I'm not sure why I waited so long to file, but I finally did ours this morning. Truthfully I completed them on Sunday, but I didn't click the "file now" button until this morning. I'm not one of those people who bitches about paying taxes, because lets be honest.. they do have a purpose. I am sickened by how tax dollars are used however. Faith based programs? Corporate welfare? War? Rendition and torture?

I'm not going to go into a political rant here. Its tax day, I felt like hearing some Beatles, and as you know - When I have nothing to post, I rely on youtube.

P.S. George W? That silly rebate we'll be getting soon? Its a lot of money. And surely my kids would love a Wii. But we, like most American families, are up to our eyeballs in debt. Heat, gasoline and food costs are way up. Just about every industry's jobs are at risk. No, my kids will live without the Wii.. or rather we're saving our pennies for one. On principle, that "rebate" is paying off debt.

P.P.S. It still blows my mind that despite you being a total failure at every thing in your life, people still voted for you. Hell, at least 27% of Americans still think you've done a good job. If you ask me, they're all on crack - or they just don't care, because dontcha know.. the rapture is coming any day now. Pfffft!

OK.. mini rant over (sorry!).. I did finish the Hedgerow socks on Saturday. ONE WEEK! I haven't taken pictures though, since the battery in my camera is dead, and the crappy rechargeable one I use as a backup is now charging. I started another pair, just 4x2 rib in some bright cheery Kroy Socks yarn. I'm just about to the heel now, but I don't see this pair going too fast. The kids are on Spring Break this week and I'm one busy mama.

Started on Saturday morning (April 5th), I was at the toe decreases by the next evening. I'm not sure what is up with all this speedy knitting. Slick yarn? Easy stitch patterns? Anyway.. these are the Hedgerow Socks from Knitters Review, being worked in sKNITches Kettle Drum, colorway: Cherry Bark. I love 'em.. especially the heel.

Busy day today.. I'll be riding with Connor's speech therapist this afternoon to his yearly CPSE review. Bleh. I'm not worried about services being discontinued, since he very clearly evaluates in - if anything speech and OT will be expanded. But we're all pushing for extending services, primarily, placement in an integrated classroom. Since we failed with this placement last year, I'm expecting the worst this year. However, we are armed with more information, better evaluations and extended goals. And.. we're trying to get a referral for Connor to see a developmental pediatrician for further evaluation. In any case.. I'm dreading this meeting.

I was still feeling rather crappy yesterday, so I played hookie from the monthly spinning guild meeting (sorry guys!) and spent some time out in the warm sunshine with Richard and the kids. This represents four of my favorites, but several more are uploaded on flickr (I upgraded to FlickrPro! Woo!) Also.. to the family members who keep visiting looking for the pictures of Grammy's 80th birthday party, many of them are up there too. I have another folder to work through and upload (be patient!)

Edited to add:

Before anyone looks at the flickr album and inquires as to why Connor is sporting several band-aids on his face, let me just say that while there was an altercation between he and Dylan which involved the throwing of a molded plastic Godzilla character.. he was not seriously injured. He is however going through "that stage" all children go through where band-aids are not only more soothing than a boo boo kiss, but are somehow also a fashion statement. I assure you under those two bandages are teensy scrapes.

We are making progress though... today only the Sandy band-aid on his forehead remains, the one on the nose has fallen off and is long forgotten.

.. or a meme and how it relates to the sniffles?

Nan tagged me for a meme over the weekend, but while I expected to complete it earlier this week, I was hit hard with some sort of viral nastiness. So, since my week thus far as been nothing but viral nastiness, I bring you my meme..

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

• Nyquil
• Sniffling - Sneezing
• coughing - Aching
• Stuffyhead - Fever
• So You Can Rest - or not.

So now I'm tagging, hmm.. Cass, Loren, Beth, Daisy, and KaKi. And yes I know I cheated.. I used way more than six words.

If I weren't so sick this week, perhaps my meme would look different. But being this sick has its benefits. I'm nearly finished with a pair of socks that I started to knit on the way to PA on Saturday. And I finished The Kite Runner (not as good as A Thousand Splendid Suns, but only slightly so).

I know lots of family have been visiting hoping for our pictures of Grammy's 80th birthday party from last weekend, but I haven't gotten around to downsizing them from their original 20+meg size yet. Viral nastiness leaves little patience/energy for sitting at a computer futzing in Photoshop. But I am hoping that Richard will set aside some time before the weekend to show me how to do them as a batch.. all 150 of them so I can upload them to Flickr. I even have some video - my favorite is Danny and Jay playing Guitar Hero (who knew Danny could rock like that?) But the funniest one is the one where I zoom in on the "meter" and watch it quickly plunge to red while they try to do Slayer on "easy mode" - it was hilarious! For an idea of how hard this song is, here is a video of someone playing it on expert mode (omg!) And by the way, I must buy Guitar Hero, as soon as financially possible - I'm addicted.

Despite spring kicking off a bit on the cool side here in upstate NY, on Easter Sunday we took a short hike through the woods bordering our property to a historical site. I kid you not, no more than 40 yards as the crow flies from our back door is this..

