Wardrobe Malfunction

Today I had a considerable amount of difficulty finding my big-girl pants to put on.  All I could really find were the try-to-salvage-the-day-to-the-best-of-my-ability pants.  It's a really good thing that the weather was so nice today or it probably would have turned out to be a day where everything except the grumpy pants are in the laundry.

Thankfully, besides the sunny weather, there were a few bright spots to the day.  This morning I was able to visit with a friend, only to hear that she was in a similar boat (with ill children).  This afternoon I was able to purchase these frames for $110 less than what the clinic I tried them on in was selling them for.  (Big. Score.)  After the children were in bed I decided to ride my bike (bonus) to deliver a sympathy card to a friend.  I found them home and we were able to visit for a bit, which was good for both of us (win-win).  My sick son didn't puke all day long (hooray!) and I didn't have to cook supper because of all of the party leftovers my sister sent us home with (ding!ding!ding!ding!)  I also (surprisingly) beat the mailman to our mailbox so the new-baby card I was mailing actually went out today (nice).

All of these perks are in addition to all of the other blessings of the day (health, home, family, food, love, grace, the list could go on!) that I do not take for granted.

I just often have a difficult time when my plans get aggravated and circumvented by things beyond my control, so it was no small victory to be able to greet the end of the day with a positive scorecard. 

Praise the Lord.

Mega Super Bucks Jackpot Winner

I don't play the lottery, so this is not a monetary prize.  It's better.

My (homeschooled) 8-year-old son received his First Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday (and his first Reconciliation two months before).  This past Sunday evening he came up to me, gave me a nice, big hug and kiss and then THANKED me for preparing him for his last two sacraments.

Be still, my heart.

Unthinkable.

 Margaret Sanger is the female counterpart to Adolf Hitler. Though her covert strategy is much more successful. Each and every Planned Parenthood site is a concentration camp where people enter willingly to participate in the extermination of their race. And all because, unlike Hitler, her focus is on the clandestine lives of the pre-born.

5 Random Things

My new friend, Annemarie, tagged me for this funny game.  Apparently it's just the motivation I needed to break the six-month streak of blog silence.

1-- I've always looked forward to being old and being a grandmother.  Even when I was a kid, I'd sit watching my farm-wife grandmother in the kitchen and wish that she and I could trade lives.

2-- In many ways I feel like the Industrial Revolution was not a good thing.

3-- Seeing Dave (Matthews Band--for those of you who are not on familiar terms like I am) in concert has been on my determined "before-I-die" list for a very considerable amount of time (not for lack of trying).  Just this week I secured two tickets for my sister and myself!

4-- I left my then-boyfriend (now husband) in the dust on the hills of the country road we chose for our very first bike ride together and I still like to brag about it.  :)

5--  I enjoy using hyphens (and parenthesis) in writing and feel fairly certain that I remember the rules from my high-school English class for how to use them properly, but I feel self-conscious that I use both of them way too much.

And now I nominate:  Simple Life in the Woods, Patch O' Dirt, Small Things, Seeking the Lamp, and Our Magnum Opus

He Should Really Do Better Than That

I have a confession to make.

You know those commercials on Relevant Radio that ask, "What have you done for your marriage today?"  Okay, there was one guy who answered, "I watched the baby so my wife could go to work."

I made fun of that guy.  I still do.  That is a terrible answer!  To think that 1-watching your own child is somehow going above and beyond what is expected and 2-that caring for your child so that your wife could go to work is doing something special for your marriage  ...  wow. 

Those people should have never put that one on the radio.  It's an occasion of sin every time I think of it!

Please tell me I am not the only one.

Cotton, Wool, and JT

The first batch of caramels of the year were made today.  It was an attempt to lift the melancholy.  I blame it on the funk.  The caramels were only temporarily and mildly successful.  (But oh so good while it lasted.)

I've decided and am ready to declare that I am not interested in either doing what it takes or trying to attain a successful blog.  (Obviously.  Ha!)  It's time to acknowledge that this blog serves no other purpose than to meet the need of my infrequent desire to write things out.  And it's a pretty mixed bag at that.  (But, if for some reason you should feel compelled to stick around, be my guest!)

Due to a first-ever run-in with yeast rash on the baby girl this summer I made the jump to cloth diapers.  I've always loved cotton, it's always been a favorite, and now I love it even more.  These diapers are amazing.  I love cloth diapers.  I have a supply of Thirsties covers and I started out with two woolies.  But shortly in to my experiment I began to favor the wool soakers.  (My love, awe, and respect for wool has grown and now rivals that of the cotton.  It's truly amazing and until you diaper with it.. wow.  I'm a natural fibers type of gal, through and through.)  Since then I've knit two more soakers and added the green longies to the mix, too.  (I unknowingly knit those wool pants for the babe in utero and now they're fitting her and coming in quite handy.)  There are two more pants and one more vanilla about to be in the works.  Good thing I taught myself how to knit three years ago.

