spindlewand

Ok, I admit it...

2008-06-29T15:46:50Z

Between:

Andrea being away with the family for fun

AND

Erika being away for somber reasons

AND

Slian being away for intermittant internet and other reasons

AND

AND

AND

AND

Spottedcat you are my only Beta/normal correspondant/reliable commentor available.

The balance of my sanity rests on YOU ALONE!

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(this is not to insult all my other friends who sometimes comment, just to say that if I have to live without some of the named individuals much longer I will not be responsible for my own actions.)

The nice report

2008-06-28T02:06:43Z

Thanks to all for nice birthday wishes and comments and so forths!!!!!!!!

So, this week has been ok.

Last Saturday we went to Eileen and Chris's house to see them and play with her little babe-in-arms and House Elf, her HE being 17 mos old and female.

MY House Elf spent the night saying "Come on, Baby, let's GO" and running around the room in circles, with the little girl following. Everytime he said it her father and I practically threw up laughing. Well, a little exaggeration there, but... and they had a CAKE for me, which was lovely, and the kids played with toys and were good and did not fight or cry at all though we were there hours and Braveheart got to hold the tiny tiny tiny baby, who held his hand, in return, with a hand so small a quarter could have hidden most of it. He likes little babies.

I got nice presents from my boys - a knitting video which actually has tons of information, a book I really wanted but did not want to buy myself and a set of sock blockers. Sock blockers are the ultimate sock geek thing and sort of look like very flat socks made of plastic, and you put them inside what you have knitted so you can take better pictures of the socks. I can see I have you all convinced of my geekiness.

We were perfectly happy having the Elf go to the Preschool with the stone tower, and then got accepted to the first one we had wanted and had the happy dilemma of choosing between them. They are both very very good. We are sending him to the first one. I hope it is the right decision, but if it is wrong is only a little wrong - not like if we had sent him the the Gates of Mordor Preschool I also looked at, so that should be ok.

I got to talk to a knitting friend who shall remain nameless on the phone.

I got to meet up with an HP knitting person I met in the swap I am in at the moment, and teach her to spin, which was SOOO much fun! She is a really cool person. And sweet. Cool and Sweet do not always coexist so happily, but it is working for her.

My little person is just talking so much more - I finally have someone calling me Mommy! Braveheart did for one day, once, as a gift to me, and never has since. No idea why or how that is. But The Elf calls me Mommy 100 times a day. It is such music to my ears. Oh, and I was told that the tunnelling in the couch is fishing. He is looking for the fish. OK.....

Spottedcat has put lots of stuff in her washer, albeit at different times, and yet it has not exploded. This is SUCH a good thing. She does not like cleaning up any more than I do, and explosions are very messy.

I managed to download Eldest for Braveheart from the NYPL and we are listening to it and of course because it is a library loan it is free. Is this not cool? So if we love it we can buy it and if we don't want to listen to it 150 thousand times, we don't have to buy it to hear it once. The Very BEST part is that you don't have to return anything , it just stops working, so NO FINES! This is great. the only person in the history of the US to give more to libraries than me is Andrew Carnegie, but mine is all in fines...

Gary posted a really cool thing about writing that came in something he got. Thank you Gary.

Julie seems to have gotten to the new house, Sandy is being packed (They sounded like they would be putting her in the box next, those movers,) Andrea is having a nice time I hope, my brother is applying for jobs - and if you wish to aquire GREAT MERIT and be released from MANY revolutions of the wheel and also get gold stars on your crown in heaven AND be known as a real mensh for doing such a Mitsvah, PRAY FOR HIM TO GET A JOB, PLEASE!!!!

It is not that he is some gormless lump who does not deserve a job and needs charity. It is that he is very very competent, and very very good looking which normally does not hurt in a career, and is terrible at interviews. And is in a dieing city and would like a job in his actual field, although Sears would probably be very happy to have him back selling more refridgerators, but we would prefer to keep him out of the locked wing, so....pray for him, please. You don't know him from Neville's toad, and God will just be so pleased with you for caring!!!! And that will also be nice.

And...My baby pointed at the swarm - the actual swarm - of fruit flies in the kitchen and said "Bufferflies!" Ah, perspective!!!!!

Your niceness next, please.

Isn't this where I came in?

2008-06-26T11:44:00Z

I am having this feeling of Deja Vu...Spottedcat, you will know what I mean.

I have flute fries in my kitchen.

I have flute fries in my washing machine. At least, I did last night. I think I drowned a bunch of them. That, or we are just between generations. (itty bitty dementors.)

Oh - and I have gained 26 pounds

On the other hand, I hit a decent discount and got us (us being the family, although I will be the one who has to actually use it for them) a scanner/printer/copier. I have had drool dripping down my chin for a scanner for at least 5 years. The printer was about 9 years old. It could not print graph paper because it did not actually print every particle it was supposed to. Enough to read, usually, but it left out whole horizontal lines of graph paper. But then, who needs graph paper, right? I feel like such a reech beech.

And, oh, did anyone know they are now selling fake toenails? So your feet look good in sandals, I suppose. Does this mean they do acrylics and tips when they do pedicures now? This is really neither here nor there, I just felt I had to tell someone. I mean - fake toenails! How could I keep that to myself?

Spottedcat, when you finally do find the blue disc we will have it copied onto a microdot which I shall paste between my reall toenail and a fake one and it will never be lost again. Well, at least not till the toenail falls off....

Today is my birthday......I'm gonna nice it to yah.......

2008-06-20T17:12:12Z

Today is my birthday, and the first thing I am going to think is nice is that in the last 48 years I have not died:

Of being born
Of that intestinal flue I had as a baby
Of the cold, that night in Brooklyn when my parents were so terrified I would that they put the mattress on the floor, piled all the blankets, coats and everything else they could think of on top of us and put me between them.
Of any of the over half dozen car accidents I have been in over the years
Of bronchitis/pnuemnoia any number of times when who knows how it would have gone without antibiotics
Of gangrene and peritonitis when my ovary died
In childbirth
Of misery.

That just takes into account things that actually had a chance. I also have not died of abuse/neglect, hunger, flue - like a bunch of my great aunts and uncle - violence, random or focussed against women -like my great-great grandmother- Tuberculosis - like great great aunt - and so many things I could not even think of them all to list them.

And if you are reading this, neither have you, and I am probably pretty happy about that. More niceness.

