Knitting Road Trip

My friend Brooke invited me and a coworker, Kimmie, to join her on a pilgrimage to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, at a book fair in Lexington on Saturday. She just had a third book published and is currently doing a book tour.

In honor of Stephanie's Canadian citizenship (and as a tribute to my Canadian heritage), I wore my Hard Rock Cafe - Toronto t-shirt. I've had it for ten years now, and it's getting a bit worn. But it was actually clean and in my shirt drawer, and I thought perhaps seeing that someone else in the crowd had been to her hometown might settle her nerves. Stephanie says that she is actually quite a shy person.

Except that I quickly spilled large amounts of Chipotle chicken burrito juice all over it. We had been on the road less than an hour. I had even placed a napkin on my lap to preserve the integrity of the clothes. The stains eluded capture and settled in too high to be hidden by tucking the shirt into my jeans. I begged Brooke to find me a store - perhaps one of those Tide Stain Sticks would restore the shirt to presentable.

Then we got lost. Well. Not exactly lost. We just didn't follow the most direct, quick path to the Lexington Convention Center.

Brooke had written directions down, but then left them in her work bag at home. So we were going on her memory and without a map. We not-so-quickly discovered that I-75 has two Paris exits. After spending about 10 minutes exploring the first one and debating if we should proceed further south into Lexington and hope we could find someone who could help us, we finally got back on I-75.

Lo and behold, about ten miles later we found another Paris exit! This one was actually in the city, and everything matched the directions that Brooke remembered. We all celebrated our amazing senses of direction and that we would still get there on time.

Until we tried to park. Suddenly everything in Lexington was on the opposite side of the street with about 20 other vehicles in the way. We had to make two large loops after missing turns before finally being granted entrance to the convention lot.

Stephanie was going to be at a booth signing books two different times during the day and then speak at 4pm. We had hoped to get there at 3 so we could talk to her at the booth and still get good seats for her talk. (Brooke is a true-blue super-fan and has flagellated herself for a full year for not sitting in the front row when she went to last year's book tour!) Unfortunately, we arrived at 3:40 and readily agreed that our best bet was to go straight to the room where she was speaking.

This also meant we had no time to find an instant stain remover for my shirt. I resolved to hold my knitting bag across my body to cover the stain. But this would also cover the logo. Kimmie came to my rescue with a jacket. I tied it around my waist with the knot strategically placed over the stain.

We got good seats in the second row, which was fine for me. I got settled in, pulled out my sock, and began getting really comfortable. Ok, as comfortable as possible in tiny little plastic chairs.

Then the people who had been in the room for the 4pm session cleared out and Brooke whispered urgently, "Look! The front row on that side is open! Should we go?" Kimmie and I knew how badly Brooke wanted those seats and how manic knitters might get for those seats and how dangerous it might be to get into a confrontation with someone with pointy metal sticks, so up we stood. In the mad scramble I got tangled up in sock yarn and dropped my bag and my binder full of patterns. (I'm really quite amazed that Brooke, having known me for 12 years (boy do I feel old!) continues to associate with such a hopeless clutz.)

Finally seated in the front row and untangled, I look up. We are smack-dab in front of the table with the microphone. Look at this photo.

See that table? I could reach it easily with my feet.

We thoroughly enjoyed Stephanie's talk. It's hard to explain, and in fact, she advised us not to attempt it. But she is a knitting humorist. I know. It's like being a mechanic humorist. Only a very narrow slice of the population would understand how funny she really is. The funniest moments all came at the expense of the handful of men brave enough to attend. I'm not sure how many of them were husbands or boyfriends and how many of them were knitters themselves.

I think the best part of the whole experience for me came after the scheduled part of the day ended. Stephanie told those of us who were still hanging around that she was going to run up to her room for "Knitters without Borders" pins and then get a coffee at the shop downstairs if we wanted to meet her there. About 15 of us hung around, pulled some tables and chairs into a big circle, and chatted for about 2 more hours!

(Notice the strategically-placed jacket?)

I enjoyed this conversation so much. Here sat a wildly-diverse group of people having a lively discussion of knitting, yes (you've seen such interest in self-patterning sock yarn in your life!), but also politics, world cultures, area attractions, and the differences between those from the States (you can't say "Americans" because Canada and Mexico are also in North America -- and they will tell you so!) and Canadians.

For example, Stephanie told us that Canadians would not have moved the tables and chairs into a circle like we did. They are very... um... obedient? I'm not sure the word I want here. They do not change things unless they have permission.

