Success!(es!)

The end of May means that school is winding down which in turn means the end of tutoring season. The totals for this year are roughly a dozen calls of interest, three students who did come for geometry help, one student who stopped coming without explanation or even calling to cancel (can you feel the bitterness) and two students who stuck it out till the end.

One of those students has been struggling to pass but received good grades the last couple of quizzes. Yeah! On her last day, she and her mother showed up with these:



They like me, they really like me.

-=-=-=-=-=-

I mentioned a while ago that the Women's Organization at church asked me to teach how to make a rosary. That was last night and it went pretty well.

I had to order the cord myself, as well as measure, cut and melt the ends. And I had to bring Xander along, but he sat in his stroller and chuckled for most of it.

There were 10 women there, which is a good size when you are walking around showing how to wrap a cord around your finger to make a pretty knot. As with any class, some caught onto it and others struggled. But everyone stayed in a good mood and there were two women who actually finished their rosaries.

Overall, I think it was a good experience. Some were talking about having a 'craft night' for the Women's group and possibly making the rosaries for other organizations. I will be surprised but thrilled if that happened. I'll let you know.

Proof that boys have cooties

So Chris mentioned that he had poison ivy. It was almost two weeks ago that if first appeared after he had worked in the yard. Within a week he had passed it on to me.

Last week I found a spot of it on my waist. Hey, I've had poison ivy before, no problem, I can tough it out. This week it has spread down my leg and across my back. Suddenly it is insanely itchy. I mean, last night spent an hour rolling and trying not to scratch. And it is red and swollen and ugly.

While tempted to try bleach, I instead went to the doctor. It was confirmed what I suspected - not poison ivy but some kind of contact dermatitis. And the reason that it is just now getting bad is because I was on a steroid for my toothache (did I mention that I am not getting a root canal - huzzah!) but when that prescription ran out this rash flared up with a vengeance.

So now I have more steroids to take. The problem is they are much stronger and Xander can't nurse while I'm taking them. So within the next week you'll find some stories over on his blog about how we are handling the abrupt weaning. This should be interesting.

Another Weekend, Another Post

Once again, it turned into a pretty decent weekend.

On Friday night we went to eat at a steakhouse with my youngest brother and his girlfriend. Xander was a little fussy with all of the noise and people, but I've finally mastered holding a baby and eating at the same time. After, Lee came back to our place for a fun game of Clue and we watched the second Fantastic Four movie. I don't recommend playing Clue and watching a movie at the same time, but we made it happen.

Chris went to the Rock on the Range concert on Saturday, so Xander and I hung around the house like any ole day. I did work on replanting some flowers I'd received for Mother's Day. Here are the gerber daises and geraniums.













And here are the azaleas that bloomed this week. They are such a gorgeous, vibrant color I just had to share.

I did some other chores, played with Xander and decided to treat myself with trying a new dessert. I made brownie pudding. It doesn't look like much, but it tastes amazing with mint chocolate chip ice cream.


I was carrying Xander while taking pictures. At one point he realized that I wasn't taking pictures of him, so he tried to remedy that.


On Sunday we spent a couple of hours walking around the local arts festival. I checked out the totes and bags being sold there. Pricey, but oh so much nicer than the ones I make. Plus I'd need to get tables and such for a booth. So I don't think I'll be going into business any time soon.

But it was fun just walking around with anther couple and their baby. We checked out some of the small shops downtown, saw the pet parade (they mean dog parade, there were no other animals in sight) and ate lunch while watching the local dance company perform. It was all very Gilmore-Girls-esque.

My first Mother's Day

What a great weekend.

On Friday, Chris and Xander took me to get my Mother's Day gift. It was 27 Dresses. Then we picked up pizza from a new place. It was actually good pizza with yummy crust. We have had a hard time finding any good local pizza. The place isn't that close to us, but we can save it for special occasions.

Saturday was beautiful, so it was yard day. Chris and Xander mowed and weeded and such. I bought a few marigolds, white petunias and vintas. I couldn't find impatiens, which I usually like. Then we had Game Night! It was a small crowd but loads of fun, I don't think we've ever had such a hard core game of SceneIt.

Sunday I received several phone calls and texts for Mother's Day, which made me feel very special. We packed up and went to visit my family for the day. Good thing too, there was apparently a huge storm here with a tornado. It was really great to see everyone and to just hang out (and let other people hold Xander).

