PS- for those of you who don't know my brother, he is 6'8". There's not really much to scale him against in the picture, but I assure you, that is one long sweater! Esp the arm part of the sweater.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Sweater
In all it's glory!
PS- for those of you who don't know my brother, he is 6'8". There's not really much to scale him against in the picture, but I assure you, that is one long sweater! Esp the arm part of the sweater.
PS- for those of you who don't know my brother, he is 6'8". There's not really much to scale him against in the picture, but I assure you, that is one long sweater! Esp the arm part of the sweater.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
That's how it is with Saturdays
This morning I got to hear Robert shouting, "Don't run with scissors!!" to Liel. I think she stopped, too! We were waiting for the mail to arrive before heading to Brooklyn...I bought some lovely Malabrigo on sale and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Today was not the day, but I did get some gorgeous handspun yarn from a Ravelry swap. I can't get a good pic now cause it's dark and all, but needless to say it takes my own handspun pic down a notch. I need to try plying my yarn- maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, after my exciting mail we packed up and headed out. Big day: giving Kenny his birthday sweater! Because he's so very tall and thin it was a total custom job and involved at least 10 phone calls during which I demanded that he measure from underarm to wrist, shoulder to wrist, neck to hip, hip to underarm, the sleeves on a sweater that nearly fit, etc. etc. The sweater used more than a kilometer of yarn and took between 100,000 and 150,000 stitches. So you can see why I was a little nervous about whether or not it would actually fit. I'll put you out of your suspenseful misery quickly: IT FIT PERFECTLY. I should've had more confidence in my own rockstarness, ya know? Seriously, it looks awesome on him. I'd post a pic for you, but we forgot our camera, and Kenny hasn't emailed me the pic I took with his yet. I plan to call and harangue him about it in the morning.
Zion had a kind of hard day at Uncle Kenny and Aunt Giselle's. He was underslept, grumpy, kind of bored, and really happy to be there all at the same time. In practice this meant that he spent a lot of time alternately antagonizing Liel for the fun of hearing her shriek at him, and telling his aunt and uncle how glad he was to be there, and how nice it was to see them. Pretty much your standard 4 year old Jeckyll and Hyde.
Kenny's been on about this fabulous Thai place they discovered in the neighborhood, so naturally I had to try it. It was quite, quite good. Wish it had been there/we had known about it when we lived there! I love coconut milk.
No visit with Kenn and Giselle seems to be complete without a debate about some point of grammar or pronunciation, so today we all learned how to correctly conguate the verb "to forsake" (it's "Chester has forsaken his sausage" or "Chester forsook his sausage"). Well, 3 of us learned. One of us already knew the correct answer, and she's typing this blog post. And no, being right never gets tiring!
Anyway, after my exciting mail we packed up and headed out. Big day: giving Kenny his birthday sweater! Because he's so very tall and thin it was a total custom job and involved at least 10 phone calls during which I demanded that he measure from underarm to wrist, shoulder to wrist, neck to hip, hip to underarm, the sleeves on a sweater that nearly fit, etc. etc. The sweater used more than a kilometer of yarn and took between 100,000 and 150,000 stitches. So you can see why I was a little nervous about whether or not it would actually fit. I'll put you out of your suspenseful misery quickly: IT FIT PERFECTLY. I should've had more confidence in my own rockstarness, ya know? Seriously, it looks awesome on him. I'd post a pic for you, but we forgot our camera, and Kenny hasn't emailed me the pic I took with his yet. I plan to call and harangue him about it in the morning.
Zion had a kind of hard day at Uncle Kenny and Aunt Giselle's. He was underslept, grumpy, kind of bored, and really happy to be there all at the same time. In practice this meant that he spent a lot of time alternately antagonizing Liel for the fun of hearing her shriek at him, and telling his aunt and uncle how glad he was to be there, and how nice it was to see them. Pretty much your standard 4 year old Jeckyll and Hyde.
Kenny's been on about this fabulous Thai place they discovered in the neighborhood, so naturally I had to try it. It was quite, quite good. Wish it had been there/we had known about it when we lived there! I love coconut milk.
No visit with Kenn and Giselle seems to be complete without a debate about some point of grammar or pronunciation, so today we all learned how to correctly conguate the verb "to forsake" (it's "Chester has forsaken his sausage" or "Chester forsook his sausage"). Well, 3 of us learned. One of us already knew the correct answer, and she's typing this blog post. And no, being right never gets tiring!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Can't talk, spinning
You've probably missed me, and wondered why I wasn't blogging, right? Well, I've been doing the usual work/preschool stuff AND I've been spinning. Yarn! Real yarn! Right now I'm working on some lovely undyed stuff that is destined to become a hat for my dear brother, but here is a pic of the first batch of wool I spun. It's only part of the batch, and was my third attempt at spinning.
