Something...

I'm waiting here in the half light of our living room, waiting to see if the baby is really going to stay asleep tonight. I'm watching Michael Douglas and the lovely Frances McDormand in "Wonder Boys". Robert Downey Jr is confirming my belief in his outstanding abilities and Tobey Macguire should really get more work that doesn't involve a superhero costume.

I am so tired, I may have to put off watching the end for a couple days. It was such a good book. This is turning out to be a really great movie. Michael Chabon, from whence comes your ridiculous talent?

I'm going to bed.

I Need To Go To Bed

Wanna get past me? First you'll have to get past

Colm Tóibín

and

Benedict Kiely

Our Budding Artist

Peanut has been surprising us over and over this week with her art. She has been drawing animals that look vaguely like the animals they are meant to represent, and now she has been focusing on human representation.

Here is her portrait of me:



Note that I have two eyes (as I do), one nose (accurate), and one mouth. She's only two! I am extremely impressed by her chops here. I mean, I do spend a good portion of my life being impressed by her. I am also impressed that she knows that baby swans are called cygnets. I bet you didn't know that. Thanks, library!

We learned a bunch of baby animal names because we read this great book, "Who Are You, Baby Kangaroo?" by Stella Blackstone that both girls giggle at.

More soon

Today Was Lame...

... until Punky said "Ma-ma- mommy!"

Punky

She has hair like a little dandelion puff.



Chubby little cheeks.



And that smile.... Punky Doodlebug, I love you.

Milestones....

Peanut had her first haircut yesterday. She was very excited, since the hairstylist let her watch "Finding Nemo" on her iPod. (Note to self- must get "Nemo" on my iPod, so child can RELAX in traffic on the way home). Also, there was a lollipop. Her curls are very slightly tamed and less ragamuffiny. I don't think that's a word, but whatever.

Punky (the baby also known hereabouts as Dangerfeet) has decided to grow all her teeth in one go, so she went from no teeth to two teeth in a two day period. I think another tooth is on it's way, or she just likes to gnaw on the world at large.

Me? I'm just doing a little bit o' knitting. A little bit of reading. A miniscule amount of writing. Nothing too exciting. I have been thinking about Christmas, though. Is it too early to start fussing about that? Last year we had a (mostly) handmade Christmas, and I would really like to repeat it. But with different stuff. I think I may need to go and visit Knitty and Ravelry to get some ideas.

A Short List of Things I Like Right Now:

Powell's Sweet Shoppe::: Like a movie set of candy shop, only it's real and sooo neat. You can be a grownup and try the delightful sea-salt caramels (YUM) or you can buy a cow that poops candy. Your choice.

Mother's Beach::: No waves, a playground, cheap parking in the lot (free street parking), and lots of boats to wave at. Also, a high life guard to swimmer ratio. And close to my house, so that's nice, too.

The Splendid Table::: Did you know you can make iced tea without heating up water? I do now, thanks to the Splendid Table's free podcast.

These Mermaid Socks (Rav Link)::: This pattern makes me want to buy more yarn. Ack!

The Loopy Ewe::: Sheri is making me into a yarn freak. Last year this time I didn't even know how to knit. Dang, woman.

Anyhow, I will try and get some pictures up soon. Camera charger (my REPLACEMENT camera charger) has gone MIA. Wish me luck.

Happy Father's Day....

Somebody Smack Me.

How did it get to be halfway through June? Exactly where did the past three weeks go?

It must be the weather. We've been having cool, grey weather here in Southern California. I wore a thick wool sweater at work yesterday. I wore wool socks last week. It's just a bit strange.

Today was warm though, so maybe summer can get it's arse out of bed so I can teach my kid to swim. Every weekend I play this game where I get excited about going to the beach and then my little dreams get smashed. Every weekend someone in the house has been sick, it's been too cold, R gets stuck at work, and the best one- R had surgery so we couldn't go. (How inconvenient for me, don't you think?)*

Hopefully we can manage to get there at least for a little while this weekend. Everytime we drive near any body of water Peanut keeps telling me "Mommy? I need a swim like a Nemo! Mommy! Wook! Da Osan!" How can you say no when she needs to swim like a Nemo? In the "Osan", no less.

*He's doing fine, it was a relatively minor surgery and I only made him feel sort of bad for keeping me away from the water. :)

One More Picture From the Blimp (Or Two)

I was just thinking today, after feeling rather ground down by the return to work, that just a few days ago I was aloft, feeling giddy with excitement and the wonder of looking down at the world from up in the sky.

