Stocking Stuffers 2015

I am starting to think about Christmas and buying things here and there, especially for Jane's stocking. I wrote about some of the things I put in her stocking last year.

I've been stocking up (get it?) on little giftie items, and I had some good finds at CVS of all places at the end of the summer. I got some bubbles and a jump rope and other summery things that are thankfully still mostly usable here in southern Louisiana during December. (And if not they're still fun to open and she can use them when spring rolls around in January - HA!) I meant to check out Halloween clearance to see if I could find any small goodies that would be appropriate for a stocking (or maybe even to stuff Easter eggs in March), but I never made it to a store in early November to check it out. D'oh!

I also have some extra Play-Doh from the "Doh Glad You're in My Class" birthday giveaway, so those will be going into her stocking and really filling it up. I have bought a few things from the Target dollar spot too -- cute glitter bows (what am I thinking?!) and a small stamp set (REALLY, what am I thinking?!). I'm also going to put some of the things I bought for our trip to Oklahoma into the stocking. I WAY over-packed for the plane and the wedding itself. Jane was good on the flights with her tablet and headphones, plus a toy or two. And at the wedding she just used a 50 cent notebook and a new box of ultra-washable crayons to entertain herself for about an hour. I don't think she'll mind me reusing a couple of the Imagine Ink Mess Free Marker books (mostly from Target at ~$3 a pop) -- they're still brand new and she didn't look at them too closely so should be good for the stocking.

I'm starting to think about gifts for her too. I love the idea of something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. But what she wants is a giant dollhouse or Elsa castle or $400 drive-able plastic car. Uh... I did buy a cash register that I've had on her Amazon wish list for a while when it was 50% off yesterday. I'm excited about that one, so it could count as a want, because she plays pretend shop a lot.

For something to wear I'd LOVE to get her a pair of Thomas PJs. She had some when she was little, but they fit before she knew what Thomas was and now she's a big fan. I can only find pajamas in size 4T, and those don't fit her that well. She's just tall, and I'd hate to buy something that she can only wear for a few weeks before they'd really not fit anymore. SO - if you happen to see any regular sized (S, M, L) Thomas pajamas let me know! Otherwise maybe some other style of bigger PJs for her "something to wear," although really she has enough to make it through the winter from what I bought on various outlet mall shopping trips. And she already has a gorgeous dress she can wear for Christmas thanks to the wedding we went to earlier this month!

Reading is easy, as I've placed an order with Scholastic and can always buy more books and have ideas on her wish list. I'm thinking about this compendium of George and Martha books. We've read all of them from the library and love them. So funny. I asked Jane if there's a book she'd like and she said "a short Curious George," so we'll see about that too.

Jane is finding her "wants" by looking in catalogs. It's so funny because she just circles everything basically, and she leaves off some things I know she'd really love. She also just got a ton of gifts for her birthday, so it's hard to think about giving her MORE. That's the peril of an end-of-year birthday I guess. She has enough cushion that I'll be able to get back into gifting mode no problem. But that might be harder on my wallet if I could get better deals now.

Shawn has a few things still to give her from his travels to China and Norway this year, so those will be good (and maybe some could fit in her stocking?!).

She doesn't really NEED anything because if she needs something I pick it up. So I may have to think on that one some more. I did get her some new hair elastics -- the tiny plastic kind to pull up just part of her hair -- and I'm going to save those for her stocking and they're a need. I'll also throw in a new toothbrush and one of the several toothpastes from the linen closet (I do that in Shawn's stocking too -- his is always pretty skimpy!).

Do you have any other good ideas for little girl gifts or stocking stuffers?

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Reading Maniac

2015 Reading Challenge

Mari has completed her goal of reading 100 books in 2015!

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105 of 100 (100%)

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I made a goal this year to read 100 books. I met the goal in late September, and since then my reading has slowed to a glacial pace. And I haven't been doing anything to make up for the time -- it's not like I have a huge crochet project, work or something.

I read mostly on my Kindle Fire, and almost exclusively with library books. I love our library system full stop, and the Overdrive system is great. If there's a book I'd like that they don't have I can request it. I've only done it two or three times, but every time I'm reading what I want within a few days with no direct cost to me. It's a great way to spend our taxes, in my opinion. And there's no digital or physical detritus building up because the LIBRARY keeps all that. (There are very few books I feel like I need my own copies of, despite owning way too many physical books myself.)

Before you think this reading challenge was intellectual, let me say that a good chunk were fast reading brainless things, including the entire Sookie Stackhouse series -- my favorite was Dead in the Family because I *loved* Eric, probably because I also watched the first few seasons of True Blood via Amazon Prime and a couple more via DVD checkout at the library. I could only watch them while Shawn was out of town (he is NOT a fan) so I never finished seasons 6 and 7 -- it was getting really ridiculous anyway. Hubba, hubba Alexander Skarsgård.

Not sure if I'll do a reading challenge next year, although I did like the accountability and tracking of adding the books into Good Reads as I finished them. I still have a few books on my list to finish before the year is up -- and some Christmas-y type books that I read every year I'm not sure I should count.

What have you been reading lately?

At Your Own Risk

Driving on campus is perilous, and I do it at least five times a week to pick up Jane from school. This week I also dropped her off two mornings while Shawn was home with repair-type people.

First are the pedestrians - college students who are paying no attention. I can usually manage to be safe when they're in the crosswalks lollygagging, listening to music and staring dumb-facedly into their phones. But it's when they randomly step off the curb into oncoming traffic that I have panic attacks.

Sometimes you can get caught at a class change, mainly on MWF because we pick up at 12:30 and that's a class start time. Then you can be stuck behind several cars as a flow of seemingly hundreds (probably just dozens) of students ambles along slowly.

Second there are the bikes, and I think they're worse. Some bikers act like vehicles, i.e. obey the law, and others ride on sidewalks, shoot out into cross walks or simply ride in the street going the wrong way. My heart has dropped on many occasions worried about hitting someone.

Because that's the thing -- I don't want to hit anyone with my car! I don't want to be slowed down or inconvenienced, but mainly -- I don't want to hit anyone and want us all to get where we're going safely. I am impatient at the best of times, but I need to start giving myself extra cushion time and being OK if I'm not in the parking lot right at 12:30 -- we have until 12:45 to pick up, and oftentimes they're not even ready until closer to 12:40.

I remember being on the other side of the equation when I was working on campus and had to cross a busy street. State law requires stopping for pedestrians in a crosswalk. I shook my fists OFTEN at cars speeding down Nicholson Extension as I tried to cross, including when I was 9 months pregnant.

I guess the bottom line is people are the worst -- either as pedestrians or drivers. And all I can do is try to NOT be the worst and be a civil and courteous driver. But it sure frazzles my already frayed nerves.

Reactions

In April I read Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans. I cried my contacts out when I finished it, and I took some notes as a response at the time, thinking I would blog about it sometime. NaBloPoMo is a perfect opportunity, right?

