Sniff< I"m so proud! It's our very first Pennsylvania blizzard. Max has plugged his iPod into his iDog and is treating us all to the song Snow Day by Bleu. The twins are running around in circles and jumping on and off Ben's new sled. We're all so excited.

It was a good day, although a strange one. My parents arrived without harm after a LONG drive up from Baltimore. We all met at the State College diner and had a very nice lunch there (it was a rather good chicken salad actually). Then, I'd promised Max he could spend his valentine money that he got from my grandmother on a new sled (since the twins had already done so), so my parents offered to take the twins with them as they went back to their hotel and then met us at my house.

Well, things didn't quite go as planned. Max and I didn't run into any problems, but my parents got lost and Milo lost his lunch all over the back of the rental car. They made it back to my house (where I'd been starting to worry about them, and shoved the walk waiting to see them show up. Which is probably how I missed their first SOS call.

I got out the Hoover Steam Vac and did my best to try to fix the problem with the car, but the old Steam Vac is on its last legs and just doesn't have enough suction for the job anymore. I came back inside to find Mom and Dad looking jetlagged and in need of some good news. We came up with a plan involving a detailing place and a 9am appointment for tomorrow morning (assuming we can travel on the roads tomorrow morning) and then they drove back to their hotel, for, I imagine, a much needed nap.

Finding myself without any guests, I tabled the plans for potato and ham soup and made fish sticks for Ben and Max and rice for me and Milo (Chris has the stomach flu and is just doing his best to stay upright in the green chair--and I'm just not that big of a fan of fish sticks). Now I'm off to get some workwork done. Tomorrow will be a day of sledding. A day of hot chocolate. A . . . oh! And Valentine's Day! A day of small chocolates :)

Have a very merry snow day, everyone.

Snow!

Snow is coming! Snow is coming!

I Need a Snow Day!

I gotta call my parents though. I'm thinking maybe they should drive up Monday night after all.

Ode to My Wood Pellet Stove

I love you.
I love you.
Oh, how I love you.
I hear the pellets
fall into the ceramic cup
plink plink plink plink plink.
And I sigh with relief.

I've cut the thermostat back to 62 degrees to keep the thing from running constantly. I only bought a ton and a half of wood pellets this winter! At this rate we'll have burned through them all by the end of February!

What's This?

Yesterday or Today there was a story at cbsnews claiming that the Republican party considers Hilary Clinton virtually unbeatable.

Here's one version not at cbs:

REPUBLICANS SEE CLINTON UNBEATABLE
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability. In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices -- including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush's campaigns -- have grown despairing. These partisans describe a political equivalent of the stages of grief, starting with denial, then resentment and ending with acceptance. -Politico

+++++++++

The main article (at Politico) is more specific about exactly what they see as HR Clinton's advantages--she's got a lot of money, her entourage is better organized and more experienced than anyone else's, and she has name recognition up there with Hershey and Kleenex.

Now, it's WAY too soon to be excited about this. I for one still have serious doubts about how electable she is and if I had to walk to the polls this evening, I'd put Obama on the ballot. But you know, if there's one thing I'm not afraid to admit it's that I don't understand exactly how the American Voting public works. I vote, and I know why I vote, but my guy doesn't usually get the office. Mr. President Clinton was a rare exception.

I guess you could say this is the first headline about the 2008 elections that caused me to stop and read the rest of the article. Otherwise, I've done nothing but skim the headlines. Anything else seemed premature.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now that it's Wednesday I've had a flurry of work after taking most of Monday off (I didn't have an assignment, felt strongly that I should clean the house, but managed to avoid any actual action to that effect). The cold is hanging in there and we've had a two-hour delay every morning this week. This morning we just totally ran with that and missed preschool altogether.

Chris has space heater envy. He's concerned his may actually burn the house down at some point. I hope it doesn't. I will admit to having the superior pair of slippers. A bonus for having bigger feet than my grandmother. I got them when it turned out that they were too big for her feet. Who, come to think of it, turns 95 on Sunday. Only 57 more years and I'll be RIGHT there with her.

I need to get back to finishing my work project.

It's So Cold

It's so cold, that even though you know it makes for poor blogging, you MUST comment on it. There is NOTHING fun about this kind of cold. It's run from the house to the car cold. It's warm up your truck 20 minutes before you intend to leave cold. It's "No, you can't play outside cold." It's "there's a two-hour delay for school" cold. It's "I AM wearing layers!" cold. It's "at this rate we'll run out of wood pellets before the end of the month!" cold.

It's cold people. And it's so totally going to waste. If we had a proper burst of moisture from the East, we could have a whopper of a blizzard! I only remember being in two blizzards. One was in Washington DC (78? 79?) and the other in Boston. I remember thinking they were really cool!!! Since I don't have to drive to work (and assuming we could somehow keep the electricity on here) I think I would STILL find a good blizzard cool. Just, oh, 20 to 24 inches overnight. That would be enough to make things nice and quiet for a few days.



But nothing remotely like that is in the forecast. It's just cold. cold cold cold.

Baby Boy Update

Sending him five hats of different sizes in hopes that a few fit. The update this morning is that he is doing much better than the doctors had anticipated--he's successfully down to LESS THAN HALF the amount of extra oxygen he needed the day before. PLEASE continue praying. I know it is making a difference.

