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Friday, September 29, 2006

Possibly one of the oddest pictures ever:

My new camera! My first knitted sock! (Greg's leather recliner...)

First the camera... It's a Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Elph. We've had the S330 model since 2002 and while it works fine (although after a $100 repair bill last fall), there have been many upgrades since then. The 600 is literally half the size of the 330 and twice the mega pixels. I wanted to take a picture of them together to compare but then realized duh, while I have 2 digital cameras I don't have a third to take that picture. Anyway Happy Birthday Me! But don't ask how well the new camera works though, I actually haven't turned it on yet...

Because I was knitting my first sock! It's Austermann Step yarn in 02 Blue using Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's basic sock recipe from her book Knitting Rules! The other sock is already on the needles so I should have a pair by the end of the weekend. And I'm hooked, I think I'll be knitting all my non-athletic socks from now on.

And Greg's leather recliner... I took the picture there just because he has this thing against feet. *evil grins*

Katie at 1:12 PM

Thursday, September 28, 2006

A screw is loose from my desk chair and if I don't sit just so, I fall forward and spill my tea all over my keyboard (don't ask me how I know this). I'm too lazy to find the stupid special allen wrench to fix it even though we have a million thanks to all our IKEA purchases.

It seems to be the metaphor for the day.

Greg's out of town on business (he'll be back this evening) so I couldn't sleep last night. On top of that I had one of those terrible realistic nightmares. This one I "woke" up in my bed in the dark and heard the floor creaking just like it does when someone is walking in our room. Then the someone evilly said "I'm going to beat the sh!t out of you." Nice, huh? I really did wake up then in the exact same position as in the dream. I don't think my heart rate slowed for about 10 minutes. Then I bravely jumped out of bed, turned on all the lights and attempted to go back to sleep.

Screw loose, Greg's gone, no sleep. Nothing as it should be.

In attempt to right my world, we're going shopping at Target today. The big red store with fabulous prices is just what I need to make everything seem normal again. And maybe a case of Mountain Dew.

Katie at 9:10 AM

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

PSA

Sept 30th is Museum Day!

"For one day only, museums across the country will join the Smithsonian Institution in its long-standing tradition of offering free admission to visitors."

(The Smithsonian is free? Why the heck haven't we gone there yet?)

Anyway you can view the list of participating museums here and print your admission pass here.

Pretty... Blue... I feel so educated and cultured already!

Katie at 9:54 AM

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes!

Yesterday went rather well, all and all. I did a bunch of laundry (I actually like laundry), ignored the dishes (which I hate), and went out to dinner with Greg and the kids. And that went well too but that may have been in part to the deadly serious warning I gave the kids before we went into the restaurant, "It's my birthday and all I want to do is not cook and clean up dinner so you had better be good or you will go straight to bed after we get home and we'll never ever go out to eat again. That includes McDonald's drive-thrus." Although maybe I wanted them to be a little bad just so I'd never have to eat at McDonalds again but nope, they were very good. And we went to a kid friendly restaurant so the occasional ducking under the table wasn't seen as outrageous behavior. (Personally I want to do that sometimes still.)

Back to this blogging thing... (Side note: I've noticed bloggers no longer talk about the actual act of blogging anymore, has it become our fourth wall?) I think I'm back. Over the last few weeks there were too many days where I'd sit at the computer and look at the blank Blogger post box and think, "I have nothing to say." The dreaded Blogger Burnout. Kinda like Writer's Block but more fire-ry. After almost 3 years of daily postings (minus some weekends), it's bound to happen. But I'm back! And I have a list of topics! (Lists are our friends...)

So stick around, good things will come. Well at least as long as I have items on my "To Blog About" list. Then it's every blog post for itself again. (Your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device in case of emergency...)

Katie at 9:58 AM

Monday, September 25, 2006

It's 3 months until Christmas!

And there was something else...

Oh right, it's my birthday!

Today's my first 29th birthday. Next year I will be 29-10. Or my second 29th birthday. I really don't think I'm going to be able to say "thirty" for at least another 5 years.

