Mo’s Musings

The problem with having your birthday in the middle of summer vacation is that you will have very few friends around to help you celebrate on the actual ‘day’.  This being mrE’s first year in school, I decided to plan ahead and have an “Almost 6 Birthday Party” this weekend.  MrE chose to celebrate at the dojo (karate studio) where an instructor would take him and his friends through some warmups, stretches, movements and games before the cake & presents.  It was a good time and a perfect party for a group of rambunctious little boys.  Evidence as follows:

Channeling the Karate Kid.

All I want for my birthday is my two front teeth!

MissyB looking a tad exhausted from running around with the crazy little boys.

Moi!  I don’t like pictures of myself (seriously?  I look like that?!?) and this shot is no exception.  I’m trying to get over it.

The party was on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday was rainy and hubs and I had a dance lesson in the afternoon.  MrE got a great haul of gifts from his very generous friends so spent most of the day playing with missyB while we were out.  In all it was a very fun and relaxed weekend.

I had signed up awhile ago for a Mix & Match swap and was paired up with the talented Malin.  My goodies just arrived the other day and I can say that I definitely made out better in the deal.  Just look:

Here’s the wool.  Two skeins of a beautiful purplish hand coloured wool from Gotland sheep.  I’ll have to bring this to my knitting group to show off and I think I have the perfect shawl idea for it.   Then three skeins of Lett Lopi Icelandic wool.  I’m already dreaming of using them for some mittens or maybe even a toque.  Gorgeous stuff, all of it!

Here are the wonderful edibles.  Frankly, this is why I’m posting this now.  I can’t eat any of it until I take a picture and post it and some of that stuff is making my mouth water!

There are Pepparkakor - beautiful biscuits/cookies.  I’ll have to fight the kids for my fair share of these (missyB loves the ones we buy from Ikea).   Then three different LARGE bars of Marabou chocolate.  Honestly, one of the best chocolates out there and with nuts - how can you go wrong?  Two types of licorice = a sweet and soft licorice ‘toffee’ and salty variety.  I’ll definitely try them and if I don’t like them, my hubby certainly will!  And then there is the dried meat.  I’m assuming this is Elk or Deer jerky and I loves me some jerky.  Now I can’t wait to open up all the packages and get a taste of Sweden.

Thanks Malin!  You’ve chosen wisely and I appreciate all of the thought and effort that went into the box.

We’re now entering the last full week of school.  The following week is just a half week of cleaning up and finishing off.  But ye gods are they trying to pack a heck of a lot in those last few days.

MissyB has the worst of it.  This being her last year in elementary school they seem to be giving them a difficult time before leaving this school.  She has five exams over the next five school days - four of which are three hour long provincial achievement tests.  Blech.  But they’ll be rewarded with a final field trip to Chinatown next Wednesday (I get to chaperone) and then a wind up party at the WEM Waterpark.  She was also selected to attend a special Mayor’s Breakfast this Thursday (she’s excited - I wonder how excited she’ll be when we have to be at the school by 6:45 am!!).  Luckily I think that’s the end of the projects and therefore, the end of homework for this school year.  Let’s hope ’cause that girl is more than ready for school to be done.

MrE has an easier time.  They’ve been doing a few crafts and studying about the pioneers and Native Americans (they even helped decorate the full scale paper teepee set up in the classroom).  Tomorrow we’ll be heading to a special museum to experience life as a pioneer.  I’m sure spinning and knitting aren’t on the agenda so I just may bring my own gear (’cause I’m a brat!).  After school today we met up with three other moms & kids and played at the splash park.  I got burned (of course) and we’re a bit tired but lots of fun was had by all.   We’re hoping to keep in touch over the summer months and I’m crossing my fingers & legs & toes & eyes hoping that these kids will stay together in grade 1.  We’re a unique group of moms who all get along and our boys all play together quite nicely (I’m still not used to being the ‘oldest’ in the group!).  It’s sad that it has taken us most of the year to finally get to know one another and realize how much fun we have together.  There are plans in the works for a regular Tuesday meeting for those who can make it and a ‘girls only’ camping trip at the end of August - just before school starts.  Guess I’ll just have to suck it up to join in all the fun(?).

Now I need to help get MrE off to bed and nurse my rather nasty sunburn.  At this rate I’ll be crispy fried before summer vacation even starts!

