Today, someone in my house who is under the age of 10 needed to throw something out.  At the exact moment that this person needed to discard his or her trash, I was taking out a full bag of garbage and had yet to replace the bag in the can.  And, for the first time EVAH, someone under the age of ten reached under the sink, pulled out a new trash bag, and put it in the trash can BEFORE disposing of their trash.  I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly happy I was to return to the kitchen and discover that my 40 billion lectures on proper trash disposal etiquette had finally paid off.

There may be hope for them yet.

I went back through my archives this evening looking for a specific post, and got totally sucked into both the memory of what my life used to be like, and the startling revelation that once upon a time, I used to write.  Most of what I wrote, quite honestly, was navel-gazing drivel.  But, in amongst those posts were a few of which I was proud.

For the last two years I have been immersed in my “old” world, the world of (non-family related) budget management, board management, personnel management, and crisis management.  When I took on the job, I (rather stupidly, upon reflection) did not set up any consistent system for childcare or for “housecare.”  As a result, I tried to be a full-time, stay-at-home parent and a full-time, totally engaged leader/manager.  This system did not work very well for anyone.  On the upside, my kids have learned to make their own breakfast (put some pancakes in the microwave, heat for 1 minute, try to sneak maple syrup while mom catches up on overnight email), my husband has learned to do his own laundry (buy new undergarments before a business trip, make liberal use of the hotel dry cleaning service), and my dog has learned, well, he hasn’t really learned anything because he is a dog, and not a particularly smart one at that.  I  stopped exercising, put on a significant number of pounds, and became a huge fan of internet shopping for EVERYTHING, including coffee and toilet paper.

I was lucky in that, for the most part, I could schedule my own hours and do the work that needed to get done via email at 6 am or midnight.  I was able to schedule about 50% of the meetings I needed to have while the kids were at school, and another 25% were done via conference call once they were in bed (or, at least, watching their evening allotment of television).  But, there were still at least a day or two a week that I was unable to be home for bedtime, or that the kids were forced to miss an after school activity to spend some quality time together doing homework underneath a conference table.

In less than six weeks, I will be (for the most part) done with this particular job.  And, I have nothing lined up to take its place.  I have contemplated taking a different job, and I have contemplated spending a year doing nothing beyond knitting and watching daytime TV.  I have even contemplated becoming a gym rat and making a concerted, several hour a day commitment to losing weight.

Instead, I think I am going to spend a year writing.  And, contemplating my navel.  Do you think I should get it pierced?

My baby is nine today.  Of course, as A points out, he is not really my baby, SHE is, and as C then retorted, SHE is almost 7 and not a baby either.  Sniff.  My baby is nine.

I went to find a picture of him to post, and realized that he wore the exact same shirt he is wearing today on his 8th birthday.  And on Christmas this year.  It didn’t surprise me at all, as he is a creature of habit and familiarity.  But I am going to have to make him change so I can keep the years straight when I am old and confused.

Nine.  I find that rather astounding.

I am well known among my colleagues and friends for my love of the exclamation mark.  Frequently, once I have eliminated most of the offenders in an email, I get a note back from the woman who will soon have my job that says “Better luck next time, still a few too many “!” !”  Today, C was asked to write a response to an article in class.  Here is what he posted:

The author used a lot of data. The data is useful because if there was no data we would not know anything about the article. The data really supports the authors point of view, which is that Phil is only 39% accurate at predicting the change of the season. The data shows that he is not accurate and more than ½ of the time he is wrong! Groundhog’s day is a fun celebration, but not mathematically accurate! Mother nature decides when the changes of the seasons will come!

Ah, it warms the heart!

My knitting has been haphazard of late, but here is a round up of what I knit for the various teachers this year.  Thanks to a maternity leave, speech therapy, and C’s “Tuesday Class,” the kids have six teachers (not counting the music teacher, the gym teacher, etc, who just lost out on hand knit gifts this year).  Only five of them got pre-New Years holiday gifts, hopefully the sixth will be finished by the time school starts again next week.  All the links are Ravelry links, if you aren’t on Ravelry and want more info on the pattern let me know, I think most of them can be found without a Ravelry account, I am just too lazy to track them down unless I need to!!!  The photos are ehh at best, it was a last minute photo shoot minutes before the gifts were whisked into bags and delivered to school.

A Quick Winter Hood

A Lifted Stitch Scarf

A Just Enough Ruffles Scarf

A Robin’s Egg Blue Hat (A special note for Jody, I happen to know this particular teacher is a hat person .  Everyone else got scarves though thanks to your sage advice!).

A Warmer Republic

I have been working on the scarf that will never end.  I was unsure about the colors at the beginning, but decided to give it some time.  Now that I am halfway through, however, I have decided that they really don’t work.  But, because I am WAY behind in my holiday knitting, some unlucky teacher will be getting the scarf anyway because if I rip it out I will be so far behind that I will never catch up.  I keep telling myself that once it is blocked, it will look great.  Because blocking can cure anything, right?

When M called to check in tonight, however, I left my knitting unattended on the couch with the dog asleep in the corner.  I answered the phone, walked back into the family room, and found the dog with yarn trailing from his mouth, and my only size 4 needles snapped in half.  Clearly the Knitting Gods disapprove of my decision to continue knitting the color challenged scarf.

So, while I wait for time to get another pair of size 4 needles, shall I do yet another Just Enough Ruffles scarf?  Or should I branch back out and start a Brattleboro Hat?

We are entering my FAVORITE time of the year, the time where all good travel plans get destroyed by one illness or another.  And I know we are good and screwed because we are traveling elsewhere for every. single. holiday.  You name the day off from school between now and the end of June and we have tickets or a long car trip planned.  So, in preparation, I have laid in the supplies needed to carry us from now until June in style.  Do you think it will work?  I have my doubts since A started her pre-illness meltdown this evening, but perhaps it will be a quick one as opposed to the two-week stomach bug that turned out to be a parasite, or the 10-day unexplained fever.

While prepping in hopes of avoiding the holiday illness, I broke down and ordered Apple TV, and placed a nice big order at Webs (and yes, I know I have a closet full of yarn, but if I am going to spend the next month confined to the house watching Netflix on-demand, I need some new yarn to perk me up!).  I have laid in a supply of library books for the kids (God bless the 4-week loan period with online renewal and no limit on how many books can be checked out), and am contemplating one of these bread makers to replace the one that just croaked (1 lb loaves, good or bad, please discuss).  I feel like I have done everything I can to prepare for the inevitable onslaught of illness.

But M?  He just committed us to eternal damnation by announcing that in the last two weeks he has been ill and A has been ill, so clearly, we won’t get sick this holiday.

I think I may need to lay in a supply of wine as well.