Beat it

This weekend has been an epic one on the DORMA scale. Phil and his Dad put in hardwood floors in our bedroom, and today I put on the first of 2 coats of fresh paint. I picked up 2 new floor lamps at Ikea on Saturday, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that our room is already looking 100% better than it did. And we don't even have the new furniture in yet!

I also finished my summer Year of Lace project, which I should be blocking right now but I just can't summon the will to get off this couch.

There will be pictures and details and fun, witty comments. Just not right now. Right now I want to sit on my couch, watch Nature with my husband while enjoying a nice glass of red, and pet my cat.

Happy Knitting Everyone.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on

It's been one of those weeks, you know? Lots going on and not much to show for it. Not yet, anyway. Definitely not much knitting going on, much as I wish I had the kind of lifestyle where I could stay home in my pajamas and make beautiful things with luxury yarns all day.

When we got back from Mexico earlier this summer, Phil and I hit what we call the "disgust overload" mark regarding the state of our bedroom. Disgust overload, in case you were wondering, is the point where we can no longer ignore the sad, sorry state of our surroundings, and we are finally shaken out of our collective stupor and go on a massive cleaning, decluttering, or in this case renovating spree.

Our bedroom set is a hand-me-down from Phil's aunt that we brought with us when we moved into our house. It's a stunning black melamine with gold trim ensemble from the go-go eighties (or possibly even from the groovy seventies). We've always hated it, but we took it anyway, figuring it would do "for the time being".

Fast-forward ten years, and it was still there, only with broken trim on my dresser and three drawers that would no longer open or shut. We'd been living like this for quite a while, ignoring how bloody awful the room was, and suddenly Phil just said "That's IT. I can't stand this another minute. We're buying a new bedroom set NOW."

Off we went, and our new, lovely, made in this millennium furniture should be arriving within a few weeks. Which is great, except that we're now stuck in the never-ending spiral of the While-we're-at-it's (in Phil's defense, most of those are my idea).

Don't know what those are? Let me illustrate:

• "Hey sweetie, while we're at it, why not change the bedspread?" (Check)
  
• "I've always hated that emerald green carpet. Why don't we take the opportunity and put in hardwood floors in our room?" (Check)
  
• "Hmmm, the paint really doesn't GO with our new bedspread... We need a new colour palette" (Still gotta get on that)
  
• "Can we take out the useless ceiling fan and put in a proper light? And get new bedside lamps while we're at it?" (in the works)
  
• "You've always hated those horizontal blinds, you know..." (well he DOES!...)
  

And on, and on, and on....

All that to say that right now our room has a mattress, a lamp, and 20 boxes of hardwood flooring waiting to be installed this weekend. Oh, and we're using my yarn bins as bedside tables.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Contact my agent

I know, I know... I've fallen off the blogosphere. Again. I was in Quebec City this week for my first ever Professional conference, and time sort of got away from me...

Aaaaanyhoo, all day today I kept thinking "I should take some pictures for the blog!", but it being DORMA-day and all, I think you can guess how well THAT went...

But! I have some knitterly news! The pictures for Issue 2 of St-Denis Yarns magazine finally came out this week, and I'm IN THEM!!! Très exciting, if I do say so myself :)

Now, I admit that I don't quite know the etiquette involved with posting pictures of this on my blog, so I'll just post ONE picture and point you in the right direction to the pictures that the lovely Véronik posted on her Flickr page.



All the patterns are great, not just the ones I'm modeling, heh. Go check 'em out, and beg your LYS to carry St-Denis yarns!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Back to normal

We have resumed our normal crazy-ass schedule chez Dear. Actually, it's even crazy-asser, because Émilie has begun horse-back riding lessons on Sundays. Seems like our weekends are spent trying to schlep the kids to various activities or keeping them otherwise entertained, while simultaneously trying to get everything we need to get done to prepare for the coming week. Hence, the term DORMA day was coined.

I made a giant pot-o-spaghetti sauce (with which Phil made an awesome lasagna)...

I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...

...which I used to bribe my way into Kate-the-Enabler's house for an emergency play date this afternoon (I figured it'd go over better than saying "Please let us come over before we become feral and eat our own young!!!").

I also scaled Mount Washmore (haven't reached the summit yet), cleaned the hampster's cage, watered the plants... Yessir, it's excitement 24/7!

I also cast on for a pair of leg warmers for Émilie. She asked me to knit her a pair after skating class yesterday, and of course I'm being super fussy about it, even though, let's face facts, all I really need to knit is a long tube.

I'm using Regia Kaffe Fassett in the Landscape Celebration colourway, and as you can see, I've already frogged it a few times... These will be my metro knitting for the next few weeks. I should really get started on the second Conwy sock, I suppose. I've never fallen victim to second sock syndrome, but after all that nearly black yarn, I'm going to enjoy some bright self-striping action, let me tell you.

