Erica’s Blog

Thing One and I had our own “Mommy and [Thing One] Time” adventure.  First, we hit Toys-R-Us to return the My Scene doll (sorry, Devin & Devin’s mom!).  She chose what to get instead, but I definitely gave her some guidance (“NO, you can’t get any stuffed animals.”  “That book looks cool, but it’s WAY too easy for you!”).  She ended up with a couple of new Polly Pockets that came with a DVD.  After that, we hit the mall (the old one, not the newly remodeled one by our house). She was very patient and helpful while I looked at shoes, then tried on jeans at Macy’s (I had some store credit from something I had returned).  I was totally excited to be able to get a pair of 14P.  Woo hoo!  Then, we checked out the fountain with the fish & the turtles.  Then (I’m getting tired just writing it all!), I had something else to exchange.  Next, the Disney Store, where she spent 1/2 of her $10 on pink knit gloves.  Then, to the pet shop to check out the animals.  (She desperately wanted to hold one of the puppies.  Oh, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies and the boxer puppies were cute!  I couldn’t blame her!)  Then, Claire’s, where she spent the last of her money on a big feathered wand that turned out to be not just a wand, but a pen, too.  After that, we were tired and thirsty, so a trip to Starbucks was in order.  Whew!  What a day!

I even took Jenna for a quick walk around the block b/c she’s been cooped up inside so much lately.   Couldn’t do a long one, though — it’s getting pretty yucky out there; storms are due in soon.  Sorry no pictures of my silk yarn; the light’s been bad all day.

BTW, we watched “Blue Collar Comedy Tour:  The Movie” last night — in bed, on hubby’s laptop, using the audio splitter so we could both wear headphones.  OMg!  Hysterical!  OK, not exactly the most high-brow humor in the world, but I laughed so hard hubby was afraid I’d wake up the Things, and I was really afraid I’d pee in the bed (hey, after three kids….).  Rent it.  I say, rent this movie.

My seven skeins of recycled sari silk yarn came today!  I can’t believe how fast the shipping was. 

Anyhow, the light’s too bad at night to get a decent picture, so I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.  So, ya’ll will just have to wait.  Sorry (not really)….

 Today was Christmas, Round Three.  Hubby’s brothers and their families, plus cousin Dominique all came over to exchange gifts and have dinner.  The kids are at an age now where it was really pleasant, not wild or anything.  The big kids were patient enough to watch out for the little ones, and everyone had a great time.  FOR ONCE, we made just the right amount of food and didn’t have 18 tons of leftovers!  Woo hoo!

In all the confusion, I didn’t quite catch who gave what to the girls, so my apologies in advance!  I think I know, but I might not have it right.

Click here for the rest of the pictures.

P.S.  The super-secret knitting project?  It was a cell phone cozy for Adri, made at Rick’s request.  He wanted something that she could put on her belt that would hold her cell phone and ID while she was at work.  I made the body of it, but I didn’t finish it b/c I couldn’t reach Rick to find out exactly what kind of cell phone she had.  So, I gave her the partial project and the rest of the yarn in a bag and had to explain it.  Shen I did, she seemed to really like the idea.  Now that I know what size her phone is, I can finish it up for her.

P.P.S.  Adri also liked the wash cloths.  I gave her the set that had the red one with the H in it (our last name starts w/H).

I’m an idiot.

First, I got distracted by the music I was listening to while I was knitting and had to restart my Gioia twice.

Then, I was having so much fun knitting along in the pattern that I totally forgot I was only supposed to knit the second section for six inches or so.  When I finally remembered, stopped, and measured it, it was 13 inches long!

Then, I attempted to frog it back to six inches and pick it back up again.  Hahahahahahaha!  You’d think I’d know better than that.  Of course, I missed a stitch and didn’t realize it, so the decrease section was all wonky. 

Sooo, of course, I had to go back and just frog the whole thing and start over again.  Nana and Auntie couldn’t believe I was starting all over again (you have to realize that Nana’s first knitting project ever was a perfect sweater for Poppa that he still wears, 35+ years later).  I said, “It’s OK.  I know what I did wrong, and it will be better this time and easier to do.”  What else was I going to say?  “It’s OK.  I’m an idiot, and I’m really feeling like an idiot b/c this is supposed to be an easy pattern, and I keep screwing it up, so must be a REAL idiot”?  I couldn’t say that!  I was with my family, for cryin’ out loud.  Someone might have AGREED with me, and then what would I have done?

All that said, I really do love this pattern, and I love knitting it with the Silk Garden.  I have to devote some good time to it and get it done soon, though.  It matches my new pink dress perfectly, and the dress is so boring (imagine a very plain crew-necked 3/4 sleeve t-shirt; now make it a really long dress) that it needs something to jazz it up.  Of course, it’s due to rain all weekend, so I doubt I’ll be wearing the dress on Sunday, so what am I thinking?  Oh, I’ll find an excuse to wear it…

It was a total spur-of-the-moment thing:  the Things were still in their jammies; there was wet laundry in the dryer, and we left a sink completely full of dirty dishes. 

