Home again, home again, jiggety jog

After killing more bees in South Dakota with the truck than I care to think about, we are home.

Note to self: If I want the house looking spic and span and cleaner than all get out, leave Paul and Other Jim home for a week by themselves. Or probably just Paul. Seriously, the house is like new!

Edited to add: Paul informed me that he and Jimmy shared the work equally. The list I left of things for them to do was quite helpful as well.

Guns 'n Poses

I spent another 6 hours at the Family History Library today fiddling around with OPRs, Civil Registration, IGI databases, Gazetteers, and microfilm machines. My head is now spinning as fast as the film reels on the rewinding machine. Did I break new ground? Probably not, but considering where I started, I have quite a bit for my project.

While I frittered away the hours in swivel chairs and flourescent lighting, Jim and Katie stood on rock-strewn ground in the blazing sun and shot stuff (targets).

But first, two pictures of Katie posing by Uncle Art's truck. Now for the guns. (Katie took these pictures)

I am now afraid to get on his bad side. I better start doing the dishes...

Picture much?

Can I just let the photos speak for themselves?

Um no. I tried to let the pictures speak for themselves but they wouldn't talk. Whoever said "pictures are worth a thousand words" probably meant to add "with an interpreter" but got sidetracked or something. I need to explain. I am driven to give the who, what, why, and wheres of my pictures. So bear with me. Then again, I am tired so you might not get a coherent explanation.

This is what happens when you drive through eastern South Dakota at dusk. Seriously, we murdered several tons of mosquitos.

Then Jim hit this behemoth. And he wouldn't pull over to remove it from the wiper. I had to not look at the windshield for hours cuz this was so nasty. On to something more fun. We stopped at a place near South Dakota to feed some prairie dogs. They were so friendly.

This was in the Badlands of South Dakota. Jim is surveying the landscape, considering the possibilities of becoming emperor of all he sees.Here I am, considering the possibilities of getting hat hair from Jim's A's hat.

Not only did we get to the Badlands, but we managed a trip to Rushmore as well. Here I am posing for my future head in stone with the other guys up there.Jim and I took the Presidential trail to get some alternate views of the guys made out of rocks. This view is from a little cave. I like little caves, especially with fabbo views like this one.After Rushmore, and after a drive through the beautiful Black Hills, we hit Wyoming. We saw more cattle than houses in Wyoming, but I'd still rather drive through Wyoming's desolateness than Nebraska's unending corn rows. While in Wyoming, we stopped in Evanston to visit a street with some family connection for Jim. He descended from people who lived on and named this street.

And here is the This is the Place (Where I Lost My Phone) Monument. I think the guy waving his hat has my phone.

And speaking of my lost phone, we replaced it this evening. All is well, except I don't have any phone numbers. I have an arduous chore of inputting family and friends' numbers ahead of me. I am so going to kick that guy on the horse for stealing my phone.

I am where I am

And without a phone. From now on, the This is the Place monument will forever be remembered by me as This is the Place Where I Lost My Phone (and I believe it was stolen). I can account for my phone's whereabouts up until we approached the big statue. I was texting Katie. 15 minutes later, we left This is the Place for Emigration Canyon. 5 minutes down the road I thought I heard the noise of my phone signaling a text message. I searched my pockets (where my phone last set up residence) to no avail. Then I moved on to searching the car. To no avail. Then we backtracked and spent about 30 minutes at This is the Place. No phone. Sigh. So don't try to call me.

Other than that, the trip out to visit Katie and help her move (yes, she is moving) has been great fun. Expect pictures later. I took many in the Badlands and at Mt. Rushmore. I could visit those two places every year and not ever get tired of them.

Anyway, we are here and we are safe. Now off to the phone replacement store where I can get my life back (but not my phone numbers). Then to a restaurant where Katie works. Then off to an organ so I can help Katie out with organ registration.

Later!

Heading out

Jim and I are packing up the Little Red Rider and going for a long drive.

Katie, we'll be there in a couple of days!

A delicious use for yarn

...and probably one of the sillier uses for it as well.
I bought an amigurumi book this summer but not for the doll patterns. I bought it for this hamburger. Technically the hamburger isn't amigurumi, but it uses the spiral crochet technique that amigurumi uses. Have you ever bought a pattern or a kit and then never used it? I too have done that. But I vowed when I bought the book that I would DO THIS PROJECT before I die.* The separate pieces are easily completed in an hour in front of the TV--the onion slices and the tomato slices are done in less time.

No, I'm not going to make you one. I've done what I set out to do and now I can put the book on the shelf and let it gather dust.

*And since I've fulfilled the vow I made regarding this project, I fully expect to die in the next few days.

