Anticipation

Anticipation
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

None of the photos of this event came out very well (new camera IS on the list of things to get, now that Jeff's is leaving), but this was my favorite. Beccano is patiently waiting on his turn to play his solo at his annual percussion recital. I love how the drumsticks lie waiting next to his music (the music he'd lost and had to re-copy by hand). Above him is a big, bronze gong.

I was proud of him--he did his solo perfectly (and even the other really good kids messed up a couple of times). He also did a beautiful job on his ensemble bell solo. I hope he has learned something by failing math last 6 weeks. He didn't get to participate in solo and ensemble contest, and he probably would have made a first division this year. I think he realizes now that he has to keep up and pay attention to his grades, not wait for a warning from the teacher.

It is hard watching your children learn hard lessons.

Also, we ate that pie after the concert. OMG. That was one delicious pie. Well worth the effort.

In other child news, the Older Boy has not been talking much, and has seemed pretty morose. I sent him a nice email yesterday, letting him know I am here for him, and that I wish he'd talk to us a bit more. He wrote back that he was just fine but he "appreciated the sentiment." Boy sounds like his dad.

Pie and Cards

Didn't want too many pix in one post, so here's another Mothers' Day entry. My gift from Beccano was a completely home made pie. I bought him a cook book recently, of all desserts, and said I wanted this chocolate mint silk pie. He made it, and it took a lot of new skills for him to complete. Softening butter, melting chocolate (eww, burnt some), making a pie crust. That last one was expensive, because he misread the instructions again, and put in a cup rather than 2-3 tablespoons of water in his first crust dough. Wasted 1.5 sticks of butter, but was a good lesson. However, it is a nice crust.

The pie has not been eaten yet, but we have memorialized it in these lovely photos! It's jellin' now, and sure looks rich and delicious. It's neat to see him trying all these new skills.
The boys were silly, as usual, for the holiday, and each gave me cards featureing ninjas, for some reason. Well, I KNOW Beccano is obsessed, but Older Boy's card was, too. He though tit was so funny that he could not hardly bear for me to wait until to day to open it (and it was cute).

Beccano made his, which was a collage featuring himself in ten years (a ninja wielding a guitar (axe) and wearing a huge masonic medallion), the Who at like age 18, Al Gore yelling "happy mommies day," a pansie, and the Kool-Aid dude (oh yeah). Not sure why the last thing was there. But, it made me laugh. Oh yeah, and a picture of Pres. Taft, labeled "Taftilicious" which he said cracked him up for about an hour when he thought of it. Yes, that boy is as goofy as he is in the photo!!

Both have been so kind to me lately (Older Boy walked to get the mail for me yesterday), and so funny. Every day's my day!

Mothers' Day Weekend

It's been a nice weekend. First, I got the main part of my shawl done and started on the border (photos in knitting blog). That made me happy. I got cute little needles for doing the border and that's made it fun.

Then, when I was finished knitting and chatting with my friends and such, Lee and I joined my former contractor friends Greg, Chelsea and Phil, plus Lea (aka "My Wife" as Greg always calls her), and we went off to a hike in Inks Lake State Park (the same place where I went to the cabin last fall when Jeff played in the cave).

We went on a longer hike than I'd ever been on there, 5 miles-ish in 3.5 hours on the longer trails in the less developed part of the park. I really, really love this part of Texas, so I was pretty thrilled to get to walk on the rocks I have admired for so long from the road! There were also a lot of wildflowers still blooming, and we saw interesting wildlife, like Daddy Longlegs under rocks, a butterfly whose tail looked like a second head (I have a picture of that on Flickr under Travel), and some interesting little ecosystems in the pools formed by rain on the karst rock formations (one even had a tiny fish in it--I wonder if it was one of those who burrow in the mud when the water dries up?).

As you can see, the prickly pear cactus were blooming--Lee took lots of pictures of them, and you can see them in the Flickr links in the sidebar--go to the Travels collection.

