Last day of kindergarten

Hi...remember me? Really, swear I haven't forgotten about you all. I'm just in over my head with things to do at the moment. I'm teaching two to three days a week which requires prep time (and will be teaching more as the weeks wear on), working on the house or doing something house-related when I'm not teaching or prepping (and we still haven't actually packed anything to move yet), oh, and there are three children who are trying not to forget they have a momma. Friday is one month since we were arrived in Rome, and I'm so twitchy to tell you all the next part of the trip, because that's when it starts getting really good (and I'm loving looking at my pictures), but I need more than 10 minutes to put that together, and frankly with more than 10 extra minutes on my hands, I think more likely to pass out and sleep (that hasn't been exactly plentiful lately). Not that I don't love you all, 'cause I do. In BeeJ's the other day while shopping for bulk goods I happened into the TV section, because, well, someone says we need another TV for the new house, and I stood there mesmerized for a good 15 minutes because the sample snippet they kept playing to demonstrate how great S*ny hi-def was had film of the Naples area in it. I just about cried (seriously...I misted up!) I wanted to be there so badly.

So, to sort of whet your appetites for something new (though not Italy, it is sweet!)...here is my sweet on his last day of school:

Liam with Ms. O

His last hopscotch at the Waldorf school

Cutting up with his best bud

The fearless foursome (the girl is Liam's current future wife...so he says)

After a recital at school, Liam walked over the bridge for the last time and walked out as a first grader. The school has a huge picnic at a recreational park on the last day of school, and this was the last year it was to be held at this venue. Mother nature voiced her opinion by thundering and pouring on us all after we had a chance to play for a while, but I think a good time was still had by all. Such a bittersweet day!

Rome...Getting there is half the battle.

Ok...so we'll start at the beginning (as that's a great place to start), and this will be long and probably more detail than you all are interested in, but I've gotta get it all down in black and white for posterity.

So, you all know by now that I'm a horrific procrastinator (I keep hoping it will come in handy some day), and preparing for this trip was no exception. With all the house stuff going on, I didn't really get to packing in earnest until the night before we were to leave. Of course by then, all the laundry needed to be washed, and my checklist felt a mile long, and it takes ten times as long to pack when hubby and I are playing pass the baby. We did manage to get everything done in time to leave to go to the airport in time to get on our flight, but by the time we got the airport, I was a bit of a wreck. I don't handle flying well (funny for someone who claims to enjoy it...which I do...but that whole fear of falling out of the sky thing sometimes is a bit prohibitive), so that added to the stress. I swallowed my fear, frustration, etc., and we got on the plane to New York City to make our connection that would take us to Rome. Because of traffic going into JFK, our flight sat on the runway for a good 30 minutes before taking off, which then meant that we were going to be cutting it close to making our connecting flight. The flight to JFK was really bumpy and on a snug little Embraer jet which just added to my stress.

When we finally arrived in New York, we hopped out of the plane and double-timed it to catch our connecting flight, which was an overnighter on a 767. Thankfully, we made it with a few minutes to spare. Our seats on this flight were at that arse end of the plane, the last row before the flight attendants' seats. There were no windows for our row, and the restrooms for our cabin were on either side of our 3-seat row. This made for a noisy, restless flight. I did not sleep over the entire 8-9 hour flight because just as I would doze off, the baby would readjust her position or squirm, or someone would need to go to the bathroom and would brush past, or the toilet would flush with the sound of an industrial vacuum, or the little bell would ding for the flight attendants. During the flight, there was a malfunction of this bell, and it would ding for no apparent reason at irregular intervals. Highly annoying.

Apparently, Amer1can A1rlines is the Patrick Swayze airline because the second movie on the way to Rome and the way home was a flick he starred in. First movie on the way there was the Beatrix Potter film with Renee Zelweger, second movie was Dirty Dancing. I watched bits and pieces of the first with the little earbud headphones the attendants provide but eventually had to give up because the baby kept pulling them out of my ears. I just lip read the second movie. The food was not particularly memorable, beef and noodles with a salad and a roll for dinner and a croissant with juice for breakfast. The baby was a real trooper and handled the whole flight with ease. She slept for a fair bit of the flight and really didn't cry at all. Hubby actually did manage to catch some rest over the flight, but mostly we just sat and watched the movies and the animation they showed with our progress toward our destination. I might have knit a little on a sock. When the sun came up and started to brighten our cabin, it was much easier to stay awake. Though with all the turbulence, I wasn't feeling too sleepy anyway.