So whatever difficult moments I have, I can close my eyes and remember how the wind felt on my skin, how the world felt so much larger, and how R and I got to see the place he asked me to marry him, seven years ago.

So this week I will try to remember how the little stuff doesn't really matter, because it's the big stuff we remember, the stuff I want to remember. Like this:

Like Riding A Space Whale

Today R and I got to take a trip on the Goodyear Blimp. It was very fun. I didn't anticipate liking it so much, but it was really cool to get to fly in it.



Our pilot, Kristen, explained that we had to pay attention and be able to step up on the ladder to get into the blimp. It was strange, because I kind of assumed that the blimp was tethered down and remained stationary. It is actually tethered to a mast in the center of a circle of concrete and rotates constantly around the mast. There is a kind of wheel thing it sort of rests on. Someone is there, watching it, all the time to make sure nothing bad happens (like with inclement weather or loss of pressure, etc).

We flew over the Port of Los Angeles and got to see the coast. It was really strange to look down and see our shadow on the water.



It was beautiful to see the world from that perspective as well as fascinating to get to see the Port of Los Angeles from that angle.



It was amazing. The ascent was utterly weird- it was a really quick jump to the cruising altitude, and the whole blimp sort of rocks from the front to the back in the wind. It is hard to describe it, but it was something like riding a giant rocking horse, or a... um. Like a Something. A space whale. That's the best explanation. If there were whales that lived in space and you could ride them and the lack of air was something they could kind of swim in... Er, yeah. Space whales.



I was really excited to knit on the flight. I was dorkily excited to do this. I had these visions of Kinnearing the pilot, but I really thought she might think I was too weird, so I didn't go that far. I did make R take my picture. This is me, in the back row of the cabin, knitting a sock.



Who knows, I might be the first person to knit on the Goodyear Blimp!

A Little Bit of Shaking Going On

We went to the Long Beach Aquarium's Member Preview of their Shark Summer Something Or Other Thingy. Peanut danced with a guy in a shark costume, I watched the giant whale hanging from the ceiling swing in the earthquake, and we ate some dinner. Fun stuff.

Also, we went to the beach.



Peanut kept wanting to swim more. "I swim, like a Nemo."



I love these girls.

Brown Ghosts

Today we went to a used bookstore. Peanut saw a pair of nuns going into the bookstore.

She told R, "Daddy! Wook! Bruwn Dhosts!" {Translation= "Daddy! Look! Brown ghosts!"). R struggled to keep from cracking up.

It got better when one of the nuns asked Peanut her name. She answered, and then turned to R and said, "Daddy! Da bruwn dhosts asked a my name! I don't like a da bruwn dhosts! Pick me up!"

So, is it obvious that we're not catholic?

Hand-Knits=Love

I think I might love her. Just a little bit.

BLARGH!

This sweater is killing me. I have ripped back, tinked back (I just learned that phrase from the Knit Picks podcast) and I am basically in the same place I was on Friday. It will be a cute sweater, someday. For Punky probably, if she can stop growing like a mutant.

I just had to stop writing so I could kill a giant spider. I think that I kept seeing it move out of the corner of my eye and then finally I actually saw it. Yowza, that's a big one. Was a big one.

In any case, I think in the next couple of days I will have a little photo update time with the newest knits and I'll add some pics to Ravelry and here. Have I mentioned how much I love Ravelry? 'Cause I really do.

I need some sleeo. Have a super-fantastic day.

I'm Not Tired!

Everyone else is asleep. I'm not tired, so here I am, writing a useless little post here.

Aren't you excited?

I thought you would be.

I just started hearing some of this:


You can watch it by clicking here.

I am, I am sure, quite behind the times and I am sure all of the cool kids already knew about this a long time ago... But I just heard about it on NPR (OK I GET IT I'M A NERD) and I searched it out. Did you know that fancyjane and I were extras on Buffy the Vampire Slayer a hundred years ago? We were vampires. Take that and stuff it, Kevin Bacon. Six degrees? One degree. Oh, yeah.

I Am Clearly Deluded.*

I was hopeful, you see. About the sneezing being related to the pollen count.

Peanut threw up on me twice on Tuesday and sneezed on Punky about a bazillion times. Punky is coughing from the other room and keeping sneeze-crying in a sad little way.

