I've made a terrible mistake

I know I promised more knitting content, but with the unshowable surprise knitting I just can't right now. But when I was fiddling with my sidebar (don't you just love the knitting progress bars) I realized how close two of my projects are to completion. Maybe I'll whip those suckers out today at knitting group and have actual Finished Objects to show tomorrow.

In the meantime I've made a terrible discovery. A hideous life altering one. It started out as an ordinary evening. I took the kids to the city pool yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Being me I remembered hats, snacks, water, small floaty toys, little swimmers, towels, a sheet to sit on. Almost everything a person could need, everything except sunscreen that is. Rather than pack everything back up and lose our sitting spot and our parking spot I just borrowed some from the nice lady on the sheet next to us. Now I don't mind borrowing for my children. I got all three in a nice thick coat of sunscreen and turned them loose on the lifeguards. But I didn't think it would be nice to sunscreen myself. Her bottle wasn't that full to begin with and I think sunscreening me would have been the end of it. No big deal I've only burned twice in my life. Well make that three times. When I came home did anyone admire how great I looked in my new finally lost the baby weight-did more Pilates that I can stand-do you know how much ice cream I DIDN'T EAT to wear this bikini. No. I was greeted with
"What happened to your back" obviously it got sunburned
"Didn't you wear sunscreen" obviously not
And my favorite "That's gonna hurt tomorrow" no kidding.

So all this helpfulness had me in a pretty annoyed mood. Knowing this The Greatest decided to try to diffuse the situation by running out to get dinner. He changed out of his work clothes and got ready to go. My Father decided to go along with him, so my Dad changed out of his work clothes and got ready to go. This is what they looked like



And just in case you missed it, this is what their shirts say



Nice isn't it. So as I was looking at the pair of them I realized my mistake. I married my father. Somehow I managed to marry a man just like my father. I swear he didn't start out that way. He was a perfectly nice ordinary guy when I met him. But the older he gets the more he becomes like my father. I thought he was supposed to turn into HIS father as he got older. But in some cruel twist of fate he turned into MY father. I've gotta get out of this marriage before I turn into my Mother-in-Law.

Recent lack of knitting content

All my posts lately have been about my adorable children, and as much as I love my children I understand that they can be a bit boring to people who don't know them and a bit annoying to the people who do. The thing is I started this blog to showcase my wonderful knitting to the world. And for the most part I thought my knitting was extrodinarily wonderful. I taught myself from a book and while it was merely a distraction at first it has grown to an obsession (I really think I might need professional help). My baby hats were cute, my baby sweaters all turned out. I rarely had to frog things. I even had success fiddling with patterns to make them more my style or to make them fit better (I was especially proud of my Gothic Lace Sweater and My Fuzzy Valentine). But that was all beginners luck. Lately I've had a streak of extrodinarily bad knitting. Too bad to even talk about. I'm so ashamed. I got overconfident, cocky even, that I knew how to knit. Hey I even started a blog to showcase my extrodinarily wonderful knitting. I rarely knit patterns as written, and when I felt uninspired by any pattern I decided I could design my own. And the Gods of Knitting were displeased with my growning arrogance. So they sent me beautiful yarn to make a shapely tank that was completely see through and unfit for actual public wearing. They sent me the Belle Paquita with its imposible yet stunning lace design and an unusual bust fitting, I tried and frogged, and tried and frogged, then I hid the yarn from the Greatest so he would forget about that project. They sent me Belle Epoque which is beautiful, I labor for two months making endless rounds of pattern knitting but only to discover upon finishing that it was too maternity looking for a woman who is finally neither pregnant nor breastfeeding. They reassigned my knitting Muse, so when I tried to design my own pattern the neckline failed, and I realized it too was going to look like maternity clothing. And finally to add insult to injury they sent me Mariposa, a beautiful tank top that isn't intended to fit a small busted woman (again the problem is my boobs, I think I need a bust enhancement to improve my knitting). But being unobservant and not realizing the pattern of knitting failure I decided I could alter the lovely Mariposa and make it fit my unendowed chest. That was a waste of a week of my life. You can find the entire story of Mariposa here I'm too grieved to tell it again. I have repented and returned to my knitting roots. I am knitting from patterns again, and not altering them. I am humbled and prostrate before the Gods of Knitting. I hope they are pleased and will send some alpaca to heal my wounded soul.

