Day 3 with ds1 home from school. Day 2 of ds2's sickness, though the first day he has missed school for it.
They hate the eyedrops. Big surprise. Me too. DS2 tolerates them with a minimum of bad grace. DS1 wails and fusses and resists and I have to do it by having him tilt his head back, put 2 drops in and then he opens his eyes. Wait several minutes of fear and complaining and wailing. Repeat on other eye.
Oh please oh please let it clear up by tomorrow! If it does, I can get one kid at school and the other playing with a friend - though it's the friend's turn to play here. Friday DS1 doesn't have school for a teacher meeting day or whatever.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sickness
DS2 doesn't have school on Tuesdays anyway, but I also have DS1 home for the second day in a row. They both have pink eye and DS1 has a slight fever and a horrible horrible stuffed up/runny nose. I'm trying to judge if the eyes will clear up on their own or if I should book a double visit to the doctor to get drops. Sigh.
I'm feeling pretty ick, too. DH was working at home yesterday and so in the middle of the afternoon, I took a shower and then lay down to read for a bit. Oh, about 10 pages later, I conked out. I woke up a few times (especially when DH woke me at about 5:30, freaking because he thought I was supposed to go to work), but basically slept until 7:30 - missing book group (The Myth of You and Me), which I was looking forward to. We ate and I went to bed at about 10 with no problem going back to sleep.
A bit later:
Well, big surprise, the doctor said they have pink eye and gave a prescription. $30 each for the doctor's visit, which took the time of one visit and then $24-something for the eye drops. Dang insurance doesn't cover much of anything. I put drops in my eyes first to show that they won't kill you (and because my eyes have been itching like crazy - possibly psychosomatic). DS2 was uncomfortable but fine. DS1 was freaked out and cried a little afterwards. Ah, the highly sensitive child who takes after me.
In better news, I've done 3 of the 10 rows in my blue and white quilt. I'm thinking of tossing in a few bits of yellow and maybe other colors, too. Probably just some yellow from the same collection so it doesn't get out of hand. Pictures to be added at a time when the other computer - to which I can download my digital pics - is reattached to the Internet.
In sad news, DH's server was hacked when some jerk crashed his firewall and started messing with stuff. This is why the other computer is not yet networked, He just got this one back to more or less normal yesterday after 3 or 4 days of intermittent access.
I'm feeling pretty ick, too. DH was working at home yesterday and so in the middle of the afternoon, I took a shower and then lay down to read for a bit. Oh, about 10 pages later, I conked out. I woke up a few times (especially when DH woke me at about 5:30, freaking because he thought I was supposed to go to work), but basically slept until 7:30 - missing book group (The Myth of You and Me), which I was looking forward to. We ate and I went to bed at about 10 with no problem going back to sleep.
A bit later:
Well, big surprise, the doctor said they have pink eye and gave a prescription. $30 each for the doctor's visit, which took the time of one visit and then $24-something for the eye drops. Dang insurance doesn't cover much of anything. I put drops in my eyes first to show that they won't kill you (and because my eyes have been itching like crazy - possibly psychosomatic). DS2 was uncomfortable but fine. DS1 was freaked out and cried a little afterwards. Ah, the highly sensitive child who takes after me.
In better news, I've done 3 of the 10 rows in my blue and white quilt. I'm thinking of tossing in a few bits of yellow and maybe other colors, too. Probably just some yellow from the same collection so it doesn't get out of hand. Pictures to be added at a time when the other computer - to which I can download my digital pics - is reattached to the Internet.
In sad news, DH's server was hacked when some jerk crashed his firewall and started messing with stuff. This is why the other computer is not yet networked, He just got this one back to more or less normal yesterday after 3 or 4 days of intermittent access.
Monday, February 19, 2007
books and playdate
I just turned in 6 books at the library plus one that I am donating. It's closed until tomorrow, but it still takes a load off. I renewed a million jillion books online and know what to read next. It sounds like a serious plan, doesn't it? Lately that's the focus of my life. Weird. I have a book group next week so should move that book to the top of the pile.
And I have that quilt to do. I got a bigger cutting board for use with the rotary cutter, so it's going to be easier than it was with the little piddly one.
