A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Toystore Today

I am a big fan of Pianosaurus, a quirky band from the '80's.

Give them a listen, won't you?

It's all Dagobah all the time right now

Swamped.

Typing this from the LCDC Exec meeting. Thursday is my son's school's open house and back-to-school night. I'm going away for the weekend.

This past weekend, I did phone banking and play dates and so on and so forth.

Updates to come soon.

I hope.

Thinking about my Grandpa Emeritus

He died three years ago this month (Fifth of August), and I'm missing him.

On Sunday, the pastor at our UU congregation gave a really moving address about the cathedral of the world, and life and death. It was something my grandfather would have enjoyed listening to.

Here's a post I wrote about a conversation I had with my son during one of our last visits with my grandfather.

I really wish people we love could live forever.

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Happy Birthday, Big Sister!!!

I love you and hope that you are having the world's best day.

And another one!!!

What's in my head...

Songs not included in this post:

Leave It



and, of course, the obvious one from The Police

The search for a green ballpoint

If you want to buy a green ballpoint pen at Office Depot, you need to buy a pack with at least 3 other colors, none of which are black, blue, or red.

It was the one thing on the list of school supplies we didn't get.

Last year's pen (bought in a pack with purple, pink, and orange - which we use for Clue), will have to do.

Today, I'm just happy. Very happy.

Yesterday, Judge Walker Vaughn overturned Prop 8 in California. Yesterday, my Twitter feed exploded with joy, laughter, and relief.

Today, I'm sending out love to all my gay and lesbian friends and family members, and hope - such a big hope - that this verdict will be upheld by the 9th circuit and by the Supremes. And thus overturn my own state's Jim Crow amendment.

I can't wait to live in a country where any two consenting adults can marry each other.

Whatever you're interested in, Dick Francis has a book about it (Part 2)

Jewels and gadgets? Straight
Survival? Longshot and Smokescreen
Filming a movie? Wild Horses and Smokescreen
Veterinary? Comeback and Banker
Bloodstock industry? Banker
British transport rules? Driving Force and Flying Finish
Truck maintenance? Driving Force
Antiques? Bonecrack
Toy making? High Stakes
Architecture? Decider
Gold mining? Smokescreen
How to hide something? To the Hilt
Film editing? Break In
Gun manufacturing? Bolt
Cockney rhyming slang? Driving Force

Tell me what you're interested in and I'll tell you which Dick Francis to read!

Whatever you're interested in, Dick Francis has a book about it (Part 1)

Photography? REFLEX
Flying airplanes? FLYING FINISH, RAT RACE, SECOND WIND
Wine and Spirits? PROOF
Russia during the cold war? TRIAL RUN
Glass blowing? SHATTERED
Rare diseases? WHIP HAND (equine), SECOND WIND
Painting? IN THE FRAME (oils), TO THE HILT (acrylics)
British elections? 10 LB PENALTY
British taxation (as of the time it was written)? RISK
Computers (as of the time it was written)? TWICE SHY
Target shooting (Olympic caliber)? TWICE SHY
Boilers? ODDS AGAINST
Trains? THE EDGE

I get kisses again.

Seems a boy who sports purple shoes, a buzz cut, and a brand-new Cookie Monster hat (what? It's from Sesame Place!), can stand up for himself with his friends about whether or not it's cool to kiss your parents in public

Whew.

The day has come

When my son won't kiss or hug me in front of his friends.

I knew it would happen some time, but I wasn't ready for it.

Yesterday he let ME kiss HIM, but he wouldn't kiss me back. Today, nothing.

Ah well.

Reviews from NYC

Momoya Sushi - W. 21st Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea. Delicious sushi. I had several of their ala carte specials. Types of fish I'd never heard of, and all just some of the best tasting food I've had...ever. MM had the salmon nigiri and the tekka maki. And made it disappear. It's very noisy, though. Not a good place for a shmooze.

Sweet Melissa on 7th Avenue, b'twn 1st and 2nd Streets in Park Slope. I had the mushroom quiche and a salad. Also iced coffee and a chocolate croissant. Very good. Nice atmosphere. Easy to talk for hours in.

Le Pain Quotidien on 19th Street near Broadway in Gramercy. Fun curried chicken sandwich. Also easy to talk in. Good for people watching.

Szechuan Delight on 7th Avenue b'twn Garfield and Carroll in Park Slope. Delicious Sub Gum pan-fried noodles. MM would have given their dumplings rave reviews if his mouth hadn't been so busy eating them.

There was lots more, but that will have to do for now.