R and R at my house

Roll call:

Jim? Not here, at work. Will be home later to do dishes and to be used as a footrest and a teddy bear.
Katie? Still in Utah, still working.
Other Jim? Gone for most of the day as a hired hand, helping a guy move his office.
Paul? Gone to cross country camp for the weekend.
Hayley? Packing to leave for a mighty long stint with Grandma in an hour.
Matt? Ditto. He and Hayley are going with Grandma to visit a new cousin. Their mission will be to lend a hand playing with already-used cousins.

Me? Home by myself for several hours during a summer day! The only way the day could be more perfect was if I didn't have to host fake child later on until 10:30 p.m. and if it would STOP RAINING. *shakes fist at sky* mutters to self: "three days straight! Not a drop all June or July, but now, when I have a day to enjoy, it's gotta rain!"

This weekend will be a taste of future empty nest years. Other Jim doesn't demand much of our attention anymore (oh how times have changed!) and everyone else will be gone! Jim and I can cuddle on the couch without grossing out the children. The air will be empty of "Mom can you help me..." and "Mom, I can't find..." and "Mom, I need..."

Oh blessed aging of the children! Don't get me wrong, I loved all of them as little ones, but I kind of lost my identity, my sense of self, during the long years of attending to their needs and neglecting mine. It will be nice to get to know myself again. (Actually, I've already started down that path to rediscovery since I no longer have any babies or toddlers or preschoolers.)

I'm sure I'll be glad to welcome them all back when they come home, but for now, I'm happy to wave goodbye too.

Death of a dust bunny and further evidence of an alien presence in the house

Last night, Hayley, Matt, and Jimmy were playing a Wii game tournament. Where was Paul? In his room vacuuming, and NOT because we told him to. He claimed the floor was really dirty and there were dust clumps underneath and behind his dresser and in the corners (isn't that where they are supposed to be?).

The Cat-lover in the Hat and Thing One and Thing Two

Hayley has moved on from amigurumi Mario and Pokemon creatures (she finished a Mew--a pink cat-like thing) to wearables. She crocheted a hat for herself WITHOUT a pattern! She did it all yesterday and hasn't taken it off since she finished it. It fits her quite well.
Matt, anxious to get in on some more blog exposure, created these two, um, creatures. I have no idea what they are. They have eyes, obviously, and one isn't even knitted. He just amasses materials of all sorts and does his own thing to these raw materials. Then, several hours later, VOILA, the world is two stuffed blobs richer.
Not to be outcreated by my own children, I tried my hand at amigurumi too. This is the result.You have to guess what it is. I'll post the finished thing sometime in the future. (No it's not complete. Well, that particular element is finished, but it's only one of several pieces of a certain thing)

50 carats in carrots

My arms are almost too sore to type, and it's been two days since I toiled for an hour and half in the garden pulling weeds, picking beans, and uprooting carrots.

I didn't take a picture of the beans but I did some of the carrot harvest in jpeg format. (It's weird to have to avoid using the phrase "on film")

The last two cups of raw orangey goodness:

About 1/3 of the total to be frozen.
Paul, Hayley, and Matt helped with the beans. I washed and they snapped the stem off and cut them in half. Then I blanched and froze the beans. I think I got 6 quart bags of beans out of Saturday's pickings. And I've got about 4 quart bags of carrots. My freezer runneth over!

Sliding along

Matt has a new friend, but we don't have a name for him yet.

During summer band lessons for Hayley and Paul (who helped teach; he was not taught), a sign appeared on the doors of the lesson rooms: "Trombone for Sale." Matt has expressed a gleeful interest in the trombone since Katie started appearing in band concerts many years ago and this was the perfect opportunity to get a trombone cheap. I contacted the seller and arranged for payment and pick-up. We brought the new friend home today and this is Matt's first experience with it.

Yes, he's doing it wrong. I told him he was holding it wrong, but that I didn't know how to put it together. He fiddled around with it for a few seconds and finally got it.
Yes, he can make noise with it. He can blat with the best of beginners. He won't be starting band this year at school; because of budget cuts, the fifth grade band is no more. But the instrument was such a good deal that I had to take advantage of it now. Next year, when he is eligible to sign up for band, I won't have to worry about renting an instrument. For your viewing "pleasure," I now offer you a taste of the ambient music I will be listening to for the next 7 years.

I'm skipping exercise this morning

It's amigurumi showcase time!

Hayley went to an amigurumi camp this summer where she learned to crochet, and since then, she has been hogging all the yarn in the house to make little creatures (like she and Matt don't have enough stuffed animals in the house!).

