hair again

The girls all went to play tennis this afternoon. On the way down to the courts they ran into my friend Christina who had already agreed to trim up V's hair. She told them to stop by her house after tennis. Then she called me and told me she could trim D's hair too (I guess I didn't do as good a job of trimming as I thought).

Well...once they get there...shampoos, trims and styles for everyone! Especially when Mom is not there to say no. V and D came out fine, adorable actually. S decided that she was going to get a trim and highlights. I found out about this when I came to pick up D who still had homework to finish for school. A surprise to be sure.

Luckily Christina does good work so they all look great. It's going to take some time to get used to the highlights though. And the next part is convincing the younger two that no they cannot have highlights...yet.

garden cat

Ed note: Dagnabit! The server went down just as I tried to post this! Somehow I think the first posting was much better but here goes.

Chloe likes to hang out with us when we are outside. It's nice to be working in the garden and have her nearby. She wanders off and then wanders back to check on us like a good sidewalk supervisor. When I was working in the vegetable garden she decided to play hide-and-seek. As I was weeding all of a sudden a small white paw darted out from under the rhubarb leaves and tapped me on the wrist. She kept doing this several more times as I came near enough to the plant for her to reach me without my being able to see her first.

Later I was in a different section of the garden pulling a particularly noxious weed that has rather long roots. Chloe peered at the hole and then all of a sudden began digging at it. The next thing I knew she was, I am not kidding, up to her shoulder in the hole batting furiously at something while Steve was cheering her on in the background…"Go Chloe! Come on, get it! Get it!"

Whatever it was she didn't get it (although she managed to get filthy in the process. Thank goodness cats bathe themselves). We imagine it was some poor creature such as a vole who must have been absolutely terrified to find his roof lifting off only to have it replaced by a large white claw. On the bright side this has positive implications for the depredations to the garden caused by the resident rodent population albeit not for the rodents themselves.

war of the weeds

A busy day today but I managed to squeeze in some gardening time. It's been a gorgeous day, perfect temperatures, sunny, slight breeze, the best weather to be out in the garden.

Unfortunately the weeds are winning...this early in the season that's a very bad sign. I went out and finished cleaning up most of the front garden, did a little on the side garden and some work in the vegetable garden. Some plants and flowers poking through but mostly weeds.

It's amazing how much weeds look like real plants. For example bedstraw looks like woodruff. At least until it makes that final leap into an ugly weed. The first year we lived here I learned that the hard way after I denuded an entire patch of garden of all of it's woodruff. Three years later it has been nursed back to health and is re-propigating if that's the correct term.

And ground ivy...I thought it looked sort of like aguja or carpet bugle. Hah! Then I had tons of the stuff. And the weeds are runners so they go on forever.

The garlic mustard is about to completely take over the woods, the bittersweet and, my favorite weed (!) multi-flora rose are battling it out in the middle of the back garden.

At this point I do what I can and hope that eventually things will grow and fill in enough that the weeds won't be that noticeable. And every year I swear I'm going to get rid of more of the garden. But somehow I never seem to get around to it.

I still maintain that my life would be a lot easier if I could just teach the deer to eat the weeds. I would let them eat all they wanted, honest.

knitter's

It's my lucky relative day...lot's of goodies coming my way.

This:
is a gift from my Aunt Carol, thank you so much! I love getting this magazine and pouring over the ads, pictures, articles. She had initially gotten it thinking that we could discuss the articles together. Hah! She's a MUCH better knitter than I am and our conversations wouldn't be very impressive. But I feel that I have learned a lot from reading this and other knitting magazines/books and am getting more knowledgeable as time goes by.

Now to find more time because doggone it there are at least three projects in this issue that I think could be really fun to make.

star

A neat link showing the star Mira. Thanks to my Uncle Ben for passing it along.

I had always known that there was a body of water named Mira because my Nana used to tell me about it. It's in Nova Scotia and leads into the Mira river.

Now I find out there's a star too. Fun.

the mother's day racoon

We spent Mother's Day with all of my in-laws and had a lovely meal and a great visit. There were three mother's in the house, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and myself so there were LOTS of choruses of 'Happy Mother's Day'.

The big excitement for the afternoon was shortly after my father-in-law took the kids down to the dock to go fishing. My niece decided to crawl into the boat because she was a little cold. She came scrambling out very quickly. When she got under the boat cover she saw something furry and thought it was a cat until it turned around and proved itself to be a racoon! The other kids looked into the boat and saw this huge racoon as well. Then it disappeared into the anchor compartment where it had apparently gnawed through the boat to make itself a nest.

