Productive Day!

Yesterday I received the RHSS Whip box from my wonderful friends at Post Mortem over on Ravelry:

Included was one (1) RHSS (Red Heart Super Saver) Whip:

 

I removed some lovely vintage craft magazines* from the box:

And scored some awesome yarn. Phoebe has marked it as hers, so now I can’t give it back!

I then restashed the box with this stuff:

 

Ian chased Phoebe around with the whip:

She made it down the stairs to safety!

And the whip was a little tangled, so I modified it a bit to make it more useful for actual whipping.

And despite the whipping and drama, I still managed to accomplish one maple leafy strawberry-rhubarb pie, 16 jars of strawberry jam, and one caved-in loaf of bread.

All despite having an aching back and a sunburn from picking the strawberries the day before. Stupid strawberries. Why hasn’t Monsanto genetically modified some high bush strawberries yet?

Anyways. I also froze a bunch of them and dried another pile. Altogether 12 quarts of strawberries passed through my house yesterday.

Today, I am so tired, I sat down to knit. But I finally had to accept the fact that the sock I am working on would not fit any human foot, so I had to frog it back about 4 inches. And it is in this irritatingly fiddly herringbone pattern too. So I actually got a negative amount accomplished today! Woo hoo!

 

*I haven’t read through them all yet, but I have to say I enjoyed the recommendation in the one I have read to apply DDT to keep moth larvae out of your pear trees…. YUMMY!!!

Homemade Bread.

I make most of the bread around here. I got a bread maker for Christmas, but before that, I did it the old-fashioned way. Many people have asked me for my recipe, and I have to be honest, I didn't come up with it on my own. I actually got it from the internet. And so, for the first time ever, here is my bread recipe. Enjoy.

Stress Fracture

I have been so stressed out lately, I feel like I am holding on by the skin of my teeth. The staying home thing has not been working out, and we came to the decision that I have to go back to work. I got a job at an amusement park but the hours were unreliable and it was only for the summer, so I looked for another job. Looking for work is never fun, but luckily I did get a job.

So I am dealing with starting a new job, dealing with child care issues, and then quitting another job. That part was hard because the park owners are really nice people and I hate leaving them in the lurch like that.

I have been working but as of yet, no paychecks. And we have things all over the house that need fixing, the car needs repairs, and now the new washing machine is not draining and I can't figure out why. Which particularly sucks because I now have dirty work clothes!

Plus on top of all that, we have a spare room that is basically a storage depository, and a whole bunch of guests coming in August. Now, I don't want people to feel bad about coming, it is great that they are and we are looking forward to it! The room would not get emptied without this prompting, so it is a good thing, but still, that is a lot of stuff to get rid of. Maybe I need the Clean Sweep guys to come....

Canning season is about to start, and I don't know how I am going to find time to do that. And my potted deck garden is getting big, but I haven't put it outside yet. Ian needs to get into swimming lessons, and we need to find the cash for that. And we need to go to the dentist as well.

Even my knitting is stressing me out because I seem to be acquiring yarn at an unheard of pace (surprisingly not by me purchasing it; I am just surrounded by wonderfully generous people!) and I don't have the time to knit it!

I also have parcels to mail out that I haven't gotten around to preparing, let alone mailing. And so on and so on and so on....

Whew. I don't think I mentioned everything.... but I feel better for getting that off my chest! I really need to get back into posting here more often. I like having the record of events available for perusing later on.

Now... what to have for supper?

Funny Quotes Of the Day

Ian (walking into the laundry/bathroom where I am folding laundry): "It smells like men in here!"

Me: "What men??"

Ian (accusingly): "YOUR husband!"

Travis (from other room): "That better be the only men you smell!)

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Me: "What kind of cereal do you want?"

Ian (making a thoughtful face and tapping his chin while observing the pantry): "Let me think about it........... I think, Raisin Brand. Only you can take the cereal out and just give me raisins."

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In other news, Ian's preschool had a Mother's Day party yesterday. It was lovely. We sang songs like "The More We Get Together" and "Hokey Pokey" and then played Duck Duck Goose, and then we had a "nack" of cookies and juice. Then we got a card and present the kids made. Very sweet. I had been hoping for frozen margaritas but I should have realized it was unlikely at a preschool party at 10am.

I got to have a chat with Ian's teacher. She said he is really smart (he spelled my name for her on the card. I only told him once!) but has issues with sitting still and he also is a little single minded. If he sees something he wants he will step over anybody and anything to get it. He also has problems with keeping his hands to himself.

But that is what preschool is for, to get the issues out. He will be going back again next year for three day preschool. And then the year after will be Primary! Crazyness.

Appearances are everything.

If you haven't already seen this video, you are missing out. I can't embed it but you can click this link and watch it.

After that read this article, which sums up how I feel. I couldn't put it better myself.

We really need to start turning this around, and teaching our children the value of ACTIONS over APPEARANCE. But you know, it sure is hard. Our first instinct is to judge, despite our best intentions.

Forgot the camera....TWICE!

Despite the previous post, it has actually been pretty nice around here. Springlike, in fact. On Saturday, we had a picnic in Shubie Park. It was a little nippy out but not unpleasant. Most of the path was still iced over, but there were squirrels and chipmunks out and about already. We had the unique experience of feeding chickadees right out of our hands! One of them even landed on Travis's shoulder. Quite amazing. I was, of course, kicking myself for forgetting the camera.

On Sunday, we went to an Easter Party. They needed a volunteer to man the Bunny Suit so of course I stepped up to the plate. Ian figured it out because of my sneakers. Clever boy. Guess what I forgot to bring... You guessed it... the camera.

I have to start keeping it in my pocket with my phone and chapstick.

As you all can see, I have updated the place a little bit. I haven't been happy with the way things look around here, but I am too cheap to buy Photoshop, and my knowledge of HTML is, shall we say, limited. But I found a free banner website today, so I was at least able to dress it up a little. Let me know what you think!

I have been doing tons of knitting but I need to take pictures, so hopefully a post about that shall be forthcoming soon. In the mean time, please subscribe, I added a link! It will be much easier than checking back here all the time, especially as I am very unreliable.

Spring in the Maritimes

(I didn't think he was going to need a helmet)

Cheerful despite it all. That's my boy!