Home again, Home again...

So we're back.

Phew.

The boy burst into tears on the way home more times than I could remember while driving back because he just bloody well wanted to be home and snuggle with his brother. They really are a love fest. I have no idea what happened, but it's great. It was not the best drive I've ever had, but Mom was great and Mary Poppins calmed the boy through the last leg (half of me feels like a cheatin' mom for relying on the DVD player, and half really couldn't care less what the first half thinks).

I didn't bring a cable to move digi pics from camera to blog so here's the highlights of the trip via digicam. It ends with some close ups of the ear, which btw, he's looked at and he's VERY excited by. We've been clear that it isn't done "cooking" yet, and he gets that.

Thing Two at Universal Studios on 1/30/08, being made into a tiger (this girl was GREAT!). I also knew it was his last day with hair for awhile, so...sigh...

He pretty much walked up to anyone who would listen, growled at them, then told them that he was a tiger. (Duh)

Day of, 2/1/08.

La Brea with my Mom 2/5/08.

Venice fun with Jessica 2/6/08.

The water was remarkably uncold, and the kids were just spectacular (if soggy).

Sam and Jess sacked out

Snuggly kids drying off

Kidspace Museum, you can see them climbing up "water drops" waaaaaay up into the ceiling. An amzing little museum in Pasadena. 2/7/08

Riding tricyles at same museum.

Bored at lunch.

The unveiling with Dr. Reinisch and Tracey, the spectacular surgical assistant. 2/8/08

Thing Two and the chair. He LOVED operating this chair. 

The ear, 2/10/08. We weren't supposed to uncover it yet, but he'd pretty much mauled parts of the gauze and he'd completely jarred the stickum on the cup, so...we cleaned the gauze up, restuck the cup and I took the opportunity to take pics for posterity. The color continues to improve.

I know it looks completely frankenstein at this point (how apropos with CraftLit doing Shelley's book right now) but it's already a huge improvement over the first day of unveiling. It's really an extraordinary journey!

Ear!
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One and a tenth . . .

Starting sock two for Sam. Thank God her feet are smaller than mine. :-)
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Yeah . . . So . . .

We were bored!
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What's Thing Two's surgery about!?

I realized that not everyone knows why we did this.

Thing Two was born with Microtia, a not-very-rare birth defect that (usually) affects the right side of the face. Lucky for us, Thing Two was born with a middle and inner ear that seem to be working fine and no extra problems with jaw or face. The main problem was that his ear was small and he has no ear canal. We've done the surgery backwards, ear first, canal next (if he's a candidate) b/c getting accurate information is a bit tricky. We'd been told that the canal surgery was too risky at this age due to a nerve bundle in the jaw.

Our doctor, John Reinisch, as has been previously stated, is spectacular, and he works with a canal surgeon who does canal reconstructions on kids as young as 2-1/2. So. That's for later.

It sounds like ear reconstruction is just vanity surgery, but in our family, Thing Two runs a pretty high risk of needing glasses and he wouldn't have been able to wear them with the ear he was born with. That and UV sunglasses are really not optional for kids in AZ. They can get damaged eyes.

So.

Here we are.

Wraps come off tomorrow.

Eek!

What's on the needles. . .

Socks for Sam's
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Thing Two's recovery

Thing Two and jessica at the beach.
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More at doc's Monday night
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Dr. Reinisch: Miracle Worker

Here's the good doc taking some of the dressing off of Aiden's shaved pate. He's looking VERY good and though he looks all dour in the pic, Dr. Reinisch and Aiden were doing a good job cracking each other up throughout this procedure.

The medical office is COMPLETELY wired to a DVD with flat screen TVs everywhere. So, when meeting with small children in the room, he clicks the TV on and chats along with the parents. Bloody brilliant.

However, this time there was a female assistant (Tracey) who I didn't get a pic of. Aiden--true to form--immediately started flirting. The doctor told my Mom (as he'd told me) that on the day of the surgery no one wanted to knock him out b/c he was so much fun.

