87 Degrees now

The kids had fun with one of Claire's birthday presents today. There is water in there, and also leaves, dirt, grass and a popsicle stick. I fed the hose into the turtle's head so that he sprayed water, but that is not a camera friendly activity. Nathan had a blast running throught the water and drinking from it. Although I wish he hadn't shoved the spray in Claire's face quite so many times. And it was a trial getting him to come inside when I wanted to take a break.

Right now we're holed up in the living room with the curtains closed, waiting for a thunderstorm to cool us off. For some reason, Nathan has decided that his favorite movie right now is "A Christmas Story", so I'm being tormented with scenes of snow as I sit here sweating. No central air in the house, and the A.C. we tried to put in the bedroom last night is missing some screws, so we only have fans right now. But the wind is beginning to stir the curtains, and I see the underside of the leaves outside, so hopefully the storm will come soon. 

More Birthday pictures

More pictures, as requested......

Here's "Cousin Kyle" as he's known to Nathan. He'll be going into sixth grade next year, and is quite the budding artist. I got him a "How to draw comic book characters book" and art markers for Christmas. Dad just got him a Chinese brush painting set because he was doing some of that at school and liked it.

More family. Dan's father, Kyle again, Kathy and Ray. The fantastic weather came in time for Sunday, but it was hot, hot, hot.

Claire's 1st Birthday Party

Here's our Queen for a day opening her haul. She mostly got gifts to share with her brother. A small pool, a sandbox, the extra big wagon and a toddler table with chairs. We took them both for a spin in the chariot. When we're out with the stroller, Nathan sometimes gets tired, so this will be a great alternative.

I missed taking a shot of her covered in frosting, although you can see she worked it into her fingers pretty well.
We had a great time with lots of family here. Ray, Kathy and Kyle got to come and celebrate. My Dad is still here playing with Nathan. And Dan's parents came for lunch and cake too. We had gorgeous weather, and a nice relaxed afternoon playing outside and looking over the lake. Now we're exhausted.

Birthday Party To-Do list

Buy Grill
Clean House
Bake Cake
Wrap Presents
Assemble Toddler Table/Chairs gift
Plan menu for 10 for party
Borrow more chairs
Weed yard
Get balloons
Decorate

All by Sunday. The only thing I've done is buy a patio furniture set and some extra plates. And at least she's so young that it's only family and I don't have to deal with party favors, games, and a dozen sugared up kids.

Embarrasing Picture #417

I could have taken the Cheerio off her nose, but what's the fun in that? 

Stupid, Stupid Phone

When we moved, I decided to give Vonage a try. We'd had VOIP in DC for a few months, and it worked okay, but this time it's a pain in the butt.

A few weeks ago the cable modem started to freak out on me. I thought it was an internal problem and tried replacing the modem and all the connecting wires. And of course I couldn't call Time-Warner to report the issue because the phone didn't work. Finally a neighbor called it in, and we found out that there had been a tree on the line. Another week went by and there were still problems with the connection dying. But it was a weekend so I had to wait for Monday to report it in person. They came out again, and said this time it was definately fixed.

But it's still screwed up and ridiculously slow. It's like having dial-up. Forget watching the streaming baseball service I paid good money for, or uploading photos. I got a service man to come out again (it was about 5 visits total) and he blamed the phone router. That's unbelievable, that after three weeks of it being Time-Warner's fault it would suddenly be Vonage's fault. But I can't argue it, because I can't call Time-Warner and do all the various ping tests with them. (We have a cell, but there's no service in or near the house.)

Meanwhile, the phone is worse than useless. I can talk for about two minutes before the signal degrades so badly that I have to hang up. TIVO can't update my listings, so as of today it doesn't know what's on TV anymore. I tried setting up a new service last week, but it was a discount company that couldn't seem to deal with the fact that we don't have a landline already, and apparently tried to call instead of e-mail me when they couldn't fill the order. So today I ordered up Verizon, although it will be a week before it goes in. Grrrr Arrggghh. That's what I get for trying to save $30 a month.

Celebrations

Yesterday was Claire's first birthday!! But more on that later. We're putting off the birthday party for two weeks, because Dan had to work yesterday, and Ray and Kathy couldn't come to visit either. So yesterday was a bit more about Mother's Day. Claire made sure I got off to a good start by waking up at 11pm and staying up for two hours. She's getting her molars already, and has been fussing a lot the last week or two. Then we all had to get up at 7:30 for Dan to get off to work. He's worked about 75 hours this week in preparation for Mother's Day and local college graduations. And the coming week will be the same with two more graduations next weekend. So Mother's Day morning was the same old same old of doing dishes, laundry and cleaning. That's actually to my liking. Don't give me flowers or jewelry, although sleeping in would have been nice. (But I got to do that today, so all's good.)

Dan's parents came over for a Mom's day lunch. Janet brought some flowers to cheer up our yard a bit. Nathan made this for Grandma to put in her garden. (The tin is temporary.)

