Everyday Ordinary

Two Sundays ago, the homily at mass was about Everyday Ordinary. At least, that is what I heard. Father Mike was talking about the lack of commentary in the Gospels about Jesus from the time he was found in the temple until he began public ministry and was baptised by John. His point was that those years were not insignificant, they were just ordinary. Everyday Ordinary is a blessing. And we need to remember that it is still meaningful to do the everyday things every day, day in, day out, over and over again. Raising and nurturing, cleaning and cooking, working and sleeping. It is meaningful and important to honor the work, the mundane work, the ordinary work, of life.
It is the whole, you don't enjoy the sunshine with out a little rain. But it is more.
I have been thinking about it for nearly two weeks and still cannot articulate it.

Do I have a point? Sure. Our Mayhem is quite ordinary. Painfully ordinary. Don't-want-to-dull-you-with-the-details ordinary. But, somehow, I feel better about it. Not that our lives may become anything else, but maybe that the work I do now will allow my children to relish the excitement of becoming adults and finding their way to settle into the ordinary of their lives, too. Not at all flashy and reality tv worthy. Just our reality.

Doesn't make for a very exciting blog. Sorry.

In other News:

I watch a lot of PBS. There is a lot of good stuff on WQED if you ignore the Doo-Wop and Celtic Women.
Last night was a fine example in Nova. It is about Making Stuff Smaller. Seriously, click on the guy with the magnifying glass and watch. It will blow your mind. And Mr. Mayhem didn't know that that is how a quartz watch works, either.
I also love Masterpiece on PBS. Mystery mostly, Sherlock last season was awesome. You cannot see the episodes online anymore, but you can see the trailer. A terrible tease. I also like Wallander, ahhh Kenneth Branagh. *sigh*
Anyway, Downton Abbey on Classic, right now, is fabulous! And I don't usually care for that time period type things. You can stream the episodes at the moment. I recommend that you do.

I will be back soon with more of the mundane Mayhem...

It's Not All About Baby

See, here are the Mayhem fellas... making nice for a picture with Grandma when we celebrated her birthday. Ignore the cake, I have not refined my baking skills, yet.But... there is a little sister.
Cuter than Cute.
And I finished Tea Leaves and Tiny Tea Leaves.

Matchy-Match strikes again!!

If you know of any other big girl/little girl patterns, let me know! She is going to outgrow this sweater, too.

In other news...

Winter has us in its grips. Shocking, I know, being January and all.

Lil'OnE LOVES to be out side in the snow. Crazy loves to be in the snow. She grabs a "kid size" plastic shovel that is twice as tall as she is and puts nearly as much snow on to the drive way as the boys remove.

Sledding still happens out by the front steps. They have been stockpiling snow next to the retaining wall so that they can slide over the edge without hurting themselves (they want steeper slope, I want them to not bust their heads open. Mean mom.) I am hoping that the snow hangs around until this weekend. They have a 4 day weekend and I would love to send them outside for a good bit of it!

I was on Retreat at St Paul of the Cross Monastary last weekend. *sigh* It was so wonderful in many ways. I need a week. But, I will settle for a weekend next January!

First FO of 2011

Say Hello to the Car Socks of the last 2 months or so.

They are nearly identical and mismatched.

How, You say? How can such lovely socks be mismatched?
Check out the toes.
Hmm. They both have toes.
Yes. One is a wedge the other is a star.
Oops.I had been petering along so long with these that I forgot that I decided to get fancy (aka do the not all the time the same toe.) And I never bothered to look at the first one when it came time to finish the second! That and it was dark in "The King's Speech."
Which, by the way, is a really good movie. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are fantastic actors.

three hundred degrees

Ah-Ha! Thanks, knitsburgh!
I succeeded in making my hard candy just like Grandma used to make. My recipe came to me from my Aunt Carrie, out of some community cookbook from who-knows-when and called to cook it to hard-ball stage which is about 260 degrees. But it works way better when cooked to hard-crack, 300 degrees! go figure.

