A Crafty Weekend

Despite the dead car battery, leaking pipes and illnesses of the weekend, we had a lot of fun really delving into craft projects.

I finished Jani's cowl/burka. I have yet to get a picture of her in it. Now one of her co-workers wants one - not before I experiment with cabling and make a doll afghan for the girls from some leftover yarn and an Irish Hiking Scarf for a friend.

We also opened the Valentine's Day project assembly line. This year's project - making new crayons from old, forming them into heart shapes. Each girl then cut out paper hearts, put the name of the recipient and her name on each heart and affixed a new crayon to each to gift to school friends and others. All told, we cranked out 100 of these critters this weekend.

Here's a shot of two of them - from the first batch. They are so cute and they color just awesomely - a rainbow in one swipe of the crayon.

Here's one step of the process - after we'd de-labeled the crayons, we broke them into smaller pieces and divided them into like-colored families. We then filled the heart-shaped muffin tins with a combination of colors we thought would look neat together and put them in a low temp oven to melt.

This is Gemma busy at work, putting her friends' names on the paper hearts with the crayon heart attached with tape to the paper.

And Rowan pulled out her new (a Solstice gift) potter's wheel and decided to try throwing a few pots amongst the crayon project. Yes, we managed to keep the wet clay out of the crayons - a melted wax and clay mixture could have been down-right nasty!!

Gemma has taken to authoring many stories lately - she loves her new found skill of managing letter sounds and putting them together into words. She chose to work in the living room to avoid getting clay and wax on her book and is authoring a story about her stuffed animal bat, Batty - appropriately named - discovering gold.

After all was said and done - we'd craft ourselves into a stupor, so enjoyed a snuggly evening on the couch watching the movie, Grease. Yes, Grease! We got into the TV show, "You're the One that I Want" and realized the girls had never seen the movie.

What Do You Get When...

There have been nearly two weeks of bitter cold temperatures (some days the mercury failed to make it above zero even in the "heat" of the day)?

You get -
*frozen pipes that display their new "holes" when the weather warms a bit and things begin to thaw out.
*dead car batteries.
*illnesses galore from dealing with the temperature extremes.

Yes, we have experienced ALL of the above this weekend!

Friday night, I just about jumped for joy when I could run the dishwasher for the first time in two weeks - the line from the kitchen pipes to the dishwasher had frozen days before. In the back of my mind was that voice that said "hm, after two weeks of being frozen, I wonder..." Well, Saturday morning, there was no wondering as we awoke to a puddle in the kitchen and a slow drip-drop sound in the basement - we seem to have a leak despite reinsulating the pipes a couple of summers ago and tending to them whent he weather started getting cold. So, since we aren't flooded (yet) we aren't on the emergency list for the plumber when I called on Saturday - we should be seen today - I'm awaiting the doorbell's ringing tones as I write.

Saturday monring we awoke to temperatures above zero - first time in a long time to not see a negative number of the thermometer. However, the car battery didn't care. As we headed out the door to pick up another child, take Gemma and the little guest to gymnastics and drop Rowan off at a birthday party, we could progress no further than the sad clicking sound of the van attempting to turn over with no juice in the battery. So a visit from AAA got the van running enough to get it to the garage for a new battery. I ran Rowan on foot up the street to converge with two other families whose kids were also going to the birthday party and who were also walking since they too were carless for the day. So Rowan got a 13 block walk in to get to the birthday party. Thankfully we had wheels again by the time the party ended, so took all the kids home to parents who were thrilled not to have to walk the journey in reverse. Sadly, we couldn't pull off getting Gemma to gymnastics.

Now for the germs - ah yes, strep and croup seem to be the bugs of choice for our family. Rowan had strep - it was one of the many "freebies" she got at a recent Girl Scout sleepover involving 45 girls with more than 50% of them all getting sick post-slumber party. Then it was Gemma's turn - she's been barking like a seal and spiking a fever one minute and having normal temps the next - sure sounded like croup to our ears - doctor confirmed it yesterday during a trip to acute care. Gemma tried school today, but the infamous call from the school nurse came through when her fever shot up this morning. Now she's a couch resident as I type. I'm on my way into the clinic for a throat culture later this afternoon as my throat feels like I swallowed fire. My trip to the clinic comes after Jani's trip to the dentist for a crown on a broken tooth.

