“I have dishsoap in my HAIR!”
Sunday, July 30th, 2006Boogermonkey turned 8 months yesterday. is still working on creeping, and will stay standing for a few seconds if I’m holding his abdomen & let go. Gets quite upset when he lands on his ass, though I’m sure with his diaper on it doesn’t hurt, he’s just frustrated he’s not up anymore.
Bumblebee cardigan has stalled. Body is done, collar is done, waistband is done. Needs sleeves (will work on that tonight) and the other half of the buttonband. The half with the buttonholes on it. Problem is, I can’t find buttons. All I want are SHINY ROUND 1/2″ YELLOW PLASTIC BUTTONS. I don’t want buttons that look like bees, thanks. That would be overkill. If anyone out there has six shiny (and I mean SHINY) bright yellow (REALLY BRIGHT, but true yellow not 80s wacky neon colors yellow) buttons, round ones, 1/2″-3/4″ in diameter (2 or 4 holes, doesn’t matter), please let me know how much you want for them. This is for a commission order, so it’s kind of important.
In the downtime (ha!) between commission order progress, I made it to my local yarn store’s “Christmas in July” sale. I know, I know, Summer of Stash. To be fair, all but one project’s worth of yarn were for present/commissions. Stacy’s birthday scarf/headband/belt yarn (one skein, immediately knit), Sarah’s raspberry hat yarn (the knitpicks yarn was too red, not enough pink for a raspberry), yarn for a surprise for a friend in transition, yarn for a surprise for a friend who had a baby, and the last, Nature Spun worsted in beet red, pink, chocolate, and cream to make a striped sweater for myself. Everything was at least 20% off and I stuck to the cash I had in my pocket (plus $1.40 from the bank account because my mental math isn’t perfect).
The TV has been off while I’ve been home & Booger’s been awake for over a week now. I like it. My mom hates the silence & has it on constantly while she’s here with him, even if it’s total crap. I wouldn’t mind if it were PBS or the Discovery Channel or something, but she watches soap operas & judge shows (we don’t have cable) and it’s just noise and crap. I’ve had it off so much that it’s seriously starting to give me anxiety when it’s on. I HAVE TO knit in front of the TV or else I get all anxious like when I went to the bridal show in Portland or when I walk into 24-hour fitness. Yeah, weird, I know, I’m studying media yet I can’t watch TV. Oh well. I’d get rid of it completely except I think Llamaface would rather die. Same with the Internet. It’s free at this apartment (broadband through the university), but I have a laptop – I can bring it to any one of over three dozen locations around Eugene (including anywhere on campus & the public library) and get free Internet. Llama, on the other hand, would go through withdrawls and probably commit murder if he couldn’t have his videogames and myspace time.
Remember when I mentioned the friend who contacted me through Llama’s myspace? Well we’ve been talking pretty much every day through e-mail and she invited me to her son’s third birthday party. It’s going to be a pirate party so I think I have a gift in mind, but I have to work out the details in my head. And since I put the blog address in the sig line of my e-mails, I’m not going to say anything more, in case she reads the blog (Hi, Osanna!).
Went to Stacy and Kris’s birthday party last night. Booger was a DOLL the entire time, including going to sleep at his usual 7:30 in his stroller after taking a walk down Stacy’s block. Everyone loved him, he loved the wading pool & sandpile (had to shower with him today to get all the residual sand out of his buttcrack, lol), I loved the food. Would have stayed longer but since Llama’s been made manager of the Gateway Mall Radio Shack he’s been working even harder than usual, and longer hours than usual, and his commute is on the city bus, so after 2 margaritas, more steak than was probably fair, and some kick-ass cheesecake (Trader Joe’s. $8.99 for the best cheesecake I’ve ever had), he wanted to go home. It was getting past 10 & Booger had woken up, so we went home. Stacy loved her scarf & Kris loved his fingerless gloves (I have to finish the second one). They have the kind of backyard I want – lots of veggie plants, open space for a volleyball net & kiddie pool & sandpile, fruit trees, a swinging hammock chair thing perfect for nursing in the sun. sigh. One of these days we’ll get out of apartment living & have a yard.
Until then, I have a container garden! Yup, I went to Saturday Market, got veggie starts, asked my brother some remedial gardening questions (I underwatered a cactus & overwatered wildflowers, can you blame me for asking dumb questions?), got pots & soil and have been caring for them ever since. They’re on the back deck (read: cement slab) on chairs & my trunk that I decorated, to try to deter the snails from getting a good meal (I found one on the deck & threw it into the soccer field. Who knew snails could fly so far so fast?). The squash flowers are opening up, the eggplant is getting larger, the bell pepper flowers are growing, and the fennel is aromatic. Even if they don’t produce veggies, they’re pretty. (Dear veggies: Please produce! Love, me)
Also in “domestic bliss” news: I baked bread yesterday. And it turned out edible. Unlike the last loaves, which you could have used to break into someone’s home, this bread is light and airy and soft and sweet and whole wheat and tasty. Unfortunately, I only let it rise once, so it’s “eat with breakfast or as a snack” bread and not “make a sandwich and save us a lot of money” bread. Oh well, next time. Once the dishes are clean (goal for tonight after Booger goes to bed) I’ll make another batch (one batch makes two loaves, one five-pound bag is $3.49, said bag contains ~19 cups, each batch takes 3.5 cups, bringing the total cost of a loaf of homemade bread to ~$0.60, when the cost of yeast, honey, salt, etc. are included too). I’m trying to save us money wherever I can, while eating healthier in the process. Only groceries from the perimeter of the store, or the baking aisle, make my own bread, grow my own veggies (and thus make my own spaghetti sauce & such), all that good stuff.
Why worry about money now that Llama got a promotion? Well, we’re still broke, for one. Still have student loan payments, still have bills, still have all that good stuff, and now Llama is talking about getting a new car. My “get a house instead” idea has been vetoed (and understandably so, I’m just SICK of apartment living), and with ~104,000 miles on the Neon, Llama’s right: it’s time for a new car, before we get stranded on the side of the road with a baby in tow. Problem is, he’s put ME in charge of research. UGH. I want an Escape Hybrid. When we were considering the move to Klamath Falls, I was in touch with a guy from a dealership who was willing to sell us a 2005 for ~$15,000. Now, that’s a lot of money, yes, but for a basically brand-new car, that’s fantastic. George isn’t sold on the Escape Hybrid, however. Wants to do more research. UGH. We need a station wagon or an SUV for a few reasons. 1. stroller. We have a huge one. The Jeep Liberty All-terrain jogger stroller. Tis faboo, but it’s HUGE. Doesn’t fit in the trunk, we have to strap it into the passenger seat when we take it anywhere, and shifting into reverse or getting the e-brake on & off becomes a hassle. 2. baby #2. No, we haven’t decided whether or not we’re having another child, but it’s a possibility still, so we need a car in which Booger’s carseat can fit behind the driver’s seat when Llama is driving. This is not a possibility in most sedans, and it’s certainly not a possibility in the Neon. So while I sit outside my front door on my stepstool (laptop on a camping folding table thingy) and Booger sleeps in aforementioned all-terrain stroller, I think I’ll do some research. Here goes nuthin’.