I have made (thus far) orange, lemon, butter rum and cherry. I have some lime oil and I bought a candy flavor sampler at Michaels so that I could try more for less... love a coupon. But, the candy flavors are formulated for chocolate, some have added vegetable oil. I made the cherry and it wept. Not a lot, I wiped most of it off with a napkin, but not desireable and I will remember that for the future. But the good stuff, if you are also so inclined to make hard candy, is at the Uncommon Market . Prepare to be totally overwhelmed by your choices of flavor. Then buy the butter rum flavor. Werther's Originals. oh yeah. But the boys are pretty partial to the orange and lemon- which tastes like lemonheads.

Otherwise,
-We seemed to have survived the holidays.
-Kids don't go back to school until Tuesday.
-I am still working on my Tea Leaves, am down to the button bands, just waiting for a chance to work on it when I am quite awake. I really want this sweater to be done! I want to wear it and I am tired of knitting on it. But, it is gorgeous yarn (MadToshDK) and a beautiful pattern (even with the slim fitting sleeves.)
-No particular resolutions. It is always the same, anyway. Yes, that includes updating the blog more often :)

Happy 2011 to you! I wish you the best year yet!

Merry Christmas

We are on our way to Christmas Mass.
But we wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
With Love,
The Family Mayhem

oh, yeah, the blog

Hmm, What have I been doing?

Well, I appreciate you asking.

I didn't mean to ignore the blog, but time has been whizzing by... Lil'onE is almost 18 months old now. The Mister and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss, yesterday. The boys are in 3rd and 5th grade. We had a summer full of camping and weddings and friends and family and... it was full.

But I took a picture of the girl this morning.

She likes to pose.One wasn't enough.
The Mister does good work. He gave me beautiful children.
I have been knitting, too.
I am making Matchy-Match sweaters for us. Tea Leaves and Tiny Tea Leaves.

Girly is having a melt down... this is why I don't blog very often :)

Have You Been Watching?

It is sad. But I let my kids watch so that they can see that there is a reason that I insist that they eat a balanced diet and that we rarely have fast food or other processed foods and that it isn't just Mommy that knows it isn't healthy to be that way. It is sad, not only because we are a nation that is eating ourselves to death, but that it has to be a revolution in order for us to sit down to a decent dinner once a week (as the revolution asks you to pledge.) How freaky Chez Mayhem is to have family dinner every night. What we need to work on is the family walk around the block once a week.
What are you going to work on?

Where have you been?

I have been here. Rockin' and Rollin' and Whatnot.

The last month has zoomed by. Lil'onE is 11 months old now. Clapping is her new favorite thing. That and her version of crawling. Oh, and tossing things. Any thing she can get her hands on, she flings. I haven't taken a picture of her in too long. I should do that.

My Olympic sweater is languishing. Aside from life distractions, I didn't pay attention to the fact that the size 3 needle that I had was 40 inches and I needed a 24 inch. I know I could have done a little magic loop, but I don't like that, so I finally picked up a 24 inch needle and have gotten a little momentum going again.

Speaking of Olympic, check out Celtic Queen's post. That sweater is now in Lil'onE's closet. I cannot tell you how beautiful and soft it is. And she used Stroll from Knit Picks, so it is easy care!! Fabulous. Thanks, CQ!

Hopefully, Spring is here to stay. The Forsythia is showing some bright green leaf buds, the daffodils have buds, the crocus are finishing their blooms and I saw a big fat robin red-breast in the yard this morning. And the darn oak trees are spewing poison, I mean pollen, so my eyes are swelling and my throat, too. Ahhh, Spring! Wouldn't trade it for winter.

Hope your day is splendid!

Out of My League

I was looking for the hat that Lindsey Vonn was wearing after she won gold in the Downhill. If that link doesn't bring it up, it was photo 26 when I was looking at it. Either way, it is the cream colored hat with USA and the olympic rings and a pompon. A friend mentioned it to me at Knit Guild today. Anyway, while trying to see what it looked like and wondering what Ralph Lauren would charge for one (doesn't look like it is for sale, maybe after the games are over?) I do see that they are selling the opening ceremonies sweater...For $425. But only in small and x-small. Thank goodness, otherwise, I might have been tempted. Wow.

I will happily knit you a cable sweater for $425. Talk nice to me and I might do it for $400.

personal

Missed connection.

Babies R Us in Bethel Park today. I was in line, you were... over there. I think it was you, at least. I didn't have Lil'onE with me. Otherwise, I would have gone up to you and said, "Hi. It is me, is it you? I really would like to have a friend with a baby. I really think we could get along. I'm not creepy, see?" But then again, that might have been creepy.