I have a house. I have a running car. I have a master's degree and a professional liscense, I have work experience. I live in a country where tanks are not rolling down my block and there are no minefields, where I don't have to cover myself with a blanket when I walk out the door, where I can speak my mind and the only problem is finding someone bored enoudh to listen. I have a family of origin that I love, I have two kids I did not have to resort to frozen sperm and a turkey baster to get and a husband who does not make me wish he were just a turkey baster. We have food, clothing, and health insurance. We live in an area where doctors are readily available. Also bookstores. There is enough discretionary income for the internet, for me to knit, for the box from Amazon, whatever is in it, that was delivered today and which I was warned ahead of time not to open.

I realize that I have more than most people in the world, and I am grateful for all of it. For the people I know who don't have the things they really need, or really want, I have hopes and prayers that life will improve for you, instead of working so hard at improving you instead.

And I have some amazing friends. And I thank you all. Especially the ones who had some amazing stuff posted for me at, like, 12:06 am. You guys rock.

Your niceness below.

So I survived today

2008-06-19T04:20:35Z

The first school of the morning, to which I drove with my little cherub in the backseat, is in a lovely residential area, and has a turret with norman crenellations at the top, and a view of the bay.

It is also a very nice school and I am perfectly pleased if he goes there, which they say he will,t hey have a place for him, the question is just whether it will be in one class or the other.

However, the last school that said they had a place for him recanted when they read his workup. So I went to the other school this afternoon.

And I will tactfully shut my mouth right there. I think today I found out exactly where some of my lines are drawn. It is not a bad school. However, it would probably be a bad idea for my kid.

So let us hope tomorrow morning goes as planned.

Did I get it all done, Spottedcat has kindly asked? Well, I went to the school. And I went to the second school, that I was not planning on but they called me this morning. And Braveheart went swimming, and also had a walk with Grandpa. The Elf, however, did not go swimming. He was very tuckered out and fast asleep on the couch and we decided not to tickle a sleeping dragon. But my parents stayed a little later so I could go out to the Spinning meeting, which I hardly ever get to go to, and that was good.

Tomorrow? The doctor's appointment I swapped with Dad for, among other things. And the doc thought that was a stitch. But then, our doctors tend to find us stitches. At least the ones that understand what we are saying...

Thank you all who commented on my crazy schedule this week. I would share a bottle of fire whiskey with any of you any time - well, not you, Spottedcat, but I'd give you a lovely saucer of milk while I drank. Hell, you could have a saucer of half and half if you wanted it.....And I didn't have a skinny cow, but I did have a WW ice cream sandwhich, so I did have that. It was a good idea...

I think today started on Friday

2008-06-17T04:14:54Z

when I got a call from School District lady, who chastised me for having my phone busy for three days.

Then we discovered she had been calling the wrong number.

However, she was there to tell me that my meeting with her was not Tuesday, the 16th, because, as I had noticed, Tuesday was the seventeenth, but was actually Monday the sixteenth.

"I already have an appt with the school you are sending me to look at at that time, so I will just figure they are ok."

"No, no, go to the school I will change your meeting to 12 o'clock."

So then there were several calls to DH, who had to rearrange his schedule, and calls to my parents, to rearrange their schedules, and calls to my doctor - first, I had thought I had to cancel Tuesday's appt,, then I realized since the other appt. was not on Tuesday I did not have to. I left messages both times.

At 8:30 this morning when I stumped downstairs to discuss with Braveheart's new nursing agency (His old one went out of business) why I could not be at my house at ten o'clock to deal with their nurse, I was running on some but not an amazing amount of actual sleep, and I was arguing with dh about the House Elf. I had forgotten I had not told him tha twe were not bringing him along as originally planned because we had to go from one meeting to another, so that the baby certainly could get dressed and see his speech therapist, who arrived a few moments after the nurse, who was sent over in a tearing hurry to get our signatures before we left while Grandma actually told them everything they needed to know.

So, to recap, it is about 8:45, I have my mother, my father, my two sons, my husband, and two strangers in my house. Was I still in the clothing I slept in? I can't recall.

Turns out the nurse really can't understand anything on the doctor's orders, which don't make a lot of sense no matter what I threaten the doctor with, and I had to explain that and cram some food in my mouth while DH moved the cars and then I ran out to the car and we went to the school.

The person I had to see was not there, but they copied our paperwork and showed us the classroom, which we thought was ok if not our first choice (we are wait listed for first choice...) and I had no problem with one of the kids being in a wheelchair, why should I, my other son is.

From there we go over to the place where we are meeting, I have a cup of tea, and we go into the meeting only to discover that the school has called over and we cannot have that spot because all the kids in the class either can't walk or are learning to walk and my energetic toddler might be a danger to them. So why don' we go look at this school with a program for behavioral issues.

Screeching halt. And I will spare you the details, but let me point out that in five minutes they had recanted and I was being told about another place, where I must go Tuesday, they have one spot left, and etc, etc, she can't see me today, etc. I must call in the morning.

By time I got out of there I needed a strong belt of firewhiskey, but did not get.

Went home, gave Dad his 14.99 person thing they sell on TV to help you hear when you do not have 7,000 for hearing aids, which actually works, go figure, parents left.

Played a little bit with child.

Made dinner, which actually included something green for most of us and a root vegetable for the other, ran out to shop for food. Come back at 10:45 at night, the baby is still up, DH can't help me because he moving things off Braveheart's bed as the nurse is about to arrive, and my mother calls again. And the Doctor had called - my dad and I have the same doc and we decided to switch appointments this week, this was ok with the doctor And the speech therapist called earlier in the day to cancel. And my mother must hav ecalled four times, two of them for the same piece of information which took me 15 minutes to find because everyone thinks I am the village idiot and moves my stuff to wherever they care to, why not, it is not as if I am a parent here. My husband chastises me for putting tuna fish cans in the sink. (No, that was before I left to go shopping) The nurse comes in and immediately needs a towel for tim and several shopping bags - still do not know why the shopping bags. It is 12:04 and it is no wonder I eat it is just a wonder I don't start drinking heavily.

Tomorrow I have to call this other school and see if I can go there adn get my mom to come down if I can and try to find clothign that fits (I gained 26 pounds) and and and...

I do not live in a home, folks. I run a facilityl

The Nice Report

2008-06-16T05:09:51Z

Ok, with the niceness of the past week:

The friend who needs eye surgery has the best surgeon in the country. Also, a number of us lighting candles. So this is good.

I seem to have made a new online friend who is close enough to actually meet one of these days.

I went to a new yarn store this Saturday, recc'd by said online friend. Nice store. Carries nice yarn, and lots of books.

I went to this quirky little town where the yarnstore was and got a nice hat, small teapot and a book each for my boys at the Junior League thrift shop.

