best weekend in ages

Friday night: Took Owen to the Kids' Night at the Flower show after school, which involved riding a Town Trolley to the Expo Center, seeing Hedwig the Bard Owl, petting both a boa constrictor and an alligator. Owen got his face painted with a leopard. It wasn't one of the pre-fab choices (yay!), but inspired by the leopard they had on the table.

Saturday: Visited the South Shore Model Railway Club in Hingham, for their bi-annual Open House. Yes, grown men who rent a space in former WWII storage buildings with bad lighting may not sound exciting, but Owen had a great time. Some of the tracks were still a work-in-progress, which was cool to see. Some of the model freight trains even had graf! The boy really liked the model Green Line Train (the old ones). When, when will the MBTA learn to sell toys like their trains?

Sunday: After much resistance, we made it in the nick of time to catch most of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie at my friend's house and hang out with her & her family. She grew up right on the parade route, and we got to watch from the front window. And we enjoyed eating a traditional corned beef & cabbage, plus loads of sugar.
Also: I totally finished the pink boucle hat. I look almost like I did this summer with the pink hair.

Monday: Owen had the day off from school because of Evacuation Day, which just happened to also be St. Pat's day proper. Gotta love those Boston-area holidays! I took a personal day so we could hang out. It was so nice to have a long weekend. So we saw Horton Hears a Who, his first movie in the theater. We'd been reading the story, so he was OK with it, but he was way more excited to actually see a movie on the big screen. Unlike most movies, the volume was set to a normal level, not outrageously loud, which I was really happy about, even though we were prepared with cotton balls. It was a banner eating day: we shared a Shamrock shake and ate movie theater popcorn.

All that fun has made Owen a tired boy! It also makes up for the not-so-great news we got from the Boston Public Schools last week. He (we) got waitlisted for our 2 top schools. (You can pick up to 5, but you only get on the wait list for your first & second choice schools for a year.) BPS doesn't choose alternate schools for K, only for G1 (because it's mandatory the kid be in school by age 6; which is sad to think that for some kids the first time they're in a classroom could be in 1st grade). We could have gone in and frantically tried to find a seat at a school that we may not have seen or didn't feel 100% about. What a huge drag. Most of the charter schools have already just done or their lotteries/applications, and there weren't too many we were interested in. Luckily, we also applied to Catholic school! So unless 82 kids (!) at our #1 school don't go, or 8 other kids from our #2 school--which I don't think is going to happen--the BPS is out for us. Maybe we'll give it another shot next year, but I'm actually looking forward to sending him to the school we chose. What a surprise!

cables ahoy!

Last night I finally taught myself how to cable. A friend tried to teach me last winter, and I just couldn't get it. Lo and behold, thanks in part to Knitty's feature Techniques with Theresa, also to Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway, and some time alone on the couch, I was finally able to get it. Now I don't have any idea what to do the the 1.5"w x 19"l strip of knitting (steering wheel cover? sweater section?), but I am quite proud of myself.

fear of a boucle hat

My 2nd knitting anniversary has come and gone, and I recently rediscovered the boucle yarn that I bought on my first trip to Woolcott & Co. I had tried to knit it when I was first learning, and just couldn't get the hang of it. Then for Christmas, Lorie gave me a hat & scarf kit--in alpaca boucle.

I started the hat, sans the earflaps called for in the pattern. On #8 wood needles it has taken me at least a month to do (in gray Lang Bolero/ Mohair blend). Then Saturday night while watching 30 Days of Night, I started on a purse that was going to have a pink boucle border--and it grew until I used one whole ball. It's now on its way to being a hat, I think. On #11 metal needles, it flew by.

So now I think I've gotten over my fear of boucle. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

i confess

I have been mostly good and have only had one muffin. Of course that doesn't count the lovely homemade cupcakes from my friend Barbara Ann, the orange chocolate K Bliss bars or the 100 calorie Hostess Carrot Cake cupcakes. At least I can still fit into my skinny jeans, but I haven't lost any weight. Oh well. Still haven't joined WW, but I am working out once a week, usually followed by vermicelli bun, or cutlets & anko donut.

Tak & I got out for a night out to see the English Beat (which is really a Red Bull pounding Dave Wakeling & a new band). He still sounds the same, and the show was almost 2 hours full of skanking goodness.

Just finished the sequel to Peeps called The Last Days. One of my favorite things about it was the chapters are named after bands.

