Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Rules


This girl is seriously opinionated about her clothes. She backs away or slaps at outfits deemed inappropriate. She screams 'no' and 'off' in a forlorn voice if you do manage to sneak something on her that she doesn't like. I have no idea how this happened but it seems the universe is righting itself. I may have demanded 'name brand,' clothes but at least I was in middle school, not less than two years old.


I also fought my mom over buying a black leather miniskirt. To this day, I thank my mom for not buying me a black leather miniskirt. I did find one for E at a used store, I got it, she can live the dream as Madonna circa 1980 for Halloween. If I can get it on her.


I never know what getting clothes on her will be like, but I've figured out these rules.

1. She doesn't like dresses

2. She doesn't like skirts

3. She likes dressing like her big bro

4. She likes little patterns-polka dots, flowers, etc.

5. She does NOT like peasant girl blouses

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Weekends


A few weekends of sun means a lot of work getting done around here. We've been fixing, painting and having lots of time outside. It's nice to have my handy husband back! I'll post before and afters soon.
My mom was here for the birthday and she left Monday. That means I've been folding my own towels and unloading the dishwasher again. Back to only 2 showers a week, if I'm lucky. No more eating out for lunch. She spoiled me, she even bought me yarn. We had a great visit with Grandma.
Butters went with Daddy to a classic cars show in downtown Everett. I stayed behind and worked on painting the hutch (a bigger undertaking than I had imagined). He turned 2 and a switch turned. He turned 4 and the switch went the other way. He's reasonable and funny and says the most hilarious things. We made snow cones with a vintage Snoopy Snow cone Machine that I've been saving. He said, "I'm so excited I just can't help it. This is such a special treat!" I used Tang for flavoring! Blast from the past. I used to live on that stuff, I'd make it so strong it was practically a solid!
I'm pretty beat, working on night weaning and trying to get The Baby Formally Known As Baby E to sleep through the night. Yes, it's true it's been 19 months and she has never once slept all night long. People who think they want kids don't always know what they are getting into, although we have a different parenting style than most. We respond. I've let it slide, thinking that's what she needed, but now I'm committed to changing things. She should really be sleeping all night and getting better rest. Plus, I'm a bit scattered brained and all over the place.

Friday, May 22, 2009


I figured I'd show you some snaps of the bog jacket. Since taking these, I've finished the seaming and done the collar. I still need to add an i-cord edge and I'm thinking I'll put in a zipper.









Here is detail of the waste yarn removed, waiting for weaving. When you weave garter stitch together you need to have two of the same sides, I did it wrong on the right side of the sweater (hint,the left side in this photo) and I unwove it all and re-did it. An extra 4 hours of work done. Holy Mohair!

I love the colors, but this is hibernating for the summer, waiting for help to sew a zipper into a knitted garment.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

He's Four!




At the dinner table, "Happy Birthday to Me!"


I asked him, "Did you like your Emperor Zurg cake?" (It took me at least an hour).
His reply, "I wanted a piece with more icing on it."
They grow up so fast!
Butters at 3 months, seems so long ago. Now we have conversations together, look at flowers and get the oil in the car changed together. I love it!


Monday, May 18, 2009

Wanted
















A trip to Ballard to tour the SeaStar as seen on Deadliest Catch. We visited with Cap'n Kenny, saw the crab pods, crab replicas and the most exciting thing to Butters-the secret toilet in the captains quarters. Grandma is visiting in honor of the big 4th birthday and she loved gossiping with Kenny.



Newest Greenhorn (not on your life)






Lunch at the Fisherman's terminal and a trip to Cupcake Royale completed the adventure!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Another reason to love public radio

Scott Simon's, "At My Place, Every Day Is Mother's Day"

May 9, 2009 · My wife doesn't work. She's a full-time mother. She luxuriates in bed until 6:30 a.m., when our 2-year-old chants, "Mama, Mama!" like some ancient war call, and she trudges into the kitchen with our baby on one shoulder to use her free hand to heat milk.

I stay in my office, writing, procrastinating and checking baseball scores until I need another cup of coffee.
My wife tries to go to the bathroom. Our 2-year-old clings to her knees. Using a bathroom with a 2-year-old on your lap should be a rodeo event.

