It's Been a While...A Long While

I got busy after Gabriel was born. Then i stayed that way for a while. I don't know why I stopped blogging. I have so many funny stories of the kids' antics here. There's so much I want to remember and so little time. We have these great moments every day and they get lost in the waves of daily tasks that just have to get done.

So..l am back. :)

Gabriel is my little Pigpen. He goes outside and leaves a ton of dirt in the bathtub when he comes in. It would be funny if it wasn't every.single.day. He always promises to not get too dirty, too. I am terrified of what his definition of dirty is...

Claudia is inexplicable. You just have to know her. She's very bright, very creative, and very willing to go out on a limb to make people smile. At the same time she is also a very sensitive girl that wants people treated fairly and gets upset when that is not the case. Am I raising the next Bono? XD

Nadine is my little scholar. She's interested in books, art, and Latin. She recently inherited my iPad 1 when Dean gave me a new iPad for homeschool use/this year's gifting occasions, and it has changed a lot of how we do things. I now email her copywork for handwriting practice, terms I want her to define, which pages I want her to complete in math and spelling, and what her Latin assignment for the day is. She loves it!

In fact, it worked so well that I signed Claudia up for an email address and I send her copywork that way and a reminder not to forget her next lesson in spelling. Both girls are thrilled to be able to independently email Daddy, too. He was so surprised to get messages from them last night.

I have completely given up on trying to tell people what grades the girls are actually in and just resort to whatever is age appropriate. Claudia is finishing up first grade in most subjects, but Nadine is the complicated one. She's spanning about 3 grade levels in various subjects and has been working in third grade grammar most of this year. My biggest challenge with her is keeping up with her. Claudia's biggest problem is that she doesn't pay attention. I hear she gets that from her daddy...

I have just come out of a knitting slump and have been working diligently on this cardigan for myself. (For the knitters: It's the Alexandria Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio.) The color is not accurate. It's more like crushed azaleas with tan mixed in. This is the third attempt at this cardi. The first was my fault. I highlighted the wrong size numbers in the pattern. The second time Gabriel helped me by pulling the needles out and getting his cars tangled in the yarn. So far nothing major has happened to this version besides emergency lace surgery. Here's hoping it makes a full recovery and grows into a happy cardigan.

I have also found a new love in the fiber arts. She is a Schacht Matchless, and she was my Christmas gift. I have fallen in love with spinning laceweight yarns. This was part of my knitting slump. It's just so relaxing to have such yummy fibers running through my hands. When you are spinning lace just a little fiber lasts a long time...

I just started on the Master Hand Knitter Level 1 program offered by The Knitting Guild Association. It is challenging and yet fun as someone obsessed by the whys and hows of knitting. It's also quite a lot of work and may get in the way of the sewing I had planned for this summer, but I have design ideas floating around that need to get put down and this should help with that. I learned quite a lot last night doing the required research for some very basic knitting techniques I thought I knew all about, mostly tiny technical things but wow at the difference it makes. Yes, I am excited, and I am really lucky to have a husband who supports my hobbies. I think he knows that this is all that keeps me from going completely insane.

This is my second yarn, a handspun that I wanted to be conspicuously handspun. I love the colors, and it will probably become a pair of mitts and a cowl. The fiber is superwash merino and was dyed by Selah.

See, we're really not freaks after all

We're by far not the only ones disinterested in religion according to this survey.

What do I have to do to get a quiet morning?

Good grief, what a morning. There was an explosion on an offshore drilling rig, so of course people who apparently pay no attention to what my husband does or what division of offshore oil he works in freak the hell out.

It took me less than 5 minutes on Google to get details that would have assured me it wasn't DH's rig. I didn't need to confirm it because my DH called me after talking to his freaked out parents to tell me it wasn't his rig, but still. We've been there with helicopter crashes that weren't even on crew change day that had people scared it was him.

It's tiring and stressful to deal with family jumping at shadows all of the time when I already know his job isn't safe. There's a reason we have an insane amount of life insurance on him, but there's a limit as to how often I'm willing to scare myself silly without rhyme or reason.

Just a Couple of Gabriel Pics

Here's my boy slurping up nothing other than leftover A1 steak sauce. He stole the plate while I was in the bathroom and apparently inherited my ability to practically drink the stuff.