Fat Tuesday

Usually I don't like to talk about weight, because it gets kind of boring really fast. But after months of stress-induced eating & holiday feasts, I've managed to gain back half of the weight I lost while doing Weight Watchers--15 pounds/30 lost total. Part of it I'd like to blame on hormonal eating binges; back in April I had my IUD taken out in a so-far unsuccessful not-quite-whole-hearted attempt for baby #2. (Sorry if that's a little TMI.)

So, tomorrow we diet. To celebrate Fat Tuesday, I had an apple fritter from Starbucks. Damn, those things are eeeevil.

I haven't given anything up for Lent in ages, but to get kick started, I'm giving up coffee-shop pastries: fritters, donuts, muffins, breads, etc., baked by our friends at Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Borders Cafe, et al. I'll keep the home-made goodies to a minimum.

Part of the whole Weight Watchers thing is tracking what you eat, and that really makes a difference. And meetings. Somehow being held responsible to a group of people and paying for someone to weigh you is a motivating incentive.

Heck, maybe I'll even to a yoga class on a regular basis. I may even go to church!

Oh yeah, and I aim to finish knitting a sweater.

Wish me luck.

surfacing

So I'm finally almost coming out of my work insanity. January has flown. We've looked at and registered for public schools. We find out in March. We're starting to look at Catholic schools.

I've also got back to cooking. After two weeks of having lunch brought in (very nice lunch), it was good to have lighter fare & be in the kitchen. I made steak tips with my homemade marinade: salt & TJ's 21 Seasoning Salute rub, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine, sesame oil, lemon juice. With whole wheat orzo to beef up the rice pilaf. Tonight Tak made apple chicken sausage with squash I'd saved from the farmer's market in November (it was still good!).

Owen has discovered "rocking out." One of his train videos features Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which he really likes. On our ride in the car the other day we had our own little Wayne's World moment.

Yay! ROTD!

On Yelp, they have a Review of the Day, and, after thinking I would never get one, I did! It's for Black Ink, which is a review I really like and had fun writing.

psst...if you sign up, you can vote on reviews you think are Useful, Funny, or Cool. That's how they calculate ROTD.

Yes, it is snowing, very hard and wet. We have about 2-5" at 10:15amEST. Owen's school is still open, and I'm at work. Happy Mondy!

a very merry unbirthday

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! And happy new year, too. 

I worked on my birthday. (Work is still crazy.) We had a mellow family dinner, courtesy of Tak & Teriyaki House. My dad was funny, and said it was the best Chinese food he ever had. And cake, of course. Owen was sick (ear infection), but he still managed to jam a huge piece into his mouth. 

One of the Dig cover artists Tak uses/knows, Daniel Lim, aka Fawn Fruits, is doing a project of 1000 drawings. Tak sent him my photos to use, and lo--there's my birthday present, #47 "Sweeter." 

Very cool.

mmm . . . pie

Yes, I know, it's been ages. But I saw this on Devon's blog and couldn't resist. Gee, I wonder why?

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth. You are overpowering and dominant - and that's what people like about you. You bring energy and a new direction to most interactions. People crave you in a serious way. You're that important to them. Those who like you give into their impulses. You don't represent reason. You represent pure temptation. People get addicted to you rather easily. You offer people a dark side that is very hard to resist.

What Kind of Pie Are You?

beauty of the season

I did the bulk of this last week, on the day when it started snowing and kept going for almost 24hrs. Now, most of the snow has washed & melted away with the warmish weather and the rain.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday!

12/20: I'm commuting through the woods on a snowy morning, riding on the famed Greenbush line (the commuter line going to the South Shore that took 20 years to build). It's been hectic the last--however long it's taken me to update--and this is a nice repreieve before I go into the maelstrom that is work.

We've done some fun things too, though. Last weekend we saw Owen's school friends from last year at a birthday party. Then we went off to Edaville railroad, to ride the train, see the lights, plus we got our visit to Santa in! The goodies were numerous, including hand-made mini donuts (didn't try those), and (gasp) deep fried whoopie pies served with a side of ice cream. The deep fried chocolatey goodness I could not resist, and it was so rich and warm and creamy...and made me sick to my stomach that I could barely eat anything else for the rest of the night.

The Weekly Dig holiday party held at Church (formerly the Linwood) last week was like an old reunion, and some people came out that we haven't seen since before Owen was born. Tuesday night was a Yelp Elite event, and we cleaned the downstairs bar of the Good Life out of vodka. Yay!