Ah, the joys!

Plus, just think about how much $$$ we got the "opportunity" to spend in the last few days -

car battery + plumber visit + tooth crown + meds = $$$ - fun, fun!!

Oh well, the "goodies" of the cold have been -
*time to hang out together at home, playing board games, reading, watching fun movies and knitting (for me).
*and we have gotten lots of time to enjoy our new living room furniture since we've been camped out in that room of the house.

A little silver lining!

Gotta run - the princess patient beckons!

Breaking News from the Koester-Jess Home

dateline - Jenifer Street

Gemma Rose has lost her first tooth at just a couple weeks shy of 5.5 years.

She first announced that the tooth was loose in mid-November and the dentist confirmed it during a check-up a week later.

We all started predicting when it would come out. She, of course, anticipated it would be out in just a couple of days. Rowan, Jani and I - all more experienced in the tooth-loss arena, cautioned that it might take a bit longer. But the three of us all predicted it was likely to be out within the month.

Would she lose it by Solstice - a new tooth for the Sun's birthday? Nope, the tooth was not yet ready to depart its first home.

As the days neared for us to leave for Florida, the tooth was still in place - getting ever so much more wiggly.

Maybe she'd lose it at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Will the tooth fairy find her there? Yes, the tooth fairy is wonderfully smart.

Nope, no tooth loss at Grandma and Grandpa's. Will she lose her tooth at Disney World? Maybe - yes the toothe fairy will find our hotel.

Nope, no tooth loss in the Magic Kingdom, so not all dreams come true there.

Great concern had now developed in the mind of this small girl - will her tooth "ever" fall out?

Rowan, the big sister in the know, told her that perhaps the tooth fairy was behind in her work after the holidays and perhaps put a spell on the tooth to hold it in place until she'd caught up on her work. This sounded quite reasonable to Gemma, given that Rowan's tooth loss resume certainly is far more extensive than her own.

Yesterday, the small girl appeared in front of me complaining that her tooth really hurt and was bleeding. Hm, could this be the moment of truth? Let me see, could I just give it a little twist? Oh no, off she ran, back upstairs to stare into the mirror somemore at her mouth. A few miinutes later she marched back into the living room, very excited and holding a tiny bit of calcium in her hand - the tooth was out!!! She's attempted to brush it and popped it right out. Her immediate declaration that the tooth fairy must have lifted the spell!!

Now, a new concern was voiced. Was it too cold for the tooth fairy to fly? No, we reassured her, it will be fine. How do we know? Hm, good question, should we google it? No, email her mom. Ok, let's see. We've discussed before that there are multiple tooth fairies, because its too great of a job to handle singly and that our area's tooth fairy has a name (Jenny, Jessie was her predessor) who is the Jenifer Street Tooth Fairy. Surely her business email address "must" be toothfairy.com. So we sent off a cyber connection to jenny@toothfairy.com asking if she could make a switft reply.

Thankfully, Mama J checked email at bedtime and got a reply from Jenny's secretary, saying Jenny had already left to start her route and would be at our house as soon as Gemma went to sleep. Never in the nearly 5.5 years that this child has been on this earth have we seen her go to sleep so fast!!! (Too bad she doesn't lose a tooth every day!!).

She awoke at 1:05 AM, yes you've read that correctly, to check her pillow. Us mamas were all snuggled in with cats all around us when an excited voice penetrated the quiet stillness of the sleeping house to announce that Jenny had come and left her a whole dollar and a letter. The letter said that Jenny was so excited she'd finally lost the tooth, yes she could fly in any weather and just had to beat her wings faster to stay warm. The letter was sealed with love and fairy kisses.

Another Knitting Project Complete

I finished it last night and got to wear it to my first meeting of the day this morning. We're experiencing warmer weather today (only -4 right now) so I am back to my usual winter dress of a warm shirt, my fleece vest, a cowl and gloves.

I altered the pattern pretty significantly to give it more shape, rather than just a large tube and am very pleased with my alterations. The yarn is so snuggly - its a chenille, so soft and not at all itchy and warm!! Next its on to working on one for Jani using these new alterations.

