Pie lovers...

Cute toddler moments:

1.  Pretending a printed tissue is a tablecloth, a cotton ball is a sandwich, a plastic cap is a "burger" and a bottle of eye drops is apple juice. 

2.  Passing by the appliance section at Costco, Rosina remarks that she sees an oven, then says, "You cook a pie in there."  Clearly she is her father's daughter when it comes to pie!

Not cute toddler moment: falling backwards off a table bench onto the concrete floor at the same Costco, right after I told her to sit down and stop squatting on the bench. Poor thing. She was unhappy but fine, and now I am even more paranoid about telling her to sit...

We were able to get a bunch of errands done today, though it was not a very pleasant experience. I made my dishes for a potluck tomorrow (tortellini pasta salad and a S'mores version of krispie treats), and managed to finish Charlotte's mittens, then we made our appearances at Mark's alumni event. Capped off the day with Rosina's first viewing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Fairly productive day!  

I am about halfway through Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It's been a really long time since I've seen Blade Runner, but the book just seems really familiar. Have I read this before, and just don't remember?   

First-world problems

Scandal!  There is some serious messed-up-ness going on there.  If I can't handle watching CSI, you know I have to cover my eyes for some of this.  And James, oh James.

Half done with the first mitten of the larger pair of mittens.  Worked on Mark's sock last night at Panera.  It is a very tedious sock.

The high today is 79.  The high Sunday is 38.  I am not sure what to think about this.  All I know is that Rosina is fighting me about trying to leave the house.  Molars, I'm looking at you.  I only hope I can go to Trader Joe's tonight and it won't be a zoo.  In the meantime, I'm gonna open some windows.

In other TV news, I had been saving the last four episodes of Psych on Hulu so I could watch them over time.  I now only have one left.  Love that show!  ("Come on, son!")

Day job:  still doing tedious stuff.  Teutonic overlord has been temporarily replaced by Russian one.  Good times to be had.  Relearning the ins and outs of the system I left over two years ago.  Blech.  By the way, the Messiah gig did not work out--I know the woman doing it, and I think she just beat my response by a few minutes. :)

Rosina is still having trouble getting to sleep at night in her bed, rather than in ours.  I know the darkness is the main problem, but we still haven't hit on the right combination.

I forgot to put up a picture of her Halloween costume!  I was planning to dress her as Wednesday Addams because I'd found an all-black outfit, but it was in the high 70s that day so I improvised:

"Shut up, Wesley!"

I know I posted a video yesterday, but I've watched this at least a dozen times by now.  Bonus points if you recognize individual episodes!



Braved Kohl's for some Christmas shopping for my nieces.  Charlotte is growing out of the toddler section! :/  She's just really tall.  At eleven months, Elizabeth probably outweighs Rosina by now, but she's so much shorter that they're not really wearing the same size quite yet.  It won't be long. (I did mention the ankle rolls, right? She rocks the baby chub!)  Anyway, it was only slightly stress-inducing--not bad considering it was lunchtime.  Rosina did not want to let go of this Superman action figure.  I wonder if they sell a non-Little People Superman toy that's not a choking hazard.  Hmm.

A singing colleague messaged me out of the blue to fill in for her at a Messiah performance tomorrow, but it's been about ten hours since I wrote her back and haven't heard anything else, so it's probably not happening. Too bad! It's not a bad way to make a few hundred bucks, and the singing is pretty damn easy for the Alto soloist.  Damn, I haven't had a paid gig in three years!  I need to email my teacher/s and try to get some lessons in during the winter.  It has been too long, and I know I'm rusty.  It's hard to tell if my higher notes are less pretty because my voice is lower or if I'm that out of practice.  Maybe a combination of the two!

Knit night tonight!  My mother confirmed that the girls need mittens, so I am busy with some raspberry Vanna's Choice.  (Turns out she didn't call me back because they ALL had a stomach bug.  Ugh.)  I will probably bring Mark's socks with me as well.  I did use an entire 50g for the first sock, but Patons Kroy Jacquards is really heavy fingering.  Last night I stayed up a bit late to watch the SNL holiday special (kind of a waste of time, since I can watch this anytime I want--beware, that's the uncensored version!), which gave me a chance to finish another project.  It may straddle the line between cute and creepy.  I hope the former wins out!

I forgot how skinny Robert Plant was...

I've been thinking about this song for a few days.  It's a shame that commercial radio, even classic rock radio, is so programmed that there's no room for deeper cuts anymore.  Led Zeppelin does a four-minute song like nobody else.  (See also the rest of Led Zeppelin III, "Night Flight", "Misty Mountain Hop"...)



I am really hoping that work settles down after today.  It has been kind of nuts.  If I were still doing 18 hours a week, it'd be keeping me out of trouble, but with my schedule as it is now, an hour-long last-minute project meant my plans to run errands this morning had to be canceled.  Rosina, meanwhile, has been watching way too much TV.  I'm in the room with her and interacting, but she's not yet task-oriented enough to sit and play on her own for two hours while I finish working!