I've gone on a sewing tear these past weeks. I finished making a pair of jeans into a skirt. I made three new bags. Two are based off of grocery bags and a tutorial I found online. They fold up so I can put them in my bag and bring them to stores to use. It's the first time I've actually had requests to make a couple, albeit 'more manly' or 'less bright'. Chris still wants me to make some to sell, but I don't know where to sell except the craft show at the church in the fall.

If only I could make a cozy for my tooth

About a week and a half ago I partook of ice cream cake and have been paying for it ever since. My teeth hurt. The right half of my mouth felt like it was soaking in ice filled water. Oragel wasn't doing much, but the Arm and Hammer toothpaste helped. Now the pain is mostly gone during the day, but I still wake up with it at night.

So today I managed to finagle an appointment at the dentist. The diagnosis is that one molar in the back is the culprit. The dentist has referred me to a specialist to get a root canal. Then I'll return to the dentist for a crown.

There goes our economic stimulus money. And now I feel old.

Chris thinks I should just get the tooth pulled.

In other news, I gave Chris part of his birthday gift early.



I knit this beer cozy from a pattern in a book called "Knitting with Balls." It required I go to an actual yarn store to buy special yarn with elastic in it. Yeah, I'm one of those people now. It was knitted in the round and turned out pretty snazzy. So snazzy , in fact, that I knitted one for Ukie for his birthday too. But Ukie is special and I tried cables for the first time on his.

Morning of the Lepus

Last Sunday, as we were getting ready for church, I saw two little bunnies enjoying our back yard. When suddenly one bunny turned and charged full speed at the second bunny! Then the second bunny leaped high into the air over the first one as it rocketed towards him! That second bunny easily reached three feet high.

They proceeded to do this twice more. Crazy!

Is this some sort of display of super-bunny-powers? Or the bunny version of bull fighting? Or were they just training to jump the fence into our new garden?

I was going to do a screen cap from Night of the Lepus, but I couldn't find a decent one. So in a moment of nostalgia, here is a screen cap for you to guess.

Williamsburg or Bust

We went to Williamsburg, Virginia for our vacation this year. People keep asking us "How did you pick that?" Well, our criteria was that it had to be within a days drive, no beaches (I will not go to a beach during spring break season) and it had to be south of us in the hopes it would be warmer. Williamsburg fit that and it included history and we thought there would be parks nearby.

Sunday
We get up and leave at 3 am so that X would sleep on the way. We get there around 2. We stayed at Springhill Suites, which I really liked because it had a fridge, microwave and a little area to set up X's Pack'n'Play. We had Xander sleep in the P'n'P a couple of nights before we left so he was used to it and I do think that helped on the trip. We puttered around and drove around a little and ate barbecue at Red Hot and Blue, which we found disappointing.

For those contemplating having children, observe the next photo. Last year when Chris and I went to Charleston, we only had those bottom two bags. The rest is for Xander. Seriously.



Monday
We went to Colonial Williamsburg. Dang, I didn't realize how expensive it would be. And you can't take strollers into any buildings, so Chris had to carry Xander in the Snuggli all day. And hold X's head up when he fell asleep. We walked around to some of the businesses and heard about how things were done back in the day. Lunch was at The Cheese Shop, which was tasty, and I found out I do like brie. It drizzled all day and it turned into a downpour in the afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel. Dinner was at a steakhouse, but X was a putz so we didn't get to enjoy it.



Tuesday
It was still rainy and the forecast wasn't great, so we made it a museum day. We went to the Virginia Living Museum first. It had a nice boardwalk to see animals they had and some good indoor exhibits that covered different areas of Virginia. But it was a big kids place and there were lots of classes there, at least one set that was out of control.

Then we went to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum which included the USS Wisconsin. It was nicely laid out and seeing the Wisconsin makes you realize just how big those suckers are.

And then we went across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. That was one hefty toll road, but pretty impressive to see. On the other side we stopped and introduced X to the Chesapeake Bay (since we didn't have easy access to the Atlantic Ocean at that point). Xander did not like the Bay, but did like the sand.



Wednesday
The weather finally brightened up, so we headed into Colonial Williamsburg for a historic garden tour. We dallied around again looking at different shops and the Capitol building. We had to skip a couple of things because of long lines and Xander's fussiness level, but it was neat just to walk around and look at things. Oh, and we had pizza at Sal's that night that was awesome.



