While Richard has the kids out for lunch and some errands, and I'm home alone, in a blissfully quiet house, I should really be doing something productive, right? A shower? A nap? Basking in the warm sun knitting something? Naaah.

But I have missed blogging this week. And taking pictures.. so I have a few to share now that I finally bought a new battery.

We are slightly addicted to this amazingly easy recipe in my Moosewood Simple Suppers book, roasted ratatouille. We've enjoyed it two weekends in a row with fresh crusty bread on the side. Its a really good thing the kids don't like it.. all the more for myself and Richard!

I learned to crochet. Or rather, I taught myself to crochet.

I fell, completely in love with this one image on flickr, and knew I needed to learn as soon as possible. I spent a day with scraps and a hook and learned. Then I spent another day figuring out the pattern. Now I've gone and bought a boatload of acrylic yarn to make a throw for my knitting chair.  While I'm not a big fan on the acrylic yarn.. I needed something inexpensive, and that can withstand the abuse of small children, not to mention able to be subjected to multiple washings because of said abuse by children.  I'm loving the colors and the rhythm, though I'm not very fast at this. I guess that comes with time?   And before anyone asks, no, I haven't given up knitting. I still prefer it. But I cannot fathom the amount of time it would take to knit a throw unless at a super bulky gauge.

Now, I'm going to go out and crochet in the sun for a bit while the house is still so calm.

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.

I'm in a crappy mood today. Lack of sleep. Allergies. And to top it off, its raining.

I did want to share this little bit though, even though 90% of those who read my blog are knitters, and thusly are likely to have listened to Brenda Dayne's most recent podcast and know about Ingrid Michaelson. Honestly I was hooked in the first thirty seconds. Knit Hat? Binghamton? Must. Learn. More. And I'm happy that I love the rest of her music too.. even the Grey's Anatomy stuff.

But this song? It just makes me happy, despite its moderately sad theme. It makes me want to dance.. and smile. Even on a cold rainy day - So things are looking up!

It was shot in Ithaca just a few weeks ago. Its a bummer that I didn't learn of Ingrid until after she toured through here.

In any case.. Upstate Represent!

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.

Because these were a very. quick. knit.

Pattern: Dragonfly Socks by Cavyshops

Yarn: Seacoast Panda ( 60% superwash merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon) in "Glacier", purchased at The Loopy Ewe.

Needles: Magic looped on Addi Turbo 32" US1 needles.

Started on Saturday March 29th, 2008 in the car on the way to Pennsylvania. Finished Thursday April 3, 2008 (ZOOM! My needles are on fire!) In the last image, you may notice an "oops". One extra yarn over - not sure how that happened, but I didn't catch it until I was about 20 rows past. There was no way I was picking back to fix it.

I really liked this pattern, mostly because it went so fast. I did do some minor mods like replacing the PSSO (pass slipped stitch over) in the gusset decreases with SSK (slip slip knit) And I also knit one round after picking up the gusset stitches, specifically to knit those picked up stitches through the back loops before starting decreases.

And for as much as I normally complain endlessly about pooly yarn, I love how these turned out. They're like wearing Monet on my feet.

.. 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.

"Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed."

Heraclitus

And here I thought it would take me every night this week! I guess it was the whole "go with the flow" thing.

Pattern: Go With The Flow Socks by Evelyn Clark (this is a Ravelry link - only Ravelry members will be able to view it) from Interweave Knits, Spring 2005 issue.

Yarn: Cider Moon Flurry - Colorway: Peas and Carrots - Purchased: The Loopy Ewe

Needles: Sakina 5" US1.5 DPNs

This makes three pairs of socks so far this year - up next.. lace.. (I think!)

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.