I put a gate up today. It’s kind of jimmy-rigged at the top of the stairs because for some reason, that’s the only place Clark wants to go. Once I put the gate up, he still hung out there for another 20 minutes, looking at the stairs. I’m going to need to go shopping for gates. I could use two that will span 49 inches, and one for the top of the stairs that will cover 80 inches. Do such gates exist?

I spun and plied the rest of the 4 oz of baby alpaca from Madrona a few days ago.

It’s thicker than I wanted it to be, and I only got about 100 yards out of it, but it’s soft, and pretty, and I’m sure I’ve learned something from the process, like, I need to keep practicing alpaca. It’s tough.

I survived yesterday. It wasn’t fun, but nice in its own, understated way. Nate was sick, I was tired beyond all reason. I managed to knit on the Silk Stole for an hour. I cleaned much of the house. And Clark slept for a little over 12 hours last night, hallelujah.

I’m not 100%, but I am certainly functioning.

Today I may spin for my new clogs, or I might knit some more on the Stole, or I might go shopping for baby gates and filter media for my fish tank. Did I tell you I got some new fish?

Zuko

Cecily

Zuko & Cecily

and Frank

Frank has been banished to a large vase on the counter until I can get back to the pet store, because he is a big jerk, and I don’t like him. Of course, he’s by far the most beautiful fish of the three. It’s always the way, isn’t it?

We had them named within an hour of having them home. It’s so odd how that works. It took 5 months to name Bridget, and a few weeks to name Ilsa Dear (or, Ilsa Darling, depending on the day). But these three, boom. Under an hour. And they’re perfect.

Well, except for butthead who has to go back to the store. Frank, I mean.

Clark was up all night long. I’m exhausted. Something’s wrong with him, and I’m not sure what it is. He’s woken up a few nights like this, when he’s writhing and screaming. It seems like his stomach hurts or something. Like there’s too much air in his little body, but I really don’t know. He arches his back, then curls into a ball. And screams. When I try to hold him, he pushes off, walks up my torso, and rocks from side to side. If I put him down, it gets worse.

The other times he’s done this, I’ve had to be up with him for 20-30 minutes while he cries and writhes, then he goes back to sleep and I can put him back in the crib. Last night, he woke up at 11:30. I’d been asleep for 20 minutes. He did get some sleep, but I couldn’t set him down, and he’d wake up every 40 minutes or so to cry and writhe some more. So I sat in a chair most of the night, holding him and getting little, fitful catnaps for 40 minutes at a time, until 6:00 this morning, when I got to sleep for 2 hours.

Now he’s completely fine and happy. He never has this problem during the day, or nap time, just at night, and it’s picking up in frequency. And I want to die.

Abigail is home with a fever yesterday and today. And I have some heart shaped pancakes to make for Liv’s class party.

Nate is on two deadlines this week. We were going to go out for lunch today, it’s been planned for weeks, but now I’m too tired to be coherent (not an exaggeration), Abby’s home sick, and one of Nate’s friends that recently bought out a printing business has had the worst run of luck getting it off the ground, and called this morning asking (again) if he could come in and bail him out. My house is completely trashed from spending all of yesterday on this big dinner I was in charge of last night. It’s going to take some serious effort to clear space to make heart shaped pancakes.

I’m just laughing. (Inwardly. I don’t have the energy to physically perform the function).

I don’t mind Nate helping out his friend. I’m glad he’s able to do it, and the two of them have a history of swapping favors. So it’s ok. Abby is significantly better today than she was yesterday, which is a pleasant surprise. I thought she had the flu.

It’s all ok, but good grief! What a Valentine’s Day.

I have a zillion things to do today, like, finish planning, go shopping for, and start cooking for a dinner I’m in charge of tomorrow night for between 40 and 60 women. Yikes.

Plus, there’s the stuff I need to do for the girls’ Valentine’s Day parties in school. I won’t be there, but I have to send supplies. Plus, we still need to MAKE Valentines for the girls to pass out in class.

Last year, I made a big heart saying “Happy Valentine’s Day” or something like it. I had the girls hold it on a play structure in a park. We took their picture and printed them on our little photo printer. They addressed and signed the back and handed them out. I was very impressed with myself. It was way cute.

Yes, lots to do. And what have I spent the entire morning doing? Cleaning? No. Exercising? No. Spinning, you say? Nope. Knitting? Not that either.

I’ve been playing guitar. I don’t think I’ve told you yet. Maybe I have, but I’ve started playing guitar. Yes, I wanted to learn the clarinet, it’s true. But I can’t sing while playing the clarinet, and what’s more… I can’t learn the clarinet for free. My brother Sam has lent me his fantastically amazing, 34 year old Martin D-35, (for those of you that means something to, envy me now), and is teaching me to play.

This is undoubtedly why my Silk Stole isn’t done yet.

Wanna see my fingers?

I’m very proud of those calluses. I’ve worked hard and suffered much for them.

Miraculously, they don’t snag yarn while knitting. At least they haven’t, yet.

