d'oh

I forgot to mention that we are now homeowners. We closed on our house on June 22, and it sure feels good to be done with that whole mess. Now we can paint anything any color we feel like it! But we'll probably just keep things the way they are for a while.

Wooooooooshhhhhh

That was the sound of summer flying by. Yep, we're over halfway through it, and it seems to go even faster the second half. I've been told that life is the same way, when I get to mid-life, I'll let you know. So far, we have been home a mere two weeks out of six, so I am feeling the strain, as usual. We were at the rancho for the week of Memorial day for irrigating. Some of our friends who have four, yes four, boys joined us to give their kids some experience in just getting dirty in the middle of nowhere. It was so fun, there was a ton to do, and I know that my kids appreciated showing off their grandparents' place to some city kids. One thing that is great fun for them is to ride the ditch, which is like a very long water slide. It is made of cement, so the bum of their pants are shredded after a few passes, but it is totally worth it. The water is about four inches deep, and it moves just fast enough to give them a ride. Only on the rancho!

We were home for the Tuesday after Memorial day exchanging dirty laundry for clean & gathering up our camping gear, then we (the kids and I) loaded up the car and headed out for the Great Sand Dunes national park. It was amazingly beautiful weather, not too hot, not too windy. I'd never been to the Dunes, so I really didn't know what to expect, but I have to say, it may be a vacation destination in the years to come. Check out the website, it doesn't do justice to the beauty and uniqueness of this area, but it gives some idea of what we saw. Medano creek was great, and the kids and I enjoyed being with some Los Alamos friends that we only see once a year. After two nights and three days, we hopped in the car and met my in-laws in Taos then trekked across the mountains to spend a few more days at the rancho. One of the major events there was vacuuming the sand out of the car! We then hit the road once again, this time on our way to Los Alamos for VBS. This is an annual pilgrimage to our beloved atomic city to visit great friends, reacquaint with our inner nerds, run trails and work on our uranium tans. We stayed for a week and a half this year because last summer was too short.

When we arrived home, my mother was here to greet me with two amazing chairs and a banjo for Ben, which he barely got to strum before his next journey was underway. He promptly jumped on a plane and flew to VA to visit our Eastern relatives, then hardly caught his breath there before they loaded into a van and drove back across the country. No sooner did he arrive home, than we once again packed our bags and left for a whirlwind trip to the deepest part of the Navajo Reservation to attend a family reunion for Juan's mom's side. We saw some beautiful country, and enjoyed mutton and lots of sun and sand, but boy was it great to get home! Now, we've been home nearly a week, and I'm not able to really feel relaxed. I have one last trip to Durango to see my mom, sister, brother (and his her) and my grandparents, then, you guessed it! School starts. Whew, what a crazy summer.

This is a shot of the kids (including my Eastern nephew and Buddy the Dog) at the reflection pool in Window Rock, AZ, the capital of the Navajo Nation.

In knitting news, I finished my shrug, but haven't even had a chance to use it yet. Juan was rewarded handsomely for dog-sitting with Chili's and movie gift certificates and an overnight babysitter, so when that time comes, I know exactly what I'm wearing. I also have a new nephew on the way, due in October (!!!), so I am picking some special little something for my brother and his wife's first baby. Come to think of it, there are first babies due all over the place, so hats and booties are in short order.

I'm not doing my half marathon until September to give myself some time to get some milage, but that is one other thing that I have going on...how *do* I do it?? (some would say not very well)

One other thing, I've been reading a lot this summer, and trying to listen to some new music to expand my hipness. I'm loving the Eels cd that my neighbor loaned me. Check out their website, 'Spectacular Girl' is definitely going on my iTunes, as soon as it is released. The lead singer has a very interesting story that I heard on NPR a few months back. I feel more hip already, don't you?

knitting that makes itself and other tales of woe

Can someone please explain to me how I can knit two different sleeves, following the exact same pattern, casting on the same number of stitches, counting, reducing on the money, paying close attention, and then finding that the second sleeve is a good three inches longer than the first. How does this knitting magic occur? I must know because I would very much like to apply it to other things in my life...for instance: Placing the exact same amount of money in the exact same account and having my second deposit inexplicably be three times larger. Or how about I spent the exact same amount of time cleaning the exact same room and the second time it looks three times better. Charging my phone and having it last three times as long. It just doesn't seem fair that knitting, laundry and bills are the only things that multiply on their own.

So I went to an estate sale today, sigh. At this point in the home buying process I am beginning to gnash my teeth and shake my fist at no one in particular. Our accounts are basically as frozen as the dead of winter. (I was going to use another metaphor referring to certain bank accounts of certain guys who rhyme with "sally-tan", but didn't want my name on some government list) We cannot spend an extra dollar on anything that is not a bill. Yeah, it is getting to be a real drag. I went to this estate sale and the family was selling a mid-century danish dining room table, a set of eight chair, the matching sideboard, three danish nesting tables, a pair of lamps, and matching coffee table and end tables. I am sure I could have talked him down to $600 for the whole caboodle, since he was only asking about $700, but guess what? $600 at this point might as well be $6trillion, cause we can't touch it. What is it with me and this type of furniture? We keep having near misses. I need to quit lusting after it, quit going to garage sales and browsing estate sales, and start trying (bitter pill that it may be) to count my blessings.