When we finally arrived at the airport in Rome, the time was somewhere around 7:30 Roman time, which was 6 hours ahead of Ohio time (we left at 5 pm tuesday here and arrived on wednesday morning there). So my body was thinking it was after 1 am and time to go to bed. We picked up our baggage and got through customs without a hitch. Next task was to get to the hotel. Our traveling partners J. and A. had booked a shuttle bus to take them to the hotel. We decided to try to hook up with them rather than try to navigate the train system while stupidly tired. While waiting for the shuttle to arrive, we wandered through the Gastronomia, a mini-market of sorts. Our palates were desirous of typical American breakfast things and fresh fruit. This was not to be found here. Smoked whole pig legs wrapped in heavy plastic (prosciutto, I was assuming?) hung from the ceiling, and various other Italian culinary specialties were in abundance such as pasta and packaged goods. Needless to say, no food was bought.

We finally hopped aboard the shuttle bus with our driver (who seemed to not speak much English), and sped off for our ride. Our bus was a very small one, probably smaller than a panel van. Our airport, Fiumicino, was on the outskirts of the city, so a fair bit of the drive was by freeway. I was instantly struck by the insanity of European driving. Teeny tiny little cars (the Smart car is no longer than a Vespa scooter and not much wider) driving very fast and changing lanes frequently. There was heavy utilization of brakes and short braking distances given the speeds, but everyone seemed very courteous on the freeway, and somehow there weren't any accidents. There were beautiful bushes that were in bloom in the medians, and I was taken by the beauty of the countryside. There were hills in the distance dotted by stuccoed villas.

It wasn't long and we were coming into the city proper, and the scenery became less and less green and more inner city. One of my first impressions was how dirty everything seemed. Graffiti was apparent everywhere, but didn't appear any different in style than what you'd see in any American inner city. Under one particular overpass, a homeless family who apparently had been living from their car was preparing breakfast. Traffic thickened and slowed in winter molasses fashion, and lane markings became not so apparent. The number of scooters multiplied exponentially, and I was struck by the makeup of their drivers. Business men in suits and women in skirts rode along side twenty-somethings in tank tops and casualwear. Scooter and motorcycle riders in Rome also have a different set of driving practices than here in the States. In America, motorcycles are expected to ride single file behind the vehicle in front of them. In Italy, they weave between the lanes of traffic like shoelaces and pretty much anywhere they can find space, except maybe the sidewalks. Being a pedestrian in Rome is much like taking the leap of faith. You pretty much walk out into traffic on the crosswalks knowing that everyone will stop. Otherwise, you'd run the risk of dying from old age from waiting for a break long enough to get across.

We finally started to really get into the heart of ancient Rome, and ruins could be spotted interspersed between city buildings, many of which were 5-6 story buildings of various warm muted colors of stucco. Our driver pointed out the grassy field that once was the Circus Maximus, and then we were quickly upon the Colosseum. Our hotel was not far from this monument, and it seemed we were there within just a couple of minutes. The hotel was tucked down an little side street that really wasn't much more than an alley. Along the street were a few small shops, a restaurant, a couple of bars, and a pizzeria.

A medieval looking tower at the end of the street our hotel was on.

The parking lot and a strange building also at the end of our street

When we came into the hotel lobby, we noticed a breakfast room off waiting area. The hotel appeared a little dated, (after being there a week, we got to realizing that most things in Rome are dated to one extent or another) but we were glad to have arrived. I think I nearly kissed the ground once I got out of the bus. The time was close to 10 am, and official check in wasn't for another 4 hours. The desk clerk was kind enough to go ahead and check us in early so we could catch some Z's. We wanted a room close to the other couple we were traveling with, so the clerk hooked us up with a 3 room flat off the garden that had two double rooms and a twin room, which was one room more than we really needed, but we weren't going to argue. One of the doubles and the twin were upstairs. The double rooms really were just that-two twin beds doubled together to make a larger bed. I have yet to decide whether this was an Italian thing or a European thing in general. With the shades drawn and being on the garden, the room was blissfully dark and quiet. We both collapsed into the very springy bed, and not a peep was made for a couple hours.

