These boots aren't made for walking

Yesterday I had to take my 1998 Subaru Legacy station wagon - aka the Momobile - for a new set of axle boots. Not exactly the way I want to spend my morning or our money but, honestly, the car has not required much repair at all in the almost seven years since we bought it used. And because we finally have a Subaru dealership on the south side of Atlanta - yay - I did not have to drive all that far.

When I got home and checked my favorite Ravelry discussion groups, I saw that there is a new member in our Motherhood Later Rather Than Sooner group. When I looked at her profile and saw her project notebook, I saw that she named one her projects “These boots aren’t made for walking” booties. Hmmm. I just bought boots, I like the song, and the next thing I knew, I was humming "These Boots Are Made for Walking."

So, of course, I had to find a video of Nancy Sinatra singing the song and quickly found one on YouTube. I cranked up the music and although he was upstairs at the time, Aidan came running to see what I was doing. He watched the video, circa 1966, and when the video was over, he said "I think I love her!"

How cute! And for the rest of the day, Aidan and I sang the chorus together!

Hit of MY day, for sure

Aidan told me this afternoon that dinner is the "hit" of his day. When I asked him why, he said, "It's because I get a nice feeling of love with you and Daddy."

Altogether, now: awwww. And if that isn't a good reason to continue having dinner together each night, I don't know what is!

Not much going on

There just hasn't been much interesting going on, as evidenced by the lack of posts. Last week was winter break for Hooter County schools and most surrounding school systems, so Aidan was home with me. I do not understand the concept of winter break - I did not get it last year nor do I get it this year. If there is any time of the year that is any less conducive to having a week off from school than the middle of February, I don't know of one...even in Georgia, February weather is generally cold and unpredictable.

We had a good week together, however. Aidan was very good and cooperative, and we did a few extra fun things together. His favorite was a picnic at a local park on Friday; I had told him that if he was good all week, we would go there. Of course, it turned out to be the coldest and windiest day all week! There we sat with our Subway sandwiches in temps in the upper 30s, with a stiff wind blowing. But it was sunny, the sandwiches were good, and he had a great time running around a practice football field. All of you in colder climates will no doubt laugh, but that is okay - it was cold out there.

All in all, a good week. Just not a particularly interesting one.

An anniversary, of sorts

I know that it is more important to celebrate life than death, but when 16 February comes around, I can't not remember that it is the date of my father's death three years ago. In some ways it seems so long ago but there are times when my grief and longing are so acute that it seems just yesterday.

My mother gave me a commemorative clock that Dad received as a NASA Space Shuttle honoree; it is a laser-etched wood clock that depicts the launch of a space shuttle. Several months ago the clock stopped working so I took it down to replace the battery:

There was Dad's printing on a masking tape label on the battery showing the date he put it in the clock - December of 2004. He always labeled batteries so he could monitor how long a battery lasted and/or the "freshness" of a battery. Seeing his careful engineer printing on that battery caught me by surprise and brought a catch to my throat.

Someday I will get around to replacing that battery but for now, it is staying in the clock.

Knitting update

I have a few finished knitting projects to celebrate. And while it may seem that I am a fast and furious knitter, keep in mind that most of what I knit are small projects that knit up quickly.

Here is a hat that I made for myself:

The pattern is called "Butterfly Hat" because of the little abstract butterflies throughout. Aidan informed me that he thought they looked more like spiders...nice to think of spiders crawling all over my head! The yarn is Malabrigo merino wool, which feels almost as luscious as saying "Malabrigo" with your best South American accent. In general, I do not like wearing hats but also recognize that sometimes a hat is necessary; at least now I have a soft one in a fun color.

I made a market bag, also for me:

It seems that we are all getting on the reusable bag bandwagon and there are many, many knit/crochet patterns out there that use cotton yarn. This one turned out just fine, but I am not all that crazy about it; I think I just prefer bags that don't have an open mesh-like fabrication.

I had plenty of the lime green cotton yarn leftover, so I made a washcloth for Aidan:

He likes to use washcloths that I knit and he was thrilled to receive this one.

For Valentine's Day gifts, I made a whole batch of felted coasters:

Aidan gave one to his teacher, one to the class para-professional and one each to the two PE coaches. I also sent one to my mother, kept one for my own use and the last one will go in a gift box for a friend. The coasters are fun, fast and functional little gifts.

Still using up leftover cotton yarn, I knit two dishcloths to send to a fellow Raveler in the Handmade RAK group:


The purpose of the group is to share knitting and crocheted finished objects with other people who appreciate such gifts, those who are "knitworthy" or "crochetworthy". You post the items you would like to receive and perhaps someone in the group will make them for you. I just joined this group and was thrilled to send off my first RAKs this past week. I hope the recipient likes them!