I also learned how little we know about cultures and systems apart from our own. In Canada, they can call a new election at any time. If people begin to dislike their leaders, they can hold a vote of no confidence, and if the leaders don't get enough votes, the country holds a new national election. Stephanie said no Canadian president would last in office long enough to get the approval rating our president has now.

She also said that vast numbers of US servicemen are going AWOL and fleeing to Canada in protest of the war in Iraq. Canada has declared the war to be illegal, so they now have to figure out what to do with these people. Technically, they are refugees and probably should be granted political assylum.

I wonder why our media isn't reporting this? For all the complaints about how liberal and biased they are, they certainly still seem to be somewhat cowed by something to ignore this. Is it a fear of being seen as judging the armed forces or the servicemen who either flee or fight?

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable, intellectually-stimulating (yes, knitters are amazingly intelligent and astute people) trip and I look forward to the next one!

While He Was Out

Scott has been at the Together for the Gospel pastors' conference for the past two and a half days. He joined over 3000 men from all over the country to hear some well-known and well-respected speakers like John MacArthur, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, and Al Mohler. It was a very encouraging gathering. Scott said the best part was the worship -- everyone sang out with such heart and volume that no matter how loud he sang, he couldn't even hear himself.

My sister kindly offered to come stay with me part of the time Scott was gone. She had no idea what she was volunteering for!

I got the wild idea to replace our nasty public-bathroom style sink and 70s-era light fixture and paint the walls. By the time I thought of it, I had 36 hours left before Scott returned. Totally do-able, right?

Before

The bathroom is tiny - probably 4 feet by 6 feet, plus it has two doors and a window, so not much surface area to paint. Never mind the fact that I've only done one actual plumbing job -- a friend and I swapped out a faucet once several years ago. And I've done an electrical wiring job -- I swapped out a thermostat in this house a couple years ago. No sweat!

Well, actually... we did sweat. We worked our little tails off. I went to Home Depot five times, and Heather went to Ace Hardware once. But we did it!

During

My sister insisted on taking a photo of me actually doing something. Notice the flashlight beam behind me? We disconnect the light way early and then lost daylight. Thank goodness for Scott's superduper flashlight!

Heather was a HUGE help. I couldn't have done it without her. She stayed up til after midnight with me, help intercept kids before they could get into stuff, painted while I exchanged parts, and loaned me her muscles to get the sinks off and on.

After

Isn't it beautiful? We were SO pumped when we turned the water on and got no leaks. Well, we ended up needing Scott's powerful grip to seal up the drain just right. But he was very impressed. He loved the color we chose for the walls and didn't mind at all.

Some Frog

While mowing the lawn the other evening, Scott found this bad boy just chillin'. Obviously, he saw the frog before the mower reached him. He's one lucky frog.

And a noisy one too. I had never heard such a strange sound in my life. No run-of-the-mill "ribbit" or "croak" for this boy -- it was like some alien amphibious scream.

The kids were quite fascinated. Leary, but fascinated. Sam has been hopping around the house like a frog ever since.

What happens if a frog kisses you? Do you turn into a handsome prince? Wait. What am I saying? He already is!

(I have to admit: I made Scott wash his hands three times when he was done.)

Mumps Outbreak in Iowa

In my previous post, I mis-typed which disease is spreadly rapidly throughout Iowa. It isn't measles, it's mumps. Here's a Yahoo News story from their top headlines about it:

Number of Mumps Cases in Iowa Still Rising

Tue Apr 25, 5:08 PM ET

DES MOINES, Iowa - The number of mumps cases in Iowa has topped 1,000, state health officials said Tuesday.

There were 1,120 confirmed, probable and suspect cases as of Monday, with mumps activity found in 69 out of Iowa's 99 counties, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Iowa has been at the center of a mumps outbreak in the Midwest, which is being called the worst in the U.S. in 20 years.*

The source of the Iowa outbreak is unknown, but Britain experienced a mumps epidemic that peaked last year with about 56,000 cases. The Iowa mumps virus is the same variety.*

Last week, public health officials announced mass immunization clinics for 18- to 22-year-olds — the age group they said is most likely to get the virus. People in that age group may have had only one vaccination, which was the recommended dosage while they were growing up.

The state planned to divvy up 25,000 doses of the vaccine among 35 counties where colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions are centered. The first phase of immunizations was scheduled for Wednesday through Friday.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and swollen salivary glands under the jaw. It can lead to more severe problems, such as hearing loss, meningitis and swollen testicles, which can lead to infertility. It does not respond to antibiotics.*

*emphasis mine

If that last paragraph doesn't strike the fear of God in anti-immunization parents, I don't know what will.

