Thursday, February 26, 2009

best. news. ever.

Someone bought our house.

I'm scared to get too excited because the house still needs to pass inspection, but oh, it is hard not to get excited. I have been praying for this for so long. A better life for my children. Closer to family, friends, and everything. We have been through so much, and this feels like we are finally catching a break.

Thank you, God, for this blessing! Now please, please don't let it fall through...

Friday, February 20, 2009

winter doldrums

Hello, all. Still here. Cold. Bored. Listless.

Winter sucks. Especially with wee children. They take cabin fever to a whole new level.

There has been a bit of knitting.







Exciting, no? No, not really. These are for sale over on Etsy.

There's a sock in progress that I pick up and put down, knitting one or two rounds at a time. I'm still sort-of working on the big, boring off-white raglan I started a couple months back. Finished Daughter's stripey socks, finally, that were started before AJ made it home from the hospital (must remember to get photo...she put them on right after the ends were woven in, and wore them for two days straight). And I've knit about 1/3 of the back of a Trellis sweater for a baby girl due in May. I remember making one for Daughter - picked out the yarn at a local shop when she was just weeks old, riding in the Bjorn carrier. Can it be that was 3.5 years ago? Holy cow.

Anyway. Longing for more sunshine, warm breezes, longer days, and time outside. Can't wait to head to the playground and turn Daughter loose while AJ and I chill on a blanket. Soooooooo sick of winter.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

stuff 'n stuff

Ugh, people. I am so busy, and yet I feel like I am doing nothing. February, oh February, with your long dark days and freezing temps...how you torture me.

Although, with a relatively new baby and an almost 4 year old, it is going by more quickly than usual. And the past few days have seen unseasonable "warmth" - temps in the 40s and even low 50s. All the snow pack that's been hanging around through a very, very bone-chilling January has melted off. Bad for those who dwell near creeks (ice jams=flooding, big time), great for those of us who just want to walk outside wearing fewer than 4 layers of clothing and outerwear.

Today, we took a walk.

We played in the dirty snow piles.


We thought about collecting these pinecones, till it was discovered that they are mushy and soft after months buried under snow.


We splashed around in puddles in giraffe boots.


And we pondered frightening lawn decor. Seriously, in the front yard? What the hell IS this thing? Ugh. Scary.

Well, winter will be back in full force by the weekend, so we enjoyed this jaunt around the block. Despite the 51 degree temperature reading on the stroller (it has time/temp), it felt very cold and damp. AJ zonked out in his heavy sweater and blanket cocoon, so we headed back to the house for cocoa and a fire in the fireplace. It certainly isn't Spring yet, but it was a nice reprieve!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

blue screen of doom

My computer crashed.

It was the evil blue screen of doom...the one that informs you Windows will not start up because if it does surely a nuclear bomb will go off, or some equally horrifying thing. It wouldn't even restart in safe mode. I'm telling you, it was d.e.a.d.

Luckily I am married to a computer genius. His brain can do anything when it comes to a computer. Through the magic of Linux he was able to salvage my stuff, including, oh, just every single photograph ever taken of our children. We have discussed backing those photos up for the past 4 years, and now it's been done. Yikes. We'll be doing that more frequently in the future.

He was also able to rescue all my "important files," which in my world are my blog photos, patterns and pictures, scans of patterns, etc. And my budget spreadsheet. Don't know where I'd be without that.

So it looks like I'll still have most of my stuff, though I'll have to rebuild my blog list and go hunt down all the links I had bookmarked. Small price to pay to get my laptop lifeline back.

Gosh, remember when we didn't even have computers?