All In A Day's Work (actually, All In Three Hours)

     No I am knot (get the knitting pun?) going give a blow by blow description.  But some highlights might be interesting if you can relate them to your life.  Then they become comical, and I can stop crying.  
     Wednesday night was a doozy.  After a late afternoon commitment, both sons and I headed for Wendy's  drive through.  (By the way, why isn't "drive through" an official food group already?)  B was in charge of holding the ice cream drinks and the food.  I told him to roll the bag top down so if they fall, the fries won't fall out.  This has happened to him a few times and to me a thousand times.  But as with any teen, my advice was met with resistance, and since there is so very much my teen and I can fight about, I decided to let it go that he ignored me.  (Ever notice that ignore and ignorance sound a lot alike?)  While driving I had to stop a little short and, yes, smart readers, the bag went flying to the floor and the fries spilled all over the floor.  W said "Uh oh" in his "watch out, it's gonna blow" voice.  B did indeed "blow."
     Well, I don't have to go into any details of the tone the rest of the evening had taken.  Teenagers!  Can't live with 'em, can't throw them out on the street.  
     When we arrived home, Ri had thrown up and pee'd in his crate and was a stinky, disgusting mess.  He was curled in a corner looking sad, forlorn, and shamed.  Riley threw up 6 times that day in total, and two times the evening before, so my theory that he ate something bad outside, flew out the window.  He was sick.  
     But like an ER, I had to triage.  W needed dinner.  His allergies prevent him from eating the fast food.  He was starving and it was only an hour from his bedtime.  I guiltily left Riley in his sad corner, and made W a very quick and easy dinner.  Pasta with sauce.   Bored with it though he was, he knew not to complain.
     After we were all upstairs,  W was getting ready for bed, B was doing his homework on the PC, and I was running a bath for Riley.  I was about to give Riley his long overdue bath and I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when...
     Something went a little haywire on the PC and it "told" us that a new user had logged in at a time when no one was home.  B decided we were being hacked or the victim of a virus.   B started telling stories of the kinds of things computer criminals can do and in the process freaking out himself and W.  W asked for me to hang with him in his room while he read.  
     I looked at him and I said "Honey there is only one of me, and right now I need to convince B our identities have not been stolen, but you come before the dog.  Okay?"  And somehow, after making a positively ridiculous statement like that.  I found some clarity.  


     I told B that high tech in movies and books these days are the monsters and zombies of my day.  If they become too real for you, it's time to pick another genre.  I gave him our other PC, and left his room. 
     Next to W.  I made sure he had a funny book to read and told him to read it.  And then I left the room.
     And when I finally had Ri in the bath, W came up to me and said "Wow, this is a lot tonight, huh?"  All in a day's work my son.  And then when I kissed him goodnight I said "Well a lot of excitement tonight for no real reason at all, huh?"  He told me that I described it perfectly.  
     After all was said and done and lights were out, I went downstairs to a dirty sink,  I cleared the food but decided the plates could stay until morning.  I had my Wendy's Twisty Vanilla Oreo Cookie drink for dinner.  And another day was done!   

Have Fun

Here is a great website if you like to look at well-dressed homes.  http://hookedonhouses.net/

My new favorite.

NOT ONE COMMENT ABOUT QUANTITY OF YARN

Please?

YARN, GLORIOUS YARN

I've been organizing and cataloging the yarn I have accumulated over the last few years.  Some people love shoes and handbags.  I love yarn.

Three Irish Girls Hand Dyed Yarn.  It's a catch.

Yarn I bought to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

I have tons more of this workhorse of yarn in lots of blues. This color will be a nice complement, when I actually knit something with it all. 

Beautiful Blue and Black (ish) Malabrigo.  Another find.

Tweed.  I have to knit something in tweed.

Wool, silk, and angora.  Yum.

Same

Same

Same

Same

Noro Furisode.  Multiple self striping colors.  

Dream in Color Classy in Some Summer Sky.  Another good find.

All 100% linen.  1 color each will make a small shawlette.  Eventually.

Rowan Summer Tweed

Sock Yarn.  For a shawlette.

Dream in Color Starry in Cocoa Kiss.  Will make a gorgeous scarf or shawl.  I can't wait to make something with it, but I'll need a lot of support from my local yarn store.  No room for mistakes in this yarn.