And even though I don't like the 3 and the 0 together, I'm working on a 30 before 30 list. I'm told I don't usually make sense, not admitting to turning 30 and yet writing a list about it may be a gleaming example. (The list is in honor of one of my all time favorite bloggers, Chris and her 40 before 40.) Except I'm kinda stuck around #12. That's a bit sad, I can't think of 30 things I'd like to do before 9/25/07?

Maybe I could cheat like I sometimes do on my to-do lists. I'll write something down that I've already done just so I have the satisfaction of crossing it off immediately. You know like "Get out of bed" written down at like 10am when I've been up since 7. So #12 could be "Have 5 kids." And then "Sew a quilt" and "Learn to knit." Technically those things have all happened before I turn 30. (I mean 29-10.)

Lists like these need to be mulled over with birthday cake. I'm thinking I'm baking myself a cookie cake with lots of icing and sprinkles. Something special and sugary because you're only 29 once! (Or in my case, half a dozen times...)

Katie at 8:58 AM

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Gone camping!

Katie at 9:02 AM

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Look what I had in my yard today!*

I may get some homespun yarn out of this, woohoo!

* (It was a Girl Scout thing.)

Katie at 5:31 PM

Friday, September 15, 2006

I think I'm going to take a week off from blogging.

Nothing's wrong, everything is fine. You may have noticed my post times are later in the day than usual. I've been procrastinating blogging and when I start putting off something I love, it means it's time to step back and take a little break.

So I'll be back next Friday (or within a day, we'll see how much of a break I really need). Everyone have a lovely weekend!

Katie at 3:05 PM

Thursday, September 14, 2006

I can't believe Kyle is 5.

Or that Kelly will be 4 years old in two months.

I won't have a toddler anymore then.

The changes have been happening but I haven't really noticed. It's the strangest things that sneak up on you to point out the kids are growing up. We don't own a stroller anymore. A stroller, the basic symbol of having a very young child in your life. We used to have a triple stroller, 2 double strollers, and countless single and umbrella strollers. It seems so weird to me that we don't even own one now. I don't remember getting rid of the last stroller either, shouldn't I have made a big deal of this "last"?

I'm not sure I'm ready to move onto the next phase and completely leave behind baby/toddlerhood. I'm good at babies and toddlers. 5 kids in 5 years, it's baptism by fire. Throw me in a room of newborns and 2 year olds and I know what I'm doing. Instead this whole school age thing is definitely weird.

I guess it'll be like first time motherhood, you make it up as you go, learn from your mistakes, etc. But it seems like screwing something up with an 8 year old (like letting her ride her bike down the street alone) is a lot scarier than using the wrong diaper rash cream. Is there a "What to Expect The Ninth Year" book?

I've been paying more attention to news stories and statistics of older children. And I'm not particularly thrilled with the direction things may go. I feel shocked half the time, what you mean 11 year olds are doing that?!?! Zach's 4 years away from being a teenager. I still remember my teenage years, I don't particularly want to be in the house with any teenagers again any time soon.

I think the scariest part is the lack of control. I like being in control and I definitely do not do well when I'm not. Just ask Greg when I'm freaking out on the interstate because we're stopped in traffic for no apparent reason. When the kids were babies I could control just about everything, where we went, what they ate, who they could see. Now I can feel that kind of control slipping away bit by bit.

I hate that it seems like just as soon as I got good at the game, the rules are all changing. There surely is a book out there on how to parent school age kids and pre-teens. And if there's not, I'm going to stalk every one of you blogger parents with kids in that age range. Cause all of a sudden decisions like "nursing vs formula" seem very trivial compared to what is coming next.

Katie at 10:21 AM

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Home vs Cell Phone, round 2

So we dropped our land line when we switched cable providers. Except I couldn't do it. I actually called Verizon the next day and signed us up for the cheapest plan possible (basically a dial-tone, no long distance, no calling features). They said it would take about 7 days to change the number over from Comcast to them. Fine whatever, I can deal with not having the home phone on for a week.

