new words abound

as in Fi sings "Mary had a witto man" and some song from Dora that is entirely in Spanish. Lib says "tody" which has trumped Fi who still says "Toey". There are others that I can't think of just now; but the pronunciation is getting better & the sentences are getting longer for both.

The strangest thing, while my friend Grace was visiting, every day Fi would refer to her as "hey". And all day she would ask "what's your friend's name?" Lib knew it every time & would even answer Fi b4 I did. Don't know what that was about but it was interesting.

Also about every other day since we've been back from vaca Fi tells me that she wants to go on an airplane again. When I ask her to go where, she replies "to gramma & grampa's" with this tone in her voice that implies "of course! where else would I go???!!" Last week she added that she wants to go there to play w/ (cousin)AJ.

old becomes new

a scrubbed up hand-me-down croc

revised edition of Fiona's last season crocs

lucky little libby will be the envy of the playground...amazing what a little soap, water, & acrylic paint can do

we did have snow on the ground the day before

another beautiful day....


the little girls especially look alike when Libby wears pigtails too 

Fi planting her pinwheel...unfortunately, Cody the hard plastic chewing bad dog got ahold of it & the stem is now half the size 

"around and around and around and around and around and around and around...." so sayeth Libby whilst the pinwheel spun 

two lilacs

I love the way these lilacs form a kind of arbor. I'm envisioning a park bench of some kind & my own private shrine. The flowers haven't quite opened but I can smell them when I open the back door. mmmmmmm

lacey dishcloth

I needed a quick fix finished project b/c the wrist warmers aren't finished & I really need to start the branching out scarves. Hence the crocheted dishcloth in sugar n cream. It's a bright dark orange that is soon to be the new accent color in our kitchen. I've never done one of these before; it was quite satisfying completing something so pretty in a few hours.

CSI opinion amended

Okay, I have to say that CSI Miami is actually quite visually stimulating; the colors are always vibrant & lovely to look at -which is something that no other show on t.v is doing. So it looks great in HD. And they're doing this thing now where individual steps in a process are filmed -don't know the technical term for the technique- that's interesting to watch; it reminds me of some old cop show, maybe Mod Squad or Emergency. Anyway, that said it's still the script that kills it for me.

Boulder

So my best friend from high school visited this past weekend from FL. We had been inseperable from 8th to 12th grades. She moved to FL, I moved to PGH. We still got together every couple years or so & kept in touch on the phone, etc. Fast forward a bunch of years & we haven't seen each other in 8 years! EIGHT! It was making me sad. So in Feb. she booked a flight for April. And it was a blast. It's one of those friendships that it seems no time or distance has passed since we last met.

It was a much needed break from kids & home ***thank you G for you're support & help around the house this weekend!***

We went to Boulder on Friday b/c she had never been. And I haven't been for awhile. A long while, it turns out. There are so many new buildings & new businesses. Some of my favorites were still there, thank goodness. It's not as picturesque as it used to be. Alot of new builds that are just. new. It's alot more crowded downtown b/c of that. Many buildings crammed in to a little space kind of thing. And not necessarily esthetically pleasing either. C'est la vie. Don't know what it is about the US that impells us to tear down beautiful old buildings to erect nondescript new ones. Well, that would be the almighty dollar, I guess. Must capitalize on the space given. And in Boulder that would mean building UP rather than OUT.

I found some neat stores that I hadn't seen before. Bliss was one. Cute stuff. Very inspirational crafty-wise.

I hadn't realized it's been so long since I've been to Boulder. There are many places that I've forgotten about & so didn't remember to visit. Next time. We ended up eating at Juanita's for lunch. It was the same. Tasty but not as good as our local Little Anita's for Mexican. But the service was refreshingly down to earth. Next time I'll have to remember Rocky Mountain Joe's and the Dushanbe Teahouse. And Illegal Pete's (although there is one in Park Meadow's now)(which reminds me, next time I'm down there, guess where I'll be eating?!)

Had to stop in at Everybody for lotion. And Into the Wind for a birthday gift (that was a difficult store to keep the babies in their stroller). Picked up some paper from Two Hands Paperie. One print for the playroom & 2 others for the girls' closet doors. Will post pics when completed.

