what kind of a forecast is this? “Several hours of sun.” I’m so sorry but hello? Does that mean that there will be rain? You know, after the “several hours of sun?” Are the “several hours of sun” in the morning or afternoon? And what IS your definition of “several hours?” Three? Five? Seven?
Rule number 453: Weather forecasting is not a field in which a variety of phrasing is appreciated.
If you haven’t already read Library Lion, you must. Right now. It is perhaps one of the most enjoyable children’s books I’ve read to my children. We read it over and over and over again today, and each time it made me smile. Oh, and they loved it too….
Apparently, I haven’t posted in a week. Which has been pointed out to me by several folks. Yes, I’m still around, and no, nothing has happened. The weather has just been nice and I’ve been trying to tire the kids out by running them ragged around the neighborhood. I’ve also been trying to get the book fair at C’s school up and running. Man, do I hate the book fair. And not just because it is Day 1 of the fair and I have already spent $50…If anyone ever asks you to volunteer to work a shift at a book fair, please, please say yes. Do it for me, OK?
I’ll probably be MIA for another few days, at which point my volunteer duties for the year for both school and church are (almost) over and I can focus on things like blogging and knitting again.
See ya later alligators…
For your viewing pleasure, baby sweater number one. Already modeled by Kieran over at Liesl’s…
The overview. Note the successful color changes!
The very cute buttons, and slightly misshapen buttonholes.
The back view.
The less than perfect seam. I really need to learn to put a sweater together.
Up next, probably tonight, the utterly disastrous (yet still expensive!) baby sweater that did not in fact make it into the auction as I so miserably messed up the sewing (and the arm length).
Please, please tell me that someone didn’t actually PAY MONEY for this research. Clearly, if they did, they didn’t have children. My favorite quote from the piece? The lead sentence.
“Children’s bedtime problems may not only make parents lose sleep, but could also take a toll on their physical and emotional well-being, researchers reported Monday.”
Apparently, after studying 10,000 families, the researchers still couldn’t reach a real conclusion about whether sleep deprivation takes a toll on physical and emotional well-being or not. I’ll tell you what, they can come spend a night in my house and I’ll let them experience it first hand. In the name of science and all…
We have pretty much lived outdoors this week. It has been fabulous. Except that I kind of expected that the house would stay nice and clean, and it is just as trashed as it was prior to my frantic cleaning on Wednesday morning before seven perky women with housekeepers showed up unexpectedly to make sandwiches for C’s school picnic. Long story, suffice it to say my house was not clean and when they arrived I was still in my fuzzy bunny slippers because I had been so focused on making sure the kitchen was presentable that I forgot about myself…
Anywhoo, we walked to the library, C’s swim lessons, the park and downtown this week. And I forgot to sunblock the kids each and every time. But as Phantom pointed out, perhaps that is just as well. (As an aside what kind of sunblock do you use on your kids? Mine hate the easy spray on/no rub stuff, which is highly unfortunate in my opinion.) We ate lunch outside under the really gross and is so totally getting replaced this weekend umbrella, and then just hosed down the deck to get rid of the yogurt and popsicle drips. We planted some flowers in the deck flower boxes, which involved three trips to Home Depot (don’t ask), and got some herbs started.
I got very little knitting done, although I am almost finished with M’s birthday present (just ignore the fact that his birthday was over a week ago, I ran into some design issues). I did manage to stay on top of the laundry though. Which is no small feat since A insists on changing her outfit every. single. time. she uses the bathroom.
I have to say, I am looking forward to the end of school. C requested no camp or other activities this summer, although yesterday he decided that he did want to keep doing gymnastics once a week. And that thrills me beyond belief as A is now old enough to go into class by herself, and I can finally sit on the hard plastic chairs in the viewing area and knit for 45 minutes. I have grandiose plans of how we will spend our days, taking leisurely trips to exotic destinations like Whole Foods (which is too far to really visit on a regular basis during the school year) and lounging in the back yard or at the town pool. But if I were you, I would be setting up some sort of betting pool on how many days it is before I start complaining about all that family togetherness…
Chichimama: “I’m cold!”
M: “You’re kidding me, right?”
Chichimama: “No! I’m cold! Look! I’m shivering under the blanket.”
M checks the cool indoor/outdoor weather station I got for Christmas.
M: “It is warmer in here than it has been all winter long.”
Chichimama: “Really? How warm is it?”
M: “70.”
Chichimama: “Huh. Well, I’m DRESSED like it is 80.”
M: “That might be your problem right there…”
This summer, the kids and I are instituting a “No Car Day” policy a few days a week. Because I zoomed around town today clocking exactly how far it was from our house to the library (.75 miles), to the nearest park (.90 miles), to Trader Joe’s (1.5 miles), to the Y (1.6 miles) and to the diner downtown (1.6 miles). It was actually rather embarrassing that we don’t walk more places. Especially since we own a rather nice double stroller. Of course it means that I have to push 65+ pounds of kids around, making for a rather strenuous workout, but exercise is good for the body, or so they tell me.
We started the trend on Tuesday, walking to the library and back. The kids played red light/green light most of the way and fun was had by all. Today we walked to the Y for C’s swim lesson, which was a slightly more ambitious venture. My legs are already protesting. And unlike Wednesday, no one had any interest in getting out of the stroller. But just think! I’ve already logged and additional 4.5 miles of walking this week without ever having to step on a treadmill. And tomorrow we are walking to the park in the afternoon for a playdate, so that’s another 2 miles (well, if you round up…)!
The biggest upside? I get to peer into everyone’s backyards and inspect their gardens, giving me lots of ideas on how to redo our weed infested beds.