My Knitting Portfolio

Last night I photographed and uploaded pictures of my knitting projects to share with friends on an on-line knitting list. I thought I'd share them here. The things pictured are the projects I've made since Thanksgiving. I've also done ponchos for the girls, but don't have them photographed as they are in the "spring/fall coat" storage box right now.

Here is a scarf and headband set I made in a couple of evenings for a friend's birthday. The pieces are done in a novelty yarn called Lion Boucle and the color is Wild Berry.

This is a cowl/hood thing that I made for Jani's Solstice gift. It's kind of neat - its a round scarf, done on circular needles. You can pull up the back of the cowl scarf to form a hood for colder weather. This one is made with a novelty yarn - Lion Boucle. It's too wide for Jani's liking, so I am modifying the pattern and shaping it a bit more and will make her another one in a chenille yarn. Rowan has laid claim to the cowl once Jani's new one is done and I've been wearing it to test it out and figure out how to modify the pattern. Jani's sister Sue wants one done in this same yarn and I've already made one for Jani's mom in a teal chenille yarn. I have a cowl/hood for myself still on my needles - hope to finish it today so I can wear it!! I've shaped the piece more than the instructions called for and am using a different stitch pattern, so we'll see how ti turns out - so far it looks great. Mine is done in a brown chenille with flecks of color.

Here's a hat I made for Rowan. I also made a second one for our 12 year old niece, Marissa. It's done in a rib stitch and then a stocknetter and then seamed. I made it using "Rowan" yarn which Rowan loved!! If I make more of these, I will do them on circular needles to reduce the number of seams.

Gemma's hat was also made with Rowan yarn too. I also made a second of these for another niece, Alyssa who is soon to be six. This one is all done in garter stitch with a gather at the top to "poof" it out and a chain stitched tie.

Projects on deck-

*another cowl for our friend, Marsha.

*Fiber Trends felted clogs - for something new to try!

*new afghans for the backs of our new couches (couches are sage green microfiber - they get delivered Wednesday!!)

*a few baby afghans to donate to St. Mary's NICU - since Gemma was a resident there and we appreciated how homely they attempt to make it - complete with little knitted things - I wanted to make a couple of blankets to donate.

Cold Day Experiment #2

If you put two bowls of water outside which we freeze faster at -13 degrees F? One bowl is made of metal, the other of plastic. The plastic bowl has a wider diameter than the metal bowl with more surface area exposed to the cold.

Rowan's prediction - the water in the metal bowl will freeze faster, because metal is a better conductor of heat/cold than plastic.

My prediction - they will freeze at about the same rate, because the larger surface area of the plastic bowl will equalize freezing time with the conductivity of the metal bowl.

After 15 minutes of the bowls being outside on our front porch, each bowl has about equal thickness of skim ice.

At one hour, both bowls are nearly frozen - starting at the top first and then the sides with open pools of water in the middle. However, the open pool in the metal bowl appears smaller than the one in the plastic bowl.

Our two hour mark will be here in 1/2 an hour, so we'll see what the bowls look like then. So far they seem to be freezing at a pretty similar rate.

How Cold Is It?

Cold enough to freeze boiling water drop-lets in mid-air!!!

When we woke up for school/work at 6:00 this morning, it was -16 degrees with a windchill of -38 degrees!! Yes, that's darn cold!!

As we watched the school closings scroll across the bottom of the TV screen, one of the station's meteorologists walked outside, threw a cup of boiling water into the air and filmed the result - water droplets freezing in mid-air and hitting the ground as ice crystals.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity for a science experiment, I ran downstairs to put the kettle on for hot water. A few minutes later, we headed out to conduct our own experiment.

With me as the water tosser-

Rowan is the outdoor observer and Gemma as indoor observer-

And Jani as photographer-

We too were able to toss boiling water into the air and watch it freeze in mid-air and hit the ground as ice.

And - it was also cold enough to freeze over our antique windows. The girls are loving the chance to carve designs into the frost - it brings back memories of reading "Little House in the Big Woods" with their frosted over windows. The other windows in the house have been replaced with energy-efficient ones, but we kept two of the anitque decorative ones.

