The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 2, the Sock Does Disney

After watching it's owner devour a too expensive breakfast, the sock started pushing the humans to get moving. It really wanted to meet Dumbo and crew. (The sock doesn't "do" Mickey.) So, after inquiring about public transportation (none), cab fare (ouch) and rental rates, the humans decided on the rental and got a really cool Toyota Matrix that the sock's owner got to drive.

Down to the Magic Kingdom (TM) they flew getting there just as the gates opened for the day. First stop, the Jungle Cruise with its hokey jokes and silly effects. The sock got an inch or so added during the wait and subsequent cruise and got its knitter to be the only person to really laugh at the jokes. The sock felt a bit sorry for the guide as the other cruisers did not even groan at her jokes and puns. The sock wondered if the others understood them.

Sock and crew then met a friend of our friend, there for the day with his son. He was giving his 3 year old a "big boy day" following the recent birth of another child. [If you have positive vibes to send, please send them down to Orlando, FL. The baby in question contracted viral meningitis and is currently hospitalized. The baby is only 2 weeks old.] The sock watched as the child and father rode Aladin's Magic Carpet and then the sock bade a fond farewell and took its owner off to another part of the park.

Always one for the cliche'd photo op, the sock had to pose in front of Cinderella's Castle. And then it saw him. The moment was full of tension and then the sock did it ... it hid in the bag while its knitter snapped a picture of Dumbo ala' topiary with all of the flying Dumbos behind it. The sock, too cowed by the presence of its favorite celebrity, stayed in the bag until after lunch.Following a not so nutritious lunch, our intrepid trio marched off to the Peter Pan ride and the 3-D PhilharMagic show. They then, having missed the worst of the rain, did a bit of shopping (presents for the kids) and headed to Epcot (also TM).

At Epcot, the sock got a glimpse of the future and saw Chinese acrobats. It is almost scary how flexible those girls are. Here we see one of them inserting two bowls in to a stack of four more bowls. The four were held on her head, the two in her feet, all while she managed to get herself up and in to the air in this position. It was only a freak of digital camera timing that caught this picture.The sock was so inspired by the acrobats that it decided to try some clever maneuvers of its own. Here is the sock braving life and limb to climb in to the mouth of a Dragon. You will notice that the dragon does not like socks and has spit it out on to a nice curlicue below it. No accounting for taste. You will notice that the sock is looking decidedly short. It is a new sock -- the old one grew weary in the Magic Kingdom (TM) and decided to have some grafting done on its toe. A new one had to be started immediately. The yarn is my second dye-o-rama attempt. (I still do not have the yarn from MY swap partner ... boo. :-( )Here, just for the beauty, are two pictures of the sunset sky over the lagoon. The sock was suitably awed.And last but not least, Ellen holding the sock just before the fireworks began. I have to admit, Disney outdoes Universal in the fireworks department.

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 1

As many of you know, I joined "Socks for Sanity" and always have a plain sock at hand to work on in odd (or not so odd) moments. The sock that started the trip was one of my Leaf Cuff socks and it did not start growing until just before we landed. I have to admit that I shoved it aside in favor of CeCe during the plane ride -- CeCe was more involved and gave me less brain to focus on the family I was seated with.

When we got to our hotel the sock was awed in to silence. The picture below shows only a small part of this place. It is huge! I got lost several times and never saw the entire thing.
The water in front is the "Harbor." I was standing on the Ferry Landing when I took this and I have to admit that we never took the ferry. While waiting the first time, we were greeted by a pedicab driver and let him take us to Universal Studios. The ride made us realize that we were within walking distance and after that we just walked to the City Walk (where the entrances to Universal's two theme parks meet and where there are lots of retail and dining opportunities).

After checking in to the hotel the sock insisted that we go to the Universal Studios theme park. Compared to the Magic Kingdom, Universal is cozy but it was still overwhelming for the sock. It hid in its bag for quite a while, occassionally poking a needle out to take a peek.

Since I have been to these places (though many, many years ago) I let my friend take the lead. Once the sock glimpsed the NYC skyline however, it started to dictate where we went.
Initially, it did not realize that we were essentially on a movie set and it insisted on going to the Guggenheim Museum. My socks are big fans of Frank Llyod Wright.
The sock was sorely disappointed however, when we got to the other side ...
The we all spied the Subway. Being a proper NYC kind of sock, it was hoping to catch a train heading uptown.Once again, the sock was thwarted. (Pictured is my friend, Ellen. She really tolerated this whole sock thing and even started enabling it once the sock stopped being camera shy.)

And then the sock started getting in to it. The sock insisted on jumping in to my hands on every ride line and even managed to stay there for the entire special effects show. The sock however, remained camera shy until it saw Woody Woodpecker. At that point, the sock lept out of my hands and in to Woody's. If you look closely you will see it on Woody's finger. It is somewhat camoflaged as it is made of Trekking XXL #100.

Then the sock went to the animal show and saw the dog from MIB II. It also saw some cool bird stunts but it was the MIB dog that most impressed it. The poor creature smashed, unintentionally, head first into a set of stone stairs. The sock did not laugh.

After catching a special effects show and being so rude as to insist on being knit while in the first row, the sock directed us to a lovely seafood resturant where we all had a leisurely meal and stayed to watch the fireworks / film clip show. All in all, a lovely day.

Tomorrow -- the sock does Disney and gets to see Pooh Bear but does not get stuck in Rabbits Hole.