The friend of the family who had cancer had a fracture in her leg, which was not nice, and when they opened her leg up to put in pins or whatever, they found another one, also not nice BUT they did all this while the fractures were splits in the bones, not snapped, so that is VERY VERY good.

Grace's shawl was finally put up for voting and I voted for it.

We heard from Bravehear't's old nurse from three years ago - we really miss her!

We have two appointments for the little one tomorrow, and should then be done till he goes to preschool in the fall. Can you believe these are full-day preschools? *sobs* my BABY! But it should be good for him.

The House Elf has been, even for him, uncommonly amusing. There was this incident with marshmallows...

The boys finally did something besides cards for me for Mother's Day.

I have a doctor's appt. on Tuesday, I think. And that should at the very least yield a new prescription. I am having something wrong with me that I really hope is my meds and can be fixed by a new little piece of paper...

The people next door got bushes planted. Not that I like them, but looking at my front lawn and realizing they can't possibly like that either, we are even, so I can be happy for them, because I presume they DO like the bushes.

All the AC's are in - my dad dropped by one day especially to help DH with one of them.

We got bids on the thing we needed to do to the house. Not only did this yield a very very good offer, it also came with a funny story...

If I owe you a drabble, I have not forgotten you, I just have not written anything this past month, at least. See note about Doctor.

Your niceness, please!!!!

Tyhe Nice report, several days late and I don't give a damn.

2008-06-10T02:18:23Z

It might be a rather crusty nice report.

Starting with last weekend - Braveheart and I were, as I warned you, having too much fun. What we were having too much fun AT is a competition for youngsters with physical challenges. there were 1200 athletes registered - 1200 kids with differences from the norm ranging from dwarfism (Which makes it a little difficult to compete with other kids in your high school at, say, Long Jump, although I never thought of it as a disability before I started going to these games. ) to missing limbs, to cerebral Palsy, to you name it.

Braveheart competed in various tossing endeavors, kicked a ball, and came in first in swimming again! He gets the gold medal every year. I got to go in the pool with him this time, which was awesome - I have not been, in any way at all, seriously involved in an athletic competition since I figured out how to register for anything but Volleyball in HS. (Helping Braveheart toss a bean bag is just not the same as a race, you know?) It was actually quite different form anythign I've ever done in my life. Braveheart was not happy with his performance, but as I pointed out to him, he did better than anyone else his age, his sex and his level of disability, so he should feel good about that, which I think in the long run he did.

Grandma hung out with us Friday - well, grandma, and the teacher, and DH, and the baby, who was a stitch and a handful and running all over everywhere constantly having to be retrieved, and sobbed as if someone had been murdered when he had to stop playing in the wading pool they had out in the middle of the field. I have no idea why it was there, but he had a good time pouring water from cups and so forth back into it.

Both Thursday night and Friday night Braveheart and I stayed over at the dorms of the University next to the field, which was fun. We got to ride the buses, which are driven by members of the Transport Workers Union who are not paid for it - they do it on their days off. The drivers and helper are always really nice, and sometimes Braveheart got to sit with other kids in chairs. At least one girl on the bus, and two in a building, made a real effort to talk to him, and he was shy! Well, duh, he never gets to speak to anyone his own age, never mind anyone used to people who have differing ways of communicating.

Out of the weekend as a whole he seemed to emerge with some sense that he can do more than he has been doing, and some willignness to pursue that, which is awesome!

On Sunday, we had the House Elf's third Birthday party. He got trucks, and clothes, and things of that ilk and was very very happy. He blew out the candles on his cake and then kept blowing - we think he might have thought continued blowing would light them back up, but we are not sure. The hit of the day was the punchball.balloon thing I got in the Party Store - was it 99 cents or 1.99? He adored it!

Monday...what was Monday...Monday and Tuesday we got to see DH while it was still light out. The Elf is talking more all the time. We h ad a relatively quiet week with slightly less running around than usual - not that we run around all that much - and then we had this Saturday.

The car broke down, but it was within walking distance of home, and I was able to coax it to the repair shop at ten miles an hour. And it is repairable. Not that the sum belongs in a nice report, but...

I got the interlining I needed for a project.

Enough people volunteered to send stuff to people who were stiffed by their swap partners in HSS3 that the sock mom said she would do HSS4.

I found out one of the swappers in the HSKS5 actually lives a few towns over and visits a senior citizen in my neighborhood once a week to visit for an hour. Is this not cool?!

I got the yellow yarn I needed at the yarn store and my mom got me the black yarn today - I will see it when they come Wednesday. Is this not cool?

And I have finally managed to post this. I have not been feeling all that well, folks, but I managed. That is good news.

Most of you already posted niceness, and I thank you, but if any of you super-slacker did not *coughAMandacough* feel free to do so below...

Not quite ready for the nice report yet.

2008-06-06T12:39:45Z

You'll get it later today. There is always niceness somewhere. But I have to say this has been a hell of a week for me and I would really appreciate if the slackers who NEVER post any niceness would find something somewhere to report. It does not have to be your own niceness, ok? There has got to be some celebrity back in Rehab, some guy off the DL, a sale on toothpicks, something.

I will be back later. Prepare yourselves!

Thingie stolen word for word from myownmuggle

2008-06-05T03:56:53Z

" I will write a drabble (100 words exactly) for the first ten people to comment and ask for one. In return, you must post this in your journal. You may request the character and/or pairing - though I can't promise I will write them in a relationship - for the following fandoms:

Seeing as I'm only writing in the Potterverse, you're stuck with that. Please include a short prompt with your request. And then spread the madness."

I do not promise exactly 100 words. You may get, say, 97. On the other hand, if I love your idea, you may end up with a one-shot. Life is like that. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice, and then half the time you don't get it anyway.

The Nice Report - several days late but certainly not in any way short....

2008-06-02T04:41:31Z

It has not been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon, my little hometown on the edge of the ...well, it IS technically NYC so the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street might count as a prairie...anyway...

Last week...I am not sure what we did on Saturday, and I am not sure why, either. It did not involve yarn, that I recall. Ah, well, Sunday, Sunday was quite, quite memorable.

DH has a friend who was his best man at our wedding. DH was this guy's best man as well. Then we had Braveheart and they had two kids and it became difficult to keep in touch, but thanks to the miracles of Modern Technology we reconnected maybe a year ago, and Sunday was the party for their son's Bar Mitzvah, which had been held on Saturday. (We did not attend. We had no one to leave the House Elf with, and bringing him along and letting him be his own charming, entirely uninhibited self during a religious observance did not seem like a good idea...)

