Baseball, Plums & Knitting

It is quiet in my house at the moment. Do you have any idea how unbelievably rare this is?? The kids are outside, the TV is off, and all I can hear is the hum of my living room A/C unit. Shhhh...

With my oldest son home, "we" have been watching a lot of baseball lately. Did you know that with all the satellite channels available, you can find a baseball game to watch any time of the day or night? Really. I'm pretty good at tuning out background noise (such as little boys standing nearby saying "Mommy... Mommy... Mommy"), but have you ever noticed how much talking there is in baseball? And it's not like football where there is enthusiasm and drama in the announcer's voice as he describes the action on the field. No... they just talk... about anything really. Stories about a player's high school years, where his dad went to college, how he met his wife, yada, yada, yada... interspersed with "ground ball to left field" comments that barely sidetrack them from their story. Anyway, now that I've noticed it, it's driving me absolutely batty.

Of course this is just part of the suffering I must endure in the midst of the territorial battles that take place between 5 boys over the remote control. I can really only get control if I manage to lure one of them into enjoying one of the shows I like. I've been fairly successful at this, as long as I avoid anything too girly, but I just got season one of Monk (a new discovery for me) and I can't get anyone else interested. So it usually comes down to baseball or Phineus & Ferb. Sponge Bob is always a good standby too... but I draw the line at repeats of The Suite Life of Zach & Cody.

But today the younger ones are outside selling plums from the back yard with a neighbor. In spite of my efforts to ruin my kids' lives by imparting on them the true foolishness of lemonade stands and such, they still seem pretty enticed by the idea... and I've realized it means quiet... so today they are outside making the big bucks.

In spite of the almost constant tooth pain I've been enduring (which has, btw, left me clenching my teeth a lot so now I have an achy jaw too), I managed to finish my Swallowtail Shawl in 1 week! I'll post official finished photos when it's dry, but here's a sneak peek.



And finally, a finished picture of Gilda.





I'm definitely seeing more beads in my future. There's actually a great LBS (Local Bead Store) down the street that I'm looking forward to exploring.

Speaking of exploring, my oldest son turned 16 recently. (Yes... 16... can you believe it? I'm still in shock.) Of course this has brought on much discussion about that great right of passage into adulthood known as acquiring a driver's license. (Plugging my ears and humming the Star Spangled Banner.) However, while we look into taking the necessary steps for this rather common event, a 16 yo from our homeschool group has embarked on a not so common journey. (Be sure to check out the link to his blog.) And I worry about my son driving to the mall!