Moving

Well, I finally did it. I am moving to typepad. Come see my new home, a work in progress.

New home of Swim Mom Knits

Where did Monday go? Thanks to two big deadlines and a procrastinating bossman, Monday disappeared before I really even knew it began. Luckily, I knew he was putting off what had to be done so I was prepared for a little overtime and a very busy day. With the weather so nice, my evening was almost entirely spent outside with the boys.

Saturday, Nate and I played. We jumped on the trampoline, played frisbee and all kinds of ball and went for a bike ride. Then Ben and Shane got home from swim team. We played some more. Shane's friend James came over that night. I escaped to my room and knitted while they did guy talk. Sunday they got up early and took Ben fishing at my grandparents. Nate was so upset that they went fishing and he didn't get to go. So, I loaded him up and we went fishing. We only managed to catch one fish (didn't get a whole lot of bites either) even though we fished for over three hours. Ben of course caught the most fish, I have never seen anyone as lucky as him. Once when he was a toddler, he put the hook in with no bait and still caught a fish in less than a minute. Anyways, I was hungry so I bribed Nate with food to get him to leave (it works so much easier if he thinks it is his idea) and we went back to the house while the rest of the boys fished more. Then more playing outside.

Once the boys got back, Shane loaded Nate up for swim team and left Ben and I at the house. Ben wanted to go on a bike ride, so I agreed. Mistake two of the day. (The first being a lack of sunscreen, I get bad rashes from the sun, so my legs are big rashy messes). My bike still had flat tires so this was my second ride on Ben's bike. My ass is bruised like you couldn't believe. It hurts to sit on my nice comfy office chair. Plus with the fibro, I have barely been able to walk. It is hard to play outside with your kids when you don't want to move because it hurts. (Okay that is all with the whiny). Yesterday, Ben and I went on a bike ride (he loves to ride his bike and we don't allow him to cross the highway without us, that and he doesn't really get to ride that many days with his swim schedule) but Shane had aired back up my bike tires. Much better. I love my granny bike.

I nearly finished my scarf while watching Heroes last night. How can there possibly only be three episodes left? I feel a little shortchanged on that but anyways. The scarf is the multidirectional noro scarf. I gotta say that the Noro is endlessly fascinating for me. I was a little concerned because it feels mighty scratchy to me but I don't have a whole lot of issues with it and I love watching the colors change. This scarf will likely go into my gift stash which became surprisingly empty after Christmas last year.

The dinosaurs are from a pattern on the X-treme knitting website. The patterns look pretty easy, if I ever start them. I decided this would be my break from the clapotis which I haven't touched in 5 days. Tonight I may have to start back on it. I also plan to block Nate's scarf and the silk scarf if it rains. If it doesn't, well I will probably be outside getting even redder.

Fun with Lights

Nate and I spent our evening together last night. We played board games and then Nate asked to play with the Lite-Brite. I agreed that would be okay. So he got it out. He would pick the color and I would punch the holes. Then he would put the pegs in until he was done with a color (he wanted to do a pre-printed sheet). He was so excited the whole time. I was able to knit some in between my duties. We also watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Nate deemed it good music and said he liked the movie. (Of course, he likes Barney so his taste is somewhat suspect). He was so excited when he finished that we had to take a picture.

We tried a self-portrait but apparently I am not very good at taking them. So this was the best we got.













I did give in and go to the LYS after work. I was going to get some cotton yarn for Nate. He wants dinosaurs. I got him purple, brown and green. They will be the ugliest dinosaurs. We wound the purple last night.

I also gave in and got three balls of Noro Kureyeon. (It has more blue and green than the photo would suggest) I am making a scarf with short rows (I don't know the actual pattern). This will go into the Christmas pile for next year. The final expenditure was the book. I had this on my wish list, but couldn't resist when I saw it in person. So many patterns that I would actually make (not that I will ever get around to them but hey I like books). It was a nice little trip and I felt much better after the evening with new yarn. This feels like a pay ahead for the overtime I will likely be working this weekend.

Bike Rides

Yesterday, Ben finally got his final present for his divisional times. Pokemon Pearl. He got up a half an hour early this morning so he could play before school. Nothing like a video game to motivate him. It has been all Pokemon all the time since they announced the new games. Best yet he and his dad can battle each other.

Tuesday, I went on a bike ride with the boys. Bad for me -- my bike had flat tires so I had to ride the bike Ben got for Christmas (which is to big for him). My bike has a nice cushy fat butt seat. Ben's has a little hard seat. So besides hurting from the exercise, I was hurting from that little bitty seat. On the plus side, Nate has finally gotten fast enough on his little bike that we could ride without to much trouble. I hope we can get him off training wheels this summer. He really needs a slightly bigger bike (which we have in the garage. You know, second kid gets all the hand-me-downs).

We also played some badminton. Which mainly consisted of me chasing the birdie after Ben had hit it. Nate tried to make it even more interested by throwing footballs and baseballs to me while I was playing with Ben. This was why we ended up on a bike ride.

