I'm still standing . . .

I have probably lost all the audience I ever had for this blog - all three of you - by waiting so long to post. Every time I thought I'd get to it, I never did. So I'll continue to type for myself and maybe someone will come straying back to see what's happening 'round here.

Last week I went to focus group meeting at the Courier Journal. They are working on a new web site for young moms and they were getting input about content, mechanics, how things looked, etc. It was fun, something I had never done before. And then as I was catching the elevator, one of the CJ editors stopped me and asked if I would be willing to be one of the 'experts' answering questions, and/or a regular columnist on the site. He was sure to mention that it was all still "pie in the sky" and very much in the planning stages. But I gave him my card and intend to keep in touch with the people at the CJ becuase I think it would be really cool to do that. He said they would make it technologically possible for me to do all the work from home, which of course is EXCELLENT! Because, you know that's what I need is one more job!

Speaking of . . . I am attending the postpartum doula training this weekend! Then next weekend is the KNITTING RETREAT at General Butler State Park. I also have a client dueo on the 15th and one on the 31st. I am teaching on the 20th and 28th, all day. I can only hope that none of that ends up happenning at the same time, although I am really testing the fates. We shall see!

I put my chocolate knitting swap package in the mail today, and I know my partner is going to have a great time! I can't wait to get mine. And I also received a very nice package form my secret sister (another swap I joined, where you send one very small package every week for three weeks, and then one larger package revealing who you are on the fourth week). Anyway, I got a great book about raising girls and some other small goodies, and I thought it was very nice! Thanks to my secret sister! I will post photos of all of the above when I get a chance!

No knitting lately - - but very very soon!!!

One more thing before I get onto doing some work . . .Erin told me she loved me last night; first time ever. And that girl will never be able to do any wrong from now on. It was so very sweet and was just one more moment that made me realize how incredibly lucky I am!

A little explanation . . .

I know some of you read my husband's blog (I'll be brave enough to give you the link http://markgodofthunder.blogspot.com) so I thought I would post another link he sent me by email, just to give you a small glimpse into what my life is like. As my mom has said before: Bless his little pea-pickin' heart. (I have no explanation for this as my mother is from Detroit and not the deep south.) http://www.talklikeapirate.com/knitlikeapirate.html

Note: I know there is a way to post links without having the actual links show up, but I can't find my Post-It about that and I have a 2 yr. old on my lap fixinf my hair (ie - poking my eyes out) and a 9 mo. old who is crying stuck under my computer chair)

Maybe next tiljghy zx4ryws ,.cv . . . . . . . . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

And the reason I get up in the mornings . . .

Thanks for humoring me a bit.

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

I received my Magic Yarn Ball earlier in the week - My very first swap! Here's how it worked: You tie together a bunch of leftover yarns, all different kinds, and wrap it into a ball. While you wrap it, you put fun little surprises in it, so as your swapee knits with your yarn, he or she finds fun stuff as she goes. Anyway, Elizabeth from Washington State put together a very impressive ball of yarn for me. I could see when I got it that it has several different kinds of yarn. So I decided to do a Log Cabin pattern, changing direction each time I came to another color/kind of yarn. I don't know what I will use it for; maybe a pillow cover, depending on how big it ends up being. Anyway, it has been really fun and I will definitely do it again. I will post pics of what I sent to my swapee when I am sure she has received it - I don't want to ruin the surprises!

Thanks to Elizabeth for swapping with me!!

Missing pics

These were supposed to come up with the last post, but I don't see them. So . . . Here's Baby Jill in the bath seat!

Growing Children

So last night was Erin's first swim lesson. And she did so well!! I thought for sure she would be totally apprehnsive (you all know how she is!) and hang on me the whole time. But instead, she was so ready to get in the pool and went right in and did all the activities (except blowing bubbles) and had a great time. It was really fun. I love to be in the water and am really going to make an effort to start swimming again.

I did have an Aha! mommy moment during the lesson - - The teacher said that by the end of this series of lessons everyone will probably being jumping off the side of the pool. "Yeah, right." I thought to myself. "That's what big kids do." But then it dawned on me that the whole reason I was taking her to lessons was so that she was comfortable in the water. But I didn't want her to be that comfortable because then it meant she was growing up. But isn't that the point?? I ended this internal conversation by being thrilled that my daughter had fun and would eventually be swimming by herself. Yes, that's the point.