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I should be super-immune to these diseases since I just got my fourth MMR yesterday. I couldn't find proof of my first two shots. When we moved, my pediatrician didn't send records from my first five years -- just a statement that I was up-to-date on everything. The hospital requires all employees (not just direct-care providers) to show proof of two MMRs and be up-to-date on all immunizations (yet another reason to keep your kids immunized -- they'll have a LOT of catching up to do if they choose to work in any healthcare setting or go abroad, and the whole process takes at least 6 months to space everything appropriately). My kids' pediatrician joked that I should go to the Centers for Disease Control and volunteer to swallow a vial of live virus since I'm so protected!

Juggling Act

I started my new job at Children's last week. The job itself is going fine. But I'm wiped out mentally, physically, and emotionally from the strain of balancing all the new tasks with my current responsbilities.

And I've failed that balancing act, with the immediate consequence of Elli losing her slot in speech therapy (not to mention the sudden increase in untidiness in our home).

Children's initiated a new policy a year or so ago, stating that if a patient misses more than 2 appointments without calling ahead of time, they get discharged and have to go back on the waiting list if they want to resume therapy. We've had real trouble finding the right time for Elli AND for me with the new therapist we started seeing, so we've been really hit-or-miss with appointments. I never could get the time burned into my long-term memory, so I totally forgot the appointment twice.

Yesterday I didn't get home from work until 4:15 or 4:30, and when I did think about the appointment, I couldn't remember if I had cancelled it already or if we were supposed to go. Before I could dig out my calendar or the telephone, I got sidetracked and didn't think about it again until this morning. By then it was too late.

Joy wins another "Loser Mom" award. Congratulations.

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Orientation was quite a bit different from any I've attended before. This is my first job in the healthcare industry, so most of this was new to me. Unfortunately, the newness didn't allay much boredom for me. We had to view quite a few videos, which were real snoozers.

The first speaker, on the other hand, was very interesting, and had plenty of practical tips and warnings. She works in infection control and described three outbreaks of measles in the area in the last year (and apparently one is going on in Iowa right now).

Measles, mumps, and rubella still pose risks to us here in the states despite wide-spread MMR immunizations. People who visit or immigrate here from abroad, and certain populations here in the states (like the Amish) who don't immunize and never have, carry these diseases with them.

Add to that the fact that tuberculosis, chicken pox, and one other... either measles or smallpox, are all airborne germs that spread like crazy because you don't know you're sick the first few days and they survive for hours or even days in the air.

The main hospital building where I'll be working has sophisicated air filtrations systems that clean all the air 12 times a day. But outpatient centers and the general community just recycle the air, allowing those airborne germs to swirl around until the things die. Scary! Especially since more and more parents are opting NOT to immunize their children.

I had to get another MMR and a tetanus shot, along with my TB skin test series (we have to get 2, one week apart, if we haven't had one in over a year). After that talk, I had no reservations about getting a needle jabbed into my arm. Actually, the shots were surprisingly easy to endure. I used to hide from shots -- I was a nurse's nightmare as a child -- but spending 6 years watching my daughter take much worse without crying has toughened me up.

I don't actually HAVE to get the hepatitis B series, but when I asked my kids' pediatrician about it, he said it would be a very good idea. Hep B is highly contagious and if it's going to be anywhere, it will be at the hospital. He actually has an accountant friend who caught it. The only thing they could figure was that he opened an envelope that had been licked by someone with Hep B and got a papercut. That was enough for me. I'm going to get the series. And I'm glad the kids already had theirs -- we're around the hospital enough that I don't want to risk them getting exposed to a preventable disease.

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I've come full circle now -- the parking garage I used for my first day was the same one we parked in when we first brought Elli to the Emergency Department. It was strange walking in with my employee badge on and the memories of that first day swirling around my head. The day went well, though I was gone 12 hours total and definitely missed the kids by the end.

Yesterday was a bit shorter -- I was only gone 6 hours. However, it was more tiring because I facilitated my first council meeting. I had forgotten how much mental stamina it takes to speak, manage discussion, and keep a group on a schedule, and I have never managed a 40-person group discussion before. We had to scramble a couple times when half the council was an hour late and when the media people didn't arrive on time to start our DVD. On-the-fly hopefully-seamless rearranging also demands excessive brain power. In times like that, I get into this zone where I only remember teeny snippets of what happened. I remember thinking, "Oh THAT came out wrong - your tone of voice was totally off!" and "Look at the other half of the room - you keep forgetting them!" and "How do I regain control and get everyone back on track?! Oh! Wha... Drat. She took a breath but you missed your chance! Jump in faster next time!"

