Arachne

I haven't spun yarn in a while; no, not story telling, but actual yarn creating for knitting or crocheting. I had a batch of wool from last winter that I had dyed blue but not spun yet, so I finished it today. I just did a pretty simple, small twist art yarn since i don't plan to ply it, but will leave it as a single ply. Now I need to get some more wool!

Bucket List Item: Author. Check!

After a year of writing, my book is finally written. I have a lot of editing to do, and I have a few areas I wanted to flesh out a bit, but the essential story I've carried in my head and lost sleep over is written down for posterity. I've already sent away for my ISBN number and registration with the Library of Congress. Once I receive that confirmation I'll feel like a real author. So happy it's done! Now the next one picks up about a year after the first one ends.....

The Oregon Zoo

Every year, out family takes a week vacation to some place either we have never been to or that we wish to revisit. This year, we chose the Oregon Zoo as our destination. I have been there many times but Caleb and Madyson have never been (Emily didn't go with us as she doesn't like to travel). I also wanted to visit an eatery known as Joe's Crab Shack; the commercials always make me hungry! In addition, it was both Caleb and Madyson's birthday celebrations. We visited with my Aunt Deby, Uncle Marty, cousin Cari, and nieces Michelle, Kayla, and Sydnee. Here are some pictures of the people and animals we saw:

Joe's, at last!

Caleb prepares to feast

Madyson is totally ready for her crab!

Holy steam pot of deliciousness

Lobster. That is all.

One of the first animals we saw at the zoo was this lovely sea lion. 

This little penguin was very busy. And difficult to photograph!

These little lorikeets were not interested in visitors' nectar and seed cups. Too full!

I want one of these fruit bats. I would name him Antonio. 

This marmoset was too hot to play

Yes that is a crocodile. Anyone know what the difference between an alligator and a crocodile is? Madyson knows!

Giraffe! So cute!

This is Tusker, the male elephant. He is the proud papa of....

Lily! The brand new baby pictured here with her mother, Rose.

These long necked creatures are called gerenuks 

I love this photo booth picture of Madyson and Kitty :)

How many hippos do you see?

The closest she will probably get to a lion, unless she becomes a zoo veterinarian as she has planned. 

Awwww so cute!

This orangutan was chewing off bits of coconut husk, and rolling them into balls in his mouth. He would then spit the coconut husk balls into one hand and repeat. When he laid eyes on Madyson, he started spitting his coconut husk balls out so they would roll in front of her. I think maybe he wanted her to pick them up but the bullet proof glass prevented their friendship from developing further. 

Little known fact about me: I love mandrills

Aunt Deby and Uncle Marty. They are awesome!

Cari looks unimpressed doesn't she?

Cousins! From left to right: Sydnee (9), Michelle (13), Madyson (8), and Kayla (11)

I have about a hundred more pictures on the big girl camera; when I get some batteries I'll share more pictures from our adventure. Additionally, stay tuned for the water lily socks!

Happy Fourth of July!

Well these history classes are sure coming in handy I tell ya. Last night while waiting for the fireworks show to begin, my youngest daughter asked why do we celebrate the 4th of July, anyway...I consider myself rather knowledgeable on the subject nowadays, so I bored her for about twenty minutes with tales of the Revolution and etc. I think I even felt it necessary to emphasize how July 2nd is as important as July 4th....poor kid.

She finally got to have some fun though:

How did you celebrate independence from British rule?

Not My Granny's Squares

I like to haunt Pinterest and Ravelry for patterns, inspiration, and the latest trends in yarn-y fashions and accessories. I have discovered that crocheting granny squares and assembling them into interesting items is kind of a "thing" just now. 

You know granny squares right? Everyone's grandmother must have had one of these hanging off the back of the sofa. A large, crocheted, flowery affair?

Not anymore! Here's what I taught myself to make. First I had to learn how to crochet the squares, which was tough because I'm a knitter and not typically a crochet-er. I'm learning to become bistitchual however! Then I had to find a way to bind them together; Pinterest suggested the mattress stitch or whip stitch. Then I had to make the handles and attach them, which was simple since I just crocheted them. It turned out pretty cute! I still should line it if course but I am ready to move on to the next bag, socks, or sweater....

Happy Father's Day!

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my husband! He's so good to us; we just love him.

Also, Happy Father's Day to my dad, Dennis; may that next big wave come your way soon. Mahalo!

And...Happy Father's Day to Nick, wherever you are; you taught me a lot and I love you.