The hike was lovely, and would have been nicer if there had been even a hint of a breeze, and perhaps a few more clouds. I thought I was being all wimpy for getting a bit overheated (I am prone to heat stroke, after all, and so is my Psychic Twin Lee), but I found out that even the young people were feeling the heat. Whew. We all began to look forward to the wooded areas, because there was shade. But, the flowers were so pretty, the vistas so vast, and the rocks so darned interesting; it was worth it! I'm only sorry Beccano couldn't join us because he was really not feeling well (is better today).


This picture is really cool. Lea took it and was all worried she'd mess it up. We realized that, oops, we were standing with the sun behind us, and were a bit worried that we'd not see our faces, but lo and behold, we can be seen, and there's this cool streaming sun effect beside us! We do look a bit hot, but otherwise, like the finest of former coworkers!

Today

Yes, it's Mothers' Day, so happy day to all you people who are mothers, may be mothers, have a mother or had a mother. I always miss my mom today, but am glad to have the boys to enjoy. They also fed us at church, so that made the day worthwhile.

Plus, Lee joined the church today, so we are a Pledge Unit, not just a solo. I just can't tell you how nice it is to have someone to go to church with who likes the people there, will do activities, loves me, admits it in public, and whom I can love back. (I doubt that sentence is parallel, but you get the idea). My dad made some joke today about needing a score card to keep track of my boyfriends, sigh. But it is my fondest hope that nothing happens with this one. It's working out so nicely. And I can tell my dad is relieved I have someone more responsible around the house.

In bad news, it looks like something is amiss with my air conditioner, the unit that didn't break a couple of years ago. Sigh. I will now just hope it doesn't require completely replacing the thing. At least I managed to save a little for an emergency, this time!

The front of the house

Sam wanted to see my garden pictures. Well, I only got two usable ones, but these are them. Highlights include mulch instead of weeds and lack of Virginia Creeper VINES on the house, because I am zealously killing them to death and pulling them down, like every couple of days. The left plant is a Texas Bush Sage, and it has large purple flowers all summer (comes back from nothing every year and gets huge). Flowers are just about to start. Then the pink thing I just planted, and can't remember what it is, but there's a purple one, too. The turtle comes from Lee's old house and I made him bring it here because I like it and the Ex is not here to forbid garden statuary any more. It has vinca/periwinkle in it, of various pink and purple colors. The undefined green stuff is a mix of red snapdragons and white alyssum. Bugs just ate all the white flowers, but the snapdragons are doing better than usual, due to better watering and fertilizing than I usually manage. They will croak at some point in the summer, though, but that is OK--usually the white lantana comes up and covers the dead spring stuff.



This one is the other side of the previous picture and includes my sophisticated use of MS Paint to get rid of Older Boy's name on the sign (so Flickr viewers don't see it, not y'all). This shows some blue salvia behind the rest of the snapdragons. The taller plants at the left are pink snapdragons (blooming now) that have been in there at least three years (last time I managed to plant anything). They are much bigger than they were in previous years thanks to mulch, weeding and fertilizing. You do not see the evil honeysucke VINES that are trying to eat the poor crape myrtyle and salvia gregii on the end. I do like the dwarf something-or-other hedge by the windows. In ten years that is as big as it has gotten, and I have not had to trim it. For once, a foundation plant that doesn't soon outgrow its role.

So, that's one little bed in the front of the yard. And note the grass. It exists. I do have a lawn.

And from now on, I will make VINES very big. Because I obsess about them. Not even thinking about how the grape vine in back is trying to come back from the brink. Getting the RoundUp out.

One Other Topic

I was so nice and ordered Lee some flowers to show support for his divorce hearing this morning. Only, after I ordered them, it got canceled. ACK and these were not cheap flowers (they also came with a nice vase and matching picture frame). So, now they are sympathy flowers for not getting to get the thing OVER with yet. It's so stressful!

Respite?

I put my tarot card of the day in here because it summarizes my hopes for right now--a bit of a break, a respite, a lull. Of course, there is Lee's court appearance tomorrow. Those are always stressful, and no matter how glad you are for it, divorces are not "fun" events. I know I didn't "make" him do it, but I know it might not have happened right now if it weren't for me. But, hey, we have had this many months of happiness, and he was so miserable before.

