Erica's Blog

Once again, aaalllll the Halloween pictures can be found here, but here are some more highlights.

Kindie party:

Thing One's third grade class party:

Several days ago, I was in the right place (Swap-O-Rama forum of the Knittyboard) at the right time (a minute or two after the message was posted) and was able to score a free grab-bag box of yarn from Mittenfarce.  Check out what arrived on my porch yesterday:

Looks like I'll have to break out the Kool-Aid or the rest of the RIT dye for that Lopi.  I just love the name of the blue & green yarns -- Sensu Wool.  Very cool...

Muchas gracias, Mittenfarce!

Just a couple of highlights.  I have to upload pictures one a time here, which is a royal pain.   The full complement of Halloween pics can be found here. 

Samantha & Thing Two, ready to start the kindergarten parade.

Emma, just too cute.

This is from Sunday.  Our friend Cynthia was painting kids' faces at the church potluck.  I was REALLY surprised Thing Two didn't get a cat.  Maybe she didn't want one since Phoenix already had one.  Who knows?!

Oh, and yes, I do like Heart...

 EDITED 10/31 TO ADD:  Aha!  Got it figured out.  B/c Yahoo changed their photo setup, I had to download something so I could do the "upload a mess-o-pics at once" thing.  They didn't TELL me it had an additional pop-up blocker in it!  Once I told it to allow pop-ups from blog.com, all was cool.  Thanks, Jeff in user support!

Having problems with either my laptop or blog.com, not sure which.  More posts coming soon.  Can't post pictures right now.  Gah!

After the DNA party on Friday, not much to report...

Bad visit to the scale Saturday morning, though it was good to see my pals.

Thing One keeps telling me she hates my new haircut and keeps trying to get others to say they hate it, too.  Lovely.  I'm having a hard time getting it to do the little flippy-do on the sides that the hairdresser did, but I'm getting there.  Even if I don't get it quite right, it still looks pretty good, or at least I think so (see new profile picture in top right corner).

Yesterday was errands, a bit (but not too much!) of housework, several loads of laundry, a quick nap, and lots of relaxing.  I'm about halfway through Auntie's paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I started on Friday night.  Loved getting that extra hour of sleep last night!  It was great not to have to prod the Things to get up & ready this morning in time for us to make the early service at 8:30 (we're teaching the 4-K class through November, and they have an early service for the teachers).  Why, I even had time to "do" my hair and even....gasp!...put on a little makeup!  Pot luck afterwards.  It's really nice that the girls have gotten to an age where I don't have to have my eye on them every second.  Of course, it also helps that they're pretty trustworthy.  I can just check on them periodically.  Had a couple of good talks, which I don't usually get to do after church b/c the kids are antsy to go, and we're wiped from teaching.

Got some said news, though.  Saw a guy at church that we hadn't seen in years, and right before I asked about his wife, Hubby said, And this is his fiancee, Inge.  Ooops!  Guess they got divorced.  What a drag.  Later, I found out that another couple we know who went through a tragedy is divorcing.  So, so sad.  I just hate to hear stuff like that, you know?

OH.  I have been doing some knitting.  MEY, I'll be finishing Carrie's scarf this afternoon.  Pictures tomorrow, I think.  I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with how close Christmas is and how much I need to do.  I sat down the other day with a notebook and listed out all the projects I needed to complete and the due dates.  Yikes!  Going to a baby shower on the 12th and need to crank out that gift, too, but that means I need to finish the green scarf first b/c I need the needles for it.  Then there's Nana's birthday.  And the two other scarves for MEY.  And the sweaters for the Things for Christmas.  And stuff for my table at the school boutique.  Gaaaaaaah!.........Pictures tomorrow, folks.

Today was the Halloween party @ Hubby's work.  Couple of thousand people.  They had lots of food (BBQ Boys rock!), drinks, jump houses, pumpkins, pumpkin decorating, cupcake decorating, music, and a costume contest.

Thing Two didn't feel like wearing her costume to the party, but she did wear the spider hat she made at school today. 

Seemed like twice as many kids in the costume contest this year.  Thing One was really disappointed not to win.  It seems that with the kids' contest, cute beats original.  I think the best costume was a kid dressed as Braveheart.  His costume was really cool, definitely not one you just buy off the rack.

Here's Thing One in the line-up:

Orange = Alafoss Lopi dyed w/Kool-Aid; knit in simple increasing ruffle thing, then felted

Fall colors = Tahki Staci Charles Ritratto; crocheted (heresy, I know!) on size F hook; pattern is the "large rose" from the Anne Norling Kids' Hats pattern where each one has a different flower on top.

Buttons courtesy of the LYS walking distance from my house.

Uh...Thing Two, what are you doing?

I'm making my own cinnamon toast.  Can I?  I've never done it before.

Can you reach the toaster?

Sure. [Thing Two climbs up onto the smidgen of counter, gripping the freezer door handle as she plops the bread in the toaster, which sits atop the microwave.]

Uh...OK.

I think she likes sugar.  Do you agree?

You should have heard her while she was doing it.  She was having a blast:

Fuhst, you poot zee buttah...

As we near the end of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, here are some examples of what NOT to say to bereaved parents.  These are all actual examples of well-meaning but stupid things said to recently bereaved parents.

You're young; you can always have more.  [Perhaps, but we want THAT one, the one who died.  NO person is a replacement for another.  For some of us, this isn't a possibility anyhow, due to tubes tied at delivery or medical issues.]

You can always adopt.  [See above.]

Well, that's just nature's way of weeding out the defective ones.  [Not said to me, but was said to my friend by her OB.]

Well, it's probably better that it happened now, rather than later, when you had more memories.  [NO!  All I'll ever have of my child is memories and, b/c I'm one of the luckier ones, photographs.  I'd give my right arm to have five more minutes of memories with my son or to keep the ones I have from fading.]

I know just how you feel.  [NO, you don't.  Even if you've lost a child, each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.  This was spoken by a married guy w/no kids.  He meant well, but his wife knew it was a dumb thing to say and silence him with a "Honey..." and a hand on the arm.]

My wife [she was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time] is going crazy.  Can you please talk to her for me?  [No joke, a friend of ours said this to me at church THE DAY AFTER my son died.  The day after.  Oh, and he did know that Paul died.  I truly do not know how I managed not to kill him.  I think I was just too emotionally shell-shocked at that point to react to him.]

I heard about your son, but I didn't really understand what happened.  Did your wife drink when she was pregnant or something?  [I kid you not, one of Hubby's co-workers said that to Hubby.  I haven't met this guy.  I don't plan ever to meet him.  I don't know how I would react to him.]