So I bought my baby food and moved along.

As a side note. BrU sells Earth's Best for 89 cents and GE sells the same jar for $1.09. I tell myself that I am saving money by going to BrU, but after I spent $100 to buy 27 jars of food (and a bunch of other stuff that was on sale but I could have lived without) I am not so sure. Funny how that works.

And I know that there are plenty of people that live in places that get snow as a regular part of their winter and that these same people are shaking their heads in amazement at the paralysis a couple feet of white stuff has caused in this area of the country. But really, it is getting a bit ridiculous, all this precipitation! I am afraid that we aren't going to go back to school before Easter and then the kids will be in school until August! At some point we have to make peace with a snowy winter and move on. PLEASE!

Ok. I have to take the boys to impound their cars for the pinewood derby tomorrow and then we are camping out to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. I will cast on for the Romantikk cardigan (rav link) for Lil'onE, too. Enjoy!

Terrible Pictures

Just some poor pictures to show that every once in a while things work out!

I finished the sweater that INBA asked for 3 days before Christmas, "Mom, I am cold. Will you make me a warm, red, long-sleeve sweater for Christmas?"

Negotiate, negotiate. He gave me until Valentine's Day.

Ta-Da!
I started with a Bernat pattern from 1967, converted it into the round and consulted Elizabeth Zimmerman for the raglan shaping. He likes it! Even if he didn't like posing for it just before bedtime.

Clarify

I should have said that I pinched that list off of someone else, who had pinched it from another blog... as it goes on the internet :) I am glad you enjoyed it. I know I did.

We had huge snow here in the 'burgh over the weekend. #4 biggest snowfall on record. The weatherguys are calling for another 4-8 inches on top of the 22+ that we just got. Needless to say, there was no school today. But there are big snowbanks and tunnels and errant snowballs everywhere you look.

School has been cancelled for tomorrow, already. I will be surprised if we have school on Wednesday, too. The roads are not cleared well and the next snow is supposed to get here tomorrow and no temps above freezing in the near future. It is like being a little girl in Northern Michigan all over again! [what is it with all the little girl references on this blog lately... Lil'onE has infected us!] It is winter in the best sense of the word.

Fun

IF YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S...
1. You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked.
2 You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it.
3. You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels. This included the kind you attached to your regular shoes.
4 You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!)
5. You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island.
6. You had either a 'bowl cut' or 'pixie', not to mention the 'Dorothy Hamill' People sometimes thought you were a boy.
7. You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days.
8. You owned a 'Slip-n-Slide' , on which you injured yourself on a sprinkler head more than once. 9. You owned 'Klick-Klacks' and smacked yourself in the face more than once!
10. Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.
11. You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.
12. You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.
13. You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple satiny shredded outfits, or the Sunshine Family.
14. You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the trapeze.
15. The swing set tipped over at least once.
16. You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color.
17. You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle).
18. You also had a pair of salt-water sandals.
19. You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture;and you despised Nellie Oleson!
20. You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink!
21. Your hairstyle was described as having 'wings' or 'feathers' and you kept it 'pretty'with the comb you kept in your back pocket.When you walked, the 'wings' flapped up and down, looked like you were gonna 'take off'.
21. You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie.
22. You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it was metal, not plastic.It had a thermos inside. Some were glass and broke the first time you dropped them.
23. You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend. 24. YOU had Star Wars action figures, too!
25. It was a big event in your household each year when the 'Wizard of Oz' would come on TV.Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping bags!
26. You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question: 'Who will I marry.Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or David Cassidy?
27. You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame soundtrack record albums.
28. You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick God's eyes, decoupage,or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom.
29. You made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on your t-shirts!
30. You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker.
31. You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat.
32. You thought Olivia Newton John's song 'Physical' was about aerobics.


Obviously, I am a Heather born in the 70's. (that should have been on the list... you are a girl born in the 70s and you are named Heather, Jennifer, Lisa or Amy!) But Strawberry Shortcake, The Osmonds, and Shrinky Dinks are back in style!

They Arrived

The teeth, that is.

