Back from SF

Sorry folks, this one will be image-heavy. Thing 1 and I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in San Francisco. We stayed on the 8th floor of the Hotel Palomar, where this was our view:

We're looking over Market Street and up Stockton Street. After checking in, we had cream puffs at Beard Papa's.

Then we were off to SFMOMA, where we saw the Picasso exhibit, I tried to explain to Thing 1 why artists like to depict naked people so often, and then we hit the gift shop. I love museum gift shops.

After a brief rest at the hotel, we went shopping. One highlight was a visit to Art Fibers, one of my very, very favorite yarn stores.

We also visited San Francisco Centre, which I think may now be called Westfield Mall. Whatever it's called, it has a wonderful food court (including a Slanted Door outlet) and a Japanese stationery store. I have a confession to make: I adore stationery and office supply stores. I can spend a long, happy time in Staples. So you can only imagine I am in a shop that stocks all those incredibly cute and clever Japanese papers and pens and erasers and so on.

Knatolee, there's a fantastic store there called Lupicia that has over 400 kinds of tea!

Eventually, we collapsed back in our room, although we did later make a trip to the Container Store, which was conveniently located next door.

I've never ridden in one of these things--don't they look like fun?

Today, Sunday, was less fun. Thing 1 broke the magnifying mirror in the hotel bathroom and then had a tantrum (I thought she'd outgrown those!) so we just headed eastward without doing anything fun. But as soon as we got off the Bay Bridge, our eastward progress was stopped by this:

I'm just thankful I don't commute to SF, because that will be a mess for a very long time. Today, we had to take an unplanned detour through Berkeley in order to get home, adding an extra hour to our trip. Here's what really annoys me, though. The highway collapsed 7 hours before we got there, and there wasn't a single sign on the very long Bay Bridge to warn us that the highway was closed. Nobody had any idea until they got to the I-80/I-580 split, abruptly discovered 580 closed, and slammed on their brakes in confusion. Good job, Caltrans.

Grazie!

Thank you, ladies, for all the great suggestions for that fabric! I definitely think the Loteria fabric needs to be a tote bag of some sort. I'm thinking the pink skulls would be awfully cute as a skirt for one of the Things. I need to find a really simple pattern. And maybe one of the others will be an apron. So many choices!! Something fun to think about when I ought to be grading or writing.

I received a GYS swap package today from Chiara in Italy. There was some pasta, of course, and some cute things, but this was my favorite:

How cool is that?!? Thing 1 is thrilled.

Speaking of Thing 1, today while she was emptying the dishwasher she informed me that her name is actually Gently Carefully Yesmom. Sounds good to me. She and I are heading to SF this weekend to visit SFMoMA and do some shopping. She's never been to an art museum and I think she'll enjoy it.

Suggestions?

So I just acquired some really cool fabrics. See? I have no idea what I want to make with them, and I'm very open to suggestions! I have 1 yard of each except the pink skulls, of which I have 2 yards. Keep in mind I am not an experienced or talented seamstress, but I'm willing to learn new skills and I do own a sewing machine. And of course I won't get to this until after the semester is over, but I can dream now.

So, whatta ya think??

Pics as Promised

As promised, for those of you not already thoroughly sick of the subject, here's my kitchen. As you can see, Ruthie matches the new floor:

And here's the view toward the family room. The crooked painting has been straightened.

Thanks for all the compliments! :-) We are really enjoying the kitchen.

Power On!

The kitchen guys are done! We have power! We have counters and floors and appliances! We have dust everywhere, but that will soon be remedied. Here you can see what the kitchen looked like as they were installing the tile.

And here is Square #10, lounging against the new backsplash (before it was grouted).

My parents understand our situation completely, and sent us this sign. It's still in the kitchen, but it will also fit right in at work.

And finally, I received my first Postcrossing postcard--from Helsinki. How cool is that? And you know what? One of my cards made it from California to the Netherlands in 3 days! It can sometimes take mail longer than that to get to the next town over from here.

