Finishing frenzy
November 23, 2008 at 9:32 pm | In Baby, family, knitting, whining, work | Leave a CommentThe big orange hunting socks are finally finished. These took quite a long time to knit compare to the others lately. First they are bigger socks and longer socks and the pattern repeats are on every round – whew!
First modeled by Miss Bug…
Then by DH. His father is the recipient.
Particulars…
Yarn: Trekking XXL, used most of one skein
Color: mostly orange
Needle: US 2 (knit picks, used magic loop, one at at time)
Pattern: Made it up
Inspiration: Hedgerow socks and fetching
Size: Men’s size 10-11 wide
I also knit up a pair of mittens for me!
Particulars:
Yarn: Manos de Uruguay, used about 2/3 of a skein
Needle: US 9, magic loop, ‘toe-up’
Pattern: plain, kind of made up, numbers based on Ann Budd’s book of patterns
I also sewed up my sister’s clogs (fiber-trends) and will felt them over Thanksgiving. She has tiny feet, so I wanted to do it when I have her foot around for measurement purposes. I also am working on a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend’s husband. I just taught her to knit yesterday. Pictures later…
Otherwise, things are ticking along here.
Bug had her Thanksgiving program at ’school’ in which the kids sang. She is wearing orange.
She was actually on good behavior this year – no crying like last year. And she even ate some of the lunch! Since Thanksgiving is so late this year and Bug is very much in the holiday spirit, we also made ornaments
and put up our Christmas tree this weekend.
We are hoping to avoid so much materialism with her. She seems to want everything she sees. So, we devised this plan – she gets to cut out pictures of things she wants and glue them to a special block of construction paper we keep on the freezer with Santa’s picture on it. Then Santa will choose one thing to bring her. We will get here something and her grandparents will too, but maybe it won’t be so overwhelming…?
I have only one more lecture and two more classes in this semester – one course was double the time each week (to allow for travel) and ended at mid-semester. However, there is ‘no rest for the wicked’ – as soon as classes are finished, I have to report for US district jury duty for the remainder of December… BIG FUN!
Growing
June 20, 2008 at 9:04 pm | In family, gardening, knitting, whining | Leave a CommentThe Bug and I will be taking off on Sunday to central Virginia to visit my sister’s family. We are driving and the maps/directions say we will have 8 hours in the car. Bug has always been a poor traveler, so I hope to make it in under 12 hours. Traveling these days makes me feel uncomfortable, sometimes even scared. Life just seems so fragile, while accidents seem so random and senseless. Nice and upbeat, no? 
Anyway, we’ve been outside quite a bit lately and the weather today was incredibly nice (80s). So we played with sidewalk chalk that she loves. Her request this morning was Spongebob. I didn’t have time, so I drew one on the blacktop before picking her up this afternoon as a surprise.
Everything here is growing and the peaches have even turned color (not ripe yet, though).
The corn socks for DH are coming along – into the ribbing portion and then the after-thought heel. That is the only progress for now. Wish us luck on Sunday!
Parenting woes and a Wind-ing day
June 5, 2008 at 9:06 pm | In Baby, family, whining | Leave a CommentNot much progress on crafting fronts because I’ve been pouring myself into reading a parenting book. Bug’s behavior had been getting the best of me. After a particularly trying evening, a friend mentioned the word ‘boundary’ to me and it got me thinking about them. As an older mom of an only child who nursed for nearly a year, I had gotten used to being completely at the beck and call of a certain little demanding girl. Combine that with a husband who essentially works 2 full time jobs and likes his peace and quiet, and you get me… He is much better at setting limits with her and ‘taking’ the crying. I know that he is and was right, but I just couldn’t fathom it until now. Well, now is the time for change. I have no skills in this area from my childhood (very compliant child easily disciplined by fear and guilt). I’ve looked around at different books on parenting ’strong-willed’ children and found this one by McKenzie. He makes a lot of sense and I’m trying to follow this. It seems to be working, but I’m having a difficult time trying to anticipate trouble spots and come up with consequences on the spur of the moment. Most of all, the book has given me back some control over my life, instead of dreading going out alone with her (which happens a lot).
I’d post some pictures of Bug and her flying a kite this morning (Look Mama, it is wind-ing outside so let’s fly the kite!) , but wordpress is balking at adding pictures at the moment.
Happy Thursday!
