Erica’s Blog

Kid: Why can’t I have a NORMAL mom???

Mom:  Because we’re not a normal family.

Kid:  THAT’S for sure!  I’M the only normal person in this family!

Mom:  Ahhhhh…I know that feeling.

Kid:  That’s because it’s true!

[Mom leaves room.]

Halloween, the gateway to the holiday season, is gone, and now it begins - that, crazy, busy, wonderful time of year.  November especially is a very happy time around our house.  From now to January we have:

• A visit with Tara & (three of) her kids (Oh yeah - Sean too, lol.  Now that he’s moved back home to the Bay Area, though, we’re hoping this won’t be such an unusual occurrence.)
• A wedding
• A house-warming party
• Our annual church marriage retreat
• The Big Game
• Our 14th wedding anniversary
• My birthday (21 days and counting!)
• Thanksgiving
• My mom’s birthday
• Grandpa Gil’s birthday
• Hubby’s final (two-week) trip to Singapore
• The one craft fair I do all year
• Church Christmas celebration
• Christmas vacation
• A visit from Grandma Ruthie
• Cousin Steven’s birthday
• At least one school performance
• Early Christmas with Ruthie’s side of the family
• Christmas
• New Year’s Eve
• New Year’s Day
• And probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten, plus some that haven’t come up yet.

If you don’t hear from me as much as usual for a while, you’ll understand, yes?

The slog continues. Not worth a picture at the moment, though (sorry, Sean). My new rule is I have to complete one (20-row) repeat on the slog before I get to work on anything else. For example: slog, shawl, slog, hat, slog, dishcloth, etc.

Recently completed items:

Well, I was REALLY LAME and forgot to take a picture of Thing One and her buddy Ben before/when I dropped them off at the church middle-schoolers’ Halloween party last night. Bummer! I hope someone at the party took pictures b/c I never got one of her all dressed and with her (borrowed) bow (which I broke goofing around on Wednesday night and had to repair).

Here, however, are Thing Two and Andrei, aka as Cleopatra, Queen of Denial, and Boba Fet, all ready to go out trick-or-treating:

2007 Yarn Pirate Costume:

2009 Yarn Pirate Costume:

Yeah, I think I like this year’s look better. No “Surrender Yer Yarrrn!” t-shirt, but the blouse works (Thanks, Bobcat!). Note the ball bands attached to the belt. Same big, fat knitting needle as a sword. Mebbe next time, I’ll think ahead and knit a scabbard for it, lol. I was also glad to have another opportunity to wear the crazy, high-heeled boots I bought for the 80’s party back in May. Overall, I like this year’s look better. Oh, yeah…there’s also the fact that I weigh a whole lot less than I did in 2007. Snork!

On the way home from Thing One’s friend Reece’s birthday party:

Mom, how come I can’t spend the night when guys have sleepovers?

Yeah. That was an interesting conversation.

How cool is THIS:

Fell in love with the stitch and thought it would look good with the yarn (color should look familiar). Charted it out as far as I could with the size of my graph paper and am winging it from there. Hey, Zib, look - I’m using charts, lol!