Back home and so glad to be

We're home! We arrived home on Friday night around midnight, thanks to several stops we made on the way as well as a closure on the LIE just five exits before we needed to get off. Grrr... We made it, though, safely and tiredly. I have a few photos to share, so prepare for a photo-heavy post. First, a Harlot-style sock-on-vacation photo. These are my Cascading Leaves socks that I'm making for the April Sockdown! challenge on Ravelry. Since this photo was taken I've turned the heel and started the gusset decreases. Still a ways to go. Next, the view from our hotel room which overlooked both the Horseshoe and American Falls. Quite lovely. This photo was taken as we swung high over the Niagara River in the Aero Car. It was a little scary! Next we visited the Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Conservatory. Hubby actually got one to land on his head! Rebecca was so jealous. These two were taken on top of the giant ferris wheel, the Sky Wheel, located in the touristy part of town. Also scary! We saw a lot of rainbows. I wasn't sure if they would show up on my camera but I got lucky. And finally, we made it home and went to the dog sitter to pick up Seeger. He was totally exhausted but we could tell he really enjoyed being with his mom and his brother. Below are Seeger (in front with the brown striped collar) and Romeo (in the back with the blue collar). Abby is their mother. She is an expert kisser, as you can see. Well that's it from here. I have a lot of laundry to catch up on, plus we all have some nasty hacking cough thing that just won't go away. It's messing with my inner ear and I feel very dizzy and gross. Fortunately it's a rainy day, so I'm going to stay inside and fold laundry and rest. So glad to be back with you!!

We're off

We'll be heading out in the early dark of the morning to get a jump on rush hour traffic. Still have to pack a bit and get all the "car entertainment" ready, including DVDs and video games for the kids and some knitting projects for me. And snacks. Lots of snacks. (For your edification, I've found that lollipops keep the kids' mouths busy longer than any other treat, so there is peace in the back seat temporarily.) Not sure if DH is bringing his laptop, so I may not be able to check in for a while. Be good while I'm away. Sadness: DH is off taking Seeger to visit his mom and brother for a little doggie vacation. I was going to board him, but I wrote to the lady we bought him from to ask for a kennel recommendation and she said he should come stay with her. She was very excited about it, and so was I. I know he'll be well looked after there, not to mention he'll see family members he hasn't seen since he was 3 months old (and only 15 little teeny pounds!). I know he'll have fun, but I'll miss him tonight.

Sweater done!

No photo yet. It's SO cute. Well okay, I confess it still has no buttons but that's the easiest part. Photos soon. I have one little matching bootie finished, but the cuff part would fit baby King Kong so I may have to try again. We'll see. I did get that cheap haircut the other day. Would you like to know what it looks like? Well then just take a look over to the right of the blog window at that photo of me taken in 2006. That's what it looks like. I even took that exact photo with me to the salon to show them what I wanted. I figure, if I take a photo of myself, surely they can replicate it. It's not like I took a photo of Sandra Bullock and said, "Make me look like that." I'm not letting my reach exceed my grasp, if you get me. It's only hair. Busy weekend. Gotta get this pile of mulch out of the middle of the road once and for all. We can't put it down until the yard crew does our spring cleanup, which will be (I found out today) a WEEK from MONDAY. Blurg. My neighbors are going to start peeing on the mulch in the middle of the night if we don't get it out of the road. Granted, it's not taking up much more space than a car might, and the neighbors (who have three-car garages no less) leave their cars parked on the street constantly. What the hell have they got in those garages, is what I want to know. Okay, thank goodness it's Friday and there's no homework. We're going to be outside where it's absolutely beautiful. Enjoy your weekend!

Announcement!

My house is clean. (Why do I hear the voice of that creepy lady in Poltergeist as I type that?) Yes, my house is clean and should stay that way for...:checks watch:...approximately three and one half hours. Until my children return home from school. I will thoroughly enjoy these three and one half hours, while I can. Also, the baby jacket currently looks like zis: The only other thing to report today is that we made a last-minute decision to head up to Niagara Falls for a couple of days while the kids are on break next week. I've never been, so I'm really excited about it. The weather reports tell me it will be chilly and rainy during our two full days there, but I won't let that "dampen" my spirits, hardy har har. My hands are starting to shake so I think I better go grab a bite to eat before my shower and heading out for a cheap haircut.

Who is this woman?