I'm almost done with Mark's first Christmas sock--there have been a few false starts where I ripped out several inches because the pattern wasn't working with the striping, so they seem like they're taking forever... I guess I have three more weeks to finish them.  (Only three weeks until Christmas!  We still need to get a tree, and I've done almost no shopping, and I haven't even started the doll I'm making for Rosina.  Jeez...)

PTSD

I am jealous.  Indescribably jealous.

Jealous of all of my friends who had healthy, full-term babies this year.  I am really happy for them, but I am also very jealous.  I am jealous of the sleepless zombie nights, because my baby came home sleep-trained from the NICU schedule.  I was jealous of the third-trimester beached-whale phase, since I never got that far--even though I would've had to experience that phase during June and July in North Carolina.  I am super jealous of all the happy successful nursing going on.  I am so torn when I see it, because I am both so overjoyed that you can feed your sweet baby and so horribly disappointed that I could not.  (If anyone had bothered to tell me that women with PCOS can't normally breastfeed even in optimal conditions, it would have made me feel less like a failure.  Still pissed about that.)  I am very jealous of baby chub--though my niece's ankle rolls are kind of overtime!--because my baby was NEVER chubby.  It'll be whole milk until puberty here.  I worry that once puberty comes, she's going to go too far in the other direction because she's never been denied fat or sugar in her entire life.

I know I put up a good front, and I wouldn't want any of my friends to change a thing, but it still hurts.  When you only see your squirming baby long enough to say, "She's so tiny!" before she's whisked away.  When you can't hold your baby until she's a week old--and then you end up supporting all her weight in your wrists, because she only weighs two pounds.  When you see your baby in clothes for the first time, at about three weeks old, and you ask the nurse if they're doll clothes, because you never knew preemie-sized clothes existed.  When you don't kiss your baby until she's almost seven weeks old, and then only in secret, when nobody's watching, because you think the nurses will tell you not to.  When your supply drops to nothing because your baby is too small to nurse more than once a day (if that), despite round-the-clock pumping and power-pumping and Reglan that made you briefly suicidal and ugh, fenugreek.  When you don't get to see your baby's face without tubes until she's almost ready to come home.  When you spend $150 a month on nasty preemie formula instead of on loads of cheese to power the milk production machine.

Rosina is such a great kid.  She is sweet and helpful, can count to thirteen, knows most of her letters, loves to draw and paint and run around with sticks and dance and sing and fly airplanes.  I wish her molars would come in already, and that she were more interested in potty training, but that's typical toddler stuff.  I wish she would gain four pounds, but there's nothing I can do about that other than what we're already doing, and so long as she doesn't drop out of the third percentile for weight her pediatrician's okay with it.  We are indescribably happy with her outcomes, and so glad that she avoided any long-lasting health problems, but still, it hurts.

Anyway, I'm just venting, and I don't want this to be a pity party, but I need to acknowledge to myself that these feelings are so completely normal, considering what we've been through.  New mommies, recommence your breastfeeding!  I am rooting for you.

He sees you when you're sleeping

Sitting at the dining room table while Rosina eats ice cream and I enjoy some apple cider herbal tea (okay, but doesn't touch the real thing). I need to finish the dishes, but my bellydance class was tough tonight and I needed a break!  

Mark put up our meager array of lawn decorations yesterday, but while I was at class tonight he put out the yuppie window candelabras, so we are starting to look a bit festive here. We are going up to Maryland the weekend after next to spend the weekend with my parents and my brother's family (I know--I was so relieved to think that with my parents' move I'd never again experience the Ocean City Winterfest of Lights, and here we are again, for the fourth year in a row), so I need to get a bit of holiday shopping done this week. My mother better let me know soon whether to make mittens or hats for my nieces, or else that's not happening...I am a really fast knitter, but does she think I shoot them out of my ass or something? (Gross, sorry.) I think for my parents and brothers (and wives) I'm going to make some sugar scrub (also good for men with rough hands!), and Mark's been planning for years to make this salve his mother liked, so this may be the year. I have a tradition of giving my father something with sulfites for Christmas--we'll just have to see what  type of fancy olives Costco has this year!

I'm making some socks for Mark--fairly boring ribbed ones, since the yarn is slightly busy--but I haven't figured out what else to get him yet.  Hmm, maybe a gift certificate to the beermaking store?  He and Fritz haven't made beer in a really long time, but Fritz is finishing up his MBA now so they should have more time soon. 

PerBloPoMo

Since I was a total slack (okay, semi-slack) and didn't post at all last month, I will endeavor to make this a daily thing this month. Traveling and holidays be damned, I have 3G and serious data to burn. Also, since asterisks are a total pain in the tuchus on an iPhone, I may find an alternate way to make bullet points. Or hell, let's explore the radical concept of paragraphs. 

