I had meant to do some gardening this morning but the weather didn't cooperate. I confess that I am enough of a wuss that I don't like gardening in the rain. I've done it but today was not going to be the day.
Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be better and I can at least get out there and clean up the remnants of the grasses and clear out the last of the brown woody stuff.
It must be well into spring at this point. The spring peepers have gone from a gentle melody to a full-blown choir. Then this morning while out driving I saw my first woodchuck of the season; his plumply furry little body galumphing across a meadow. Lots of good eating I guess. They're so cute.
The grasses are definitely growing...time to start mowing.
And lots of weeding coming up. The deer fence has come down so now we'll need to start spraying Bobbex on the plants to try to protect them from invasion. Every year at this time I start wondering why we can't train deer, rabbits and woodchucks to eat the weeds instead of the flowers.
Stitch Sisters again tonight. There was a power outage at our normal meeting place so Martha offered her house. We all drove over there so sit in her cozy living room and craft together. It was wonderful.
While there I managed to destash even more!! I gave away a number of magazines, patterns, articles that I no longer wanted as well as several odds and ends of yarn that I know I will not be using anymore. Funny enough two of the yarns that I set free were exact matches for projects that others were working on. I love it when it works out that way.
I also managed to get a little more done on the hoodie. I really like the way this is coming out. I'm trying to be good and sew in the edges as I go so that it won't be so mind-numblingly boring when I am finished with the piece. I've started working on the body of it and am getting close to the neckline. I'm a little nervous about the shaping for that but we'll see when happens when I get there.
Nothing like a few sirens going off and strobe lights flashing to start the adrenaline going. Especially when it happens in the middle of a yoga class! There we all were, stretching and bending and getting into that "yoga zone" when the alarm went off. And a rather odd sounding mechanical voice informed us that there had been an emergency detected in the building yada yada.
We gathered together all of our stuff and exited the building. Trying to decide if this was going to be resolved shortly or not as we walked to the front of the building and the parking lot. We decided to all go to Lara's house and finish the session in her yoga studio.
Just as we were all leaving the siren went off at the firehouse. Now I have to point out that in this itty bitty little town I live in the firehouse is literally a 30 second walk from the school. Not sure why it took a good 10 minutes for the alarm to go off but grateful that it wasn't when there were kids in the school.
Yoga was, as always, fabulous. Especially at Lara's house because the studio is much cozier than the huge multi-purpose auditorium that we use at the school. Not complaining mind you, I'm grateful that the school is open for public events after hours; it's just that the yoga studio is designed for yoga and so much more comfortable.
At the end tonight when we did our oms it was amazing. The space really resonates and so the sound filled my body and really vibrated all the way down to my toes. Awesome.
It was so lovely to come back from vacation and be greeted by the hints of green buds wisping through the landscape on the trees as well as the daffodils and flowering trees. My crabapples are about to bloom, the calary pears are in full bloom and some of the early rhododendrons are blooming.
When we left the buds were barely visible. One week later it's a startling change and one that is very welcome.
I've been out in the garden today and plan to get back out there again in just a little bit. Weeding, weeding, weeding. The grass, dandelions, ground ivy and bedstraw have certainly started to make their presence known. But I'm not complaining because I'm enjoying being out there and definitely enjoying the weather.
I'm still attempting to corral all of my unfinished objects (UFO in knitspeak) to figure out if any of them are going to be discarded or not. Now that I have actually taken several of them apart I feel somewhat liberated and willing to rip out others. I have to evaluate each one and decide. The object is to bring the list down to a manageable level of projects that I actually WANT to finish.
I am also in the process of organizing all of my papers and books. I've discovered that over the years I have printed a lot of patterns, scribbled notes, and collected freebies from the stores until I have a veritable storm of paper.
Thirdly I am reorganizing all of my knitting bags (too many to admit to here). I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy just one more box to store yarn in but then that's it seriously. I need to get this under control and organized. It does seriously mean that I shouldn't buy more yarn for quite a while however I have more than enough to happily keep me in knitting projects for at least a year (if not longer).
While on vacation I had the opportunity, finally, to catch up on some knitting. It started in New Jersey with a visit to my parents. My aunt was there as was my sister-in-law, brother and family.
Side note, I actually taught someone else how to knit! My sister-in-law has been wanting to learn. So I brought her some yarn, she and my mom went to a shop to buy needles and she is working on a scarf in a lovely blue colorway, mohair mix yarn. I'm amazed, she's a really good knitter for someone who is just learning. Her stitches were very even, not too tight, not too loose and well-spaced.
Another side note, my aunt was making a scarf for my mom and needed to bind off using something called the "Icelandic Bind Off." We asked at the knitting shop, my mom tried to Google it, to no avail. A wikipedia search reveals that it is a rather stretchy bind off. So now we know.
For my own knitting I decided to start a new project with existing yarn. I had some leftover acrylic purple and a purple-green varigation. I found a pattern in the latest copy of Family Circle Easy Knitting for a hooded beach coverup that looked really cute and decided to start it. I'm really enjoying making it, I love the way the colors go together and having the luxury of working on it uninterrupted while the kids were in the pool was great. Unfortunately the scanner isn't working at the moment but I'll try to fix that soon so that I can scan the resulting material and show it here. While some may scoff at the idea of a sweater in acrylic for a beachy or poolside coverup I think it's a better option. Plus it uses up the leftover.
I've finished one sleeve and started the body. One of the reasons I like the pattern is that it is worked from side to side so there is no joining of pieces, just two seams (well...three if you count adding in the hood). Unfortunately I'm realizing that there may not be enough yarn left to do the whole thing and I may need to go get more in the same colors. But since it's for an existing project that's not so bad. And I've decided to take all my "extras" and make squares with them. I figure if I keep doing that eventually I'll have an interesting assortment that I can put together into a blanket.
While on vacation, we went to visit my uncle in Florida [hi Uncle Steve!], we mostly hung around the pool and lazed on the lanai. Nothing really big but it sure recharged our batteries. We're normally so busy with our day-to-day lives and all of the running around and responsibilities that it was utter luxury to sleep late and enjoy the weather and relax.
The one touristy thing that we did was to go on a river boat cruise to see wildlife. We had hoped to see manatees but appparently their "season" ends in March so that didn't happen. We did however see lots of alligators, a number of different kinds of turtles, several species of birds, and lots of plants. One alligator was sunning itself on a log. As the boat moved closer the alligator didn't budge, not even to open its eyes. The Captain told us, "We call them tourist gators. They bask in the sun all day and go out to eat at night."
We learned a lot on the tour also. For example, the water was a brackish color. Apparently that means that there is both salt and fresh water present. And alligator nests are three degrees warmer at the top of the nest. The eggs that are on the top, the warmest ones, will become male alligators. That was kind of strange but interesting. We also learned that an alligator, at least in that area, is considered mature once it gets to about six feet in length.
The next time we go to Florida we'll have to take the tour again, maybe we'll get to see river otters or manatees.
While on vacation reading material is always a must. I didn't bring my primary reading book, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (by Susanna Clarke) because it was too big and would have taken up too much room in my suitcase. I wish there had been room in the suitcase though. I am REALLY enjoying this book, thanks to Seth and Kim for the gift. It is very well written, very engaging and sort of an old-fashioned style of novel. The story is great. I just wish I had more time to read it. The only sad note is that I know it is one of those books that you hate to have end. When it is over I will be sad that there isn't any more to the story. I'm about three-quarters of the way through so there's still some story left to go.
For vacation I brought Food in History by Reay Tannahill. This was also a gift, thanks Joyce, and is a wonderful book. I like food and books about food (I'm one of those silly people that actually "reads" cook books), I like history (somewhat) and I find socio-eco-politico stuff to be interesting. This book has lots of information about why things are they way they are with food as we move through history. How some changes came into being, how certain things developed. It's really amazing. I'm learning so much and it's presented in an enjoyable way.
The third book that I am reading at the moment is Living It Up: America's Love Affair with Luxury by James B. Twitchell. What an interesting book (and subject). It clearly explains a lot about our current culture and how it is perceived by different groups and the net effect/impact of a consumer-driven society. It's not a light-and-fluffy look at the subject but neither does it present itself as a hard-line opinionated reflection of one viewpoint or another on the topic of consumerism.
I think I need more vacation so that I will have more reading time.
I have just recently learned about making your own bias tape. Although I know what bias tape is and I have even used it on occasion it never occurred to me to consider making my own.
At Sitch Sisters I was complaining about all of the strips that I am having to sew together to make this fabric purse....which I am getting more and more impatient to start on because I have been thinking about it so much.
Well...
Wendy mentioned that perhaps I should just make bias tape out of the fabric and then I wouldn't need to do all that sewing. Darn...now I find out. *sigh* there are still quite a number of pieces to sew together, but at least I'll know for next time. And this piece of knowledge makes it much more likely that there will be a next time.
