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.

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).

 

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.My 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.  🙂

 

 

Making It Work

For Christmas I got an MP3 player from Darling Hubby.  It’s something that I’ve wanted for a while now and I’m really loving it.  It will help me get through the boring chores like folding laundry, dishes, sweeping/mopping, etc.  I don’t have a radio in every room and I usually do my cleaning while Fidget naps, so I tend to try to stay quiet.

So I have this tiny little MP3 player, cute purple and blue earbuds and Outlander the Musical to rock out to while I’m cleaning.  For those of you who enjoy Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Outlander the Musical is a musical adaptation written to go along with the first book.   I love it, except for the woman they chose to do Jaimie’s sister Jenny’s voice…she sounds like an elderly Chinese woman, but I digress.  I can sing and dance around while cleaning and no one is the wiser.  🙂

Another perk of having a little MP3 player is that I can use it in my car.  The only down side is that it won’t work in my car…For some reason when I plug it into my USB port in my car I get nothing…I called the dealership and brought it in to be looked at.  They deterimed that the UBS/AUX port wasn’t sending signals to the stereo, so they ordered the part to replace it.  I had the new part installed yesterday and when I went out into the parking lot and tried it before I left, it still didn’t work, even though they assured me it did.  The tech ended up coming out and taking a look with me.  They only tried it with an auxilliary cable and his smart phone and not a USB cable.  I know my USB cable isn’t faulty since it works with my computer to both charge the player and transfer data.  After a few tries of him running back into the shop a couple times (which I felt bad about since it was like 20 degrees out and windy) for a couple USB cables he determined that it just wasn’t working.

He ended up taking it back into the shop and looking at it again in the warmth and decided that it’s possibly the radio not receiving the signals from the port.  He did tell me that this was an updated port since the original model that came with the car had a tendency to malfunction…Great!  Our next step is to order and install a whole new radio…Which means another trip and time spent waiting for that to be installed  (at least I was able to get 4 rows knitted on my Bella Sweater and read a little of A Breath of Snow and Ashes this time around.)  I’m hoping that this is the last time…It’s starting to seem silly to go through all the trouble just so I can have a little extra music, but it would be nice to be able to switch between all my music without having a ton of cd’s clogging up my glove box…

The car is 16 months old, so it should have worked from the get go, but I had no way of knowing since I never had reason to use it.  The only good thing is that it’s all still under warranty, so I don’t have to pay anything out of pocket…or you can believe that I’d just say forget it.  Hopefully this time we can make it work…fingers crossed for me.

Finding The Time

Finding the time to either blog, read or craft always seems to be the problem.  There are never enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done and do all the things I want to do.  Like knit or read (I’m currently on book 6 of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  If you don’t know about this series you should go check it out.  Seriously!  It’s about a hot Scotsman and there’s some time travel, too!  Picture Chris Hemsworth (Thor) with red hair and a kilt!  Meow!  What’s not to love!?)

I was sick Tuesday and yesterday with a weird stomach bug, so things have started to pile up and I have no motivation to take care of any of it now, despite the fact that Darling Hubby’s game group (I don’t play anymore) is coming over tonight.  (ETA – I did manage to get everything accomplished before everyone arrived and I fed everyone dinner, too.)

There’s still a ton of things around the house that should be done like sweeping and mopping, dusting, folding the clean clothes…but if I spend all my time cleaning I’ll never have time for me or my family.  Sometimes I just want or need to sit on the couch and play on the computer or knit.

I did find the time to knit a little this past weekend.  On Friday I started a ScWiNoNa scarf for one of Bug’s 1st grade teachers for Christmas.  I was looking for something that was kinda mindless and easy and would work with the yarn I have. All of the patterns I tried wouldn’t work either because I didn’t have enough yarn or because the pattern was too complex for my liking.  The ScWiNoNa actually matches the slanted raised rows in the Divine Hat that I crocheted a couple weeks ago (I’m making a hat/scarf set for both of his teachers.)

I’m hoping to get this first scarf done within the next couple weeks so I can start on the 2nd one.  I’ve got to get them done before Bug gets out of school for Christmas break.  I’ve decided that I’m not making crochet or knit Christmas presents this year.  They aren’t always appreciated (which breaks my heart) and I just don’t have time this year.  I did make a couple necklaces as gifts, but aside from that everything will be store bought this year.