Tomorrow I'll post a pic of the (nearly) completed kitchen. I say nearly because there are still some smaller jobs awaiting Hubby, like moving and replacing light fixtures. But the really major stuff is done. :-)

Yesterday was a weird animal day here. At work, there was a Canada goose fast asleep in the middle of the road, one leg tucked up and its head under a wing. It didn't budge as cars carefully swerved around it, and also didn't seem bothered by the guys running a large tree shredder thing about 20 feet away. And then my evening ceramics class was attended by a gopher. The instructer caught it and took it away somewhere. I also saw a crow come within about 3 feet of flying into a girl who was walking across campus. What was up with the critters yesterday??

Back in Stitches

Yay--my Knitting Spot is back! I'd show you a picture, but I'm back to living like a pioneer woman while they tile they backsplash. We had to turn off the electricity to the kitchen and laundry room, which also means we have no power in the study, master bedroom, upstairs hallway, and 2 of the upstairs bathrooms. Both computers are out, although I've jury-rigged something with the router and my laptop. Also, the entire kitchen is wrapped in paper, including the sink. All the appliances are out except the fridge, which is currently residing in the family room (much to Hubby's delight--only 2 steps from the couch to the beer!). However, we do have power in the family room, which means I can sit and knit and watch tv. Hooray!

Order and Progress

My latest swapping goodness has arrived from south of the border. Waaaay south of the border actually: Brazil. My first South American swap. Cibele send so many wonderful things. To name just a few: yarn, tea towels, stickers, and earrings, all in the Brazilian national colors. I love the Brazilian flag, BTW, and I kinda dig the national motto, which is "order and progress." There are Portuguese dictionaries, which is great--a lot of people around here are from the Azores, and I've been wanting to pick up a bit of the language. Oh, and just so much more, including a bunch of snacks not pictured here, and snow globes that Thing 1 had already whisked away when I took the pic. Thank you so much, Cibele!

And yes, that's an actual floor in the picture! We are making progress and becoming more orderly. The floor is done. The sink is operational, as are all appliances except the stove. We just need to put all the furniture and stuff back, and for the next 3 days the backsplash will be installed. Then we can clean up the thick layer of dust that's over everything. I think tomight I'll get my Knitting Spot back. Hooray!!

Swap arrived from Shanghai

Today I received a wonderful package just stuffed full of goodness from Jo in Shanghai. Behold:

This picture actually doesn't even show it all--there were lots more snacks, including haw slices, which I'm really fond of. Isn't that yarn pretty? And there's a whole set of postcards from the Modern Ballet, and deco tape, and a CD, and, well, just tons of good stuff for me and the Things. Thank you, Jo!

And the astute among you will notice that these goodies are arrayed on a granite countertop. That's right--I have counters now!

Renovation

If you still care about the renovation saga, here's what my kitchen looks like at the moment.

And the family room. This picture looks like some sort of tragic accident, but it's just Ruthie enjoying the cool cement to nap on.

By the end of the day today, we should once again have countertops, a sink, and a dishwasher. My Knitting Spot won't return until Monday or so.

Kurt Vonnegut, RIP

Kurt Vonnegut has died. He was 84. He's been one of my favorite authors ever since my junior year in high school, when Mr. Johanson had us read Slaughterhouse-Five. Among other things, he coined one of my favorite words, granfalloon. Look--you can get free pdf versions of some of his books (if you want to sign up for Wowio, please let me know)! Busy, busy, busy.

Beaded FO

I just sewed the snaps on this little beauty, the Emerald Bracelet from Magknits. Obviously, I changed colorways--mine is more of a Cobalt Bracelet. There are several things about this that make me happy:

1. The materials to make it (size 8 perle cotton and size 11/0 seed beads, plus a snap) cost a total of about $5.
2. I did not go insane stringing over 1300 seed beads, one by frigging one.
3. I did not end up with over 1300 seed beads accidentally being sent flying all over the couch and/or floor.
4. I did not manage to injure myself on the size 0000 double points on which this was knitted.
5. Knitting it took 3 evenings, which was less time than it took to string the beads--that took 4.
6. I finished before my Knitting Spot went away.