Vacation in brief

NYC, y'all.
New yarn.
Visiting with friends.
MM saw two movies and The Lion King.
Lego Store.
Sushi.
Swimming.
Sesame Place.

Any questions?

Cooked this weekend:

• Fritatta made with eggs, cheese, potatoes, chorizo, onions, and fresh herbs from our garden (for a pot-luck barbeque)
• Brioche (my first! From How To Cook Everything). Came out beautifully and was really very easy. It went very well with my BIL's homemade strawberry jam.
• Pesto (from Good Food Gourmet) using sunflower seeds instead of pignolli nuts - 5 times cheaper. Came out very well, but needs more olive oil to replace the oiliness of the pignolli nuts. Sunflower seeds are much drier. I'll use 1/3 cup oil next time.
• BLT using the first beefsteak tomato from the garden. Oh. YUM. YUM. YUM.

What did you do this weekend?

Briefing in brief

We went to Vermont on Amtrak.

Have I told you how much I love Amtrak?

I do. I totally love taking the train.

We saw my nephew perform in Annie.

We saw fireworks.

We picked black raspberries, and one of us (naming no names) ate them two at a time straight from the bushes until his mouth and fingers were stained purple.

We ate really good food, and one of us (naming no names) built things out of Lego and other things out of sand.

And we brought back two jars of homemade strawberry jam made while we were there of berries picked while we were there.

Yes.

The house across the road from my sister's house is up for sale. Alas, I can't afford to buy it right now. Maybe it'll be for sale again in another 10 years.

Experiments

I baked this bread this weekend and had moderate success. However, I didn't notice until late that the first temp is in Celcius (my stupid stove is only in Farenheit), and I didn't use enough yeast.

So next time: More yeast (and maybe more proofing the yeast) and higher heat.

What I was hoping for was a crusty loaf. What I got was a slightly moist ciabatta. Not bad, just not what I was looking for. I hope that my corrections will turn this into the crusty loaf I'm looking for. But if not, ciabatta is still a good bread.

Lego kit 7662 was discontinued

It was $103.00 in stores three years ago and MM has saved his money until he had enough to buy it. Now that it's discontinued, it sells for over $400 in the collectibles market.

MM is sobbing.

I feel so guilty for not having gotten it for him three years ago. I didn't know they discontinued them.

Dammit.

He got a sunburn

On his shoulders. So did all the rest of the campers. Apparently 2 extra slatherings of sunscreen yesterday weren't enough.

I think that the daycamp should have them keep their shirts on in the pool.

What he's reading on his own

He went back and read the first Encyclopedia Brown book on his own again. He's been reading the Jokelopedia. And he's working his way through the Bananagrams for Kids book (good word games there.)

On the "next up" list is a pack of books my mom sent him which includes: A Wrinkle in Time (I don't know why I don't still have my copy); Black Beauty and Black Beauty Returns; and the first two Hardy Boys books.

And now a question for you all: What age do you think it's appropriate for your kid to watch Monty Python's Holy Grail and Blazing Saddles?

We went camping.

Perfect weather. 75 and sunny. Not humid. It rained in the middle of the night. Poured, actually. We stayed snug and dry in the tent. The sun was out and the tent dried completely before we packed it up.

Hotdogs, hamburgers, s'mores for dinner.

Bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. And french-pressed coffee. We're not savages.

Farm stands, and diners, and ice cream, and inexpensive gasoline.

Badminton, and batting practice, and Rummy 500, and Labyrinth.

And the views. HOLY GUACAMOLE, the views. Turns out, the Shenandoahs have good reason to be such a big deal, who knew?

Pictures coming later. Both MS and MM took some.

I took along an appropriate book, but I didn't get much chance to read it at the campsite.

I did read some more of The Magician's Nephew to MM.

Neither book I've linked to is the edition I own.

What did you do over the weekend?

That tells me

The image is from Pandora. It says,

Why this song?
Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features acoustic rock instrumentation, a twelve-eight time signature, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping and use of a string ensemble. [emphasis mine]

.
Well...I don't like that Pandora doesn't use a serial comma...so there!

But really, I've been listening all day while I've been working on stuff and there's only been a couple of clunkers. Pandora is way cool.

What we're reading

Bedtime reading for MM: just finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Just started The Magician's Nephew.

He's got a bunch of books he's reading on his own, too (thanks Mom!!!).

He loves books.

I love that he loves books.