We stopped to play in the playground near Madster's old daycare. Boulder Day Nursery. By far The Best Daycare I have ever found. I'm loathe to have to find daycare for the babies b/c nothing compares. They were having a ton of fun & the only way I could get them to leave was to promise them to see the water fountains (in front of the courthouse) next. Sadly, the fountains are only on after June. So we mosied on down to the big boulders there b/t 13th & Broadway. And the only way to get them to leave there was to promise them snowcones. Bummer the snowcone cart is gone. But there was Italian Ice which was equally delicious -maybe even more so. And decidedly less messy than snowcones would have been.

Finally got to stop in at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins. Lovely store but my stash overfloweth at the moment. I really liked the way they had labeled each section of yarn with yards, guage, fiber content, price, etc. It was all really organized & easy to find what I might need.

It was a long day. Surprisingly, the babies didn't sleep one wink on the ride home.

To be continued...

jumped the shark

I am so finished with CSI -in any city. It was soooooo entertaining even until last season. All the high tech gadgets, the interesting crimes, and every crime is solved by the end of an hour. AND there was little to no continuous storyline that had to be followed so closely that an episode couldn't be missed. I could (un)happily miss a few weeks and never feel like I was missing something crucial to the show. Albeit I have never really liked Miami b/c H has the personality of an ant. Is this purposeful or is it the acting ability of David Caruso? And he's got the corniest one-liners I've ever heard (at least on The Shield the one-liners are humorous) which he delivers with absolutely zero facial expression. I was highly doubtful of NY's ability to deliver a pleasing show with Gary Sinese in the lead...much to my surprise the series turned out to be quite good & Sinese portrays his character well and with skill.

So as the crime scene spins, Miami turned out to be OKAY with the most soap opera qualities (which makes me not want to watch). NY has by far the goriest details. Vegas was still my favorite. Super high tech. Characters (or actors) whose personalities work well together on-screen. Near weekly twists in the plots.

So why the long face now? I think it was Vegas' season finale last year w/ the Tarantino action scene (which I was initially looking forward to -until it aired & it was entirely out of sync with the rest of the season) and Nick's burial with the ants being broadcast online for the crime lab to watch. It was bizarre & so very unbelievable. And now the scripts have all become formulaic to the extent where it's so obvious who the perp is (EVERY episode has the suspect saying "prove it" after which each crime lab does so...boring. why even bother watching if there is no intrigue??!!) Plus there is more and more continuous storyline. If I want to watch a soap opera, I'll watch the Sopranos.

Last week was the last straw: First, Miami has a freakin' tidal wave; then Vegas has the Barkers ?!?!?!?! as guest stars; and next week NY will guest star Kid Rock. It's all a little much. (Although NY's cliffhanger ending does make me want to tune in next week). I could overlook the fact that the female investigators wore heels & designer clothes...on the job & in the field. And that EVERY crime is solved with the most incredibly unbelievable Bat toys. But I just can't waste my time any longer with the poor script & predictable plot. Booooooooring. So sad, but I must cut the cord.

huh?

I was just forwarded this email. My opinion is after....

"GAS WAR - an idea that WILL workThis was originally sent by a retired Coca Colaexecutive It came from one of his engineer buddieswho retired from Halliburton. It's worth yourconsideration.Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going tohit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it mightgo higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? Weneed to take some intelligent, united action.Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makesMUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certainday" campaign that was going around last April or May!The oil companies just laughed at that because theyknew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves byrefusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenienceto us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoeverthought of this idea, has come up with a plan that canreally work. Please read on and join with us!By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced atabout $1.50 is
super cheap. Me too! It is currently$2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that theoil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned usto think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at$1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action toteach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..notsellers. With the price of gasoline going up more eachday, we consumers need to take action. The only way weare going to see the price of gas come down is if wehit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing theirgas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.How?Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stopbuying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices ifwe all act together to force a price war.Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'Tpurchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies(which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are notselling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce theirprices. If they reduce their prices, the othercompanies will have to follow suit. But to have animpact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxonand Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now,don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading andI'll explain how simple it is to reach millions ofpeople!!I am sending this note to over 30 people. If each of ussend it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... andthose 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reachesthe sixth group of people, we will have reached overTHREE MILLION consumers.If those three million get excited and pass this on toten friends each, then 30 million people will havebeen contacted! If it goes on e level further, youguessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people.That's all!(If you don't understand
how we can reach 300 millionand all you have to do is send this to 10 people....Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician.But I am . so trust me on this one.) :-)How long would all that take? If each of us sendsthis e-mail out to ten more people within one day ofreceipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably becontacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet youdidn't think you and I had that much potential, didyou! Acting together we can make a difference.If this makes sense to you, please pass this messageon. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTILTHEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEPTHEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK."