As you can see from these pictures, the girls loved their books.  Click here for the rest of the pictures.  Thing Two really loved her Tinkerbell purse, and it was just the right size.  They both loved their slumber bags so much that they insisted on sleeping on them, right on the cold, hard floor in my old bedroom.

Poppa, Nana, and Auntie seemed to like their gifts, too.  It’s really hard to shop for Poppa and Nana b/c it’s not like they need anything that we can get them.  They were tickled with the silly little gifts the girls got them at the Santa’s Secret Shop at school.  Nana showed us the gift Poppa had given her.  Every once in a while, he gets a real inspiration on a gift for her.  This one was VERY unusual and kinda weird, but she loved it.  He gave her a tiny picture frame with a drawing inside, accompanied by the business card of a custom jewelry designer they’ve used before.  The drawing was hard to figure out, then he explained to her that it was a charm for her charm bracelet (a regular old-fashioned gold charm bracelet, not an Italian modular charm bracelet like I have).  The jeweler was going to make it, and it would be ready in mid-January.  The charm was going to be made from gold from one of Poppa’s old gold fillings and a piece of bone from way back when Nana had her infamous “Cuisinart incident” that resulted in her needing surgery on her finger, etc.  (Yes, the bone is from her finger.) 

Last night, hubby and I took advantage of the three free babysitters and ran out to see a late movie.  We thought we were going to finally go see the latest Harry Potter movie, however, hubby had a rare moment of confusion, and when we pulled up at the theater, I said, “The marquee says Narnia, not Harry Potter“.  So, we saw Narnia instead.  That was fine — we’d needed to check it out and see if it was OK for the girls, and I’ve read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe a few times (lost my copy 11 years ago!), so I was interested in it.  Verdict:  NOT for Thing Two for sure — too scary.  MAYBE Thing One can see it after she’s done reading the book.  It’s such a bummer that something that can be fine in a book can become not fine when it gets translated to the screen.  It is rated PG, after all.  It bugs me b/c the movie is being heavily marketed to churches, and even our church pushed it — lots of people took their little kids to see this movie that probably really disturbed them at times.  The book wasn’t nearly so disturbing. 

I couldn’t believe how late we slept in this morning!  Granted, we got home from the movie after 12:30, and I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, but still.  The Things came in at one point to say good morning (we sleep down in the guest room next to the kitchen, and they sleep up in my old room next to Auntie’s room).  It seemed early to me, so I went back to sleep, forgetting that the blinds in that room are practically “black-out” blinds.  After a while, I woke up and just lay around in bed for a bit, then finally got up b/c I was so congested I couldn’t breathe through my nose.  When I walked into the kitchen and looked at the time, it was 10:22.  I couldn’t believe it!  Hubby, being much better at relasing and sleeping in than I am, of course, got up even later than I did.

We can stop holding our collective breath.  I just got an email:

Davoud Mansour

11:35 p.m., December 27, 2005

8 pounds, 1 ounce

TOTALLY HEALTHY — Whew!

Snort, hack, blech.

There, now that that’s out of the way:  The verdict is in!  The Silk Garden will become a Gioia.  Zib has confirmed that it should work fine (she oughta know; she’s the designer).

Also, if you pray, please say some special prayers for David, Heather, and Baby Manny (Davoud Mansoor, but they’re calling him Manny) today.  Heather was scheduled to be induced this morning.  No idea how it’s going; these things can take a long time.  Anyhow, this is a very bittersweet thing for them since they lost their little DonnaLee in January (stillborn two days after her due date) and David’s 19-year-old son a few months later.  I’m too sick to go visit her in the hospital, but I think hubby will go tomorrow or so.  As soon as we know Manny’s been born, I’ll crank out a hat for him.  Sounds dumb and superstitious, but I just didn’t want to knit him anything till I knew he was OK.

The rain is back, so another inside day for us.  Snort, cough, bleh.

Sniffle, cough, snore.  Repeat.  That’s been my day.  Woke up feeling slightly better than death warmed over.  Hubby has been tremendous, letting me lounge abed all day long.  No one here woke up before 9:00 a.m. (must have been that codeine cough medicine I took last night).  Hubby took Jenna for a long walk, then later took both Things and Jenna down to the fancy dog park in Burlingame (has this weird sandy stuff on the ground, so it wouldn’t be as messy after all the rain as the grass one in San Bruno).  I mostly spent the day in bed reading silly “culinary mysteries with recipes”. 

Big Highlight of the Day:  I got my Knitty honorarium.  Very cool.  Not a lot, but the first time I’ve ever been paid for my writing.  Hey, when I submitted the story, I actually forgot that they paid; I thought I was doing it for free (but don’t tell Amy Singer that!).  Easy come, easy go, however.  Since I haven’t spent any of my other knitting-related earnings on yarn, I turned around immediately bought seven skeins of Kathmandu Handpicked Recycled Sari Silk.  I think I’ve changed my mind yet again.  I thiiiiink I’m going to use the Sari Silk to make a Clapotis and the Noro Silk Garden to make a Gioia.  That, however, would leave some Silk Garden leftover.  Perhaps a scarf for some lucky friend?