So I said semi-slack before because I have had stuff going on. My trip to California was relentless--I literally returned to LAX 36 hours after I left--and the ramifications of said trip are still coming to fruition. Serious changes happening, which I can't even get much into in case it ends up in Google somewhere, but suffice to say my Teutonic overlord is replaced with a much friendlier, non-European one, and the entire structure of my segment of the organization will be completely organized.   Now I have to relearn a system I haven't looked at since my maternity leave's abrupt beginning--but at least it actually works, unlike what I've been struggling with for the last year. There will definitely be an adjustment period, but I think within the next three months we'll get everything figured out. 

Anyway, besides the work stuff, we were all sick for a week or two. Also, I decided to start watching Scandal (OMG!!!!) and caught up in less than two weeks, almost entirely during naptimes. So housework and hygiene may also have fallen to the wayside. LOL The holiday crafting is also in full swing--nearly done, now that I think about it. 

Getting late, more tomorrow. In the meantime, check out Rosina playing with my tea set--which, as I've just learned, first belonged to my great-aunt. (That makes it sound old, but she's only 25 years older than me--it's from the late '50s, I guess.)  Extra fun because it looks normal-sized when she uses it!

It's always sunny

*I am actually in Philadelphia right now--in the airport, passing my long layover before my flight to LAX. The last few weeks have been a little crazy, what with the trip to New York and people having/not having babies and trying to keep up with laundry--not to mention that I had a cold last week, and was desperately trying to kick it in time for this trip. When I get home on Wednesday, I look forward to a nice, calm November. After that I make no promises. :)

*Finished my sweater sample!  I was moving quickly to try to finish it before this trip, and at one point I clocked myself at forty stitches per minute. O_o. I am almost done with a cabled cardigan for Rosina (may have to recalculate the armhole width--I was totally not thinking there...), and am working on the toe of the first sock in the pair I'm making for Amanda in exchange for watching Rosina while we were buying the Jetta. After this:  Christmas knitting, arrrggghhh. I only have a few things in mind, and none of them should take more than a week, but it should keep me busy!  Shawl for myself when I finally finish it all!

*Got a little verklempt last night saying goodbye to Rosina. I won't have gone so long without seeing her since, well, ever!  Even when she was in the NICU I still saw her every day (besides the awful Reglan day, and the day we went to the beach). We have FaceTime, and obviously I will survive (and no diapers to change, bonus), but still, I will miss her!  

*When I get back, I am back to the diet, no excuses!  Halloween candy can be kept to a minimum, Thanksgiving will be four weeks away (and low-key), and I've already met my pumpkin spice latte quota for the year. 

*New York trip, quick recap:  it was great to see my family, especially my nieces. The baby is so sweet and mushy!  My mother totally got on my nerves, though--how nice that she felt the need to question my parenting choices (I do feed my child, TYVM) while so overscheduling us that Rosina only got one full nap in the entire time.  Jeff was his typical argumentative self (seriously, what do you hope to gain by arguing about ACA with me? I can refute all your bad reasoning, and neither of us are going to change our minds, so why bother?! This is not fun for me).  I didn't get to see any of my friends, either, and only got to sleep past 7:30 once. It was far from a vacation. My mother is currently trying to schedule a family weekend in Brunswick County for early December--I don't know if it's happening yet, but at least Mark will be with me, and we will have a car, and we'll only be two hours from home...

*Speaking of Mark, he's been growing a beard!  He wanted to do it in advance of his trip to Denver earlier this month, but I think he's getting used to it now. That and we've been watching Whisker Wars...

*I am wearing black stretch velour pants today. If you have to spend 12+ hours traveling, you may as well do it in comfy pants that can take me straight into my dinner meeting. No one need know that that I'm basically in pajamas...

Ways I am old, and non-blogged adventures

*Freddie Prinze, Jr. guest-stars on Bones. The Whedonverse rejoices. I notice his grey temples and remember that he is a year older than me. (I am still waiting for the Bones/Castle crossover episode. If David Boreanaz and Nathan Fillion appear onscreen together again--and for more than a second this time--TVs may explode all over the country.)

* I heard this on the radio, and actually remembered it fondly:

*My grandmother turned eighty years awesome last week!  There was a big party for her over the weekend, but obviously I couldn't go.  I will be so happy to visit my family next month!

*Last night I realized that I no longer have a "favorite song", but like, a whole box of them, ranging from Schubert and Richard Strauss to the Foo Fighters and Dar Williams. The newest of my favorites is from 2008 ("The Fear" by Lily Allen). 

*We had many plans for agritourism this month--and thankfully the weather has been great!--but Mark apparently has a meniscus injury. We'll know more next week after his MRI, and he's really not in too bad shape, but he certainly can't do a corn maze or traipse around a farm. I'm just hoping he's feeling better in time for his trip to Denver next month. 

