A Wild Pixiemama visits!

 We had a visitor yesterday! Well technically we've been planning it for a little while, though I kind of half wonder if Tilmani actually noticed since he always forgets I write almost everything down on the calendar, which he never looks at in spite of it being on the wall at head height and huge.  Apparently he's not the only person in the universe who does this, but it is kind of funny.

 Anyway, PixieMama is a friend from college, who I pretty much haven't seen since her daughter was about Beans age. Her daughter is now... 12 I think? I'm probably getting that wrong.

 We've talked since then, just not gotten together, so we finally arranged for her to drop in on her way back from jumping through hoops in the Surrogacy Circus. ((She's getting ready to be a Surrogate mom for the second time, which is totally badass of her and you can check her out in my sidebar links under Adventures in Surrogacy.))

 But yeah, she visited and it was a blast! I spent far too much time apologizing, which for me is kind of normal but I'm working on it, we had take out pizza, and the kids thought she was AMAZING.
 She even put up with me yarn geeking. ((I did refrain from displaying the ENTIRE stash... just a significant chunk of it.)) and she picked some yarn she liked for a cowl that I'm going to make her. She picked out the "Hologram Moth" colorway from Sanguine Gryphon, and we found some cool sort of earthy browny-purpley-bronzy beads that actually look really good with it, since the yarn while mostly green has hints of a similar browny-purply-bronze. All in all great because I wasn't actually sure what to do with either, until we arrived at that project and they just sorta clicked. Sometimes going with your gut on craft stuff just works out.

PixieMama's future Cowl

 On an equally exciting note: Bean is now mobile, so batten down the hatches everyone! He's not officially crawling but he's scooting all over the place, and will occasionally pause and heft himself mostly into the crawl position, then decide that this is too frustrating and go back to scooting along. I'm watching him belly-scoot around and check out his brothers big plastic blocks, which is sorta funny, because MiniMonster is checking out Bean's play seat and spinning the rattles and mirrors, so basically they're both playing with each others toys. The grass is always greener and all that!

 PixieMama: the kids thought you were cooler than ice cream, and we'd love to see you any time!

Bigger on the... blocking mats

I know one of the huge projects to hit the geek-knit community is the "bigger on the inside" shawl, (Which is a really lovely thing, and very cute.), but that's not what I'm working on right now. I am still finishing up a pink Ashton which I've dubbed my "Crooked Leaves" Shawl since in the long standing tradition of creative adjustment I've kind of... backed my way into a slightly modified version of the pattern (you'll have to wait and see though.)
 What I did discover though was a reminder that blocking does strange and nearly magical things to a shawl... and one of my old projects the Vortex is not an exception to that.

 Since it came off the needles my 'Plum Paisley' colored Vortex has been largely used and abused as a small cover for nursing and baby snuggles, and then ended up living on the floor of my husbands truck for a while where it slurped up part of a small coffee spill. ((embarrassed cough goes here.))

 Anyway since he decided to clean out the truck, it came inside, and I decided to be nice to the thing, and dropped it in the tub for a wash and block. Cleaned carefully and pinned out, the shawl that wouldn't even sit decently around my shoulders has become ENORMOUS. And I. Mean. ENORMOUS.

 I'm quite excited to see it actually come off the blocking mats now and maybe get someone to help me take pictures (which won't make the color look any better on me but would still be cool to have) because it's just... I mean WOW it's big.

 This is it pinned out on my uh "Blocking Mats" ((by which I mean colorful rubber mats designed for kids I am using instead of buying mats dedicated to pinning things to. Because they work.))

That mitten is mine, not the kids. Just sayin'.

 Why? Cause it's cute that's why.

Changing of Seasoning

 ((Yes the title is in fact supposed to be a bad pun on Change of Seasons.))

 I've kind of slowly come to the sad realization that my early attempts to cook were, in fact... bad. Pretty much the only thing I could cook worth eating came out of a quick bread or cake mix box. I've pretty much officially retired almost all of my early recipes at this point as just not being half as amazing as I thought they were, but I've learned that about a lot of things. I remember, for example, enjoying "Snow Caps" Non Pariels, and they still carry very distinct memories and points of nostalgia for me... but I can't stand the goddamn taste of the things.

 Making quickie chicken BBQ wraps with melting Monterey Jack and Chicken cooked in BBQ sauce used to be an amazing bit of comfort food, ditto Kraft Mac and Cheese with Bacon Bits... but now I really don't much care for either, much as I remember digging into them with zest and finding them delightfully comforting and yummy.

