Fuzzy Love

Coming Up For Air

The last week has been very productive; I've been sorting, packing, organizing, and even have been partaking of a little yard work (leaving Mark speechless). And I've been doing a whole wack of knitting, mostly due to Malabrigo March over on Ravelry. Honestly, I got carried away. Everyone in this house has at least one new hat (bring on the soccer!) and my fingers are actually tired. But I'll tell you about that tomorrow; I want to figure out how to make one of those picture mosaics first (oh yeah, I've been that busy).

There's also been a lot of super hero action around here. In lamee (not lame! Where does Typepad keep the accents?) capes, no less.

It all began with the following announcements:

Liam: I'm Super Liam!
Olivia: Me Uper Pooh Bain! [That would be Pooh Bear.]
Liam (seriously): I help people. She helps bears.

Okay, I'm going to bed. I keep telling myself that I'll go to bed early some night and I never ever do, which is probably why I've got so little for you. But tomorrow: a fancy schmancy mosaic!

Spring!

The weather has been beautiful the last few days. It's been lovely: bubbles, sidewalk chalk, soccer balls, and snacks on the deck. We can't get enough of being outside. Honestly, this is the best time of year in Colorado, hands down. The sun isn't too hot and burny yet, the grass will soon be green, and the crocuses are already coming up. Sure, we will have at least one snow storm after the leaves come out, but by then it will feel like a novel last peek at Winter.

I think the kids were out and about a good four hours yesterday; much of that time was spent scooping melted snow out of the sandbox and pouring it down our slide (we are so bad about putting that thing away each winter). Liam has also been holding extended chats over the back fence with the kids behind us - while perched on the top of the wet and sandy slide - and once again I'm wishing for a Backyardigans (fence-free) neighborhood. 

And then it is time for my annual Spring Surprise Extravaganza: "Do I still fit into last summer's clothes?" So far so good, although I haven't yet dug into the riskier stuff (like tank tops) and the bathing suits aren't even on the radar yet (yikes). Also not good for the self-esteem: I haven't shaved my legs in a while. To do that I have to either wait for a weekend or get up a whole lot earlier, as a certain little girl has no patience for my showers.

Anyway, my first Spring sweater is coming along nicely. I'm through one sleeve and almost the whole back of Geno, but the little tiny stitches make for slow going. And tired fingers don't help either - I have to take breaks for heavier yarn from time to time.

With Spring comes bolder bunnies. A rabbit came to visit us this morning and Liam said excitedly, "It's the Easter Bunny!"

And Olivia announced the other day, "Me Eeya. [What she calls herself.] Me pwincess. Fight bad guys." Influenced by her big brother at all, do you think? (Not that it's bad or anything).

So I hate to leave you, but I have to get outside again as it's somewhere around seventy today. Yay!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had chocolate for breakfast. We certainly did (it's our most-beloved Easter tradition).

We did some egg dying yesterday and decorated our little Easter tree (which was not quite what Olivia expected in a tree) and put out carrots. Liam put his cowboy suit on over his pajamas because he thought the Easter Bunny would like it; he thought the Bunny would ring the doorbell and we'd all get to meet him and give him carrots. The things we forget to explain.

Anyway, we're having dinner with a friend who is a wonderful cook (thanks Lisa!) and I expect it will be fabulous. Have a lovely day, people.

Playing Hooky

Once in a while, Mark takes a random vacation day in the middle of the week and we all go do something fun. Yesterday was one of those days. We usually go to one of those places that are god-awful crowded on the weekends but manageable during the week, like the museum. The kids and I have been there a few times lately and Liam was dying to show Mark the dinosaurs. Plus it gave us all a chance to visit the Planetarium; even though the shows are only about twenty minutes long, I've never been too excited about taking two kids by myself, and without popcorn even.

But let me tell you, the Planetarium has changed since the last time I visited one, sometime in the mumblecougheightiesmumple. What I remember is something like Lite-Brite, but this show was pretty much a computer-generated IMAX* on a curved screen. Very dramatic; Liam was completely mesmerized. Olivia, not so much. She was pretty wiggly until we snuck some forbidden pretzels into her. You do what you gotta do, right? Anyway, Liam has now got the Planetarium on his "must see" list for museum visits. Good stuff.

Then, by five o'clock, we were all in our pajamas on the sofa. We had a popcorn dinner and watched a movie. Not a bad day, all 'round.

