Something that might make you smile today. I know I can use it.

(You might have to turn up the volume because the car is so loud. B was on his second straight week with out his allergy medicine, so his nose was itching, he normally doesn't rub it so often. They were watching the Muppet Show. )

Because I didn't want to.

I didn't post yesterday even though I had plenty of fodder, because I didn't want to. I just didn't like the thought of talking about anything happy, because I still feel weird about all the unhappiness that surrounds 9/11. It was the saddest day in history, it was the saddest day in my life, a sadness that fell over us all for weeks and months. There isn't a way to commemorate it properly, and I won't try.

Saturday, I tried to make a compromise with my fishing-obsessed husband. I said "Let's hike into a fishing place, then you can fish with the boys, and we can all hang out as a family, doing something outside. You fish, we hike, everyone wins. " Uh, we may have forgotten that we have a quarter of a dozen kids. (3, if you're math challenged), we also may have forgotten that two of the three kids have legs that are grossly shorter than our own, meaning that we would have to carry them. We also may have forgotten that we are not entirely used to hiking at 9,5000 feet...We are a forgetful couple. It also seemed to slip my mind that I had a cold. But, we actually hiked for (I think) about five miles. Jack galley-lagged until J finally picked him up. I carried Mimi on my back or front the whole way, and B, made me carry his water and hip pack so he could carry a rock to throw in the stream. We never made it to the stream, the park closed at four and we had to get back to the car before they locked the gates, but we did have a good time and were all sufficiently worn out. Next time, I think we will have to look more closely at the map and pick a more kid-friendly trail. I love hiking and it was fun to get out of the house and see something new.

In knitting news: My friend finally had her baby, after many, many hours of labor. I am pretty sure that the baby was waiting until I got the package in the mail before she made her appearance. I finished the it Monday night, but needed to get a ribbon to call it 100% done. Last night I got a call that she was in labor and they were expecting the baby before midnight. At nine this morning I got another call saying that she was not progressing quickly, but they expected a baby before noon. I ran out and picked up some ribbon. 2:00 came, and still no baby. I walked to the post office at about 3:00 and mailed all three hats and came home. It turns out that she had the baby at 4:30 this afternoon. Ugh, what a labor. I just hope that the smallest hat fits her! She was bigger than they expected. Well, here the third and final instalment of the hat trio:

Stats on all hats:

Upside down daisy hat from Itty Bitty Hats. I used size threes on a cotton yarn that my mom got me when I was pregnant with Mimi. I have no idea what the name or size of it is. I can tell you that it was bright and had a beautiful color, and that it knit up wonderfully with a sort of light catching sheen. The white came in the same batch of unknown origin. The pale pink was my own desperate attempt at hand dying. I used red food color and rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed to make sure it would hold. I tried the same hand dying technique for the stem, but apparently yellow and blue food dye is a different chemical configuration and refused to stay in the yarn. I got extremely creative and tried microwaving it with a salt bath (like Rit dye) but no go. So, I used the Cascade Fixation and it worked beautifully.

The little green hat is a knock off of one that was made when Mimi was born. I stole her basic format. I used my own creative license on parts, but basically it is Sadie's. The flower is from Stitch and Bitch Nation. The yarn is some 100% acrylic Caron or Red heart. (In case you haven't noticed, I can't keep a ball band around here to save my life, the kids seem to think that they are meant to be ripped off and shredded.) I used size three for it too.

The purple creation is all of my own. I used size three needles for the brim, and after several rows, I reduced enough stitches to take an inch out ( eight stitches over all) and then switched to size twos (removed from a work in "progress"). The yarn was a sock weight cotton. I don't really know where it came from. Probably from the same batch that I used for the daisy hat. It turned out just how I hoped it would, though it may have to be blocked every time the little dear wears it. But it is so cute and I am pleased at the way that I was actually able to execute a creation from my own vision. Let's see it one more time since it's so cute.