As I walked in (late, we are never on time anywhere) the father (our Best man - see complicated explanation above) was making his speech, and his voice was breaking. "My son," he said, "is a man who does what he says he is going to do."

The boy has selective mutism among other things, and cannot necessarily speak to most people. However, with lots of support and I assume practice and reassurance and so forth, he was able to make his speech at the Bar Mitzvah. They had him do the afternoon service, which was shorter and had fewer people, which sounded to me like a good idea, and if he had not been able to make the speech, well, then he wouldn't have made the speech. They were not going to be mad at him. But he did it and it was great that he did.

It also happened to be a great party. Best Man's wife is good at this sort of thing - and also at making friends. In a life which has been even more beleagered than ours, they have managed to make new friends close enough to invite to this event. Although I went to only one Bar Mitzvah in my life, that was always an odd fact - in High School virtually all my friends were Jewish, and this party was, in a way, like a little trip back in time for me. Any one of the kids I was closest to in school could have walked in the door and been immediately at home. And come to think of it, since I married him after all my other friends were already paired off, it is maybe the second time I've been at something like that with DH. My baby child was charmingly uninhibited and people liked him, and people were decent to Braveheart too. Win Win sort of deal. I even got to dance with DH once.

During the week I go to email back and forth with Slian, which was so cool - I have not done that in the longest time and I really miss it.

Everything all week was building up to the Games this past weekend - an olympics like event run for children with physical challenges. Some of them are also mentally challenged, but that is not how they qualify for this. Braveheart has a normal or above-average IQ (It is very difficult to measure, given his disabilities) but fairly extensive physical issues, so he gets to compete in this, and I must say they do a very nice job with these games. Thursday is Registration and informal fun things - "bowling" with the ramps and soft bowling balls, "Bowling" with a huge ball that hangs from a rope, swings that take wheelchairs, a climbing wall for those who can at least use their arms well enough, and little basketball things set up by the Lotto people, who volunteer and give out sacks of Lotto Freebies as well. This year, for some reason, they gave me one, too.

The opening ceremonies were inside this year, so I actually heard the speeches, which were fine, and saw the kids from St. Joseph's school for the deaf signing in performance to some song from High School Musical and saw the torch enter.

Friday had actual competitions in track and field and swimming, and ping pong and wheelchair basketball etc, all the fun games from Thursday except the Lotto people, face painters, half a dozen different bean bag tosses of various kinds, horseshoe tossing and all that sort of stuff. There were millions of HS kids volunteering to help with the scoring and the running of the events. There was a woman dressed as a clown going around giving out stickers, there was free food for the athletes, there was even a van of the kind I want to get, but I did not get a chance to show DH.

And, of course, there are the kids. You might think 1200 kids with disabilities in one field area would be somehow sad or depressing, but, in fact, it is very uplifting,because the kdis are having the time of their lives. Whole schools come - some of which stay over in the dorms of a nearby college. A team comes from Ireland every year. Massachussetts sends some. I once saw a team from Thailand. There are buses between the dorms and the fields, staffed by transport workers union members who are donating their labor to drive - they do it on their day off. All the kids get a t-shirt they have to wear to compete, and depending on the funding other stuff as well - this year a windsuit and a hat, a little green plastic bracelet with the name of the games, and a game pin. They get a little bag to wear around their necks with stickers for each event they have preregistered for inside. There are things of various sorts donated, and each kid gets to do down a set of tables and take from them things that kid wants - usually stuff like stuffed animals, amazingly outdated baseball cards, pens, schedules, cups, etc from various sports organizations/corporations, little toys, etc.

The kids are in all different wheelchairs, walkers, and stages of walking. Some manage just fine on prosthesises, some have crutches, some are hooked up to feeding or other devices while competing - and I swear to you, they are all loving it. You can see it in their faces. And when you are around that many happy people, you get happy yourself. How can you not?

Braveheart loves it, and every year he competes in distance kicking, club tossing, soft discuss, and precision bean bag throw;some years, like this one, he also does soft shot (throwing bean bags for distance) but his main event is swimming, which he does in a life preserver and with an assistant there in the water with him. This year I got to be the assistant, which was amazing. He got participation ribbons in everything else, but a gold medal in the swimming!

After that, we went out to the Friendly's nearby, which we also do every year, and had a celebration dinner. Braveheart is always exhausted by then and sleeps through half of it but wakes up before we are done and enjoys his dessert.

This year, as last year, we spent some time over at the dorms, too, and between that, and Grandma not being around Saturday Morning, I got to spend some time alone with him, which I really miss, and have some really good conversations with him, which I think he liked. We all went to the dance Saturday night and got to see the video they make from shots taken at the games, too. And then we went home, which was good because....

Today we finally had the House Elf's birthday party! It was two weeks late because this is when we could get the grandparents here, but hey, he is three and has no idea what or when his birthday is anyway! He got some nice presents - clothes, a dump truck, a toy lawn mower that makes bubbles, a conductor's hat, whistle and neckerchief, a little punchball, a terrific tunnel to crawl around in, and he loved every minute of the party, including the cake, which he blew out right away, the ice cream, the gifts, the attention.... a good time was had by all.

Moreover, we got a call last week telling us that VELMA is returning - Velma, the nurse I trust, so I can really sleep, the nurse I trust who comes every single one of the five days of the week I am supposed to get nursing, Velma who adores and is adored by Braveheart - it goes on and on. Glory, Glory Hallelujah!

Was this not enough personal goodness for one week? I sort of thought so. AND

I got a great purse at the thrift store for 1.50 and a terrific, hand thrown and glazed stoneware mug for 79 cents...

Laura got a lucky break on her test question

Oh! I got made over at the Lancome event and now own three little containers of beauty potion which are worth more than some cars I have owned...

My Mom's book club turn went well - the ladies liked the book she had picked and the food she cooked for them...

Squee - I got the leftovers!

Two people have come to bid on something we really need done to the house (just getting people in to bid can be an accomplishment)

I have been busy and scatterbrained and therefore have probably missed all the good stuff about my friends that I should be posting here...so you all have to be especially dilligent about commenting this week!

Your niceness below...

The nice report will be late

2008-05-29T15:55:20Z

Braveheart and I will be too busy to post the nice report till late Sat or Sunday. Have fun!

The nice report - THIS WEEK IN NICENESS

2008-05-23T15:10:32Z

Well, let us see what I can scrape up for this week...