Alright! Those cookies are calling my name, the vixens.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Stuff that matters

Those of you who have been reading for a while know that Sundays... heck.... WEEKENDS are generally referred to as DORMA (Day Of Rest My Arse) days around here. Getting ready for the coming week with 2 young kids when both parents work full time is pretty hectic, and by the time Sunday evening rolls around Phil and I are both pretty knackered.

But we've been trying to do things a little differently lately. Trying to stay focused on the stuff that really matters rather than getting caught up in the mundane (yet time-sucking!) details.

So as I sit here, the laundry isn't finished. I made some meals for the week, but not all... But I'm not going to let that bother me in the slightest. Because I took care of some pretty important stuff this weekend.

For instance, I got to FINALLY meet the lovely Caroline on Saturday.

After about 2 years of reading each others' blogs and emailing back and forth almost daily, we placed a joint KnitPicks order as an excuse to finally get off our lazy butts and meet each other! (We live in the same city, for crying out loud...). Also there were Kadi and Robyn (who I must thank for these pictures because someone who shall remain nameless forgot her camera... *Sigh*)

Now you've got to admit: spending time with your fellow knitter is pretty gosh darn important, right?

Saturday evening the kids spent the night at their grandparents, and Phil and I got to have a well-deserved date night. You'll forgive me if I don't post pictures of that, this is a G-rated blog after all, heh.

Today was supposed to be all about madly scrambling to get caught up due to the previous day's slackage. And then? Then it started to snow.

Do any of you remember what it feels like to be five years-old and see the snow falling outside? How magical it is? How you just want to roll around in it and play outside until your nose freezes off or your coat is so weighted down with the stuff that you can't lift your arms anymore?

Well, after spending over 2 and a half hours with Émilie this afternoon, I sure do.

So yeah... the laundry isn't finished, the ironing hasn't been touched, and the food isn't all made. But I think I got the most important stuff taken care of. The rest? It can wait.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Treasure

Today I:

• Did 7 loads of laundry;
• Ironed 4 shirts, 3 blouses, 1 dress, 1 pair of pants and 1 shirt;
• Cooked 3 meals;
• Watered the plants;
• Gave the flower beds their monthly weeding;
• Cleaned Albert the hampsters' cage;
• Went out for a 50 minute run.

But I ALSO managed to find a moment to take some lovely pictures of some of the cool stuff I discovered when foraging in my mother's storage room last weekend. I don't think I'll show you everything at once, I'll save it for future blog fodder. But today I'll show you my treasure box.

Just a regular jewelry box, the kind pretty much every little girl must have at some point. I used to keep all sorts of stuff in here, jewelry (of course), but also stuff I knew was important, but didn't really know what to do with.

Like the necklace my babysitter made me.

This goes back to, oh... 1982? Think skin tight jeans, sneakers, leather jacket, and if you're still not there, throw in Tony Basil's Hey Mickey for the soundtrack. Are you with me now?

Or these babies: a bona fide Expo 86 Official Medallion, and an Air Canada UM badge (I had 2 of these in the box). I used to fly alone a lot as a kid, visiting my Dad, and it was a running joke that whatever question was asked of me when, when I was wearing this badge I was to answer "Uuummmmmmmmmm....".

Pretty neat, right? Then I noticed a bunch of... well... tissue paper in the bottom section of the box, along with a card.

I don't know if you can read that, but it says "List - Nursery Rhymes for Tara's children". The card was written my my grandmother, the very one whose picture you've probably noticed on the homepage of my blog, teaching me to knit when I was all but 5. And the tissue paper? In each bundle was a little Wade Red Rose Tea Figurine, each one representing a nursery rhyme.


Some of my favourites...

Clockwise from top left : Little Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffett, Little Bo Peep and Humpty Dumpty.

These guys I don't know, but I'll be sure to look them up and read their stories:

Clockwise from top left: Little Jack Horner, The Pied Piper, Wee Willie Winkie and Dr. Foster.

I can't tell you what it means to me to have found these. I'm sad to say I threw out a lot of stuff that I got from my grandmother when I was younger, too young I suppose to recognize the value of sentimental value. But I held onto these, and the fact that she wanted them to be for my children really makes them all the more special.

Especially when I read the bottom of the card:

It says "Given to Christopher (that'd be my Dad) Nov. 16th, 1986". She died less than a year later, in August of 1987, so I'm guessing she must have known that her time was almost up when she wrote this card.

After I was done taking my pictures, I wrapped each figurine in a new tissue paper and tucked them safely away in my treasure box. I promise I'll share them with my kids when they're a little older, Gramma, and can recognize just how important and wonderful they really are.

Happy Knitting Everyone.

How we did

Whew! Well, I told you this weekend was going to be busy, and I was right. As it is the laundry still isn't finished, I've only managed to cook 2 out of 4 meals for the week (Friday is spaghetti night, so no cooking required), the ironing has been ignored... *Sigh*

Saturday was Émilie's skating recital extravaganza, and she did fairly well. She fell about 30 seconds into the program, poor little thing, and as she didn't have her protective pads on under her costume, she was a bit upset. But she managed to suck it up and finish the show, and we were really proud of her!