Congratulations all around!

Such a busy weekend.

My sister gave birth to her second child. Allow me to introduce Squeaky to the world.



We couldn't be happier. They made us wait an hour and a half at the hospital before they let us see the baby. When they finally let us back in there we had quite a party.




At Six pounds Four ounces she isn't the smallest baby born in our family, but she is a tiny peanut (Bird holds the record at nine pounds six ounces, ouch). Her big sister couldn't be prouder (and check out the hair on that baby)



Then if that wasn't enough excitment my little Brother graduated from college on Saturday. See how happy he is holding his diploma surrounded by people he doesn't know.



And here's happy Brother surrounded by people he does know.



Again we couldn't be prouder of him, even if he cap did give him bad hair



Oh when bad hair happens to good people. Congratulations You worked so hard to earn this. Hooray for You!

I did get some knitting done during all this, but it's a surprize for someone, so the story of that will have to come later.

Random Thoughts

First of all do you think this is child abuse?




Secondly, and this has nothing to do with anything, I watched this show last night 30 Days and it really disturbed me. The whole premise was he and his girlfriend moved to Columbus, Ohio with nothing and tried to live off minimum wage for 30 days. I wasn't upset by how hard it was for them. I was more iritated by how cavalier they were about it. At the end of the day they knew they would have their normal life back when the month was over, and that knowledge changed the way they did things. I don't think it was a true representation of what life is like without money. One case in point his girlfriend got a UTI, they had no medical insurance so they went to the emergency room rationalizing that they would find a way to pay for it later. For them later meant at the end of the month when they went back to their normal lives. I can tell you from experience when you have no medical insurance and you have a UTI you drink as much cranberry juice as you can afford and gallons of water for a week until you flush it out. Later that same day they went back to the emergency room because the man had a sprained wrist. And again when you have no medical insuarnce and a very small limited income you don't go to the emergency room for something like that. You wrap it and keep working. They got their furniture from a local charity. But they were only borrowing it for a month. They didn't feel the true shame of not being able to provide their family with the basic necessities of life. The soul crushing feeling of relying of the charity of others. They weren't able to pay all their bills from their minimum wage income, but at the end of the month they went back to their normal lives and were able to pay their debts. They didn't know the true pressure of too many bills and not enough money. Sometimes it's hard to breath. For them this was an experiment with an end date. But a real life lived paycheck to paycheck has no expiration date. There is no end in sight. When you are only a month from being homeless, I can't describe it. But these people did not really live what it is like to work at minimum wage. But the fact that they so arrogantly think they have, that it is that simple, that at the end of the month when the bills aren't paid you can just go back to your regular life and it will all be alright, it really upset me. And the fact that other people who haven't been there will watch the show and also conclude that it is that easy disturbs me. He made this show to promote awareness. But I think he isn't making people aware of the true reality. He showed his reality, but for people who don't have a normal life to go back to at the end of the month, for people who actually live this reality every day, I think he did them a great disservice.

Happy Birthday Pork Chop

Happy Birthday Princess.



I don't think I have the words to tell you how loved you are but I'll try.

You were such a beautiful baby



The world's cutest baby.



Daddy and I wanted you so much. There were times I thought I was going to break in two I just wanted a baby so badly. And you were the worst baby. Oh so pretty, and oh so unhappy. Why did you have to cry for six months straight. You were to cute to be so diabolical, so angelic to be so sadistic. I couldn't have loved you more but there were times I contemplated throwing you out a window.

And oh how you've grown.