Roughing It

Tonight I washed assorted dishes in the bathroom sink. It made me feel like a pioneer woman.

Now, I realize that a) pioneer women didn't have guest bathrooms in which to wash dishes; and b) even if they did, they probably didn't spend much time rinsing sippy cups and Tupperware pizza slice savers.

Nevertheless, that's how I felt.

We've lost the countertops, dishwasher, and kitchen sink. The stove and washer and dryer are next to go. I don't know what they're doing about the fridge, but at least we'll retain the microwave.

Oh, and today I learned the whole project will (allegedly) be done next Wednesday, not next Monday, as I'd originally been told.

But tomorrow I will really have to rough it, because I'm losing my Knitting Spot for several days. All the furniture has to come out of the kitchen and family room and laundry room so the new floor can be laid there. Which means the living room (which is not being refloored) will temporarily house 3 couches, 1 kitchen table, 11 chairs, 1 coffee table, 3 end tables, 2 toy boxes, 2 DVD racks, 1 large sidebaord, the contents of 3 closets, dog dishes, a trash can, a china cabinet, an Ikea corner shelf, 3 bookcases, and a 9 foot pool table. It's a big room, but it should be pretty much impassible for the duration. And neither of my other comfy sitting spots--the loveseat in the study or the Ikea chair in the bedroom--is in view of a tv, and I like to watch tv while I knit.

Life is tough.

Sequels

This summer will see the release of Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Hostel 2, Fantastic Four 2, another Die Hard movie, and probably many other sequels. I'm thinking maybe they could save resources by combining some of them. For example, we could have...

Spiders of the Caribbean!!

Maybe the dust is getting to me. Here is what's left of my kitchen:

We have no functional kitchen sink for the next 10 days. Great. Time to try every restaurant in town, I guess. And because some of us have spring break, I guess we'll be trying lunch specials around town, too.

Oh, and Knatolee, there's no actual picture of the mailbox in yesterday's post. I wasn't trying to drive you crazy. Our mailbox is pretty boring anyway--it's the kind that has individual locked boxes for everyone on the block. What you can see in the post is the book of postcards that arrived in the mailbox.

Cough cough cough

After a week and half of obnoxious hacking and coughing, and after everybody I know told me to go to the doctor, I actually did go to the doctor. Bronchitis. It makes it really hard to teach, but that's okay because spring break is upon us. In my case, spring break will mean a week of keeping Thing 2 and Ruthie out of the way of the counter and floor guys, but at least I don't have to talk for 3 hours a day to 110 people.


Thing 1 doesn't have next week off, but she did have off today. I was going to take her SFMoMA (where there's currently a Picasso exhibit) but didn't quite feel up to it. So instead we went to see Meet the Robinsons in 3D--and we both enjoyed it a lot. It's one of the better animated features I've seen in a while, and the 3D is fun without being overdone.


Darned if we didn't pass a nursery on the way home:

It's 80 degrees out today--time to plant! Among other things, I scored three kinds of lavender. I also bought some cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers, in the vain hope that the Things will eat more veggies if they grow them themselves. We also came home with a preying mantis egg case. We always end up with a lot of mantises anyway, but I guess the more the merrier. THere are plenty of aphids and things for them to gobble.



And if you look closely at the picture, you can see the lovely surprise that was waiting for me in my mailbox. Eve sent me a whole book of Barry Foundation postcards. What could be more fun than a bunch of Saint postcards directly from Switzerland? It was a wonderful surprise. Thank you, Eve!!

Number 9, number 9....

Are you bored with these yet? Obviously, I'm not. I think it's the quick gratification, coupled with the nummy Noro colors.