Plans schmans

I am a creature of habit, of organization. I like schedules, agendas, to do lists and action items. I have even been known to plan for spontaneity. Some may find my need for structure to be rigid and confining; it is comforting and somewhat liberating for me, because it allows me to get everything I need to get done at a measured pace, without drama or haphazardness. And it allows me to budget my time so I can do things just for me.

My well-planned agenda was blown to hell this week. It all started last Thursday night...well, to be truthful, it started last spring, when we pulled the leaking garden tub out of the master bath. Once the tub was out and we saw all the room it freed, we decided to completely renovate the bathroom, which we have been doing for the past year as time and budget allowed. We are now at a point where James cannot do the plumbing work and has the good sense to call in professionals. After struggling to find plumbers who would actually a) return calls or b) show up to bid on the job, we found a company and scheduled them for yesterday, 11 February. Fine, although it meant that I needed to change my regular volunteer morning with Aidan's class from Wednesday to Thursday, but that was no problem.

Then last Thursday night, the furnace for the downstairs went out. I came down on Friday morning to 55 degrees on the first floor - just a tad bit chilly. We have kept up the warranty since buying this house just for the furnaces and a/c units; they are old and will eventually give up the ghost, and we want to have some financial protection in place. I placed the service call and was advised by the contracted company that the earliest they could come would be Monday midday.

Fine. My monthly mystery book group meeting was Monday at 11 am. Grrr, especially since we read one of my favorite books, Maisie Dobbs,and I was looking forward to discussing it. I sent a message to the organizer and told her I would not be there.

Then on Sunday, Aidan began complaining of a sore throat and he ran a low fever. Oh, dear...and a "first thing" trip to the pediatrician on Monday confirmed that he had strep. Again. Fine. And now that he cannot take amoxycillin, he was prescribed cefprozil. which was not available at our pharmacy nor at many other pharmacies. Our Walgreens pharmacist was wonderful and called around to try and locate the medicine, finally locating it for us. We got the medicine and returned home to wait for the repair service, who arrived around 4 pm (I know, not exactly midday) and quickly fixed the furnace.

Since strep is stlll contagious for 24-36 hours after starting antibiotics, Aidan was not going back to school on Tuesday. Fine. I usually grocery shop and run errands on Tuesdays, but that was not going to happen; Aidan needed to rest and not be out spreading germs. And since the plumbers were scheduled to arrive at 8 am on Wednesday, I couldn't reschedule my errands for a day later. After a quick dinner on Tuesday night, I went out to the grocery shopping but I could not take care of the bank errand nor going to the post office to mail Grandma's valentine present.

Aidan went back to school yesterday and the plumbers arrived on schedule. I made my list of errands to run today, a list that had grown to eight line items. During the afternoon, the plumbers told me that they would not be able to finish the job in one day and would need to come back today. Fine. I called Aidan's teacher to tell her that I would not be in, then looked at the list of errands that STILL have not been dispatched and sighed.

So now it is Thursday and Grandma's valentine package is still in the car and the library books are still waiting to be returned. Minor annoyances, to be sure, but I hate when my careful planning is thrown out the window.

Fine. Just fine.

Not discontent, just the blahs

"Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time."
- John Steinbeck

Isn't that quote delightfully morose? It all started several days ago when a friend stated on Facebook her discontent with winter...and a lively exchange of comments followed, as the source of the quote was debated and located.

I have never cared much for Steinbeck but I do like that quote - it seems to truly capture the nature of discontent. Despite having all the basics, a person can still get the gnawing feeling that everything they have is not enough.

Winter will do that to a being. And while I do not have a feeling of discontent, I certainly have a case of the blahs. We have a house renovation project underway that disrupts normal life...we have other vital household repairs that need to be made...the weather is up and down, causing our sinuses to go haywire...every other child at Aidan's school is sick and I worry/wonder about him getting sick, too...the news about our economy is still bad...we worry about the stability of James' employer...yada yada yada.

But the sun shines, the birds sing and one or two daffodils are daring to bloom. I hold fast to the knowledge that February will be over soon enough. And that is about as philosophical as I get.

Dental update

Today was the follow-up visit with the oral surgeon, Dr. P. [drum roll, please] We received a hearty thumbs up regarding the status of Aidan's front tooth! His lip has healed, the gums have healed and the tooth has moved back into place all on its own. Dr. P even said that, although not completely out of the woods, we do not need to see our regular dentist prior to Aidan's scheduled six month checkup in May. YIPPEE!

And we are off the soft food only diet, which was great news to us all. He told Aidan to take it easy as he eases back into normal eating, but at least we can have some variety back in our meals. Another YIPPEE!

Time will reveal whether the tooth sustained any long-term damage but initial indications are good. Did someone say YIPPEE? YIPPEE!

Soccer boy

Yesterday was a beautiful day - sunny, with temperatures in the low 50s. Aidan and I spent some time outside yesterday; he ran around and got his yayas out while I basked and sipped a cold brew. No complaints here!