fall is here

Or is it winter? It's grey, cloudy, and breezy with a chill, but no snow yet. The little munchkins are requesting long-sleeved shirs (but then they think that they don't need their jackets. doesn't work like that, smartipants!) and I'm thinking I should doublecheck everyone's winter clothes. Of course, it IS kinda nice that it's the middle of October, and we haven't turned on the heating furnace. We haven't needed to. Even with the low temperatures lately, the house is staying around 70 degrees, a comfortable, although cool, temp.

November is coming soon. I bet you knew that already! But, it's important (besides that LittleV has a birthday) because this year, BigJ and I are doing the NaNoWriMo challenge again. Yes, again. We, and I singularly, had tried many years ago, long before we had children. I don't remember what I wrote before (it wasn't the great American Novel, and I didn't reach the 50,000 word goal), but it's time to see if I can write a novel length piece.

The next question is, what will your novel be about? Honestly, I have no idea. The most difficult part for me is a plot. If only Big J and I could write it together...he has no problem imagining characters and events, and I can write description and dialogue. Our skills fit together like puzzle pieces (oooh, a simile!) but we're going to be seperated from each other in the box of NaNoWriMo writers. So, we'll have to wait and see what I'll come up with for a plot. As they say, it doesn't need to be good, it just needs 50k words.

Dish Rag Tag IV

hmm....i'll have to see later if the little progress meter shows up. 'Cause it's in the html, i swear...Once again, I'm doing Dish Rag Tag. Yay! There's something about the idea of knitting as a relay race that is just crazy and fun. I'll probably be calling myself crazy, when it's time to knit the actual dishcloth, but oh well!

and on another note, I'll have to start checking the moderated comments more frequently. Thanks y'all for your comments on Little J's first day at school :)

First day of Kindergarten

This was Little J last night, at the grade school open house. We brought all his supplies (except for the tissues that Mommy forgot) and he unloaded his backpack as soon as he found his spot at the tables.

Daddy and Little J walking down the hallways at school. The kindergarten wing is orange, and the other ones are color coded too, purple and blue and brown.

And, Little J this morning, all ready for school to start. We stuffed the boxes of tissues in his kewl Ben10 bookbag, and dosen't he look smart?

Mommy was so proud of him!

What do we do at the end of summer?

County Fair! Ms. L and I drove to Tonganoxie to enter our knitting in the county fair. Due to some road work, it was a longer trip then I thought it would be, but it was fun driving with someone else. I'm not sure what Ms. L entered - I saw a hat - and I entered my dishwashing gloves, a pair of socks that I made for Big J, and an Emma Peel dress for Little G. I don't have pictures, but I'll put some up after I pick up the items on Friday. (friday? saturday? not sure....)

I'm also thinking that I should take the family to see the fair. Either the kiddos during the week, or everybody including Big J after he gets off of work one day. We'll see!

Well, it's definitely summer!

With 95-100 degree days every day, yep, it's defintely summer. And, we're getting school supplies (it's a little early, but WalMart still has them in stock at this point), so that's another good argument in favor of summer.

While I was wandering around WalMart, waiting for the tire department to tell me they couldn't fix my tire, I found this:

Very squidy, no? I snapped a pic to share with a group on ravelry. We're doing a steampunk swap, and it seems that to some, octopi are very steampunk. Maybe it's because of Jules Verne? i dunna. Hopefully, i can get my knitting and other projects done for this swap...i need to sit down and write out exactly what I'm sending. I'm a little scared, as there's only a bit more than a month yet...we shall see.

Is it summer yet?

it certainly seemed like it this weekend. And today? Someone told me that it was 93 degrees outside, which even for Kansas, is unusual in May.

Mother's Day was nice. Jay gave me the afternoon off, while he cleaned house, and Little V and I went shopping. Well, window shopping, mostly, but it was nice to have the time to just browse. I did pick up a cheap stroller at WalMart. I didn't want pink or blue, or a disney character, so we now have a stroller with Winnie the Pooh Bear on it (Winifred the Pooh-Ba?)(wait, Pooh Bear is licensed by Disney, isn't it? darn.) Then we went to the outdoor mall. There's a large fountain there, and, of course, there were kids playing in it. Little V just watched and watched...

Ms. L came over to visit today. Jaiden really really wanted to aske her to play, but he was good about not badgering guests, and only showed off his fire minis. Now, Rama, the cat was not being so good. He tried eating Ms. L's bag, and then her keys! If we didn't love him so much, that cat would be a fur rug by now. We chatted about the Sampler Festival over the weekend, and other stuff, until I had to pack up the little kids to fetch LittleSister from at school.

In knitting news, I'm almost done with the latest Fuzzy Shawl (it's not knitted though, it's crocheted) for my friend Fleur. I'm making it with 4 skeins of homespun instead of 2, but it's still taking me longer than it should have. But it is almost done! Then, I've signed up for a swap through Ravelry. The theme for that is 'Bento', Japanese lunchboxes, and I'm brainstorming for a cool knitted gift to send along with my package. heh, i may have to finally make a trip to one of the local (relatively) yarn stores to find presents for the swap.

Happy Easter!

marigo's photostream on Flickr.

