| In Which Finnian is Two! |
I meant to post this yesterday but this kind of got in the way:
Before Finn came along June the second used to be a very hard day for me, for, it is the anniversary of the day that my Mom passed away. Now, instead of a sad day, the day for me is bittersweet. See, both of my children's birthdays have something to do with my Mom. Colleen, who is named after her, was born the day before my Mom's birthday. So on Mom's birthday again, it is hard being sad when I've just celebrated the birth of my first child, the one who taught me about all this Mommy business in the first place. I have a sneaking suspicion that my Mom, wherever she may be, planned it this way-- so that, rather than being sad on these days, she gave me something to be joyful about and it lets me know that she is still looking out for me. I love her and I miss her all the time.
Thursday I head to the Motherland (ie California) to see my baby brother graduate from high school. We are all quite grown up now and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be there on this important day in his life. So many changes . . .
Colleen graduated from pre-K this weekend as well and she is pleased as punch. It was quite cute and the first "class sing" that I've been to, so it was a first for me there. Here she is with her little cap and gown and diploma:
And there has been knitting, and sewing but if you would like to see that, please, check me out on ravelry. I'm knittingeileen. I find that it is much easier to post pictures there and much easier to get my project details down. |
|
|
|
| Knitting Lesson |
I've recently learned a new knitting lesson: Don't ever tell anyone that you are knitting something for them. If you do this, then you become OBLIGATED to knit it and then the knitting becomes no fun. Case in point, there have been a rash of babies at work and I made the mistake of telling people "Well I really must knit something then!" Since I only have a short time off from school left until I start the crazy 2 classes in 6 weeks I really want to be knitting stuff for ME, ME, ME!!!! Ah-hem.
Enter Sheldon. I've only ever knit one toy before, Knitty's Bubby for my son, and let's just say I did not enjoy it. They are so fiddley and I have to use my DPNs which I've pretty much shunned since I discovered socks on two circs. Then, once you have all the little pieces you have to sew them on and make sure they won't fall off. So why I felt compelled to commit to not one, but TWO knitted toys for babies is beyond me. Oy!
The next baby knit is the best baby sweater for a boy ever, I've got the details on ravelry and will post pics as soon as I have them. The garments I don't mind so much, but the toys are really getting to me. As soon as I finish them, I'll post pics, I know, I haven't posted any pics at all, but really, it is all I can do just to get them on ravelry. |
|
|
|
| Well. . . |
| I think we all knew that was going to happen, my extremely contrary nature took over and I did not post yesterday. So how about, for my own sake, I say that I post more often rather than every day? I want blogging to be fun and not a chore. So, I hope to post more later and show you what I'm working on, but for now, I have to go get ready for work and grab some of that glorious elixer of life otherwise known as coffee. Have a good day! |
|
|
|
| Ouch! |
So the beach yesterday was great. We got there, got parking right up close, it wasn't too crowded, we found a great spot and began to put our stuff down. Come to find out that the beach umbrella that I bought back in Texas is missing a piece-- specifically, the part that lodges in the sand and provides one with shade. So, okay, no big deal right, we have plenty of sunscreen, I've decided I'm going to put some on later (despite the fact that I haven't been in public in a bikini in about three years or so) and I proceed to have a lie down. I flip over, pretty judiciously I think, about every ten minutes or so. We spend about two hours there, the kids love it, they are playing in the water, we built an appropriate for Florida sand alligator replete with sea shell scales and hop in the car to go home. When I get out of the car, Hub says "Oh Wifey, your whole backside is all RED!" Well he wasn't kidding. Despite the numerous flips, my entire backside is as red as a can of Coke. Now I've been pretty lucky, I've had probably two or three times that I've been sunburned in my life, mostly on the shoulders and nose, but my whole backside? C'mon! So I've been too busy slathering on aloe to knit tonight, I promise there will be knitting content (and pictures) tomorrow. May you all be sunburn free this summer.
On an odd side note; did I imagine this, or was one taught in school to capitalize the names of the seasons? I've always capitalized them but this semester I've noticed that Word had begun to mark it as a grammatical error. Does anyone know the answer? |
|
|
|
| 3.75 |
Hi, it’s me again. I see that the last time I posted was in March. I don’t particularly feel bad about that since that is my GPA up there in the title. All bragging aside, I’m pretty damn proud of my accomplishment. For instance, I took my final math class this semester—I officially NEVER HAVE TO TAKE MATH AGAIN! I do have to say though that without the Hub, there is no way that I could have done it. So I want to publicly thank him for all his help; he was alone with the kids four nights a week while I was in class, he made dinner, picked up, and would again wrangle them on weekends when I had homework to do. I love you honey, thanks again!
I actually got quite a bit of knitting in during this time all things considered. How did I do this? Well I’ve been operating on about 6-7 hours of sleep since January. I just arranged my ravelry queue based on date started and I have done 11 things since I started school. It is amazing what lengths one will go to do the things they loved.
This is the first weekend that I haven’t had any homework to do so we have been jamming a lot of stuff in. When everyone else wakes up we are going to take the kids to the beach for the first time! We feel guilty that we have been three times and we haven’t taken them once.
So. I officially have the next six weeks off until I take my next round of classes. I’ve decided that I’m going to try and post daily. We’ll see how that works out since I’m notorious for letting my poor blog languish.
Other things that happened while I was gone:
Colleen lost her first tooth
Finn began talking regularly, sentences and all!
Hub and I celebrated three years of marriage
I had my two year knitting anniversary
I had a birthday. I’m now officially in my “late twenties”
I got a great new job
We’ve started looking for a house to buy!
I went to school full time while working full time with a full time job at home and triumphed! |
|
|
|
| What the Hell |
Book Meme
Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
(Movies don’t count.)
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) --hated it!
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) --oh so good!
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) --MY FAVORITE BOOK EVER!
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)-- I will be reading this for my Modern Lit class
So yeah, either I'm well read or I have a lot of spare time? |
|
|
|
|
|
posted by Eileen at 