This is actually a catch up post from before I went on vacation. One of the benefits of working where I do is that I have a corner window (three actually) that face the back woods behind our building. Lots of wildlife hangs out back there.
This past week has been a big week for crows. One day I managed to see a crow fighting with a snake. It was very interesting to see the crow pecking at the snake and then the snake trying to writhe away. Eventually the snake lost and the bird carried it off into a tree.
Another bird incident involved a rather audacious squirrel and two crows. I'm not sure what the squirrel stole from the crows but they were very upset about it. Cawing loudly and hopping up the rocks, flapping their wings while the squirrel dashed back and forth up the rocks into the safety of the undergrowth.
The crows seem to be out in force lately too. They've been perching on the roof line next to my window. They're huge; it's very interesting to watch them looking into the woods, peering side to side to see whatever it is that they see.
Well folks, we've been away on vacation. It was spring break for the kids and we decided to get away for a few days to Florida where the weather was wonderful. We came back rested and ready to go for the rest of the school year [hah!]. I burn too easily and wore a lot of protective lotion. Even so I managed to get quite a bit of color; however I didn't come back tan...as my aunt calls it, "I beiged."
Now sit back and take a deep breath because there are lots of posts coming up, I'll try to keep them in some sort of order, but no real promises here.
Tonight was Stitch Sisters; we had a really good gathering of 8. It was lovely to sit around, chatting, knitting, laughing together. What a wonderful group of ladies these friends of mine are, I so enjoy my Thursday nights with them.
I actually finished a project!!! Bluff is done!!!! I'm so happy. I think I'll leave Bluff and Bluffette up on the knit list for a little while so I can see that 100%.
And I made a momentous decision today. I'm unknitting a number of projects. These are projects that haven't gotten very far and have been languishing at the bottom of my closet woefully looking up at me each time I open the door. There's the elephant with LOTS of mistakes. I think I'll restart it because I do want to make one but it won't be this one. Then there's the
Ugly Slippers courtesy of Mariko...well, actually Nancy but Mariko is the one who posted the pattern. I started a pair. They are SOOOOO ugly (how ugly are they?) REEEAAAALLLLLY ugly. I have one-third of one slipper done and I don't even like the yarn anymore. It's gotta go.
I think it's kind of like reading books you don't like. I've gotten to the point in my life where if I don't like a book I don't finish it. I have barely any time to read as it is why should I spend my precious reading time reading something that is a struggle? I've decided to give myself permission to start on a new slate. Get rid of all the projects I don't want or know that I can't finish easily enough so that I can focus on those I do want to do. A new and pared down knit list if you will. Unfortunately this means even more of a yarn diet since I truly can't buy anymore yarn after I re-roll all this stuff and take up yet another bin stuffed into another closet where my husband, hopefully, doesn't see it. hmmmmm....maybe we need more closets.
Tonight the Girl Scouts had a self-defense class. Funny enough it was taught by my yoga teacher, Lara. She volunteered her time to help the girls. I know I've said it before but my family really is fortunate to live in a community where so many people give back.
There was a pretty good turnout by girls of all ages from a number of different troups in town. The girls learned a lot of good things in the class, D was giving us demonstrations and explanations after she got home -- she was very cute. Then the last half hour was yoga to help them relax and meditate which they all really liked as well. Perhaps some of them will start doing yoga on a regular basis, it could be fun to do yoga with my girls.
Steve got out there over the weekend, forgot to post this...bear with me, and cut down all of the ornamental grasses. We have quite a few. Several have been moved and separated so I don't even know exactly how many we have at this point but there are at least a dozen that I can think of. They get very wheaty looking in the winter and then every spring he cuts them down with the chainsaw which does a great job. Now to get out there and clear up all the stalks. The new shoots should be appearing soon.
How long is a yarn diet? I'm beginning to realize that not buying ANY yarn is harder than I thought. So far I have restrained myself and only bought for a gift. But I am tempted. I have a lot of lovely yarns that are waiting for projects -- some are determined some are not -- but entirely far more projects and yarn than time.
A lovely friend of mine, Cathy, just called and offered me some green cotton/silk blend she found in her closet that she doesn't want. I have decided to accept. Is this cheating on the diet? I'm not sure.
If you look at my knit chart you see I've made no substantial progress on any of the three active projects (I've decided to list only three at time). Not for any lack of wanting to you understand, just lack of time. I really do need to get my fanny in gear and finish Bluff though, since it goes with Bluffette which is done. But there are p-l-e-n-t-y more projects in the wings. Including my lovely knitted fabric purse. Almost done with those blasted stitchings for the strips. Next time I am definitely trying to knot it. It will probably change the overall look of the fabric/yarn but should be an interesting texture. I even have an idea that I will meld the next one with a color coordinating fun fur.
Hah! Listen to me. I haven't even started on the first one and already I have plans for the next. It's a sickness, really.
So bright and cheery, the daffodils are blooming in the garden. We have a number of different kinds, very pretty to see them all.
I cut a small bouquet and took it to work to put on my desk. A little spring inside as well as out.
Lots of other bulbs are making their way up through the ground. I find myself even more tempted to clean off the leaf mould but concerned that there might be another frost. I'll content myself with clearing out the rest of the vegetable garden and cleaning up the woody stuff in the perennial beds first.
I think it may be time to haul the huge pots of geraniums up from the basement.
Tonight it felt almost more like summer than spring because we had kabobs for dinner. Beef and chicken with summer squash, peppers, onions and mushrooms. Yummmmmm. Delicious.
For dessert we had watermelon. The girls were a little disappointed that I had gotten a seedless one because they wanted to have a seed spitting contest. Next time. They decided instead to have a messiest eater contest. D won. Watching them I told them that Luciano Pavarotti had once said, "Watermelon, it a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face." I thought it was amusing, they looked at me like I had lost my mind. Oh well, what else is a mother for but to prove to her children that they are still sane.
Today the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Warm, sunny, it definitely felt like spring. Outside without our jackets Steve and I worked in the vegetable garden. Clearing out all of the dead stuff, raking out the beds and getting them ready for this year's occupants. The boards around the raised beds still look good so I think we'll keep them for another year at least.
I'm so happy to be able to spend the time outside working in the yard. As I recently mentioned to a friend, I enjoy the solitude and the silence of working in the garden, communing with nature and enjoying the growing things. It is a necessary mental health thing when raising three teenage daughters. That and more than one shower.
Tonight D, a friend of hers and I went to see the local school production of "Bye Bye Birdie." It was very well done, the actors were enthusiastic and obviously enjoyed performing.
It brought back memories of when I was in High School and we did the same play. I was Edna, the Mayor's wife. The big scene for that role is to faint onstage which Conrad Birdie is singing.
The music is very enjoyable in that play, I sang along to almost all the songs...I had forgotten a few but then again it's been a long time.
Totally kewl as they say. You can find anything on the internet, really. This is a site where someone has mapped out every single zip code in the United States and turned it into a zoomable map that shows you where it is. If you decide to visit make sure zoom is on as it is more fun this way.
Need ideas for zip codes to try? Here are some famous ones, 90210, 10026, 20500, 86023, 99705
Have fun.
After Bingo I made a quick stop by Stitch Sisters. There was one lonely sister sitting there stitching, my friend Christina. D and I sat to chat with her for a moment before heading home. The choir, which had been practicing in the next room, stopped by on their way out and informed us that there had been another group of stitchers there earlier. Two of them to be exact. When Christina didn't show up right away they left. She got there late. We'll have to remind the others that there can be a gathering with as many or few of us as are present.
She's working on a beautiful baby blanket for a friend. It's a pattern that I would like to do so I guess it will have to be added *sigh* to the ever growing list.
It was Girl Scout Bingo night tonight. One of the troops in the district held a bingo function in order to raise food for the local food pantry. The cost of admission was two non-perishable items. The table for drop-offs was very full.
There were so many Moms and Scouts in attendance that there were not enough Bingo cards to go around.
Each card pack had 10 Bingo boards in it. The exitement in the room was a presence of it's own leading to a few false bingo calls. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and applauded madly when someone won a prize.
One luck table right next to our had almost every person win a prize, I jokingly told them that I wanted to move to their table.
It was a great event for a good cause.
Beautiful, balmy, sunny degrees outside today. Almost enough to thaw the final remnants of winter from my bones.
I thoroughly enjoyed being outside and cleaning up more of the brush and woody stuff in the garden after work today. At this time of year I am always presented with a challenge...to clear the leaf mould or not. Some years we still get frosts up until mid-May. At what point do I decide it's safe and rake it out of the beds. If I guess too late I have to pull it out by hand which is messier and takes longer. If I do it too early I run the risk of something dying in a late frost. For now I'm content to clean up all of the "sticks" and I'll think/deal with it later.
It was such a beautiful day outside that D and I even had time for a game of hopscotch. She beat the pants off me but it was fun to spend that time outside together. She was so cute in her triumph, ta DAH!