Swapping

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I enjoy swapping. I've always loved getting surprises in the mail, and it's fun to send them too. I've completed quite a few swaps via Gimmeyourstuff. What's amazing is that so far, I have yet to be disappointed in a single swap--although I do have to exercise patience waiting for packages to get here from overseas. I've participated in several knitting-related secret pal exchanges, and been the recipient of some really lovely, generous gifts. I've gotten to know some amazing people, too! Several of you have jobs I really envy, and such interesting lives, plus you're so creative! I've also recently done several postcard swaps through Swap-Bot. And today one of my postcard swappees told me about Postcrossing, which is just way too tempting to pass up.

I wonder what people think when they receive a postcard from Turlock--and yes, you can actually purchase such an item. Does Turlock seem exotic to someone living in say, Finland or Thailand?

Number 8

You can tell from the look on Ruthie's face that it's hard work being a model.

This is block #8, which means the blocks are 1/3 done. I keep meaning to start a different project, but these blocks are completely addictive.

Destruction & a Package

Here is what my butler's pantry looks like right now. The kitchen island is similarly denuded, as soon will be the rest of the counters. Isn't hubby good at destruction? It'll all look nice in granite.

And, incidentally, I think that if one has a butler's pantry, one should also have a butler to go with it. Seems only right.

Today I received a wonderful package from Alvina in Singapore. This is our 4th swap! We ended up with a Disney theme this time, but Alvina also included a bunch of other goodies like an issue of Cotton Time that I'm very excited about. Does Thing 1 look cute in that hat or what? Thank you Alvina for another wonderful swap!

Seven

I finally finished square #7. See? I think if I were to make a sweater or something in Kureyon, I might choose this colorway.

When I was in Portland last week, I acquired several skeins of Kureyon at Knit Purl. When she went to ring up my purchases, the really nice and helpful woman there (the owner, maybe?) said, "Oh, there's this great pattern on Knitty for Kureyon..." and of course she was referring to Lizard Ridge. She told me she's been a bit of a commitment-phobe about large projects, so I told her to try this one. If you're in Portland, do stop by Knit Purl (conveniently located a few blocks from Mecca Powells). They have a particularly nice selection, including lots of Habu and other hard to find high end stuff. Even their window display is cute. I was lucky to leave with my credit card intact. I keep justifying to myself it's a bargain because there's no sales tax in Oregon. Right.

After that super-whiny last blog entry, today I did something I should've done last week: I called in sick. After getting the Things off to school, I went back to bed and stayed there until 11 am (only interrupted by 4 phone calls and an attempted delivery of our new floor). I'm still working now, but at least I feel a little rested.

A Tale of Great Sorrow

I'm absolutely drowning in work. I'm putting in really long hours but the work keeps piling up, and I feel like I've spent the last few months doing nothing but making excuses to various people about why various things weren't done yet. I have classes. I have department chair responsibilities. We just completed a search in which we hired 3 people. I just revised (from scratch) next year's schedule. I'm writing a book, which has several deadlines lined up over the next couple months. We're completely revising our curriculum. I'm trying to line up a grant for our youth mentoring program. And then people keep calling with requests like, "Can you drive 45 minutes away in 2 weeks and give an hour-long presentation on forensic science to 4th through 6th grade Girl Scouts?"

On top of that, half our kitchen is rubble (with the other half to follow soon) and, while hubby is being Demolition Man, I'm keeping the Things and Ruthie busy and out of his way. The yard is covered in weeds and has become a Snail Sanctuary.

All of which means I'm getting little sleep and no time at all to knit.

Woe is me.

Singapore Swap

Just about in time for my birthday, I received a swap package from Linda in Singapore. There were all sorts of goodies inside, but here are a few of my favorites. She and her mom made that cute little pouch. Check out the button selection! And aren't those about the niftiest chopsticks you've ever seen? Ruthie enjoys the slide whistle.

Thank you, Linda!