All this gets easier with experience, I guess.

I was a little disappointed later that I had bigger plans for the meeting but ran out of time to prepare. I got up super-early -- 5:30am -- to get some things ready, but at 7am I had to stop working to get the kids and myself ready. I arrived an hour later than I intended because of babysitter and parking mixups (I hadn't been to the lot I was assigned to park in before and missed the entrance). I'll just have to carve out time in the next meeting to do what I had in mind. It's probably better that I wait anyway -- we're still looking for my partner in this job, and it's something we should prepare and present as a team.

Despite my sketchy plans, the meeting went really well. Everyone was very complimentary later, which was encouraging. Once I get another good night's sleep and have a quiet day at home, I'll be fine. I hope.

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I have begun to meet some important people at the hospital, like the chairman of the board of trustees for the hospital. He was really nice and is our strongest advocate for family-centered care. I'll be having a one-on-one meeting with him sometime in the next few months, as well as with the CEO. I need to prepare really well for those meetings!

I met another trustee who I found out later has been on the council for a year! I'm not sure how I missed her joining, but perhaps I missed last year's orientation because Anna was new. Anyway, yesterday I learned that she is the wife of Bob Portman, the man just recently appointed head of our nation's budget office.

That made for a comical moment. My boss asked us, after the meeting, if we thought she should have made a big announcement about this.

I replied that I didn't think we should get into politics on this council -- we open enough cans of worms as it is.

She replied, "I certainly don't want to get into it. I'm a flaming liberal!"

"Do you bleed blue, P___?" I asked.

"I do."

I've never met a flaming liberal before. (Well, maybe I have and just didn't know it.) She's the first person I've ever met who describes her marriage as "a commuter marriage." She lives and works here, and her husband lives and works in Texas. How on earth does that work?

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All in all, I think I need to give myself more time to adjust. I certainly have less time to waste. Once I get used to being more disciplined, I think it's going to work out fine. And probably, in the long run, I'll be a better mom and wife since I'll manage my time better.

But for now, I'm exhausted. I have a huge pile of work to do around the house. And I have to take especially good care not to allow my self-induced fatigue to display itself in impatience and crankiness towards the kids. I'm having a tough time with that today.

Selected Photos

Sam dressed Anna up in his Superman cape and then said, "Look! It's SuperNana!"


Last night my husband said, "Anna definitely has more of your side in her than of my side." This photo is more evidence of that fact -- she loves mommy's favorite chips: Salt and Vinegar.


This is the first dandelion bouquet picked for me by Sam. I love it -- it ranks right up there with the roses Scott gave me when we got engaged!


I think we've got a music-lover here.


Aren't they beautiful? Oh yeah - and the tulips are too.


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Now that I've begun working part-time at Children's, I can tell I'm not going to have time to post as frequently. Just wanted to let my regular readers know now not to expect more than a couple posts per week, at least for a little while. I've got to get used to the new demands on my time and figure out how to get everything done. Then maybe I'll have more time to write again!

The job is going great, by the way. I'll write more about that soon - the entry is in process.

The Hypocrite In Me

It was one of those surreal, "Can this really be happening?" experiences. I was sitting at a meal with several people after attending religious services with them. First one person and then another began regaling the group with hilarious stories of behind-the-scenes antics and goings-on at those very services we had just attended. They mocked and criticized the people involved, and even seemed to compete with one another for the best put-down or most ridiculous story.

My husband and I ignored it for awhile, not saying anything. But it continued unabated. Then we tried to change the subject. We tried to keep our comments positive. Bu we were outnumbered and unheard.

The mealtime conversation was all the more appalling in light of the lesson Y had taught that very day. The class had been going through the book of Ephesians. We spent quite a bit of time that day discussing the meaning and application of the following passage:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Ephesians 4:29-32

Y pointed out that unwholesome talk is not simply profanity. That is relatively easy for us to weed out of our speech (especially for those who never developed a habit of using profanities).

Unwholesome talk is defined by its opposite in the next phrase: it is not "helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." So any talk that tears people down or is not beneficial to the hearer is unwholesome.

Now that's much more difficult to do. Tearing people down is tantamount to a sporting event in our culture. And among the group we ate with that day, it was such a habit that they didn't even think about it or see what they were doing, even after the lesson given that morning.