Also, two major miracles today -

1. The Madison Metro School District actually CLOSED school today - this is a major feat as we typically don't close, even when all the districts surrounding us are closed.

2. Our kitchen water pipes DID NOT FREEZE!! I was able to fill the tea kettle with water from the kitchen sink. In years past, before we had the pipes all re-insultated, we could expect our kitchen pipes to freeze over on a night like we had last night - even if we left the heat up and opened up cupboards. So I was thrilled to having running water this morning and not need to head to the basement with a blow dry to defrost pipes. Now the dishwasher is another story - the connection line between it and the sink has been frozen for a few days, so we have to do things the old fashioned way - wash by hand - not a bad feeling though since the hot water warms the hands nicely.

It's now 7:49 AM and we've warmed up to -13 degrees!!

Blessings to All at Imbolic

When most of us in our mondern, Western world, think of February 2, images of ground hogs often come to mind. We think of the old legend that if the ground hog comes out of its burrow today and sees it's shadow, it will be startled and retreat to it's burrow for an additional six weeks of winter. Well, it really makes little difference if the little guys see their shadows today or not (other than being a fun thing to note), because we are at the height of winter and it will be six weeks until Spring Equinox (the first day of spring) shadow or no shadow.

My ancestors throughout Europe, especially those in the north, honored this day - the half way point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox as sacred with the Celts calling it Imbolic.

At Imbolic, like all the nature based sabbats, it is a time to honor the natural world and appreciate her changes. I have been very aware of the changes in our sunshine. At Winter Solstice, when the sun is being born a-new, it hangs low in the southern sky and its light is weak, even at mid-day. Each day over the last weeks, I've noticed our daylight returning later into the afternoon and the sun shines with great strength. Despite our bitter cold today, the sun is shining in all of his glory on our beautiful white snow that sparkles under the sun's kiss.

I am grateful for the bitter cold of the day, for it truly feels like winter with our blanket of snow and near zero temperatures. I hope it will serve as a reminder to many of the precious gifts of winter and how these could lost as our world climate continues to change.

Candles and fire were blessed at this time of year - as they brought light and heat into dark homes and were needed to sustain life. It is wonderous to light a candle and watch its flame dance and ponder what are the "lights" and fires in our own lives that we want to tend and bless on this Imbolic.

Young children were honored at Imbolic for they represent the continuation of all life and they hold the promise of spring. The goddess herself is in her maiden form at this time of year, waiting the bright blooms of spring and baby animals. Our two maidens of our home made "maiden muffins" for our family last night to feast on at breakfast time to bring us time to ponder all the wonders that young children bring into our lives.

And - how cool is this - the moon if full today. So not only do we get the bright, ever-stronger growing sunshine in the day, we get the glow of the moon, reflecting off of our snow and making the world a wonder of bright light mixed with dark blue shadows. As we returned from our women's group last night, I was moved by the night beauty of the season. I was very moved by the metaphor of light and shadow interplaying through the snow and moon.

So warm blessings to all who read this today in the days to come. If you wish, take a moment to ponder the wisdom of the season, learn about Brigid, the goddess of fire and metal crafts who is a guiding teacher at this time and enjoy the beauty of our Earth, cimmitting to care for her in all seasons as the Wheel of the Year keeps turning.

Blessed Be!

Clowing Around

I'm just beginning to organize our hundreds of Florida vacation pictures. This one caught my eye this morning. Jani took it at Downtown Disney outside some shop. Very clever of Rowan to sneak under the hand of the statue and don't you just love Gemma's Snow White finery with her fanny pack? (-:

Fondue Feasting

I don't think it was a desire to relive my youth or join the retro craze that inspired me to host a fondue party for my 44th birthday - it just seemed like a blast of an idea! It turned out to be a blast in reality. No not "that" kind of blast - thank goodness, though one could fear that with nine cans of denatured alcohol and sterno all burning at once - the kind of blast that means very fun!!

Nearly 20 friends gathered to help celebrate, all gathered around nine pots of simmering goodness, laughing and having a grand time. It was great fun!!

