Friday, October 30, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday



1.

My college students came home for fall break last night after being at school continuously since Labor Day.  We went up to see them on their birthday weekend for lunch, but that has been IT!  This is the first year that I've seen KT so little.  Now that she has a car and could come home any time she wants, and I don't have to pick her up, she can't come home because she has a job so she can pay for her car.   Hitch works, too; they both work all day Saturdays, so they just never get home.

It was so nice to have them home for dinner.  It would have been perfect if Madden had been here, too, but he had to stay at school until 11:00 for a project.

Maybe it was perfect....KT and Hitch picked him up instead up Dh or I having to do it.

2.

We're psyched for the biggest game of the year tonight.  It's almost like the Georgia-Florida rivalry.

Go Cougars!

3.

Busy weekend with our high school football game, neighborhood halloween event, the GA-FL game, halloween, and All Saints Day on Sunday.  KT and I are going to plan a little All Saints party for the family since we decided not to take the younger ones to the TORCH party and miss out on time with our other kids.

4.

Because of my post on quark the other day, (yogurt cheese, not physics) my blog got Stumbled Upon.  The subject was physics, of course, not probiotics.  I don't even know how Stumble works, but I think it's pretty hysterical that serious geeky-types might end up here because I made some cheese!

Welcome to my humble blog!

5.

Can you believe that it's 8:35 a.m. and my kids are nagging me to get off the computer so they can do their schoolwork?  What's wrong with these people?  Don't they know it's Friday---Easy Day around here---and we can start school later than usual?

It's not just easy day---it's Friday at the chiropractor's and he has Free Bagels on Friday.  Woot!  Woot!
I don't care about the bagels, just the massage and adjustment.  I'll be a happy camper in a couple of hours.

6.

Do your children watch Phineas and Ferb?  I don't know anything about them except that they say it's the best show ever and my children run around the house all day singing their songs.  I must admit they're quite catchy.

7.

Okay, never mind.  Some of them are quite annoying.  Especially when it's just the one line repeated fifty-gazillion times because they don't know the rest of the song.

Maybe we better start school so they'll stop singing now.

~~~~~~~

Have a great day!  Stop by again!


Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Story of My Life




Oh, were you expecting something more philosophical?

Sorry, not today.  This cracked me up!

H/T: Shelly

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

O Bliss! O Joy!

O, Quark, Quark!

I made my dear husband very happy on Sunday with some quark, which, in case you didn't bother to click the link up there, is basically just yogurt cheese, NOT  "elementary particles and fundamental constituents of matter," as you might think.

Ever since he graduated from college and spent about a year in Munich and touring Europe, he has been a quark lover.  After many years, we found a place to buy it---Harry's Farmer's Market, which is now owned by Whole Foods---but it's rather expensive and Harry's is out of my way, as a rule.

So, a couple of weeks ago I discovered this wonderful method for making yogurt in a crockpot, which I've done twice now.  I love it!  It's so easy and yummy, and let's not forget----cheap!  Dh figured that if I could make yogurt, I could make quark, so he found this Down-to-Earth blog full of great stuff as well as instructions!  I can't believe she posted those instructions just days before dh did his search.

If making yogurt in a crockpot is easy, making quark out of it is super-easy.  Just as she says, you drain the whey out of it using cheesecloth.  We were out of cheesecloth (for about 5 years), so we used the old coffee filter method.  I lined my mesh strainer with a filter, added yogurt, and then put a couple more filters on top with a weight to press the whey out of the yogurt.  We put it in the fridge overnight, and in the morning---voila!

Dh ate it on toast; I ate it on a spoon.  And it was wonderful.  I like it much better than the yogurt, which is pretty amazing.  The quark is smooth and creamy with that tartness that characterizes yogurt, but not quite so much.  I think a lot of the tartness is lost in the whey.  I didn't want to waste all those great pro-biotics so I used the whey in a chocolate smoothie.  It was different, let me tell you, but still tasty.  Next time, I think I'll save it for pancakes.

We haven't taken any pictures, or added any flavorings yet.  We love it just fine plain.   I'll probably make some more for this weekend since our yogurt recipe makes 2 quarts of yogurt and we're hard-pressed to finish it all in a timely fashion.  Making the quark will be a very pleasant way to use the yogurt faster!