And I made this to eat.
So that was fun and Martha Stewarty.

What color is my parachute?

I'd like a career. I revisit this topic many times, and still haven't made any progress. Over the last few years I've considered Librarian, Financial Consultant, CPA, Restauranter, blah, blah, blah. The one I come back to the most often is Math Teacher. I'd like to take revenge on the Mr. Kowalchyks of the world who scare people, especially girls, away from Math. Years in accounting led to me rediscovering my aptitude for numbers, and any time they sent a trainee my way, I enjoyed teaching.

But how do I do it? I start my research the same way, checking local colleges for courses. Realizing I have to get a double major. Worrying that my Bates GPA will screw me up on transferring the Gen Ed requirements. Deciding that I can afford tuition. Then remembering I've got two kids now, and how can I afford to put them in Daycare or feed them if I'm not working for 3-4 years. And if I do work and go to school part-time, I'll never see them.

Isn't there a looming teacher shortage? Shouldn't people be clamoring to give me $100,000 cash so I can do this?

Torture

Both of my kids strongly resist any attempts to cut their fingernails. I don't really blame Claire, I snipped off part of her finger the day she was born, so that didn't set a good precedent. I'm not sure how Nathan got so worked up about it, but each time just got worse and worse. And of course the more I had to hold him down and wrestle him, the worse the next attempt became. At least in the good weather I can let them fall asleep in the car, then snip the nails while they are sleeping. The rest of the time, I let them grow out, then we end up with multiple self-inflicted wounds like the one Nathan is sporting on his nose today.

A few weeks ago Dan and I lied through our teeth and told Nathan he would turn into a girl if he didn't let us cut the nails. I'm embarrassed to say that worked. Today I was able to do it by promising to sing a song for every nail he let me cut. The Skywalker theme for the pinkie, Peter and the Wolf for the Thumbs. Can I give him anesthetic next time?

Root, Root, Root for the home team

Spent a nice day outside today. Decided to take advantage of the fact that we live near several colleges to see some free sports games. Went over to St. Lawrence first. Dan went there for soph-Sr year, his Mom and uncle are alums, and his Dad taught English and was a Dean. They were hosting the Lacrosse League championship. I couldn't quite get Nathan to watch the ball. He kept getting scared by some guy who was yelling himself hoarse, and got really frightened when the home team scored and everyone yelled and banged the bleachers.

After a pit stop at the In-laws, we went to Clarkson University, they were hosting St. Lawrence in a baseball doubleheader. This time I took us over to the fence next to the dugout where it would be quieter. But Nathan still didn't want to watch the game because he kept getting distracted by the dogs that people had brought. And then he got in a near scuffle with some other kids. He's so unsocialized from spending all winter with just Claire and I. He thinks when he sees other people that he can just run up to them and say hi and they'll automatically want to play with him. Plus, he's big for his age, so other kids don't understand why he's behaving that way, they think he should know better. We've been spending more time at the playground with some kids we met there, but I think I need to look into some structered class or gym time for him to try.

It's funny that we did baseball and lacrosse today. Dan and I are in a small battle over Nathan (and Claire's) sport's soul. Dan is not a baseball fan. I like lacrosse well enough, but I don't think there's a mother in the world who actually likes watching her child play a heavy contact sport. Especially if I have to endure Hockey too. Which is pretty much a given when you live in Upstate New York.

Budding Artiste

 
I could have stopped him, but he was having fun. At least it's washable. Last week he took a permanent marker to his foot instead. He decided he needed an "owner" (like Woody and Buzz in Toy Story who have Andy's name on their feet). But I'm not too thrilled that he put purple marker on Claire's face too. He can move pretty fast sometimes.
He's also becoming quite musical. Janet took him to a Peter and the Wolf puppet show a few weeks ago and then got him a Sesame Street version on DVD. Not a day goes by without him asking me to sing one of the theme songs. I got him a flute recorder at the dollar store yesterday, and he likes to take sticks and play conductor. Finally, the sticks are something other than lightsabers! 

Found

On top of the T.V. How obvious.

Hide and Seek

A few hours ago I took out two sticks of butter to make cookies. There is only one stick of butter on the counter now. Do you want to take bets on whether Claire or Sprite find it before I do? Or will I not find it until we pack up to move next year? I'm trying to think like a three-year old to track it down. I've looked in the bathrooms, his underwear drawer, back in the fridge, and in the bowl where we make cookies. This is going to be FUN!

Dan went to buy a grill today and came home with this instead.
Although I'm not sure I have it put together very well. The training wheels are not quite right, Nathan took a spill before I even got the camera out. And he's a bit too passive, wanting us to not only push him, but steer for him too. Our street is dead-end, so it'll be a good spot to practise. At least until the summer people come back.
And here's a picture of Claire so she won't feel left out.

