Everything clean! Thanks for the well wishes.
The tornado sirens just woke me. In Tornado Alley, we have tornado sirens like air raid sirens that the National Weather Service (I think) turns on when there’s a tornado.
Tonight there are tornadoes far to the north of me, but very close to my parents. They should be fine though – the tornado passed about a mile or two north of them. I stuck with News 9, and they kept me advised.
I think I’ll go back to bed, we seem to be in the clear.
Today was, whew. I woke up to someone yelling downstairs, which had me up like a shot – only to find that they were arguing over a soda straw and a yarn end. I was so not patient with that, especially because there were four other yarn bits and two other straws right there, for God’s sake. Argh!
Then Bede was very upset (read: screaming at the top of his lungs) because one of his favorite websites was down. And then Gilbert, who is working on getting out of diapers, had a huge mess. And all the dipes and wipes were out in the laundry room, which is outside. And it was cold.
It was at that point that I wanted to just go back to bed.
And then, this afternoon, the pipe leading to the main sewer clogged, so every single drain in my house overflowed. Yep. While Sean was gone, and unreachable, for about 5 hours. Yes, the toilet too. And the kids were in the shower, so the bathtub was full, and the sink in the bathroom was full because Sean had shaved in it just a few minutes before, and the kitchen sink full because Faith had used it.
And then?
Then the water from the bathroom, the toilet water, the yucky from a rinsed diaper water, it seeped through the floor and started leaking through the kitchen ceiling.
Right over the cereal and cracker boxes. Yah.
Mr. Rooter was called and all was fixed. My mom came over and a.) watched the kids for 20 min while the plumber fixed it and b.) paid for said plumber because I had no money and Sean was gone. Our landlord will reimburse you Mom, but thanks for being there (like always, but we don’t take you for granted Mom. you’re amazing!)
So, that was that. Guh.
My friend learned today that her unborn son does NOT have a life-threatening urinary valve blockage and associated renal failure. So even though my day really blew hers was one of the best of her life, I’d expect. I’m totally basking in that happiness secondhand, and so, so glad that my biggest problems are poopy cereal boxes and squabbles over yarn ends.
Goodnight all.
TECHknitter’s post on flat tops and no distortion of ribbing at the crown decreases for ribbed hats.
I know most of my readers aren’t knitters. And even those who are aren’t as geeky as me.
But a few of you are just as geeky and “I can’t knit a pattern unless I modify it.” Enjoy!
On that note, finally got my own copy of EZ’s Knitter’s Almanac. Best $8 I’ve spent in years! Contrary to what many have been told, Little Turtle Knits did not come up with the term “longies” for knitted wool pants. So if you’re selling them as longies and get hassled by someone who says you can’t call them that unless you get a LTK license, refer them to page 25 of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac and tell them to buzz off. So there!
I know a few knitters who were bullied a bit about that a few years ago. Meh.
I had hopes that Trixie’s scream would leave as her language grew, but so far it’s just adding to it. The scream is truly magnificent to hear, like a physical thing. That such a small throat could produce such an incredibly loud noise… wow. I’ve read that howler monkeys can be heard for (goes to look it up) 3 miles. She’s not that loud, I’m sure, but very penetrating, you know? Whew.
Ah, the soundtrack of my life.
Trixie found these two eggs and didn’t care to get any more:
G-Lo powerfist:
The other pix didn’t turn out, darn it.
Saturday Faith and Bede had their joint birthday party. It was a blast! We had an assortment of friends and family come over for cake. Nothing extravagant. Faith was given Barbies, craft kits and fairy books and Bede was given alphabet books and stickers, car books and several Hot Wheels.
The best moment was when we were singing Happy Birthday and Bede, who was in the living room totally absorbed by his stickers, came in to the dining room where we were singing and sat down in front of his cake and actually tried to blow the candles out when we finished singing. He never ‘got’ birthdays before this, and the singing would either make him scream (he used to REALLY hate when we sang) or he’d ignore it and lunge for the cake. This year he knew what was what.
I’m so thankful for his autism because it makes me notice and appreciate those sorts of little things that parents of nonautistic kids totally take for granted. (Or at least I did, anyway, before Bede came into our lives.) As well as so many things I’d never have noticed at all. WTG Bede!
Faith’s cake was florally encrusted with frosting flowers. Bede’s was 18 cupcakes spelling H A P P Y 5TH B I R T H D A Y B E D E. They both loved their cakes. Faith’s was really, really beautiful, and Bede’s was, well, really letter-y.
