Thursday, September 22, 2005

I've been hoping

the cute picture of my youngest child would be enough for me to get away with not posting for a bit.

WHEW. So this full time evening shift job thing is seriously cutting into my online time, my yarn time, and especially my kid time. Sigh. Thankfully I have tomorrow and Saturday off and I am home until about 2:00pm on Sunday. I can't wait to just hang out with the family. Mr. Blue escaped for a couple days to go and see Coldplay-of course I am bitter at not being able to go-but at least he got to get away and have some fun. The kids enjoyed a couple evenings with their grandparents, always a bonus.

I absolutely love my job. Love it. I will be very sad when it is gone. As for salads, I've compromised by bringing salad at least one night a week, and having them for lunch. It works, right?

On a very cool yarny note, one of the people coming into my bay is an extreme knitter. I am so excited to have met her, she is extremely proficient at knitting and crocheting and works at a craft store teaching. Her work is GORGEOUS and she sells at a farmer's market here every Saturday. She also sets up at craft shows and that when she can. On an even cooler note, she has invited me to go to a big craft show with her, if I am interested. Of course I am, but then where will I find the time to get any sort of stock worked up?!?! Especially with all these purses waiting in the wings. I am very happy to have met this woman, she is very nice and very good at all things yarn. The only sad part is that I can't sit and crochet next to her during the workday. Sigh.

Monday, September 19, 2005


My big little boy. Colin had his first day ever of daycare last week, here is on the big day. He was so very proud. :) Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 16, 2005

So I totally failed

at bringing salads to work. Last night I had Mexican food. Delicious, yummy mexican food. I did have a salad for lunch today. Two salads, I needed a refill.

Today was my first day off, it was GREAT. I took Colin to daycare to give him a little consistency, especially since Wed. was so hard for him. He was completely fine and happy to go and did not want to come home with me when I went to pick him up.

I had planned on getting some stuff done around the house today, instead i sat and crocheted and watched Third Watch on A&E. I had to DVR the last of the third episode, and will be watching it momentarily. It was heaven to have some downtime.

I picked up the kiddos tonight and it was so good to see them. We had a total family night at home, Joe made a fabulous dinner and we sat watching the kids play outside. Great all around. I got lots of hugs and kisses today and I desperately needed them. Before I was totally ready to have breaks, now I am away from them way too much. They are all excited, as am I, that I have tomorrow off as well.

I have no idea why but I get totally sucked into That's So Raven. I really like this show. It must be all those Saved by the Bell years.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I Couldn't Resist.

I did not bring a salad to work last night. I ran out of time to get it all ready to go. I ordered Chinese with Bob and had rice instead. Very bland rice, with that awful soy sauce that really tastes like nothing, except perhaps what you'd imagine the look of it would taste like.

I did not drink my tea this morning. The call of the coffee place was too strong, I couldn't help myself. In my defense it has been awhile since I've had some.

I resisted the urge yesterday to obsessively call Colin's daycare or drive over there and scoop him up. I waited a good amount of time to call and he was, of course, fine. He was settled down before I was down the street, had pizza for lunch, took a good long nap, and made a ghost. I really hope today is easier though, for him and me.

Work is going well and I really enjoy what I'm doing. Still crazy and chaotic, I'm fairly sure it will stay that way for a little bit. As much as I like it I really am looking forward to a day off tomorrow. Bring on the comfy clothes and yarn baby!

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

The horrible side of going back to work.

Leaving my very, very sad and crying two year old at his daycare. Blech. :(

Paging Dr. Scholls...

Going from a stay at home mom who gets delicious sitting on the couch snuggle time to standing on my feet for pretty close to the full eight hours makes for aching tootsies. Those Jellin'? Gellin'? commercials aren't seeming quite as dorky right now. Okay, they still are dorky, but spawned an entire round of gellin jokes that I inundated my poor co-supervisors with. As sad as my jokes were, I think they really did want to join in. I'm sure of it.

