Author: Sarah

Zoe-oak

Sarah Carolyn

We went to a very fancy restaurant for dinner tonight. Considering how long the meal was, and the distinct lack of grilled cheese or mac & cheese on the menu – oh, and cups of milk with straws! – Carrie did fantastically. After the salads and before the entree, the waitress brought out small dishes of orange sorbet. Carrie pronounced it “DELICIOUS!!!” When we asked her what it was, she thought for a bit and said “zoe-oak”. I asked her what “zoe-oak” means, and she said “it’s the Spanish word of the day!”

Do you think she watches too much Sesame Street?

Knitting Math Problem

Sarah Knitting

OK. You’re going to be gone for 36 hours. About 4 of those hours are going to be daylight driving time, another 4 are nighttime driving, and some 2-4 hours will be spent in a hotel room with a (hopefully) sleeping child.

You have three current projects on the needles.

So, you should:
a) pack just one or two projects – there’s really not that many hours to knit.
b) pack all three projects, because yarn is small and squishy and doesn’t take too much room.
c) pack all three projects, and for good measure take a project that hasn’t even been cast on, just in case.
d) pack all three projects, an extra project, and think about finding a yarn shop while you’re gone.

I should be worrying about packing clothes and diapers rather than knitting, so I guess I’ll go with option c.

Bow to Your Bottom

Sarah Carolyn

Carrie loves Little Einsteins. But before her complete obsession with them, she would alternate between watching Blue’s Clues and The Wiggles. The Wiggles, while completely and utterly annoying to watch, have some great songs, and the concept – having children get up and dance and sing along as long as they’re going to be watching TV – is hard to argue with.

So lately, she’s been singing “Rock-A-Bye Your Bear”. Except, she hasn’t quite figured out the right lyrics. She sings:
Everybody clap (clap, clap, clap)
Everybody sing, la la la la la
Bow to your bottom* (at this point she bends way over, puts her hands on the floor and touches her head to the ground)
Then you turn around, yippee!
Hands in the air, rock-a-bye your bear,
Ant’s now asleep*, shh shh shh

Denis and I almost passed out from laughing last night, as she sang this over and over while we were trying to get her ready for bed. Most. Hysterical. Misheard lyrics. EVER.

* “Bow to your bottom” is supposed to be “bow to your partner“, and “ant’s now asleep” is supposed to be “bear’s now asleep” – for those of you who do not have a Wiggles-obsessed toddler in your life.

Almost Done…

Sarah General
  • The walls are painted.
  • The floor is in.
  • The trim is installed.
  • The furniture is back in place.
  • The bed is made.

It really is lovely. If it weren’t so dark out right now I could take pictures and show you, but as Denis pointed out it’s a lot darker in there than it used to be. (That’s kind of inevitable when you go from white walls to, well, anything not white.)

Now I just need to put the finishing touches in – like finding all of the stuff that was on the dressers and the walls (well, maybe there will be less stuff on the dressers and more stuff on the walls). And a couple of throw rugs might go a long way towards getting rid of the echo…echo…echo that the new wood floor has created. We still have to put in a closet organizer, and at some point this summer the sagging bathroom wallpaper will be replaced with paint, but at this point I’m just thrilled that we’re back in our own room!

Silly Squirrels!

Sarah General

Carrie and I took advantage of the really nice weather last weekend and put some annuals in the flower boxes on the front steps. Every time I walk outside I find that at least two or three plants are laying half out of the box, roots exposed, flowery faces looking at me pleading for help.

The idiot squirrels are digging them up. Not to eat them – which I could understand and almost forgive – no, they’re digging them up because they think there are still nuts buried in the boxes. I poked through all the dirt pretty carefully before putting the flowers in, and there were no nuts in there.

I feel like putting out a huge pile of nuts on the sidewalk with a little note begging the squirrels just to eat those and leave my poor flowers alone. As it is, I think a few of them are not going to survive this experience…the flowers, that is. I’m sure the squirrels will be fine. Hungry, because there are no nuts in the flower boxes, but fine.

Duck! Flying Time!

Sarah General

Is it really May already? I’m in denial. Because if it’s already May 3rd, which is what my computer insists that it is, then time is moving faster than I thought it was. (Seriously, wasn’t Christmas just yesterday?!?) If our perception of time moves faster and faster as we get older I’m not going to able to blink soon or I’ll miss an entire year.

Maybe now that all the busyness is over things will settle down to a more normal pace? Although with a couple of weekend trips coming up, maybe not…

The “OK” Phase

Sarah Carolyn

I’ve never read about this anywhere, so I’m not sure if this is a normal thing or not, but just in the last couple of days, Carrie has become super agreeable and cooperative. I mean, she literally says “OK” to any request I make and then actually does it. And I’m talking about things that used to result in a big, emphatic “NO!” and a meltdown:

“Carrie, it’s time to go inside, we’ll garden some more later.” “Oh, OK. Let’s go inside!”
“We don’t have time to watch TV right now, we have to get ready to leave.” “OK Mommy, I need shoes!”
“Sorry sweetie, we have to eat dinner before you can have a cookie.” “Oh, OK! I eat dinner first!”

I’m starting to worry…

Cake, Cake, Cake…and More Cake.

Sarah Cakes

The party went really, really well. It was so nice to see some of the more distant relatives that we haven’t seen in years. In honor of the occasion (and I’m still not sure why the restaurant allowed this) I baked a cake. Four, in fact.


Lisa and I spent hours making tiny gum paste flowers, including a few calla lilies since those were my grandmother’s bouquet. Two nights ago I literally spent more than four hours baking cakes, and then yesterday’s icing bonanza involved several hours of Lisa and I working together, and many, many videos for the kids.

Apparently, at least one of the wait staff was wondering if she could get my card. Uhhhh. Card? That would imply that you could pay me enough to do something like this for someone not closely related to me. Now I know why wedding cakes cost so much!

Sixty Years

Sarah Family

My grandparents (on my mom’s side) have been married sixty years today. They let me take some anniversary pictures of them, and although I’m far from being a “real” photographer I really love how some of them came out, especially this one.

anniversary.jpg

My mom and her siblings have been putting together a huge party to celebrate. I’m in charge of the cake and the slide show. I think at this point they’re both pretty much finished…which is good since the party is tomorrow night!