****************

Jillian. Oh my Jillian. What can I say?? She finally has started getting a tooth. She has finally started sitting up more. She can climb Mimi & Grandpa's stairs by herself. She pulls up on EVERYTHING. She is the master speed demon of the army crawl. Last week we finally started giving her a bath in the bath seat. She had grown too long for the baby tub, but wasn't quite ready to sit by herself in the seat. So Mark would hold her up while I quickly washed her down. It was not nearly as simple as it sounds. She would squirm incessantly and splash and kick and twist and we were both wiping our brow by the time it was over. Anyway, she took another bath in the seat tonight, while her sister gave her bath toys. But while I was washing Erin, Jillian used the shelf on the side of the tub to try to climb OUT of the bath seat. It took her no time flat to be 3/4 of the way standing up out of the seat. She is amazing! But darn she is sweet and absolutely adorable (if I do say so myself.)

My fabulous husband just brought me a bowl of ice cream so I will post more tomorrow . . .

Ahhh . . . Nap time

Erin is preciously asleep (on her floor, because she prefers that over her bed. Whatever.) and I just put Jillian in her bed. We have had a relatively calm, dare I say productive day. I have done at least 6 loads of laundry and cleaned out the refrigerator inside and out. We are getting a new one tomorrow. No longer will you have to give it a good swift kick to make it close! Although I am sure we will be doing that for a long time to come. As a matter of fact, when we were at Best Buy looking at refrigerators and dishwashers, Erin realized she could open the dishwashers like we were and look inside. So as she went down the aisle opening the dishwshers, she would shut each of them with her foot. As far as she knows, that's how you close major kitchen appliances. Anyway, new refrigerator and dishwasher to arrive tomorrow. YIPPEE!

On the knitting front, I am trying to finish up some projects that I think are worth working on. I have one purse finished except for the strap. I want it to have a long strap that will go across the body, and that is going to be a lot of boring knitting. But I'd like to have it felted for the Prospect Craft Fair, so hopefully that will be inspiration enough. I also am working on my 'adaptation' of the Tea House Sling Bag from Vicki Square's Folk Bags. The pattern calls for Cassic Elite mercerized cotton (which I assume to be DK or sport weight) and size 3 neeedles. I am doing it on Elann's (www.elann.com) worsted weight Peruvian wool and #13 needles, to be felted. It is enormous right now, but I am really optimisitic about what I think the outcome will be! I also think I can finish my drop stich ribbon weave scarf tonight - all it needs is fringe. The colors for that one will make a good post. I'll put them up when I finish it. And I will post more photos of other stuff as well, when I haven't wasted all my ambition on stupid laundry!

The West Wing

I also should post that this weekend, Grandpa Len brought the girls a new playhouse. Complete with front porch, telephone and doorbell. Erin's favorite part - opening and shutting the windows from inside. Jillian's favorite part - lounging on the porch picking (and probably eating) the grass. This promises to be loads of fun, especially now that the weather is nicer.
(all together now . . .)
Thank You Grandpa Len!!!

Weekend Plans . . . Gone Awry :(

So this weekend we were supposed to go to Lake Cumberland with our fantastic friends, and without our girls. Now, don't get me wrong. I ADORE my girls and LOVE staying at home with them. However, it has been 1 year since hubby and I went anywhere longer than a few hours without them. And Baby Jill doesn't sleep through the night (therefore, neither do we.) So Nana & Mimi agreed to have a vacation with them, while we had a vacation without them.

Well, I found out today that a class I thought would be cancelled actually had a few more people signed up, and the boss says its a go. Great news, considering my last three classes ( = $500) had been cancelled. Not so great news considering it is this weekend. I must work, and give up boating and chatting and eating and hiking and sleeping and KNITTING. Grrrrrr . . . .

I have been introduced to knitting blogs and swaps and knit-a-longs, and (of course) I am hooked. I love the idea of challenging myself just a bit further, do something much different than I have done before. I REALLY need to keep myself in check, however, because I already have my hands in way too many things, and I have to be able to focus on my girls. So hopefully I can be realistic and still be able to dedicate at least a little time to knitting.

I have joined a swap, and just as soon as I figure out how to post the button to it, I will. But for those of you who know me well, you will understand my choice. It is a chocolate knitting swap (H E L L O!!) and I am very excited!

Other knitting thoughts - We will be doing the Prospect Art Fair on the weekend of Sept. 23, and I am contributing the same purses I contributed to the Howard Steamboat Museum fair in May. Hopefully, I will have a few more completed, as well as some felted bowls and accessories. I was really hoping to have some dedicated knitting time this weekend, but we've already been over that. So we will just have to see what I can finish.

I know not all of you are knitters, so I will make an effort to post other topics as well. More soon . . .

Ta Da!!!!

Ladies & Gentlemen . . .