This, if I'm to believe my neighbors, is an ammunitions dump from the American Revolutionary War. Cool as hell huh? And visiting this site is only possible this time of year. Once the greenery starts to grow, its just not safe with the abundance of poison ivy up on this hill. While there is a decent path from our neighbor's house directly to this site, there is still a patch of woods to climb through to get to it.. more risk of poison ivy. But thats ok.. keeping our kids fearful of poison ivy also keeps them from visiting this place without a grown up. And the thought of them sneaking up there to climb on the already crumbling 230 year old walls.. I physically shudder just thinking about it.

While we were there, we let the kids exhaust the cans of silly string they received in their Easter baskets.

And I took a family photo, sans me before we made the short walk back home.

Now this picture, I actually took standing in my back door. It is one of two "outposts" on either side of the larger structure. It makes me wonder if they were sentry posts? Did they house cannons? The one on the other side of the hill that I forgot to take a picture of on Sunday, borders a home on Seneca Turnpike that has a cannon in its front yard. So maybe these outlying structures did house the cannons and all of the ammunitions were stored in the larger one as my neighbor suggests? In any case, I'm intrigued enough to call the Onondaga County historical society to learn more. If for no other reason, but to properly label the pictures I took.

Now, for the food portion of the weekend..

Who needs traditional?

Our menu consisted of Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Salad..

And Balsamic Chicken Drummies.Both of these recipes are from the same episode of Everday Italian that we got the sweet potato fries recipe from. As you can see in the salad picture, I also made my baked macaroni and cheese for Alex. Seeing as we were skipping the traditional ham, and that would mean no leftovers to make the yearly mac and cheese (Alex's favorite), we made up a small batch using a ham steak vs. leftover Easter ham.The kids shockingly loved this meal, so its definitely a keeper!

And.. the best part.. Llamie gave me her carrot cake recipe. Now mine isn't as pretty as hers, my ability to apply chopped nuts to sides of cakes needs much practice.. but the taste.. oh my word.. the taste. This is by far, the best carrot cake, ever.

Update on my socks from the previous post? No pictures, but I have turned the heel on sock two. I've even completed the gusset decreases. Now I'm just knitting away on the foot. I expect it to be completed over a few nights worth of tv knitting.

I haven't even put the memory card back in the camera since I last posted (what was it, Monday?) So I'm breaking my loosely adhered to rule of "blogging pictureless". But hey.. I'm blogging today. That has to count for something, right?

Really, not much going on around here. The winter crud has moved through each of us, one at a time. If "slow and steady wins the race" then germs kicked our ass this winter. Seriously, it seems like forever since we've simultaneously all been "healthy". This past week's flu recipient was Connor. But this was his third really awful illness this past winter - The poor kid just can't catch a break.  He is on the mend however. So much so that he and I ventured out today to do some errands.

Our first stop was a yarn sale. Many of my local knittas knew about this.. it was the big news in yarny circles. Elegant Needles in Skaneateles cleared its stock over the past few months to move out of the building and make way for the building to be remodeled. The leftover skeins over 2,000 of them... reported to be wool, blends,.. even the word "Rowan" was let out of the bag, were donated to St Camillus to be sold there at one.dollar.per.ball.

Regretfully, Connor and I left late. So late, that by the time we pulled in to the parking lot, 30 minutes after the sale started, women walking out told me not to even bother.. nothing was left. I saw at least 10 people carrying out large boxes, and I mean LARGE boxes filled to brim with yarn.  Oh well.

I thought about heading up to Sheep Thrills or Mission Rose, but in the end, Connor and I just headed to the bank, the post office, the market.. then home.

Now before I leave you with my favorite youtube of the week, I need to show you these. Incredibly silly.. but I want them! And squee.. this too! I've long wanted one of these, but every one I've found was well over 100.00!

Now.. on to youtube..

Dylan's kindergarten musical. Not the greatest video, as it was taken on our digital camera. A little shaky too since this really rude person in front of us kept moving around and just standing up.. right in the middle of the audience, taking pictures with like 10 different cameras. Richard kept trying to move the camera, hence the shakiness. Anyway, it sure was cute.. and Dylan had a blast.

Meh.. blogging has been last on my list for well over a month now. But I do have a few posts lined up for this week. Really. I've started two pairs of socks. And I finally got a pattern I've been searching high and low for. Oh.. and this week is my fourth blogiversary, so I'll have to blog on that day at the very least!

I survived the week.

I've kept this quote on my fridge for years. And it certainly described my life last week while the kids were on mid winter break. Every day was an exercise in keeping ones head above water.. that, and a reminder that I really need to better organize our summer activities in keeping everyone busy and occupied. This is imperative... with everyone getting older, and louder, I may very well lose my mind during three months of unrestrained chaos.

Despite the constant bickering, like who got to watch the tv with digital cable, who got to pick a movie, a video game, what was for lunch, yada yada, I did manage to finish a sock. Admittedly, the majority of it was done on Friday evening while listening to an audio book on my iPod while Richard watched a movie...

Charade Socks, in Claudia Hand Painted Fingering - colorway: Chocolate Cherry. I love this pattern. Its a simple two row repeat - perfect for tv knitting.

A little better shot of the colorway.. which is entirely pretty if not pooly. I'm not so much a fan of the pooly tendencies of some hand painted yarns, but the colors themselves make up for that. Besides, I love my macro setting. I'd take all pictures in macro if I could get away with it. The second sock was on the needles within minutes of weaving in ends on the first. I managed to get that little bit done on the second one while watching the Oscars with Richard last night. Great big yelps of glee for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for taking home a statue. What a great song, they truly deserved the recognition.