Matt knitted a rabbit earlier this year and, with Hayley being consumed with crocheting, he had to get in on the fun. So he knit this thing. He didn't use a pattern, he just made it up as he knit. I could be all helicopter-parent-like and say "Isn't it wonderful? Isn't he so creative?" and give him kisses and stars and have a party, but I break out in hives every time I try to act like a really good caring parent who wants to foster and nurture my child's precious self-esteem. Sorry kids. Personally, I think Blue/Green Rectangular Thing is hilariously odd. It reminds me a little of Spongebob. I'm so glad Matt doesn't create things to get his ego boosted.
This is the combined collective of the crocheted/knitted things of the recent month.Let's start with blue round creature who has only eyes. Hayley says this is a mushroom based on some Mario game or something. The next thing is the red thing with almond shaped eyes. You can't tell in the picture, but Red Thing has textured hair. I don't know how Hayley did that. It's actually quite an interesting technique. Red Thing also has a pack of some kind strapped to its back, which I don't know the function of. Red Thing is also really floppy. In the front is Bombomb (yes, that's it's name). It too is some sort of game creature. (No, my children do not knit cute cuddly things. They make representations of individuals in the Mario pantheon. Oh joy. If I were a really good parent, they wouldn't play video games, would they? We would be going on nature walks 24/7 and we wouldn't own a TV) The green thing in the back is the elfish creature (possibly named Link) Hayley made for Matt. It's his dolly (he hates it when I call it that). You've already met Blue/Green Rectangular Thing. The fish in the front is a dishcloth pattern that I had from my monthly Knit-Along. Matt liked it so much that he wanted to give it a try. He learned two new knitting techniques--using two colors and the knit/purl rib stitch.

Not related to the yarn arts: Haircutting. The unintentional Dorothy Hamill style. As in I cut it too short. She wasn't too mad at me though, thankfully. She did want it short (but probably not this short).

Excuses and moles

I was going to post pictures of amigurumi by Hayley and fauxmigurumi (he knits, not crochets) by Matt but I haven't taken any pictures yet because I forgot to write it on my schedule.

Yes, I am slave to the schedule, at least for this week. I have this little problem, see, I never get anything done. I like to blame my lack of accomplishment on the four pieces of progeny that live in the house, but they are really only part of the problem (a big part, yes, but still not quite all of the problem). The part of the problem that I can't blame on the kids is that I cannot stay focused enough to figure out what chore/task/job/assignment/fun thing to do in the usually limited time I have between driving kids places. And I haven't been getting up early enough.

So for this week, I have written myself a schedule. I've allotted myself some blog time so that the schedule isn't made up of entirely boring household chores and Humanities assignments, but if I forget to write down on the schedule something as little as taking a picture of Hayley's yarn buddies and Matt's whatever-they-are-thingies, I forget to do them. So I'll write "take pictures of Hayley's and Matt's creations" down for this afternoon. I'm sure I can spare five minutes from cleaning out one of the cupboards in the bedroom. (Or ten minutes. Or the whole hour. Does it really need cleaning?)

I do have pictures though. I said I'd post pictures of Paul's mole (shhh, don't tell him).

Two years ago:
This past May:
No pictures of the hole in his back, though. Sorry.

I am glad for many things

I was going to post a couple of pictures of Hayley's new addiction (making amigurumi), but I think I will save that for tomorrow.

Today I am glad I followed a hunch. I am also glad that the hunch turned out to be nothing immediately worrisome. I'm thirdly glad that now that I know what I know, I can keep an eye on Paul's back. (For a few more years, I will "have Paul's back." HAHAHAHAhahaha....ha...ha?)

The dermatologist's office called this morning with a report. The mole that was removed from Paul's back is a dysplastic nevus and not cancerous but it did have some abnormal cells (I mentioned that I wasn't worried. And I'm still not). But it is a signal to check his skin often and slather on the sunscreen while he's out running cross-country.

I'm glad I took a picture of the mole with a ruler two years ago so that I knew for sure this year that the mole had grown.

So check for moles, take pictures with a ruler so you can gauge growth, see a dr about anything abnormal, and wear sunscreen! And a hat. And underwear (not that doing so will prevent skin cancer, it's just common decency).

That's three people in the family who have had biopsies done. Four to go.

16 GB cake

It's very hard not to make excuses for what I think is wrong with this cake. I really want to say, "I should have" or "I couldn't do ____ because..." BUT I won't. The only things that matter in regards to cake are 1) is it appropriate to the celebration and 2)does it taste good? So instead, I'll dwell briefly on those two requirements.1) Is it appropriate? Other Jim didn't know what form he wanted his cake, so this was my idea. And yes, the design is appropriate because it's a replica of the item he has with him pretty much all the time.

2) Did the cake taste good? Yep!

