New Floor

We have been trying to put a new floor in our basement. Along the way, we have been trying to keep cats off the underlayment, trying to keep our dog from marking the floor as his territory, and trying to find time when someone is nearby to keep an eye on our kids while we do the time-consuming and definitely two-person task of laying a new floor.


Since we started, our one dog decided to eat a mourning dove and nearly die, throwing us into a tailspin. Then, our other dog ran on to the road in front of a speeding police car. The car hit her going nearly 50 mph. She's still alive, but very sore. Both dogs are now on a soft food diet which involves cooking them chicken. I'm starting to wonder if this was a big ploy on their part to get royally spoiled!


Needless to say, the floor is not done. All of it is finished with the exception of the last row of flooring which has to be cut to fit all the way down the room. Some day soon we'll have a moment of peace in which we can get it done.

Bunnies

We currently have a lot of rabbits living in our house. It all started with my daughter's awesome rabbit, C.T. (Cottontail). She inspired us to let our daughter try and breed Dutch rabbits, so we got a male Dutch (Wolf). A lovely litter of Dutch bunnies resulted.
However...
We have a Bad Bunny in our house. Notice the evil gleam in her eye and the splayed claws. Buttercup is one mean rabbit. She also snuck into Wolf's cage one night and got herself knocked up. So, we now have another litter of babies around. Two of them have gone to a new home, another one is leaving today, but two of them are still here. Here for your viewing pleasure are Lucky and Spot:

Lobby Dishcloth revealed!

Well, when I posted last about the Lobby Dishcloth I was trying from Mason-Dixon Knitting I promised a picture. Here it is!

First (real) day of school

While my kindergartner had nearly a full week of school last week, my two older school children spent the last week doing mandatory school testing and getting their supplies in order. Today is the first "real" day of school in which they have to do any work. Yes, we had some tears and yes, we pulled out all the stops of inspirational speeches, exhortations and directives to think of those less fortunate than ourselves. Such is the life of a PA Cyber Charter School parent.

Next on the agenda is watching the live televised address from the President to school children, the transcript of which can be found here.

What have I been up to?

Well, in addition to cleaning out our basement, having three days of celebration for one eleven-year-old's birthday and looking after new baby bunnies (yes, the cuteness is beyond words) I have been making some stuff. I will post some photos soon, but I have been working on a little afghan to use up some of my stash, and I've also made a couple of Lobby Dishcloths from my friends at Mason-Dixon Knitting.

At the moment, though, I am staying up too late watching youTube videos like this one, in preparation for the season opener of House, MD coming up on the 21st.

Kittens!

We're getting some kittens in August. The kids are very excited.

Border Collies

Border Collie country
Originally uploaded by Allyeska

We have two border collies. This is not a photo of either of my dogs. This is the idea I had of a border collie BEFORE we got our dogs. Border collies rarely sit around looking decorous. Either you need a farm for your dogs or you need to do something very cool with them like such as the following:



or your dogs will be bored and develop any number of weird and compulsive habits (mine likes to herd ME around the house...even in the bathroom, which is disturbing).

Saturday Afternoon

I am enjoying a rare moment of solitude at home this Saturday afternoon. Lunch is over and done with, Matt is downstairs, the kids are occupied and I am listening to the free Coldplay album I just downloaded.

This morning I spent a lot of time with my one of my friends, who is about to have a baby. Talking to her reminded me of the times before my children were born, when every step is more difficult and you are both looking forward to giving birth and dreading it at the same time. Now that I have four kids I don't anticipate any more pregnancies, so it is admittedly fun to participate vicariously in my friend's experience.

I first met this friend in graduate school, where we were both training to be librarians. While we were at Pitt together we used to get together with a bunch of other students to knit and drink coffee and shoot the breeze. One thing I've been getting into lately has been social networking sites. A very good one in my opinion is Ravelry, a site for knitters and crocheters. Ravelry is particularly effective because it combines useful tools like a pattern database with more social phenomena like message boards, "friends," and blogging.

Today, after spending time with Emily and thinking about Ravelry, I have put together a group trying to unite those same people who used to knit and chat (and study) at Pitt. I'm wondering if anyone will join it. I guess that is the big thing about these technologies...you can lead a horse to water, eh?

Feather and Fan

This is my first post on this blog, which I have set up in conjunction with the public library continuing education project "23 Things." So far I am enjoying the experience. I haven't been particularly challenged by anything yet but it has been interesting and fun seeing what other people have been saying about the whole thing.

On a more "bloggish" note, this is what I have been thinking about lately:

I have just cast on a new knitting project. Other knitters will know the lovely feeling: what was just an idea is becoming concrete. Some of that endless stash is getting used up (note to non-crafters: "stash" = a huge heap of yet to be used yarn, which grows inexorably with every trip to a local yarn store or craft emporium). Hopefully, none of the inevitable mistakes, tangles or redoes have had to be redone (yet).

This project is especially interesting for me because it represents my first foray into lacemaking. I am trying out a "feather and fan" pattern scarf, using fingering weight yarn on size 6 needles. What that means is that the yarn is thin and the pattern will be very airy. So far it looks fabulous, knits up quickly and is so easy it seems incredible I didn't start this a long time ago.