5 years

Five years ago I posted my first blog post ever, here at Xanga. I have had blogs at Homeschool Blogger and Blogspot but this one I've kept up with for five years.

It's hard to believe.

Five years ago tomorrow, my mom had just been gone a few months. Maybe 4. We were in the middle of the adoption process for a little girl from India. Obviously that adoption did not go through and we adopted twins from Ethiopia a little over a year later. Looking back, I know I was in a pretty deep well of depression when I started this blog but I did not exactly start it as a journal. I started it as a way to let my in-laws see pics of the children. To my knowledge, I have never been able to tempt them over to see this. Probably a good thing.

I have met so many wonderful people here (and through Blogspot), and gotten to know better so many people I already knew. I am so very blessed that I haven't had a really bad experience with this blog except when my sister was stalking me through it. And that's her deal, not mine. Most of the time, I've felt loved and supported and have very much enjoyed my time here writing.

Obviously, I have not been spending so much time over here lately. I prefer the interface at Facebook for a lot of things. Xanga has changed some to incorporate Pulse, which is a little like a status update on FB, but I usually don't bother to change my Pulse here when I change my status update there. I think I'm getting lazy. But I do like the comments, of course, and I still like logging on here and seeing what everyone is up to. I generally check here before I call anyone, just to make sure I'm caught up!

All this is to say, I've had a swell time here...thanks for 5 lovely years, Xanga!

And since pictures started it all, I will put my latest favorite picture of the cat on here. Understand that the kitty has been confined to the cone of shame for weeks now, because he continues to bite on his tail. But occasionally we will take it off so he can groom himself and scratch his itches. You know how good it feels to scratch an itch you've had for a long time? So does Aragorn.

Blah Blah Blog

Why do people blog when they don't really have anything to say?

Ah, not the provocative question it might sound.  I am the person today who doesn't have much to say.  It's been a slow news sort of time here at the hacienda.  I'm thinking a lot about various and sundry but nothing so stunning or wonderful to be written about, really.  Life is not perfect but no one has done anything too awful or funny to be written about.  In short, life is dull.  And that's ok by me.

However.  I know that "my readership" (how arrogant does that sound?) is dwindling, probably because I'm not blogging so often anymore.  And I have told countless people this:  I don't care if all you talk about is your to-do list for the day, because just reading about what you're up to makes me feel closer-friendlier-whatever to you, so don't apologize for doing that.

Be careful what you say to other people because it can come back to bite you.  Hee hee!  So here goes:

What are we doing today?  Well, today is our half-day off because the girls did work ahead of time so that we can go off and have a good time together.  I really want to do something out of the ordinary.  There are two places I've wanted to take the children, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and the Ohio Historical Center.  Each of these places would rate a "field trip" designation and the OHC would probably have to be an all-day trip.  I also wanted to wait until we could specifically study some Ohio history so that the girls could know what it is they're looking at so that one is probably a no-go.  I think Pyramid Hill would look stunning in a fresh blanket of snow but it is pretty cold and the girls really really don't like/tolerate the cold and snow as well as I do.  The twins hate it desperately.  So that's a no-go.  Perhaps we should go to the Cincinnati Art Museum.  Then again, that would probably be something the girls would hate and somewhere I'd have to be on constant guard with regard to the twins.  Plus, they're hosting an exhibit of quilts from the Shelburne Museum next month that I'd love to go to and I might save up begging rights for that.

So?  I guess we'll stay home (again) and bake.  Not such a bad thing when it's 19º F out, but I feel like it's a cop-out.

Yesterday, we got to have Friend Gina's Daughter over for a visit.  Actually, she spent Sunday night with us and then spent some of the day.  Bless her little heart, I think we overwhelmed her a bit.  She's a gregarious little thing but when you have tons of children fighting over your presence, it's a little difficult to maintain the level of energy she's used to.  I was thrilled to see Abby having a good time with her, as that's not always the case with Abby.  The twins, of course, fought for their share of her time and attention.  David woke up this morning with her name on his lips and I had to tell her that it would be a long time before we saw her again.  His solution?  "Go to her house, Mama!"  Ah, if life were so easy!

