Attack of the Killer C.A.T.!

There’s been a (new?) cat hanging around our place lately. Personally, I don’t care – I generally like cats. However. The dogs – well, mainly Molly – think that cats are an extreme threat to our general well-being, and will not hesitate to loudly inform us that there is yet another C.A.T. threat outside. Aside from the fact that they do this at inconvenient times, like when Carrie is sleeping, it doesn’t bother me so much. In fact, I’ve always wondered what Molly would actually do if she met a cat face-to-face, and figured she’d run away in terror. Hah!

So, this morning, this strange cat was loitering in the street at the end of our driveway. I nearly lost an arm trying to keep Molly under control. She’s never really gone that berserk when she’s outside and sees a cat, but this one in particular was obviously especially threatening.

And then this evening happened. My mom had walked home with me, and when she walked in the door the dogs started going nuts, so I let Murphy out the front door leash-less because he has a tendency to piddle when very excited. Only, instead of just Murphy going out, peeing, and coming right back in, both dogs tore out of the door. The C.A.T. was standing in our driveway – I think he was smirking, too!

I have never seen my dogs go that insane before. They actually managed to reach the cat before he had the good sense to take off, and Molly knocked him onto his back. Luckily, the cat escaped and streaked across the road to hide under a truck in the driveway across the street. Equally luckily, there were no cars coming when he did this, or when my idiot dogs followed him. Since he had the good sense to stay put, the dogs did too and we were able to retrieve them easily enough. When the dogs were well under control, the cat sauntered away, apparently unhurt.

I kind of figure one of two things will happen now. The C.A.T. will be afraid enough of our dogs that he won’t come and taunt them anymore, or he will be out for revenge and this will be the start of an all-out war. All I know is, no more letting any dogs out leash-less, no matter how many swiffer mop heads I have to go through!

I Caved!

Devan is on the needles. Project page and pictures…tomorrow? Maybe. Suffice it to say, it’s incredibly cute!

And I was ->this<- close to finishing the second sleeve of the ladybug sweater, too. I mean, really, 42 rows - what's that, just 4000 stitches? No self control. None.

Not Knitting.

Nope, I’m not knitting. I’m procrastinating. I hate second sleeves. And I can’t find the pattern for my sock – which is a lame excuse, because it only needs a couple more inches of ribbing on the cuff and that really doesn’t require a pattern. But then again, it’s the first sock and I can’t find the pattern so I actually can’t knit the second sock. And I think I need to use the needles that I’m currently using for the ladybug sweater to swatch for Devan instead of the ones in the sock anyway.

So, all of that to say that despite being in the car for 3 1/2 hours today to visit my grandparents, I only got 20 rounds done on the sleeve – instead, I mostly napped in the car. Instead of knitting this evening, I mucked around with the template code on my blog. Instead of knitting now, I’m blogging.

This sleeve will never get finished at this rate!

Straight Hair

straight_hair.jpgI was talked into letting my stylist iron my hair today. It’s definitely a different look – I’m not sure whether I like it or not. Fortunately, all I have to do is get my hair wet and it will be back to it’s curly self. It’s very strange to actually be able to run a brush through my hair while it’s dry.

I was worried that Carrie might be upset by it, but she didn’t seem to mind. I know she likes my curls better though, because she plays with them while I’m holding her, and especially while I’m rocking her to sleep.

Must. Knit. Sleeve.

OK, I have serious second sleeve syndrome. It is taking every ounce of willpower I have not to swatch for Devan and instead finish the second ladybug sleeve. I’m not sure how long I can hold out. In fact, the only thing actively keeping me from swatching right this minute (aside from the fact that I’m blogging right this minute) is that the needles I think I need are currently residing in an almost-finished sock – which is the first of a pair, so finishing it would just cause second sock syndrome!

Must.
Resist.
Temptation.

…tune in tomorrow to see whether our intrepid knitter succumbs to the lure of a new project, diligently knits the second sleeve, or compromises and finishes the ribbing on the sock…

Why Is It Always At Naptime?!?

We’ve had several power outages this summer. I guess the local power company hasn’t upgraded their lines and service enough to accommodate the extra load from all the houses that have been built around here recently, so sometimes they have planned (!) outages and sometimes it just happens. But it always seems to happen when I’m trying to put Carrie down for a nap.

Now, you may ask why it matters whether there’s power or not when putting Carrie down for a nap. It shouldn’t. Granted, I play her lullaby CD, but I’m perfectly capable of singing her to sleep. So really, that’s the least of our worries. It’s everything else that’s the problem.