Except it's now been 2 weeks. Girl Scout people and the school and random others are like, "I tried your number and it's not working." They are the reason I decided I can't go without a local area code number. I know most people don't care about calling long distance (our cell phones are still Ohio area codes) but I can tell they think it's a bit weird. Plus I really like having a land line especially when my cell phone is being dumb and the battery is dead and it doesn't want to charge. And I know the 911 system is very responsive when called from a home phone here.

So I called Verizon again this morning (after the school called my cell and the nurse** was like "your home phone doesn't work, why the 513 area code?"). Seems Comcast did something screwy with our number and Verizon wasn't sure they could still get it without reactivating the Comcast account. It would take days and it involved me calling Comcast and in the end it wasn't guaranteed I'd have our old number. Uh huh... I'd make a wager that Verizon probably holds part of the blame but why would they accuse themselves when they can shrug it off onto Comcast? Again fine whatever, give me a new phone number.

Now I have a new number and I'm suppose to have service by Friday. I'm not holding my breath and I'm kinda grumpy about a different phone number but hopefully it'll work. Kinda ironic that I'm going through all this work for a land line and I hate talking on the phone in the first place...

** Ally has a possible patch of poison ivy that's not really bothering her and she doesn't need picked up from school. Sometimes I think the school nurse goes out of her way to make work for herself.

Katie at 10:54 AM

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Less is more...

(Alternate title: I didn't sleep at all last night because Greg's out of town on business and therefore this post may not make any sense.**)

I spent most of yesterday reading (finished Holly Lisle's Secret Text trilogy) so I didn't do my usual "pick up after the kids five million times" routine. And the kids are off school today and woke up at some ungodly early hour (Maryland Primary Elections, the schools are used as polling places). Again why do I have to wake them up on school days and then on non-school days they are up before the roosters? In some ways they are to the age where I can leave my bedroom door open and snooze for another hour while they fix themselves breakfast. But then again maybe they aren't because they made more of a mess on top of the mess I didn't pick up yesterday.

Lunchboxes, school bags, hair brushes & hair things, gameboy games, books, soccer gear, socks, jackets, dress-up clothes, blankets, pillows, these are just a few of my unfavorite things I have picked up and put away this morning. Let's not forget the random stuff that didn't quite make it to the trash can either. I swear those stupid juice box straw wrappers will someday be the "straw" that breaks my back.

Just for the record I did yell and make them clean but I swear they can not see anything or "remember" the correct place to put something away. Emily walked past her dirty socks on the steps half a dozen times, Ally didn't remember where her jacket was suppose to go (I saw it in the stuffed animal bin), Zach must think his gameboy belongs between the sofa cushions, and don't get me started on Kyle and Kelly. It actually ends up being less stressful for me to send them all outside and put everything away myself.

I'm tired, I kinda have a headache and I'm thinking the whole "Less is More" thing is a great idea. Less to pick up, less to put away, less to clean. One of these days I'm going to go insane and throw everything away except my blue quilt, a pencil, a notebook of paper, a case of Mountain Dew, and my iPod. Maybe I'll keep a set of knitting needles and some yarn to knit socks. But everything else will go!

** I warned you this probably wouldn't make any sense.

Katie at 11:51 AM

Monday, September 11, 2006

Happy 5th Birthday Kyle!

5 years...

For my newer readers, Kyle was born at 7pm on Sept 11, 2001. He still doesn't know the significance of this date yet. He's only 5. And I want to keep this away from him as long as I can. The innocence of childhood can never be returned.

I think I'm going to be weepy all day. The weather is terrible and we've always spent Kyle's birthday outside because just like on 9/11/01 in New York, it's always been a beautiful clear autumn day. But today it's raining and cold. I want to be outside. It's a mental thing, I don't want to be indoors on the anniversary of the tragic events.

