Clarifying the Politically Incorrect Post Below

The girls felt the quotes from R. Gervais' blog were 'out of context' so let me explain: Ricky was complaining that a quote he had given regarding the fact that he ad-libs most of his dialog in a film was skewed into a headline reading "Gervais Admits He is Worst Actor in the Movies".  He offered these quotes as an example of how the tabloids can f-up just about any event.  Clear now?  Hope so!

Arrrrr

Happy Mikey poses in his darling pirate sweater. He started preschool yesterday and he is now an official big boy. AND no more diapers!!! Yeah Mike! I guess we will have to get that action figure at Borders now.

News of the World Headlines

Not really, I stole them from Ricky Gervais' website:

Martin Luther King - "I have a dream."
TheDailyShit.com - "Lazy black man always sleeping"

Jesus Christ - "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
WeeklyRumour.co.uk - "Scruffy Jew starts riot"

Read a Banned Book!

This is Banned Books Week, and I invite you to read one of these most frequently challenged books of the 20th Century:


"The Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger.

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabakov.

"The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck.

and my favorite book of all time "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

I'm proud to say that I have read every one of these books. Read, people, read!!!

And Another One...

nataliedee.com

Never Say Die!

nataliedee.com

A Little Disturbing

I dunno, I find this picture I just scanned a wee bit creepy.  The three mannequin heads are ok but adding the real live little girl head just kind of creeps me out.

What say my readers?

It's the Little Things

People, it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Today, Katie somehow managed to rotate the screen on her laptop so that everything was sideways.  I was so happy watching her turn her head to the side to try to read the screen.  And I was secretly hoping she wouldn't be able to figure out how to fix it so that I could keep watching her incurring chiropractic bills as she craned her neck to one side.

Happy Birthday to My Honey!

September 25th is Steve's birthday.  I've forgotten it 3 years IN A ROW, so I am blogging to make sure I don't forget this year!

Steve is nearly eligible for the senior discount, but thanks to the recent cataract surgery, he enjoys the vision of a mere youth.  

Reasons I love Steve to pieces:

1. He's the world's best morning person -- fixes my coffee, makes my bagel, gets the newspaper, and brings it all to me to enjoy, with a smile on his face.  Then heads off to do laundry.

2. He is incredibly kind and generous.  I've never heard him say 'no' to anyone for any reason.  Even when he probably should say no, he still gives of his time, energy and love.

3. He still thinks I'm cute. (Maybe not since he's had the cataract removed, though...)

4. He puts up with all of the Longinotti abuse and heckling with good humor.

5. When we are traveling, he never refuses to stop when I ask -- bathroom breaks, thrift store excursions, yarn store stops, historical site investigations and more, Steve endures them without complaint.

6. He's the world's best massage therapist, and insists I come to his office every week to get a massage.  Even though he has to pay for me to take an hour of his time.

7. He's a wonderful grandpa to the boys, and will be an even better gramps whenever his or my kids get around to producing some grandkids.

8. He does housework without complaining, and even sometimes without having to be asked.

9. He makes my car payment every month.

10. He never yells when I get us lost (which is every time I try to read a map)

Hope your day is wonderful!  Love you!

Pix of the Week!

I've been babysitting RJ and Al while Mom, Grandma (visiting from Ithaca NY), Liam and Mikey are working/playing at the Quinault Lodge.  I managed to snap a few (bad) pix of Alex for the most part, since Riveria is a moving target.  Here's what we've been doing this week:

Top Chef Alex is my #1 prep cook.  He makes a mean fruit salad.

These pictures were snapped at the boys' dojang 

They are doing some sort of exercise where they had to leapfrog over their classmates.  As expected, the boys were very good leapers.

That's Alex on the right, and I think RJ is the one bending over in the middle.  No idea who that lady is that I got the clearest picture of ;-)

And here they are at ATTENTION.  Very important to stand correctly or Master Kim might make you do a million push-ups.

Here's Alex's Ninja outfit we scored at Value Village.  I think he plans to wear it to bed, then every day till Halloween.  He didn't buy the 'you'll spoil the surprise' argument.  And the double Ninja swords with the shoulder straps are totally awesome.

Followers!

So Blogger has this new feature called 'followers' and I have FOUR!  I'm so excited, I feel popular!  Please become a follower so I feel even more popular!  

I'm Impressed!

I got a sample of "Soak" no-rinse soap for knitted items with my latest Woolgirl order (and also a pen--woot woot for freebies!)  I tried it on Mikey's bloody nose pirate sweater, and wow!  It got all the blood out with no scrubbing or anything.  All I had to do was SOAK it (guess that's why they named it that ;-) for 15 minutes in cool water.  Came out beautifully and you don't even have to rinse it out.