Berroco Foliage.  Self striping.  Soft and yummy,

They are SO SO SO happy for me.

And my family jumps for joy when I am happy.  Ben is jumping from joy for me too.  He is just avoiding the camera these days.

Pure White Paint and Rubbed Bronze Door Knob

Thank goodness I like our recent small renovation to the doors to the bedrooms.  This is most of what I see when I interact with Ben.  He must be a teenager or something.

My Shame

One of the things I love about knitting is that you can experiment with different yarns, different stitches, and different needle sizes.  When I am done experimenting, I rip out what I have done, toss the yarn aside.  Ultimately I regret it.  And this is why:

I have no idea if other knitters are as lazy as I am.  But I tend to experiment at night when I am tired.  Things just end up getting shoved to the back of something.   I am pleased to report that after many hours and hours of undoing knots.  Most of the yarn is separated.  Time to start experimenting again...

I recently learned from http://www.ravelry.com that there is a group who love working on messes like the above.  They encourage you to send them your knotted mess, and they will unknot and re-roll and send it back. Depending on your patience level and if you need/appreciate mindless hand work, this kind of work can be soothing.  After the first week, I never picked up one of those messes, unless I was in the mood to let my mind wander.   However, if you are un-knotting in order to start a project, then the job is frustrating and endless.   In any case, I'll never let my yarn knot again!  That's my story, and I am sticking to it.

The Never Ending Blanket

I just realized that my newly re-named 480 stitch sock yarn blanket is wonderfully long enough, but not nearly wide enough.  I'll be picking up 480 stitches this weekend, and then knit for at least 6 more months. 480 stitches.

Three Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

A few weeks ago, the boys and I lugged four grocery bags full of books to our local Goodwill.  It felt very good to give them away and know they'll re-sell for a dollar or two and help people.  Tonight I stopped in to see other kinds of items they sold.  I bought three books.  I don't think I'll go back in again soon.  Not while a am cleaning out my house.  For $1 each, how could I resist such a bargain?

Til next time.  Lots of pictures of yarn coming.

Beautiful Pictures From A Beautiful Blog

I just discovered this amazing blog.  Gorgeous pictures of my retirement destinations.  Also fabulous yarn, flowers, and food.  Lucy is amazing.  Check it out. http://attic24.typepad.com/,  Not sure of the link works. But copy and paste.  Or try the link on the right side of the page.  You'll feel like you are on vacation.

A New School Year, Grades 5 and 8

But they were just babies.

Small Change, Big Difference

  

The Before


After 5 years of not knowing what in the world to do to our house or whether to do nothing and just work toward a move, we finally made a small decision. We took down some of the wall between our kitchen and dining room. It's a relatively small change, but it give us all a lot more communication space. And the best thing is I don't feel like a waitress anymore! I can check on my dinner WHILE talking to my family in the dining room. I can't tell you what a difference it makes.

Not too much dust, but enough!

Finally, Finally, Finally

Finally recovered username and password to access this blog. I have spent so much time trying to recover it that I am too exhausted to write anything. So I will just leave you with pictures of two of the males in my house that always make me smile.

"All Who Wander Are Not LOST" - JRR Tolkien

These thoughts are a few days old.  But, sadly, LOST is over.  I don't care that there were a lot of little mysteries not solved, or that there were some inconsistencies.  Boy, these critics are tough!  I am just sad that it is over.  And I LOVED the ending.  That's right;  I wasn't disappointed in the least.  Take that, you critics!  I will enjoy watching all the old shows starting with season 1 to the last show.  Good bye LOST.
(I was this way with LORD OF THE RINGS, too.)  I admit it is a bit weird.  But their are worse things.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Lasagna

Random bits from the fridge made the most delicious dinner tonight.  No recipe here.  I made it up as I went along and the WHOLE FAMILY LOVED IT.  I mention it because I just wrote down the recipe.  I will make it again.   I started laughing as I started writing.  Although it was quite serious business when I was creating it.  It's name is what it is because I always hope the kids won't ask what's in a meal before they taste it.  Wouldn't want any lowered expectations due to shredded zucchini.  So this is what I used, and, yes, I am a bit proud.

spaghetti noodles (who said lasagna needs wide flat noodles?)