I went to a sale at Smiley's last Saturday. It is amazing that in a life where I was never where anyone else was, all of a sudden in my 40's I am averaging better. Three midnight releases of HP books - definately where everyone else was. The Smiley's sale last Saturday? Absolutely where everyone else was! I think it took me over an hour to get in the door - the line was around the corner of the block - and another hour to check out, although a lot of what I wanted was gone by time I got there. They were re-stocking every day this week, but I never got to go. However, I did get the one skein of sock yarn I could not live without, a few others, purple yarn for a sweater (Because having wool yarn for over 20 sweaters already, and probably needing over 6 months to knit one, and having a bunch of non-wool yarn to use for sweaters too, I was obviously in imminent danger of running out, right? And can't let THAT happen... :-) )and a few other odds and ends, including Alpaca for a swap I am in. i met nice people too. You always meet nice people there!

I participated in a few chats for the HSKS5 this week. Those people have energy! The person who has to make a kit for me won a prize for best kit last time, and is a prefect. She does not seem the least bit burnt out, either, so this will be a fun box to open. I am having fun trying to decide exactly what to send my spoilee, too. I already have a bandanna in her house colors and a lingerie bag to put her hand-knti socks in.

I finally got my box from the last swap, and that was fun - very very nice socks and rosewood needles, among other things. I also got my Reducio sock - a little two inch long Gryffindor sock with a tiny matching hat. I am going to have to get a little tiny Christmass tree to display this stuff all on.

We had trip to St. Mungo's on Monday and a follow up to Healer Squarely yesterday, and it turns out that everything is ok and will probably continue to be so. That is always what you want to hear at these moments. I played Miss Reech Beech and used the Valet Parking at the hospital because it was raining, there was construction, and I did not want to have to push Braveheart four blocks in the pouring rain while dodging construction and traffic. The parking guys survived parking my not-very-new Minivan, and I discretely did not check the box of snacks I had in the back seat to see if they had tipped themselves with a 100 calorie pack of oreos. Somethings one is better off not knowing.

DH managed by dint of Fax and Phone call to stave off several near-disasters this week - one, the cancelling of the House Elf's Services between now and September, and the other, Braveheart having no way to stay at the dorm for the games for the Disabled and also, much worse, no volunteer to assist him during his swimming.

House Elf is talking more and more - YEAH!!!!

A friend of Betsy's has a sock book out - YEAH!

Andrea is getting PAID for WRITING! Double Triple Super YEAH!!!

Braveheart is beginning to show a little attitude - that's good in a teenager, right?

I think I found the perfect pattern for the really super-nice sock yarn my mommy got me as a prezzie when she was on a cruise in the Florida Keys with her buddies.

And...my online friends were all fantastic about praying for Braveheart on Monday and throughout the week. Thanks again, all of you.

Your niceness below, please...

It is FRIDAY and I must give the NICE REPORT

2008-05-16T15:15:25Z

i have not exploded into a ball of cheddar cheese this week. At times it did seem possible... :-)

Last Thursday they told my Brother he could process for Graduation. It took them until then to decide that he would be done with his project by August.

I left him a funny message asking about it and he seems to have actually laughed at it!

I got the most awesome hat for the graduation, and I wore it at graduation, and I think I was the only one there with a hat and I am all happy with myself about it!!!!

At the Graduation I got to sit right in front of a really nice woman and her really nice step kids. We chatted.

When my mother said to me "You will take that hat off before the ceremony starts so people can see, won't you?" and I replied "Mom, I am 47, I know enough to take the hat off" the guy sitting next to his mom, who was sitting next to me, smiled and his mom laughed - they have similar exchanges, I suppose.

Even thought we did not get started until about nine oclock on Friday night, after replacing the missing Savings Account book which thankfully no one else had found and used to take all the money out of the account, we managed to pretty much drive all night with only a few naps at Thruway rest stops and got to Buffalo in plenty of time to still eat the continental breakfast that came free with the room we had paid for but did not actually get to sleep in that night, and they had waffles.

Braveheart and the House Elf shared a big queen sized bed and the House Elf did not fall out or cause too much trouble running around the room.

There turned out to be enough graduation tickets for everyone. And then we turned out to sort of not need them.

The crazy girls were great with the Elf.

When the Elf broke free and started a mad dash for the kiddie play park in the distance, and Grandpa threw himself in front of the oncoming car to try to prevent baby's getting smooshed forever, no one actually got hit by the car.

DH took the Elf and hung out with him for the three hours Braveheart and I were at the celebration dinner.

I got to speak to DB's BIL #1, which is always a hoot. I had not seen him in maybe ten years. I make a point of speaking to him because we have been seated by him and DB's SIL #1 at parties because DH and I can talk to them and apparantly the rest of that family can't. I have no idea why. We never have any trouble getting them to talk. HE was in a terrible car accident two years ago and was grievously wounded, so we were able to talk PT, OT, and how funny it was when he got down on the floor to pick something up, and couldn't get up and had to wait until his kids came home from school and picked him up. He was telling me that it's funny because you're used to taking care of them, and then there they are taking care of you. I did not voice the thought "I have never ehard you accused of taking care of your children - never once!" but I did enjoy hearing it in my head! And I felt rather virtuous.

And they had the BEST cake for desert.

And DH agreed to stay another day, so we were able to go over to DB's for Brunch with my Mom and that is the first time she has spent Mother's day with my brother in 20 years, and we all got to be there at one point.

I got to shop at an awesome Joann's that had all this stuff the ones here don't have, although not the stuff I had hoped for, and a Tuesday Morning, and a Big lots which both had yarn although not anything I wanted and why on earth does BUFFALO have better shopping than Long Island??? Is it just becuase I do not shop at Saks?

We had a lovely uneventful drive home and the House Elf, despite being awake most of the time, only screamed for about an hour and a half of the nine or ten hours it took us. (We stopped a few times.)

The Elf had another eval on Tuesday and did much better.

We have had nursing four nights this week, and may or may not have tonight - no one has told me.

This is sort of sad/nice - Andrea's poor cat is finally out of her misery. And I am pretty sure this is how Andrea sees it.

Lian is almost graduated!

Gary is graduated - ok, that was a while ago, but I did not mention it!

Grace designed a terrific shawl for a contest and we all got to see it! Click on my links over there - Loving Comfort Knits - if you want to see it.

I seem to have two nice partners for the HSKS5

When I went to the store last night without my credit card and the nice check out lady put my stuff to the side and let me go home to get said credit card, when I got back they sort of MADE me jump the line and check out.

I finally got some more Yorkshire tea.

I actually cooked real dinners several times this week.

Your niceness below, please. Oh, and my aplogies to Spottedcat - there are pictures of me in the hat, but they are in everyone else's camera, so I can't post them!

Might as well...