We feasted-
*two cheese fondues - one of them made of soy to pleast our vegan friends and dairy-allergy daughter - I gotta say though that soy cheese fondue is rather scary - tasty but a bizarre consistancy.
*two Mongolian pots - one vegetarian with tofu and veggies to cook in the boiling broth and the other meat based with marinated chicken and veggies to cook in the boiling chicken stock.
*two B-B-Q pots - one tofu and one meatball.
*three dessert fondues - a dark chocolate with cinnamon, a white chocolate and a respberry.

Guests brought the dippers and I got the fun part of preparing the fondues. It was fun to mix 1970's cuisine with the dietary needs of our times (vegans, dairy-allergies, wheat/gluten allergies and a desire for a bit more healthy, whole grain foods). Jani and our friend Marsha were marvelous su chefs at my beck and call to get all the pots lit (yes, that's right nine flames all going at the same time) and set pots out.

Now where would one gather NINE fondue pots you might ask. That's a story in itself. I posted an email to my extensive connections here in town soliciting pots and really scored. We had one of our own - one I"d acquired at an auction at Rainbow Family Camp last year from a gal who'd gotten it as a gift and never used it. A friend lent us her original 1970's pot in its lovely orange color complete with wooden lazy susan to set the pot and sterno upon. Other friends let us their pot - a commitment cermony gift they'd never used and barely recognized as their own at the party. The best part was getting a lead on six pots from another lesbian couple we don't know who used them at their commimtent ceremony to hold soup at each guest table. They'd bought 18 of them on QVC!! They would have happily lended more, but six seemed sufficient to me!! They heartily encouraged us to give away a few of their pots as "door prizes" as they really couldn't imagine what they might do with 18 fondue pots!!

And, the great thing - the sterno doesn't have the pungent odor I remember from the 1970's. Some used sterno and most of the posts used denatured alcohol which had no odor.

We now have a Melting Pot restaurant in town, but I think our fondue feast surpassed what we would have experienced there with gathering so many of us together all amazed at what we could do with nine fondue pots, cooperative efforts and good compnay.

Rowan's Version of the Old "I Used to Have to Walk 5 Miles to School Uphill both Ways"

Last night we were preparing Gemma's wardrobe for today's trip to the nature center with her kindergarten class to see animals in winter. Her teacher had sent home a picture of a line-drawn kid properly attired for the trip with notes in the margins to help bring the kids on board with taking responsibilty for their own preparations with adult support.

Rowan saw the drawing on the bathroom counter and piped in with a voice of utter indignation - "Hey, when I was in kindergarten we had to DRAW our OWN picture of what to wear. These kindergaterners have it so easy. Their teacher gave them a picture already drawn. I can't believe it." This comment from a kid who loves to draw so I'm guessing she wasn't under too much stress when she had to draw her own picture.

I replied, "So, I suppose you had to walk to the Aldo Leopald Center too - 5 miles in the snow, uphill both ways." Clever to catch on to such teasing, Rowan replied with equal indignation as before, "that's right Mom."

Gemma, hearing our conversation got all worried. "You mean we have to walk there. I'm too little to walk there. I don't want to go! It's not fair to make kindergartners walk 5 miles."

We cleared that one up (hopefully). So we'll see if Gemma asked her teacher if they had to walk to the nature center today. I can imagine her relief when she saw they were going on school busses.

Perfect for You-Tube

You know there are those moments when I really wish I had a video camera at the ready...

We were at Disney. It was the end of the day - about supper time. An announcement came over the PA system about that evening's light parade. The annuncement ended with a tag line about Disney being the "happiest place on earth."

All around me there were scenes of less than happy Disney visitors. Kids of all ages who were over=stimulated, hungry, tired - some crying and some begging and some defying any parental requests. There were over-stressed, over-stimulated parents - some threatening loss of privilegs to their small charges, others railing their discontent to their life-partners. All with the PA blasting the line of the "happiest place on earth."

Hmmm...

So is it
a) Disney - the happiest place on earth?
b) Disney - the most over-stimulating place on earth?
c) both of the above?
d) none of the above?
e) some other reality?

I heard from a couple of folks that the link to the Diseny Poto Pass pictures I posted yesterday doesn't work. )-: Sorry about that. Disney and other Florida pictures to come.

