SuzieHulaHoop

Its Not Dead Yet!

2011-07-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

(Er, the blog I mean... sorry 'bout the last 9 months...)

So we got to do a house swap with our renters in Tahoe this past weekend, and got to be reminded just how much we love the place...

There were scenic but kiddo-able hikes:

Boulders to attempt to budge:

Snowballs to throw in Lake Angela:

Snowballs to throw at Dad:

And Tank Boy's first mini-golf!

Not pictured is: poor Tank falling in the pond at Monika's going away party, countless hours of kiddo fun at the Smi-bach residence, a blissful hour beside Lake Tahoe, double Wild Cherries helpings of quiche, TWO trips to the Woah Nellie Deli, and quality family time reading aloud in the car. Happy summer folks, hope you're getting yours!

Unemployment Schmunemployment

2010-12-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Due to the recent notification that I will be unemployed in about a week, and a HUGE boulder that fell on the road between home and the office, I stayed home today and did almost nothing. But the crafter in me has been itching to do something, so I pulled out the rest of the orange roving I bought on etsy and spun the remainder into some sort of yarn... Pics of that after it dries from its little bath, but here's the process...

Oh, and yeah, we just got back from Hawaii, did I forget to mention that? During our eleven days there was quite a bit of rain...

but there was some glorious sunshine too...

So, yeah, I'm not complaining about anything!

Its Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Craft-mas

2010-12-13T22:09:00.000-08:00

For some wacky reason, despite past, and recent events, I still do love me the holiday season. That little lump in your throat when you hear the Peanuts gang sing type of love. We've already watched the Grinch, Rudolph ("in-de-pen-dant!") and Its a Wonderful Life. We've got our tree up (a small miracle for us, as it is usually a Christmas Eve event due to procrastination).

I've been crafting, which is a seasonal status quo. My husband refers to it as Suzie's Santa Sweatshop. These little sparklies were for a local art sale last weekend, and I actually sold four whole pairs of earrings!

I'm also doing some sewing this year (darn tendonitis, no knitting) which is surprisingly quick in comparison to both knitting and beaded earrings... I can't give away the surprise, but here's a taste of the cute. I just love my grammy's awesome vintage fabric!

And at some point a while back I promised a full pic of the last baby sweater I managed to complete, so here it is... Ta Daaaaa!

Hope y'all are cozy and crafty, and surrounded by the voices of the Peanuts gang.

A Bit Sad

2010-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

As of last Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, I was 10 weeks pregnant. Sadly on Thanksgiving (after a lovely dinner) I suffered a miscarriage. I was in very capable hands, with an obgyn cousin of the Hub's at dinner with us, and another emergency room doctor cousin at the hospital 7 miles away. I did end up at the hospital, but was discharged after a few hours and sent home to rest (relatively) comfortably back at Aunt Madeleine and Uncle Matt's house.

So we're all okay now, albeit a bit sad. One remaining hurdle will be to explain to Jackson that the baby that was growing in mommy's belly is no longer there. So, because of the situation, all I can say is that I am especially thankful for my wonderful husband, the amazing family I married into, and my sweet little son. Wishing everyone a cozy weekend of quality family time.

Sedentary Roving

2010-11-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

So the pesky tendonitis has completely curbed my knitting habit these days, and I have been hankering for something crafty. Partially inspired by this crafting hottie, I finally dug around in the yarn stash and came up with this nifty kit that I got from my brother in law about two (?!) years ago.

Only when it was in kit form, that there stuff wasn't wound on the spindle yet. (That stuff was formerly roving which is washed and combed wool that has yet to be spun into yarn.) That there stuff henceforth will be known as MY FIRST YARN EVER!

Yeah, its a bit lumpy and uneven, but the process is surprisingly satisfying, fun, and quick! Yay, new craft! (Try to ignore the fact that the new craft is completely reliant on the old craft for actual use.) Now I just need me some more roving stuff, look out credit card!

And Yes, It Hurts To Type Too, Darn.

2010-11-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

So I seem to have knit a bit too much in the last few months and given myself some tendonitis in my wrist, boo. But I am (finally) just finishing up this wee knit for the newest baby in the family... I'll divulge a bit more once its in the mail, though really I'm not leaving much to the imagination here...

Civic Duty

2010-10-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

So I got summoned for jury duty for today. Oddly enough, despite the fact that I am about to turn 40 (forty!?) I have never done this before. I remember once getting the summons thingy in the mail, about two weeks after the date, as I had been overseas at the time. So being older and much more predictable these days, I did what you're supposed to do, called ahead the night before, and showed up at my appointed 8:30 am check in time. We were crossed off the list, given name tags (I was dubbed the catchy "Juror 91277") and metal-detectored for cell phones and guns. Then we went to the court room.

Let me back up here a bit and mention that our court house (Mariposa County Courthouse) is old. It was built in the 1800's. So the court room is up a flight of narrow stairs, on the second floor. It also has, not only a large structural beam right smack dab in the middle, but said beam also houses the chimney of the court room wood stove. I'm pretty glad it was a lovely mild day, and we didn't have to huddle 'round the stove for warmth. The final quaint, charming, and slightly alarming fact about our local courthouse is that the entire building vibrates when the bell is rung. So nine long peals of the bell clapper could be felt as well as heard.

And then the guy pled guilty in chambers, and we were all sent home after an informative video and thank you speech from the judge. Oh, and I kid you not, as I was driving away they were getting someone out of the paddy wagon and he was in black and white horizontal striped pj's. We do things the old fashioned way here. Evidently.

To see our high tech facilities click here and scroll down a bit more than halfway. You can just see the wood stove, to the right of center.

One Of The Reasons That I Enjoy An Occasional Costco Trip

2010-10-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

The cute little head banging part just kills me!

Let Me Count The Ways!

2010-09-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Oh county fair, how I love thee...

Way to go Hubsand! First place Children's Portrait and some other crazy rainbow Special Award thingy too!

That there is that wacky sweater that I done-did knit, with all kinds-a crazy rainbow colored ribbons on it too! You could have knocked me over with a feather! And the Tarnay's clean up at this year's county fair! I ask you, what is not to love?

Glossy Highlights

2010-08-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

So we have friends visiting from Spain, along with their two kids, and Tank Boy is in seventh heaven!

He is also quite pleased with his NEW SOCCER UNIFORM, because evidently my son is already on his first team!

There has been much romping about the park, Strider Bike riding, and river splashing. That is until about four days ago, when it abruptly went from summer to fall in one night!

And you know what fall means to those who get a weekly veggie box?

FIGS! Yumm!

In Praise of Deadlines

2010-08-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

You will never guess what I finally finished!

It only took me a mere 18 months!

The jury is still out on whether or not it fits The Hubsand, as I had only 15 minutes to spare in getting it to the County Fair committee today, and The Hub was running around getting his photo submission ready as well. So you may notice that the model is distinctly not he. I may also have stayed up until 3 am last night figuring out how to graft and seam the crazy patterns on this thing, but really don't want to admit that in public.

Hey ever wonder what the inside of a cabled sweater looks like?

Kind of a keerapy mirror image of the outside, huh? And notice all those loose ends? With approx 15 balls of yarn in this thing there were approximately 30 of those suckers to weave in on the inside!

Ever wonder what suziehulahoop looks like after a knitting marathon, no shower and little sustenance, while modeling a wooly sweater in 92 degree heat?

Alrighty, time to head back to Knitpicks and get the supplies for the next project!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

2010-08-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the Hubsand and I got a surprise weekend away in Tahoe without the tot! Auntie Rena and Grampa teamed up to give us a weekend out of town. So we hotfooted it over to Lake Tahoe to revisit our youth. And by that I mean we went mountain biking. Together. Whee! We hit up Stanford Rocks and my former back yard ride Hole in the Ground. The biking was awesome, the camping was lovely, and we ran into tons of great folks from the old days. (Especially nice when I broke my chain and realized I'd forgotten the chain tool!) As a matter of fact, the whole thing was so great, I spent the next week wondering why the heck I'm not still living there. But then again, Yosemite is pretty dang awesome too...

So the point of this story is that while Mom and Pop were out of town Tank Boy got to go to Merced with his Auntie and see "Despicable Me" in 3D. He really loved the glasses, and they're flattering on him, no?

And speaking of awesome Yosemite, the YosGirlz did Cathedral Peak this last Friday. My camera these days is a bit bulky, so it did not come out at any awkward times during the climb (almost all of it) but I did get in a few snappies. There is a ginormous ledge before the last pitch of the climb, so Publina graciously got a shot of Vicki and I getting the gear organized.

We were a group of five total, but split into two groups for the actual climbing. From the top you could see three alpine lakes, Bud, Cathedral and one more. Here's two of our party chillin' (literally, it was chilly!) partway down the hike off the back side, with Bud Lake in the background.

From the same spot looking the other way you could see Eichorn and Cathedral Lake as well.

I have no pics of the actual climbing, but it was so lovely. There are innumerable ways to go, most of them fairly mellow. I got to pick what looked fun and then head off! The classic chimney pitch in the middle was a highlight of the day, a tiny bit exciting, but ultimately doable and very well protected. So. Much. Fun.

That evening we had a campsite reserved in Tuolomne Meadows and the Hubsand and Tank Tot got to join us. Being high elevation, its pretty cold at night and in the morning. But there's no need to freeze when you can wear what amounts to a sleeping bag around camp.

We rounded out this weekend with Saturday at Tenaya Lake, reading books and dipping gingerly into the water. (Oddly enough the water was warmer than the air, but the breeze was so brisk that swimming was kept to a bare minimum!) It was achingly beautiful, and the perfect family time counter point to the previous day's Girlz activities. And you'll never guess what we did on Sunday... actually got the towel racks up in the guest bathroom! Photos soon!

Pants On Fire

2010-07-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

Oh my heavens, I totally fibbed, 'cause look what I found on the camera card today!

A picture of two totally forced smiles, in which you really can't tell that we're soaked to the skin! That would be Elizabeth Lake behind us, and very grey skies above.

And speaking of grey skies, things were not looking too sunny for Sunny the Sunflower...

His wee spindly stem got broken, but we quick like bunnies popped him in some water where he's been rather perky ever since...

And now, just 'cause its funny, TankBoy HobbitFoot

Too Busy To Take Photos, Alas

2010-07-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well now that its Tuesday night and I've recovered, here's how the weekend went at overschedulers.com...

Friday Gal's Climbing Day took a trip out of the hot and steamy Yosemite Valley, up to the high country in Tuolomne. We had a lovely little party of three for this little gem. We were still basking in the sun all day, but the breeze was cool enough that we were not baked on the rock, yay! And since Stately Pleasure Dome, overlooks the tantalizing Tenaya Lake, we went for a refreshing dip after the climb and a few minutes of much deserved lounging on the warm sandy beach.