My favorite parts were the personal stories - I am nosy and will read minutiae about almost anyone's life. I loved the honesty. I've read Evans' other books and regularly read her blog. She writes some great stuff. I admire her and wish I could be as bold and clear in writing about my faith, not to mention so articulate. She's a great writer.

Although my core beliefs haven't changed the way hers did I can identify with Evans' journey and story so much. I am still United Methodist, but my political leanings have done a 180 as my faith has developed, deepened and my understanding grown. I am so lucky to have grown up in my open denomination and to have had such role models of faith - especially my mom and Gran.

I also read Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Erhman around the same time, so my notes are on the same page.

A lot of that book was kind of duh, big red truck stuff -- obviously the way manuscripts of any kind are passed down and copied down will introduce errors. But I don't doubt that Scripture has God's word. How else would we have it so many years later? God is big enough to speak even through errors and using fallible people.

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I am having another type of reaction -- to mosquito bites. The weather here is humid beyond belief, which is expected in Louisiana but not necessarily in late November. It's also warm -- yesterday we neared 80. After a bunch of rain a couple weeks ago while were in Tulsa tons of dormant mosquitoes rose up from hibernation in the ground and are EVERYWHERE. They're fat and slow but require constant vigilance to kill them if you stand outside at all.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a preschool friend's back yard birthday party. It was fun, and we had gorgeous weather. But I was chewed alive by the bugs (oh, and Jane got quite the shiner/skin abrasion under her eye on the bouncy house -- she's fine though). Two days later and the itching is unbearable at times -- mainly on my arms and hands, but there's also some bites on my B00Bs! The bites flare up -- itch and swell -- and then die down and cycle around. I've been using After Bite (kind of like this), which is basically a baking soda solution, It stings a little but helps. It's just ugh, and certainly sends me back to the bedbug era - oh-em-gee.

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Copyright Issues and My Church

I have strong feelings about copyright law. I'm not an attorney, but I AM a writer and care about proper credit for published work and maintaining rights. My church doesn't see things the same way I do. And I'm not sure if I should say anything, and if so what.

Last Sunday, 11/8, a performance of a piece of music from a worship service was recorded and published on Facebook (although not the sermon of course...I think my blinding rage is turning to eye-rolling annoyance, so that's progress). I have recommended against doing this without getting permission first, but that advice went unheeded. Not that I'm surprised about that. 

There are mechanical licenses that can be obtained to grant permission to broadcast music recordings from worship services. I think we obtain permission to perform pieces during the services, so maybe that covers the re-broadcasting permission too and I'm overreacting. But I don't think so because when someone asked me about it before copying the music director and I wrote back with my "don't do this unless we get permission" she didn't chime in with "we've already got permission through these performance licenses." SO...

We're also doing an Advent devotional this year, and someone had the bright idea to make it a daily email. Guess who got to figure out how to implement that idea? That's right, me. But I figured it out (I THINK), even though using the new website content management system doesn't make anything easy. (In retrospect I should do like Upper Room and make a separate Blogger Blog with FeedBurner to manage the auto-emails, but I've already got this set up so we're at least going to try it out.)

Anyway, for the devotionals we asked members of the congregation to write, and some did. (I actually wrote two, and Jane drew a picture.) But we didn't get enough devotionals to cover all of Advent. So for the days without a church-specific devotional the associate pastor just pulled out some of her favorites from other published Advent books.

Uh...

I'm concerned that we don't have permission to use the three or four devotionals that are not church-specific, and I'm not comfortable sending out an email from our church claiming someone else's words as our own even if we do cite the book it originally came from. I did raise this issue with the associate pastor to ask if we had permission to use them. No response, so I probably won't get one unless I push it again.

It's entirely possible I'm overreacting in either or both cases. What do you think? Should I say something more? Let it go? I don't work there but I am involved.

Gift Ideas for a 4-Year-Old Girl

Jane got a lot of great gifts for her birthday this year, so I thought I'd catalog her favorites as a gift guide for people looking to shop for a 4-year-old or gift guide for preschoolers. (Some affiliate links used, but not all.)

Jane got some great books yesterday, Make Way for Ducklings and This Book Just Ate My Dog. Books are always a safe bet for Jane, and we didn't have a copy of either. She got other books and a National Geographic Little Kids subscription. I highly recommend mag subscriptions as gifts for kids because it encourages reading and gives them something fun in the mail each month. We also really like High Five, and Disney Jr. is OK (I pay for both of those).

A great toy that she got was this Minnie Mouse magnetic dress up doll. It's similar to her Minnie Mouse snap-on dress up doll (from a consignment sale last year), but definitely the magnetic one would be easier for littler hands to manipulate. I also got her a Melissa & Doug mermaid magnetic dress up doll on clearance at Target that has been a big hit too. It's basically the same idea (and I should have saved it for Christmas or just the gift closet/to give to another friend for a birthday).

Thomas toys are a safe bet for Jane, although your mileage may vary from kid-to-kid of course. One thing to be careful of is noting which type of track the train is for. We have a wooden train track, but some of the trains I've bought her (or even requested on her wish list) aren't the right size for that track. They're still fun to roll around on the floor, especially her favorite characters, but kind of a dumb move on my part. I'm not sure if they make all engines in wooden track versions, and they're probably more expensive. Grandma Dale hit a two-fer by getting her a Thomas book! And Gingie got her a right-for-wooden track Annie and Clarabel that have been seeing a lot of play on the expansion pack of track we got her.

Jane is also VERY into outer space. I got her this space book, and we've been reading a chapter at a time. She got a neat space floor puzzle, and yesterday a friend gave her a lantern/starlight projector thing that is really cool, especially in a dark room.

Jane loves Frozen, even though we haven't watched the movie very recently. She got a Frozen book and a game that has been a lot of fun. It's basically Trouble with the Frozen characters and a few extra rules. I wasn't sure if Jane would be into it, but she loves it. And Shawn and I don't mind playing with her (unlike some of the other games -- not a big fan of Candyland or Chutes & Ladders).

This bath building block set has been really good too -- different than the usual bath crayons that make a mess but everything dries easily since it's just foam blocks. She also had a great time decorating this Melissa & Doug jewelry box and storing a necklace that came with her new Sofia costume, which was a gift from Aunt B.

Art supplies are always smart, and Jane got an assortment of stickers and sticker books plus this cool Color by Dot book that we still need to crack open, also from Aunt B.

Basically my kid is spoiled and got a lot of really great presents from lots of people who love her. The best gift is probably an investment in her college savings fund, but it's hard to recommend that when it's so fun to shop and get a more immediate gratification from her as she falls in love with a toy or book and plays with or reads it nonstop.

Maybe I should also do a post from Jane's wish list. That includes a $400 ride-on car and huge Barbie dream house (we don't even have any Barbie dolls!). We'll see how desperate I get as NaBloPoMo rolls along.

Happy shopping!

An "Everything" Birthday Party for a 4-Year-Old

Jane didn't really talk about her birthday party much during planning. But sometime this week she started saying she wanted an "everything" party. That's a really good thing because that's sort of what I was planning -- a hodge podge of decorations and low key playing with her friends.