I am going to have to spring for the full size bottle!

Is This Adorable or WHAT

Talented sister Susna sent this pullover to Michael, our tiny pirate. He LOVES it to death. In fact, he was devastated when he got a bloody nose and bled all over it. He couldn't take it on his trip to the ocean, severely derailing his plans to swashbuckle on the beach.

He sobbed, but don't worry, Mikey, Wowo will wash it and you can wear it to preschool next week --- arrrr matey!

Pumpkin Cardi for Hads

Little Miss Hadley has a precious new pair of Pumpkin colored boots, so of course Auntie Lowdie must knit her a cozy cardi to go with.  And bonus!  The colors should match Zaide's cabin perfectly.  I had the perfect color wool in the stash (only had to purchase one skein of green for the yoke color) pumpkin for the body and yellow and something else autumn-y for the yoke.  She will be toasty warm from head to toe!

Knitting Stuff

I am swamped with projects!  And that's just the stuff I have already started...I'm not even counting the yarn and patterns that are waiting their turn.

Here's the swatch I knit for the cardigan I am making as a commission for a nice lady (her little girl size 4 so hopefully it won't take too long).  It's the Faux Fair Isle cardi from an old Interweave Knits.  The yarn is Organic Wool by Fleece Artist, and I love the color changes.

And here's my "Secret of the Stole III" through Clue #5.  I believe we are at about the halfway point.  It's really pretty, now I'll have to find a fancy place to wear it when it's all done.  Or just glam up for Safeway shopping.

Don't Forget!

Friday is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!  I'll see if I can get a video of Mikey doing his pirate 'aaar' because it is to die for.

GOOD GAWD

Thank god I don't crochet.  The Amigurumi Dildo would not be on my 'to do' list in any case.  Lawd Have Mercy, I'm kind of scared of this.

A Karl Pilkington Video

Readers of Katie's So-Called Life know of her deep, undying love for one Karl Pilkington.  Which I share (in, fact I take complete credit responsibility for introducing her to K. Pilk)  

Here's a '3 Minute Wonder' video made by Karl, sort of explaining the world.  Enjoy!

The Skyn Report

Just got home from Spokane Eye Clinic, where our brave little Steve had a ginormous cataract removed.  He says he is already able to see much better!  Now he won't crash into mailboxes, bike riders, ATMs and the like on the side of the road due to complete lack of depth perception.

Just a reminder, Skyn: I function pretty well as a nurse for THREE DAYS.  After that, I turn into Nurse Ratched and start hinting about the black needle in my 'special first aid kit'...

Measure Twice -- Or Even Once

When you are knitting the second sock, it's smart to compare the leg lengths before you work the heel and several inches of the foot -- and THEN decide you should measure. You might discover you made that second sock one stripe longer and have to rip out all your hard work. I'm just saying.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Michael is coming along so well in his speech; he and I have great conversations every day, and he is getting to be a real comedian.

Today he had a 'snucky' nose and he came over and wiped his little snotty beak on my t-shirt.  I said "What am I, a tissue?" and he looked at me, spread his arms wide and said "big tissue, Wowo!" then laughed like a hyena.

Good one Mikey!

Good Loggie, Evil Loggie...

Grammy mentioned the "Evil Logan" picture her momma posted recently, but I wanted to show the two sides of Missy L:

Here's our Loggity posed so nicely with big sis Tatum (I HEART this picture):

And here's Logan thinking "I could bite her SO easily...she's not paying attention...all I have to do is make one quick lunge..." 

Truer Words Were Never Spoken

Backstory: I sent my mom a thank-you for being neither Lynne Spears nor Dina Lohan.

I’m glad you are neither of those poor girls. Showing their cooters. Shameful!

Love, Mom

True that. Swiped from Postcards from Yo Momma

The Importance of Accessories

Logan knows that a girl always looks well-dressed when she's got fancy shoes and pink sunglasses.

Blue Ribbon Winner

Picked up my BLUE RIBBON FAIR WINNER today (not bragging or anything lol)  Here's my Kauni Rainbow shawl in a bit better photo than I've had.  

Signs of Habitation

Here's how we know Katie has come home...and this is AFTER she cleaned the room.

Secret of The Stole III Clue #4 Done

It's looking quite lovely, and moving along fairly quickly.  Clue #5 is up so I'd best get cracking!  Plus I have my 2nd Mariners sock to finish, a 2nd wool boot sock to make for a friend (in exchange for some canned veg and fruits), and a commission project for a child's fair isle sweater.  PLUS I have about 250 items in my queue lol.