So tall and graceful. So athletic and light on your feet. You are so smart. You amaze me everyday with your thirst for knowledge and how quickly you absorb new things. You can't wait to go to school this fall, and I can't wait for you to go. Make no mistake I'm going to miss you, and I might cry a bit that first day. But I'm anxious to see you spread your wings and grow into your own a little bit. I'm excited for you because I know all the new things you're going to get to learn and do. And I know how happy you're going to be doing them. Above all I just want you to be happy.

You as such a joy to have for a daughter. You are helpful and funny. I just enjoy being with you. As you grow we're only going to have more fun doing all those great Mother/Daughter things (yes I know you'll hate me as a teenager, but I've got atleast six or seven years of love before you get too much attitude).

You are a kind big sister.



You're so happy to play with your sister. You're always calling her "Baby" and trying to share with her. You're also wonderful with your brother. You'll fix his train for him, and help color. They're lucky to have you.



The other day you asked me "When I grow up will I have a daughter just like me?" I replied "I sure hope so". And I really do.

Hypnotized by her cuteness

Who can resist this face?



I can't. Her pony will be here Friday.

Future Blackmail

I love my kids. I really do. But there are things that are just too good not to use. Stories I want to remember for future blackmail.

Pork Chop- She has a tiny butt. It's little and cute. But don't for the love of all that's holy tell her so. She will throw a full on tantrum insisting that she is a big girl with a big butt. She also loves public bathrooms. One day she will realize how gross the bathroom at Wal-mart really is and be completely repulsed at the thought that she used to wait until she got there to go pee. In fact she may claim that I am making this story up. But I'm not.

Meat- He opens his mouth as wide as he can and lets the dogs lick the inside of it. GROSS.

Bird- She feels everyone up. This first started when I weaned her. She would stick her hand down my shirt in an attempt to let me know she wanted to nurse. Now I think she does it for comfort. Only she no longer limits herself to me. First it was me, then Daddy, then the grandparents, then my friends (did I mention she felt up everyone at her birthday party). Now she does it to complete strangers at church. She too may later claim I'm making this up, but I'm not. Just ask the nice lady who was sitting behind us yesterday. Bird crawled under the pew. When this nice lady picked her up to hand her back Bird snuch her hand down the neck of her dress. I may have to find a new church.

Watch out for the leopard

We had a productive day at knitting group yesterday. I knit 35 rows of my Mariposa



Then I realized my math for sizing down the sweater was off somewhere and the sweater is still two inches too wide for me. So I frogged it and knit 57 rows of it.



Bird is thinking of taking up knitting.



She just can't decide if she wants to make the bunny hat or the lil devil pants first.

Meaty was content to be leopard.



And scare the pretty girls.



He made one cry.



Bad leopard.

Birthday Party Highlights

Over the weekend we had a joint party for the girls. Bird turned one last month, and Pork Chop will be five next week. It was a fairly big party. I decorated everything that stood still with crepe paper and balloons.





The dog was scared to take a nap. Who knows what she would have looked like when she woke up.

Big friends came.



And little friends came.



There were only a few tantrums.



We had cake.



And another cake.



Really good cake.



And presents



Too many presents



Despite the fact that I gave whistles as party favors I think a good time was had by all.

Summer is Officially Here

Summer is finally here. It was mid 80's yesterday. It's supposed to be in the lower 90's today. Summer is FINALLY here. And nothing screams summer more than a slip-n-slide.



She finally got the swimsuit wet. Check out her form.



Even the Bird got in on the action.



Meat prefered to lounge in the splash pool.



Pork Chop got two slip-n-slides at her birthday party. I'm contemplating laying them end to end to make a giant 40 foot slide. But that might be over the top.

We spent most of the afternoon yesterday outside sliding,and swinging on the swingset, and blowing bubbles until I thought I was going to pass out. It was a perfect afternoon. Then we came inside. Meaty and Bird promptly passed out over their snack and slept until six. They were then up until 10. Yet they still managed to get up at the crack of dawn. Go figure.