Tuesday night and you all know what that means...yoga! I cannot tell you how much I admire my yoga teacher, she's so amazing. She really works hard to structure each class to what we need. Today was a lot of stretching and bending/inverse stretching. Good for counteracting sitting slumped at a computer all week.
We also did some eyeball yoga today. Sounds weird I know but it's really good. Basically you stretch your eyeballs by moving them slowly clockwise and then counter clockwise. After doing this a couple of times you rub your hands together really fast to build up heat and friction. Then place your warmed hands over your eyes. It's amazing how much this relaxes them; I guess we don't realize how tired our eyes get sometimes until we stretch and warm them too.
Which is what I've been told it's called in French. Literally translated it means teeth of the lion; in English it's dandelion. And today I saw the first ones. Notice that was plural and not singular. Driving home from work there was a whole swath of them by the side of the road. Apparently the season has begun.
Yesterday was D's birthday. Her actual birthday and her party. We invited several friends over, I even had two friends, Christina and Rita, over to help -- and thank goodness I did because I couldn't have done this party by myself. The theme was pampered princess...so they did facials, nails, hair, vitamin water and cake, what more can you ask for?
The girls sat around and put on mud masks with my friends and I helping them since they had never done this before. It was very funny to watch them "hey poke my face, it's really stiff!" "Watch my face crack." Christina suggested that we put cucumber slices on their eyes so we sliced one up and handed it out. Then they got warm washclothes to soak on their faces before wiping off the mask. This was followed by toner and moisturizer. Not that any of these baby-faced beauties needed this stuff mind you, but it was fun!
A break for a "salon" lunch of friend mozzarella sticks and cake (it was from Costco, they make the BEST cakes, and filled with vanilla cheesecake, yummmmm) after which we held the grand present opening.
This was followed by nail polishing, hair decorating, and lip glossing. When the party was over each departing guest received a bar of soap that said princess, some colored bath confetti and a candy bar. I'm thinking this could be a good theme for grown-up girls too!
This past weekend has been a downpour. The rivers are swollen, the creeks have overflowed their banks...it's a good thing we live on a hill. Driving into town the gas station has a pond in front of it and apparently residents along the river were warned to move to higher ground. I'm not sure how many inches we got but it was a lot.
The ground is all soft and muddy, of course, and the birdhouse poles have all tilted over. I'll have to wait till the ground firms up a bit and go reset them, hopefully no one has taken up residence yet so they will not be too disturbed.
And speaking of spring tasks I think it is time to take down the bird feeder. My husband pointed out this morning that we have very few birds visiting but our squirrel population is growing a lot. We have one awfully cute squirrel whose fur looks like s/he is part grey squirrel part black squirrel. D has decided that we should name it! I'll let them finish what's in the feeder and then not bother refilling it.
I just went to let the dog out for the last time this evening when I heard it...the definitive sound of spring. The peepers are out. Not full force yet, when their symphony of peeps becomes a loud chorus in the evening, but soft, gentle, steady peeping. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me because I know it means that spring is here.
I just got back from an awesome seminar. It was called "Girls Behaving Badly" and was presented by Rachel Simmons, the author of Odd Girl Out. It was amazing. She's a very good speaker, funny, off-the-cuff and totally on target. I learned a lot about girl aggression and how to try to counteract it and to, hopefully, deflect the cycle by giving my girls some language to deal with it. There's so much material that it's hard to put it all into words.
She's got another book out, "Odd Girl Speaks Out" and there is a movie on the Lifetime channel on Monday.
I liked the book, I'm so glad I got to hear her, I plan to read the second book and watch the movie - with my girls.
Another beautiful warm sunny day today...I could get used to this.
On the way home from work I saw a number of maple trees with buckets attached to their sides filling up with sap. Maple syrup in the making. I remember when we lived in Vermont going to visit the sugar houses when the sap was running. The air was so thick and sticky sweet with the condensation. There's nothing like real maple syrup.
I took a few minutes to sew more strips together for the fabric purse that I am going to knit. Cutting the fabric into strips was the easy part. Sewing all of the strips together is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r! And it's boring besides. If I decide to make another fabric knitted purse I may try knotting the strips just to see how it works out.
As soon as the ball is done I'll see if I can get a picture of it to post here.
I did go outside and do some gardening. More like garden cleaning actually but I was outside in the garden and that's what really counts. While I was outside I saw the first bulb flower. A pretty purple crocus near the house. So cheery and bright, I was thrilled.
Then S noticed a butterfly floating gently around the front of the yard. It was so sweet to see it. And rather surprising actually, I didn't think they'd be out yet.
Lots of wildlife today actually because on the way to school D and I saw a very large wild turkey by the side of the road. It was a little flustered by all of the traffic whizzing by but didn't seem inclined to move away from the edge of the road. I'm not that good at guessing but if I had to guess I'd say it was somewhere around a 15-18 pounder. Of course now that Thanksgiving is over we'll see lots of wild turkeys around. Somehow they dissappear at the beginning of November and reappear after the first of the year.
68 beautiful fahrenheit degrees today. The sun is shining and there are whispy white clouds in a baby blue sky. It truly feels like spring. We opened the windows at the office and I didn't even need to wear my spring jacket home (I had worn it to the office this morning because it was a little damp feeling outside).
Miss Chloe, our snow-plow-growling cat, has proven herself to be a fierce hunter. She brought a snake onto the deck and dropped it off before parading around for praise and petting. It's a small garter snake, only about 12-14 inches long. Using a piece of paper and a wooden spoon handle I was able to lift it up and carry it back to the garden. It does have a small wound in it's side but hopefully it will survive.
I'm thinking that perhaps I need to run outside for a preliminary weeding/clearing session. Spring appears to have sprung.
We had a really lovely Easter. We went to my brother-in-law's house. The parent-in-laws were there plus assorted other in-laws on his side. 19 people in all, lots of kids, great conversation, good food.
It was so much fun to watch the kids running around looking for their eggs. Part of the hilarity was trying to keep the dogs from bowling over kids and stepping on eggs while they were excitedly racing around with the kids.
I made my crockpot ham roast which was a big hit. Everyone loves it everytime I make it.
1 precooked spiral ham
12 oz apricot jam
1/2 C. raisins
2 T. vinegar
1/4 C. brown sugar
2 T. flour
Mix ingredients below ham together and pour over ham. Cook on low 4 hours, slice and serve. When the ham is cooked you can remove it from the crockpot and make a gravy by thickening with cornstarch and cooking the sauce on high for 15 minutes.
The leftovers, if there are any, make a great ham sandwich.
I just realized that the long awaited "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" movie is due out soon. The trailer is very funny and it looks like the movie will be really good. Have to go digging around and find my copy of the book so I can reread it before I go see the movie. Should be fun!
We have a very talented woman named Robin in our town who generously shares her artistic talents by making snow sculptures to delight the residents. In honor of the approaching holiday this is one of them. Additionally there are large easter eggs all over the center of town. Thanks to my friend Ed I can share this picture with you. 
We are so fortunate to live in a place where talented people are so willing to share their talents with the community.
I've been wanting to try geocaching ever since one of my neighbors told me about it. We don't own a GPS which makes things a little tougher.
Today S and D and I went out looking for our first cache. It was so much fun!! Climbing all over the rocks, peering in the crevices. We had our little treasures burning a hold in our pockets while we excitedly hunted for our "buried treasure."
I found the cache and then we all sat down together, examined the treasures contained within and read through the log. What a great way to spend some time outdoors hanging out with my kids. We really enjoyed ourselves and plan to do this again soon.
Sam is okay for now. He appears to have a bladder infection which is not good but at least is treatable with antibiotics. The sad news is that he apppears to have doggie alzheimer's, he has lost a lot of weight, about 10% of his body mass, and his back legs are definitely weakening.
He's still a happy dog though so we don't need to make any decisions now. If he continues to lose weight that will be very concerning but we are going to add in canned food to his diet and see if that helps.
I've realized that every pet I've ever had has either died when I wasn't around or I didn't have to make the decision to euthanize them; someone else did, usually my Mom. Having to think about that decision is so hard and I'm not ready to do that. I guess I'm selfish and want to keep Sam around a lot longer. We love him so much we somehow didn't notice how much he had aged. For now we're just focussed on giving him his antibiotics and trying to see if we can help him gain back some weight.
I just heard about this very cool invention by someone at MIT. It's called Clocky. Basically it's an alarm clock on wheels. The first time you hit snooze it jumps off your dresser and rolls around the room looking for a hiding place. The next time it goes off you have to find it! This is the best parent-of-adolescents device I have ever heard of. Apparently it looks for a new hiding place every day so as long as their room is relatively clean (which can be dubious at times) it's a sure fire way to wake them up. I like it!
If you guessed that there would be a school delay this morning give yourself a pat on the back. We got about 4 inches of snow, really wet heavy slushy stuff. The trees look like a winter postcard and the lanscape is completely covered.