It was a loooooong day though. She had to be there at 11 AM, even though the show was only at 1 in the afternoon. And despite her part being only about 2 minutes long, the kids had to stay for the entire show, which was over 3 hours long!!! Yeah, long day for Émilie, and long day for Maxime, too! I could have left with him after her part was over, but I really wanted to be there when she was finally able to come down and tell her how proud I was of her, so we stayed.


I don't know if she'll want to take skating lessons again in the Fall, she's a bit sick of the whole thing right now! We'll see, I guess.

After the show we dropped off both kids at my in-laws' house and came back home to get changed, before heading right back out the door again. We had tickets to see a Quebec singer/songwriter we really love, Daniel Boucher, and we wanted to have dinner at a local Vietnamese Phô soup restaurant (Phô Bang New York) before the show.

We love this place, and we don't get to go that often anymore (it's not really kid friendly!), so whenever we have the chance, we always eat there.

Phil always has the Extra Large bowl!

Across the street from the concert venue (Club Soda) was a strip joint, which has probably been there since the '50s. Strip clubs are fairly common in Montreal, especially in that part of town, but I've got to say, I've never seen a marquee quite like this one. Take a look! Doesn't the stripper look a little weird and out of proportion? Not so much with the allure, me thinks...

The show was wonderful (I took pictures, but they all came out blurry), and we had a great time. We came back home and got to sleep in this morning until 8:15!

Unfortunately, that was all the rest I got today, seeing as how yesterday was a complete bust in the DORMA department. I got no laundry done, didn't do any shopping (except to get Maxime his summer sandals), didn't make any food...


I got cracking today, and while I was busy cooking and Maxime was having his nap, Phil decided that it was the right time to get Émilie a hamster and took her to the pet store to pick one out.

I tell ya: I don't know what this poor bastard did in a past life to deserve this fate, but the poor thing just can't get a moment's peace! Émilie is deeply, deeply smitten with this rodent, even suggesting that we can give our dog, J-B, back to Phil's brother, as now she's got another pet she likes better.
We finished up the weekend by having Kate-the-Enabler and family over for dinner and cake, sort of a spur-of-the-moment "It's a Girl!" celebration. Émilie and Maxime were a bit whipped though, and not on their best behaviour, but I think everybody had a good time... Plus the chocolate cake (recipe curtosy of Anne Hanson!) was awesome.

And now here we are! Since the kids have been in bed, I've folded 4 loads of laundry, gotten our Federal income tax returns ready to mail out, and have written this blog post. I'm a dynamo of productivity, people! I'd roar, but honestly, I just don't have the strength left in me.

Happy Knitting Everyone! As you can see, I haven't knit a stitch since Friday. It'll be good to get back to work tomorrow, at least I'll get to knit on the subway on the way in!

Weekend Redux

Gosh, I remember when weekends used to mean REST. I know it's supposed to come back some day, but that's probably the one thing I miss most about not having kids : being able to just let the time go by on weekends, rather than run frantically after every stinkin' minute.

You'll remember from Friday's post that Phil was at a kite festival all weekend. Since I've got little or no knitting content today, I thought I'd give you a run down of my weekend.

Here's what Saturday looked like:

• Wake up at 6:23 AM. Go downstairs, have breakfast, jump in the shower so Phil can leave ASAP.
• 8:00 AM : Get both kids dressed, teeth and hair brushed. Strip all beds, change all towels, and lug all laundry downstairs. Do laundry while playing with kids. Start to comtemplate having a stiff drink. After all, it's happy hour somewhere, right?
• 10:30 AM : Hand off eldest child to kind and doting grandparent to take to her skating lesson. Proceed to dry cleaners' and grocery store with youngest child.
• 11:45 AM: Arrive home and put away groceries, do load of laundry, frantically prepare über-nutricious lunch (Kraft Dinner and Hot Dog wieners!) for eldest child's arrival.
• 12:00-12:30 PM : Have lunch, clean up lunch, set up Peter and the Wolf DVD to entertain children while laundry is folded.
• 1:15 PM : Put youngest child to bed for what will hopefully be a 2-hour nap. BEG eldest child to please play computer game while Mum shuts her eyes for just. one. minute.
• 1:16-1:34 PM: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
• 1:35 PM : Go upstairs to soothe youngest child, who seems to be under the impression that it's time to get up now, back to sleep.
• 2:05 PM : Realize that resistance is futile. Go back upstairs, retrieve cranky youngest child from bed. Dole out snacks. Do laundry, muse at the pile of handknits accumulating next to the sink and realize that there is no more Soak Wool Wash in the bottle. Seize the opportunity to get the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks out of the house and call Robyn, friend and purveyor of yarny-goodness to see about purchasing some.
• 3:00 PM : Arrive at Robyn's house. Shoot the breeze (quietly! both her cherubs are asleep), feel mildly guilty about disturbing quiet couple time and hope Robyn's husband Jamie isn't giving the evil eye behind my back.
• 4:15 PM : Leave Robyn's and start to panic that there won't be enough time to pick up present for eldest child's friends' birthday party on Sunday. Feel guilty because any "good" mother would have been on top of that already.
• 4:28 PM : Arrive at Zellers. Run to toy section and select appropriate "girl" toy at random. Thank lucky stars that children don't choose this moment to throw a fit because they're not getting anything.
• 5:30 PM : Get home, set kids up with toys, decide NOT to wait until Happy Hour and have that beer RIGHT NOW. Prepare über-nutricious dinner (breaded chicken fingers and french fries!)
• 6:45 PM : Put children in bath, sob that today is "hair washing day" but get over it.
• 7:15 PM : Go back downstairs and watch Wall-E for the 157th time with both cherubs. Crack open second beer.
• 7:45 PM : Put youngest child to bed.
• 8:15 PM: Put eldest child to bed.
• 10:00 PM: Try not to launch into vitriolic ramblings when husband arrives home and raves about what a fantastic day he had, and doesn't he have the greatest wife ever for letting him go today.

