The Sparks are Flying

I mean that literally. The sparks really are flying. Don't believe me?


I need to make this quick so I can keep an eye on my help in the kitchen. If the first picture didn't clue you in to how things are going, this one should help.
We have now renamed this yellow paint, "Yummy Custard." It makes us feel better about the fact that we found the baby eating it.

Still not sure about how things are going? Here are two words for you, "missed" and "bus." Even better are these two words, "traffic" and "enforcement." I didn't take a picture of that last incident because I don't' think the police take kindly to that sort of thing.

The Lacy Cardigan

I finished the lacy Cardigan yesterday. This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea. I love the bamboo yarn I used. It is very soft and fun to knit. I also have a vintage button at the top of it. It is very cute and it matches the sweater really well. I won a whole box of fun vintage buttons on ebay, and that button is one of them. Love it, love it, love it!

However, I was so excited to find the bamboo yarn on sale that I grabbed the four remaining skeins and didn't think to check the dye lot.

This brings us to problem number one on the sweater-- The last skein I used is a slightly darker shade of pink than the others. Also . . . I didn't have quite enough yarn. Notice how on the edge of the sleeves there are three rows of eyelets, but on the bottom there are only two? This is because I didn't want to buy a whole new skein, from who knows what dye lot, just to knit three more rows.

And lastly, I didn't do the math quite right when figuring out the increases--shocking, I know, normally I'm so good at math! Anyway the eyelets don't match up with underarm the seam on the back. At least it was the back and not the front though!

All I can say is that I'm a little damned off (I just love that expression)! I don't know what I am going to do with the cardigan because I don't feel like I can give it to someone as a present.

However, on a more exciting note, I am currently working on my first project that is my own pattern! I've had to start over twice now to make adjustments, but I'm still super excited.

Too Much Free Time

This is what happens when a group of Nintendo geeks are told to do something constructive.

The Big Day

Tuesday my slave labor from Vegas will be arriving. She will have two small girls in tow, however, the older of the two girls will be staying with grandma. I tried to convince said grandma to take my daughter also. She refused. I suspect she reads my blog and now I am concerned that perhaps I have been portraying Madison in a bad light. She isn't all about sass, fashion, and being rough on the soccer field. That being said, I have decided to turn over a new leaf and tell you all the reasons why you would want to watch Madison.

First off, she extremely organized. If she happens upon your crayon box she will make sure all of them are turned the right way before moving on. She is very concerned about doing thing properly. So much so, that she will ask you how the task is to be done at least ten time before she starts. She would hate for there to be some sort of a misunderstanding.

She is very sensitive to the feelings of others. She will obsess over the fact that she accidentally stepped on an ant her brother named Anty. Unfortunately he was talking to Anty as she walked by and ended Anty's short life, even though, as her brother will point out, Anty did nothing to her. She will be so upset by what she did that she will sigh and stare at the bottom of her shoe off and on for the remainder of the day.

She is incredibly motivated. She does not like to be late. If she thinks we are going to be late she will change diapers and make bottles in order to hurry things along. She will even haul her little brother around on her back if it will speed things up a bit. The fact that he weighs almost as much as she does isn't even an issue.

Now, don't you think everybody could use a good Madison? She's really quite handy. In fact I'm glad she'll be around during my kitchen project. I need someone to haul paint and rinse brushes.

The Look

I suppose I ought to get used to this look as I am certain I will be seeing plenty of it in the upcoming years.

Last Game

Madison had her last soccer game last night. She ended the season with some fantastic soccer ball to face contact. I think Michael caught it on video tape-- poor girl. Yet, despite her first taste of soccer induced pain, she is not only willing, but excited to sign up for the fall season. I on the other hand am excited about not having to work soccer practice and games into my already crazy busy schedule for a few months. I wish I'd thought of that before signing the boy up for T-ball.

Because it was Madison's last game I wanted to get some good pictures. Unfortunately I wasn't particularly successful. Every time I tried to take a picture Chase would jump in front of the camera and laugh.

The boy was determined to have me document his newly made-up karate moves. "Take a picture of me doing this, mom!" Insert crazy karate type movements here.

However, with a little patience and some serious zooming in I managed to get this shot. Madison is 1/4 to 1/2 the size of the other girls on the team, but that doesn't mean much when she's got her elbow in your stomach. She may be small but she's tough.

Bless Them

I had an appointment with at the arthritis doctor today. My trips to the arthritis doctor are nothing if not entertaining. I think this is because I'm usually the only patient in the office under 70. As we were sitting in the waiting room watching commercials for the Jazzy and other powered wheelchairs, I was approached by an elderly woman who was admiring the two little boys. She told me they were beautiful, I thanked her. Then, because I think she was anticipating this post she said, "Well, I know they can be a handful. But I just hope you realize they really are precious."

