I just love my dad.

Sometimes you have to post about something just because. Today, that's my dad. He's the nicest guy I know. I'm not just saying it. If you knew him, he'd be the nicest guy you know too. I recently had some health issues and since there was nothing he could do to help in that department he decided that he was coming to my house the next weekend to do yard work. This was work I could have done on my own, but who says no to yard help? Not me. He and my mom came and we worked and worked and worked. It was great and I am grateful.

But, more than anything I love seeing him with his grand kids because he loves them all so much, and they love him. Can you tell?




One of my favorite things that he does is give them all a shave. Seriously folks, it doesn't get much better than seeing a line of tiny children ready for their morning shave. So funny. First he checks their cheeks to make sure they really need one. He runs the back of his fingers up their cheeks and says "Ow, ow, ow." Oh, segue!!! One time Adam and I were talking about Grandpa and Eli was 2 and listening intently. He touched his cheek and asked "Is that the Grandpa what says "op, op, op?" CUTE! Anyway, they ALWAYS need a shave. Hairy little buggers. And then he turns his electric shaver around and proceeds; the back of the shaver vibrating their chubby little cheeks.

And he always has the happiest of customers. This little man is a regular:

This isn't even close to the nicest things that I could say about my dad. But for today, I just wanted to say something, and that's enough. I feeling like I might need a shave.

quirky

I showed you this picture of Max in the sweater a while ago. I love it. Mostly because it so perfectly displays Cecily's personality. Most of the time she stays out of trouble, somewhere close to me and does her thing. But if she's not right next to me, I don't really need to worry. She's not a trouble magnet....like one of my other children who shall remain nameless. She generally quietly putters doing her thing the way only she does it. She's easily our most artistic child and I love that she's always been more expressive with "things" because she's had a lot of speech issues and hasn't been able to express herself with speech very easily.

But as I wander throughout the house I often find little reminders that Cecily has interesting ideas, or amazing plots or different perspectives dancing around in that little mind of hers. Here is her Happy Family toddler from upstairs, wearing one of my sweaters from the main floor, flying in Eli's bi-plane from the basement. You know, I suppose if I were a toddler flying in a bi-plane I would wish I had a wool sweater on also.

So much for the special toothbrush cup. These must be train toothbrushes. But when I told her that I noticed the toothbrushes she smiled really big and giggled.

When I saw this orange balancing on a grapefruit, balancing on the peanut butter only one thought went through my mind, "Cecily's been here." No question.

Maybe she has a bit of a fruit fetish. One day I opened one of my dresser drawers that I don't use very often because it's on the bottom and mostly used for storage. I was glad I did, because there was a single banana in it. You've got it, Cecily's work. Imagine how nasty that would have been in a couple of days.

I'm not quite sure what her plan was on this day, because I caught her before the act, and she didn't carry it out once she'd been discovered.

I'm sure it would have been fun though because the combination of seven mini-pears and one creative little girl in what she calls her "personal penguin" jammies would make for quite an adventure.

We're so lucky to have a Cecily.

shame, shame, I know your name

It's been a few months since we moved into our house. We've figured out most basic areas, but a few areas were still big question marks in our heads. The nook in our bedroom was especially perplexing. Until we figured out what to do with it we used it as a resting spot for all of our (my, mostly) stuff. It was a good out-of-the-way spot to hide our shame. Pretty shameful though, eh?

I can only show you that picture because I then got completely inspired and took it over as my own arts and crafts nook. We teamed up with craigslist and just over $100 later we created this:

I'm in love with it! I know exactly where everything is and where it will go after I use it! Not only that, I have an area TO use it. I think the $1 Target pails are my favorite thing. Just the right size for a million different things. I come around the corner and walk into my nook and experience utter BLISS!

Just thought I'd share.

The other day I asked Eli to put his folded clothes away and be sure to push in his drawers. This is what I found when I went in to check and see if he had finished his job.