Coming next...getting out Wednesday afternoon after our nap to do our first bit of sightseeing...

Back to life, back to reality...

We've arrived home from Rome. The trip was an amazing experience, and our little girl turned out to be quite the world traveler. We took somewhere around 450 pictures (yeah...wading through those is gonna be a trick), and I still can't believe all the things we crammed into one little week. I'll be posting a daily breakdown along with thoughts and feelings and, of course, pictures. We got some real postcard shots of some things, but the things that were probably the most amazing, we weren't allowed to photograph. I'm warning in advance that the posts coming in the next days will be long and heavily photo laden. I'm still reeling a bit from the whole trip home (my body says it's 3 in the afternoon right now, though it's 9 am.), so I likely won't get a chance to post again today...however...

It all starts and ends here:

This shot is looking back up the street toward our hotel Tirreno. The little car in the front right lower corner is actually a motorcycle with a little cab covering it with a trailer attached. You can just see the Tirreno sign on the left wall up toward the middle/beginning of the street (which really isn't much more than an alleyway.

This case is CLOSED! (warning...long post ahead with heavy pic content)

Been a while since I've posted (a theme around here lately, I know), and as usual, there's much to post about but not much time to do it in.

So what has been going on? For starters, I've seen more contractors in the past few weeks than in all my years of living in this house. Went through a home inspection, which was more than an eye opener and revealed that there is much work to be done on this house. Once done, this house will probably have quite a lot more equity in it than what we are paying to fix it up.

In the process leading up to today, we have had more sickness around here than we did for the better part of the winter. Jonah came down with a stomach bug and used his sister's car seat as a puke bucket. Liam had the flu. Cliff got Liam's flu. I got Jonah's cold and Liam's flu. On the same day. The same day that baby came down with Liam's flu. While Cliff had to go to work to get stuff done for his Rome paper. It was not good. I was even too sick to craft. Next day? Cliff came down with the stomach flu, passed out at work, and ended up at the ER. All this while we're trying to get the last details of our loan stuff worked out. Thankfully, we're all getting better.

There's been knitting and, wait for it....crocheting. I haven't crocheted since I was pregnant with Liam, but I got bit by the ripple bug. Another one bites the dust. Here's my progress so far:

I went to last night's knit 'n' sip where we're working on mitered squares...another happening thing amongst the bloggers lately, it seems. Both are total stashbusters, and with the yarn diet I'm on, I need mindless knitting that uses up the stash.

I finished the second baby sock, but I've yet to get a picture of it. I still need to weave in the ends (big surprise), but I've tried them on the baby's feet, and they will fit for a while. I did, however, catch a couple of pictures of her today.

So the big news today was that we closed on the house...and we took possession tonight. It's now ours!! Last weekend, I went over and mowed the lawn, as it was becoming apparent that the sellers weren't going to do that before we got the keys, and I had visions of having to mow grass that was knee deep and soggy at the bottom because the water couldn't evaporate. Wouldn't you know, but the seller's realtor showed up and inquired about what we were doing. He didn't thank me for saving them money but instead complained about how I was a liability. We weren't in the house, just mowing the lawn, but after we left, he took the key out of the lock box.

So when we showed up this evening to take possession, there was no key, and our agent had to call to have them bring us a key, which cost us about an hour's worth of time. Once we got in, however, we ate our first meal in our first house! Funny how it tasted so good tonight (Mmm...Mexican). The boys settled right in. Liam climbed the tree in the front yard and was making granny shots on his new adjustable hoop. Jonah made himself right at home by taking off his shoes and shirt (he spared the neighbors the complete strip tease this time). I've already pulled down one of the ugly valances....and next time the rest of them are gone! My creative juices are already drooling at the prospect of all the crafting that can be done to make this place feel more like home.

Happiness is...

...having a freezer full of meals for the next three weeks so I don't have to obsess about what to make for dinner in the weeks working up to closing on our house and our trip to Rome. All we'll need from the grocery store for the next three weeks is fresh fruits and dairy products.

...being able to cook said meals without 6 little hands involved (not that I don't enjoy cooking with them, but today I was in a Soulemama frame of mind).

...the smell (and taste...had to make sure it was turning out well) of homemade bolognese.

...an unplanned afternoon nap that lasted into the evening.

...finding time to knit a whole two rows on a baby sock.