Saturday dawned the same sunny and clear way that we Californians come to always expect. So our little family decided to also take advantage of the nearby higher altitudes for a wholesome hike. Unfortunately the day did not turn out like those in the pictures. It sort of rained on us. Well, pretty much poured, hailed, and even thundered. So we glimpsed the lake and ran for the car. About a mile from the car, with a 40 lb kiddo strapped to my back, I had to give up the jog and resort to the low energy shuffling. I did get in a little nap in on the way back though, due to my carcoleptic tendencies...

Sunday we had to do a mondo Costco run, but I had to keep a good thing going, so I got in a two hour mountain bike ride before heading into the grand metropolis of Merced. I do have to mention at this point, after returning from shopping, and getting the kiddo in bed, I laid down in bed for a wee rest and konked out before 9 pm. Party animal.

Monday consisted of 4 loads of laundry, vacuuming, dishes for days, finding space for all of the Costco purchases in the pantry, naps and even a bit o' knitting.

So then today, Jackson's buddy at daycare had a birthday party after school, and The Huzbunkle and I found ourselves with 3 free hours. And much to his chagrin, I dragged him out for another mountain bike ride...

I think I'm the luckiest person on earth to get to play this much, with such a wonderful family and community, in such a lovely place. Thanks everyone!

You Can't See The Pain In Photos!

2010-07-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Tank Boy was walking around with his shirt like this:

And promptly walked into a chair and gave himself a right-eye shiner:

Which of course never looks noticeable in photos, but the clerk at the market could sure tell. Hubsand thinks its hilarious to pretend that he knocked him around. Yours truly, the old stick in the mud, does not find the humor in this...

But what I do think is funny is the whole goofy shoe thing... Yup, I tried them, but see that pinky toe there that is about a half an inch shorter than the other toes? Mine aren't. I lasted about 15 minutes. Back to Amazon with you, you pinky torturers!

Damn Gnomes

2010-07-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

Yes I finally found my card-plug-in-reader dohickey! I swear I looked there a million times, so the gnomes must have tired of messin' with my mind and finally returned it to my dresser.

But alas, now I'm looking at the pictures and they are sadly out of date:

Sunny the Sunflower here has grown at least another 10 inches! Yay! He still has that odd hitch in his giddyup there, but is actually budding for what might be a real live flower! Go Sunny!

And the Hubsand's handknit sweater sleeves have actually grown from this size by a significant number of inches as well. Go Suzie! (They also might have an odd hitch in their giddyup too, but I'll just ignore that for now and blithely knit on...)

And speaking of giddying up...

...despite the fact that my precious wee one here has a distended bowel that is pressing on his bladder, decreasing his bladder capacity to half its normal size, and now has to be on laxatives for the next four months, he's been displaying his normal aptitude for new sporting events.

I Have Not Forgotten You!

2010-06-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

I can't find my camera cord, so I have been postponing in the hopes that it would turn up! If I can't find it today I'll do the dreaded no-picture-post!

The Fine Line Between Fun and Over Scheduling

2010-06-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hi! So quick monthly recap here:

Went on a 9 Bride Bachelorette weekend at a lovely vacation rental house on the river in Guerneville CA...

We squeezed in a ton of stuff like redwood hiking, spa treatments, wine tasting, and late night drunk hula hoop making and mehndi temp tattooing...

I got weirdly crafty before the event, and asked each bride for her fav color and attempted to make earrings to match each gal. At the event itself it became one of those goofy shower games where everyone tried to match the earring to the woman. Whee, geeky fun!

Since then The Hubzand and I took a wee Staycation, and kept the kiddo in daycare whilst we lounged about the house for a week! Highly recommended! We also spent two nights over at Bass Lake (where I used to backpack guide), got our mountain bikes all fixed up, and took a lovely ride here!

Then the next week the SKOOGS came to visit, and there was good food, hand knit hats, mountain biking, toddler biking, and a general lovely time!

And of course Auntie Rena was here to spoil Tank Boy silly! Yay Auntie! Sorry 'bout the lack of photos!

And then, in some sort of scuffle slash tug of war over a tonka truck, Tank Boy managed to knock out his best friend's two front teeth.

Yes, he's doing fine, no they won't let us pay their dental bills.

And then there was this music festival yesterday (With the always lovely Lusetta and her ever adorable Toby), and today yet another head cold for Tank and myself. And I'm spent!

And next time the bittersweet update on Sunny and Share...

So Frackin' Wholesome!

2010-05-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

At one of Tank Boy's potluck preschool classes we planted sunflower seeds, and much to our surprise they actually sprouted!

We haven't had the best of luck once seeds get past the sprout stage, so I decided it would be best to snap some photographic proof while the snapping was good... And yes, I have named them Sunny and Share (get it get it? Sonny n Cher?), 'cause who wouldn't!? (Note: Share is the one missing her two bottom ribs...)

For Mother's Day weekend, I got what all girls want, shelves on which to organize our crafty crap!

Previously this closet was a teetering pile of storage bins that had recently given me quite a thump on the noggin during implement retrieval. The Hubsand was tired of worrying for my life when I went to craft, and took it upon himself to find a structural solution. I'm pretty stoked, all my goodies at arms reach, with no threat to life or limb!

In fact the craft room was so organized that I had to take a few minutes and craft some knitting stitch markers just for myself...
Ooo, pretty pretty beads...

With last week's video of superball madness, I couldn't figure out how to squeeze this in, but aside from running up and down the stairs a half million times, Tank Boy also went on his first REAL mountain bike ride as well.

He did end up "over the bars" once, but hopped right back on and finished the ride with a wee fat lip! I couldn't be more proud!

That's all I got, so we'll be moving on...bye!

Bounceapalooza!

2010-05-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

What's good clean fun for the whole family, rain or shine?

A basket full of superballs and a flight of stairs!

Creepy and Crawly

2010-04-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Much to Tank Boy's delight, and my horror, we had a bit of an ant coming out party in the front yard this week...

Terribly sorry about the crazy camera work, and Tank's slight whingeing in the background. No one was thinking completely clearly and yes, by the end of the video I did indeed have ants crawling on my legs and feet. An hour or two later they were all gone.

Hey Shel, I Think I'm a Housewife...

2010-04-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my dad, I did finally locate the camera, and now will proceed to update you with pictures that are perhaps a month old! Long live the internet for the up-to-date... uh... updates!

Here is Tank Boy competing in his first official ski race! He was a bit unclear on the concept, but I'm super proud regardless! (Blue flags, we're trying to go around the blue flags!)

Here he is after the race, super happy and snuggly!

And here he is about four minutes later, completely konked out (for almost 2 hours!) in the noisiest restaurant/hallway imaginable!

Now moving on to slightly more recent events, The Tank has rediscovered the joy of interlocking blocks. I know I'm his mom, but this thing was cool!

And as far as the house goes, we haven't completed any of those pesky little remaining tasks (towel racks, we don't need no stinkin' towel racks!) but we did gather up all the remaining (live) houseplants and style ourselves a little atrium. It is a wee slice of heaven indoors...

May the sun shine into your garden a little this week as well!

Huzzah!

2010-04-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Somehow my husband has gotten me into this Katherine Kerr book series about a fictional land called Deverry. You know a book series is going to be geeky if it has its own website. Extra geeky if said website has timelines, bibliographies and ancestry charts...

A coworker asked what I've been reading lately, and I was a bit embarrassed to admit that it was a celtic fantasy series, akin to (but not nearly as epic as) the Lord of the Rings and King Arthur. It is full of swordfights, wise sorcerers, fabricated languages with pronunciation guides, and lots of horseback riding. Yeah, I'm going to be forty this year. Long live my internal fourteen year old!

Currently I am smack dab in the middle of this series, book 6 of 12. The Hub, however is horribly disappointed that he has now finished the whole ride. No more suspicious packages will be arriving from far flung bookstores with the next paperback edition of this addictive drug. Alas. Poor him. Any suggestions from the geeky literati? Bonus points if it is a VERY LONG series, he is a rather prodigious reader!

Oooo! But speaking of packages, I joined this little club thingy, and am anxiously awaiting my first colorful, possibly incredibly silly, installment!

Sorry Dad, the drama and righteous indignation has all cooled down here and we're back to books and knitting for our day to day entertainment!

Oh, wait! I forgot! We did go out of town last weekend for The Huzbunkle's annual alumni ski race (slash fundraiser for Stanford Hospital). AND guess who won third place overall?! None other than my one-and-only! For the second year in a row! See, look, we're adventuresome! -ish!

And yeah, we took pictures, but somehow have not been able to locate the actual camera after the unpacking frenzy has settled. So you'll have to take my word on stuff right now, we have no photographic proof whatsoever!

Knitting Emergency!

2010-03-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed knitting Tank's socks so much that I decided I should have another pair on hand for all my fidgeting needs. So I cast on for the ever popular Jaywalker socks. Scroll down that page for a wee photo of a finished pair, or alternately, here is my no-where-near-finished pair...

So far they have been the perfect combination of bright spring colors (I'm not sure the lovely blues and minty greens are showing up very true, alas) and easy but not boring knitting.

And then I took them along on last Friday's Girls Climbing Day. A fellow climbing gal asked if I was making legwarmers, an actual useful item to have along for spring climbing and its weather fluctuations. So now I'm stumped, do I go ahead with the socks, that, at most, will get worn once every two weeks (hey, we have a LOT of laundry to get through!) or do I bite the 80's bullet and knit some springy legwarmers that practically never need a laundry break? I'm partially nervous about the legwarmers, due to the sheer monotony of two long tubes, and the pattern winging part to fit them over my below pictured (and slightly furry) athletic calves...

Any input from the peanut gallery? Eeek, I'm getting fidgety!

poll by twiigs.com

Piggies and Their Blankets

2010-03-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, still working getting video up (edited: video is up!) on that last post. But in the mean time...

TODDLERSOCKS!

I swear this is not a wee torture device, just a sock in progress. Immediately following this photo/sizing test, the torturee himself grabbed one knitting needle, pulled (much to my dismay!), and dropped the stitches off! Eeeek! but fortunately I managed to get it back together and here's the finished pair!

Knitting is fun. Knitting toddlersocks is (are?) fun, fast, and satisfying!

Look Out 2024!

2010-03-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Guess who has a ski coach for a Daddy...

Attempt number two! Did it work?!

Moving On...

2010-03-03T22:54:00.000-08:00

I am trying to move past the drama and angst here at casa hulahoop. So I have done a wee bit of knitting. So wee in fact that it won't fit its intended recipient, Tank Boy. Good thing I know of a few babies comin' round the bend nearby. Perhaps it can warm a baby noggin for a month or two...

And yes, it is rather similar to a previous project. I can't imagine any scenario where the two recipients would ever meet however, so I think its okay.

Who Put the Douche in Fiduciary?

