passing the torch

First: I finally watched the show Heroes last night, and I love it. I only saw two whole episodes, and Mr. Man is catching me up on some of the backstory. It's been awhile since I've seen a really good TV show. (sniff, sniff, Firefly) Now I just need to get caught up on Battlestar Galactica.

Ok, now catching up: Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It seems so long ago, now.

We went to my parents and ate ourselves silly. I dropped the apple pie my mother & sister made taking it out of fridge #2 in the garage. It fell on the floor and the glass plate shattered, making the pie inedible. That pie is part of the family tradition, and it was weird not having it. However, there were two other pies, and by the time dessert rolled around we were all stuffed.

My knitting aunt has not been herself (due to various medical conditions I won't go into here), and she brought over the bulk of her knitting supplies for me. One of books is a gem from 1953 (it has patterns for shrugs!) I shouldn't ever need to buy circular knitting needles again.

Katie found her wedding dress. Yay! It's gorgeous (of course). Now we just need to find bridesmaid dresses. Bella Sera, the shop we went to Middleton, MA, was down the street from Richardson's Ice Cream. This is probably one of the best ice creams I've ever had. The low-fat frozen yogurt was creamy and amazing. The farm is right behind the restaurant, and you can go back and see the cows. AND there's mini-golf next door, too. The place must be insane in the summer. I can't wait to bring the little guy here.

sister of the bride

So, my sister is getting married next spring in Bermuda on the beach, and I'm one of the bridesmaids. My mother blurted this out last spring before my sister could ask me, so because there wasn't a nice to-do around it, I think I may even be the Matron of Honor. OK, who's the genius that came up with that title? It makes me feel a gazillion years older than I really am.

Anyway, we went dress shopping today, and on the whole it went well. For a woman who didn't want a strapless dress, Miss Kate found one she loved, and it just might be her top choice. We'll see...she's doing more shopping tomorrow, and hopefully remember to bring her digital camera. I actually found a couple dresses I wouldn't mind wearing either, so that takes some of the stress off. Oh yeah, and having my nutty aunt talk keep on asking me to tell Kate to lift her boobs up higher into her bra? Yeah, that was a treat too.

On a totally different note, my proud moment of the day was while making dinner and throwing together something to put on pasta because we're out of sauce. I sauteed an onion and a clove of garlic in olive oil, threw in a can of diced tomatoes "Italian Style" with basil & oregano, another can of no-salt diced tomates, and a handful of chopped parsley. Surprisingly, it was light, flavorful, and complemented the balsamic vinegar sauteed onions, peppers & chicken sausage really well. Woo-hoo!

health roofie

Yeah, that's right: sneaking in super healthy things into your kid's food. Like cold pressed flaxseed oil into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Popping a hole in the capsule & squeezing out the oil makes natural-style peanut butter easier to spread right out of the fridge. Next stop: investing in some flax meal and adding it to oatmeal or yogurt.

The boy has also taken a liking to celery, mostly due to the Wonderpets TV show. The whole show is in musical-theater form and is pretty entertaining.

My health roofie this week has been falling asleep with Owen at 9ish. Tonight I was lucky to wake up at 11 to blog & knit, and now I've been sucked into the second half of Once Were Warriors on IFC. It's one of my favorite movies, and even though it's depressing, I can still watch it again (unlike Grave of the Fireflies and Dancer in the Dark).

We've been reading lots of Dr. Suess, and I can't wait to read the Grinch, hopefully this weekend. I've been catching up on the Series of Unfortunate Events books now that it's over. I'm on book #12 and I can't wait to read The End.

links of note

Torn between Count Olaf and Tyler Durden:
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/politics/mock_the_vote.php

needles & stitches

So I haven't written lately because Mr. Man has needed the computer at home. He's been working on a deadline and getting stuff together to get trademarked (finally!), which is very cool, but frustrating for me since I really don't want to blog at work.

But today Owen's school is closed to celebrate Veterans' Day, and he squeaked into back-up daycare at the last minute when I'd planned on taking a personal day. Tak is bringing in Owen so I can do "stuff around the house" before I go into work. Of course, this includes blogging in addition to cleaning and bills. And I have to say, it's a pleasant change to leisurely have a cup of coffee in the daytime and blog, instead of slipping in a half-assed bleary-eyed blog at 1AM.

Anyway, the upside to the computer being unavailable is that I've been knitting more. Presents (hence the lack of pictures) are coming together, and I'm working on my first ever pair of mittens made with Double Pointed Needles. They are for Owen (so it's OK if they're not perfect--yeah, yeah, I know), and they are red. Working the thumb is tricky! I also signed up for my department's craft fair, and I'm making sets of the little wine glass/coffee mug handle scarves/charms and hopefully matching coasters. The wine glass scarves are nice because they go quickly (unlike knitting something on DPNs).

Stitch update: Owen got his stitches out last Saturday, and he was a trooper! He stayed still and didn't cry at all while the doctor cut the stitches (well, I guess you would too if you had a pair of scissors in your peripheral vision). The cut still looks wide, but clean. He really liked the blue lollipop afterward that turned his lips, tongue and teeth blue. The bruise that he had before the gash (in the same place, no less!) is finally fading, so it looks less scary. Now if he & his classmates can keep their fingers off of it, it should heal nicely.

happy halloween

Happy Halloween, a day late. It's been a crazy week full of meetings. Monday night was a parent meeting for the Nature Center preschool.

Tuesday, Owen fell into a wood coffee table at my mother's house, gashed his cheek, and had to go to the doctor's for stitches (6 total). He's mostly OK (so is my mom), and the best sign was that after 3 hours at the pediatrician's, he still asked to go trick-or-treating. So we went around the block for about 15 minutes, which was just right. He still got candy and go out at night, we got to see our neighbors, and my hard work Saturday night sewing his costume didn't go to waste.

Tonight we had a condo association meeting, and ended up having dinner with a couple other owners. We as condo trustees have some issues to go through, but we're in OK shape.

Now I have to get some things together for my parents to bring to the Science Center for their fundraising yard sale on Sunday. There's gotta be some stuff we can donate that someone else might buy.