Ravelympics updates.

I personally completed my ravelympics training. I couldn’t be more ready. I do not typically swatch carefully, and I have never washed and blocked a swatch. This has not often been to my detriment, though once in awhile I get burned. For the most part, I find I’d rather frog and reknit than swatch in the first place. Call me crazy, I know! I figured though, that for an event where a deadline was key, I had really better carefully swatch as to not lose time with a reknit. Also, I’ve been hearing rumors about the yarn I chose, it apparently likes to expand upon contact with water. So I did actually wash this one before I checked my gauge.

I am a chronically loose knitter, going down at least 2 needle sizes to achieve proper gauge, and this was no exception. 2 needle sizes down and I had the exact gauge that was called for. How cool is that! Yes, I am just a little excited over this new experience!

I figured I’d show you, partly because this indicates how the yarn will knit up colorwise as well. I have to say, this one is going to be purdy! Very soft and subtle and I think it will look nice over a dark top in the winter.

In other ravelympics news, we now have a team sporum with some of my favorite people. Competing with me will be:

Savasana on sock put.

Sarah on both scarf stroke and laceweight longjump.

Phyllis on shawl relay and just in case we don’t think she is crazy…hat dash too!

And we may have one other competitor, Carrie, who will be our WIP wrangler.

What is even better is, these gals have agreed to allow me to post their projects and progress here on my blog as well as ravelry, so we get to enjoy those projects all in one place!

Go Team Sporum!

I didn’t even know I did it, but someone believes I did.

Today, while at work, I got a call on my cell phone.

Me:  Hello?

Caller:  Hello?

Me:  Hello?

Caller:  Hello?

Me:  Hello, can you please identify yourself.

Caller:  You keeked mah dug.

Me:  (not understanding)  What?

Caller:  You keeked mah dug!  You keeked mah dug, I saw you!

Me:  Ma’am, you have the wrong number.

Caller:  I do not, You keeked mah dug, You came on mah property and you keeked mah dug!

Me:  (sort of laughing)  Um, who is this, please identify yourself, I assure you I did not kick a dog today.

Caller:  Yes you did!  I saw you keek mah dug!

Me:  Who is this! (at this point I am wondering if this is a prank call from a crazy friend, but I don’t know anyone who has such an accent OR who has a similar intonation and timbre.

Caller:  THis is frufru’s mother, you keeked mah dug!

At this point I hand the phone over to favorite coworker, because I am laughing too hard.

Favorite coworker:  Who is this?

Caller:  You keeked mah dug!

Favorite coworker:  Please verify your number, I assure you she would NEVER kick a dog!

Caller:  You keeked mah dug (or some such incoherent rambling)

Favorite coworker:  You have the wrong number.  Lady, you are crazy!

She hands the phone back to me.  Woman is still going on about her dog so I hang up.

All I have to say…..with a name like FruFru, even though I never kicked her dog, I want to now!

Bug:  Mommy, what is this building on my shirt?  Is it a church?

Me:  No sweetie, that is the Eiffel Tower.

Bug:  Oh, where is it?

Me:  In Paris, France.

Bug:  Oh, do people live in it?

Me:  No Love, but they can go in it and look out of the top, way high up, and see the whole city.

Bug:  OK.  Someday, can we go there?

And another travel dreamer is born.

My lovely daughter, who is growing up before my very eyes, turned 4 on Wednesday.  She made cupcakes for her class and got to wear a crown all day at school.  All around, she had a very good day.  Her favorite part seemed to be giving “her kids” their cupcakes and little toys.

Bug thinks that her princess teeth are gone now.  I think this comes from getting used to them and finding them to feel natural.  She does tell me frequently though, that she wants to “get rid of all the sugar bugs” so that she never has to get princess teeth again!

So I think I’ve hit every item on my to do list. Nicks sock yarn is balled and in my bag to cast on at work tomorrow. That leaves me 2 weeks of working on them during work time before I leave for vacation. Decent. They won’t be done before vacation, but they will be close, and I can work on them in the plane.