He whimpered and started to tear up when they took the drains out (ugh) but he recovered pretty much immediately. I think it was a huge relief to get these nasty plastic tubes and bulbs off of his back/neck.

They re-gauzed him so he still has a white helmet, but more of his head is showing through. It's not so packed with gauze and he got a new ear cup--this one with blue smiley faces on it. the first had yellow ones. I thought this was something the doctor did, but apparently each cup COMES WITH two little smiley face stickers. I don't know if on certain procedures they perform some actual function or if it's just a nice company.

Either way, it made the boy smile.

More soon...

Aiden Monday night getting first dressing replaced. cute buzz cut!
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Thing Two's eye . . .

Poor baby's eye swelled shut-per doc's prediction. boy is also modelling two hats at once. . .
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Thing Two update

At 2:35am I heard this little voice say, "Mommy, can I sleep here?" So Thing Two climbed in bed with me. The glow from the LA sky illuminated his face and his poor eye, which is--as predicted--completely swollen shut. I'm sure I'll be posting a pic to that effect later today.

Cold compresses don't seem to be helping and the drains aren't draining so much today (ugh) but aside from being occasionally annoyed from his closed eye, he really seems to be doing quite well today. I gave him some regular Tylenol when he climbed in bed with me, but he's needed nothing so far today. He took his antibiotics without complaint as well.

Andrew and Thing One are on their way home and tomorrow Mom comes out to help me. Thing Two is looking forward to seeing Grammy. Today we have brunch with friends and then a Superbowl party at the Stone's house. If this morning is any indication, Thing Two will be having a rather nice day. Quiet and good. Bummer that the skies have opened. We didn't bring an umbrella...but seriously, if that's the only thing that goes wrong...

Knitting is progressing nicely. Thing Two likes his hats (two hats) and crown (from Knitting Daily, I think) which I knit while he was in surgery. He wears them on top of all the gauze. I'll get a pic of that too. Working on socks for Sam now as I left the pattern for Dad's socks at home.

C'est la guerre...

Censorship alert

I haven't read the book. NAYY, but I think the author's defense is quite good. I'm linking to the Amazon review page too.

What kinda car am I???

Goofy, but...

I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!

You're not subtle, but you don't want to be. Fast, loud, and dramatic, you want people to notice you, and then get out of the way. In a world full of sheep, you're a raging bull.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Surgery update:

So if you work your way backwards through the blog you can see updated pics and learn why we had the surgery here.

It's 9pm on Saturday night and the boy's in bed and asleep--happily so, too. His right eye--the one closest to the surgery site is starting to swell, but that's normal. Scary, but normal.

When he woke up this morning he faded in and out of being disoriented and very alert. He also faded in and out of a fever. He took his antibiotics (against his will) and only needed regular Tylenol twice (once was my decision as a preemptive strike). We're using the Co-Tylenol for sleep and it seems to be working just fine. No nasty side-effects.

We decided to take him to the Santa Monica Pier. We borrowed a stroller from the Stones (My best friend's family with whom we are staying--actually in their above-garage apartment. Just spectacularly wonderful of them and so SO good for us) and walked Aiden up and down the pier a couple of times, waiting for things to open. 

Showing us just how lucky we are and how well the universe is treating him, the boy won 850 tickets at a whack-a-mole game at the arcade, then rode the (enormous and very smooth) ferris wheel at the end of the pier, then proceeded to ride every kiddie ride that wouldn't jar the drains (ugh) descending from the surgery site. He's a little daredevil, and after a very good nap, he proceeded to play with Jessica, friend Sam's daughter, for a couple of hours. When we came up to go to bed we only had a little struggle with the meds, then we read a book, and he pretty much collapsed into sleep.

I'm wiped out too. This was the most I've done physically since getting over pneumonia and I'm only just starting to get my lungs back. However, I'm really happy with my progress too. We should see the doc on Monday (I hope to get these gawdawful drains out) and then finally on Friday. Then we'll find out what to do to learn if the boy is a candidate for canal surgery. Maybe he'll both have an ear AND be able to hear by next Christmas!