For now I’ve got a few minutes of downtime before I have to get the kids to bed…now to decide if I want to knit or read…

Away For Too Long

Wow, it’s amazing what having a baby does to your free time!  Pretty much everything I enjoy got pushed to the back burner, household chores were set to simmer and baby tending became practically the only thing I did.  It still seems like all I do is housework and caring for the kids, but hey, that’s my job, right!  lol  I’ve been meaning to update this blog with Fidget’s birth story, but it’s really kinda hard to do blog work when you’ve only got one free hand and let’s face it…Fidget wants to eat all the time, so when I’m not being held down on the couch under 12lbs of baby, I’m attempting to motivate myself to clean.  at least the laundry is getting done again, the kitchen is staying pretty clean and everyone is fed.  So there are some dust bunnies that might be planning a coup hanging around in the corners, but everyone is fed and clean and that’s what matters, right?

I have managed to get some crafty things done.  I’ve still been getting my Monday nights off so I can go to Craft Night.  I’ve set aside the crochet hooks for now and have been knitting.  I’ve got 2 things going on the circulars, but one I set aside because I changed my mind about its destination.  I’m still going to finish it and maybe when things settle down after Bug starts school again (he’ll be a Kindergartner this year!) I’ll start up my Etsy shop.  I’ve got the name all secured and a few things already crafted…I just need to find the time to properly list things…and have access to the car so I can go to the post office.

Anyway, I probably shouldn’t talk too much about the 2 things I’m working on because the one is a present for my close friend, (Auntie) Shannon, who is having a baby in October.   Let’s just say: baby blankets.

On the kid front, Fidget is doing well.  He’s nearly 3 months old and is already holding his head up well, loves his tummy time, is reaching for toys, “talks” and smiles a lot (when he’s not cranky) and is sleeping through the night (from 8 or 9pm to 5 or 6am).  He’s also a total mama’s boy!  He loves me and kinda cries when Daddy holds him…He doesn’t nap real well during the day, just catnaps while he’s taking a bottle.  Occasionally I can get him in his crib for almost an our; sometimes less, sometimes more…I guess I can’t complain too much, I do get the whole night.

Bug is doing well, too.  We haven’t done too much this summer.  It’s kinda hard with a baby in tow…one who always wants to eat.  It never fails that as soon as we get somewhere I have to break out a bottle and find a seat…I’d love to take him out and let him ride his bike out front, but after the pitbull attack on the young woman from down the street, I’ve been quite a bit hesitant about walking in that area (it’s 2 houses down and the homeowner denies that the dog was his (he claims he was dog sitting) despite the fact that it’s been there for many months and already attacked 2 other dogs (with no report filed).)  He whisked the dog away while the EMT’s were working on the girl and gave the Animal Control officer a wrong number for the supposed owner…seems a little skeevy if you ask me!

Anyway, we have made some time just for Bug, which has been nice.  Darling Hubby took a Friday off and we him to a little amusement park.  It was nice because he didn’t have to wait for anyone else (we usually go with a group) and he could pick and choose what rides he wanted to go on.  I even took him on the little roller coaster and Darling Hubby said his smiling face was the best.  Last Friday I met up with Little A’s mom at one of the local parks and we let the boys play.  After lunch I took Bug and Fidget up to their house to go swimming.  Bug really liked that.  Even with the wind blowing I was hardpressed to get him out of the pool.  I was freezing!  lol  Fidget loved the visit, too, cause he got to see The Kissing Bandit, Little A’s nearly 6 month old baby sister.   We put them on the floor together and she rolled right over to him and gave him a kiss!  I wish I had my camera!  lol

I do have pictures of the boys and our recent outings, but they are still on the camera and, well, it’s really hard to edit pictures with one hand!  I’ll get to it, eventually!  I really should get off the computer and go clean the kitchen before Darling Hubby gets home and wants his dinner!  lol  I think at some point I’ll make some time to finish writing up Fidget’s birth story to post.  I’ve got it started, with pictures and everything…I just need to find time…Sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day!

30 Day Shred – Pilates Instead

I woke up this morning with a dull throbbing in the side of my knee and decided to give myself a break from the shred as I didn’t want to injure it further.  I still wanted to work out (like I told Nikkie who commented on a prior post, I feel guilty when I don’t, even though I don’t miss the workout if I skip it) but didn’t want the high impact of the cardio jumping with Jillian.  I’ve had a Denise Austin Pilates for Everybody DVD for many years now and knew it would be lower impact than the shred.  I bought it when Darling Hubby and I were living in our apartment, back when I was on my pilates kick (it didn’t last very long, however.)