And Sunday:

• 4:50 AM: Listen to youngest child mumble and screech in his sleep. Check on him every 25 minutes or so until 6:30 AM, when husband gets up and retrieves both children. He seems to have understood that if he had not done this, marriage would have been in jeopardy.
• 7:00 AM: Stagger downstairs to have breakfast.
• 7:30 AM: Go back upstairs, shower and get dressed, so Phil can leave ASAP.
• 8:30 AM: Get both kids dressed, then arrange for Phil to drop youngest child off at doting grandparents' house while I take eldest child to swim lessons and birthday party.
• 8:35 AM: Wrap friggin' present for friggin' birthday party.
• 8:37 AM: Realize that, despite having been reminded TWICE that eldest child would need her shoes at birthday party, said shoes are still at daycare, and sneakers that are "for home" are too small. Curse self profusely, and get arse out of the house pronto to make another trip to Zellers before swimming lesson.
• 9:05 AM: Run through Zellers, find size 9 sneakers.
• 9:35 AM : Arrive late for swim lesson. Sit and watch eldest child, who has apparently had Wheaties laced with speed for breakfast, jump up and down NONSTOP in pool. Laugh to self smugly as other parents' jaws pratically drop to the floor when knitting is pulled out of purse.
• 10:00 AM: Retrieve child. Listen to teachers' comment about how "enthusiastic" eldest child is in the water, and how we need to work on her "listening skills". Will do, lady.
• 10:05 AM: Go to locker room and get child dressed, hair dried and coiffed, and ready for birthday FUN!
• 10:30 AM: Miraculously arrive ON TIME to party. Drop child, whose speed rush is still going strong, off at party. Briefly feel sorry for the poor bastards who are going to have to supervise this bunch.
• 11:00 AM: Retrieve youngest child from doting grandparents house.
• 12:00 PM: Meet OTHER dothing grandparents at restaurant for brunch. Watch as youngest child dazzles older, red-headed female. Mentally skip ahead 15 years to when both children will be dazzling and dating. Shudder and "enjoy the now".
• 1:30 PM: Arrive home and put sleeping youngest child to bed. Realize there's a whole free hour stretched out before me. Briefly consider plopping on couch and knitting, but get sucked into vortex of guilt and instead: water plants, do laundry and ironing, and cook a ham.
• 2:30 PM: Reluctantly accept the fact that Phil is NOT coming home early and wake up youngest child to pick up eldest child at birthday party.
• 3:00 PM: Pick up eldest child, who is NOT happy to see me, at birthday party. Arrive home with one fully awake and one sound asleep child.
• 3:45 PM: Set up Wall-E DVD (again) and fold laundry. Thank the Lord when Phil finally shows up. Immediately call doting mother-in-law to go shopping. Make sure not to let the door slam me on the arse on my way out.
• 4:15-5:00 PM: Mad shop-a-thon with mother-in-law. The woman is a FORCE.
• 5:30 PM: Have glass of wine while making 2 suppers at once (one for later in the week).
• 6:45 PM: Take longer than necessary to clean up kitchen while Phil gives children their bath.
• 7:15 PM: Watch Peter and the Wolf DVD with kids, right up until 5 minutes before the end, when, seemingly for no reason, eldest child pushes youngest child off chair and onto the floor. Stop movie, put screaming banshee that bears a slight resemblance to eldest child to bed.
• 8:00 PM: Sit and knit, and wonder that I've made it through another weekend.

So tell me: how was your weekend?

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Oomph

I'm trying to come up with something dazzling and fantastic and witty to say, but I'm coming up short this evening. It's been another DORMA day here at casa de Dear, I'm a bit whipped, and I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow so I can relax!

