Only 9 AM

Today is Thursday... or day 3 of JoJo's efforts to break me into a weeping, hopelessly crazed mama.

The weather has cooled dramatically, which is good because it means I can relax... but bad because weather changes give me a screaming headache.

In spite of this headache, JoJo decided at 7:30 this morning he was ready to do school (I was starting laundry)... when I sat down with him, he decided he wanted to watch TV (enter tantrum)

Last night I drove my eldest across town to get socks for his first football game today. He had socks... but he lost them. Special socks with a specific logo that is apparently crucial to team unity.

It's 9 AM and he has just text messaged me from school because he remembered to pack his socks but forgot his football pants. I need to take them to him at school. I guess I should be glad his spelling was all correct.

Did I mention the headache?

Did I mention JoJo hasn't stopped talking since he got up?

See JoJo charm...

See JoJo scowl...

It's that easy and that fast.

And yes, that's the same shirt he was wearing last night. Don't even go there.

Does Normal Even Exist?

Meet Bailey. She is our sweet little beagle with a pink cast. She has a growth on her foot. An unusual growth that they can't quite identify. Of course. They're trying antibiotics (of course) and... how do I put this... they also want to start her on some sort of canine Lindora to manage her weight. We simply would need to bring her in for regular shots to help regulate her appetite so she can lose weight. I'm not kidding. I bought diet dog food. (But doesn't the cast just make you want to knit her a sock?)

We are actually quite used to unidentifiable conditions... Within the last month, we've done extensive testing on my son's non-specific abdominal pains and we are currently researching my recently diagnosed blood pressure condition that is rare in women my age (yet, I was informed, is very common in older people). Testing so far has included an EKG and hours spent in a hospital lab being repeatedly stabbed with injections and blood draws while surrounding patients felt curiously compelled to ask questions about the colorful socks I was knitting. Normally I would've been fairly easily drawn into a conversation about knitting... but this was early-morning, pre-coffee Tammy who is not nearly so social as later in the day Tammy (who I must admit, still avoids conversations with strangers with every ounce of her being)... and I could only sit there and wish I had brought something boring and beige. Anyway, while I wait for results I must continue to stand slowly and avoid roller coasters. Can you see why I avoid the doctor?! Wouldn't you?

(You can see the Claudia's Hand Painted Sport Shorts are now complete and awaiting cooler weather while I continue to gush over the colors and feel of this yarn!)

It would seem that we always have plenty going on... but you want to know what really worries me?

This...

This would be my ever ornery JoJo watching his favorite scene...


The drama! He really gets into this...

He informed me today that when he grows up he wants to be "Troy".

"Oh... you want to sing and dance?" "No, I want to be Troy."

Personally I think it has more to do with Gabriella who has taken the place of Hannah Montana in his heart but I'm not sure I find that particularly comforting or normal for an almost 5 year old either. (Actually, I really don't think he's totally over Hannah because he still listens to her CD that he begged me for all the time.)

If this is in any way normal for any 4 yo you know, would you please let me know? Because personally, I was a little more comfortable with his previous long term plan of marrying his best gal-pal KayKay and living in a mansion, selling lemonade and Power Rangers for a living.

But I guess they can't stay young forever.

So I cast on for another sock.

One of Those Days

It was... to the fullest extent of your imagination... one of "those" days. It is truly amazing the amount of distress, frustration, disruption, and general chaos one cranky 4 yo can impose on a household of otherwise relatively cooperative people. With great effort and no shortage of ideas, JoJo managed to whine, argue, complain, and toss himself into the middle of any and every attempt at normalcy. Now, I'm pretty good at recognizing pleas for attention or illness and adapting accordingly (a skill that has not come easily for me) but for whatever reason, JoJo was clearly determined to be miserable today... and make everyone around him feel likewise.

Fortunately, the other three boys managed to get done what they could do on their own with minimal instruction, although an Algebra lesson between too highly stressed individuals with a young'un in the midst was out of the question. Good thing we have a head start on the book.

All that aside... there were a couple of highlights. I love these new copywork books from Queen Homeschool Supplies that we just started. One is a book of sports-themed lessons for copywork and dictation; the other is part of a series of workbooks that teach spelling through copywork. Since copywork is my favorite way to teach writing, I consider them a great find!

Also, Wy-Guy is in a literature based science class that meets once a month for experiments following assigned reading done at home. We've really been enjoying our first book, Archimedes and the Door of Science. It's led to so many questions that they were begging to read The Librarian Who Measured the Earth as well. My boys were excited to read something... this alone was (almost) enough to redeem the whole day.