By the way, those are my tomato plants growing there, bearing fruit. Yay! I can't wait, there are some that are actually almost ready.

in which I am humbled by someone great

This morning, as I was running, I was mentally blogging about how hard it is to run with a jogging stroller and how Jackson talks to me the whole time, making it hard to keep my music going because I can't hear, and how I can't talk to him and run at the same time because it uses too much oxygen etc. I had my whole list of complaints about how hard it is on this mom to get out and run when I would much rather be eating and watching tv, but good for me that I do it because it always does make me feel better blah blah blah.
Then, I remembered this video that a friend sent a few months ago, which was really moving and everything, but I didn't run then, so I couldn't possibly appreciate how moving it really is. He runs and swims and bikes and parents and doesn't even complain about it., he actually enjoys it. I run/walk 2 miles a day people, a mere warm-up for these guys. Check it out, after you grab your box of Kleenex, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gm7XwtIJdM

Is summer over yet??

I need a vacation from summer vacation. We are so tired and over-traveled that all I can dream of is laying in bed till eight o'clock on a Saturday and not having to be anywhere at all. Since July, we have only been home for one weekend that I can think of. We keep saying that we will settle down now that school has started, and then we run off again. I plan to stay home until Thanksgiving, and maybe even longer if neither of our families are around for turkey-day. In the past, we have spent every other Christmas with my family or J's, and Thanksgiving at the other place, but then suddenly, my parents started a new tradition of flitting off to here or there and abandoning us all together. So for the last five or more years, Thanksgiving has been with friends or at J's parents. Then, suddenly, they started traveling on Thanksgiving too. And since moving, we really don;t have many friends who are willing to feed us. Poor us, I've never even baked a turkey, and if I live a hundred years, I probably never will. All of my childhood memories surrounding this holiday consist of a turkey being put in the oven at some ungodly hour and the host of the dinner being so tired by the time the dang bird is ready that she can't even keep her eyes open and nods off into her mashed potatoes. Well, maybe not that tired, but you get my drift. Sooo, unless someone takes pity on us and decides to cook for us, we will be eating turkey sandwiches and watching football (well, J will, I'll probably read a book or knit.)

Speaking of knitting...

The nice thing about itty bitty hats is that they are knit for itty bitty heads and they are quick to make. Even with all the traveling and stuff going on lately, I've managed to complete two whole hats and I am casting on another one this morning. I've got to get a move on, because my friend is due pretty soon, and tends to have early babies. But, just for fun, I'll give you a preview of two of the trio and when I'm done with the other one, I'll take a picture of it too. For some reason, my kids have been obsessed with these hats, especially the upside down daisy hat. Mimi tries to wear it and cries when I take it away from her.

Right now, I am reading Jane Eyre and nursing a smallish head cold. I am not necessarily blaming the book, she is a very descriptive author and I am a highly suggestive personality. The descriptions of freezing rain and drafty halls may have gotten to me...

I am also trying to catch up on the pile of laundry that is taller than my eldest child. How does that happen?

One more thing to update you on...Now I know that I had a goal of running three miles before summer ended...So, I am trying to get out and run more. I ran a little over two miles with out even dieing on Saturday, and I have been running with the jogging stroller when I can. I have a little less than three weeks till the fall equinox and I am still trying to make it. So there you go.

Testing, Testing 123

Yay Blogger...You make me happy. I was trying to figure out how to upload videos to vimeo because I wanted to add them to my blog and someone at blogger read my mind. This is from the other week when we went to Denver and rode the little train in a circle. I wanted to put a better video on, but it keeps getting to the end of uploading it and then says there is a problem, so this will do for a test run.

no clever title.