Thank you all so much for your support, comments, emails and phone messages. It's been tense, but very very good.

Santa Monica pier

Aiden day after surgery (with Tylenol)
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Day after surgery

Aiden's head dressing.
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Still waiting . . .

Hat number two for Aiden. Interweave holiday pg 58 with bigger gauge, four sts per inch.
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UPDATE: Skin graft being placed

UPDATE: Skin graft being placed now. Nurse says surgery is going very well. LOVE this doctor team!
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The god-awful yarn combo Thing Two picked for his post-op hat since They're shaving his head.
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Waiting . . .

Holding pen during Aiden's reconstructive surgery. Nice folks. Boring room.
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Mitten. STR in sherbet.
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The Thorganizer

Yes, by the gods, YES!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=thorganizer

STR Broad street mittens from knitty.com 2002! Gorgeous and warm!
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Aw...Huck!?

I've been enjoying watching Mike Hucabee lately. He's been on Colbert and Stewart and he's smart and funny. But his recent comments about the consitution (link pending) and this lovely bit about the South Carolina flag have made me a little more...how you say...nervous about the man.

Read on.
http://www.slate.com/id/2182358/

Thor, God of Thunder, Silenced. April 1, 1962--January 14, 2008

I first met Thor during my trial period as Andrew's fiancé. I understood during this time that if I was rejected by Nancy, Kathy, or Thor, there probably wouldn't be a wedding.

Um...pressure? 

You have no idea.

Nancy, Kathy, and Thor are some of the smartest, funniest, quickest, best people I've ever met. And while I grew to love them all, Thor always held a special place in my heart for a number of reasons:

1. I'd heard hundreds of stories about him while dating Andrew six years earlier (including his climbing Half-Dome, slipping, falling forty feet onto his head, then getting drunk at a New Year's party shortly thereafter and pulling his stitches out for fun);
2. I'd spent a considerable amount of time while dating Andrew wearing a discarded Rugby jersey of Thor's;
   
3. I didn't believe any of the stories about him were true... until I met him. And realized they'd probably been played down from their technicolor reality;
4. Any time you have the opportunity to meet an actual Norwegian Thunder God...well...it's a special event.

There are many who knew him better than I and many who will post about him with more of value to say, but he's in my heart too. He was...blustery. He didn't suffer fools. He was not an easy person.

But he was good. I'm sure there are female Democratic operatives (and Ann Coulter) who might like to disagree with me on that as he wasn't exactly P.C., but he never, never treated me with anything but respect (once he approved me as Andrew's To-Be). And honestly, Andrew and an age-old friendship aside, if he didn't like me, I (and anyone nearby) would have known it.

I think that moment where I earned his stamp-of-approval came at a bar in Atlanta where I was suffering from an hellacious spider bite. I asked the waiter if I could get a black tea bag and boiling water. He looked at me as though I had just stepped off the surface of Mars, when I explained that my Mother-in-Law-to-be had showed me how I could take a boiling hot tea bag and apply it to the bites to alleviate the pain/itch. (Yeah, it hurts, but it must open the pores enough to get some tannins in there b/c it works.) Anyhoo, the waiter said he had no tea bags but he'd be back with some bacon.

If I recall correctly there were a few beats of silence before we all started sniggering, thinking he was an idiot (I believe this is where I was also introduced to the phrase, "parts is parts..."). The waiter returned with several strips of bacon which he--no joke--scotch taped to my leg. There's photographic proof of this in one of Nancy's albums (and it worked for a bit!--thanks to Nancy for the photographic evidence...see below). That's the same night I took a picture of Nancy, Katie, and Thor. And that's the night Thor told Andrew it was okay with him if we got married.

It mattered.