It's this hypocritical, nodding-Amen-in-the-pew-then-doing-whatever-the-rest-of-the-week behavior that turned my stomach when I was in college and almost drove me to abandon Christianity (or at least the church and it's so-called "Christians"). From my vantage point, it seemed like these people didn't examine their words or actions, didn't see their inconsistency, and didn't make any attempt to change.

I confess some hypocracy on my own part here. I certainly am guilty of knowing better but still doing the wrong thing. I suppose one could argue that writing this is the same as pointing at someone else's splinter while ignoring the plank embedded firmly in myself.

The reason I write today is to find a course of action for this situation. I know I'll be faced with similar situations again. How do I handle this correctly?

I believe these people this day were completely unaware of the unwholesome nature of their conversation. It's a pattern in their lives that they don't give a second thought. Only the Holy Spirit can convict a person of their sins and enable them to change. So I should pray for Him to do this work in their hearts.

I also am increasingly convinced that my husband and I should pray and consider carefully how to lovingly confront them. We will most certainly share meals with them again. If we ahead what to say, it would allow us to choose our words and tone cautiously. If I really love someone, I must bring these things to their attention, and all the more if they seem unaware of it themselves. But it must be done lovingly and with the aim of bringing about repentance and change, not to humiliate them and uplift ourselves as some sort of shining example.

Finally, I need to pray for the Holy Spirit to show me my own personal hypocracies and help me overcome them. It's a daily battle in which I'm so prone to failure.

Mr. Rogers on Crocheted "Covers"

All three of my children rose quite early this morning. My oldest woke me up at 5:20am. The other two were up by 6:30am. (Rather than go back to bed, like I really wanted to, I realized that, once I knew everything was fine with the oldest, I was wide awake. So I actually did a pilates video. No strain to the knees or ankles, but my oh my. It's tough!)

Since they were up early enough, I let all three kids watch Mr. Rogers at 7am.

Imagine my shock when we arrived in the Neighborhood of Make Believe and discovered everyone making "covers." Trolley had a quilted cover that made it look like a race car. Queen Sara and Niece Aberlin were crocheting a balcony cover. Cornflake S. Pecially was making a rocking-chair cover.

The episode was about creativity and making things. It was very cute and the kids loved it.

But I couldn't help but giggle at the subtle dig, noticeable only to adults sensitive to such things, at crochet-ers who make covers for everything from tissue boxes to toasters.

Or perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Knitting Update

I cast on the back of the Trellis cardigan. I've decided to knit it up and then figure out what I need to do to make it all fit together. I've got five rows done, so I have nothing worth photographing yet.

Despite my proclamation, I have not actually done any more on my Jaywalker sock. Time is rather rare these days, and I've found that double-pointed -- well, any kind of knitting needle -- are unsafe to get out with 1-year-olds in the vicinity. Sparkly, semi-pointed, clinky metal objects seem to hold a super-powerful magnetism for 1-year-olds! So my knitting time is rather sparse right at the moment.

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My garden seedlings have progressed rather well, despite my soggy beginning. I transplanted the tomatoes into larger peat pots and they seem to be growing, though I'm not sure how healthy they are yet. The morning glories desperately need to be transplated as well - their roots have expanded beyond the confines of their tiny little starter pots.

The seeds I planted directly outdoors have also begun to sprout. Looks like I'll have a nice little bit of garden peas, anyway. I'm not sure about the lettuce, spinach, and chard yet. Their seedlings are so small that I can't find many yet.

It's all very exciting. Spring is here!

My 100th Entry !

Wow. It's hard to believe I've been blogging for 7 months. This has turned out to be a great outlet for writing and a wonderful place to share and log the events of these busy days raising young children.

You'd think my 100th entry would be something astounding. A work of art. A well-crafted, finely-tuned masterpiece of journalistic excellence.

Instead, I'm going to share one of my biggest religious pet peeves.

Church signs. What possesses people to put those ridiculous puns or worse on their signs? Do they honestly think this is thought-provoking or enticing to people? I mean, really. I believe in the God of the Bible and I take my faith and church in general seriously. So if I groan and roll my eyes at something, what on earth are the people who hate God and everything the Bible stands for thinking?

The absolute worst I've ever seen is actually not a sign at all. It's a... I guess you'd call it a statue. It's the most grotesque, abhorrent thing I've ever seen, and I still canNOT believe it really exists. But oh yes, it resides just a few hundred feet from a major north-south interstate so that hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country can see, laugh, and tell others about our area's monstrous piece of shame.

