"Hey-hey-hey-hey....what's goin' on?"

Tessa's first day of school, Kindergarten, 2007

Silly mommy missed 1st grade photo op



Tessa's first day of school, 2nd Grade, 2009


Tessa's been in school about 3 weeks now, and she's doing ok, I think. She's in 2nd grade so things have become more "old hat" in a lot of ways. We've only been spoken to by the teacher once, thank goodness--she was talking too much in class one day last week & got in trouble.

For the most part she seems happy. She does math homework & reads every night. She's my kid, so she would read every night in any case, even if 15 minutes per night WEREN'T required. She's growing like a weed & I want to put a book on her head at times.

Things I have to do around the house for Tessa: fix her bed (the old side rail gave out, I'm thinking of rigging something involving using the frame for looks & cinder blocks for support), go through her old outgrown & stained clothes, bring down "new" clothes from the attic, go through her toys together & consolidate them, and clean out her closet.



J, NOT a recent photo, but he is rather elusive to get a shot of.

The job hunt is still on for J, and I think we're both discouraged on that front. But he is such an amazing support & strength. He was terribly sick this summer, and that hasn't fully resolved, but he has taken a lot of steps to manage the condition. He's also pretty incredible around the house, doing dishes, picking up, vacuuming, dealing with laundry, getting together meals, taking care of Tessa, managing our finances--I don't know what I would do without him, and I mean that quite literally. I love my husband so much, and I love the way he takes care of our family so well.

Things to do around the house for J: go through our clothes, toss/consignment/recycle what doesn't get worn, find better places for things like linens, manage the space in our bedroom better, get him a bedside lamp.



After I dyed my hair last night.

I'm doing ok myself. I'm in pain frequently, and I suspect a chronic pain condition. The testing is prohibitively expensive, however, so I am mananging what I can with OTC motrin & B complex, as well as changes in diet & exercise. I am somewhat actively working to lose weight by changing lifestyle habits, and I've lost about 10 lbs since I started doing that, so I am definately seeing results.

Work has been a challenge because we have changed our software recently, but I have been getting more hours as a result, so this paycheck should look pretty darn good. Mostly I've just been plugging along, trying not to think too much about anything.

Things to do around the house for me: sort & clean out what's in the attic, as well as in other "hidey-holes" around the house. We need LESS STUFF.

How to Arse Up a Sweater Back in 7 Steps.

I finished the sleeves of my sweater last night. The pattern I'm using, Mariah, calls for some really beautiful & complex cabling on the sleeves. I decided that I wanted to finish before winter, so I took out the obscenely time-consuming (albiet gorgeous) celtic knot cable which of course, is what the designer made the sweater around, so I'm sure she'd rather I not tell anybody that this is her pattern.

I kept the rather demure cable ribbing pattern on the cuffs & body of the sweater. Last night after finishing the sleeves I cast on for the back. That's when I began to make mistakes...

1. CO 126 stitches. Cleverly recheck the pattern, remove 2 stitches because the CO is supposed to be 124. Cut part of the ridiculously long tail leftover from my inability to correctly estimate a long-tail cast on. Happily check the chart, working across as I go.

2. Realize when I get to the end of the row & have 11 stitches leftover instead of 7 that I misread the pattern & arsed up the first 7 stitches. Cuss, rip them back. Start another episode of the tv show I was watching on netflix.

3. CO 124 stitches again. Breathe relief that I'd had the forsight not to remove the first stitch when ripping out, so my tail is perfect. Knit across, fixing the first 7 stitches & last 7, making an adjustment for a button band instead of zipper. Feel rather clever that the garter band I'm knitting looks quite nice.

4. Work happily away for 5 rows of the pattern. Make J take it from me at around 1 a.m. so I can get a reasonable amount of sleep, and because my left shoulder has been bugging me (maybe from cranking out stockinette sleeves for 3 weeks).

5. Go to bed. Fall asleep with a book in my hand, thinking absently about the sweater.

6. 3 a.m. wake up with a start, realizing that I'm knitting the BACK of the sweater, and BACKS DON'T NEEED BUTTON BANDS. Feel like a moron. Go back to sleep.

7. Wake up at 8, trying to decide if I have the heart to rip back the thing yet again. Contemplate a redo plan involving a crochet hook & my wits. Best case scenario--it'll work & take less time than a reknit, which would take about an hour. Worst case: I'll work all morning on it, arse it up further, have to rip it out anyway and reknit.

Excuse me. I have to fortify with coffee now, and dig out my crochet hook. I can see where this Saturday morning is going already...