Just for Crib Chick

We are totally slain by Hoodwinked. It has been watched at least 2 dozen times in the last few days. I refuse to admit how many times I've sat through it (and I've never made it all the way through NEMO, so that's saying something). Twitchy though, he's a little hard to understand :)

Honest Pretzels

Honest Pretzels is one of Molly Katzen's cookbooks for cooking with children. It also contains my absolute favorite waffle recipe. My only complaint with any of Molly's books is that they *never* contain nutrition information. Sometimes a girl wants to know just how much sodium is in her vegetarian masterpiece, you know? (Actually, I don't usually care about sodium, although Aunt Charlotte says that is a mistake. But I do sometimes count my calories and I do sometimes wonder just how many are in each one of these waffles.)

Anyway, it's a bit of work, but I've rewritten it here as a mix--so make the batch once and then if you're loving it, next time grind a bunch of your wheat in advance or open a big bag of flour. The biggest "time consumer" here is the difficulty in obtaining a quantity of quality whole wheat pastry flour without spending too much. I just go ahead and buy it in a 50 lb bag, make gobs of mixes, and then store what's left in a six-gallon bucket with one of those fancy spinning lids on it.

The mixes go in a separate six-gallon bucket. Sundays are waffle days. We have them either for lunch or dinner. With the mix, it's a simple and easy meal to put together. It would probably be more balanced with some ham or something, but we never bother. And I never get even one waffle ahead of whomever is at the table. It *should* make enough to freeze some for later in the week, but with my boys, it somehow never does. So without further ado, Cinnamon Waffle mix:

Put into each large ziplock storage bag:
2 cups unbleached white flour
1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
(seal)


Make yourself a card (I set mine on top of the pile of mixes in the bucket and take it out each time you go to make the mix. At some point you'll have it committed to memory.) with the following information on it:

You'll need:
the bag of mix
2 tsp vinegar (any kind)
6 Tblsp melted butter
6 eggs
2 Tblsp sugar
3 cups milk
vegetable oil cooking spray
(waffle iron, an electric mixer, some mixing bowls)

1. Separate the eggs into yolk and whites. Set yolks aside. Whites go into mixing bowl. Add sugar to egg whites. Beat until they hold their shape. I move these into another bowl so I can use the mixer for the milk/vinegar step.
2. Preheat the waffle iron
3. Mix the yolks, vinegar, melted butter, and milk.
4. Mix the dry mix and liquids together. Don't stress about lumps.
5. Fold in egg whites with a spatula.
6. Spray the waffle iron with cooking spray. Start cooking waffles.

Cook up all the batter. Let extras cool, then put them in a ziplock back in the freezer. Reheat in toaster oven at will.

These are especially good topped with apple sauce, but I love them so much plain, I regularly eat them with nothing on them at all.

+++++++++++

Word is that 2-lb baby boy is exiting the honeymoon stage and entering the fighting stage. Let's keep praying. Specifically, we need him to be okay with less oxygen in his air. Too much oxygen is hard on a baby's lungs over the long haul. So we need to pray that his lungs mature "enough" this week to reduce the oxygen load. Thank you for joining me in this.

Fasting, Prayer, and a 2-lb baby boy

It's fast and testimony Sunday tomorrow at church. I really like this particular tradition of my church, so I couldn't tell you why or how it was that I managed to go all of 2006 without fasting--but I did. I guess I was so wrapped up in trying to survive all the work I heaped on my own head that I couldn't keep straight which day of the week it was, much less which particular Sunday of the month it was. I would go to church and it would become clear that it was a testimony meeting and I would sigh . . . unprepared again.

It happened to me again on the 7th. I went to church and it was fast and testimony Sunday and I had eaten. I didn't feel too badly about eating because, honestly, it's not about eating. It's about fasting and growing closer to God--which involves not eating, but is not about eating or not eating. I just missed that feeling that you get when you go to a testimony meeting fasting. It brings you closer to God, and it also brings you closer into the fold of the congregation. Even though noone ever talks about eating or not eating on fast and testimony Sunday. (In fact, it's frowned upon.) So I decided on the 7th that somehow or other I would remember this Sunday.

(As an aside, my attendance last year fell to an all-time low since I reactivated five years ago. This was definitely because of my hyper-focus on work, made worse by the afternoon meeting time. When our ward returned to the morning meeting slot, I resolved to fix my poor attendance problem and the only Sunday I missed in January was the one where Milo was sick. COMPLETELY unrelated, I also decided that this was as good a time as any to try--really for the first time since I joined the church many, many years ago--to do an honest job of keeping the Sabbath. And while I was at it, I'd promised my Bishop that I would do something about my poor scripture reading habits. Which, if you're going to actually make the time to read the scriptures, you might as well fix your poor praying habits. Which, somehow, led to me doing night-time prayers with the twins--which seems to have rubbed off on Max and has led to HIM doing a few night-time prayers. ALL of this goes against my number one rule of habit change, which is don't change more than one bad habit at a time. Focusing on ONE thing at a time leads to a much better success rate. It's the folks with ten resolutions at the end of December that I just want to hug and say, "No, no. You're fine! You'll be fine. Just pick ONE. In a few months, pick ONE more, etc., etc." I'm 38 now. I've learned one or two things in this lifetime. "Don't bite off more than you can chew," is one of them. [I watched Milo eat a cupcake today and he--he has NOT learned this one yet.] But every time I sit down to think of which to let slide for now . . . I can't choose. I really feel BETTER for having gone to church. I am a better PERSON if I have a day of honest rest and focus on family and faith. Reading scripture makes me feel like my life has a greater PURPOSE than textbook writing and bill paying. Praying keeps me from feeling burdened by my blessings. And fasting--the feeling I get from fasting is like earning interest on all of that.)