The church actually thinks this a beautiful piece of art. The website brags: "Reportedly the "King of Kings" is the largest sculpture of Christ in America." I should hope so, since it's 62 feet tall. And hopefully no-one ever tries to beat this record. It is one that should stand in infamy.



I've nicknamed this thing "King Tritan" because the face reminds me of the Greek god of the sea. I will admit to praying imprecatory prayers for lightning to strike the thing. Or a tornado to blast it to bits. The only good I can say about it is that it is not covered with gold leaf.

Last night I ran across this entry on church signs. I loved the spoof signs they created. Try it yourself here. I am resisting the temptation to create signs of my own.

Ok. I couldn't resist.

I'll write more about this tomorrow.

What's the worst church sign (or edifice) you've ever seen?

Unlike Mother...

It was so warm today that after dinner, we took the kids on a walk to the park in our neighborhood. Sam rode his bike and Anna rode in the backpack carrier on Daddy's back.

When we arrived at the park, we noticed a lot of new improvements. They have posted boxes of bags for cleaning up after dogs, added some landscaping, and scattered picnic tables about. The best improvement is the addition of a portable toilet near the playground.

Background information: When I was a child, I hated portable toilets and "pit potties." In fact, I once wrote a poem entitled, "Ode to a Pit Potty" in which I described this soul-deep aversion. I would wait for hours to avoid using such facilities.

Sam spotted it, heard us commenting on it, and promptly announced that he needed to go potty. I stayed in the parking lot with Elli, letting Scott take care of this one.

Sam marched right in, and Scott stood in the doorway to make sure he did fine. All of a sudden, Scott busted up laughing and gave me the funniest look.

"Sam said, 'It's really nice in here!'"

Progress Report: Goals for This Year

In mid-January, I posted my goals for this year. I have been working on them, with varying success, so I thought in the interest of actually making progress this year, I'd report every 3-4 months on how I'm doing.

• Exercise 4-5 times per week. I ran into an unexpected road block with this one. I have fairly weak ankles, which I have rolled countless times since I learned how to walk. One side is more injured than the other, but the less injured side has a more significant fallen arch. After about a week of step-aerobics, both of my knees were swollen and stiff and my hips even ached. I had to wait for 3 weeks for the swelling to go down, but my knees both click now and when I've attempted to resume step, have had to lower my step quite a bit. Today I went to my chiropractor and got fitted for some orthotics which will support my ankles and take the strain off my knees and hips. I won't get them for 5-6 weeks, so until then I'm going to have to stick with the lower-impact walk-with-the-kids-at-toddler-speed plan.


• Read my Bible 5-6 times a week and read the entire New Testament this year. Some weeks have been better than others. I don't think I've ever managed 5 times in one week, partially because various family members have been sick fairly constantly since January and I've been too tired to get up early and do it. I have done much better at getting up early enough to read though, and am fairly consistently reading 3 days per week. I finished the Old Testament and am almost through the Gospel of Mark.


• Go to bed by 10:30 every night. I'm doing pretty well with this one. Perhaps saying "every night" was a bit unrealistic. There are days when I simply have too much to finish and need to stay up later. Plus on Friday and Saturday nights, Scott and I do enjoy staying up later to watch a movie or talk or whatever. I think I'm going to modify this goal to read: Go to bed by 10:30pm on week nights.


• Practice the piano 3 times a week. No progress on this whatsoever. I haven't figured out a good time to do this. I have a feeling this one is going to be impossible unless I manage to find 26-hour-days somewherea bigchallenge.


• Spend quality one-on-one time with each child every day, even if it's just a few minutes. This one is tough to measure, especially since "quality time" with each child looks different, based on their preferences and personalities. But I think this one is going alright. I have to accept that I won't be able to give each child an equal number of minutes each day, but if I can spend some time with each child each day, I believe that will keep our relationships healthy.


• Establish a system that works to keep the paper in this house organized and under control. This is a two-pronged effort. I need to develop better daily habits to keep piles from building up. I also need to work on my system itself so that it both works for me and is intuitive for Scott or anyone else who might need to find something. I'm working on both, but since I still have a laundry basket full of things to sort through, I still definitely have a ways to go. The good news is that the desk is quite a bit decluttered and I'm doing better at keeping it that way. I've also reduced clutter on my hobby table and in the kitchen.


• Develop better friendship-building skills. Wow. This one again is hard to measure. I don't think I have done very well on this one yet, perhaps because I got a little carried away with the goal-setting this year. But then again, I have a whole year to work on everything, and I just can't work on everything at once. I think I might try a weekly schedule where I have an office/mail/filing day where I do desk things like write cards, pay bills, update the budget spreadsheet, make phone calls, etc. If I make it a regular part of a day, that will definitely help.

