Urban Farming

Not my farm of course; I'm still afraid of all animals :-* Lorraine, Jon and the boys are the proud owners of Grizzly and Lil Honey, the chicks. I'm guessing the names will soon be changed to Bakugan Wii and Mario Luigi.

Ravelympics Finish Line

I'm not going to cross the finish line with a completed Dale of Norway cardigan, boo. Dental work, subsequent pain, and pain meds slowed me down. I have finished the body of the cardigan tho, and it's looking really pretty. I'll keep plugging away and hope to have it done in a week or so.

Thank You IPod and NO2

Just got home from my first marathon dentist session. 2 hours of 'deep cleaning' of my sadly neglected teeth. I am numb from the eyeballs down to my chin, and possibly drooling all over my keyboard.

I survived largely due to two marvelous inventions: the IPod and Nitrous Oxide. Yes, I need sedation for any dental procedure, laugh if you must. I whiled away the hours in a nitrous haze listening to my favorite podcast, "Cast On" by Brenda Dayne. Give her a listen!

A Convo Between Pia & Kip

PIA: OMG Kip! Can you believe we are another year older!?
KIP: Deal, Rotch.
PIA: But it's so unfair. You have a beautiful wife and two darling little girls. I have my mother and my little sister.
KIP: My advice to you: learn to swing dance. You'll catch a husband in no time.
PIA: Ooh, that sounds like fun! Will you teach me?
KIP: I don't have time for that Rotch! I'm steering this guppy car!
PIA: YOU'RE NOT EVEN LOOKING AT WHERE WE ARE GOING! HELP ME JEBUS!

MEGAN: Hey, you guys! I'm another year older too!
PIA & KIP: Let's ignore her, shall we?
MEG: Damn you older kids and your fancy-schmancy guppy car.

Lucy The Pest

When Katie was a toddler, her nickname was "Ramona the Pest". So it's totes fitting that her baby is "Lucy the Pest". This little girl follows right on your heels (or under them) all around the house. Here's her best "play with me, grammy, I'm BORED" face. Hard to resist those pleading puppy eyes. But I'm trying.

Brills!

I've been wanting to make Lorraine a book with all my blog posts about the boys (editing out the weiner references), and I finally found a site that made the process easy: Blurb!

I was able to choose which posts I wanted to include and edit the book so it turned out just how I wanted. It just arrived and she loves it! It's a nice memento of the years I've been writing about these wild and crazy guys.

Another Convo With Mikey

Mikey: Wowe, if it is dark outside, NO ONE can go out.

Lavs: Why not?

Mikey: There is a bad guy out there.

Lavs: What happens if you go outside?

Mikey: YOU DIE.

Lavs: Yikes. Can anybody go outside?

Mikey: JON.

Lavs: Why can Jon go out?

Mikey: Jon has a knife and a gun.

Lavs: Can Steve go out?

Mikey: Does he have a knife and a gun?

Lavs: I don't think so.

Mikey: THEN NO. Duh.

Ravelympics Update

My Sirdal Cardigan to be knit in its entirety during the Olympics is not speeding along quite as fast as Bode on the Super-G course. I did finally finish the boring 'lice' pattern (those little white stitches) and am just starting the patterns for the upper body. I'll keep plugging away. With some serious knitting time, I might finish!

A Beautiful Day

The weather here is lovely, a bit chilly but the sun is out and the sky is blue. Mikey and I stopped on the playground to check out the big toys. He looks like the Russians dressed him again :-)

B-I-N-G-O

I'm babysitting Mikey and Alex for 4 days while Mom, Jon, RJ and Liam take a trip to the Joshua Tree National Park in Cali (yeah, I have no idea why that was picked over EVERY OTHER park in the universe. I blame Sliver) Last night was Book Bingo Night at school, so the three of us went armed with our lucky troll dolls, lighters and other necessary bingo paraphernalia.

Bah! We didn't win a single game! However, the family across from us won multiple games, a raffle prize AND the 'guess the # of jelly beans' jar o' beans. Hate.

The Death of Me?

Katie asked if I wanted to sign for a "Zumba" class with her. Not knowing exactly what it was, I said 'sure'. I may live (or not live) to regret this...

The Grim Reaper

Mikey has been a wee bit obsessed lately...with death. As only a 4 year old can be. We're not sure where he got the idea (the brothers, maybe? lol) but last night he started sobbing, and asked Mama when she was going to die. She said not for a long time, and when she did, she'd be in heaven. He asked "how will I find you?" and Riveria told him "we'll still be here to take care of you". Mikey said "I only want my Mom!". Oh, so heartbreaking.

Today, he told me, "I am really, really, really sad. Because my mom might die." So I told him, "she won't die for a long long time, Mikey, so you don't have to worry about it". He replied, "Oh, okay, can I play X-Box?". How quickly they recover.