Yes. Precious. Yesterday my precious little boy brought me one of his shirts. It was covered in baby powder, as was his face. So he'd dumped the baby powder, he's done it before, the only thing different this time is it looked like he had also tried to eat it. I went to investigate. He hadn't just dumped the baby powder, he had emptied the closet of all of his and the baby's clothes and then dumped the baby powder on them. I kept my cool. I have a mountain of laundry to do, what's a few more loads? However, upon leaving the bedroom I lost it. Sitting in the hall was the journal I had kept when I was in elementary school. Half the pages had been torn out and several of them were ripped. He got a firm talking to and was promptly put in a time out. Precious, precious, precious. Good thing he is so good at the "I'm sorry" face. Because really how can you stay mad at that face?

New Goals

It is time to post my new goal. For the next two weeks I am going to concentrate on finishing at least one of the three websites I have been avoiding. It's pathetic really, I told my mom I would finish her website over a year ago. I didn't, and it's high time I made it a priority.

On another note I decided to make the Anouk dress/shirt. I changed the colors a little but stayed with the same color theme. I added two tabs to each side instead of one, I didn't do the pockets, and I added a little embroidered flower to the front. I didn't want the pockets because I thought it would be too busy, and I love the simplicity of the dress. I am also in love with the orange yarn I used for the bottom. I am going to have to come up with something else to make with it.

Now I am going to start making the Lacy Cardigan. I am very excited because I found a soft pink bamboo yarn I am going to use. Which ever project turns out the best I will use as the gift.

Cut Me Some Slack

I didn't quite finish organizing and unpacking the craft/laundry room. However, I have posted this picture of my progress because I'd hate for you to think I've just been sitting around knitting. Do you see how I'm almost done? Yes, yes, I know, you're all so proud.

In the process of cleaning out my craft room I came across a pile of things that needed mending, so I decided to mend them. There were a couple of shirts, pants, random stuffed animals, nothing of importance-- so I thought. When Kai saw the pile of mending he jumped off his chair and yelled excitedly, "My pants! My favorite pants! Are you finally going to fix my favorite pants?" "Why yes!" I responded.

I got out the patches, flipped the pants inside out and ironed one on. Viola! He promptly put them on . . . oh . . . uh . . . whoops. Apparently, while he was waiting for his favorite pants to be mended he was growing. He was less than happy, one might even say he was a little "damned off."

Spring Break

Today is the last day of spring break for the girl and boy. They were off half of Thursday, all of Friday and now today. It hasn't been long but it has been long enough. I am ready for them to return to school. I admit I am now frightened of the quickly approaching summer. I may have to get a job and hire a nanny.

I got things to paint, and new bubble blowers, yet I still heard, "Mom! When can we do something fun?" If that didn't sound annoying to you, read it again with a whiny voice. If you still aren't annoyed, you're a better person than I.

When I heard it again this morning I was excited to tell them the very fun thing we are doing today--chores! Madison actually started to cry. It wasn't just the idea of chores that made her cry, it was the fact that because they didn't do their Saturday chores on Saturday they have to do them today. It's Monday . . . not Saturday . . . I am telling them to do Saturday chores . . . and it's Monday . . . The Horror!

Despite what they tell you, it hasn't all been a bust. Kai got to "paint" his hair. Even with red hair and an attempt at a mean face that boy his a hard time pulling off scary.

The Kitchen

I am excited to tell you what we have decided to do in the kitchen. I don't know how much of it we'll get done when Jessie comes to visit. From reading her comments on my previous post, I'm not sure how committed she is to working. I picked out paint chips anyway.

The largest wall will be blue and the other three walls are going to be this yellowish green color. I am going to try something new with the blue wall. If I can pull it off, it will be really nice. However, I'm not confident about my abilities to pull it off so I'm not going to talk about it until after I've tried it. When I do things that are complete disasters I like to pretend like they never happened. Unlike when my children do things that are complete disasters and I document it with pictures and blogs. That's different.

We are also going to put up black bead board. I've put bead board up before, but never this much. I think Michael is planning on helping me with the bead board this time. While doing his bead board installation research (he is very research oriented) he came across this picture. I think this hand has seen better days. It took us a while to decided if he had cut the tips of a few fingers off. We finally decided he hadn't, but still if his method of installation leaves me with a hand that makes people wonder if I've had a run in with the saw blade, I'm not sure I'm up for it.

What Was That?

Yesterday I told Madison she looked cute, to which she responded, "It's not good to look cute. It's great to look hot." I think she's been watching too much tween television.

On Tuesday I asked a friend to pick the boy up from school for me. When she told him she was going to take him home, he said, "Good, because when I didn't see my mom I got pretty damned off." Damned off? Who says that?

When I was taking pictures of the kids outside Madison saw that I was attempting to get a candid shot of her. "Mooooom!" She protested, then posed.


