My little spud

Aidan was very secretive yesterday afternoon, diligently working on some project. When James came home, Aidan took him aside and had a quick, whispered conversation - he was getting James to help him with the spelling of two words.

Giggling, Aidan presented me with this card:

Miss Mashed Potato? Don't ask me...but he is my dear little spud!

A bit of a blur

The past week has been busier than usual for me. The big burner on the stove was finally repaired last Monday - yippee - so I am cooking on all four burners again. The repair happened just in time to do some extra cooking. James had a potluck at his work on Wednesday and he requested that I make macaroni and cheese. This is the good stuff...an Emeril recipe with homemade creamy cheese sauce and a spicy bread crumb topping; in other words, no one under the age of 16 will eat it. It was a big hit at the potluck and James brought home an empty dish.

On Wednesday afternoon after returning from my tour of duty in Aidan's class, I made a batch of sketty and meatballs to take over to the parents of a new baby. Baby Nora has been in the world for about four weeks now, but her mother and I agreed that I wouldn't bring dinner over until all their out of town guests had gone home. When I got up on Thursday, I baked a pan of brownies, and then took the meatballs/sauce, spaghetti and brownies over to their house after I left my tutoring gig. My car smelled so nice and chocolaty!

The weekend was fun. On Saturday, we went over to Falcon Field in Peachtree City for WWII Heritage days, sponsored by the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing. The event had re-enactors, vehicles, vintage aircraft and exhibits; we particularly enjoyed seeing the airplanes.


Aidan was thrilled to be allowed to get into a ball turret from an aircraft:


We took with us Flat Stanley, who was sent to us by a friend in North Carolina. We will send him back to NC with photos and a copy of the program for the event.

Yesterday we hosted a business colleague/friend of James, also from NC, who is in town for two weeks of training. He appreciated the opportunity to get away from the hotel and eat a home cooked meal. Despite a steady drizzle, we grilled some spicy chicken and I made twice baked potatoes and cucumber salad. We finished it off with fresh strawberry shortcake, since the strawberries are now in season. Yum!

Off the needles

I recently completed a few knitting projects.

I am still finding cloths (dish, wash, whatever) to be a quick and economical way to practice. I made a butterly cloth out of very pink yarn that Aidan liked and asked to use.


It's yours, love! The color scheme in his bathroom be damned, he is using a hot pink washcloth. It's a little hard to see the butterfly in the photo but, trust me, it is there.

Using a variegated cotton yarn, I made a cloth in a basketweave pattern called Alex's cloth.


It is a simple combination of knit and purl stitches but for some crazy reason, it vexed me. Terribly. I had to rip out numerous rows three or four times, trying to fix silly mistakes. At the end, it became personal and I was determined to conquer this dishcloth…and I did. It will go into the Mother's Day gift box for my mom.

I also finished the first of my practice gift scarves. The recipient is my friend Ann who lives in North Carolina and I think the fabulous color of the yarn and the delicate texture of the yarn will suit her beautifully.


Ann and I worked together several years ago, in a department headed by The Evil Executive Director. Despite the toxic environment (or maybe because of), we found much to enjoy and became good friends. I will ship off her scarf once I receive the cool "knit with love by MaryAnne" tags that I ordered from a crafter on Etsy.

Be nice to me, I gave blood today!

That is what is written on the sticker I am sporting today. I gave blood this morning, at one of the United Methodist churches in town. I like giving blood there because it is convenient, they have the blood drives on a regular basis and they leave me alone when I am there. I tried giving at a church closer to the house one time, but the churchgoers kept trying to recruit me and even sent the pastor over to talk to me. Sorry, folks, I am just there to give blood, not to be enlisted.

There was a bit of excitement at the blood drive today. A rather large man had just finished giving and was walking over to the snack/rest area when he went down like a load of bricks. The American Red Cross people sprang into action and had him resting comfortably very quickly. I have no idea if he lost consciousness or just lost his legs, but he definitely did not look good, even 20 minutes or so later.

The ARC person attending to my donation told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not to get up after my donation until she told me I could. Yes, ma'am! When she judged that my color was fine and that I seemed okay, she gave me clearance to get up...I told her that I was fine; after all, I have given birth so giving blood is a cakewalk! She laughed and heartily agreed - it was our own little "we are women, hear us roar" moment.