In all sincerity, I don't think that lowering the price of gasoline is the issue that we should be concerned with. The increasing price of gasoline is still just an INCONVENIENCE to us spoiled US citizens. Lowering the price of gas does nothing to encourage folks to quit driving huge ass gas guzzling vehicles. It does nothing to make our government do something about providing mass transit. It does nothing to instigate ride sharing nor the use of fuel efficient vehicles. Lowering gas prices will merely make it easier for us to more quickly deplete the already limited supply of fossil fuels. I mean, wtf. At the going rate, there will be NO oil left by the time I'm 80 years old. Hmmm. That's only 40 years away. Only. My kids will be 58, 48, 43, 42. I will probably have grandkids. maybe great grandkids. And there will be no oil left to get around.

I think the real issue at hand is to demand of our lawmakers to do something about MAKING car companies to design and sell at reasonable prices more hybrid cars. NOW not 30 years from now. And to impose limits on the fuel efficiency of future cars. I mean, other countries have done so. People don't all drive V8s or even 6 cylindars. Cars in Europe MUST get higher gas mileage than ours do (I see more and more wasteful vehicles on the road here...c'mon, is a hummer really necessary for urban driving? Or even a pathfinder or jeep? Status symbols all. 12 mpg sounds more like contributing to the problem not helping). There is a congestion tax for people who choose to actually drive in London that I thought would be a novel idea here, albeit probably wouldn't fly. But sensible anyway.

Personally, I will not participate in this type of "protest". I will continue to be a conscientious consumer & drive less, drive smaller, shop for hybrids, utilize mass transit. And every day I thank god that my dad no longer has to deal with the idiocy of gas companies & people's presumptions of how gas prices are figured.

Spring has sprung

our lovely forsythia.

we always had one at my parents' house. I've always liked them. Now I have one of my very own! The plan is to have a privacy fence put in behind it so the escape artist Cody can no longer escape (already have the privacy fence on two other sides)

We also have 3 lilac bushes...I can't wait to see/smell them in bloom. Lilacs are my absolute favorite!

easter basket goodness

before and after pix.

Must tell the story behind the baskets. my mom made one for Snick when she was little. When she was finished my dad said "that's a funny looking rabbit" It was indeed the white cat. Snick loved it anyway. When Madster was little my mom made the "correct" basket w/ a white bunny. Upon it's arrival in the post, Madster declared that she wanted a kitty basket like Snick's. Hence the brown kitty basket. Instead of making that same error, the subsequent girlies have received their own kitty easter baskets. Aren't they darling? Me madre also made the the little easter bunny thingy that only has one suction cup left in it's paw for hanging in the window.

Easter 2006

so we colored eggs w/ the minimalist 6 color kit. They came out very pretty & only lost a few out of 36 to a certain 2 year old's insistence on dropping them into the mugs.


not bad for 6 dyes & 4 kids & 36 eggs 

I'm pretty darn pooped right now & am having difficulty w/ my fine motor skills & my eyes are feeling sleeeeeeeepy... the usual, staying up til 3:30am to clean after filling the baskets. Of course the girls woke around 7am & I cajoled them into snuggling until 8 so I could get a couple more winks & so that G could hide the goodies for them to find. And then cooking for 8 hours today...and that was only the sides. Thank you V for the honeybaked ham & smoked turkey. I think I would need two ovens & 6 burners to get all the food cooked. We had: sweet potato cassarole, corn cassarole, asparagus, pop overs, ham, turkey, deviled eggs, baby red potatoes w/ garlic & rosemary, veggies & ranch dip, shirley temples, and pineapple upside down cake w/ ice cream. Needless to say, we were/are all stuffed. Well worth the effort!


yummy Easter goodness 

So Maddie today surmised that indeed mom & dad are the ones who fill the easter baskets. Because she saw the Easter grass in the rubbermaid bin where I keep the Easter baskets. I so don't want her to quit the magical thinking yet! I told her that I keep the grass with the baskets b/c it would be wasteful to throw it out. Just like we don't get new baskets every year, why should we need new grass every year? She hasn't said anything since. sigh....