~~~~
This is my first time participating in Kelly's Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival.  Click that link if you want to see some more ways to incorporate Real Food into your diet!  I made some more "real food" yesterday, inspired by my sick child, so maybe I'll post about it next week.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Knitting Progress



The Little Princess has been croupy the past few days.  Today is her best day yet.  So we've been keeping quiet and not doing much outside of the house.



Hmmm, that sock picture is kinda blurry.



That's better, not so close.  I need to get someone to put it on for me to see if it's the right size yet.  But, while waiting for someone to do that....



I finally found the project for this adorable yarn that I picked up at Hobby Lobby months ago.  It's soft and scrumptious and comes in the cutest confetti-like colors.



Bad light, again.  Rainy day, you know?  All those fun little cables!!!



I found this idea at Cozy As Spring.  I love this cardigan!  I'm leaving out the little bobbles in the cables because I don't think they'll show up as well with this flecked yarn.

Plus, I hate making bobbles!!!  I don't think I can express how strongly I hate making bobbles.  They make me crazy.

Enough of that...but this is knitting up way more quickly than that sock.... (What a difference a slightly thicker yarn makes!)...It might even be done by Christmas!

Autumn Changes


My dogwood tree this week:




It's a rainy, dreary day here.  I'm surprised the picture turned out as well as it did.

Friday, October 23, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday



~~~1~~~

Alton Brown, we love you, but sometimes we love me better!   The kids were dying for pancakes the other day and wanted to use Alton's "instant pancake mix", but we didn't have buttermilk, or regular milk to make sour milk with, so I suggested the substitution of yogurt.  Ugh, grossss!  was the response.

Typical mom that I am, I reckelessly charged ahead adding 2 cups of vanilla yogurt and the appropriate number of eggs.   Of course, they tried to stop me from adding the eggs whole since they were supposed to be separated and the whites whipped, blah, blah, blah.

Would you believe those pancakes were lighter and fluffier than Alton's?  And they tasted like cake!  The kids raved about them.

Thank you.


~~~2~~~
I know I need to take a picture of these wonderful socks I'm knitting, but I haven't gotten around to it.

 I'll just say this:  men have bigger feet and their socks take a lot longer to knit.

~~~3~~~
This past week I've been enjoying another of Melissa Wiley's recommendations:  The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  It wasn't all I expected it to be because she didn't evolve as much as I expected, but it was a very enjoyable read.  I loved the blossoming of the relationship between Callie and her aloof, strange, and somewhat scary grandfather.  Their outdoor rambles coupled with their studies of botany make me want to get outside with my kids and explore.   I also want to read Darwin's Origin of the Species.


~~~4~~~
I've discovered a new subculture of decorating blogs.  It's kind of scary.  I'm trying not to get hooked on them since I have neither the money nor the time to constantly change my house, nor do I want to fall into the sins of jealousy and envy, but I do have a couple of new projects in mind....if I get around to any of them, I'll let you know!

I'll tell you this much----if you stand still too long, you might get painted!

~~~5~~~
It's Fall Festival time again.  TMax has his recital tomorrow.  For your listening pleasure, here is one of his pieces:


j/k

Since Blogger changed their formats, I can't figure out how to add the video.  I'll have to try again another day.

grrrrrr.

~~~6~~~
Football game in the rain tonight.  Last Friday was freezing cold.  Tonight should be warm and rainy.  If you don't like the weather here, just wait 10 minutes.

~~~7~~~
I'm going to pick up a side of beef tomorrow!  I'm so excited!  We've had hardly any beef lately since we're down to the end of our last order.  Now we have a couple of roasts left that I'll have to be sure to use first.

I'm not even thinking about the liver, heart, and kidneys.  Anyone want those?  I'm thinking I won't take those with me when I pick up the rest tomorrow.  They can keep them.


~~~~~
Visit Jen's for more Quick Takes!




Thursday, October 22, 2009

Southern Sledding

I have a little hope that since the Global Warming ridiculousness has given way to Climate Change, and some areas are having earlier and colder winter weather, that we might have a real winter down here in South Town.



I know...it's still HotLanta, but instead of a pathetic half-inch of snow that's gone by 10 a.m.  maybe we could get, lets say, TWO snowfalls of 3-4 inches that last a full day.



Is that too much to ask?



I know it would completely shut down North Georgia for daaaaayyyys (both in anticipation and cleanup), but it would be nice.



Then we wouldn't have to see so much of this.




Children sledding on frost.




Seriously.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Monday, Monday

I'm sitting here this morning, cold and unwilling to start the day week.