*Showed Rosina Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for the first time yesterday (PBS has some on their website; as far as I can tell, they're not really broadcast anymore). Miss Elaine Fairchild is as mean and downright scary as I'd remembered!  Anyway, Mr. Rogers spent about fifteen minutes talking about shoes and going shopping for wingtips. The episode originally aired 31 years ago, during my heaviest viewing period of the show, so I may well have seen it first broadcast...

*Speaking of Rosina, she's been kind of grumpy for the past few weeks--whether it's just being two or if she's in a growth or teething spurt, who knows--but her vocabulary and understanding of language and directions are really coming along. She's also become obsessed with Miffy, a perennial Dutch cartoon bunny. Unfortunately there are only four episodes of the Canadian TV program on  Netflix, and the books are really hard to come by!  (We already own the one book the library has.) We did find a bunch of printable coloring pages online, which I will definitely be printing for our plane ride!  (She has also been talking non-stop about airplanes since I started talking to her about our trip.)

*Baby showers have been attended! Tiny outfits have been cooed over. I've even gotten to meet one of my friends' baby girls now. Just as an editorial note, though, am I the only person who actually likes party games?  I mean, sure, they're cheesy (and the "guess what's in the diaper" one is pretty gross), but isn't that the point? 

Or am I becoming an unironic fan of all that Shoebox Greetings stuff?  Because that would actually be cause for concern...

*Craft update: currently working on a sample cardigan, knit at a gauge I would normally not attempt for myself (it's much faster in an XS!). Definitely keeping me out of trouble. 

*First-world problem:  the crappy iOS update has somehow made it impossible to sync iTunes (I had to remove all my music to have room for the update). This will be an ongoing battle. 

(Edited for typos and to add that video!)

Hers and hers and his

*Another salient moment from toddler TV:  the title character in the Clifford cartoon is voiced by John Ritter. When I finally figured out where I recognized the voice from, I became very sad.  Can you believe he's been dead for ten years, this month?!  I watched way too much Three's Company as a child (I know...why was that on Saturday afternoon syndication?!), and he's right up there with Susan Lucci and Tom Selleck in my early childhood TV pantheon.  I also have been known to say "Joyce DeWitt wants her outfit back" when I see a grown woman in a romper.

*Rosina refused to leave the house yesterday morning, so it was a bit of a jammy-jam day for us.  We did stop by the library and Costco after Mark got home.  It's amazing how she alternates between being heartbreakingly sweet and just irrationally cranky.  I guess people aren't kidding when they say two-year-olds are like teenagers.  At least I can still throw her over my shoulder if I need to remove her from a situation--hard to do that with a fifteen-year-old!

*Made a frittata in a cast-iron skillet again.  This is such a brilliant idea.  I used to make quiche fairly frequently, but this method is SO much faster.  I don't miss the yummy pie crust if I don't think about it too much... On the menu for tonight:  chili with ground turkey, possibly with cornbread (oh Jiffy, I love you so, even though you contain lard...).  I meant to soak some beans overnight, but I forgot, so I started them in the crockpot at 8:30 this morning so they'll be ready to toss in the chili tonight.  This will preempt my using the crockpot for the chili, but I suppose that's not a big deal.  Two pounds of Great Northern beans in the freezer ought to last us a while!

*Finished the sample project and sewing the ends in on the sweater.  I am currently swatching and trying to decide on a baby sweater pattern.  I would like to finish the socks I'm working on as well, but that sweater needs to get in the mail ASAP!

*Starting to make final plans for the baby shower trip this weekend.  We need to make a hotel reservation, mainly.  I will be making a trip to Trader Joe's for some yummy party items.  (Like I need an excuse to go to Trader Joe's.)  And now all I need is to mention my German car--and yup, this is a completely yuppie post.  On second thought, there is nothing yuppie about Three's Company...

No, just no

*An Oh Honey NO moment:  Elmo performing "Walk This Way".  Lyrics were changed in order to lure a grasshopper out from under a couch, but I don't care.  NO.

*It was a bit hectic getting ready for the party, but it came off just fine.  Except for the ridiculous, completely unpredicted thunderstorm.  We got about five inches of rain in a few hours.  Considering this is at least the third time this has happened this summer, I am kind of over it.  Can't we send this stuff out west or something?  Ugh, I am so ready for fall.  Heh, there was even a Groupon for the local corn maze this morning.

*More than 3/4 done with the sample project.  Yesterday I finished up my February Fitted, but it's going to take a while to weave in the ends.  It won't be cool enough to wear it for at least a month, anyway.  Even after adding a few inches, it's still shorter than I'd like.  I did pick up some sale yarn on Sunday--enough for sweaters for Helen's sister's baby and Rosina.  The baby sweater will be next!