Craigslist, here we come.

Am I serious about knitting but not a serious knitter, or the other way around?

I really love to knit. I've knitted for years and done a lot of projects, but I began with one project in mind. I could see in my mind how cute it would be to have a little Christmas tree covered with mini-sweaters on mini-hangers that were all different. Cute right?

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I may have started out making kite-shaped dish rags, but in my mind it was all just prep work for mini-sweaters. Goal accomplished! I found a great pattern and taught myself to knit in the round and voile!

Here is a close-up of one sweater that I knit recently. Cecily loves them, and she loves her tiny dog that she named Max. So I found this on the counter the other day. Cracked me up. But this gives you an idea of what they look like up close.

While we lived in Syracuse a friend from Norway taught me how to knit Norwegian Mittens. They were easily the most difficult thing I had ever knitted and I thought they would be my first and last pair. Not so. I think we're in the double digits now, and I'm sure there will be many more in my future. I started making my own patterns and that's pretty fun too. Here are some of my recent mittens:

And, BREAKING NEWS: I'm going to be teaching a knitting class for the town of Kaysville in April and May! SOOOO, I'm just saying, I know my way around a knitting needle and I've taught a few people how to knit. All of THAT made me gasp in horror when I experienced what I experienced the other day.

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In addition to knitting I also tat and am fixing a large tatted item, so I need to match the thread before I can proceed. I went to a small needle craft shop the other day to see if they would have what I needed. When I walked in I saw that it was mostly a yarn shop. The shop owner was probably in her 30's but everything about her seemed O-O-OO-OLD. She scared me. I could go on and on about her polyester pants and school marm hair, but I won't. I went to desk and felt very distinctly that I was disturbing her even though she was doing NOTHING. Without looking at what I had or hearing me out she was "sure they didn't have what I needed." I practically had to beg to see what they had and using the lady who was waiting behind me as an escape I said "I'll just look around, go ahead and help this lady." The third time I said that she finally let me by. As I was perusing the yarn I couldn't help overhearing what was going on at the desk. The lady had a knitting question. She read the pattern and did what she thought it said but it wasn't working. So the shop owner painfully slowly explained what should be done. The lady repeated it to make sure she was understanding and THIS is what came out of shop owner's mouth: "YOU'RE....NOT....LISTENING......TO ME!" Just like that!

I had my back to them but my eye's automatically popped open and my head cocked back. Who says that, particularly to someone who is significantly older than them?

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I may not be the sharpest cheese on the cracker, but I learned a lesson that day. When I teach my group class I'm going to try not to personally attack anyone. In fact I think I might even go above and beyond and show a bit of encouragement and patience for the new knitters.

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I think that just might work. And unless they stick their fingers in their ears and sing a song really loud in order to drown out my voice I'm not even going to keep "YOU'RE....NOT....LISTENING .......TO ME!" in my back pocket.

Priorities

Long ago I gave up on the idea that Eli would ever have a job or a career that was anything less than active. He's 6 and he's been obsessed with firemen since he was 2 1/2. He wants to be a fireman, but he also thinks the military is really cool along with a smattering of a few other deadly occupations. I would like him to live past 18. I think whatever his career choice is, it will likely include hazard pay.

Today he was asking me if Nascar drivers make a lot of money and I told him that I was pretty sure that the ones that win make a lot of money, but I wasn't sure how much, and I dropped it. I'm really anti-Nascar on so many levels that I can't even speak to it's virtues. Are there any? Don't say yes. I'm totally closed-minded on the subject and I don't care to entertain any other point of view. Sorry...kinda. Not really.

Anyway, as we were talking Eli said to Cecily "What do you want to be when you grow up?" But, before waiting for an answer, he started answering it for her. This happens frequently because of her speech delays, and because of Eli's...shall we say... constant fluency of speech. I stopped him and said "Let her answer. What do you want to be when you grow up?" I won't lie, I had hopes of something sweet. After all, she's my only connection to sweetness. After considering it she got bright eyes and said "A fireman!" great. Eli got a disturbed and worried look in his eye. Cecily bounced out of the room and Eli whispered to me "Mom, I wouldn't let her do that if I were you. That helmet will seriously mess up her hair."