The police were called. A very nice officer came out, looked into the boat and then called the Animal Control Warden. He managed to get the racoon out of the boat and then let it go (apparently he is not allowed to relocate them so he has to let them go) so it went streak/waddling across the lawns as fast as it could. From the safety of the deck at the other end of the lawn it looked HUGE. I'm not the world's best judge of size but I'm thinking Racky here must have weighed about 35 pounds! I know racoons are fluffy and all and if they get wet they shrink down a big (sort of like a wet cat) but still and all this was a very big racoon.

The biggest gratitude of the day was that neither of the dogs knew the racoon was anywhere around, otherwise I think we would have had a problem. Now, of course, my father-in-law has a problem...he's got a hole in his boat. But at least it's a racoon-free boat.

sam

Sam, our dog, is definintely getting older and it's getting sadder. He's not even eating enough for his body weight at this point and a lot of times what he does eat doesn't stay down. He's getting painfully thin.

I find it really distressing because sometimes he seems to be happy and doing well but that is happening less and less. When we took him to the vet she said it was our decision. We know that, the problem is that we don't want to end his life prematurely but we also don't want him to be in any pain or discomfort.

He also keeps falling down a lot now, his back legs give out when he's walking or if he needs to go down stairs. And his senility/Alzheimer's is definitely getting worse. After 14 years with our family we've become very attached and I'm discovering it's really hard to be the one to make that decision. In the past it's always been someone else who decided.

At this point since he still has happy moments and doesn't appear to be in pain we're not ready but we know that time is not too far off. We just need to love him as much as we can and realize that not allowing him to be in pain will be another expression of our love for him.

presents

Look what arrived in Saturday's mail! Autographed and everything! I'm so excited. It's my Mom's new book! It's impressive that she is so smart about bulbs and other flower things that she gets to write books about it and they actually get published.

Lots of lovely photographs inside too. I know I'm going to enjoy reading this.

butterfly cupcakes

While perusing through my blog-reads (catching up actually...I've been on late shift at work all week and haven't read any of them...there's a lot to read!) I saw on the Cupcake Blog a link to the above cupcakes. They're so cute! So I shamelessly pinched the link and posted it here.

These look so easy to make. Perhaps I'll make a batch to take to work.

meme

There's a meme going around the internet and I've been interviewed by Niina.

Here are my responses to her interview...if you want to be interviewed leave me a comment.

1. When did you learn to knit and how?
I learned five years ago, taught by my neighbor Ellie...my first project was a pair of mittens.

2. What is the most difficult thing you have knitted and how long it took? (And a picture would be a bonus)
The most difficult thing is the sweater I am working on, my first, it's a hoodie. I'll try to get a picture up but my scanner isn't cooperating right now.

3. How many UFO's do you actually have?
I've successfully managed to purge them down to 8.

4. What is the most fabulous yarn you have bought/knitted?
Oooh, this would be a fabulous handspun, hand-dyed wool yarn, I gave one skein each to my mother and my aunt.

5. Chocolate, do you like it or hate it? If love is the answer, what kind does it for you?
Chocolate...what's not to love! I have to confess that Cote d'Or Bouches from Belgium are my big weakness but anything will do in a pinch.

hair

What is it about girls and hair? Not that long ago V decided that she wanted short hair. She was too impatient to wait for me to make an appointment to take her to my friend Christina so she cut it herself. It looks cute but needs to be....ummmm...fixed. So now she has an appointment next week.

This morning D awakened me from a sound sleep to tell me she had a surprise for me. She turned around and she had cut her hair! She knew I thought she looked cute with shorter hair and so she decided to cut it as a gift to me! Not too bad a job but I had to neaten it up a bit. Not the easiest thing in the world when you are just woken and haven't even had your first cup of caffeine to start the day. I managed to even it out and I don't think she needs to go to Christina, we'll see how it looks once it's dry.

date night

Last night Steve and I went out on a date...it was great to get out of the house, away from the kids and just spend time together. We went out for a pizza at a local place that has good pizza. We got a salad for two that was absolutely delicious. It had shredded cheese, a chopped tomato thing on top with herbs and an amazing dressing. Then we got a pizza with eggplant, onion and meatballs. It was really good. It's been a long time since we've been out for pizza since I usually make ours so it was a real treat.

After dinner we decided on a whim to see if there was a movie at the local theater that we wanted to see. We got there 10 minutes before the start of the next showing of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" which I had wanted to see. And there was room in the theater. It was a fun movie. Definitely based on the book but not exactly like the book. Still enjoyable and funny though. Alan Rickman was a scene stealer as Marvin...I can't imagine a more perfect Marvin now that I've seen the movie. Steve even liked it and I wasn't sure he would since that usually isn't his type of movie.

