First Day of School 2014

Today was the first day of school here.  Bug started 4th grade and Fidget started Pre-K.   Both were pretty excited about starting a new adventure.

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Here Fidget is waiting outside his classroom before he could go in with his new teachers and classmates.  The school my boys attend is an awesome school.  It’s a Montessori school and they have combined classrooms for the Pre-K/K classes and the 1/2 classes.  This means Fidget will remain in the same class for 2 years, with the same teacher and half of the same kids.  They do a lot of hands on activities and they teach in a child led manner (despite the fact that NY is unfortunately a Common Core state).2014-09-04 08.14.52

 

I will say that Fidget was a bit hesitant and scared about starting something new, but he did it with no tears.  He did try to make not one, but two attempts to leave with me, but once he was significantly distracted finding his cubby he was fine.  When I picked him up at the end of the day he said he had fun, left his lunchbox in his cubby and was very distraught over the fact that he couldn’t bring his nap blankie, that I knit for him, home.  He doesn’t quite understand that he’ll get to see it again every school day.2014-07-22 19.45.56My day was a typical housework day and while I was sad that my baby isn’t a stay at home baby anymore I was glad to have the break and the quiet, even though it meant cleaning.  I had the sheets off the beds and into the washer before we left for school, had them hung up on the line outside just after getting home, opened all the windows, had breakfast, put away some clean laundry, cleaned the living room and vacuumed it, put new sheets on the beds, cleaned one of the bathrooms, and gathered all the garbage and put it in the bin outside.  

After all that cleaning I did manage to do some crafting.  I’ve been spinning up some wool that I brought home from the Estes Park Wool Market this past June.  After attempting to dye it, I found that it’s rather sticky (almost like there is lanolin that won’t come out) and it felted with hardly any agitation.  Spinning it seemed to work better for it and I am actually liking how it came out – despite the fact the my fingers feel sticky whenever I touch it.  I finished the second bobbin of singles last night before bed and today I wound it into a center pull ball and made a 2 ply today, all while watching a couple episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman on tv.  The first skein I made, which I re-skeined today, is 140 yrds of DK/sport weight (13-15WPI).  I also found that soaking the yarn in super hot water with dawn, followed by 2 hot water rinses and a conditioning rinse alleviated the sticky factor and the yarn is a bit softer.  It’s actually a very pretty ecru color…not sure if I’m going to bother dyeing it.  I think I might leave it plain.  

Not sure what tomorrow will bring…I need to clean the other bathroom, at the very least.  I’m hoping to do a little spinning.  I’m thinking of having a giveaway contest on my shop facebook page when I reach 300 likes.  I think I’m going to offer a skein of handspun faux cashmere as the prize.  If you are interested, hop on over to facebook and give my page a like – if you want to make sure you get in on the contest you can request notifications whenever I post anything…it will go directly into your notice bar.  🙂

 

 

All Tidy and Well

Today was an ok day.  Darling Hubby was pretty much fine after his dental surgery yesterday.  We did end up going to fill his prescription for pain meds and stopping at the grocery store to pick up some cottage cheese and apple sauce.  He ate his soup and slept well and was well enough to go to work this morning, despite the fact his head cold is rearing it’s nasty head.

I have the same cold and was not a happy camper this morning when Darling Hubby got up for work, went downstairs and turned on the TV (rather loudly) to see who won the election (can we stop hearing about politics for a while…I’m seriously getting sick of it and have been since the politicians started 2 years ago…) and in the process woke Bug up who wanted to come downstairs.  Thankfully, Bug agreed to curl back up in bed with me and watch some cartoons after daddy went to work so I could catch a little bit more sleep (I was awake for an hour or so in the middle of the night cause Bug woke up crying about his leg hurting (growing pains)) and hope that my sore throat would go away.  It didn’t, but when we got up I had some tea and that seemed to help.

Darling Hubby has been asking me for days to get out in the front yard and clean up all the dead and dying plants.  I finally did today since it was in the 60’s.  Bug was so happy to get out of the house and do some running around.  He likes to be my little helper, but he’s not all that helpful.  He’d rather play with the rake or the weed whacker…all when I’m trying to use them.  I managed to get everything all neat and tidy and bagged up 2 bags of leaves and debris.  [rant]  I did find out that some uncouth dog walker has been utilizing the bags of leaves on the curb, that are waiting to be picked up by DGS, as a dumping point for their bagged doggy debris.  Mind you, the city wants ONLY leaf litter and branches…no plastic or trash…so I was not a happy camper when I found 2, yes 2, bags containing dog doody tucked inside one of the leaf filled paper bags.  Have some respect people!  Don’t compromise my good deed of recycling leaves by sticking your plastic bag of dog refuse, that you should be taking with you, inside.  Seriously!  You chose to have the dog, you pick up after it and take it with you!  So help me if I see you do it!…I’ll be making sure to call that number on the sign out front about curbing your dog![/rant]

My NaBloPoMo thing is going well.  I’m on day 5!  I signed up on the NaBloPoMo website and found several cool groups to enter, from a Ravelry group to a moms group.  I did stumble on someone’s blog from the moms group who is having a giveaway for the month.  Today’s giveaway is a market tote.  I put in for it.  I think it would be nice for carrying my crochet and knitting stuff back and forth for craft night.  Fingers crossed I win!  lol

I’m off to watch the reveal from the Ghost Hunters Live out of Fort Delaware from Halloween!  I’m so excited!