What else is in the news? Not a lot going on, school is out for Mimi and nearly out for the boys. I got 100% on Eye of the Tiger for Rockband2, and we are almost having some nearly warm weather. Now that summer is almost upon us, it is time to start thinking about summer plans. We're planning a few camping trips and a small vacation to LosAlamos. And that is all I have in the works for now....what about you? Any plans or news? Do share.

Let's do the time warp again......

It's just a jump to the left! And then a step to the right!!!

A weird thing happened the other day. I kept getting confused about the year. It took me a while to figure out why, it is because I have basically forgotten the year 2008. I had to look back through my blog to see what exactly happened that year. And it looks like a whole lot of nothing. I don't have a single memory that stands out as life-changing or important. Notta. For the past 15 years, I have a memory that makes each year easy to track, and of course anything before then is a blur of elementary and jr high and high school. I wish I could remember what I was doing for the entire year, but apparently, time goes on whether we realize it or not. 2008 will have to be the year that I remember because I forgot it.

Preserve your own brain...

Years ago, I clearly remember my uncle having a panic attack when he realized that people are getting more dumb (dumber?) by the minute. He had fear that if there were nuclear fall-out and subsequent zombie infestation, or say, if the power suddenly went out for an extended period of time, all our family would surly perish of our own stupidity. None of us kids, not one, knew how to plant a garden, how to preserve food, how to slaughter a squirrel caught in a tripwire, how to survive a minute without all of our modern comforts. If we couldn't wander into a grocery store with a debit card, we were doomed. He was right, ya know? I am still likely to starve if left on my own. But over the years, I have thought about that little episode, it must have made some kind of impression on my pre-adult mind. Luckily for us, we stumbled into the digital age and I can now sing the praises of the internet once more! I can google anything I need to know, and someone, somewhere has written it all out for me. How to keep a cat from pooping in my flowerbed? or How to tie a shoe so it stays tied? And of course, the age-old question of how about how to build a solar oven out of left over junk?? Done and done. The only rub is that we have to use the knowledge at our fingertips now, before the impending zombie attack. (Be sure to read up on important zombie survival skills now, so you can be prepared.) But still, it is amazing that things that used to be passed from generation to generation, can now be found a few clicks away on the www.

Every year, my mom grows an amazing garden full of turnips, carrots, squash, tomatoes, green beans and peas etc. She has been doing this nearly as long as I can remember, and she does it so well that she can often have fresh veggies all summer long, donate to the farmers market and then preserve what is left over. She makes delicious canned pickled green beans, peaches, chokecherry syrup...basically if it can can, she can can...(that was fun, no?) So, I am making it my goal to learn to can what can be canned as well, and I am going to try to do it the good old fashioned way, I'm going to watch her and learn. One time she tried to teach me, but at the time it just seemed so complicated, and hey, if I could waltz into King Soopers and whip out the card, why would I need such an archaic skill? Uh, yeah, refer to the above paragraph. It is the same reason that I learned to knit socks, who can ever know when such a skill might come in very handy? Plus, I love the thought of jars of my own produce lining my pantry gives me great joy. It is a lovely mental picture, isn't it? (you'll have to use your imagination, we ate all the peaches and green beans already)

Oh yeah, and if you want to give yourself nightmares, go ahead and look for a zombie image on photobucket...

Remember when...

this used to be a knitting blog, and I updated it at least once a week, and had lots of things to talk about?? That was cool, huh?

Home at Last

While we are in no way as cool as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, we are in fact (almost) home. We are taking the plunge and becoming first time home owners. Even though we have lived in this house for over a year before finally committing to homeownership, we are still as excited as we can be. We moved in last April with the desire, but not the means to buy. Now, thanks to government incentives and things falling nicely into place, we are under contract and it looks like we'll be closing sometime in May. Yikes, and yippy! I have been thinking about all the things that I can do the minute I sign the paperwork, but just being the owner of a home will be enough at first...except for cutting down a massive tree that is about a foot from my roof.

Knitting is dismal, but that is because I am simply the most lazy knitter known to the craft. I haven't really worked on anything lately. I did print out a pattern for a shrug that I will be working on, mainly so I can wear my shoulder baring dresses without freezing, so not out of love of knitting. It never seems quite warm enough in Colorado to go completely sleeveless for more than a few days a year, but I do have some cute dresses that I still try to wear. The one that caught my eye is the Simple Stockinette Shrug by Daniela Meier. I like the 3/4 sleeves, and the open front. I am thinking that some nice cotton blend or something in a soft and squishy cashmere would be great, I am looking forward to starting it soon. I'd like to have it ready by next book club where we are having an English tea for Persuasion. But you know me, I rarely get past the excitement phase of most projects, and when I do actually get something done, I usually don't have a camera on hand to show off.