Today is supposed to be a "light" housecleaning day (yes, I'm again attempting to do the housekeeping thing...who knows why I keep flogging myself with it over and over) but since I didn't get the vacuuming done yesterday due to 1) no roller in the vacuum (note to self:  order a new one today, please) and 2) Sarah's recalcitrant math problem that took us 45 minutes to wrestle to an uneasy truce, I didn't get it done.  I need to continue on with the laundry (running out of clean skirts).  I also need to clean the fish tank.  Hooray!  It's finally ok on all tests!  It only took us what, 2 months?  But it needs cleaned and soon.  I bought some more live plants for it.  I just like the live plants so much better than the plastic ones that the girls favor.  They do have an annoying propensity for becoming unplanted, though.  Sort of the story of my life:  get one part of my life organized and right behind me something is coming unglued.

I've got a lot to say for someone with a dull life, huh?

What else?  What else?  I've been enjoying Skype a lot.  I am able to talk to my lovely sil during the day rather than waiting for the rates to go down (and forgetting to call in the process).  I got to chat with Debbie in Malawi on Saturday, a rare treat!  So if you're on Skype, let me know and I'll add you to my list.

Bleah.  There was something else I wanted to say but talking to David drove it completely out.  Oh well, it probably wasn't important anyway.  So go and post about what you're up to today, already!

An award for Slacker Mom!

How did you know that I secretly covet cool blog awards, Sassy Lucy? Thank you so much for the one you gave me last month, the one that I am (finally) passing on. Here 'tis:

Now ain't that just cooler than cool? Thanks so much and here, I'll pass it on to some folks whose blogs I enjoy reading on a regular basis:

Of course, Friend Gina at Ward and June. Even though I live near her, I still stalk her blogs. I think she's cool.

Also, Julie at Acceptance with Joy. Although she writes with many more multisyllabic words than I am accustomed to consuming at any given time, I still hack away at her blog. Why? Because she' bright, she's interesting, she's a fellow homeschooler and transracially adoptive mom. Plus she's nice.

Pat at Pat's Knitting and Quilting. When I'm a grown-up crafter, I want to be like Pat. Plus, again, along with the talent is kindness and generosity.

Cindy at Ethiopian TripletLand makes me smile all the time. Friend Gina introduced me to the fun and madness that are the triplets and they've saved my sanity while they've challenged that of their parents. No, seriously, they seem to take parenting of multiples with aplomb and that's such an inspiration.

And finally, DharmaMama at The Biggest Ethiopian Flag on the Block. I know her and her family in real life and her blog doesn't do justice to the lovely person she is. I do read it, though, and always learn something. She makes me think, but doesn't hurt my brain too much.

Pass it on, ladies! And thanks for the hours of happy and insightful reading.

Groups, voyeurism, and Ravelry

How's that for a title?

I continued to be bummed yesterday as it became apparent that the group that Cherylyn, Joy Gail, and I started doesn't seem to want to continue. Yesterday was a weird day anyway, as we totally left the safety of our accustomed box to go out and meet totally different new homeschooling folks. They were nice enough but they were different. So I was already in a discombobulated state when it became apparent that that was what was happening in the group.

I just couldn't figure out why it was that it bummed me out so much. I guess I thought it came down to it being an indictment against my ability (as a group owner/instigator) to get people to participate. On the best day, I am not an outgoing person and although I have enjoyed knowing these fine ladies for years, I couldn't convince them to talk to each other.

So this morning I came down to Power Central (i.e., my computer desk) to see if anyone else had said anything about the demise of the group. What I found was this:

Hey there,

frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry!

"Here you go! Thanks for your interest in our little site.

Let me know if you have any questions or problems!

Jess"

Click this link to join (and make sure that the URL is not wrapped or cut off by your email program)

Casey and Jess

Oh yeah!

For those of you who are scratching your heads, this is an invite to Ravelry.com. This site is a community for knitters, crocheters, spinners, dye-ers, and general fiber nuts/artists. It is currently in a beta stage so you have to have your invitation sent specifically to you. I've read a lot about it in passing in knitting blogs that I read and what the ladies said made it sound unbelievably cool, so I wanted a look-see.

Wow.

It's definitely a fun site, for knitters and crocheters. Why? I guess because everything is concentrated right there. Right now I have a bunch of knit-blogs on my Bloglines account and I keep up with them that way. But here, you can scan for all sorts of things: patterns, works-in-progress, yarns, stash stuff, etc. and they're all in one location. I saw tons of socks that I've wanted to knit, all lined up in lots of different yarns and colors, finally found out the definitions of some knitting terms I didn't understand (remind me to look up "gansy"), and got to see lots of neat fellow crafters.