It's Mario Time!

via Tiffany Leigh

He Makes Decisions and Braves the Consequences: Random Bullets of Muffin Man

• These are the sandals he picked out for the summer. "Purple is a power color!" and he faced down the one rotten kid who teased him about the color.


• He loves his shorn head. Will probably not grow it back to the former unruly curliness. Lo, I am sad. But also happy. It's his hair, his choice.


• He is standing up for himself to a longtime friend who is acting badly toward him. I'm sad that the friendship may end (the friend is going through rough times at home), but am so happy that MM won't stand for abuse. "I am DONE with that."
  


• Only two more weeks of school for him, then he's a 3rd Grader.

What I learned from Twitter this morning

• An ump made a bad call and the Tigers wuz robbed.


• A 19-year-old American was killed by Israeli soldiers on the flotilla


• BP: shears? Are you serious


• Toys are a reason to live

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysteriously Knowledgeable 8-year-old

I would accuse him of reading ahead, but MY SON would NEVER do THAT.

Question for you all

When did you learn cursive writing? I remember learning it in 3rd grade. MM is learning in NOW. In 2nd grade. AND HIS WRITING IS BETTER THAN MINE.

Whoa.

SCIENCE!!!

As seen at WWDN: in Exile

Changes...

When he was six, he couldn't get through the Mos Eisley Pod Race level on the PS2. Yesterday? He did it all by himself. And collected 8 cannisters.

I'm so proud.

I've got nothin'

So we'll play a game my friend KnewEverythingAboutFilmNoKidding made up called "Perfect Triple Feature", where you take a theme and carry it forward through three movies.

Here's one example:

Spellbound, Memento, A Beautiful Mind.

Add yours in comments!

You must be dressed to play DS

Every weekday morning, if MM wakes up early, he asks if he can play his DS. And I always give him the same answer: "Get dressed first".

Seriously, why does he even ask? HE KNOWS WHAT THE ANSWER IS.

Bwahahahahaha!

So true!

ht Joe.My.God

Read it for point #5

Even if you're not a knitter, you really need to go read The Yarn Harlot today. Read it for point #5.

Because she is so right.

The Shuttle is available as a free download!!!

Girlie books has it! YAY!!

You may remember that I reviewed The Shuttle two years ago in this space.

It is one of my favorite books of all time, read and re-read and re-re-read. Download it!

The Amazon.com meme

My first order with Amazon.com was placed May 10, 1999. I ordered $102.39 worth of books and cds. Just enough to qualify for free shipping.

In the order was:

• Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis (Hardcover)
• Pete Seeger's Children's Concert at Town Hall
• Steeleye Span's All Around My Hat
• 4 non-Narnia C.S. Lewis books
• The Kinks Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-go-Round
• and Flower Fairies by Louisa May Alcott.

Links will be added later.

It's funny, I didn't remember that these things were in that first order. I still have them all, of course, but I didn't remember that that's when and how I got them. What I DID remember about that order was the bookmark that came with it.

It was a plain cardstock bookmark with a quote from Mark Twain. You know the one:

"Outside a dog, a book is Man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."

MM would love to have a collection like this one

(h/t my high school friend, Michael Chaplin)

VOTE TODAY!!!!

Virginia town elections are TODAY! TUESDAY! MAY 4! Go vote!

Leesburg: Marty Martinez.
Herndon: Cesar Del Aguila.

I'll be working the Brandon Park polls at Loudoun County HS from 4 PM till closing. See you there!

Admin stuff

I've redone my blog roll and divided it in two: people who are still posting (up at the top); and folks who have gone silent (on their blogs, though they may still be active elsewhere). If I've moved you mistakenly, please let me know!

My criteria was longer than 3 months without a posting.

Also, links on my other blog are no longer duplicated at this one. Some more links may shift over there soon.

Profgrrrrl, I couldn't get your blog to link in the blogroll. I'll work on it and make sure you're in there!

Cropped!

From this:



to this:



MM got a new 'do. His choice. He loves it!

Boooooookkkkkkksssss!

Or more accurately, BOOK!

Just ordered the latest Sookie Stackhouse from Amazon. Should be here in about a week. I CAN'T WAIT.

And yes, I've watched the first season of True Blood (thanks Dear Friends who loaned it to me!), haven't yet seen the 2nd season (will request it as a present for Mother's Day).

But I've been a fan of the books now for...oh...since before I started blogging, it seems, since I can't find a post with a start date them.

Books! I love books! I love to dive into them like a porpoise, I like to burrow through them like a gopher. I love to toss them up and let them hit me on the head. BOOKS!

Awed

This is my cousin.