Colds : 1
Me: 0

However, I did finish knitting Punky an adorable pink cashmere hat (note that it is going to be 80 degrees here, I know, I know), so there is that. And I finished knitting a scarf that had been sitting around unfinished forever, too. Woo! Knitting on long phone calls at work! I am also still enjoying all the reading I get to do on breaks/lunches. So cool. I miss the girls with every fiber of my being, but there is something to say about a lunch break. Moms everywhere should get one- imagine, an hour to yourself. I know, I know.

Happy mother's day, if applicable.

*Please note that I am so tired right now that the original name of this post was going to be "I'm Am Clearly Deluded." Yes, I know.

Ok, I think it's getting quiet....

The kids may or may not be getting sick. We might have allergies. I don't know. Lots of crying, lots of "MOMMY" emanating from their room. Yeah.

In any case, I have been meaning to post here since I got back to work, but I officially have NO TIME TO MYSELF ANYMORE. Yes, that needs to be in caps. Hence, the 11:01 PM post. The SHORT 11:01 PM post.

I actually have things to write about, too. My co-worker finished reading "Moby Dick" this week. The guy who hadn't read a novel since college. I am very proud of him, and am endeavoring to get him to read "Bartleby the Scrivner" next in his Melville adventure. Yay reading!

One of the perks of working again is my hour lunch. I can read for about thirty minutes. It is so cool. I started a novel on Sunday and I am over halfway done. Yay reading!

Also, I am kicking around a story that sprouted from my head on Friday. I was driving home through Santa Ana and it just sort of assaulted me and made me take notes. I wasn't even sure what prompted it. It seems that it is time to write again. My mind has made itself up and I am but its willing hostage. (That phrase makes me think of "Bel Canto").

Here's my tentative title: "The Story of Us, Before You and All of That" or maybe with a semi-colon. I have a lot of passionate feelings about semi-colons. I wrote a couple pages at stop lights. Weird, n'est pas?

The Countdown Begins...

I have to go back to work on Monday. I have this adorable baby:



and this adorable kid (please note that said kid is wearing a new, mummy-hand-knit sweater-pattern available on Ravelry as a free download):



...and I have to go back to work. Blech.

I can't believe I haven't won the lottery (we don't actually play the lottery), or inherited a packet from a mysterious, unknown relative, or simply figured out how to get a paycheck while blowing bubbles in the front yard. Blech.

I am trying to remember to just enjoy the minutes I have with them, and not to let my own dissatisfaction ruin my attitude about everything. I was so very unhappy when I went back to work after I had Peanut. I don't want to feel that way again. I want to be as happy as I can, as often as I can. I am trying to stay focused on this. Remember to enjoy those sweet little girls while I can.



Wish me luck.

Going Green (ish)

Well, Philosopher Mom, you've won the hippy war. I give in. My baby is sleeping in her gDiaper* with a cloth diaper keeping her little bum dry. Yep, I am on my way to being a damn dirty hippy.

But seriously? These gDiapers ROCK. They aren't hard to use, you can use them with a throw away/flush away/compost away liner, or you can use them with cloth. ROCK. I think I have taken away a quarter of our trash output by putting Punky in them. If I wasn't working my ass off trying to potty train Peanut, I'd buy a set for her, too. (We're down to just a couple pull ups a day, anyhow, with the aggressive pee pee persuasion going on). I do love knowing that whenever I am diapering with cloth, it isn't costing me anything. At least, not nearly as much as Pampers was.

We shall see what our babysitter thinks about all this, to see what she would like to do with this. I suspect she may want to stick with the disposable liners, but we'll see if I can convince her of the benefits of cloth. I really don't want to make her life more complicated, but I think that the disposables are still a better bet than a traditional diaper.

I am so turning into a hippy. I blame you, Boo. I recall thinking "Who cares that much about diapers?"

Um, I guess me, too.

*I don't really do advertising here (I just got around to removing the google ads)) but if you are going to purchase gDiapers, check out diapers.com and use the code gogreen! to get $10 off your purchase of $49 or more, plus free shipping for orders over $50. This is pretty good deal- you can get two starter kits for about $44, including shipping. Not too shabby!

Happy Bunny Day!

These bunnies were made using the pattern from Rebecca Danger's website, also available for purchase from Ravelry. These are my first knitted toys, and Peanut announced that she "wubs" them. If you need an introduction to knitting a toy, this is a good choice- the pattern is very well written.

I will write a little more this week, as I just tried out g Diapers and now I have to write about them. I used cloth diapers in them and I have no idea how to... Well, I will write about it tomorrow. My environmentally responsible ass needs to get to bed.