Thursday
Thursday was lovely, as our last day it was an odds-and-ends kind of day. We went to the world's largest Yankee Candle where it snowed in the Christmas section. We went to Williamsburg Pottery, but that was disappointing. We went to Jamestown, but it seemed to be like Williamsburg and we didn't want to pay again. Then we went to Yorktown and walked along the riverwalk for a while. We ended with Mexican food for dinner and called it a night.


The End!
(Look, a picutre with me!)

Returning from Vacation

Chris, Xander and I spent last week in colonial Williamsburg. It was a good trip, considering we traveling with a teething seven month old. I think Chris is writing up a review of the trip. He sent out some pics, so if you didn't get them and would like to see them drop us a line.

We returned yesterday (Friday) at about 2 in the afternoon, so we had the rest of the day to unpack and unwind. We were getting ready for bed last night when I went in our bathroom and froze. I could hear something. It was coming from either in the shower or possibly the vent above it. And it sounded very much like when we had a mouse in the dryer last year.

"Chris, get in here" I whispered loudly (Xander was asleep, even a mouse in the shower doesn't necessitate waking up the boy).

I listen and hear the scuttling some more. I notice something light and something dark through the door.

"Chris, get in here now" I yelled/whispered. He bolts in and I told him to listen to the noise. He climbs up on the toilet and looks over the door. And starts laughing.

Somehow a hole developed in my can of shaving cream and it was fizzling all over the shower. Cream everywhere. But it did smell absolutely lovely, raspberry something or other.

Back in the slow lane

I'm not a big runner, but my studly husband and I had a routine of going to the park on Saturday mornings for a run. That came to a screeching halt last January after a certain test came up positive. I know it's not bad to run while pregnant, but my first case of morning sickness came after one of those runs.

So I finally caved and bought a fancy pants Enell sports bra since I found some recommendations for it (I did NOT know Oprah endorsed it until I went to the store). Saturday morning Chris and I got up to go on his neighborhood run with Xander in the fancy pants jogging stroller. I politely asked Chris to go on ahead with Xander. I figured it would be better to run by myself for this first outing.

I was slow, I hurt and my lungs felt like little balloons expanding too much but I ran! According to MapMyRun.com I made it 1.5 miles. Since I didn't think I'd make it further than the end of the block, I am rather impressed with myself.

Hmm, other news. I'm knitting Chris a birthday present. I don't have any more totes to make, but have some material left to make myself another for library books. I made Waikiki Meatballs last week and they were awesome. I made burritos last night and Chris loved them. The ducks from the neighborhood pond are hanging out in our area a lot so I'm guessing they will be nesting soon.

Oh, and we woke up to find a German Shepard in the neighbor's yard. They have two dogs and this was not one of them. We were very confused and thought maybe the dog somehow jumped into their yard. I hope I wasn't too desperate-housewife, but I called one of the neighbors at work to let him know it was there. He actually found the dog this morning wandering around without a collar. So he already called around to local authorities and let them know he had the dog. He was very apologetic about the yipping the shepard was making, I just reiterated I was just concerned.

And finally, here is a video clip for you to guess. Of course at the end there are alternative videos and it tells you what show it is from, so that sucks the fun out of it. But does it ever make me smile!

Grateful

A great big THANK YOU to everyone who helped to entertain me during Chris's absence. It was a lucky coincidence that Chris's trip to England coincided with several spring breaks, so the visits during the week were really appreciated. The number of people who called to check on me and visit or have dinner was really touching. And of course Xander appreciated getting attention from everyone too.

Chris will be going again, so if you are sick of me you should be prepared to duck and cover. If you'd like to be added to my list of people-to-bug-for-adult-attention, just drop me a line :)

How to get rid of cold weather

I've been keeping pretty busy lately. Like I said in the baby blog, I went to visit my sister and brother on Wednesday. Thursday Dandy visited and we had a marvelous time at Target. Friday Sarah visited and we went on the Quest for a Jumperoo.

Other than that, I've been schmoozing around the house working on this and that. I finally finished knitting the hat for Chris. Just in time for the 60 degree weather.


Quite frankly I'm surprised it came out so well. There are little mess-ups in it that I know only I can see and a few obvious mess-ups. It's supposed to have the letters PJ (for Pearl Jam) on the side in seed stitch, but it didn't work out so well. But for knitting in the round for the first time, it turned out to be a wearable hat.

Chris is at work, so Xander offered to model for me. Keep in mind that Chris's melon is about 10 times as big as Xander's, especially when you include his hair.