Although I feel fine and certainly had no issues with woozieness, giving blood takes more out of me (snicker, snicker) now than it used to...damn this getting older thing. I am chugging my extra liquids and taking it easy, but I still feel quite lethargic. Oh, well, it's a good excuse to do not much of anything the rest of the day!

Heartfelt

By far, the best birthday card came from Aidan.

Front:
Inside:
Back:

Who could ask for anything more?

P.S. Never, NEVER, tell your child your real age if you wish to keep it a secret.

Happy birthday to...me!

Yesterday was my birthday and I turned 38 - again! Funny how that works. It's not that I am ashamed of my age; it's just that I am to the point where I don't think it is really anyone's business. Kind of like espionage: my age is on a "need to know" basis and most people simply don't need to know.

Since my birthday was in the middle of the week, normal life still had to go on for the most part. Mom called me just after James and Aidan left to meet the bus, to wish me "happy birthday" before our respective days got busy. I spent my usual Wednesday morning in Aidan's class, then went to pick up my birthday cake - carrot cake, yum. While out, I also picked up a free birthday burrito from Moe's. Sure I came home and ate it by myself, but it sure was good. And free.

Aidan brought home happy birthday news that he had been good in school, for the third day in a row. And James' manager sent him home early in honor of my birthday - well, he was home by 3:45 - so I did not have to prepare dinner. Instead, we got pizza from one of my favorite places, which makes a New York style pizza pie. Yum, followed by more yum with the cake.

I received some very nice presents and lots of cards both traditional and electronic, so it was a lovely day all around.

But I am still NOT a year older.

Shiver, shiver, BRRR!

Go ahead, readers in the northern part of the continent, laugh. If circumstances were reversed, I would laugh, too!

It's cold here this morning - 35 right now. For north central Georgia (or however else this area is described), that is cold for a morning in mid-April. Yesterday was a chilly 60 with a brisk wind (although it did make the yard work not quite as awful); today's high should be around 50. All in all, not exactly the arctic but considering that on Friday the high was around 78 and it was lovely, this sudden plunge in temps is just downright rude.

And, we run the risk of a freeze either tonight and/or tomorrow night. As usual, James has been mad to get his garden planted so we already have ten tomato plants, corn, a strawberry plant, and tiny seedlings of carrots, radishes, eggplant, beans and turnips (don't ask me why he planted turnips - none of us like it). So this evening may find us scrambling for ways to cover our plants and protect them from the cold!

Excuse me while I try to find a long-sleeve shirt to wear today...

Oh, to be six...

...and flexible beyond belief. Aidan was playing his Leapster L-MAX last evening, in the most unlikely position.


Remember being that flexible? Me, neither.

Lessons learned

Proving that you are never too old to learn and that experience is the best teacher, I gained three new nuggets of knowledge this week:

• Never attempt to apply mascara while listening to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me. I was listening to the podcast of last week's show while getting ready yesterday morning and a particularly funny part caused me to nearly poke the mascara wand into my eye. It didn't help that I am using a new kind of mascara that has a wand handle the size of your average fireplace log - using that mascara is almost a two-handed job.

• Concentrate when working in the kitchen, no matter how many times you have done a particular task. Although the roast was still tasty, I completely forgot an important step when preparing a beef roast for the slow cooker on Wednesday morning, and I have made that particular recipe dozens of times. This morning, I came downstairs to find coffee the color of light tea; turns out that while I did put coffee in the coffeemaker last evening, I forgot to grind the beans first.

• Don't knit when tired and/or absorbed in a television program. Last night, I was trying to knit, watch Survivor and yawn my fool head off, all at the same time. After unraveling several rows of knitting not once but twice, I decided that watching and yawning were all I could handle at one time. At least I am getting better at recognizing my knitting mistakes so that I can correct them almost immediately and not when I have since knit five or six inches.

So there you have it: life lessons from The Queen. You can thank me later.

The very best news

Life is good. Today I received wonderful, wonderful news - my friend Kathy in North Carolina is the proud new mother of baby Gabriel Owen, who arrived in the world today weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces.