 Now my idea of comfort food is more time consuming, hot chocolate powder whipped into full fat milk on the stove and topped with marshmallows and real dairy whipped cream... or Baked Potato Soup made from scratch, served up with hot rolls on a cold day. Cold Weather begs for comfort food doesn't it?

 I still love ice cream of course but I've been even gravitating away from the flavors I used to like, choosing stuff like Haagen Daas "Apple Pie" ((or better yet, real apple pie, even if chopping all the apples the way I like them gives me a hand cramp...)) over coffee and vanilla bean.

 I don't know if that's a reflection on anything in particular, maybe it is since my expanding taste for new foods has gone hand in hand with things that make me feel like I've grown as a person.

 ...I'm not even sure where I'm going with this post anymore. I was going to kind of wrap it up with a halfassed joke about BBQ-Chicken and M-Jack paperweights sitting in my gut all night, but I think I kind of got derailed somewhere in thinking that I feel like my cooking isn't the only thing that's come a long way, and wondering if anyone else has woken up to the fact that they've grown, and what things in their lives might have grown with them.
 I also note that I don't feel my personal growth has devalued the things that used to give me such nostalgic pleasure... I mean I'll always enjoy the memory of holding a box of miniature Non Pariels in an antique gate fronted elevator and watching the floors go by... even if I don't enjoy the candy any more. However my new taste in foods also means new tastes and scents that will be the bookmarks to wonderful memories down the road.

 What about you reader? What seasonings have changed in your life?

Shop till you Drop

Curl up and take a load off, it's a good day for it. I'd like to myself but you know how it is, things to do, especially while the kids are sleeping, at least for a little while.

 It's been another exciting week, with a fair share of scary things almost going very wrong, but so far we've managed not to have any full on disasters, though there's a tired, jealous toddler taking a nap while I figure out how to shave off some jealousy points without neglecting the baby. I'm thinking there may be some Nana J time involved.

 I caved a bit also and engaged in a bit of Yarn Therapy from the Verdant Gryphon. GORGEOUS yarns. I bought one at first as a test (A skein of 'Blue Green Damselfly' colorway in the 'Bugga!' base.) I kept hearing how amazing the yarn was from other knitters, and I wasn't disappointed even slightly. The colors are gorgeous on the web page both at V.G and at their 'sister' shop Cephalopod Yarns, which offers different colorways than VG. ((and also has a ridiculously cute icon.))

 Their colors are rich on the web page as I said, and they're even more incredible in person. It seems to be pretty much impossible to accurately capture how gorgeous the yarn I bought is, so of course when I had some mad money to throw around, along with some wild plans on what to do, I did what any semi rational yarn obsessed human being would do and bought a bunch more.  

 I also have a new skirt on the way, and stitch markers (though these accidentally got mailed to my mothers house, Damnit Paypal and your spectacular fail qualities... (I did double check the address, I really did. Didn't stop PayFail.), and also a sampling of perfume oils from Delightful Rot, because it was ten bucks for the sampler pack and they just looked FUN.

 ...Yeah I probably spent a bit too much but I try hard not to go nuts like that very often, but most of it has non frivolous secondary uses, like the skirt. I look good in skirts, but I have an entirety of two right now, and they're a bit more comfortable to me than wearing shorts. My self confidence about my pasty white legs is next to nihl, I prefer to keep them covered, and I will FRY if I wear my jeans all summer.

 Anyway, yeah. It was fun, and I know I'll enjoy it all, especially since I made myself pick some colors I wouldn't necessarily normally choose, just to make myself branch out. It's important to do that every so often, I think.

(Not) Mom of the Year

 But arguably a probably pretty normal one.

 Thanks to Bean, I haven't gotten much sleep in the last couple days, which in and of itself is sufficiently frustrating and a problem, because I don't handle being sleep deprived very well. In short, not getting enough sleep, especially for a couple days, makes me sort of like a grenade full of angry bees... with a pin that kind of likes to pop out on it's own.

 So yeah, at the moment, not my finest hour of calm and meditative behavior. Combine this with the fact that Bean is now tired from being up 90% of the night, also teething, and his older brothers fun stunts this morning, and I feel like SEVERAL grenades worth of angry bees.

 ((Apparently apple juice and vanilla-chocolate-chunk yogurt look an amazing amount like barf if you mix them together. Granola Bars are caltrops for your socks, and if he keeps changing options on his talking "Scout" doll every couple seconds... I will have a seizure. Also he woke up his brother.))

 Basiclly I'm going to spend the day trying not to loose it, and it's one of those days where it really feels like they WANT me to.