Returning to Rosaries

Last week I received an email from the church's womens group asking me to teach rosary making at one of the upcoming meetings. Yes, I'd love to! This is requiring me to contact the leader of the group in our old parish, order supplies and plan a lesson. I'm surprisingly excited about this.


In other news, I guess I've lost a tutoring student. He hasn't shown up for two weeks and his friend says she doesn't think he will be continuing. Hey, thanks for calling me to let me know so I don't sit around waiting for you. The first student I had is doing great and is working hard to get a B+. The other student that is still coming is struggling so I'm changing from one session of one hour each week to two sessions of a half hour each week. I hope it helps.

And finally, Chris and I installed our TV converter last night. In the process of Chris lifting the TV so I could switch the antenna and converter wires, I jabbed my thigh into a sharp, pointy ledge on the entertainment center. As I exclaim "oh, fudge" and fall to the floor clutching my leg, Chris looks on and says "gee, I'll bet that hurts." He nearly lost an eye. And I'll bet that would have hurt. But at least the converter box works great.

I've gone tote mad

So since the only thing I know how to sew is totes, I'm practicing by making them for my friends. So here is Ikkin's. It's like the one I originally made, but different material than mine. I really liked the lining because (and you can't really see it in the pic) it is cream with shiny cream dots on it, which nicely complements the olive bag with shiny metal circles sewn on it.

And here's the one I made for Sarah. It's a different pattern that I did all by myself (yeah me) and is totally cute. It has a pocket on the outside on both the front and the back. I also adapted the pattern to make the bag taller.


Chris has done a good job of acting impressed with each one (I have one more done, but no pics until I can give it to the recipient) and thinks I should make some to sell. I think a little more practice is in order first to make sure I can do things like line up the seams.

Overall I think I like sewing a little better than knitting, but I'm not giving up on the knitting :)

Random conversation

To set the scene, my inspiring hubby and I try to have some sort of deep and/or meaningful conversation during the day. It usually ends up right before we go to bed.

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Hugs (trying to be imaginative): So, if you were an element on the periodic table what would you be?

Chicks: Xenon

Hugs: Ok. Why?

Chicks: Because it sounds cool. And it's a gas. And it's noble! It's a noble gas.

Hugs (anticipating the same question and wanting to avoid revealing my lack of periodic table knowledge): You know, Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

Chicks: *mouth gaps a little at the shock of Xenon no longer existing*

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We bought a new camera last night, so prepare to be inundated with pictures of Xander and the daffodils that may or may not have survived the blizzard.

Passing the Time

Min is up to her old tricks.

And here are a couple of amusing things that I have found.

Frozen in Grand Central Station - this would freak me out to no end if it happened while I was there. I would probably believe it was a conspiracy theory involving a mutant cover-up.

Stuff White People Like
- some of this is not true at all for the people I know, but some are dead on for me (why yes, a Kitchenaid stand mixer would be my holy grail, preferably in clementine) and some I see in the general population (water bottles for everyone) and some are just amusing (standing still at concerts).

Objects on blog are not as crafty as they appear

I finished the monkey burp cloths for my little monkey. Ironically he is not spitting up as much as he used to (and by me writing that I have guaranteed projectile vomit for the next week).

I did get to make it to the last sewing class, so here is my tote. I love how it looks! It is on the flimsy side since I haven't put in a base and was too lazy and cheap to go buy thicker interfacing.

I know you are wondering what I am using my tote for. It's storing my current knitting project, knitting a hat. I'm trying double pointed needles to knit on the round for the first time. Getting it started seems to be the hard part. I started it over like three times.


Here is a photo cap for you. Chris, you should get this so let others try first :)

Something to Smile About

Here are some things that made me smile this week.

1) Bunny prints in the snow. You can see where the little guy stopped to eat, went exploring (the fire pit!) and took off. It's very cute.

2) Chuck Norris Tributes

3) A radio station that changed it's format and is now playing everything I loved in college (and some from high school). On one hand it makes me feel a little dated that the 90's rock gets it's own station (as opposed to '80s, 90s and now) but it sure does make me smile.

4) I'm getting decent at knitting scarves and I like it! Here is one with a little hole to pull the scarf through. Chris wants a hat and a sweater, both which scare me to try. But by golly, try I will!
5) The sewing class took too long, so a third meeting was scheduled. But I won't be able to make it. So my tote sits unfinished. I will try to finish it, but I was distracted by making these burp cloths. The aren't the fanciest things in the world but I am incredibly proud of myself for putting these together. These have letters of the alphabet and I have a few more to make with cute little monkeys.