Where our Heroine Battles with the Forces of Housekeeping

As the scene opens, we find our heroine as she enters a lovely hotel room. The two queen size beds are made to perfection, the bathroom is three times the size of our heroine's home facilities and the mini bar is fully stocked.

Our heroine decides to unpack fully and even hangs her hangables. She adjusts the temperature upwards and then departs for the remainder of the day to indulge in the decadence of a nearby theme park.

When our heroine returns, she is greeted with soft music, one turned down bed, a chocolate mint and a lowered thermostat. The lady in question turns off the radio, and raises the room temperature. She stows the mint for later.

Running a bath, our heroine luxuriates in the warm water while reading a trashy novel. After the relaxing soak she dries off with the fresh, clean towels and slips into bed. There, she curls up with the four fluffy pillows and quickly departs for dreamland.

In the morn our heroine is not awakened by the usual sound of the bike in the living room, but rather by the soft ding of her cell phone. This was necessitated by a lack of understanding of the workings of the alarm clock by her bedside. After performing her usual ablutions, she then departs for The Magic Kingdom (TM).

Returning to her room late that night, she finds the t.v cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the same bed turned down and two chocolate mints. She closes the cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the thermostat and slips in to bed.

Another day dawns, another theme park is conquered and our heroine returns to her room in the early evening to prepare for the opening reception of the conference that brought her south to begin with. Entering, she finds the room clean and the thermostat turned down. Shivering, our heroine turns up the temperature and transforms herself from her play persona to her work persona -- lipstick and all.

Following an enjoyable evening of networking and free alcoholic beverages, she once again returns to her room for the night. There she finds: the t.v. cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the other bed turned down and two more chocolate mints. Our heroine: shuts the t.v. cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the temperature and rips the bedspread off of the bed that she has occupied the last two nights. She then retires with a good heart.

The next day dawns and our heroine learns many good things at the conference. She also freezes her a** off but that is neither here nor there. After dinner, she returns to her room to find: the temperature lowered, the radio off, neither bed turned down and no chocolate mints. Fade to black.

Coming Soon -- The Adventures of Sock and friends in the Theme Parks

Growing Up

I'm back! There will be several posts over the next few days where I share my adventures. It will take a bit of time though, since while I was away, our construction project fell apart. The stuff we cannot do ourselves is mostly done and arrangements have been made to mostly finish things up using other resources but we will be busy doing the painting for the next few days so my time may be limited. I swear that I once swore never to paint again. See what happens when you swear!

On to my travels ... (Please note, I was traveling with a friend so I occasionally use "we." It is not the Royal We but really does refer to two people and a sock.)

------

I am growing up. Our journey starts at Laguardia airport where we watched and wondered about the family with six kids. Now remember, I only have 2 kids so they usually do not out number the adults I must assume that the rules are different when you have 6. The rules, however, should not include one parent napping while the other reads a magazine with the kids left to their own devices. That is what happened on the plane and I was lucky(?) enough to be seated in the same row as the father and one kid and in front of 3 kids under 6 years old while mom slept behind them with the last 2 kids. The kids with the parents mostly slept. The 3 behind me however ...

I did not channel my mother-in-law (but she was with me as I decided what not to do) and I did keep my temper and focused on knitting CeCe for the duration of the flight. I am proud to say that I am growing up.

Squid On Wheels

I have decided that since Female Child is really not so much a child, that all of our names, for blogging purposes are changing. We will now be: Mama Squid, Papa Squid, Squidette and Little Squid.

Today your friendly Squid family took to their wheels again and ventured up to Central Park. We have been talking about this ride for a while and I admit to being a bit concerned about the kids being able to handle the hills -- the Central Park loop is all about the hills. Silly me, the kids thought the hills were easy! The four Squid set out from our usual starting point in Chelsea at the Hudson River and rode north to 96th Street where we hit the streets to get to Central Park. Papa Squid grew up with Central Park as his back yard so the he was riding the loop as soon as he was off training wheels. Papa Squid is also a major cyclist -- the 6 mile loop is nothing to him.

We did the loop from 96th street (west side) to 102nd (east side) as two pairs -- Papa Squid and Squidette and Mama Squid with Little Squid. We tend to pair up this way because Mama has a bit more patience with Little's slower pace. Periodically, Papa and Squidette would stop and wait for us and then at 102nd street we really split with Papa and Squidette taking the Great Hill and Mama and Little Squid taking the shortcut. We were supposed to meet at 96th Street but Little and Mama blew past it and exited at 91st street, riding Central Park West back to 96th. Before we knew it, Papa and Squidette were coming toward us from downtown -- when they did not see us waiting in the Park they continued down to 91st and followed us uptown. Great minds think alike. We then persuaded the kids to ride downtown through the park to 57th Street where we walked to 57th and rode back to the Hudson River and home.

We all had a great time and the smaller squid felt a huge sense of accomplishment. The best line of the day: Mama to Little "you can do it!" Little in response (in a "silly mommy of course I can" tone) "I'm doing it." O.k, it does not translate well in to print but it was funny.

Later, I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the playground and the response I got was along the lines of "leave us alone, we're tired!"

Total mileage: 17 miles (a bit more for Squidette and Papa Squid)

Tomorrow Mama Squid is off to Orlando, Florida for the GE / Brandeis College Bound conference -- and some time at the theme parks before the conference starts on Wednesday. The blog will probably be on hiatus until some time on Saturday -- after a bike ride, of course!