I spun more coopworth, washed it, balled it up, and worked on the lite lopi. If I wasn’t dyeing and spinning this one, it would be a very quick knit. When you last saw it, the second sleeve was not done. Now both sleeves are done and attached, and I have started the colorwork.

I worked on Bug’s pinwheel sweater. I am working on the double icord edging. It isn’t going well. There are spots where I didn’t make them wrap properly. I’ll own up to it! I don’t enjoy this part either and it is taking so much time. I feel that it is taking more time than it took to knit the pinwheel in the first place. Of course, since I am not enjoying it I have to force myself to work on it. I do like the edging end result, and even though it is not done yet, I thought I’d show it off.

Now since so much of my to do list got done, it is perhaps no great surprise that I was not able to resist casting on my brand new handspun for the montego bay scarf! And I am telling you, I cannot love more knitting with someone else’s handspun. I love how the scarf is working up and I am absolutely in love with the yarn! Take a look!

Nothing else will be put on my wheel until I receive some beautiful sanguine gryphon merino/silk roving.  I get to play spinning fairy and I cannot wait!  I am insisting my wheel stay still until it comes in.  So much knitting in the next couple days.

Well Bug went in for her dental appointment today. The big one. I don’t think they explained very well last time what all she needed done. There was a language barrier last time for sure. Because she needed 2 fillings and 2 crowns. They gave her the nitrous oxide and told me that if the insurance didn’t cover it, they would give it for free. They didn’t want her to flip out.

The first 2 cavities were quite small, so no numbing was required. Those went super smoothly. But when they numbed for the top teeth, the poor kid just lost it. She laid still but cried through the rest of the procedure. On the other hand, they were able to do the white composite crowns just fine because she did keep her tongue back and she did obey even though she really struggled with the pain and the scariness of it all.

The dentist referred to her crowns and princess teeth, which I thought was pretty funny.

So I bring you the Bug with her 2 new princess teeth.

They are a lot more straight now, as the real teeth were crooked and gapped.

Remember that big storm we had here recently?  Let’s just say, as severe as it was, it was not Katrina.

Trouble is, people are acting like it was.  They are lining up and demanding foodstamps because they were without power and they lost food from their fridge.

Now, I consider myself more than fortunate, so perhaps I need a dose of perspective, but I put the ice packs from my freezer into my fridge, and we ate what we could.  I did lose food.  I was sad to throw things out.  But eating a bit less never hurt anyone.

I do believe that there are people in this city who are a lot less fortunate than I am, and I am sure that this could turn into a difficult time, but there were churches and food pantries set up for that.

I fail to understand why people are feeling the need to ask for food stamps a week after the storm was over and while everyone now has power?  This would imply that people are overstocking their coffers with food, meaning that they had enough to buy copious amounts of food in the first place to lose.  I did not lose much because I did not have a huge amount to lose.  If you really don’t have much cash on hand, then it is not wise to spend a good portion of your cash on food inventory which can spoil.  Somehow the whole thing I find slightly irritating.  I don’t want to be callous but yet it doesn’t make sense to me.  This was not a natural disaster of epic proportions, this was a storm which we have a lot of in this state and we should all be well prepared for.  Yes, there have been more storms than usual this year, but it comes as no surprise that we would have one that would knock out power for a time.

Now, if you have had a tree or two fall on your house and you are without food and shelter….you should certainly have some assistance from various places.  If your power went out for a few days, yeah, it kind of sucks, but it is not an unusual occurrence.

My favorite coworker blogged about this too, I think we should read what she has to say.

I think the American public has got to stop saying “what can I get out of my government” and start saying “what needs to be changed and how can we actively affect that change in our government.”

She sleeps.

She spent 2 nights at her dads, and didn’t sleep well there.  The first night she slept late.  The second night he kept her awake through naptime in order that she might get on a better nighttime schedule.  Um no….she just got really super hyper and had no binky to calm her down.  She also did not nap at his house yesterday so I was quite concerned about last night.

She and I had a long talk about sleeping.  We talked about how often she is coming downstairs.  We agreed upon treats the next day if she could manage to not come downstairs unless she needed the potty.  We reinforced this throughout the evening, but I didn’t concentrate on it.