Big girl had a good 9 month check up. 19lbs and 14oz. I forgot to ask how tall, she is in the 80th percentile, though.
The pediatrician thinks she may go straight to walking. She has plenty of muscle and no reason not to be crawling... if you don't count the three men that wait on her hand and foot!
Oh, and she cut one tooth the day before her appointment and the other the day after. Whew! Now she is chewing on a finger shoved way back by her left molars... ugh.

That's it. Just wanted to say "hi."

Finished Object

Lil'onE is still a work in progress, but her Offset Wraplan is finished.There are more details in my Ravelry projects page. The yarn is worsted weight Bamboo by Farmhouse Yarns, if I remember correctly. It is really nice to knit with, a little heavy though. I think that as time goes on I am becoming more and more the wool snob. I don't mean to be. I just am.

Either way, the yarn and accessories were a gift from my fabulous friend Mrs.H on the day that Lil'onE was born. I started the sweater in November and thought (rightly) that I better hurry up and finish knitting the size 9-12month sweater before it didn't fit! It is done. It fits. And I love it. My only gripe with the pattern is that it requires 8 buttons (the picture doesn't do them justice, they are super sparkly) and the sweater needs to be worn buttoned, otherwise it flops open weirdly. But that isn't the pattern as much as me not wanting to fiddle with 8 buttons on a wiggle-worm. l.a.z.y.

Gosh, she is cute.
Now I need to finish INBA's sweater. I may run out of UFOs! I wish!

Big Girl

9 months old.

It is going so fast!

But notice, still no teeth. Doesn't crawl... but last night was demonstrating why that one particular swim stroke is called "the crawl." With proper motivation she will swim and roll to get what she wants.

Eldest went to the eye doctor yesterday. His prescription changed 3/4 of a diopter over the last year. He is up to a -4 in each eye. We need to find him a specialist. Just to make sure that there isn't anything else going on.

So he and I went up to McKnight Road in the north hills (You don't realize what a big deal this is that we went 15 miles and through a tunnel and over 2 rivers to get somewhere in one afternoon if you aren't from Pittsburgh. We went to the moon by most accounts.) to go to Eyeglass World and get him 2 pairs of glasses for $60. And yes, you certainly get what you pay for. But I wasn't interested in paying $350 at the place that takes our vision insurance that isn't giving Eldest glasses this year. I can replace a lot of frames for that! Anyway, while we were waiting for his glasses to be made, we went to find Dyed in the Wool on Babcock Blvd. Happily, it was 3 minutes away! But tell me, isn't it a little weird that they don't put a price tag on anything? The Mister says, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Which is probably true, but when has that stopped stash enhancement? I did buy some crazyfoot by mountain colors. They charged me $25 which is ok, but the bag that I thought they were giving me free (cheap little canvas tote) they charged me $3. So, unimpressed is to say the least.

On a bright note, Piecing it Together is right next door!
I have been trying to do more quilting and the boys have put new quilts on my to-do list. I don't know if I mentioned that around the same time that INBA requested his red sweater (which is not done, but I am on the second sleeve and feeling Valentine's Day approaching fast. But where is the real motivation when it is 50 degrees out in January?) INBA, of course, wants trains. Eldest said he wanted cars. Well, I enticed him to follow me into the quilt shop by saying that he might find a fat quarter or 2 that he would like for his quilt.

A number of things happened when we got into that store.

• First. Wow, they have a lot of WONDERFUL fabric.
• Second. They were very nice to us.
• Third. I realized that the lady helping us had attended South Hills Knit Guild for a while and we recognized each other. (Another Pittsburgh moment- small town and people are pretty much only nice to you if they know you. I think Bobbie would be an exception, she seems like she is nice without this requirement.)
• Fourth. Eldest totally got into planning his quilt. She talked him into a 'Turning Twenty' quilt.
• Fifth. Eldest walked out happily with his 20 fat quarters. He has very eclectic taste. They run from Marines to multicolored bubbles to Indy cars to crashing waves and astronauts. It should look pretty amazing.
• Sixth. Eldest is excited about doing his quilt together. I am going to let him help cut the fabric and teach him how to sew a straight line so that he can piece. It really will be his quilt! How cool is that?

And then...

There is a game shop almost directly across the street that we stopped to visit. They helped reassure us that we were playing backgammon correctly. And they carry the game series and expansion packs for Ticket to Ride, perhaps the best game ever. I bought a dice expansion for INBA that the guys are all playing as I type.