MS says...

There's a pot roast in the crock pot at home.

Makes it very difficult to concentrate on my work, knowing that I'm going to eat well when I get hom.

Seen outside Chipotle

Our local Chipotle is next to an old grave. On Thursday, my work team ate there and sitting perched on the headstone, was a crow. In the tree over the grave, another crow.

It was completely Poe-esque. With a side of Gary Larson.

Six days ago...

Was my five-year blogiversary. And I missed it.

Blogged twice since then, and didn't notice.

However, TODAY is the fifth anniversary of the first time someone linked to this blog. So HAPPY LINKIVERSARY TO ME!!!

Weekend update

MS planted a garden: green beans; spinach; two kinds of tomatoes; zucchini; basil; parsley; oregano; and rosemary.
I reset the aerogarden with snowpeas and roasted a duck for dinner.
MM was a total angel and played outdoors for a good part of the day.
Now my boys are asleep and I'm headed that way myself.

Adventures in Cafeteria Food

Today the cafeteria choices were, to put it mildly, abysmal. I ended up getting a mushroom swiss burger, which the grillman made with american cheese. Despite that, the burger was pretty good, but the fries were soggy and just meh.

Contrast that with my lunch from yesterday...which was leftover homemade spicy ginger peanut chicken. Which I ate in my own kitchen. Because I work 4 miles from home. I think I need to do that more.

Things I wish I would make time in my life to do

• Hawaiian Dance lessons. I loved doing Hawaiian Dance.
• Pottery. There's a woman who will be giving lessons in Round Hill. I haven't done any pottery since High School and I loved it.
• Knitting meet-ups.

Instead, I do other things:

• LCDC stuff
• CSB stuff
• NARAL stuff

All of which is important, fulfilling, and fun...but I wish that I could do the other things as well and still have time to spend with MS and MM, work, eat, and sleep.

Sigh.

Observations on Cereal (while shopping at Costco)

Of these cereals, which is the least expensive?

• Cheerios
• Corn Flakes
• Frosted Flakes

Of these cereals, which does NOT contain High Fructose Corn Syrup?

• Froot Loops/Apple Jacks (combo pack)
• Corn Flakes
• Frosted Flakes

The answer to question one is Frosted Flakes. The answer to question two is the Froot Loops/Apple Jacks combo pack.

MS and I came up with an explanation of Why Frosted Flakes Might Be Cheaper: Inferior ingredients masked by the sweetness of HFCS.

We thought that the lack of HFCS in FL/AJ might be due to being Kosher for Passover? But all the cereals were marked with a K. And aren't the grains used in cereals trayfe for Passover anyway?

In any case, we're paying more attention to ingredients. And, where possible, we're avoiding HFCS. Which means no Corn Flakes. HFCS! IN CORN FLAKES! Sheesh.

MM's hair

Is his hair. I don't get too worked up about his hair, because it's HIS hair. But...
It's kinda shaggy. He's got a permanent case of bed head.

Last night, after he got out of the shower. I asked him if I could have fun with his hair and, when he said "yes", I brushed it into a DA. For the last fifteen minutes of the day, he looked like a miniature Fonzie.

When he woke up, it was back to Harry Potter.

I gently suggested we go to get it cut. But when he said "no", I didn't push it. It's his hair.

But, lo, it is shaggy.

Division of (household) labor - baking bread edition

I baked bread today - three loaves (from the Little House on the Prairie Cookbook). Start-to-finish, it took about 6 hours, though only really only one hour of that was me interacting with the materials.

So, at around 0830, I mixed the ingredients for the sponge (warm water, yeast. Stir. More water. Stir. 4 cups of flour. Stir. Cover and set in a warm place for about an hour). After it was covered and set in a warm place, I tidied up a bit and Mr. Spock made breakfast (pancakes). We cleaned up the kitchen together.

That took us to 9:30, whereupon I mixed milk, "drippings" from a pot roast MS had cooked (we cooled down the gravy in a container on the back porch back when it was freezing out, pried off the layer of fat that rose to the top, and stored it separately from the gravy in the freezer), sugar, salt, and a cup of flour together. Then I added the sponge, kept mixing. Added more flour, kept mixing. Then I turned it all out onto a cutting board and pounded it with graceless abandon (my knuckles are still sore). Three minutes kneading, three minutes resting, three kneading, three resting, three kneading. Then I put the whole thing into a bowl greased with more "drippings" and covered it with a towel. And I greased the pans.

I was exhausted. I don't know how Laura did that and milked the cows and whatnot.

