Taking the Scenic Route

  Apparently, people notice it when I don’t post.  I am now receiving emails about my lack of posting.

We are fine, just very, very busy. 

Zane:  started preschool this week.  Today was the first day in weeks he started to seem like himself since he got the cold.  He has been somewhat better for about a week, but by the middle of therapy or gymnastics he looks like he is going to fall over from exhaustion.  Today he seemed more like himself and has a more normal level of energy back, so I think he is officially healthy again. 

Zora:  cruising the furniture with gusto.  She is able to keep her balance for about 3-4 seconds if she lets go.  Too fast!!!  She still has a cough though.  I think I might take her to the doctor tomorrow since she has been fighting this thing since the 18th of September.  Today the people at Zane’s therapy noted that the area around her mouth looks a little dusky (bluish) and she holds her mouth open just a bit, both signs that she isn’t getting quite enough oxygen all the time.  It is pretty subtle, but enough that I want to get it checked out.  I think she has grown again.  Her legs seem longer and she is eating like nobody’s business.

Zach:  busy with the semester. Discovering that faculty meetings are bastions of politics.

Me:  finishing up the final batch of PECs cards tonight, putting the velcro on the back. It took forever to get them all printed because we have to wait until Zane is asleep to actually print them without him interfering with the printing (or having to say “don’t touch” about every 2 seconds…he can NOT leave the printer alone when it is going).  Also working on a database program for the MDC Holiday Helpers.  I am doing the groundwork to organize the categories and work on the algorithm so Zach can just sit down and code it without having to keep redoing it.  Hopefully we can get that finished by the end of the weekend.  I know they are in a hurry to have something set up before the requests start pouring in and I want to make it easier on the coordinators.  

Naturally, Zora is now wanting me, so I have to go.  Hopefully she will nurse to SLEEP this time.  lol.

pictures to follow (I hope)

eta:  other news

Our personal soap opera has departed.  Our neighbors have moved away after a very dramatic week.  First, the bathroom above them had a mechanical malfunction, causing it to dump about 150 gallons of water through their ceiling into their bathroom before they were able to get it shut off.  Then, two days later, she said somebody tried to lure their kids out the bedroom window (open to let the paint fumes dry out from the water drama).  I totally freaked out thinking there was somebody trying to get kids like that so close by, but in retrospect, there is some question to the validity of the claim.  (some of which was the crime scene unit that couldn’t get any prints because the dust wasn’t disturbed on the outside of the window).  I saw the window from a distance and instantly thought I saw it cut, but her husband said it was just pulled out of the screen. I realized then how easy it is to make assumptions when you are in a panic and expect to see something. The motivation is that she wanted to get her brother, who was living with them, into the Goddard school district and was bound and determined to get out of the lease somehow.  They also left with major drama, declaring they were going to get a divorce.  However, by the time they came back to get the last load, they were going to go into counseling. 

It is strange how much calmer my life has been the last few days.  I did enjoy the friendship, for the most part, but I never even realized just how often there was a knock at my door for one reason or another.  I haven’t had Zora wake up from a nap nearly all week…so weird and good.

For a day or two it actually felt like fall and I found my thoughts turning back to knitting.  I think I am going to do the LTK raglan sweaters for the kids this fall/winter.  For Zora, I am going to make one into a little sweater dress I think.  I want to find a yarn that I can coordinate some longies for underneath it…haven’t decided what I am going to do about that yet.  Of course, when the weather went back up into the high 90s, I put the knitting back down.  Wool and 90 degree weather do not mix.

Knitty had this cool article on using the technique for double knitting to knit two socks at one time.  I haven’t ever attempted socks, but I did start the sleeves for the raglan that way.  So far I haven’t gotten far enough to really get it figured out.  It seems like a cool trick if I can get it to work.