So I did remember. I did remember although I still did a kind of messy job of applying the knowledge because the twins had a birthday party that didn't get over until 12:30, we didn't get home until 1:00, I didn't get to actually eat lunch myself until 2:30 . . . it was 4:00 when I knelt down to pray to begin my fast. But I immediately felt a WHOLE lot better after I did. Then, I went back to my computer, read the scripture for the day, and got back to work. During little work breaks, I cast on another preemie hat. And here--this was really the point of the whole post, but I felt it needed all the back story, the odd feeling of vulnerability I get when I want honestly to change but am fearful of . . . I don't know what--all that is mixed up in these thoughts--so I'm working on this preemie hat and I'm thinking, well, really PRAYING with every little stitch, about this tiny baby boy. I'm knitting for a 2-lb-er. A little boy. I know he is the only survivor of a set of triplets and that his mother lost most of her own kidney function during the pregnancy. That's all I know. His mother has a friend who loves her and this friend posted a request for knit preemie hats on a mothering board I frequent and I offered to send the ones I'd already knit for my Cousin-in-law and she sent me her address. But then I got out my tape measure and realized that as usual (since my children have freakishly large heads) I'd knit them bigger than I intended. They're probably going to be perfect for my cousin-in-law, whose baby is still safely in utero and probably already more than 2 lbs there. But I would need to quickly whip-up some new hats for a 2-lb baby boy. Unfortunately, the only honest-to-goodness deadline I had all week was yesterday, so I didn't have three hours to put aside to knit a hat--which is all it takes at the most to knit a hat this small. So I just finished the first hat during the birthday party and here I am working on the second hat.

And praying over this baby. So I wish I had a name for him, but we'll just call him 2-lb baby boy, and if you are praying and fasting or not fasting but still praying, I hope you'll include him in your prayers. His mother means for him to live and herself to heal enough to raise him. If God does not have some other purpose for this boy, I know He can and will hear our prayers. Join me in this prayer tonight? I want to send the mother hope and comfort. Whoever and wherever she is. I like that about God. He is not the Post Office. You can say, "I think you know who I mean," and He does.

Boo-Ya!

I don't know where Ben picked up "Boo-ya!" but he did and he uses it enthusiastically and as frequently as possible. It came into great play this evening.

We went bowling. And if I wasn't a massive introvert who is now completely drained of a need to interact with my audience following hours of being "out in public," I'd give you the blow by blow. It was all funny, it was all good. So instead you get the summary.

I won. Yes, I did. I haven't bowled in YEARS and I bowled a 124 thanks to three strikes, two spares (the last frame included both a strike and a spare) and then a bunch of totally forgettable frames in between. I'd get a spare and then with the first ball of the next frame get, like, two. Chris and I spent most of the game being amazed at exactly how awkward you can feel hurling a marble ball down a slippery lane when you haven't played the game in eons.

Chris has his own ball. He couldn't use it. It was made for the skinny kid he was as a teenager. The big Double XL man he is now will need to drill out new holes if he's to use that ball again.
Nevertheless, he gamely tossed a 16 lb ball down the lane over and over. And like me, had mixed results. He was ahead for the first half, then I threw a nine by neatly finding the footing and the toss I had 22 years ago when I worked for a bowling alley and played a lot. I immediately lost it on the next frame, but I came close for most of the rest of the game and remembered why I thought the game was fun.

One thing that totally changed the game and gave us ALL artificially high scores was the fact that we were playing with Ben and Milo. So we had the bumpers up. We'd have ALL had at least a few gutter balls had we not had the bumpers up.

Ben and Milo? They got exactly the same score using two entirely different techniques. Ben wanted to throw the ball, which involved heaving the ball up to his chest, running at the alley, and then just plopping that sucker down and hoping it picked up some momentum during the run. There was only one time that it stopped rolling altogether. The rest of the time it DID make it down and usually managed to knock over some pins. Milo used the ball flinger--this metal contraption where you place the ball on the top and give it a shove and the ball rolls along these metal rails, picking up speed as it falls, and then does a fair job of getting to the other end. It's impossible to aim and what you knock down is totally luck. But it worked well enough. They scored 70. We thought it was hilarious that they got the same score because, you know, identical twins, blah blah blah--and they were dressed alike today, which is rare.

Max put on his game face and did his best, but the ball is heavy and Chris and I could explain the technique but were too rusty to SHOW him much, so he was happy just to come in third with an 86 or 88 or something.

Anyway, it was four boys, one girl, two diet cokes and a sprite to share, and about an hour of flinging the balls at the pins. A good time was had by all. Then, we headed over to the nearest pizza place (the bowling alley DOES sell pizza. It's not edible.) which has excellent pizza, moderately good service, and takes FOREVER to make a pizza. We splurged--in part because we had coupons for the bowling and only had to pay for the shoes. So I think we were there about two hours. There were at least four points in the evening where we vowed we had to blog "this" and now I can't remember any of them except for the twins getting the same score. And Ben yelling "Boo-ya!" every time he knocked down a single pin. And Milo doing victory dances.

By the time we got home we were all mostly ready for bed.

It's been a good week. A lot of bills got paid. It'll be awhile now before the mail man brings any more money, so after tonight's splurge, we're on budget lockdown. I need to finish up some work tomorrow morning and then get the twins to a birthday party. After that I'm cleaning and doing laundry. Sunday is a Fasting day at church and it's been so long since I participated I hope I can remember how.