Later, I managed to hunt Thor down in Croatia...Serbia...Kosovo I think...somewhere that was broken, that he was helping fix...and asked him if he would be able to make it to my husband's 40th birthday party. I fully expected an, "I'd love to, but..." response because, Dude...he was in Kosovo.

What I got was, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

He's the one who snuck upstairs with me to put ALL the candles on Andrew's cake. He's the one who carried it down dark and dangerous steps at Marie's Crisis

and presented it to Andrew (I was pretty largely pregnant at the time).

He's the one who could always make me laugh...generally inappropriately, but laugh a lot.

Anyway, like I said, there are plenty of hundreds of people who knew him better than me, but it's important to remember, right? It's important not just to be a Speaker For the Dead, but a Speaker OF the Dead. It's the only way he stays alive, yeah? In stories. In legends (but seriously, he did fall off Half Dome and took the stitches out at the party). And in our hearts.

And I fully expect to see a Facebook posting or get an email from him tomorrow saying,

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated..."

It would be like him...

A sampling of that good humor...from his Facebook page...posted today.

And a perfectly Thor picture.

You can read details of the tragedy here and a more complete version with his name in it from the kind Rhonda Cook at the Atlanta Journal Constitution here.

Broadstreet mittens/gloves

Socks that rock-metamorphic colorway
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#($*&@#)(*%& Internets!

So I've been trying to post for over a week...I seem to be able to post via phone but not actual writing.
Sigh...
So many things, so much frustration.

If this posts, look for a REAL entry from me tomorrow!

Little Coriolis

Bootie two, part one
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Cat Bordhi Genius

Baby booties part one
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On the road. . .

The best part. . .
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More. . .
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More splendor. . .
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Living room. . .
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Mm Noro

The beautiful mystery of Noro color. . .this time on a tea pot cozy.
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Happy Happy

I trust you all had a spectacular holiday!

We just had the last of our family escape our premises so it's just us and the kids again. Tra la la.

I didn't actually FINISH knitting for Xmas so much as made plans TO KNIT for next year. This way I was able to let folks pick their yarn (STR) and pattern (socks or glittens) which I ultimately thought was a better idea. It was. I would NEVER have chosen the sock yarn colors that were selected--not that they were bad (far from) but I'm a lousy judge of color. So this was much MUCH better.

Now we're just spending the holiday weeks with our kids in tow. We have exactly zero plans, except that I'd like nothing more than to knit for the next two weeks.

Yeah, right...

The weaving is paused right now while we have a bunny in the house (I gave it my weaving area...it's got feelings and the loom mostly doesn't). The knitting is on a new Cat Bordhi kick, so I'm finishing the second pair of baby booties. I think I can say without fear of being contradicted that she's a genius. I wish I had half the creativity that woman has. Woof!

Craftlit continues and I'm planning a few interviews for the rest of Frankenstein. So exciting!

But now, I'm going to go back and work more on that New Year's letter (might become the Valentines Day letter at this rate...) and see if I can sneak some knitting in...

Toodles!

Sock Darning, 102a

NOTICE: Desperately seeking Bouton D'Or Flash in a vaguely gold colorway--I think the color number is 075 but I'm not sure (I'm looking at the ball band, but who knows...)

Contact me at MamaOKNits [at] gmail [dot] com if you are a goddess who is in possession of such stuff...

PLEASE!

So

I'm a fanatic for sock darning now that I've been knitting the darn things.Here's my step by step for you, so you can join me in my new nuttiness. Understand though, that this isn't probably the most detailed tutorial. I do expect that you have a basic idea of what you're about to undertake, but I also figured you'd not be knitting socks if you didn't:

First, create a vertical scaffold for your darning. It'll help keep you in line and give you some useful strings to hang on when you need them.

(yeah, it's blurry, but it's close-in and you can see the white vertical stripes)

In fact, the more regular you can be about the placement of said scaffolds the happier you'll be.

 If you can put them on the insides or outsides of stitches all the way across, so that you KNOW what your threads are doing, you'll be in good shape. If you have no idea what I'm talking

 about, don't worry. It won't kill you (and you may figure it out by the end).