It has been over three weeks since I was last in the LYS and I am really feeling the itch to go. Not that I need anymore yarn or anything else really. Of course, what does need have to do with it? I did start looking at patterns for the Cashsoft I bought last fall. I have four balls in a deep red. I think I want a really pretty scarf, this is for me, any suggestions?

Nate and I were looking at patterns last night and he told me he wanted one of every pattern he found in the book we were looking at. He was somewhat disappointed when I told him that wasn't something I would do for him. He got all snugly with me when I got home (girls' night out). We won't have to many more years left before my snuggle level will go way down.

Rambling

I spent the evening cleaning. First I had to shovel out my car. Talk about gross. The boys had spilled all kinds of snacks in the back. I am surprised the vacuum didn't give up in protest. Seriously, there was goldfish, trailmix, nerds and I am afraid to know what else. I took everything out of the car and a bag of trash (mostly from the back). Then wiped down the inside and vacuumed. Nate even helped me for a bit. Now I just need to wash the outside. I keep putting it off because there is rain in the forecast. Plus I park under a maple tree. Which of course means every morning there is sap all over my car.

After the car, I cooked supper. Stunned my husband since I don't cook real meals very often. This has more to do with a serious lack of desire to cook more than a lack of talent (although we could have a lengthy discussion about my kitchen disasters, they are legendary in my family). Then I had to fold the laundry that Shane washed for me while I was sick but of course he didn't fold it (that's okay because I don't touch the dishes). I had asked him to mop the floor in the kitchen, but realized he wasn't going to do it until I was ready to sleep so I started it. Why do people do that? By the time I am doing something myself after I asked Shane to do it, he should just stand back and let me finish because I am ticked. Anyways, I switched to cleaning up the living room and vacuuming the floors. White carpets + black puppy = disgusting carpets. Good thing he is so cute.

I spent my tv time knitting my square which I am getting gauge on but is turning out much smaller than it is supposed to. I guess I will see how it turns out. But I am terribly lame with no pictures of knitting content. I will distract you with photos of Nate in his dress clothes.

That is Nate's camera. I think all the kids at the wedding took pictures with it at some point during the wedding. Mostly, I had picture of various family member's nose hairs, the floors and ceilings. I ended up taking some pictures on it. I really need to invest in a new camera.

Nate came into my room this morning after Shane had left but apparently didn't see me in bed. I heard him crying in his room. He was upset because Daddy wasn't there and he didn't know where I was. Poor guy just doesn't wake up very easy. He came in a slept with me for the rest of our morning.

Sleepover Success

Ben's first sleepover was a complete success. He had a great time and came home exhausted. Then he got to go to swim practice. He slept on the way to grandma's that night. Unfortunately, I left work Friday with a huge migraine which did not leave me alone until Saturday. Shane took care of the boys both days without a whole lot of help from me. After he dropped the boys of at my mom's he went to hear his cousin's band while I sat at home with the dog. I couldn't even knit I felt so bad. I did manage to watch a couple of B rated flicks on my cable until it died in the middle of the second movie (which was definately not worth watching second time).

Sunday, we met my parents at my Great-Aunt's house to get the boys. They were having a little lunch to celebrate my Aunt moving to her new house and starting her new job in a whole different town. Nate was playing with my Great-Aunt's husband, G. G is easily 85 (maybe more, I haven't ever asked). Nate and G would play and then G would come in and nap for 20 minutes and then they would go back out and take a walk and then nap. It was incredibly amusing. The funniest was watching them play hide and seek. Even their neighbors watched that. During naptimes, Nate entertained all the rest of the adults.

Hopefully, I will have some knitting to show soon. I have a mitered square mostly finished and still need to block my silk scarf. I am thinking tonight will be cleaning the car and rummage sale work since I missed out on that this weekend.

First Sleepover

Ben has his first with friend sleepover scheduled for tomorrow. He stays with relatives all the time, but this will be the first time with a friend. He is so excited he talks about it constantly.

Last night, I brought home some poster paints for the boys. Nate had been painting with watercolors, but they just don't give the pretty colors very easily. He must have painted six pictures last night. The final one, which he gave to the sitter, was a tornado about to eat flowers. I think he was trying to mimic a painting Ben was making with a pond and flowers, but when he described the picture he decided it was a tornado. I should have bought two sets of paint though. Ben is constantly complaining because Nate mixes the colors when he doesn't get his brush clean (which is pretty much every time he switches colors) and while I think they can get along okay with one set, I am pretty much with Ben on this one. It would irritate me terribly to have my paints mixed when I don't want them to be.

I picked up Ben's sweater again last night. I had worked on the Clapotis for around an hour and needed a break. It's a little dull and I am switching between two balls because the colors were so different. I am half-way done with Ben's second sleeve, then I will have the seaming and hood to do. I hope it will still fit next year. Sometime this weekend, I am going to weave the ends in on the silk scarf, wash it and block it on my new blocking board. It has been patiently waiting for some use (although Nate claims it is a gameboard).