I got an email about free shipping for Halloween goodies from Oriental Trading. I already had my Halloween giveaways (and I have so many glow bracelets left over it's ridiculous -- thanks to super rainy weather at our church trunk-or-treat), but I did need things for Jane's party so I took advantage. I got 12 Minnie Mouse balloons, 48 blue and pink regular balloons (only one dud in the bunch), and a Doc Happy Birthday banner. I also got blue with white snowflake punch balloons (a la Frozen) and birthday bubbles (just because) to put in pink treat bags as thank-you-for-coming-gifts. I found Hello Kitty napkins on clearance at Target (52 cents per pack!), where I also got some sparkly pink plates.

I also got a cute craft from Oriental Trading -- a flamingo with legs that look like a 4. It was pretty simple, and we used glue sticks to put it together. Arts and crafts wasn't the main focus of the party. Basically playing together with all Jane's too-many toys was the best part. We could have gone outside for bubbles and chalk, but it never seemed necessary and was just as fun to hang out inside.

For food we Jane asked for "Angel Cake." She'd never had angel food cake to my knowledge, but that's what I made. I used a box, because that's how I remember my Gran making it, but every box I found just called for adding water. And I know I remember Gran having to beat egg whites and keep the beaters and bowl completely dry. Maybe mixes have changed since then? Anyway, it came out beautifully. I sliced two packages of strawberries (out of season, but part of Jane's request) and whipped too much real whipped cream. It was delicious though, and I enjoyed using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for that. Easy peasy.

Jane was mad that I baked the cake without her, so we also made some back-up cupcakes that were equally tasty. (I also wasn't sure if kids would like angel food cake, but they did!) I made buttercream icing, and I tried to dye it with raspberry juice. I hadn't microwaved enough frozen raspberries to make a difference so the frosting just stayed white. I did dip each cupcake in crystal sugar so they looked sparkly and pretty (a la Frozen). We also served strawberry and vanilla ice cream. YUM!

I also served some snacks during the beginning of the party (always send the kids HOME on a sugar high, never hop them up at the beginning). I had a flash of brilliance (at least what counts for brilliance to me these days) and decided to arrange cheese cubes in the shape of a 4 and have fruit around as the "background." Similar to the rainbow I did at Jane's second birthday party. Last year we strung balloons on a string and taped it up to the wall in the shape of a 3. This year she got cheese. It didn't last as long! (Those 3 balloons lasted for months!) Anyway, the 4 of cheese turned out a lot cuter than I expected ... and I bought WAY too much cheese so I have three blocks left. (I realized how much cheaper it is to cube my own ... aren't I a thrifty one? Uh ...) We also had an assortment of crackers, water and lemonade. No one drank any lemonade! I got some butterfly crackers that were adorable, and I think Jane ate most of them!

Jane had a great time, and she was given lovely gifts from her friends. I think the kids and parents had a nice time too. We invited four friends since she's 4 years old -- and I still stressed out about how many people were in my house at once because of siblings and parents. (Total was 7 kids, including Jane because two siblings stayed home napping, and 7 adults including me and Shawn -- 14 doesn't seem so bad I guess.) We had plenty of food, and Shawn's going to be eating ice cream and drinking lemonade for a while! I am exhausted, as I stood up a lot more than I'm used to (should start standing more as a rule!) and the pre-game prep and post-game cleaning were draining.

But everything's back in order, we have 50+ balloons still hanging around so the celebration will continue for a while longer. I love my big 4-year-old Jane, so the whole thing was worth it.

God Loves...

We go to a Sunday school class at our church. Over a year ago we switched from one that had a lot of just slightly older than us couples that didn't include much Bible in the lessons to a class with mostly decades-older than us couples who directly study Scripture. Both classes are fine, but I am pretty sure I have more to gripe about with this one, although I'm staying the course for now.

As far as I can tell everyone else in the class is very right-leaning and conservative. That's cool, and I like being exposed to ideas different than mine. But some things are hard to swallow, especially when we completely disagree on Scripture interpretation. I also don't like their parenting advice (lots of spanking, for example) or the majority opinions on racism and justice (but that's another post). Pretty much every week there's something I don't agree with - minor or major. It makes good conversation fodder for Shawn and me, so I guess that's something.

A couple months ago there was an incident that left me in tears and obsessing through the week. I didn't write about it at the time because it was raw (and I wasn't really writing/it was right around the time of the Maker Faire). I'm not sure if dredging it back up now is a smart idea. But hey, it's NaBloPoMo, and I gotta write something! (It also puts into perspective my current rage/annoyance about the missed sermon video, being patronized by others and feeling my church volunteer work is really not valued ... but it doesn't eliminate that fury, unfortunately!)

We are studying the Bible using N.T. Wright's New Testament for Everyone (affiliate link). We were in Matthew 5, and one of the questions was something like "How do you reconcile and make friends?" I wrote and said something about remembering that the person I'm reconciling with is loved by God too. I was mainly thinking about being reconciled with others in the class when they say things that are so totally off the wall to me.

I got severely smacked down because the teacher and others in the class vehemently said God does NOT in fact love everyone. And it turned into this whole lecture of Satan still at work (as if I don't believe in evil because I believe God's love is stronger), and I got so upset I started to cry. It was really embarrassing.

Someone even said, "What good would it be to be a Christian if everyone were blessed the same and all were going to heaven?" I almost blew my top but didn't -- since I was already about to weep openly.

I know they're thinking of ISIS and "the other" people, but it just upset me beyond measure to think they're saying God does not love all of his creation. God's love is limitless, and I don't know how it works.

But they were acting like they do know for sure, even though the teacher said "I don't get to decide who is, it's not up to me to judge. That's above my pay grade." While obviously acting like he DOES know and gets to judge.

It was just ugly and I ran out crying after the closing prayer even though they wanted to keep talking about it.

The teacher emailed, apologizing for making me cry but not really for the main point. It took me more than a week to read the email and then reply, and only then after I'd talked to our pastor about it. I think eventually the teacher agreed with me that God does love people, even those who reject him. I think his vehemence might have been a semantics/vocabulary issue. (And points to a lack of respect for opposing view points, I think.)

In his email he tried to use the Prodigal Son parable to make his point -- saying that if the younger son had stayed away instead of coming back he would have always remained separated from his father. Yeah, duh. But that doesn't change that the father still loved him and wanted him to come back (making my point).

The conversation with our pastor was helpful, and he recommended some books and was nice about it. I didn't skip any classes, even though I really wanted to. I have a flair for the dramatic at times. I also came across this blog post, People We Shouldn't Love, the same week of this blow up. Its timing was providential, as it was making the points I couldn't articulate.

Gotcha Journalism

I'm not an editor, but ... sometimes I play one from my living room couch.

(And I have two journalism degrees so I'm qualified for arm-chair editing, right?)

I watch the 10 pm news a few times a week, and I always get agitated by at least one story. Local TV journalism is always really weak. Even when we were in NYC it was a joke. But Baton Rouge is ridiculous to new degrees.