It's only 9:30, but I'm off to bed while I still have the warm fuzzies from a wonderful evening spent with my husband and sons. They're such good kids. I'm so lucky to have them.

Tuesdays

For the time being Tuesdays are very busy. Tuesdays start with me getting up early and trying to get in two hours of work before I get everyone else up. Then it's Chris and Max off to Max's school and I herd the twins into the Blue Truck and we go off to swimming. Into the YMCA changing rooms for a quick hop into their swim suits and into the water. Their lessons are in the super heated ultra-chlorinated therapy pool, which we're not allowed to be in, but there are chairs set up outside therapy pool--on the deck of the regular pool. And we can sit there and watch the lessons. I sit and knit and keep one eye on the lessons. I find my own kids cute and mostly fun to watch.

Then it's out of the pool and into the handicap shower which has the handheld shower head (DON'T point that at mommy, mommy is DRY and wants to stay that way!) where the boys get a shampoo and rinse. From there they shiver in their towels while I dry their hair and then it's off to the lockers to change back into civilian clothes.

We went from the Y to the bank to the dairy this morning. Then it was back home to get packages and off to the Post Office. I mailed off a book to Dad, sunglasses to my sister, and another book to a client. Back home, I started setting up the new computer. First, uninstall all the unwanted crap unnecessary programs. Then, install the necessary programs. Fight with the email program. Fight some more. Resort to yelling at new computer. (Astonishingly, this worked!) Use browser to find my blog and Chris's blog. Bookmark these.

Realize with horror that new computer will require rebuilding all of my bookmarks! Shut off computer and go into denial.

Grab knitting, Max's ski stuff and boyscout stuff, call Chris and nervously inquire when he'll be getting home because I'm worried about being late. He comes home. I hop in still running car. Off to school. Make sure all the kids are picked up and taken over to the ski place. Pick up Max and chastise him for forgetting his ski ticket thingy. Run home and get ski ticket thingy. Get back to ski lodge. Get him dressed and off to ski class.

Get other stragglers dressed and off to ski class. Count noses. All kids and chaperones on slopes. All good. Head to upstairs portion of lodge. Find spot near the fire and next to the window. Discover I can sit and knit and watch Max's ski class!

Feel very, very happy about this.

Watch snow come down harder.
And harder.
And harder.

Realize that 98% of kids on slopes today have GOGGLES. My kid doesn't. We don't own goggles. Go down to ski shop and buy son goggles. Feel really blessed that supervisor added $ to my last invoice so there was extra $ in the budget today. Take goggles out on slopes, find son, son is thrilled with goggles.

Go back to spot near fire next to the window. Knit some more.

Watch son ride up hill. Ski down hill. Ride up hill. Ski down hill. Sun goes down. Boys still going up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill. Some kids are coming in now, but in the end Max and Otis are the last two kids from our group to come in. It is very cold and very windy now.

Count noses, determine all the kids are where they should be, take son home for quick dinner. Beg husband to take son to boy scouts as I'm starting to feel permanently chilled.

Turn on new computer. Open browser to read blogs.

Remember about the bookmarks.

Darn!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

After a rather inauspicious start (I ripped out two hat attempts before getting this one mostly right) I have two hats done and one to go. Ben wants one now. The hat on Chris' head is the Halfdome, knit mostly to direction, although I went bigger on it than written because a) Chris has a big head and b) it's much colder here than in San Francisco. The hat Milo has follows the same basic pattern, but I did it in the round and in Manos del Uruguay, color 51. Chris' hat is Berrocco Ultra Alpaca--a yarn we both love, even though it's only 50% alpaca (Cynthia at my LYS worried that 100% alpaca would stretch out). I'm hoping to use all the leftovers to make some fingerless mittens or something.


I've been working as usual, although things are lighter than I like them. March is going to suck financially. But with some time freed up here and there I have also been crossing things off my lengthy to-do list. I applied for my passport! That's a first. I'm going to Canada for the IRA conference in May (that's, um, the reading association, not the Irish Republicans).

I also discovered that I never got birth certificates for the twins. I don't know how this escaped me, but it did. So I had to order some so I can register them for kindergarten. I think now I just have to get them a bunch of shots to finish the packet. I should start making appointments since I wanted to spread those out.

My new laptop arrives tomorrow. Thank goodness. Off to shop for groceries!

Of Babies, Alpaca, and The Y

I have to keep this one short as I am very, very tired and I need to get up early to get a jump on the day again. Nevertheless, there is a lot to cover. Let's get started.

First, the babies. Now--I don't have gobs of cousins because in general, on both sides of my family the generation before me kept things relatively conservative in the baby-having department. My Dad was the most prolific, having four of us. I have four cousins on my mother's side and four cousins on my father's side (and three siblings) and that's it. I am also the oldest on both sides and by luck and personality--way out ahead of all the rest in terms of getting married and then having kids. Max had to wait ten years for an honest-to-goodness maternal cousin and I think seven years for a second cousin or cousin-once-removed (I don't really know the difference).

