I attempted to get Anna's one-year portraits this morning. Isn't this the cutest little jumper? (Click for the larger version.) I thought it would really bring out the blue in her eyes. (Oh, by the way, the squash is there to distract her from removing the sunglasses.) My attempt ended in failure. A mom with three kids got there ahead of me and despite the photographer's assurances that she was almost done, I waited about 45 minutes as Anna got more and more antsy. By the time it was our turn, Anna was completely done. She burst into tears when I set her on the platform. We didn't take one photo.
I have to admit I was frustrated. It isn't easy to drag all three kids anywhere all by myself, and this failure meant I would have to attempt it later this week. Today I had Julie with me to keep the other kids occuppied. My other option is to go during the afternoon when Elli is at school, but Sam and Anna are tired.
But I got really irritated when I couldn't find Julie and the other two kids right away. We were at Walmart and they were supposed to go grab me a package of pull-ups for Sam and check out. Elli had already found a tea set that she really liked, and Sam found Bertie the Bus (from Thomas the Train). But they were nowhere to be found. I looked in all the check lanes, went to infants, called Julie's phone and went straight to voicemail, went back to the checklanes, through toys, and then to automotive (because I needed coolant too). Meanwhile the clock is ticking and I'm wondering how on earth I'm going to get Elli home, fed, and on the bus for school. Just as I reached automotive, the farthest back corner, I heard myself paged.
I couldn't really conceal my poor humor when I arrived at lane 11. I tried to explain myself as we walked out, but I'm not sure Julie understood. She kept apologizing for things that weren't bothering me. I kept telling myself to get over the fact that my beautiful little plan hadn't worked out, but myself just wanted to be grumpy I guess! We got home at 12:05pm, with 10 minutes before the bus arrived. I called to say I'd bring Elli to school and we fed everyone in the van so I didn't have to unload and reload an extra time.
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When we arrived home for good this afternoon, I found this package in my mailbox! This is what a gold medal in Olympic knitting looks like: ten balls of mustard-colored alpaca silk. And boy is it ever mustardy. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Ideas, anyone?-----
My gardening is a mixed bag so far. I haven't gotten outside to sow my early spring seeds (peas, salad greens, and spinach). It's been too wet and cold for the last 2 weeks. Today would be good, but I have a busy day and won't get to it.
These are my hibiscus seedlings. They seem to be doing well. I wanted to find a grow light while running errands today, but didn't have time. I set them in a sunny window every morning for a couple of hours, and then they go on top of the fridge under the fluorescent lights in the kitchen.
This contains three rows of herbs (far right). As you can see, they are growing, though the sage (middle row) is a bit slow to emerge. However, you may notice the lack of green on the entire left half. Yes, those peat pots are doing nothing. Those are my delinquent tomato plants. I gave up on the first batch and planted new seeds this morning. I hope they just got too wet. We'll see. I'll be really bummed if the tomato seeds fail.
Tossed salad anyone? This was a cute little square of micro-green sprouts, all reaching high for the sun, just this morning. We were going to harvest them next week. Then it fell off the kids' toy box when I tried to move it into a sunnier spot. Then it fell again. I'm not sure if one of the kids bumped it or if I didn't have it placed just right. I have a feeling all the remaining seedlings will be brown by tomorrow morning.