I am in a panic as to how much and what kind of knitting to pack. I just wound a ball of dye-o-rama reject yarn for another pair of "plain" sockettes if I finish the Leaf Edged ones. I think that the Leaf Edged sockettes (now on the all stockinette foot) and the Child's Sock should be my plane knitting but CeCe is calling out to fly in the cabin instead of as luggage. And what if my luggage gets lost? CeCe is being knit out of my precious hand spun yarn ...

Two Boro Chocolate Tour

Today we have a tale in which the blogger serves as a tour guide to important and delicious places in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Today your intrepid bikers start out at their usual location in Chelsea and bike along the Hudson River in search of Chocolate. Alas, there is no good chocolate to be found directly along this river so the family continues past Castle Clinton (where the bathrooms were closed), past the Staten Island Ferry and up to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Once again they manage to blow the route to the Bridge walkway and have to mess around the streets a bit in Lower Manhattan. Eventually they get there and pedaling steadily, climb the very Bridge where the adults in question once fell in love (with each other) and end up in what was once the World's Fourth Largest City now, the borough of Brooklyn.

Once again (see yesterday's post), the travelers depart from the mapped route and founder their way to Main Street (yup, New York City has a Main Street) where they find Jacques Torres' Chocolate Haven.
In search of home made ice cream sandwiches, they venture inside only to be told that those delectable items can only be found in the Manhattan branch. Undaunted, our pedalers purchase a single Frozen Hot Chocolate to go and walk the streets of Brooklyn to a nearby park, sipping as they go.

Refreshed, they pause to put a band-aid on the smallest cyclist during which activity the second largest (your faithful blogger) slides along the wooden bench, to get closer to the injured party, and manages to get a splinter in her ... um, fleshy part of the upper leg. This winds up requiring the pulling up of bike shorts leg so that the largest cyclist can remove said splinter. The next-to-smallest cyclist is then drafted to remove the rest of the splinter from her mother's shorts. With no permanent damage evident, our party proceeds with their journey.

Our cyclists then spy abandoned trolley tracks in the ground, both "preserved" and in their natural state (peeking through the asphalt) -- those pictured being "preserved." The older female manages to drop her bicycle while trying to snap the aforementioned tracks, leaving her legs scratched and adding to the already thick layer of road grime.

Without aid of GPS (both of which have run out of battery power) they find their way to the Manhattan Bridge -- that for which the neighborhood of DUMBO is named (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and head back to their home borough of Manhattan. On this climb, the Largest Cyclist proves how concerned and gallant he is and waits at the mooring to make sure that Male Child and Mommy pass an Odd Character safely. (Yes, I was a bit concerned since the Odd Character certainly could have easily grabbed us as we were pedaling rather slowly at that point.) The three (Female Child having been sent ahead) then descend the bridge and all four cyclists wend their way through Chinatown and back to the East River.

Riding South they once again pass the crowds at the South Street Seaport and at the Statue of Liberty Ferry queues and continue up to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it is time to turn inland to find ... the Chocolate Haven. It is here that our travelers finally find the intoxicating ice cream sandwiches and purchase three in flavors such as Roasted Banana, Vanilla and Thai Chili Chocolate. They also purchase a bar of Milk Chocolate Creme Brule which goes in to a bag for later consumption.

Walking slowly and wheeling bikes with one hand, our travelers more then make up for any calories expended on the ride by eating these extremely large confections.

The ride is then resumed and our adventurers cycle home along the Hudson River.

Total Mileage -- roughly 18 miles, no exact count since both GPS's ran out of battery power.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, Central Park.

Circumnavigating the Hudson

So what do a couple of parents on vacation do while their kids are in camp for the day?

Get your mind out of the gutter ... we have contractors in the apartment!

No, we went for a bike ride. After four days of rain and shopping we finally got active and did something requiring little money.

Hopping on the bikes, we rode north to just below the Little Red Lighthouse. At that point we decided to try a new set of directions for getting to the George Washington Bridge. D'oh. If Mike ever gets the GPS track on line, you will see how we wandered a bit before finally finding the entrance to the bridge walk / bikeway. This "new" way involved quite a bit of stair climbing and wandering through barely tramped pathways in Riverside park before emerging on the west side of New York Presbyterian Hospital. It then involved walking south until we could get around the southern edge of the hospital and climbing one of the nastiest hills in Manhattan. After a bit of fiddling around, and an attempt that ended at the CLOSED southern bridge path, we finally got to where we could climb multiple sets of stairs to the North bridge path. It was worth it, however, the ride across the bridge was cool and offered magnificent views.

Across the bridge we go ... here is some proof, taken from the west tower of the bridge with our backs to Manhattan.














We then rode south through New Jersey after going down a very steep, 3/4 mile long hill that wore most of the rubber off of my break pads as I hung on for dear life. We were almost to Hoboken (our destination) when we got, briefly, turned around. I do not want to say "lost" because we knew where we were and how to get home -- the long way -- but were a little unsure how to get to the Ferry that we wanted to take. We stood staring at a sign that said "To Hoboken" for quite a while before deciding that we could, indeed, bike this nasty looking stretch of bridge/road in order to get to the other side.

We then meandered through Hoboken and found the proper Ferry landing where we had these lovely views of home.

On the ferry, the "conductor" directed us to hook our handlebars over a rail and then shooed us inside, away from the bikes. We sat on the edge of our, very comfortable, seats for the short ferry ride praying that the bikes would not roll in to the river. They survived -- the ride was incredibly smooth -- and we were back on the greenway, pedaling for home. Total mileage (not counting the ferry ride) about 25 miles.