Back home, a birthday

Today could have been traumatic, seeing as I turned 40. But it wasn't. For one thing, I got some nice prezzies, including this one that a generous friend sent me:

That's an alpaca scarf kit, in beautiful natural colors. The picture doesn't do it justice. How could anyone be upset about a birthday that meant receiving something as nice as that?

Also, this birthday involved cheesecake eating.

Furthermore, tonight I got to begin a new class in ceramics. I've been wanting to take one for years, and I finally had my chance. So I get to play with clay for 8 weeks. Tonight I made a mug that looks like it was made by and for Neanderthals. Clumsy Neanderthals. I figure after one class my clay skills rank somewhat above Thing 2's. Maybe next week I'll get to Thing 1's level. But it's okay anyway, because playing with clay is loads of fun, as is being a student instead of a teacher for a change.

So 40's been good to me so far. Instead of being traumatized by my advancing age, I'll save my stress hormones for spring break, when we are replacing the counters, backsplash, and floor in our kitchen, laundry room, and family room. My favorite part will be keeping Ruthie and Thing 2 (who also has spring break that week) occupied and out of the way.

On the Road Again

I had a conference in Seattle, so I've been email-less for a couple days. I like Seattle a lot and had hoped to be able to spend some time exploring it, but I lost half a day when my flight was delayed. I ended up spending an extra 4 1/2 hours sitting in crappy Terminal B at Sacramento airport while waiting for a part to arrive for my plane and be installed. Goody. Anyway, I did get to walk around a bit. I made it to Uwajimaya, anyway, where I spent a bunch of money at Kinokunaya Bookstore.

Yesterday I took Amtrak to Portland, where I'm visiting my family. What a great train trip! I saw, among other things, deer, a sea lion, an eagle, and a dead cow. Aside from the dead cow, very scenic.

So now I'm hanging out a bit and celebrating my birthday a few days early. We just visited two great yarn stores: Knit-Purl (where I scored, among other things, Handmaiden Sea Silk) and Dublin Bay. Portland has some really, really nice yarn stores.

And the Oscar Goes to... Thing 2!

The Things fight over one of the kitchen chairs. We don't know why. It's identical to the other three. The only potential advantage is that it has the best viewing angle for the tv, but we don't allow tv at mealtime. Whatever the reason, they both want that chair. (Remember, these are the same children who have been known to squabble over bits of trash in the car.)

To reduce arguments, we assigned days for the chair. Thing 1 gets Monday, Wednesday, Friday; Thing 2 gets Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Hubby gets Sunday.

So tonight was T1's turn, but T2 wasn't happy about it. "I never get to sit there!" she cried, inaccurately. Cruelly, we made her choose another chair anyway. She slumped in that chair, a look of anguish on her face, and exclaimed, "I'll never be happy again!"

Oh, I am so not looking forward to the teenage years with this crew.

RIP, Paul DeLay

I recently learned that one of my favorite musicians died last week of leukemia. Way back when I lived in Portland, Paul DeLay was my top choice in live performances. I moved away, he did a stint in federal prison for dealing cocaine, and it's been years since I've seen him in concert. But I have a couple of his CDs, which I listen to often. He was a great songwriter and played a really mean harmonica.

He was only 55. I'll miss him.

Fruit, finished, fun, and French food

The cherimoya is ripe. Cherimoyas are a subtropical fruit grown in Chile and California. They're delicious--they taste sort of like pineapple vanilla custard. You can just scoop the fruit out with a spoon and gobble it.


Aside from the price, there's only one problem with cherimoyas:


That's a lot of humungo seeds!



Square # 6:


As busy as I've been, I've been hesitant to commit to any project bigger than an afghan block. At least this way I get some feeling of accomplishing something! Oh, and by the way, the Spring Knitty is up.

It's a beautiful day. Here's Ruthie, Thing 1, and the neighbors "helping" me weed.