Recently here there was a story about some football player meeting with an NFL coach. The player didn't live in Baton Rouge anymore but was in town because he was being questioned in connection with a crime. The reporter camped out at the restaurant and got a waiter to give him information about what the player ordered to eat. It was the weirdest thing because 1) WHO CARES and 2) what a weird invasion of privacy. I get that he's a public figure, but how does knowing he ordered steak (or whatever it was) advance the story? They even broke into other news to show (LIVE!) the guy walking out of the restaurant. Crazy.

That's just one example I remember because it's so ridiculous. But I roll my eyes with great frequency if I do watch the news. Usually I just want a weather report, so I should just look online and go to bed earlier!

TIBTIL: Squeezmo

A few weeks ago I came down with a cold. I wanted to drink something hot in the morning but coffee was unappealing. So I turned to my trusty electric kettle and Community Coffee tea bags. It's been good to get back into a tea drinking state of mind, but I didn't like wasting the last juices from the tea bag (or burning my fingers trying to squeeze out the last bit).

I searched Amazon for tea bag squeezers. There are a lot of types, and I was thinking I would get something metal like a tiny pair of tongs. But then I came across Squeezmo Tea Squeeze (affiliate link), and I've been very happy with the purchase. It's a Thing that I Bought That I Love.

Basically it's a silicon sleeve or pouch, a little bigger than a tea bag and it has a spout. You drop in the bag, squeeze it and then pour the tea back into your cup. The Squeezmo holds the tea bag, which is great because I don't have those little tea saucers hanging around. If I stop the brew soon enough I can get two brews from one bag -- talk about a cheapo! (I can also add a pre-used bag to a new bag and get a real wallop of a tea in my second cup.)

It's dishwasher safe, which is nice, although I don't wash mine after every use. I got the Raspberry Splash color, because there was no purple option.

Birthday Flowers

Our church does a thing where people can put flowers on the altar in memory or honor of someone. When I realized Jane's birthday would be a Sunday this year I signed up for that week. Later we got the invite for my cousin's wedding on the same weekend, but I kept the slot.

Happy Birthday Flowers

I ordered flowers from the recommended florist because they have a key to the sanctuary and can deliver without someone be there. Ca-ching.

I hope the florist kicks back to the church or.makes an annual donation or something because damn. I spent more on the flowers than all her other gifts combined. And flowers die!

I only gave the instruction to "use pink," and pink they are. I still don't have a receipt because the florist has no website or email ability and didn't want to spend the 49 (?) cents to mail it to me. The florist said she would drop it at my house if she happened to be in the neighborhood. LOL. More top notch customer service. Good grief.

The flowers were gorgeous, and I was able to borrow a key to pick them up on Sunday afternoon so Jane could have them on her birthday. A good thing too since some were already wilting by Monday.

I don't think I will be signing up for another slot, although if I do I would buy Trader Joe's flowers and "deliver" them myself. Seems reminiscent of my Indiahoma-style wedding when we diy'ed the flowers!

Doh Glad to Be a 4-Year-Old's Mama

Yesterday was Jane's fourth birthday. It's basically a free space in NaBloPoMo because obviously I can write on and on about my love for Jane, the speed of time since her birth and her latest antics. I could even fill space with what drives me crazy about parenting. But the annoyance of church stuff, the travel and utter exhaustion from a quick weekend wedding trip led me to hold until today.

Suffice it to say that I love Jane more than I could explain. It's hard to believe four years have passed since she was taken from my body. There are too many antics to list, but she's picking up lots of new phrases from her classmates like "Aw, man!" and "What the heck is this?" (We're trying to nip that last one in the bud, but it's better than "Goddamnit!" which was one she learned from yours truly...)

Last night I put together some class gifts for Jane to give her friends at school. I think cupcakes/sweets are overused and not the best way to celebrate, so we did Play-Doh gifts. I hope the class will still sing Happy Birthday and celebrate Jane without a sweet treat. With 17 kids in the class there will be 16 other cupcakes throughout the year -- plus the Halloween candy and other holiday party treats. Maybe I should have caved and sent something sweet. But it has to be store-bought, which would mean extra processed and really not good for growing preschooler bodies. Hrm. (I already don't love the institutional food they serve the kids and overcharge us for.) A kid whose birthday was last month send home an entire treat bag with candy, cookies, chips and plastic toys IN ADDITION to a cupcake-type treat during their snack. I can't be that extravagant! But I can send in a non-food treat.

Jane's teacher last year gave play-doh with these cute tags for Valentine's Day (I think it was Valentine's), and I thought it would make a good, easy, affordable treat for the class. I found this Play-Doh Super Color, 20-Pack on Amazon for $11 (affiliate link). I didn't realize the tubs were small, but that turned out OK. I panicked for a bit thinking there were more than 20 kids in Jane's class because they've had a couple additions. Of course they've never provided a class list (ugh), so I also bought a full-size pack of 4 from Walmart that we didn't end up needing. I'm sure Jane will enjoy playing with that at home and the three leftover small tubs, and we can even use it with her current doh as an activity at her party this weekend.

Attaching the labels was a bit tricky because I needed Shawn to be able to transport everything to school without wrinkling the labels. I should have made my own at a perfect size for each tub. Normally I would have, but again, the exhaustion from the travel was too much. Poor planning on my part, as I should have done this all last week. But the labels worked fine, and I ended up just taping them to the tops of the cans and then stacking them in a Zulily box with some extra cardboard between them. (Hooray for over-shopping online!) In a perfect world they would have been smaller, printed on sturdier paper (cardstock?) and attached with a darling, perfectly tied ribbon. Obviously I do NOT live in a perfect world...

I'm excited to hear how the day went and if it seems like her friends like the doh. Jane thought it was a good idea, so that's probably all that matters.

Happy birthday to the best 4-year-old fuet-n-toot that I know!

Testing out an "Amazon Native Ad" here for Play Doh stuff (just because I went to get that affiliate link for the doh pack like I bought). Let me know if it bugs you, and I won't do it again. (I'm not sure I will anyway. I've never made any money from Amazon ads ... or any ads actually.)

Smoke Out My Ears

I was going to tweet about this, but couldn't figure out how to shrink it down to 140 characters. Then I remembered I needed to write a blog post today and I can use as many gee-dee characters as I want. AH.

A very minor church snafu has me all riled up and upset. I am IRRATIONALLY mad, blaming everyone (including myself) and full of rage about the whole thing.

I am responsible for recording, processing and posting the weekly sermon videos. Since we were out of town this week I asked someone else to please record. OK, no problem. This person is NOTORIOUSLY unreliable, but she is a video expert and can work a camera (I've had problems in the past with people not being able to make the camera work).

Unfortunately the battery I had left had somehow worn itself down -- despite being FULLY charged when I left it. Instead of recording the sermon like I asked she spent battery power on recording (copyrighted) music performance, which she then posted (against copyright, I'm sure -- there's another thing no one listens to me on) and "saved" the rest of the battery for these testimonial things they just HAD to record this week and this week only -- basically her side project. And she said she had plenty of battery left when she was done (so I assume she could have recorded the sermon anyway).