Almost every day I go through my blogroll and read the new postings. I love reading all the witty and poignant and thoughtful posts. But over the past week I’m finding things a bit disorienting to read. Why? The weather has been nuts and it seems to be the number one topic of most posts.
There are my friends in Sweden who are dealing with icy rain and cold temps (after last week’s heat wave). On to the DC area where they’re trying to cool off with dips in the pool and finding decent A/C. My friends in Portland are reporting snow advisories and resisting the urge to turn on the heat. Then the various south eastern states with their hot weather and a bit of news from wherever the Harlot is blogging. As for local bloggers - we’ve been dealing with quite a bit of rain and yesterday we were under tornado warnings/watches for most of the afternoon (it did hail in a few areas and a twister did touch down west of here but we didn’t see much of anything except an intense 2 minute downpour or two). I’m glad I don’t currently read anything from more remote areas of the world. I think my head may explode!

(yes, I’m blogging and therefore survived kindercooking. Note to self: do not wear black jeans when you’re dealing with flour and a group of six-year olds!)

We had our last dance class of the session last night. I swear, every time we hit June, the numbers fall off. Hubs and I bet each other how many couples will show up. He won with three couples for level 1 and three couples for level 2. It’s okay - makes for a more relaxed class and I’m glad we didn’t have a lot of material to cover. Our next session starts sometime in September. Things are very much ‘up in the air’ about what the format will be and I guess I’ll just have to wait until things get sorted out. Doesn’t help that there will be a new director in place within a few weeks. I forsee more boring meetings and more re-hashing. Sigh.

Went to the library to meet up with a knitting group this afternoon. We were told to keep the noise down because there had been several complaints. Ya, right! I can tell you exactly who complained as she sat at a nearby table and glared at us for over an hour. There was a kindergarten class in a nearby room screaming, babies crying and other people talking. Guess she was offended by yarn! Got some help from Rebecca with my spinning. I’m still not very good at it but it helps if I draft a lot before starting. Also finished my secret project (pics as soon as item is delivered) to many admirations. Now to finish the child’s orange cabled sweater (moss stitch/cables for the hood, block it, sew it up and place buttons) and I can start something new. I was hoping to cast on for a sweater for myself but I just got the first installment of a sock-of-the-month kit. Decisions, decisions…

Tomorrow I volunteered to come into mrE’s class and help the kids make bannock. Sigh. I may end up with no hair at the end of it all but I know the kids appreciate it so I should console myself with that fact. I’ll try to blog again as soon as I recover from the experience.

First - big thanks and a HUGE virtual hug out to my soul sista U.  She is my web guru and is responsible for making all the changes and fixing all my mistakes on this blog.  Wouldn’t be doing it without her help.  She’s been insanely busy these last few months and I’m honoured that she slotted in some time for little ol’ me and my pithy meanderings.  (U - can you believe it?  It’s almost been a year since we’ve seen each other.  Much too long!!  I’ll have to figure out how to rectify this post-haste!)

As for me and what I’ve been up to, I’ll have to use a random point-form approach:

-went to the dentist twice in one week.  Had to get her to grind down the crown so I could actually eat.  It was a good weight loss technique - making sure I ate slowly and sparingly but I was completely drained of energy most days and very crabby.  The tooth is still a bit painful if I bite wrong but I’ve been told to expect this.  The second appointment was another filling on a minor tooth in the front.

-I’m not knitting very much - just a little on a baby sweater (out of dishcloth cotton) for a friend and trying to finish up the hood on the sweater for another friend’s soon-to-be-adopted-from-China son.  I hope I can stretch out the yarn.  I thought I’d overbought originally with 4×100g balls (pattern called for 7×50g) but had to buy another ball and I’m not sure I’ll finish the hood with what I have left.  Oh well - I need an excuse to hit Pam’s Wooly Shop anyway.

-I’m trying to ride my bike as much as possible but I can only do that alone or if hubs comes with me.  MrE staunchly refuses to learn to ride without his training wheels so the only way we can ride around as a family is for him to trail behind hubs on one of these.  It doesn’t attach easily to the back of my bike and my balance is easily thrown off if mrE leans one way or another.

-I bought myself a Wii Fit board & game.  It’s fun but I haven’t had much of a chance to use it.  Good news is that although I’m heavy, my balance is good enough for it to knock off 4 years of my actual age to come up with my Wii Fit age.  I also totally rock the warrior pose in yoga.

