Busy

I'm always torn between waiting until I have enough time to write a "good" blog post, and recognizing that were I to wait until that mythical time I would probably have grandchildren by then.

Then I look and realize it's been half a month since I last posted and decided "to hell with good, let's just get something on the page".

We have been busy. Elder child has been home sick with a whacking cough that necessitated a trip to the doctor to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. Younger child has been his usual challenging self. He had an annual checkup last week and needs to begin speech therapy - his lack of two front teeth is affecting his speech adversely.

I have been to the dentist and will need to go again sometime soon. Let's just say that age and 15 years of grinding my teeth night have not been kind to my teeth and gums.

I have been spinning (both literally and figuratively). I am pleased to be making yarn again. Photos someday.

We have been gardening. It has been four years since we did any serious maintenance of the front garden and it shows. After we finish excavating the paths we will do some rearranging, some new planting, and some repair work on the irrigation system. It is satisfying to make some progress on that front.

Work continues to be busy. Knitting on Friday is something I look forward to, although you never know what each week will bring.

I have been busy cooking and knitting - I started a new project, more details to follow.

Whew, the boy is yelling for me, gotta run.

It wasn't "good", but at least it's something.

Craving spinning

This is all Sylvia's fault.

A few weeks ago I spent several lovely hours at Sylvia's house. My parents had just finished their visit, the kids were otherwise occupied, I had the afternoon away from work, so I went to Sylvia's house and knit and talked. Sylvia is delightful company, another knitter from Friday afternoons was there, and we were very calm. (I was practically comatose, but I'm putting a positive spin on it).

One thing that I wanted to try while I was at Sylvia's house was her electric spinning wheel. I've never tried an electric wheel and I was curious. So I spent a few minutes fumbling with it (I haven't spun in a long time), which was just enough to whet my appetite. Then I spotted the latest issue of Spin Off on her table, which made me wonder why I hadn't gotten my copy.

Later that weekend I called Interweave to find out why my copy hadn't arrived, only to discover that my subscription lapsed after Summer of 08 issue (oops, I guess I can't have missed it too much if I only now realized it was gone). Sylvia generously loaned me the four issues I hadn't seen, and I've been reading them for the past week or so.

And I've been craving spinning. My spinning wheel sits in my living room, taunting me. Every time I think I might have five minutes to oil it, I don't. And by the time I get the kids into bed I'm too tired to thing straight and all I can manage is basic sock knitting (not even heels and toes).

So I'm thinking today maybe I'll spin instead of going grocery shopping, what do you think? The family won't mind if they have to eat freezer chow for a week because I needed some quality spinning time, will they? I can tie my son to a chair so he won't stick his fingers in between the spokes of the wheel can't I?

I can dream, can't I?

And just because blog posts with photos are more entertaining here's a slightly more recent shot of my Beautiful Boy:


The slightly knowing smile is him through and through.

More birthdays

Yesterday my Beautiful Boy turned four years old.

His childhood has been such a blur of running to catch him before he falls, trying to reason with him (or listening to his yelling when reasoning doesn't work).

This one, he is not like me. I am told he is much like his father, but he is a bundle of energy and emotion that is barely contained.

He is a charmer and a hellion, a mass of contradictions. I went into labor with him three and a half weeks early, then he took more than 24 hours to make his way into the world. He can be utterly sweet and charming, and a stubborn mass of raw id.

I love him absolutely. He is my boy.