But I've got another finished object to share with you today. My brother-in-law celebrated his 40th birthday this week, and we had a family get-together tonight to celebrate. Owing to last night's marathon knitting session (the kids were babysat by their grandparents, and we got to spend the evening eating pizza, drinking beer and getting caught up on Battlestar Galactica and Lost), I managed to finish the Noro Striped scarf I was making him to go with the Turn a Square Hat I made him for Christmas.

I loved this project. It was fun (can you say perfect TV knitting?), it's beautiful and it looks way more complicated than it actually is. The colour shifts are addictive, and well, I just don't have anything bad to say about this project. I wish I had made one for myself!

Alright, I'm seriously beat, y'all. I'm going to knit a few rows of my Clapotis (I know I should work on the Pacific Islands stole, but I deserve a treat!) and hit the hay.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Break on Through

I did it. I somehow managed to survive another weekend. How do people do it? How do we get through the mad rush of the shopping and the cooking and the laundry and the social obligations and still keep our sanity intact? I'm serious, I think this is one of life's great mysteries.

Okay, truth be told, this weekend wasn't really THAT bad. I'm just exhausted from Émilie waltzing into our room and turning on the light at 6:09 AM this morning. In her defense, we have to get up at 6 during the week, but she has yet to grasp the concept of "sleeping in". When you think of it, Phil and I are really the ones who need to keep up with the learning curve though, because we keep falling into the trap of going to bed at 11 o'clock on Friday and Saturday nights (you know, 'cause it's the weekend! we can sleep in! NOT!). Sharp as a butter knife, people.

So, first things first. Saturday evening we were invited to the hippest, happenin'-est party of our neighborhood, Kate-the-Enabler's son Liam's first birthday party.

Liam seemed a little freaked when everyone started to arrive (no biggie, I feel the exact same way when too many people invade my tiny abode), but he and Maxime were eventually able to sit and chill at the Play-Doh table. Can't you just picture them in a few years, trading hockey cards and giggling because on of them said "boobies"?

Now, Phil and I took a bunch of pictures of the party, but one of the adults always managed to be in a most unflattering position in every. single. picture (you know, eyes closed, finger up nose, bent over flashing droopy cleavage, that kind of thing), so this is all you get. *Speaking of droopy cleavage, Chris, if you EVER post that picture you took of me, be prepared to endure my wrath*.

Today we put up some of our Christmas decorations. Émilie and Dad picked up a little tree (I think it's a four-footer?) this morning, and we got to work.

And I do mean WORK, people. Controlling Émilie's creative impulses while simultaneously trying to keep 18 month-old Maxime away from the tree and it's glass ornaments (note to self - invest in some plastic ornaments!) was, um, challenging. See my face in this picture? That's what's referred to as "The Look" in my family. (and MAN! Why is it that I look like a tank in all these pictures! I've lost weight, I tell you!)

We pretty much stopped at the tree. I've got quite a collection of snowglobes and other decorations that I'm still debating on putting out, what with Maxime's enthusiasm and Émilie's overzealousness.

I was hoping that decorating would put me into the Holiday spirit, but I'm just not feeling it. Perhaps after a good night's sleep, I'll feel differently. We'll see.

This afternoon Émilie and I went over to Alison's to drop off some recipe books I'd been holding hostage for a few months, and to meat her new fur baby Newman. Émilie was enchanted to meet a kitty, and of course had a major fit when it was time to leave, crying that the cat would "miss her terribly" and "why can't I get a cat???" (I'm allergic). I think she had finally stopped crying for all of 2 minutes when we got home, and of course, what should Phil ask her when we walked through the door? "Did you see a CAT???" (I think it's a safe bet that "The Look" was used again).

And here we are, another weekend over and done with. Hallelujah! I've got a busy week ahead of me, with choir practice on Monday and 2 concerts this week (including the Oratoire St-Joseph on Saturday!). But I'll do my best to blog. I do it all for you, people! (actually that's a lie, I'm just a comment junkie).

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Friday Frazzle

Sorry, no Aftermath: Part 3 post today. I still haven't managed to get any decent pictures of the Rhinebeck loot. This weekend, I promise.

No, it's 9:20 PM, and I've just gotten home from a choir board meeting (by the way, I'm now the chairman of the board. Phase 1 of my ascension to Queen of the Universe is now complete!!!). Phil's gone up to bed already (he's got a cold, and not just any cold, a bonafide MAN cold), but I'm still a bit too wired. I feel like I've been cheated out of my down time, damnit! Even though, as Phil was quick to point out to me, I didn't have to put the kids to bed, so I DID have some down time.

What can I blather on about then? The week flew by, as usual. Everyone here is sick, including me, but luckily I seem to be on the mend, mostly. I've still got a sleep debt to make good on, but there's no point in going up earlier and just tossing and turning when your mind is going 100 miles an hour, is there?

I had my measurements taken at Curves this week, and I got some great results! I lost 3.5 pounds and 1 inch off my waistline, all in 3 weeks! Yay! It actually WORKS, people. I was previously convinced that it was a myth, but it turns out that this new-fangled thing they call "exercise" really does help one get a better physique. Who woulda thunk it?