Needless to say, I am broke after my little trip into the North Hills and I didn't even go into the Ross Park Mall!

Most important accomplishment is that Eldest can see. That we had a great afternoon together, triple double bonus.

No Pretending

I am not going to resolve to be better about blogging. I would like to be, but there are no promises to be made right now.

We had a family picture taken last week. Can you tell that Lil'onE is teething? She looks like a little ol'lady! I have been doing a little knitting. Mostly smallish stuff.

I made stockings, this one and one white with green stripes and red heel/toe. I have enough yarn left to make a green with red stripes, but I don't think that colorway will look as good. Eldest gave me permission to make him a green stocking with red heel/toe and I talked him into white snowflakes on it. It is on the list for this year.

I was super pleased with these mitten ornaments/gift card holders that I made for my niece and nephews. I felt bad just giving them $20 for Christmas, so I made these to hold it. Turns out, I could have just made the ornaments, they all loved them. But then, doesn't everyone like to see their name in print? I am making a mental note for next Christmas.
Mrs. Claus made flame hats for the boys. This is INBA's 'fire face.'

They were too happy to pull them down to show off the flame pattern.

I think Mrs. Claus used the flame on baby hat pattern in a chunky weight wool to make it big boy size. You can find it on Ravelry. They love to point out what a good knitter Mrs Claus is compared to me.

Mrs Claus II made the boys some amazingly awesome vests that I haven't taken a picture of, but I will, because MCII needs to be acknowledged for her AWESOMENESS, she really is a better knitter than I.

And in case you wondered what I have been doing the rest of the time...

I can't believe how 2009 flew by. 2010 is going to be another eventful year. Already the calendar is filling up with happy events for friends and family.

In my knitting bag is a sweater for INBA that he asked for 4 days before Christmas. He was cold and wanted a "warm, red wool, long sleeve sweater with cables... by Christmas. Ok, fine, by New Years. Well, at least by Valentine's Day, because it is red." I have created a monster!! I love it.

After that, I am going to make myself a vest. I am either burning up or freezing cold, so a little something to throw on is necessary.

I am in the midst of making Lil'onE a grocery cart cover. I will NEVER reccomend to any one to make one of their own. They are not expensive enough to bother. I bought the pattern for 99 cents and used fabric that was already in my stash, leftover from other projects, even. Otherwise, the 4 yards of fabric and 1 1/2 yards of batting would be more than buying one at the babies store. Of course, mine will be much nicer, but I wish I could justify not finishing it. UGH. But it will be nice to have and it is screaming orange fun. But seriously, don't ever get an idea to make one. Super huge and unwieldy and a HUGE pain in the tushy. I will show you when I am done. I will finish. I must. Where the heck could I stash the thing?

Eldest came home sick from school today with a fever. So he will be home tomorrow, too. Lil'onE has had a little something, but it could just be those 2 bottom teeth that refuse to break through. If Eldest is sick, she probably has both problems. Hopefully, INBA doesn't get it.

And now you know.

Swedish meatballs for dinner and a diaper to be changed.

Happy New Year to you. Health and prosperity for you and yours in 2010!

The Trick Is

Not to sit down. If I keep moving, well, I keep moving. That Newton guy knew what he was talking about. Trouble is, I have a baby that needs to be fed and cuddled. This involves sitting down periodically. Then, I have trouble getting started again.
I would show you all the knitting that I have done, but sekrit xmas stuff is going on here. Hopefully, I will remember to take pictures upon delivery.
So, that makes this entry preeeetty boring.
Kid updates- Eldest is having trouble delivering important papers to school, unless it involves him getting tickets for lunch.
INBA is still insisting that he cannot read and refuses to do so. But he can read, he just doesn't enjoy it as much as his brother does and has to work a little harder. How do I get it thru to him that he is not his brother and to expect himself to be his brother is not helping anyone?
Lil'onE is growing like a weed. She is very vocal, loves to make raspberries (wow, that girl has a lot of saliva) and likes to rub things between her finger and thumb.

Life is hectic... Happy Holidaze!

Frabel at the Phipps

wonderful and warm Sunday afternoon outing!

6 Months Already