Disney Pictures

Happy New Year!!

My goddess, its been a busy month - ranging from Solstice planning, to a religious discrimination issue with Jani's employer over Solstice (again this year - we have engaged an advocate and are moving forward to hopefullly resolve this once and for all), to heading to Florida to visit my folks in Naples and then head to Disney..WOW!!

I have many reflections about all of this - and of course limited time to post. So for now, here's the link to some pictures we had taken at Disney on our Photo Pass. http://www.disneyphotopass.com/photoshareviewer.aspx?share=ce3c46cd-8f09-4818-a13f-3738be11f1f4

We have oodles more that we took of both the Disney part of the trip and our visit to Naples, so will get those in an on-line photo album in the next couple of weeks.

LIttle News Tid-Bits

dateline - Madison, Wisconsin

Our second floor (and part of our first floor) wall repair, painting and wood work refinishing is done!! It looks spectacular!!!! Our bedroom is a very soothing muted sage, girls' bedroom is a relaxing sky blue and their playroom is a vibrant purple. The back stairs and first floor hallway have had major plaster repair and replacement done and are painted a creamy off-white. Of course, now we just want to keep going. One project leads to another...and another...and another in these old homes.

We are reassembling the house. Our bedroom is bad together as is the bathroom (also repainted a bright laurel green). The girls playroom/bedroom flip has not yet happened - we are making strides in that direction though.

Roofing isn't slated to start now until January or February.

In other news, the WI Women Volleyball Badgers won both Friday and Saturday night's first and second round NCAA play-offs. GO BIG RED!!! We were treated to a very exciting game in the Field House on Friday night - especially game one where Notre Dame stood their ground and we had to go to a 36-34 game to finally pull out the win. Saturday night found us adults at Kathy's birthday party at a lovely Bed and Breakfast Inn and Organic Farm in the country, dining on a scrumptious pot luck vegan supper. A good portion of the crowd are v-ball fans, so at 7:15 we flipped open my laptop and watched live feed of the game - even projected it on the wall using a power point projector. We watched a 3 game victory for the Badgers. We all seriously comtemplated hitting the road for Austin, TX for this Friday's game, but decided to settle for meeting together at someone's house with take-out food and our laptops and projector to watch the game together. I would like to now humbly retract any smart-ass comments I've made about people watching sports together in someone's living room, yelling with jubilation at the screen, since I have now joined the ranks of this crowd. If the women manage to make it all the way to the finals, we are actually seriously consdering heading your way, Sonya, as the finals are in Omaha!!

And last headline, I ended up in the ER on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving with a severe allergic reaction - eyes swollen shut, fat lips and tongue, still breathing, but not as easily as usual and hives everywhere. To what you ask? I have NO IDEA!! I'm still coated in hives after a week of prednisone and am now on new meds until I can see my doctor next week and get an allergy appointment on the books. I'm now the proud owner of an epi pen. I feel like I'm playing a game of chance, wondering what set off the reaction and what might set it off again.

Why We Arenb't Fans of The Pciture People

We like studio shots every so often - for birthdays and a family picture once every couple of years. We've lucked out with a fantastic local place where we end up with about 50 (literally) 4x6 shots as proofs to keep no matter what we order (for the $25 sitting fee). In the past year or so we've been less pleased (after they switched to digital) with the quality and the photographers seem less inspired (a couple are down right cranky...and our kids aren't hard to photograph, so I can only imagine them with a wiggly toddler). We talked with the manager, who apologized profusely and sweetened the deal with free this and that.

Then Picture People came to town, so we thought we'd give them a whirl. I was appalled to find out that they THROW AWAY whatever you don't buy - and they seem to print the entire package (four or five sheets per shot). The waste seemed horrible to me - not at all green!! So I talked to the managere and told her we'd be willing to try them IF they printed us a proof sheet and not all the wasted prints. Anxious for new customers (as they had just opened) she agreed. She took the pictures herself (nice energy and good photographer). We were very pleased - got the prints we wanted with minimal waste and didn't pay an arm and a leg for stuff we didn't want. We felt good about the experience.