The second picture is from Gabriel's birthday get together. Nothing's better than giving them their first taste of chocolate on their first birthday....the reaction (and resulting pics) are priceless!

Back from WI with puppy pics!

Here's a pic of one of the pups. Jasmine's OK with me but not with me with the camera so this pic was "stolen" while she went outside for a moment.

Weigh in went well. I'm down 3.8 pounds. Yay!

Gabriel went with MeMe and I to the meeting. He ran around like a crazy person and entertained the women there. They were all flirting with him. It was tiring for me, though. My arms and back are sore from chasing him. I wonder how many activity points I earned during that meeting?!? LOL

Knitting....ah yes. I'm being selfish with it lately. I'm working on a sweater for myself and just completed my first sock with real sock yarn. It's adorable and totally the best thing I've ever had on my feet. I used Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters and am now proudly loving sock knitting. This is especially good news for Dean. He's been wanting some handknit socks for a while. I really need to be sewing play dresses and knitting shorties, though. Hmmm.....where is that second sock again? ;)

WW, homeschool, and my precious....

Let's see, the usual update: Jasmine had puppies. We think there's some bulldog involved. They're super cute but only 2 days old. I'll post pics when I swap my pics to my newish replacement laptop (I'll explain below).

Claudia's birthday is coming up on the 4th. She wants a SHEEP. Not a stuffed sheep. A real, live sheep. Dean and I are trying to sell her on a goat. She's not having it. She wants a fluffy pet sheep. *sigh* She'll probably get it, too. Dean's talking to a friend of a coworker who raises them.

I'm amazed by the girls' progress in homeschool. Nadine read her very first real book to Dean the night he went out. "It has its own cover and evathing, Mommy!" She is so excited and really wants to read. Dean is super supportive of the girls' homeschool. They love to save papers and things to show him when he comes home and he stops everything to let them show off. It's easy to keep them excited about learning when their parents are excited, too.

I'm going to WW meetings with Meme now. I had my first meeting last week and have one tonight. I didn't think I'd like the meetings, but I've been having trouble "getting on the wagon" since Gabriel was born and thought the accountability of a weigh in would help. I was right. I've done pretty well this week. I tried online (which worked before Gabriel) but things have been so hectic I would forget to even weigh in. I'm stoked though, because I weighed 263 last week. I was expecting 15 to 20 pounds heavier than that...

After over a month of fighting with Dell, the accident replacement warranty laptop finally got here today. And all it took was me making some suggestions as to how Dell and the rep might make use of their recreational time to do it. It's not my fault, honest. I try so hard to be nice to tech support folks, but this was so totally over the top I lost it. While I was trying to find out the status of my now 3 weeks late replacement laptop, I was told the warranty was almost up and that I should buy an extension. Um, no. You're not honoring the warranty I have, you know I'm having issues, and it's pretty sad to be throwing a sales pitch into the mix. I probably should have told them off 3 weeks ago because this morning I received a very pleasant phone call from someone identifying themselves as a VP of Customer Relations at Dell. They had a tracking number for me (overnighted OMG!) and I was very impressed at the quick response. I had only contacted corporate yesterday, after all. I would have been a very happy customer with just that level of attention and the VP's interest in the inability of Dell's departments to communicate that caused this problem. Then he told me what he sent me "as a gesture of continued goodwill", and my jaw hit the floor. It's around here somewhere. Still too in shock to go find it. Ladies, I am typing this blog right now on a refurbished Alienware laptop that retails for roughly $4,000. *pets laptop gently* My precious....

I told Dean I paid for this thing with blood, sweat, and tears with their "support" line, so I don't feel too guilty, but dang, she's really, really nice. Add to that the fact that Dell went that far to make sure they have happy customers and well, I forgive them...for everything but trying to sell me an extension. I'm a working on it. Let the Alienware log me into stuff a few more times by recognizing my face (!!!) and I'm sure I'll forget all about it.

It's Been a While, So Here's What You've Missed

Since it's been so long, I thought I'd catch you up quickly. We're homeschooling both girls in kindergarten, and they are loving it and doing well. Nadine says she's never going back to "real" school again. They are both taking ballet classes this year and will probably take gymnastics and music next year.

Gabriel's cruising as of today. He's 10 months old and has no teeth, but he's never still unless he's asleep. He's a huge ball of fun.

Well, time's up, so enjoy the pics!