Still, I was shocked when I realized exactly how many pounds of plain old body fat I'm actually lugging around every day. When you get your weigh-in at the end of the month, they measure your Body Fat Index as well as your weight and other measurements, and let me tell you: 27.1% body fat may very well be "fair" for a woman of my age, but in my case that totals out to 41.3 POUNDS of fat. FAT!!!!! Just imagine 41 pounds of butter oozing off the top of your kitchen counter. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww.

So I've set some new goals, and I'm finding my success thus far to be highly motivating. I am woman, hear me huff and puff.

Speaking of Curves, remember a while back I mentioned that I didn't realize that you could do a dance version of Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper? Well, they did one better today. A friggin' dance version of Tammy Wynette's Stand by your Man. I actually burst out laughing in the middle of a workout. The other women thought I was giddy from the heat. Is it just me who finds that funny?

All right, I've got a full plate tomorrow. Groceries, laundry, food, shutting down the flower beds... Your basic DORMA day. I was going through all the things we want to get done with Phil this week, and when I asked him if I was forgetting something, he said "Yeah. How about: Relaxing".

Relaxing??? On a weekend? I tell you, sometimes it's like the man doesn't even live in the same house.

I promise to return to knit-blog format this weekend! In the meantime,

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Fire Bad, Tree Pretty

To say it's been a brutal weekend would be a colossal understatement. It was the mother of all DORMA weekends, and I wasn't even any of the work! (But, between you and me? A weekend with 2 kids and my mother-in-law ain't exactly a picnic either) ;)

So, in lieu of words, a photo-essay.

The old carpet. Eeeeeeeeewwwwww

Rippin' it out! Buh-Bye, carpet!

Oy Vey

A few nails...

Phil's Dad, hard at work

Mmmmm, shiny....

The living room!

My new dining room

The hallway

As you can see, things aren't quite back to normal. But we're getting there! We're not 100% done, but still, it's close enough...

Oh, and I turned the heel on my Miscellaneous-Man socks ;)

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Who Wants a Worm?

You know, it really is true what they say. The early bird really does get the worm. But when you translate that statement over to humans, in lieu of a worm, you get an incredibly productive, crazy day.

For instance: by 9:30 this morning, when I wouldn't even have been AWAKE five years ago, I had done 2 loads of laundry and had put the second coat of paint on the upstairs bathroom. It's absolutely crazy how much you can cram into a weekend.

The unfortunate side effect of that amazing efficiency is a very noticeable shortening of the proverbial fuse. I have HAD it with this whole "wife and mother" deal. All I want for Christmas is for me to give me oodles of cash to sit on my keester, watch Buffy DVDs and knit. Seriously, is that too much to ask for?

Speaking of knitting, things didn't go quite as planned on Friday night. I mentioned last post that I wasn't convinced I had enough yarn for the Mystery Stole. The instructions state that you need 1100 yards of laceweight yarn, and the skein I wanted to use (Dyed in the Wool Handmade - Mmmmmmmm) has 980 yards.

I decided to ignore the little voice of reason telling me to use something else, and succeeded into the beginning of my second row, when I realized that the beads I had purchased to match the yarn were way too small, and there was no way I was going to get even one on my stitches. I took is as a sign from the Knitting Goddess to choose another yarn, and I ordered some beads in the appropriate size online (I don't have time to go traipsing across the city in search of the perfect beads. Those of you who do, more power to you.) I'll cast on when I get them (probably next week). I'm a bit miffed about starting the project a week behind in the clues, but hey, I'll live.

Since it's been a while since I've posted any pictures (Look! A slightly larger Pinwheel Blanket! Oooh, Aaaaaah), I'll leave you with this blurry shot of my daughter Émilie, taking her very first skating lesson on Saturday. Hmmmm.... I wonder where the XXIVth Winter Games will be held...

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Barely Conscious

I don't know how I ever thought that a long weekend was restful. They aren't. Long weekends are like your average, run of the mill DORMA (Day Of Rest My Arse) days, multiplied by three. I wouldn't even be blogging except that Phil is working on a new tail for his kite, so I've got a couple of free minutes. I'd ask for some leeway when it comes to spelling and, you know, coherence, because I'm absolutely, positively knackered.

Huh. You know, now that I think of it, I can't even recall what we did yesterday? Other than groceries, laundry, and all that other stuff working families do on Saturdays. Not a clue. I do remember that we had gone to bed late on Friday night (you know, 'cause it's the weekend?) and then were woken up at 5:15 in the morning by Maxime's increasingly insistent "MaMa!!!"s.

Sigh. I love my kids, but will someone please tell me when they're going to sleep in on weekends? I'm not greedy. I'd like to sleep until 7. Is that too much to ask???

