jennanddave.com

We went to Virginia for the weekend and when we came back home, our internet was kaput. We got back online yesterday evening. Then today it was in and out again. This is why I haven't been updating. Aside from the much needed change in scenery, not much has been going on anyway. If I were to say what's really on my mind at this particular moment in time, it would be that I shouldn't have eaten all of those chips while watching "Psych", and that I should take a Tums and go to bed. In fact, I think I'll do just that.

Posted by Jenn at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's are some pictures I took today of Holly sporting her new tunic which fits! It really fits!

She seems much happier in her handknits than her brother.

Posted by Jenn at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This afternoon I finished seaming Holly's tunic.

Knitting clothes for babies is great because they don't take very long to make up thanks to the itty bitty, totally sweet, cutesy wootsy, squee size, and even if the item doesn't come out quite the way you expected it to, the baby still manages to cute it up. The Ella Rae Baby Cotton was great to knit with, it didn't get tangled up on my gnarly, end-of-winter, dried-out-husks-that-were-formerly-referred-to-as-fingers like the Noro did while I was finishing up Mavis, although I did have to be careful not to split it while knitting, but such is the case with cotton.

All that's left to do is try it on the girl and take lots of pictures.

Posted by Jenn at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Every year I help balance out the cash boxes at the end of our local library's fancy-schmancy auction. Usually there are four of us, but this year two couldn't make it, so I recruited Megan (lucky girl). Usually I'm home by 11PM, however, this year the stars misaligned and we didn't get home until 12:30ish. That's 12:30 IN THE MORNING. Driving home I was thinking to myself how sad it was to be getting home so late without there having been the benefit of dancing, drinking, or general carousing, until I realized that even the prospect of those three things wouldn't be enough to convince me to stay out much past 9:30PM anymore. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I was never a fan of alcohol, so we can tighten that list up to just dancing and general carousing.

The whole point of this was to tell you how even though I was dead tired, I was so jazzed up from all of the thinking and math I had to do while balancing out the cash boxes that I didn't get to sleep until sometime between 2 and 3AM and how it has taken me two and a half days to get past feeling like I'm going to pass out at any given moment. If I didn't have two kids, I probably would've reveled in the woozy feeling, instead it was just annoying. Dave corralled the kids this morning so I could catch some extra shut-eye and if it weren't for that, I'd still be feeling off. Two and a half days! Sad.

I'm afraid to call Megan to ask how she's doing. She might yell at me.

Posted by Jenn at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

1. Another tooth. Top right. By yesterday morning she had cut half of the top left tooth. Today she woke up with the rest of it peeking out. She's working very hard over here.
2. A raging diaper rash. We've been powdering, creaming, and air drying our little hearts out. It seems to have done the trick.
3. Her voice. Oh, the shrieking.
4. Pretend walking. Now when you stand her up and hold her hands, she takes steps.
5. She got cuter.

I love the big developmental leaps that take place after big trips like this. Always interesting to see what happens.

Posted by Jenn at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Let's get that totally negative last post off the top of the page, shall we?

Here's a picture of Mavis, finished, and on her way to Boston:

It was a little short before I blocked it. The neck and arms were great. Unfortunately, instead of steam blocking the problem areas, I blocked the whole thing and when it was all dry, the turtleneck couldn't seem to commit to standing up with pride. So I now have a wishy-washy neck which kind of bums me out. Any advice pertaining to getting it to stand back up at attention would be most welcome.

Here's my Uncle Rico pose:

Also, I don't recall posting a picture of the finished Twilight mittens. I finished them up last December. They're great, fun to knit, fun to wear, but, sadly, totally impractical when you have to get an infant in and out of carseats that have complicated buckles, unless you don't mind taking your mittens on and off all of the time. This is a general mitten comment, not one that's specific to this particular set. Mittens, mittens, mittens. The word's starting to sound a little weird.