Start a few rows below where you need to be. You're going to either create stit

ches in that void using the thread guides, or you're going to pull stitches down from the top and darn them together with stitches at the bottom of your hole...or a little of both. Which is what I did.

So here you can see a couple of rows completed in duplicate stitch. If you've never done this before check out this tutorial (and this video...scroll down to "joining a new color yarn"... oh, and this tutorial too...). It's MUCH easier than you think, though I found working on the purl side even easier when I first started. But this is pretty easy too.

See where the needle comes in and out? That's actually connecting the top loops of the stitches on either side of that needle. Like linking elbows in a long chain. That's it. That's the whole secret of knitting right there.

Easy.
This is the next pic in line. Notice in the pic above this, the yarn tail is coming down from the top? Now it's coming up from the bottom. 

AH

And the top is where it'll end up at the end of this stitch. You'll also see (even through the haze of the flash) that there's VERY LITTLE that I'm able to grab onto with the needle. In fact, most of what I'm stitching through is ground-down fluff from the original sock yarn.

C'est la guerre.

Regardless, this is where those little white threads come in handy. I can hook those as well as whatever fluff I can manage. From this point on, I'll be using those guide threads until I can get close enough to the top row of the hole to start snagging those loops...until then...it's a high wire act.

And in this pic you can see just how far I've had to reach UP to get at anything...even a tiny little snag that I know would pull out with a gentle tug. That's fine though, because I'm going to continue my rows above that, so I'll be "linking arms" with those stitches. I just can't pull it hard NOW.

And that's pretty much it. Go AT LEAST two rows past where your hole was...

And now, I'm off to darn another!

Re-Warping chenille

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Plying

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Gosh Darn Life!

Once again, life swipes at us...holidays, holiday gift making, kids, illnesses, work, (not necessarily in that order). You know the drill.

But here's something nice. In the middle of all the chaos, a weaving/spinning/knitting friend of mine who is a RNP, has begun to work for a company called "Take Care" which runs store front clinics inside Walgreens stores here in Tucson. Spectacular. Cheap, attentive, gentle medical care. Nothing urgent (like broken bones) but things annoying and impossible to get emergency visits for...like croup.

Thing 2 needed to be checked today since he got sent home from school with a (ridiculously) minimal fever. He's fine--I'm getting something nasty though--and he'll be even better after a nap, but it was so nice to have access to this easy (and did I say cheap?) health care option.

A good thing in this sickly season.

Tra la la

Off to ply...pics to come...

Our son. . .

The two-stripe yellow belt
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It progresses...

Back and . . .

And front...and no, my dressform has no legs. Poor thing...

Love Ben Stein (better late than never...)

SEE THE NOTE BELOW FIRST--thank you Emano!!!:

I don't know that I agree with everything Mister Stein has to say, but I have to say it's refreshing honesty to hear this at all.

I still think religion belongs at home rather than at school, but it's nuts to actively deny the Judeo roots of our legal system--though school is not the place for prayer (unless it's private and before an exam) home is. Synagogue is. Church is.

Seriously, who wants a teacher leading prayers. Honestly! Like when did I get a Divinity degree???

At the same time, the atheists I know are the most ethical folks I know as--for them--there are no easy answers. They have to actually think about right-and-wrong rather than just have a spoon-fed, knee-jerk response (which may be wrong...witness the Teddy Bear). And while I'm totally on-board with the Nick and Jessica thing, I'm a little unnerved by the "they asked for it" overtones on the good folks who died or who's children committed suicide...

Regardless. It's interesting to read, no?