We will not do this ride with the kids until they finish the greenway in New Jersey. The road were just a bit too hairy for them. Today our goal is Brooklyn and the DUMBO branch of Chocolate Haven.

Of Vanities and the High Line

As we were walking today we saw a wonderful sight, a bulldozer on the High Line. The High Line is an abandoned elevated rail line that once served the factories and warehouses downtown and now is growing wild. For years, the powers that be have debated what to do with it -- whether to tear it down or to turn it in to elevated parkland. The preservationists finally prevailed and work started in April. Anything that brings green space in to Manhattan is a good thing in my book so seeing the bulldozer was exciting.

Also exciting was this purchase:
Yes, it is a Vanity for the main bathroom. After buying this and schleping it home, we decided that our bathroom could also use a vanity. And so, we get to repeat the trip either tomorrow or next week.

Meanwhile, the Female Child's room is ready for a door. Woo Hoo! (to quote said Child)
And ... we ordered a new dining room table and chairs! They are in stock and will be delivered when we ask for them.

After our trip to Brooklyn, ending with a quick trip to the newest Fairway Market, we took a very long walk down to Soho to shop for some necessary foundation garments. Hopefully I have been properly fitted this time. We swung by Chocolate Haven and picked up some chocolate and munched on a Roasted Banana ice cream sandwich. Yum! The ice cream was sandwiched between two C.H. chocolate chip cookies and was the best ice cream sandwich I have ever had. We then tramped home and collapsed for a few minutes before heading back out to retrieve the kids from camp. All of us then proceeded to Jensen Lewis to decide on our new Dining Room table. We took with us the necessary equipment -- 3 books and a newspaper. The table has to be able to accommodate our shameful habit of reading at meals -- all of us at once. This one fits the bill while still being small enough to fit in our, while newly enlarged, still small dining area.

And now for today's question: What is your shameful secret habit? I know, if it is a secret ... o.k., your almost secret "shameful" habit? I think that all four of us reading at the dinner table is pretty sad but we do talk at other times ... and we do often wind up discussing what one of us is reading.

Email Test

This is a test to see I can post by email. I figure that if I really
need to post while on the road next week this would be a good way to
do it via my cell phone.

On the apartment front, it is getting there. The kids closets are now
framed and a channel has been cut for a new light switch. We did some
shopping and bought ... a mop. Hey, we really needed that mop!

Really, we hit 3 different furniture stores and think we know what
table we are getting. Then we hit Home Depot and determined that we
are not getting the vanity there. Tomorrow we will drive out to Lowes
and see about getting a vanity that they claim is in stock. We are
pretty much nowhere on the sofa search but we are now thinking about
down sizing the living room desk so that we can fit in another easy
chair. The four of us no longer easily fit on the couch and the one
chair.

Knitting wise, I finished the first Child's sock in a not so child
size -- it fits my size 10 foot which was the goal. I also stopped at
School Products and picked up new size 0, 1 and 2 circular needles
which I really needed. The join on one of my 0's is starting to go
and these are my main sock needles.

So, you all seem to have a variety of Sofa ages. Today's question:
What piece of furniture have you had the longest? (Not necessarily the
oldest piece of furniture.)

As a couple, we have a "bookcase" from Ikea that we purchased 4
apartments ago -- roughly 17 years. One of the kids' bed (base, not
mattress) belonged to Mike as a kid but it has not been owned
continuously by him if you figure he gave up ownership of it when we
started cohabiting and then reclaimed it when we "stole" it from his
mom about 10 years ago. The other kid bed was Mike's brother's and
they are identical.

--
http://www.squid-knits.blogspot.com

Of Vanities and Sofas

Yes, I mean bathroom vanities. While the kids are in camp today (yup, they have camp today, woo hoo!) we are going to attempt some furniture shopping. While I really want to settle the issue of the bathroom vanity -- we do not have one and the contractor is willing to earn a few more bucks installing one for us -- I have been told that I need to wait for our conversation with the contractor tomorrow to deal with this one. I will not push the issue.

Instead, we will see if any furniture dealers are open. Why do I have visions of Fourth of July sales? We have two places to hit and are looking for a sofa and a dining room table. Our old sofa, is not in too bad shape but we (I) have decided that one that stays clean-looking for more then 5 minutes is a necessity. Over the years I have spent almost as much getting it cleaned as it originally cost. So, while we are doing all of this renovating / spending money, we can get a new one.

The dining room table ... well, I finally caved in and let our old one go last summer. When dear-departed-MILs apartment was liquidated, my sister-in-law took her (Mom's) practically new table and chairs and we filled the space with our table and took one that SIL was getting rid of. SILs was not ideal but we knew that our dining room was going to changed so we took it for the interim. What this table taught us was that we needed something in-between the size of what we got rid of and SILs. Now that we are down to a card table for dining, the size issue is becoming a big one. We'd like to get the new one in ASAP after the contractor leaves. So ... that requires shopping. Ick. On the upside, it requires a long walk with Mike. This inevitably leads to talking and remembering why I love my husband. Not ick. (SILs table went to a friend last week.)

Knitting wise, I turned the heel on the Child's Sock and am ready to start the heal on my Leafy Anklets. I also spent some more time spinning of the fragment of a balcony that I have available and wound off a bobbin of Navajo-plyed lumpy bumpy yarn. More about that when it is all spun up.