2010-02-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that doing this feels like amputating a small but mighty part of my very person, I am deleting this blog post to protect the innocent. I am also horrified that our legal system is such that a person must fear to explicitly state her own opinion. I am crying. But I am leaving the title, because I am a fighter, and that's how it goes. Thanks for your kind words of support, I really did need to hear them.

For Those Of You On The East Coast...

2010-02-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

...who are totally buried in snow, here's what is happening around our house.

Inside:

and out.

Ski Poles Are Good For Many Things!

2010-02-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

Look who remembered the camera last week!

Now if only it would stop raining we could head out again! And yes, Lee is getting very flexible using this technique!

All Tank, All The Time

2010-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

Sweet Jebus, how time has flown! Have you guys seen how big Tank Boy has gotten?

From the feet he looks like he could be a college student...

We've had some setbacks here at CasaHoop, that had me feelin' kinda crummy. The above tankster has decided to un-pottie train himself. We had been fighting it tooth and nail, causing all sorts of domestic strife and despair. But then upon the recommendation of our favorite medical professional, we decided to back off for a bit. We've been looking at any possible medical causes, but so far he seems healthy as a wee stubborn horse. So we might just be buying stock in Pull-ups.

On happier fronts we've been getting out to do lots of stuff. Tankster comes ice skating with me once every week or two, he's getting to be an old pro...

His skiing skills are also improving, necessitating the purchase of the official new goggles... I keep forgetting the camera on the actual hill.

Tune in next time for more toddler trials and tribulations!

Devolution

2010-01-01T20:44:00.001-08:00

I love the holidays so much. I love the industriousness of it all, starting with Halloween and the home sewn costumes, building through the Thanksgiving domestic rush, and the grand crescendo of Christmas gift crafting, wrapping, and sending.

And then after the flurry comes the slide into New Years, accompanied by excessive alcohol, hangovers, and sluglike behavior. Must. Fight. Off. Post. Holiday. Blues.

(And get back to being industrious, as I have yet to mail out ANY long distance Christmas presents!)

Right This Very Minute

2009-12-13T22:13:00.000-08:00

It is too bad that the Huzbunkle doesn't want a sweater vest for christmas, 'cause then I might make it on time...

But since he wants a whole actual sweater, those pesky sleeves might put me closer to his February birthday than Christmas morn... But I do have to say that it is begining to look a lot like a sweater these days, a nubbly, cabled, and complex sweater! Yay!

As for our train ride last week, Tank Boy and I had a fabulous time! We made the 6:20 am bus (a small miracle, if you know my preferred sleeping habits!) and then made all three subsequent transfers from bus to train to bus to train! We ended up in my old hometown of Truckee, where a friend picked us up and fixed us dinner while we waited for the Huzbunkle to fly back from a business trip in GA and then drive up from Sacramento. All together the logistics of this trip were akin to an algebra word problem, but it all went surprisingly smoothly in the end. We made it to the work holiday party in Reno, and rubbed elbows and white elephants with the big bosses, despite the fact that I had pretty much lost my voice to the hacking cough that had taken up residence in my torso region.

This weekend we're all considerably healthier and homebody-er! We got our tree up, and some lights on the entry way, and are tackling the two weeks of back laundry! Funny story about the tree though, last night, a mere 8 hours after getting the darn thing up and decorated, it decided to take a swan dive in to the middle of the living room floor. The Huz and I who had been dozing on the couch watching the tube, bolted upright ready for action at the surprisingly loud noise a fully decorated tree makes hitting the hardwood (and the family dog, totally uninjured btw.) An hour and three vacuum passes later we were back in business. Lets hope the bugger stays put this time!

We've got non-stop carols on the sound system, and a ham in the freezer! I loves me some holiday cheer!

Raffle Ho!

2009-12-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

Ye gad, its been a while since I've been on here! We've been all over for the holidays, then been sick, well, and sick again. We are heading out again soon, (we've got a housesitter you thiefy types!) but I enjoyed being home for the week like one who is about to leave again only can! I got to do some nice cooking in our fully functional and stocked kitchen, and crafting in my stocked and cozy craft (/guest) room! We are missing the daycare fundraiser this weekend, so I guilt crafted this little choker necklace jobber and matching earrings for the raffle. I think they came out rather festive!

Tank Boy and I are off on an exciting train adventure soon, so I'd better get packin!

Finished Object!

2009-11-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

I knit a quick hat for a coworker who has retired. He plans on riding his Harley around the country for a few months. I hope he likes it!

... And A Pony, And A Racecar...

2009-11-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

Now that November is here, I'm sure you all know what is fast approaching...

Gifting To Suzie Season!

Yes, seeing as my birthday and Christmas come bickety bam, one after t'other, this is the only time of year I receive heaps of pwesents! Yay! So without further ado, here is my List Of Things That Are Wearing Out But Still Hard To Justify Purchasing New Ones Because The Old Ones Work Well Enough List:

TTAWOBSHTJPNOBTOOWWE: (in no particular order!)

I would love me a new women's specific climbing harness, something like this one here. Specifically what I'm looking for is something designed for women's hips, that has lots of gear loops, that stresses comfort and strength over lightweight-ed-ness and comes in a size small.

***Edited to add that The Huzbunkle has crossed the above item off the list! Yay!***

...and/or a new climbing rope like this here beauty. Or something like it that has a differential pattern for pinpointing the center of the rope , a more than generous 60 meter length, and is approximately 10 mil thick or so. I likes me a thick durable rope! (Eeek, does that sound naughty?!)

I am also sorely in want of a new climbing helmet. My current one immediately sloshes over to a jaunty angle on the right where it thunks against my glasses frame and right ear and stays for the rest of the day. I'm guessing that something like this or this might work well for my smallish (~21 inch diameter) very narrow (pinhead!) noggin.

And what's that you say, doesn't she do any team sports? Why yes, and it too, is very gear intensive. So therefore I desperately covet a pair of hockey pants that wasn't purchased (all pre-smelly) at a thrift store for $7 in something like a size mens XL. I'm sure anything here would do me quite well. And no, I'm not referring to the fuzzy leopard gloves, alas, I already bought a new (not quite as snazzy) pair of hockey gloves last year. And I'm pretty sure that I could use a new hockey stick too, but all I can tell you there is that I think I shoot (oddly enough) left handed. I don't know anything about new hockey sticks. Someone gave me my current one, and everyone at the rink laughs at it because it is so old, funny, and worn down.

And now back to climbing for a tick, there are two more items that I don't currently have, but would love to welcome to the HoopGearRack. The whole flam damn set can be seen here, but I am only missing the 0.75 size and the big ol' number 4.

Wow thanks for tuning into Wish List '09!

Now its your turn! What in the world am I going to give YOU for the holidays? Help a gal out here, throw me a bone! Love you!

That's The Way (Uh Huh Uh Huh) I Like It!

2009-11-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

And once again the weekend was full of wonderful (in addition to the aforementioned Halloween) and surprising experiences that I just have to share!

Friday was Gal's Climbing Day, so another Gal and I did Little John Right. Now if you pop over to that description you might see that this climb is on El Cap. Yep, El Capitan. The big one. I do have to clarify here, and mention that we were merely climbing about the feet of The Captain, probably not even up to his knees. And yet. Nontheless. That is one big rock. There is a sober sense of seriousness about being at the base of such a colossal beast. A three thousand foot reminder to check all of your knots and anchors not once, nor twice, but three times. And yet, thankfully, he was a gentle beast that day and let us off with nary an abraded knuckle nor knee. But we did however gain a great big whooping sense of yeeeehawww! The other Gal took a ton of pics, so I'll post one or two when they come my way.

Then Saturday was more scootering in Yosemite Valley with one of Tankboy's little buddies. He is now such a speedy scooter, we have to jog at a lively pace to keep up.

Then of course, the trick or treating. Oh the treating!

Then Sunday The Fam Damily had nothing more planned than a quick and dirty run up the unpaved road behind our neighborhood. Afterwards I was hoping to jump into some knitting, and drink some tea maybe. Big day.

Then a friend called. She knew this gal who is in a band who was playing relatively close to our rather isolated area, and would I like to go along for the ride? Little did I know that we were jumping in on the tail end of a zany four day music festival with three stages, multiple camping areas, remarkably good food, bubbles, costumes, hula hoops, and a surprisingly blatant prevalence of mind altering substances. But jump we did. The friend of a friend, and two other acts were so achingly good, that we both confessed to the chills at times. We danced quite a bit, ate some tasty (thought slightly expensive) snacks, had our one alcoholic beverage (Bloody Mary's my fav!), bought some CD's, and then cut out before our terribly staid parental bed times. Did y'all know (or remember from your misspent youths) that seeing live music was so fun?!

So then on Monday (after a rousing round of Potluck Preschool with the neighborhood kids) Tankster and I took a three hour nap. And then a few hours later the two of us were in bed konked out by 8:45 pm. Party am-in-als. We have been doing it up right!

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

Roar!

Cute yet fierce! I could just eat him up!

Tasty Autumn With A Hint Of Spring

2009-10-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

Due to an unusually forceful and prolonged rainstorm here a week or so ago things have, again, taken on the rosy tones of Shangri-La. The fall colors are coloring, but the air is clean, crisp, and dust free. The waterfalls are flowing again and the grass is growing. The past two weekend have been painfully pleasant, that aching sweetness that only fall can conjure.

If you're wondering why this entry is filled with so many fantastic pics, its because they were all taken by the Hubsand. He got a new camera, and is up to his old (and fabulous) tricks!

I'm still working away on the dinosaur/dragon costume, here's the latest addition, scary claw fingerless mitts! (Note the lack of flair in the pic, it was taken by me...)

The Women's Thursday Evening Climbing Club has come to a halt for the season, that pesky darkness just kept interfering. It has, however been moved to the Friday Day Women's Climbing Club for all those who are interested! Last week a gal and I did the (CLASSIC) Nutcracker. I led all 5 pitches (yay me!) and was WORKED by the end of the day! Today is the first day I got out of bed without creaking!

And yet again the world reminds me why I love the savoriest of the seasons. I keep reminding my self to breathe, absorb, and enjoy.

Kill 'Em With Cuteness!

2009-10-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

So Halloween is coming, and I have a newly set up craft room at my disposal. Therefore I have challenged myself to take this pile of ingredients...

And make it into a SCAWWWY DINOSAUR for the Tank!

Day one got me here...

Day two of laboring got me here...

Poor Tankboy, so far its just dang adorable, but not very scary at all! Claws, he's gonna need some claws!

Giddyap!

2009-10-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm a bit of a one trick pony when it comes to following musicians. There is pretty much only one artist that I follow, regularly purchase music from, and attempt to see live. It is a little bit embarrassing how much I love this artist. I have silly fan fantasies of hanging out with her, taking her climbing, and our kids becoming friends. Did I mention the silly part?