My dreams were filled with my gigantic TO DO LIST for this week.

We have a full week of school ahead of us, as usual.

It looks like I'll be back and forth to the garden twice a day for a while.  It froze last night and we had to go cover the seedlings.  Since it's a community garden, we also have to go back over first thing this morning to remove the covers.  And go back tonight to re-cover the seedlings, et cetera.  It's supposed to warm up again later in the week, thank heavens.

So, it's cold and I need to get dressed.  That means I'll probably put on my favorite sweater to stay warm.  It's actually my Dear Husband's sweater.  Of course.  It's a gray wool cardigan that my mom gave him years ago.   Very Mister Rogers---except with buttons, not a zipper.  I guess he gets too warm in it, but he never wore it much, so I "borrowed" it a couple of years ago.  I wear it all the time in the winter.

It's funny....it's his sweater.... She gave it to him, but I feel so close to my mom when I wear it.  I think of her all the time.  I think of how much she loved my Dear Husband.

And the really sad thing is that it's wearing out.  The cuffs are all frayed.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to retire it soon.  Actually, I'll turn it into something else....I don't know what yet....but I can't just toss it in the bin.  I'm unreasonably attached to this sweater.  I'm not nearly as attached to the clothes she wore, herself, just this.

What would you do with an old sweater????  I think it will felt very nicely, but then what?

Friday, October 16, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday




1.  Did you know that our beloved President Bush outlawed incandescent lightbulbs?  Yep.  We're making the switchover to those oh-so-wonderful compact flourescent bulbs in 2010.  Yikes.  This lightbulb issue really drives me crazy, and it's not just because I hate, loathe, and despise the light produced by CFL (compact flourescent) bulbs.   It's because they contain mercury.  You know, we're not even allowed have mercury thermometers anymore (the only kind that really work), but they want us to fill our houses with these bulbs.  God forbid we should break one.  We're not even allowed to throw them in the trash.  This is a great article that explains the dangers of these bulbs.  I think it's too late to do anything other than stock up on incandescents, especially the full-sprectrum ones!  It'll be kind of hard to boycott CFL's once the incandescents disappear from the shelves.

I just don't understand the people in Washington.  Sure, taking care of the planet is important, but some of the ways they want to do it are just plain stupid and short-sighted.  And expensive for taxpayers and government.

2.  On a lighter (lol!) note, here's the cure for busy little hands during family prayer time:




Silly putty.





3.  The view from my kitchen window of fall changes.  My dogwood tree is one of the first thing that changes colors.


4.  American Heritage Girls last night.  We had a big tea party, and despite the fact that there was a bridge out just down the road, and practically everyone had to make a huge detour and spend quadruple the normal amount of time on the road, and several new girls came, and it was beautiful girly chaos, a good time was had by all.  After reading that sentence maybe you have some idea how they felt who had to make the detour.

I got lucky, I just slipped past the barrier saying the road was closed because of the bridge.  I suspected that people who live in the neighborhoods across from the church could go home and I could go to church,  so, while all the other folks there at that time were turning around, I just kept going.  A policeman there might of deterred me, but there wasn't anyone there at the time.  By the time I went home, there was another barrier and a cop.

5.  When I got home I found an email that arrived about an hour after I had left, saying the bridge was closed.  This is a little bridge just down the street from the church; it crosses a creek that shoots off the Chattahoochee River.  No mention of this "bridge out" was made on the evening traffic report; I guess because it's such a small road and minor bridge.  But let me tell you, it's not minor to the (seemingly) thousands of commuters daily!  Usually at that time of day, I'll have to sit in traffic inching past the church because of a stoplight a half-mile away (just past that little bridge).  We can be sitting in sight of the church and unable to get there for 15 mins. because of traffic. 

6.  Today is the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.  That's what it says on my calendar, but EWTN says it's tomorrow.  Anyone know the truth or why there is a discrepancy?  Wikipedia even says it's tomorrow.  Catholic Culture says it's today.  Is it the difference between the old and new calendar?

Anyway....we're celebrating the name day of my Little Princess today!   You can usually tell what I was reading before my babies were born by what their names are.  At this time, I was reading Margaret Mary's biography and feeling very drawn to having our home enthroned to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  So she is Margaret Mary and, after several weeks of prayerful preparation, we had our home enthroned in a few months later.