*Season 3 of Portlandia is on Netflix!  They are so brilliant!

*Plans for today:  mostly laundry-related.  And I have to return things to Costco.  Boring...

Huzzah

*Witnessed a few hours ago in the Harris Teeter parking lot:  middle-aged man singing along to "I'll Always Love You" (Taylor Dayne!). I don't think he knew I could hear him in the next space. 

*Nice outing with A and L today. Fun was had at the playground. At lunch Rosina learned the word baklava. You are definitely my child...

*We are having a turkey roast on Sunday, and I may have invited too many people. Seriously. If you are coming to the party, feel free to bring a side dish. :)

*The first of my friends due between now and mid-November has had her baby!  The sweater will be in the mail tomorrow. One baby down, four to go!  

*I fixed the audio on our computer!  It stopped working weeks ago, and we were pretty sure it was a software update problem, but weren't able to figure it out.  I was beginning to think we would need to reformat--not the end of the world, but time-consuming and annoying. Today I was trying to upload some belly dance music onto my phone, and I noticed there was an update for iTunes. After restarting, the problem was fixed!  Now I can finally finish watching the last season of Psych. 

Okay then

*So this happened:

Listening to this with fresh ears, it's amazing how powerful it is, fifty years later.  Too bad Jim Crow is back with a vengeance in this state. :'< I haven't had a chance to listen to Obama's speech from yesterday, but from the bit I've read, bless him for using the word magnitude when a lesser person would've used enormity. This is one of my big pet peeves. "I do not think it means what you think it means..."

*Got peed on this morning.  That was awesome!  And entirely my fault--I forgot to bring the clean diaper laundry upstairs, and there were no clean prefolds left, so I brought Rosina downstairs in just a diaper cover--and she had a huge pee while sitting on my lap as I was trying to get the cover off.  At least I hadn't put her on the couch yet.  She got really upset right before it happened, probably because she was trying to hold her pee.  Now I feel bad!

*This made me cry, because anything mentioning Doctor Donna makes me cry:



*Upon practicing some older choreos, I realized I have some memory slips!  I have to brush up.

*We made Rosina the frozen yogurt, and as predicted she liked it.  It's a little tangy for me, so she can have it!

Hitting pause!

*Last week was a really crazy week, with some work-related drama, an ill-timed migraine and a cranky kid, but we did it!  We have a new (to us) car!  We were going to look at this one pretty far out in the country, and were worried about the logistics of having it inspected at a dealer even farther away, but we found an even better deal in Greensboro (which I know quite well), and we are the proud owners of a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI.  Automatic diesel!  My gas mileage is TWICE what I was getting for the Camry.  Neither of us have ever owned a car this swanky.  It has heated seats!  (Among other functions I will probably not use much.  I'm just happy to have an antenna now.)  We put down more than half, so our payment is low, but we haven't had one in about three years.  We have been eating out too much, though, and cutting back on that is always a good thing, regardless of the particulars.

Side observation:  why does it take so damn long to buy a car?!  Is it all a plot to wear you down so you fall for the extended warranty song-and-dance?  Even with all our ducks in a row, it still took seven hours--not counting the 75-mile drive one-way, plus the 40 minutes back from A's house (where Rosina played with L all day long...I am forever grateful for the favor, but Rosina is still coming down from all the fun).  Ugh, a long day.

(NB:  now that I own a German car--and a fancy one, no less--every post that mentions it will get a Yuppie tag.  I owe it to you all.)

*It seems like years ago now, but we cleaned up at that consignment sale!  Five pairs of pants (including tiny Baby Phat and Bongo jeans...I would've preferred more neutral styles, but for those prices I could handle some embroidery), some outfits, a few tops and dresses, an L.L. Bean coat (which I bought without looking at the tag--it was a 12-month size, but it is fairly roomy and actually long enough in the arms and body!) and five pairs of pajamas--all for $47.  We are pretty much set!  Rosina will need new socks and at least one pair of shoes, and probably a few pairs of neutral leggings, but other than that we hopefully all set until the spring!  I did a reasonably good job picking things that looked like they would fit (I had a top and pants picked out to bring with me to measure with, but I left them home), but still, you never know with this skinny kid.  Speaking of which:

*Appointment rundown.  Rosina only gained three ounces in the past three months, so she is back on Carnation once a day.  It adds about 150 calories, which isn't much, but if her appetite weren't affected much by the extra calories she could theoretically gain a pound a month (not common in a two-year-old!).  This time last year, when she still didn't have enough teeth to eat much real food, we gave her full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with applesauce and oats almost every day.  I'd love for her to have the yogurt every day, but she's not a big fan of mushy textures (she won't eat mashed potatoes!).  I had this bright idea the other day to make frozen yogurt for her out of Greek yogurt, and I found a recipe for chocolate peanut butter frozen yogurt that I think she will eat!  Cross your fingers for me.