DS2's buddy is over. They play so well together, they barely need any supervision when it's just the 2 of them. DS1 is here, though and usually wants to boss them around, but it sounds like they are all fine. There was one regrettable incident where ds1 kept shoving the friend around when the 2 littler ones weren't doing what he told them to, so now the friend announces every time his mom says that DS1 is here that he doesn't want to play with him because he'll hurt him. Never mind that all the other times have gone really well. I'm negligent and not hovering over them, but believe me, I can hear them in the living room from where I am.
I worked afternoon and evening on Saturday and then all day Sunday, so I'm a bit wiped out. I have to work this evening, still. Maybe tomorrow evening, but I don't know quite where I put the slip of paper I wrote my whole schedule on.
I guess I should go do something useful!
And I have that quilt to do. I got a bigger cutting board for use with the rotary cutter, so it's going to be easier than it was with the little piddly one.
DS2's buddy is over. They play so well together, they barely need any supervision when it's just the 2 of them. DS1 is here, though and usually wants to boss them around, but it sounds like they are all fine. There was one regrettable incident where ds1 kept shoving the friend around when the 2 littler ones weren't doing what he told them to, so now the friend announces every time his mom says that DS1 is here that he doesn't want to play with him because he'll hurt him. Never mind that all the other times have gone really well. I'm negligent and not hovering over them, but believe me, I can hear them in the living room from where I am.
I worked afternoon and evening on Saturday and then all day Sunday, so I'm a bit wiped out. I have to work this evening, still. Maybe tomorrow evening, but I don't know quite where I put the slip of paper I wrote my whole schedule on.
I guess I should go do something useful!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
46 Books
That's 46 books out of the library. 4 more requested - 1 in transit. 5 or so ready to be turned in. I just renewed about 10 online.
YIKES
YIKES
Saturday ramblings
The kids went with DH to the post office and then to play on the old train in the old town part of the next town over. There's some stuff about the history of the area there, gold miners' shacks, etc, so they will be gone for a while.
I have to go to work at 3 and am hoping that DH will be back to at least drive me there. It's only about a mile and I could call him to bring me home afterwards. The exercise would certainly be good for me, though maybe not right before 4 1/2 hours of being on my feet and carrying bolts of fabric and climbing the ladder to the loft to throw down pillows and batting. Besides, this is California. There's a law somewhere that says thou shalt use your car at all times. Maybe just a local law, because when you get closer to the liberal northern coast, they get more gung-ho about bikes and pollution and stuff.
I have to work tomorrow, too, because I asked for next Saturday off to help out at ds1's school. I haven't signed up for a task yet at the school so I might not actually get to help out. But sales at the fabric store this weekend and next weekend. Next weekend's a biggie, so it was a big deal for me to get Saturday off. I'll probably have to work next Sunday too!
I could hear my heart breaking when I picked up DS1's Valentines bag that he decorated at school and he had written "I am a dummy" on one side. He is one of the smartest kids I know and right up there with the most advanced in his class, but he doesn't like to write and he tends to space out and shut down instead of just getting it over with.
However, my heart was in much better shape when I looked at the other said where it says "DS1 loves DS2". Awwwww :)
There's so much going on in the people around me and some on email groups. A baby in the hospital, a woman's mother who just had a 5.5 hour surgery for a bleeding ulcer after collapsing and not being able to remember anyone, a friend's mother with Alzheimer's who is going downhill rapidly, my brother-in-law....
...no I'm not ready to talk about the heartache there for my poor sister and their kids. It will have to suffice to say that he didn't do it and is being unjustly punished and his punishment, though supposed to be not so severe, is actually being made worse because the system is protecting him. I saw a picture of him and my heart almost broke. This is a guy I barely know, because I haven't spent a lot of time with him and he doesn't talk much around people he doesn't know well.
Spring is springing here. It's quite possible that we won't have any more frost severe enough to kill anything. Since the frost nearly did in my beautiful rubber plant - I should take and post of a picture of how pathetic it looks right now with all those branches and 3 leaves - and did in the jalapeno plant that had survived last winter in a protected spot, I am glad. It also seems to have killed off my enormous African Daisies that have been growing since the first summer we moved in. So I was out there shaking my fist at old Jack Frost. Then I got control of myself and realized that it will open up a space for me to plant something else there this year, maybe corn or more tomato plants.
