Puberty has started

Well, it seems that puberty has hit our household. My son's hormones must have gone into overdrive in the last few days. He used the bathroom early this morning and at noon it still reeks of (almost) teenage boy. I went and bought one of those alternating scent warmer things that plugs in and set it on high. I was going to set it on low until I walked into the bathroom. His sister refuses to use that bathroom now, too. It's gonna be a fun, and stinky, couple of years.

Well, we are in the big countdown to the holidays. Thanksgiving is next week and we decided to stay home and let the grocery store do the cooking- turkey in a box. Hannukah starts Dec. 4th and I am not ready for it at all. I thought it started the 8th. Have I been finishing anything?? No, just starting whole new projects because they look fun!! My DD's cardi still sits there with the first front half done and the second waiting to be cast on . DS's sweater is still in the some assembly required stage- it hasn't even been cast on. ANd all those washcloths are still in their respective skeins, too!! Knitting ADD has reared it's ugly head, adn at the wrong time of the year, too. I thought I was going into an insomnia cycle earlier this week and I usually get tons done when I can't sleep, but it just turned out to be one night of sleeplessness due to hamstring soreness. Maybe I should get off the computer and onto the sofa and knitting!!

Happy Halloween

... and a very Happy Birthday to my sis in Atlanta. She turned 39. The scary one is next year. She, of course, had to remind me that I am, and always will be, her older sister... sigh. But on the bright side, our older half-sis will be 60 in 2 years.

Plans for Halloween- handing out candy. The ol' hamstring is still sore and I am still supposed to be on crutches, so Trick or Treating is out. DS, the master of disaster, has offered to help hand out candy as his penance for the Tostito incident that led to the torn hamstring. DH will be wandering the neighborhood with our little Cheetah girl.

Knitting-wise- I am on the second sock in Opal's Tiger sock yarn. I started wearing my handmade socks when it got cold, and fell in love. I had been hesitant- all that work and then it gets a hole or something- but, all that money spent buying the yarn, and all the time spent making them, it seems a shame to leave them hiding in a drawer.

Y'all have a safe and happy Halloween.

The Joys (?) of a Band Mom

...or, please pass the Tylenol, extra strength. As I sit here and type, my DS is sitting next to me practicing his clarinet. A series of squeals and squawks can be heard through out the house. Now I know why my parents banished me to the farthest part of the house. I may permanently deaf in my right ear by Hannukah.

I've been doing some serious knitting while waiting for the hamstring to heal. I have finished 3 Christmas stockings. Two were sitting in the UFO pile and the other I started from scratch. My DD's sweater is coming along nicely. I've finished the sleeves and the back. All I need are 2 fronts and a hood. She loved the buttons I picked out- silver flowers.

Can't say much else is going on. I'm still not able to drive, so I've been staying home and going a little stir crazy.

The Dangers of Tostitos...

...or it's just not my year, this year. So far this year, I have slipped on a banana peel, had a serious reaction to squid, had my rear car window smashed by an errant golf ball by some idiot who thinks he's Tiger Woods, and to top it off, I am now unable to leave my house thanks to a Tostitio. Here's the story-

Monday, the maids came (I'm spoiled) and cleaned the house- vacuumed and such. My 12 yo DS is a total slob. The rug on his side of the kitchen table is littered with all kinds of food particles. I try to clean it up as often as possible, but DH lost the cord to the rechargeable vacuum!! So, Monday night, I ask DH to get out the Halloween decorations so I can start putting them up. He disappears into the black hole- our garage- and I am left playing food referee with the kids. Basically, this means telling them to get back into the kitchen with their food. DD tried to sneak Cheezits in, but got caught, and as I am sending her back to the kitchen, I notice that DS is trying to hide a snack from me. I tell him to get back into the kitchen. I notice DH struggling with a box, so I get up and head to the back door. That's when the Tostito's decided to stage an attack. I put my right foot down on one the size of a quarter that DS has obviously dropped, and my right leg goes shooting out in front of me. I land on the floor in a half split in extreme agony. DH rushes in and I tell him to call 911 because I think I broke my leg. Ambulance arrives, good friend arrives and takes kids upstairs, and I am whisked away to the ER. At 41, I haven't done splits in over 20 years. Morphine, Toradol and Phenergan ease the pain. X-rays reveal no broken bones. I'm sent home on crutches and "good drugs."