I don't have anything to say that hasn't been said dozens (or hundreds) of times before. Those who lost their lives 5 years ago today are not forgotten. I can close my eyes and feel the fear and sadness again like it was yesterday. I still have the inner turmoil of being happy for Kyle and yet mourning 3,000 deaths.

I thought it would be easier after 5 years but it isn't. I know I will never be able to tell someone Kyle's birthdate without them saying "oh!" I suppose eventually it won't be so bad, Jan 28th, Nov 22nd, and Dec 7th are just another day most of the time.

The above picture is from Chuck E. Cheese's on Friday. It went well, there were only a few other families so we almost had the place to ourselves. He opened the majority of his gifts then but I have a few for him today. I'm going to bake him another cake (he requested chocolate) and hope the weather clears.

4th Birthday
3rd Birthday

Quote of the Day: "There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go." -Author Unknown

Katie at 9:22 AM

Friday, September 08, 2006

Happy Friday!

And then...

There's a million and one little stupid things to do today. I need to fill out the school volunteer forms (although I think I threw Ally's away, oops). And a book club sent me books I don't want (I forgot to mail in the "do not send" reply form). I need to drop off all the Comcast cable stuff and some Girl Scout forms. We need some groceries and guinea pig stuff. The whites need folded and put away. I think there are some emails in my inbox that need answering (I'm really good about clearing out the inbox in one fell swoop but then everyone replies and I'm back where I started). Kyle's birthday gifts need wrapped and I must mentally prepare myself for dinner at Chuck E. Cheese's tonight. Does any other parent get that sinking "Oh lord, anything but that?" feeling when they hear the name of that restaurant?

So to make up for this completely lackluster and pseudo to do list post, here's a picture of the kids with "baby dragons":

See ya Monday!

Katie at 8:45 AM

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Blue Kitty Designs

Finally! I am officially a web based design retailer. Or I guess I will be as soon as someone buys something...

My meager offerings can be found at katiefleck.etsy.com. I also own www.bluekittydesigns.com but if you go there, you'll just get directed to the etsy store again.

So far I have up a few different types of knitting needle organizers and rolls. I plan to sew up some matching totes, single project bags, and accessory cases soon. I have the fabric for it all, it's just a matter of finding the time. Same goes for the website, I plan to make it all nice and fancy but I'm not sure when exactly that's going to happen either.

To everyone who took part in my focus group, I sent out an email telling you how to receive your 10% discount. Don't feel like there's any hurry to redeem it especially since I only have 7 items listed. I'll be adding new items weekly and you can always request something from me through Etsy.

And now, I am really, really tired of my computer and sewing machine so I think I'll go to hide outside for awhile.

Thanks for shopping Blue Kitty Designs!

Katie at 1:54 PM

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Man, I picked a bad day to get a case of the "I don't wanna do anything" blues.

It's that time of the month plus I think I'm getting a head cold (one week of the kids being back at ~~germ breeding grounds~~ school so that's likely). Today's my busiest day of the week, the PTA after school activity sign-up is today (you have to get there early because they fill up all the extra nerdy classes like Chess very quickly), my Brownie Parent Meeting is here after dinner (so I need to straighten the house, now I just had an image of a crooked house and me walking around with a level...), and then after that there's a service unit Girl Scout leader meeting (where I get to sit and listen to people talk for an hour and there will be one 30 second piece of pertinent information for me but it's required). Plus I have all these things that are supposed to be listed on Etsy.com right now and instead they are tossed over chairs and on tables waiting for pictures and fabulous write-ups. Oh and we're out of milk so I should probably go to the grocery store...

(Yeah, when I don't feel good, I talk in long rambling sentences and paragraphs with lots of parenthesis. I apologize.)

Maybe a shower will help. And along with being out of milk, I'm out of Mountain Dew and that usually motivates me to leave my hermit hole. But I don't wanna...

Edited to add: On top of everything else, I can't get my cell phone to charge and it's making me feel like a complete idiot. I mean, how hard is it to plug the charger into the wall and into the phone? And yet as simple as that should be, I can't get it to work and the battery is dead. Did I mention we no longer have a home phone? ARGH!