The furnace was still working this morning. A major blessing as far as I am concerned. While in the shower it occurred to me to be very grateful that we have a modern plumbing setup. In Vermont our hot water ran through our furnace in an old fashioned rather unusual setup. If that had been the case here we would not have had hot showers the last few days while we were having furnace problems. Of course if we hadn't been rescued by the plumber last night we wouldn't have had showers today anyway, so another round of thanks to Ron.
Last night was Tuesday and that means yoga. As always it was a great class.
This time Lara started our session with a discussion of this article about how people who meditate are happier. This has apparently been proven by PET and MRI imaging of people who are meditating. Fascinating.
We started the class with a meditation and then followed our regular class. I don't know if it was imagined or reality but I do know that I felt much stronger and clearer in my yoga practice after clearing my mind of all of the daily/accumulated weekly junk and then practicing.
*sigh* What a day it's been.
The washer was delivered, hurray. Upon delivery it was discovered that the taps were corroded. Off to Home Depot to get new ones. Installing them the pipe cracked. Below the wall. An emergency call to the plumber who, thankfully, came right away to fix it -- Thank you Ron. The hole in the wall is barely noticeable and two loads later the machine definitely works. One down.
The furnace stopped working. Again. Another call to the heating oil company who sent a technician to fix it. Turns out the igniter went bad. Unfortunately it's not one of those things that would have been discoverable when they patched the heat exchanger yesterday. Now to shop around for a new furnace. It's so nice to have heat again.
Snow. *whimper* On the way home it started snowing. A lot. Coming down thick, fast and wet. The prediction is for 6-8 inches overnight. The kids are convinced that there will be no school tomorrow. D is determined to make this come true by sleeping with her pajamas inside out and backwards and a tablespoon under her pillow. Apparently this is a no-fail prescription for a snow day. Check back tomorrow to find out.
With all of this excitement it isn't any wonder that I have no time for knitting, sewing, etc. I think I'm going through withdrawal.
Sam, our beagle-basset, is a rather old dog; near as we can figure he's sixteen years old which is something like 93 in people years. We adopted him from a shelter over almost 14 years ago. He's been getting senile, going blind, getting arthritic, all those old age things.
Now he's getting worse. He's been throwing up a lot, he's become very incontinent to the point where he needs to pee every 20-30 minutes and his back legs don't seem to hold him up very well. We called the vet concerned that it might be a kidney condition or a bladder condition or who knows what. They gently reminded me that he's very old and they will see him tomorrow morning. I'm really sad. I'm not ready for him to be this old. He's still such a happy dog and he loves sniffing around outside and leans into us when we pet him and genuinely enjoys our company.
I'm really hoping that this is just something benign like a bladder infection that will be curable. Well, maybe not the part about his legs being so weak. But still...we're all very sad about this and hopeful for tomorrow.
Our brand-y new washing machine was delivered today. Yippee!! Can't wait to do the wash. Unfortunately there is a problem with the faucets where the hoses connect. After 18 years they are a bit corroded which did not show up until we had to replace the machine. Then they started leaking like crazy. Off to Home Depot to buy new faucets/fittings.
We're all eagerly gathered around waiting to do that first load. It's ridiculous how excited the kids and I are about this new hunk of metal sitting in the laundry room. Of course it's not ridiculous considering the last week without it.
The furnace was patched yesterday. Apparently the patch did not work and we are once again without heat, bleah! The furnace guy is here again looking at it to see what, if anything, can be done to generate heat and get us through this last bit of the heating season. Stay tuned for further developments...
Look what arrived in the mail yesterday! Thank you Mom!! It's a baby laurus nobilis or Bay Laurel to the rest of us. I'm so excited and am definitely looking forward to using it in cooking. 
32 degrees fahrenheit this morning, bright sunny skies and lots of robins busily pecking away in the yard. Perhaps spring really is on the way. We'll ignore the weather forecast that is calling for the frozen white stuff tomorrow.
When I let the dog out this morning I notice tiny green shoots peeking above the ground. All of a sudden I find that my spirits are lifted. Perhaps Spring is not quite here yet but the spirit of Spring certainly is.
I'm so happy, I just discovered that Nick Parks is making a full-length Wallace and Gromit film. I LOVE those guys. My kids do too. We have seen the shorts many times. The new movie is due out in October, I can't wait.
The furnace died, sort of. Apparently we developed a hole in our heat exchanger (probably due to age) which caused a backdraft of air and a loss of pressure which caused the furnace to go out in the first place. It then caused the smell when we got the furnace restarted.
The furnace guys came, patched the hole, put in a new controller and told us we need a new furnace. The patch is probably good for a few weeks so it definitely needs to be replaced sooner rather than later. Luckily it's close to the end of the heating season and we have a wood burning stove so it's not as bad as it might be.
It's so thick and foggy this morning that it's hard to see anything at all. A distinct change from snow and one that I am happy for. The warmer temperatures are very welcome as are the small green shoots that I see in the yard indicating the bulbs about to burst forth with their lovely welcome colors of spring.
When letting the dog out we startled a small herd of deer, I think five or six, that were grazing in the garden in the back yard. I swear every year they get braver and come closer to the house. Luckily Sam, our beagle-basset, is old, deaf, and not so inclined, one hopes, to chase them anymore. His sniffer still works but they bounded away before he realized they were there; lucky for me because the fog is so thick that I wouldn't have been able to follow. Which would have been a pretty silly sight anyway. Very fast deer being chased by an arthritic senior-citizen dog who is nonetheless faster than an average out-of-shape human.
Why is it that one machine goes all the other machines in the house get jealous for attention and decide to get cranky?
I've come home from purchasing a lovely new washing machine to discover that my furnace is not working properly. In other words the house is cold and the furnace won't come on. A call to the heating oil company helps me find the reset button and the machine comes one.
A short lived sigh of relief because an hour or so later the house is filled with the noxious odor of heating oil. Off goes the emergency furnace switch, a call to the heating oil company to let them know that now the furnace is completely off and a silent blessing of thanks that we have a wood-burning stove and that my husband chopped enough wood last summer to get us through this late season cold spell.
I guess I'm working at home tomorrow while I wait for the furnace guy to come fix it. Another silent blessing of thanks that at least I can work from home. In the face of challenges there are things to be grateful for.
I broke down and bought yarn. But it wasn't for me, does that count? I was actually very good because I was tempted. The shop that I went to was having a 15% off sale on any green yarn for this month in honor of St. Patrick's Day. There was an awful lot of green yarn and yarns with green in them arranged in very fetching displays.
My friend Christina offered to buy and hold for me if I really wanted her to. But I was good, I only bought what I wanted for a gift and bought nothing for myself. The yarns were pretty. There was even a fabulous alpaca that I sat there petting for a while. Luckily that one was not in green otherwise I might have broken down and bought personal yarn.
On the project front we are closer and closer to finishing the hat. I've decided the perhaps the fingerless gloves may not have to be finished now since by the time I finish them it will be summer! After I am done with the hat I will inventory and see exactly how many projects I have left.
Still s-l-o-w-l-y stitching all of the strips together for the fabric purse that I plan to knit. The slowness is more due to a lack of time to really sit there and just stitch than a lack of desire because I really do want to work on that project. *sigh* too many projects and not enough free time.
I have bought a new washing machine. I'm actually excited about it and can't wait for it to arrive on Wednesday -- in part because the laundry is piling up like you wouldn't believe.
I bought a Kenmore HE3 machine with a 3.8 capacity drum and a 1050 revolution spin cycle (don't I sound knowledgeable? Thanks to Tom, my Sears salesperson, I have a bunch of buzz words that sound like I really undestand this stuff. All I care about is will it do the wash). Apparently this means that I can fit a king-sized comforter or 23 bath towels into one load! Wow! And supposedly the high spin cycle means that the clothes will need less dry time. It was expensive ($999 after my rebates) but if it lasts as long as the last one and cuts down on dryer use it's not so bad.
It really makes you appreciate how far we have come with laundry in the last 100 years or so. Let's face it, at the turn of the last century washing was a three day process and very labor intensive. Now, our heaviest chore is shifting the wet laundry to either the line or the dryer. And thank goodness for no more scrubbing boards. I think our first load is going to be all of the sheets. Now I'll be able to get all four sets of bedding into the machine in one load, it's going to be great.
Today has been a crazy day. Left the house early this morning to go to the library book sale where I *shhhhhhh* bought books. Then had to go buy a few last minute supplies for V's birthday party. Off to D's Super Saturday presentation. Next on to Costco (ugh on a Saturday?!?!). Then to the grocery store to pick up the birthday cake.
While leaving the grocery store I get a call from V. Can I please pick up one of her friends who is stranded at home because her mother is still at work. Huh? I took the SMALL car today. It's really full because I went to Costco (and I bought paper products there among other things and we all know how bulky that stuff is).