So, I have been housebound ever since. It hurts to drive. It hurts to sit. It hurts to lay down. It hurts to walk. I have been doing mindless knitting and crochet to pass the time. At the rate I am going, all my holiday knitting might be done by Thanksgiving. "Always look on the bright side of life..."

It's Amazing...

...how bad you write when you are tired. My last post is awful. I think it was the three hours of sleep the night before. I kept myself up all day- no nap- so I slept well last night.

Road Trip- a friend adn I are heading out to Austin mid-October to join in a Knit Out at Borders. We think it will be a great trip. To make it easier on ourselves, and because we plan to have a few at dinner, we are spending the night. She's going to leave her car at my house, and I hope the bad golfer doesn't get her car like he got mine. Funny thing is, they are starting beginners classes at the club, and I would pay for this gut to go. It's cheaper than replacing my car's windshields every so often. I could aslo clean out the garage, but then I would have to dump my stash.

One fo my Knit Sistahs over at LSSK asked me to make her a pair of socks and autograph them because I got on the Harlot's blog. Any ideas??

Yarn Harlot in Houston!!

Yup, the Yarn Harlot made it to Houston, and was absolutely fantastic. Went with a good knitter friend, and we had a blast. First we went to Chili's and had dinner- with margaritas (one each)- and drove over to the venue. We were giggling like maniacs. We sat near my neighbor, another Harlot fan. I won a lovely door prize before the talk, too. It was a scarf pattern with the yarn. 100% cashmere yarn. I was being stalked in the parking lot for the yarn. Usually I'm the one doing the stalking!

The talk itself was hysterical. We laughed so hard. We were practically howling by the end of it. I may have howled when she told us about a comment she had from an elderly lady. Then we went and had our books signed and pics taken. Still can't figure out how to download pics very well, so hopefully next time. I found out she was going to be in Atlanta the following night, and almost went on a road trip to visit my sis in Atlanta just so I could see the Yarn Harlot again. Glad I didn't- over 700 people showed up!!

As for the spider soaps, let me explain- first and foremost, my family is a huge Halloween fan. My sister was born on Halloween. So we celebrate in a big way. Our house gets decorated, I carve pumpkins, we have a Halloween tree. Get the picture? Well, this year for my sis's birthday, I am making soap for her and her kids. I saw the spiders and thought they would be great to embed in the soap. So, when the Yarn Harlot wrote about being terrified of a spider in her shower- the one that turned out to be her hair- I knew what I was going to do with those spiders. Living in Texas, spiders are the least of our worries. Scorpions, water moccasins, and hurricanes are a lot scarier. In fact, spiders are nature's way of keeping down the mosquito population in Houston. Good thing, too, with all the West Nile virus and such. So, spiders don't scare me. If they get too bothersome, a whack with a shoe keeps them in line.

But there is something more about my morbid sense of humor, and it has to do with birthdays. Sis was born Halloween, Mom was born the Ides of March (when Caesar was killed) and I was born Friday the 13th. No joke. My daughter was due close to Halloween, but came 9/22, thereby breaking with tradition. But she was born on her great-grandfather's birthday. And, she was born between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and this year her birthday falls on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. We did celebrate early. So, you can imagine the fun we have with birthdays. My son was born on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day. Occasionally mine falls on Mother's Day and my hubby's falls on Father's Day, so we have lots of fun with birthdays around here. And, one of my husband's cousins gave birth earlier this year on our wedding anniversary (15 years!!).

My Knitting McGyver Badge- Level II

This is how I may have earned this badge. I was substituting at my fav HS. They had installed new A/C's that year, and nobody could make them work properly. If one zone was hot, another was freezing. Science was always hot. One of the science teachers asked if I had an extra barrette, so I loaned her mine, not realizing it was the only one in my bag. I did have a pair of bamboo knitting needles, though. A couple of quick twists later, my hair was up. And, yes I did walk around all day with a knitting needle stuck in my hair!! None of the kids said a word. I guess they were afraid that if I could put my hair up with one needle, then 2 needles would make me dangerous. On the down side- I couldn't knit on my break because I couldn't find the needle. Absent-minded professor- forgot the darn thing was in my hair!!!

And if you're wondering- I did cry at the bus stop as the bus was pulling away. I'm a big softy when it comes to my kids. Ask me tomorrow about our afternoon adventures in riding the bus as a Kindergartener. It's a long one, so I'll save it!