So she texted me all this -- first she asked me where the extra battery is while I was on the plane. This part is on me and is most certainly my fault because it was still at my house from when I took it to charge last week... and I didn't take it back during the week mainly because I wanted control of batteries and know which ones were fresh. Then she said that the pastor had told her to "not worry about filming" and for "Mari to not worry either."

STEAM RISING!!!

I basically told her I was disappointed but not surprised she didn't get it done and if I want something done I have to do it myself. I never get to see the sermon if I'm not there to record it.

Then she went and whined to the pastor, so HE texted me to clarify that he was the one who told her not to record. He wanted to be sure there's "no misunderstanding." I haven't responded to either crazy message -- BOTH of which are laced with faux niceties I've come to expect in the South -- "how are you feeling?" "how was your vacation?" (vacation my ass).

There IS NO MISUNDERSTANDING. This person (again) didn't do what she said she'd do. Full stop. Why she didn't do it is irrelevant to me.

Maybe I will feel better tomorrow, but honestly if I "shouldn't worry about it," then I am ready to turn in the computer I use to edit video and wash my hands of the entire thing. The upset has spilled over into everything else -- I was short with a waitress where we ate lunch and mad at Shawn about the stupidest stuff.

Travel and exhaustion make me even more irrational, I know. We didn't sleep well last night because other people at the hotel kept screaming in the hallways, including some obscenities. Jane slept through it but none of us got enough sleep before our ~5:15 a.m. wake up.

Indiahoma Style

We are at this fancy wedding, and last night at the rehearsal dinner someone said, "I remember your wedding ... it was Indiahoma Style."

That was not a compliment.

Our wedding was low key, open to our whole town. We did KFC for the rehearsal dinner and BBQ for the wedding dinner. Nothing fancy, no bar (but beer).

I don't regret it. I do wish I had a different dress or paid to have mine altered. Otherwise I loved our wedding.

I forgot Oct. 30 as 11 years after meeting Shawn. That was a good party too.

Fly BTR

At the risk of a security breach we are traveling this weekend. We are flying from Baton Rouge, which is pretty darn convenient.

I recently saw a Facebook thread complaining about BTR not being as good as the New Orleans airport and how much easier it is to get to NoLa.

Uh...

Our house is at least an hour from New Orleans airport, and we can be at BTR in about 20 minutes. Maybe ticket prices are higher for some destinations, but the time saved to me is worth it.

The FB thread also complained about the airport's neighborhood. It's in the northern part of the city, which does have more crime. But what's the alternative? Move the airport? You want it in your backyard? Ticket prices would definitely go up if you move it. Good grief.

Hope our flights are easy and on time. See you on the flip side. Really hope hotel has WiFi so I can blog tomorrow!!

Minor Inconveniences

After very little sleep last night because of Jane's ear hurting she was still sick today. So instead of one day of school she'll miss two this week (we're traveling for a wedding this weekend). She seemed better after some Tylenol, but then was worse as it wore off. I called the doctor, and I am GLAD we went.

The minor annoyance was the wait. Our appointment was at 2:50 p.m. and we weren't seen until after 3:30 p.m. Jane was really a wilting flower too, but with her tablet she kept herself occupied for as long as possible.

Verdict is definite infection and one ear drum had ruptured. Ugh. So drops in that ear and an antibiotic, both for 10 days. She's sleeping now, and I can only HOPE for a full night's sleep for everyone. I'm running on about 4 hours myself. Spoke too soon as she slept for an hour, has cried for 30 minutes with another Tylenol dose. Maybe she can get more rest. I don't know.

But no worries for my rest -- I accidentally got a full-caf iced latte from CC's today. I SWEAR I said decaf, but the receipt didn't say that and as soon as I sipped I could "taste" the jolt. I hope I can wind down and sleep tonight!

There was also a lot of traffic on the way home, and then we had to wait at the pharmacy for her medicine. Totally rich people problems, and I tried to keep myself mindful of the great blessing of same-day medical care from doctor to pharmacy, health insurance to cover it all and the time to dedicate to taking care of my girl.

If only I handled all annoyances as well...

Volunteer Burnout

Match on Fire by Rexem

Right now I'm a work-from-home mom. I have a few freelance paying jobs that ebb and flow, but mostly my time while Jane is in school is open -- about 20 hours per week. One way I've filled it is through freelance work, emphasis on the free. Volunteer work  I can do from home is my favorite kind of volunteer work (see: social malcontent). But I'm getting dangerously close to burning out, in part because I operate at my highest professional level and take everything so seriously.

For my church I just completed a major website renovation and relaunch. I worked for hours and hours on the site, learning how to use the new system (Business Catalyst), transferring all site content and managing the contractor we hired to do some of the technical set-up. The site launched this week, but I still have more to do, specifically figuring out how to use the email marketing part of the system and then teaching it to all other staff who need to send out emails. Nothing is ever easy.

We also had a capital campaign in October, so I was doing a lot of extra work on that (and everything I posted during October I had to post to both the old and new sites!). There were a few in-person meetings and two events where I ran AV. I am not an AV person, so that was quite stressful. I also was on-site  photographer, which entails shooting, editing, posting and promoting.

These huge projects were on top of my regular, weekly volunteer work for the church -- creating and sending the weekly email blast, which has morphed into 2-3 additional emails per week about one thing or another; managing the social media, which includes tweeting sermon quotes through the week via Hootsuite; regular website posting/maintenance; and filming, posting and promoting the sermon each week. I also run a communications task force that meets monthly -- creating the agenda, running the meetings and distributing the minutes after-the-fact.

I am exhausted.

I also volunteer, although in much more limited capacities, for the LSU Campus Club, The Shepherd's Market (which is a project of a nonprofit linked to my church) and Jane's preschool. Everything I do is web related, so I'm volunteering with my particular skill set, which is good. I hope doing these things will be good for long-term career prospects since I still have current work to show and plenty of people who appreciate my efforts and theoretically could recommend me or serve as references.

Oh, and also to add to my manic stress levels -- during all of this I have had major computer problems. I've been through Dell Hell, which I'll write more about this month, but I've done a lot of the work on my 5+ year old clunky computer without all of my programs because the computer we bought in October 2014 became useless

Ballet Annoyances

Crocheted bun cover for ballet

Jane has been going to ballet since August. It's at a relatively affordable place, $45/month for one class per week. They only take checks, and I have forgotten my check more than once, including today. Grrrr... I hate doing stuff like that.

A major ongoing annoyance is the temperature of the waiting room. It is always stifling hot. I don't know why they want to melt the people who write the checks. Theoretically I could leave, but if Jane needed to go potty or if I got caught in traffic that would be bad. So here I sit.

The other little girls also drive me crazy. One today gave Jane a perfect bitch stare while Jane was twirling in the lobby and said "I can do something much more beautiful" then did a jumping lunge type move. So weird and ugly.