Maddie's leprechaun trap 2006

this year it was an assignment in second grade as opposed to her own motivation. She had to design & build then write a description of materials used & instructions for use. They were all displayed in the school cafeteria on 16 March & then left in the classrooms overnight in hopes of capture. No luck again this year :P




she wanted it to be deep so the leprechaun couldn't escape 


but then she felt bad that the leprechaun would be trapped all weekend so she made it comfy w/ a bed and pillow & carpet. 


a pot of "silver" to entice. Said leprechaun will pull on the yarn as he slides down in. The yarn will pull over the chopstick which props the lid. 


and a sitting area with a 20p coin on it 


propped lid 

pictures never do justice to the original

but this is pretty close...lovely watercolor from Maddie. We've just got our shipment of Japanese craft books & are set to make some CUTE little stuffies -hence the bunny's face drawn this way. She always has liked anime. Wish we had stopped at cafe manga near the London Eye when we were there; she would have loved it.

long time no post

I'm still working on the wrist warmers. I ripped one out when I was almost finished b/c it was looking sloppy. It was going gung ho until then. Now I'm not so inclined to sit down & finish. That & the weather has turned 180 degrees. Not a big need for wrist warmers when it's 80 out.

I volunteered to sew together a baptismal garment for the RCIA ministry at our parish. It came with no instructions -just the cut pieces. I've been working on that since Tuesday. I'm almost finished. Really it's not a difficult project. I just haven't really sewed much in the past 10 years or so. I'm a little rusty, I guess, as far as sorting out construction. The next one I do will be easier, for sure.

I'm still working on G's pjs. Need to do the waistband & elastic & hem it.

Other sewing projects: knitting needle case; girls' sheers; little girl dresses & summer clothes.

I ordered some yarn from Patternworks. Love their stuff. I'm going to do two Branching Out scarves for Mother's Day. Thank you to Dawn P. for the inspiration. I also have the Sexy Knitters KAL to start; I chose to do the Somewhat Cowl.

Painting projects include finishing the girls' room & then the three fab pieces on the back porch that I got late last year in a drive by dumpster dive.

But right now, it's back to the baptismal garment. Easter Vigil is tomorrow night!

"happy happy happy happy..."

was the song Lib sang as she drew her first smiley face. Get this: she drew it sideways like this>

I saved this from the relentless scissor practice

is this too cute? Love the hat on the wee one. And how the farthest left is "looking" to the right.

obstinance

I have an almost 8 yo daughter who is the most obstinant creature I have ever met. Once she's in a bad mood, she has such a difficult time moving on. It's frustrating for everyone -herself included. Remember that scene from The Breakfast Club where Bender & Vernon have a battle of the wills over how many saturday detentions Bender will have because he won't shut up & back down? This is the struggle we go through. She knows she's being sassy & rude, she gets a punishment, she's sassy & rude, she gets another punishment and on and on and on it goes. She knows she's misbehaving & yet she seems unable to stop. So she's in tears & totally worked up about something that could have ended with the first punishment. And no, rewards for good behavior don't necessarily work either.

Now what? I took away her new shoes and new shirt for the day for her disrespectful behavior this morning. She's got no computer for being late to school (didn't she learn this yesterday? Or the many other times she's been late to school?) She's got no gameboy for her continued mean behavior this morning. Already no playdates til school's out (a punishment for disrespectful behavior a few days ago). Grrrrr. It's like running into a wall...over and over again.

And what started this crappy behavior? She was fine when she woke up. She even hugged me when she came downstairs. I merely asked her what did she want for breakfast. When I told her we had no oatmeal, she started the downward spiral. Even though we have 3 cereals which she chose in the grocery store. OMG. She broke her hairbrush -the "only" one that she can use- because she threw it. That won't be replaced. She finally apologized for her behavior in an effort to get her new sandals back. When I told her it was a punishment for the day she cried & carried on, incessantly telling me "won't you be sorry when I kill myself" . She moped and dawdled & cried & moaned until she was late for school. She insisted on not wearing shoes to school. I said whatever but you still have to go to school. G told her she'd go if he had to carry her & embarrass her in front of her friends. Still she wouldn't budge. I finally carried her out to the car without shoes to send her on her way. G came in to get shoes for her (Personally, I would've made her go without for the day for the natural consequenses lesson thing) (only b/c she was being sooooooooooooooooo friggin' stubborn, rude, mean).

