I found this one barefoot and had to convince him that it wasn’t that warm yet.  We compromised on sandals.  These sandals he begged me not to throw away last September, insisting “they still fit, Mom!” (I may have to arrange for them to disappear…)

It was so beautiful today. I might have been tempted to think it was a lovely Spring afternoon, if not for the condition of the grass and the other plants in the front yard.

The world is still so brown. Still so the color of January. I’m not going to complain, though. How often do you get to play outside at this time of year, without bundling up? It reminded me of a lovely day four years ago. And I hear we may get another one tomorrow. Ooh, yes please!

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On another, completely unrelated note, I’ve recently started watching Downton Abbey, and I am so enjoying it! I find I want to watch something similar during the week, between episodes. I tried Bleak House, and liked that one a lot, too. Just finished it today. Do any of you have any other suggestions? I’ve never really cared for this type of drama before, but I am finding myself thoroughly sucked in, and craving more!

They’ve been spending the last few days staring deep into screens.  These particular screens are from their grandparents.  There have been other screens too, these few days since Christmas.  And while I would normally feel the urge to limit the time spent  playing with such devices, I’m letting it go.

After all, it’s Christmas. What is the week before New Years for, if not to spend it in your pj’s playing with your new toys?

That, and I can hardly fault them.  I’ve been playing with a few of my own new toys this week, too.  Santa was so good to us this year… you too, I hope?

I may be raising future bank robbers.

Or weirdos. They might just be weirdos.

(P.S. Thanks for the moral support on my last post. You’re the best. *hugs*)

Last week nearly kicked my butt.

I was minding my own business, working on your custom claythings (crochet hooks, pens, and shawl pins, if you remember), when we had a bit of a medical mystery unfold with my older son.

I’ll spare you most of the details.  Suffice it to say, there was a call from the school nurse, doctor appointments, a blood test and an eeg before it was determined that Aidan has a pediatric seizure disorder.  We’re lucky in that it’s fairly common, effectively harmless, and will go away by the time he’s in his mid-to-late teens.  He may never have another seizure, but if he does, at least we’ll know what it is and we won’t worry (too much – I can’t really help but worry a little bit!).

I’m thankful that, as disorders go, it’s not likely to be all that disruptive to his life. And I’m grateful that it only took two days to pinpoint the problem, and we were spared a long string of diagnostic testing.  Those two days were fairly intense, and it’s been somewhat difficult to come down from it, if that makes any sense.  It’s been strange trying to go back to my relaxed business-as-usual state.  But I’m getting there.

So now that things are settling down, I’m ready to finish the orders on my plate.  I’m almost done, in fact.  I just have a couple of shawl pins to do, and then I’ll be ready to pack everything up and send it on its way.  Yay! You can start looking for those shipping notices Tuesday or Wednesday (maybe Thursday), I’d say.

While I was filling the custom orders last week, I was also making a few extra hooks here and there.  They, along with most of my samples, are now available for your gift-giving pleasure.  In other words, the Gift Shop is back open (until Friday the 16th only!) and you may grab a hook or two, if you missed your chance to order a custom one.

And, just for fun, I’ve re-opened the old shop as well.  You can make some selections there, too , if you like.  The old and new shops share a shopping cart, so you can mix and match.  I am fairly sure my inventory figures over there are (mostly) accurate, but just in case, be prepared for something that appears to be in stock to actually be sold… you never know!  I’ll refund your money, if that ends up being the case.

Thanks, everyone  We now return you to your own hall-decking and merry-making!

Ever since the days of the “Blankie O’ Love” this boy has been all about Cozy. Wherever he is, if there’s a blanket nearby, he’ll get under it.  (I took this picture at my in-laws’ house the other night, where he had easily made himself at home under Grandma’s blanket.)

He still thinks he is little enough to squeeze himself behind the crook of my knees when I’m sitting sideways on the couch, and I will continue to let him think that for as long as he wants to.

He gets up a few minutes early every weekday morning so he can get under my covers in my bed before getting ready for school.

He is all about the Cozy, this one.

It’s got me thinking, in fact.  (Dangerous, I know.)  After I finish Aidan’s sweater, I want to make something special for Eamonn.  Thing is, he really isn’t a sweater guy at all, and it’s been causing me angst, trying to come up with something to make him that is on a similar scale to a sweater, but that he will actually use.  Maybe instead of a sweater, he needs a cozy granny square lap blanket.  Ooh, yes, I think that would be perfect for him!  I can’t wait to ask him what he thinks when he gets home from school.

Although, I do still really love sharing my Blankie O’ Love with him, and he does have his own similar lap quilt that he keeps on his bed…  Maybe you can’t have too many lap blankets, though.  Can you?

–

My surgery went fine yesterday.  Thanks for the positive thoughts you sent my way.  I spent some time nauseous from the anesthesia, but I’m better now.  I’ll be taking it easy today, my Mom is coming over to keep me company and to pick up the kids from school, so that’s nice.  Tomorrow I expect to be back in the swing of everyday life.