You may now tell me how totally rad I am. Making yarn = the heavens obey my commands!!
You may now tell me how totally rad I am. Making yarn = the heavens obey my commands!!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Do you think those drugs are legal?
Cause we just have to take it as a given that no sober person dreamed this shit up.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Can't stop laughing
So, my friend Stacie linked me up to a new-to-me blog today- Dad gone Mad. She knew I'd appreciate his post from last week about the Beastie Boys, kids, and life lessons, and I did. I liked it so much that I went to see what he'd written this week and almost peed my pants laughing at this post. Seriously- I could. not. stop. laughing. I still can't. I'm laughing while I type!
There was one rather disappointing bit, however. A comment left on the blog indicated the existence of a book about carpet beetles and such, titled Who Munches Carpet? And again, I couldn't stop laughing. I came here to blog about it to y'all and made the sad discovery that no such book appears to exist. Oh, the disappointment! My best guess is that the commenter meant this book, which is about the weird things animals eat, and which includes a section (perhaps- hopefully!) with the carpet munching title.
I'm feelin' great after my laugh, hope you are, too!
Oh, and guess what else?? My darling husband disassembled the toilet for me today in order to clean all pee (*cough*Zion*cough*) out of the hinges. Bathroom doesn't smell like a subway station! AND he did it even though he had actual paid work that needed doing. I swooned a little when I got home. Who knew that cleaning a preschooler's pee out of toilet hinges could take on semi-romantic overtones?? Man, no wonder teenagers think adults are kind of lame and out of touch. I mean, imagine your teenage self and whoever you had a crush on at the time. Would TeenageYou have gone all weak in the knees if Crush had cleaned your toilet? No. TeenageYou would have been mortified (or at least confused), and probably rightly so. After all, "I cleaned your toilet" doesn't exactly have "Dangerous" and "Wants to sweep me off my feet" written all over it...at least not until you're the parent of a small child with bad aim.
There was one rather disappointing bit, however. A comment left on the blog indicated the existence of a book about carpet beetles and such, titled Who Munches Carpet? And again, I couldn't stop laughing. I came here to blog about it to y'all and made the sad discovery that no such book appears to exist. Oh, the disappointment! My best guess is that the commenter meant this book, which is about the weird things animals eat, and which includes a section (perhaps- hopefully!) with the carpet munching title.
I'm feelin' great after my laugh, hope you are, too!
Oh, and guess what else?? My darling husband disassembled the toilet for me today in order to clean all pee (*cough*Zion*cough*) out of the hinges. Bathroom doesn't smell like a subway station! AND he did it even though he had actual paid work that needed doing. I swooned a little when I got home. Who knew that cleaning a preschooler's pee out of toilet hinges could take on semi-romantic overtones?? Man, no wonder teenagers think adults are kind of lame and out of touch. I mean, imagine your teenage self and whoever you had a crush on at the time. Would TeenageYou have gone all weak in the knees if Crush had cleaned your toilet? No. TeenageYou would have been mortified (or at least confused), and probably rightly so. After all, "I cleaned your toilet" doesn't exactly have "Dangerous" and "Wants to sweep me off my feet" written all over it...at least not until you're the parent of a small child with bad aim.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Little ears
Liel and I were reading stories on the couch a few minutes ago. We finished our book and she climbed onto the back of the couch. She made an unhappy face at the toys Zion had piled there, picked one up, and hefted it experimentally.
"Throw shit!", she shouted, launching it into the living room.
PS sorry for the sparseness of posts lately. Things at our house have been Crazy. Both kids are now attending our parent run, co-op nursery school and we are on the board of the school. Plus work (and we are both teaching new classes this semester), house, cooking, shopping, knitting, and visitors (see below). I expect I'll catch up with my tail one of these days and get back to regular blogging!
"Throw shit!", she shouted, launching it into the living room.
PS sorry for the sparseness of posts lately. Things at our house have been Crazy. Both kids are now attending our parent run, co-op nursery school and we are on the board of the school. Plus work (and we are both teaching new classes this semester), house, cooking, shopping, knitting, and visitors (see below). I expect I'll catch up with my tail one of these days and get back to regular blogging!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Moonwaffles
The Texas State Fair is, as you may know, home to deep fried goodness. They fry shit you wouldn't even think could be fried, like Coke. Someday I will journey to this mecca of deliciousness, but for now I will have to content myself with reading the list of finalists at this year's fair, and possibly trying to duplicate some of them at home. I think Chicken-fried bacon would be very do-able for the home cook, for instance! Oh G-d, and with ranch sauce?? Excuse me while I attempt not to fry my precious laptop with drool.