A completed sweater! And I have to tell you that I really pushed myself to get this done by today purely because I said I would on this very blog. I would have finished it eventually, but giving myself a published deadline was extremely helpful in managing my knitting time.


For the knitters who are interested . . .
It is knit with size 6 Peace Fleece needles on Manos del Uruguay yarn. This is the second largest size from the pattern, but it is a bit smaller than I anticipated. I will come clean right now and say that I did not do a gauge swatch (non-knitters: this means I didn't test the yarn and needles to see if I knit the same size as the person who wrote the pattern.) I just winged it, and there you go. The pattern is from Minnowknits (and as soon as can put my hands on it I will post the pattern number.) The yarn and pattern was given to me by Barb, the owner of out LYS (non-knitters: Local Yarn Shop) Sophie's, as a present when Jillian was born. Yes, I made a sweater for Erin first. But that's because the patterns were only sized for bigger children, and I had to wait and see what size Jillian would be! I am starting one for her as soon as I get the yarn ordered. Elise (employee of LYS) helped me learn how to seam the sides, and that went very well. I had to kind of fake the seams for the sleeves, but it seems (HA!) to have worked. At first, Erin wanted to take it off, whining "Done . . .done . . . " when I put it on her. I think the sleeves might have been a little tight. She has not complained since, though. So maybe she has gotten used to it, or it stretched, or both. I was supposed to crochet a chain around the neck, but since I (shamefully) do not know how to crochet, I skipped it. And there is supposed to be a button in the back, but since I had no button, I skipped it. And honestly, if I had put a button on the back, it would have been too small. Overall, though, I am very happy with how it came out.

I am thrilled to have crossed another project off my list. And to have made something for one of my girls.

I have more to post, but I need to put a crib together and do other mom-like things, so I will blog more later!

Whew!

Today . . .

Somehow was ready by 8:00 am, drove to Shively to teach. Taught all day, then had 2 1/2 hours to kill until an interivew with a potential doula client, who live just a bit further south. (too much time to stay at that end of town, but not really long enough to drive to the other corner of the county home.) So I was looking for a bookstore. Do you know that there is not a bookstore to be found in the south/southwest corner of Louisville? It never occured to me that I would not be able to find one. They are all over the place between here and the Highlands. I thought this was a very interesting cultural commentary. Anyway, I ended up at the Shively branch of the library, which turned out to be great because they had (you guessed it) knitting books that I had not been able to look at before. So I checked them out, because I don't really have enough things that I wish I was knitting. (Right.) I ate some yucky Arby's chicken fingers then went to my interview, where I was hired on the spot. This makes two clients for October - That will be interesting.

I got home at 7:45 and my girls were wonderfully happy and rested and well fed. Thank God for good Nanas. I am wiped out and need to use my last ounces of energy to bathe Jillian, which is a whole other post in itself. Night Night!

Inspiration

So I created this blog on June 20, and have never got around to posting. That is because I have been obsessed with making it look like I want it to look, and naming it some great catchy name. I obviously have done neither, and maybe that will all change when I have lots of free time. Until then I guess I will just live with it.

What made me finally bite the bullet and post is that I had to find a way to brag about my wonderful husband. A few days ago, when I got in the shower, I found the following, written in (hold on to your heartstrings, girls!) purple Crayola bath crayon:

Kim,
I love you with all the heart I hath
Whether in the shower or in the bath.
And if you didn't shower for 1,000 days,
I would still love you in 1,000 ways.
XXXOOO,
M

As a matter of fact I hadn't showered for 2 days, but that was totally beside the point. I have never had a shower poem before, and that morning was the perfect time to start. He is the best.

And on a knitting note:
About a month ago, I spent all of a Saturday nap time cataloging all my knitting projects and knitting needles. I am embarassed to say that I had 18 unfinished projects, and about 85 pairs of needles. So it was then I decided that I needed to loose the knitting ADD and finally finish some things, or at least decide not to save them and rip them back for the yarn. I am down to almost 14, having ripped back one boring scarf, completing one felted purse, and almost completing another purse and my first sweater. The sweater is for my two year old, who is very small. So the project in itself is not a huge accomplishment. But I always want to knit really cute things for my girls and I never am able to. All I have left of this sweater is to peice it together, which you knitters know is the baine of knitting existence. But I am now published as saying that Erin will be wearing the sweater by church this Sunday, if it kills me! I will post pics when it happens.

Lots more going on in my life but . . . I have to teach a brain development and multiple intelligences class to 15 preschool teachers tomorrow. Therefore it is my bedtime (thanks for the good example, curfew doula!) So all the exciting details of my life will have to wait.

HEY! I can check something off the Things to Do List - I posted my first blog entry!