Just one little word.....

It's an idea from a message board I frequent.

Do a scrapbook layout about yourself, using one word to describe yourself. But you get the word from others who know you.

So in the spirit of putting myself 'out there' I am game.

Feel free to leave a comment here, using one word to describe me.

And be gentle.

Right now I am.....

• caught up on my general blog stalkings, particularly with Organize Your Life and today's entry about training our kids (she calls it delegating)
• full from eating the leftover half of an amazing club sandwich from Palm Beach Grill
• happy to have spent a chunk of the morning cleaning my kitchen thoroughly and finishing laundry
• thinking Joe will not be pleased that he will come home to a 'pile'...I stacked up all of his things that were on the counter!
• pleased to know that in a few hours I will have the cleanest feeling teeth! (dental appt today!)
• loving that we paid for all three kids' new glasses and contact lenses with cash!
• relieved that Jackie and I know what we are doing for our goodie bag contribution for the Spring Fling retreat in May, and that it's already started! (we even know what we are doing for November's retreat!)
• proud that Eric is still a conscientious driver. A student at his high school was killed in an accident over the weekend...it appears that the driver (another student) was trying to pass on a curve in the road and ran headon into oncoming traffic, injuring himself and killing his friend. It has hit the kids hard, and although it's terrible to have happen, it is a glaring reminder to teens that they are, indeed, vulnerable. Please pray for both families involved, for healing for all of them. This will be a hard road for both families.
• watching Court TV on verdict watch for a trial (I'm a geek)
• laughing at the odd positions that my dogs sleep in during the day
• beating myself up for emails I owe people (hi Donna!)
• excited to start up the health/weight loss plan again on Thursday...it's been a hard month off!

So what are you doing right now?

Happy "Van Allen-tine's" Day....

Yep, it's that time of year again!

We are not sentimental here anymore. I told Joe that I am no longer "Demandingly Sentimental"...no flowers or cards please. And really, if he has to go all out on Valentine's Day, then what were we doing the rest of the year? We celebrate all year.

Random blatherings since I haven't blogged in a while, but have been making notes to do so!

Recently watched the Muppet Show (Season 1) with the kids. Love Mummenschanz!





And then there is Shields and Yarnell. Remember them from the Donny & Marie Show?



We had to get a new vacuum this week. Our home/menagerie is hard on vacuums. We did find one at a good price that is good for pet hair. It's nice to have the smell of burning vacuum belt out of the house again!

Knitting updates, or did I mention that I hate to make gauge swatches? I really do. And I have recently had to make more than I ever have to again, ever. EVER. On one project, even! I found some great yarn on sale a while back, and got it to make a cozy for my new Ipod. I loved the pink, orange and yellow in the yarn, but as I wound it, I realized that I didn't care for the white in the skein...it was dingy looking. So as I came across the white, I simply cut and knotted the white out. Then I had to gauge out the yarn on different needles, and ended up using FOUR plies of the yarn! I was on about swatch number 9 when I stopped counting. I also went through a couple of different pattern attempts. Initially I wanted to make a perfect cozy, a la Grumperina, but couldn't get the sizing to work for the openings. And all those ends from splicing out the white! yikes! Eventually I gave up and made a simple envelope with a turned up flap that is ribbed, for the earbuds. The very end of the yarn I had left was for the tie: braided and wrapped around the cozy. Just need a big button to wrap the cord around and it will finally be done. We won't talk about the number of ends I had to weave it.



I did make a scarf for Grace, the Irish Hiking Scarf. She picked the yarn; it's from Cascade Painted, and is a pretty mix of bright teal, purple and blue. I also made a scarf for myself, out of lucious Baby Alpaca in winter white, all ribbed with overlapping cables at each end, making it appear to be basket woven. Then ends are from this pattern. I used ribbing for the parts between the cables, and at the ends as shown in this entry. It was cold enough to use the scarves for a couple of days! I am falling in love with cables, and the look of them. And the look of cabled sweaters. Why don’t I live in the mountains where I can knit jillions of hat/mitten/scarf combos in fantastic alpaca? Oh, yeah....the cold. Right.





I am still way behind on taking photos for Ravelry and my completed projects. Right now I am using Ravelry for great ideas: I can search by yarn to see what others have done with it, and by pattern to see what alternative yarns others have used.



Eric is now driving, or how life has changed already! He picks up Grace and Alex after school, so there are fewer miles going onto the Surburban, and less stress in timing for me! But there is always the mom thing...worrying about the other drivers out there. So far he is proving to be a very conscientious driver, and is increasing his 'drivable radius' from the house.

Lent: Do you give something up, or take on a discipline? I once gave up soda. Back in the days before bottled water other than Perrier. That was a tough one. I'm not good at the giving up stuff. This year all I am doing is, as a part of the 'moving to a healthier me', trying to increase my water intake from abysmal to decent. I don't set the bar very high.






Tomorrow Grace turns 12. Wow. My baby has moved from this:




to this:




and as a middle schooler, occasionally looks at me like this(sorry about the tilt...this is a read-only file. Tip your head!):



She just switched from glasses to contacts. She looks so much older!

So I'm off for another busy weekend at Archiver's. Take care!