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.

We still have not had to turn on the heat.  M is trying to cave, but I can taste November 1st like it is 24 hours away.

Long live the down vest and the fleece jacket.

It is October 22nd, and I still have not had to turn on the heat.  Of course, as M has pointed out, I am wearing boots, a fleece, and a down vest in the house.  But I am going to push it as long as I can, as I’m doing it for the polar bears.  It has nothing at all to do with the fact that I grew up in a household that considered those who turned on the heat before November 1st wimps.

I woke up this morning and realized that it was mid-October and I hadn’t even contemplated whining about not wanting to turn on the heat yet.

Surely I just jinxed myself now and it will get frigid in the next 24 hours.

Some folks try to blog every day, my personal goal at the moment is to blog once a month.  I’m not into setting unachievable personal goals these days.  At close to 40, I think I am finally starting to recognize my limitations.

Both kids are happily (and I use that word loosely) ensconced at school.  A was so traumatized the first week because of her lack of handraising skills that she now has veered in the other direction and refuses to speak in class.  Even at snack.  She has, however, discovered a love of the swings, and swings and swings and swings at any given opportunity to visit the playground.

C has, at long last, started to find his people.  The non-sporty, would rather memorize 2,000 facts about some arcane subject rather than touch a ball of any kind people.  He can be found huddled on a bench with a group of three boys every recess, and comes home spouting random knowledge such as how many different Pokemons there are, or quizzing me on the periodic table of the elements.  I applaud their equal opportunity approach to knowledge, it will serve them well someday.  One day a week he heads to the intermediate school for a day long program where he is finally challenged academically, and it has made a huge difference in his interest in actual completing his school work.  Not to jinx myself, but we are one month into school and I have yet to get the email/phone call from the teacher anxious to discuss with me how exactly she is supposed to get my child to complete his classwork.  Now if only they also taught him organizational skills, he has already reached his yearly limit of return trips to school to pick up some forgotten item.

The dog is, well, a dog.  He is currently trying to dig a hole through my kitchen floor, and I am ignoring the behavior.  Which I know I will regret in five years when I actually have a floor in here that I care about, but much like when my kids were little, I am taking what little peace I find, consequences be damned.

I have not knit.  I have not written anything beyond this blog post.  I have vaguely made an attempt to keep up on laundry, and I spent 2 days cooking and freezing food so I wouldn’t have to be bothered to cook again until December sometime.  Vegetarian tamale pie anyone?

How are things by all of you??

OK, I know I still have just about two weeks until the kiddos head back to school, but I am in Fall mode already, so figured I should update the progress on my summer goals.

• De-paper the guest room. I made a dent.  I still haven’t tackled the box of papers from college, or the boxes containing the kids “keep” items, but I did sort through all my work/volunteer files.  Grade: B-
• Clear out the too small dress up clothes. It is on deck for tomorrow while the dog is at the vet’s for his “procedure.”  Grade: Incomplete.
• Find a good home for many, many boxes of books. I sorted many, many boxes.  They are now awaiting delivery to the church book sale this fall.  Grade: A-
• Deal with the basement shelves. Didn’t touch this one, and have no plans to do so.  Mainly because I just can’t face disposing of the old paint cans and batteries.  Grade: F
• Knit. I knit very little this summer.  But I did sort through the stash a bit, and bagged up some of the yarn I know I will never ever knit with to donate.  Grade: D

In procrastinating my actual to-do list, I also accomplished the following:

• Cleaned out the art closet and labeled the bins.  An annual pre-school ritual around here.
• Cleaned out the upstairs game closet.
• Found space in the back hall closet for the dog’s supplies.
• Sorted through my t-shirt drawer and got rid of all the stained, torn, and over-worn items (and then proceeded to Target to replenish my supply as there was nothing left).
• Helped the kids clean out their closets and stuffed animal bins.
• Emptied out all the baskets in the living room.  The things that were found in there?  Christmas ornaments that have been missing since we lived in the City (8 years ago).  C’s missing kindergarten homework (he is now entering 3rd grade).  Lazy Cat’s favorite plush mouse (which she is apparently too old to play with now).  Pictures, pictures, and more pictures.  Magazines, magazines, and more magazines.

And, now, the kids’ five minutes of peaceful play has turned into a full-on brawl in the playroom.  Do you think I could send them to school early and call them interns?

We made it to our final destination, cargo bag intact.  Unfortunately, while the cargo bag stayed put, it was in fact not waterproof as advertised.  We discovered this as the instant I hit the MA border, the heavens opened and it poured.  All the way to the NH border, where the weather magically improved.  The only things damaged in the deluge?  My year-long magazine collection and my clothes.  Thankfully, M had the sense to put my knitting in the car, so I didn’t end up with a bag full of felt.

The kids have fallen right back in with their summer friends, disappearing for the morning at tennis and various other activities and spending the afternoon running from one family’s beach encampment to another’s.  I have gotten 3/4 of the way through my waterlogged magazine collection, and finished the back of my cardigan.  The weather has been beautiful, not too hot and not too cold.

Added bonus: Right now everyone, including the dog, is fast asleep.  At 1:20 in the afternoon.  Do you think I can stay on vacation permanently?