But now my younger cousins are reproducing in earnest and there are at least three babies coming this spring. I must knit them all something. But what? Sweaters? I'd kind of like to do a blanket. But blankets are incredibly time consuming and I have that Orenburg Shawl to finish. (Not to mention Chris's second sock. and hat. and sweater.) I don't know what I'm going to knit but I think that I'm going to knit them all something in ALPACA because alpaca is what we bought for Chris's hat and I. am. in. love. This fiber is like buttah. It's so soft I have to stop knitting sometimes and just pet the developing fabric. I want mittens in alpaca. I want an alpaca teddy bear. (Plus, it's fun to say. alpaca. alpaca. alpaca. Now something magic should appear :)

I worked on the latest version of Chris's hat a lot today because it was a Very Busy Day. I got up at 5am in an attempt to finish a work project today while simultaneously being A Good Mother. I was mostl successful. I got Chris and Max off to school at a reasonable hour and took the twins to swimming. I am frustrated by the swimming lessons. We seem to keep signing up and the twins are thrilled and they go and they do pretty much the same thing every time and yet after over a year (on and off) of swim lessons, Milo is only just barely an Eel and Ben is a pike. This is like having to admit your sons are 7th year seniors. Now, I will grant that NOTHING seems to bring on a cold with a major asthma attack for Milo faster than signing him up for swim lessons. I'm starting to suspect there's a chlorine/asthma connection for him. So he never gets to go all 8 lessons in a row. This lesson won't be an exception. He was so sick last week with his asthma (he ran a fever for the first three days. After that, he just plain couldn't breathe. We didn't get any improvement until we got approval for the prednisone.) that he didn't go ANYWHERE. Not to church, not to school, not to swim lessons. I kept trying to will him better and he just . . . wouldn't.

Chris tells me this is no big deal and maybe I shouldn't get up so early. hmm.

So we came home from the swimming lessons that my sons will never graduate from (they'll be seniors in high school, still swimming with floaties) (what? my attitude is fine) and I worked and then the next thing I knew it was time to leave again. So I grabbed my knitting and gloves and warm jacket and packet of Intramural Ski Program stuff and headed over to the school and had a very hectic two hours of cat herding chaperoning, followed by a fairly relaxing and succesful final hour in which all our kids had lots of fun and found their parents at the right time and went home happy.

Except Max and Zach who went off to boy scouts because, you know, skiing isn't enough. They had a GREAT time there and then Max came home and got to work on his homework and now it's 9:45 and we're finally going to bed.

We didn't get any piano practicing done today. That's totally going to come back to haunt us at piano lessons tomorrow evening. Tuesdays are sooo long and yet--not long enough. Oh, well.

It was a good day though. One of those days that makes me happy because it's just so incredibly clear that a) I didn't just move here. I saw people at the ski lodge (because the whole flippin' town was at the ski lodge) that I knew and people from church and people from school and -- this is my home town and even as incredibly introverted as I am -- I know these people and b) we're never ever moving again. It's fine and safe to put down roots here. To bother to learn people's names and the names of their kids and the names of the OTHER elementary schools and . . .

YMCA. swimming. alpaca. work. ski lodge. friends. boy scouts. It's a nice collage of words for a Tuesday, no?

Sunday

My sister ran a marathon today in 4 hours and 5 minutes. I um, I went to church, came home and made waffles, played a game of Dread Pirate, and took a nap. Then I called her and got the blow-by-blow and wished her Congratulations. I have no aspirations to run a marathon, but I can respect hers and know she did something wonderful by setting that goal and achieving it. Congratulations, Alycia!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I sent Max off to do Klondike days with the Boy Scouts today. He definitely has mixed feelings about it. He feels it's a test of all of their boy scout skills--and he doesn't have many boy scout skills because the Tuesday evening scout meetings seem to conflict frequently with sport activities.

So we're hoping . . . that he has a good time anyway. There's sledding involved. Hopefully there is snow involved.

It's 25 degrees right now with a forecast high of 28--and a "real feel" of 9F. It's really windy today. Chris is racing RC cars with his friends today, so the twins and I are here by ourselves (I'm trying to get some work done. I really should be cleaning the kitchen and living room, but I'll have to get to those later.) and mostly we're hiding out downstairs near the pellet stove. It's cold, even with plastic on all of the windows, upstairs.

Maybe I should do a quiche for dinner so that I have an excuse to let the oven heat up the upstairs a bit. Max got me The Amish Cook: Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family for Christmas and I used it for the first time last night to make Winter's Day Chili Soup. My favorite part was that it assumed that I had on hand two quarts of home-canned tomato juice. And of course, I do. I made that with four loaves of sandwich bread and four loaves of french bread. We ate half the french bread with the soup and are using the rest of it up today (it doesn't keep well) in sandwiches. The soup turned out well though I thought it wasn't spicey enough (so I added some cayenne pepper and doubled the chili powder). The kids weren't sure what to make of it, but they enjoyed dipping their bread in it and eating that. The recipe as written serves 15, so there were plenty of leftovers for Chris and I to eat for lunches this coming week.

Anyway, I was reminded of that with the quiche, since she has a recipe for "Never Fail Pie-Crust" and since pie crust is one of those things I haven't quite mastered, I'm going to try it with the quiche.

Something Else I Learned About Knitting Recently

While lurking on a knitting email list I saw repeated references to "relaxing" new circular needles.

I'd never heard of such a thing. I can say that one thing I don't like about working on circular needles is the way they like to coil around and sometimes seem to fight back against you.

So, apparently you've got these people out there who go out and buy their needles and then come home, boil a big pot of water, and dunk the line part of the needles in the hot water till it relaxes, then you pull it out of the water and pull the line into a straight line. No more curly-q when you're trying to knit.

Who knew? I tried it with one set of needles that I happen to have two of in case I did something like melt the needes clean away or something. I nearly forgot about the pot on the stove (I do that a lot actually) but the actual straightening of the needles was easy peasy and . . . I like them better.