Mother’s Day Giveaways

The lovely ladies at 5minutesformom.com are at it again. This time they are celebrating Mother’s Day. I’m getting on the bandwagon a little late in the game…You’ve only got until Friday to enter (May 9th) so hop on over and check out the great things they are giving away.

Unfortunately, the banner code provided by 5 Minutes for Mom linking directly to the site isn’t working properly for me, but CLICK HERE if you want to go directly to the giveaways!

Something For All Internet-ers

Do you pay your bills online?  Do you frequent message boards?  Do you shop online?  Do you have an email account?  If you do any of those things then I’m sure you’ve got a user name and password for each site you visit.  I know I do.  Go on over to Bloggy Giveaways for a chance to win an Internet Password Organizer.  I so need one of these!

Giveaway is open until Monday March 17th.  You must have a US mailing address.  You don’t need to be a blogger to win, so go check it out!!!

A Doozy of a Giveaway!

What girl wouldn’t want something sparkling and shiny peaking out of her stocking on Christmas morning? Well, if you head on over to Bloggy Giveaways, Shannon is giving away a doozy of a Christmas present to one lucky person. In association with Helzberg Diamonds you could be the winner of a Radiant Cut Green Amethyst Pendant. What do you have to do to enter? Well, head on over to the Helzberg Diamonds site and poke around. See something that catches your eye? Then pop in to visit Shannon at Bloggy Giveaways and leave a comment telling her what you liked. She’ll enter your name to win the pendant. Spread the word in your own blog, too. It’s that simple!

You know what? On second thought…don’t do any of that stuff. You’ll mess up my chances to win!

Turn Your Clocks Back, I’m a Winner!

Ok, my title may be a little misleading. I really just wanted to tell you 2 things.

First, tonight is the end of Daylight Saving Time. Don’t forget to set your clocks back 1 hour tonight before going to bed. Can I just say that I really hate this time of the year? I hate that I lose an hour of my very precious sleep all because the congress feels the need to mess with my clocks…I also hate that it falls on a Sunday which is my day to get up with Bug to let Darling Hubby sleep in…now I’ll be up super early…but I digress.

The other thing I wanted to say is that I am a winner! I entered several of the giveaways in the It’s Fall Ya’ll Giveaway contest sponsored by Shannon at Rocks in the Dryer/Bloggy Giveaways and I won one. I’m in shock! I was sure that I wouldn’t be chosen. I guess all the time I spent entering wasn’t for nothing. Sarah over at Short Stop was giving away 4 books and I am the recipient of one, The Dangerous Book for Boys. I can’t wait for it to arrive. Thanks, Sarah!!!

Fall Ya’ll Giveaway!

If you haven’t already, head on over to Bloggy Giveaways and check out the Fall Ya’ll Bloggy Givaway! There is a list of over 500 people who are just giving things away! All you have to do is visit their blog and leave a comment.

Go! Hurry! You have until Friday, in most cases, to enter! Oh, and make sure you have gone to the bathroom and have a drink before you start. I’m sure you’ll be at your computer for a while!

Bloggy Giveaways for This Week – Updated!

I will continue to add giveaways to this post, so check back throughout the week for more fun and interesting contests!

If you get a free moment, go check out 5 minutes for mom and enter their drawing for Kukunest bedding. They have some pretty cool bedding sets and if you enter, you could be the lucky winner of a set of your choice. I’d love the Intergalactic set for Bug.

Also, check out their giveaway for the book Queen of the Castle. It looks like a must for all stay at home moms. It even has chocolate recipes.

ETA on 10/11: Here’s some more great giveaways you must check out. Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways and enter the Chocolate Cake Club drawing. No, you aren’t going to get any actual cake, but check out all the fun kids and adult things that the Chocolate Cake Club has for sale. The winner gets a $25 gift certificate. Comments open until 10/15.

Also, go over to the Warm Biscuit giveaway (do you see a trend here?) to enter for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to spend at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Company. Comments open until 10/14.

ETA on 10/12: Here’s one more great giveaway from Bloggy Giveaways. Check out the Colour Me Family giveaway then head on over to the Colour Me Family website and design your own address labels (Christmas or Everyday) with your own family front and center. Two winners will be chosen to win a set of 60 lables (a $19.99 value). Comments open until 10/16.

5 Minutes for Mom is holding a contest and giving away a Tonka Truck! How could you resist that? Just go here and leave a comment about how Tonka trucks have affected your life. Comments open until 10/20.