Sunrise sucks

Claire was up at 5:45 today, which translates to me spending half of the day looking for curtains to block the morning sun better. It is not going well. I made three attempts at local shopping. First "Giant Tiger", which is very eclectic, everything from frozen hamburger to clothes to sheets. But it's all crap. They only had a few ugly lacy kitchen curtains. So then I tried a small, regionally based department store. Actually, it's a hardware store with delusions of grandeur. They had curtain rods, but nothing to hang on them. My third stop only did custom windows. Also tried a Pier One wannabee and a "green" store, but not with high expections.
So it seemed clear that online was the way to go, but I just can't get excited about anything. The only thing I really liked was at Ikea, and it's not available online. I like sheers, especially ones with cute butterflies embroidered on them, but that really does nothing for the sun problem. Then I start going overboard with tiebacks and finials, and soon I've got $100 worth of stuff in the shopping cart, and I'm only doing one window.
I came very close to buying a sewing machine and doing them myself.

Diametrically Opposed hobbies

Is it odd that my two current obsessions are knitting and baseball? Other than the fact that I can do one while watching the other, they have almost nothing in common. They both involve some math, but that's it.


Is one of my other hobbies taking goofy staged pictures of my kid? Yes it is! This is a blanket I made, you can just barely see the C worked into the knitting. (upside down) I did one for Nathan too. It was very simple, just took a long time doing row after row of plain stitch.

I finished Claire's poncho today, but it's a little big. Should be fine for the fall. Since she's still crawling, it just gets tangled up in her legs now. I'm working on my shawl now, although I've ripped it back once already because I was doing a stitch wrong. And I was inspired by the Yarn_Harlot to make socks, so I bought some yarn for those yesterday. (The Christmas stocking is hiding under the bed now, oh well, I'll get back to it someday.)

In baseball news, my Fantasy team is still in second, and the Sox are in first. Yay!

Today's thought

I like the smell of wool.

Two stories about the Amish

I was feeling neighborly today and decided to stop at a roadside stand on an Amish farm to buy some bread. Had to buy cookies too, darn it all, since the slot where you put the money didn't give change and I wanted to get my five dollars worth. Then, I embarrassed myself. I was doing a k-turn in their drive and accidently hit the horn. The family in the window waved, and I waved back, but I felt stupid. It's soooo rude to honk at people, and especially rude to honk at people who have a religious aversion to cars.
There are a lot of Amish in the area. Apparently, land in PA and Ohio is getting too expensive, and with 10-12 kids per family, they have to spread out a bit. Land here is cheaper, because so many families are getting out of farming. Can't blame them, with the long winters and rocky soil. Amish don't have to save for college or make car payments, so it's easier for them to make a go of it. I'm going to try to be supportive of the locals this summer by shopping on the roadside or at the farmer's markets. Anybody want an Amish quilt for a wedding gift?
My second encounter today was at the Little Caesars inside the K-mart. (Yes, eating in department stores is icky and depressing, except for IKEA, but it's easier than dealing with carseats in the rain.) It was a little surreal to see an Amish woman order a pizza. I don't think it was too common for her either. It took about five minutes for the woman behind the counter to figure out if she was asking for a slice or a pie, and another long discussion to decide what toppings fell under the request of "meat".

Knit Knit Knit Knit

I got a fun book the other day, Knitting_rules. And I mean fun, with jokes about sweaters that go out of control and the weird math involved in knitting round shawls. Even Dan was reading a bit and asking me if I knew what gauge was.

She has a blog too, Yarn_Harlot . I totally identify with her nickname, I move from project to project, seduced by new patterns and yarns, seldom finishing my commitments to finish the hat/mittens/scarves I began with. And reading her book is just making it worse, since I now want to see what it is about knitting socks that she finds so calming. Plus, I want to try a sweater.

But, I have half a Christmas stocking on a set of needles, and three more to do to complete the family set. I've set it aside for now to do a poncho
for Claire, but that is amazingly taking only a few days. This is just half of it, I'm making it up as I go along, and haven't figured out how I'm going to join the back and front yet. I really like the pattern and want to do a shawl for myself in a solid color. Plus I still want to do a felted bag to keep my knitting in. See, there I go again. The number of projects I want to do at any given time far outweighs the number I've successfully completed in the last year. (baby blanket, hat and mittens for Nathan, Felted Bag, Felted Hat,Ear Warmer/Headband)

Easter

Here are the kids on Easter morning. I tried to go with more toys instead of candy, and actually just gave Claire a lot of clothes, but we're still swimming in chocolate. Quick story about the baskets. For Nathan's first Easter, it was so simple to pick up a basket, paint, ribbon and ornaments at Michael's, the whole thing was done in an afternoon. But Claire's took about a month of planning. I checked everywhere for a basket - Jo-Ann fabric, K-mart, Wal-mart, etc (which are about 40 minutes away). The local craft store had basket-making supplies, but I wasn't going to go through that much effort. We were actually going to go to the nearest Michael's (an hour and a half away) the day the Camry died. Finally stumbled across a basket at the pharmacy, but still had to search high and low for paint and ribbons that I liked. This is life in the middle of nowhere.