Byte Size Blog #7

Today I bring you Byte Size Blog #7. Not being able to figure out bullet points on this silly Blogger App, you'll have to do with very short sentences. 

Christmas stress arrived today. Along with a cold-flu thing. Yay me. 

School work got done today. Mostly. I skipped out on science. 

Today begins the 12 Days of Bond leading up to Christmas. Day 1 is Dr. No with my good friend Mr. Connery circa 1963. I'm looking forward to catching a few more Bonds this week and next. 

Christmas cards are the task of the week. List completed yesterday. Today I created a photo collage of the kids, sent it off to the photo center to be printed and picked the prints up with Mr. A. after work. Tomorrow I'll get cards written and signed. Hopefully addressed shortly thereafter and mailed before Friday. Here's a preview of my silly beastly teenagers who couldn't be bribed to stand still for a nice picture. 

I've completed the Christmas knitting project: a Cowichan sweater for my sister's husband. Well, mostly completed. The bulk of the knitting is done. Of course, I still need to block, assemble, knit the collar on, block again and then it will be completely done. Pics later when it's finally really done. 

This concludes the seventh edition of Clip Blog brought to you by My People Required Way Too Much Chauffeuring Tonight and I Need Another Decongestant Cold Tea. Bah humbug. 

♥Mrs. A. 

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Byte Size Blog #6

Good Morning. Today I bring you Byte Size Blog #6 to catch you up on what's been happening. Since I'm leaving town in an hour and I'm not ready to go nor is anyone else awake, it ought to be a quick one...

• The dogs got their Christmas presents - new beds - early. My living room is no longer a playground of stuffing and fluff from the old bed. An unexpected development: daily games of Musical Beds. Very amusing.
• Christmas cards have been mailed and gingerbread baking has begun. I've also decorated the house and will not do anything else to make things look festive. Except get a Christmas tree. We'll do that on Sunday.
• Off to the City today with Mr. A. to finish up our Christmas/Birthday shopping. As we only have a little bit of shopping to do this year, it's more like a date.
• Christmas knitting continues. One Holden Shawlette is done and blocked. The second Holden is on the needles. This is a very gift-worthy knit. Today, two hours of driving for Mr. A. equals two hours of knitting time for me. I'm thinking of adding a knitted hat for my dad to the Christmas knitting list (which really wasn't very extensive to begin with...)
• School work with the kids continues. I had planned to be done today, break for almost a month and then start up again the second week of January. However, since I am a sloth and it takes me forever to insist that the kids finish things...we'll be continuing throughout the coming week. I am encouraged as The Boy Child has actually finished a project and The Girl is tackling some task writing - not happily and under direct supervision, but she's doing it.
• Because I am a grown up, I went to the doctor's this week and updated my tetanus. On purpose, before I had to due to injury...which has been the case in the past. What was I thinking!? Two days after and I still can't lift my arm above shoulder height and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Perhaps I didn't notice the effects of this vaccination before because I was laid out on the couch dealing with what I thought was injury recovery.

Byte Size Blog #6 is now concluded...I'm off to get everyone up and out of the house - a novelty for those of us who homeschool and work from home.

♥Mrs. A.

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Byte Size Blog #5

Today is Byte Size Blog #5, with photo so as not to create feelings of awkwardness.

• Today I bring you evidence that Christmas is approaching in our house! I have broken out the Christmas coffee. A friendly neighbour was so kind as to bring over some homemade Christmas biscotti which is lovely when dipped in your Christmas coffee.
• Today we are off to the local homeschoolers' Christmas party. The Girl Child has created a playlist as she has been asked to provide some music and I have crockpot meatballs cooking. I know, not a very Christmas-y contribution to the pot luck Christmas lunch, but my kids wanted something they liked to eat and something warm. Meatballs it is.
• Today is day#3 of Backyard Cat Watch. A cat in the window well in the backyard will make your blue-eyed husky very determined to spend all day outside staring into the - now empty - window well. When not allowed outside, the determined blue-eyed husky can be found camping on the backyard door mat, waiting until she is allowed out again. The determination with which the blue-eyed husky stares into the window well will not be diminished even when the bigger, braver, brown-eyed husky jumps into the window well and digs up the leaves to prove to the blue-eyed husky that the cat is truly and completely gone. I know, a picture of this would be much more interesting than my Christmas coffee, but have I mentioned how much I enjoy my coffee?
• Today my extended family is off to the Family Christmas Party in my mom's home town, four hours away. I am the party pooper who is not going. Again. I average attendance once every five years. My grandmother, the kids' great-grandmother, even made an unprecedented visit to my house last week. I was given the what-for, like a guilty ten-year-old, about not attending. Still, we're not going. I regret the time missed with my two grandmas, but I don't regret missing the Christmas Party. I should tell the whole story to the Internet one day. The Internets love drama and idiosyncrasy.
• Cristina would like to see the new Canadian bills. I say bills because if you're curious to see the $20 bill, then I can only assume that the $50 and $100 would be equally as interesting. If I ever have any money ever again in these denominations, I will be sure to blog photos. So far, the bills are sticky and hard to count quickly. Very difficult to be discreet about your wad of cash at the cashier. They don't fold very nicely making your wallet unwieldy and wanting to flop open all the time. However, they do seem to launder nicely (an accidental experiment) and they seem to be impossible to rip (a not-so-accidental experiment).
• Knitting on the first Holden Shawlette has begun. The black hole of increasing-every-row stockinette has begun to open. I suspect I will need to bring this project along with me every where I go in order to be done in time for Christmas gifting. My goal is to have one Holden done and the other well under way by the time of my next Knit Night, Dec. 18. Stay tuned for future updates.