I envy the knitting blogger who actually makes an attempt to knit. I haven't been doing much of that lately. My angels rest socks are languishing on the needles for the second month in a row. The raffle socks weren't finished in time for the raffle and they have been cast aside only 55% done. Nothing in the queue has even been cast on or looked over or thought about since the weather turned so beastly hot that I can hardly move, let alone knit. I haven;t even blogged about knitting in over a month. Then...then, I went down to Holly Berry house and picked up a pair of turbo-knits to try enticing the sleeping knitter out of me. Nothing will wake a sleeping monster like the promise knitting at mock speed on the turbo knits. I love all my turbo knits, and I wanted a pair to make baby hats. So I bought them for the greater good, otherwise, I will not get my knitting mojo back until first snow. I also pulled out the Itty Bitty Hats book. I cast on for the upside down daisy hat because I have a friend who has a little girl due in September. So, that is what I am doing, knitting. And it is good.

I also read a book. I forgot to sing the glories of HP7 over a month ago, when I walked right into Sam's and bought it with out any ado. I thought there would be fist fighting and name calling, but no, I just picked it up off a stack that was larger than a small Zigarat and brought it home and read the whole book in about a day and a half. It was good, no, great. She is an amazing storyteller, and you either love her or you could care less. You know where I stand. But the book I just finished is Life of Pi. Uhhh, this book is haunting me. The author claims that it will make you believe in God. Well, I already do believe in God, what it made me more willing to believe in is vegetarianism. It was a great story though, and even though I already picked up another book (a lighter affair by one of those British authors that everyone loves), I can't get Life of Pi out of my head....

We went to a company picnic the other day and everyone had enormous fun. The kids really loved the rides and especially the miniature golf. I enjoyed spending the day out of my house and not having to pay for all the fun that was being had. Here a few parting shots to keep the grandmother happy! Happy Monday.

outlaw mimi
B in the "race" car

Bumper boats
The little tiny train
B, Jack and I on the scrambler. ( you can't see jack, but he is squished in between B and I and he loved every second of it.)

Dear Laundry Fairy,

In the past, I have complained about you and the response has been somewhat minimal and short lived, so I will now put my complaints in writing, addressed directly to you, which my therapist has advised.

Laundry Fairy, There are ups and downs in every relationship, I know this, I'm married for heaven's sake, but lately there seem to be more downs than ups. Often, you do a great job and I may have taken that for granted. I realize that you are not in a payed position, that I am allotted one laundry fairy in my life time. According to Wikipedia, my life expectancy is about 74 years. That means that we have approximately 43 years left together, and it disconcerts me that I will have to live with your un-laundry-like behavior for all those years. We must commit to working on our problems before another 30 years go by.

I think it might be helpful to give you a few pointers that may make our laundry-marriage more satisfying:

1. It is not helpful if you repeatedly move clean folded and separated clothes from the bed (staging area) to a basket or the floor, (or open suitcase as I found it this morning). What is helpful is placing each pile into the drawer that it belongs in. That would help.

2. Taking all the clean laundry out of the dryer and throwing it anywhere with out folding it makes life harder. It is better not to move dry laundry at all, unless you can fold it and place it neatly in baskets.

3. Anything that is labeled 100% linen or Rayon or cotton that seems to fit me shouldn't ever be moved into the dryer. It shrinks and I can't wear it anymore, and it forces my husband to have to spend more money on my clothes. This is money that could be spent on fishing and eating out, if you would quit ruining my clothes.

4. Laundry baskets are for carrying clean or dirty laundry from one place to another. If your passage to anywhere in our home is obscured by a laundry basket full of clothes, it is customary for laundry fairies to pick up said basket and deposit it in the proper place.

5. If my husband is out of any piece of clothing, it is your responsibility to alert me to this. Then I can remedy the situation. If you wait until he is searching for his socks at 6:00 in the morning, it is too late.

6. If you notice that my husband is out of any piece of clothing and you are anywhere in the vicinity of a laundry device, perhaps you can place the laundry into the washer so that it will then be ready for the dryer.

7. If you move laundry from the washer into the dryer, please refer to suggestion (read RULE) #3. If you move laundry out of the dryer, please refer to suggestion (read RULE here too) #2.

Thank you Laundry Fairy, I know that if we try to work this out we will all be much happier, because anyone who lives with me knows that when I am mad at the laundry fairy, no one gets to be happy!