7.  My 7 Quick Takes are too long.  I have to work on shortening them.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Does the Vaccine Matter? - The Atlantic (November 2009)

  

Does the Vaccine Matter? - The Atlantic (November 2009)

Here's a very interesting/enlightening article on the Swine Flu vaccine.  The big problem, which they mention, is that the gold standard of studies is a double-blind placebo controlled trial, and that type of study is unethical in cases like this.  You can't give a placebo to an at-risk population.

My first thought was that they could give the placebo to kids like mine because I don't want them to have the real thing.  But that wouldn't exactly work, would it, since they'd know I wouldn't be signing them up for the vaccine? 

Shared via AddThis

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Homemade Goodness

People make fun of me all the time for making things from scratch that I could buy much more easily from a store.

I don't always calculate the cost, but usually it's cheaper to make a higher quality product at home than to buy it.

The other day I found this recipe for making yogurt in your crockpot.  I'd been looking for a good yogurt method since the machines with little, tiny cups are just impractical, and I don't have room for another single-purpose machine.

I tried it the other day, and it turned out great.  Even considering the fact that I use my ultra-expensive milk straight from the farmer, the yogurt costs half what I pay at the store for a big tub of Stoneyfield Farms Cream Top plain yogurt.

Now, I have to teach the kids to eat it.  They're used to the fruity kind; only dh and I eat the plain.

~~~~~~~

This morning the kids are eating homemade granola cereal because I didn't find any good cereal sales at the store.   They love this stuff.  You know what it is?

You'll never guess.

It's the topping from my apple crisp.

When I make a crisp, I mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and oats together for a topping.  I'm sure I used a recipe at one point, but I don't often stick to recipes.  This cereal is the same thing except that I didn't use the flour and I did use at least twice at many oats because it doesn't need to be that sweet.  Or that wet.

So here is my "recipe" if you want to try it:

Crispy Oat Cereal


2 sticks melted butter
1 c brown sugar
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
4-6 cups of oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds (opt.)


Mix it all together and spread into a thin layer on a cookie sheet with sides (or something similar).  Toast at 300 for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.  Be very careful not to let it get too toasty or it will taste burned.


The problem with this recipe is that my kids love it.  They'll eat too much for breakfast, so I have to measure it.  And they'll eat it out of the jar all day long, so it will be all over my kitchen floor.

But I'm sort of okay with that as long as they sweep.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Blooming







My hydrangeas have some blooms on them!  I love these.  I don't know what kind they are, but they make me happy and I'm surprised they're blooming this late.


Monday, October 12, 2009

All Buttoned Up!

Yes, the quilt is all buttoned up.  Thanks to sweet Barbara's idea to put buttons on it, I had enough motivation to continue and finish the darn thing Little Princess's quilt.






I spent, oh, I don't know, 5 hours yesterday in my basement making and sewing on the binding.  As I did it, I thought that a good blogger would be taking step-by-step pictures.



I'll never be that good of a blogger.  I just wanted it finished and you'll just have to be content with the finished product.  I am.



Princess got to pick a couple of special buttons to go on it.  The 'I Heart U' is in the center of the quilted flower in the center square in the center of her bed.  And when I say "center" I mean that in the loosest possible sense of the word.





Despite its flaws, I love the binding.  I made it from scraps of the flannel that I used for the back.  there is no rhyme or reason to it; I didn't think about it at all.  In fact, most of the scraps were already sewn together because the back had been too big, so I just sewed those together and made sure they were all 4" wide strips.



There's no rhyme or reason to the backing, either.  I just pieced together big chunks of flannel.  I think that side is really cool, except a little flaw that will probably keep me from ever flipping it over voluntarily.

It's not perfect by anyone's standards, least of all mine.  There are lots of things I don't like about it, but it was meant to be a fun and utilitarian project that would replace LP's worn-out comforter, and a vehicle for me to learn about quilting.  It's not a quilted work of art; I don't think most of our fore-mother's quilts were showpieces.  They were just way of keeping the family warm with what they had.  That's what this is.

It hasn't been my most fun project, but I accomplished my goal, and it is cute.  I'm not sure when I'll tackle a project like this again.

I really, really, like the hand quilting.  In fact, I'm very proud of that part of the quilt.

I'm not crazy about piecing (or cutting out patches!).

Binding was kind of a cool project, but I'd like it better with a walking foot on my machine. That is definitely a priority before I ever embark on another quilting project!