MS cleaned up the kitchen.

We played a game of Bananagrams, we argued over whether "zot" is a word (it's not. We checked). Ninety minutes passed. I punched down the dough, divided it in three (relatively) equal pieces, put them in the greased baking pans and set them to rise for another 2 hours.

Then I took a shower while MS made lunch. We ate, we watched a bit of TV, we played Set. I called my grandma.

I put the bread in a preheated oven and baked them for 30 minutes. Decided they could brown up a bit and gave em another 5 minutes. Then another 5. Took them out of the oven. Left them to cool.

Went to do some phone-banking for Cesar del Aguila. Ran some errands, and ate dinner out (MM loooooooves that Sushi!). And then came home to freeze two loaves and put the other one in the breadbox (well, it's a cupboard, but we call it the breadbox).

I was thinking about all this in the context of the post at Global Comment by Sarah Jaffe on "Rethinking Work: Cooking as Labor. And how I would probably NOT baked bread today if I'd been responsible for all the other cooking, or if I'd been responsible for the cleanup of the mixing bowl. How grateful I am that I have a spouse who a) likes to cook and b) doesn't wait to be asked to clean the mixing bowl.

Add to that, the context of Laura Ingalls Wilder. How grateful I am to have ingredients to hand that require very little work on my part. I did not have to grind the wheat into flour. In fact, I had white flour in great quantities. I didn't have to twist hay to make enough burnable sticks to both heat the house and bake the bread. Baking bread is a leisure activity for me, not a necessity.

All of this is bubbling in my head, while I nurse my sore knuckles.

I would say something if I had something to say...

Will catch up here later this week. Sorry for the silence here, but I'm noisy at my other blog and on Twitter.

Starting again on a sweater...this time, it's gonna be a vest

Deep V neck pullover in that lovely purple tweed. Couldn't find a cardi pattern I thought would suit both the yarn and the Rack of Doom.

I'll update here with progress, assuming I make any.

Observations

• You'd think that cooking lentil stew and pot roast at the same time would make the house smell weird, but it didn't...the house smelled wonderful. Bacon, and onions, and garlic, and tomatoes, and a hint of beefiness. It was magnificent. We now have a ton of food in the house.
• You'd also think that an eight-year-old child couldn't hold his own against his parents in a rousing game of Scrabble...but you'd be wrong there too. The grown-ups were not allowed to use words with less than 4 letters. MM won by one point.
• Bananagrams! We love it. MM is great at it. He has real stick-to-itiveness and a terrific vocabulary.
• The snow is beginning to melt. It's nice to see grass again!

Sweater and hat for new nephew

He shares his birthday with Muffin Man. Born the same day, eight years apart. He is sooooo small! I'd forgotten how tiny three-week-old babies are!

And here, here is the sweater and hat I knitted for him as soon as we heard that he might be coming home with my sister-in-law and her husband.



The sweater is knitted in Lamb's Pride Super Wash Galaxy. Hat is knitted in red cotton/elastic (can't find the label...oops!). Buttons are from A.C. Moore.

The whole time I was knitting on them, I was thinking, "I hope you come home with them, little boy. I hope you come home." I'm so glad he did.

Mazel tov on the arrival of the shayneh yingeleh.

Sweater stalled

That Beautiful purple tweed is too slender to ever get gauge on that pattern.

The yarn I have that will achieve gauge is stiff, itchy, and in a color I'm not enamored of. Which leads me to the question: why do I have this crappy yarn in my stash?

I think I may have inherited it from someone.

Why didn't I give it away when we moved?

I didn't know it was quite that itchy.

Boy howdy.

So I have a beautiful purple tweed yarn and no pattern for it, and a beautiful pattern and no suitable yarn.

Methinks I need to make a trip to the yarn store.

Maybe I'll cast on for a vest for myself out of a black tweed silk/wool blend I found in the stash (not enough for that sweater, darn it!) if I can find a vest pattern I like.

"Half Magic" by Edward Eager, a list in prose of great children's* literature available in the '50's

*Where "children's literature" means any book that will appeal to children.

And we own most of the books he's listed. "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew", "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", "The Once and Future King", the Narnia books, the E. Nesbit books...

MM is thrilled.

"Do we have that one, Mommy? What about that one? WOW! THOSE books are on MY shelf! When did you get that one for me?"

"Well, to be honest, I bought those for me, and that one was mine when I was a kid. And so was that one. And this one. And all the Narnia ones, MakesBooksForGrandkids brought back from England for me when he used to go on business trips when I was small. And Boy! I used to get in trouble at school because I would spell words the way they appear in those books, and here in the States, we spell things differently from the way they do there."