D points out that if I rearrange the back I might be able to put up one of the seats and pick up V's friend. So with a heavy sigh I start driving over there praying that when I get there we will have enough room in the car. To make a long story short we do have enough room but boy is it tight. D is stuffed into the back seat by virtue of the fact that she's the smallest occupant of the car.
We get back to the house and unload just in time for the first guests to start arriving, while the kitchen looks like a war zone. The phone is ringing, the dog is barking -- some days it just feels like Grand Central Station around here.
D has been participating in a program called Super Saturdays. It's a science exploration program, a full day program where kids from all over the area get together to learn about science and do team building activities and explorations. It's been a lot of fun for her. Some of the things that they did included learning how to make a lava lamp, working with polycrystals, learning about optical illusions and much much more.
Today was the final Saturday and parents were invited to come down for a presentation and hands-on examination of everything that they had been working on. It was neat to see the pictures of all of their activities and then to walk around to the different stations and have the children explaining what the project was and how it worked. Such a cool thing and a wonderful example of something educational that is fun. She can't wait to do it again next year.
I'm so sad, I just found out that Andre Norton has passed away. She was one of my favorite authors when I was a child and as an adult I continued to love her books and to read them. I think I'm going to have to go back to the beginning of the Witch World series and read them all over again, it's been many years since I've done that.
Recently there was a tv movie of Legend of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. Perhaps they will do something similar for the Witch World series, I think it could be really good.
It's movie night at our house. S invited a bunch of friends over for dinner and a movie. They take turns going to each others' house every Friday; I'm happy that they like coming to our house. They're a great group of kids and there isn't a lot of choice for them around here as far as places to go. I like having them around; they're interesting, smart, funny and very sweet. It's so great when kids turn out like that.
Feeding them is a tricky proposition, after all these are teenagers with ravenous appetites. I decided this time I would just order a party sub at the grocery store. I asked how many kids were coming, added a few for the rest of the household occupants and ordered a 5 foot sub (half ham and chees half turkey and cheese in case you are interested). I thought 12 teens were coming. Turns out it's more like 6! And one is a vegetarian! I guess there's going to be a lot of sandwich left over.
What movie are they watching? I don't know they haven't gotten to the movie part yet. I stopped at the town library earlier in the day to pick a couple of movies just in case no one remembered to bring any. We are very lucky in that our town library has a fabulous selection of movies to borrow and the Head Librarian is wonderful about continually supplementing the collection. My choices for tonight were Hidalgo, Wyatt Earp and Time Machine. I have seen Hidalgo and Wyatt Earp, both of which I thought were good movies. I haven't seen Time Machine but I heard it got good reviews and it seemed like an interesting movie. Others did bring movies as well so they have plenty to choose from. I wouldn't mind watching any of the three that I got but don't want to squash in on their party so perhaps I'll watch one later this weekend.
Our washing machine just broke. With laundry in it. Of course that would be the best time to discover that it doesn't work. Luckily I have nice neighbors who have agreed to let me use their machine until I can get to the store this weekend to purchase another one.
Our current machine is approximately 18 years old. Obviously in that time it has been doing a LOT of laundry so it's not unreasonable for it to break down at some point; I just wasn't prepared for it to break down now.
I am going to replace it with a front-load machine. From everything I've read front-loaders are better because they are more gentle on the clothes, use less water and detergent, and do a better job in the spin cycle thereby creating less stress on the dryer. They are more expensive though. I'm thinking of getting either the Kenmore or the Maytag. I know there are other brands but these two seem pretty highly rated.
Comments? Questions? Feedback?
Thursday, Stitch Sisters night! There were seven of us there tonight, it was great to sit and chat, catch up and admire each other's projects. It seemed to be show-and-tell night as several of us brought FO's to show the others.
I worked on the hat some more, getting closer to finished. The yarn diet is in serious trouble though. It turns out that a local yarn shop is offering 15% off any green yarn during the month of March in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Wah! I want to go buy yarn. My friend Christina offered to go with me and buy the yarn for me. My other friend Martha offered to hold it for me until I was off my self-imposed yarn diet. What to do what to do.
We have another FO. I finished him a while ago from a knitting and sewing/stuffing point of view. But the mane took forever because each piece had to be put in one at a time. And I carefully ordered them so he would look full and dashingly handsome.
I finished his mane today while listening to D at her piano lesson. Truly one of the better ways to knit as I have mentioned before.
I'm posting this picture (although the quality isn't great sorry) because I'm pretty sure that the person for whom my little friend here is intended for does not read this blog. As soon as she saw him D squealed, "oooh, he's cute, I want one." After coming home and showing him off to S & V I got pretty much the same response. I guess I'll be making a few more of these.
The pattern is one that I got from "The Zen of Knitting" which I read while visiting my Aunt Carol this summer. Apparently it is one of the patterns that the Waldorf School uses to teach their third graders how to knit. It was pretty easy to follow and can be made into a dog, sheep, lion, etc. Basically any four-footed animal, depending on alternative characteristics. I think it's also a good way to use up some scrap yarn.
I did work on the hat today also. When I finished Mr. Lion here I pulled the hat out of the bag and managed to get in a few rows before the lesson was over. I'm looking forward to Stitch Sisters this Thursday so that I can hopefully make some real progress towards finishing the hat.
Friday the girls and I went to have dinner with my friend Chris who was visiting from Romania. It was wonderful to see her as she hadn't been here in a while. We had an excellent chili dinner, sat around chatting and enjoying each other's company. Now that she lives so far away even though we keep in touch it's a real treat to spend time with her. It was also great to see her parents again, it had been a couple of years since the last time I had seen them. They are such nice folks I always enjoy their company and conversation. We also got to meet her nephew Timmy who is just the most adorable rascal ever.
Later in the evening after dinner the kids gave a mini concert. S and D played piano for us; Chris and I sang along. S really enjoyed playing Beatle's songs; I guess we'll have to get her a song book of her own so she can really learn them instead of just sight reading (although she is an excellent sight reader).
Saturday S and her friends wanted to go to the mall to look at prom dresses. D was supposed to have a playdate -- I wound up driving a van full of kids to the mall. We met up with two other friends there. S and her friends went off on their own, D and her three friends wandered around to all of the girly stores: Claire's, Icing, etc and had a great giggly time together. They even rode the carousel twice.
Normally I hate the mall. I am a go-to-the-store-buy-what-I-need-go-home type of person. Plus the mall tends to be rather noisy and crowded so after a couple of hours I have had enough. Somehow we managed to stay for four hours and everyone had a great time, it worked out well.
That evening the kids and I sat down and watched Merlin. It's one of their favorite movies, we borrow it regularly from the library. It's a great story and I enjoy their delight in watching it so often.
Yesterday one of our neighbors had a St. Patrick's Day get together for the neighborhood. He made 21 pounds of corned beef! He makes what is probably the best corned beef I have ever eaten and he truly enjoys feeding a crowd, but that is a LOT of cooking. The party was great and it was wonderful to see everyone. It seems that we all hibernate during the winter and don't get to see each other until spring. So this party, which has become an annual event, is a great way for all of us to catch up on the news, admire how much the kids have grown and socialize. Funny enough, even with about 100 people in attendance, we still all want to gather in the kitchen. Makes you wonder why no one builds a house where the first floor is simply all kitchen.
With all of this activity there was no time for knitting or sewing of fabric strips. I'm also still not done putting together my order for seeds and plants. Little by little it will all come together.
Hopefully there will be an FO to publish soon.
Again! Aaaaaaaauuuuuuugh as Charlie Brown used to say. It's snowing again. Big fat white flakes. According to the weather man we are only supposed to have 1-2 inches. We'll see. I'm just hoping that the kids do not have an early dismissal again. I may have mentioned this before but I am seriously beginning to wonder if they are ever going to be capable of attending five full days of school in a row again. I don't think we've had this many weather shortened weeks in a row in a long time. Plus next week is Easter week so there's Good Friday, another short week. Thank goodness April Fools Day is *not* a holiday.
Another finished object. No, it's not the hat. I took a break from it and decided instead to finish a toy that I am making. Sorry, no pictures. I really need to work on a better method of getting pictures into this blog.
I had Stitch Sisters last night and S went with me. It was really nice to be able to spend the time with her. Luckily when D has Girl Scouts it is at the same location which is very convenient. This week Stitch Sisters has been the only knitting that I have been able to get to what with all the running around and work etc. So it was a good break.
Hoping to be finished with another object soon and then the hat. But *still* sewing all those strips together for the purse so I may not be working on that as soon as I thought.
If you guessed that we would have a school delay this morning pat yourself on the back because you were right. We got a fair amount of snow but it's hard to tell exactly how much because the drifts are so high.
Currently it is 12.5 degrees fahrenheit outside but with windchill somewhere around -4 degrees. Brrrrrrr. Apparently the winds are 20-30 miles per hour with gust of up to 50 mph. It's bright and sunny today but looking outside it looks like the air is clouded with baby powder because the snow is so fine it's just being blown all over.