Edited again to add: "OMG, I am like the worst Best Friend 4-Ever!!!!1!" Go wish Steph Happy 1st 29th Birthday! (We've decided we're turning 29 every year until like 2011.) Since we've been friends for oh, 23 years or so (we met in 1st grade), hopefully she'll overlook my tardiness. Have a great birthday!

Quote of the Day: "Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." -Robert Benchley

Katie at 9:17 AM

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Oh right, updates...

Sunday we spent all day at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Most of the other times we'd gone to something like that the kids (and me to an extent) are ready to go home after a few hours. I'm still not sure how we managed Sunday's marathon outing. Greg and I did have to fight off a few rounds of the "give-me's" but overall it was a good day. And I had my first ever elephant ride. If I get a free minute later this week, I'll try to upload a few pictures.

Yesterday, Labor Day... Hmm, we did something... I sewed, Greg relaxed, and the kids played nicely most of the day. I'm beginning to wonder if these are my "real" children or robots.

Today I have not moved much from my computer desk. I wish I was blog reading or game playing or something fun. But no, I'm playing "Kill The Black Ink Printer Cartridge" Game and Email Tag for my Girl Scout Brownie Troop. It'll all be worth it when the Girl Scout cookies arrive.

Tomorrow I will create my Etsy store, I promise!

Katie at 2:57 PM

Saturday, September 02, 2006

And Ernesto is gone...

The rain was good though, it seriously hasn't rained here since mid July. I can already see the shrubs outside the front windows have grown like 3 inches overnight (drat, now I need to trim). The funny thing is that I kept saying the kids couldn't go outside to play and yet two neighborhood kids knocked on the door asking mine out. Uh... It's 50 degrees and raining? Am I missing something here or is that a totally crazy thing for a parent to allow?

So now the remaining storm needs to hurry its way up north and east so we can attend the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire tomorrow without rain coats and mud. Today I am sewing in hopes that I'll eventually have something for my Etsy store. We don't really have plans for Monday.

Everyone have a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!

Katie at 9:45 AM

Friday, September 01, 2006

Blogging THE STORM
updated 3pm EST Time

9am: Woot, my first hurricane!

Okay, so it's only a tropical storm...

What am I suppose to buy again? Plywood, batteries, and milk? Sandbags, candles, and bread? Rubber rafts, life jackets, and beer?

From all the reports I've read we're going to get 4-8 inches of rain (it hasn't rained since the middle of July), some strong winds, and low lying areas of the Chesapeake Bay may flood. Since we're not low lying or that close to the Chesapeake, I guess the risks here are trees falling and the power going out.

But the greatest risk of all is the kids driving me insane because after 4 blissful days of the Big 3 being away, they don't have school today ("Professional Development Day" but methinks someone wanted a 4 day weekend). At 9am Kyle and Kelly are already missing the run of the house and due to Ernesto I can't send them outside to ~~get out of my hair~~ play. Stay tuned for more ~~bickering~~ ~~child buying gypsies~~ weather updates...

Noon: It's raining and there's some wind. So far nothing exciting weather-wise other than Ernesto has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression (so sad). But we are back from putting gas in the van and buying supplies! Okay so maybe shoes and colored pencils don't count as "preparation." I went grocery shopping on Wednesday so we really don't need anything...

3pm: This hurricane/tropical storm/depression thing is such a bust. (I do know that's a good thing but it makes for boring "Blogging THE STORM" snarky updates.) Washington DC and Baltimore officials are now handing out sandbags. I wonder where the line is for that so I could get one as a souvenir.

On the local front, the kids are attempting to eat me out of house and home (I'm rethinking not stopping at the grocery store). They are also asking every 10 minutes if they can go outside to play (except they aren't on the same time schedule so I end up being asked that question every two minutes). "No, it's raining. Just like the last bazillion times you've asked." *sigh*

Katie at 3:03 PM

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