I enjoyed the workout and felt very relaxed and stretched out afterward.  I’m sure I didn’t burn a lot of calories as I didn’t get my heart rate up, but I could feel the workout in my abs and my legs, toning and strengthening.  I think I might add this dvd to my workout routine.  I really would like to be able to fully use my abs for the pilates floor moves (the roll-ups, etc).  Right now, my abs are pretty weak and I have trouble rolling back up without using my arms to give me a boost.  It takes time, I know…I just want to see results.

I also wanted to get out for a walk today, but Bug didn’t want to go when I wanted to go and now it’s getting dreary and dark out.  I think it might rain…I’ll check the weather and maybe we can go out to play in the yard rather than a walk.  I don’t want to get caught out in the rain away from the house.  I could lug the umbrella, but it’s a golf umbrella and is rather large…

Plus, I have to straighten up my house and come up with something for dinner.  It’s our game night tonight so the gang is coming over…we didn’t decide to do dinner as a group, so we are fending for ourselves for food.  Maybe I’ll make Hamburger Helper or something fast.

Oh, and speaking of game night, I got a package in the mail from Barbara over at Knittin & Kittens.  She sent me an awesome d20 keychain!  Maybe it will be my lucky charm at the table tonight!  It’s a clear die with purplish sparkles inside.  Oddly enough, I have the same set in my collection!   Depending how they roll in my pre-game ritual (yes, I’m slightly superstitious with my dice) maybe I’ll be using that set.  Thanks Barbara!  It was an awesome little surprise in the mail today!

Off to clean…

Yeah!!!

My posts of late have all been happy ones!  Yeah!  I finished our taxes last night and they have been accepted by both the feds and state people already.  It’s the first time we’ve e-filed, so I’m hoping it will be a good experience for us, overall.  Fingers crossed.   We are getting quite a bit back.  It’s the most we’ve ever received (I wonder how much we’ve overpaid in the past).  I know that we’re planning to pay off the credit card debt we owe and will probably put most of the money into savings.  Darling Hubby has been thinking about one of those Sony e-reader things for a while.  Maybe we’ll spend a little on that.  We did spend some of last years return on my laptop.  It seems only fair that he get a cool gadget, too.  lol

Speaking of e-filing taxes, I heard on the radio the other night that the government is considering making people who don’t e-file pay a fee for sending in paper forms.  I know this has already started an uproar.  My first thought went to my parents.  They are much older (seniors), don’t have access to a computer or the internet and wouldn’t know what to do if they did…They are also the type of people who don’t want/like to have someone else do their taxes.  My dad has always done his own taxes.  I don’t think this new fee will ever see daylight, but you never know.

On another good, non money related note, I got my office cleaned, purged and reorganized.  I went through the filing cabinet where I store all my statements from bills and things and pulled out a few years worth to feed to the shredder.  I still have several years left in the drawer, but now I have a ton more room.  I pay many of my bills online now, so I don’t think it will fill up as fast.  I also moved some books around on the bookshelves (I put the already read ones together and the “want to read someday” ones together) and pulled a few to put into the garage sale we plan to have this May/June.  I moved some other small pieces of furniture around to give the one side of the room a different look and so we could get to the bottom shelves of a built in shelf.  Before there was a footlocker/trunk pushed up against it and the many bags containing the bridesmaid dresses I am supposed to be making for a friends wedding.  I haven’t heard from this friend in a while and at this point I’m not even sure what’s going on…I think she may have already gotten married (according to her myspace page) so if I spent all those hours making dresses that aren’t going to be worn, I’m going to be a mite PO’ed.  I really should call her and find out what’s going on…I just haven’t been much in the mood to talk to anyone, really.   I haven’t even called my mom in weeks…

Anyway, there are just a few more little items around the office that need to be put in their places and a big stack of papers that needs to be shredded, but otherwise, the room is done (and dust free!)  Bug will help me with the shredding cause he likes that sort of thing (don’t worry, I supervise the whole time!)  It feels good to get a little bit of spring cleaning in, even though it’s below freezing outside.  lol

I think I’m going to pull out some yarn and start working on a scarf before putting Bug to bed.  It won’t take me long to do.  I think I want to start yet another projects…maybe a granny square afghan or something.  I haven’t done one of those before.  It’s not like a need another blanket floating around, but it might be nice to have one on the back of the couch that matches the room.   Darling Hubby would probably kick my butt!   Maybe I could sell a few old blankets at the garage sale and it would soften the blow!  🙂  lol