While we watched the movie, I seamed up Kite.

I thought it would be too big, but it's right on for Spring. I'm really happy with it. And the most fun: picking out ribbon! Joann's has little five-packs that matched the pink Cotton-Ease perfectly. I figured it couldn't hurt to have extra - I imagine the ribbon will take a beating. And Olivia loves it, thankfully. She actually jumped up and down when it was time to put it on this morning. Oh my sweet baby girl, do you think you will always do that for my hand knits? And once she had it on: "Mommy, it's umphy!"

* The movie did talk about the extinction of the dinosaurs, which greatly concerned Liam, and we talked about that for a while afterwards. "But some of the dinosaurs made it, right Mommy?" Poor kid; I hadn't meant to get into that quite yet. Like I said, I was picturing more of a Lite-Brite show.

Meet the Clampetts

We've started packing.

The funny thing about moving 6.1 miles, with lots of time to do it in, is that packing is difficult to do. It's gone kinda like this: pick something up, think about packing it, realize it could just be tossed into the car, do just that, carry it into the new house on the next trip over. In that way we have transported a whole bunch of the kids' toys, much of my awkwardly-shaped craft stuff, a collection of old baskets, a rug, and a couple of lamps. Also at the house are a few things that we have purchased since closing on the house (I had a Craigslist problem for a while), like some bookshelves, a daybed, and a big china hutchy thing. They went directly to the new house because, of course, there was little point in bringing them here. And then almost all our tools are over there. It's a bit embarrassing, actually, to drive up to your house with piles of stuff that aren't even in boxes, like we scavenged it all on our way over; our new neighbors probably wouldn't be surprised if Buddy Ebsen climbed out of our car.

So we really started with the easy-to-pack stuff that we don't use a whole lot, like most of my books and the black hole cupboard in the kitchen. I do realize that it is a luxury to pack at such a slow pace, taking the time to gather up all the gardening books into one box and to take The Muppet Movie DVD that somehow was behind all the books over to the DVD box and place it back in its case. Unlike later when we'll just toss everything together in boxes of mystery.

Anyway, all those boxes put a huge strangle hold on the hallways so, after unsuccessfully trying to wrangle the laundry basket through it all, Mark decided he might as well load up the car again (twice). So this house is slowly getting emptied and Mark is getting quite the workout. And I'm sure our neighbors are talking. For the record, we DO plan on hiring movers for the real move, you know, when the piano goes.*

I haven't had a whole lot of time to sit down, but I have managed to finish another hat. It's the Koolhaas hat for Mark in Marine Malabrigo (mmmm...alliteration). He likes it, but he wouldn't sit still long for a picture and this was the best I could get:

You get the idea. I really enjoyed knitting it. The pattern takes no time to memorize (well, I always had the chart around, but it only took a few stitches of each row to know what I was doing) and the decreases at the top are brilliant. My plan was to knit a few rows to get a grip on the pattern, then stop and learn how to do the cables without a cable needle, but I didn't bother. Sure it was a little fiddly, but I apparently have a high tolerance for fiddling, because I just kept on going. So Mark finally has a warm hat, knit to his specifications. Just in time for Spring.

*When are we going to move, you ask? We're aiming for the 1st of May, having calculated that the kitchen should be done by then. That's the plan, anyway.

Random Things

So Ive been tagged for the random things meme, which I might actually have already done, but I'm too lazy to check through and find out for sure, so I'll do it again. I'll make them especially random. So here they are, thanks to the lovely Jody and lovely Jannett.

1. I spent all day yesterday painting at the new house and now I realize there are actually muscles in my neck that haven't been worked out in a while. For the record, painting ceilings sucks.

2. Over the past year I've developed a very unhealthy addiction to Mocha Frappuccinos. If there were a Starbucks anonymous (is there one?) I should be there, because the addiction has not only impacted my self-esteem (there are about a million calories in each one), but also my marriage. Mark just doesn't see the reason for trekking out on a cold January Saturday morning just because I have a caffeine headache.

3. I really need a pedicure.

4. I hoard books and parting even with the crappy ones is a little like pulling teeth. Books are stacked two deep on my shelves (not an attractive look) and piles are slowly overtaking one corner of our bedroom. I've been trying to weed some out before the move but it's been very difficult; I think I'm down about seven so far.