Oh My!

I was going to log on and blog about Sock Wars (like the war game in college, but with yarn) and how I heart my bread maker but Ainsley Was Almost Eaten! SERIOUSLY! Carried away to never be seen again! I know I use to many exclamation points, but it is entirely necessary to convey my point here!

I just put all of the ingredients for Cheesy Potato Bread in the bread maker and was about to plug it in when I heard a bang from the back room. It was very reminiscent of when a bird ran into the window and died. So I thought 'oh, nuts' and headed back there, just in time to see through the back door a big bird swoop away to a nearby tree. And I see it's the hawk (I'm assuming hawk, but some large hunting bird) land in the tree in the back yard.

I saw this hawk a couple of weeks ago perched on the fence just hanging out, it flew away when I tried to get a picture for Chris, who is highly fascinated by the hawks we see when driving. So I try to get a picture this time, but the camera went fritzy again and it didn't turn out well. Then it flew away.

Then it clicks that the hawk flew into the window and Ainsley is back there. So I walk back and Ainsley is curled up on top of the love seat by the window. And right above her on the window are a couple of smears where a hawk hit the window.

Poor Ainsley has no clue she was nearly swooped away. I'll still give her a couple of kitty treats though.

PS - any suggestions on how to shrink the giant picture would be appreciated.

Adventures in Houseliving

First Story:

The house was attacked by a giant spider! Ok, so I actually found it in the corner of the basement, but it was a big spider. If my studly husband were home I would sic him on it and he would argue that spiders are good luck. If he's not home I will usually step up and take care of business. But this thing had to be related to Aragog. So I vetoed squishing it (that is a lot of ick) and I wasn't going to attempt to transport it outside. I calmly walked upstairs, got a glass from the cabinet and placed said glass over the spider. It glared at me and gnashed it's fangs.

Since I was doing laundry, I had to look at the little guy every time I went downstairs. Min followed me down and after a little exploring she found a new friend. She was very confused about the glass covering it and kept patting at it. Then she would look at me and meow. She finally came over and was rubbing against my leg. I told her "Tough noogies" and walked away.

Later I found the glass pushed onto a crack and the spider was no where to be found. I'm going to go with the theory and Min helped to smuggle her new many-legged friend to freedom.

Story Two:

Game Night was Saturday! It was so great to have people visit, thank you to all who came!

Truth be told I've been feeling a little down lately. I'm stuck indoors with the lousy weather and the only talking I have some days is with Xander, who is not yet a conversational wiz. So it was great to relax with friends.

So I think everyone had a merry time, there was great food and fun games. We played a new one called The Last Word, and we won't discuss just how bad I was at it. And the boys vs girls Cranium match was fun as always (girls ruled, but I didn't have to tell you that).

Story Three:

After everyone left Game Night, the wind really picked up and we even saw some lightening. The wind continued and the temperature dropped through Sunday. When we returned from church on Sunday morning the electricity was out. Which meant no heat. Disaster! Chris actually called up a friend to come over and explain how to properly work a wood-burning fireplace so we didn't burn the place down. So guess what we'll have at the next Game Night :)

The electric finally came back on about 4ish and the heater ran and ran, but would not get to above 57 degrees (for those concerned for Xander, we did turn on little heater to warm up his room). Seriously, it just kept running. I'm trying to sleep and can see the gas bill skyrocketing. I call in to our home warranty this morning to arrange someone to look at our heater and Chris decides to pull out the air filter. Within an hour and a half the temperature was up 5 degrees.

So today's lesson is if you buy a house, change the air filter.

And finally, a Name that Screen Cap - television edition.

Think about it

Check out the following link for pictures and information on what different families eat throughout the world:

What the World Eats

I think there are a lot of different things that can be observed from these pictures. The obvious is how much is spent on food each week on different parts of the world. At first I thought 'we are under what appears to be a US average', then I remembered that only two of us are paying to eat and the little guys is eating for free.

I also thought about types of food, both in the pictures and what we eat in our house. I should try to get more fresh foods instead of frozen foods. It's amazing how much fast food, pop and prepared foods some families had compared to fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and eggs others had.

This last time I noticed the rooms the families were in, I think the pictures were supposed to be taken in the kitchen or dining rooms. Some rooms were so empty, some had televisions and the one family was sitting outside.

It's just something to see how other people live.