A new baby is usually a happy event, but the arrival of this baby boy is truly joyous. About two and a half years ago, Kathy delivered a baby boy at about 18 weeks into the pregnancy; little Owen lived only a very short time. Kathy and her husband, Doug, were understandably devastated. This pregnancy has been very difficult, and Kathy's Multiple Sclerosis added another element of risk and unpredictability, but they were determined and Kathy was under the constant care of a physician who specializes in high risk pregnancies.

I admire Kathy and Doug's courage to try again and I was so frightened that they would have their hearts broken, again. Kathy and I have had so many interesting email conservations in the last few years about grief and faith, and we have shared many suggestions on books and resources. Oddly enough, as my faith has waned, hers has grown and we have talked much about the whys and hows of our respective experiences.

So today, my heart is full of joy, gladness and relief for a family that now numbers THREE. Welcome to the world, Gabriel Owen!

Peter Sagal rocks

My fondness for National Public Radio is quite well- known, even among people who have had the pleasure to personally listen. One of my favorite shows is Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, the news quiz show. It is, hands down, one of the funniest shows ANYWHERE.

The host of the show is Peter Sagal. I learned through the NPR group on my knitting community site, Ravelry, that Peter had "gone off" on the movie Horton Hears a Who. I did not have the pleasure of hearing his commentary (and I certainly have no intentions of seeing the movie, first because Jim Carrey annoys me more than just about any human being with the exception of our current U.S. president and, second, because I've read the book and do not need to see anyone's movie interpretation of it), I went to his web site and read the written transcript in his blog.

The essence of the commentary is that the Horton movie annoyed him because of the way it denigrated the 96 daughters of the mayor of Whoville while the one son gets all the attention and it's this one son that saves Whoville. As the father of three daughters, Peter takes issue with the way that Hollywood, in particular, keeps putting women in supporting - and traditional - roles.

Go, Peter, go! It amazes me that in the year 2008, we still encounter silly gender stereotypes. As the mother of a son, I am trying hard to raise him as a feminist, with the clear understanding that little separates the two genders except a few different body parts. There are no boy or girl colors, that boys and girls can be anything they want to be, yada yada yada.

At times it seems that we may have gone a bit too far. Aidan's pediatrician in NC was a female and he had little contact with male doctors. When we moved here to Hooterville (not to be confused with Whoville), he saw a male doctor for the first time in his memory. Aidan's eyes got wide and he [loudly] whispered to me, "Mommy! He can't be a doctor - he's a boy!" To his credit, the doctor just laughed and then told Aidan that boys can be anything they want to be, even doctors.

But back to my love of Peter Sagal. How wonderful to hear a father get incensed about what his daughters see in popular culture and to want, maybe even just once, to see a girl or woman be the hero so his daughters can see someone like them in the starring role.

Go, Peter, go!

One of those days

Aidan is on spring break this week. All week. Yesterday he was quite good but today has been another story. He has displayed the very behavior that has been getting him into trouble at school lately: not listening and not following directions.

Our weekly trip to the grocery store this morning was not fun, due to his constant whining, touching and not following my directions. The rest of the day has not really improved and very honestly, I am counting the minutes until I meet my friend Betsy for a beer and a burger tonight.

I told Aidan that if he was good this week, he could earn the privilege of going to Daddy's work on Friday to go out to lunch with him. So far, that lunch is in serious jeopardy.

How many days until Monday?

Rain, rain, that's okay

It has been a very rainy two days here in Georgia. Friday evening had the potential to be very ugly but we escaped with only a quick rumble of thunder and a few flashes of lightning, but some very heavy downpours. Yesterday was quiet storm-wise, but we had almost constant rain (and some very heavy downpours) until mid-afternoon. Lovely weather indeed for a drought-stricken area!

The line of storms came through Friday evening just as it was time for Aidan to get ready for bed. With the lightning flashing, we opted out of having a bath and just wiped up the best we could. He had been in bed for only five minutes when we heard a terrific crash. James went upstairs to check on Aidan and found him huddled under the covers, quite scared. James brought him downstairs to wait out the storm, then we tried to discover the source of the crash. James thought it was either lightning striking nearby or a tree branch glancing off the house as it fell. The crash did not sound outside the house to me, but inside...as though Spenser cat had knocked something over and then fled in terror.