Her dad tries to sympathize with her over how hard it is to sleep with the binky.  I decided less focus on the binky was the way to go, as she has already given it up in her head, so no sense making a big deal about it.

I put her to bed a bit early, since she hasn’t been sleeping well, and I know that with this child, “good sleep begets good sleep.”  I hoped that if we start the process early, then maybe she’d be sleeping at a more reasonable time.

The first time she came downstairs, I told her that if she did not have to go to the bathroom, then she better get herself back up the stairs or I would take away the treats.  The next time she came down, before she opened the door, I reminded her that she better not open that door unless she needed to use the bathroom.  She opened the door, used the bathroom, and headed upstairs informing me that she would now lay down and not play with her toys.

She seems to have done just that.  I went up to check on her and turn off her AC and she was sleeping so well, all curled up with her head on her stuffed sheep.  This morning when I went to get her for school, she was still sleeping.  So hopefully we will establish this new routine and both mommy and the Bug will be feeling much better.

I asked my landlady to have someone come clean the gutters.  She took it upon herself to not only cut down all the berry bushes which were bearing beautiful fruit but she also pulled up my parsley!

I want my own home.

This is a picture from the book which Bug got from the binky fairy.  She wanted me to take a picture to show Nana.  Personally, I had no idea she could color so well if she put her mind to it.  She isn’t quite 4 yet but I swear she colors better than I do!  She has titled this “Rainbow Cinderella.”

Binkies are gone, but Bug is not sleeping.  Let me tell you how my night went.

8:45 PM put Bug to bed.  She goes willingly and tells me that she will go to sleep.  After all, she is pale and tired from being up way too late the last 2 nights.

9:00 Call J to chat while spinning.

9:15 Bug comes down for potty, goes upstairs with no trouble

9:20 Bug comes downstairs, gets a drink of water, and informs me that she needs me to come cover her up (remember that it is super hot out!)  I tell her that I will not get off the phone to cover her up since I have covered her up once already.  I’d be up after I was done with my call.

9:30 go upstairs to cover her up.

10:15 bug comes down and tells me she is hungry, she wants food, and she wants something in her mouth.  My response is No, go back to bed and sleep.

10:20 Bug comes down to inform me that she needs cuddles and needs to be covered up.  I take her upstairs “Like a little baby” and settle her down again.  Again explain that it is late, she needs to sleep, and Mommy is going to go to sleep too.

10:45 I go to bed, assuming that Bug is asleep.

11:00 Bug comes downstairs, wakes me up, and gives me a sticker.  I am losing my cool at this point.  She goes back upstairs.

11:05 J calls, apparently to see if I am serious about how my sleep schedule is all messed up and I am not sleeping until later than usual.  I inform him that no good can come of such a phone call and he is really very lucky that Bug has just woken me up, otherwise he would have been the one to do so and I am losing my cool!

11:15 I hear Bug crying upstairs.  Out of bed to see what the trouble is.  She is too cold, she needs to be covered up.  She has already turned off her AC.  (It was still hot).  I tell her that I will take every toy out of her bedroom if she doesn’t learn to go to sleep when she is supposed to.  And her music.  This threat apparently works, or she was just too tired.  She goes to sleep.

11:20, I am back in bed.  But wide awake and hungry.  There is no sleeping now!  Toss, turn, give up and grab a bit to eat and get a few things done.

This had better get easier or I am going to give the binky back, I swear!  I am exhausted.  My little girl who goes to sleep so well, every night, has turned into one of those kids you can’t keep in their room!  She isn’t crying or fussing or screaming or pitching a fit.  But she is keeping me awake and messing with my schedule nonetheless.  I am feeling very bitter this morning.  The worst part is that I see a pattern developing already.  The cuddles, the covering her up, they are exactly what I did the first night she had no binky.  So I think she thinks these are parts of the non binky routine.  Or she is trying to work out what her non binky routine is.

I have a headache today.  I feel not so well.  I did not want to go back the the bedtime routine of a newborn just because I took away the binky.