DS2 and I planted a bunch of seeds a week or so ago and we have lots of sprouts coming up. I didn't label the pots, but I recognize some of them - snow peas, corn, broccoli, something, um fuzzy, maybe it's the watermelons, what might be lettuce, 2 onion plants. The tomato seeds got disturbed in the watering process, but I can see two that ended up on the surface starting to sprout. I need to get out and clean up and double-dig my garden. And stir my compost around and take out what I can. I don't stir it much, so I don't get a lot of compost out of it, but it's more satisfying to put our scraps out there rather than fill the landfill with banana peels.
I should eat some lunch and go take a shower, but I am feeling lethargic, as usual. I have about 40 books out of the library and I need to sort through and figure out which I absolutely have to turn in next week so I can prioritize. Weird.
http://tinyurl.com/qmde - way cool experiment on fake smiles - I got 13 out of 20.
http://tinyurl.com/2agygr - wow wow wow knitting project - a whole garden.
(thanks for those 2 links to truly scrumptious phantasmagorical cherry - don't ask!)
I have to go to work at 3 and am hoping that DH will be back to at least drive me there. It's only about a mile and I could call him to bring me home afterwards. The exercise would certainly be good for me, though maybe not right before 4 1/2 hours of being on my feet and carrying bolts of fabric and climbing the ladder to the loft to throw down pillows and batting. Besides, this is California. There's a law somewhere that says thou shalt use your car at all times. Maybe just a local law, because when you get closer to the liberal northern coast, they get more gung-ho about bikes and pollution and stuff.
I have to work tomorrow, too, because I asked for next Saturday off to help out at ds1's school. I haven't signed up for a task yet at the school so I might not actually get to help out. But sales at the fabric store this weekend and next weekend. Next weekend's a biggie, so it was a big deal for me to get Saturday off. I'll probably have to work next Sunday too!
I could hear my heart breaking when I picked up DS1's Valentines bag that he decorated at school and he had written "I am a dummy" on one side. He is one of the smartest kids I know and right up there with the most advanced in his class, but he doesn't like to write and he tends to space out and shut down instead of just getting it over with.
However, my heart was in much better shape when I looked at the other said where it says "DS1 loves DS2". Awwwww :)
There's so much going on in the people around me and some on email groups. A baby in the hospital, a woman's mother who just had a 5.5 hour surgery for a bleeding ulcer after collapsing and not being able to remember anyone, a friend's mother with Alzheimer's who is going downhill rapidly, my brother-in-law....
...no I'm not ready to talk about the heartache there for my poor sister and their kids. It will have to suffice to say that he didn't do it and is being unjustly punished and his punishment, though supposed to be not so severe, is actually being made worse because the system is protecting him. I saw a picture of him and my heart almost broke. This is a guy I barely know, because I haven't spent a lot of time with him and he doesn't talk much around people he doesn't know well.
Spring is springing here. It's quite possible that we won't have any more frost severe enough to kill anything. Since the frost nearly did in my beautiful rubber plant - I should take and post of a picture of how pathetic it looks right now with all those branches and 3 leaves - and did in the jalapeno plant that had survived last winter in a protected spot, I am glad. It also seems to have killed off my enormous African Daisies that have been growing since the first summer we moved in. So I was out there shaking my fist at old Jack Frost. Then I got control of myself and realized that it will open up a space for me to plant something else there this year, maybe corn or more tomato plants.
DS2 and I planted a bunch of seeds a week or so ago and we have lots of sprouts coming up. I didn't label the pots, but I recognize some of them - snow peas, corn, broccoli, something, um fuzzy, maybe it's the watermelons, what might be lettuce, 2 onion plants. The tomato seeds got disturbed in the watering process, but I can see two that ended up on the surface starting to sprout. I need to get out and clean up and double-dig my garden. And stir my compost around and take out what I can. I don't stir it much, so I don't get a lot of compost out of it, but it's more satisfying to put our scraps out there rather than fill the landfill with banana peels.