I still haven't done any great shopping for Christmas, but I am furiously working on knitted gifts when I have the energy. In January, I've been charged with leading my Wed. Night Knitting group from the South Shore on a Boston Yarn crawl. I'm more nervous about where to take them to eat/drink--too cool and people won't know where they went, not cool enough so that when they tell their kids they' won't be, "you went where?" Should be fun though.

The other big thing is that we're coming down to NYC for New Year's weekend, but leaving on New Year's Day. Owen is more excited to ride on the Acela than anything else. (I bought the tickets far enough in advance that they were only $4 more than the regular train.) There's talk in the office of some people--don't know if I'll be one of them--going down to NY to finish our project. It would be funny if, just having been in NY, I'll have to turn around and go back. We'll see!

craptacular vernacular

Combined with mixing words, like ginormous, it seems like a fun but somehow wrong thing to teach a four-year-old. Or not? At least we don't say that the "vominator left a crapalanche on the table" around the boy.

Someone left a copy of this book the other day in the ladies' room for the taking. It seemed too much like an omen, but at the end of the day, it was gone.

back on scarf wagon

owen & scarf
Originally uploaded by tracey2bits

knitted this to match Owen's winter coat. 1 skein each of Sheep Shop (Orange & Navy). CO 147 stitches onto 48" circulars and knit up. I get bored knitting the long way, so I thought this would be over faster by knitting long & wide...and I was right! Still took the most part of Thanksgiving, but it's done. Now, on to the hat...

quote of the day

Owen's holding himself like he has to go to the bathroom.
When asked if he needs to go, Owen replies, "No, my things are sticking together."

we turned out OK

One of the last times I was home, I rescued some of my old books. Among them was this gem that we've been reading a lot. Owen loves it, especially the silly stories. His current favorites are Big Bird's Rhinoceros Rhymes and Pete the Pirate (who's not nasty, but bogus like our good friend Pete always says). It's amazing how progressive it is, with "townspeople" and a woman mayor. How '70s!

Then in the New York Times today is a big article about how the Sesame Street of our day isn't appropriate for today's toddlers. Sure, there's some sarcasm in the article, but there's some seriousness too. Some of it is good, and some of it is people reading too much into things. Heaven forbid anyone smokes a pipe anymore.

It amazes me how much of my job--sanitizing books to a certain degree for children's textbooks--I've absorbed. Those scissors are too pointy! Where's the helmet for that kid riding a bike? Look at the udders on that cow! On the other hand, I read and recommend so many fantasy-based and funky picture books that I know we could never, ever use in the reading program.

So what can we do to make reading fun? Another oh-so-cheery article from the Boston Globe tells us that kids are reading significantly less for fun than ever before. The report points the finger at the media, multitasking, and a disconnect in education between the ages of 9 and 17. The most interesting part from the article for me is was: "The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read," (NEA Chairman Dana) Gioia said. "The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people's lives are real."

is it any wonder?

Finally, a night when I'm not so brain dead that I can catch up on the blog. (if it's any consolation, my yelp reviews aren't faring much better.) I've had Keane's Under the Iron Sea on repeat for awhile.

Work has been awful. The project is grossly understaffed. No one knows what will happen in January. People are leaving left and right. That's all I can say about that. I've been going to sleep with Owen and going to bed straight after. Zero energy left to do much else.

Halloween was fantastic. Owen was Thomas again, but what a difference from last year! We carved pumpkins, he had a great time at his preschool's parade, and we made it around 2/3rds of our neighborhood. We watched the first two songs of Nightmare before Christmas and he was singing them all night. Totally fun.

On the knitting front (slowly but surely. I've been making a few coasters.), I've discovered that old throw pillowcases in canvas that zip make great bags to felt in.

Also been to two shows: Tori on my sister's birthday which was awesome; the Police last night, which was eh. Glad I went, but still feel taken somehow. Which I had a feeling was going to happen. Oh well.

celebrity sighting: Stephen King

This morning after we dropped off Owen at school, I saw Stephen King walking into the Transportation Building. Pretty cool! He is very tall, and looks just like he does on the book covers, only dressed really casually. Don't know if he's in town for book stuff or a Sox game.