I'm in serious trouble.

Signs of Spring

I love the smell of lilacs. I was very excited when we moved here because there was a wonderful lilac bush just off the side of the front porch. However, because the lawn hadn't been watered in a while it, and the surrounding bushes, were struggling. I did a lot of pruning last year in hopes of reviving my newly acquired lilac. I am excited to say there are new little green buds appearing. It still needs some love, but I think I'm up for the task.

We have a small cement lip running around the edge of our front porch. There is one thing about this lip that puzzles me-- it has two pvc pipes sticking up from one end of it. What in the world are they for? Can I just cut them off? What if I do, and I wasn't supposed to? I find it all very confusing.

In the mean time, it makes a great support for Davis to pull up on. Isn't he getting chunky! The pediatrician will be so proud!

Madison Has a Very Long Tongue

She can also make a very ugly face.

It Is Time

My friend from Vegas is coming down at the end of April to visit me. I told her while she is here she will have to pay for her room and board by helping me paint the kitchen.

By "helping" I mean I will be paying for the paint and supplies and then I will be watching her work. If she works really hard and doesn't complain I might buy her lunch at Jason's. However, she'll have to pay for her own Dublin Dr. Pepper-- my generosity only goes so far. I am still very sad that Smash didn't have time to visit me while she was here getting her tooth fixed-- I had some lovely projects for her.

We have been in our new house for almost a year now, and there are still a lot of things that need to be done. Some of the projects will be on the back burner for a while (like new flooring in the two upstairs bedrooms) while others are more urgent. I consider the kitchen walls to be urgent. They weren't in great shape when we moved in, but Chase hasn't made them any better.

There are also some rooms that still need to be unpacked. Michael has been working on unpacking the garage for the past few weeks -- which I'm very excited about because he has unearthed my stained glass stuff. However, with all his efforts he still has yet to find my St. Francis statue. Perhaps the move was just too much for Francis and he ran back to Assisi. If you see him, will you tell him to come home? We miss him.

Anyway, back to the rooms. I haven't unpacked my craft/laundry room yet either. I love this room because it is full of cupboards and counter space. Unfortunately, This is what it looks like right now. I have to warn you that this picture might be disturbing, so please have any young children leave the room before you view it.


It's a frightening disaster. Every time I do laundry I weep. The point is, I made a half-assed new years resolution to organize my craft room and I figure it's time. I plan on posting a fully unpacked and organized craft room picture next Monday, so wish me luck!

Baby Gifts

Yes I am afraid it's true. This is another knitting post. However, before you sigh in disgust, this one is a little different because I am asking for your opinion. I need to knit something very fun for an acquaintance who is having a baby. They are having a girl so I can knit something cute and girly. I am going to show you five different things I thinking about. Look at them and decided which you would want to have, then tell me.

No 1. The Lacy Cardigan
No 2. The Inchworm Neck Pillow


No 3. The Kimono

No 4. The Dashwood Hat


No 5. The Anouke Dress/Shirt

Chase on the Bus

As promised, here is little Chase on the bus.

Can I tell you how great the bus is? Maddie and Kai go to a charter school, so no bus. Even if they went to the local elementary school, they are too close to ride the bus.

Chase's preschool starts at 9am and ends at 11:30. The bus picks him up at 8:30 and drops him off at 12:30. That is an extra hour and a half I get to play on my computer, or clean, or got out to breakfast-- depending on my mood.

I love Christopher Walken

Jason's

We were first introduced to Jason's Deli by our very hip and cool friends who live in Vegas. Mike likes it because you can get healthy-ish food there. I like it because it has soft serve ice-cream. Every mother knows that a meal out with the kids always goes better when there is soft serve ice-cream.

You can convince a child, who only ordered the chili dog for the chili, to take a few bites of the hot dog if soft serve ice-cream is up for grabs. For the record, I would never bribe my children this way. That would be wrong. I'm just saying you could if you wanted to. Soft serve ice-cream is a very powerful force.

Now there is a whole new reason to love Jason's Deli. In their effort to be more healthy they are in the process of getting rid of foods with high fructose corn syrup. Why do I care about high fructose corn syrup? I don't. I care about Dr. Pepper.

Because Dr. Pepper has high fructose corn syrup they have replaced the regular Dr. Pepper with Dublin Dr. Pepper! That's right, they now have Dublin Dr. Pepper-- on tap! Its only the best Dr. Pepper in the world! Why is it so good? Because it is made with cane sugar. Cane sugar tastes much better than high fructose corn syrup.

So . . . let's see . . . Davis will turn 5 on June 15, 2012. The following September he will be starting kindergarten. At this point I will have all my children in school from approximately 9am to 3pm. I think Jason's opens around 11, I'd probably have to leave about 2:30 to pick up the kids, but I believe that would give me 3 and a 1/2 hours to drink Dr. Pepper and knit. I could do this 5 days a week, for almost 9 months, before I'd have to break for summer vacation. Just one more reason not to have more kids. I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it.