2008-05-15T15:38:40Z

1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite userpic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ

Note* for my knitting friends... friending is something that you can do when you both have blogs on LJ, and implies far more intimacy than a Ravelry Friending. Consider yourselves friended.

And the Nice Prize goes to...

2008-05-08T19:50:29Z

Ok - there have been a few nice things this week -

I got my Thalium stress test and no one has called to tell me my heart is broken, so that is good.

I cut Braveheart's hair and it came out nice, so that is also good.

I bought a hat in like, 15 mintues, which is way good for reasons you will read in a few lines...

Grace is finally feeling better - WTG, Grace!

We may manage to get a few of us Elanimals together in June right around (Coincidentally) my birthday.

We have had a nurse three days this week and are supposed to have one tonight too.

My mother likes the Rivendell socks so as soon as I can figure out whether the rest of the site has to be secure if the payment is going through PayPal I can get the pattern as a download.

Braveheart has learned an important thing about human nature and his communication device. He asked for something by pressing it's button on the device twice. Third time, he pressed "grandma" first, and then what he wanted. If it's everyone's responsibility, no one takes care of it. All must be personalized. I hope he remembers that...

And - drumroll here, big drumroll - my brother is getting his second Master's degree, and we get to go to the ceremony on Saturday.

50 years ago my parents had a plan and one HS diploma between the two of them. The plan was to get an education. The plan, actually, was to get an education for all of us, even those of us who had yet to be born, and this plan was executed in the face of significant obstacles, not the least being the relatives who mocked them and told my father he was a bum and should get a job instead of going to school. There are five of us in my family of origin, and Saturday's degree brings the total number of Graduate Degrees to eight.

You cannot imagine how I feel about this.

Graduation, in my family, is hardly less sacramental than marriage. And every graduation is celebrated not only as itself, but recalls and celebrates every other graduation, not only in our family, but of every person for whom a degree was not a walk-through on a carpet of money. A degree implies that you have stuck with it, that you have cleared hurdles, that you have persevered in the face of adversity. With a degree, you can say to yourself, "I set out to do this, I did it, and I should therefore be able to do the next thing, too."

Do not get me wrong - there are many, many people out there who have not got a piece of sheepskin, but are tremendous successes at what they do, are more informed about the world than I am, are better able to navigate our crazy society. A degree does not promise that you will succeed at anything, and not having a degree certainly does not promise that you won't. But wanting a degree, going after it, hunting it down, bagging it, and bringing it home to hang over the fireplace if you so desire - well, that is one of the ways you can get to where you want to be by applying your own efforts and sacrifices to a goal, and it is probably the way my family understands best.

I get all teary at graduations. I have trouble driving to them - the first time this brother stood up in a cap and gown I drove over the George Washington Bridge on the way from - well, New Jersey, to, still, New Jersey. I'd lived 13 miles from that bridge a good part of my life and certainly knew the roads - I was just that crazed with joy. For the next brother I took the train. But for both brothers, an for my father, and even for myself, I had Marvelous Hats. (I graduated with a degree in Medieval studies wearing a Henin)

The hat for this one is off-white, transparent, and almost 2 feet across the brim.

Your happinesses below.

My Patronus

2008-05-07T14:52:34Z

I can hear Weird Al Yankovic warming up every time I say that...

What Form Would Your Patronus Take? (With 10 Excellent Results & Pictures)

Your Patronus would be an Eagle!
Take this quiz!

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Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

They are also scavengers, but we don't have to say that too loudly.

So I think Celie gets an eagle. Poor Elizabeth - Muggle - gets none.

I owe you guys a Nice Report!

2008-05-04T03:01:33Z

This past week...

I got to spend more time with my parents, cause they came on Wednesday and stayed over to Thursday, so we could bring the House Elf in for an evaluation.

The Elf only escaped about four times in teh building where he was evaluated, and we caught him pretty easily every time.

And one of the staff brought him back when he escaped at Gym/Swim and ran all the way from the Gym to the lobby

And my husband got him when he ran down the driveway and started beating it towards the corner on the sidewalk

Are we seeing a pattern here? The House Elf has an independant side.

Well, the neighbors had their fence put up this week, which means the fourth side of our yard is now enclosed. Except for the driveway, there is building or fence between every bit of the yard and the outside world. So we are looking into gates for the driveway. I want this gate so badly that I am willing to pay to have it installed, and this from a person who generally feels "Why should I pay the doctor? I can operate on my own brain. They keep you awake anyway, I may as well be doing something. " So the neighbor's fence is a really really good thing!

I finished my Wee Tiny Sock and mailed it off, and I found out today my upstream has mailed to me.

Spottedcat got some icky, kelp-like stuff out of the washer. I was only kidding when I said it was the bat, Spottedcat! I think it was probably Dementor remains. Getting rid of the last of it should definately improve your mood! I also very generously told her how to keep stray cats from peeing in her washer. Not that they were, but you never know, with stray cats. Ah, you are all so lucky to have me!

Laura found a terrific essay to help her with her exam prep!

One of Andrea's kids won an award at school!

VV's Moving for a really great reason!

Slian has posted wedding details!

Gina's baby rolled over!!!!

Grace's Master Blocker had a birthday! I didn't post it on your blog, Grace, but I hope Tommo had a TERRIFIC day!

I may get into Gryffindor for the Sock Kit Swap after all. I had to list two choices - I picked Gryffindor, Natch, and Slytherin - no offense, but they were already predicting that Ravenclaw would fill first, and I can't deal with bumblee colors. So the only house open when my application went in? You guessed it! But if they get 20 Hufflepuffs they will reopen Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw, and they are up to 16 already so there is hope!

I finished one sock for Braveheart today. It is from the lovely green superwash Alpaca Audrey sent me, and he seems to like it but is reserving excitement for when he gets a full pair. I have to cast on for the other tonight.

Braveheart has been working on using the alphabet on his communication device.

The House Elf has been learning the alphabet from a video.

We are listening to Eragon on CD.

I've been reading some good drabbles in LOGE

Your niceness NOW! Don't make me come after you...

Writing meme stolded from Sandy

2008-05-02T01:44:44Z

What's the last thing you wrote?
Out, actually? My last post. In my head? Moody has jsut caught Snape upchucking in his garden.

Was it any good?
Well, I think the post was good, but it did not get much response, so maybe I am wrong. And I like the plot twist, but I may not be the best judge.

What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
This may depend somewhat on what my parents pitched when they got the dumpster and cleaned out the basement. I am pretty sure I have the first part of the novel I was writing in seventh grade, though.

Write poetry?
I have. Some even recently. Not much in the past 20 years though.