While they were taking their ill timed nap I finished this.



I've been working on this dress for Pork Chop for about two weeks. I got bored designing my own sweater (or is discouraged the word I'm looking for). Anyways I saw this pattern and thought she would look so cute wearing this to school this fall I had to make it. I'm excited for her to go to school. I keep picking up outfits saying "oh, she'd be so cute wearing this to school." It's like I have my own living "Life Size Barbie" to dress. I still need to block it so the ribbing will be stretched and the dress will flair, but isn't it cute?

I finally bought yarn for the Mariposa Along that started last week.



It's going to be bright blue with lime green trim. I need to change the pattern. The smallest size will still be too big for me. I've just been too lazy to work out the math yet. Maybe I'll do that this afternoon while the kids slip-n-slide. I wonder how many days in a row they can play on it before they get bored. For the record Pork Chop wore her swim suit four days in a row before she decided it needed washed. I'm gonna guess five days for the slip-n-slide.

Shamed into blogging

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. I want to. I think about things and think "I should blog this" or "that was so funny I must put it on my blog." But honestly I've just been too tired lately. We moved a little over a month ago and since the move the kids just don't sleep. They were in the middle of changing their nap routines when we moves. Bird was giving up her morning nap and going to just one nap a day, Meaty was giving them up altogether. But since the move they still haven't found a new nap schedule. Despite my best efforts they refuse to nap. They end up falling over from exhaustion at the strangest times. Look at the poor babies. They're too tired to eat.







Then since they've taken naps at such strange times, they refuse to go to bed on time, so there is no predictable bedtime either. I try putting them to bed at the same time as always, but when they've just woken up from a nap at five there's no way they're going to go to sleep at eight. And they completely abandoned sleeping through the night. All this makes for a very tired mom, but it'll be alright. This too shall pass.

In the mean time, I've been tagged.
1. Total number of books I own: I couldn't tell you because they are all packed, but I was surprized when it took five boxes to pack all the children's books and five more boxes to pack my books. I didn't think I owned a lot of books, I tend to borrow from the library rather than buy, but I guess I do.

2. The last book I bought: I bought Pork Chop a Princess Book for her birthday last week. Does that count?

3. Five books that mean a lot to me: Tough one, here we go.

Five People you meet in Heaven. I really liked this book. I know some people think it's incredibly cheesy but he wrote the most accurate description of love I've ever seen. He compared it to water nurturing a plant. Sometimes in the mundaneness of life love is buried deep below the surface like water nurturing roots. You may not see it but it is there keeping the plant (relationship) alive. At other times it pours from the heavens like rain. I've felt love like that. The buried love that gets pushed aside by the childcare and lawnwork and just daily life. And I've felt the love surrounding us like rain during a quiet moment, a stolen kiss. I just feel like that is real love not movie love. I just thought that passage was so beautifully written.

Anne of Green Gables. I've always loved this book. My parents bought me the entire series and I read them all in two weeks (which is a lot of reading for an eleven year old kid, there are seven or eight books) I wanted to have red hair just like Anne. When Pork Chop was a baby with colic I would read her this book. It's just such a sweet story with such descriptive passages.

Watership Down. I love rabbits. And this book is just so wonderfully written. I'm a sucker for a well written passage.

Harry Potter Books. I like these books, they're cute, but what I like best about them is The Greatest and I read them outloud together. We've done this with all of them and we're looking forward to the new book this summer so we can read it together. It's just something we enjoy doing together. But we only read the Harry Potter books outloud like that.

You can teach yourself to knit. I don't think I have to explain why I like this book.