This afternoon is a pretty typical example of what happens when the power goes out:

1:27 PM – Carrie is peacefully nursing to the sounds of a celtic lullaby.
1:27:30 PM – The power goes down, comes up, goes down, comes up, goes down and stays down, all in a matter of seconds.
1:27:36 PM – Molly flips out because the house fan is no longer running; the UPS in the office starts beeping.
1:27:38 PM – Molly (and Murphy, who’s just nosy) barges into Carrie’s room. Carrie is now fully awake and giggling at the dogs.
1:27:39 PM – Molly tries to climb into the rocking chair with me. Nutty dog.
— at this point, I lose track of time because the clock radio is not functioning. —
10 minutes later – The windows in Carrie’s room are now open to the world, as the A/C is not running. The dogs have been kicked out. I am again nursing Carrie and singing lullabies. She’s started in on those long blinks that precede peaceful slumber.
30 seconds later – The idiot down the street (IDTS) on his mini dirt bike (has anyone told him how ridiculous he looks on that thing?!?) buzzes by like a gigantic wasp, blowing his air horn. Carrie sits up, once again fully awake.
5 minutes later – Carrie is almost asleep. The IDTS has apparently gone around the block, and again buzzes by. So much for those tired closing eyes.
5 minutes later – Oh. My. God. Someone needs to do something about the IDTS or I’m going to find a slingshot or something. Carrie is now completely awake and struggling to get off my lap and go play. Fine. I give up. Go play.
— An eternity passes, during which I try to keep my sanity while watching a child who should be napping because I really really really really need a break. Said child, being overtired, is in extra-cranky-danger-baby mode where she’s super clumsy and also very sensitive to the least little bump or frustration. Not a good combination. —
3:32 PM – The power is back on. The A/C is running. The windows are shut. The IDTS has apparently found something better to do. The dogs are calm. After much wailing and gnashing of gums, Carrie has ceased struggling to get out of my arms to play some more, and is finally almost asleep.
3:37 PM – I tiptoe out of her room. She’s finally napping, two hours after she really needed to.

I think I’m going to send my electric company a bill for the therapy I’m going to need soon. Oh, and for the wig I will need to cover up the bald spots from where I was pulling my hair out in frustration. Can you bill someone for mental anguish?

Walking!

Today Carrie was standing at my parents’ coffee table, and noticed the delicious-looking cordless phone on their end table. Instead of getting down and crawling over, she took 5 steps to get there, and didn’t fall down at the end! She’d strung a couple of steps together before, but only towards a waiting parent and with tons of encouragement, and it was more like a long forward fall. This was the first time she walked with an independent destination in mind.

It’s really funny that she chose today to officially start walking, because Denis and I had a bet going: he thought Carrie would walk around September 1st, I thought she’d walk around August 1st. Now we both win! (It was our standard bet: the loser has to give the winner two kisses.)

Thank You!

To the person who dented my car door in the Pittsford Plaza parking lot this evening:

Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the fact that you dented my new car. Yes, I know it’s a year old, but it’s still my new car. In fact, it’s the very first new car I’d ever owned, and it was – until tonight – in absolutely perfect condition. And the whole not leaving a note thing, yeah, that was an extra-special touch.

The really funny thing is, I can only think of one way you could possibly have used your driver’s side door to dent my passenger door the way that you did. You must have opened it with such force that my side mirror snapped forward. Since it was in it’s normal location when I got back to my car, you obviously very kindly pushed it back into place. I do appreciate that. If I hadn’t noticed the dent and the mirror had been out of place I might have gotten to the expressway and not been able to use my mirror to change lanes.

Now, some would say that it’s only a little dent and I shouldn’t care so much – and they’re probably right. In the grand scheme of things it’s not something to lose sleep over. I’m certainly not going to contact my insurance company over it. And, honestly, if you had bothered to leave a note apologizing for your actions I probably wouldn’t have bothered to contact your insurance company either.

But since you didn’t leave a note, and I can’t thank you in person, I’m writing you this public thank you note just so you know how special you made my evening. I hope your evening was just as special.

Thank you again.
Sarah

Lots of Ladybugs!

Look! I’ve actually updated the project page for the ladybug sweater! The body of it is done, and I’ve only got about 5 rows left on the first sleeve. Wait, what happened to the original first sleeve? The one I knit ten whole months ago? Well, I didn’t have the right length needles back then, and the sleeve I just knit looks so much better than the first one that I’m just going to knit another one and rip the original.

I think if I don’t get sidetracked (I have the yarn for Devan, but I swear I’m not going to start it until this one’s done) I can probably get this finished by the end of August!

Rained Out

Today we had tickets to go see a baseball game, but the weather didn’t cooperate and they cancelled the game. We were all set to tough it out and watch an inning or two even if it was drizzling, since it would have been Carrie’s first baseball game. Thankfully, Denis thought to turn on the radio on our way there so we found out about the initial rain-delay before we got all the way there and paid for parking. And Carrie was all decked out in her adorable little Mets outfit, complete with too-big hat, too!

But it all worked out for the best since we were instead able to go to Henry’s third birthday party. (In fact, I even thought to put Henry’s gift in the trunk just in case – I had a feeling that we would end up at Lisa’s one way or the other!)

Now we just need to find a time to exchange our tickets – although there’s only one afternoon home game left in the season, and a 7:05 PM start is too late for Carrie (bedtime starts around 7:30!) so I guess if the weather’s bad that day we’re just going to have to forget it until next year.