In other appointments, my GI followup went fine (other than the migraine, which was raising my blood pressure, and the stupid weight gain from the new BC), and I don't have to go back for a year.  I also managed to get my hair cut this past weekend--just a trim, but it had been five months!  They've raised their prices...

*VMA controversy commentary:
1.  Miley Cyrus has an annoying voice.  I am not a fan of country anyway (though I do love Dolly Parton, and have a special place in my heart for early Kenny Rogers), but still, her voice is unpleasant to me.  The twerking and general acting-out just makes her look sad and desperate--all the way to the bank, I suppose.
2.  Duh, Robin Thicke obviously stole the rhythm and bassline from "Got to Give it Up".  "Blurred Lines" is very catchy, but Marvin Gaye it ain't--and the lyrics are kind of offensive (one line in particular is super creepy), but I suppose most pop and R&B lyrics are just as gross.
3.  'N Sync.  Those dudes are old.  By which I mean that Chris is my husband's age and JC and Joey are less than a year older than me.  One of these days somebody's gonna pull an ACL.

Verdict:  SSDD.

*Last night was the belly dance and Bollywood class show, and unfortunately I'm going to be gone so much in October, it doesn't make sense for me to sign up for the next session.  I need to dedicate the time to regular practicing (it may also help with this stupid BC weight gain--seriously, ten pounds in a few weeks, and it is very obvious to me).  I will figure out how to do a camel without looking awkward!  Considering it took me a year to learn how to do a Tunisian twist correctly, it may take a while.

*Speaking of practicing, that is another thing I need to do.  I have finally put up some semblance of a website, though it's missing things and I'm not totally happy with it yet.  I'm afraid that I don't have a copy of my reviews, and so far I haven't had any luck finding an archived copy of the page.  I really needed to do screen captures!  Ugh.  Mark has promised to help me out.

*Nearly done with my second sock--and finished that gift in less than 24 hours--but currently I am working on a sample for a designer friend.  It's really pretty hand-dyed yarn, but six stitches per inch does not exactly fly off the needles.  I just found out Helen's sister's baby is due at the beginning of October, waaay before I assumed!  I have some sweater patterns in mind, and should be able to finish one quickly once I'm done with the sample.

*Books!  I sped through the last novel in The Expanse trilogy; it was entertaining, but I still want more James Holden!  I am invested in these characters now.  I finally finished The Diamond Age yesterday, and liked it quite a bit (strong female characters!) but it ended really abruptly.  After a library visit tonight I expect to be back to some Precious Ramotswe for a while.  It's so nice to come back to something simple and beautiful after the heavy scifi. 

Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like an empress above the Serengeti

*Listening to Donny Hathaway.  I mean, damn.  This is the good stuff...  On another note, Toto has been on the radio way too much lately.

*I did spend a total of almost two hours (mostly on hold) on the phone with Orbitz, and was able to change my flight.  I'm still going to be up for an ungodly amount of time the day I fly out.  I should be receiving the confirmation today.  I really hope I don't have to call again to check on it!

*Grumpypuss teething little girl!  She has developed this unpleasant habit of throwing things (food, toys, my sunglasses, etc.) when she is unhappy about something.  Not cool, kid.  Though it's hard to stay mad at someone who says "Thank you" in the cutest way imaginable when you give her Oreos...

*Working on the ribbing on my first sock, but I realized I have a birthday deadline coming up and I ought to make something!  There's some super bulky in my stash that's just been waiting for the right project.

*I cannot believe how nice this weather is.  It's like waking up from a sticky, gross dream.  In the next few days, I'm planning to spend as much time outside as possible.

Progress

*Baby shower is scheduled, invitations are sent!  Worrying a bit about logistics, since Rosina doesn't like to take naps in strange places...

*New York trip in October is planned!  My parents are picking up the tab, happily.  It seems ludicrous to pay for a full-price ticket for a 22-pound child, when a 32-pound 23-month-old can fly for free, but what an you do?  Maybe they ought to charge by weight... Still trying to figure out how to manage a laptop with our luggage, but I have some ideas.

*California trip is also scheduled.  Unfortunately my flight itinerary got changed, and now I'm going to miss a meeting.  Currently on the phone with Orbitz to see if it can be changed.

*Labor Day turkey barbecue invitation is out!  I forget when we need to buy the turkey to make sure it's thawed out in time, but that's Mark's department, anyway. :)

*Crafting fails!  A:  I ran out of yarn for my February Fitted!  I have just enough to finish the second sleeve, and still need to knit the collar.  I didn't realize this pattern used so much yarn... Anyway, the Berroco Touche I'm using is discontinued, but I did find a store that claimed to have my colorway in stock.  I still haven't received a shipping confirmation, but it's still too humid to wear it, anyway.  Buying more yarn also means I can make a deeper collar.  B:  I've had a pair of Express Lanes on the back burner for a while, and since the sweater's in time out I pulled out the socks.  I ended up ripping out about six inches of cuff and heel when I realized that it was just too short in the foot.  Also, note to self:  round toes.  Always knit round toes.  Wedge toes are incompatible with your foot.