So I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I'll have more time to connect on Ravelry since the group is going south." And I could totally see myself falling down the rabbit hole there. One link leads to another and to another and pretty soon it's 4 hours later, the house is a shambles, and you've got the shakes like an addict going through withdrawl.

I closed the Ravelry window down and walked upstairs to get some air and some perspective.

What is it about the Internet anyway? I so enjoy surfing, keeping up with people I've met there, etc. I like reading about what other people are doing, reading, seeing, and I like writing about the same for myself. There is, however, a tone of voyeurism there. There are some positive parts but there are also some parts that are more scary and seductive, even if they look innocent on the top.

I notice that I am dissatisfied with my life a lot these days. Everything seems so hard and so, well, unglamorous. Where did I get the idea that life should be glamorous? I don't know...the Internet? I think on the 'Net we tend to put our best foot forward and don't talk about the dirt, the work, the insanely dull parts of our lives. So maybe that's where I got the idea that there should be more to life than the endless laundry-dishes-washing dirty faces loop that I'm on. I need to work on that or jump off the 'Net, one.

I've lost what I was trying to accomplish with this post. Who knows? I guess just be careful out there and if you are on Ravelry, my ID is Immax5. And write a little about how unglam your life is so I can feel better about mine.

Weirdness

Currently ReadingA Winding Path (Miriam's Journal, Book 2)By Carrie Bendersee related

Well, the big 4-0 has come and gone. Sort of. Because we were so tanked from our trip to Oklahoma, we decided to postpone Father's Day and my birthday celebration. So I got a much-needed nap yesterday (keeled over cooking lunch, don't ya know) and we'll celebrate on Tuesday.

Don't exactly know where my camera is. Don't exactly know if my USB cord for it works at all since it freaked out when I used it to attach my fil's digital photo frame to it. So no pictures yet.

The red OK mud still adorns the Big Black Van. That stuff should be sold for cement.

A few casualty of our trip: the herbs I planted before we left actually leaped out of the ground, effectively committing suicide in the aridity that is Cincinnati these days; some of the flowers I planted don't look too healthy. All in all, though, I was satisfied. Of course, I haven't gone out to the vegetable garden yet. I may be sobbing in my coffee before long.

Another biggie: I talked to my cousin last night. Why is this a biggie? Because this is a cousin I've never actually met and one that I only knew of in a vague way. So she's about a year younger than I am, lives in St. Louis, and has one daughter. It was weird, talking to her. I'm sure it was the same for her. Here's this person you're related to but who you don't know at all. Actually, on my father's side, there's a lot of that. I was not allowed to know anything about his family when I was growing up and all I've gathered has been after I grew up. And now there's Shawn...weird stuff but wonderful. Life in the age of Jerry Springer.

And now I'll gird up, check the garden (bet the weeds grew despite the lack of rain) and hang up laundry. We might get a sprinkle or two tomorrow and we have loads and loads of camp laundry to process today. I love hanging laundry (getting in touch with my inner-almost-Amish, I guess) and love the scent of line-dried wash. And I need to get hold of Friend Gina and see what's up with the coupons she got for me last weekend when I was in Okie-homa.

And Friend Husband is talking to me so I'll go. Weirdness. I was gone from most technology last week and didn't miss it. But it's so easy to get back into it again. Phone on the shoulder, fingers to the keyboard. Later days, dudes.

Tagged!

I love being tagged! I guess I didn't exactly get tagged but I did tell Robyn that she could ask me some interview questions and I'd answer them. So here goes:

1. Are there more adoptions in your future? Well, I don't know. I rather doubt it, but I didn't think I'd be adopting ever, so I won't say no completely.

2. What is the weirdest thing you've done that you'll admit to? Well, here's the first one I can think of. You know how you park really far away because there are no close spaces and then when you are nearing the place where you want to be, there's one open, right up front? I will run to it, fling my arms wide, and say, "Hurry, hurry, go get the car!" So far, it embarrasses the biggest girls quite satisfactorily and it always makes Friend Husband smile.

