Fun With Cara

Cara's visit has been so nice! Although I wouldn't say it's been action packed with exciting events, I have been able to spend time with her, which is plenty good enough for me. Here are a few pix:

Mikey got a ton of new stuff when we went to Target, including the skull hat and skeleton hand gloves. I actually bought 4 pairs of these. By this morning (24 hours later), we were down to 2 pairs and the twins were engaged in a death match over whose they were.

Car & Mikey, being goofy. Not a very good picture, but she is looking SO good and skinny!

We went to Boo Radley's this morning, and had to try out the mouths on a stick. Love them!

Yay Yay Yay!

Cara is here! Yay x a million! She, Mikey and I hit Target this morning. Mikey scored big time thanks to soft touch Car: new hoodie, new bike helmet and new Bakugan toys.

Another Roadside Attraction

Just in case you need a break in the Dakotas...

The most gargantuan cow is undoubtedly Salem Sue, in New Salem, ND. She stands 38 feet tall on School Hill, the only hill in sight, overlooking I-94. Sue stares intently over the flat fields that stretch to the horizon, her reinforced fiberglass skin taut and shiny.

A Must-See!

Cara and Big Tony have made it as far as Illinois on day 1 of their road trip (that's approx. 600 miles, they are the world's most insane drivers. Thank god I'm not in that car, someone would have been stabbed with knitting needles) I think they need to stop tomorrow and visit this scenic wonder:

Jolly Green Giant

Blue Earth, Minnesota

Putting even giant animals in their place, the Jolly Green Giant dwarfs all other North Dakota / Minnesota highway leviathans. At 55-feet tall, he stands head-and-husk above a rival 2D 2-dimensional green giant in nearby Le Sueur (The Official Birthplace of the Jolly Green Giant). Blue Earth is also the Birthplace of the Ice Cream Sandwich*, but with no fiberglass colossus to commemorate it, how are tourists supposed to know, Blue Earth???

* July 2006: This claim seems to be in dispute. Someone wrote and told us Blue Earth is actually Birthplace of the Eskimo Pie, but that claim is in dispute as well (Onawa, Iowa?).

Katie and I visited the Giant on our road trip and it was great. And you can get a Blizzard when you are finished looking at the Giant, because he is located right behind the DQ! Win-Win.

Cara is Coming For a Visit!!!

Yay X 1 Million! Carrie is driving across the country with big Tony to deliver a car to Katie, so we actually get to see her for a couple of days!!! The plan is to cook all of her favorite foods (sloppy joes and niblets every day) and make her as homesick as possible so she stays. Are you with me, people?

PS That's me in the stupid looking glasses, impossibly young too. And I made that dress and pinafore that sad Cara is wearing, and even smocked it (I know you have no idea what smocking is, you ignoramuses) And she is super sad here because Santa forgot her gift at my office Christmas party. How terrible is THAT?

Our Weekly Natalie Dee --LOVE

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This is SO Wrong!

So, I'm standing in the checkout line at Safeway, and I see THIS hideous perversion:

WHO SAID ARCHIE COMICS SHOULD GET A MAKEOVER???

Nothing wrong with 'old school' Archie, I say. Except that he is proposing to VERONICA. Um, what's up with that? BETTY 4EVER.

Fancy Pumpkin!

This year, I went with a Blue Hubbard Squash as my Halloween Pumpkin. I am too lazy to go out and take a pic of MY actual pumpkin so you get a Google pic. But I love my not-orange pumpkin!

Gladys Hippo Is Back!

I took a rather lengthy 'break' from Weight Watchers, and I am paying the price. I gained 3 lbs. while I was slacking off. But I'm back now and promise to be good :-) I actually exercised after my meeting this morning so that's a good start to the week.

The New Y is Awesome!

Mikey and RJ were super sickies yesterday (flu, yuk) so the twins and I headed to the new YMCA to check it out. According to Mikey, there's the 'old Y' (Valley), the 'new Y' (downtown, and the 'weally new new new new Y' (north).

Two thumbs up! Though the boys hoped to go swimming (Liam is wearing his swimsuit here), the pool wasn't open for open swim. But can't wait to try it out! There's a lazy river which looks like a lot of fun.

While I walked on the treadmill (why walk for free through the park when you can read a magazine and walk at the Y?), the boys played in the family activity center. They have wii, which Liam is doing here, plus ping pong, pool, board games and two interactive things (dance machine and skiing).

This is definitely going to be one of our 'go-to' spots this winter!

New Favorite Website

I am in love with "Regretsy", which highlights truly horrible crafts items for sale on Etsy. There's a lot of fab stuff on Etsy, but these are not among them (well, maybe the chicken poncho is kind of fabulous)

Grumperina

Alex took this picture of me this morning while I was knitting and waiting for the two hooligans to finish getting ready for school. He says I look 'cranky' but I think I'm just concentrating intensely (or I AM cranky, there's at least a 90% chance that was true)

More Costume Ideas for You, P!

A Boob.

"Molly" American Girl Doll.

Princess Leia (I actually have all the pieces knit for this, you'd just have to sew it together. Of course, it would be a repeat of your 1st grade costume.)

Marge Simpson (easy-peasy you could go naked and be Marge's centerfold in Playboy)

Bjork.

Separated At Birth?

A certain 2 year old who likes to dress herself and Lady Gaga? (yes, I'm obsessed with Gaga right now for some reason. I blame lack of sleep)

A Halloween Costume Idea for You, P!