The next class that is the most logical for me to take in the upcoming semester is Ethnic Literature.  The trouble is, the only class offering of it is mid day right during work, twice a week.  I am lucky enough to have flexible coworkers who would cover for me, where I can make up the time every week, but I am just really struggling with the thought of trying to make up that much time and go to class twice weekly.  I guess I have to sleep on it a bit.

The advantages are that it will not mess with my daughters schedule with her father.  I won’t have to switch things around.  On the other hand, I am struggling to figure out just where I am going to fit study time if I am busy waking up early to go to work early to make up missed time for class.  I am normally studying at 5:30 AM but I will have a new earlier schedule at work, and between that and making up time, it may get quite interesting.  And Bug goes to bed later than ever, so my dubious evening study time might be scarce as well.

And finally, I have a large work conference this semester which class would conflict with on 2 of the conference days.  This conference is really the culmination and the shining light of what I do at work, and missing even a portion of it would be difficult for myself, for my faculty, and for my attendees.

So the options are to skip this semester, or take the class and deal with the ensuing consequences.  I guess I’ll sleep on it.

Miss Bug gave up her binkies at her dads house too!  I am so very very proud of her.  He says she did not get to sleep until 11 PM, but I say 11 PM is better than midnight, so that is progress.  She will learn how to put herself to sleep, it just might be tough to do for awhile.  She apparently collected all her binkies, gave them up, then found another later on and easily gave that one up too.  This is all very good news!

Bug has been anticipating giving up her nighttime binky for awhile now.  She knew that when she turned 4 she would have to get rid of them all.  I informed her that her Doctor would be telling her that 4 yr olds cannot have binkies.  So she knew that this time was coming.  We talked about a binky fairy who might bring her a nice toy if she could give up all her binkies.

Last evening I took her with me to a Borders knit night.  I thought she could hang with me for awhile if she was good and we’d leave if she got obnoxious.  She never really got obnoxious, she spent a lot of time going to the children’s section, getting a book, bringing it back to look at, returning it to the children’s section, and choosing another book.  She really seemed to be at her element in the book store.  She was quite quiet as I had asked her to be ahead of time, since the adults would be talking.  She worked hard to be quiet and it wasn’t until we were about ready to leave that she found some toys to annoy my friends with.

One of the books she had looked at was a large princess coloring book complete with stickers.  She really wanted it.  Since we had been to the Dentist that morning, I asked her if she thought she could give up her binkies in order that the binky fairy could bring her that book.  She really liked that idea and talked about it with me all the way home.  I was not at all convinced she would actually do this, but was more than willing to give it a shot.

She had some concerns about the binkies.  She wanted to know what the binky fairy was going to do with that many binkies!?!  Why would she need so many?  Did she have babies too?  I told her that yes, the binky fairy has lots of babies and needs the binkies for her babies.  This seemed to satisfy her curiosity.

We got home later than usual and she immediately went upstairs and collected her binkies.  She knew all their hiding spots and was even trying to get rid of the binky belonging to one of her dolls.  I informed her that her baby doll could keep her binky.  She put them all in a white basket and put them outside.  I told her that the binky fairy would not bring the toy until she did the same thing at daddy’s house too.  She didn’t like this idea much at all!  I was insistent though, and she accepted it.

It was a rough night.  She came downstairs quite a bit.  She kept telling me she needed something for her mouth, that her fingers don’t feel good in her mouth (Thank goodness for that!!!) but she did not want those binkies back!  We finally got to sleep about midnight, she was persistent about the whole thing.

I wrote her a note from the binky fairy this morning, and placed it in the basket along with a new pair of undies.  The note thanked her for her binkies and said that the fairy babies would be very happy to use the new binkies.  It also mentioned that she needed to take the basket to daddy’s house and do the same thing there and then she would leave a gift.

She informed me on the way to school that the binky fairy did not need ALL of the binkies.  The binky fairy would not mind if she kept one binkie.  I told her that this was true.  The binky fairy will not mind if she keeps one binky but the binky fairy also cannot leave a toy if she keeps a binky.  She has a special night at her dads tonight so we can nip this habit in the bud.  She was a little sad this morning, but proud of herself.  All the pieces are in place, so we will see if he is able to follow through too.  He seems on board.