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Apparently we're more concerned about hair than mortality around here.

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Here is a recent picture of her throwing all caution to the wind with that helmet:

But we all know who the truly devoted fire guy is:

P.S. I'm sure that you would want to know that I'm now #1 on the library waiting list for Lark Rise season 3. I think I'll just stand outside the library eyeing people to see if they're holding purple DVD's. Not psycho really, right?

It's the TRUEST of true love.

You might think this post would be about Adam. Make no mistake, I love him. Very much. But a new love has borrowed my heart. The BBC knows a good thing when they see it/sell it. When half of the women in the U.S. (not an actual statistic) owns and loves the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, you have to capitalize on that love. And they have.

I have never watched an entire season of anything in my whole life. Even when I watch something consistently, I always miss a couple of episodes for one reason or another. Well, all that's changed. I'm in LOVE with Lark Rise to Candleford. Here are my significant others: I love them. Even that irresponsible scoundrel Twister, and the petty, back-biting Pratt sisters. Of course I love our sweet Laura and capable Dorcas and the queen of all wives, Emmy. I could go on on and on, but don't worry, I'll stop.

Adam's friend at work asked him what we did for Valentines day. He told her that we sat side by side in our fleece jammies in bed, and on the mini-DVD players that we use for long drives, we watched our shows separately. Isn't that romantic? We really go above and beyond. We laughed, we cried, he -for his X-men, me for my Lark Rise. Every once in a while we would look at one another and smile. Ahhhh. Bliss. His co-worker wasn't impressed!?

He's taking me to the Symphony this weekend. Maybe that will satisfy her? I'm sure I'll love it. Though I really hope it gets out early enough that I can come home and watch another episode on my 7" screen.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Have you ever spent 10 hours doing your hair? If you say "yes" I'm kind of surprised that we're friends because I've always been more of a 10 minute girl and you would probably reject my kind. Even 10 minutes sometimes cramps my style. I have a friend named Jen in Rochester that decided she would be responsible for keeping track of the back of my hair. It was that bad. I would do my hair and not look at the back and then go to church. She would come along, after having to look at it for all of Sacrament meeting, and fix it. One time I was growing out layers and they were driving me crazy. On a particular day I was really busy with Relief Society stuff and the hair was driving me NUTS. I found a twisty tie in my purse and used it in my hair thinking no one would notice. I was wrong. Jen (and a few others) noticed and found something much better suited for hair in her car and took care of me. I love Jen. BUT now that I live 3/4 of a nation away and I have one of those mirrors to help you see the back of your hair, I do try to give it a glance before going to church.

While I've never spent 10 hours on my own hair, I can now say that I have spent 10 hours in one day doing hair. Yep, Cecily's. I went to Hair Night for the transracial adoption group here and was totally inspired. Especially when I heard that this hair style was practically free (not an astounding $150) and could last 6 weeks!!! SIX WHOLE WEEKS!!! Hair is a big thing in our lives and not always a fun big thing so only doing it every month and a half has huge appeal. This is what we've been doing a lot of for a long time:

Cute, right? The problem is that so much unbraided hair is drying and opens up the possibility of major knots that we get to deal with in a few days when it's hair time again. Not to mention that it's cute on day one and two but by 3-7, the frizz takes over and we just have to live with scary hair. So after much inspiration (thank you, Diana!) and lots of movies and treats for her and braiding for me, here is the new hair:

We are loving it. She loves that she has long flowing braids and I love that I can oil it and style it easily and we're out the door with bouncin' and behavin' hair in no time! This is my favorite style:

So fun! The only down side is that she looks like she got two years older over night. Anyway, that's the latest change for Cecily.