Anywho, so she was playing a show down in Fresno (a good two hours and twenty-some-odd minutes away) and a few of us rallied to go see. It was a great evening, we ate dinner at a brew pub, had a few beers, someone asked me if I was famous (!?)...and Ani was just lovely, all soulful and talented.

Today, at work, I felt a little rough around the edges, but it was wonderfully worth it.

We Are Here!

2009-10-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

The title of this entry is a quote the Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who, and yes, we read a lot of Seuss here. Yopp!

So despite the fact that we have not been audible to any but the keenest of ears, we have been here working away on our building! I don't know if y'all remember, but Casa Remodel had never been completely painted. For 20 or 30 years, it has sat, with paint on the siding only as far as the former owner could reach...

Finally that situation has been rectified, due to a hard working dude named Mark and his paint sprayer!

What do you think of the "Iced Mocha" and "Colonial Red"? I personally want to eat it!

So we haven't quite finished the trim paint on the front of the house, but I still think it is a huge improvement!

We also had the interior door thresholds installed, the baseboard and door trim finished, and I finally got the toe kicks done on the kitchen cabinets and the rest of the cabinet side panels on! Up next: bathroom towel racks and a toilet paper holder!

A Present, For Little Old Me?!

2009-09-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all. I finished knitting some socks. (Yes I cheated on the Hubsand's sweater-in-progress!)

And yes, my feet are large, and I do have slightly hairy ankles. But they are soft and fuzzy (the socks, not the ankles) and shall ease my transition into fall.

But I Always Bring My Own Grocery Bags!

2009-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. The Hubsand bought a Swiffer Mop thing a couple of years ago, and I flat out refused to use it. For years! My excuse was that I did not want to have to buy "maxi pads" for my mop. So I would haul out the icky looking sponge mop, or just a regular sponge, and fill a bucket or the kitchen sink with sudsy water and spend 45 minutes or so cleaning the floor. Then The Hubsand bought a case of (get this!) pre-moistened Swiffer mop pads. Eeegad! The waste, the expense! And then I spent approximately three minutes mopping the kitchen floor. Phooey. It is too dang easy.

Can I possibly justify the natural resource consumption of a disposable mop pad with the savings in treated water usage?

Home Improvement, Schmome Improvement!

2009-09-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend was much more relaxing than last weekend's evacuapalooza. And to top it off the County Fair was in town. Now Tankster loves himself some fair, but I hate to admit that I might love it even more! The farm animals, the snack foods, the knitting on display! The live bands, and cowboy stuff! Balloon animals! Juggling! Eeeegads! Too much good clean family fun to resist!

Did I mention the $3 giant slide?

The impossible to win ping pong ball games, set up for toddlers so that you get a prize just for playing?

And tired loopy toddlers boogying down in the dark?

Ack! I can't stand it, I LOVE THE FAIR! (Despite the fact that I entered the knitting contest and came in dead last! That is how much I love the fair!)

Oh, and speaking of knitting, I did finish that sock I started last week...

Tadaa! One more to go and I can actually wear them! (Yes, that is a super lazy picture of the sock sitting in my lap. It is dark, artsy does not happen here after dark.) G'night!

Duck and Cover

2009-09-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so. It has been a wee bit stressful here at Casa Remodel. The Big Meadow fire came a lot closer to our little neighborhood and we were evacuated. (The second evacuation for us in approximately a year!) I was at work so I missed the "pre-evacuation" call, and therefore had less than an hour to pack, and no idea if our recently completed house and all of our belongings were going to go up in smoke. I was not pleasant to be around. (Barky McSnappypants) The evacuation ended up not being that big a deal, some friends in our old neighborhood put us up in their little straw bale cabin for the three nights. (And unlike last time, the power was on at our house so we didn't lose all of our perishables, phew!)

Tank boy had a great time playing with their kids and their toys,

The Hubsand worked his booty off due to the air quality aspect of a wildfire, but Molly cat was not so pleased.

Then we got the call that a coworker of The Hubsand died while climbing during the same weekend. Bluh.

On a completely lighter note, and with almost no segue, I did get to knit a wee bit (Yes, I packed my yarn and knitting supplies. What?) and started this cute sock. Then it was too big and I had to rip it out and start again, but that's not such a big deal with a sock.

And my dad is still not feeling well after the appendectomy, so send him some good vibes, m'kay? We're just going to nestle in here and attempt to not piss off whatever capricious gods currently have their panties in a bunch. Duck 'n cover.

Ack!

2009-08-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't follow my own advice about staying in bed for a week, and boy am I sorry. Aside from Ted Kennedy's passing, and much more locally, today we had substantial rockfall within a 1/2 mile of my jobsite, and the controlled burn (that The Hubsand was monitoring for its impact on air quality) has jumped its bounds and taken off. We are all on pins and needles here.

Ouch.

2009-08-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

We had a little accident wherein Tank Boy fell out of the trailer behind the bike, and ended up at the hospital instead of work and daycare. The Hubsand feels awful and many more safety measures will now be a regular part of the day here at Casa Roadrash. But he is fine, we are fine and everything is fine. Except then we got a call that my dad was in the hospital for not only appendicitis, but also a kidney stone?! Lets all go to bed and stay there for a week or so!

And a Weekend With the Cousins, of Course!

2009-08-16T21:14:00.001-07:00

Tankboy has had a summer full of:

Long Daddy spiders
Fighter Fighters (aka fire fighters)
Mister Squitos
Bite-amins (the gummy bear vareity)
and twice daily brushing with his Brush Toof.

And really, who could ask for anything more?

Two For One Coupon Day?

2009-08-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

Today, at work, the contractor did this crazy thing where they made a Tee into a pressurized waterline, without geyser-ing hardly anything! To start they bolted a sleeve around the existing water line with a little tee type protrusion on it. Then they bolted a valve on to that, which is just a piece of pipe with an extra bump on top so that a little door can go up out of the way, or down to stop the water flow. They they bolted this crazy enclosed drilling contraption on, of which I'm only showing the business end...

Then they drill in the center pilot hole, and then the big circular drill cores out a honkin circle. The center pilot bit actually has some heavy short wires that pop out and hold onto the circle (I believe it is called a coupon, but I read that on the internets, so someone could be playing a cruel joke on me...). They were more than happy to let me take it home!

Construction work iz fun!

Quick Rant

2009-08-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe all this crazy hoo hah over the attempt to change our health care insurance system. Imitation grass roots organizations with lobotomized slogans like "Just say no"?! What do they think Obama is trying to do here, bite the heads off puppies? Is it really so offensive to try and provide affordable health care for each and every american?

As soon as the post man can get here, I will be sporting this new political accouterment. Please note that our friend John Allison has chosen to portray the USA as a DINOSAUR!

Shouting down your political opponent instead of informed discourse? Evidently its the American way!

The Trials and Tribulations of Pergo!

2009-07-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

First of all my little digi might be on its last legs, as one in four pictures now looks like this...

Second, I have a poll for y'all! This is the one and only spot where the pergo flooring will go the same direction on either side of a door.

Should I cut it nonetheless and install the wooden threshold, or just run it through the door smooth? Assume that neither is intrinsically more work than the other... I am no professional, so I'll just ask other random nonprofessionals their opinion!

You Gotta Have The Right Tool For Every Job

2009-07-22T21:42:00.001-07:00

And this, my friends, is my newest and rightest tool! (Aside from the fact that when looked through, it makes you look like an alien.)

For those of you who have not met these before, it is a spring loaded camming device (SLCD) that is as big as my head. With this little puppy, or more specifically, big dog, I was able to safely wrestle my way to the top of that climb that thwarted me last week! Yay!

Previously my largest piece of "protection" (stuff you put in the crack to secure your rope through) was a size three. This Mammajamma is a size FIVE! Yep, that's right, I skipped right over poor number four in favor of the purple people eater! I'm crazy that way.

And in other news that is not AAM (all about me!), I would like to present all the things that are wonderful about little boys.

He's not afraid to rough and tumble football and snuggle his teddy bear all at the same time. Gawd I love him.

Progress!

2009-07-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend was rather fruitful here at Casa Remodel. I finally got the Pergo flooring going! Here's Tank Boy doing the "Halfway Done Red Underpants Boogie."

Then we quick cleaned up, hopped in the car and unfortunately found the battery completely dead. The Hub performed the quickest jump ever (innuendo aside) and we were on the road in 3.5 minutes flat! See, we were in a bit of a rush to get up to Groveland to go to their Movies in the Park night. They were showing the Tale of Despereaux, which none of us had seen yet. The town is about an hour away, so we were trying to head out early to explore and hang out a bit before the movie. The best laid plans...

Now that Tank Boy is a Big Boy and Wearing Big Boy Underpants (see above) we travel with this everywhere we go. Forty minutes from our destination the warning call went out. We were not going to make it to any civilized facilities. So we deployed the on hand facilities on the side of the road. Unfortunately sometimes Tank likes to take his time. A half an hour later The Hub was off in the woods digging a cat hole to deposit Tank Boy's... um... deposit.

So at this point it was already past the Tankster's bedtime, and we were neither fed, nor at our destination. Which made me a bit antsy. But as luck would have it, we pulled up into the parking lot and made our way to the cool grassy expanse of the park just as the announcements were starting. And it was the best evening ever! Tank Boy had so much fun snuggling on the blanket, eating hot dogs and popcorn, and occasionally even watching the movie! Amazing starry skies, perfect temperature, and the world's cutest animated mouse! I can't recommend the Toddler trip to the movies in the park any more highly, despite the 11 pm bedtime!

Then Sunday, it was back to the old miter saw...

And The Hits Just Keep Coming!

2009-07-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried to make the semi-epic (2+ hours each way) trip to Fresno with Tank Boy and a friend and her toddler, and the !@#$%^&*() Prius stopped working more than a half an hour from out destination. It was 106 degrees outside. Fortunately we happened to be by a "roadhouse" and pizza restaurant that had air conditioning. A tow truck was sent and a husband was summoned to the rescue. The kids ate pizza and watched movies on the laptop, so it could have been a lot worse. But it is a similar ghostly and unidentifiable problem that caused us to trade in the LAST Prius!

Evidently my biorhythms are off or something and I'm going to try and avoid any large scale projects at this time... If you need me I'll be hiding under my blankie.

Boo Hoo

2009-07-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

After my little self "props" last post I had a crummy climbing night this week. I backed off two climbs and couldn't do the one I really wanted to because we only had one rope. Phooey. :(

Eventually Her Baby Will Earn An Income

2009-07-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Some of y'all might remember my friend Karel. But some of you may not know that she had a baby almost two months ago (because she's a terrible blog updater!) And furthermore, I'm pretty sure y'all didn't know that I got to go up to Reno and hang out with them over the weekend of the 4th. Notice the festive 4th of July outfit on the wee one...

