I’m quoting Rob Roy, of course. If you haven’t seen it, quit whatever you’re doing and obtain it to watch at your earliest opportunity.

Someday I’ll knit this for myself: http://www.dangliebits.com/robroy.html

I’m knitting a tomten jacket from Knitting Without Tears. I’m only about two inches in but it’s such a fast knit since it’s all garter. I’m doing buttons instead of a zipper so I’m making buttonholes as I go.

So now I’ll need (writing this here, for my own convenience)

some number of buttons
size 9 bamboo DPNs
perhaps sleeve and hood yarn

The sleeve and hood yarn depends on whether or not I decide to make them from a different yarn than the body. I think I have enough of this MC for the whole thing (it’s the green merino given to me by Wendy) but…

I’ve found some superb bloggers that I don’t think have as high a readership as they should, so I’m sharing!

Fibermom: knitting and conversation. She writes about what she’s knitting but draws you in with what she’s thinking and reading and doing other than the knitting. A good read for non-knitters and those in the knit alike.

Utpala: Just recently found this blogger - very lyrical writing about her family, which seems to be comprised of her, her husband and their boy. A very considerate blog.

Selkie: Another crunchy Catholic. Homebirth, natural parenting, homeschooling, humorous insight, and the comfort of chaos. When I grow up, I want to be this blogger.

More to come. It’s late and I need to go to bed!

Gee, it turns out that a routine surgical procedure performed on the genitals “has no benefits and actually causes more complications”.

And no, this time I’m not talking about circumcision.

Procedure On Women In Labor Adds Risk: Study Urges Halt To Episiotomies

Isn’t it amazing that God in His infinte wisdom, actually created human women to give birth to human babies without malicious meddling medical intervention, except in very few cases?

Much better today! Got some sleep and it seems like everyone is in a better mood.

Today has been trying. I don’t write many posts like this because I get about three-quarters of the way through and feel all whiney and start thinking about how good I really have it and then end up not posting them, but this time I will post because I don’t want yall thinking I am some sort of Alice from The Vicar of Dibley.

So as I said, today has been trying. Trying to drive me to drink, I tell you what.

Bede is on a late shift and Gilbert is on an early shift - so Bede has been going to sleep around midnight (how does this child do this) and Gilbert has been waking up around seven. This would work out to a lovely seven hours of sleep for me except for the fact that my boys wake up in the night. OK, I could deal with that, especially because my darling husband is the bedtime go-to guy, but still. I don’t go to sleep right when Bede does because I’d like a little, just a little, time for myself and even, gasp, with my husband who as I said is a swell guy and needs some attention now and again else he will wither like the proverbial grape vine.

SO that means I stay up late, like til 2ish or so. And wake up a few times and then get up early (sorry worm-getters, 8AM is early to me). Then the day begins with the usual kid shepherding duties like feeding and watering and clothing and cleaning and the like. All okay, usually but for some reason everything Faith has said today has been in a petulant whine. I’m sure a lot of it is because much of what *I* have said today has been in a petulant whine, but still. And Abaigeal is immovably stubborn and seeming especially digging-her-heels-in-ish today. Again, not that I’m feeling inflexible or anything. Bede is just being Bede, but at twenty-six monthst that’s enough in itself! All day has been one big ‘No’ to the older kids.

And Gilbert is very needy today and has been happy Right Here

and nowhere else (and he emits The Sound Of Sounds when he is not Right There, or in an analogous position on the front of the mama), even Sean can’t do much with him and he adores Sean. Right now Gil’s mumbling to himself on the floor and I think I have about three minutes to wrap up this descent into self-pity before he tunes up again.

I think the day went south for real when we tried to watch the last twenty minutes of The Third Man which we’d been trying to finish for three days. We had to pause it about ten times and it took a good hour to watch that twenty minutes. It’s quite exciting there at the end and it makes it all the more irritating when you have to pause. It. Ag. Ain and a. Gain. But that goes to show me that I can’t really expect to do much that doesn’t involve my children during the day. Every time I do I get all off-kilter and grouchy because it just don’t work.

On the extended family front someone who is very dear to me is having to deal with a little of his own problems with someone else and a lot of the someone else’s problems that have absolutely nothing to do with him. I have many things I could say and would say but I won’t unless asked because I don’t want to do anything that might increase his stress and strain. Is that vague enough for you?

And now, I think I’ll stop before I’m tempted to talk myself out of posting this. Happy days everyone!

So I just noticed that Leap Frog - Talking Words Factory 2 - Code Word Caper is available and has been since last November. We’ll be buying that.

I cannot recommend the Leap Frog reading series of DVDs highly enough. Starting with Letter Factory, then moving on to Talking Words Factory we have watched them again and again and again. Between Starfall and those Leap DVDs Faith and Abby are sounding out words, on their own, no parental prodding.

And Sean and I like the ‘H’ in the Letter Factory tour.

You scored as The Student Dyke. Your entire life is defined by two things: your intellect and your sexuality; moreover you often merge the two to lure in women.

The Student Dyke 75%
The Bohemian Dyke 65%
The Granola Dyke 50%
The Vaginal-Reference-Making Dyke 45%
The Surprise! Dyke 35%
The Quasi-Gothic Femme 25%
The Sprightly Elfin Femme 25%
The Little-Boy Dyke 25%
The Magic Earring Ken Dyke 20%
The Femme Fatale 20%
The Stud 20%
The Pretty-Boi Dyke 15%
The Hipster Dyke 0%

What Type of Lesbian Are You? (Inspired by Curve Mag.)
created with QuizFarm.com

h/t: ChiknGirl and birthwarrior

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

I was going to email this but once I had about six people to cc, I figured I should just blog it.

Enjoy!

Book Meme (tagged by abigailvr)

1) Total number of books owned? I don’t know. A lot! And they’re heavy!

2) The last book I bought? The Well-Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer.

3) The last book I read? Reread Knitting Without Tears, by Elizabeth Zimmermann

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?

The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper.

The Holy Bible, by God (Douay-Rheims edition)

The Continuum Concept, by Jean Liedloff.

Homeschooling for Excellence, by David and Micki Colfax.

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card.

5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their blogs:

Tabitha
zerowley
sanctasapientia
Jennifer Z
icedsoychai