Well, that wasn't quite as bad as I expected! I really have a lot to do, and I am focusing hard on a system or routine to take the thinking out of the equation. If I do all the thinking and planning up front so that all I have to do is follow the schedule, this might work! It's fine-tuning the plan and figuring out what to do when something unexpected happens that is the tricky part.

Now about that 26-hour day...

Houston? We Have a Problem.

(Click the photo for a larger picture.)

Do you want the good news, or the bad news, first?

I always like to start with good news. I finished the second front piece of the baby cardigan I'm making!

The bad news is that the two pieces are different sizes. The piece on the left is longer, both in the body and in the shoulder. In fact, I had to force the shoulder to end up with the 14 remaining stitches it has now, when it was supposed to just end up that way. The bottom white border is looser on the left side -- see how it ripples up while the right piece's border lays nice and flat? Speaking of the right piece, it is wider in the body and shorter in the shoulder.

I don't know where I went wrong. Did I pull the yarn tighter in one piece than the other? Did I lose count of rows and repeats and decreases? I suspect the former in the case of the rippling white border. I suspect the latter for the problem at the shoulder.

I showed it to Scott last night. He is a Non-Knitter. I should have known better than to ask him. He said, "In something that small, it shouldn't matter if they're slightly off."

Au contraire. The smaller the item, the more significant slight variations become. (I love you, honey!)

So what to do? I can knit a few more rows on the right side to make the shoulders the same, but that doesn't change the fact that each side is slightly different in the body. If I knit the one shoulder long enough to make the total piece length match the left side, I end up with mis-matched body length AND shoulder length. That's definitely not the answer. If I want to fix it right, I must rip out about 4 inches of the right piece's shoulder. Ripping cables is no small thing. Cables take a long time to do. I enjoy them, but they are a slow-knit. If I decide to do that, then I must add a few rows to the body so both bodies are the same length. Then I have to figure out how to reknit the shoulder to match the error I made in the left side's shoulder. I must end up with identically-sized pieces, or the back won't sew on correctly. I haven't even begun to think about how to fit sleeves into incorrectly-sized openings.

My brain hurts.

OK -- time to call in the big guns. What do you think? Is the difference small enough to correct without ripping? Do I need to bite the bullet and fix it right?

Wait. I just finished reading "Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter". I know what to do now.

I'm going to work on my Jaywalker sock.

Dear One-Year-Old Daughter:

You are a sweet, beautiful, smart girl and I want you to know that I love you very much. Your smiles and your creativity brighten my day.

However, I am afraid I need to draw some boundaries in our relationship. You've crossed the line from affection to smothering. In fact, if you were a boyfriend, I would have dumped you long ago.

You may not understand exactly what behaviors are coming across so smothering, so in the interest of constructive criticism, allow me to describe a few of them.

You burst into tears when I pass by you or avoid you while trying to pack everyone up to leave the house, prepare a meal, or help one of your siblings. You then proceed to bawl your eyes out while crawling after me and trying to latch yourself onto my legs. The tears and snot streaming down your face leave a wet, slippery trail to mark the passage of your poor, pitiful self.

You frequently beg to be held, but then are discontent to simply snuggle. You squirm and struggle and cast about for something to amuse you, but cry bitter tears if I put you down again.

If you are eating in your high chair and I happen to pass from view, you weep and wail as if I had passed on into eternity.

And the last straw? The night you woke up at 3:15am dead-set on having me hold you in the rocking chair for the rest of the night. After two hours of trying to figure out what was wrong with you, we finally gave up and put you back in bed. You proceeded to rage and scream and wail for 45 minutes. FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES. I haven't had such a difficult night since Elli was a baby. She had an excuse then. You did not.

This simply cannot continue. Like I said, I've ended relationships with boys for less than this! If you wish to maintain a positive relationship with me, you must make some good-faith efforts to change your ways.

Please understand that I'm the mother of two other children who also need my love, attention, help, and various household services such as meal preparation, clothes-laundering, and transportation. I love each one of you, but sometimes my attention is needed by others and you have to learn to accept that and wait patiently for your turn. It really is in your best interests to do so, otherwise you will be hungry, naked, and dirty very quickly, plus your siblings, who should be your best friends and allies, will disown you.

I, in return, will make every effort to shower you with love and affection and carve out cuddle time each day.