Question for the day (with apologies to Ann, from whom I stole this idea):

How old is your sofa?

(14 years)

Vacation Starts

Dam! No, really -- the Kensico Dam. We loaded up the bike rack and drove to White Plains for our first out-of-city biking experience. We were planning on riding a stretch of the Bronx River Parkway which is shut for biking every Sunday but it turns out that it is only shut during May, June, September and October and this, of course was the first weekend in July. There is, however, a nice paved path that heads to the Kensico Dam and so we took it. It was a different sort of ride -- the going was necessarily slow due to the nature of the path so the kids found the hills tough since they could not get up speed before hand. I found the hills tough because I was trailing the male child and was going even slower. On my own, the hills would not have been a big deal. They were short so just as you run out of energy you are at the top -- at least at my normal pace.
The ride was only 6 miles as opposed to the 14 we were expecting but we got the experience of loading and unloading the bike rack and finally figured out how to get all 4 bikes on it.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in the playground and in the apartment. I carved out a small corner of my balcony to spin in. The contractor has totally taken over my balcony. :-( Dinner was a lovely chef's salad containing homegrown cherry tomatos. This year promises to be a good tomato year for us.

Our day with friends on Saturday was lovely. At some point we looked at our watches and realized that we had been there for 6 hours. The day just flew as the kids played nicely and the adults just talked and talked and talked. I finished the edging for my second trekking sock and got some work done on my Child's French Sock from Vintage Socks.

And in, conclusion, here is my sock waving to Ann's sock waving to Susan's socks waving to Cookie's socks.

Not Maudlin

I know that I promised you a maudlin post but I decided to skip it. Instead I give you knitting in the form of the first Embossed Leaf Anklet.
These are being knit in a Trekking colorway which I was going to identify until the label disappeared. Sock one is done and the second sock is now on the needles. We are spending the day visiting with really good friends so I should make ample progress on this today.

No apartment update -- they cleared the rubble bags and we are now in a steady state until Wednesday. This kids' beds have been unstacked so that they can sleep relatively comfortably for the next few days. We will reconsider sleeping arrangements on Wednesday.

Over the next two months you will see reference to a lot of shopping. Please do not judge me harshly, I hate shopping and I hate it so much that I let things totally wear out before they are replaced. Almost all of our sheets / towels are now in this condition and with a nice "new" apartment I have the opportunity to really think about "decorating" and coordinating things. Yeah, right. I promise, once this spurt of redecorating is done you will never hear from me on this subject again.

Now off for a day of fun!

Construction

I will skip a Graduation report. Suffice to say that it is over. We hugged, we cried and I think that is all I will say about that. No pictures -- I was on stage for most of it and doing crowd control / directing graduates for the rest. I think I kind of like the part about assisting with the graduates. It got me in a position where I could hug my faves without slowing up the works.

When I left for work yesterday, I left an essentially intact apartment. Reorganized, but intact. When I got home, however, I found this (male child's closet):
And this (view into Female Child's room taken from living room):
And this (Female Child's closet):
And I leave you with this:
Six violins in a row. (We only own 5 of them, the 6th is going back on Monday. (Actually, we only own 4 of them -- one belongs to my brother-in-law and we are not quite sure what will happen with it. It may take the trip to Kentucky with us in a few weeks.)) They spend the day resting on my bed to keep them safe.

Now, off to that last day of work.

3 a.m.

It is almost 3 a.m. and I am wide awake. This does not bode well for Graduation this afternoon.

This is a weird week. I am packing at home (all done) and packing at work. At work the packing is to leave all surfaces clear so that the custodian can get a good cleaning done. I am, however, being defeated as construction grit keeps blowing through my airconditioner and on to my computer and papers. Now, the easy answer would be to turn off the a/c but ... it isn't on! I showed this to my custodian (a wonderful new guy) and I think he is excited about the challenge of getting the building up to his standards while keeping ahead of the contractor's dirt. Fine with me. I fully expect to find the building shining when we return at the end of August. He even promised to refinish my gym floor. I think I'm in love! (O.k., maybe not, but I really like this guy!)

Today is a short day in the NYC schools -- the last day. My kids are being picked up by my Dad and will spend the next two days with my folks. This will get them through the first set of demolition with, I hope, minimal stress. The Male child is bouncing along merrily, the Female child is taking this hard. Part of it is that up until last year, the last two days of June were always spent with Mike and his Mom. The four of them would hang out together and do things like go rowing in Central Park while I worked. Last year, the kids spent those days with my folks while Mike and his siblings and I spent in the the MICU waiting room. This is not an easy week.

I will try not to be too maudlin but if you are looking for light reading, skip Friday / Saturday's post.

As a post-script to yesterday's post -- we decided to buy the violin so, the Female Child now has something to grow in to.

As a post-script to the post from the day before -- I am zipping along on a new sock from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks. I do not remember which one right now and, as the computer is precariously perched on my lap and the lights are out, I am not checking. I promise to fill you all in at a later time.

Now to surf myself to sleep ...

On Your Mark ...

Get Set ... Demolish!

The construction starts tomorrow. This means that tonight will be a flurry of activity as we do the final preparations which include dismantling the dining room table (a friend is taking it) and moving the Female Child's bed in to her brother's room.