So, we went back this weekend. I talked to the same manager gal as last time to ask her to take the pictures - sure, no problem. She was less inclined to print the proof sheet (they're well established now with booked appointment schedules, so less willing to court customers). But she agreed not to print full photo packages of each print and took way more shots than their usual handful. We were very happy with the pictures - she has a great repport with the kids and a good eye for poses.

The appointment to pick up the pictures SUCKED to put it mildly - we met with a different gal (our gal was off that day). High pressure sales - complete with the attempted guilt tripping for not wanting to buy the tri-print combo with frame. The pose they'd picked for the 10X13 they were pushing was our least favorite (we all had our heads titled - looked like we'd just come off some ride at Disney World). The woman was a really pushy - barely breathed as she's trying to talk us into prints. I finally asked her to step back, so we could think (luckiily we'd looked at our prints on-line so we knew what we wanted - and we'd also figured out who we were buying for ahead of time, so we weren't buying more than what we needed). Gal was p*ssed that we weren't all "ooo and aaaaa - we need 42 of these and 16 of these prints). We got holiday cards, so it wasn'tl like we didn't spend a chunk of change.

Then it came time to get our prints - we left the store, ran an errand and came back in the designated 15 minutes time to find red lines in our prints. Did they bother to proof the pictures before they put them in the envelope? Apparently not. So when our overly-pushy sales gal opened the envelope to review the order, there were these lovely red lines through our prints - not acceptable. So, she hasitly apologized and said she'd have them done again. Just another 10 minutes please. Now our window of time was quickly closing until we needed to hook Gemma up with a friend to go see the Nutcracker and we had to leave - should have left earlier. This now means another trip out to the mall to pick up our prints. Neither Jani nor I are fans of malls - I'd rather walk through hot coals than be in the canned music-filled mall, especially this time of year. And its a 15 minute drive - so not an efficient use of our time or fuel for the van either.

So a call to the manager about our expeirence is on the docket for today - especially given that we need to drive back out to pick up our prints. So I'd love to have pictures to show you all - however its not happening today.

Will we go back to the Picture People after this - NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cupcakes

Our school district has a new "health" policy - healthy and nut-free snacks for classrooms, no candy or other junk foods for rewards - basic logical stuff. One day this week I sent a left-over cupcake in Gemma's lunch, figuring she'd love a little treat. That night, the cupcake came home untouched in the lunch box.

Me: "Gemma, you didn't eat your cupcake?"

Gemma: "No, because the prinicpal was in the lunch room and she looked at me funny, because I didn't have a healthy food in my lunch."

Me: "Did you ask the prinicipal if the cupcake was ok or did you just assume it wasn't because she looked at you?"

Gemma: "No, I didn't ask. She just looked at me."

I reassured her that an "every once in a while" treat of a cupcake in her own lunch was not a violation of the health policy. I put the cupcake back in her lunch for the next day.

That night, the cupcake was still in her lunch box. Repeat the above dialogue, only this time it was the classroom teacher that Gemma perceived was angry about the cupcake.

So I again reassured her that I couldn't imagine the cupcake would be an issue, though I suggested she eat it at home after supper before it got stale - it was getting a bit banged up with its many travels to and from school.

I decided it might be time to give the principal a ring to see what her insights might be. Of course it was just as I had imagined - a cupcake in one's own lunch box is not a problem.

The whole incident was just such a reminder to me that
a) these little kindergarteners are still just babes - and so literal in their interpretations - if a grown-up at school told her that they could only bring healthy foods to the classroom, then it must apply in all situations at school.

b) that we need to work with her on how to check out assumptions, rather than rely on a small tidbit of information, with her so she can avoid assuming something that really isn't there.

I felt badly for her, thinking about her trying to quietly slide her cupcake back into her lunch box to avoid getting in trouble, though the story is terribly cute. The institution of school is such a big and some days overwhelming place for these little ones.

Knit 1, Purl 2, Knit 1, Purl 2

I learned to knit when I was Rowan's age - during Junior Girl Scouts with our "knitting grandmas" (older women from our community who had generously donated their time to teach a bunch of girls this carft. I loved it then, my hands wobbly and unsure, yet excited and my eyes big with anticipation about what my first piece would look like when finished. I still remember, it was a medium blue scarf, all done in garter stitch. We dontated them to folks who needed warm winter outter wear as a service project.