I'm finding a lot of that snail's friends and relatives. Yes, we do have enormous snails here. I've read that they're not a native species, but are actually escapees from a 19th century French restaurant. You'd think it'd be easy to keep snails from escaping. I don't know if that story is true, but I've heard it from a couple of sources, and I do know these guys are edible. One of my colleagues collects them, feeds them on cornmeal for a while, then cooks 'em. Bully for him, but I'll pass, thanks.

No Theme Day

Today's post has no particular unifying theme. Oh well.

This arrived today in the mail: the first package in Blue Moon Fiber's Rockin' Sock Club. Yay!



This guy (girl? Aren't snails hermaphrodites??) was in the weeds in my garden today. Probably ten zillion of his/her relatives were there, too. Snails are so much more appealing to me than slugs. Isn't it amazing what a difference a shell makes?



They had cherimoyas on sale at the grocery store yesterday. This beauty still cost over 4 bucks, but I haven't had one in years. It's not quite ripe yet--I'll be patient another couple of days.

Five

I miscounted earlier, so actually, this is block #5. These blocks are so addictive!

RIP, P&G

My one and only LYS closed its doors forever yesterday. The owner is moving and wasn't able to sell the business. It wasn't my favorite LYS in the world because she carried more novelty yarns than I prefer, but the owner was very nice, and the store was a 10 minute drive from my house. There was one small consolation: I was able to scoop up some Cherry Tree Hill yarn at 75% off.

And, here it is, proven for all time. Remind me to show this to the Things when they're teenagers.

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

An FO at last

It's not a very big O, but at least it's F, which means I actually had a couple hours to sit and knit. It's block #5 in the Lizard Ridge afghan. Only 19 more to go.

I'm so totally in love with Kureyon. Every time I knit another block, I say to myself, "This is my favorite Kureyon colorway!" Then I get to the next block and the next colorway and I say the same thing. I had quite a stash of individual balls of the stuff, which I'm gradually working my way through. I'm exercising tremendous self-restraint in not acquiring more until my Kureyon stash is gone. Well, almost, because I joined Yarniverse's Kureyon club, which means they send me a single ball in a new color every 6 weeks or so.

Catch Up

Sorry for the lack of posts. I had a writing deadline this week and so I've been pounding away at the keyboard doing work instead of blogging. My knitting remains untouched--I haven't had a free evening in eons (begin sound of violin wailing now).

Thing 1 and I drove to Santa Clara on Saturday for Stitches West. The market was, as always, overwhelming in a totally good way. I didn't buy a ton of things, but I'm awfully happy with what I did get, including skeins of hand-dyed tencel and cashmere from Just Our Yarn, some really pretty variegated laceweight merino from Jojoland (I've never heard of them before), and a beaded scarf kit. I also came away with some cool buttons (one of which has a Saint Bernard on it!) and a gorgeous glass shawl closure thingy from Moving Mud. I'm wearing that this very minute.

Much to my surprise and delight, Thing 1 loved Stitches. There was some initial confusion because when I told her we were going to a yarn show, she was picturing a show--you know, a performance of some kind. Dancing yarn, maybe? Anyway, once we got that straightened out she was happy. In fact, she immediately announced she wants to learn to knit now. Then she wanted yarn. Turns out the kid has great taste in yarn. I bought her some Blue Sky cotton and some hand-dyed superwash merino, and had to steer her away from cashmere and the skein of beaded yarn that cost $135. So she already has a yarn stash! She also got a cat button (for her child, someday, she said) and she used her own money to buy a basket. As we stood in line at one point, she thanked me for taking her and made me promise I would bring her next year. The women behind us practically broke into applause. Clearly, I've been training her right.

