I Think We're Even

Yesterday around 10am I was told to take the baby in for some blood tests. I was also given a sterile cup and a tongue depressor and told to provide a sample of his stool. I know . . . lucky me.

2pm-- Still no sample. I called the doctor and was told to get the blood tests done and take the sample in as soon as it arrived.

Off to the hospital we went. We proceeded to check in.

Office Worker [OW]: Do you have his stool sample with you?
Me: No. He hasn't provided me with anything I can sample yet. So I was told to just do the blood work for now.
OW: Hmm. Do you just want to wait a minute?
Me: I've been waiting since 10am.
OW: Right. Okay . . . just do the blood work and come back with the sample later.

I proceeded to the lab . . .

Lady with Russian Accent [LRA]: I need his stool sample.
Me: I don't have one yet.
LRA: Okay, but make sure you bring it to me tonight before 6:30.
Me: What if he doesn't go by then?
LRA: Then bring it tomorrow . . . but try to bring it tonight.
Me: Uh. Suuure . . . .

The lady with the Russian accent proceeds to draw my child's blood.

Fast forward to 7:30pm. After practically pouring juice down the baby's throat for the past 5 hours he provides a sample. There is a lot of gagging involved. The sterile cup is no longer sterile.

Me: I am sooo never doing that again.
Michael: Whatever! I put the dog down!
Me: Okay. Fine. We're even.
Michael: I don't think so.

First thing this morning I went back to the hospital to drop off the sample.

The SAME Lady with Russian Accent [LRA]: Can I help you?
Me: Yes, my son was here yesterday and had some blood drawn, but I was unable to provide his stool sample. So I am here with the sample.
LRA: Have you checked in?
Me: No . . . I can't just drop it off?
LRA: No. Go check in.

I check in, then back at the lab . . .

Again . . . The same Lady with Russian Accent [LRA] Seriously the same Lady: Can I help you?
Me: uh . . . well so . . . I have this sample . . . .
LRA: Have you checked in?
Me: Yes!
LRA: Did you need any blood taken with that?
Me: No . . . it's my son's and you took his blood yesterday.
LRA: Okay put it in that box. You can go now.

On my way home I stopped at Sonic. I really needed a drink.

Pig Roast

Every year on July 24th my brother throws a party for Pioneer Day. Basically he smokes mounds of pig, invites his family, his friends, and most of the neighborhood to his front yard to eat it. He even provides live music. This was its fifth year, and it is turning out to be the event of the season. So if you are in the area next year, you may want to get to know my brother and his wife so you can finagle and invitation-- if you haven't already.

After dinner, mingling and music, the family crosses the street to my parent's house to set off fireworks. This year we were fortunate enough to have a few old ladies from the neighborhood join us. And I was fortunate enough to have these lovely ladies sitting behind me.

One of these ladies began telling her daughter who everyone was . "This is Christian . . . these are his kids . . . that one is Matthew" and so on. After she pointed to me she followed it up with a hushed, "the cute one is in San Fransisco. She couldn't make it this year." I turned around shocked, and she stammered, "oh, but you're smart."

This, people, is what happens when your parents dress you like a banana. So Beck, you may have got the looks (and the cuter swimming suit), but apparently I am smart.

The Little Sister Dress

I finally finished the Little Sister Dress and I am very happy with how it turned out.

I wanted it to be a little longer, but miscalculated and didn't buy enough yarn. AND I bought the yarn a while ago, so I wasn't able to get more from the same dye lot. So it is a bit short, but can be worn with leggings or even a little pair of levis. Hmm, maybe I should knit a pair of Emma's Unmentionables to go underneath . . . .

I have to admit that I love the buttons. A while ago I won a box of vintage buttons on ebay. I paid 8 dollars for the box and 5 for shipping. When the box arrived the return address was from Lehi which made me laugh. Anyway, I went through this box and found these two buttons. As soon as I saw them I knew they were supposed to be on this dress. They are perfect. They are a red wine color and they have old worn edges. I love these buttons.

I need to practice the crochet edge. I'm not very good at crochet and it came out uneven, but I still like it.

Mmmm Legoooos

Ever wondered what happens when you put legos in the toaster?

Now you know.

How hard was it to get those toasted legos out of the toaster?
I rather not talk about it right now.

Where's Whitey?

Kai: "Which way is whitey?"
Me: "Uh . . . what?"
Kai: "You know . . . lefty loosey, whitey tighty!"

Contest Results

The contest ended last night, and it was quite the ride.

Here are the highly tampered with results . . .

Michael came in first with 38 of the 95 votes.
Beth came in second with 29 of the 95 votes.
MIL came in third with 28 of the 95 votes.