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS

Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:


I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And
it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those
beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel
threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are:
Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say 'Merry Christmas' to
me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in
a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all
brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't
bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key
intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a cradle
there, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred
yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think
Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think
people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed
around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that
America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the
Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: Where did the idea come from
that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to
worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm
getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering
where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went
to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this
is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not
funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

[See below. This part did NOT come from Ben Stein...I wondered...]          Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane
Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?'
(regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and
insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by
this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get
out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of
our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly
backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His
protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings,
etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was
murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer
in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not
read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when
they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped
and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And
we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why
they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to
kill strangers, their classmates and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.
I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why
the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the
newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you
can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but
when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think
twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene
articles pass freely through cyberspace but public discussion of God
is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many
on your address list because you're not sure what they believe or
what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more
worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of
us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard
it...no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought
process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world
is in.

My Best Regards. Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
Amen

NOTE:
THANK YOU EMANO! Here's the REAL original:

Intro from Scopes:

Stein, a lawyer by training, has also served as a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon, has to date authored sixteen books (both novels and non-fiction efforts), and continues to write editorials and columns for a number of prominent publications. He is perhaps best known to the world at large, however, for his in-front-of-the-camera work as the dreadfully dull economics teacher in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (and his similar role as the monotonic science teacher Mr. Cantwell on the TV series The Wonder Years) and as the keenly competitive host of the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's Money.

Mr. Stein currently offers occasional commentaries for the CBS Sunday Morning news program, and the item quoted above is based on one such commentary, entitled "Confessions for the Holidays" and delivered by Mr. Stein on that program on 18 December 2005, one week before Christmas. However, the version widely circulated via e-mail includes some transcription errors and modifications that were not part of the piece as originally aired. Here is the full version as broadcast, taken from a CBS News transcript of the program:

CHARLES OSGOOD, host: We all have our own thoughts about the holidays. Here's Ben Stein with his.

BEN STEIN: Here at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart. I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are.

(Footage of People magazine; Us magazine)

STEIN: I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I'm buying my dog biscuits. I still don't know. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores who they are. They don't know who Nick and Jessica are, either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they've broken up? Why are they so darned important?

(Footage of People magazine)

STEIN: I

don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I don't care at all about Tom Cruise's baby.

(Vintage footage of congressional hearing)

STEIN: Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I'm a subversive? Maybe. But I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young? Hm, not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautifully lit-up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees.

(Footage of Christmas trees)

STEIN: I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are — Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they're slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. I shows that we're all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.

It doesn't bother me one bit that there's a manger scene on display at a key intersection at my beach house in Malibu.

(Footage of manger scene; menorah)

STEIN: If people want a creche, fine. The menorah a few hundred yards away is fine, too. I do not like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way. Where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and aren't allowed to worship God as we understand him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we used to know went to.

SPS (I suck!)

I've been remiss. But then, I've been sick.
Of course, I now have a new haircut to show off today.
This is me trying to finish a 50,000 word book in four more days.
Yeah, I know.
Me too.

This is a lighter pic of me in the office (see, TWO this Sunday!).

And here's a question for all of your knitty types:
those little sweater stones...do they work? My Rogue Hoodie is getting all pilled along the cuffs and inside of the sleeves. Stone or little rotary reverse-fan looking-thing?
Your call. It's all a mystery to me.

And what have I been wearing today? My Harry Potter Sock Swap Socks (THANK YOU CASSANDRA GRUBBLY-PLANK!) and my Rogue Hoodie.
Why?

BECAUSE IT WAS COLD!

It's 49° out there right now, at 10pm!

I LOVE THIS!!!!

NaNoWriMo Fun!

Everyone needs a merit badge.

Near as I can tell, these are the above, in order left to right top row:

• Procrastination
• Rally Day
• Word-Count Padding,
• Victory
• Random Ending

in order left to right bottom row:

• Caffeine Abuse
• the Eureka Moment (when the puzzle piece fits)
  
• NaNo Socializing
  
• Secret Noveling
• Creative Nonfiction
  

On some level I think I'll get all but Victory...now I'm starting to get a complex after the horrible experience in the Knitting Olympics. I gotta stop joining these things...

Harry Potter bounty from my pal!
HeatherViaPhone

I'm SO Warped!