Our Easter dinner was Chicken Satay and sticky rice (and veggies and EasterEggs). No, not quite traditional, but it's what the little kids wanted to eat. I love the chicken satay from one of my thai cookbooks, it has ginger and honey, garlic and soy sauce in the marinade. yum, yum, yumm! Tommorrow is a more (or less) traditional dinner, roast pork, baked sweet potato, bread rolls, more veggies, apple pie...

I know, it's impossible to lurk without having new posts

mea culpa! mea culpa!

I've been reading, lots. I read a stack by Kelley Armstrong, and right now I'm reading everything the library has by Laurie R. King. It's what I feel like right now. And there's been several anthologies in there as well.

I had a wonderful moment today. I stepped out of the front door, and a little bird, a house finch, was singing at me. He was sitting in the tree right outside. He let me whistle back to him, and we talked back and forth for a little while.

thanks to "The Kansas School Naturalist", 42:2, for the picture of a house finch.

Book update, in a snow storm

Because of the snow, I've been watching the WeatherChannel(tm) all day. They had a short spot with Jen Carfagno; she's on location in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in anticipation of Ground Hog Day. It's iced there, and the stage they use for the groundhog day ceremony is glass slick. Not my idea of a vacation spot. I wonder if she volunteered for the assignment?

• Black swan rising / Carroll, Lee
• Norweigan Sweater Techniques for today's knitter/ Chenowyth, Theresa
• Entrelac : the essential guide to interlace knitting / Drysdale, Rosemary
• Hexwood / Jones, Diana Wynne
• The children of kings / Stern, Dave (a star trek novel, with Cpt Pike)
• Mason-Dixon knitting : the curious knitters' guide / Gardiner, Kay
• The last page / Huso, Anthony (very good first novel, I'm going to be on the lookout for the next one)
• Super cute : 25 amigurumi animals / Obaachan, Annie
• Rushed to the altar / Feather, Jane
• Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty (I don't think I would recommend this to most people. It's not very frightening to me, probably because I already believe in demons and possession. :( )

The library account shows that I have over 50 books checked out, but most of those are children's books. So 50 books will fit into two reusable grocery bags, no problem-o! Here's some of my favs of the kids books we've read:

• The curse of the Cobweb Queen / Hayes, Geoffrey (dinosaur detective boy!)
  
• Christopher Robin leads an expedition / Krensky, Stephen,ed., and Milne
• Arthur Spiderwick's field guide to the fantastical world around you / DiTerlizzi, Tony and Black, Holly. (wow! the drawings are amazing, although it's probably more suited for teens or pre-teens)
• Quackenstein : hatches a family / Bardhan-Quallen, Sudipta (a very cute duck and platypus story)
  

January Total (adult books!): 25

The world's a small place

I ran across someone I knew a long time ago. We worked the same summer job, the years after I graduated from highschool. A.J. was in town to do training for a website his company developed, and I was there for the training. Wierd! And, after a little poking around on the company website, and snooping thru the training materials, it looks like the company (which seems to be doing quite well) is A.J., his younger sister, and another guy who went to college with me. I'm glad to know that they're doing something that makes the world a better place (and their website company really does).


Reading List for January:

• Catacomb, by Mercedes Lackey
• Indulgence in Death, by J.D. Robb
• In too deep ,by Jayne Ann Krentz
• Dream Called Time, S.L. Viehl
• Alien Crimes, ed by ???
  
• Atlantis and other Places, by Harry Turtledove (This book included the second short story I've read recently, both by Turtledove, that talked about Hox genes. Interesting!)
• The Bards of Bone Plain, by Patricia McKillip

nutrasweet

Little G reacts to the stuff like her mommy does. oh yay. oh, lord help us!

an excuse to post

Yes, it's been a long time since I wrote on here, about anything. What can I say, being pregnant makes me tired 24 hours a day. And I'm not pregnant now (welcome to VBaby!) but a month old baby requires a lot of attention, too. (especially because she refused her pacifier, but wanted to suck on mommy's finger...)

I think I'm going to reinstate my book list. I may not have much knitting that I can show you (although, more on that later) but I am able to read while holding the baby. And, I've a gazillion books requested at the library, so I have a steady supply of things to read. I'm going to start with what I've read since Christmastime, although it's not all of them, I'm afraid. There's been a few I read, that I can't remember.

• The Four Loves, by C.S.Lewis
• Shogun, by ?? (didn't finish it. It's very dense on description, but it's much grimmer, and no doubt more realistic, than the TV show.)
• Non-Stop, by Brian Aldiss (Big J gave it to me for Christmas. It's Aldiss's first novel, and it's an interesting sci-fi book about a society inside a generational spaceship)
• Trio of Sorcery, by Mercedes Lackey (Also from Big J :) made me want to find the other Diana Tregarde stories.)
• The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster
• Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Omega, by Patricia Briggs
  
• The Hallowed Hunt, by Lois McMaster Bujold (I will have finished reading in the next few days ;) )

Now, regarding knitting, I'm currently working on a pair of worsted weight socks for Big J. They are just boring socks, in superwash cascade220, but, they are still special socks! I've never given anything knitted to BigJ before. It may have avoided the dreaded "sweater curse", but I feel that as a knitter, I'm not properly showing my husband how much I love him. And what says "I love you" more than a pair of men's socks? (okay, yes, a sweater probably does, but the sweater I had planned for him is hibernating in a box...)

Next project, diaper covers for VBaby. As soon as my yarn comes in. Or, a scarf or slippers for Little J. We'll see what I feel like knitting :)