leftover meatloaf, crushed and sauteed in a little oil

yellow squash

kale, sauteed ever so slightly in oil, and seasonings.  Kale is a somewhat bitter compared to spinach, but it substitutes fine if you don't have spinach.

tomato sauce - for meat or veggie lasagna, chicken goes better with a white sauce

cheese sauce - soy cream cheese (as gross as it sounds (AGAIS), soy mozzarella cheese (not bad),  soy cheddar cheese (AGAIS), soy milk, seasonings, chicken stock, small amt of sauteed kale, one small yellow squash - all mixed in the food processor.  And it was good.  Biggest surprise of all.

I layered as it made sense to me, and they loved it.    They loved it, they actually loved it!!!

Until Then....

Every time I turn around another week has gone by.  Gone by without a blog entry.  This is no way to blog.  But stay with me, my 6 loyal followers,  I will learn to get a picture on the PC, whether it be from hubby's phone, my phone, my old phone I dropped so much I broke it, our regular camera, or the 'net itself.  I will figure it all out, and then take a class on this most interesting thing called blogging, buy a domain, focus, include some advertising and when my blog becomes a visual feast (or at least better than it looks now) my 6 devoted followers will be my guests at the Academy Awards when my blog turned book turned movie, starring Cate Blanchett as me (!!!!) will be nominated for Best Picture.  I simply cannot wait!!!  But until then, please stay with me.  Thanks!

Some random pics for those who like seeing them...

Roscoe tolerating Riley.

I am not really showing child's identity if only half a face is showing.  He is blonde and blue eyed on the other side.

So rarely does a dog not wake up when you are near.

See what I mean?

Beware knitting photos coming soon!

Will We Have School Through The Summer?

Well, we've used all our snow days, leaving nothing left for the weather that has caused mini disasters around here.  School is back on tomorrow... except for the elementary school.  There are too many downed trees on the road to the school.  The youngest member of our family is one happy kid.

If A Tree Falls In A Suburb, And Everyone Hears It, Will It Take Out Your House, Car, or Electricity?

When I moved to England in 2000, everybody here (TX, where I was living at the time, and MA, where my family was living) told me the weather in England was going to be terrible, rainy and cold and I'd be miserable.  My very literal son told me later he was surprised at how gentle the rain was and how often the sun came out.  He literally expected it to rain from dark clouds every day and was very unnerved at the prospect.  Many people also told me the food would be awful too, but that's another post.

In the four years I lived there, I could tell you what the weather was going to be nearly every day, with a few exceptions.  Sure, snow lightly dusted our backyard one day.  Another time I remember flooding rains that kept me from a very important appointment.  But other than that, it was either sunny or overcast, light rain, and rarely, heavy rains for limited times.  No great variations to have to plan around.  

Granted weather cycles have changed considerably.  And Southern England has been hit by great variations of weather.  But in my first year of living in NJ five years ago, I experienced 4 major snowstorms during the month of March, several flooding rains during Spring (great housewarming present since we had just bought the house that flooded 4 weeks after we moved in.)  Totally new and severe allergies for my son.  A particularly bad heat wave during the summer,  and Fall allergies, which were terrible and we had never experienced before.  And multiple electricity losses. And all that was our first year!  But we live outside of NYC, and that should make everything ok!  Grumble.

Knot A Pretty Picture

Sometimes a badly rolled ball of yarn (sometimes called a cupcake - when it is rolled well)  comes apart while you are knitting your project.  So I started a shawl.  Not a warm, old, granny shawl, but one that can be whipped around my neck creating a chic display of yarntastic ability.   But I had to put the shawl down to tend to the knots.  This is just part of knitting....

This is the start of the shawl, it will get somewhat lacy in the end.  IF I ever get through all the knots!

Update on Corny Post

4th grade boy just told me that the average sized ear of corn has about 500 niblets on it.  So, I must correct my earlier number of niblets.  Evidently there were approximately 6,000 corn niblets in that pan.  I never was good at math.  I asked him how he could possibly know that.  There actually is a very simple, logical and reasonable explanation.  But I am not going to tell you what it is.  Isn't niblet a funny word?  Or am I just that immature.

The Day Riley Learned Some New Words. And Paper Towels Was Not Among Them.