Mother's Curse

Last Saturday the boy and I spent a few hours working on his room. We organized all his clothes and toys and transformed it from a pig sty to a little boys room.

Yesterday morning I went down to his room to find that in four days he had managed to transform it back into its former sty-like state. I was less than thrilled. However, undaunted I did what I do best--lecture. I told him that when he throws his clothes all over he is being disrespectful. I told him I work hard to keep his clothes clean and all I ask is that he puts them away. Then in a stroke of pure motherly genius I told him he obviously didn't understand how much effort goes into keeping his clothes clean, so this next week he would be in charge of his own laundry.

I was very proud of myself. This week coming week I planned on making him sort the clothes, then we would put them in the washer and transfer them to the drier. After that he could fold his clothes and put them away, all the while we would be discussing respect and responsibility. GENIUS! Except for the fact that sometime I forget he's only five.

When I went to pick him up from school that afternoon I was approached by one of the women who works in his classroom. She seemed very concerned when she said, "Um, Kai was complaining all day because his legs were cold. I told him, 'Kai, if your legs are cold, wear pants tomorrow.' He said that he would but all his pants are dirty and he has to do all his own laundry, and he's just not sure when he's going to get clean pants."

Mike likes to point out that this one is completely my fault. I am the child who convinced the neighbor that my mother made me do all the house work. I am also the child who talked a perfect stranger into buying me a candy bar by telling him that my mother wouldn't feed me.

What goes around comes around.

Knitters Anonymous

I have a problem. I really do. I have become a knitting freak. Would you like to see my two latest projects? Not really? Too bad, I'm going to show them to you anyway.

I knitted a pair of these bunny slippers for my niece whose first birthday just happened to be on easter. They were so cute and easy to make I decided to make another pair to sell at my etsy store. Wish me luck. I am horrible with descriptions and never know how much to ask for. I also don't put things up very often. This is probably why I could never make this a real source of income.

I knitted this hat (is supposed to look like a pie) for some friend's baby. Yes the hat is for a girl, yes it is on Davis, no Davis is not a girl. Look, it isn't like I have access to a whole slew of babies with whom I can display my wares.

That aside, I won't be making another one anytime soon. I think I need to hone up on my knitting skills before I attempt it again.

The hat wouldn't be so bad if I didn't knit so tight. The pattern, courtesy of knitty, requires you to knit 3 stitches together which is really hard when you knit too tight. I know, don't tell me, I've heard it before in the extremely helpful words of the old lady expert at the local knitting store, "so . . . don't knit so tight!"

April Fools!!

Yesterday I made dinner. No that isn't an April fools joke. I really did make dinner. I don't blame you for thinking I'm joking, it has been a while.

Like I said, yesterday I made dinner, but not just any dinner. I made an April fools dinner. We had berry pie (really shepard's pie) for dinner and hamburgers (really cookies and frosting) for dessert. I got the recipes from Family Fun. I would normally link to them, but I'm being lazy, so if you want them you're going to have to go to Family Fun and look it up yourself.

The pie looks kind of nasty, but it tasted really good! And of course the hamburgers were a hit.

Gotta Love the ADD

Me: Kai. You need three things. Clean underwear, shoes, and a drink for your lunch. I have everything else. Are you listening?
Kai: Yes.
Me: What do you need?
Kai: Underwear, shoes, and a drink.
Me: Okay, now go get them.

10 minutes later

Me: Did you get your things?
Kai: Yes. I got underwear, a red vest, and socks.
Me: You don't need a red vest and socks. I already have those for you. You still need shoes and a drink. Now go get shoes and a drink.
Kai: Okay but I already told you I got socks.

The Birthday Party

Chase is officially 3. We had a grand celebration over the weekend complete with an excavator cake and all sorts of vehicle themed presents. Chase loves cars, trucks, trains, buses . . . basically anything with wheels that you can ride in. Considering his obsession with automobiles, I'm not sure why I was nervous about him riding the bus on Monday.

Three months ago I made a well check appointment for the baby. This was long before I had any idea Chase might be starting preschool. I discovered on Thursday that the bus was going to pick Chase up at the same time Davis had to be at the doctor. I called to reschedule the well check and they said they could fit me in sometime in June. JUNE! I bet if I went to a crappy doctor he'd be a lot less busy. Perhaps I'll look into that.

I kept the appointment and my dad came over to put Chase on the bus. Chase loved every minute of the ride. When they dropped him off after school the bus driver told me he was smiles and giggles the whole trip. I haven't managed to get a picture of him getting on the bus yet, but I did get this picture of him waiting for the bus to come this morning.