We managed to get Karel a little more caught up on sleep while I was there,

go out to get our hair cut together, (Note the crazy prom hair!)

...and even made it on a short hike!

Thanks lady for sharing you beautiful new babe with me for the holiday!

Something else that is almost two months old is the Women's Thursday Evening Climbing Club that I've been organizing each week after work. Now I'll admit here that attendance hasn't been record breaking, so it has been more like "Come and Go Climbing With Suziehulahoop on Thursdays Club", but I'm not complaining! I've had at least one person show up every time, and that's all you need to tango, or climb! So yay us, we're out there making it happen! Thanks to my regulars, hope to see you all at one time perhaps!

I Feel So Wholesome!

2009-06-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

In our weekly veggie box we get some unfamiliar things occasionally (so that's what a rutabaga looks like!) and this week it was "Horticultural Beans." (Catchy name, huh? Can't imagine why that one hasn't caught on...) They were super pretty, creamy white beans with lovely pink speckles...

in coordinating jackets.

Tankboy was a huge help in the shelling process...

Little did we know that the ones we snacked on raw were much more flavorful than the cooked ones. They lost their pretty pink speckles and were just sort of cooked white beans when done, ho hum!

And despite my laundry room floor looking like this at the beginning of the weekend:

...I did get in some climbing, some kayaking, a toddler's casual birthday party (to distracted for pics, sorry!), family time at the river, and a fully cooked Classic American summer meal of fried chicken, corn, and salad! AND the laundry will be totally done by this afternoon!

That's what I call a quality family time!

I Like Brown and Leafy Shapes

2009-06-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you on the absolute edge of your seats about our home remodel (Hi Dad!) here is the equivalent of three thousand words! The fancy schmancy loo...

The mostly complete right half of the kitchen...

And the "one cabinet short" left half...

Actually since we took the pictures we got the cabinet handles on and finished that last left hand cabinet, still need touch up paint and the wood thingies on the sides of the upper cabinets. But amazingly enough we are cooking, cleaning, and eating in our kitchen! Wahoo!

And on a totally unrelated note I got a lovely henna (temporary, Dad) tattoo on my arm at our monthly women's gathering. The artiste did such a lovely job, I thought it should be saved for posterity.

Hope y'all had a lovely Father's day, I need to go scrub the Father's day camping grud off!

The First Annual Gal's Backpacking Trip!

2009-05-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Everyone made it through with flying colors (and one with a slight fever!) Hope your Memorial Day rocked as hard as these here ladies!

These Boots are Made for Stompin'!

2009-05-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

I hosted our Women's Group meeting this month (along with all the other craziness going on around here). And, because I'm a geek, we had a guest instructor and commemorative tee shirts. The tee shirt graphic was done by Christopher Baldwin of Little Dee fame. He graciously donated his time and talent to what he deemed a worthy cause. Yay Christopher!

Our guest self defense instructor, Kelly, was awesome, and also donated her time. She even managed to drag a buddy along with her. Thanks Kelly and Michelle y'all rock (and kick, and punch...)!

And aside from that of course we have to give a double yay to my but kickin' women's group! Woot woot!

Just Keep Swimming...

2009-05-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

So some of y'all have been kind enough to inquire as to the status of the house remodel. Try to bear in mind that the place will look much better without the thin veneer of power- and hand tools, and also those pesky dangling fixture-less electrical wires. First the heart of the house, the kitchen/dining space, with double doors onto the "courtyard"...
Could be nice soon, huh?

Then the wee guest room that will soon house my favorite sibling and family...
Tiny, but nice!

Then a quick glimpse at the loo...

Supposedly the tile artist will have this whipped into jaw dropping shape in two short weeks! (Watch the knees while on that imaginary potty, the door will definitely clip them if someone comes barging in!

And still in the works (perhaps in time for 90 degree weather?) The Hubsand's wool cabled sweater! Remember when I surveyed y'all as to the fate of this handknit? Well, much like the Million Dollar Man ("We can rebuild him - we have the technology!) it has been restructured for the betterment of mankind. AKA, made bigger and knit in the round (front and back at the same time).

Even Tankster agrees, "It's wool, but it sure isn't itchy!"

Now all we gotta do is keep on keeping on!

Tank Boy Time

2009-04-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

We are still here, in a mad rush to get the house finished for the family visit that happens in two weeks, ack! I have a million and one things going on between now and then too, aside from a date with a 2 ton stack of Pergo...

In the mean time:
Jackson somehow whacked his front right tooth and broke it up above the gum line, and it has turned a lovely shade of grey. I tried to take a pic, but as you can see below, the gray does not translate.

So Tankster had his first visit to the dentist! He did great, ah'ed and grinned so the doc could get a good look. Our local doc wants us to see a pediatric doc to possibly do a pediatric root canal-ish. But then again, it isn't showing signs of swelling or infection, so it might be nothing... Keep yer fingers crossed for the nothing!

Jackson has had a myriad of kiddo get togethers. A couple of Friday's ago we went to preschool and I volunteered to set up the craft activity. We read the book The Rainbow Fish and made Rainbow Fish costumes.

If I do say so myself the kids are a-freakin-dorable.

Then we went to a bunch of birthday parties, which was pretty much seventh heaven for Tank. He got to play with a different set of toys at each house! And the goodie bags! And the candy! Eeeek! One family tried to take it easy on the candy prizes (thank gosh!) so they were heavy on balloon favors. But they got these odd balloons that I think were supposed to be "tye dyed" but really ended up looking sort of medical, and birth related...

We also were lucky enough to find a conjoined pair in our goodies, that really look rather unmentionable. So of course I had to mention them...

Anybody free to come out this weekend and lay pergo, install baseboard, build kitchen cabinets, do some patch painting, storage space diving or perhaps even a little light landscaping? We'll provide a room and the boards, ha ha ha!

Bleargh what a week.

2009-04-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

It all started out fun at this.
There was some of this...

And then some of this...

And a big boy haircut was squeezed in...

While in Tahoe, we actually got to stay in our own house, as the renters were out of town, yay! We also got to see a very pregnant recipient of a handknit hat!

Jackson got to play with a million and one kids at the Banquet night AND the day after, so he was a happy camper.

Then we rushed home, The Hubsand ran off to work, and his sister and father arrived for a wee visit. They were here to help out since TH had to then run off to a business meeting down south for the rest of the work week. The evening Hub left, he abruptly came down what he thought was food poisoning. Whee! We carried on as usual here, Tank to daycare, Me to work, and the in-law's slaving away on the old home rebuild. (God love 'em!)

Then, what clearly was actually the stomach flu, reared its ugly head. Sis-in-law was taken down hard for a marathon intestinal workout session. Tank made it to daycare, I made it through my last work day and then I went down with (thank gawd!) a much milder case. Super ick, nonetheless! All with one bathroom, and no functioning wash machine. Whee!

Fortunately all were back to health today for a lovely easter of egg hunts and mass chocolate consumption. Lets hope next week is a wee bit mellower, at our our household and yours!

Savoring...

2009-04-02T23:28:00.001-07:00

Fall has always been my season of preference, but our new location is incredible this time of year. Sort of a combination of Shangri-La and The Shire. The weather can be amazing, the waterfalls are going off, and of course there are the wildflowers. But don't take my word for it, take a gander instead...

0.37 Millimeters, Actually

2009-03-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

I use this nifty site pretty often. For example, today I was on there to figure out the thickness of a gallon of paint spread over 110 square feet (parking lot striping thing, gad my life is thrilling).

But I have to admit that today was the first day that I have ever noticed this link in the sidebar. I know I am a geek, but how about you dear readers?

I double dog dare ya to click on that second link and see how many "conversions" you are just itchin' to try... I have already tried 5, and won't be surprised if I sneak in another one or two before the day is out. You?

Dermatologically Speaking

2009-03-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Eeek, sorry to have frightened everyone, I am FINE, and the trips to the skin doc were purely prophylactic! Both spots have come back benign, so all's well. For me, that is. Tankster on the other hand, has been rather dermic-ly challenged this week. He finally came down with the Chicken Pox.

Yes, there is a vaccine for it now a days, but we opted out of that one, and went for the olde fashioned method, "Get 'em while they're young." Little Tank has hung in there like a champ, still riding his bike around, playing with the contractor's puppy, and befriending the Forestry guys who came to take down some branches over the house.

I did say he's hung in there like a champ, I surely would never say that he was happy about it!

I Need A Vacation After This Weekend...

2009-03-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

I took the Amtrak bus/train combo to Tahoe this weekend and hand delivered the World's Cutest Baby Sweater, and the reaction was appropriately agog, so I did not have to bring it back home with me! And without further ado, the WCBS!

The shower was lovely, at a crazy mansion in Sparks (outside Reno) with a koi pond in the driveway, hot tub atrium in the middle of the house, and general loveliness all around. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so not only didn't I get a picture of the setting, I didn't get any pictures of the preggo either! Rats.

Then the (oft commenting and always lovely) Sara and I had a girlie evening of shopping and movie (The Watchmen!) watching, before collapsing into bed (couch) at 1 am. The next day I took the California Zephyr train back over Donner Summit, in a bit of a snow storm (yay! for not having to drive) and down to Sacramento. Where I had a three hour layover, but luckily the train station is two short blocks from a lovely outdoor mall! After wasting an appropriate amount of time, and not too terribly much money, I enjoyed a pleasant second train ride to Merced. (During which I was asked out by a random stranger, who must have had terrible vision to have not seen the wedding band.) I then made my way to my Big Boss's house which is, I kid you not, in Camelot. Who knew that Camelot was so close. And so gated.

After a lovely evening swapping knitting tales and family woes, I had a comfy snooze in a WHOLE double bed (to myself!) (due to the house remodel The Hub and I are sharing a SINGLE bed.) And to further the luxury, I got to languish in said bed until the late late hour of 8 am! Ah, the life!

Then I got to go back to the dratted dermatologist and have yet another suspicious bump chopped off, this time from my nose. Ack. Then the Costco run, the dog food run, the hardware store run, drug store and hairdresser stops, then the drive home, the happy family playing in the park time, then the rushed dinner, baby bath, and now I'm going to fall asleeeeeeeeeeee zzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Sweater - 10! Jackson - 3.

2009-03-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

I have made something that is so adorable (aside from Tank Boy) that I am about to pop. But I can't do the big reveal until I've actually given the gift, augh! So now you must suffer with me, ha ha haaaaaa. But here is a sneak peek photo, because I can't keep my big mouth (camera?) shut...

So moving on, and speaking of Tank Boy, his cuteness is dropping on the cute-o-meter lately as he is refusing to go to sleep at night. He's exhausted, rubbing his eyes, yawning, etc, but WILL NOT SIT STILL in his bed long enough for sleep to get him! I love it that my son is so good natured, but he is not getting the picture that Mommy and Daddy are not finding his shenanigans funny. We have resorted to Instant Extended Time Outs. Instant, meaning no warning shots, Extended meaning 15 minutes each and, well, you know what time outs are.

The first night we had THREE of these. That is 45 minutes of a toddler sitting on a hard wooden chair in the middle of his dark room with a parent supervisor. He took it like a champ. No whining, no crying. I sorta wish there was a bit more groveling on his part, but nope. We've been sorely tempted to resort to capital punishment, but I'm just not fond of the example that sets.

So then the second night only had two 15-minute time outs. And the third only one. But then tonight we were back to two. But during the second he calmly informed me that "the poop was ready to come out of his bottom" so we had to scramble and get him on the potty. Which he proceeded to completely fill. Yay?

So now I'm scratching my head. Where do we go from here? I certainly don't want him up and roaming the house at all hours of the night, Mommy is done being a Mommy by 8:30 pm. Do we try to go back to a crib and risk the ground fall? Maybe we can get those psych hospital restraints and (gently, heh heh) anchor him to his bed. For now I guess we will continue with IETO's with the occasional potty break. Sigh.

My little Jail Bird

Precipitous

2009-03-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

It has been rather rainy lately so Tankster and I have spent hours constructing tortuous tracks for the IKEA Railroad. (By the way, BEST $9.99 EVER SPENT!) (Alright, true confessions here, we might have splurged on a booster pack or three...)

And after our road trip where Lil' Tank got to ride the two wheeler bicycle, I couldn't resist, and forked out the dough for this...

Perhaps one day it will stop raining and we can actually take it outside!

(Oh, and update on the Hub's sweater, it has been unraveled! I'm now trying to knit it again, bigger and in the round, but got distracted by an adorable baby sweater for an upcoming baby shower. Fickle needles!)

OH! And in 6 to 11 days Tankster might become a bit spotty, we evidently attended a preschool class with an imminent Chicken Pox victim. Wish us luck!

If You Want to Destroy My Sweater...

2009-02-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

And for those of you who do not know this song from Weezer, the next line (after the woah ooh oh's) is "hold this thread while I walk away". And this snappy little ditty is on my mind because I am knitting my first real adult size sweater, and it looks a little like this:

Only now I am contemplating the fact that it might indeed be too small for its intended recipient,The Hub. And yet I'm not sure I'm ready to unravel two skein's worth of knitting, albeit fun knitting. What would YOU do?

A. Make The Hub go on a starvation diet.
B. Knit on in the hopes that Tank Boy will some day grow into it.
C. Place said beautiful sweater swatch on a big old stitch holder and save it for posterity.
D. Stuff the whole thing in the knitting bag, never to be seen again.
E. Frog (aka unravel) with wild abandon, festooning the house with your former craftsmanship.

The most popular answer will be seriously considered! And then possibly discarded...

Everybody has one...

2009-02-14T22:05:00.000-08:00

So I need y'all's opinion here. I knit this hat for a friend, but I'm afraid it didn't come out so hot. Something about the thick/thin yarn and the cable pattern seems to not work here. Am I crazy? I don't want to give a gift to a friend that is generally disliked by the public, so what do you think? Is this hat The Suck or The Smash?

Byzantine Torture Boots Be Damned!

2009-02-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

So the Saucy Skier trip was a splendid epic. We started off perky and cheerful at our little local ski resort...

And then proceeded to ski out a formidable 11 miles with fully loaded packs. We passed some amazing scenery:

Then we passed some crazily amazing scenery:

And arrived at our tiny cabin destination where we had some additional precipitation, some tasty meals, and some minor tiffs with Oscar the Grouchy Pellet Stove. On tap were also a handful of chilly trips to the outhouse, three bottles of wine, a power outage, and the subsequent loss of all cabin heating capacity. (Evidently the power went out in all of Yosemite.) Yay for down sleeping bags!

We rallied out the next morning and even managed to bask in some of our famous California sunshine for a lunch/blister bandage break:

Thank you ladies, for a lovely time. Thank you The Hub for letting me peel out on your birthday. And thanks to this wide wonderful world we live in!

Road Trip!

2009-02-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Jackson and I darted up to Grass Valley last weekend for a baby shower. We sort of missed the shower, but got to play with all the friends nonetheless. The weather couldn't have been more gorgeous there, so for those of you in the chillier parts of the country, here is a taste of spring...

And now I must pack for my first overnight back country ski trip in years. I love California!

All We Are Is Just A 'Nother Brick In The...

2009-01-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Remember way back here when the walls just started coming down in our new house. Well, as of yesterday we now have this!

And this!

And the craft room is now this!

Note the crazy structural elements like a cinder block wall, poured concrete foundation and slab floors. Look out civilization, here we come!

OMG She's Back! ALREADY!

2009-01-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hey, remember way back to my last post when I said I had three stitches due to a skin biopsy? I was wrong. When I finally got up the guts to change my bandage the next day, I found not three, not four, but FIVE stitches under there! So here for your squeaming pleasure, my stitches:

P.S. No news back from the mole lab, so I'm hoping that means there's nothing to worry about!

We are finally settling into this odd living situation, and I've gotten around to finishing some knitting and taking the documentary photos!

Crazy California Forest Fire Socks, started during the Great Fire Evacuation 2008:

A Foliage (from knitty.com) hat for a friend that isn't quite this mintily obnoxious, I swear!

And, hey, I think they are putting a back wall on the house today! Yay!

Oh. Hey Look. There's People Out There!

2009-01-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

Yes! We are alive!

We are living awkwardly in our wee demi-house in our lovely little new community. And the big news is: as of three days ago we officially have a foundation under the house! The metal sheeting is bolted on, the concrete is poured. We're still a little short on walls, subfloors, etc. But we are on our way to having a house!

The work commute has been great so far, I have a half an hour to go each way, but I've carpooled (aka mooched rides) almost every day. I get to play hockey at our little Rinky Dink once or twice a week. I even played with the BIG BOYS last Tuesday. And I only took out ONE of my own teammates with a phenomenal yardsale crash. Yay me!

Our tot is amazing. One side effect of the cramped awkward living is a higher than average rate of Mommy-Daddy-Serious-Talks. Whenever Tankster hears the tension getting too high, he comes up to the offender and says "Take a big breaf Mommy." Amazingly sweet.

I had a wee skin biopsy yesterday. Just to be on the safe side. So now I have three little stitches in my belly. And a nifty mini mole package off in a lab somewhere. Did you know they call that "surgery"? I had no idea. I got up, packed up two metric tons of laundry, made it to the Big City and had "surgery" yesterday all before I normally would have gotten out of my pajamas. Productive is my middle name.

Oh, and hey! How 'bout that president! The NPR station that we listen to seemed to be throwing a radio party this weekend, and Tankster and I couldn't help but sing along with that nifty "Barack Obama" song... And try as I may I cannot find it online. So make up some little Barack ditty, hum along, and every now and then take a deep breaf.

Hit 'Em Right Where It Hurts

2008-11-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hey there kiddos. It has been a short aeon since I last wrote. Like election day. Sorry 'bout that. See right now we are living in two half houses. And let me tell you, in this case, two halves do not make a whole. Midweek we're at the house with the internet connection, but then its midweek, with all the contingent work, early rising, hot plate cooking, and day care shuffling. Weekends we are at the house with the clothes washer and full sized bed, but alas no internets.

So far the park service has given us the verbal approval to continue with the "new old" house construction (that super extravagant plan to install that crazy foundation and all) but we can't actually start until some computer account thingy is set up. As we watch the weather move in to winter... We did replace the back door on the new/old house. It was actually a half rotted interior door, used as an exterior door for some 30 odd years. (Dude, they must have been some really odd years!) The carpeting and tiling are finished in our two usable rooms, one staircase, and one short hallway, and we even have nice toasty heat pumps. (I kid you not, they really work!) But at this point we still don't have a living room, a kitchen, or anywhere for our dog to sleep other than in the middle of the chilly tile hallway floor.

And we sold the Ranch. For a $45,000 loss. And that hurts. It is a beautiful, beautiful place, and I am sad to see it go for such an undervalued price. We have until the 15th of January to vacate the premises. Excuse me while I go mope for a bit.

Happy Thanksgiving though. And rest comfortably in the knowledge that I have made it through another year, and now reside at 38 years of age!

Cramming

2008-11-03T21:40:00.001-08:00

I'm not going to kid y'all. I am agonizing over this election. I can't even believe that it isn't a done deal. Here we have two men. One was a community organizer and congressional law professor, the other chose Palin as a running mate. How on earth could you be undecided?

So as any good election agonizer would do, I have spent all day on the internets looking up propositions and local elected officials. And here is the fruit of my labor...

First of all we don't have a democrat running for our Congressional Representative. Well, we sort of do, but he's a write in candidate, with a funny name. So we don't expect much, but doesn't he look like a nice guy? All democratty and stuff? All earthy crunchy, wants to save the worldy? So if by any chance you happen to be in the California 19th Congressional District, write in (and x the box) for Peter Leinau! Yay democrats!

Now moving on to State officials... It seems that here in the 25th Assembly District, we have a Republican currently in office (Berryhill, I believe). But that could change! Maybe. Iffin' this adorable youngster gets his way, that is! OMG, he's so dreamy! I feel like the naughty housewife secretly watching the shirtless highschooler cut the grass! Tee hee hee! Scroll down to the bottom of his official website. Do you see it? You can join his Facebook group! Tee hee hee! Best of luck wee little budding democrat! May you make it to the State Assembly. Or out of Junior College, whichever comes first!

Now on to some CA Propositions...

Just so's you know, Prop 7 and Prop 10 sound like good environmental measures in the wee little blurby format. But some pretty respectable folks are against them: California League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the deal breaker, the Union of Concerned Scientists. I feel like the UoCS motto should be "We know more than you. Yes, you."

So anywhoo, they are against Prop 7 and Prop 10, and their arguments make sense.

So read up my earthy crunchy hipsters. Find out exactly who and what you're voting for. And get to bed, for heaven's sake! Its late and you have to vote in the morning! Tee hee!

Hallways, Hungarians, and Halloween

2008-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

So my Dad's visit came to an end last Sunday. Tank boy still can't stop talking about taking Grampa to the airport to go on the big airplane. But the true icing on the cake of Dad's visit was the gorgeous flooring we got installed last Friday and Saturday. So the master bedroom has gone from this...

to this...

Furniture gets moved in this weekend! Whoo hoo! (Mind you this is only for two bedrooms and one bathroom, the rest of the house is still completely uninhabitable. Seriously. Like no back walls, and no subfloor. Yeah, really.

Anywhoo, to accomplish this there was much cleaning, taping, and painting by my tireless dad (even the stinky dog pee subfloor got painted!). And then a day and a half Pergo push by Pops and I. To start we had to carry all of this...

Up these...

Good thing they build us Hungarians hardy! So wish us luck in setting up a temporary kitchen in the hallway and making due at the new place for a few days next week! (We even have hot water now!)

Looking forward to tonight, I was getting Tank in the mood for some costume wearing...

He bids y'all a Happy Halloween!

In The Words of Dory the Fish...

2008-10-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

Grampa has been here for more than a week now, and we've been working him to the bone on the new/old house remodel. (And utilizing his skills as a toddler book reader.) But before we wore him down too badly we took him into the park for a look see and a short hike around. Here is Tankster showing us the way to go...

Honestly the last week has been rather a blur of work (both in and out of the home), toddler care, laundry for four, meal preparation, driving, shopping for food and home remodel supplies, and coordination phone calls between all the various and sundry folks putting different pieces of our house together. I had a bit of a hissy fit on Friday and the Hub graciously granted me a whole day to myself on Sunday. One luxurious obligation free day! So I finally got out to see the fire damaged area, attended a yoga class, hiked by the river with a friend and her dogs, and stayed up late for a girlie craft night. All in one day! I feel much better today.

But alas, each member of my immediate family had a hit of bad news today, so I think we're all reeling a bit. Lets hope that things like this come in threes, meaning that we're all done with bad news for now! Just keep swimming...

Jeepers Creepers!

2008-10-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Seeing as our "new" (old) house is no where ready for us to move into yet, I am still doing the 1 hour + work commute each way, three days a week. Which is okay if the Hub is on the same schedule, because then he drives halfway and I can knit or nap as I please. But sometimes he has meetings elsewhere and I drive the whole way my self, bleah.

Enter the podcast. Whoever invented these things is a genius! (For those of us who live in the middle of nowhere and don't get ANY radio reception.) Even after an hour of driving, sometimes I want to sit in my car and finish the current 'cast...

So anywhoo, last week I was listening to NPR's "This American Life", and this segment came on about parenting. It was engagingly told and wonderfully inspiring and also the perfect reminder about what our job is, as parents. I HIGHLY recommend popping over and giving it a listen if you have a few minutes.

And on a semi-related note I'd like to share some of the irresistibly cute words Tank Boy uses these days:
He is getting very good at remembering his "Pweeses and Tank You's"
He loves to watch the "bummy bees" in the garden.
Whenever we slow down in the car he says "Is dat a deer?"
He hopelessly mangles the words "grocery store".
We stopped the car on our dirt road the other day to watch a tarantula creep slowly across, so he is now very into "stiders".
He really wants to add tons of "stalt" to all of his food.
And I nearly die every time he says "Bye bye, wuvs you!"

So thanks Dad, for reading to my sister and I every single darn night. Little did I know what a huge gift you were really giving us! So, while I may not want to correct all of Tank's cute mispronunciations right now, I am rededicated to daily, nightly, and nigh-on constant book reading to my kid. It really is that simple!

Big Money, Big Money!

2008-09-29T13:57:00.001-07:00

So I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had entered some knit items in the Mariposa County Fair. And I may or may not have mentioned that I was blessed with third place ribbons for both of my entries, yay me! And here they are in all their prizewinning glory,

a hat

and a pair of socks

And not only do I get bragging rights, I actually get a cash money prize! Sort of...

Yep, siree. One dollar! Tee hee. They probably spent way more in time, effort and postage, poor things. Now I just have one question for y'all.

Is the mascot on the above ribbons a butterfly wearing ruffled bell bottoms?

I thought so.

Not For The Faint of Heart

2008-09-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dudes. Do you wanna see some scary stuff? Well grab your teddy bears and safety blankets...

The house that we bought was pretty bad to start with...

Then the termite repair started...

Bathroom before and after...

And just the post destruction picture of my future craft room...

Um, yes. That is our house up on jacks. Our contractor had a nasty health issue that needed to be tended to last week. So we were a bit more open to the elements for a little longer than desired. I guess they patched him up for now, and supposedly he's back to work this week. Eeek. Send him some nice healing thoughts, we promise we'll take it easy on him, and hopefully we'll all come out the other end of this process none the worse for the wear...

A Week Late, But A Month Early...

2008-09-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a bit behind on the old bloggy here. So here is a quick recap from two weekends ago... The highlight was the County Fair, of course. Tankster loved seeing all the animals, we saw sheep, pigs, cattle, bunnies and all manner of fowl...

Its funny that he looks so mezmerized by chickens here, as they have two at his daycare that free range among the kiddos. But the turkeys were taller than him, and many of the pigeons were above eye level, so chickens it was!

Here he is checking his line while driving a tractor through the fair crowds. I tell you, its the best way to get to the front of the line for the choo choo train ride...

And here he is NOT displaying any of the joy or glee that the train ride actually brought him. He LOVED this thing. Wanted to ride it all night. They make you buy tickets to ride the rides, so somehow it seemed less like money then. So we actually ended up spending WAY more on this silly thing than we should have. He's also too small to ride alone, so one of us got to go each time, doubling the cost. Eeek. He rode one other roller coaster-y kid ride, but he really didn't like it, and kept asking for the choo choo again. So we caved. Big softies.

There was one more highlight to the fair, that I forgot to get a picture of. I had entered socks and a hat in the crafts part, and they both won third place in their division! Woot woot!

Sunday we had planned to actually do more agricultural (and knitting focused) exploration, as I thought it was the "Mariposa Agri-Nature Trail/Weekend in the Country" weekend. So we drove out to the local alpaca farm. Just as we got there, I actually looked at the pamphlet in my hand and noticed that it was supposed to take place at the end of September, not the end of August. We were a whole month early. Oops.

Karen and John couldn't have been any nicer about our mistake, and gave us our own personal tour anyway. I hope to be able to return the favor and maybe get a group of local knitting ladies to come out and peruse her fiber wares during the regular tour weekend!

Next up! A wedding outside of LA, Tanks first ocean visit, and kicking the ball around on a college football field...

Honk Honk

2008-08-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

So when you wake up in the middle of the night to hear your wee son honking and barking like a performing circus seal, you will soon come to know the joy that is croup. A quick call to the Blue Cross advice nurse landed us in the lovely rural John C. Freemont Hospital at 11:30 Friday night. Whoo hoo, party weekend.

On the plus side there was no line and no waiting. On the down side we had to physically restrain our (strong!) little tot to administer the vaporizer medicine. The nurse kept assuring us that it was a completely normal reaction for a two year old, but somehow that didn't make the fat tears rolling down his chubby cheeks, the balled fists, and the raw two year old anger any easier to take. Eventually he crumpled into a resigned and sweaty lump in Poppa's lap and let the Horkasaurus do its job.

Then he forgot it all and gleefully downed a cup of steroids diluted with grape juice. And asked for more. Ah, that's my boy. Won over by the sweet allure of fruit squeezin's, the little juiceaholic. And then we were sent home with advice to keep a close eye on him for the rest of the night. So momma got to sleep on the floor with her thrashy little tot, who did stupendously the rest of the night. And now we are the proud owners of a new cool mist humidifier. And the Tanskster is doing awesome, with nary a honk in the last 24 hours.

Oh, hey, and did I mention that last week Tank and I were snuggling on the couch after an especially traumatic splinter removal when things went a little wrong? Tank was coming in for an exceptionally vehement snuggle and accidentally head butted momma square in the schnozz. Crunch. Spurt. Instant double-nostril nosebleed. Wow. I've never had one of those before. I can't imagine being a boxer, because, dude, that was a deal breaker! Momma was pretty much done for the day!

So cross yer fingers that we all make it through this next week with our bits and pieces still attached. We really like our bits and pieces!

Got Sledgehammer?

2008-08-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hello there! So things are moving forward here, I've started my new (old) job, back in Yosemite Valley for three days a week. I will be doing construction inspection on some sewer line replacement. Fun, huh? And now to get totally geeky on you, I will tell you why some if this will be especially interesting... The contractor will be doing directional drilling! Whoo hoo! Meaning instead of opening a gigantic long pit in the ground and laying pipe in the bottom of it, they will be drilling horizontally through the ground and hauling the pipe through behind it. Neeto, and less damaging environmentally! I knew you'd be just as excited as I!

I will mention here that it is very sad to leave my old job, they were nothing but wonderful. But the new job will be much closer to the new home. And speaking of which...

We are also starting some stuff on the new house. We meet with an electrician today to try and make it less of a spontaneous-bonfire-house potential, and then we will be seeing the lead paint inspectors in the next week or two. I'm not gonna sugar coat this at all. This house is a pit. It is disgusting. It needs a new roof,

new electrical,

new foundation, new flooring and an entirely new kitchen. There is a 2 foot by 1 foot hole in the floor of the bathroom. It stinks. (Um, literally, like really smelly.) But let me enumerate the benefits to you (so that I don't forget them myself!)

We will be living in El Portal, right on the border of Yosemite, closer to all of the fun things that we all love to do!
It is a wonderful neighborhood to raise kids in!
It is scads closer to The Hub's office, and Tankster's daycare, and with gas prices that is significant.
It is right next to a fire hydrant, and in this flammable state, that is significant.
It has city water and sewer, no more worrying about dry wells and overflowing septic systems.
It has fast internet. (If only it were in time for these fabulous olympic days!)
It has a better elementary school. (A few years down the road, but not too far!)
It has four(!) bedrooms, so we will have a guest room for all of you! (Maybe not all at once though...)
We already have friends in the neighborhood.
It has a mother-in-law apartment for monthly income or future housing of The Father-In-Law.

The house will be walking distance to the river, post office, community center, and when they get it rebuilt (after its own spontaneous-bonfiring earlier this year) the new community market. (Photo by B. Popp, not Potts like they list it!)

So it will be a good thing. But right now its a scary thing. An expensive, time consuming, dusty, dirty, smelly, and scary thing. So I might need your help in the future, if not actually toting that bale, then just mentally helping me stay in the game here. Just tell me that this thing has potential, okay?

All pictures from Ken Card of Advanced Home Inspections.

From Flashes To Flames

2008-08-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

So three weeks ago I got to go on that wonderful all gals climbing trip to the East Side of the Sierras. Despite living on Advil for the aforementioned persistent headache and then breaking a chunk off of my car, I had a really fabulous time! The company was amazing, the climbing challenging yet satisfying. So without further ado, here is my standard MO, a slide show of fun...

And then we came home and there was this pesky fire thing, and even peskier evacuation thing and then before you know it your hard earned calloused fingertips are peeling off...

But we are back in the old homestead now, with nothing more damaging than ash on the back porch and spoiled food in the freezer. Can I just mention here how much we LOVE OUR FIREMEN!?

(Hmm, the slide show is looking a bit iffy on the preview, I'll deal with it tomorrow if it isn't working right...)

Hum hum hum, la la la...