3. What is the Sisters of the Traveling Skirts all about? Beats me! I know it's a bunch of fun gals from our brotherhood so I joined it when I moved over to this blog. I don't know anything about it other than that. I guess it's just another blogring.

4. Is your calendar always on the correct day/month? Yes and no. My monthly calendar (aka, "Mommy's brain") is always on the correct month. The daily calendar which is in my kitchen window is usually on the correct day but that's because Sarah usually rips off the old day for me.

5. What is your favorite book you read as a child? I loved and read the entire Little House series over and over and over. I still know large parts of it by heart. I so wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. (I even dreamed about it last night, after writing this blog...)

6. What place outside the United States would you like to visit and why? Well, I've long desired to live in Israel for a period of time, visiting and getting to know the tenor of the place as well as just feeling like a part of the crowd. My minor in college was Middle Eastern Studies with a specialization in Israeli military history and Judaism and there are so many places I'd love to see.

Nowadays I think it might be neat to visit the village in Ethiopia where the twins were born and see how their family lived. If I could meet up with people who knew their birth family, all the better. I feel a big hole for them there and also for us. Who do they look like? What talents did their parents and grandparents have? What stories did they pass down that didn't make it to the twins? So much potential there, both for joy and for sadness.

7. What is your favorite way of spending time with your family? Well, I like it when we're all outside doing our thing but within sight of each other. I'm probably gardening or knitting, the twins are playing with their toys or running around, Rachel's riding her bike or climbing the tree, Abby's "thinking", Sarah's reading and Doug is just sitting there, looking at everyone. I also like it when we're all in the same room reading or listening to Doug read aloud. I even like it when we're watching old dvd's together because it doesn't happen too often.

8. What two things could you not do when you were a child, but you can do now? I assume this means other than driving and working crowd control on my children and the neighborhood children. Let's see: I'm a really good cook and I can do a lot of crafts that I couldn't do when I was a child. I taught myself to embroider and cross-stitch when I was young but I didn't quilt, tat, or knit.

Now its your turn to play if you wish!

Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." I will respond by asking you five, six, ten or a dozen (why be limited?) questions. I get to pick the questions, and I will message you with them and these directions. Just update your blog with the answers to the questions and include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five or however many questions.

Blog blahs

It's not so much that I have the blogging blahs, but I think it's that I'm totally blah today.  Yesterday I was running around like mad all day, then went over to Friend Priscilla's to attempt to baste a quilt.  The grandmother of the bride is going to quilt the quilt that we pieced for her last year, but she (not surprisingly) wanted someone else to baste it.  Unfortunately, I was unable to convince her that pin basting is the way to go so Priscilla and I were up until midnight trying to thread baste that thing.  And we didn't finish.  And when we took it off the clamps to fold it up, it had wrinkles basted into 1/3 of it.  So, before Friday I need to unbaste that third, rebaste it, and finish around the edges so that we can give it to Grandma and be done with it.  Until the binding needs to be put on anyway.

Today is Abby's birthday, observed.  We were in the midst of the Hamilton Young Speaker's Meeting on Sunday, which was her actual birthday, so we're going to celebrate tonight.  She has requested for her birthday dinner:  sticky chicken, macaroni salad, mashed potatoes and gravy (she's such a gravy girl), carrot salad, and ice cream cake (chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream).  So that's what I will be doing today as well as attempting to make some order out of chaos with regard to my house, the laundry, my life.  Good luck with that one, right?

Oh, and trying to get people to return phone calls.  We called the people who owned this house before we did to try and find out how old the oil drum is because our new insurance company will not insure us if it's original to the house.  She hasn't called back.  I've been trying to call one of the sisters in the congregation all week to try to find out what her daughter (with a brand-new baby) needs for the house and she hasn't had time to call either.  And now I need to go to the store because we're out of diapers and need ice cream for Abby's cake.

I am so very blessed.  Why do I feel and see a grey cloud all around me today?

Okey dokey (from Saturday)

And here I thought I was going to get to blog again! I've been blog-blog-blogging in my head but have had no time to get here on the computer. Perhaps next week (when we get back into school again) will be better for that.

In the meantime, thank you for all of you who've moved over here. One day I will explain both the move and the name but this is not that day. This day I'm going to ask you to go over to my daughter Sarah's blog and take her quiz. It's really good! And leave her a comment while you're at it, if you would.

