DO NOT, under ANY circumstances buy an “ebook” from GoldskyMedia on eBay or CQ Out Auctions. He goes around the Internet, finds FREE patterns, strips off the copyright info, compiles them, alters the images, and sells them.
Read all about it here (scroll down to “mi pero”).
More little hats for the Intensive Care Nursery “care packages for about-to-be-bereaved parents” project. Finished a really tiny one at knit night tonight. I’ll get a picture of it tomorrow.
FRIDAY: The Things were gone by 3:15. Farting around on the computer, a short nap — it was lovely. When Hubby got home, we had a quick dinner here, then hit the movie theater to see The DaVinci Code. The dinner was great, the movie was good.
SATURDAY: Hubby left early to golf. Me, I didn’t get out of bed till 10:00. Aaaaahhhhh….I’m finally re-learning how to sleep in! Lounged around, ran some errands (traded in the busted Roomba, sandals for Hubby, attempted to get a bathing suit for me), watched The Manchurian Candidate, had ribs & lobster tail (Christmas gift from Big Mike) for dinner, prepared our Sunday School lesson.
SUNDAY: Church, pizza w/Jason & Michelle. Home to get the dog, watch a little golf, then up to Poppa & Nana’s. That night, we had dinner at a Basque restaurant for a belated Mother’s Day celebration. Click for some “Adventures With Basque Food” pictures.
Mmmm, this escargot stuff is GOOD!
Frog legs!
Yummy!
Yes, she really did try one of Poppa’s escargot…without knowing what it really was. This kid will try anything. She really did order frog legs for her dinner. Auntie thinks it’s b/c they watched The Muppet Movie on Saturday, where the bad guys are chasing Kermit to chop off his legs for frog legs. Just in case she didn’t like them, Hubby ordered a shrimp dish, so they could trade if need be. No need. He tried one bite of her frog legs (and laughed, It really DOES taste like chicken!), but she ate all the rest, every bite!
Shhhhhh….Don’t tell anyone, but Hubby and I actually saw Thing One eating salad at dinner that night. Lettuce! With dressing on it! Without being told to do it! Without a word! AND she tried and enjoyed the potato leek soup. What on earth is the world coming to?????
MONDAY: Shopping w/Nana & Auntie. Got myself some Rockport sandals for this summer/our trip. General lazing around their house, then home after dinner. Weird, complicated incident w/the nextdoor neighbor kids up there, which I won’t go into. Let’s just say that we’ll instruct Poppa, Nana & Auntie NEVER to let the Things hang out over there w/o one of them there, too. EVER.
OK, I did a gauge swatch, and I had the correct gauge. I followed the directions. The sweater’s cute, but this ain’t no size 12 months sweater. Oh, well….
The “lawns” are beyond help or hope. A good portion of the flower bed area is a jungle of 5′-tall weeds (no exaggeration; I’ll get a picture soon of my standing next to them to prove it). I killed the three plants Nana gave us for Easter. All the same, there are some wonderful bright spots.
It’s long, and I don’t want to use up space on the front page, so please click to read it.
You are in
Florida, Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of biblical proportions. You are photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you’re caught in the middle of this epic disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless. You’re trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.
Suddenly you see a woman in the water. She is fighting for her life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer. Somehow the woman looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is.
It’s Hillary Clinton!
At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take her under forever. You have two options-you can save the life of Hillary Clinton, or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world’s most powerful women. So here’s the question, and please give an honest answer…….
Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?
Sorry. I had to…
We got our hotel arrangements made this week. Yippee! Click to see the three places we’re going to stay. C’mon, go ahead. You know you want to…
In Catania, not toooo far from Casa Zib
Almost done! I’ve just started the second (and last) seam. After that, I need to put the crochet edging around the bottom, then weave in the ends, et voila! Aren’t those buttons just too cute?! I still wish I’d used red as the accent color instead of the green, but those buttons are great; they look just like Legos!
It doesn’t look much like the pattern, but it’s cute, I think. Next time I make a baby sweater, though, I’ll do a top-down raglan.
KNITTING: The sweater for Sanjesh’s baby is almost done. I’ll post a picture or two tomorrow, whether he offers Hubby the job or not.
WEEKEND: Poppa called the other night and asked if they could take the Things this weekend. Gee, I guess so…..
Uh, Thing Two, what are you doing?
Making [garblegarble].
Making what?
Making [garblegarble].
What IS it?
[garblegarble]
But what IS that thing you said???
Food for Lila.
Ummm. OK, but don’t add anything else to it, OK?
OK.
Hey, Thing Two. Let me get a picture of your cool new haircut.
NO. A normal picture!
Oh, forget it!
Well, we had one of those “circle of life” incidents yesterday. The Things and Jenna were out back, playing, when Thing Two came and told me there was something really important I had to see outside. Of course, I assumed someone had broken something, etc.
When I got outside, Thing One was standing on the patio, next to a dead baby bird. The bird looked like it wasn’t even ready to hatch — no feathers, wings barely there, beak didn’t look hard enough to break an eggshell, etc. It was really weird-looking. Thing One was so verklempt about it that she started crying. She cried and she cried.
[wondering what to do with this dead thing] It would probably freak you guys out if Jenna ate it, hunh?
YES! Don’t let her! Please, don’t let her get it!
We crouched there and kind of stared at it for a while, wondering where the eggshell was, etc. All I can figure is that the egg fell out of the nest and broke, then another animal (a cat?) ran off with the birdie, but only got as far as our yard before it got scared off and dropped it.
[T2] How can we make it alive again?
[T1] NO, [nickname]. Only Jesus can do that!
[T2] Maybe we should bury it, then.
And so, we had a baby birdie funeral. I got a couple of pieces of cardboard and picked it up. The Things tried to dig a hole near the pink rose bush, but they only made a dent, so I got a glove and a trowel and dug a hole six or eight inches deep (I should have used the bulb-hole digger!). We put the bird in, covered it up, and scattered pink rose petals over the spot. Thing One said a “speech”. If it wouldn’t have ruined the moment, I would have videotaped it. I was so proud of her and what she came up with to say off the cuff. Then, they had me pray. After that, Thing One wanted me to sing “a song people sing at funerals.” I was going to sing Amazing Grace, but then changed my mind.
Oh, wait! I know a better one. This is one we sang at Paul’s funeral, and it’s really appropriate for a bird because it’s called “I’ll Fly Away”.
So, I sang a couple of verses of that, then we went back inside. It took a while, but Thing One was eventually calmed down enough to do her homework.
I just hope Jenna doesn’t end up digging it up. That would be pretty traumatic for Thing One.