So that was another new trick this old dog learned this week.

I finished three assignments today and I'm sick to death of typing. Off to put the kids in bed and sit and knit beside my husband.

A Day in the Life of Me

Monday. Stardate: January 15. 6 more months till my 39th birthday party.

5:00 am. Alarm clock goes off. I crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. I turn off alarm. I crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. I go back to sleep.

6:00 am. One boy starts whimpering. I am instantaneously wide awake. FAR more effective than alarm. Feel boy's head. Wince. Crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. Go to kitchen (Dog in kennel lifts head, looks at me as if to say, "Go back to bed!" Puts head back and down and paw over eyes. No kidding.) Get 2 tsp of children's motrin. Go back and give to feverish five-year-old. He immediately and gratefully passes out again (he loves the taste of children's motrin).

6:05 am. Feel around on dark floor. Find jeans. Find long-sleeve shirt. Find sweater. Find socks. Undress. Dress. Head downstairs.

Check wood stove. Little red light is on. Open hopper and refill with new bag of wood pellets. Hit reset button on stove.

Go to desk. Turn on little space heater under desk. Turn on computer. Say prayer of suplication. Computer makes normal computer noises. Say prayer of gratitude.

6:15 am. Check email. Check blog for comments. Check weather report.

6:30 am. Start working.

7:00 am. Hear pitter patter of little feet. And coughing. Milo, looking sick as a dog, but at least not as feverish, is sitting on stairs watching me work. He wants water. I get water.

7:05 am. Back to work.

7:45 am. Call doctor. Make appointment for both boys.

8:00 am. Dog fusses. Find boots. Find warm winter jacket. Find leash. Take dog out to do her business.

8:20 am. Back to work.

9:00 am. Potty break. All kids are up now. Dh is trying to sleep in, but not successfully. Go in and talk to dh for a bit. For no particular reason, end up sobbing over today's to-do list. Anxious about doctor appointments this week. Anxious about work due. Anxious about how light work is otherwise. Dh listens and hugs and says all the right things. Wipe nose on sleeve. Change shirt.

10:00 am. Dh dresses twinkies. I get things together and take twinkies to doctor appointment.

10:45 am. See doctor. Ben entertains. Milo coughs and coughs and coughs. Doctor says Ben is a little wheezy but getting better enough that we don't need to do anything further. Milo is a lot of wheezy and if he's not better by . . . etc. etc. We get refill of albuterol for nebulizer and some stickers.

11:10 am. Run into friend and her two daughters on way out of office. Am tempted to run off to lunch with them, but remember I have to turn that work in today. Reluctantly head home.

11:45 am. Boss of the project due today calls because her email is down. I get brownie points for asking good questions. I admit that I opened the package of materials I was sent last week late and didn't notice today's due date until yesterday. She isn't worried. She has too many other pieces to read today anyway and there's still the problem with the email. Anxiety about work goes away. I can turn this in tomorrow. I also will finish another small project tomorrow. I have the rest of the week to do otherwise light project. I feel a little better.

12:00 am. Make everyone except Max lunch. Max is in and out of house looking for his friends and has to make his own lunch.

12:15 pm. Back to work.

1:00 pm. Milo arrives at desk looking, at best, awful. He turns big puppy dog eyes to me. I take him up to my bedroom, sit with him through a breathing treatment, and then knit a bit while I wait for the sandman to take him off to a nap. He is insulted that I think a big five-year-old like himself would need a na----zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

2:00 pm. Leave for appointment with brand new shrink. Stop at Barnes and Noble on the way. Trade in baby hat book for "The Millionaire Next Door" after deciding that Barnes and Noble sold all the good knitting books for Christmas and hasn't restocked yet.

3:40 pm. Arrive for appointment with new shrink. Meet with him. Go over meds and medical history. Decide new shrink is a) older than me (always a plus), b) funny and smart , c) going to work out just fine. I get reassured that the "old school" tricyclic that I put myself back on (with help of family med doctor) after Wellbutrin stopped working was great choice, is totally appropriate with other med I'm taking. He tweaks its dosage, runs over brief plan for future . . . I leave feeling very relieved. I get to keep my el cheapo generic drugs that don't make me gain weight AND there's no need to play anti-depression med roulette with new doctor.

4:45 pm. Stop at grocery store and get some meat for meals this week, two boxes of hamburger helper, some caffeinated beverages, more milk, a box of ice cream, and a candy bar.

5:30 pm. Arrive home. Start browning ground turkey. Hide candy bar in desk after dh tries to run off with it twice.

5:35 pm. Set up Milo with another breathing treatment.

5:40 pm. Add hamburger helper to ground turkey.

5:50 pm. Serve family "dinner." Family is thrilled. I never buy hamburger helper and they LOVE it. I justify it tonight because of the ground turkey.

6:30 pm. Desperately try to focus on work. Fail miserably. Spend next two hours working on Chris' travel plans for March and talking to MIL on phone about her move.

8:00 pm. Chris gets back from pharmacy with prescriptions.

8:15 pm. Start blogging.

8:30 pm. Give everyone some ice cream.

9:00 pm. Another breathing treatment for Milo. Read a book to twins. Chris helps get Ben and Max in bed.

10:15 pm. Finish silly blog entry in which point is basically, "Jeez, I was all worried about today for basically no reason. It turned out fine. Though I didn't get very much work done, did I?!?"