I really like the website iusenfp.com.  I appreciate the work of the guys that run 1flesh.org and I am definitely on board with what they are trying to do.  But I cannot stand their slogan:  bring sexy back.  Ugh!  Yuck!  That is not what it's about.  All I can think of when I hear that is Justin Timberlake.  And I can't stand him.  Or his music or his message or anything else about him other than the fact that he was made by God.  Why would they use such a trashy motto?  Ugh.  I get it, I get it.. they're trying to appeal to the young, modern crowd.  They're trying to make it hip and appealing.  Sex sells??  Maybe they really like Justin Timberlake?  I don't know.  Call me old-fashioned.  Call me a grouchy curmudgeon, I just don't like it.  I guess it's good if it is reaching and appealing to the young, target audience, but to me, the message of true love; sacrificial love; real, self-giving married love is just so much more, so much better, so much higher than that.  I can't help but feel they're cheapening it.  But really, if they were going to go that route, couldn't they have at least used a U2 or a DMB song?! 

Speaking of the righteous movement for the masses, I've also really been enjoying the New Wave Feminists For Life.  They're the real deal when it comes to actual feminism.  I like it.  (you can like them on fb if you're into that sort of thing.  same with the two previous sites.)

We've gotten three weeks of lessons under our belts so far.  And this year I have two students!  One in second grade and the other in kindergarten.  In many ways, I've found that having two students is easier than one.  Now there are only two other children to mind while focusing on instruction with the others, instead of three.  And instead of having just one to focus on and wait for, I have two that I can bounce between while doing the instruction.  Quite surprising!  Though it's only been three weeks, mind you....

We planted our garden again this year and had a nice turnout.  There were a few new additions this year:  dry beans (Jacob's cattle.  or something like that..), asparagus, mint, a new heirloom variety (winter density, I think, it's a head lettuce, somewhat of a cross between bibb and romaine--love it.), and limelight hydrangeas added to our yard border.  We don't have a fenced backyard, so I like planting as much as I can to form a natural fence.

Unfortunately we've been struggling to regain health for at least a good month now.  All four of the children have been sick.  Three of them have been on antibiotics and one of them was put on allergy medicine in addition to that.  Thankfully, though, I feel like we've finally turned that corner and have started back in the right direction.  Hopefully we'll have some nice weather and some healthy children with which to enjoy this upcoming fall season.  Here's hoping that you do, too.

Yarn Along: Quick Takes Edition!

*This is a collection of all (I think) of the knitting projects I've finished and begun in the past several months.  I've still been knitting (somewhat at least!) even though I've not been linking up. 

1.  The booties came first.  Stay-On Baby Booties.  I found the pattern out of a library book and it is an heirloom pattern shared initially by an elderly (95!) knitter in a knitting periodical who wanted the pattern to remain in existence.  Very cool.

2.  Then I started the baby pants (with baby en utero--it's so hard for me to do that, having to guess at sizing... anyway..).  I love the seed stitched cuffs.  I still have yet to put elastic in the waist band, but will do that when baby is ready for them to fit to size.  They've all been small in the waist, long in the legs so far.

3.  Because they were made with Cascade Eco, an enormous skein, I had enough left to make a matching Milo.  I chose the heart cable since by that point she was born and she was a girl.  (Finally, a girl to knit for.  ..So much easier.)

4.  The purple and pink Milo was made between the two teal pieces because she needed an extra warm something to go over long-sleeved onesies this past winter.  So I made it in a pinch with left-over Pastaza (? or something like that.  Wool/Llama blend).  That one has the X O X O cable.

5.  Most recently I've been making these canning jar cozies to go with my Cuppow lids when they come in the mail.  (Inspired by Amanda!)  I'm really jazzed about this whole idea, plus it's a super fast, easy knit and also a great way to use up odds and ends.  I've got the smaller, oatmeal-colored one (made out of my gramma-mitten yarn) for a pint jar for coffee drinks (hot and/or cold) and I'm making a big one for a quart jar for my drinking water jug.

6.  On the reading front, I just received The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood from the library.  I didn't request it and I don't know anything about it, but it came for me, so I think it's this month's book club book.  I'm interested to start it to see what it's all about and if it's any good.  Does anybody know?  I know she's a pretty popular author, so it'll be fun to try something from her.

Also, we've been revisiting a bunch of our favorite story books by the author/illustrator Valeri Gorbachev.  We've not found any of his books that we didn't enjoy, but That's What Friends Are For, The Big Trip, The Missing Chick, and What's the Big Idea, Molly? are some of my favorites.

7.  I really hadn't done any knitting for a long while and my basket had just been taunting me from the shelf.  I kept thinking about Ginny's comments about knitting during the boys' lessons (and thinking she was crazy).  But, one day I decided to give it a try myself, and it worked!  My oldest sat reading to me and I was knitting right alongside him.  It was great!  And I found I can also knit behind the baby's back while she's learning to sit between my legs when we're on the floor together.  She's become really grabby lately, though, which makes this a little more tricky.  And yesterday I knit up some soggy, slightly-spit-up-on yarn.  Oh well!

8.  I know my days of enjoying that gummy, toothless baby grin are extremely numbered, so I'm trying my best to capture it while I still can.  L O V E  I T.