Reading, Muffins and Snow

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I just couldn’t turn off my mind and I had indigestion from the meatball subs we had for dinner.  I ended up getting out of bed, going downstairs and reading until 1:30 in the morning so I didn’t keep tossing and turning and keeping Darling Hubby up like I normally do.  I think part of it was that I was really into my book (Nora Roberts Blood Brothers, the first book in the Sign of Seven Trilogy) and I’m so close to finishing it that I didn’t want to stop once I started.  I’m closer to finishing it now, but I think it will have to wait a couple days.  I wish I could read in the car on the trip tomorrow, but I get bad headaches from that and I’d be a total mess from it.  It’s best that I don’t.  I’m thinking I’ll take my knitting and work on that a little in the car.  I’ve crocheted before and I don’t think that has bothered me.

When I finally roused myself out of bed at 10 (Darling Hubby got up with Bug around 8) I started a load of laundry and started the filling for my pumpkin cream cheese muffins.  While I was killing time for that to get ready I folded up the laundry from the other day, put that away and made the bed and hung up the fresh laundry.  I got the muffins in the oven and curled up on the couch just in time to watch my soaps.

I called my mom tonight to find out if they had snow and she said they’ve a good amount.  Probably more than a foot.  That will make Bug very happy.  Today he’s been asking to make snow angels and unfortunately we don’t have a single snowflake, yet.  I packed extra pants, socks and boots so he can go play at some point before it gets dark.  He wants to also build a snowman (my mom said it’s good packing snow) and he’s told me we can’t forget the carrot for it’s nose.

I’d better go either finish that book or work on my knitting a bit.  Christmas will be here fast than I know it…

If It’s Not One Thing

It’s another.

Bug and I got up this morning.  I started his laundry, cleaned the ashes out of the fireplace and started a fire, got him breakfast, hung up his laundry, started cooking some ground beef for spaghetti sauce, added the cans of crushed tomatoes, sauce and paste to the crock pot and went downstairs to the basement to get a pack of peppers from the freezer and another can of tomato sauce when I noticed water on the floor in Darling Hubby’s room.  The first thought that went through my head was, “Oh $hit!  The pipe from the washer came undone again.”  (This happened one other time when the drainage pipe from the toilet dropped about 6 inches (we still blame it on Sean and his peaches) and the washer drain pipe pulled away from the main pipe and poured about 3-4 large and x-large loads of laundry water all over the basement before I caught it.)

Upon entering the room, I saw the water was in a completely different area and after further investigation (getting down on my hands and knees and feeling around, I found that the big sewer pipe running from the bathroom on the first floor has a 3 foot crack along the underside of it.  Great…just great…It must have just happened because Darling Hubby was down there last night and there was no water…and it didn’t happen on Wednesday (the last time I did laundry), so it must have been today.  I wonder how long this has been in the works.

So for now, I’m not doing anymore laundry (I don’t need to until Monday anyway) and I’m making sure the 1st floor bathroom doesn’t get used.  I think I caught it pretty quickly and nothing got damaged badly and there wasn’t a ton of water everywhere.  I’m thankful that my kitchen sink is on a different pipe system from the bathroom or else I wouldn’t be able to cook or do dishes.  I’m also thankful I had to go down to get peppers and sauce from the pantry room or I’m not sure when it would have been found.

I’m not sure what we’ll do to fix this.  Darling Hubby seems to think that he can swap the pipe out with some PVC piping.  At least he has all next week off to get it figured out (minus Turkey Day).  I just hope it doesn’t cost a lot of money.  I might be running a garden hose from the washer into the kitchen sink so I can wash clothes…Thankfully, we have a second bathroom.

On a good note, I got the red crochet hat finished last night.  I modified it so it would be more of a winter hat that covered the ears and I’m pretty satisfied with it.  I have a ton of the yarn left over that Darling Hubby picked up for me (cause wouldn’t you know it I’d only need a little bit) so I might be making one for me!  lol

I also got about 16 inches done on the cream scarf in 2 days.  I seem to be making more progress on it than I did with the red one, but that’s probably because I didn’t have to tear it all out and start again…and I’m being mindful of dropped stitches and mistakes. So for now, I’ve got 2 things done on my very long list…

• Red Knit scarf (Finished 11/19/08)
• Cream Knit scarf (started 11/19)
• Crocheted hat – red (Started 11/19/08 – ran out of yarn – finished 11/20)
• Crocheted hat  – cream
• Grandpa’s Blanket (mostly done – few more rows and fringe)
• Convertible Flap Mittens (not started, but these won’t take long)
• Deer Stalker Hat for my Dad (this is mostly done, but I hit a snag point and I’m having trouble moving on.
• Darling Hubby’s sweater (I don’t necessarily have to finish this, but it would be nice)