Angsty poetry?
If you worite a poem about going insane and getting locked up and in the poem you actually prefer it that way, is that angsty?

Most fun character you ever wrote?
For me or my readers? And either way I have no idea. Oh - maybe the kept man from the third NaNo novel.

Most annoying character you ever wrote?
To write, or as a result? Possibly the woman from my second NaNo.

Best plot you ever wrote?
We have yet to ascertain if I have ever written ANY plot. So maybe that novel from seventh grade, in which, at least, things did happen.

Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
When I had the wives of the guys who ran the Boston Tea Party get miffed their husbands were partying without them and had them invite the British officers to a coffee party, thereby making the BTP all that much easier? I was in fourth grade.

How often do you get writer's block?
I don't get this. Sometimes I just can't write, or shower, or do anything...

How do you fix it?
I have no idea. Sometimes it resolves itself. I hadn't written for I have no idea when I did my first NaNo, so maybe that.

Do you type or write by hand?
At this point mostly type.

Do you save everything you write.
Pretty much, yes.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Depends on what you consider long, and what you consider abandoned.

What's your favorite thing that you've written?
Maybe Staring at the Wall.

What's everyone else's favorite thing that you've written?
Well, very few people read anything I write. I am really not sure. There are two kids out there somewhere who like Muggle Matters so far...

Do you ever show people your work?
Well, yeah, whoever wants to read it on MNFF, mostly. And I wrote a book for my son, which I read to him.

Who's your favorite constructive critic?
Probably Andrea. She has no problem telling me what she doesn't think works. However, I pretty much adore anyone who will read any of it.

Did you ever write a novel?
Yes, my first Nano. The next two were 50,000 words but not done yet.

Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
Eh, depends what you consider HP fanfic, I guess, if I've written fantasy. No sci-fi, no horror, although I do have a really horrible world I can use...

Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
Yes. I have a lot more of Muggle Matters and Muggling along than is up yet.

What's one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Political Analysis? Sex therapy? A popular guide to Nuclear Fission? I will probably never wirte a graphic novel.

How many writing projects are you working on right now?
One, with a prequel and sequel, mostly.

Do you want to write for a living?
I woiuld like people to read what I write. I wouldn't mind getting paid for it.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
Leter to the editor got published once.

Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Not outside our challenges.

Ever written something in script or play format?
Yes, back in fourth grade.

What is your favorite word?
Feahsceaftig. You can't use it too often, though.

Do you ever write based on yourself?
All the time.

Which is possibly why I do not have a wider readership.

Which of your characters most resembles you?
Mother in my first NaNovel.

Where do you get ideas for your characters?
I cast people or characters I know and then they evolve.

Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I have tried once, but most of my dreams are fellini-esque and would not make good narrative.

Do you prefer happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
I prefer happy endings, but they should make sense. RL has enough misery for anyone.

Have you ever written anything based on an artwork you've seen?
No

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Somewhat

Ever write something entirely in chatspeak?
Nope. Not possible. I'm working on parseltongue, though, as that seems to me more accessible.

Does music help you write?
What helps me write is being left the hell alone, which is hard to come by.

Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
I was an English teacher, so basic competence is expected. Very few people can be arsed to read what I write, so how would they find out if I do write well, though???

I am just so PLEASED

2008-04-27T16:57:12Z

One of the odd things I noticed, starting in my late 20's, was that it was kind of interesting how many of my friends ended up doing for a living what they really wanted to do.

Not all of these things were such longshots. I mean, you get into Medical School and it is pretty predictable you will end up as a doctor. However, the guy who really loved computers but took a degree in Management? He works in computers. The Lawyer who got into Yale law and spent a year there? She went back to Madison and is a lawyer for the oppressed and downtrodden, exactly what she would have preffered in tenth grade. HS Boyfriend who wanted to be a Paramedic? EMS, and does courses on how to extract people from woodland things gone wrong. College Boyfriend who wanted to coast by on his personality and intelligence? Currently teaching the sort of subject, in the sort of school, where, you guessed it, he can more or less coast by on his personality and intelligence. Most of these people had stints doing other things along the way, but this is where they have ended up - not terribly far from their youthful dreams.

Today I was scanning the catalog over at Wowio.com and saw a familiar name - Kurt. He was in college with me at SU. I worked the food line in the dining hall and he and his friend Scott would come through. They were from Lexington, Mass, and had a little shtick they did in unison about birthplace of liberty etc. It was sort of Fred and George, except that these two guys look nothing like each other and do not ride brooms. (Well, at least not as far as I know.) Physically, think more Kurt as a young Remus and Scott as a young Sirius, except that Scott was pretty much always smiling and Kurt smiled sometimes too. (Oh, and I have no reason at all to believe he's a werewolf)

Kurt and Scott wanted to write Comic Books. Right. This was not an economic easy time. When, as a sophomore, I volunteered at graduation the Engineers and the nursing students were taunting each other in unison. One group was chanting "We've got jobs! We've got jobs!" the other returned "So do we! So do we!' The first group responded "Burger King doesn't count! Burger King doesn't count!" In fact, however, the Engineers and the Nurses were just about the only people with jobs in their fields. Who in their right mind planned a career in such an esoteric field asa comic books?

And yet, throughout four years, the two of them continued to plan on writing comics, and worked on projects together. They were not close friends of mine - more the sort of people you like and keep thinking it would be nice to know better and even have friends in common with, but you just never do. I ran into them socially here and there. Once - only once - after graduation I went and hung out with them in their New Jersey Apt. Kurt had an X-Men credit by then, and I was already happy for him.

Over the years I have occasionally mentioned their names to people who seem to know about comics without getting much response. So imagine my delight when I read Kurt's name as author of something on Wowio. I googled him and...

Dudes, he has a WIKIPEDIA entry! So does Scott! They did it! they freaking DID it! I have no idea what kind of a living they make, or whether they have sideline jobs or anything, but clearly, in their field, they ROCK!

You cannot imagine my pleasure. We are in our late forties. We are supposed to be living lives of quiet desperation, falling face forward fighting on the deck, having midlife crisis after midlife crisis and chucking the high paying souless careers to follow our passions, and yet, here are two people I know who managed it all along. And while most of my friends aren't in Wikipedia, in the real sense of doing what they want to do Kurt and Scott are not alone.

Go for it, Flist. I dare ya!

The NICE report!!!!!!!!

2008-04-26T00:28:10Z

So let's start off with...