And what did you do with the real Cindy? I've been cleaning like a maniac the past couple of days. And I still have plenty to do. But the major thing that's been bothering me is the state of the floors in the master bedroom, and now they are dust-bunny free. That's a real relief, for my brain as well as my sinuses. Now that the weather is warming up, I want to make everything fresh and clean. Tomorrow I have to focus on the "common areas," like the octagon room and the living room. Lots of windows have doggie nose-prints that need to be wiped clean. We're focusing on home improvements around here. We have a few quotes for replacing our 58-year-old burner, which is losing between 30 and 40 percent of the heat it generates. We could save more than 30 percent on our heating bills just by replacing it with a more efficient one. Add to that the fact that we're replacing the old windows that are still in the house, and we'll be saving lots of money this time next year. You wouldn't believe how cold the master bedroom gets in the wintertime with those leaky windows. Plus, none of the old ones open so we can't really get a cross-breeze going in the springtime. Not for long, though! Now if we could just get the yard company to come do our spring cleanup, we'd be all set. Thank you Motorola for dh's bonus this year, so we can do these things!! In yarnie news, I just came back from AC Moore with some yarn to make the cutest little baby jacket you ever saw. No, I'm not pregnant. But one of dh's friends at work is having his second baby later this month and I want to make something for him. This is the guy who came to the hospital and sat with me while dh was in surgery with his sudden heart attack, so I have a soft spot for him (and his offspring). His wife is a doll too, and I hear she's having a pretty rough time this go-round. My thoughts are with you both, Dave!

Work in Progress

Socks, of course. Work on my fall vest has ground to a complete halt, as I'm feeling the yarn is far too busy. Kate, you asked what it is: it's Patons Shetland Chunky in the colorway High Plains Variegated. I don't know what I'm going to do with 12 skeins of it, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. In the meantime I'm still going on DH's Mets socks. The ribbing for the cuff has become tedious, and there's still SO much yarn left that I don't want to stop until I've used it all up. So it's on hiatus. I picked up a pattern for the Ravelry April Sockdown! competition. It's called Cascading Leaves, and I'm knitting it in a yarn called Dream in Color Smooshy. The colorway is called Butter Peeps, and I purchased it at Eat.Sleep.Knit. The lace pattern repeat is only 8 rows, easily memorized, and very quick to knit. I'm enjoying it very much! I'm researching different heel methods though, because I'm really not fond of the heel flap heel. My last attempt at short rows--using the yarnover method--was a complete flop (I'll show you on the Mets socks when I get a photo). So I'm hoping to try another short row heel with no wraps. Wraps really get me! Anyway, here's the work in progress: We're off to a birthday party for twins! Have a great Sunday! (PS, to a certain someone who is waiting for a particular piece of mail from me...I'm nearly ready to send it off! You're going to love it!)

Astounding

Did I mention I'm pretty big into knitting these days? Oh yeah. Well the majority of my online time is now spent over at Ravelry, although I swearswearswear I check in at 123-Scrap at least once a day still. Ravelry is the place that made this new knitter feel like she a) wasn't alone in her obsession, and b) kinda sorta knew what she was doing The people, the projects, the database, the friends list, the forums for every taste and creed...there's no place like it. And it's still in beta, so just imagine what's going to happen when it goes public. Well, evidently there are several members over there who wax emotional when discussing the Rav, and they got together to help the owners purchase another, much-needed server for the site. After all, The Rav is free, and many of us would love to give a little back. They were hoping to raise about $5000 during the month of April. Imagine their surprise when they surpassed the 5K mark in a couple of days! They decided to aspire to an unreachable goal, just for kicks: to raise $30,000 dollars to eliminate the entire startup debt the owners had incurred. Well guess what? The total as of a few minutes ago was around $29,800. In less than FIVE DAYS, can you BELIEVE that? It's insane. Granted, there are a ton of simply amazing prizes being offered, with your name going into the hat for each $10 you donate. But just to know that this wonderful couple who gave up their fulltime jobs and risked so much to make this site happen will be able to sleep a little better at night...that's worth so much more than any prize. But I wouldn't turn one down... :P I'm off to watch the thermometer/counter break through that 30K mark!! EDIT: at 9:04 pm Ravelry was officially debt-free. Maybe now Casey and Jess can start earning a salary and oh, I don't know, buying some health insurance or something? :D

Naughty Lily!!!