Are You Watching?

The Winter Olympics! We absolutely love the Olympics, and have been watching pretty much everything, even the boring stuff like biathlon and xc skiing (sorry, don't hate) I already have the pattern for the US team hat (I think I'll do the fornicating deer on mine tho lol), and am so happy every time my fave Dick Button gets some face time.

Car and Tone, we wish you were watching with us!

The Rough Tough Beauty Parlor

Our family (the fabulous Sundstroms) has always called getting your hair cut at home "the rough tough beauty parlor", for obvious reasons if you've ever had a relative cut your hair. Katie & I were bored today, so she gave me the RTBP treatment with a new color (red!) and cut.

I always want a haircut that I completely cannot pull off, due to 1. my total spazziness with any sort or hair product or appliance, and 2. my curly-ish hair. I asked for "Ellen's haircut", but was immediately shot down. I ended up with what actually WORKS for my hair, short and with some mousse in it to amp up the curls. Pretty cute I say! Well, the haircut is cute, not so sure about me...
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BTW, I was totally reminded of us girls getting our haircut (back in the 60s) at "The Cinderella Salon of Beauty", owned by the fabulous MR. ANTHONY. Ever since then, anyone who cuts my hair automatically becomes "Mr." So thanks, Mr. Katie!

How Cute Are These?

Clever niece Pam (Loodie) took two projects that were languishing in the 'unfinished objects' pile and turned them into a set of wall hangings.

Nope, you can't buy these on Etsy. But you CAN bid on them at the Mill Creek Elementary School Auction on April 24! I'm sure that Pam or her mom (my sis Susna) would be happy to act as your proxy bidder. They've also contributed some FAB Christmas Stockings to the auction.

Ravelympics 2010

I'm entered into "Ravelympics 2010", where you compete to finish a project during the Olympics. I'm attempting to knit a "Sirdal" cardigan from Dale of Norway during the two week time period. Wish me luck to bring home the gold :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Susna sent me this card (via Ravelry), which reminds me totally of the valentine's cards we gave as kids. Yes, I'm that old. Hope everyone has a sweet V.D.

A Convo With Mikey

Mikey: Wowe, I'm STARVING.
Lavs: What do you want to eat?
Mikey: This pink heart cookie and chocolate milk!
Lavs: I think those are Pia's. She might get mad if you eat her last cookie...
Mikey: It's okay, Wowe. Pia never gets mad at ME!
Lavs: Hmmm, are you sure?
Mikey: I KNOW IT.

So P, no getting mad ;-)

LOL!

The Knitter of this sweater says: "Don’t EVER challenge me saying (while pointing at a horrible Christmas jumper on the television) “I bet you couldn’t knit anything as bad as that” because I will make something far, far worse."

Hence, the "Hellspawn" pullover, with fornicating reindeer, swastikas, "Gobshite", "Knit for Satan" and "Your Mum Tastes Good" along with many more offensive motifs. Plus it is done with crappy acrylic yarn in neon colors. 'Nuff said.

Cupcake Love

Mikey and I made our regular Monday stop at Starbucks. He begged to go today, and I promised we could if he worked VERY hard at speech. He did just that, and was rewarded with a tasty vanilla cupcake. He licked the frosting off, then offered me the 'stump'. Evil child.

Stupid Virginia!

Those in Virginia may receive between 20-30 inches of snow in what has quickly become the greatest snow storm in recent history.

Poor Cara! They have been without power for 24 hours, with no end in sight. What's going on in VA??? Here in Spokane, we have had NO snow to speak of.

Come home, baby! It's warm here!

Socks Socks Socks

I seem to be stuck in sock mode lately, with one sock completed on all kinds of patterns. Here are two of my latest 'one sock' projects:

"Pyroclastic" socks from Knitty. They are stretchy enough for my cankles, yay!

"Mystery Sock" knit in my beautiful Wollmeise yarn. A fancy twisted stitch pattern, and pretty pinks!

Now I need to finish 2nd socks of some of these projects so I can feel like I actually get anything done. Damn second sock syndrome strikes again.

NOT My Favorite Thing to Do!

Just got home from my first visit to the dentist in way too long. Ack. I'm a total 'white knuckle' dental patient, I need to be sedated for the x-rays :-) Looks like I am going to be getting 3 crowns yay. They've promised to knock me out if necessary. My palms are sweating already.

Awwww

Mikey and Cobey sharing a hug. Mike was going to help Mom and Liam walk the dogs this morning, but he came back in about 30 seconds. He told me he couldn't go for the walk because "my knees were not awake". Hate it when that happens.

Operation Mikey

Mikey and I stopped at the thrift store today (nearly as much fun as the Dollar Store!) and he picked out "Operation Shrek" for a buck. Of course, it only had 4 pieces but the buzzer still worked so we were fine. He cheats like crazy, though :-)