If loving a vacuum is wrong, I don't want to be right

I just spent the past hour vacuuming my downstairs with a borrowed vacuum. It happens to be a Dyson, and though I've never used one before today, from the first time I saw a commercial, I intuitively knew that I must have one. Seriously, this thing should come with a number to the vacuholics anonymous hot line. I. Can't. Stop. Vacuuming. And I can't believe the amount of nastiness that it is picking up from my carpet, this is the "clean" carpet, people. I shudder to think what it will do upstairs. I messed around with it a little this morning up there, but not with all the fun attachments.

Ok, tomorrow I will return the Dyson and resume knitting, but for now, I have to go do the stairs, they are calling...

Things I wish I knew in college

1. How to knit
2. That if I bought art and furniture a little at a time, I would have a house full of things I love by now
3. That dieting doesn't work, but exercising does
4. That all the money that was handed to me in student loans would take almost all of my adult life to pay off
5. How to budget so I could retire by fifty
6. How to design a webpage, and make millions inventing by e-bay
7. That true love doesn't hurt
8. That God is real
9. That thirty was only ten short years away
10. That ten years would fly by in a flash
11. How to swim
12. That "can't" is the most defeating word I've ever uttered
13. How to manage my time
14. That working toward a doctorate would have been a good idea
15. That a master's degree would have helped my get better jobs, and wouldn't have taken too much longer
16. How to communicate my wishes to others
17. That jelly shoes and skinny jeans would someday be back in style
18. That family is really, really important
19. That there are things that I will have to explain to my children
20. That after 18, the world expects you to act like an adult
21. That I would end up one of those annoying advise-giving people
22. That force-feeding company is a sign of love
23. That a husband is a helpmate AND a best friend
24. That I was made with a purpose
25. That parenting is not for the feint of heart
26. When to shut up
27. When to keep talking

Of iTunes and funny bunnies

Ok, you all know how much I love my iPod, there is no doubt that it is the greatest invention of all time and I think it has done more to unite the human race than any amount of foreign diplomacy or humanitarian aide. All hail the amazing iPod. But seriously, I do love the iPod. I don't, however, love the iTunes. It just erased every spanking song on my iPod. How? I have no idea, nor do I care. What I care about is user-friendly software that I can't screw up. iTunes is irritating to me, therefore I hate it. But enough of that.

We are getting ready to go to Springer for the long Fourth of July weekend. I love it when a holiday falls on either a Monday or a Friday. The best is when Christmas Eve falls on a Wednesday because no one has to work on the Friday after Christmas, usually. It is a pleasing situation when a person has a five day weekend. So, we are off to the rancho for some fun and some work. Although, getting together with family is always fun, so even when we are working, it hardly seems like it. Now that Jack Jack rides a 2 wheeler, he gets to rub elbows with the big boys all weekend, and I am looking forward to not having to watch him like a hawk in our front yard the whole time he is on his bicycle. B insists that he will be staying for a month, but I have my doubts that he will hold up that long. I give him 2, maybe 2 1/2 weeks before homesickness gets the best of him. Though, he may surprise me. The other day, I asked him if he thought I was a mean mom and he said "mostly" so he might need a break from me. I need a break from the constant fighting that goes on in our house. I feel like a prison warden most of the time when they play, because playing for them involves a lot of wrestling and crying, and tattle-tailing. And it seems that the more they fight, the less they want to be apart. Weird.

So, in knitting news, you will be glad to know that there has been a completed object, and a new one on the needles. Check out the swatch bunny. The pattern actually calls it the knitted bunny, but I like the fact that you can make it out of a little gauge swatch, isn't it realistic? And cute?

Oops, that IS a real bunny. There are about a zillion of them living in our neighborhood. Here is the knitted bunny:

That cute little bunny came from this simple square of fabric, no bigger than four inches across. If you didn't feel like knitting, I'll bet you could make one out if a wash cloth or some other square piece of material. It has caused no shortage of tears between my children since there are three of them, and only one little bunny. So I had to cast on another for Jack, but it had to be pink. B requested an alien bunny with three heads and five ears. I don't know how that will work out. Probably not very well. Here is a shot of our tomato plants, which have grown about a foot since I took this picture last week. Yay, tomatoes.