Read this comment, left by Chris in my post about Seeger eating the muffins (she has a golden retriever named Lily): Scary, Cindy. I can tell you chocolate cake, chocolate frosted donuts, 3/4 of a pizza and a pack of tortilla stories. All separate stories, but all stuff taken off the counter. Oh, and bread stolen from the toaster on more than one occasion, which I thought was me losing my mind, LOL. But, the good news is, Lily grew out of that stage. And I'm better at remembering to push things out of her reach. The microwave has become my friend. Give him some Pepto Bismol too, cause he'll need it for his diarrhea ;) Oh my!! I've had fresh bread stolen off the counter (nearly cried!) and coffee drunk (just what I need, a caffeinated puppy) but that takes the...should I say it?...cake! And I wanted to put this in a fresh post to tell Chris, and anyone else with greedy puppies, that I read recently that canned pumpkin is a great stomach settler for dogs. Just a big tablespoon on top of their food and it really helps their digestion. So there you go, your pet owner tip of the week. We just came home from a HYOOOGE party. The little girl next door was celebrating her first communion and we were invited. We skipped the ceremony--I think Jews tend to turn to ash when they enter a Roman Catholic church, right?--but the party was a blast. The mom has been a wreck about it for weeks. I told someone that when Brianna announces her engagement I'm moving to Florida. This party was ginormous, including a cocktail hour (I told the kids it was the pre-dinner dinner), open bar the whole time, disc jockey/entertainer, four course meal, ice cream bar, after-dinner drinks bar including espresso and cappucino, and of course a giant cake shaped like a bible. The best thing that came out of it was having a long talk with my other neighbor and finding out that we aren't the only "poor people" on the street. (No, we aren't poor. But compared to the other people...like, say, the ones that can throw a party for tens of thousands of dollars for their seven-year-old? Yeah. We're penniless.) But we're very grateful that they invited us and the kids had a BALL. Sadly, the kids informed me that they were both up at 4:30 am, and after a six-hour party of dancing and acting like fools, they are trashed. They did, however, get to witness their mother dancing the Cotton-Eyed Joe. So it was worth it.

A few finished projects

I've been a busy bee! I finished a few projects this week and have more going. Still working on the socks for DH for our first Mets game next Friday...I really have to kick those into gear or they won't be done in time. Also: A cardigan for Ben. He likes it, yet he doesn't like it. It's a very strange relationship. I'm removing my feelings from the equation and letting the two of them work it out. A cotton top for Rebecca. It's too big, too bumpy (her words), and she doesn't like how it comes off the shoulder. But after I wash, soften, and block it I'm hoping she'll like it better. And a pair of socks I finished for Ben last month. I like these a lot! My current work in progress is a cable vest called "Boogie." I just started on the back yesterday...and can I tell you how empowering it is to know that I can kick butt on the seaming, so I don't have to fear seamed projects anymore? It rocks. DH comes home tonight, so I need to do a bit of tidying and get caught up on laundry. That's it from here!

A good fright

Seeger gave us quite a scare last night. Just as I was about to finish putting the kids to bed, I realized that he had eaten an entire plate of chocolate chip banana muffins. There were nine on the plate and they were all gone. There was a cup of chocolate in the batch, so I phoned the emergency vet and they told me to bring him in. Fortunately I didn't have to leave him there, because he had eaten just under the "scary" amount. Of course, no amount is good, and he did have all that muffin in there along with the chocolate, so she got him to throw it up and sent us home with some medicine and an order to get him some Pepcid as well. And she recommended training classes, lol. I really do need to teach him not to jump up on the counters...this has happened too many times before, only with meat or bread and not something dangerous like chocolate. Since DH is out of town, I had to take the kids with me. We didn't get home until after 10:30 so I know they're pooped today. And I was so strung out after getting home, and scared that he might still get sick, that I stayed up with the dog on my lap until after 2 am. So I'm pooped too! Tonight's going to be a nice, quiet evening at home with an early bedtime all around.

No foolin

My husband came home last night with a look on his face and told me that he had a talk with his boss. Uh oh. Then he started talking about how one of the guys over in Europe was needing some help...I started getting excited! I thought he was going to tell me that we were going overseas for a year or something! It wasn't that, though. His boss was offering to let one of the three of them go over for two weeks, with time to work as well as have some European relaxation time. So DH wants to know if he should tell the boss he's interested. It could be as soon as spring break, in just less than three weeks. I was concerned at first, because we'd need to take the kids with us. And fast-forward the passport situation, and deal with a lot of hurry and stress. But then I threw caution to the wind and said yes. So he's going to tell bossman that he's interested. We may not be the ones who go, but if we do I'll have the kids with me for a lot of the time, while DH works, in non-English speaking countries. This is one of my biggest fears. But guess what? If I face up to it, then it won't be a fear any more. And what an opportunity for the children! Part of me hopes it won't work out, but if it does then I'll have a lot of work ahead of me. It'll be hard, but fun. And that's no April Fool. I'll leave you with a few shots of Ben. We went letterboxing one day last month, but we weren't able to find the hidden box of treasure. So sad. We still had fun though.