(PS. This was the first time I used fondant. Why on earth does OJ's iPod have a black wheel??? I still have food coloring stains on my hand! Working the fondant wasn't too bad. The kids all wanted a taste of the fondant so I let them try it. The big boys didn't like the texture much. Neither did I. It's like eating fun foam. Hayley and Matt said they liked it. Fondant does make nice cake details, though. I wanted both the apple logo and the wheel to look precise, and buttercream frosting is not the ideal decorating medium for precision)

An-other birthday for Other Jim

Ten things for Other Jim's birthday (.588 things for each year)

1. Other Jim is 17 today.
2. He starts his last year of public education in a few weeks.
3. Right now he's enjoying his birthday by sleeping in. Of course that's how he enjoys every day of the summer...
4. He wants a cake decorated like an iPod. We'll see if I can pull that off. I might have to do a fondant circle thing and apple logo. Wish me luck.
5. Because of events beyond my control yesterday, I am sorely behind in getting ready for OJ's birthday. Some pieces of advice I gleaned from yesterday's adventures: always make sure that Paul has in his hand his original birth certificate for the permit test and not a photocopy. And failing to do that, bring every piece of evidence that Paul is who he says he is to the DMV so you don't have to make frantic calls home to ask Other Jim to find Paul's social security number, then make Paul memorize the number so you don't have to freak out like that ever again. Because of all of that, a 10 minute test turned out to be a 2 hour ordeal, one that I had to go through WITH fake child along for the ride. So naturally, I had to spend the rest of yesterday NOT making icing like I was going to do, but recuperating from a buzzing head.
6. Back to OJ. He doesn't know what he wants for his birthday. He is SO not helpful.
7. He might end up with several boxes of saltines and a bag of minute rice if he doesn't come up with some ideas soon.
8. He claims that he's not that interested in "birthdays." He says he's mature enough now to view birthdays as just another day and no big fuss is needed. Right. So no cake then? "Well," he backpedals, "I do like cake."
9. Flashbacks to OJ's younger days: (age 4) After a particularly trying day with Jimmy, I asked him in desperation, "What will it take for you to be a good boy?" Jimmy's reply: "Giving me a lot of money." (also age 4) "Mommy, can I have a cough drop?" "No, you haven't been coughing," I said. "Can I have a burp drop? I burped." And one of my favorite flashbacks from Jimmy's youth: he ran up to me and said, "Mom! We know three Mikes. Michael Watkins, Michael Carter, and Uncle Jake!" (for those of you who don't get it, I do have a brother named Mike, but Jimmy got momentarily confused and named a different uncle instead of Mike)
10. Pictures, shall we?
Click on this one to see it in bigger form:Collage photo: courtesy of Jen, who takes really really good pictures and is kind enough not to throw knives at me for screwing things up like forgetting to mention things like portrait view instead of landscape or not checking the sizes of storyboards that I order.

Technically

Technically, according to a piece of paper I had to sign today, removing a mole is considered surgery by many health insurance companies.

Backtrack to this morning:
I took Paul to a dermatologist to have a mole (not the kind that burrows underground and gets mixed up with the likes of Mr. Toad, thank goodness) looked at. The mole has doubled in size in 2 years, and I thought it should be looked at by a trained professional mole-looker-atter. So after I scribbled various Paul-ish facts on some pretty colored papers the receptionist gave me, he was whisked off to the secret caves of the dermatology clinic and I never saw him again.

Wait. That isn't quite right. I did see him again after a few minutes. He looked a little bewildered. He shoved another one of their papers and two squishy tubes of prescription goo at me and said, "They removed it. She (I'm presuming the professional mole-looker-atter) didn't think it was a bad mole, but she took it off just in case. They are going to test it and we'll get the results in the mail." (Not his actual words, but what he meant to say. His actual words were more of a miasmatic conglomeration of word clouds and sentence fractures.) Anyway, there will be "surgical site care" involved for the next two weeks, probably attended to by me, since poor Paulie can't see his back to dab the specialty goo onto the hole.

No, I'm not worried that he has skin cancer. I just wanted that mole removed before it has a chance to mutate and turn into a second head (just kidding!) (Perhaps I've watched too many scifi mutant movies?). Perhaps I just wanted to toughen the poor kid up by subjecting him to doctors with knives and evil purposes. (kidding again!) Maybe I just felt we needed to make more work for the insurance company by forcing them to pay for a silly little stab in the back. (and again). I just wanted to play it safe (you know me, always buckling my seat belt and riding my bike with traffic and wearing a helmet and waiting an hour after eating before going in the water and walking with scissors and washing my hands before eating and after using the bathroom and never leaving the house if I can help it...)

Next up--ortho appointment, vaccinations, and eye appointments for Hayley. Oh, how I love to sit in the doctor's office! THAT'S why I took Paul to have the mole looked at!

Wired

Paul before braces:
Paul before braces and during a momentary bout of the crazies:
Paul during braces and with the camera too close to his face:
Check back in 18 months for the "after" pictures.

Paul hasn't complained of any pain, although he did say that it felt weird to eat.

I can hear the $$ circling the drain

Time for Paul to get braces. Pics of before and after forthcoming.