I'd also like to know how people baste the layers together without an empty room big enough to lay out the quilt!

So, after 10 months, it's done.  LP loves it.  It's soft and snuggly.  And I can move on to other things.

It's rainy and dreary here.  Again.  I hope your day is soft and snuggly.

Friday, October 9, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday



1.  Jennifer isn't hosting today because she put away her computer for the week.  Shocking.  I don't know how anyone can do that!  Really, what would I do with all my spare time?

2.  A friend of ours has started podcasting and he just posted his third podcast yesterday.  You can listen to Jeff, The Catholic Pilot, here.  He mentions yours truly in a couple of them, but that's not why I'm suggesting you listen.  My favorite part, so far, is the little tidbits on what it's like to be an airline pilot.  I'm looking forward to hearing him talk more about his faith.

3.  I know you're all dying for knitting and quilting updates!  I'm ready to turn the heel on my sock.  I know that's thrilling, but not as thrilling as the minor miracle that occurred the other day.  I'm not going to have enough yarn for 2 socks so I went back to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find another skein to match (I know, right?).  Well, in the clearance section there was 1 lonely skein in the same colorway.  A different dye-lot, to be sure, but the same color.  That's amazing since I bought the yarn on clearance about 3 months ago.  I must have left that same skein because it was a different dye lot, but I don't think it will matter if I use that one just for the toes when I run out.

4.  I put buttons on the Little Princess quilt the other day.  Go me!  Today I plan to work on the binding.

5.  It looks like Thursdays are American Heritage Girls day whether I have a meeting or not.  Yesterday was spent removing and properly placing patches on LP's vest.  I should also have done some paperwork, but, yuck.  I noticed yesterday that my AHG bags are exactly where I dropped them after last week's meeting.  Now, if only that had been in their proper place....

6.  This is hysterical.  All those wonderful homeschooled girls who learn to knit as part of their curriculum....who would have thought they'd use that lovely, old-fashioned art for....

a thong.

7.  You know, speaking of ipods and podcasts....when do you moms listen to your ipods?  I tend to listen to itunes when I'm on the computer, and I use my ipod touch for occasionally checking email or fb (okay, and maybe a game once in a while!).  I rarely ever put the headphones on and listen while I'm doing something else.  So I hardly ever listen to podcasts.  I listen to those at the computer, too, if I listen at all.

Tell me, what are you doing when you have your ipod on?  There are more podcasts I'd like to listen to, but I don't want to spend more time in front of the computer.


I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy your fall weather.  I plan to be marching in a rainy parade tomorrow with my AHG girls!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Joke of the Day

Upon eating Trader Joe's sweet potato chips, one of the top 6 best-tasting chips....

TMax:  Why did Moby Dick eat the entire fleet of boats carrying spuds?

Me:  I don't know, why?

TMax:  Because no one can eat just one potato ship!


And that's why I didn't have ANY.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

More Betsy-Tacy!

Looky what came in the mail!!!!!





KT and I had ordered all of these from the Betsy-Tacy Society back in June, when we first found out they were being re-issued.  We ordered a couple of other things at the same time, like some adorable notecards and Emily of Deep Valley (scroll down).  I wasn't sure if we had really ordered them because we didn't have any record of the transaction, nor did we find a place on the site to check.  It's not like shopping at Amazon!  I was wondering if I would have re-order from Amazon, but they came, and the bonus is that we got a special CD of Letters from Maud!  I can't wait to look at it.

These books are lovely.  They feel wonderful in your hands and the covers are the original, delightful Vera Neville illustrations instead of the much tackier covers that they used in later editions.  There is one particular set of re-issues, which we have a few of, that I abhor.  They don't do justice to the charm of the story or the characters themselves.

A special addition to these books is, literally, the addition to the backs of the books.  They each come with a post-script which gives the reader the scoop on what was really happening in Maud Hart Lovelace's life at the same time.  There are photographs of her and her friends who come to life on the pages of the books. 

Another interesting note is that her whole romance with her husband is made up.  She didn't actually meet him until after The Great World, although his story in the book reflects his childhood.  But that marriage proposal at the beginning of Betsy's Wedding?  Oh, be still my heart.  That has to be one of the sweetest, most romantic things I've ever read.  Even more romantic that Darcy and Elizabeth.

If you missed my little giveaway....you have another opportunity!  You can stop by Kate's Book Blog for a chance at her giveaway.  She has several copies to give out. 