A few weeks ago we had trouble with "best friends" and some girls saying they were best friends with each other not Jane. Jane reacted physically with pushing, so she was the one in trouble. I got a serious lecture, as if I had pushed a three-year-old myself!! The teacher also accusingly pointed at Jane and told me I should "talk to her!" The other parents got glowing reports and no mention of the mean girl behavior. Obviously I did talk with Jane and remind her EVERY week not to talk about best friends. And I think she is still separated from those girls during class. It is not ok to push or be physical, and we haven't had other problems yet. I still get a frosty vibe from the teacher, but that may be imagined. I am sensitive, even more so about my J-buggie.

Another stupid incident -- we were all leaving and a girl (of "best friend" fame) said, "Bye, James!" repeatedly. Jane didn't respond, but I said goodbye to the girl by name. While we were still in earshot the girl's grandma said, "She's not a very friendly girl, is she?" I said "we can hear you!" But I'm not sure she heard or noticed -- or would have cared if she did hear. I fumed about that for a good while. It is totally fake southern niceness, which wears on me quite a bit.

So. Maybe we should find another activity. There is gymnastics, but I'm not sure it would be any better. I am a social malcontent. I am making efforts for Jane though.

A Clean Calendar

Taken pre-7 a.m. b/c still adjusting to standard time...

I've started something new, planner-wise. I'm trying to "bullet journal" after I read about it on Miss Zoot, which I found via Hello Korio. So far I'm liking it, but I need to keep getting used to it. I'll write more about it in detail later this month.

But I still love paper calendars in the grid. Here is our kitchen calendar -- I make a new one every year with Jane pictures, and for this year I realized I could put pictures IN the calendar grid, so there's a picture of Jane on her birthday and a picture of me (and Jane) on my birthday. I haven't written anything else yet for the month, and it was neat to see it so clean. (I actually have a lot going on in November, so my small calendar is covered in scribbles and appointments already.)

Calendars are also a great grandparent Christmas gift, so I try to watch for sales on them this time of year. The December picture is usually a year old (so we'll get to see 2-year-old Jane on this year's calendar), but that's kind of sweet too. I could always just use recent pictures, but I like to do a picture that was taken in the month shown on the calendar. Recently there was a ~$7 deal (just pay shipping I think?) on Shutterfly but I couldn't get it together. What I need to do is spend a few hours getting calendars laid out the way I like in Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc. and then wait for a deal to come up and I'm all ready to pounce. (Or I should be more flexible about the pictures and just go with what is closest at hand!)

How do you keep track of your schedule? Have you heard of or tried bullet journaling?

NaBloPoMo 2015

Sliding into my favorite month -- end of Daylight Savings time gave me a leisurely morning. It's rainy and grey, my favorite kind of day. I know the month won't always be or feel this good, but right now I'm OK.

Today was All Saints Day, and our church lit candles and rang a bell after the name of each person who had died this year was spoken. I was crying, thinking about Gran and wanting to see the candle for her and hear her name spoken. I miss her deeply and at times acutely. I've dreamed about her two nights in a row. It's nice and also heart-shattering to dream those dreams since I have to wake up.


On a totally different note, I got a new phone, so I'll be able to take photos on the go. I don't have a data plan so any posting will have to wait until wifi. I had a lot of pride in still having a flip phone in 2015, but the phone I had didn't hold its charge anymore, and I was getting jealous of Shawn's smartphone. Maybe an early birthday present, maybe just an understandable expense. I'm still transferring contacts (manually!) and learning the phone. It's an Android but not the latest model. We're still doing the GoPhone plan, so nothing too extravagant. But I know this is just a step toward a full-blown phone plan...

I am committing to writing a blog post every day this month. I can't promise GOOD writing or even INTERESTING content, but it will be here. I have a list of blog post ideas, and hopefully I can write them all over the next 30 days. I haven't written in ages, hamstrung a bit by the idea of local people looking for crochet projects would instead find me ranting about Sunday school or Baton Rouge traffic or Louisiana politics.

And just in case - here's a picture of the latest crochet hat order I made: panda, frog, snowflake, baby reindeer and fox.

Dinosaur Hat & FAQs

Even though I have millions of post ideas swirling in my head I'm going to stick to crochet for a while in case any of the Maker Faire attendees check me out and are looking for crochet info. (Also if I were smart I'd write down the ideas in advance of NaBloPoMo coming up in November!)

(See Want to Order a Crochet Hat for more details. Individual photos of other hats I've made are in my silvermari crochet hats Flickr album.)

The week before the faire I cranked out 10 hats, including this really cute dinosaur one. It was among the 17 purchased, and by someone who's in my parenting group. So that was fun. Since it didn't have a face it was only $10, even though those dadgum spikes were as tedious as a face to crochet and sew on (I did them during Heroes: Reborn!). I love how it turned out, and it's even cuter on a kid's head. Someone suggested a pink and purple dino hat ... interesting!

I got asked some questions repeatedly yesterday. I should have written them down/done more than just think I would remember them. I know I gave the same spiel a lot (Gran taught me to crochet when I was a teenager, I started making hats once Jane was born, it got out of control because we live in Baton Rouge and she can only wear one hat at a time, etc.).

How long does it take you to make one of these?

I started paying attention this week, in anticipation of that question. And I would say a straightforward, simple beanie takes about 1.5 hours. Something more complex, like Grumpy Cat or even the dino, could be up to 3 hours. Lambie was even more, and that's one I made for Jane that I don't intend to repeat (at least not for $15!).

Can I have one of these for free?

Of course this was asked by kids, but I was surprised by how many did -- and not little toddlers or anything. Hrm. (The answer is NO.)

Do you make up your own patterns?

Not really. I've made up one, which was really just a variation on an established pattern. I can recreate hats with faces just from pictures, because it's just crocheting shapes in the right colors and sewing them on a base hat. (There are a gazillion blog posts for making the perfect sized hat -- once you understand the basics of increasing in the round it's straightforward to make a good double-crochet base hat.) For patterns I recommend Moogly Blog (probably my favorite crochet blog right now), and a search on Pinterest will come up with patterns. I also have used library books to learn new stitches and patterns. Usually the pattern will say whether you can sell the finished product and if you need to cite them as the pattern maker (I attach a handwritten tag to each hat with hat name, yarn content, care instructions and any pattern info like that if needed).

Can you teach me to crochet?

I could, but I don't do lessons or classes. I just referred people to the library's crochet groups. They're listed in The Source, the library system's monthly newsletter. They even have groups geared to teens, which I think is so cool. YouTube has lots of learn-to-crochet videos, and I'm sure there are other ways to learn too.

Did I miss a question, or is there something you'd like to know about my crochet craft? Drop me a comment or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

Also, here's a picture of my booth yesterday. I had a much less space than last year, but I actually sold one or two more hats (and not having a credit card reader wasn't as big of an obstacle ... although I did order one that will be here this week - d'oh - so maybe next year or if I start doing other sales or something, which is doubtful):

Baton Rouge Mini Maker Faire 2015

I'll have a booth again at this year's Mini Maker Faire at the East Baton Rouge Public Library's main branch at Goodwood. It's this Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10 am to 4 pm. (I'm missing the hot air balloon festival for this, thanks to multiple big events scheduled at the same time to avoid LSU home football games!)