Congratulations Michael! You're picture really is the best. But then, it has both your mother AND your wife in it, so how could it be anything but stunning.

Bathing Beauties

Today is my sister's birthday. Obviously my parents loved her more than they loved me. Why else would they dress me like a banana?

Happy Birthday! I Love you.

Knitting Break

I haven't been able to knit a lot this summer. One nice thing about the trip we took was that it allowed me some quality knitting time. It feels good to be knitting again, and I just added a ton of projects to my ravelry queue that I'm very excited about starting.

I have managed to finish Madison's wrap and a baby bonnet. I am pretty excited about how the wrap turned out, and Madison really likes it too.

I am about half way done with The Little Sister's Dress. At first I was really struggling with the pattern so I ripped it out and started over again. Now it is coming along nicely. I love the top and the pattern is incredibly clever. It is top down and completely seamless. I love it! I wish I could come up with stuff like that on my own!

The Ocean is for Making Sea Glass

While we were at the coast we stayed in a fantastic beach house (the one on the right).

Madison collected shells and particularly liked finding bits of sea glass. At one point she said we should throw a few more glass bottles in the ocean so there would be more sea glass.

I've managed to raise some fine environmentalists. When grandma told Kai the bathroom sink turned off automatically to conserve water, he said, "Why? There's a whole ocean out there!"

Exactly! There is a whole ocean out there, so lets fill it with glass bottles and go beach combing! Who's with me on this one?

Alert the Smithsonian

The boy is quite positive that he has found a bone belonging to a previously undiscovered dinosaur that he will call Dino-Might.

Sunset Picture Contest

The Mother-in-law and I had a sunset photo contest last night. We have three entries each, so look at them carefully and vote for the winner at the poll on the side bar.


Beth Sunset 1:

Beth Sunset 2:

Beth Sunset 3:


MIL Sunset 1:

MIL Sunset 2:
MIL Sunset 3:

Then Michael crashed the contest with this last minute entry.

Pictures From the Coast

Madison and I took a walk on the beach today. She sifted through shells and rocks while I tried to get pictures of her when she wasn't posing for the camera.




Then against my better judgment I let her take a picture of me and promised her I would put it on the blog. See I'm a good mom who doesn't lie to her children . . . all the time.

Dreadlocks Here I Come

After I got in the shower this morning I saw a huge ass spider. Sorry dad. I know people only swear because they can't think of anything smarter to say, but if you saw that spider you'd of swore too. Okay maybe not you, but mom would have. I doused the spider with water until it drowned. When I was confident it wasn't going to jump up and attack me I got out of the shower and made Michael clean up the aftermath. It may be a while before I shower again.

Today we are going to the coast. I'm pretty excited because normally we go to Brookings and Gold Beach but, this time we rented a guest house in Bandon. I am excited because yesterday it was 108 in Brookings.

Hotter Than Hell

We went to Jaspers for lunch today. They closed right after we got our burgers because it was too hot in the back to cook anymore.


Some might even say it was hot enough to roast your nuts on the curb.


Nuts or not it was certainly hot enough to give you a nice case of what I like to call, "sweat hair."

More From the Drive

Bonneville Salt Flats

Northern California

Chase watching Yo Gabba Gabba.

Not only is it better than scenery, it's so good you need two sets of headphones.

Oregon The Drive

We are currently enjoying a vacation in Oregon. We drive out because with four kids it's too expensive to fly. Besides if we'd flown, I would have missed being urinated on at a rest stop and the kids would have missed seeing the Tree of Life.

We stopped in Sparks for the night. Our favorite place to stay is a Marriott Inn just off the freeway. Last time we were there the same time as a local baseball team. They decided to get drunk and go swimming the same time as us. They invited Michael to have a beer with them in the hot tub--he declined.

Needless to say Madison and I are way behind in math.

Whip Up

My embossed wall project just got linked at whip up!

http://whipup.net/2008/07/04/diy-embossed-wall/

Two Things I Find Amazing

Two Things I Find Amazing

1. Madison got sick and threw up in the toilet.

If your thinking, "what's so amazing about that?" then you obviously haven't dealt with many sick children. After she threw up, I got her some water and her tooth brush. Notice that I didn't have to scrub the floor and start a load of laundry?

2. The boy and girl had a lemonade stand and earned $22.50.

I tried a lemonade stand once. I set it up on the busy street behind my house and sold one glass of lemonade to a passing biker. He took pity on me and gave me two quarters even though I was only asking for 20 cents. The quarters reminded him of the time, and he spent a good fifteen minutes drinking his lemonade and talking about a quarter past, a quarter to, and other random phrases used to express time. He was also missing some of his fingers--this scared me and I wanted him to go away.