-The next few weeks on my calendar are crazy-busy.  Finishing off school involves a lot of tests and projects and field trips.  Then there are wind-up budget meeting on the various committees and volunteer appreciation activities.  Plus with the improved weather, we’re trying to pack in as much play time with our friends as we can.

-summer plans are still up in the air.  My parents are supposed to be coming in the first week of July and there are rumors that they’re taking the kids camping.  That means I can’t register either of them for any camps/day activities until I know better.  Then the end of July and beginning of August has hubs off for vacation.  We’re still negotiating the ideas for that time.

Okay - that’s about all I can think of saying right now.  I picked up a spindle the other day from a local shop and I’ve been playing with some roving I bought a few years ago at Custom Woolen Mills (intended at that time for needle felting).  I completely suck at spinning but it’s fun.

Shelley memed me so in lieu of anything else interesting to say, here goes:

*The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? Trying to get the hang of being a SAHM to a 16 month old and dividing my time between visiting my parents, helping my sister deal with the fallout of her divorce and teaching myself to quilt.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today? make a menu plan for the week, create grocery list, pick missyB up from school, figure out what to make for supper, knit

3) Snacks I enjoy: potato chips, chocolate with nuts, soft serve ice cream.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: give to my family, buy a house that works for us, buy new vehicles, start a charity to help women in developing countries, TRAVEL.

5) Places I have lived: Regina, Saskatchewan; St. Albert, Edmonton, Alberta.

6) Jobs I have had: babysitting, teaching ballroom dancing, taking blood, doing all sorts of medical tests (many of which are too gross to mention here).

7) Bloggers I am tagging who you will enjoy getting to know better:

This is always so difficult since my readership is pretty small. If you want to participate, just leave a comment!

The weekend was great.  We went for a family bike ride on Saturday down to the library, then had some ice cream and we rode back home.  On Sunday we just hung around the house and puttered about a bit.  On Monday we went to an alpaca ranch with a few ladies from the Tuesday afternoon knitting group.  It was fun to wander around the pen and pet the animals.  After that we went to the movie theatre to see “Speed Racer” in IMAX.  We all enjoyed it.

Yesterday was a bit of a rush.  Dropped the kids off at school and burned my way through the grocery store (kudos to me for remembering my many grocery bags.  I wimped out and drove to my favorite store rather than my earlier plan of using my bike & trailer and heading to a different store).  Rushed home, unloaded the bags and put the items away and then it was off to school to pick up mrE.  From there we drove off to pick up another knitter before going out to Starbucks to meet up with the ladies.  Had a great afternoon of knitting and chatting before having to leave to pick up missyB.  After supper I rode my bike back down to the school to attend the parent council meeting.  I rarely get a chance to go and I thought I should put in an appearance.  It was a good meeting and I learned a few things about what is happening in the school next year.  I also chatted with another mom about her daughter’s experience in the junior high that missyB will attend next year.  Verdict is still out on that one but I’m sure we’ll muddle our way through it all.

I had a dentist appointment this morning to get a crown on a molar.  I’ve never had a crown before and I was nervous.  But the dentist is awesome and I was a good candidate for their ceramic version so it was over and done in under an hour and a half.  They froze me really well, drilled, took pictures and then had a machine carve out a crown while I waited (15 minutes of knitting time!).  Then it was glue and polish and a little tweaking on the fit and I was done.  As I’m typing this the freezing is almost completely gone (very unusual for me - once frozen I’m good for many hours).  The bite is weird but not too bad.  Have I mentioned that although I get really nervous before going to the dentist, I adore my dentist and she’s sooooo great.

Tonight is another knitting group meeting at the library.  My plans are to ride down there but it’s been raining quite heavily all day and it doesn’t seem like it’ll let up until late tomorrow.  We’ll see if I actually go…I’m trying to cut down on my fuel consumption and I’ll find any excuse to ride cream-cycle.

Ah yes!  The Friday before the May long weekend.  Monday is Victoria Day (for my non-Canadian readers) to honour Queen Victoria’s Birthday and also, I guess, to honour the current Canadian sovereign’s birthday (if you believe Wikipedia).  This is the weekend where most people bring out the RV and go camping.

And here is where I say “I don’t camp.”  Now it’s not like I’ve never tried it and don’t like it.  I used to camp with my parents and with school/brownie groups.  I’ve stayed in very rustic tents with no floors sleeping on the ground, in tent trailers, in full out trailers and even cabins.  I still don’t get the appeal.