I should eat some lunch and go take a shower, but I am feeling lethargic, as usual. I have about 40 books out of the library and I need to sort through and figure out which I absolutely have to turn in next week so I can prioritize. Weird.
http://tinyurl.com/qmde - way cool experiment on fake smiles - I got 13 out of 20.
http://tinyurl.com/2agygr - wow wow wow knitting project - a whole garden.
(thanks for those 2 links to truly scrumptious phantasmagorical cherry - don't ask!)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
V-day cards
So here are the pictures of DS1's cards.
Madison - the biggest heart - is his best-friend-who-happens-to-be-a-girl. Their teacher told me one day, "they've got the luuuuuuv."
V-DAy prep: part 2
DS1 had DH help him make his valentines last night and they are SO STINKIN CUTE! Just red hearts cut out of paper with the recipient's name on green paper glued on. But golly, they're awesome. I might be a bit biased.
I'll download and post pics in a bit, but I have some errands to do and need to pull DS2 out of his sulk because his best buddy can't play this morning. They're going to spend all day Thursday together, so it's not like they won't see each other.
I'll download and post pics in a bit, but I have some errands to do and need to pull DS2 out of his sulk because his best buddy can't play this morning. They're going to spend all day Thursday together, so it's not like they won't see each other.
Monday, February 12, 2007
V-Day and stuff
Not much done during the weekend. I was wiped out after working Saturday morning and read a book for most of the afternoon. Sunday I had a stinking headache and overflowing nose, so I stayed in bed late, then read most of the day. I have now read a Nora Roberts trilogy. I don't think I had read any of her stuff before and it's pretty good. It didn't have me swooning, but it was pretty darn good.
Oh, Saturday night, the boys' friends came over for a sleepover, but just like the last time, they bailed out at bedtime. Oh well. They stayed a bit longer and I think they might have slept if my darling DS1 hadn't been arguing with them about nightlights and fans. Next time at their house and my kids haven't bailed yet. Ahhhh sweet freedom!
V-Day coming this week, of course. I'm thinking of getting something for DH, since he usually finds me something after I grump at him, but I don't necessarily get him anything because I'm bad. He doesn't like chocolates, etc and isn't interested in flowers or sappy cards. He gets whatever he needs or wants, so it leaves me short on ideas.
DS2 and I made Valentines for his class today. We couldn't remember everyone in his class, so we did our best and I'll call tomorrow to check the list, since he won't go in again until Wednesday, which is V-Day.
DS1 needs to do cards or whatever. We're also going to make rice krispie treats with red sugar on top for the class party. Health food.
I still don't have a working sewing machine and still haven't bought that other piece of fabric and still haven't cut anything out.
I haven't done too much writing, either, but was struck by a thought while discussing backhanded compliments on an email group and now have remembered someone to model my unfriendly friend after. Ah ha!
Oh, Saturday night, the boys' friends came over for a sleepover, but just like the last time, they bailed out at bedtime. Oh well. They stayed a bit longer and I think they might have slept if my darling DS1 hadn't been arguing with them about nightlights and fans. Next time at their house and my kids haven't bailed yet. Ahhhh sweet freedom!
V-Day coming this week, of course. I'm thinking of getting something for DH, since he usually finds me something after I grump at him, but I don't necessarily get him anything because I'm bad. He doesn't like chocolates, etc and isn't interested in flowers or sappy cards. He gets whatever he needs or wants, so it leaves me short on ideas.
DS2 and I made Valentines for his class today. We couldn't remember everyone in his class, so we did our best and I'll call tomorrow to check the list, since he won't go in again until Wednesday, which is V-Day.
DS1 needs to do cards or whatever. We're also going to make rice krispie treats with red sugar on top for the class party. Health food.
I still don't have a working sewing machine and still haven't bought that other piece of fabric and still haven't cut anything out.
I haven't done too much writing, either, but was struck by a thought while discussing backhanded compliments on an email group and now have remembered someone to model my unfriendly friend after. Ah ha!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Quilt pattern
Well, here's my pattern for the blue and white quilt. Not sure about the borders yet, as I don't often do much of a border, though I have some nice flower and stripe border fabric.
Yes, I did it freehand on a 3" post-it note.