Here she is at the Hyatt afterward, enjoying room service:

On Sunday we went to the Tech Museum in San Jose. I had to pick for her because she couldn't make up her mind which of her 3 options to choose. I've been to the Winchester Mystery House before, and I thought she'd really enjoy the Tech, so that's where we went. It's a fabulous place! Lots of fun stuff, even for grownups. Here's Thing 1 on a jet pack simulator:

When we returned home Sunday, there was a package waiting for me from Jody in Singapore. The Things started snatching goodies away so quickly I didn't get a picture, so here's Thing 1 posing with only a few of the wonderful things Jody sent:

The Pocky got a bit crunched in the mail, but I'm sure it'll taste just as good. :-) Thanks, Jody!

I can resist anything but temptation

I've been trying to work from my existing (and quite large) yarn stash and not add it to it. But Stitches West is this weekend in Santa Clara, and I can't be expected to resist all temptation, now, can I? So I've planned a girls' getaway this weekend with Thing 1. The plan is to head to Stitches on Saturday and check into one of the hotels there. We can spend Saturday shopping for yarn and lolling around the hotel (Thing 1 loves hotels), and then Sunday we can go do something around there that she will really enjoy. We're trying to decide now between the Tech Museum of Innovation, the Rosicrucian Museum (mummies!), and the Winchester Mystery House. That's a tough choice!

Phizzle

I've been too sick and too busy to knit, alas. So lieu of knitting content, here's something I saw on someone else's blog.

1. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (First 3 letters of first name plus izzle)
Phizzle (hey--that's good!)

2. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)
Blue Dog

3. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street name)
Kim Destiny

4. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name)
Gerphfe

5. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink).
Red Smoothie (I like this one, too!)

6. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's middle name)
Ann

7. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets)
Black Furgie

Zippidy Doo Dah

After I was all grouchy and everything yesterday, look what arrived in the mail for me today:

It's my final package from my talented and generous Secret Pal, Kate! I've spent the day petting that lovely purple Alchemy yarn and as for the Reeses, well, let's just say they went to a good cause. And if you admired that sock yarn Kate dyed for me last time, she has an Etsy store. :-)

Well, that package definitely set today on a better course. Then I decided not to go into the office--always a happy choice. I did go see the orthopedist, who announced that I've been healing extremely well--just a bit of tenderness left--and I don't have to visit him again. And that's the last you'll hear about my hand, I promise!

Here for your amusement is another Disney picture.

This was taken on our very first day at the parks, when Thing 1 ignored the zillionth command not to run, and she fell and skinned both knees. I love her expression, which clearly says, "I want pity but I can't whine because I know it was my own darn fault so I'll just look pained." She survived. And remembered not to run--for about an hour.

It's a World of Laughter, a World of Tears

This is Thing 2 about to ride It's a Small World for the second time. It's one of her favorite rides. Hubby demonstrated what a great parent he is when he was the only one willing to get on that boat again.

We still have colds. Hubby has spent the whole week home from work, feeling sorry for himself. But the spring semester just began this week, so I've been dragging myself to classes and dealing with all the usual chaos and crises. One of my classes has 50 students but is in a room that seats 40. The other class was supposed to be capped at 40, but now enrolls 60 (at least there are 60 chairs in that room). And today a student came to me, asking why I gave him an F in a class. I said it had something to do with the fact that his entire paper was plagiarized off the internet. He said, "Really? I must have done it unconsciously." Yeah, that convinced me to change his grade. Another student's father called the department secretary and left a message that I must call right away--it was urgent! So I dropped everything and called. Turns out he was worried over whether his daughter could get into a class (the daughter had made a mistake about when classes started and missed the first day). I asked whether she'd contacted the instructor yet. Father said yes, she left him a message. I suggested that they wait to see what the instructor said before getting hysterical. Meanwhile, Extremely Annoying Colleague #1 kept having loud conversations about nothing directly outside my door, while EAC #2 kept popping in every 5 minutes to share his thoughts, and 14 thousand students stuck their head inside my door and asked, "Are you busy?"

Both Things had tantrums this evening. Thing 1's had something to do with a fork, and Thing 2, well, I'm not sure she even knew what it was about. I was glad to get them both tucked in tonight.