Please see the Want to Order a Crochet Hat? post for details about how to place a custom crochet order. Also, more photos of hats I have made are in my silvermari crochet hats Flickr album. 

Router Woes

A big storm on Sunday evening fried our wireless router. Our house has old wiring, and I guess our surge protector wasn't up to the job. It's a real pain in the you-know-what to be without wifi. We ordered a new router and it will be here tomorrow evening. AH!

In the meantime I'm able to hardwire into our modem, but only on my OLD laptop. My new laptop is thin, sleek, etc. That means it's unable to connect to the internet any way except wifi. AH!

Thankfully the old computer still works, albeit slower and still prone to overheating. Maybe being a packrat has its benefits? (Actually I just don't know how to get rid of computers -- I still have the one I used in grad school in a closet here and the one I used in undergrad in a closet at my mom's house.) AH!

And might I add ... AH!

Broken Pub Glass

In summer 2000 I did an Oxford Authors class through OSU. We traveled to England, lived in dorms at Oxford, studied Oxford authors and got to travel a bit around the country (Stonehenge! London!).

It was a formative trip, and I had a great time, despite initially being very nervous and homebody-ish. I also made a lifelong friend and will always regret not agreeing to travel through Europe with her for two weeks before our class session.

One souvenir, a Hard Rock Cafe pint glass, stayed with me throughout all my moves and life changes since. But this month it finally broke -- a chip along the rim that made it unsafe to use. I took pictures and then Shawn threw it out.

Now I'm in the market for a new pint glass -- maybe OSU? University of Maryland? LSU? Something as embarrassing as Hard Rock Cafe? (Remember, I was 19 years old at the time and it was my very first time out of the country!) We have clear pint glasses for everyone else's use, but I like a heavier glass (probably because I have loved this particular now-broken glass for so long!).

I do have a backup - one my sister bought me on a Vegas trip - it's Circus Circus and works well, but it's not QUITE as heavy as Hard Rock and the clowns are kind of freaky! Plus two glasses in rotation is much smarter/better for making sure my glass gets washed!

Sad Sad Chip

Adventures in Preschool Pickup

Jane started at the university preschool five mornings a week. It's in the heart of campus and not affiliated with the university's lab school (K-12) or the day care center (0-PK). Anyway, this is the middle of week 2. I had a lot of feelings and am still having a lot of feelings, but I hope things will become routine and less angsty for me. I thought I wrote about my feelings last year when she started the TWO morning/week class at another school, but I can't find them here. I wasn't quite as dramatic this year, but still. Big steps.

Background needed for this story: Shawn and I have gate-opening wands to get on campus and get into the lot where we drop her off/pick her up.

OMG. Today pick up was TERRIBLE. At 12:30 it's right at class changing time or class going to time or something so kids are EVERYWHERE and they are looking at their phones/not paying any attention/walking in the streets and it's awful.

AND THEN the arm wouldn't go up on the gate by the school. I got out of the car and waved my wand like a maniac and moved the car around too. NOTHING. A few college kids made snide remarks ("higher, higher"), which didn't do anything to help.

Finally I pulled away to let someone else try (and backing up into a horde of college kids was awful - but I did it three times all together). That driver got in no problem. But when I came back my wand still didn't work.

The director saw me and came out and said another parent had the same problem. She called the "if you have trouble with this gate" phone number on the gate, and they said "they'd send someone out." I wonder if they'd send someone quickly if I'd just parked in the bus lane and gone to pick up Jane on foot (another parent parked elsewhere on campus and walked).

SO the director brought Jane out to me while I'm stuck at the gate, I put her in, buckle her up and back up so another parent can get to the gate (I don't think it worked for them either, which was a small comfort). Luckily the swarm of kids was less now - they'd mostly made it to class or other parts of campus?

It was just horrible, nerve-wracking and the worst. The wand let me into campus no problem, so I don't know. I hope they fix it, but knowing LSU it will be a regular problem. Gah. Hope more kids start skipping school soon. (College not preschool.)

Tailgating Maniacs

I just got back from a quick jaunt to the post office. I have to drive down College, which is pretty heavily congested. Today I had someone right on my tail from just after I turned onto Lee from our street until past Perkins. She was SO CLOSE to my bumper, it was scary. I was going the speed limit and didn't think much of it. People here love to tailgate -- ALL KINDS of tailgating. Geez.

Then as soon as we cross the railroad tracks I notice how close she's getting AND that the lane next to me is stopping. There's a one-legged man in a wheelchair crossing the street in the middle of the road. (This is a four-lane, busy busy road!) I honk my horn, mainly to alert this lunatic behind me to slow the EFF down and not hit me, as I slam my brakes to keep from running into the pedestrian. (Are you a pedestrian in a wheelchair?)

Then my adrenaline was running and I was so upset I just stayed stopped until this woman would go around me. She had ample opportunities, but she just sat there, inches behind me. If I inched up to give her space to get around she just creeped behind me. SO AWFUL.

I was terrible too, in that I was backing up traffic. But it was a crazy thing. FINALLY she went around me, and she was racing to get to ... STARBUCKS! She had her LSU stickers and stuff on her giant silver SUV. Typical typical typical. (She was still in line in the drive through when I came out of the post office.)

My heart has pretty much stopped racing now that I'm back home and everything is OK. I wish I'd thought to get her license plate number or something because she was really driving recklessly (I guess I was too by stopping in the road and impeding traffic).

I should probably just stay home!

Crochet: Aqua, Coral & White Chevron Baby Blanket

Here's a baby blanket I made a few weeks ago for a former coworker expecting her first baby, a girl. I snooped on her Pinterest account to select the colors. Chevron patterns are still pretty popular, plus they're easy to crochet, and you know I love a zig-zag pattern (my initials make a chevron pattern you know!).

The mom-to-be was very appreciative when I sent the blanket. Surprise packages are the best packages anyway too.

I used Red Heart Soft yarn -- I bought them online, so the coral isn't at all what I had in mind. This was a little more orange than I expected - or something. But it still looked good as a pop between the white and turquoise (which I think was called deep sea or something).

Happy crocheting!

Brain Decay

I don't think my brain is really decaying, but the crazy stuff I did this week could make a case that it is!

On Tuesday Jane and I went to a local pool and I forgot to bring towels! It was hot enough that we drip dried to get back into clothes. But the changing room/bathroom was so gross I'm still traumatized.

As an aside, the pool was less exciting than expected. It was also unshaded and shallow. The water was as warm as bath water, so not refreshing at all. I was the only adult there, save the lifeguards who seemed to be all teenagers or early 20s. It was only $2.50 to swim, and not SO far away, but it's not in the best part of town -- you can see the Interstate while you're in the water. The pool closed this weekend, so we went the last week possible. Who ever heard of summer ending in July?! It's going to be 90+ here for at least another six weeks! We've got to figure out some better way to go swimming next summer (or the rest of this one!). Maybe join the Y?