Somehow we are also squeezing in violin lessons today and Mike will decided if he wants to buy one or both of the violins that he has been trying out. He took them to be evaluated by some professionals yesterday and is slightly on the fence. It seems that the one he and Female child really love is a bit long of neck. If Female child continues to grow ala' her mother, then she will have large hands and long, slender, fingers. This will work with the violin. We are possibly taking a chance but they both love the sound of it so I suspect that we will own it by the end of the evening.

I was not brought up with music of this sort in my life. We were more of a Broadway Musical kind of family along with music with rousing and /or funny lyrics. Until I met Himself I did not really know from Classical music and I certainly did not know anyone who played the violin. During those first few summers of our courtship, I was introduced to Concerts in the Park -- the NY Philharmonic playing on the Great Lawn of Central Park. I was also introduced to Theater in the Park and got my first real taste of Shakespeare.

We try to combine our upbringings with me blasting the kids with show tunes in the car (Male child could sing the entire score to West Side Story at age 4) and Classical music in the apartment. Mike spent much of the last year ripping his dad's classical record collection to digital form. He is not even a third of the way done -- there were over 5000 albums. (They are mostly stored at his sister's house.) They were played aloud, for the most part, during this process, providing a nice calm backdrop to sometimes misty-eyed year.

Last year we were all introduced to Live Opera and instantly fell in love. Honestly, I never thought I would like opera. We have a friend who is the equivelent of an Operatic Crack Dealer. First she gifted us with free rehersal tickets. Then free tickets to a few Operas, then it came: "I can get you tickets to Die Fledermaus but you have to pay a little." Now we are hungering for season tickets -- orchestra of course -- and are trying to figure out if we can afford this. They would have to be weekend matinee's due to Male Child's tendancey to get migranes when kept out too late. Hmm ...

Knitting along

I have a severe case of startitis. For some reason I feel that I should have multiple projects in progress for various events. For example, I have one Trekking sock on the needles (see the project in my hands in the last post) but feel that I should knit the edging for the second so that I will have it all ready for plain knitting when I finish the first. Since I am in no danger of finishing it any time soon, this is a somewhat unreasonable fear. Unlike the graduation in the last post, the next graduation I attend will have me up on stage, unable to knit.

To forestall my ravishing the ball of trekking, I started and finished these little socks. They are made from the rainbow dying experiment from dye-o-rama. (Dear sister, please do not panic, they will only come to your child if you ask -- otherwise they are probably going to charity. I just needed to knit something small and quick.)

Then there are these sockettes, finished the night before graduation. They are displayed, so nicely, on the feet of their owner, the famous Female child.
And then there is this:The One Skein Wonder from Glampyre.

It was highlighted on another blog and I thought it might be cute for the other sister. There was work involved in getting this pattern -- my paypal account had not been used in several years and so was not active. The yarn is leftover from the Futurama socks.

I also did some spinning of some scarily bright, very neppy wool acquired when I was still a spinning newbie. I am letting it do it's thing and intend to knit a felted bag out of it so the neppiness won't matter. The pattern that I think I want, however, is of course, packed away. We will see just how much I get spun before the construction ends. Maybe I won't need the pattern or maybe I will just get a different one.

And there you go. On the apartment front, the kids rooms are now essentially empty. We will clear off the walls tomorrow and make the final storage room run.

Graduation Number 1

This started out as a whiney post about the length of the graduation but you don't want to read a whine.

So instead I give you this:
And this:
(Those are her first dangly earrings.)

And this:

I managed to completely knit a heel during the graduation.

To add to all of the celebrating of birthday / graduation / lost tooth (yup, she lost one last night),also just we found out that Female Child made it in to the Math Honors program at her new middle school. Yea!!! Now she is being a good kid and writing her thank you notes.

And last, because he is NOT chopped liver, I give you this:Here he is at his end of year publishing party this morning. I know this picture makes him look like he is about to cry but trust me, he was happy.

Happy Birthday to my First Born

How do you go from this:
To this:
In the blink of an eye?

This is our bestest girl, our sweetie, pickle, cutie, smartie. I could probably go on but my eyes are filling with tears of pride and joy. From the moment she entered our lives she has been the joy of our days and the light of our lives.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

(For those of you who wonder if this is the all-female-child-all-the-time blog, I promise to show more of the second born after all of this week's celebrations are over. He is also my pride and joy and is NOT chopped liver!) Thursday, Graduation!

Summer Has Arrived

Here are the reasons why I know that summer has arrived:
1. It is a Gallon jug of sunblock. Yes, a gallon. Note the neat pump on top. No more spilling sunblock all over the floor. (My floor was recently voted least likely to get sunburned.) This lovely jug of anti-skin-cancer juice was delivered on Friday and has already seen significant use.

2. Traffic is light. Yesterday morning I made it from 26th street to 81st street without having to stop for a single traffic light. This means that there was no traffic to impede my perfect 30 mph cruise. (The lights are timed for 30 mph.) This means that people have already started taking 3 and 4 day weekends. It does not bode well for today, however.

3. Tomorrow is a certain someone's birthday and that has meant, for the last 11 years, that it is summer.4. One of the adults in this household has been out almost every other weeknight since June began. (The identity of the adult changes.) This means that Retirement Party, End of Year Party, Awards ceremonies, Graduations and assorted other end-of-school-year celebrations are in full swing. Last night was Mike's night as he attended a function for a program that raises money for his school. Tonight is my night with our Senior Awards Ceremony. Please think cool thoughts. Our auditorium is NOT air conditioned.