I can bar a B flat, and a B flat minor, however it takes me awhile. And I cheat on an F. There are some funny stories, one of which has me making a complete idiot of myself, but it’s so amusing, I’ve been telling it anyway.

Not right now, though. I have a zillion things to do today, and I’m still in my pajamas.

Good morning. I had a decent week. Not spectacular, not bad. I exercised Monday through Thursday. Missed yesterday, but today I intend to do both PT and treadmill to make up for it. So far, I’ve done some weights.

I weighed 226.4 this morning, which was nice. I weighed twice, to make sure because my scale is temperamental and it can change sometimes. Like, when I weighed myself 15 minutes later and was 227. Twice. But I’m sticking with the 226.4 thank-you-very-much!

I also measured my hips and waist. Hips were down 1/2 inch, and waist was down 2 1/2 inches from January 20th, which is when I measured last. I am now very happy I started measuring!

My sister is joining Health Group this week, hopefully she’ll check in. She said that her doctor said that if you fill your intestines with fiber in the morning, it blocks fat absorption later in the day. She’s had success with a low calorie, high fiber cereal (don’t know which one) that she has with 2% milk, honey, and half a banana.

I’m still hanging with my shakes, but I thought I’d pass it on to those of you who would be interested.

How was your week?

Sweet little Clark is cutting his two bottom teeth, which is probably why he wasn’t sleeping well last week, and why he’s been so fussy. They’re cute little teeth. He’s also starting to show signs of crawling, which pleases me for his sake, and fills me with dread for mine. I need to figure out how to block off the stairs and keep the floor clean of dust bunnies, choking hazards, and anything else that he shouldn’t be putting in his mouth. Because everything he touches ends up there. If I were the only one that runs through this house, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I’m not confident in my ability to keep up with the dust bunnies and incidentals of all 5 of us. For example, the little bits of Battleship that were left on the floor last night and nearly ingested before I could get to them.

You’d think I’ve never had a kid before. And I haven’t, at least not in this house. It’s a whole new beastie.

I went to a spinning group last night at Village Yarn and Tea. It was great. I saw Pat (see Tuesday’s post) and she gave me pictures of Abner. She’s a regular there, and I hope to be, so we’re going to get to see each other often.

I spun about half of the black, baby alpaca roving I bought at Madrona. Alpaca is weird. I’m no good at the short draw, so I was fighting with it much of the night. I couldn’t get the fibers to release, even after being fluffed and separated. Grrr. I’m hoping to have enough 2 ply to make some fingerless mitts, or a short scarf. I have no idea if that’s even realistic.

Next, aside from continuing to work on the Sea Silk stole, (mmmmmm….), I’m going to start spinning up the multicolored targee fleece to make me some clogs. My pink ones are dying. There are holes.

I have a few lace projects I want to spin for, but I’m holding out in the hopes that I will get one of those Kromski wheels with the faster ratios sooner rather that later. 2000 yards of laceweight 2-ply on a 5:1 ratio will get old, and I don’t want to hate the project before it even sees needles.

Another thing that happened while I was at Madrona…

Nate had the bathroom painted.

We’ve had the paint for months, and I had done a little of it. Enough to know that although I enjoy painting, I really didn’t want to do the bathroom. All that’s left to do in there now is re-glue one of the handles in the shower that has come loose (bad design), and buy some plants. The one plant I have in there now is a great buffer between the blue and green we have going already.

Also, it wasn’t until someone (I’m so sorry I can’t remember your name) in my Silk Spinning class asked about my dining room table that I remembered I hadn’t posted about it. Yes, it finally came back, like, the 4th time, and it’s ok. Not great, but ok. Probably as ok as it is possible to get, so we’re done with it. The color isn’t quite right, and it looks a little milky compared to the legs and the way it was before the floor guy ruined it. It’s sad, but like I said, it’s ok.

Last night I started spinning some core-spun mohair.

I like it a lot. I need to finish the bobbin, wind it onto my swift, ply it with thread, re-wind it onto my swift, and ply it with thread the other way.

Nate is concerned there is nothing I can actually do with it, without looking like a neanderthal, but I’m going to try. I’m thinking about a scarf in a slipped stitch pattern, similar to our Hayden hat on my size 19 needles, if I can find them. I haven’t used them since 2004, and I have no idea where they are. They don’t exactly fit in a knitting basket conveniently, so they were stashed somewhere well before the move. Of course, I can’t imagine losing them, either. Did you follow the link? They’re HUGE!

I forgot to mention one of the coolest things that happened at Madrona. I ran into Pat and Roger at the Marketplace. I kept staring at them, trying to figure out why they looked so familiar, and once Pat saw me and called my name, I immediately knew who they were.

Pat and Roger are the saints that gave Abner a good home.

Is that not a wonderful chance meeting?

They talked about him, I reminisced. He’s doing well, and continues to be, shall we say, extremely energetic.

Another thing that happened at Madrona, or rather, while I was at Madrona, is this…

It’s a poor picture, but I haven’t been able to get a better one. If you can’t tell, Abby’s hair is pink, Veronica’s hair is purple, and Liv’s hair is golden brown.