5. One of my major motivators to use more eco-friendly cleaners (vinegar and etc.); so that I can allow my children to clean for me without worry. Liam, for some reason, really likes cleaning toilets, while Olivia prefers dusting.

5. I haven't been knitting much lately (too many paint chips and boxes in the way) and I'm really starting to miss it. But I'm feeling very uninspired by any of my WIPs. I'd like to try to find my way out of this slump without buying any more yarn (I found even more while packing - oops).

6. I collect snowflake ornaments and could probably do a whole Christmas tree of them. Someday I want to crochet some out of Kidsilk Haze, but I don't know how to crochet in circles yet. Yes, the granny square eludes me.

7. Um...I'm really dragging here. I wish I had a Frappuccino.

I hardly feel entitled to impose on the few sweet readers who are still out there, so I'll just say that if you want to do this, go for it!

Look Who's Blogging

So a few emails, not to mention lots of pestering from my husband and others, and a general out-of-touch feeling have finally gotten me off my ass and back out to this sad, neglected little website. It's been a tough winter, honestly. Lots of stupid, brain-not-working sorts of things going on, like walking away from the car and wondering if it's still running (yes, it was). I haven't left any kids anywhere (yet), but I have been worn out. Not quite just getting through the days, but close. So I started simplifying my life, so that I had enough emotional energy to give to my kids (and a little to Mark too), and blogging fell by the wayside. Then we did one of the most stressful things possible: we bought a new house. And blogging was all but forgotten. Sorry. (That's not all that was forgotten, either. If you are wondering if we dropped you from our Christmas card list, we didn't. The cards are still sitting in a box on top of the fridge. My brother suggested that we send out Valentines instead, but then we'd be late for that too).

But these guys are doing well.

Since you last saw her, Olivia has somehow grown into the girliest girl there ever was. She takes two baby dolls with her everywhere (and I mean everywhere). They must be dressed appropriately in fiddly little outfits (guess who gets to do that) and buckled into seat belts in the car. These babies get frequent boo boos and require lots of kisses. She also carries at least one purse at all times that is stuffed with soothers. She chooses her outfits, including weather-inappropriate shoes. Yesterday she wore a tutu. Clearly I have no control.

Liam is in love with Lego. He draws out "plans" for rockets and cars and so on, then meticulously constructs the items from his plans, or makes Mark and I follow them, which we never do correctly. He also uses anything and everything to tell elaborate "stories."

So on to the big news. We did, in fact, buy a house. It isn't very far from our old house, but it is larger. We've been bursting at the seams here for a while. Best parts? It has a big yard (for our area, anyway), it's on a cul-de-sac, it's within walking distance to a good elementary school, it has built-in book shelves (ahhhhh....), and a real live guest room. We weren't really looking either, other than we had a real estate agent and were, well, walking through houses that happened to be for sale. The idea was to begin to look right about now, but to start to get a feel for what the values are in a neighborhood that's been hit hard by the housing droop lately. Then we just walked in and discovered our house. So here's some pictures.

I love love love the house, but it does need some work and that's what has been consuming most of our free time lately. The kitchen has been a victim of old age, crappily-done home improvements, and a small toaster fire. It needs replaced and we're working our way through that horrible process right now. The bathrooms also need updating, but fortunately Mark is fairly handy and especially enjoys demolition. One tacky bathroom is already only a memory. I'll be spending this weekend painting, while Mark is going to try his hand at laying tile. Since we've spent a lot of time recently not dreaming about the future (more like dreading), this house has been a very happy diversion for us. We hope to actually live there sometime in April.

Anyway, I have lots of blogs to catch up on (I do miss you people) and a few memes to think about. Talk to you SOON. And not about paint colors, I swear.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Yes, I'm still out here, and I wouldn't blame you if you weren't out there. This season has been a mite bit rough, to tell the truth. My mother loved Christmas and she did it well: the baking, the presents, the traditions. My Dad was a bit concerned about the over-commercialization, but took great pleasure in having his family close. Oh man - do you see the little pitfalls all over the place? So I've been doing the really important things and our little family has been having a nice holiday and letting everything else slide. Like posting. And Christmas cards. (If you are thinking I just left you off the list, I didn't. Expect a card sometime in January.)