We also hit what we call "disgust overload" as far as clutter and cleanliness were concerned. Disgust Overload is when you've been cruising along, oblivious to the grime and ever-surmounting crap that seems to multiply like bunnies in a house with 2 young kids, and then, all of a sudden, it all hits you at once, and you JUST CAN'T LOOK AT IT ANOTHER STINKIN' MINUTE. This usually happens to one or the other parent. But this Saturday it hit us BOTH at the same time.

So we did some reorganizing, cleared out some toys the kids never play with, organized a couple of closets. Then we took it one step further and looked beyond the furniture and the toys and the stuff, and actually looked at the WALLS.

Dudes. Holes, scratches, cracks. And the baseboards? Ugh. We shan't speak of those. Anyway, Phil whipped up a batch of plaster, plugged in all the holes, and we vowed to repaint all the affected rooms, one room per weekend (which should keep us busy until, oh, Thanksgiving).

So when we got home from the Fête de la Famille this afternoon (and were lucky enough the be able to transfer BOTH kids to their respective beds for a well deserved nap), I trotted myself out to the local deco store and picked up a bucket of paint. I was a woman on a mission, people, and I would NOT be shaken from my goal.

Our downstairs bathroom/laundry room will be going from brown to a lovely pale blue. Am I tired? Yes. But I did discover one thing today: Kids make for excellent slaves ;)


Happy Knitting Everyone! (Not that I actually got to knit today... Grumble, grumble...)

WWKIP et al.

OK, I've got 20 minutes left on my lunch break to sqeeze in this post, so here goes!


You'll be glad to know that I've gotten better at Guitar Hero (I know you were wondering about that). I'm not as proficient as Phil (probably has something to do with me not spending every waking moment playing), but I can hold my own.


Saturday, as planned, I joined Robyn and a few other ladies at Fairview shopping center for WWKIP day. I unfortunately didn't have the heart to lug my ginourmous camera out there (hint, hint!!!), but I DID come through big time in the photo-op department nonetheless. Robyn wanted a group shot of our group, but since she wanted us ALL in there, we needed someone to take the picture. After an initial failed attempt, I pulled out my seldom-used but formerly formidable flirting skills, and got a nice gentleman to take a picture of our group.

(taken with permission from Robyn's blog)

A lovely time was had by all, and look! The attendees even got some free loot! Score!!!

Pictures: some Briggs & Little Regal sock yarn, some dpn's (as well as a dpn tube), a beautiful shawl pin, some handmade dangle-free stitch markers, as well as some Soak, candy and hand cream. Thanks Robyn! (by the way, today is Robyn's birthday, pop on by and say Hi!).

OK, when I got home (an hour late - whoopsee!), I found to my dismay that neither child had napped, despite Phil's most sincere efforts. We packed the kids and all their paraphernalia in the car and headed out to Lachine, to have dinner with Phil's brother and his girlfriend. This is what the back seat looked like when we got there:

Hehehe. 2 very sleepy children indeed.

Dinner was great (as was the Dairy Queen afterwards!), and we headed back home to put the kids to bed (and play Guitar Hero, but you knew that already).

Sunday there was swimming, gardening and laundry to be done, and I had a concert at 2 in the afternoon, so I again had to leave the kids with Phil (probably not his ideal Father's Day, but whadaya gonna do?). Honestly, the day is kind of a blur. DORMA.

Tonight there is no choir practice, so I'm going to head over to Kate-the-Enabler's house for some knitting and Sangria on the porch (not necessarily in that order), weather permitting. We haven't had a SnB in ages, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll leave you with this picture of one of my beautiful peonies, taken last week when it was at it's peak. Happy Knitting Everyone!

Where to Start?

I've got so many little odds and ends I want to discuss today, that I don't even know where to begin! The weekend was a blur, as usual, and it seems that by the time I had a few minutes to look around and get my bearings, it was Monday again. But let's recap, briefly.

Friday I stayed home with Maxime, because he had his one year vaccinations in the morning, and since he gets all his shots at once (4 of them!), I figured he would be cranky or feverish the rest of the day, and deserved a little down time. He did really well, actually, and it was nice being home for the day. I managed to get the jump on the weekend (laundry) and even had Kate-the-Enabler over for a SnB. Since I went back to work, our little SnBs have been few and far between, and I missed them.

Friday night Phil's parents came to watch the kids, and we paid a visit to our local Honda and Nissan dealers (oh, how I hate car shopping). The experience at Honda was actually quite pleasant, but we met the most obnoxious, cheesy, full-of-himself salesman ever to walk the face of the earth at Nissan (think Bill Paxton in True Lies). Seriously, the guy was like a caricature of a car salesman. He actually ended our meeting with "There's one thing the other models don't have, and that's me, and I'm the best there is!!!". Uh.... yeah, OK buddy. Smile and nod honey, and slowly back away...

Saturday morning was busy as usual, with the kids' swim lessons in the morning leaving us all completely drained. Nevertheless, I had decided that Saturday was the day I would finish cleaning out my flower beds and planting my annuals (I just love going to the nursery and choosing my annuals each year - it's one of my favourite times of year), so with Émilie's help (Maxime is still a tad young), I spent the afternoon happily playing around in the dirt.

