Even with the older three kids back in school this week, I've been soooo busy.

With all this great weather, I've started spring cleaning in earnest. Opening windows to air out - Cleaning out drawers and closets - Consolidating items left out of season in the kid's cubby - And hopefully before the weekend I can start on the yearly "thinning of the toys". I swear, Cassidy's Barbies and the boys action figures have been hooking up after the lights go out, purely to reproduce and stage a coup.

Connor also had his special ed and psychological re-eval on Monday, which is was nearly a whole day event seeing as how I got terribly lost trying to find where we needed to go. Picture me driving around East Syracuse looking for a road that seemingly didn't exist (no sign!) and a gas station that had a phone book. All of this because I rushed out the door so quickly, leaving the address on the dining room table, and my cell phone on the kitchen counter.

The evaluations went well though. We'll wrap them up today with a home visit later this afternoon with the special education evaluator. But in the end, he scored lower than I think any of us expected him to. Its a very weird feeling as a mother, hearing his scores. In that, I wanted him to evaluate poorly enough that the CPSE would have fewer arguments at the next meeting to negotiate him out of attending an integrated classroom, as they did last year. But I also wanted my baby to score well because he is so smart! I know other moms with special needs kids will understand my personal conflict.. and know just how terribly difficult to verbalize.

The crochet project? It grows. No pictorial updates however, because it hasn't grown that much. I did get quite a lot done last night while watching There Will Be Blood with Richard. We didn't like it. Incredible acting.. Incredible. But the movie itself? Ehhhh. Mostly, I've gotten so little done because there was this thing called the Pennsylvania Democratic primary going on. Between watching cable news, reading my favorite political blogs, and spending some time making calls for Obama - crafting took a back seat.

And now we get to the part where you say, "I was told there'd be a giveaway?" after reading my rambling update which clearly doesn't match the title of my post..

I'm reading I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I love essays, particularly ones that make me laugh out loud. But additionally interesting, is that Sloane creates dioramas capturing the scenes in many of her essays.

As Cassidy is recently obsessed with creating dioramas, we love to look at Sloane's flickr album where you can see them take shape a piece at a time. Plastic spoons as subway seats and a hazelnut as a turd. Maybe I'm odd in that craft geek sort of way, but find it very interesting.

And now for the giveaway.. I have an extra copy of the book, sitting here on the desk, ready to ship out. Getting it is as easy as leaving a comment here. Nothing else. Just leave a comment by Wednesday April 30th, 2008. I'll use the handy number randomizer to pick a comment and send the book along for your reading enjoyment.

Good luck!

Only Krissy and Nan guessed, but five were still left last night. And I expected some more guesses by this morning. Nope. So I let it sit all day. Not a one. I mean lots of y'all were looking at it according to my stats...

So were they that hard? Not that it matters, I'm just curious

Now the answers from the movies no one dared to guess, or guessed incorrectly..

“It may sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not. After all, with Your help, I’m starving to death.“ This would be Tevye in "Fiddler On The Roof", talking to God.

“Everybody in this family needs to just calm down and eat some fruit or something.” I chose this line because "Vamanos Children!" was far too easy. Of course, this is from "Signs", totally cheesy when compared to other works by M Night Shyamalan, butI love it. If its on TV, I have to sit and watch. If theres nothing on TV, I'll put in the dvd. Not sure why I love it so much.. but I do.

“I am making a horseth asseth of myselfeth.” That no one got this one, shocks me a little! Elliot Garfield - my favorite leading man! "Goodbye Girl"! Geeeez! < wink >

“Because you thought I was *cocky*, I’m now on a permanent *acid trip*?” This would be Nick Cage to Don Cheadle in "Family Man"

"This is politics at its finest" Robert DeNiro as Conrad (or Connie) in "Wag The Dog"

So, no pictures today. I took some.. of the snow (what is up with THAT Mother Nature?) But I'm far too lazy to open Photoshop.

I saw this on Carole's blog this morning.. and since I'd like to keep the blogging mojo flowing, I grabbed it. I must have been living under a pile of yarn or something because I hadn't seen this (or noticed it) on the blogs until it showed up on Carole's.

The rules..

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

Annnd... here they are:

1. "It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. After all, with Your help, I'm starving to death."
2. "That's because my life is as good as an Abba song. It's as good as Dancing Queen." Kris - "Muriel's Wedding"
3. "Everybody in this family needs to just calm down and eat some fruit or something."
4. "I am making a horseth asseth of myselfeth."
5. "Because you thought I was *cocky*, I'm now on a permanent *acid trip*?"
6. "What's the Czech for "Do you love him"?" Kris - "Once"
   
7. "Come and get it! It's a running buffet!" Kris - "Shaun Of The Dead"
   
8. "This is politics at its finest"
9. "Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man." Kris - "A Christmas Story"
   
10. "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." Kris - "Goodfellas"
    

I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to grab it!

I bought a new chair yesterday. Nothing special. Just this club chair from Target. My glider rocker, the very expensive one that Richard bought for me, just prior to giving birth to Dylan, was going to just collapse any day. I can't knit or spin without my chair. So in other words, this seating situation was reaching critical mass.

Last night while I'm sitting in my comfy new, inexpensive chair, my dad calls and asks how our day was, what did we do, yada yada. So I tell him about the new chair..

Dad: laugh, you bought a chair?

Me: Yep!

Dad: Not a new couch?

Me: Nope

Dad: You didn't find it on the side of the road?

Me: Nope

Dad: You didn't get it on that internet thingie you do?

Me: Nope

Dad: Your telling me you paid cold hard cash.. for furniture?