We did survive the big reorganization at ALE, and Lee still has a job, just a new manager and different team, I guess. Now maybe they'll hire someone? I keep dreaming. That stress being over will make a real difference for all of us, though. We both have jobs that are stable for the time being. Yay. I even have a thing to DO now at work. That helps, because yesterday I arrived at 7:30 am and no one spoke to me or emailed me until 4:45 pm. That's weird. Today I have already spoken to more than one person and the boss has sent more than one email. Woo. Plus, the arm warmers I knitted over the weekend have actually helped me deal with the cold in the office better!

All the kid drama seems to have faded, too. The Girl has disappeared, so Older Boy isn't quite as manic (though I am sure he is sad), and Beccano finished making up all his work and is back on track to make reasonable math grades this semester. Let's hope the other grades come up, too. He is having a lot of fun building a rocket in shop class and making a movie in Multimedia. Plus reading a very large book on ninja training that I got him for his birthday. It's nice to see him reading.

Hey readers! Have any of you heard of locker hooking? It is a craft I never heard of before, but I met a man whose wife does it obsessively, apparently. It looks...different.

So...I planted some new flowers in the front yard, and will share pix of that later. Until then, I will rest in peace.

Restaurant Fun

Restaurant Fun
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Friday night we decided we wanted to go out to eat, and it was my turn. I picked a local family-run Italian restaurant, because I like the "real restaurant" atmosphere and lack of chain-restaurant blandness. The problem was that it was Friday, prom night and such, so we had a bit of a wait. I came prepared with knitting (which I later had to rip out, but it passed the time), and everyone else entertained each other with banter while we had drinks.

Once we got seated, the boys (Lee included) got sillier and sillier, and we ended up playing a seriously funny game of adult vs. teen "straw hockey" (blowing a straw folded into a triangle across the table, trying to avoid glasses, so you can "score"). The easiest way to lose was to start laughing, so you could not blow any more, and the other side could score on you. There was a lot of laughing! I hope we were not too embarrassing. I captured the end of the game on my cell phone, and that's the picture you see here.

The food was wonderful, and to see them eating salad and broccoli cheese soup warmed my heart. And ordering adult kinds of food. Wow. (If only Older Boy would EAT more.)

I came home so happy to have my wonderful three men in my home. They were great fun.

And in good news, it looks like Jeff found a roommate and a nice place to live, not very far from here (but a lot closer to his fave South Austin haunts, like Artz and Donn's Depot). He should be moving soon, if all goes well. So that's 4 dudes I am happy with.

Garden Drama

This is the kind of excitement I want more of in my life.

Yesterday, Beccano and I were sitting on the patio surveying the damage a bad storm did to the potted plants. We propped up a few things and decided everything would recover, even the battered tomatoes.

He said, "Hey look at the blue jay." And there was a big on on the woodpile (we have a sizable collection of debris, some of which will be firewood, the rest of which is slowly being put out with the trash each week and currently serves as wren and sparrow habitat). The jay began screaming suddenly. We laughed at how loud it was.

Then he said, "Whoa, there are a lot more jays now," and sure enough, 8 or 9 of them began flying around the crape myrtle and Monterrey oak. They looked like bouncing blue balls of energy. All of them were making a very loud blue jay screech (not the pretty jay sound, the screech). We wished we'd had the recorder out so that we could use it on animations or make it a cell phone ring tone.

As we sat there enjoying it, Beccano jumped up and said, "SNAKE! Mom, look!" Sure enough, a fair-sized rat snake was crawling under the fence into our yard. It quickly made its way under the firewood pile. That seemed to satisfy the jays, and they screeched just a few more times, then flew away, other than one lone sentinel, who stayed at least another ten minutes, Beccano, who brought a chair over for at least 20 minutes only to report it poked its head out a couple of times, and one very curious wren. We figure that the jays' nest had been a target of the snake, or something. Or, they just don't like snakes (who could blame them).