"Cool! So can we read this one next?"

"Of course!"

Voldemort? That dude is going DOWN!

Demonstrating both a sartorial sense of style and an increasingly evident desire record his silliness for posterity.

The search for the perfect chocolate cake recipe

So far, we've tried:

Joy of Cooking Rombauer Special(meh)
Sky High Cakes Triple Fudge (Whoa! Chocolatey! Even though I probably overbaked it - this is definitely the front-runner)
How To Cook Everything (Are you sure you put chocolate in that?)

Up next, Sky High Cakes Devil's Food.

Any of you have a favorite chocolate cake recipe you want to share?

Also, do you have a vanilla frosting recipe you like?

On reading "The Long Winter" during what may end up being the snowiest winter this area has ever seen

It makes me grateful for heat, and light, and grocery stores, and baking bread with yeast and white flour.

Grateful for having a full freezer, knowing that even if we run out of milk or bread or other staples during the storm, that once the storm has ended and we've dug out of our garage, we can find a store somewhere nearby that will have more milk or bread or other staples.

MM was disappointed about the postponement (again!) of his party, but cheered up over the baking of bread (Little House on the Prairie Cookbook), and cake (Joy of Cooking - I overbeat it and it came out dry and crumbly), and cookies (with M&M's, too sweet for Mr. Spock and me, but MM loves 'em). Also, Mr. Spock gave MM his first cooking lesson. He cooked, all by himself (though with supervision), perfect fluffy rice. And we spent some time outside, being shocked by the amount of snow.


So, in short, I'm feeling pretty privileged, and lucky, and grateful. We have just two more chapters to go in HP 7. I hope I can get MM to agree to let me start reading "Farmer Boy" to him.

Loudoun County Public Schools CLOSED until Tuesday, 2/16.

As per Hatrick's announcement on the LCPS homepage.

I think they should use President's Day as a make-up day, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

MM kicks my tushy on New! Mario Bros! for the Wii!

I keep dying and he just trots along and comes out relatively unscathed.

In unrelated news, guess what he got for his birthday?

Scarf update

All ends woven in. Trying to decide whether to add fringe first and then block or block, then fringe. What do you think?

Eight

My little man planned his last 7-year-old word and stuck with the plan. "Good-night. Love."

I can't believe he's 8. Holy guacamole!

Gryffindor scarf update

Knitting done. Weaving in ends 3/4's done. Need to block and add fringe.

Next up, possibly a hat to match. Definitely a cardi for me after that.

Attention: My Canadian Readers!

Have you had a procedure done under general anesthetic? Then you probably got a pelvic exam at the same time, even if your procedure had nothing to do with needing a pelvic exam.

Do you know what this would be called if the woman were given roofies? Rape.

First reported at The Globe and Mail, sign on to the petition against it at The Bad Mom's Club.

Meeting Haiku

Not allowed to knit
during sales meeting. Fingers
bloody by tonight

Been there, done that, bought the ginormous bra.

Have I told you how much I love Kate Harding? I love Kate Harding.

Around these parts, Nordstrom's and Trousseau do excellent jobs of fitting.

On Reading HP7 to MM

Chapter 16 is a hard one to get through. Reading about the visit to Godric's Hollow, MM said, "Take a deep breath and it'll be okay"

I did and it was.

Gah.

Someone said something to me today and it hit me pretty hard. They said it in anger, and my initial reaction was to get angry and defensive. But I need to accept that my reaction is because part of what they said is true. It is.

So, I will work on that. And I will defend myself against the part that ISN'T true.

What do you think?

Should I knit this sweater in a purple tweed wool?

I really like the shape of it. Nice cropping to give the illusion of a bit more height, and the neckline is good for minimizing the EEROD.

Found today

The power cord for the keyboard (musical), some books I was missing, the coffee press, the square cake pans, and MM's digital camera (which is what started the search in the first place).

Also found today, a fact: my spicy ginger peanut sauce is EVEN BETTER over soba noodles.

The Gryffindor scarf is longer than MM as of today. Soon it will take over the world!

Blogging the lost

Has anyone seen the little black zip bag full of Disney and Pixar films? We can't find it.

ETA: Mr. Spock found it! I probably looked at it 20 times!

Welcome

I'm pleased to have new visitors to this blog. I've been blogging here for quite a while. I do have some guidelines for commenters (over there on the sidebar). Feel free to make yourself at home and take a look around.