Okay, time for a nice big swig of Nyquil.

Valentine's Day

Due to the plague that Typhoid Mary Thing 2 spread to us, nobody is feeling very romantic here today. I did, however, manage to score a box of Recchiuti's Valentine's chocolates. It's one of those boxes where the chocolates are almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

The flavors are interesting, too. I just ate the rose caramel one. Mmm.

Home again home again

We've survived another cross-country plane trip with the Things and are now back home. I was going to post some Disney pix, but Thing 2 generously shared a cold with us all, and I'm pretty wiped. Disney will wait. I had to post these pix today, though.

A package was waiting for me from Ruthie in Bulgaria. Everything was beautifully wrapped, but of course I excitedly tore the wrapping right off. Ruthie sent 3 beautiful bags she made, 2 of felt and 1 in a cute cute animal print. As you can see, she sent a bunch of other lovely things, too, including the Bulgarian dog cookies of which my Ruthie is so fond. What a wonderful package! Thank you, Ruthie!



Today is Thing 2's fourth birthday. Due to the Disney trip, we skipped a fancy party and just had a small family celebration. Chocolate cake was included.

Thoroughly Disneyfied

Today's our last day in Florida; we leave at an unreasonably early hour tomorrow. We've hit all 4 parks--Epcot andAnimal Kingdom twice--and we've been fully moused and princessed. My favorite ride is definitely Tower of Terror at Disney/MGM studios. Thing 2 has been such a trouper--when we got off that ride, she announced,"I like that elevator!" Both Things have been very, very good, and the weather has been quite nice, too. Tomorrow we return to reality.

Epcot

Disney is having a"Magical Moments"promotion this year, which involves granting a variety of "wishes" to random visitors. This morning when we arrived at Epcot, Hubby and Thing 1 boarded a ride that Thing 2 is too short for. T2 and I went to wait in the gift shop, where the ride unloads. A "cast member" (what Disney calls its employees) invited T2 to play a game, then gave her a certificate. Very cute.

Around 6pm, our group was deciding whether to wait an hour in line for the Test Track ride. Some of us had ridden it in the morning, and it's a favorite. A cast member came up and told us we were the Family of the Hour. She took us in the back way, directly to the head of the line. Which was great enough, but then when the ride was over, we got to stay on again for a second go-round. How cool is that?

Here

We survived the plane trip, and our timeshare has internet.

It was 10 degrees when we landed in Chicago at 4:30 pm. It was good to remind myself of one of the reasons I left the midwest. This time of year is always particularly bad. It feels like it's been winter forever and everything is bleak-looking, and you know spring is still a long time away.

We missed the tornados and arrived just fine in Orlando. We spent the last day and a half at Animal Kingdom, which we all enjoyed a lot. We got to spend just last night at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, in a suite on the concierge level no less, and it was just wonderful. Knat, you could see Watusi cattle (and giraffes, ostriches, birds, and antelopes) right outside our balcony.

I went on Expedition Everest with Hubby and Thing 1. I'm not a coaster person, but this is a very cool coaster. And it didn't make me want to puke.

This morning we got up before dawn for the Sunrise Safari, which is a 2 1/2 hour safari through the Animal Kingdom. There were only about 20 people in our group, plus one of the animal keepers (Susan, if you're reading this, her name is Courtney and she knows your boss). It was very cool. All the critters were up and active (except the crocs), and we got really close to a rhino and some kudu.

Now we're all resting up for tomorrow at Epcot. The Things have been great so far--wish us luck!

Going going gone

We're off in the morning for 9 days at Disneyworld. I am not bringing my knitting because 1. I won't have time to work on it anyway, and 2. when traveling 3000 miles with 2 young children, one might be tempted to poke them with the knitting needles. I may have internet access, however, and I'll try to blog from there.

Where I've Been

I found this on Eve's blog! Here's places I've been. A few are only airport visits, though.



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