Through high school I kept knitting, until I thought I was just too cool for such things and preffered partying with my friends over the click of the needles. While teaching elementary-aged kids, I often taught circles of kids - boys and girls alike - to knit and loved watching their faces as the wonder of those threads of yarn came together into an actual product.

But I haven't made anything really for close to 30 years until I took inspirtation from three women - all of whom sat in community together in the Facilitating by Heart workshop series I co-facilitate. Each brought her project with her, needles flying as we did intense work on deep listening, working through conflict and living and working from a place of integrity when working with others. Their work - both in their knitting and the profound personal work they did during the workshop series - inspired me to pick up my needles once again.

I've been having a ball, surfing the net in search of patterns for things. Lion Brand, bless their hearts, provides many free and lovely patterns. A great place to start for a re-committed stitcher. My first projects were hats for the girls, as we approach this cold time of year.
As I walked into the yarn shop (a local place - I much prefer local over chain stores), my heart just sang. The shop is tiny, a narrow strip of a place, the left and right facing walls are filled with skeins upon skeins of yarn from the top of the 10 foot ceilings to the floor. The smell and sight of it all is intoxicating. I quickly zoned in on the type of yarns I needed for the hats - thick, chunky stuff - and selected colors just right for each girl. I happily proceeded to the counter to purchase it and needles like a kid in a candy store.
My Thanksgiving weekend was filled with hat making. A pink one for Gemma (of course) a blue multi-colored one for Rowan and then two additions for two of their cousins. I thought Jani had gotten a picture of the girls in their hats, but can't find it in our photo files, so we'll have to snap another.

My next project - a hood for Jani. She just needs to choose her yarn and a stitchin' we will go.

Go Bucky

If you are looking for us this weekend, look no further than the University of Wisconsin Field House, because our Badger Women's Volleyball team was awarded the privilege of hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA play-offs.
We'll be happily snuggled all up in our RED
While visions of POINT WISCONSIN and victory dance in our HEADS!!

Our Family

Photo taken at Thanksgiving at Jani's folks' house in Freeport. For those that don't "know" us - (from left to right) Rowan, age 8, Jani, Denise and Gemma, age 5.

'Tis The Season

...for remodeling!!

As we enter into the dark days and long nights of late fall before the Winter Solstice, we decided it was time to turn our energies inward (inside the house) and start another remodeling project in our much-loved 1886 Queen Anne house. This one is a tad simpler than the last - it involves no moving of walls, rewiring or new plumbing. We are having most of the second floor rooms repainted.

As the sun gets ready for his re-birth on the Solstice, we are excited to begin a-new in our more intimate living spaces - the bedrooms. The girls are leaving their current bedroom (a small and cozy space) for a larger room with a bay window. We offered them each their own room and they declined, saying they[d be too lonely at night without the other. A very sweet sentiment to be remembered in those moments when the sister spats are running high. Their former bedroom will become their playroom, thus relegating toys to a more enclosed room. Anyone who has ever set foot in this house knows the kid-energy is everywhere - the place looks like a Waldorf school - with kid-created art adorning the walls and little alters of stones and feathers on any horizontal surface available. However, it will be great to have the toys (all those fairy villages, Barbie condos and My Pretty Ponies) residing in their lovely new purple playroom. The girls decided to keep their night sky ceiling (a dark blue with stars) in the playroom. It will be interesting to see how the purple and blue go together. Their bedroom will be a medium blue (like the twilight night sky). They want murals of trees painted on the walls, so it looks like they are sleeping outside. Mine and Jani's room will be a sage green.

We've hired a paint crew to do the work. As much as I love hands-on things, left for us to do, it just wasn't happening. Too many other things marched themselves higher on the priority list for weekends (like playing and having a good time with the family). It was very important for us to hire folks with really nice energy, as not only do they leave paint on the walls and woodwork, they leave their energy print too. These guys are very sweet and are doing a great job. Yesterday's task was the woodwork and it looks extrordinary!!!

We're also getting a new "lid" (aka roof) on the house. Any day now the roofers should arrive.

Pictures will come as the rooms are completed.