I think this evening I shall retreat to the imagined warmth of my gardening catalogs to pick plants and seeds for next year in a vain attempt to ignore the weather howling outside my door.
As in six degrees outside right now. Six whole degrees! Man am I ever sick of winter. Especially after yesterday's lovely hint of spring. The kids had early dismissal today. I happened to be at the school and saw the Principal; when I asked for his opinion on tomorrow's schedule he said that he predicted a delayed opening. BLEAH!!!
We're tentatively slated to get as much as 9 inches of snow overnight. So far we appear to have gotten around three. And this afternoon it was almost blizzard conditions in part because the snow was falling so fast and furious but also because the wind is so intense. It's howling around the windows as I type. I haven't seen near white-out conditions like this for years.
Stay tuned to get your school/winter update tomorrow.
Today was a beautiful day. It started out a little grey looking but soon warmed up and the sun came out. I actually took a short walk this afternoon and it was fantastic! The wind rustling all around, I could hear the dripping of snow melting, hear birds. The warmth was wonderful. At one point I closed my eyes and opened my mouth and let the soft breeze of early spring fill my lungs, it felt so good.
Right now 40 degrees feels very warm; give it a couple of months and it will seem chilly again. Amazing how we adapt to the temperatures so easily.
In addition to the general warmth of the day I saw lots of wildlife. Young deer in my back yard eating the garden....hmmmm....time to start mixing up bobbex already? Small squirrels busily digging around in the garden perhaps looking for nuts that they may have missed last fall. Unfortunately bobbex does not keep the squirrels away but they usually don't do too much damage. I also saw a woodpecker and a robin. It looks like some of the birdhouses are started to be investigated. I really need to pull down the martin house and clean it out before the weather gets too much warmer, I didn't get to it last fall and I do like have occupants in it. I also noticed that two birdhouses came down during the winter so we'll have to put them back up soon. And this year I plan to put out two more butterfly houses and see if I can attract even more butterflies than last year. It's going to be a busy gardening season, that's for sure.
Now I'm impatient for it to get here so I can go play in the mud. My mother pointed out that the way the weather has been going and the storms that are predicted pretty much guarantee that no one in this zone will be planting peas on St. Patrick's Day this year. The ground is softening a bit with all the melting snow so you might not need the jackhammer she jokingly mentioned, but it certainly wouldn't be easy under any circumstances.
I haven't been knitting for the last couple of days even though it was originally my intention to get to work on the hat and finish it. I've been ill with the crud, horribly runny nose - which currently feels like sandpaper-- headache and achy eyes, not conducive to knitting. And I'm sure you needed to know that. But I'm bummed because although I am a slow knitter I was hoping to be close to finishing the hat and that much closer to knitting the fabric purse.
Speaking of the fabric purse I have finally started sewing the strips together. Goodness it's going to take a long time. Good thing I have another project to keep me occupied because there are more of these things than I thought. Note to self: next time figure out how to cut longer strips. I decided to use a red thread for this and am hoping that the threads won't show up too much when I am knitting the strips. I'm *really* looking forward to seeing how this whole project works out.
Two of my kids take piano lessons. S takes lessons on Friday afternoons and I realized today how wonderfully soothing it is to knit while listening to the strains of Moonlight Sonata wafting through the doors. And if she and her teacher happen to be playing a jazzy duet it's pretty wonderful too. Like having my own mini symphony while knitting, I can't think of a better way to spend that time.
And what am I knitting you ask? I'm virtuously being good and working on the hat that matches the scarf that I finished. The strips keep calling me from the sewing table where I have left them but I haven't had time to sew them together so they aren't ready to knit with yet.
Today on a random stop at the grocery store I happened to peruse the checkout candy, which honestly I never do in order to avoid temptation. I found a candy that I haven't seen in years.
Going back in time...when I was in High School I was an exchange student and I went to Austria. It was really wonderful and I'm still in touch with my host family who I love very much. While in Austria I developed a weakness for a particular type of candy called Mozart Kugeln. They were little round truffle-y balls of heaven.
Now my grocery store is carrying Mozart Piano Bars. The same candy in a bar format. The back of the package reads "finest pistachio marzipan and hazelnut nougat in a crispy milk chocolate." Yummmmmmmmm And it tasted just as good as I remembered.
Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday. To celebrate D's school served Green Eggs and Ham for lunch. Our local library had a Read-A-Thon where the older kids read to the younger kids and then had a birthday cake. When I arrived to pick up D from the festivities I found the Librarian and assorted helpers picking cake out of the carpet while the Children's Librarian was reshelving stacks and stacks of books. I assume this means it was a successful event.
Later in the week will be a Read-in-the-hall event at school. For an entire afternoon teachers, students, administration and others will sit in the school hallways reading books. The picture that was in last year's paper was really sweet showing kids lining the hallways, noses in a book. Dr. Seuss would have been proud.
Working at my desk this morning with the Chloe perched on the windowsill next to me I was startled to hear her growling. I looked out the window thinking that perhaps there was an animal in the yard that she was growling at but did not see one. When I followed the direction of her gaze I noticed she was staring at the snow plow. Can't be, I thought to myself, cats don't growl at trucks. Later she did it again, when the snow plow returned. I guess we have a fierce guard-kitty on our hands.
It looks like we got another 2-3 inches of snow last night. School is delayed this morning. For now at least, who knows, they may change their minds.
It's funny I started this blog as a place to talk about my knitting, baking, crafts, kids, etc. For now it has almost turned into a weather blog. I think it's because I am so tired of the cold. I can't believe I'm saying that, we used to live in Vermont for criminy-sakes and it's a *lot* colder there.
So here is an update. In case you're wondering why I didn't post about last night's fabulous yoga class it's because there wasn't one. Anytime the school is closed there's no yoga because we meet at the school.
Knitting? I haven't knitted lately. I'm bummed. I enjoy it so much but haven't found the time between school delays, cancellations and all the extra running around that this seems to create. Luckily tomorrow is Stitch Sisters so I should get at least a couple of hours in. We're close to some FOs to keep your eyes peeled to this space for a further update.
Yesterday I found a recipe for this in a magazine at a friend's house and copied it down. I love to bake and haven't done any bread baking for a while. The recipe seemed deceptively simple and I thought I would treat my family to fresh baked bread with dinner (this is a catch-up post). Whole wheat flour, white flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. How hard can that be. Apparently more difficult than I thought.
The first batch I followed the directions which said to mix ALL dry ingredients together, make a well and add in the buttermilk. Somehow it was too much flour and not enough liquid. It wouldn't adhere together and trying to add liquid simply created old-fashioned wallpaper paste.
Into the trash.
The second batch I did 2/3 of the flour and then added flour as need until the dough was no longer sticky. Now the recipe called for what seemed like a lot of salt (2 teaspoons) plus 1 teaspoon of baking soda which can have a salty effect. But I really do try to follow recipes exactly when I first make them before I start fidgeting around with them. I should have followed my instincts and halved the salt. It came out *really* salty. So salty that no one wanted to eat it, even fresh out of the oven with butter on it.
Into the trash.
I guess this was not a day to bake bread. Perhaps I'll try again and manipulate the recipe my way and see how it comes out. Brown soda bread does sound yummy.
D is pet-sitting for the people down the street. Their Yorkshire Terrier, Woofie, is really cute and very people oriented. Today we decided that instead of leaving him at home alone in this awful weather we would bring him down to our house to play. He even got a bath in the laundry sink so now he's all squeeky clean. He's wandering around exploring. Chloe is not impressed and Sam is looking rather confused.
Update: Chloe was unimpressed as long and she and Woofie were not in the same room. Woofie, who is a very mild-mannered dog, morphed into the World's-Most-Ferocious-Feline-Chaser as soon as he spotted Chloe. Chloe puffed up and then turned tail and ran. She ran to her accustomed safety spot, under our bed. Unfortunately for her Woofie is small enough to fit under there. There was a multi-hallway back-and-forth chase until Chloe took a sharp left into D's room and someone managed to grab Woofie and banish him to the downstairs.
Now he's back to his mild-mannered self and Chloe is cautiously stalking the upstairs warily investigating each corner. At least she got some exercise today although I'm sure this was not her preferred method.
SNOW DAY!!!!! That's right. It started snowing at 7:30 last night. And when it started it was fast and furious. This morning we woke up to a lovely snow cover of at least 7 inches and it's still snowing. So the kids are hanging out in the pj's, hubby is snowblowing the driveway in an effort to stay on top of it and we are home for the day. Sledding and snowman building to come later.