I also decided to re-seed my vegetable patch. I had sown a bunch of seeds the previous weekend, and didn't have a single shoot, despite an abundance of rain during the week. I suspect that I planted them too deep? Ever the optimist, I planted more.

(Seen here: cherry tomato plant, zucchini plant hanging in there, basil seedlings, and some miscellaneous sprouts [where Émilie dropped a huge handful of seeds].)

Then Saturday evening Phil's parents invited us over to their house for dinner. Actually, all they had to do was call us up, wait for someone to pick up the phone, then mutter the word "Lobster" into the receiver, and we were dropped everything and ran over. Émilie didn't care for it much, beyond looking at it's insides, but I came back home with the top button of my jeans undone, rubbing my belly and smiling contentendly. Mmmmmm, lobster....

Sunday? Uh..... Sunday is a complete blank. Errands, groceries, food. DORMA. 'Nuff said.

On the knitting front, I'm quite close to completing Émilie's Good Stripe Dress. Of course, I not only ran out of my main colour, but also of my main contrasting colour (a mere 4 and a half stripes from completion!!!!). Thankfully, it was Ravelry to the rescue once again, with Bambers

(I don't have her real name) graciously stepping in and offering to bestow her precious Key Lime CotLin in lot 5540 on me. I'll be eternally grateful, I promise.

I also signed up for Secret Pal 12! I've never participated in a Secret Pal exchange, but I've been reading off and on about them for what seems like forever, and they seem like a lot of fun (provided you get a good partner), so I thought Why Not?

Oh! And I almost forgot! Did you know that Madonna is coming to town in October??? Well, when she last came to Montreal, I didn't go, mainly because I felt the tickets were too expensive. But upon later reflection, I regretted it. Say what you will about her music, she's a world-class star, and I've been listening to her music most of my life (even though I don't actually own any of her CDs besides the Immaculate Collection). So when I heard that she was coming again last week, I decided cost be damned, I'm going to the show!

Of course, I totally forgot about the tickets going on sale Saturday at noon, and now they're sold out. Aaaaargh!!!!! You'd have thought that my yarn-purchasing skills, which are quite formidable, and might even be considered legendary in some circles (did I not score some impossible to buy Twisted Fiber Art during the last update? Who da Woman???), would have served me better when it came to concert tickets... Oh well, here's hoping she'll add another date. If not, there's always the New Kids on The Block....

Happy Knitting Everyone!

DORMA

A while back the Yarn Harlot had a post about the feeling of empowerment that the word Stet gives a writer, and later on it evolved into a statement about a knitter's right to work on the projects she darn well chooses. I liked the word. I thought it was appropriate.

Today I was talking to my Dad on the phone, and he was asking me how my Mother's Day was going. I laughed. "Mother's Day? Well, so far I've done laundry, cooked 3 meals, and ironed 8 shirts. I think today's post is going to be titled Day of Rest My Arse." Without missing a beat, my Dad says "DORMA!". And I liked it. Just think how efficient it would be to sum up the day's events with that word! Hey Dear, how was your day? DORMA.

When I'm working full time, Sundays are absolute killers. I actually look forward to going to work the next day so I can recover. I get home pretty late (around 6:00 PM), so I've got to make all the meals ahead of time (you guessed it, on Sunday!). Plus the laundry that's still left to fold and put away, plus the ironing, plus the taking care of the kids, plus life. It's pretty exhausting. So this is what I did today:
Baked 3 chicken pot pies, 1 spinach pie (a recipe I got on Knitspot!), 1 salmon loaf, one batch of Beefy Carrots (an old family recipe that's really embarrassing, but that Émilie positively loves), one batch of Sicilian style linguine sauce, and in the back there is a batch of Filet of Sole Mornay with a trio of vegetables for Maxime. I also:
Folded 3 loads of laundry and ironed 8 shirts (2 of which were mine).

DORMA indeed. As I was saying to my Dad, I think that Mother's Day was invented by men who, after being fed and clothed and taken care of their entire lives by their mothers, proceeded to leave and never call or visit, then came up with this Mothers' Day deal so they could alleviate an entire year's worth of guilt with a dinky card and a wilting bouquet of flowers.

If I sound bitter, I am. (What episode of Buffy is that from???)

Seriously, for all you wannabe mothers out there, this is what Mothers' Day is really like. Just like any other day, except you have less time to get everything you need done accomplished, because you've got to set time aside to be "pampered".

Still, I did get some nice stuff from the kids (Dad helped).


A beautiful art project made by Émilie, as well as a potted plant from both the kids. Daddy was planning on taking me to Ikea to pick out a new bookcase for myself, but I just couldn't bare going there today (not with everything I already had to do), so I asked him if I could pick out a perfume for myself this week and give him the bill instead.

So if you happen to notice a nice-smelling woman snoring into her keyboard this week, that'd be me.

Happy Mothers' Day everyone!