Of course special mention must go to Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls cause, well, if that doesn't sound an awful lot like Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls I don't know what does. Plus, balls. Hee hee.
Of course special mention must go to Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls cause, well, if that doesn't sound an awful lot like Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls I don't know what does. Plus, balls. Hee hee.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Swap-happy
I really like swapping and trading. This is a general, "about me" kind of statement...I think it's a great way to share skills and goods around and spread the love. I trade and share kid's clothes with friends around the country, sending boxes to Kansas (rarely, I'm afraid...Zion is only just starting to produce wearable hand me downs again), Utah and California. In high school, when we all lived together, my girlfriends and I shared clothes, too...now I have to make do with my own closet all the time, which isn't as much fun, but at least it all fits. Sometimes I swap my handknits for stuff I can't (or don't) make on my own- esp cosmetic type stuff!
And then there is hobby/obsession swapping. Back when I was a perfume oil junkie I spent a couple of years trading, selling, and buying from people around the world. It was lots of fun, brought packages of delightful smells to my doorstep and allowed me to try and experiment with way more perfumes than I could have bought straight up for the same amount of money. I never kept careful track, but I'm pretty certain I tried over 500 different blends in those years (and yes, I still adore a good perfume oil...I just can't call myself a junkie anymore!). When the kids were smaller and I spent more time with them tied to my body I swapped/sold/bought baby carriers. Never kept much track of them, either, but I'd guess I've owned 20-30 different ones (I'm down to 3 now).
Nowadays, as you might've noticed, my obsession is yarn. Ravelry has made me very happy with the ISO/Destashing group...I've bought some delicious yarns at great prices and sold some of my less loved ones to happier homes. And a couple weeks ago I discovered a swap group that I really, really love. No selling here, just trading. The only un-fun part is trying to figure out what there is in my stash that I can part with AND that will likely be desired by someone else.
All of which is a long way of saying: Guess what I traded for yesterday?! A drop spindle! And hand-dyed wool roving! And natural black alpaca roving! Yep. I'm finally gonna learn how to spin yarn (at least, I hope I am. It looks tricky. But I've wanted to learn for about 6 years!). Gah. I get all warm and gooey just thinking about taking fiber and creating YARN from it. And then knitting that yarn into a wearable object! Holy hell, I'd be, like, the flyest of the fly.
And then there is hobby/obsession swapping. Back when I was a perfume oil junkie I spent a couple of years trading, selling, and buying from people around the world. It was lots of fun, brought packages of delightful smells to my doorstep and allowed me to try and experiment with way more perfumes than I could have bought straight up for the same amount of money. I never kept careful track, but I'm pretty certain I tried over 500 different blends in those years (and yes, I still adore a good perfume oil...I just can't call myself a junkie anymore!). When the kids were smaller and I spent more time with them tied to my body I swapped/sold/bought baby carriers. Never kept much track of them, either, but I'd guess I've owned 20-30 different ones (I'm down to 3 now).
Nowadays, as you might've noticed, my obsession is yarn. Ravelry has made me very happy with the ISO/Destashing group...I've bought some delicious yarns at great prices and sold some of my less loved ones to happier homes. And a couple weeks ago I discovered a swap group that I really, really love. No selling here, just trading. The only un-fun part is trying to figure out what there is in my stash that I can part with AND that will likely be desired by someone else.
All of which is a long way of saying: Guess what I traded for yesterday?! A drop spindle! And hand-dyed wool roving! And natural black alpaca roving! Yep. I'm finally gonna learn how to spin yarn (at least, I hope I am. It looks tricky. But I've wanted to learn for about 6 years!). Gah. I get all warm and gooey just thinking about taking fiber and creating YARN from it. And then knitting that yarn into a wearable object! Holy hell, I'd be, like, the flyest of the fly.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Also, visitors!
Septemeber is a visitory month for us. Cody arrived on Thursday for a quick visit and thrilled (and slightly embarrassed- at least, I was slightly embarrassed!) us by playing with the kids in the morning while we slept, blissfully unaware. If that's not some serious love, I don't know what is! The kids had lots of fun with him, too, especially Zion who enjoyed pretending to fight, chop and otherwise main and bang Cody. In fact, Zion liked Cody so well that he temporarily abandoned his "Daddy should always win" attitude about Scrabble and cheered and "helped" Uncle Cody during Robert and Cody's one game (a game they sadly had to end prematurely, since the kid's preschool needed some help in a kind of "right now" way).
