Goodbye half-done mittens ...

Alas.

I've been working on some mittens as a gift.

I already frogged them once, early on, because I was totally doing the two mittens at once on two circulars wrong. (Which, when I finally got it right, I must say is a way cool thing to be able to do, knit both at once!) Then I frogged them again after a few rounds of ribbing because the knit was too loosey on the big needles, and I thought I might want a few more stitches, too. So I was pleased with how these were looking. And they seemed like they'd be stretchy enough to accomodate even larger hands.

But I don't know. I think they'll be too stretched out for the recipient, when worn. They actually fit me fairly well, but they aren't for me.

I kept going, for awhile, not wanting to waste the effort I put into them.

But I think it's better that I frog mid-palm than complete them and have them be an "it's the thought that counts" sort of gift.

Goodbye mittens, about to be cut down in your unfinished youth. So sad.

Oh, and I owe Rosanne a MEME which I'm going to rebelliously call a MEME, so look for that, oh ... eventually. 'Cause right now I've got some frogging and knitting to do.

Sledding on Christmas Eve Day

We had just enough snow in the wee hours of Christmas Eve to make for good sledding on Christmas Eve Day ...

the kids had rolled and abandoned a snowball the week before when we'd gotten a heap of snow, and it ended up being perfectly placed for a ramp ... subsequent melting and refreezing made the ramp solid and strong for even the parents to jump the ramp ...

All these pictures are compliments of my sister, Kelly ~ thanks, Kelly! They turned out great!

icat hitting the ramp:

eminoodle going down on the ancient plastic roll-up sled:

tobiwan on the slopes:

sputnik going with me:

sputnik alone:

me going over the ramp:

And, if you realllllly want to, you can see the little video of me going over the ramp...

Let's see if I can embed it!

Oh, and last but not least, our Christmas Eve picture...

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

Walking In A Sugar Wonderland

Take:

6 sugar cones
1 can white frosting
too much food coloring
a fortune's worth of decor
every bowl in the house
6 exuberant children

mix frosting with food coloring, apply liberally to sugar cones, invert onto paper plates using additional frosting as glue

allow children to decorate as desired

Make children wait to eat until all are done and photographed

Enjoy!

It's Like Star Trek, only Not ...

remember that Star Trek where there was the negotiator guy and he did the thing where he transferred all the negative emotions to his wife, and that made her get all old and dying, but it enabled him to be all pleasant and helpful? And then something like his wife died so he had to transfer his emotions somewhere else, so he transferred them to troi, and she was getting all old and mean and stuff ...

so it turns out I've had something similar but different going on, all these years, where I've transferred my frustration to the poor cat, griping about her and stuff, and that's enabled me to be all pleasant and helpful as a mom ... but now it turns out the very old cat is not doing so well, and I can't really be mean about a cat who is in failing elderly cat health, 'cause that would be mean, so I can't transfer my negative mom emotions to her, so yesterday I was a very crabby mom.

But then the negative emotions made the dude's wife get old, and maybe it's because I was transferring negative emotions that the cat got old, and if I don't transfer them to her she'll get young again, 'cause Troi did, you know, and then the cat will get better, and then I'll transfer them to her again, and it will become a weird cycle, back and forth?

hm. I thought this would be a light way to say the cat is not doing well and it's awkward and sad, but now that I've made this weird Star Trek analogy it's ... well ... just weird and awkward and sad. We're doing our best to show love and take care of her, while keeping a practical eye on what seems to be the coming end ... Maybe I'll just trail off.

Leigh! Don't read this! It's regurgitated!

So I was over there reading at Leigh's blog and she made me Ha.

Right out loud. HA! Like that.

So I told her that.

HIRL - Ha in Real Life. It's a funnier level than LOL (I sez to Leigh) because I LOL all the time in blogging and posting but I'm actually only GOTI - Giggling On The Inside.

Because, really, while in public I am a very LOL person, and on the inside I am often quite amused, it actually doesn't translate to the outside very often.

I am sure you have all imagined me at my computer LOLling all over, but in reality, in order to keep up the facade that I am "working" when at my computer, I am only GOTI and you might see a slight smile on my face if it's really funny, but quickly washed away in order to perpetuate the fraudulent impression that i am Busy Working On Important Things.

So I guess those really funny things which ought to have been LOLs but can't be called that because LOL has in my life been demoted to all the things I think are really funny yet must only secretly enjoy now need to be HIRLs.

Which, as I pointed out to Leigh, sounds just like hurl.

So if you hear me say Leigh made me HIRL, remember it's a compliment.

Snow Day

We got a snow day yesterday. Somewhere between 8" - 12" of snow piled up upon us, and church was canceled - although not before I'd gone out to shovel in the wee hours of the morning. My daughter stuck her head out the door to report that it was closed when I was about 3/4 done with the driveway, so I finished that but didn't shovel around the big van or do the sidewalks, I left those for the children, later.

It was very beautiful. And very blustery.