Again, still alive
January 21, 2008 at 9:05 pm | In bellydance, blah, whining | Leave a CommentJanuary is difficult for me. I feel so tired. I’m still knitting on Bug’s socks (second one now) and the Elizabeth lace scarf. The new computer is doing well except I think Bug messed up the ‘o’ key as it looks a little off kilter and doesn’t seem to work much. Ok, just fixed it. I only have one complaint to far – the touch pad is extremely insensitive even when the sensitivity is turned all the way up. We didn’t have classes today, so Bug and I just hung around, went to the park (bundled up well) and the bookstore (to play with the trains). I bought a book called “No More Mondays” in the hopes of fighting this burnt-out feeling. I danced with the Gypsy Sistars at a hafla in Nashville on Saturday evening. The CD player was skipping really bad, so it wasn’t that great.
This was my first performance since Bug was born. My other group kind of abandoned me when she was born – they didn’t even come to see me/her at the hospital or after. They only came by once when they needed to borrow something.
Happy New Year!
January 4, 2008 at 9:29 pm | In family, knitting, whining | Leave a CommentHappy New Year! I get kind of blue this time of year when all the holiday items have been taken down making everywhere look “naked” without the ribbons and lights. Also, the gray, rainy, cold days of January don’t help. To combat this I’m going to try and find something each day that is fun/happy/pleasurable to share, at least for January…
Jan 1: when Bug, Dad, and I all fell asleep and napped together
Jan 2: new electric blanket to heat up the bed
Jan 3: finally finishing a scarf for DH that was 19,512 stitches!
Jan 4: leftovers, so I didn’t have to cook
As noted above, the Rosalind scarf for DH is finally done. I’ll take pictures and post the particulars tomorrow. I ripped and re-started the Elizabeth “town and country” scarf again, but with 3 repeats this time instead of 4. Odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye. We’re just trying to stay warm…
Singing the blues…
November 12, 2007 at 10:27 pm | In Baby, whining | Leave a CommentBug has been super-cantankerous these past few days. To quote Elvis… ‘She looks like an angel, walks like an angel, talks like an angel, but I got wise – she’s the devil in disguise. Oh, yes she is the devil in disguise.’
A ‘hitting, pinching, climbing all over me, disobeying constantly, being mean to the cats, refusing to sleep, refusing to eat, highly distractable, refusing to go potty’ two and a half year old….
One day we’ll look back and laugh, but not today.
Whining… again.
August 26, 2007 at 8:46 pm | In Baby, whining | 1 CommentI have this beautiful, smart child. She is only 2. She is the only one we have, and will likely have. She wears me out and wallers me to the point that I am cranky, short-tempered, and sometimes mean. I don’t like myself when I feel and act this way. I love her and want to set a good example for her. She mimics everything I do. What is wrong with me?
School-starting blues, but then some happier things
August 20, 2007 at 9:46 pm | In Baby, family, teaching, whining, work | 1 CommentThe school year is nearly upon us here in middle Tennessee – that is for the University. Next week will bring nonexistent parking spaces, even at 7am in the morning. It will also bring a flood of traffic onto the nearby roads that have ALL been and will be torn up for months and months to come.
This week I am trying to remain calm and get ready for the flurry of next week. I’m working on revising a lab book, arranging all of my syllabi including “field trips” and incoming speakers, and… I should also be working in the lab and writing papers. Yes, I have a difficult time balancing work and the rest of my life. I seem to think there are more hours in a day than is realistic. I guess all moms are like that, but scientist-moms seem to have a more difficult time with it. We were trained for science to be “first” in our lives, but it shouldn’t be. Me? I’m still working on it.
Anyway, on to some happier things… a visit to see the grandparents in Ohio.
Big balloons of the first Buffalo Trace Balloon Race in Maysville, KY – we didn’t get to do the tethered ride because a ba-jillion people were in line already!
Bug likes shoes – even Nana and Pappaw’s garden boots! She got into them all by herself…
Sweet, sleeping baby toes!
We didn’t know this, but the Great Ohio River Paddle was last weekend as well. We saw the signs when we went down to Ripley’s farmer’s market on Saturday.
Big toddler hair courtesy of static electricity… he he he
feeling very blah….
July 16, 2007 at 9:32 pm | In whining, work | 1 CommentI think I’m kind of burned out at work. I barely get anything of my own accomplished. I just seem to answer questions from my research students as they come up. I keep piddling around on the computer. The students will be done next Friday. I really like them and they all are working very hard, but I’m ready for a break.
I was trying to put up pictures on flickr, but the uploadr was erroring out. I finally got them up using jUploadr. I don’t know how much of the pictures of Bug that I should make public, though. It scares me that there are “bad people” out there that might be looking at her pictures. What do you all do?
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