It went better than I had expected yesterday, and I love it so far. I really do feel that getting this job will be great for me personally. I miss the heck out of the kids already. Col and I get the daytime together, but I barely see Abs, Arenne, & Drew. At least I've got Fridays and Saturdays off.

Col and I hit the grocery store this morning, wheee. My goal is to bring salads to work for dinner, and I'm having green tea in the mornings. Work clothes shopping and the flourescent lights combined with the big mirror did not do great things for my body image. I wanted to actually wipe the image from my eyes, so I guess the next best thing would be to eat healthier and soon I will get my behind back into the gym. Soon.

Par for the course, Mr. Blue did well handling the afterschool stuff and remembered everything. Off to a great start. I, however, am not doing as well with my list, as I am sitting here on the computer rather than picking up and cleaning and laundry. A girl's gotta wake up though, right?

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

List of Things I Must Do Now That I Am Working Full-Time

I've become so used to being a domestic goddess, even if I'm not a very good one, that I need to do some serious re-organization around here. Most nights Mr. Blue will be the parent in charge of homework-not that there is a lot of it-and reading the kids' daily mail and all of that. He is not used to this. At all. I have always done this and have a handy filing system and a calendar of the girls' specials for each day and all sorts of notes and things to keep us on track. You would be amazed at the amount of paperwork and organization that comes with three kids in Primary School. Arenne has nightly reading assignments, and I read with the others as well, something Mr. Blue does occasionally, but is not used to all of it on regular sort of schedule. He's more of a read when the mood strikes kind of guy.

I also need to get much more caught up on my laundry as I will not have as much time to play the old throw the laundry in at the last minute at night game. Especially to make sure they have actual matching clothes and enough socks and all that. Enough blathering, here's my list.

1. Remind Mr. Blue to take care of "homework" and check kids' school mail in the evenings.

2. Get caught up on laundry, at least a little bit.

3. Get on a morning cleaning schedule. Yes mornings, yes me, actually doing things in.the.morning.

4. Attempt to get morning cleaning done early-ish so that I can spend some time crocheting or reading or just jacking around. Something to enjoy the little bit of alone time I will get each day. Try not to fall into nap every day during this time routine.

5. Refer to this entry often to remind myself of the things I must do now that I am working full-time.

6. Find the horribly loud chirpy cricket by my back door and annihilate it.

Monday, September 12, 2005

I have made

it through my first official day back at work, which was full of training. Things are kind of in chaos right now, you can imagine that setting this up in less than a week has been a little crazy for everyone. I start my official new shift tomorrow, Lord help the people in my bay. ;)

It's very sobering to go over the training for handling calls and to think of all the people we will be talking to to. We are getting lots of thanks for being involved in the "project" but I can't help but feel it's not totally right as we are getting paid for it. It's different than when I volunteered post 911 to handle calls for donations. Still, I really hope that we can help these people at least in a small way.

Things will be very different in the Blue household. I will be working an evening shift, and it will go from being home all the time, to me being home until afternoon, and Mr. Blue home in the evenings. It will be a switch for the kids. As well as for me. I was able to get home earlier tonight and it was good to enjoy a night home with them. Colin LOVES his new daycare, or "school" as he calls it. I am so happy. Hopefully this will keep up for him. I am so relieved to have found such great care for him.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

I just have to add that I also went and bought an interview outfit today. It's been six years since I've worn professional dress clothes and I've grown considerably since then.

I was on a fast mission, and horridly disappointed at the selection at this particular department store. For crying out loud, it's a department store! The first skirt I tried on was absolutely motherfucking hilarious. Seriously. It would've elicited laughs from even the most serious people you know. Such a cute kicky little skirt, but when coupled with my baby burdened body it turned into a caricature. I laughed at my own reflection in the mirror. (This took a lot as I was trying to come down from the gasp at the hideousness of my overgrown baby/beer belly.) Perhaps if I had larger boobs to offset it it would not have been as shocking or HI-larious.