Warping for presents!
HeatherViaPhone

OHMAHGAW!
I have the BEST friends in the world! Two friends from the local Handweavers and Spinners guild (TH&SG) had a warping board they could live without. Me? I'd gotten to the point where using part of the great room and the dining room table with a Ginger Ale 2-litre bottle on it (to make my cross) was getting both OLD and dangerous with two small boys who like to crash into things.
This has saved Christmas.
Too late for Hanukkah.
LOL

But it's great. You see two colors of chenille warped up here to make SOMEthing for SOMEone who occasionally reads my blog. It's a short warp b/c it's a kit. Had I my druthers I'd have warped all 14 feet of this lovely lady.

More on this later.

My office. . .

For Monday and Tuesday, anyway. . .
HeatherViaPhone

On the road again. . .

Thing One rides (and rides)
HeatherViaPhone

O, That's ALL?

You Are 72% A Child of the 80s

Not only did you experience the 80s... you are practically an expert. You should be totally stoked!

Are You a Child of an 80s?

One reason i'm glad i'm not an undergrad

Says "so dirty you'll beg for a shower." ad by axe. more to come on this. . .
HeatherViaPhone

The End Is Near

I find myself still unable to speak clearly for any length of time, so getting the podcast out has been impossible. I think I might start doing it in stages, a few minutes here and there just to get the first chapters out to everyone. I feel horrible. I'd so wanted to start Frankenstein for Halloween.

Ah well...the best laid plans, blah blah blah.

And, of course, I'm not the only sick one.
Andrew leaves and Thing 2 gets Croup. I've never met Croup before. It's horrifying. The poor little guy couldn't breathe in OR out. His cute little voice had been replaced by hideous, raspy, seal-boy, barking and wheezing--not a high pitched wheeze, either, but this low, growling, rolling, aching snarl

I hope I never hear this again.

I tried to get an inhaler in his mouth--HA! He was awake and crying but not really awake enough to reason with (who am I kidding? He's three...like we ever are able to reason with him). I pulled down one of the humidifiers--which was strangely missing it's water-container cap. Okay, so that's trash--not fun to discover at 12:30am. Humidifier #2 comes down and it's good to go...but there are no available plugs. Unplug the air purifier and...find yourself unable to get the humidifier plug into that socket.

One whole I Love Lucy sketch later, and the humidifier is in. Thing 2 has already collapsed backwards in bed, sound asleep and breathing pretty well.

I go back to bed and fall into it. I'm still having trouble myself, so I take a hit off of my (brand new) inhaler and pass out. I come-to about 15 minutes later, coughing myself awake. I pop a Halls (mmmmmmmmmm mentholyptus!) into my mouth, take a swig of water, and curl up again.

I know, I know, sleeping with a cough drop in your mouth--especially when sleeping alone--isn't such a great idea. So sue me. It works.

Thing 2 and I repeat our comedy act three times during the night. Finally at 5am, I ask him if he wants to get into bed with me. Yes he does, so we stumble back to my room, which is (mercifully) dark as a tomb, and I arrange the pillows around him for maximum safety. He snuggles in and I ask if he wants to hold my hand. No. He grabs his hand away from me and is fniffy in ways that only a three year old can be--followed almost immediately by this little arm snaking through the covers to find and clamp onto my hand as he falls, immediately, into an occasionally fitful sleep.

Me?

I just stay there, listening to make sure he's breathing.

The next day, yesterday, after nearly four hours at Urgent Care (our pediatrician sucks) they give him a liquid steroid.

And last night?

The boy slept.

But none of that has anything to do with the title of the blog post.

In the middle of all of this, I've been working on socks for the Second Hogwarts Sock Swap. Luckily, both my pal and I have had a hard time finishing--I'm doing the Railroad (I think) pattern for gentlemen's socks from Nancy Bush--lovely pattern, easy to memorize repeat, freakin' tiny gauge. They're taking me forever.

But will be lovely when they're done.

I have about another two inches before I can start decreasing for toes.

The end is near.

Next? I weave.