When we got home the house was quiet and peaceful...a good end to the evening.

stitch sisters

S decided to accompany me to Stitch Sisters this week, she brought her beading to work on. It was so nice to have her there with us, I really enjoy the opportunity to spend this craft time with her as well as the other wonderful women in this group.

I managed to give away the last of the yarn I was purging. So much nicer to give it to those who want it and can need it...don't know what I would have done with it otherwise.

I also managed to teach my friend Martha how to do a ripple crochet afghan. She got it started. Luckily she works in the office next door to mine so if she gets stuck between now and the next meeting she can just bring it over and I can help her. The ripple stitch was the first kind of afghan I learned how to make when I learned how to crochet. Martha already knew how to crochet but wanted to know how to do this. I'm really happy to be able to share and teach her.

book sale

At the aforementioned meeting in the parking lot I picked up a lovely flyer from my friend Lindsay. I somehow found myself agreeing to be the Publicity Director for the Library Book Sales. Please don't tell my husband. I have a severe case of volunteeritis and frequently find myself agreeing to be responsible for more things than I should.

In any event...I need a graphic artist and managed to coerce convince Lindsay that she was just the person for the job. And she did a lovely flyer for us. Now to get all the labels made, the newspaper inserts submitted, and then hold the sale. Luckily I don't have to organize all the books.

Don't tell Steve when it is though because I think I'll be stopping by to *ahem* peruse the offerings.

the great yarn purge continued

I've been purging yarn and have to admit that it's really great to clean out and organize my larger-than-I-realized stash. Sorting and grouping everything has helped me rethink what I'm working on.

I have given away a lot of yarn, three afghans in progress and, in a repeat of last week, tonight at Stitch Sisters intend to foist off give away another afghan and a basket full of yarn.

In the meantime I have gotten my project list down to a really manageable number and am writing down the other projects so that I can be more orderly about this whole thing. The "to do" wish list is admittedly rather long but having it written down helps keep my scattered ideas together.

five 5

While talking to my brother today he reminded me that at 5:05 it was an historic moment. A very neat numerical oddity that my Grandpa Robby would have loved. May fifth two thousand and five at five oh five. He even pointed out that it's on a Thursday, for those who start their weeks on Monday rather than Sunday.

I called my kids to tell them about it. They were suitably unimpressed. I pointed out that it would not happen again for another 100 years (and quite frankly I don't think I'm going to be around for the next one). The calm response from V was a slow, measured, "okay Mom." That tone that lets you know they are sure you have lost whatever remaining marbles you may have possessed.

I was in the IGA parking lot talking to my friend Lindsay, where were you at 5-5-05:5:05?

pinks

I was amazed today to notice that the colors of the landscape are changing. First it was the yellows of forsythia and daffodils and such. Now pinks and reds are painting their way into the background. Tulips, crab apples, maples, dogwoods, hyacinths...it's all so lovely.

And every day I notice more and more leaves and less and less bare brown sticks. Soon there will be a lushness to the landscape again. I always love this time of year. I swear you can almost smell the greeness of it all.

Plus! Today is the day my favorite local nursery opens. Victoria's Herb Garden. She always has such lovely stuff and she and Rodney are great people. Time to head on over and see what she's got blooming this now.

rummy

After dinner V suggested that we all sit down and play cards. S had a ton of homework and couldn't but the rest of us did. It was so much fun. D started learning how to play.

V sharked us all and was the big winner of the evening. Steve thinks she should to on the World Poker Tour™. I'm just happy that I managed to end the evening with a score in the positive range.

scion news

Wow! Apparently my little car is quite popular. I'm not a Gen Y'er but love my little car anyway...just goes to show that demographics aren't everything.

I admit that I was tempted by some of the "extras" that the dealer offers but resisted -- so far. S on the other hand was bummed that we didn't get the lighted cup holders and the fancy interior light strips. I think if we had let her design the car she would have put quite a bit more into it.

And there's a whole lotta stuff available to personalize your car here, here, or even here. Amazing what you can do.

library lunch

This afternoon I went to a luncheon that the library held for volunteers. I had been expecting a light tea type of affair. Instead there was a lovely luncheon spread and an amazing collection of delicious fresh-baked goodies.

It was so nice to sit and chat with all the different volunteers. Usually the ones I see are the ones that volunteer at the same events that I do. During those events we are far too busy setting up and managing the event to actually converse about anything else. This provided a great opportunity to get to know some of them better. It's quite astonishing to realize just how many volunteers there are in this small community that support our wonderful library.

While I was there I did manage to grab Lisa, who heads up the Book and Barn Sale, to get her to unlock the barn so that I could offload all the leftovers from the Kitchen Swap. In return I somehow found myself agreeing to help with the Friday night pre-auction. Should be a lot of fun, but luckily it's in August so I have some time to prepare.