There's no rhyme or reason, everyone's to blame

*I have had this song in my head for a few days, and it definitely beats the theme songs from children's television shows:

I don't understand why this is never on the radio--it's better than most of the Black Sabbath and AC/DC from the same era, and the guitarists are really killing it. (And it's about the environment!  Deep.)  Come to think of it, they hardly ever play pre-Permanent Vacation Aerosmith on the radio, with the exception of "Walk This Way" and the occasional "Sweet Emotion" (which I don't really like).  Anyway, it was a funny coincidence when yesterday one of my FB friends linked to an Onion post featuring Aerosmith pictures.  Also, the more you look at the word "Aerosmith", the less sense it makes.

*Rosina is apparently back to teething again, and it is not so great.  The fact that she's not even awake yet is probably testament to that.  Poor thing!

*I finished the group blanket project in record time!  Granted, I did work on it for about seven hours on Saturday.  It came out surprisingly well!  I hate to think that I'm sort of committed to another one by mid-October--and I'm cringing at having to ask for more squares from people.  Y'all need to stop having babies!  I have finished the body of my February Fitted, and am almost done with the first (short) sleeve.  I really hope this works...

*Had a rough day on Monday when I got on the scale and saw numbers I really didn't want to see.  Thanks, eating disorder brain! :/  Then I remembered that I started a new pill three weeks ago (Seasonale), and it all made sense.  I'm still not happy about it, but at least I know it's not my fault!  Hopefully I won't gain any more.  I think my hot flashes have gone away, which is a good sign.

*There's a huge kids' consignment sale in town over the next two weekends, so I decided to take inventory of what we have for Rosina for the fall and winter.  I got a bunch of stuff from a friend back in the spring, so I was hoping we wouldn't need much.  Okay, how is it that she has NO PANTS?!  Pants are really hard to fit on her anyway, and I would have liked to have more than a pair of overalls and a whole bunch of leggings in ridiculous colors we don't need (seriously, navy blue and pink?  Thanks, Mom).  Rosina has a great pair of black yoga-style pants from Old Navy that still fit from last winter, so I definitely want to pick up a few more of those when they're in stores.  Target sells great unisex knit pants that I ended up buying in three sizes (what my aunt dubbed her "old-man pants"), but she's grown out of the size range on those.  I may end up sewing some pants, if I get stuck.  She's getting ever closer to potty-training--we've had a number of dry diapers over the past few weeks, despite pushing water on her all the time--and I have no idea what we're going to do then, since a lot of times her diaper is what's keeping her pants up. O_o  Jeggings have helped us out in the past, and they may continue to do so...

Seriously glad it's Friday

*Rosina (with me at the helm, largely) made a jellyfish in her art class yesterday.  She has been semi-obsessed with turtles since the turtle project last week, but I'm quite sure she doesn't know what a jellyfish is...

*Met up with Erica at Babies R Us yesterday.  It's not my favorite store, but it's twenty minutes closer than Buy Buy Baby and I needed tiny pipecleaner-y brushes to clean straws, and almost nobody sells those, for some reason.  Also, their extended super-clearance is relevant to my interests.  Who cares about their shitty return policy when I'm buying a $2 pair of pants for next year?  Rosina enjoyed the "duckies" (big nasty Canada geese) and the really enormous fish in the big retention pond at the mall.

*Still haven't heard back about going to California, but at least it seems that the stupid problem with our publishing partner has been resolved.  For the time being.  I think.  Or at least I'm not going to worry about it all weekend.  At least I'm justifying my existence, because there's no way my editor would be able to handle this situation without totally losing his shit (I suppose I lost mine, but at least it was alone, in the privacy of my  own home).

*Gathered the last of the blanket squares last night.  I have to make three more light-colored squares to finish up (and frogged a dark one of mine already), but it won't take too long.  Still not sure how I want to assemble it, but I have a few days to work that out, and will ask my Monday night group if I run out of ideas.

*Speaking of Monday night, we are doing a super cute and surprisingly sexy choreo in Bollywood this session.  I probably prefer Bollywood to bellydancing, but Bollywood's a lot harder on my feet, plus the class gets out kind of late.

Things I've been doing instead of blogging

*Rosina picked up a cold sometime around July 4th, and she so kindly gave it to me. Oh, and I had my period at the same time, lucky me. It's been three weeks, and I'm still not quite back to normal yet. 

*Marathon-watching Murder, She Wrote. Corny as that sounds, the show was well-made and holds up (with the occasional snicker-worthy Cold War episode--and the clothes are pretty silly). The guest stars are always great, too: one episode I saw the other day guest-starred Norman Lloyd (still kicking at 98!!!), Gordon Jump (sadly late), and a very young John de Lancie (!) as a preppie art thief. 