That was a really fun backyard drama. I looked and looked for an image of an angry blue jay, and I chose this one by Jim Spencer, the guy who illustrated Stuart Little. I imagine the one in the illustration was yelling at the moth. Or eating it.

P. S.: In other wildlife news, what I didn't post about last Friday was that Beccano called me at work, in a panic. Naturally one of the rare moments my boss was in the office. The dogs had brought in a bloody, dead rat. He bravely disposed of it and cleaned the carpet, but it made him sick to his stomach. I told him, "Now you are a man, my son." And now I know one of the disadvantages of the doggie door.

Such a Big Boy

Such a Big Boy
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

My, how Beccano has grown. And he's not stopping. I have a hard time dealing with my baby being so...big. We were goofing around last night while I was taking pictures of my finished Fiesta Sweater, so we captured him in Jeff's leather hat and his own festive Threadless t-shirt (we loves them Threadless shirts).

We are spending a lot of time together, since this precious boy was not doing his math work and didn't go after school like he was supposed to last week...so he has no privileges other than the History Channel and discussing math with me and Lee. He's taking it well, but I am totally baffled as to how he can "forget" to turn in work or go to an after-school program. His brain is still really "different" and I just don't understand it. He's so sweet, funny and talented, yet has strong tendencies to see how much he can avoid doing things he does not want to do. I don't get that boy. But, we have so much fun together!

And yes, as you can see the Fiesta Sweater is finished. There will be a longer post about it on the knitting blog. I think it came out much cuter than I thought it would, and it looks nice! Like I will wear it! I like how the sleeves came out--bell sleeves in 3/4 length (because long bell sleeves get smeared in food). And the leaf insertion looks interesting, as does my unique neckline.

Mainly I am proud to have finished something. I have too many things in progress! Still going strong is a Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today in Bamboo, and a shiny green top from Rebecca mag.

One more little note: it was all rainy and stormy last night, so few folks were at Chicks with Sticks, but Cheri was there, and I was so glad to get to just sit and knit with her like in the old days. She's just such a comfortable person to be with, and I miss just chit chatting with her and talking about our lives. I am glad she's happy where she is now, but miss her, too.

Dishwasher Thrills

Dishwasher Thrills
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

So, why is there a blog entry about a dishwasher? I am so thrilled to finally have it, and so impressed that Lee the Manly one installed it solo.

You see, the dishwasher that came with the house ten years ago was not as nice as all the other appliances. It was not the absolute bottom of the line, but close. And it never got things really clean, ever. Always left deposits, grit and bits of rice everywhere. I have disliked it since I got it, but you hate to replace "a perfectly good dishwasher."

But, since we already got the lovely fridge...we'd looked at the dishwashers then. And we were in Home Depot on another mission yesterday, when lo and behold, there was a floor model, $150 off (plus $50 gift card). That made the second-best tier well within my range, woo. So now I have all the adjustments, added thingies, stainless steel liner and cycles I could possibly want.

When we test washed, Older Boy couldn't even tell it was going! And whoa, the clean glassware was cleaner than I ever saw it. I want to wach everything we own, just to shine it up.

I am proud of myself for being so careful when I was out of work that I could afford this little luxury. Now with modern washer and dryer (thanks to Lee), fridge (ditto) and dishwasher, I feel so good appliance-wise. And not to forget the lovely freezer full of yummy stuff Lee brought, too!

So, here's to the dishwaher, pictured in its first wash phase ever!

New Knitting Blog!

When I first started this blog I had intended to mostly talk about knitting in it, but instead I ended up dwelling on all the stuff that was going on in my life. I kept thinking things would settle down and I'd get back to knitting topics more, but I really haven't.

So, I went and started a knitting blog, which I will even make public, so knitting friends can find me. I will only say nice things about people, yarn, and yarn shops, uh, or I will try.

I'll still mention knitting stuff here, but if you want to see more technical knitting content (yeah, like I am capable of THAT) or more words on knitting, head on over there! Soon I'll have a picture of the finished Fiesta Sweater that just came off ye olde needles.