I will confess that it is much nicer to have this quieter start to the morning as opposed to the usually flurry of activity that accompanies getting ready for the bus. But I think this makes six snow days. At this point I'm beginning to wonder if the kids will be able to handle a full week of school
What is it about school math and parents? I vividly remember my father attempting to teach me math back when I was in middle school. It was homework, he was trying to explain something that I didn't understand. But he didn't understand it either. And he's a pretty smart guy and an engineer to boot. In all fairness I must explain that I was part of the generation that got caught by the "New Math" craze that swept school rooms all over the East Coast mumphety mumph years ago. That pretty much explains anything you need to know about why I can't do math and why he couldn't teach it.
Nowadays we're back to "normal" math. V was having trouble with her Honors Geometry homework; her father tried to help her. He's a smart guy and *really* good at math. But somehow the words coming from the dining room did not sound like there was that much learning going on. She insisted that he was confusing her. He insisted that she wasn't paying attention. The actual fact is probably that he's not explaining it the way her teacher did but she didn't clearly get it the first time and the different explanation is confusing her. I think. I'm a little confused myself at this point. Don't even think to ask me for math help.
Several years ago S was in middle school needed math help and her father was not home I actually went out and purchased a book. "All the Math You'll Ever Need" Due to my "New Math" training I *still* don't get it even with the book. Good thing I have my husband to run interference for me on this one. If the kids have a problem with math I just tell them "wait till your father gets home." It's a promise, not a threat.
Another early dismissal. Apparently we are in the line of a major snowstorm expected to dump 7-12 inches of snow overnight and as much as 16 inches total over the next three days. The storm was expected to hit around 3 pm so the schools dismissed early. As I type it is 5:05 pm EST and there is still no snow. Hmmmmmm. Plus, the kids are very hopeful. After all chances are high that there will be a delay tomorrow if not
Wonder what time it will actually start to snow. Any bets?
My friend Marilyn has a Pajama and Tiara party every year. She invites all of her girlfriends to come over in their pjs and rhinestoniest finery to watch the Oscars™ and eat junk food. It's a lot of fun. Imagine, 20 grown women hanging out at a girly-girl pj party admiring each other's costume jewelry and secretly planning a run on Claire's before next years event.
I wore my pink flannel pjs, borrowed S's pink fluffy sluffy slippers and, since I didn't have a tiara, borrowed D's maribou feather blue deeley-bobbers. I think the deeley-bobbers were the hit of the evening. The funny thing was that I kept forgetting that I had them on. Occasionally I would answer the door as new people arrived and the person arriving would burst out laughing. One hopes this was due to the deeley bobbers.
My friend Marianne and I carpooled to get there because we both planned on leaving early...tomorrow IS a work day ya know. Unfortunately we were having such a good time that the next thing we knew the award for Best Actress was on. Marianne said, "Don't they usually save those for near the end?" Then we both realized it was 11 pm and waaaaay past bedtime. We bid a hasty goodby and headed back home; since I was already in my pjs, I ditched the slippers and deeley-bobbers, brushed my teeth and climbed into bed.
How much of the Oscars™ did I really watch? Best Acresss.
It's another cold wintery Sunday afternoon. The woodburning stove has a fire roaring to combat the chill outside that is attempting to wend its way inside. It is a clear blue sunny sky day. The sunshine helps in more ways than one. Psychologically of course it's wonderful to see that blue sky and the light ouside. Physically we are fortunate to have our house oriented in such a way that the rooms we occupy most, the family room and the upstairs office/loft space, make maximum use of the incoming sunshine.
This morning I actually got to sleep late...something that doesn't happen very often. S had to get up early to go to a French Conversation Club meeting. Apparently it was a lot of fun, she really enjoyed it and intends to continue to go to meetings.
If it hadn't been for that she would probably still be in her p.j.'s just like her sisters. I'm sitting here typing this listening to the three of them giggling and laughing downstairs, kicking back and enjoying their day off.
Me? I'm upstairs finishing up some work I have to do for a client from when I used to be self-employed. Currently waiting on hold listening to the most cool jazz music, bopping silently on the other end of the phone while typing this. At least it helps pass the time. They give you an option to sit on hold without music, not sure why anyone would want to do that, especially when the music is so cool.
D just invited me to go play DDR with her. As soon as I get off the phone and finish this last letter I guess I'm heading downstairs to jump around to loud teen music and try not to tangle my feet so hopelessly that I fall over and embarass myself.
One ringy dingy, now talking to customer support so I'm going to end this post here.
I had a great day today; I went and visited my friends Sam and Meg who I have not seen in over a year. It was great to catch up with them live and in person instead of through letters and email and the occasional phone call. Made me realize how important it can be to actually see friends once in a while. I spent the entire day there, no kids, no housework, it was a really nice break.
On the way home I stopped for Chinese food. The place was packed and it took nearly twice as long for my order. It's a nice place, nice people, and they always give you extras. When I got home we had what my Nana used to call "free eating" and ate in front of the tv. After we ate it was easy to clean up. Then D and I snuggled on the sofa and watched more tv while S went to a babysitting job and V went upstairs to clean her room.
It was an emotionally very quiet day, not something you often find with three adolescents living in the house, a really good thing and something I appreciated very much.
Yesterday the kids had early dismissal due to a threatened snowstorm that didn't start until 6 pm. This morning there was a 90 minute delay called. While it does look pretty outside again as all the trees are dressed in their winter white snow coats I am getting thoroughly tired of the delays and snow days. I've lost count again of how many this adds up to. Apparently State law mandates that the children cannot go to school past the end of June but we're getting awful close to that.
The funny thing is that when I was a kid somehow I seem to remember that we didn't start until after Labor Day and we ended before Memorial Day. Now they start before Labor Day and go until almost 4th of July. What's going on here? Where did those extra days creep in to the schedule? The kids don't (to my knowledge) have a lot of extra vacation days and I'm pretty sure that the mandated 180 school days is the same number of days.
Oh well, they're happy, they got to sleep late.
Gosh I love crockpot cooking. Actually I guess it's called slowcooker these days. It's kind of like the Kleenex thing. They're facial tissues and Kleenex brand marketed them and now everyone calls them Kleenex. Rival invented the crockpot so they're the only ones who can call it a crockpot. Everyone else who manufactures and markets the same thing has to call it a slowcooker.
I use mine a lot. It's the greatest invention ever. I can prepare dinner, set it to cook and when we come home the main course is done. Tonight we're having chicken caccitore:
3 lbs chicken thighs
1 cut up pepper
1 cut up onion
1/2 can tomato sauce
1 T. chopped basil, oregano, parsley
(forgot the marjoram oh well)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
I'll serve it over pasta with a side of steamed broccoli and peppers, a nice salad and voila! Dinner.
My sister-in-law just got one. She got the new 6 quart fancy button kind. I'm tempted to get a new one. Mine still works well but it's a 5 quart and only has an on and off button. It's 25 years old and still works great. However, you can't preset the start time and it doesn't go to a warming setting when the food is done. This way I would have two and I could consider doing a dessert or side dish in the one I have now while the main dish cooks in the new one (can you tell I'm trying to talk myself into this?). They're actually not that expensive anymore. I just need to decide if I really want to have two crockpots because the one I have works perfectly well (I'm waffling here). I guess I'll have to ponder a little more.
Tuesday again. Yoga. This time we had a substitute teacher. It's always interesting to see how other people teach and how they interpret yoga. Colleen is used to teaching a power-based class. Since we are a beginner/intermediate Hatha-based class it was very interesting. The poses moved much more quickly and we kept moving up down forward backward not much stretch and hold like we are used to. It was a good class, I felt like I got a good workout but I missed Lara.
Yup, more of the white stuff. We got six inches of snow last night. Since one inch equals one foot of rain I'm sure glad it didn't rain, but I'm getting a little weary of winter. I can't really figure out what that is because we have lived in colder snowier climates. But this winter I've really had enough.
Luckily today was a holiday so the kids had no school and I had didn't have to go to the office. D and I made chocolate chip cookies. It was fun mixing and baking together. Everyone else in the family was very appreciative and enjoyed the cookies very much. Great with a glass of cold milk.
I've decided that the idea of knitting with fabric is very intriguing and does border on cheating on my rule not to add to my stash of yarn. This is because I will be knitting it; but according to those in Stitch Sisters who I have mentioned this to it hardly counts. And how can you be expected to not acquire any yarn/supplies/patterns at all? I'm with them!
After looking at this material I realized that once it is knitted up it will look very different than it's current state. So I made this scan in order to preserve the appearance. 
Then I immediately ran downstairs and carefully cut it into 1/2" strips. Do you know how long it takes to make 1/2" strips from a yard of fabric? About 12 minutes. And that's only because I couldn't find my quilting ruler and had to make do with a 12" school ruler. Otherwise it would have been faster.
Now I have a lovely pile of strips. My options are to glue, sew, or knot the ends together to make the yardage. I've decided that glue will be too hard in the spots where it's glued. And although knotting would be faster I'm worried that the knots might add an unevent quality to the finished product. So
And yes...I'm cheating. I've decided that I need to make this purse and the other objects on needles (still too embarrassing to mention how many) will have to wait just a little while longer.