Poor little neglected blog. But I've been productive while I've been gone. I'm neglecting you for a different kind of productivity. See



My sweater is coming along better than expected. For those who care I crocheted the squares using a size D hook and then knit the top on size 5 circular needles. I knited in the round to the arms the divided the front and back. I will connect the two at the shoulder with a three needle bind off. I'm going to use the scalloped edge of the blue sweater on the neckline, cuffs and bottom of the sweater. I may rip the neckline out after I get both sides done and revamp it in more of a U than a V.

Now one may ask how I found time to be so productive. Well The Greatest went to see Star Wars last night at midnight, so after the kids went to bed I was left to my own devices. Then this morning this sweet creature



decided to throw up at Four-thirty (the eyes are red because he's evil). After that we sat up and watched Dora together. So I found plenty of time to knit. I think I'd prefer not to have that kind of time on my hands.

I haven't knitted since I moved. I really don't have a project to work on. The Greatest told me yesterday that I really needed to knit. I guess he can tell my stress level is unusually high lately. I explained that I didn't have anything to knit, so he sent me yarn shopping. I tried to find yarn for next month's Mariposa Along, but couldn't find what I wanted. I fondled lots of fiber, but was completely uninspired. I flipped through my collection of patterns and while I have many patterns that I intend to make at some point none of them screamed "Knit me right now" at me. I need something vaguely mindless, stockingnette not ribbing, I'm in a sweater not a cardigan mood, nothing was right. Then I saw this pattern in the store



The sweater is croctet, but I really love the edging. So I've decided to design my first sweater (Evil doesn't count, have I mentioned that Evil got packed and I can't seem to find it anywhere). I couldn't find a pattern I likes, so I'm making my own pattern. I bought some very cheap acrylic by the pound. I don't want to put too much money into this if it turns out to be a complete disaster. But I figure designing my own sweater will keep me off the streets and out of trouble for awhile. I'm going to have a wide scoop neck sweater. I haven't decided if I want to make the block patterns edge to bottom of the sweater like in the picture, or put it in the middle of the sweater like an empire waiste. It might be too wide to do that with. I'll figure it out. I've started making squares.



Aren't they pretty? Harley (my Parent's dog) is happy I'm knitting again.

Happy Birthday Lanie

For some reason my children do not have a great track record with First Birthdays. Meaty was in the hospital for his. Bird is not enduring anything so dramatic, but she does have an ear infection and roseola. Regardless she is painfully sweet and unbearably cute.



This is for Bird.

When I found out I was pregnant with you I was devestated. Your Brother was still a baby himself and I just didn't know how I would cope. I thought it would be great if you were a boy, so you and your Brother could grow up to be best friends. What was I thinking. From the moment they placed you in my arms you have been this missing piece of the puzzle that was our family.



You have been the sweetest baby so full of joy and love for everyone. You give big sloppy kisses to everyone even the dog. You're quick to laugh. You have added light and love to our family.



You have grown and accomplished so much. From a sweet dependant newborn has come this girl who walks and eats everything. You can say "Mama", "Bad Dad", "Bye Bye", and "Pop Pop" (that's your name for Grandpa).



You are amazing. Every day with you is new and interesting. I can't wait to see all the things you do in your next year. I love you more than you could ever imagine.

Mommy

Finally some knitting

I haven't had much knitting content on my blog lately. And there's a very good reason for that. I haven't been knitting. Hey, I've been busy. I had a house to pack, boxes to move, a house to unpack and rearrange, and kids to settle in. I think it's finally starting to calm down and I can start knitting again. Before we moved I whipped this out for my Sister's upcoming baby.



It's a bumble bee sweater. I just need to finish seaming it and buy some buttons. Maybe that's why I haven't worked on my knitting. All I have to do is seaming work, and I really hate seaming work. I'm thinking of doing my Mariposa sweater in one piece. There's thread about it on the knit-a-long blog already. I still need to buy yarn for that. But I won't until I finish all this seaming. I've got knitting group today. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot done there. If so, maybe I'll go yarn shopping on the way home.

My Daughter

Sometimes it's nice to see something so breathtakingly beautiful and know you had a hand in creating it.