So what has been going on? Well, I've been trying to get unpacked from our trip (done) and laundry accomplished (riiiight). I went knitting with Friend Gina on Thursday night and it was just a riotous blast. Little do the urban hip baristas at Starbucks know about what the old ladies knitting in the armchairs are cackling about. I think it would unpierce a few of their body parts. Whilst there I finished Rachel's buttonhole bag, which I still can't take a picture of because I still can't figure out how to fix my camera. It seems to have a malfunction where it won't acknowledge that the camera is on the base, so I can't get it to charge the batteries (nor to unload the pics that are on there). I feel like a one-armed paperhanger without my camera.

Gina also praised my completed sock to embarrassing excess (and I was eating it up) so now I'm extra motivated to try and get the second one finished. If I could but find my instructions. I'm past one of the "stupid" parts (endless ribbing for the cuff) and need directions for making the heel and gusset. Then there's more stupid knitting (the kind you can do while cackling and drinking fabulous but overpriced coffee at Starbucks) and then I'll have completed my very very first pair of knitted socks. I can't wait.

Today was spent dealing with coupons and shopping. Now I know that there are many of you who will say, "I never use coupons, they just don't save me anything on what I want." I know this because I was recently of your ranks. I was converted in this, as in many things of ultimate goodness, by Friend Gina, who nagged me to try The Grocery Game. I am here to proselytize all of you. And if you join, please use my name as a referral so I can get free weeks. Thank you.

Here's why I like GG so much. Because it allows me to be lazy and still save a fabulous amount of money. I don't have to scan circulars and hunt coupons. GG does it for me. All I have to do is to go to the site, print off my list, cut out the coupons I need (not the coupons I don't) and go to the store. All of this does take some time but I think it's well worth it. The weeks that I've done it so far, I've saved about 45% on my total purchases. I've found sales on GG that were not advertised at Meijer (my market of choice) but were there nonetheless. I've actually even gotten things free with coupons. And Friend Gina assures me that summer is a good time to get free condiments, spaghetti sauce, and cheap meat.

Go over there and read the FAQ's, etc. I'll be happy to answer any questions that I can. I just want y'all to save and stockpile and beat the high price of grocery products like I do. Teri has a 4 week for $1 offer (the service costs $10/month for one store's list) so you can see if you like what you see. Oh, and start buying the Sunday paper with the coupons (not Memorial Day's unfortunately) because you'll be on your way to saving and stockpiling like I am. My goal is to stockpile enough so that we only have to go to the grocery for milk and fresh produce (that which is not in my garden) during the month in the summer that Friend Husband does not receive a paycheck.

I'm done commercializing for this post. I'm so happy to be back!

We've got a church meeting this week so I should jam and feed the huddled masses as they get processed through the shower. It's an absolutely gorgeous day here...I hope it is there, too.

Blog break

As the title would indicate, I'm going to take a blog break.  I've been having a lot of trouble with my right wrist and it just gets worse with computer use (I'm sure that's how it got started to begin with).  So I'm going to lay off the computer for a while and see if it gets better.  I sure don't want to give myself repetitive motion injuries.  But, before I sign off, I give you Keziah, trying to sing the Interjections song from Schoolhouse Rock.  Sadly, her performance was interrupted by a commando raid by her brother on the photo-gal.

And, for Julie, a picture (and not a good one at that, sorry) of the sock yarn I bought at the store that was going out of business.  I'm missing one little ball of red cotton yarn but this is what I could find to photograph.  I don't know which one I'll use first but it'll sure be fun to try!  I'm almost finished with my first "test pattern", a felted slipper that Friend Gina thought would be a good introduction to the mechanics of sock knitting.  (I don't have a picture of that one, sorry!)

Clockwise, from upper left, Wildfoote (75% washable wool, 25% nylon), Cascade Fixations (cotton & nylon), Sockotta (cotton, wool, & nylon and no color name, just a number-363), Online Supersocke 100 (wool & polyamid, color-Sierra) and Online Supersocke 100 (wool & polyamid, color-City)

I shall miss my blogging friends...don't forget about me.  I may just have some completed projects to show you at the end of the break.  Or not, depending on how badly my wrist is doing and for how long.  Enjoy your Mother's Day, enjoy your life, hug your babies and your parents and live long and prosper.