FrankenBlanket

One thing I didn't like about being addicted to Facebook (along with the more obvious problem of having a screen in my face every waking minute) was the fact that I never made or did anything constructive. When I quit, I decided to make a concentrated effort to always have some project in my hands when I'm sitting down because I hate just sitting with nothing to do.

Neenaw taught me to crochet when I was little, but I hadn't crocheted in years. I'm crochet-illiterate and can't read (okay, don't want to learn to read) those hyper-abbreviated crochet pattern instructions. Can we just not type the thing out? To quote someone I know well, "I don't want to think. I just want to DO."

I bought the rainbow-y yarn (on the right) several years ago and haven't been able to find any more of it since. That's what I get for being short-sighted, but it turned out to be a wonderful center stripe of a great big blanket with rainbow colors.

And we named it "FrankenBlanket."

Now it's getting big and heavy and unwieldy. If only I could read crochet pattern instructions, I could be crocheting cute small things like hats or baby booties or toaster cozies, and take my projects out in public to work on in the light of day - but no. I can only crochet at home or in the car. It's really sad.

My life is harrrrrd, but at least now I'll have FrankenBlanket to keep me warm.

Messing with the Hutch

Ta-daaaa

The bells are my new favorite

Hi Mom :)

Mom came for a quick visit today. We had a great time together, shopping and lunch and picking up and dropping off Bella. She brought over some lampshades and a couple of other antique-y items and some old rugs she doesn't need anymore. Yay, new stuff! :)

There are those naughty girls again

Good Neighbors

We went to the Farmers Market this morning. Everyone had a treat and we brought home some awesome hummus (holy mcyummus).

George and the kids. "Carter! Get off that globe!"

Later in the day, Roz decided it was time for a party and show with the neighbor kids. She and Emma and Dylan put together a tumbling and hula hoop performance and then invited Emma's and Dylan's parents to our backyard to watch. They sweetly indulged our weird party-obsessed kid.

Roz, Jamison, Dylan, Emma

So as we parents were sitting there, we started talking about chickens and chicken coops and how crappily our back fence was built (Jason, Dylan's dad, planted English ivy on his side of the fence to cover the ugliness) and just house-y stuff in general, and it came up that our back steps are crumbling and we have no way to saw wood to the right length to put in new steps. Jason is a contractor and of course has everything. So does Emma's dad, John, who also had leftover deck wood, and before I knew it they'd both left to get tools and wood and pretty soon they were measuring our steps and yelling measurements to each other over the back fence. Nice!

Bri: "I guess I should go get my hammer."

Look, new firewood!

The ladies enjoying Emma's huge PVC hula hoop

Jason "The Man"

New step! Yay!

After all this happened, Dada took a couple of boys shopping for some much-needed new clothes. Carter made a new friend.

C and friend