Moving Rapidly

The sweater is moving very rapidly. I already have the back done and am working on the front. I truly hate doing stripes (I can't believe I did this voluntarily) because I despise all the ends. Most of these stripes are only 2 rows so it's hard to knit the ends in. It should be interesting when I seam the sweater, which I am considering doing on a machine. We'll have to see.
My good friend, the one I made the dress for her daughter, saw the picture on my blog. I didn't get the package sent in time for her birthday tomorrow, but that's OK. She's going to look adorable in it, even if it arrives late.
The kids have been especially good today, not driving me crazy at all. That's good, because I feel exhausted, and we have a double header baseball game tonight. I have to go grocery shopping during the second game, or we'd be doing it at 10:00 at night. I HAVE to shop while we are already in town because gas is running around $4.20 a gallon here.
The dog just brought me a present.....a dead mouse. Gross.

The nails are gone

I took off my acrylic nails last night. I was getting frustrated with them lifting, and they even looked like crap after the last fill. So I worked on them during the baseball games and got them off. It hurt a little, but I really think I feel better not having them. My nails look awful right now but they will grow out and I will take better care of them now that I don't bite my nails any more. Another benefit is that I can type decently again and I don't have to backspace as much to fix my mistakes.
I got some yarn in the mail today that I bought to make a little vest for a friend who is having a baby boy in August. She will totally love it, and I will bet she asks me to make another for her other son who is almost 4.
I've been crocheting a bunch of dishcloths just for quick projects. It's good to increase my crocheting skills too. It's not something I really enjoy but it's a nice diversion from the monotony of B's tiger socks. I'm really not enjoying them and I think I'll cast on the baby vest right away just to have a less boring project going. I seemed to have chosen a bunch of boring stuff all at the same time.
I made some other cute stuff for another friend who has never even acknowledged receiving them. It's very frustrating. I guess I should ask her, but she's an internet friend and I'd have to post it on the bulletin board. My knitting for certain people has caused some controversy over there but I really don't care. I get to choose who I knit for, and I am a lot closer to some of these ladies than others. Most of them I have known for over 4 1/2 years, since we were all pregnant together.

Family Frustrations

I talked to my dad last night for Father's Day. A little background....up until October of last year, he lived in Guam for more than 20 years. So I've only seen him usually 1-2 times a year for a few days, except for the year we both lived in Hawaii. He promised when he retired he'd come visit us for a nice long visit, which still hasn't happened yet. He always has some excuse, which usually revolves around my little sister's schedule. Mind you, she's 25 and in the Army in Korea, but I digress. He did come for 2 days a few months ago but it was a whirwind visit. While he was here, he offered to pay 1/2 of our plane tickets down there because he thought it was easier for a family of 5 to travel to Arizona then for 2 of them to put their dogs in a kennel and come visit us. We even said if they wanted to drive they could bring the dogs. Apparently not good enough either. Well, we have a very full July coming up, and because we've decided to put the kids in private school next year we need to save our pennies because it isn't cheap. So I doubt we are going to Arizona. He said yesterday that they MIGHT be coming up whenever my sister is on TDY at Fort Lewis (about 2 1/2 hrs away from here) but I can't cfount on that. Always their travel schedule revolves around here, even though they just saw her for a month and my stepmom just got back from seeing her in Korea. I'm so tired of being second fiddle.
Another thing is that my only living grandparent, my Dad's mom, is very sick. She has had emphysema for many many years and her body is just getting tired. I haven't seen her in a few years, but my Dad is trying to arrange this visit here/with sister/with grandma all at the same time, and she really needs him now. It turns out that my Mom went down there this weekend and is actually visiting with my grandma as we speak. It's sure nice that my mom, who has been divorced from my dad for over 25 years, still visits my grandma when she is in the area. I need to get a trip down there scheduled but since our July is so busy with kids camps and stuff, I don't know when and if I can do it. I'd ideally like to take a trip there alone but that's another thing that may not happen.
I'm knitting on the Spice Boy socks and not completely thrilled with the pattern. Now that I know about how many stitches around to make socks for the boys, I think I can do just about anything and get away with it. I also finally put some sock pictures up on my Ravelry page.