Sunday, Rainy Sunday

I was all set to go to church this morning, put the church clothes in the dryer last night and then went upstairs to check on the kids. Milo had a fever. So much for that. Checked him again this morning in hopes that he was just running hot last night, nope.

So I called a friend from church and got Max a ride to church so he can see his friends there and I settled in for a quiet day. It was a resolution of mine to try to actually HAVE a Sabbath day instead of a maybe get to church maybe not definitely work day. Those were wearing me out. So I finished up a work project yesterday and then spent the afternoon and half the evening doing what I told Chris was a mini-move.

See, Chris has made two Decisions recently (I'm done waiting for him to blog about all this. He won't have time until later in the week, frankly, and then he'll probably be painting for the next few weeks to catch up.). The first is that he's going to pursue portrait photography professionally down the road, and the second is that he is applying for the Penn State program for his MFA in Photography. We haven't a CLUE what his chances are for the MFA program at this stage in the game. But since we're never, ever moving again, he can't shop around. And the deadline for the application is Wednesday. And he didn't really decide that he was definitely going to apply until early last week.

So then he had to tear the house apart looking for his portfolio of slides. Only to find that we probably lost them all in the great Icky Rat Incident of 2004. Which means that his portfolio had to be reshot. And the program will only take slides. And Chris's photography equipment has dwindled over the years. So there were new bulbs to buy and -- it's been a huge project.

Plus the last minute nature of it all has involved lots of fedexing and begging of favors from friends and relatives and coworkers-past -- I've mostly just been sitting on the sidelines eating popcorn and watching it all with great interest. (Well, and working and cooking and getting the kids to all their activities and dealing with my little knitting dramas.)

But I noticed I had this tremendous urge to clean the house, throw things away, and pack things up. It occurred to me that this whole Start of A New Deal feeling has been accompanied by moving boxes and house showings fairly consistently in our married life and since we don't DO that any more (move, that is) I felt a little at loose ends.

So yesterday I went through all the boxes we'd pulled out of the storage closet (while looking for the missing slids) and tossed most of it. I got six boxes down to two. Most of what is gone were the last of my classroom files (which probably dooms me to returning to the classroom at some point so I can regret finally throwing away all my lesson plans) and a lot of old CTP books that I hadn't had a need for in the last year so figured I probably wouldn't in the future.

Then I went through my work files and tossed all the paperwork from the last year.

Then I reorganized the closet, four of my bookshelves, and my entire yarn stash.

In the process I found two more boxes of poetry that need to go back to last year's Main Client.

I'm still not actually done. I have to finish cleaning off my desk. But I'm pretty happy about what I've accomplished so far.

If Chris gets accepted to his MFA program I'm going to paint a room to celebrate :)

So anyway, that's where Chris is today--driving a gazillion miles to the nearest camera shop that is both open on a Sunday AND offers expedited development of slides. I'll watch the coughing, hacking twinkies, knit, read the relief society lesson I'm missing, and enjoy the day the Lord has given me.

+++++++++

P.S. For Elizabeth--the UAB was really for me, even though the whole family is enjoying it. I also have another HUGE afghan on the needles which I envisioned sharing with Chris as we watched a movie together on the cough we don't own yet. And this summer I finished a sleeveless cotton "sweater" that was for me. For the stuff that's in progress--well, that Faorese shawl in the side bar is for me and I have yarn (JaggerSpun Zephyr DK weight in Claret) and the Bridie pattern in my stash for someday for me. I have to finish a few more things before I can allow myself to cast on for that. Otherwise, I know it's vain of me, but I like receiving thrilled exclamations of love and adoration when I finish a piece of knitting and I get that when I finish something for the kids. When I finish something for me? I'm just relieved it's finally done. I am inspired to knit for babies because babies are wonderful things, even when they come in batches and I am a little late with the sweater for the last one in the batch. I will also confess that I bought the yarn for the knee-high socks in Handknit Holidays:



Which I will not start knitting until I'm at or really darn close to my final goal weight, sometimes later this year. I hold my weight in my legs and hips and so the last 30 lbs--they will come from my legs and hips. I will never in a million years have legs that look like those in the photo, so my version will have the adapations detailed at "Dances with Wool" (click on March 2006 in her side bar).

I also have some shimmer yarn set aside for myself for the Shetland Tea Shawl in A Gathering of Lace and at some point I'll get hold of some more Barefoot Mountain Colors in a blueish or purplish colorway and make myself some socks from that.

I Really Must Take a Knitting Class Sometime

I took a knitting class a few years ago when I'd been knitting for thirteen or so years. It was a knitting class that pretty much took you whereever you were and taught you a thing or two. You showed up with whatever you were working on and then she made suggestions as she watched you work or she helped you solve problems or whatever. At the time I was working on a baby outfit and trying to overcome my fear of anything sweater-related, and I was quite pleased to finally learn, after all those years, a second way to cast on.

This week it was brought home to me again that I am still essentially, the slowest-learning knitter in the World and that if it weren't for the internet and the occasional bit of luck, I'd never learn (or finish) anything.

Remember my Orenburg Warm Shawl? I was nearly done with the right border (which you knit first) and preparing to start the diagonal stripe that goes next to it. I went to the LYS's Calendar Club--this thing where you buy a Knitting Calender. This one:



And then get together at the shop once a month and start knitting something from it. If you come back before the next class and show them your finished object, you get to fill out a ticket towards a $100 shopping spree at the store (which would take me, like, five minutes to spend).