This concludes the fourth edition of Clip Blog, brought to you by the break-dancing Blue-Eyed Bandit at my Backdoor as well as The Kids Are Up and Ready For The Day And I'm Still In My Robe.

♥ Mrs. A.

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Byte Size Blog #4

Today is Byte Size Blog #4, also known as Blogging Without Photos Is Awkward And Unnatural.

• Blogging without sharing a photo feels awkward and unnatural. Kind of like you just have to take my work for it. Without evidence.
• I love my Keurig. Have I mentioned we're on Keurig #2? We wore out the first one. There's also a Mini Keurig on my pantry shelf to be used in case of travelling. We like our Keurig that much. Coffee Pods for the Keurig are a treat, though. Twice a year, we order some from the States and it's a big treat to have fancy flavoured coffee pods come to my door in a big box. Cheaper than take-out coffee, they are pricey compared to regular grocery store ground coffee. BUT. A new personal brewer coffee shop opened not far from my house. They sell even more kinds of flavoured coffee...and tea and cider and hot chocolate...than our online store sells. I'm already a 'Loyal Customer' which comes with a 10% discount, but may need a part time job soon. I feel like I should apply at this new coffee supply store.
• A cup of grocery store ground coffee costs $.40-$.46 a cup. A Keurig coffee pod cup of coffee costs $.64. A take out coffee at McDonald's is $1.56. (Hydro, gas, milk and sugar not included.) Just so you know.
• We're off to a local-ish University today for a couple of classes at the School of Geology. I hear they also have a very nice Geological Museum that we'll see while we're there. Since I have a pre-Christmas haircut planned for close to our planned departure time, the kids will be responsible for packing supplies and lunch as well as getting their book work done before we go. I am responsible for some banking, dropping by my parents' place, picking up a display stand and getting my hair cut (it's really a safety issue as my bangs have now reached hazard length).
• The new $20 bills are a lovely green colour...but I think they seem a little like play money with their clear peekaboo window and their plastic feel. Also, they don't rip. Same category as toddler toys, I tell you.

This concludes the fourth edition of Clip Blog, brought to you by The Kids Aren't Up Yet...Again and 2(3?) More Days 'Till My New Knitting Supplies Arrive!!

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Byte Size Blog #3

Guess where the puppy was laying?

Today, I bring you Byte Size Blog #3 aka 10 Minutes Until I Should Be Waking Up The Teenagers , sponsored, again, by Point Form.

• The Puppies (dogs, really) are good. Above photo was snapped earlier this month when the Blue-Eyed Bandit was lying in the leaves on the patio stones in the backyard. The Brown-Eyed Beast continues to be jealous, needing constant confirmation that she is 'first'. The Blue-Eyed Bandit gets her treats stolen a lot. And she seems to have grown an extra large pad on her right back foot. (Cristina, there might be something to your theory, after all!!)
• Homeschooling today will consist of helping my very good (blogless) friend move house. As the new house has been available for a month, things have been moved as time permits; decorating, cleaning and updating has also been coming along. However, Friday is the last moving day and there is still much to be done. I believe my kidlets and I will be using our car to help move their school room, friend and I will be unpacking and organizing the new kitchen and the kidlets (mine and hers) will be moving a mountain of packed things into the appropriate rooms. Fun times.
• My proactive approach to planning my Christmas this year has resulted in 4 Christmas parties to attend in 7 days. All will require creative and festive food contributions except one, the dress-up party, which requires an extensive overhaul of my self so I look dressed-up and socially acceptable. I may need to re-examine my enthusiasm.

This concludes the third edition of Clip Blog, brought to you by My Coffee's Done and The Kids Aren't Up Yet And We Have To Get Moving (literally!) Today.

♥Mrs. A.