Our 6-year-old gets up and chirps, "Mama! Mama!" My wife holds our 2-year-old in one arm, our 6-year-old with the other, and heats up more milk with her third hand.
I come into the kitchen for more coffee.

She dresses our daughters. It's like trying to put tuxedo shirts on two squiggling ferrets. My wife walks our daughters 10 blocks to kindergarten, but it takes half an hour because our girls won't step on cracks, stop to look in every window and stomp in every puddle. She has to pull them along like sacks of nails.

When she gets back to our apartment, my wife can finally relax. She does laundry; pays bills; stays on hold with the credit card, Internet and phone companies for 45 minutes because the bill is wrong, while our 2-year-old swings from her neck like a chimp; resets the wireless service; changes diapers and light bulbs; buys food; picks up toys; cleans the fish bowl and hermit crab habitat; organizes closets; cleans what our cat coughs up; schleps to the storage locker; tries to take a shower but can't because our 2-year-old can't find her stuffed dog; picks up our 6-year-old from school and takes her to ballet; makes three meals and innumerable snacks; calls our mothers and sends them photos of their grandchildren; and wipes up milk, water and diaper spills the way Red Adair put out oil fires.

I help by calling my wife a couple of times a day to tell her how busy I am and ask, "Um, darling, can you find my red socks?"

She has four minutes a day to herself and eats only Cheerios that fall on the floor. She works 15 hours a day with no breaks or mandated meals, 365 days a year with no real vacations. Our daughters feel free to cough up and sneeze things into her hands. If Samuel Gompers heard about my wife's working conditions, he'd say, "Organize and fight!"

Instead, she knows that in these times it's a gift to be able to be a full-time mother. You know: just to be home with the kids.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Happy Mom Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend, but I've learned to keep my expectations low. Kids are always the worst on Mother's Day and your birthday. Over the weekend we had some great parts and some not so great parts.
A wonderful breakfast: homemade biscuits and creamed eggs, steamed asparagus, faken bacon, fresh fruit, mocha. A vegetarian dream.













Went on a hike/short bike ride.












Explored the river's edge.








She was not so happy to wait. But enjoyed throwing rocks and looking at the horses and had to walk to the river like everyone else.















On the other hand, I was up for several hours both nights with the 'animal trifecta,' three kinds of animal substances from dogs and cats. Butters came in my room at 4 am saying, "Someone needs to change my pajamas because they are allllll wet." And, the baby decided to try insomnia for 2 hours. But, I did get to sleep in BOTH days, which was nice and reason enough to say, thanks for a great mother's day!
Here's Butters and I at a Mother's Day Tea for preschool, three cheers for all the teachers who help make the holidays special!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Phat




I was going to post about this as my favorite hat. I've made three so far for several babies (still working on the size.) I was going to tell you how it fits perfectly over the ears of little ones and works well for adults, just cute and gnome-like enough. I was going to offer to knit one for the first person to comment and tell me the color of their choice.




I was going to tell you all about this as my favorite hat. Then, my husband compared the shape to a part of the male anatomy and it's not my favorite hat anymore.

But, it's still my favorite to knit, so if you don't mind walking around with a penis head, then post a comment with the color you'd like and I'll randomly pick a winner and make you one. If anyone wants it, that is!

My bog jacket is no longer portable, hence the need to have a hat on the needles! This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Gnomy hat from the Knitters Almanac.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Deductable


Well, it's never quiet around here, I guess. On Thursday, I was rear-ended trying to turn left into preschool. Both kids in the car and a guy in a big, black, dirty, giant 4x4 truck took off! Hit and Run! His license started with B 13, in case you see him. Everyone is fine. My low emissions SUV is not. It's hard to NOT think, why does this happen to the good people or what kind of person hits a mom and 2 kids and takes off. But, a few comments have put things into perspective. To remind me how lucky we do have it, even if things are (still) not looking up!


My husband was out of town and got back that night, I was on the phone with the insurance lady and he called on my cell phone, I hadn't updated him. She said, "He's not far away is he? Like Iraq."


There were parks and rec people working on the road right as the accident happened, "The kids are okay, right? That's all that matters."


We are fine, cars can be replaced.