We needed to get out of the house today. Another very cold day and I'm sick of winter at this point. But I didn't feel like doing any housework and wanted to do something fun with my kids. One of my friends was taking her son and his friend bowling and suggested that we go with them. D and S thought that sounded like fun so off to bowling we went.
I got really cool shoes, very colorful. Apparently they even glow in the dark for midnight bowling. But since it was 2:00 pm we didn't get to see that.
We played two sets? rounds? of bowling. Boy do we all really stink at it. One set was without bumpers and one with. Funny enough we all got much better scores on the set with bumpers. But we all had a good time which was the important thing.
Lara, my yoga teacher, teaches others to become yoga teachers. As part of their "graduation" requirements they have to teach a class. Lara lets the students in her other classes know when these new teacher classes are. No cost, just fill out an evaluation afterwards. It's always nice to take them because it's an extra yoga class (always a good thing) and it's interesting to see how others teach.
Today's class was good, I felt like I got a nice work out. The teacher was a bit nervous and a little rushed in some areas but overall it was good. And at the end of class we all shared the most amazing OM. I think it must have been partially due to the structure of the room that we were in, but even so it was good. Perhaps I'll wind up seeing this teacher again if she subs for Lara some day.
My brother called this morning. Their cat Tangy died last night. Apparently he jumped onto the dresser and somehow managed to pull the whole thing over on top of himself breaking his neck. My niece is very upset, he was her cat, slept in her room, and was the sweetest, most malleable cat I've ever seen.
D is very upset and sobbed for about 30 minutes when I told her. Then she wrote a card and drew a picture to mail to her cousin. It's so sad to lose a pet, even a cousin-pet. I wish I had a picture of Tangy to put up here so everyone could see him, he was a marmalade stripey cat. He'll be missed.
S is learning to drive a stick-shift car. This is by virtue of the fact that the new car is stick shift and so is the older one. Now that the Hyundai is gone she has to learn. Truthfully she's doing a heck of a lot better than I did when I had to learn. I was 16 and my parents bought a Volkswagon Thing for my brother and I, bright orange and manual shift. It turned out to be a really fun car.
She's a little nervous starting on a hill but overall I'm very impressed. The very first time she didn't even hiccup around town. She stalled a couple of times at stop signs but really that's not so bad. We think it's a useful skill that everyone should have anyway so it's a good thing she's learning now. The funny thing is that it's sort of a minor step backwards because she's gone from total car independence to having use of a car if a parent is available to go with. Eventually she'll be on the road by herself again but not quite yet.
Today while out shopping I saw the cutest craft kit. It was for a knitted purse. But the purse was made out of fabric that was cut into strips and then knitted and sewed. The kit was $12.95. I thought that was a bit pricey and wandered over to the discount fabric section where I purchased two yards of fabric for $2.00 and I intend to cut it into strips myself and knit it into a purse. [If I can figure out how to get better pictures out of my web cam it might actually appear here one day when I am done with it.]
So I didn't buy yarn. Does that mean I am keeping to my promise? hmmmmmm
And I am seriously tempted to abandon the hat-in-progress to start working on this purse which I know will be delightful when it is done. So delightful in fact that it may be "borrowed" by a daughter whether I want them to or not. Possibly even delightful enough for others to want me to make one for them. A true dilemma.
The compromise for now is that I will s-l-o-w-l-y cut the fabric into strips while working on the hat. Then when I am done with the hat I'll consider inserting the purse. After all I'll need something cute and pink for summer. Stay tuned....
I was in the mood to bake today. When I came home from work I pulled out my Kitchen Aid and started whipping up several desserts. First a pound cake. Followed by Pear Cranberry Muffins. And then a Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake. In case you hadn't guessed I had quite a few pears in the fridge that needed to be used up. So far we have tasted the pound cake and the muffins and they are delicious if I do say so myself. Luckily I have several other people living in the house who concur.
I've wrapped the Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake to freeze for later and bagged up the muffins. Depending on how many are left tomorrow afternoon I may freeze a few of those as well. The cake will probably not last long since the weekend is almost here. Besides toasted pound cake with jam makes a tasty (albeit fattening) breakfast. If I'm really feeling in the mood for a treat toasted pound cake with nutella is a great afternoon snack. Pound cake, a perfect food for any time of the day (or night).
Yes, we have another FO, finished object in knit-speak. It's another scarf, and a lovely one I might add. Unfortunately it was a matched set project so now I'm working on the hat. Not sure if this is in line with my finish-everything-on-the-needles projects but it was planned as a pair so I'm finishing them. It does feel good to have one less thing cluttering up my many knitting bags and baskets around the house.
And I have successfully, so far, resisted the urge to buy more yarn. But I keep reading books and magazines and wanting to make more projects! Oh well, at least I'll never run out of things to do.
Tuesday again, that means yoga. Tonight was a fabulous class, as usual. My teacher is so wonderful and I really get inspired by her class. One of the great things is that occasionally we depart from the regular structure to explore something different.
Tonight we had a very large class of 18 people. She had us working in pairs doing partner yoga. A lot of different poses where we pulled, stretched and balanced using a partner instead of the floor or a wall. It was amazing how much more stretch you get when you are working with a partner and you are leaning away from each other pulling. The wild thing is that somehow you know exactly how much stretch you have, and it's more than you think, and you wind up perfectly balanced. At one point I told my partner, Kathy, that I felt like I was floating because I felt so perfectly aligned and balanced. We were doing a pose called King Dancer but we were balanced with our hands pushing up and against each other. We were both able to raise our back legs so high because we had found the balance point with our hands. It was a very fun class and I felt even more stretched out and lengthened than usual.
My Aunt Susan is celebrating a milestone birthday soon. So a number of Aunts and Cousins got together for a celebratory brunch. We went to L'Absinthe which was a really neat experience. The inside of the restaurant feels like one imagines Paris should be. The waiters all talk French and even seem to converse among themselves in French.
It was a Prix Fixee three course brunch. Delicious food, fabulous company, marvelous conversation. It was great to all be together; we spent three hours there.
For dessert the restaurant had a truly spectacular looking dessert trolley. One of the items happened to be Susan's favorite dessert Isle Flotant. Most of us had that and it was delicious!
It was a truly lovely way to spend a day in the company of loved ones sharing a good and leisurely meal.
My kids are so lucky to have such wonderful people who care about them. With Valentine's Day right around the corner mysterious packages arrived in our mailbox with delicious and otherwise sweet contents:
A lovely display of holiday goodies sent by Grandma and Grandpa.
From one Aunt and Uncle, adorable bugs with candy.
From the other Aunt and Uncle, "bearing gifts".
Of course with the parental 10% candy tax my husband and I make out okay too ;-) Yummmmmmmm......
Went to Stitch Sisters tonight, my knitting group. We've recently decided to hold meetings every Thursday instead of every other Thursday. Mostly because we could never remember which was the "other" Thursday. It's such a wonderful group of women. Some come to knit, some to crochet, we've recently had a beader join us. We've even had women bring their mending! I find that I truly enjoy the peaceful companionship of this group. Plus it's always fun and inspiring to see what everyone is working on...there are some truly talented and artistic ladies in this bunch.
We recently did a charity project knitting baby blankets for the local hospital for their neo-natal unit. We're hoping to deliver the blankets next week. Apparently they are very grateful for our donation as they are almost out. Looks like we'll be making more blankets after we deliver these.
We just came home with a new car tonight. We needed another car and have been shopping around. Used cars that met our criteria for safety and consumer ratings didn't have the pricing that we wanted. New cars seemed to expensive. Then we found our Scion. Found it on the internet actually. Went to the dealer yesterday, test drove it, went back today and drove it home.
It's very roomy, very comfortable. Great high beam coverage, good radio/cd player. And fabulous gas mileage, 31 city/38 highway. We're happy.
It seems like a lot of knitting bloggers have a cat. Well, I like to knit, I have a blog and, funny enough, I also have a cat. So I introduce to you...
After enduring the single digit weather for what seemed to be an eternity we decided to get away for a few days. Anywhere. As long as it was warm!
We went to North Carolina. We had never been there before and enjoyed exploring the area. We visited Holden Beach, Southport and Bald Head Island. It was a neat place to be, very beachy, very relaxed, the architecture was interesting. However an ice/sleet storm and cold weather was heading in so we decided to change locations.
We drove three hours to Raleigh Durham and hopped a flight to Orlando, Florida. The weather was much better there, 65+ degrees and mostly sunny. We were able to spend two full days there visiting Universal and Epcot (for a different view visit the Wikipedia site) entry on Epcot.
Back to our hometown after six days away we seem to have brought the warmer weather with us. Today was actually warm enough to run errands without a winter jacket, hat, scarf, mittens, and long underwear. Perhaps Spring will eventually arrive.
And speaking of Spring I must note that our family mascot, Punxsutawney Phil, did predict 6 more weeks of winter. The countdown has begun!