A search of the house yielded nothing. Spenser refused to admit to any wrongdoing or mischief. James even went up into the attic to see if there was anything gone up there, but there were no clues. It was unsettling that we had no idea what caused the noise, but we had no choice. The storm moved through quickly and about twenty minutes later, Aidan returned to bed.

When James accompanied Aidan into the upstairs bath yesterday morning for the A.M. round of teeth brushing and face washing, he discovered that the tub caddy that is held to the wall by suction cups had let go and all of Aidan's bath toys had fallen into the tub. THAT was the noise! So much for lightning and tree branches...silly, silly us.

Knitting update

I have been happily knitting during practically every moment of free time that I possess.

I finished a ribbed scarf a few weeks ago that turned out very pretty.


I used a wool and mohair blend in GORGEOUS color but even after blocking the scarf (basically washing in mild liquid and setting out to dry), it is still scratchier than I would like.


And the yarn left hairballs all over the floor! I am still vacuuming up turquoise fuzz and some got stuck in the wheels of Aidan's remote control car. Next I expect Spenser to hoark up a blue hairball.

My next scarf project is for my friend Ann in North Carolina; she agreed to be a recipient of a practice scarf. I chose a cotton/Modal blend in a luscious ocean blue color called Reef.


I adore the feel of this yarn - it is very soft and silky. The scarf is knit in a squares pattern, achieved by alternating blocks of knit and purl stitches. I modified the pattern by adding rows of knit stitches at the beginning (and will finish that way at the end) and on either side of the squares. It is turning out very, very pretty.

I have learned that I like having two projects in process at one time, so that I can switch back and forth depending on my mood or attention level. I picked up some cotton yarn last week to knit some dishcloths, mainly for practice. My first attempt turned out okay; I made some mistakes in counting that I did not notice until many rows later, so the mistakes are staying in.


In case you can't tell from the photo, it is a hearts pattern. Yesterday I have cast on a butterfly design dishcloth in a hot pink color, so perhaps the pattern will be easier to see.

So, all in all, I am adoring my new hobby!

It's not easy being green

For the most part, it is a lovely time of year out here in Hooterville, Georgia. The temps are mild - highs in the low 70s, lows in the 50s - and everything is blooming and leafing. But with all the plants and trees erupting in blooms and leaves, there is green pollen. Everywhere.

I prefer to keep the windows open when the weather is mild but it is not a good idea when the pollen is this bad. I did not realize how bad it was until the other day when I found Spenser paw prints in the layer of green pollen on the computer desk. Ewww. I promptly closed all the windows and wiped every surface I could find. Green, green and more green. When I cleaned the floors yesterday, the water I emptied out of the floor cleaner was, you guessed it, green.

At least this spring we are getting more rain than last year at this time. The rain washes the pollen away for at least a little while, making odd green rivulets in yards and on driveways.

Last Saturday when we were outside, we had a very odd pollen experience. The wind suddenly picked up in advance of a rain shower and a great green dust cloud came hurtling down the driveway. For several minutes, it was as though we were in a combination of a pollen fog and a pollen dust storm. Yuck! We went inside as quickly as we could, but the pollen had invaded our eyes, noses and mouths more so than usual. How bizarre, how bizarre.

So while I like the return of green to the world, I will be glad when this green pollen period moves on.

Third report card

When Aidan brought home his report card last week for the third nine week session, my first thought was "only nine weeks to go?"

As usual, his report card held no surprises. He continues to perform at or above grade level standards on all measures of academic achievement; his strongest areas are oral language, phonemic awareness (???) and mathematics. In the specialty areas, he received "satisfactory" in all except uses self-control, makes wise use of class time, and stays on task; in those he received "needs improvement". Really? He needs improvement?

The teacher's comments for this round were:

• Aidan is a pleasure to have in class.
• Aidan is continuing to work on not interrupting when others are speaking.
• Keep up the good work.

By being in his classroom every week, I know that his teacher and para pro like Aidan and think he is a smart child, but they do get frustrated with him being a busybody and his tendency to blurt out answers. They have indicated to me, however, that this is usual kindergarten behavior and they know we are working on it with him, and we will eventfully make progress.