I write mostly about knitting, and mystery books, and politics, and tell the occasional story about life at home or at work.

If you'd like, leave a comment and let me know you've visited!

Blogging for Choice

Even if no one ever again is faced with an unwanted pregnancy - and I hope we get to that day - we will still need abortion to be safe and legal.

Because there are times when a wanted pregnancy needs to be aborted. To save the life or future fertility of the mother.

So especially late-term abortion needs to be kept legal and safe. Yes, I said ESPECIALLY late-term abortion. For Cecily. And for all the other women who have lost their wanted child, but not yet lost the pregnancy...for those who have pre-eclampsia...for the myriad reasons that a pregnancy can go horribly wrong in the last few months or weeks.

Keep all abortion safe and legal.

Knitting a Gryffindor scarf

Before starting it, I hunted high and low for my size six (US) needles. I was totally sure I had at least three sets (of circulars). Where the hell were they?

So I decided to knit it on size eights (US). It's a scarf. Gauge is meaningless in a scarf. Right?

I am half-way done with the pattern on the scarf and it's almost as long as the finished length is supposed to be.

Huh.

This morning I found all three sets of my size sixes. They were in the bag I used for carrying around the sweater I just finished. I used one set to knit the sweater and the other sets as stitch-holders while knitting on the sleeves.

Yeah.

I'm not always the brightest bulb on the marquee.

Yum!

I'm drinking soda with real sugar in it! Whoohoo!!!

Fun Friday

Sweater done. Buttons and snaps sewed in.

I'm pretty darned proud of it, actually. I'll post a picture after I've given it to the recipient.

Can too

Brought my lunch to work today.

In my son's Spider Man lunch bag (he's currently using a red, orange, and black swirly number from Land's End) "Hey!" he said. "You can't take that! You're a girl!"

And I said, "I can too. I love Spider Man."

And he said, "But he's for boys!"

And I said, "I can be a pretty pink princess AND like Spider Man."

The only valid reason to not bring my lunch to work in a Spider Man lunch bag is that I'm not seven. The fact that I'm not packing a salami has no bearing on the matter.

I guess I need to break out the Free to Be You and Me album again.

Sweater knitted.

Now I just need to make up the sleeve seams, block it, sew in the snaps and put on the buttons.

It actually looks very nice. Very cozy. I made several rip-back-worthy errors and several I decided not to rip back for.

The biggest of that latter category is one spot on the back where I messed up the pattern on one row. Super obvious to me. No one else will ever notice.

Happy New Year to you all.

Hey folks, asking a favor here

A work friend of mine's grandson was born two weeks ago. He was due March 13th, and he's doing terrifically in the NICU, but if you have good thoughts to send to NICUs everywhere, would you do that today?

Thanks.

It's that time of year again

I missed it last year, I think. But here it is for this year: the first line of the first post of every month of 2009.

January: "Reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in bed, an hour after lights-out, with a flashlight." (that's my boy!)

February: "From this (picture) to this (picture) Lego-maven, Pokemon card collector (shudder), Harry Potter follower, singer, runner, funny, silly, smart, rockin' reader, polite (most of the time), considerate of his friends, loving, snuggly, and very very sweet." (my boy turns seven)

March: "Packed books and toys and there are still more books and toys to pack." (and not everything's unpacked yet)

April: "Look! I park in the garage!" (I never DID get around to posting pictures. Sorry 'bout that)

May: "MangeTout in New London is delicious. Please don't miss their Black & White Chocolate Macaroon Tart. Oh. My. God. That was amazing." (on my trip to Connecticut)

June: "If I weren't already pro-choice, reading Cecily's blog would have made me so." (really just a link to this post)

July: "On my way to the event." (I never did get more photos. Darn it)

August: "Had a great time talking with assorted wonderful people about politics, skylights, and expanding houses." (Talking about a weekend at my mom's country house)

September: "Couldn't find one of the houses I was supposed to visit yesterday." (I really hate that)

October: "Yesterday I did 23 doors IN HIGH HEELS." (Yeah. Not my brightest moment.)

November: "Yesterday was a whirlwind of meeting-and-greeting, walkingwalkingwalking, and dialing-and-smiling." (the day before election day.)

December: "Labyrinth card game: we love this game." (we've given it as a gift to three different families now)

I'm ashamed.

I didn't post about the tsunami last year, or this year. Over 230 thousand people dead in one day five years ago and I...forgot.

Silence.

Thoughts on knitting a baby sweater

No, it's not for me. It's for a relative and I'll tell you all about THAT later on.