On a side note---I'm sorry I got to know Betsy so late in life.  In the books she lives in Deep Valley, MN, which is actually Mankato, MN.  I was there in 1997!  We went to a CCL convention in  Minneapolis and then took a little tour out west with some friends to visit all the Little House on the Prairie sites.  Did you know that the dugout on the banks of Plum Creek is just outside Mankato?  We were in Mankato for a little while, looking at a pioneer museum, and we waded in Plum Creek, but we didn't know we were missing Betsy and Tacy's homes!

O di immortales!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Betsy-Tacy

Did you see the Betsy-Tacy article in the Wall Street Journal by Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries?  It was excellent.  Go read it.



Are you finished?  Then go here to Book Club Girl and read about how to get started on the Betsy-Tacy series.

The book I had to give away is winging its merry way to Ohio to Barbara.  I only got two comments on that post, so TMax flipped a coin to see who won it.  I hope you enjoy it (and all the rest!), Barb!

Sorry, Sarah.  You'll have to go see if they have them at your library.  And then, of course, you'll have to buy them because they're that good!

Friday, October 2, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday


1.  American Heritage Girls was last night, and our group is growing!  We had 3 new girls show up last night unexpectedly.  They're still all meeting "one-room schoolhouse" style with all the different levels together, but they were having a great time every time I went in the room.  Next week they're having a Tea Party (not the political type!) with the moms, and I hope we'll be moving into separate units at that point.  Although, we'll still be doing activities together.


2.  AHG is planning a mother/daughter camping trip this fall.  The date was announced last night:  November 21.  All I can think of is COLD!!!  When we talked about this trip back in late May, you know, actually camping without the men, I think we were all expecting more of the same warm weather where is campfire is a fun part of the camping experience, not a necessity.  But now we're going to teach these girls what camping is all about!

And we I say "we," I hope you know that I mean "a bunch of moms, most of whom are novice campers, and barely know how to build a fire or set up a tent."

Scary.

It's not too early to start praying for unseasonably warm weather, is it?

3.  Little Princess just woke up---she's wearing a peasant-style nightgown that KT made about 10 years ago----out of an old sheet.  It's the sweetest nightown, with a little rose sewn on the front of the neck.  And since LP is younger than KT was when she made it, it comes all the way down to the floor.


That was one great, sturdy sheet.  I think we have a Blessed Virgin Mary tunic made out of the same set. 

4.  TMax and Pipster got up at 6 am again to make Alton Brown's pancakes.   This recipe requires separating eggs, so I asked Pipster if he knew how to do it.  (I don't know about you, but with 6 kids I sometimes forget which kids have which skills!)  With a barely restrained eye roll and just the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice, he said "yes."  Again, I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty great that my 10 year old knows how to separate eggs.

When all the kids were younger, it was necessary for them to have a certain level of self-sufficiency, because I was probably busy with a younger sibling.  That's part of the beauty of a large family; children learn skills out of necessity because mom simply doesn't have the time to do everything for them. 

Now that they're older, I've learned that children are quite capable of fending for themselves, so I have a lot more time for blog-reading.  Works out nicely, dontcha think? 

5.  A couple of weeks ago I was having a lot of trouble staying awake during school hours.  And who doesn't?  I found that it helps a lot if I bring my knitting to the table, so when I'm not actually teaching or grading, I can fill the moments with things like:
k1, p2, k6, p2, k1
It's making a lovely sock.  I just wish I could knit faster to move on to the next project.

6.  Speaking of projects....remember the quilt?  That I was going to finish by October 1? 

Would you believe I haven't touched it since then?  Nothing like an unreasonable deadline to make me stop working on something!  Well, that, and a much more charming, portable sock.

 I finished the quilting that I had planned to do and I looked at the whole thing and realized I would still have to tie it all over the place, or quilt at least a dozen more squares.  I can't decide what to do.  I'm not loving the idea of quilting and tying.  Paralyzed by indecision.  But I want it on LP's bed.  Soon. 

7.  There was a number seven that I was going to tell you about...but going into the kitchen to check on the production of light, fluffy, blueberry pancakes, and sending The Master of the World and Madden off in the dark morning completely knocked it out of my head.

Have a great day!  Stop by Jennifer's for more Quick Takes.

Ha!  Now I remember---linking to Jen's site reminded me.  Blogger has new advanced features that I'm really liking!  Some things are much easier to use.  It uploads pictures to wherever you are in your post instead of all at the beginning, forcing me to relocate each one painstakingly to it's proper position.

WTG, Blogger!

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