Finger Lake Fiber Arts Festival ’09

Hot. Tired. Dusty.

Worth it.

The kids enjoyed the festival this year – Anna even manged to “baaa” at the sheep.  It was a bit too hot for my liking (what good is a fiber festival if you can’t wear your handknits??) but I still managed to get in warm wooly zone long enough to do some serious shopping.  Our booth was busy, but luckily nowhere near as busy as it was yesterday, so I had some time to hang out with Denis and the girls.  And time to shop, of course!  Pictures of the loot when I have a chance to take them in daylight.  In the meantime, here are some adorable fibery faces:

alpacasheered_sheepllamagoat

Getting Better?

So there have been enough little stories Carrie has volunteered about the past few days that I think she’s probably actually enjoying school, and just might be a little overwhelmed by trying to describe it.  Her favorite parts are still recess and riding the bus, but really, who doesn’t like those things?  I love the song they learned in music the other day, Elephants Have Wrinkles.  She couldn’t quite remember all the words, so I googled it:

Elephants Have Wrinkles by April Kassirer

Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles,wrinkles
Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles everywhere
On their toes (on their toes)
No one knows (no one knows) why -y-y-y-

Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles
Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles everywhere
On their knees (on their knees)
On their toes (on their toes)
No one knows (no one knows) why -y-y-y-

Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles,wrinkles
Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles everywhere
On their hips (on their hips) ….. knees, toes

(more verses:)
On their ears (on their ears) ….. hips, knees, toes
On their trunks (on their trunks) ….. ears, hips, knees, toes
On their teeth ….. Spoken: On their teeth? That’s ridiculous!

It’s really, really cute.  It’s a movement song, so the kids touch each part they’re singing about while they’re singing.  Very cute!

The kids are both healthy at this point, although I’m sitting her trying to figure out if I’m coming down with this illness now…  Probably not, right?  Just a scratchy throat, might just be allergies.  (Yeah, I know, probably wishful thinking, but hey, whatever it takes.)

Last Day of Summer

Today, Labor Day, marks the end of summer and the beginning of my favorite season: fall!  It’s a little more complicated now that Carrie’s headed off to school full time.  I’m sort of treating this like I try to treat New Year’s: begin as you mean to go on.

Today I have:
– caught up on the laundry
– caught up on the housework…mostly
– caught up on the blog (yeah, I know…)
– laid out Carrie’s clothes, shoes and backpack
– prepped what I can for packing her lunch in the morning

It’s 10:15, and despite the fact that I am really anxious about tomorrow morning, and probably won’t be able to fall asleep, I am going to go to bed shortly.  6 AM is going to come super early, and we want to start the year off right…and not miss the bus on the first day of school!

Busy Day

Today was a busy, busy day.  I signed Anna (and myself) up for a class called “Sing, Sign and Play” which started today.  It was very cute and I think using the signs in a group setting might help us – Anna seems to be much more reluctant to sign than Carrie was for some reason, so maybe seeing other babies trying to sign too will be good.

Then I had an eye appointment, because my frames have been (quite literally) falling apart for a few months and I haven’t been to get my prescription checked since Carrie was born.  I ordered a new pair that are very different from the style I’ve been wearing for the past several years, so hopefully when the come in and I can actually see myself in the mirror in them they’ll still look cute.

Finally, we went to the farmer’s market, and then to a friend’s house for dinner.  I’m beat!

Time

I remember, as a child, whole afternoons that seemed longer than the first six months of this year have been.  I find myself in awe of the generations of women who came before me and did so many household tasks without the benefit of a dishwasher, washing machine, pre-cooked rotisserie chickens from Wegmans…

Even with all of these time-saving devices, somehow I don’t have even remotely enough time to keep my house moderately clean, keep up with the laundry, show my face at the shop now and then, work on shop samples, keep up my blog, make fancy invitations and cakes for Anna’s birthday, and every other thing on my mental to-do list.

I can’t believe Anna’s birthday is in three days!  I also can’t believe the sheer number of things on the list of things to do before her party on Saturday…there’s just never enough time.

Clean Windows

We had the windows cleaned professionally today.  We had to get the gutters done, because the back of the house is on a hill and the roof is essentially three stories up.  And the place we went with also does windows.  So we decided to splurge.  Oh, my, do they sparkle!  We also took down all of the fake window-pane things that were in them, and I just love the clear view of the outdoors now.

However.  I really think I should call the company and suggest that they talk to their employees.  If you’re going to go into a customer’s home and do some work, and while you’re there, if you are going to be disrespectful about that home – say, maybe, if you want to comment to your co-worker about the clutter, or the fact that the windows are filthy (um, yeah, that’s why we hired you to clean them), or that you find the naked Barbies on the floor hilarious?  Maybe, just maybe, you should check to see if there’s a baby monitor on in your vicinity.  Just sayin’.