Sorry I've been off the blog. I finally got an invite from Ravelry, so I spent a night playing around on there. Like a dummy, I signed up as traceybits, instead of tracey2bits. I'd think by now it'd be pretty automatic to type in, and then for me to check it. But no, they won't let you change it once you've put it in. Duh. I've also got some new artwork for a Yelp elite event at the Nile Lounge in Allston on Tuesday, 10/16. The work will be up for a few weeks, which is both excellent and sad because now we have a big blank wall in our house.

Finally reading "Love is a Mix Tape" and I love it. Highly recommended.

ghost of a fish

James, Owen's Betta/Siamese Fighting Fish, passed on to the big fishbowl in the sky today. He'd been having a hard time the last few days, and for the last couple weeks we tried medicating the tank and carefully checking the pH, but to no avail. I suspect it was something in the brand-spanking new tank, or Mattapan the Cory Catfish (who was the first fish to die) introduced a disease. Owen took it extremely well. He didn't even cry. Or say anything about the empty tank when we got home. Is that OK? He did think we should not put him in the toilet, but in the sink because it was smaller.

This morning I realized there was a bunch I wanted to say in my "I'm not ready for fall" post that I really should have said a couple of weeks ago. It's going to get updated, so please don't freak out. That's what happens when I blog at 1AM.

On a last note, I want to sing the praises of my new Lexie B. bag in the Baja. Yes, I finally broke down and made the investment. We were sitting on the T and I discovered it had a hidden pocket. Shazam! It is huge, stays on my shoulder like a good bag should, and I can find everything in it. Perfect. (And special thanks to Patrice who watched Owen while the super helpful saleslady at Seed Stitch called to make sure it was 25% off.)

100

Wow, I've reached 100 posts! I've also reached over 100 reviews at Yelp, too.

Saturday I was lucky enough to have Tak watch Owen for a bit, so I got to get to some places I've been wanting to go, and others I haven't been to in awhile. It made me miss how many cool things we used to have near us at Davis/Porter/Union Squares. It also makes me NOT miss having to take a bus everywhere. It seems like so many people are moving or live north of Boston, and that I'm living in one of the least cool places. But I really like my neighborhood, and we're close to a lot of other neat things, so I don't feel like we're missing out too much.

Change is in the air, though. Even though we're having a last taste of summer, the leaves are coming off the trees and there's a chill in the air. I don't think I'm all the way ready. Blueberry beer is still available, but all of the pumpkin ales have been out since Labor Day. The pumpkin donuts are certainly enjoyable at Dunkin Donuts (and if I eat more of them I'm going to head back to Weight Watchers--well, I'll have to do that soon anyway, too many cupcakes and carbs).

Summer flew by, where did it go? I feel like most of it was spent working. We did have some fun trips & visits. We are going to NYC in a couple weeks. (YAY!) Tak's dad is doing really well--enough for us to stay. So I think that will help with the transition into fall.

arnold the ravarian

awesome conan footage. uses sound.

hooked on felting

it's past midnight, UFC is on, my eyes are bleary from finishing Friday Night Knitting Club. i'm typing with my fingertips, not wearing glasses, my brain is fried, and letting run-on sentences rule. instead of talking about all the boring stuff going on, i'll talk about knitting.

i felted my first clutch, and i'm hooked. knitting something in one piece in a day or two with minimal sewing rocks. throw it in the washing machine 3 times (tucked in a pillowcase) and viola! now i have a way to burn through my stash. i used the pattern from one skein by leigh radford, but i'm working on changing it to a top-down instead of bottom up, and playing with measurements for #11 needles for regular worsted; the pattern uses bulky on #15's.

The Knit Picks interchangeable needle set has been intriguing me for awhile, and I've heard a lot of good things about them. Before shelling out a bunch of money for the whole thing, I tried the #11s just to see if I'd like them. They're very sharp and pointy, which I don't like, but they are smooth like addi turbos and the wire doesn't kink. Since I don't really *need* all the smaller size needles, I'm not going to invest in the set, but if I need larger needles they're more economical than the Turbos.

Friday Night Knitting Club was super slow to get into, and to be honest I only skimmed it until the end. The author goes on and on...just tell the story. Probably one of the few books that will be better served by a movie. If you look over in the sidebar, I've added a link to my goodreads page. (thanks, Devon!)

Speaking of books into movies, who knew I'd find something to knit via Neil Gaiman's blog? Someday I'll be worthy of Ysolda's Coraline sweater.