Mini Vacation

So yesterday we went to Seattle to catch a Mariners game. It was bobblehead night, which was an added bonus. It wasn't at ALL like the year we went on Ichiro bobblehead night, we got there at like 6:15 and didn't have to wait in line forever. There were plenty of Adrian Beltre bobbleheads to go around. We had some gift cards to spend at the store, so Dan and I each got a t shirt and the kids got some goodies. Then we went up to our seats. It was a cold night, and we only lasted until about 9:45 before we left. It was the end of the 7th inning, and the Mariners were down 7-6. We listened to the end on the radio and it ended just like we left it.
We drove back today, after making a few stops to shop. We stopped at Cabela's, the only one in the Northwest, and possibly on the west coast. Dan got some nice jeans and we got a cute sign for the house. Then we went to Walmart where I restocked my pharmacy. I always do that when we go there.
We had also stopped at Michaels the day before where I got some more stuff I'm using to make the name tags for VBS. I can't wait to show them to Sue tomorrow, I hope she is happy with the job I'm doing. It was fun. VBS is next week and I'm the designated photographer. I like that job because I can walk around and have fun and not be tied down to one group. I'm also going to help the kitchen ladies as needed serving snacks. Dan is going to put together a slide show for the final night of the pictures I take. We are also giving each kid a picture of themselves with a frame they make for it. I know most of the kids, but it will be a challenge to get pictures of the ones I don't know. I think I need to find a way to keep track just in case I forget who they are.
I was traumatized Friday on our drive up. We were driving along, up the freeway when the cars in front of us suddenly braked. Dan braked, but I didn't know what was going on. Turns out a dog had run out on the freeway. The dog managed to make it safely across our 4 lanes of traffic, then he jumped the median to cross the other side. He made it across one lane before meeting up with the wheels of a semi truck. Unfortunately my eyes caught the whole thing and it was just awful. I love animals and I hate seeing them hurt, but there was nothing this truck driver could do. It was a very busy time on the road and it was just bad luck. I hope that soon that memory will be gone from my head.
Today I was very tired and sore from 2 days in the car, and the hike to the ball field. I'm glad to be back in my own bed. That is why I'd rather not go on vacations. I end up not sleeping well and consequently hurting a lot.
I finished my Mockery socks (no photo yet) and started some Spice Boy socks for B. His birthday is coming up in a month and he has been asking me to make him socks for a long time now. I started them yesterday and knit the toes about 5 times. The pattern uses a short row toe and I just think that I can't do them right. Last time I made a pattern by the same designer, I ended up making a standard toe. I didn't give in this time but I'm not totally happy with how the toe turned out on the first sock. Oh well, I'm not ripping them out one more time.

Dress Finished

Annabelle's dress is done and in plenty of time for her birthday. Using this yarn (Elle Pure Gold DK) was interesting. It's a bit splitty but very soft and luxurious. It's 100% courelle, which is a type of acrylic. It supposedly doesn't pill and after I blocked it it was as soft as butter. I was worried about the bottom curling as it didn't have any garter or seed stitch to help it lie flat, but since the pattern basically starts right away it was OK. I was supposed to pick up stitches around the neckline and knit them, but I decided to try my hand at crochet instead. I always say I hate crocheting, but it sure made the trim on the neckline and armholes easy. I may do it more often. I'm also motivated to try my hand at a crochet project. Someday, that is. When I was done, I decided to make her a little hat too. They live in Las Vegas so it couldn't be a warm hat or anything, so I decided to make a beret. It's pretty stretchy, so I tried it on Hennessy for her to model.
I'm supposed to put ribbon through the eyelets, but I'm not sure I have anything that will work. I have to go into town tomorrow so I'll try to find something that will work then.
Now, I have 3 projects OTN and I don't want to work on any of them. It's too hot to work on my sweater, I'm bored to tears working on Hennessy's skirt, and I'm at the point on my socks where I'm bored to tears. So I need to find a new project and I'm not sure what to do, I guess I'll have to cruise Ravelry until I find something I can't live without.

Winding Down

School is winding down and I am SO done with being a homeschool mom. It has made me unpleasant, cranky, and bitchy too much of the day. My kids need space from me, and I need space from them. I know we have to make it through the summer still, but at least I don't have to bug them about doing schoolwork. We have 5 school days left.
My baby is done with her first year of preschool and I'm actually sad about it. She had the best teacher in the world, Miss Jeannie, but Miss Jeannie and her family are moving to China. It would make it a long trip to take her to preschool. We are weighing our options, and the best one is to put her in the same school the boys will be attending. The good part is that is is full day preschool, 3 days a week M-W-F. She would be able to ride the bus with them and I'd have 3 days to myself. On the flip side, it costs over $200 a month. There are 2 small preschool options here, they would be 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours for around $75 a month. I think that the full day thing is a bargain if I l0ok at their prices. Our plan is to save as much money as we can over the summer and if we can get the full years tuition all together by August 1, we'd get a discount and have her tuition all paid up for the year. Then we'd only have to worry about paying the tuition for the boys every month. It's scary to think about so much money going out of our budget every month but I think it's worth it. Money will be really tight. We can do it though.
We are going to a Mariners game next weekend. I'm excited, but right now all I can think about is how much money the trip is going to cost us. Dan's work will pay mileage, and for the hotel (he is going to do some work up there) but we have to pay for food and for stuff at the game, and the kids always want souvenirs. Maybe they'll just have to forego them this year because of the money situation. I hate that though.
On the knitting front, I'm working on a pair of socks (Mockery Socks) and the Hey Mickey skirt for Cee-Cee. I think I made it a bit too long but hopefully she'll grow a few inches over the summer. It's a little slow going and lots of purling, which I hate. I have to alternate between the two to not lose my mind. I don't have any new projects in mind. I also have my Mr. Greenjeans
on the needles but it's too warm to work on it much. I'm at the sleeves which are boring too.