But don't feel too sorry for me, just in case you were tempted. I'm sitting here on the sofa, dressed in new silk Christmas pajamas (squee!) and drinking a glass of wine. All is calm. Mark is absorbed in that thing that all parents do the night before Christmas (having a drink) and I'm relaxing on the sofa, basking in the light of the tree.

Liam, of course, has been beside himself with excitement ("One more sleep!"), while Olivia is fascinated with the tree (poke poke) although a bit wary of Santa ("Anta scarwy"). I have it good and I know it.

So Merry Christmas. I wish all the best in the world for you and your family. I'm so glad you're out there.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Man, I love Hallowe'en. Liam was a highly kissable fierce pirate, and Olivia was quite possibly the cutest flower fairy ever. (Liam told the first, maybe, ten houses that, "I'm a pirate and dis is Owivia and she's a flower fairy." After that he was all business.)

But, you know, what's Hallowe'en without some Disney princesses in crazy Arial wigs?

And a sad monkey?

Every year a few girlfriends and I get our kids together, primarily to take some pictures, but also to do Hallowe'en-type stuff. This year, our get-together was hosted by my Martha-wanna-be friend. She does things I do not do.

Like make up Hallowe'en bingo cards. With candy pumpkin markers.

And cookie decorating. With sprinkles.

That was fun. That was also the end of healthy-food ingestion for the day (no, not the cookies - the carrot sticks I forced into them pre-cookie).

Now, none of my trick-or-treating pictures turned out except for this one (I have no patience for the flash), but the whole thing was a bit of a learning experience as there is a trick-or-treating etiquette that children aren't born with. Unfortunately, it took me quite a few houses to a) formulate the rules and b) impart said rules to my children.

For example, at the first house, Liam pushed the doorbell many MANY times before our poor neighbors made it to the door. Oh, and please notice the nose pressed against the glass. Not okay.

At the third house, the silly homeowner held out his bowl of candy. Olivia took one piece; Liam tried to take the whole bowl. With a grand sweeping motion Liam managed to gather up about seven candy bars in one arm, and would have gone back for more if I hadn't stopped him. Also not okay.

By the fifth or sixth house, I realized my children were not allowing the homeowners to drop candy into their bags, but were snatching the candy right out of the homeowners' hands. This came to my attention when Liam tried to take a giant handful of candy away from a woman who had enough for Liam, Olivia, AND the three kids behind them. VERY not okay.

But after the second house, Olivia really started to get what was up here; that is: ring doorbell, get candy, say, "Dank gew!" And I honestly don't think I've ever seen her walk so far before without complaining: if we tried to skip a house (say, because the lights were off), she would get upset and yell, "Mo house! Mo house!" Liam, on the other hand, knew very well what he was doing. He couldn't get enough until I announced it was high time we turned around and then, of course, he was too tired to walk home.

It was all worth it though.

So all that candy is now hidden away, where they will become bribes to force vegetables into my children until approximately Christmas. In the meantime, I've absconded with the Peanut Butter Cups and Toosie Rolls, while Mark has dibs on all the Skittles. Oh, and one of our neighbors gave away microwave popcorn, which I thought was terribly clever.

Autumn

Sometimes, when the summer here is in the nineties for days on end, and playing outside is regulated to the early morning and late afternoon, I forget why I love Colorado. Actually, I grumble about it quite a bit. And then Autumn comes and it all makes sense again.

Autumn in the Scotia is (or at least it used to be - that place keeps getting warmer) a very short affair. It is also very wet, so the leaves, while much more vibrant and predominantly red than here, fall to the ground and stick there. But here! It is almost always dry, so the leaves are carried by the wind up into tall spirals that, when I first moved here, I thought could only be made of butterflies.

On Wednesday some friends and I took seven preschoolers to the zoo. It was a blustery day and, in one tree-filled spot, a huge gust shook hundreds (thousands?) of tiny yellow leaves free and they fluttered down around us. We stood under those trees for at least twenty minutes while the kids ran around chasing and collecting them - we brought home a wagon full - and we just watched. Really, really beautiful. (If only I had had my camera.) We also have a bowl of acorns and many giant seedpods.

And oh yeah: while watching little elephant shrews sniffing and scurrying and doing whatever it is elephant shrews do, Olivia pointed and, while pretend biting, said, "Um um um yummy!" Huh?

Anyway, these pictures around the yard will have to do. We spent a couple of warm afternoons this week playing with the leaves and playing "Scarecrow," which we decided isn't really that fun (we're just too good).