And I need to run out to Borders and get her special gift.

I do have to say, the binkies are a security blanket for me too, I will freely admit that.  I am scared that from now on she won’t be able to sleep properly and neither will I.  I am exhausted this morning, terribly exhausted.  I knew last night that if I just gave her a binky that I could get some rest too.  I am having a hard time giving up my binkies!!!

Me and this stuff are gonna fight!

I bought some steel cut oats to try them out.  I usually have my oatmeal with soy milk and golden flaxseed.  I like to bring it to work and cook it in the microwave.  I decided to do the same with the steel cut oats.  I figured that it would just need a longer time in the microwave to get the end result.

So 2 minutes it went in, and I stirred and realized that it needed a lot more time.  Another 2 minutes and my coworker walks past the microwave and informs me that my oatmeal is overflowing.  I tell you it looked like a volcano!  Oats and soy milk flowing over the side of the container onto the microwave floor.  I stop the microwave, pull out the oats and clean up the mess.  I tried my oats.  I felt like a cow chewing cud.  Chew chew chew.  Nope, can’t eat it yet, chew chew chew….great, now it is stuck up in my gums.  Chew chew chew….eat some.  Pull out all the oats in my gums.  Chew chew chew….it wasn’t pretty!  I worked hard for my breakfast this morning.

Furthermore, about half the normal amount of oatmeal filled me, and then kept filling me.  I feel sick on oatmeal.  Never again!  I need to find a better way of cooking this stuff!

This weekend J and I did our typical coffee shop run.  Since we had no where else to be, we decided that we would sit and visit in the shop for longer than usual.  I brought a crossword puzzle as it is one of our favorite past times and we scored the good seats and settled in.

J noticed this guy who we had seen somewhere else, a buff kind of tattooed alternative type.  Tanned, looked like a personal trainer (see that appearances thing coming into play?) nice looking but certainly different than us.  He had been standing about waiting for his coffee, but came over to talk to us.  He asked if we were teachers.  I said that I wasn’t, and J didn’t respond.  Tattooed guy laughed and said “It’s just that you look so much like my sister, the hair, the clothes, and (indicating J) you look like my brother in law, and they are both teachers.  They love to do crossword puzzles and read, and I just thought that you might be teachers too.”

So in the amount of time it took for me to size him up and make assumptions about his personal appearance, which tied into the assumptions I made about his career and his lifestyle, he had done the same with us.

I know a gal who extols the virtues of well pressed clothes.  She ascertains that even if you have very little spending cash, you can still look clean and tidy with a decent iron, and that there is no excuse not to do it.  I’ve heard her mention this frequently.  I once saw a picture of her and her children online, and I am telling you, she practices what she preaches.  She and her kids were tidy and clean and well pressed.  They all looked fantastic.

When I first met J, he took me shopping.  With his eye for clothing, colors, and styles, I soon had purchased clothes that were more professional and better fitting than anything I had previously owned.  It all became clear what a difference this made when I went to the local yarn shop.  They asked me where I worked, I told them, and they assumed I was a doctor.

Now, I am not telling you that I always go out of the house with nice clothing, make up and hair done.  Pretty far from the truth actually.  My yard is my own place where I can wear junk.  But I do take a bit more care when going farther than that now.  Yes it takes a bit of extra energy when I may not have much left, but it is worth it to me.

Oddly, I had an experience this morning which tied right into the appearances post I had been contemplating.  Miss Bug went in for a dental appointment today.  She has a cavity right on her front tooth.  She needs a crown even though it is a baby tooth.  Apparently the most common crown for a kid is silver.  And I just could not stand the thought of my baby having a silver tooth right up in front.  It just won’t look right!  There are technically 3 options for this and I have weighed them carefully.  If she puts up with it, we can try to do one that keeps her tooth looking normal, but if she won’t tolerate it, we might not have an option but to do the silver tooth.