Nate did it. He was trying to give them “punker bangs”, but ended up dying the front half of Abby’s and Veronica’s heads. Liv’s is pretty much confined to bangs. It’s already faded a lot. It’s a wash-out color, thank goodness. They’re all stinkers.

The Artful Ewe was amazing yesterday. It took an hour to get there, 30 minutes of driving and 30 minutes of ferry boat. Heidi is a warm, talented, generous woman that you can easily spend an entire day with and wonder where the time went.

I spun on the Sonata and the Polonaise. The Sonata is great. The Polonaise, not so much. However the Symphony was completely delightful. So smooth and lovely. It’s interesting, because the Symphony is the wheel I thought I wanted 2 years ago, just from my online browsing. I have since worried about a double treadle wheel with my low back problems, but after spending a good deal of time on it and the Sonata, which is also double treadle, I’m not worried anymore. (My only complaint is that the bobbins rattle around a bit while spinning. The bobbin on my Clemes and Clemes jumbo flyer did the same thing until I wrapped a portion of the flyer rod with masking tape, and now it’s quiet. I have some ideas on how to make the Sonata and Symphony a little quieter).

So that’s what I want. Yes, both of them. Now I have to figure out how to pay for it.

Which brings up something else interesting. I’ve been toying with the idea of selling some of the yarn that I spin, but hadn’t taken the notion seriously. It happened to come up yesterday in conversation, and she was extremely encouraging. Very much so. I came home and talked to Nate about it, and he was very encouraging.

So I might. At some point. Once I start dying fibers and come up with my own colors and style. Kind of fun to think about.

I’ve exercised the last three days, including this morning. It’s so nice to have it done in the morning. I can enjoy the rest of the day without the stress of getting it done hanging over me. I’m also cutting down the amount of shake that I drink for breakfast and lunch from 2 glasses to 1. We’ll see how that goes.

I spun 25 yards of 2 ply laceweight (most of the time) with some kid mohair I had, then I swatched that pretty shawl in Victorian Lace Today.

I’m pleased with it, however I learned that I need to be more selective with the fiber I card to avoid lumps in the rolag as I’m spinning.

This morning, I’m heading to Kingston to pick up more corriedale and silk at the Artful Ewe. While I’m there, provided Clark lets me, I’m going to try out some of her Kromski spinning wheels. Namely the Sonata and the Polonaise.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and suggestions on Saturday’s post. I know I need to get the girls working more. I believe the Fly Lady is very helpful, although I haven’t checked her out yet, but I’ve heard great things. My grumpiness on Saturday got a lot done in the house. Everyone takes me more seriously when I’m in a bad mood. And that’s a shame, but it got results.

Not a good day.

I’m grumpy. I didn’t sleep well. Clark is fussy. Which is a lot of the reason I didn’t sleep well. The house is a mess. As usual. My frogs are dead. I’m not losing any weight. And I’m going to whine.

If you don’t want to hear it, I don’t blame you. Come back next week.

I’m trying to exercise, but it’s so difficult to get the opportunity. I have to do it when Nate isn’t working in the office, because that’s where the treadmill and weights are. I have to do it when Clark’s asleep or someone else has charge of him. In the morning when Nate isn’t working in the office, I’m getting the girls ready for school and tending to Clark. After Nate’s workday is done, I’m standing over the girls like a vulture so they get their homework done and I’m making dinner. And tending to Clark. After bedtime, I’m tired, and the house is trashed, and leaving the housework to go and work out is really hard for me. As much as I try, I keep feeling like I need to get the house tidy, the dishes done, the clutter picked up before I exercise. Which translates to never getting to exercise because I JUST CAN’T DO IT!

It’s so distressing to spend a day sorting, cleaning, and organizing, only to go to bed with it looking like I didn’t do anything. Do that for days at a time, and finally in frustration, I spend a day playing with yarn instead, all the while feeling guilty for not sorting, cleaning, and organizing. Then I’m so behind, there’s really no catching up. And I still don’t exercise.

I realize I’m being dramatic. Not every week is like this, but this one was. And I hate it. So I’m a big, mean, grumpy mom and wife today and heaven help me we’re going to get this house clean.

And Abby is going to miraculously get all of her school projects that she’s way behind on done, and study for a make-up test on forensics she’s taking on Monday. She’s going to be self motivated and get it done without me standing over her like a vulture because I’m going to be cleaning the freaking house.

And then, since we’re dreaming, all of the horrible, despicable people that are spamming my blog into oblivion will go away and get a life and leave my old posts alone. My email accounts will stop actively eating my emails, most of which I can’t retrieve on webmail. And the daisies will sway in the fragrant breeze on a warm summer’s day. Do you hear the little birds?

229.6. That’s my weight this morning. This is the second week now that I spend all week in the low 227’s, maybe even in the 226’s, but on Saturday, back up to 229.

I really wouldn’t mind if I knew I’d done my best to eat well and exercise. And drink water. (Wanna know what I had for lunch yesterday? Potato salad and pudding. Tell me I’m not depressed) But I haven’t. And the opportunity to do so eludes me.