She did make her own lunch & fix her own breakfast b/c I refused to do so after she called me stupid & mean & told me she hates me.

And that was just 7:45 to 9:15; sometimes I wish I were the kind of parent to give a bad child a whupping. But it would only relieve my momentary stress. It wouldn't really solve anything. Not that I have any solution for the situation at hand. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A: not even a piece of string to tie down the floppy bits

Q: What the ancient Celts wore to battle (according to the Horrible History of Ireland)

first hard cider

do you think they look just a little apprehensive? (At visit number 3, that's MY first real Irish Guinness draught)

yummiest Irish fry

flickr

so I'm trying something new w/ the pics for my blog. Time will tell....okay, it's been only 1/2 a day & time tells me that Flickr's free account isn't big enough for what I want to do. I've already run out of space for the month! I do like the presentation though. Will have to figure out something else to get all these pictures up w/o having to wait 'til May :P

first day of "summer" on 9 April???

hanging out at Cherry Creek



Fi doing her best 3 year old Mad/Snick face.

a few minutes to spare

I've been going through withdrawal from writing here. I've started a new job @ JoAnn Fabric -pt nights & weekends. It gets me out of the house & back into a work state of mind. It's almost like therapy for me. If you know me, you know that my last job was a dream come true which turned out to be my worst nightmare. I never did seek professional therapy to get over it -as did many of my former co-workers. Yes, you read that correctly, therapy to deal w/ the psychological b.s. we went through. So this job is helping me to re-learn that not all places of business are run by lunatics. I also get a small discount which is never a bad thing for someone who spends inordinate amounts of money on crafts. That said, I do work my ass off for my meager wage & the hours I get aren't steady (23 this week, 5 next week). I may be looking for another job soon.

I was going to start training for roller derby on Thursday. This was also to be therapeutic for me - a way to release my stress. I didn't make it to practice this week; it seems I have too many demands on my time right now. I'm not happy about it. If I had an anonymous blog I might divulge more.

I was afraid to check my bank statement online after our trip to London. And rightly so. I wasn't completely broke. But it sucked larger amounts of money out than what I had calculated. I figured I'd halve the sterling amount & then triple that to get the US amount. That was underestimating everything. I about had a heart attack when I saw the numbers. I took 100 quid out of the ATM & it cost me $174 & some change. Dinner @ Wagamama beneath Harvey Nic's was $55 FOR TWO PEOPLE. It's a friggin' japanese noodle place for god's sakes. Granted it's got the "prestigious" location, but wtf. We can feed our whole family of 6 @ Kokoro here for that amount. And lunch was $36. For fish & chips, bangers & mash, a coke & a bottled water. At a little place called "Digress" which looks to be either a nightclub or used to be. The food was delicious, I will say that. If I remember correctly, it was initially 22 pounds sterling. Thank god I decided against having my hair done in Covent Gardens. I can't even imagine what that might have cost in the end. How the heck can ANYONE afford to live there?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if the VAT tax is what jacks up the price. And is that the price of belonging to the EU? And to what end? I mean, if there is 17.5% tax on everything -except kids clothes (& maybe not on grocery food??) and books. That's a serious price increase. Whew. Makes me think twice about grumbling about 8% tax in Broomfield. Of course, I just don't shop in Broomfield.

I lost my MP3 player somewhere on the trip. I think I may have left it on the plane in my adavan stupor. I swear I had it though. C'est la vie. It was old & bulky & very confusing to load. SO, I bought myself a new one to relieve some of my stress (damn, why didn't I make this an anonymous blog). A little shopping therapy. Haven't done that in a long time. I got a Zen Nano Plus . And I'm liking it alot. it's about the size of a 16 pack of gum. And about that light. So far, the only thing I don't like is that the music I try to load that's already on my computer comes up in alphabetical order. I'm sure there's a way around it. Will find that detour soon. The sound is wonderful. It has FM radio. The earbuds aren't as bad as the reviews I read. It was only $100 at Circuit City. I'm glad I didn't get sucked into the ipod whirlpool.

well said, Maddie

 

heard ya missed me...

So I'm back; well, not back to D-town yet, but back in the states anyway. It was a fabulous 10 days abroad. Ireland was a beautiful 400 shades of green as always. London was a whirlwind of activity -non stop walking from waking in the a.m. to dropping off to sleep in the p.m. The wedding of Ireland's cutest couple was PERFECT! Pictures & more info soon....