I wanted to do it mostly as an excuse to get out of the house once a month, but when Cynthia (one of the shop owners) suggested we do the monthly projects as future Christmas presents, I was intrigued.

At any rate, I was there for the first "class" on Wednesday when she went over all the rules and then we started knitting the first project. I won't say what it was, but I picked out two balls of yarn in a deep purple and then put them away to worry about later. I got out my shawl project and started knitting on that.

Well, to make a long story short (which I have to do now as I need to mediate the breathing treatments tonight. When they both need one, they rush each other, squabble--the next thing you know there's albuterol on the wall and none in the kids.) it was ultimately decided that I was knitting the shawl far too tightly. Like, hopelessly so. There was nothing to do but frog and reknit.

It took me another two days to get around to it, but I did. I frogged. I swatched. And then, on a whim, I decided what the heck--I know I've been knitting for awhile now and HOW basic is a yarn-over? But something had struck me a little while ago. I never once saw another knitter mention online how tricky it was to knit into their yarn overs coming back across on the next row.

Here's how you do a yarn over. You bring the yarn to the front of the work and around the needle. Whenever it was that I first read those instructions in print, I had noone around to actually SHOW me a yarn-over. So I read those instructions and I thought I followed them. And so, all this time, I've been doing a yarn-over upside down. You're supposed to bring the yarn UNDER the needle and then up and to the back of the work. I've been bringing the yarn OVER the needle and then back--you know, OVER as in YARN OVER.

This means you have to do some serious tweaking on the other side to slide the needle in to knit the stitch properly. Doing so, also causes a twist in the yarn that takes up half the slack introduced by the yarn-over. In other words, my yarn-overs do a great job adding a stitch, just like they are supposed to. But they don't leave much of a hole. They DO leave a hole, but you have to look for it.

So the biggest complaint that Kim (the other LYS owner who looked at the shawl as a second opinion) had was never mind that it was too small/short/narrow--it didn't look . . . lacey. It looked PRETTY enough. But not lacey.

So I googled the yarn-over, found an online video, watched the upside down yarn-over, and sighed. I knew this was the missing piece of the puzzle. I did the next row of the new swatch in the "new" way and my chin hit the floor. The new "holes" were three times the size of the other ones.

I frogged again. I went DOWN a needle size (from the three sizes I'd jumped up) so that now I'm on size 3 needles instead of the 1's I knit the first try on, and I swatched again. And it's really pretty. Much nicer than before.

So I feel STUPID and INCOMPETENT, but I can't say it's all for nothing. I tore out the new swatch and I'll cast on for the Orenburg all over again. Hopefully, for the last time.

(In the meantime I knit the purple project. I already finished it. It was blessedly free of yarn overs.)

Now. Do I rip out the Faroese shawl which is clearly rife with Yarn overs, but I'm only 12 rows into it? Or do I just . . . let the 12 rows go and start doing the yarn overs correctly from here on out? (whine, whine) I'm tired of frogging! (Mentally goes through her list of all of her projects on the needle. What else has yarn overs? I don't think anything else.)

I Don't Have the Exact Diagnosis

But I'm pretty sure that whatever is wrong with my computer is terminal. In this moment though, with one item turned in and the other due in 40 minutes and it having chosen this moment to slow the heck down to nearly nothing, I am possessed of a very strong urge to hasten its demise with a baseball bat.

(The screen no longer functions, it occasionally shuts itself down with no warning, it has these work slooooooooowwwwwwdoooooooowwwwnnns with no warning or explanation, and when I shut if off it sometimes acts like it can't remember how and when I turned it on this morning it made a noise I didn't think a computer could make. More like a credit card in a blender than a $1,200 piece of electronics.)

I will grant you that I ask a great deal of my computer. It is on nearly every day and it is on for a good 15 hours straight. It has virtually no battery function left and as I mentioned, no screen. I have, at this moment, 7 separate applications running and I need them all to do this !@#$% assignment. My 1 gig of RAM is struggling under the load.

But still! I want to talk encouragingly to it and instead all that comes out is, "You better not flippin' DIE until I get your replacement and get all the *&^%$# financial data transferred!"

Deep breath. In through nose, out through mouth, haaaaaaaaa. >choke< >sputter<

>SOB<

Good Morning

It wasn't a resolution, but I've been going to bed earlier and getting up earlier and that is working out generally better. The twins go to bed earlier and get up earlier when I do this--actually, the whole family does. Max is the only one who is trailing. He's staying up too late reading and then having a difficult sloth-like morning in which he is constantly harrassed to please hurry up.

I think I need to look to some other time of the day for his piano practice. This is tough as evenings can vary so much from day to day and if piano isn't at the same time each day, it doesn't work.

I don't think the slot before breakfast is working out though. It's not enough time and there aren't enough of his brain cells attending the practice. 7:00 pm. It's as good and as bad a time as any. We'll try that. His extended school day doesn't allow for afternoon practice.

Today reads like a page out of someone else's journal. I'm scheduled to leave the house for a reason that doesn't involve my kids! I have a monthly knitting class to attend this year and immediately following that, a PAC meeting. I guess the PAC meeting kind of involves the kids in that I wouldn't be going or a member if the kids weren't there . . . but they won't be with me.

I also have Max's piano lesson this afternoon.

Which means that I need to get all my workwork done by, um, 3pm. I'd better get started. I used the early start on Monday and Tuesday to get work done, but this morning I used it to pay the bills and balance the checkbook, so--off to work.