Let Me Count The Ways!

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?

Too Busy To Take Photos, Alas

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!

Bounceapalooza!

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

A basket full of superballs and a flight of stairs!

Huzzah!

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!

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

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

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!

Giddyap!

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.

Home Improvement, Schmome Improvement!

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!

Two For One Coupon Day?

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!

Progress!

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...

0.37 Millimeters, Actually

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?

Big Money, Big Money!

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.

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

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

FOUND!

Lone West Coaster wandering the empty aisles of the Howard County Fairgrounds in Maryland after a spectacular Sunday (a whole week ago!) including some of these scenes...

AKA, momma took a solo trip to the east coast for family, fun, and fibers! Highlights included: a boozy lunch with the brother in law, a girlie shopping day at the Steve and Barry's, the country's largest Sheep and Wool Festival and just plain relaxing on the plane with knitting, music, and 36 channels to chose from. It was glorious!

So I'm back home now with a sick tot and husband, and lots and lots of yarn to knit! Life is good!

Iridescent Viridescence

The holiday weekend couldn't have been more picturesque here in the Sierra Foothills. The Tankster participated in his second and third egg hunts of the season. I had one too many mimosas at the Saturday hunt and therefore didn't take one picture. But for those in the know, check out the Hub's page and you'll find a whole slew o pic's, many of which contain me and my drink in hand! Wheee!

On Sunday I was a bit more saintly, and managed to remember how to operate the old point n shoot! The Hub couldn't believe I was really planning on dressing our offspring in a baby blue seersucker shorts suit. But now that he's seen the pictures, he knows why parents dress their kids funny, because they are SO DAMN CUTE, that's why!



It was a gorgeous day at a friend's gramma's house where they've been holding the family egg hunt for over 35 years now. These folks are serious. They own 10 acres, and put out eggs for kids and young adults alike, with prizes that range from three jelly beans and two nickels to crisp $20 bills! They make up baskets of toys for the little kids and ALSO give out prizes after the egg hunt too! Its a win win win situation for all hunters!




By the end of the day, many participants were plum tuckered and ready for some serious lounging...



And on a similar greenery note, I would like to take a moment to document a stage in my son's life. He likes salads. Eats whole bowls. I'm not counting on this lasting long, nor on people believing me. So here it is, Tank vs. Salad, with salad losing big!

No Wonder We Got On Different Trains...

So lovely little Heath Ledger has died. This is going to sound completely mental, but I shirt you not, I had a dream that he and I were hanging out (in the subway if you must know) the night before he died. Just chatting and waiting for the train, there might have been the teeniest bit of flirting, or that might have been wishful thinking on my part.

Yeah, I thought he was a babe, but I had no idea we were connected on such a metaphysical, dream-worthy, level. And just because that last picture of him on the above link is so gawdawful I'd like to leave on this note of period piece hottness...

Hippo Gnu Dear!

I just wanted to wish y'all a happy new year and let you in on the best new years that I've ever had. I think that I've always had disappointing NYE's because it is the end of the holidays (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and I feel the need to squeeze, milk, and cram in all the rest of my winter fun in before the post-holiday blues set in. Augh, the pressure!

But this year we planned to go low key. Really, really low key. So new years eve passed with some pleasant knitting, a new-to-us episode of Gilmore Girls, and some marital snuggling. New Years Day found us meeting up with a group of new friends (all with kids) for a mellow hike along the river. We walked, we chatted, and we snacked. All with pleasant weather and wonderful people. Then we toddled on home to play with Tank Boy's new train set in front of the Christmas tree. Molly cat even joined us for a cuddle on the carpet.

It was a crazy feeling of being exactly where I needed to be. Here's to that kind of peace all year!

A Freakin' Dog?!

Those of you who have read or seen The Golden Compass, you know what a Daemon is... For those who haven't, it is sort of a dimension of your soul that lives outside your body and is a constant companion, never able to be more than a few yards from you. Each person's daemon reflects their personality, so I took the wee test and came up with a dog?! Known for obedience? Pah! What do y'all think?



And take it yourselves, k? I wanna know if there are any fellow blind followers out there!

Uh Oh...

I may have recently become rather obsessed with my newest craft sensation...



I may not search out the twelve step until after the holidays.

Remnants...

(Get it? Fiber arts joke there, heh heh.)

This morning my house was scattered with these pleasant reminders from my First Ever Stitch N Bitch! (Along with a completely unhealthy amount of spinach dip in the fridge, that I am most definitely NOT having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner today, ahem.) So not only was this my first SnB ever, but it seems to be the first in the area as well. (This decade at least...) Go Julie the Cruise Director!

It was lovely! There was wine and snacks and fibers galore! It made me so happy to actually have it happen that I didn't want to clean up the wineglasses, crust of crostini, and ball bands (ooo, that sounds dirty!). But seein' as I scoured the house before inviting the public in, it seems a picture will have to do.