Forgetting the towels actually seems minor compared to what I did next. When we got home my computer wouldn't turn on. It just stayed black, although sometimes the Dell start screen would come up. Eventually I got to an error screen, and it gave me the option to restart, shut down, etc. I tried both and still wouldn't turn on. Finally it said "want to refresh?" I was desperate and upset and didn't read closely. YES, just turn on.

Major mistake.

It refreshed and wiped out all programs that had been installed. That meant Office, Creative Suite and a ton of other things. Shawn came home, was baffled that I would do such a thing but a big help and spent a couple hours reinstalling. Even though he was in the middle of a big work project, and I was a big freak out mess.

The computer is almost back to normal. There are a few programs that still need to be installed -- backup systems and such. I am trying to go more slowly and THINK through, and I'm glad that these two brain blips didn't have lasting consequences other than my annoyance and some time.

Aqua Aerobics

For the first two weeks in July Jane had "water exploration class," i.e. play in the pool and learn a few water safety skills. At the same time I was able to do water aerobics. (The cost of her class and mine together was less than the going rate for private class lessons - so hooray for our local parks & rec for enabling my cheapness!)

I loved aqua aerobics, and I think I wrote about it last year too when I did it for the first time. Jane loved her class much more this year - no tears or anxiety at being separated. The set up was a little different, in that there was no drop-off before class started, so a couple times I was scrambling to get to my class (and didn't get the biggest weights available most days because they're also the most popular). ANYWAY...

The Good: NO BURPEES! (And staying cool during an outdoor workout/not just waiting on a bench in the 90+ temps during Jane's class.)

The Bad: Still plenty of bounce (if you know what I mean).

The Ugly: I shredded the bottoms of my feet on the pool before I started wearing my water shoes. They are still scratched and hurtie. How do I fix that??? I think a pedicure would be a bad idea with small open cuts on the bottom of my big toes. TMI? No problem from me! I might try lots of lotion and socks to let it soak in. The pumice doesn't seem to make much difference...

The classes varied by instructor. The main teacher missed a couple classes, and the subs were much more by-the-seat-of-their-pants, so on those days it was less of a good workout. 45 minutes at a time is a little longer than I usually workout with videos at home, although I'm trying to increase my time investment when I can. And when we did lots of cardio with strength training against the water resistance I could really "feel the burn," so to speak. My muscles were never that sore (I've got aching thighs today from lots of land-based squats, so I know sore!). But it felt great and I certainly sweated a lot, all while staying cool in the pool.

Highly recommend, and I wish I could find an affordable class to take this fall. It is hot here until October!

Crochet: TARDIS Blanket

I made this blanket following this Blue Police Box pattern from Sandra Petit. It makes a really tall/skinny throw, and I think adding some background to keep the finished product rectangular and a little wider would be a good idea. The light at the top seems off to me too, and a background edging or something would fix that right up. Otherwise maybe leaving out a few of the rows in each box to make it a little less tall and seem more properly proportioned.

I added Moogly alphabet letters for the POLICE BOX part - I can’t cross stitch very well. I used cotton thread and a small hook to make the letters to fit.

I used a darker blue than suggested in the pattern (mainly because it’s what I had on hand to start with.) All of the worsted weight yarn is Red Heart, and the white thread is something I had on hand that no longer has a label.

It took me a few months to finish, mainly because of the monotony of double crochets so I would put it down for a while. I also had trouble keeping the yarn tangle-free, especially in the "window" sections, when I had three colors going. I did not cut yarn at every change, so the blanket is probably even thicker than normal because of carrying yarn on almost every stitch.

When I finally give it to Gingie (it's a present for my mom) I think she will like it! I did tell her it was done and showed her a picture of it before I wrote this post.

(I should really clean up around my guest bed before I take pictures to post on the internet. Good grief!)

1K Before K

Colorful Books Stacked (Blender)
by FutUndBeidl, on Flickr

We read Jane 1,000 books this summer. Starting in mid-March our library began a program called "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten," in an effort to get parents to read more to their kids. We signed up and didn't change our reading habits, other than writing down every-single-book as we read them.

We finished up in late June, so 1,000 books in less than four months. Woah.

Extrapolating we are probably averaging 3,000 books per year, so we should definitely read 10,000 books before she actually starts Kindergarten (in two years). She loves books -- not sure if it's because we've always read to her or if it just worked out that way.

She wasn't the first kid to complete the log -- not by a long shot. Some people with younger kids were able to finish 1,000 books in two months or so. That makes sense, as board books tend to have less than 20 words in them! That will definitely rack up the titles quickly.

We read a mix of book lengths, although I think most tended toward longer picture books and a few "readers" (which usually have fewer words than picture books). Sometimes a board book would sneak in too, although they aren't her favorites anymore.

Here are some book series we have loved: Ladybug Girl, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, Amelia Bedelia and Freckleface Strawberry. I'm always looking for more strong female character books. Jane also loves Arthur, Curious George, Thomas the Tank Engine and Franklin books. (Not girl characters but still good stories.) Oh and George and Martha books are the BEST. I wish there were more of them, and I want to get Jane the complete set of her own, although we've checked out the library's copies at least three times each. So good -- not too long and charmingly goofy.

The prizes for our hard work were a drawstring backpack (at 250 books read), a decal/sticker (at 500 books read), a poster (at 750 books read) and a book (at 1000 books read). She also got her picture on the library's kid Facebook page as having completed the program. Apparently there will also be a party for all who finish, but they haven't decided when that will be.

Read on...

No ma'am, I do not like to be called ma'am

Jane and me, at my "tent" where the craft was
an olive oil hand scrub that didn't go over well.

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. Jane had lots of fun and learned a lot in her first year at VBS. I think the songs were my favorite part, although Jane said she liked making candles the best.

One day her "tribe" got to plant a seed in a small decorated pot to take home. Unfortunately hers walked away somehow and we were searching around for it at the end of the morning. I asked one of her tribe leaders if she knew where it could be.

The leaders for Jane's tribe were all young teenage girls. This one was very polite and "yes, ma'am"-ed me, which raised my ire and made me want to scream. It feels forced/fake, even though I know that it is not at all fake for her.

We never did find the pot -- although Jane potted another one the next day because the girls felt guilty about it. The seeds actually sprouted, which is something that usually doesn't happen when I mix with plants.

TIBTIL: Picnic Blanket

A thing I bought that I L-O-V-E is my Tuffo Water-Resistant Outdoor Blanket with Carrying Case, which I purchased from Amazon in 2010 for Shawn's birthday. It was something we used in the parks in New York, which we'd hit a few times a month to read the paper and just hang out outside.

Now it's a regular Jane accessory and was perfect for the beach. The sand shook off easily, it folds up nicely into its carrying case and is machine washable. Now I'd probably choose a different pattern (pink, perhaps?), but I like the brown dots we got -- it seems neutral but I still have never seen another just like it. (I also love the bag we used for the beach this trip -- it's one I bought at Pearl River in NYC, which I read is closing due to high rents!)

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This Time Two Weeks Ago

Sandy toes and salty kisses. It was a fabulous vacation, and maybe I'll get around to writing more about it. Here is me at a happy place: