Author: Sarah

Happy Father’s Day/35 Weeks

Sarah Holidays

letters08composite_small.jpg

We did the DADDY pictures again (and Carrie’s “famous”, up on Kodak’s Tips & Projects with this idea!) One more year and Denis will have a complete set – with the first ‘D’ from 2005 and the final letter ‘Y’ from 2009. I think because the two girls will be so far apart in age I’ll start a new one with little sister by herself next year. We’ll see… Other than that, we didn’t really do much today. Denis has gotten the baby’s room primed and ready for painting, and we managed to get in the pool today for a while. That’s about it!

Oh, and I’m 35 weeks along and NOT on bedrest…yet. My blood pressure has been creeping up a bit at each appointment, but considering I’d already been housebound for two weeks at this point last pregnancy, I’m counting every day I’m allowed to go about my normal life as a bonus at this point!

Simone’s Apron

Sarah Sewing

kids_apron1.jpgI found a great little pattern for a quick child’s apron, and thought it would make a good gift for Simone for her birthday. And I even finished it early! Carrie not-so-helpfully modeled it for me. (She couldn’t quite get why I didn’t want her to stand behind things. Sigh.)

Please ignore the fact that I also have (different) material to make one for Carrie but I haven’t even ironed the fabric yet, let alone started cutting out pieces… It’s on my to-do list, I swear, along with all the other things on my to-do list. I even feel guilty enough that when we stopped at the craft donation place to drop off all that yarn I mentioned a few days ago I bought a dog-fabric apron that someone else had made so that if it takes me a while (my to-do list is very long) she still has a special hand-made apron!

Rethinking Mystic Meadows

Sarah Knitting

The first clue for Mystic Meadows came out today…and I’m mostly convinced that the lace pattern is going to be much too busy for the variegated yarn I’ve selected. And I’m *way* more than OK with that, because ever since I got the yarn in the mail it’s been whispering “soft little baby sweater…hat…baby socks…big sister socks…” to me, trying to convince me that it doesn’t want to be that stole. So now I just have to find a different yarn (there’s a whole shop to choose from. we must have *something* I can use.) for the stole and see if there’s a perfect pattern to knit this lovely yarn into a tiny little baby sweater.

A Tale of Two Sweaters

Sarah Gallery of Regrettable Craft Projects

I’m cleaning out my craft room. Seriously cleaning it out, although I can’t work on it for much more than a half-hour at a time, so it’s going to take a while. So far I’ve managed to dig out a giant rubbermaid tote of yarn I’m going to donate. And tucked in there were these two abandoned sweaters…

grcp_denis_sweater.jpg

This blue/green sweater is something I started for Denis on 8/15/1998…so almost an entire decade ago! There are several reasons why I’ll never finish this. First, it’s made from a cheap yarn with wool in it (he’s allergic to wool, and I’m allergic to cheap yarn). Second, he’s tall. Much taller than the armhole-to-hem depth would suggest. Third, it’s not a pattern I would pick for him now. The only thing that kept me from getting rid of it sooner (besides having forgotten mostly about it for a while) is that it represents a lot of work for the novice knitter I was ten years ago. That much knitting? I could do it in a matter of days now. The yarn, mostly-finished back, and the pattern are all getting donated together. Someone will love it and finish, I hope!
grcp_red_chenille.jpg

The red sweater. Ah, the red sweater. This is a case of a wonderful pattern being worked up in an awful yarn. Even the best chenille would have been a bad choice for this pattern, but the not-so-great chenille I picked out? Well, let’s just say, I’ve grown a lot as a knitter since then. You’ll notice that all of the knitting is actually done, it’s just a matter of sewing the thing together. I’m not going to. It’s getting donated, and maybe someone else will figure out what to do with it.

There’s a lot more that I need to get rid of, but between these two completely abandoned projects and that big tote of yarn I’ll never use, there’s just the tiniest dent in the piles of stuff all over my craft room!

First Tummy Bug

Sarah Firsts

Well, it had to happen eventually, right? Poor Carrie woke us up at 4:something this morning with her first tummy troubles. Thing is, I think she was more upset about it happening than feeling sick, because it had never crossed her mind that such a thing could happen. Luckily, it was just once, and there are no other symptoms, so it was probably just something she ate and she’ll be all better tomorrow…fingers crossed, anyway…

Spring Flowers & Mystic Meadows

Sarah Knitting

I joined yet another knit-along (because a girl can’t have too many lace stoles, you know, I do wear them everywhere…well, OK, not really, but they’re fun to knit) and wound up spending an unbelievable amount of time trying to find just the right yarn for it.

mm_yarn.jpg

This is from No Two Snowflake’s Etsy shop. (Never shopped on Etsy? Don’t blame me if your paypal account starts getting a workout. You’ve been warned.) Here’s a very accurate (and gorgeous) shot of the colors in this yarn:

mm_yarn_closeup.jpg

And here’s my swatch – it’s not quite as big as the dimensions I was supposed to get, but I like the drape as-is, so I’ll just have a slightly smaller stole.

mm_swatch.jpg

I hope it’s not too variegated to show the lace pattern, because it’s darn pretty. Some of my inspirations:

mm_tulips.jpgmm_crabapple.jpg

mm_dandelions.jpgmm_narcissus.jpg

And yes, I’m aware those aren’t all meadow flowers (and that dandelions are weeds), but they all mean spring. Oh, and this picture of wild columbine is just about a perfect match! I wonder if I can put some of these in my garden?

(Besides, if the yarn doesn’t work out for the stole, squishy-soft fingering weight yarn is perfect for baby sweaters!)

(First) Last Day of School

Sarah Milestones

Today was Carrie’s last day of preschool (well, until the fall) and they had a little end-of-year celebration. This song, sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” was darn cute:

We’ve been having fun in preschool, learning all year long
We can tell you all about it, just listen to this song
We learned all our shapes and colors, letters and numbers, too
We learned how to share with others, now our year is through.

It was even cuter the other night when Carrie sang it for us after dinner. She literally stood up and pressed her arm into her stomach, and with more breath control than your average opera singer belted it out at the top of her lungs. Seriously, I have never heard her sing like that, and I wish I’d had the video camera handy (especially when she belched halfway through and kept on going like nothing happened!)

20080529_lastday_school.jpg

I have to admit that I shed a few tears this morning, especially when we picked up her things after and there was a folder of her work with her tiny handprint and the poem “This is the hand you used to hold when I was only three years old” on it.

And yes, I’m aware that if I’m weepy over a year of preschool being over I’m going to be a complete basket case in 15 years when she walks across the stage in her cap and gown.

Wallpaper Removal Hell

Sarah General

If we ever move, I’m going to make it a condition of our purchase that there be absolutely no wallpaper on any wall in the entire house we buy. Because, seriously? Wallpaper that’s been applied to bare drywall? I’m getting pretty sick of it. We’ve dealt with it in at least three rooms so far, the baby’s room is the fourth, and I’m sure the whole upstairs hallway – which we eventually need to redo because the seams are starting to curl – is the same way.

At this point, we just have to make the glue as flat as possible (it was heavily textured wallpaper) by steaming and scraping off what we can and then sanding off the rest, and then we’re going to use a good primer and hope for the best. (And by “we” I mean Denis, because I’ve been forbidden to help with the steaming/scraping.)

The problem is, we’ve spent our three day weekend just getting to the point where we know what we’re doing and the one long wall is mostly scraped off. We’ll have to re-rent the steamer next weekend to do the two short walls. So priming and painting are going to happen…when? I don’t think I can or should try to do this while I’m home alone with Carrie. We can’t work on it in the evenings after Carrie goes to bed because it’s right next to her room. I work on Saturdays, so that leaves Sundays. There are only *at most* 8 Sundays left before this baby comes. Let’s see…at least one to finish steaming, scraping, patching and sanding, one to prime, one for both coats of the three yellow walls, one for both coats of the one pink wall, two for both coats of white for the trim and closet…that’s 6. That’s just the painting – no closet organizer, ceiling light installation, furniture moving, clothing sorting or anything else.

OK, I’m definitely starting to panic here…does anyone know any good handymen/house painters in the area who can come during the week and get this done in a few days instead of several weeks?!?

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

Sarah General

No spoilers here, don’t worry!

The movie last night was GREAT! Both of us really enjoyed it, even the whole seeing it in the theater experience (despite the fact that between tickets, popcorn – half of which I managed to spill – and bottled water we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $35!)

It really was a fitting sequel to the other three movies, and I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD so I can watch it again. (Yes, dear, that’s a hint for a Christmas gift…)

3.7 Years Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

Three-and-a-half has proven to be complicated for you. Before, if I asked you how many you wanted of something, you’d say “three, because I’m three years old!” but now you’re three-and-a-half and things don’t always come in halves. (And I’m really sorry, but I’m just not creative enough to cut your PB&J sandwich into three and a half triangles!)

20080510_lilacs.jpg

You’re reading more and more every day. Everywhere we go you read signs. You read the headlines in the paper while I’m reading it at breakfast (note to self: stop reading the paper at breakfast so we can avoid awkward conversations about war and rising gas prices.) You’re pretty much independently reading the level one books in the “step into reading” types of series. Spelling, on the other hand, is still a very creative thing for you. The other day you decided to spell “vacuum cleaner” on the fridge, and it came out “vacyoom cleenr”. Although, actually, that’s not *that* far off.

I’ve also started practicing cutting with you. I feel pretty guilty because it was the one thing your teachers mentioned at the mid-year evaluation, that you might need a little help with, and I didn’t actually take their advice until the other day when I was parent helper and saw how much harder a time you were having than the other kids. Well, just a few short sessions with a cutting workbook and a pair of safety scissors and you’re already about 100% more proficient with them. I wonder what else I should be working on with you that I’m not? The problem is that I’m not ready to push you into doing workbooks, even though you really do seem to enjoy them. I mean, we’ve got over a year until kindergarten, isn’t there enough time before then for you to just pick this stuff up?

20080425_dancer.jpg

All of a sudden this month you’ve become a little kisser. Every time I turn around you’re kissing me, kissing my belly, blowing kisses to random strangers in the store, blowing kisses to Mimi’s family (yes, Mimi has made a reappearance in the past few weeks). And you say “I love you Mommy!” at least hourly. This is definitely a wonderful new quirk to your personality, because you’ve never really been a cuddler, so getting extra hugs and kisses from you makes my day!

Ever since we moved you to a twin bed with a real mattress, you’ve been sleeping through the night in your own bed. (Well, except one night, but that one doesn’t count because you had taken a nap and didn’t go to sleep until after Daddy and I went to bed). I have to confess I miss waking up to your warm little snuggly body stuck to me like glue in the morning, but I’m glad that you’re (obviously) more comfortable in your new bed. And like everything else it’s another transition that I’m probably going to have more trouble with than you will!

Love, Mommy