But the highlight would have to be the arrival of Signing is Fun, a recommendation of Donna's. Once this arrived I had lost their attention for the rest of the day. We are planning on taking a mission trip in January to a school for the deaf in Mexico and the boys wanted to learn some sign language. Since I had pretty much given up at this point (it was probably about noon), I handed over the book and told them each to learn how to say their name in sign language. They fought over the book (of course) but then learned their name and more. I learned how to say computer. :)

This gave me some time to take a look at the book that came in the mail for me, Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery, which I absolutely love... and will have much more to say about tomorrow. I then plunged in on my $11 Shrug. (Heat paralysis forced me to refrain from any unnecessary housework... and since we all have clean underwear I took the afternoon off.)

I'm still not sure if I'm going to be able to pull off the look... or if the shrug is going to fit... or if I like the yarn... but I keep going. Fortunately it's a quick knit.

How long have you kept going on something you knew would probably end up in the loser bin?

Thermophobia

Fear of heat. It's real... after all I found it on the internet. Granted it was listed along with fears of just about everything and anything imaginable but it was there. I would describe thermophobia as an unusually powerful contempt for hot weather that causes one to become a useless lump who sits on the couch obsessing about it. How much hotter will it get? How much longer will it be hot? What if our little a/c units break? What if we have a rolling black-out and lose power and can't run the little a/c's? And on-and-on.

And when it's 100+ degrees and only a couple of window a/c units to rely on, you're only hanging on by a thread. They really can only do so much when faced with these temperatures (and a house full of busy boys). If it hasn't cooled off my the time DH goes back to work tomorrow, I'm going to start making phone calls to get central a/c installed. Yes, I am that sneaky and desperate... heat does that to me. We talk about getting central air every year but these insane heat waves tend to come short spurts so just as we're ready to cave, it cools off.

It's really too hot to go out in the middle of the day (that and the fact that my youngest just can not handle the sun), so we need to wait until later in the day to take action.

Meanwhile, I've gotten some work done on my Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style. The yarn, Berroco Comfort, is a great inexpensive substitute for worsted weight yarn. I'm very pleased so far.

Also pictured is some Madelinetosh yarn that I'd ordered as part of my little spree last week. The colors are wonderfully soft and subtle.

Enjoy your Labor Day. I'm going to go back to worrying about how hot it will be today.

Hike!

Ahhhh... My son's first scrimmage as a High School student! He's down there in one of those fine yellow shirts. Apparently their practice jerseys don't have numbers but fortunately my mother's intuition allowed me make a quick scan of those yellow jerseys with black helmets and quickly identify my son.


Okay, well my 13 yo son was a bit of a help... he knew what his brother's shoes looked like. Fortunately he was one of the few with white shoes... and even better, he had on tall black socks.

See him up there standing right next to the coach in the white shirt and red hat? So then all I had to do was keep my eyes on the shoe/sock combo so I could see him on the field pictured below... can you? He's a linebacker if that helps (wouldn't help me by the way).

No? Maybe this helps...

And that's all I watch... white shoes. Those white shoes made some great tackles today!

As for knitting... today I started the Retro Redux Shrug from the Lace Style. I've wanted to knit this since I first got the book but didn't know if it would be practical. Actually, I've wanted to knit a shrug for a long time but I kept thinking they were going to go out of style before I finished one. Not to mention the concern over whether or not I could pull one off. But when I found this new yarn by Berroco I figured I'd give it a go.

It's a nylon/acrylic blend, but feels wonderful. Very soft and squishy... and only $5.50 for 210 yds! So we'll see what becomes of the $11 shrug.

BTW - thank you for your compliments on the sock in my last post. The pattern is Floral Lace Anklets also from Lace Style.

A New Day, A New Year

Today was my oldest boy's first day of High School. Since he has been homeschooled his whole life with the exception of a brief stint in middle school, I felt that a picture was in order. Don't you just love that look of pure teen tolerance...

Donna was quick to ask what he thought of the day... He said it was boring. (Imagine that.) He has a block schedule so he has 3 classes each semester that meet for 1.5 hours each day followed by a couple hours of football practice. (I would go crazy myself.) He thinks it will be better when they're doing something in class instead of just listening to the teacher talk. I'm not sure what exactly he's expecting but I think he grossly underestimates the stamina of an enthusiastic teacher given a captured captive audience.


JoJo however, had quite a different perspective on his first day of Kindergarten...