No, I didn't label much of it, so if I don't do it soon, I'll forget what everything is.
I need a bit more of the small plates fabric and some white. I might need others, but I'm just guessing, based on my plan.
Each small square is 6". The small-square part is 60x60 and I haven't decided yet if it's going to be 72x72 finished size or a bigger square or a rectangle. In a way, I'd like it to be at least full size, maybe more like queen. But unless I add more rows of squares, I'll have to stay close to where it is right now, I think. Well, 72 x 84 would work on a twin bed and that's only 6" more on both the top and bottom. The one I made for ds2's twin bed last year is 74x90 and it's HUGE.
Right. Now to fix at least one of my machines so I can work on it...
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Goodness gracious!
I just spent 1/2 an hour trying to log in to blogger, getting more and more frustrated. Turns out it has to be linked to a gmail account, though I did 4 posts without creating a gmail account. Huh? Anyway...
I think I have found the right quilt pattern for my blue and white fabrics! It involves squares, large triangles and 4-patch blocks. If I do it right, the effect will be of broad stripes fading into each other. Or else just nice colors in a hodge-podge of a mess. Next task is to decide how big this should be and how big I want to make my squares (very) and if I need more fabric (probably). I want to make a full-size bed quilt, but it's the living room that needs a throw and I'm not doing full size for it to end up on the ground 99% of the time. Maybe I'll do a twin size and keep it on the couch in the front/sewing room so if someday we get a new couch in there, it will look respectable. Well, the blue and white goes better with the living room, too. I have 16 tons of Asian fabrics that will go better with the curtains in the front room. Ooooh I'm paralyzed.
My kids have not stopped shrieking at each other since we got home after school, snack, and a trip to the library. We're going to get some fast food with friends tonight at a BK with a play area. Go kids, run!
DS1 (1st grader) has been spacing out in school again. This morning in their 2 hours of work time, he wrote his name once and two half sentences. He then lied to the assistant teacher and denied that the main teacher had said he had to stay in from recess to finish stuff. He then missed out on something about a frog this afternoon so he could do his work. Maybe he needs to be stimulated physically to get his brain moving, too? I've just requested the Out of Sync Child from the library again. I should have him fully assessed, I assume.
OK, more screaming and fussing. It's almost time for our exciting fine dining experience.
Oh, I almost forgot. My work in progress is about 48 pages, plus a couple I wrote yesterday but which haven't been integrated into the rest. I haven't figured out how they're getting to the turning points and the conclusion. I had an idea for another story from a dream, but don't know if that will ever be more than the prologue ;)
I think I have found the right quilt pattern for my blue and white fabrics! It involves squares, large triangles and 4-patch blocks. If I do it right, the effect will be of broad stripes fading into each other. Or else just nice colors in a hodge-podge of a mess. Next task is to decide how big this should be and how big I want to make my squares (very) and if I need more fabric (probably). I want to make a full-size bed quilt, but it's the living room that needs a throw and I'm not doing full size for it to end up on the ground 99% of the time. Maybe I'll do a twin size and keep it on the couch in the front/sewing room so if someday we get a new couch in there, it will look respectable. Well, the blue and white goes better with the living room, too. I have 16 tons of Asian fabrics that will go better with the curtains in the front room. Ooooh I'm paralyzed.
My kids have not stopped shrieking at each other since we got home after school, snack, and a trip to the library. We're going to get some fast food with friends tonight at a BK with a play area. Go kids, run!
DS1 (1st grader) has been spacing out in school again. This morning in their 2 hours of work time, he wrote his name once and two half sentences. He then lied to the assistant teacher and denied that the main teacher had said he had to stay in from recess to finish stuff. He then missed out on something about a frog this afternoon so he could do his work. Maybe he needs to be stimulated physically to get his brain moving, too? I've just requested the Out of Sync Child from the library again. I should have him fully assessed, I assume.
OK, more screaming and fussing. It's almost time for our exciting fine dining experience.
Oh, I almost forgot. My work in progress is about 48 pages, plus a couple I wrote yesterday but which haven't been integrated into the rest. I haven't figured out how they're getting to the turning points and the conclusion. I had an idea for another story from a dream, but don't know if that will ever be more than the prologue ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)