All this talk about fathers on this special day leads me to my next segment, which I will explain. On my bucket list there are many items I'd like to check off before that last great adventure. Raising sea horses, for instance (Hi Laura!) or losing weight and keeping it off (Heather's gonna help me with that one). Other things include how I can improve myself, according to me; like learning Latin, traveling, and finishing my degrees so I can be a college professor. Some things are about my kids, like getting this house finished so they will always have a permanent home to call our own.

But my obsession these days is to become an author, and so for the last year or so, I've been writing a book. I have a lot of short stories and poems, a few of which I've inflicted on you, dear audience, though I've kept most of them to myself. Some of those short stories began as intended novels, but just sort of wrote themselves out. However, I really think I'll make it this time! So, in honor of reaching Chapter 7 in my book, and being nearly finished with it, I'm posting Chapter 1 in my "Stories, Poems, and Musings" section. Sorry about the space breaks between paragraphs; something was lost in copy and paste translation there...but it reads the same.

A word of warning about this book; it might be disturbing or offensive to some people. There are instances of child abuse, including sexual abuse, and supernatural abilities as well as some expletives. There are examples of positive male role models, and not so positive male role models (there's the Father's Day tie in).

Please don't read it if these are sensitive issues for you. Remember, you are gaining a glimpse into how my mind works; that should be sufficient warning!

With that said, enjoy your Father's Day and tell me how your day went!

The House, The Kids...

Well folks, I have been SUPER busy the last month and a half with moving to the new house and trying to get it up past white trash status. It's not there yet but it's greatly improved! Here are some before pictures:

This is the living room

The master bedroom

the upstairs loft room (mine when I was a kid)

More of the upstairs

 

The upstairs is really huge

This spot here is where the stove goes...ick

The pantry. Complete with two year old food...

The horrible bathroom

More horrid bathroom

 

This is the back room, which was added on by my step dad and which also housed all of his animals. Four feral cats with no bathroom manners. It was a nightmare!

More back room

 

 

 

Needless to say, my mom and I worked our butts off on getting all the stuff gutted out of this house. It took us a week, but this is what it looked like after a week of our backbreaking efforts; I call this the halfway to clean point:

 

This is the living room after we bleached it and removed the carpets and bleached it again

 

Here is the master bedroom. Again, we bleached, tore up floors, and bleached some more

Upstairs loft room. The carpeting ate some of the paint on the floor but we bleached it numerous times.

(Here's my mom). This room was the worst. We had to scrape one section of the wall texturing off and completely take up every bit of flooring down to the subfloor. You don't want to know why.

The pantry was much better by this point; this is not even as done as it is now. Today, this room has those bottom shelves removed, a brand new (smaller) hot water heater because this one in the photo died a tragic death, and the entire room was bleached and painted white. The whole house was bleached from ceilings to floors and painted with three coats of flat white paint because my step dad, whose house this was, chain smoked while hooked up to oxygen and that combined to make a lovely, sticky, yellowish brown patina that coated the entire house.

This is that area where the stove was. Today, the broken tile flooring has been removed and is ready for new floors to be installed when I'm a bit more rich.

Here's the back room, completely stripped and bleached. The floor is concrete so that helped with the animal messes. This is before it was painted, bleached, and painted again. We managed to turn this room into a great little girl's room, with colorful carpets on the floors and nice drapes to hide the old back of the house until I can get it sheetrocked.

 

For some reason I didn't have a picture of the new improved bathroom. But it got gutted, bleached,  painted, bleached, painted some more and has new everything installed in it. It also got the cabinetry cut away to make room for the wheelchair and now has a sort of pedestal sink but with a cabinet section to the far side.

 

And that's what I've been up to! As soon as I can afford it, the first thing I will do is go ahead and install new floors. That's on my summer to-do list!

 

Now on to the next project: enjoying my lovely daughter's graduation from high school! I work at a different high school, and I'm very attached to my kids, many of whom are graduating this year as well. They have been begging me to go to their graduation for months; unfortunately, the school districts did not correspond on the dates and times, so my daughter and my students are graduating on the same day at virtually the same time. Obviously...I'm going to my daughter's graduation! But several of my students will likely stop by to see me when they are done with the ceremonies at their graduation. I've exchanged emails and phone numbers with a few of the really special ones, so we can keep in touch. One of my favorite students said he wished I would move to Portland and help him with college work, which was so sweet! I promised I will always be available for those tricky Macbeth questions and pesky grammar rules.

 

Here is a picture of me with a few of my favorite students (I know, teachers aren't supposed to have favorites. Sue me)

 

 

(From left to right) Cameron, Me, Briana, and Sam (down front)

 

And now last, but never, ever least, my lovely daughter, graduating class of 2013:

 

Yes. This was the best I could do. She refuses all photo requests.

 

Happy graduation everyone!