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Byte Size Blog #2

Almond Tree Sprout
 

To prove that I have not fallen off the face of the blogosphere, I bring you Byte Size Blog #2 aka Some Current Thoughts Since Catching Up Will Take Far Too Long, sponsored by Point Form.

• The above almond sprouted after being wrapped in a damp papertowel and left in a zippy bag in the French cube of the school shelf, forgotten for a month. Leaning to the foreground you can see the first shoot (top killed off due to my black thumb) which was quickly replaced by the second shoot. Almond Sprout seems determined to like it hear as evidenced by the lovely leaves it is showing off. Rumour says (ok, the front page of a Google search) that almonds coming to Canada are pasteurized, so exactly what sort of genetically mutant specimen I have growing in my living area I'm not sure.
• Christmas has begun to be planned without undue amounts of teeth-gnashing and marital strife. (Mr. A. has the patience of a saint.) It has been decreed that this will be a cash-Christmas. My family has agreed to forgo the usual pile of presents under the tree in favour of a family gym membership. This is an experimental project relying on everyone's willingness and Mr. A's ability to stick to a commitment. I have displayed some measure of grown-up-ness by proactively planning our Christmas season calender instead of employing my usual reactionary approach of cramming in things at the last minute after repeated calls and emails from concerned family members who believe my children would not have a proper Canadian holiday without their efforts. Yay me.
• The Boy Child has a Man Cold. I have to believe there is an actual concern about the genetic mutation of certain germs since the common cold that The Girl Child had last week has somehow morphed during its trek from bedroom to bedroom across the upstairs hallway. I know it's a Man Cold by its symptoms: moaning before and after coughing, inability to speak 2 sentences without mentioning one's 'illness' and a marked lack of energy for everything except one's screen time and Hallowe'en candy.

This concludes the second edition of Clip Blog, brought to you by Blogger's Guilt and Early Riser's Opportunity.

Hoping to make it back here again this week,

♥Mrs. A

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Byte Size Blog #1

Access to the PC continues to be an issue. I suspect that it is a direct result of me being 'too nice' since my kidlets are (usually) kind, considerate folk who don't mind letting their mother have a turn with the Internet.

Also inhibiting my blogging mojo is my new best friend, iPad, his evil cousin Internet and the well-known super hero, Ravelry.

To prove that I have not fallen off the face of the blogosphere, I bring you Byte Size Blog #1 aka What's Been Going On With Me, sponsored by Point Form.

• It's bloody windy. I was in Kingston this morning (the eastern most point of Lake Ontario) and small people under 100lbs needed to be firmly secured and towed to cover. Seriously.
• No significant knitting progress has occurred in a month. This is disturbing as I have Rams & Yowes waiting in the wings, 2 babies in holding patterns ready to be called to the landing stip at any time, mittens on my needles and a year of stash to get through.
• I donned my Confident Mother guise and told The Girl Child's fencing coach that even though she may be talented and full of potential, this was not the year for her to be involved in every tournament and training camp within a 7hr drive from our home just so she can experience the 'cultural opportunity' of competing in the Summer Games. Although Coach is the epitome of understanding and support, there is another fencing mother who is quite upset that my very grown up, personal, none-of-her-business decision means that her daughter may have to compete in the 'individual' category rather than as a 'team' entry. Really? High school histrionics now? In my 30s? I wasn't good at them as a teenager and I certainly haven't gained an aptitude for them since.
• My mom is out of town taking care of her mom, my grandmother, as she recuperates from a car accident. This is fairly significant as Mom pretty much quit her job and left her 4 (almost 5) grandchildren do so. The simple act of my mother going away for the weekend usually sends my dad into a tail spin and this time is no different. Add the extended time he is expected to be a bachelor for and his impending knee replacement to a super high blood sugar situation and we have a tail spin in a basket case on my doorstep. And my phone. Two or three times a day. I'm counting the hours until my mom arrives for dad's procedure on Tuesday. Because although I try, I just don't have all the superpowers my mother possesses.
• After adding a DVR to our collection of household electronics, I have been continually amused by the convenience of my favourite shows. On the other hand, I have forgotten to keep up with the changing seasons and have no clue about any of the 'new' shows. I am wondering how I should file this one - under 'B' for blessing or 'C' for complaint.
• If I had told my 20 year old self that I would immensely enjoy buying a stuffed squirrel at Winners and then giving it to my lawfully wedded husband to fling about the living room for the entertainment of the dog on a Friday night I probably would have had my 20 year old head examined. The 37 year old homeschooling housewife totally gets it.

This concludes the inaugural edition of Clip Blog, brought to you with the help of my new bf, iPad.

(pretend there's a little heart here: x)
Mrs. A.

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