Then there was Easter, which will get its own post tomorrow with pictures. Now I gotta go to bed!
It’s hard to believe she’s two months old. She’s big too, busting out of 0-3 weeks ago and really too big for most 3-6. I don’t know what she weighs (it’s not polite to ask) but she’s definitely healthy!
Love these face splitting infant grins!
Bede’s up for his annual visit with the spectacular Diana Mobley, PhD in a month or so. I’m thinking over his development this year, along with autistic mind structure, and I saw these tests posted in a community for adults with Asperger’s Syndrome.
I took ‘em.
Autism Spectrum quotient:
Your score: 40
0 – 10 = low
11 – 22 = average (most women score about 15 and most men score about 17)
23 – 31 = above average
32 – 50 is very high (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 35)
50 is maximum
Systemizing quotient:
Your score: 67
0 – 19 = low
20 – 39 = average (most women score about 24 and most men score about 30)
40 – 50 = above average (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score in this range)
51 – 80 is very high (three times as many people with Asperger Syndrome score in this range, compared to typical men, and almost no women score in this range)
80 is maximum
I always think my own identification as ‘probably autistic’ is all in my head. Ha, ha. Of course it is, where else would it be? In my knees? But seriously. I guess I really might be.
Bede just scored a win.
He climbed up on the dining table, leaned over to the shelves next to it, and nabbed our Firefly box set. He dashed off with it, crowing “Fie-er-fwy! Hmhnn!” and before I could catch up to him (I was holding G-Lo) he had a disc out of the box and ran over to the DVD player.
He selected “Shindig.” One of my faves. The captions are on and he’s reading them all and hopping up and down happily. He seems to like River and Mal the best – kid’s got taste. Tomorrow he’s going to line up exciting new crime, I’m sure.
On that note, I loved the second one of these.
Happy Birthday, Faith!
She has yet to submit to the camera today. Look how cute she was, tho:
She’s about 3 and a half, there. She’s eight now (and she’s still cute.)
I don’t know why I blog vs. keeping a private journal. I like to get your comments, I guess. But that also means that I feel like I need to entertain you. And I worry that you’ll be bored by my short “Bede did this” posts.
But at any rate, today Bede played with Cars cars with Faith and me, which he never does.
And now the baby is crying so I can’t elaborate.
Seventeen months old:
Same look, captured today, five years old:
And a few more:
Bede said “Want see Daddy?” after Sean left to go to the store just now.
A notable first. Sean’s going to be delighted!
I’m writing this here to remember it.
Gilbert just bumped his head, and came over to me crying. (It’s unclear whether he bumped his own head or was pushed into bumping it by Bede.) Bede got off his computer, squeezed in next to Gilbert – basically draping himself over Gilbert, who had his head in my lap – kissed Gilbert’s cheek and then, as Gilbert stood up, gave him a gentle, loving hug with an affectionate look on his face.
I was verbalizing through this for both boys: “Nice boys! Brothers! Brothers love! A kiss! A hug! Bede loves Gilbert! Gilbert loves Bede!” Gilbert was just as touched by it as I was, and smiled and hugged back as he said “I love you too, Bede.”
I’m just blown away by this. My sweet boys! Snif.
I got this in an email:
This is great…
This is a 5th grade math problem. If you can’t stand word math problems,
Just delete now. If you can open the spreadsheet, you’ll see it’s a very
Small list of people who have gotten the correct number. THIS IS NOT A
TRICK QUESTION.
This is a real math problem so don’t say that a bus has no legs.
The bus driver is not part of the equation.There are 7 girls in a bus.
Each girl has 7 backpacks.
In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.
For every big cat, there are 7 little cats.Question:
HOW MANY LEGS ARE THERE ON THE BUS???The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet.
If you open it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.Good Luck! It Works.
I’m not an Excel user, so I had to download Microsoft’s Excel Viewer thingy. I got the correct answer, but I don’t like email forwards (tho this one is clever.) But I did enjoy it – and I got it right.
So, here’s my plan: If you think you know the correct answer, enter it as the password here and leave a comment.
Meow! Get to it!
Three men in a tub, rub a dub dub. That’s Abby, Trixie in the middle, and Gilbert.
Faith
Gloria fell asleep holding Faith’s finger. Aww!
|