My mom and aunt are on their way to my house right now! Or at least my state. I believe they are somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, more or less. They've spent the past 3 weeks in Turkey and London (mostly Turkey) and are stopping off here for a quick visit before heading home. Last night I got a rather surprising series of emails from my mom saying, "we're coming tomorrow, hope you don't think we're coming Tuesday! Here's our flight number, we'll call when we get our bags. Won't be able to check email again, see you tomorrow!". I was deeply confused since the airline itinerary my mom had sent me several weeks earlier had in fact said they were coming Tuesday. I called the airline and they confirmed that Mom was actually coming today...still no idea why or when that was changed, but VERY glad she sent the email! They'll be here late tonight if all goes well.
And next week our friend Kelly and her fiance are coming for a visit! We are so popular this month :D
My mom and aunt are on their way to my house right now! Or at least my state. I believe they are somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, more or less. They've spent the past 3 weeks in Turkey and London (mostly Turkey) and are stopping off here for a quick visit before heading home. Last night I got a rather surprising series of emails from my mom saying, "we're coming tomorrow, hope you don't think we're coming Tuesday! Here's our flight number, we'll call when we get our bags. Won't be able to check email again, see you tomorrow!". I was deeply confused since the airline itinerary my mom had sent me several weeks earlier had in fact said they were coming Tuesday. I called the airline and they confirmed that Mom was actually coming today...still no idea why or when that was changed, but VERY glad she sent the email! They'll be here late tonight if all goes well.
And next week our friend Kelly and her fiance are coming for a visit! We are so popular this month :D
Sleep weirdness
A month or two ago I woke up in the middle of the night to Liel's howls. I rushed to her room and found her behind the door, crying and crying because she couldn't find Fluffy. I took her back to her bed and found Fluffy lying right there, on her pillow. I figured she'd just overlooked him in her sleepy panic.
Then two nights ago I woke up to same- Liel crying, found her behind the door, couldn't find Fluffy, he was in her bed. An hour later she was crying again, and behind the door again, but this time she told me that Zion had closed the door and told her she couldn't go out with him. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that Zion was still in bed, asleep (Ok, the asleep part might be a little surprising, with his sister crying at such close quarters!). I assured her that Zion was right there, had done no such thing, everything was alright...and she slept peacefully the rest of the night.
I think my girl is a sleepwalker, don't you?? I did some sleepwalking as a kid, so I suppose it's not terribly surprising. Poor thing, imagine going to sleep in your cozy bed and waking up in the corner between your door and toy box!
Then two nights ago I woke up to same- Liel crying, found her behind the door, couldn't find Fluffy, he was in her bed. An hour later she was crying again, and behind the door again, but this time she told me that Zion had closed the door and told her she couldn't go out with him. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that Zion was still in bed, asleep (Ok, the asleep part might be a little surprising, with his sister crying at such close quarters!). I assured her that Zion was right there, had done no such thing, everything was alright...and she slept peacefully the rest of the night.
I think my girl is a sleepwalker, don't you?? I did some sleepwalking as a kid, so I suppose it's not terribly surprising. Poor thing, imagine going to sleep in your cozy bed and waking up in the corner between your door and toy box!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Coconut Ice Cream
Yesterday I made the easiest coconut ice cream EVER. Added bonus: it is also one of the tastiest coconut ice creams I've ever had! Added-added bonus: you can store the ingredients in your pantry so that you can make this on a whim. Mmmmm. Whim.
Anyway, here's the "recipe".
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (I use the organic stuff that Trader Joe's carries)
1 14oz can coconut milk (I use the organic reduced fat stuff that TJ's carries. See a trend?)
2 tsp vanilla
And...that's it. Yep. Just open the cans, pour contents into a bowl and mix. Add the vanilla and mix again. Chill it a bit. Put it in your ice cream maker and flip the switch. Savor the awesome creamy fruits of your labor.
Anyway, here's the "recipe".
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (I use the organic stuff that Trader Joe's carries)
1 14oz can coconut milk (I use the organic reduced fat stuff that TJ's carries. See a trend?)
2 tsp vanilla
And...that's it. Yep. Just open the cans, pour contents into a bowl and mix. Add the vanilla and mix again. Chill it a bit. Put it in your ice cream maker and flip the switch. Savor the awesome creamy fruits of your labor.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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