It made for a wonderful lazy day of movies, knitting, and playing. We took advantage of the time to have our annual "meat and cheese and crackers" meal, thanks to my grandma's annual gift of a Swiss Colony package of sausages and cheeses. This is one of the children's favorite Christmastime traditions. :-)

In the afternoon I went out with the children to play. We built a small sled ramp in the back yard by shoveling snow up into a heap at the edge of the basketball pad where there's a small hill.

After the two littlest went in, the two biggest children and I went to the nearby golf course to sled down the BIG hill. I'm glad I only took the two biggest, since the winds were brisk and the drifts were high. And, since I didn't take the camera, there is no proof that I scream all the way down the hills. We returned home for cocoa and coffee.

A most excellent snow day.

Blog Commander ... Blog On!

Many years ago - back when we lived in our old house - The Grand Lunar bought something called Light Commander! ~ One of the many small treasures I discovered in decluttering in the basement and reinstated to a place of honor.

What is Light Commander, you ask? I'm so glad you did, as it just happens to be the topic of choice on today's blog entry. I love how we are always on the same wavelength, with you asking just the right questions!

Light Commander is some sort of futuristic electronic thing that consists of a box you plug into the wall, and then has two outlets on the bottom into which you light other stuff. Like lights, for example.

And then you turn the lamp to ON, and Commander to ON, and then rather than walking over to the lamp and tediously clicking that little knob, you simply talk to Light Commander.

"Light Commander?"

(and here Light Commander replies by blinking a green light and saying "bleeble blee?")

"Light Off!"

"byooo."

and the light goes off.

"Light Commander?"

"bleeble blee?"

"Light ON!"

"byooo."

and the light goes on.

And even fancier ~

"Light Commander?"

"bleeble blee?"

"Light dim!"

"byooo."

and the light dims.

It's really pretty futuristic and amazing.

when it works.

Which is about 50% of the time for The Grand Lunar.

And 25% of the time for me.

And perhaps 4% of the time for any of the children.

So rather than get up and tediously rotate a small clicking knob, we who live on the cutting edge (well, um, 8-year-old cutting edge) of technology instead sit leisurely on the couch saying "Light Commander? Light Off!" over and over ... and over ... then marching resolutely over to the area of the device to repeat our commands more clearly and authoritatively. Again and again. Eventually to have the light turn off in a glorious display of Star Trek like technology.

The future is now.

.
.
.

I can see why the future was living in the basement.

Crammin' several entries into one quick one

oh I have so many things I'm blogging in my head! But here's a quick babbling of a few of them, lest they never make it into print ... er ... electrons.

snow - we had an ice storm predicted but instead we got a great snow with big fat puffy snowflakes - huge ones, falling clumped together the size of cotton balls! It was cool. I got a video of the fat flakes, maybe I'll get it posted later. Early in the day the layer of packing snow was too thin to do much with, but I made the big kids shovel one last time at bedtime and then play outside in back in the dark and they built snowmen and had a snowball fight and thought that playing outside when it was DARK and BEDTIME was the greatest thing evah.

I have lots of other pix but no time to prep and post them.

Other stuff - the girls sang in their holiday concert and sang beautifully.

And then the Big 4 children and I went to see "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" last night and it was so fun! I was glad to see the children enjoying it so much, I wasn't sure how much they would like a play. And it was especially fun for me because I played Lucy in a production of it when I was in junior high! Although I wasn't half as good as the lady who played Lucy last night. But it was fun to re-live all the songs and lines. Anyway, it was great.

This morning I went to take frozen waffles out of the freezer (oooh, fancy breakfast) and some helpful child had opened the bag at both ends, and so when I pulled it out, frozen waffle pucks rained down all around Buzz, nearly beaning him. What a traumatic start to his day!

Anyway. Lots more to blog, but we're having friends over today so I need to run!

::fwooooosh!::

Wha?

I haven't posted in nearly 2 weeks? Is that right?

I'm sorry.

I didn't realize.

I've been blogging in my head, again.

(Although I get more comments in real life. And they're usually nicer. Than the in-my-head comments, too. So I really should stick to real life blogging.)

Um, we've been working towards wrapping up the Organizing. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. I haven't been taking pictures. And haven't posted the ones I took. Obviously.

In other news ... have you looked at the calendar?!?!? Holy Moly, Christmas is coming up fast. I have had trouble keeping that thought in my brain, even with the house decorated and knowing it's "out there" it just doesn't seem like it'll be all that soon. Until I think about the time and all the things I plan to do ...

hm.

I probably need to make a list and start working hard on getting it done.

I'm not talking all the busy extras that would make you say, "Kim, slow down, enjoy the season."

Oh, no. I'm talking all the little basics and big things like, oh, buying presents for people and traditions we have as a family. Yeah, those. Not to mention the packages I need to get packaged up and mailed out. Imaginary packages, filled with imaginary things, at this point. Yet somehow needing to be made real and actually shipped. Soon.

Wow, all that thinking of the planning I need to do ... makes me want to take a nap.