I had 345 unread items in my blog reader. What kind of blogger gets that far behind on her friend's blogs? (one with two small kids, that's who) So, I did what any right-thinking blogger slacker would do...cleared out all the unread items. bye-byuh!

Little Sister has a friend over for the night

Am I the only one to find 13-14year olds annoying? Someone, shoot me and put me out of my misery, please! The giggling, the drama, all the whispering...

anyway, I've been working on Little J's Jaker sweater lately. We took a weekend trip to Chicago, and I had hours to knit. I finished up the 2nd sleeve today, and will get more done on the body this weekend. Yay! I want to finish it so I can cast on a new project...

Little J's so talented

Well. I should definitely post more often. I came here to check, and I had pages and pages worth of comments from some crazy illiterate ANONYMOUS person. gibberish. religious babble. and not very well interesting, at that.

I deleted it, so, sorry! I don't have examples to show you. Really, I wouldn't want to expose anyone, even accidentally, to that insane garbage.

What I intended to post tonight, was this:

Little J has a new skill! He can undo the lids on water bottles, even on ones where I tightened the lids on them. Look out world, here comes the super kid!

Essential cooking

My crockpot broke! Nooooo!

I had minestrone soup in it for supper tonight, and at about five o'clock, i noticed that it was on 'warm'. I went to push buttons to put it back on 'high', but nothing happened. It wouldn't even let me turn it off! So, I unplugged it (the sensible thing, right?), plugged it back in, but it wouldn't do anything at all. :( The soup is finishing cooking on the stove.

Now what do I do? I use my crockpot every week, so I guess i have to get a new one...recommendations, anyone?

What you can see on the highways.

We saw this awhile ago, driving down Highway 465. It was a motorcycle, pulling a trailer with a model tank on it. Why a tank? i have no idea.

Reading sporadically

Some of the books I've read over the past two months:

• Her Majesty's Wizard, by Christopher Stasheff
• The Pinhoe Egg, by Diana Wynne Jones
• Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones
• The Ancient, by R.A. Salvatore
• Remember Me?, by Sophie Kinsella
• Maddigan's Fantasia, by Margaret Mahy
• Sizzle and Burn, Jayne Castle
• Strangers in Death, J.D. Robb

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a nice day. Big J had to work, but I had my presents yesterday. A new baby bootie charm for my bracelet (for Little G :) ), a potted Azalea bonsai, and "101 Essential Tips Bonsai" book. I love it all, and I think Big J did very good at picking it out!

and what did I get myself? A skein of Colinette Jitterbug yarn yesterday at Cottage Knits in Columbus, Indiana. Camilla has been knitting a pair of socks out of this yarn (different colorway) and the skein jumped off the shelf and said "BUY ME!". That, and the new issue of Interweave Knits. There's a couple patterns in it that I want to make. Why is it that only once a year do they have patterns I like? odd, but it's why I don't have a subscription. I buy the seperate issues when I DO like the patterns.

Speaking of Cottage Knits, when I was there for the Ravelry meet yesterday, I saw a gorgeous pair of Clessidra stockings...Hannah, the person who made them, didn't like it in the busy yarn, but still, the pattern was wonderful.

out and about with the small ones

This week has seemed really busy. I'm not sure why, but it's felt like go - go - go. (not a go-go dancer, don't be silly :P )

Today we (me and the kidlets) went with our local La Leche League group to a playdate at a nursing home. The kidlets get to play with other kids, and the residents get to watch/ talk with/ hold the kids. There were two other little boys there today, and they and Little Jay played pretty well together. As well as little boys can behave, as a matter of fact. I took my surprise knitting along, but I didn't work on it. I

Then we came home and I had an appointment with a visitor at home. A coordinator for the 1st Steps program, a goverenment program for early childhood develomental issues, came by to get some stuff signed. I'm having Little J in this program, so that he can get some help with his speech. He's a smart little boy, but his speech isn't as understandable as it should be for his age. He's been accepted into the program, so I hope he can start speech therapy soon.

Let's see...on Wednesday, I had to deliver a pie to the middle school before 9am. (Big J delivered it for me. Isn't he nice?) then, we went to the library for a little while. Tuesday, we went shopping for groceries, Little Sister had a band concert that evening, and I made the pie after the band concert. Monday, i know that there was knitting at Panera's...hmm...wasn't there something else? Oh yes. Monday I drove to the airport to pick up Little Sister's airplane tickets for her trip to Kansas this summer. It's a 30 minute drive to the airport.

And I haven't knit much, which always contributes to my stress level. (or rather, knitting decreases my stress level, so it's good to do in stressful times.) I've almost finished with a baby bib, yay! then I can use the needles that's on to start the Baby Surprise Jacket. I've did a few rows of my surprise project. No, I'm not telling what it is (not until it's done, and given away), but, I'm practicing my combination knitting on it. My purling is much faster with the combination knitting. I like learning new things :)

aquaintances at Nursing Home

Jaiden, Gloria and I went to the Regency resthome in Greenwood for the LLL playdate. Suzanne Morreno was there with her son Jonathon (who's almost 2), and a friend of Suzanne's from her Church, Jill, and her son Jack, was there too. We met a nice lady named Linda there, who seemed to suffer from a stroke.