2008-07-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, we are fine, though still among the fire refugees. My husband has been much better at updating about this thing, so feel free to pop over there to check out his super duper telephoto pictures and insider information mappage.

I'm feeling a bit like hiding my head into the sand right now, so here are the long promised pictures of some finished knitting projects...

Tadaaa, the Reid sweater from the Spring 2006 knitty.com

and the Spring Forward socks from the Summer 2008 knitty.com , and of course a little sneaker who popped into the shot!

I've also made yet another Foliage Hat because a woolie knit hat is just what one needs during 100 degree fire weather. No pictures yet, seeing as I don't really know where my toothbrush is, let alone my camera...

Up next, pictures of climbing from two weekends ago!

Lessons in Materialism

2008-07-26T22:19:00.001-07:00

Oh crap kiddos, we've been evacuated from our house. Tank, Hub, dog, cat, and I are all out of the area, safe at a friend's house for now. There was an engine stationed in our driveway when we left. Our house was still standing as of 5 pm. I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Its All In My Head

2008-07-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

I am still around, and have oh so much to share with y'all, from housing and job changes, to knitting accomplishments, and an all girls climbing weekend. Except for one tiny thing. A six day headache. The CT scan says I'm fine. Funny, I still don't feel it. Be back as soon as I can.

Doing Things And Makin' Stuff...

2008-07-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

So the fourth was wonderful here. Well, not here actually, but in Tahoe where we went. We got to stay in our usually rented house for the first time in 5 years or so, which was wonderful, despite the fact that there is no furniture, cooking utensils or other housewares. We got to see bazillions of friends, and their kids, so big and so wee! Tank boy got to go kayaking on Lake Tahoe with his Daddy and got to see his first fireworks, which he loved! (Which started an hour and a half after regular bedtime, eek!)

It all started out rather quietly for me, as The Hub took The Tank up two days earlier in the hybrid, while I logged in another two days at work. The quiet nights at home were a nice treat, taking full advantage I; battered and sauted up some local organic eggplant (yum!), did my new yoga video, and of course knit.

Then I caught the bus, to the train, to another bus, to yet another bus, to finally meet the family Truckee. Though this sounds complicated, it was all really UNstressful, as I was not traveling with a toddler, nor was I having to do the 5 hours of driving. So it was nap and knitville for me!

Truckee then was a whirl of Fourth celebrations (parades, picnics, open houses and lake splashing) and home improvement preparations. (The rental house master bath has been hurtin' for certain for years now.) But the Home Despot delivery should arrive there today and the contractor (slash old mountain biking buddy) starts work tomorrow! Aside from the cranky shouting match I initiated with the husband after wiping out in the Home Depot parking lot, skinning a knee, losing my son's helium balloon and flashing my panties to the general public, it was an awesomely fun AND productive weekend! Hope y'all had just as much fun, but slightly better traction!

Oh! And if you want to enter the easiest contest ever to win some yarn, go give KnittyK8 a book recommendation!

Out Of My Comfort Zone

2008-06-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend right as the thunderstorms hit CA, we took Tank Boy camping for the first time. I'm not a big "car camper", I admit, it seems silly to me to drive somewhere relatively close and pretend you don't have a house with a kitchen and a bathroom at your immediate disposal. (Backpacking is different, and so is camping as a cheap method of lodging...) Anywhoo, it was actually quite pleasant (after the quick rain, lightning and thunder passed) as we were camping in a Redwood grove with loads of other families that we knew. And Tank Boy loved it. One of the highlights for him was definitely this:

a lady bug swarm.

I did enjoy this:

and this:

Which was basically sitting on my rump with good friends and knitting. And speaking of knitting, I'm almost finished with this cute girlie sweater for my niece, shown here on a reluctant Tankster...

And backtracking to those thunderstorms, the Hoop family is lookin' into a move. I'm frankly a little freaked out by the fire danger here, the Hoop Ranch quite a ways from the nearest fire hydrant, surrounded by 6 acres of dry grass and brush, and at the top of a steep uncleared ridge. Eeep. We'll keep you posted, but send wet rainy thoughts our way in the mean time. Thanks!

Sniffle...

2008-06-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Bears, Bikes, Bums, and Bidding Adieu

2008-06-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this little awareness test thingy. You gotta give it a try and then come on back...

All I gotta say is its a good thing I'm on the bike! And speaking of bicycles, I've got some catching up to do! Two weekends ago I got to go on a girlie's weekend trip, for some road biking in the SF Bay Area. No one was more surprised than I to find out that the plan was to bike 80 miles in two days. 80 frickin miles!

And, unlike some of the other gals, this was pretty much "off the couch" for me. Which makes for a rotten sore bum. AND a great jump start on the bicycling season! So now the bike is out, she's tuned, air filled and ready to go, therefore I've started in on the once a week challenge. (Which I read about somewhere online, but now cannot find for the life o' me.) Anywhoo, I have officially biked to and from work one day a week, for two whole weeks! Woot woot! Its very good motivation to get out the door early, as it has been hitting the 90's here by midmorning. Phew!

And speaking of getting out the door, and therefore leaving, we are facing a sad day tomorrow. Tank Boy's best friend, T Man, is moving across the country. Poor Tankster has no idea what "moving away" means yet.

We love you, T Man and send you off with best wishes but heavy hearts.

Since Y'all Know All My Answers Already...

2008-06-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today's post is the result of a) way too much time farting around on the internet, b) being way too big of a geek, and c) the Blue Garter knit blog...

Using fd’s Flickr Toys,

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

1. Suzie Q, 2. The strawberry incident..., 3. Isengard, 4. Orange Explosion, 5. ani difranco 13, 6. Tropical Lime Smoothie (1/2), 7. knitting grafitti, 8. Creme Brulee, 9. Green Roof Model, 10. Being outdoors, 11. She'll Try Anything Once, 12. 5hulahoop_kl3

Climbing: Off To A Rocky Start (heh heh)...

2008-06-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

So the plan on Sunday was to go climbing. I woke up an hour before I had to leave, plenty of time to gather the few remaining things and add them to the pack, kiss the family and go. Then the suspicious intestinal rumbling started. An hour and a half, a few hasty trips to the loo, and three Immodium tablets later I finally had the car packed. Thank goodness for the wonder of modern medicine!

Then, at long last, I'm on my way tootling down the road (on a nearly empty tank, but heading toward a gas station) when I come upon the traffic light regulating cars through the one lane area around Ye Olde Landslide. To be sure to save every drop of gas I turn off the car. Then the light changes, I mash the Prius start button, and... nothing. A light or two comes on on the dash board, but no engine, electric or otherwise. Hmm. Repeated button mashing, key fob fondling, and arm out the window waving traffic by... Phooey! I'm really late now! (Fortunately the intestinal distress seems to be completely in check, thank heavens.) No cell phone service in the river canyon though.

A nice couple stops and tries their hand at mashing the start button, to no avail. They get out, I get in, and Voila! Starts up like a charm. Hmmm. Drive straight to climbing partner's house to find that indeed, he has not given up on me and left for parts unknown. Yay! We take his car.

And go do this:

Looking up the third pitch (rope length) to Climbing Partner Bill up there...

CPB working through the crux of the climb on pitch five... (He's 6 foot something, so we definitely did it differently!)

Requisite self portrait. Note the incredibly beautiful day behind me!

Job well done CPB!

I wanted to post a contrast photo of the young whippersnappers who came up behind us, with their shirtless, helmetless fancy freeness, but evidently I'm over my daily quota for blogger photos or something, so you'll have to use your imagination. I just have one word for them... Sunburn! No wait, two more... Skin Cancer! No wait, another two! Head Trauma! Okay, done now. Enjoy your day!

On Falls: Prat- and Otherwise

2008-05-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Where do you go when your entire Memorial Day weekend has looked like this

and this?

Why, here of course!

Where its always wet and drizzly due to the thunderous Vernal Falls!

Especially right now with the spring run off AND rain.

This here is Auntie Lolo, and she was here for a wonderous ten days to help around the house and provide free daycare! And how do we repay her? We dress her funny and march her up a soggy trail. We're nice.

It was a lovely hike, though just at the top I got all cocky and tried to pass someone and fell SMACK on my butt bone. With The Tank in the tummy pack. Owie. I am still sitting funny. Here I am seconds later faking like it didn't really hurt. Can you tell?

Hope y'alls weekends (and well, honestly, the week that has passed since then too) were just as lovely!

A Cranky Rant Segued Into A Charity Fundraiser

2008-05-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

I am a BAD GIRL. Or I will be. Tomorrow I plan on breaking the law. Or at least the law as one (sorta cranky) brit sees it. I started making those crazee knit beaded necklaces after I read about them in her "un-pattern". Then I asked her IF I COULD GIVE HER MONEY to use her idea and try and sell some. She said no. No, wait a minute, she said no in a way that made me embarrassed I even asked. Which left me with an awkward feeling of unfriendliness, something that seems rather rare in the knitting community.

Anywhoo. So tomorrow I am breakin' the law, and putting this lovely set up for auction:

Now mind you, I am not just being flagrantly obstreperous here. This is a charity auction fundraiser slash dinner event for No More Victims. So there will be no money entering my actual pocket. I am donating time and effort to a cause that supports innocent children with war wounds. I dare her to take umbrage at that.

Oh, and these, I designed them myself. And if anyone wants to copy them and sell them on etsy, be my frickin guest!

How Can I NOT Share?

2008-05-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

My husband is a Mac guy. He is the reason that I am addicted to the internets and all its features, good and bad. He has already gotten our offspring to join in the fray with an old neon green clamshell mac laptop. Tank Boy's computer plays a version of something called Alpha Baby where we can upload pictures and they are randomly displayed, with their names spoken aloud, at the touch of any key. (Everything from "shark" to "cousin Millie"!) So here he is, in all his splendor, created in our image: pajamas, crazy bedhead, crusty nose and all...

And because he has to have some of momma's traits, here he is displaying his almost insatiable thirst for the fruity berry smoothie...

And on the subject of displaying your family's embarrassing moments online I have to bring up another blog. I have been a long-time reader of Dooce . She was recently interviewed on the Today show, and of course they tried to stir up some controversy about public airing of home life. I love how she addresses this (and well pretty much everything) on her blog...

Will you resent me for this website? Absolutely. And I have spent hours and days and months of my life considering this, weighing your resentment against the good that can come from being open and honest about what it's like to be your mother, the good for you, the good for me, and the good for other women who read what I write here and walk away feeling less alone. And I have every reason to believe that one day you will look at the thousands of pages I have written about my love for you, the thousands of pages other women have written about their own children, and you're going to be so proud that we were brave enough to do this. We are an army of educated mothers who have finally stood up and said pay attention, this is important work, this is hard, frustrating work and we're not going to sit around on our hands waiting for permission to do so. We have declared that our voices matter.

We are bloggers, hear us roar! Tee hee.