Oh, and the best news of all is that I don’t have to be on “voice rest” as I had originally thought! It turns out the form letter they sent me didn’t really cover my own particular case very well, and the surgery they performed wasn’t anywhere near the vocal chords.  Good thing, since I’ve already had to yell at the kids twice since being home… geez.  It hurts when I swallow, but that should get better in a few days.

So, that’s that. They’re biopsying the papilloma to see what type of HPV it is.  My research (aka Wikipedia) tells me that it can only be one of five types, four of which are harmless, and one of which is a risk factor for cancer.  The papilloma itself, if I understand correctly, is benign by definition.  It’s just a matter of determining future risk.  Needless to say, I am pulling for one of the four harmless varieties, and I wouldn’t object if you wanted to think some more positive thoughts for me in that direction, too.  Many thanks!

Wednesday was his actual birthday, and so of course we needed to all go out for supper together, since the kids missed out on the Tuesday celebration.

Thursday morning Neil was to be on a flight to Reno at 5:30am, but his taxi never showed.  So there we were, 4am, gently shaking the kids awake and telling them to get in the car – we’re taking Daddy to the airport.  Once the grogginess wore off, Eamonn couldn’t stop extolling the virtues of pre-dawn car rides:  “This is great,” “we should do this again sometime,” and “this is so AWESOME!” Once we’d dropped Neil off and were headed back home, there was talk of watching the sunrise.  We got in the house, I googled sunrise time, told the kids it would be another half hour, pointed out the window with the best vantage point, and then told them I was going back to bed.  If they were still awake at 6:08, they were welcome to watch the sun come up.  And with that, we all piled into the same big bed, fell instantly to sleep, and missed the rising sun together.

Since that morning, there has been a dental appointment for me, a visit with my mother and nephew, three meals out and two bagel runs, a handful of trips to the library, a new camera to play with, a business meeting, one Priceline hotel night (we got a local Courtyard by Marriott with a pool this time), a visit with my in-laws including a nice meal for all of us and a sleepover for Eamonn, a late night with Aidan watching the Hugo Awards streaming live from Reno and cheering on Neil and Clarkesworld Magazine (they won!) until 1am, many many thunderstorms, a bit of brotherly bickering, and just entirely too much action and go! go! go! for this peace-loving girl.

At least I had a new toy for most of it, and got to take a whole pile of pictures, mostly of our less-than-healthy supper choices and of horsing around in the hotel courtyard.

Neil comes home today.  We will pick him up at the airport, welcome home our two-time Hugo Award winner with glee, and then I am booking my own weekend away with nothing but a camera and a crochet hook for company. (not really, but it does sound oh, so nice now that I mention it!)

I began my day armed with a hot cup of Ocean City Blend and a voice mutator.

Filming has begun on a new season of Doctor Who – new cast, new crew, on location in my back yard.

When you are the mother of a Cyberman, especially one whose threatening mantra of  “You will be deleted” has been cleverly replaced by the Doctor with the much sweeter “Mommy, Mama, I love Mama,” well, it’s nice to be able to respond in kind.  Hence the voice mutilator, and a little “Baby, baby, I love baby” out the kitchen window while sipping my morning coffee.

It warms my heart to see how well the cast has been getting along during the three days of this shoot.  You know, these things have a way of coming to a crashing end, often with a supporting actor losing interest and wandering off the set, while the star of the show (who is also the director) fumes at the subordinate’s refusal to take direction and see the show through to the end…  Three days, though, and no incidents.

I suspect the union successfully argued for more Super Mario breaks between takes.  That goes a long way toward ensuring cooperation and harmony on set.

*contented sigh*

I just want to sit back, close my eyes, and drink in all of this goodwill between brothers.

These are good, creative days.  Good days, indeed.

It takes a little over an hour in the car.  We park in Ocean Grove, walk down the boardwalk into Asbury Park, choose our flavors, sit on a bench and watch the ocean with our rapidly-melting treats, take our time wandering back to the car, drive up the Garden State Parkway, and are back home by 11:00.

I heart summer.

Early this morning, after Neil got up to take his shower, Eamonn crawled into my bed and snuggled in.  It was quiet, I was starting to fall asleep again, when a little voice next to me said dreamily, “I love the A and B buttons…”

I opened my eyes and turned to look at him.  He had a faraway, contented look on his face.  He continued, “and when you press both A and B together, they act like a whole new button.  I love that.”

I think it may be time for a Wii intervention

Every year we put a kiddie pool on our back patio.  At 11 and 8, the boys are kind of big for such a thing, but it’s still a great way to cool off.  We like to dip our feet in it on hot afternoons, and often the boys will put on their bathing suits and do their best to get everyone and everything within reach completely drenched.  I’ve even been known to hand them a bottle of shampoo and push them out the door for a backyard bath.  Classy, I know, but it gets the job done!

I usually try to re-use the previous year’s pool where I can, but we’d had the last one for two seasons and it was beyond repair.  So, a new one it was!

There are many drawbacks to school letting out so late in the month, not the least of which is the dwindling availability of plastic kiddie pools.  We rarely get exactly what we were looking for, when we finally strike out on a pool hunt, and are often stuck doing the best with whatever we can find.

Which, in this case, was teeny tiny.

Maybe it’s time to consider upgrading to a real pool