Things I will rip back for:

• miscounting
• not liking the way I did the increases (it made really obvious gaps)
• realizing that I want the button band to be knit when the main body is purl and vice-versa (so it shows up better)
• realizing that the lace pattern for the main body is not only too froo-froo (for an infant - my own opinion), but it will also take too long, and I will be guaranteed to mess it up at least once. This sweater needs to be done before the end of January. It CANNOT become a pair of aran socks. And since Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swanson practically BEG you to switch out the pattern in the main body...I did. I'm using sand stitch instead.

Things I won't rip back for:

• a sudden slubby section of yarn (either it will get lost in the nubbly pattern I chose after blocking, or it will just be a charming imperfection). Yarn is imperfect. Get over it.
• Not including button holes. I hate button holes. Buttons have no place on baby clothes in any case - except in a purely decorative capacity. This sweater will have snaps and decorative buttons. So there.

It's time for Sunday Breakfast with Christine

Christine Lavin tells us how to make pain au chocolat.

'Twas the day before Christmas

And in the office
Workers were there but not one of the bosses
Each of us had planned our departure
Some by plane, some by train, some by gas guzzling car...


I'll work on the rest while I'm on Amtrak going up to my mom's.

Merry Christmas everybody!

The Toy Sack

"Wouldn't that be awesome?"

The embedded video is the Bare Naked Ladies singing "We Three Kings/God Rest Ye" at a Boston Pops concert.

Whoa Nellie! That was some snow!

MM wading through some of the more shallow areas.

About two-thirds of the way through the storm. As viewed through the screen.

At work now, alas. LCPS is shut down today and tomorrow. Wednesday is the start of Winter Break, so MM doesn't go back to school until Jan. 4.

Posh Place is open today from 9 until 4, but MM's stayin' home with MS. They're probably playing Wii Playground. I'm pretty good at the paper airplane races. MM is best at dodgeball. MS kicks butt at slot car racing.

If they're not playing with the Wii, they're doing kid-friendly science and electronics.

What did you do this weekend?

It's a "Partridge", John.

Bah dah dah dum.




The embedded video is of the Muppets singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" with John Denver.

It's a two coat day.

Today I wore my Land's End Primaloft jacket (discontinued, it seems. At least, I can't find it on their site) under my 10-year-old red JC Penney pea coat. My torso and arms were mosty toasty, but my legs were complaining bitterly of the cold.

Seems that my lovely pants were not adequate to the job today. I should have broken out the long-johns.

The best of both worlds

I'm keeping Mystery Mommy, but I've also started a new blog for my political rantings and that's The True Adventures of the Doorbell Queen. Head on over and see what you think!

You'll never guess who I had a bloggy playdate with today!!

Angry Pregnant Lawyer! And Angry Boy and Angry Linebacker! MM had a great time playing with AB (until a lunchtime meltdown on the part of MM. Sad, but there you are).

I had a terrific time and can't wait until January when we can do it again!

Where my mind is, while my body is at work

Dancing to Ulupalakua.



The embedded video shows a woman dancing the hula to a song called Ulupalakua. The song and dance are about an area of Maui which was/is the home of the Paniolo, Hawaiian cowboys. The original Paniolo were Spanish. Paniolo is how "Espanol" got translated into Hawaiian.

Lyrics and translation can be found here.

I am The Meanest Mommy In The World (tm)

Because I wouldn't let my dawdling son take his DS with him for after-school today.

Because we were late.

Because I had already said, "If I have to tell you one more time to hurry and get dressed, you will be sad."

And lo, he was sad. Point made. I hope.

Question for you folks

Should I change the name of the blog from Mystery Mommy to Doorbell Queen?

It's been much more politicky here than bookish for a long, long, long time.

What do you think?

Posting from my new phone. The keyboard disappears in the main part. Alas.

Gifts for the whole family

Labyrinth card game: we love this game. Easy to understand and play. MM wins at it regularly. MS and I play it on our own sometimes.

Make and Break: Lots of fun. Not so great for the easily frustrated. We've actually developed some house rules because the top-of-the-box rules can make for a melt-down if one family member keeps rolling a 1 and picking complicated patterns (not that that would ever happen or if it did that I pouted about it for more than 5 minutes).

Guess Who Extra: MM got this for Hanukkah from my aunt and uncle. It got played pretty much non-stop Friday and Saturday and Sunday.

Spooky Manor for the Wii: Wii game for up to 4 players. We really enjoyed this, but it was over pretty quick.