*Growing more cucumbers than we can eat. 

That is an enormous cucumber. I don't know why she wanted to smell it, but it's probably my fault for having her sniff the (unlit) scented candles. I'm glad I got a photo of this dress: I made it last winter out of one of my tops that never fit right. 

*Finished a few baby projects (including the big one). I started a pair of socks a few weeks ago, but I haven't worked on them much recently. Over the past few days I've picked up my February Fitted sweater again. I do think it will fit, and I should have some yarn to spare. It's a worsted-weight cotton blend, and I'll need to wear a camisole under it, so I certainly don't see myself wearing it until at least September.  After tonight it will go back on hold for a bit, as I'm collecting the last few squares for the group baby blanket I'll be assembling. Given what I have already and what I'm expecting to get tonight, I expect to have to make a few more squares to make the color plan work out. 

*Several sewing jaunts, including making pillowcase dresses for my nieces (and one for Rosina for next year), some mending projects and adding padding to some very tiny underwear. Whenever this kid decides she's not afraid of the potty (ugh, make it soon!), we will be well prepared for potty training!

*Read the last Sookie Stackhouse book while I was sick. After more than a dozen books, it was bound to be fairly anticlimactic, but I think it ended in a satisfying way (at least for my ship camp!). 

*Guess I never mentioned my car drama. My front headlights went out one Thursday driving home from Panera, and my inspection was due!  It wasn't such an easy fix, either: I needed a new headlight switch (the one on the steering wheel), and the part needed to be ordered. My father helped Mark install it when they were down several weeks ago, and I was able to get the car inspected and renew the registration with only a day or two's lapse. With a 22-year-old car, what will be the next thing to break?  The engine has always worked just fine, despite the car's deplorable gas mileage, but it really is only a matter of time. We definitely want another car--and sooner, not later--but with me only working ten hours a week, we really don't want to have a payment. We're hoping to buy a used car with cash, but for some reason it's super important to Mark to have a bigger vehicle so we can carry big things. Granted, my Camry's enormous trunk has come in handy, but I'd rather just get another Corolla that Mark can commute with (I'd take his Corolla most of the time, to give the odometer a rest). Now he's all interested in this diesel  Volkswagen Jetta station wagon, when they only started making them a few years ago and even the used ones cost  twenty grand (significantly more than we wanted to pay). Anyway, we are still in negotiations. 

*There has been some crazy shit going on with my day job--huge changes coming, aggravating mistakes made by negligent parties in other countries that now I have to clean up--and it looks like I may just be able to go to our annual meeting in California in October. It would be a long three days, but it would be the first time in over two years that I'd be completely free of baby responsibilities. That and I'd net at least an extra $500 that week. Mark would take off a few days to take care of Rosina--which he would not mind, since it's not what he does every single day. I should know for sure within the next few days. 

What I've been up to:

*The trip went fairly well, but we unfortunately were a little sleep-deprived--largely because Rosina doesn't sleep well in strange places, but also because of some really inconsiderate boneheads partying until three the night we stayed in the dorm.  We did get in everything, though.

*Trucking away on my big gift.  The sweater is on time out right now (I won't be able to wear it until late September, anyway, and I suspect it will be frogged).  I have another (large) gift project in the works, but I should have some help with this one.  Also, back on the sewing!  I finally hacked up my old bras to take in the bra band, and it seems to be working okay.  There were also multiple alterations to be made to Rosina's clothes.  I've since found even more things that need to be altered (she does bring the skinny), and I would like to finish the pillowcase dresses I'd promised myself to make for my nieces so my parents can bring them up after their visit next weekend.

*I have seemingly figured out how to play Sudoku, at long last, and I'm kind of hooked.  I have no idea why it took so long...

*We are so lucky to live in an area with so many inexpensive kid-friendly activities--especially during the summer.  I have taken Rosina to see two movies in the last week--Madagascar 3 last week (for free!) and Megamind this morning.  Today's was a little over her head, but last week's was a hit.  She is a fan of the "Afro Circus" song...

*Rosina had apparently been on a teething breather, but then late last week and this weekend the random crying started again.  Then I checked her mouth:  two canines broke through in like, three days!  And I know  she's working on the back molars, too--she's always got her whole hand in her mouth.

*Several months ago our neighbors gave us their great-grandchildren's old easel, but it was way too big for Rosina to use before she hits pre-K, so we gave that to a friend and bought a smaller one at IKEA.  She loves it so much!  I'm sitting by the easel right now, and she's drawn all these creepy proto-faces...It seriously looks like something out of a Japanese horror movie.  That or Miro.

*Hot flashes!  Ugh, this sucks.  My annual is scheduled for next week anyway, so we will have a nice talk about how to proceed for the next ten years...