Remember how I suggested that you attach skeins of yarn to yourself and go as your knitting stash? Well, Lady Gaga beat you to it and attached a giant yarn ball to her noggin. I say go for it!

Girl Crush!

Y'all know I love me some Helen Mirren. And as the Fug Girls say "Helen, you look awesome. That is all." Just remember, I stood thisclose to La Mirren at Buckingham Palace. One of the greatest moments of my life :0

I Finished Something!

And I thought my pile of projects next to my chair was doomed to slowly grow higher and higher. I have actually finished something!

This is the February Lady Sweater and it was fun to knit, easy too. It's drying still and I need to weave in a couple of ends. Plus (the hardest part) find 3 big cool buttons. But I'm happy happy happy that I finally finished a project!

True For All Sundstroms

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The Sad Story of an Abandoned Sock Project

This project started off with such high hopes...
September 09: I'm a sucker for a 'mystery' knitting project. Sock Knitters Anonymous announces a mystery sock by Nancy Bush, which requires yellow yarn. I'm not a huge yellow fan, and already have a pair of yellow handknit socks (which I love), but what the hey, I'm in! Visit all the yarn stores in town, but can't find any yellow sock yarn that doesn't look like it was plucked and spun from Big Bird. Not my fave color. Finally locate what I think is a pale yellow yarn on Ravelry and order it. Takes forever to get here, so I'm already behind schedule.

Mid-September: yarn is here! It looks pale and pretty in the photos, but in reality it's creeping into Big Bird Territory. But Mystery-itis has struck. Immediately abandon all other (multiple) works-in-progress and cast on my yellow yarn. Ribbing knit, no problem. Then I come to "Vikkel Braid", which gives me fits. I worked the same 3 stitches for at least 4 hours without succeeding in working a single braid. Yarn is looking a little ratty. Next day, I re-tackle the braid and manage to finish that section.

Late September: Leg of sock #1 is finished. This is more like the actual color. Loving it less, but determined to push on. Knit the heel and look back to admire my work. Notice I have goofed on the lace pattern up above the heel (which is now revealed to be "Fox Faces", hate that name). Damn. Rip back to the mistake and reknit.

October: Take sock on camping trip. Drop ball of yarn in the dirt. From this point on, the yellow yarn takes a decidedly brown/dusty look. The more I knit, the more I don't love this sock. And the leg looks like it's going to be TIGHT, not good for someone who doesn't have pins for calves/ankles.

Mid-October: Decide it's hate. Rip it off the needles and take a good look. Worst fears confirmed: too tight, ribbing looks stretched and the 'Vikkel' looks wonky. From 3/4 way down the leg, the yarn is pig-dirty. And I don't want to wear fox faces.

Abandon.

Glasses!

The Boys got new spectacles last week. I believe they may have lasted an entire day before they got broken/lost.

Fun at Greenbluff

Pia, Katie and I went to Greenbluff (along with about 10,000 of our fellow Spokanites) yesterday to get some apples and enjoy an afternoon on 'the farm'. Here is P posing with the world's most expensive pie: $19.00 for a huckleberry pie. Hope it is delish! I got some yummy Honey Crisp apples (you have to try these, they are SO good), a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes, a cool Blue Hubbard Squash/Pumpkin, and a slightly less expensive apple/huckleberry pie (only 12 bucks, a bargain). Yeah, I could make my own pie, but I didn't wanna. Anyway, we had a grand time, esp. listening to the world's WORST Christian singing group. Jesus wept hearing these people.

Aha!

Thanks Pam, for Facebooking me this picture of my 'dream knitting group'. Now I can attend a knitalong without fear of having to talk to actual human beings.

Another Car Convo

Liam: Laurie, are there any squirrel pets in this world?

Riveria: Why does he keep saying 'this world'!? There aren't any other worlds!

Lavs: We don't KNOW if there are other worlds...and I think some people could have a pet squirrel.

Liam: How do you make a squirrel your pet?

Lavs: I guess you have to find a baby squirrel first and get it used to you.

Liam: You have to feed it lots of sunflower seeds, they love those.

RJ: I still say there are NO OTHER WORLDS.

The Twinnies

Alex and Liam are getting SOOO big. Hard to believe these little guys couldn't even reach the doorknob when I first started bs-ing them.

At Last!

Three out of four of the boys finally got haircuts!!!! Yay!!!!

RJ is still masquerading as Lenny (or is it Squiggy?)

However, Mikey is looking neat and tidy:

Liam is weird but at least his hair is short:

And Alex is posing with a dinosaur for some reason:

Thinking of You...

Hugs Meg and Ry.

Ta Da!

Katie wants you all to know that she worked under extremely primitive conditions (bad comb, bad scissors and no hair product) and still managed to create a hairdo for me! I will get a better picture when I have had a chance to do a little styling (as much as I am capable of, which means spray some scrunch spray in my hair). Any way I think it looks cute and hardly Hagrid-ish at all :0

Yikes!

Katie is here to CUT MY HAIR!

A Few Cute Pix from the Bike Fest Weekend

These are from our camping weekend at Swan Lake. They are good bc I didn't take them...

The Bug

I have it. The flu (swine or regular who knows). It's not fun. Coughing my lungs up, headache, no energy, etc. I'm getting pretty good at the cough into the elbow though.

Separated at Birth?

Riveria told me my hair looks like Hagrid's. Gotta admit the boy was right.

Why I'm Glad I Don't Work in an Office Anymore

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