My mom purchased some yarn for me while we were in Boston. It's well on its way to becoming a tunic for Holly. The pattern is from Sirdar 352, Seaside Babes, Design C (Tunic). I'm using Ella Rae Baby Cotton in Aloha. I started the back Wednesday evening and finished it on the ride home yesterday:

The color perfectly suits the Spring weather that has recently sprung. I started in on the front this morning. We'll see how quickly it comes along now that there are no eight hour car rides on the horizon.

Posted by Jenn at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I have a lot of venom to spew into the universe about things that have gone on this week. Each one individually I was capable of dealing with, however earlier this afternoon the straw that broke the camel's back was plopped onto the pile and to top it all off, was entirely my own fault. It's sent me into quite the downward spiral of bad feelings, moodiness, and general fist-shaking. Now that the crisis has passed (somewhat) I'm mustering up what little positive energy I have left and focusing it on keeping my shoulders below ear level, relaxing my jaw, repeating a mantra of "Stuff happens" (except not actually using the word "stuff"), and looking ahead to the change of scenery and all of the relaxing we're going to do in Boston.

If only we could get in the car and go right now.

Dave just came in and told me he got my fortune by accident: "Share your happiness with others today." There you have it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...is when their friends come over to play, you don't have to hang out with them the whole time, they just sort of go off and do their own thing. It's nice.

Posted by Jenn at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's 4:20 and I've already had my dinner. After picking Henry up from pre-school, we walked in the door, took off our shoes, and Henry said "I'm hungry." Then I realized I was, too. I eat lunch on his schedule, and since he has to be at school by 12:30, we have lunch at 11:30, which is way too early to get me through the afternoon. So at 4 I sat down to a big plate of chips and vegetarian chili. Oh, and sour cream. Hmmm, I think I'll go have some more.

This weekend we're escaping the 'burg for brighter horizons further East and North. A little big city action is just what the doctor ordered after a couple of weeks of colds. (I ended up catching the latest on Friday; Dave has escaped thus far, but is terrified nonetheless.) So far on the agenda: the piano staircase at the Science Museum; sesame buns from Chinatown; yarn shopping with my mom; riding the subway; stamp show in Andover; celebrating my mom's birthday; Clam Box if we do end up going to Andover. What we will probably end up accomplishing: celebrating my mom's birthday; riding the subway; lamenting about how we never get as much done as we think we will. So it goes.

Posted by Jenn at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Any guesses as to what this is?

How about another angle?

Why, it's Mavis! Remember her? Started in September of 2007. Finished in March of 2010. Not bad, especially considering all of the napping I could have been doing instead of all of the knitting. Right now she's drying away on a towel in the bedroom, scrunched in some places, stretched in others, working hard to attain the most flattering shape possible for she of the saggy jiggly billowy tummy:

I have a tendency to knit large despite matching the gauge when I swatch, so after conferring with one of the local knitting gurus, I decided to go ahead and knit the small size in the hopes that it would come out the medium size I was going for. It seems to have worked. When I tried it on pre-blocked, it fit very nicely, aside from being a little short, which is easy enough to fix after washing it. From now on I'll probably go ahead and knit the next size down on all the sweaters I make. I'm looking forward to trying it on once it dries!

Posted by Jenn at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

H² have caught colds. Henry was all set to go to school today, but then I noticed lots of sneezing and snuffling. Sure enough, about an hour and a half before drop-off, he stood in the living room and said "Today is a bad day." When I asked why he said "Because it's still winter and I'm sick." So I kept him home. He's not so sick that he's miserable, so I'm trying my best to keep him entertained so he stays out of trouble. It's "J" week at pre-k so for the sake of consistency we've made paper plate jellyfish with ribbon tentacles, right now he's matching numbers of dots to their numerals, and later he'll practice writing his "J"'s. Just so everyone knows, I'm not cut out to be a teacher, certainly not to my own kid. I'm cut out for lounging in bed with a book and a plate of cheese and crackers. The "work" is not only keeping Henry honest, but me as well.

Meanwhile, Holly developed a runny nose a few days ago which I chalked up to teething because her top front teeth are working their way down. However, yesterday it became clear it's actually a cold. It's not too bad so far. Hopefully this is the worst of it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Jenn at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)