Off to stir my spaghetti sauce and work a little on the cream scarf.  I don’t foresee getting much of it done this week with Darling Hubby being on vacation and 2 Thanksgivings to go to…

Less Than Stellar Performance

That would sum up my performance at game night last night , as well as what I’ve done today. lol  I couldn’t roll my dice last night for crap.  I kept rolling 2’s on twenty-siders.  Blah!  And yes, my character died…but I managed to hold out until the very end of the last big battle.  I’m not sad about it, but I’m a bit annoyed.  It just seemed like every time I’d catch a break something else would get in my way and I couldn’t pull off what I wanted to do.  Stupid 4E dumbed down version of DnD.  Oh well.  Now I get to make a new character and try something new.  Hopefully Darling Hubby won’t kill me straight out of the gate…but at the same time I don’t want him to be super lenient with me since he has to live with me instead of the rest of the group.

Today I haven’t been productive at all.  I guess what’s kept me from being productive today was the fact that Bug didn’t go to bed until nearly midnight last night because one of our group members had to bring his 2 year old with him and him and Bug played all night.  There was too much activity for either to go to bed without a fight.  Bug ended up sleeping until 9:30 this morning, which allowed me to sleep in, too.  I think that threw off my time frame and I’ve pretty much been curled up on the couch trying, fruitlessly, to make a present for my mom.  A friend of mine showed me an offer sponsored by Oprah for a free 20 page photo book through Snapfish.  I got the coupon for the book, but the program isn’t functioning for me and I can’t get started.  I did upload several pictures that I want to use and possibly just print out for scrapbooking later…so I did get something done…I just worry that I’m not going to be able to get the photo book done by the deadline on Sunday because everyone else is trying to squeeze in under the wire, too and the whole thing will have been a waste of time.  Fingers crossed it works sooner rather than later.  My mom told me not to get her anything that all she really wants is pictures, so this would be perfect for just the $7 cost of shipping.

I better go thaw my pork chops in the microwave so I can at least get dinner started.  I also have to get Bug’s laundry out of the dryer.  Gasp!  I was bad and used the dryer because I changed Bug’s sheets.  Oh well…it’s not like I do it all the time.

Game Night, Woot!

It’s Thursday, which means it’s game night.  It’s our final session with Karl running…and possibly our characters demise.  After that, Darling Hubby will take over running.  It should be interesting.  In a way I’m hoping that my current character dies so I can create a new one for the new game…although I do have the option of just creating a new character.  I’m happy with my rogue.  It’s different from the Ranger I always played in the other games, but I should probably expand my roleplaying repertoire.  Enough about roleplaying…

This morning I had a surprise for Bug.  Darling Hubby and I were talking about Matchbox cars and how Bug would probably love some track for them for Christmas.  I remembered that I had a racecar set with slot cars upstairs in the attic that my brother got for me when I was little.  I went and dug it out and set it up to check that it still worked.  It did and Darling Hubby and I had fun racing the little green and red cars around the track.  When Bug got up this morning and came downstairs he saw the track and exclaimed, “What is this?  Is that for me?  Santa brought it for me!”  It was cute to see his excitement.  It was a glimpse of how Christmas morning is going to be.  I did have to explain to him that it wasn’t a present from Santa, that Mommy gave it to him.  I see that I have to break out some Christmas books that explain how this Christmas thing works.

Speaking of Christmas, I’ve been working the knitted scarf for my mom.  After frogging it the other day it’s been coming along nicely.  I’m very happy with the new size and it’s knitting up pretty quickly.  I’ve already got 14″ out of 60″  I’m almost back to where I was when I frogged it.  Hopefully this time I don’t make anymore mistakes and I can finish it up and start on something else…someone else’s present, but there is a chance that said person may read my blog so I won’t mention here.  I still have to finish Grandpa’s Blanket.  I just lost gumption on it when I had a massive yarn issue.  That’s pretty well resolved, thanks to Rose…I just need to pick it back up and finish it.  I just have so many projects going at once it seems like it’s hard for me to focus on one at a time.  I keep jumping back and forth.

Off to shower and get ready for game night.  I also promised Bug that I’d play some more with the race track.  At least I was slightly productive, today.  I did get the kitchen and living room floors mopped.