Me: laughing.. Yep!

Dad: So when are you buying a new couch?

Ok, I admit.. we need a new couch. Everyone knows that. But everyone also knows, I'm pretty cheap. Not so much cheap as frugal and insistent on "using up" what we have. Besides that, have you any idea the kind of abuse children inflict on furniture? Before I lay down cold hard cash, as my dad said.. I make damn sure I can't repair, or "make pretty" what we already have. I mean, my glider is the perfect example of this.. my kids ruined this chair. What was once a lovely soft cream color, turned gray. The original "floating on air" graceful glide of that cushy soft chair, one day turned into a loud, clunking, metal scraping wood, uncomfortable place to park my arse.

To get back on my main topic of knitting, I actually did some knitting in my new chair last night. I'm in the homestretch of the second Shibui Breeze basic sock, having turned the heel and completed gusset stitches while watching movies with Richard. For the interested they were Clerks 2 (predictable, boring) and Jackass 2 (hilarious, but stupid in that "boys are weird" kind of way.)

Lastly, back to my cheapness.. I'd have never paid the price on the Target website. I got it for half that price, in store. If the kids destroy it.. I won't cry.

That title will get me some interesting google hits, no? Gifted to us by Dennis and Nichole, it came home with us from Rhode Island, with the sole purpose that it be a Christmas decoration (I have no intention of keeping it out year round!) But really.. A Christmas Story on TBS at 8PM on Christmas Eve is what really kicks off our family's festivities. Its become such a huge part of our family's holiday. Even growing up, we owned this movie, on betamax. Each of us know the entire movie by heart.. every line.

Another family Christmas tradition that has continued on.. listening to Elvis Presley on Christmas morning. Not just any Elvis Presley.. it has to be a very specific Christmas album.

So its time to go get Santa's plate of cookies and eggnog ready. Then watch some Ralphie, drink some Bailey's, and stay up 'til the wee hours, being sure all children are fast asleep. All so I can wrap four kids worth of Santa deliveries.

Merry merry, one and all.

I meant to take a picture before we cleared the driveway, but I forgot.. and it was much more important that we got the driveway clear. I kid you not.. there were 5 foot drifts up to the wood fence. And the area between the stone wall and the front of the van had drifted in. When I was able to back the van out this morning, imprinted in the packed snow was our license plate!

But with all that yucky winter weather, it sure was nice coming into the living room and sitting in front of this..

The fireplace/chimney technician was so nice. He didn't even charge me full price since hes a neighbor (only living 2 blocks down the street. Us Valley folk gotta stick together ya know!) He declared the chimney so perfect that he didn't even need to clean it. He also made my day by alerting us that both fireplaces.. the living room and the office, share a chimney. Each arch up to form an upside down Y and merge. That means that the fireplace in the office is safe to use as well!

While I very much like the heat from a traditional hardwood, roaring, crackling, fire.. I cannot stand the smell. I swear the whole house reeked like a smoky link on Saturday. Instead we've been using store bought fire logs. Its a trade off.. I know.

What else did I do this weekend? I finished Christmas shopping. OK.. I need some stocking stuffers, but I'll pick those up when I hit the market on Wednesday evening. I also got to visit with Patric a bit while he cut my hair (its growing out nicely!) And lastly, I learned that when you mix holiday shoppers with people trying to get last minute needs before a big storm hits, you end up with lots of traffic, long lines, and extremely irate people. It wasn't fun. I left at 8:30 in the morning. I didn't get home until FIVE!

After dinner, Richard and I sat down to watch "Super Bad", and well.. it was super bad. We heard so many great reviews, but this just sucked to the extreme. There were a few funny parts.. big time laugh out loud funny parts, but they certainly didn't make up for the rest of the movie. One of the worst movies I've seen in a very VERY long time.

Thanks for the tips on Eucerin. I've used it in the past, but I can't stand the way it makes my skin feel when its on. I mean, really can't stand it. I've toughed it out a few times, in the name of cracked skin, but I also don't think it works all that great for me. Instead I've been using Mary Kay night cream (the thick pink stuff) then putting on cotton gloves at bedtime. Its definitely helping. But shoveling lots of snow has set me back a bit.

We rented "Sicko" this weekend.I cannot even put into words how it left us feeling. Both Richard and I are still talking about it.

But there was a very memorable part. An interview with Tony Benn. I literally started to applaud from my living room chair.

".. if you can find money to kill people. You can find money to help people."

Wow. How incredibly simple. I've been thinking this, saying this, for a very long time. And it is simple, if Washington got rid of the insurance and drug company lobby.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” ~ Thomas Merton

I am one with my wheel. Ohmmm. (Its taken long enough, eh?)

Oh.. My.. How I loved spinning this, even though I was starting to get a tad bored towards the end of its 8oz. And the plying, took me several hours - ask me sometime about the ridiculous movie, Idiocracy, which I watched at 2AM while finishing this - or don't - I wouldn't recommend it.

But this my pretties, is true happiness. Because as far as spinning goes, when you combine it with my abilities thus far, it just doesn't get more perfect than this. For the interested, its blue faced leicester that I purchased at Rhinebeck from a bargain basket for a whopping seven dollars. It spun like a dream - its incredibly soft - its balanced. The only downer, is that I was hoping to squeak out 800 yards of dk for the lace wrap pattern, also purchased at Rhinebeck. By my measurement I have 740ish yards in a dk/fingering weight. I do have a little bit left on one bobbin still needing to be plied. However I'm certain it won't make up the 60 yards needed. No worries, I have 5 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in my stash, crying to be knit into that wrap.

Have a great weekend y'all.