The first day of the new school year is always a bit of a roller coaster for us. I've learned to have very low expectations because there's nothing worse than starting off a new year feeling like you'll never make it past the first day. I try to avoid the visions of cheerful children neatly working in workbooks and enthusiastic listeners sitting attentively at my feet while I read... so I'm not so freaked out by the reality of 5, now 4, boys sitting in a 300 sf room together while trying to keep their hands to themselves and their mouths shut.


I always try to start our morning with Bible time because I so want to have God's word in our hearts as we proceed through the day. It really sounds beautiful. But somehow an insane woman yelling at bewildered, babbling boys really shatters the impact of the message. (I admit this with great shame... but hoping desperately that I'm not alone here.) I will say that I have put great effort over the years into learning to expect their imperfect behavior and handle any interruptions and/or distractions with gentleness, firmness, grace... and a bag of lollipops for good behavior. (For those of you who have not figured this out yet, the character building we parents talk about so much is taking place in us much more so than in our children. Maybe they'll get it when they have their own kids.)


We kept things relaxed for the most part today but I got to have a great history discussion with my 8th grader and I was overjoyed with the enthusiasm and questions of sons 3 & 4 during our reading time. I'm going to add a list on the sidebar of books and curriculum we're using just for anyone who's interested or wants to share their experiences with same. (Don't worry, I have no intention of turning this into a daily homeschooling blog... nor do I plan to start a separate one... geesh... I do have a life after all... I think.)


And... I finished a sock.

I'm Blaming it all on Paypal

I tend to be a rather logical (note that this doesn't necessarily have to mean rational... although I am good at rationalizing), linear thinker. While this may sound practical, it can often lead me down a path that I wasn't quite expecting or prepared for. For example, the following selection of patterns came in the mail yesterday...






Both of the Lana Grossa booklets are full of cotton patterns (which is not necessarily great for knitting but good for our climate) and I happen to have quite a collection of cotton yarns. Cool.

So as I peruse the patterns, I hop on my laptop and begin to check out the specs on the suggested yarns and begin a mental search through my stash, checking out specs on yarndex and various websites, and even begin to make a list. At some point as I travelled down this path, it occurs to me that supposedly stash can be photographed and recorded on Ravelry. A couple of clicks later I find that, yes, it can... and not only that, it can be downloaded in spreadsheet form into Excel. I'm not even going to get into my love affair with spreadsheets. Suffice it to say that before I started knitting and discovered the vast time-sucking black hole we call the internet, I was certain that computers were invented solely for the delight of creating spreadsheets. Think what you will, but I am immune to your criticism on this point.


Anyway, I tend to avoid such large (possibly insane) tasks because I usually approach things with an all or nothing attitude (my still yellow kitchen would be an example of the nothing side), so this led to untold (not unknown, I'm just not willing to tell) hours photographing and recording my stash on Ravelry because once I started I couldn't walk away.


However, now that I am almost done (Flickr has limits on uploads so I need to wait until next month to finish the sock yarn), I can look at a glance and see which yarns I own might be potential subs for any pattern... and if I have enough of it. Whew! But I'm too tired to think about it tonight so I'll save the cool patterns for another day and another post and just get to the yarn from yesterday's mail.



Some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Denim and Natural for the IK Snowflake Socks...





A pleasant variety of mostly solids from The Loopy Ewe (hey, I had a gift certificate after all)...

L to R: Nature's Palette in Ripe Wheat, Lorna's Laces Sock in Old Rose, J.Knits in Pueblo, and Misty Mountain Farm Jubilee in Rainforest.



And, my biggest pure indulgence...

Duets Skinny in Chocolate Fantasy from A Swell Yarn Shop. And a close-up...

Oooooooohhhhhhh!

Personally, I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity we have as Americans today to be free from the responsibility of our own actions and blame my late night yarn binge on Paypal. I mean, what's with an online bank that offers me access to my own money at any hour of the day without any sort of field sobriety or fatigue test? Shouldn't they have some sort of trick questions to assess my ability to shop. You know... something like, "Is it a good idea to spend $5 on shipping for a single hank of yarn?" or "Are you feeling pressured to buy more yarn simply in order to meet the free shipping minimum?" Then, based on my answers they would be able to evaulate my emotional stability and restrict access to my funds as necessary, thereby assuming all responsibility for how I spend my own money.

While we're at... maybe Ravelry should impose a time limit on each user... bloglines too for that matter. Of course that would still leave me with sites like this where I found this too cool bumper sticker...

ETA: Lest you think I'm a horrible person, this is, of course, in reference to House.