My kids have been begging to go camping.  I don’t want to let them down but I just can’t get my brain around why I would spend all that time and money so I can work even harder than I do at home in less ideal conditions.  If we went, I’d have to plan & book the campsite, gather supplies (we have next to nothing so we’re starting from scratch here), pack all the clothes, plan all the meals, get all the food, prep all the food, pack the food and find a way to pack all that and the gear into our mini-SUV.  Ahem.   (lest you think hubs would make me do all this work I’m here to tell you that he’d help.  But 1)  I’m a control freak; 2) hubs works all day at his contract job and then comes home to deal with managing the business and trying to ‘expand’ the business.  He’s tired and it isn’t fair to ask him to do all this extra work when he’s busy making all the money; 3) did I mention that I’m a control freak?)

So, in the event that I’m able to get it all together and we set out - here’s the resulting scenario:

- set up sleeping arrangements.  At least one person, if not more, will have an uncomfortable nights sleep and be grumpy the next day or even the whole weekend.

- outhouse-style bathrooms.  Need I say more?

- cooking three meals a day over an open fire (challenging) and washing dishes, by hand, after every meal.  Ugh.

- trying to find something for the entire family to do together without someone becoming frustrated or bored (try an 11 year old and a 5 year old).

- coming home with dishes to clean, gear to put away, clothes to wash & bodies to bathe all in time to get to school/work on Tuesday morning.

I can’t imagine any possible ‘fun’ things we’d do that I couldn’t partake of right here, near my own home and indoor plumbing.  So go ahead, tell me about how fun it is and I’ll just nod and make ‘umhum’ noises.  But I aint goin’.

I had a loverly weekend. Weather was nice - not too hot, not too cool. My family took me out on Saturday and bought me this for Mother’s Day:

Isn’t she a beauty? I’ve named her Cream-cycle (since her colours remind me of my fave icy treat). Dontcha just love the basket? I feel like an old lady but it’s sooo comfy to ride. Can’t wait to hook up the trailer and get groceries later this week.

In case you don’t know, the last time I bought a bike was waaaay back when hubs and I were engaged. I still love my hybrid mountain bike, don’t get me wrong. I’ve ridden the snot outta that thing. I used to ride to work most days (10 km one way) and I also used it to ride about 70 km to raise money for MS research. My new bike is taking a bit to get used to, mostly because of my body position. Whereas I’m used to leaning over and pushing down with the pedals, this is a more recumbant feeling and I lean back and push out. It’s definitely weird for me to be able to sit and still touch the ground with my feet. Never happens when I ride my old bike. I forsee lots of bike rides in my future….

This is what the kids gave to me on Sunday morning:

On the left you’ll see the votive candle holder missyB made for me for my birthday. Then she gave me this lovely flower pot filled with silk flowers. But there is a surprise! Most of the flowers are attached to pens (note the flower lying on its side in front of the pot). How clever is that?!? In the top right corner you’ll see a clay tile that mrE made for me in school along with a beeswax candle he made while touring the honey factory and the placemat we used at the Mother’s Day tea (those are his handprints and a tear-jerking poem). Aint I spoiled?

Beyond hanging around the house and being fed and watching movies I’d rented on Friday (the Bee Movie and Raiders of the Lost Ark) I read a little, played on the computer a little, rode my bike a little (well, a lot since hubs, mrE and I went for a 5 km ride to get ’snacks’), I, of course, knitted.

I cast on the Robin Hood jacket (Adorable Knits for Tots) that is for my friend’s little boy from China (they get to bring him home next month).

It’s tough to get a decent shot of the cables. The colour is a deep rusty orange - not pumpkin as the pics would suggest. I have almost finished the back piece - probably 8 more rows and I’ll be done with that. But I’ve realized that I work much better with a chart that with it all written out. So I tried to chart it yesterday while at karate and sorta came up with something decent to work from.

The other thing I’ve been doing is a pair of fair isle socks out of cotton.

I had picked this kit up about five years ago at a craft fair and decided to pull it out and finish them. I’m not thrilled with the navy cotton since it splits quite a bit. And my carrying thread tension is a bit wonky. And the damn cotton is not in the least bit forgiving so my tension is all over the place. But I’ll make myself finish them and chalk it up to another learning experience.

So that’s all that’s new here. What about you?