Eli has made every new aquaintance aware of his big change:

Eli is all about doing things big! He didn't just lose his first tooth, he lost his first two teeth one right after the other. Big bucks from the tooth fairy.

And last but not least, Nater man. We FINALLY have 1) a house with room for a piano, 2) a piano, and 3) a piano teacher! Big stuff. Maybe not for you, but for me. So Nate's finally taking lessons and according to his teacher he's apparently progressing very quickly. Yay for Nate - he may be a true pianist someday! AND, yay for me- I'm not flushing my money from week to week!

Doesn't he just strike you as the piano prodigy type?

Nothing like a good find

Last night, while playing a game, I had to finish this sentence: "I can't resist buying... " I had a hard time filling in the blank because I can pretty much resist buying anything. I often put things in my cart that end up not coming home with me because I talk myself out of them before I get to the checkout line. Or going shopping and not buying anything at all. The only truthful completion of the sentence is that I can't resist buying anything that's a REALLY good deal. Now, make no mistake, "cheap" doesn't equal "good deal." I hate "stuff." For it to qualify as a good deal it has to be good quality and I have to need it or really want it for a specific, practical purpose (none of this "I might use it someday" business) and it has to be a great price. Better yet, free!

We have some recent finds that definitely fit the "good deal" requirements and one is really fun (to me) so I'm sharing.

The first is a chair that Adam found at the Salvation Army for $17. Reasons I love it? 1) It's my favorite color of yummy red. 2) We needed a chair. 3) It's short and so am I. 4) It's very clean. 5) It's extremely comfortable 6) It's well constructed with just a little wear on the right arm. I wish it had a twin! We do have to fix one button so it doesn't look like it has a dangling eyeball, but that's no bigs.

Behold the chair:

I know, not thrilling to anyone but me, but not bad for $17, right? And look at how cute two of my favorite people look in it. Oh and by the way, can you tell from the picture that I really love red? I do.

The next find was once again found at the Salvation Army. We love to go there and just look around. It's always humorous, interesting, and sometimes profitable. Find #2 was ONE DOLLAR. I'll show it to you first and then explain.

Do you LOVE it as much as I do? Well, you should! Isn't that just the house that you've always wanted to live in?! Well you can't have it because I already spoke it!

It's an original ink drawing that's initialed and dated 1966. It was falling out of it's cute, perfectly simple little frame because it was backed with cardboard and the stalest masking tape ever. I took it to our little craft store and had it re-backed, papered and new hanging hardware put on for $2.25. I realize that that expenditure was more than twice the amount of the original investment, but I'm still under $3.50 for original art and I'm feeling just dandy about it!

I have it hanging in a spot that I pass by just shy of a thousand times a day and each time I see it I'm so glad that I'm stingy (ahem, brilliantly frugal).

I live!

No, I'm not dead. Just lazy/busy/lazy. But I have clean toilets, so I guess I'm not that lazy. Just lazy about bloggy kinds of things. Truth be told, I'm probably only throwing something on here today because #1- it's the Sabbath, which knocks a lot of stuff out of the running and #2 - I lopped a chunk of my thumb off today, so knitting isn't a comfortable option.

We have moved. So that should probably be shared with anyone faithful enough to check in here once in a while. If you are checking in, you ought to get a reward for being among the truest of friends.

Here are the details: An internal transfer came available for Adam and he applied for it and got it, so we thought we ought to show up. And that's when we moved. We're in Kaysville Utah now. It's nice to have family much closer, and mountains even closer than that! I really like it. I miss many aspects of living in NY, but overall it was a good thing to do.

Just to get you up to speed, here is a picture of the kids as they never are:

Here are the kids in real life, almost. I mean, 3 happy at once doesn't always happen, after all. And, they don't generally lick each other.

Cecily's yelling "Pease hep me wipe my buns!" So I'm outta here until next time.