Whatever the case I came home with an appropriately fitted and rather flattering skirt in purple and black and a sweater top in black. All around it fit me well, and I even wore NYLONS. Yes folks, black nylons.

Too bad it was mostly wasted on a flip flop jeans wearing crowd, eh?

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Belt pattern

Here is my unofficially written totally made up pattern, based on a rosette looking stitch I made up long ago and used on tons of afghans.

I used a 3.25mm hook(D) and the Sugar 'n Cream-maybe 1/4 of a skein?

Chain 4.

(*DC, Ch 3, SC) in 2nd chain from hook, skipping next chain repeat * in original chain.
hopefully i am writing this in a nonconfusing manner. Chain 3 and turn.

For next row, and all rows after until desired length:

(*DC, Ch 3, SC) in sc of last stitch in row before, repeat, chain 3 and turn.

That's it. I really hope you can understand the instructions, if not make up your own like I did.


I haven't been working on as much the last few days, having another flare. Tonight I did a couple rows on the second panel-more of a triangle actually-and I had done a bit waiting in the school pick up line. Turns out I skipped a stitch about 3 rows back. Wheeeeee. Frog, frog, frog and I've made up one row so far. Thankfully this is a really easy pattern that works up quickly. Not at all like when my needle slips out of my knitting and my heart stops and I go into a mad panic to get it back on before any of the stitches disappear.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Illness prevails and my use of big words.

The illness has spread to the smallest one in the family. Colin started acting grumpy and out of sorts after a long nap yesterday and was soon feeling warm and feverish. Throughout the night he got worse, sleeping an hour at a time, at most. Poor little guy. This afternoon, with the help of Children's Tylenol he is up and rowdy and happy to see his brother who came home today. The reunion has also sparked myriad fights and random screaming and hollering, apparently this is what joy does to children. Yay for adults.

A thunderstorm is rolling in and I am happy to have a grey day, it just seems more relaxing and peaceful. Rain is one of those comforting things for me. Someday I will have a nice screened in porch like my parents that I'll be able to sit on during the rain and read books and drink tea.

Typing prevails reminded me of a conversation with my siblings while we were all here having a few beers. A rare occurance, due to the sisters distance from my brother and I. Gack, be back to finish!

Saturday, September 03, 2005


Here are Abbie & Arenne's belts! Wheee, this was a quick fun project and the girls love them. Arenne fell asleep in hers. lol I see many other belt designs in the future, I love those quick rewards. Posted by Picasa

Here is Abbie's belt, just finished! I got her to sleep by telling her it would be done when she wakes up in the morning. ;) Posted by Picasa

A close-up of Abbie's belt. Posted by Picasa

Alright, I am having

trouble finding words to convey what I want to say, so I am just going to post.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by Katrina. It is absolutely horrifying to see what people are going through and I sit here wishing there was a way to just stop all of the awfullness of this. All of you are in my prayers and my thoughts.

Donate through the Red Cross, or other agencies and help these people out.

Still a bad blogger.

My sisters have gone home :( Illness is still here in the house, including the husband and I. At the moment I have it the worst. The only two who have remained unaffected are the small boys, and hopefully it will leave them alone. Drew is off for the weekend with his grandparents and cousin and the rest of us are having a relaxed and leisurely recuperating weekend. Pray it works.

After all of our busy-ness this past few weeks it was very nice to be home again. I've made some projects on some of my projects, finished the dishcloths for the swaps-finally! and need to get those mailed out. I'll post pics later so it doesn't spoil the surprise. (If either of them read this blog, that is.) Today I took a break from my poncho to start a totally new and unexpected project. Arenne and I had a bit of time to ourselves today and I noticed how big their new jeans are. Why! I could make the girls belts! I hauled out some pink Sugar 'n Cream and came up with a belt. Arenne LOVES it. I am now working on Abbie's, in purple. Using my own made up stitch-that I used on all of my afghans before actually being able to read patterns. I'll have to take pics and post them here.

Now I am going to try to finish Abs' belt and wallow in my sickly misery.