5. Spring Regents are in full swing and I am getting considerable exercise running up and down the stairs to the Vault. I think of this as my pre-summer conditioning. The combination of the stairs and the schleping of the exams up the stairs (Because dragging a cart from one end of the building, to the center and back to the original end (one floor down) is just silly most of the time.) provides a pretty good workout.

6. A tomato is ripe.7. My morning glories are growing several inches each day and ... have already started flowering. Unfortunately, they are flowering at a time when I am not around to see them. Boo.
How do you know that summer has arrived? Tell me in the comments!

100th Post

Wow, has it been that many? To celebrate, we have cake! Made by Mike! (Want to see more of his creations? Click here.)O.k., so maybe the cake is not for the 100th blog. Maybe it is for the Female Child.

Who, with six of her friends, had a lovely tea party / birthday party at the T Salon. A lovely time was had by all but no more pictures will be forthcoming because I am only just getting the hang of using Picassa and I cannot figure out how to blur the other kids faces. I probably can't do it in Picassa but then looking at pictures of lovely young ladies with blurred faces is not so exciting anyway.

The actual birthday is next week and we will celebrate a bit more then.

I was pleased that the young ladies all had a good time chatting, drinking tea and partaking in a "proper tea" with scones with jam and clotted cream, tea sandwiches, fruit and sweets. Surprisingly, they ate almost all of the sandwiches which were a bit on the sophisticated side. The arm in the picture belongs to the owner who arrived just as we were doing the cake. She had all of the girls wish along to strengthen the birthday girl's wish. I thought that was very nice.

On the way home we spotted this:

Who knew New York City had tree snakes!

Anyone want this?

In our flurry of cleaning out and packing up, this was uncovered.

It was made for the Female Child and used for a while by the Male Child. They no longer want it. I did not make it. My sister does not want it. I am offering it up to anyone that does want it. The offer will remain valid for a few days until I can pack it up and donate it to the Teen Moms program at a local hospital. I will pay shipping to make sure this goes to a good home.

You will be returned to your regular blog later today with pictures from the Birthday Party. 

Before the Demolition

We are spending much of this weekend packing up in preparation for the renovations that will start on the 28th.
As promised, here are the before pictures with explanations. Wait six weeks or so for the after pictures.

This is the dining room / foyer area. The wall behind the ceiling fan (with the hummingbird painting) is the one that is coming down.








Here it is from it's other side, inside Female Child's room. It is the wall with the sunflower picture on it and it forms a small corridor in to her room. The new door will face where the sunflower picture is. The old door is out of the picture on the left. The large plant is named Brosin and is, I believe, a Dracinea. It was grown from a cutting from one that my mother-in-law had. There are two other Brosins in the apartment, one in the Male Child's room and one in my room. The other two were cut from this one. I suspect that this Brosin will get a massive "hair cut" after the construction. It hits the ceiling right now.

Female Child's windows. The shades were originally in our living room in a different apartment. They may be replaced. We are definately putting in curtains of some sort and a shelf will go above the windows so she can display her tchokes.









Female Child's closet. Note the door. The walls on either side of the door actually conceal the rest of the closet wherein lies the problem. The closet is almost unusable as is since we have to do some interesting feats of gymnastics to get anything on either side of the door. The walls are coming down and sliding doors are going up so that the entire closet will be usable.







Same thing in the Male Child's room. You can get a sense of the stupidity of the layout in this picture.

Both closets have to, obviously, be cleaned out as well as most of their belongings from the rest of the rooms. We have already moved the one of the big bookcases and the dresser out of the Female Child's room in to our room and placed a small bookcase from our room in to storage. We did not throw out the book case I mentioned the other day, we just relocated it in our room to make room for the dresser.

Unfortunately, cleaning and packing is taking precedence over biking today. Tomorrow, to no small extent, revolves around the Female Child's birthday Tea Party. She and Mike will decorate the cake later so look for pictures of it tomorrow.

I did it!

I made the conference and airline reservations and am going two day early to play with my friend. Why do I feel guilty?

And ... the most important question ... what knitting should I bring with me?

---

Mike met with the contractor last night and we have to kick in to high gear with getting Female Child's room totally emptied. I am going to check out a mini-storage facility this evening and we should be able to start schleping stuff over tomorrow. Last night I emptied a bookcase in my room that contained mostly fiber. We will be relegating that bookcase to the trash. It is old and will not handle being moved around too much. I know ... bookcases in the trash ... blasphemy. We have made the kids spend lots of time in the last few weeks thinning out their belongings and now I am in "pack it or throw it out" mode. No more sorting and thinking for me.

Once again, I am left with the most important question: what fiber stuff do I leave out and what do I pack? I have already folded the loom and put it in its bag. The main wheel will probably go in to the storage room while the journey wheel may stay but probably not. I think spindles will suffice and the charka will ease those "got to spin fast" cravings. I am trying to keep most of the yarn stash accessible in the apartment.

The construction will creep in to every room in the apartment except for the master bedroom. The contractors will need the kitchen sink for their water needs and will use my balcony for their tools and lunch. Both kids' rooms are having 2/3 of their closet walls demolished. (The closet door placement was badly designed with a single door in the center and solid walls stretching to either side making 2/3 of each closet almost inaccessible.) The dining area/foyer is losing a partial wall as is Female Child's room (same wall, other side).