Friday Fun Part II

The boys get to have 'movie night' on Fridays, which is always a lot of fun.

This week, Mikey chose "The Wizard of Oz" as his movie.  I don't think any of them had seen it before, and it was so much fun watching it with them!  I've seen it oh around 50 times probably, but it's still great.  And the boys loved it, even though there are no 'modern' special effects.  A good story and great acting are timeless.

They really loved hearing about how I starred as the Wicked Witch of the West in our 9th grade drama class production of TWOZ.  Of course, I had to do my "I'll get you, my pretty" for them, still sounded Broadway worthy, I must say.

Friday Fun!

I had the boys on Friday afternoon (usually my day off, but they all had dentist appts and other stuff going on, so I lent Mom a hand).    We went to the park while RJ was practicing with his cross-country team.

Liam practicing his fireman's pole slide.

Poor Alex had to have 4 top teeth pulled!  But he was very brave and now has the adorable lisp.

Here he is with his happy yet toothless smile.

Random Pictures from This Week

Still don't have the fair photos to show y'all, so here are some pretty bad ones from my phone (but cute subjects!)

Mikey all ready for school with his new Wall-E lunchbox.  Of course, he is not IN school yet, but don't tell him that.

Liam going for the 'brainiac' look with his glasses (only time he's worn them so far this year).  His smile just kills me every time.

Mikey and Liam at the fair on one of the rides.  Mike was VERY serious when riding the motorcycles, he did not want to miss a jump and do a face plant ;-)

Liam on the choo choo train.  As the only passenger on this ride, he got to be the engineer, conductor, and all the passengers. 

And here's Michael at Borders.  We stopped to kill some time while the brothers were in tae kwando and he made a beeline to the action figure section (which I didn't even know existed in Borders).  He is working on his potty training and tried to talk me into a Speed Racer set.  Not till you are pooping on the pot all the time Mister!

OMG We Are Armed!

Yikes!  The boys got their Nunchucks at Taekwando yesterday!  Jebus help us!

Another Thing I'm Never Going to Knit

A Swiffer Cover. god knows I don't use the store bought ones either.

SOTSIII Progress

Still knitting away on my "Secret of the Stole III" mystery knit-along.  I think the 'snowflakes' are looking more like blossoms now.  

The Big News on the Fair

Pia has all the pix on her camera so they will come later, but I can reveal that:

1. I won a blue ribbon for my shawl!  I didn't get disqualified for 'machine knitting'!  I'm pretty happy with the blue ribbon, next year I'll know lace + beads is the winning combo lol.

2. Liam won the grand prize (BIG blue ribbon) for his pickled onions in the Youth canning division, and I think everything else he entered won blue ribbons (green tomatoes, dilly beans, his "self portrait" of his eye, and his vacation memory jar.  Alex won red and blue ribbons for his canned goods (peach chutney and pickled garlic, fresh produce (green tomatoes), his Whidbey Island photo:  and his Vacation Memory Jar.

RJ also won red and blue ribbons for his canned goods (dilly beans and dill carrots), green tomatoes, and his Vacation Memory Jar.

Lots of excitement finding our entries and seeing how well we did!  We are all very proud!

Of course, we spent way too much time and money on the rides (luckily, the boys were happy to stay in the little kids' rides area this year, though that won't last.  The twins barely fit in some of the rides).  After that, we had to hurry through the exhibits so we didn't get to see everything.  Might have to go back... Also we tried to talk the boys into 'mutton bustin', where kids get to ride a bucking sheep for a mere $10.00.  They were too smart for us and would have nothing to do with it.

I Wonder...

My Knitting Pattern A Day Calendar featured the "Prostate Cancer Awareness Scarf" yesterday.  Do you think the pattern is supposed to be little prostates?  Just wondering...

Too Cool for School!

Tiny little Tatum is actually a Kindergartner now!  I cannot believe that our little doll is in school.  Here are some pix I swiped from her website (because her mama claims she is 'too busy to blog', I can't imagine why):

The family posing for a happy picture.  Somehow Josh stifled his sobs long enough to smile..

Waiting to enter the prison yard.  Geez, I hope they have grass somewhere on the compound for Tate to play on.  She looks okay with it all though (first in line!)

Evidently, Tate encountered some hooligans on the first day, because she seems to have had all of her teeth knocked out.

Grammy you'd better post some deets here so we know how it all went!  And if she went back for Day 2!