Do we have a deal? Or am I simply going to have to grit my teeth and endure the blotchy, teary, snot-lubricated face of my youngest daughter for the next however many months until you mature to the point where you can stand for me to be separate from you?

I am?

Pass the Ambien. I'm hibernating until the fall.

Wanted: Pet Rock

Willing to answer to the name "'Rocko,' like Zoe's." Large enough that my baby sister won't try to eat it. Sings, dances, and says the alphabet. If interested, please send applications to Sam.

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This afternoon I took Sam outside with me while I planted iris bulbs. He wanted to help, but quickly got bored with handing me bulbs one at a time, since half the bulbs were dried out and I wasn't planting them! He began picking grass, throwing it in the air, and clucking like a chicken.

I have no idea.

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At lunch today, Sam suddenly got really excited. He was looking out the back window and calling for me to come look. I couldn't tell what he was looking at, so I went over.

He said, "Look Mommy! Up there! It's drawing!"

It was an airplane trailing smoke behind it.

I'm Now the Proud Owner

of a Yarn Harlot book! Huge thanks to Brenda for mailing me her extra copy. I'm very excited to have fun reading on my bookshelf now, and am hard-pressed to make myself do the many household tasks on my to-do list with that book beckoning me from the kitchen counter.

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The weekend was great. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the kids did with their cousin. Elli in particular has reacted very strongly to her cousin for more than a year, making visits stressful for everyone. Elli is extremely sensitive to loud sounds and intense emotions, so crying and yelling are particularly traumatizing to her. Toddlers do lots of crying and yelling and throw tantrums at least once in awhile - it's the way life is until they learn self-control (Well, we hope they learn self-control, but this requires proactive parents... and that's a blog topic for another day). Anyway, we spent a few days preparing her for the visit and encouraging her to remain calm and give her cousin a chance. This seemed to really work well this time, so we are encouraged that Elli may be learning to handle her reactions to things better. The cousin did much better too, so all the kids interacted much better and it was a fairly harmonious weekend. They certainly had their moments, but they really enjoyed playing together.

The second-best part of the weekend was that, with the kids getting along so well, I actually had time to play with them! In the past, I've spent so much time working with Elli and trying to calm her down that I haven't played or interacted with the others. Or if I had time, I was so exhausted that all I could do was collapse on the couch. This time I got to take my niece and son on a hike in the woods behind the house, go across the street with all the kids to check out the baby ducks, turkeys, and chicks the neighbors are raising, and just cuddle with everyone. (Elli got to hold the baby animals, which she loved!) My niece really sparks to affection and I could tell that she was glad I had time to hug and play with her too. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives and that this summer holds many more opportunities to get the kids together.

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The best part of the whole weekend was having a date with my husband Saturday night. My mother-in-law recommended a new restaurant to us, which was fabulous. We were actually under-dressed, which is a rarity in that area. The restaurant, William's, was a cute little place nestled in an old downtown building. The interior was very elegant with exposed brick, wood crown moulding, and linen tablecloths and napkins. I had one of the evening's specials, blackened Walleye with asparagus and potato wedges. The house salad was reminiscent of the Olive Garden salad, and the home-made bread was excellent. We spent two hours there, partially because our waitress got trapped by a large, rather high-maintenance party, but we didn't mind at all. Having such excellent food in a quiet setting with my favorite person... you can't beat that!

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Scott has been telling about this task-management system he's been using at work. I've decided to try using it here at home. His boss taught him the method after he showed her his 3-page-long to-do list.

A to-do list is a great thing, but when most of us write them, we find the sheer number and scope of things quite overwhelming. Scott is now making a shorter weekly priority list. These are a handful of items that he focuses on completing, in addition to all the normal things he does in a week's time.

The other thing he does is use an accordion file folder with a slot for each day of the month. When he needs to follow up on something or remember to do something at some point in the future, he prints an email or jots a note to himself and files it on the date he wants to address it again. Then each day he pulls out that day's reminders.

Doing these things frees him up to focus on just the work of each day, instead of spinning his wheels trying to remember things or figure out what to do next or ponder how on earth to finish all the stuff on that 3-page list of things to do.

Now that I'm going to be starting a part-time job, I'm even more in need of a good system to keep everything straight. So I think I'm going to work on a list of chores that I need to do every week. Then I'll write out all the extra things that need to be done in the near future. From that list, I'll select a few to focus on this week in addition to my regular tasks. I'll also work on a reminder file. Hopefully this will help me work more efficiently, take care of my home more thoroughly, and remember all the things I need to. I'll let you know how it goes!