The end result of all of this will be easier to use closets, a larger living area and a fresh paint job in most rooms. We will be in residence for the first three and a half weeks -- most of the job -- and then will probably take off on a camping trip if they really do stretch in to the fourth week as they are now predicting.

How to not cook

Regents "week" officially started today at 1:15 P.M. when thousands of 10th graders all over New York State took the Global History Regents Exam. I view it as the beginning of the end.

<<<>>>

I had written a well thought out piece about stress and the different testing seasons and how I started with this particular set of responsibilities but after the day I had I think it is better if I leave work well enough alone.

Instead, I will share the reason that I rarely cook. It is a much funnier story. At least I think so.

Back when the First child was born, I was the sole source of baby food. Since it was summer, Mike promised that he would feed me as I had to feed the baby. Fair enough. When fall came and we resumed work, I was forced to cook a few times a week when Mike had to work late. I had a standard repitoire and rarely burned anything. We ate pretty well if I do say so myself.

Then the Second (Male) child was born and I, once again, was the sole source of food for many months. However, I was also at home most of the time for the first few months so I did a decent amount of the cooking. Then I returned to work for the Spring semester and Mike took over again. We ate very well as he had lots of time on his hands as I was doing the drop off and pick of the kids every day.

Then the summer came. And then the Fall and a return to school. And then came the fateful night when I cooked a dish I had made many times before. This time, however, I either turned the heat up too much or added too little liquid and before we knew it we smelled it ... burnt dinner. O.k., everyone burns things. The next day I get a call at work ... "what are you going to char tonight?" I have barely cooked since. And now that I am banned from the kitchen ... hey, more knitting time!

It is Declared

... that Mommy is no allowed in the kitchen any more (except to clean it and maybe make a cup of tea)! I committed a few sins last night while left fend for myself and the kids. I left a sharp knife out -- unwashed. I left the mayonnaise out. And, I committed the ultimate sin of putting mayonnaise on Male Child's pastrami sandwich. (I didn't think he'd eat mustard and hey, the sandwich is on Potato bread!) Please note that it is not the Male child that is complaining (tho he may do so after eating his lunch today). I have been banished by the King of the Kitchen. He who provides edible food for us. I can deal with that. (This is the man who came home from work yesterday, made dinner for us, and then left to go to a work-related dinner. He left everything nice and warm and only left the steaming of the asparagus for me to do -- the people from the Big Corporation that sponsor his mentoring program were a bit astonished. Do I have it good or what!) One of these days I will share the whole long story of why I, essentially, no longer cook.

I and thinking of running away to Disney World. What do you think? Our school belongs to a consortium and the annual conference is in Orlando this year. In the past I have not been able to attend and frankly, have not wanted to. This year, however, I am thinking that two nights alone in a hotel room with food and board paid for, sounds kind of good. I am even thinking of extending it for one night. My friend is extending for two but I feel a bit guilty about going to Disney without the kids. I could rejigger camp and bring them but since someone has to stay home to supervise the construction, it really does not work.

So, dear blog reader, I am asking ... do I go? And, if I do, do I extend for a day or two?

Blowin' in the Wind

The wind defeated our plan of riding up to and over the George Washington Bridge. We went as far as Fairways and then rode back down to Stuyvesant H.S., hit Chocolate Haven and then rode home. Total mileage: 17.5 so we did not break 100 miles today. The kids, however, were finally able to ride up the 2 hills on this stretch of path. The hill on the return trip is a steep, narrow, winding hill and I rarely get up it without walking because of the traffic coming in the opposite direction. They both made it but I had to walk the last few yards due to a wonky chain.

Next week, weather permitting we will try for a long ride on Saturday. On Sunday we'll host a few young ladies at a birthday Tea Party at the T Salon. To further our goal of riding on Saturday, Mike has already started baking the birthday cake. (The actual birthday is still 10 days away.)

Yesterday saw the purchase of a bike rack to attach to our newly installed hitch on the car but we still have not figured out where our first drive-to ride will be. We are contemplating riding New York State Bike Route 9 up to Mike's sister's place. This would not be a single trip, initially, but might exist as a series of "park the car and ride a 20 - 30 mile round trip" as we build up our mileage. It might be cool to view the entire 70 mile ride (one-way) as a goal for the end of the summer. We shall see ...

On a fibery note, I finally finished plying the ??? yarn and spun a bobbin-full of the rose corriedale. The plying had to be finished if I wanted to spin anything else on the Kromski -- all of my other bobbins are holding assorted singles. Woven gained a few more rows last night and the sockette gained a few while blog surfing.

On other fronts, there are two more weekends from now until summer break and the start of construction. We have three different appointments on Wednesday afternoon all looking toward the future. The first -- Sherry is coming to give 3 of us hair cuts. Woo Hoo! Male Child is looking a bit scruffy. (Mike is almost bald right now.) Then (actually, simultaneously), Heather is coming for this week's violin lessons at which we may be purchasing the kids' adult size violins. (She got a good deal on some very good violins and is giving us first crack at them.) Then ... Glen is coming to talk to us about the construction. Finally I get to talk about paint colors and flooring and timetables. Yea!!! We will try to forget that Wednesday also marks the start of the New York State Regents period and that countless high school students will be sweating through the Global History exam from 1:15 until 4:15. Personally, Wednesday marks the beginning of the end of the school year and this year I am really looking forward to it. I am not looking forward to the dust and discomfort of the construction but I am looking forward to a freshly renovated and painted apartment. I will try to put up some "before" pictures prior to Glen starting the demolition.