Something special for Ritta!!! There is a documentary I heard about on NPR that is out or coming out and it is entitled East LA Marine. (OK, I am pretty sure it was East. Might have been west, but google East first. I know nothing about LA) The main character is a Mexican American guy from WWII who got about 1500 Japanese to surrender, 800 in one day. He had learned Japanese from Japanese American friends. There was actually a Hollywood movie made about this, but it stared some six foot tall Anglo and apparantly totally ignored this guy's Mexican American Heritage. This documentary is by a guy who got to know the man, and who would like to see him recieve the Medal of Honor. I practically cried just listening to the report.

Braveheart is 16!!!!!!!!! Party was nice, we made wands, we played Quidditch, MIL was good, lovely time had by all, I think, and there was cheesecake - really, really good cheesecake. My mother made it. What more could one ask?

I got a fantastic package from Patternworks - a four part yarn holder that hangs from your wrist if you want it to so you can do stranded knitting while you walk around, tiny knitting needles, tubes to put Double Points in, Terrific sock yarn...Thank you, you know who you are!

Something was bothering me and I more or less got past it.

I got to im with Erica a bunch of times this week.

I finally mailed this swap box - not quite a week late, but the gal was out of town and should have it by now anyway...

My pal didn't fall off the face of the earth, she was sick, and was mailing my package today. So I have something to look forward to.

I designed a sock almost by accident.

The doctor didn't find anything MORE ominous when he did the Stress test on Tuesday - just the same old thing.

The fake nails I glued on on Sunday have been behaving relatively well.

Hindy got the book I sent her.

There is a new box of Lee Pops in teh car. I don't know exactly why, but my House Elf calls Tootsie pops "Lee Pops." We are members of the Lee Pop Nation, DH says. A new box means I will not be driven to eating the Watermelon ones, all of which should be reserved for Dolores Umbrage.

A number of fics I like updated this week.

I have recently read evidence indicating that occasionally when I give my opinion not only does someone listen, but might even AGREE With me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is more than one can reasonably ask...and I got it!!!

I only had one really effective night of nursing this week, but DH was home a lot so I got some sleep anyway.

We have had First PeePee in the potty day on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I enterred the Beedle the Bard contest, which is probably just a case of being one in several million, but I TRYED! YEah to the beginning of getting stuff rejected!

Your niceness below, please...

And I have finally realized...

2008-04-21T22:27:43Z

I have finally realized I need some equipment to be organized. Not the ten or twenty thousand dollar's worth of stuff they lavish on a studio apartment on those home organizing shows, but a few basic things I think most of the world discovered a long time ago.

Like little trash cans. I need one in the office and one in each bathroom. Yes, I realize it is me and people who are totally beyond social redemption who have no trash container in a bathroom. I know this. Somehow, however, all my efforts at this come to naught.

And I need another thing to keep the freezer shut, and one for the fridge. Because one day that baby is going to take the ice cube tray out one too many times and I am going to get on a boat to Brazil and worry about not having a passport when I get there.

And a full length mirror. If I had one of these 14 years ago, I might never have ended up weighing half as much as a Taxicab.

I think I am going to start with this, and then see what I need next. Maybe a dresser. I am getting tired of my clothes being neatly stacked in the pack-n-play.

Nap now. No nurse tonight.

A Meme

2008-04-19T12:53:34Z

. The last time I lost my temper I _____!
2. _____ is what I'm fed up with!
3. The next book I'd like to read is _____.
4. _____ is what I'm looking forward to.
5. If you can't get rid of the skeleton[s] in your closet, _____!
6. The best thing I got in the mail recently was _____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

The last time I lost my temper I apologized.

I'm fed up with so many things you don' thave time for a list.

The next book I'd like to read is the first book published by any one of my friends. But till then it is the next thing any of them are working on. I might, however, bother to read How Starbucks Saved My Life.

I'm looking forward to Braveheart's Birthday, and getting my Patternworks package in the mail. And in the long run, my 20th Anniversary.

If you can't get rid of the Skeletons in your closet, arrange them nicely on chairs in the living room - they are taking up too much valuable storage space in there.

The best thing I got in the mail recently was my Knit-Picks package with new knitting needles!

Today I want to order DH his birthday present, and tomorrow I am looking forward to playing Quidditch, and that's the weekend. Unless Spottedcat posts pictures of her sewing. I'd really like to see that!!!!

The Nice Report

2008-04-18T14:50:22Z

Ok, let me see if I can remember what nice things happened this week...

I got my Knit-Picks order! From what I have read this is always a crap shoot and sometimes takes long enough for one to have walked to the warehouse and back but I got this quite promptly and is PLEEESed because one thing in thee is supposed to go out to my sock swap partner today.

Someone I never heard of found me on Ravelry by my user name and friended me! Turns out we are in the same national fraternity. (Yes, fraternity. In Apha Phi Omega the women are full and equal brothers.) Well, it is always nice to have some indidual take a look at your posts and say "This one bears watching" in a nice way.

A friend of mine got engaged... CONGRATULATIONS SLIAN!

Braveheart is doing very well with his new communication device and tells me more different things now. He says it is helpful.

The House Elf is talking in little sentences all the time now. He is also talking more about his brother!

I am on the toes of the socks that have to be done today!

I managed, with the help of God and no Marines at all which merely shows what the help of God is capable of cause I would previously have needed at least one Marine and possibly a small group, to take BOTH children out in public, in fact, to the DOCTOR's OFFICE by myself. And it turned out that the spots on the House Elf were nothing ominous, either. So, for those who remember the old Doublemint Gum commercials, "Two, Two, Two goods in one!"

Also on the doctor front, it turns out that I seem to have been right that I was not having a heart attack Saturday night although at the time I was only 99% sure of this. (I have a thalium stress test on Tuesday just to be totally certain.) AND my insurance paid for most of the finding out .

I got to spend two whole days doing something I liked, without worrying about my kids. There was a Spinning Workshop over the weekend, so from 9 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday I got to card wool into different color combinations. I realize this probably sounds like a total snore to most of you, but for me it was an incredible amount of fun. Optical blending - ooooooo! DH watched the boys both days.

Braveheart Turns 16 on Sunday! Words cannot express....

I found the letter DH said he mailed three weeks ago and put a stamp on it. The inteneded recipient may actually get it sometime this century...

i have found not one, but two uses for the incredibly ugly color blue yarn I should have known better than to order but which was not worth returning because the postage would have cost more than the yarn.

I was able to get some helpful information from one friend, for another friend.

The guys came on Monday and cut down our tree. It was done in 45 mintues and at a reasonable cost.

I've been reading some good fanfics this week.

Add your happiness below!

Happy Birthday, Lacey!

2008-04-15T22:24:42Z

Happy Birthday, Lacey!!!!