Not much to say...

It's been all about the new house around here lately. There has been pretty much no knitting or crafting to speak of (not that I haven't been obsessing about it...believe me, I have), and our current home is quite the wreck. I might need a life raft to escape the laundry pile that has grown downstairs.

It's only a couple more weeks until we actually take possession, and I'm told that's when the fun really starts. I keep thinking of it as an opportunity to further declutter and purge...hubby maybe not as much.

Spring is all about new beginnings. Speaking of spring...here's a shot of one of the trees in our yard this time of year. It's just starting to pop now, but this picture is from last spring, I'm thinking. I always wanted a place with flowering trees, and this one has a flowering crab, a weeping cherry, and a dogwood.

I'm feeling the need to get a list going so I can start crossing things off...then maybe I'll feel like I'm getting somewhere.

My little ray of sunshine

Weather here has been B-E-A-yootiful (I watched bits and pieces of Bruce Almighty last night). The boys and I spent ALL day outside working. I managed to weed all the front beds, cut down all the old stuff that I didn't get cut down last fall, re-edged the front bed, put all the mulch that had spilled onto the driveway back, put new mulch down in a few spots until I ran out of it, sprayed for weeds (which normally I wouldn't do...but since this house will be selling...and I have another house to keep up with, there will be no time to pull weeds this summer), and mowed the front and back lawns. I'm actually not as sore as I thought I'd be what with all that effort. And...considering that the sun was out in full force yesterday, I'm not sunburned (yes, mom...I put on my sunblock)...well...all except this one swath on my lower back where my tank top (yeah, baby, I actually wore a TANK TOP yesterday - and sweated in it!) was riding up and I didn't notice. Hubby noticed it once it was too late.

Today, we're going to go get more mulch and do more outside, since it's supposed to storm this afternoon and then turn cooler and wet for the rest of the week. Then I can work inside.

Baby girl is now 3 1/2 months old, give or take, and for the most part, she's a quiet little thing. She occasionally will "chat" up a storm when she sees something she's really interested in (which lately has been grown men....gonna have to have a sit down with her about that), but I haven't been able to really get her to laugh (smile yes, laugh no) - until today. For some reason last night after I got out of the shower, she was really chatty. When she coos, she stretches her arms out and works her legs at the same time. Sort of a full body workout. So hubby was holding her; I was talking to her. Something I said struck her as particularly funny, and she actually giggled. I laughed because I thought it was funny, managed to get her to giggle several more times before she started to get bored/tired. There is something about the sound of a baby giggling that just makes me melt. Can't get enough of that sound. I'm hoping to catch it on video soon.

The baby is also getting into the swing of the dinnertime routine with the boys. I sat next to Jonah at the table last night. Corinna was sitting on the same side of me as Jonah, and he was close enough to her that each time she stretchedout her arm, she'd get a hold of his shirt and give it a good pull. Finally, he says to me in a disgusted voice, "Mom...would you tell Corinna to quit pulling on me?" And so it begins...

Jonah put himself down for an early morning nap...so I'd best be getting things done! Happy Monday!

Yay! I won something!

I entered a contest on another Jess's blog about who the fella was that did the voiceovers for Dukes of Hazzard. And since I have been subjected to the Dukes a multitude of times since being with my hubby (I really didn't watch them much as a kid, even though I kinda grew up with them...loved me some Luke Duke) I knew the answer.

Yay! Thanks Jess!

Movin' on up...

Ok...that little thing I've been hinting around about? That I didn't want to put in black and white? Well...I'm ready now that closing is only a few weeks away. We're moving. We bought a house. Squeee!!

This is such a bittersweet thing, despite the excited tone above. This means a few things. Liam won't be at the Waldorf school next year, as we can't afford both house payment and tuition for two children. Jonah, however, will start there next year and will stay until he starts first grade. So at least we will stay a part of the school community that we've come to cherish over the last three years. I am so sad that Liam won't be able to continue on there, but the community we're moving to has some of the best schools in the state. I will likely try to continue to do some things at home with him to keep that Waldorf spirit alive, though.

We will be leaving wonderful neighbors behind. Our neighbors to the west have a daughter who is the same age as our youngest son, and she is very fond of "her boys." We all get along swimmingly (literally...they have an in-ground pool) and enjoy getting together to play cards or around holidays (whenever there's a good excuse to have a cookout or party). The folks that live on the corner two doors west are also wonderful people who are quite entertaining, and their youngest daughter, who is older than Liam, still enjoys playing with the younger kids. Our neighbor to the north is a retired corrections officer, and he's not only entertainment, but an all around nice guy. To the east is a sweet lady who has grown children our age who still live at home and are frequently a nuisance, but she is as nice as the day is long, and she adores our kids. Two doors to the east is a lovely older widower to whom Jonah has taken a shining (I think that street runs both ways). This guy is retired and doesn't have much to keep him busy, so he has the most meticulously kept yard, and his dog is the best walked on the block. He really enjoys hanging out on his porch, watching the kids play, and the kids love to hang out on Mr. T.'s porch and chat with him while they pet his dog. I think he enjoys them as much as they enjoy him.

We will also be saying goodbye to the home we've known for the past 9 years. That's almost a third of my life. This is the only place that my hubby and I have known as a married couple. There is a lot of history here. Having my friend come and live with us for 6 weeks...Hubby getting his masters...The birth of our oldest. My sister spending a summer here. Transcription school. Doula and childbirth education training. Going back to do some postbac work. Talk of med school and finishing the MCAT. Our two youngest have actually been born in this house, and that alone is enough to make this house sentimental.

Our new house does need some work. We have 2 full baths now, which with children is almost a must, anymore. The new place has one and a half, which will be fine until all five of us are trying to get ready at the same time in the morning to get off to school and work. So we are hoping to add on another bath before we move in. There is painting to be done...floors to refinish...a kitchen to rearrange/remodel (depending on fundage), electric to update. Overall, though, this house is in a great neighborhood in a good location for hubby's commute (though it will take a fair bit longer to get J-rock to school), and will be more room than what we have now. I will have a dedicated dining room, rather than having a common living/dining room. Each child will be able to have their own bedroom (though I'm thinking of doubling the boys up for now, and the baby will stay with us for quite a while longer...which means I will have a craft room for a while!). We have a "living" room and a "family" room. I'm thinking the living room may be where I teach classes from in the future. The yard is lovely...near 3/4 of an acre for the kids to romp in. Our drive has an adjustable basketball hoop, so I'm foreseeing many a game of one-on-one with the kids in the future. We will have a front porch, so I can hang out and listen to the sounds of summer. I'm thinking a hanging swing or a glider would be perfect for this spot. Our back yard also has a lovely deck where I imagine we will probably do much grilling and hopefully socializing.

Each time we visit the house, it starts to feel more and more like home to me. I'm so ready to get in and start putting our touches in it to get it to really feel like "our" house. So...how's that for news?

Pretty in pink

My MIL received a package the other day from her sister (so my aunt-in-law) who lives down south. We rarely get to see her or the rest of my MILs side of the family, but when we do, they are so sweet to us. My MIL knew that it was something handmade for the baby and she couldn't resist opening it up. She called to tell me that she'd gotten it and that she'd give it to me when I saw her next (which lately...we've been seeing each other a fair bit...hopefully details as to why soon), but she filled me in on how cute it was.

I was not to be disappointed. Inside the now unwrapped box was a beautiful pink hand-crocheted dress. Around the collar are sweet little picots. The yarn has a lovely sheen to it, and it's amazingly soft. Little pearlescent pink buttons close the front.I thought at first that it would be way too big for baby girl to wear, but I couldn't stand it any more tonight and tried it on her. If I fold up the cuffs, she should be able to wear it now. It will look amazingly cute with the leggings I made and with a onesie underneath.

Big brother helped her pose for the shots, as standing does the dress the most justice. So cute, aren't they?


Liam asks before this shot, "Can I show her my silly face?"


Thanks Aunt T.!!

Sweet britches

So I finally got the leggin's seamed up today. Here they are after sewing:

And below they are on Miss C. She is a strong little thing. For some reason, she just loves to stand up. She would rather stand than sit. Her muscles are getting so strong from all the being upright that she's not too terribly unstable when she is sitting up. Her biggest problem is that she tries to straighten her legs and back to stand while she's sitting, which of course, results in her flopping over one way or the other.


The dress is one of the little numbers that I found at the thrift store. She needs to wear it a couple of times soon, as she's growing out of 3-6 mos. clothes. I would love to take this dress and try to reproduce it in a larger size.

The leggings still have a bit of give in them. She'll outgrow the footies before anything else. I love this pattern so much that I'll probably make another pair, but the next pair I make may be sans footies.

I swiped an I-cord drawstring from another pair of longies that I'd made, as I don't have any ribbon to thread through the waist...and these pants needed something to draw them in.

Pattern: Cashmere leggings from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece in color Cotton Ball
Needles: Size 5 and 4 circulars.
Modifications: I really didn't make any modifications to the pattern other than to substitute yarn. There was a mistake in the pattern that I found when making the foot, but I couldn't find errata on the web anywhere. I managed to figure it out on my own. I used mattress stitch to go up the side and leg seams and whipstitched the bottoms of the soles. The only thing this pattern could maybe use is some holes at the ankles to lace a ribbon through in order to keep the footies on better. This was a really fast knit that could have been done weeks ago had I actually sat down on consecutive days to work. Had the auction not happened, I would have had these done already. I would definitely knit these again, though I might try knitting the legs and feet in the round next time.

Pat a tat

So last weekend was Knitter's Fantasy. Andi, the leader of our knit 'n' sip group, another member Evelyn, and I drove out to Warren at what felt like the fanny crack of dawn (I got up at 5 am...on purpose. I would only do that for crafting these days). Thank goodness for Diet Coke. Once we finally got there, no thanks to my lousy excuse for navigating, it was like arriving in stitching heaven. What fun! An entire day filled with fibery goodness. There were several yarn shops represented along with some other local yarn distributors. There was yarn made from alpaca and cashmere. There were patterns and notions. It was almost more than someone on a yarn diet could bear. Had to fight the urge to go on a binge. Classes were scheduled throughout the day on a variety of skills from knitting to crochet to felting and even needle tatting.

I hadn't registered for any classes ahead of time, so many of them were closed when we arrived in the morning. I decided to register for the needle tatting class. The lady that taught the class was a sweet grandmotherly woman who had written the book we were using. Tatting is a craft that became popular in the Victorian era. During those times, they used a shuttle to create the lacy rings. Needle tatting became popular during this century, and is easier to do than shuttle tatting. I picked it up pretty easily, and was instantly addicted! Using a 5" needle and crochet cotton, this is what I managed to do during class:
I spent the rest of the morning after class wandering from booth to booth fondling all the fibers and resisting the urge to expand my stash. I did, however, pick up a new pattern, which hopefully I can finish before Rome.

This afternoon, I pulled out the leggings for the baby and got them ready for blocking. Tomorrow...on to seaming....and hopefully a model shot!

Tired

So much going on and not much time to blog. I have a million things to talk about and I'm just too tired to write them tonight (that and it's hard to type one-handed while holding a babe in the dark). Just wanted you all to know I was thinking of you and missing our mostly one-sided chats...more tomorrow perhaps?

Is it Good Friday or April Fool's?

I think hubby actually had to clean the snow off my car this morning before playing musical cars. I knew that we were getting some snow last night after watching it fly through the light of the lamppost before bed last night.


I was not, however, expecting this much snow. The trees, I am sure, are likely confused. There are buds on many of the trees, and many of the flowering trees had small blooms starting to open on them earlier this week.

Spring is a time for change and rebirth. There is much going on here, much of which I'm not ready to blog about yet, for fear of jinxing it.

There has been some knitting, which hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of later today or tomorrow. If I'm going to be stuck inside, at least I have plenty to keep me occupied.

Old Man Winter strikes again!

Really, snow in April is not uncommon in Northeast Ohio. If you live around here, you become accustomed to that early spring snowstorm that snarls traffic and gives the newly risen greens frostbite. I only wonder what happens to all the frogs that I've heard singing at night in the ponds around here lately.

So to whet your warm weather appetites, I offer seeds of yesterday's sun and blooming bulbs. By the time it's nice enough to get outside again, they will probably be frostbitten and done blooming. I'm really hoping that this cold snap doesn't trash the lovely blooms on the flowering trees and forsythia bushes too much. I've pretty much figured that they will do in my tulips, though.

We spent much of the afternoon driving around, and I noticed that the weeping willows have leaves as do many of the bushes along the roadside. This seems really early to me, like it should be at least another couple of weeks yet before this should happen, but I have no way to really mark the date...other than surfing back through my own blog archives. See? My blog is useful for something other than taking up bandwidth. When I go back to last year this time, it seems the spring bloom is only about a week or two earlier than last year.

It was not long after this time last year that we found out that we were expecting another baby. Sweet cheeks turned three months old today, and I can't believe how fast time seems to be marching (at double time) forward. Little Miss C. now can grab onto things she's interested in (like the kitties if they get close enough), and she loves to ooh and ahh at anything or anyone that catches her eye, particularly the baby in the mirror. If I put her down on the floor, she tries to roll to one side.

Aren't I just a cute little ducky in my jammies?

Here, kitty kitty...(note the tail in the left of the frame...she was intent on grabbing)

Yarn Harlot

Apparently knitters are the biggest users of blogs on the planet. How cool is that? Yes...we will rule the world. Muwahahaha! Another observation I have personally noted: many of the knitters who have blogs also tend to be involved in some aspect of creative writing (yeah, I'm an exception to that in a big way). My favorite bloggers also tend to be involved in book writing in some fashion. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, also known as the Yarn Harlot, had some interesting musings about knitters and muggles (non-knitters) in general to offer up when she came to Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Saturday.


She's making the rounds at the moment on a tour to promote her new book "Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting." Baby girl and I made the trek up to see Stephanie before the auction festivities on Saturday and were not to be disappointed. I was a bit taken aback by how many people showed up (silly knitter....I should have known). There were close to 100 people there. I arrived right about the time she was supposed to start speaking, and not only were there no seats left, but people were lined up into the aisles and up on the balcony. Muggles came in and looked shocked that there was someone up there talking about knitting...and there were so many others who were actually listening! There was knitting going on everywhere. Stephanie showed up to cheers and applause in her lovely Bohus sweater (which she hasn't even posted photos of on her own blog yet and, oy, the yellows so cannot be captured properly on camera...it nearly glows, it's so pretty.). We were on the periphery of the crowd and really could not even see Stephanie, but we heard her well.

Not only was Stephanie funny, she was so well spoken and completely down to earth. When it came time for book signing, she made the proclamation that pregnant women, women with babies, and those who were handicapped could sneak to the front of the line. Yay for the free pass, Corinna! I had brought knitting with me, with the hopes of whipping it out and telling her all about it, and telling her how much I love that she's so pro breastfeeding, etc., etc., but when I got up to the front of the line...I got all red and hot and nervous and only managed to pull out my sock in progress and ask sheepishly if I could take a picture of her with it. I actually got to hold her sock in progress (the one that she takes with her on her tours...and the one that has and will pass through the hands of many other talented and more worthy knitters on its way to completion) and got a picture of us together. I couldn't even manage to tell her that I've read her blog for two years now and how much I enjoy her writing. I did, however, manage to find a lone copy of "At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much" (hmm...sound like anyone we know?) and had her sign it, since the bookstore completely sold out of her current book before I got there. Corinna was awake for much of the talk, but slept through the signing part, and Stephanie remarked that she was sure to be a knitter (you betcha!). I had really hoped to hang out longer, but that was not to be, as I needed to haul my fanny off to J*ann's to get stuff to complete the nature table scene and pick up hubby so we could get to the auction.

Stephanie, me, and baby makes three. Well...except the lady in the background also snapping a photo. And yeah, my stylist cut my hair too short on Thursday. It'll grow. But look...I'm wearing jewelry. And though you can't see my feet, I actually had on a skirt and wedge heels. Stylin', I was. Corinna made quite the little koala-type accessory herself.

So done.

The auction is now but a blurry memory, and I can finally heave a big fat sigh of relief. After one all night crafting session and another night until 2 am in a push before the auction deadline, here are the results of my effort.


Six root children (which you all have seen before), six flower children, two adult felt bunnies, one felt baby bunnie (yeah, so I switch my -y to an -ie...what of it?), Two adult felt sheep with woolie bodies, and one little lambie.


Many thanks to my mother-in-law who helped sew the bodies of the root children and helped with the kiddos and also to my friend K. who also helped with sewing the bodies of the root children. It took me up to the very last minute to finish everything up. Something I'd like to not repeat again in the future.


I finished off the nature table scene by purchasing a yard of yellow/green dupioni silk (so pretty!!) that I didn't get a chance to photograph and a flat basket. I lined the basket with the silk and arranged all the dolls and felt animals in the basket along with the Mother Nature from our nature table. I snipped flowers from our front yard (crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, and snowdrops) and arranged them so the flower children were holding them in their little pipe-cleaner arms. Voila! Again, somebody thump me for not getting a picture of it.

The Mother Love blanket that I knitted a strip for auctioned for $650. Not bad! The nature table scene with the dolls and things sold for $120. The felt bowls went for something like $20 or $30. All in all a pretty good showing. I probably should have listed the price for the nature table scene at $200. I think it might have auctioned for closer to that if I'd done that, but I'm never good at deciding true value on the items I make.

Hubby thought that I might be all crafted out by now. Um yeah, no. I think that is an insatiable urge. My crafting priorities might shift a little back to knitting, but I've got plenty of crafting fire left in me. Just no more staying up to the wee hours for a while, 'k?

Belting it out

Jonah is forever singing or humming some diddy around the house. Most of the time it's something he's heard on one of children's songs CDs we play before bed or something he's heard at someone else's house. We try not to watch too much TV around here, but one of the kids' favorite shows at the moment is the Backyardigans. It's pretty cute. The whole show is computer animated, and there are 5 characters who have adventures in their backyard. As they start to pretend, the backyard landscape morphs into whatever magical place they are thinking of that day. There is copious singing of clever catchy songs, and the children who provide the voices for the characters have some amazing singing talent. The theme tune is pretty catchy itself, and as soon as the show comes on, Jonah starts singing along. Loudly. At the top of his little lungs. He knows most of the words to the song, but in true Brown form, there is definite liberty taken with the lyrics. What he doesn't know he just mumbles, runs together, or makes up. I figure part of the reason he hasn't figured out all the words is the fact that he can't hear the TV over his own singing. Grandma B. got the boys a CD with some of the songs from the series, and I got Jonah on video singing along...

Felted goodness

The bowls are pretty well dry, and I was hoping for good light this morning to shoot them in. Not too much luck, as the skies are pretty well overcast, but I did at least make an effort.

Both bowls were knitted using the same pattern from One Skein and Reynolds Lopi on size 10 1/2 DPNs. I finished knitting them way back in November, but I just got around to felting them yesterday. They were both the same size and shape when finished knitting (they made great hats!), and after felting shrinkage, they also were about the same size. I started felting them in my washing machine but decided that it wasn't coming along fast enough, so I dumped them in the sink with hot, dish soapy water and worked them by hand. After a cold water rinse, I blocked them over two different size rice bowls, which gave them two different shapes. One bowl is squattier than the other, with a larger bottom, while the second bowl is taller, with a smaller bottom. Neat little lesson on geometry and how the total volume is the same, but the dimensions and look are quite different.

So what is it?

Ok...so here's the "scarf" that I did out of one of the balls I picked up at the yarn swap last week. This is a ribbon yarn from Caron Pizazz (I keep mistyping it Pizass...bwahahahaha) in the color Meadow. The ball only has 28 yards to it, so I didn't get much length out of this drop stitch pattern, even on size 15s. I'm thinking of frogging it and making it into a small cell phone or camera cozy or something. I could also possibly make a really skinny belt or scarf if I took the number of stitches down to like 3 per row (this is 7 stitches). The length now is just enough to go round my hips and have the ends touch.

I do like this yarn, and the colors in it would be nice just about any time of year. I am, however, on a yarn diet at the moment and need to knit from the stash before purchasing any more.

I pulled an all-nighter last night to finish the strip for the Mother Love quilt the mamas are doing for the auction. I was so bleary eyed by the time I finished about 5:30 this morning that I didn't get a picture of it before hubby took it to school this morning. I started over again with only two repeats of the traveling vine pattern and put a selvedge slip stitch on each end to make it easier to seam into the rest of the afghan. I only used one skein of Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece to make the 60-inch strip. I'll try to get a picture of the completed afghan on Saturday. So I have another skein of the cotton fleece in this beautiful aqua color, and I think I'm going to make a nice spring wrap out of it, probably just using the swatch I started originally.

Two knitted bowls also got felted today and are drying on the counter. They turned out fairly sturdy, and I'll snap pics of those tomorrow too.

Still so much to do and only a few days left. You knew I was going to wait to the last minute for the final push, didn't you? I did...