KateOhKatie blogs

My week has been filled with 11-, 12-, and 13-hour days.

I have at least three loads of laundry to do tonight.

I must pack for our trip to St Louis this weekend.

My house is a mess.

I haven’t showered today.

But I’m blogging.  Because you know what?  I deserve it.

Also, I’m eating this:

Because I deserve it.

First, on the preschool front–no accidents today!  One dirty Pull-up, but hey, isn’t that what Pull-ups are for?  Yesterday, one of my more difficult 2-year-olds actually pooped IN THE TOILET!  A cause for celebration like no other, I assure you.  Apparently, this was not only his first at school poop-in-the-toilet, but his first *ever* poop-in-the-toilet.  I feel blessed to have been present for such a monumental event.    But really, though, this does excite me like no other…it sure doesn’t take much anymore, does it?

Also had to deal with a highly negative influence in my classroom today.  Can’t go into too much detail because of confidentiality issues, but let’s just say it made my day much more stressful than it should have been otherwise, and that the board and I are taking steps to ensure it can’t happen again.

Found a few minutes the other day in which I persuaded Jeff to take a few photos of my wrap out in the daylight:

This should be enough to scare any small children I might come across:

As usual, I was going for ’sultry’ but ended up with ‘bored’:

Trippy:

So that’s my wrap, in a nutshell.  And I promise this is the last time I’ll blog about it until I wear it at the wedding…

The wedding!  Five weeks away, and I still have oh-so-many ripples to do.

Have I mentioned I hate ripples?  I mean, I love them…but I hate them.

Tomorrow, I promise, a cookie recipe.  Worth waiting for (even if the photography isn’t).

PS>Speaking of photography:  in St Louis this weekend Jeff has promised I can go to Best Buy and fondle try out a D40.  Here’s hopin’ I like the feel of it!

I have the absolute best post (well, in my opinion anyway ) to put up later, but for now I’ve gotta dash off to class.  Check back around 8 or 9 tonight!

It’ll be about three fantastic things…

***
Edit 9:25pm
***

First Fantastic Thing:

Look what I finished last night!
(for reference, this is what color it actually is)

(ignore my slightly psychotic (read:  ‘normal’) look)

Goes well with the pajamas, doesn’t it?

And the obligatory yarn-smelling picture:

I seriously, honestly, wish I could show this to each and every one of you in person so you could touch the softness and behold the purdyness that is the First Fantastic Thing. 

Bet you’re disappointed that my First Fantastic Thing was just a bunch of pics of me wearing that wrap, right?

For those of you who are into knitting, here are the details:
Made with 7 1/2 skeins of Urban Silk–about 730 yards.  I meticulously stitched on about a hundred of these beads:

though of course you can’t see in the photos, but it does add just the right touch of sparkle in ‘real life’.  Jeff was the one who suggested the fringe; I’m glad he did–I think it really finishes the piece nicely!  This is the third thing I’ve ever knit, btw…and looks a lot more difficult looking than it actually was .  I’m just glad I got it done in time for my cousin’s wedding in October!

May take more photos of it tomorrow when I’ve got daylight again (hopefully the sun won’t suddenly expire tonight ).

I took some photos of the BCBG dress I got, but they’re horrible even by my standards, so I’ll try again tomorrow on those, too   Dress needs some alterations–nothing major, just to be taken in at the bust.  ::sigh::…all my dresses need to be taken in at the bust–plight of the nearly-boobless, right?

Second Fantastic Thing

I also made this today:

(Edit:  guess who just learned how to up the exposure to ‘brighten up’ my photos?  Meeee!)

Mmm…

I also seriously, honestly wish I could give each one of you a thick, buttered slice of this delicious homemade bread, and then we’d wash our hands and touch the wrap some more

I don’t use a breadmaker…never have and never will!  But everybody can make bread. I got my super-simple recipe from the 1970s Betty Crocker.  And since I can’t give each one of you a thick, buttered slice of this delicious homemade bread in person, I’ll post a tutorial with the recipe in a couple days, once I can persuade Jeff to video me and take a bunch of pictures over my shoulder

Third Fantastic Thing (for the exclusive benefit of my mom)

Today I had my last ever First Day of School (except my eventual graduate school, of course!)

So I had Jeff take my traditional First Day of School photo by the front door.

Here ya’ go, Mom:

Yay!  In four months I’ll be a college graduate!  Today I filled out my last ever scholarship renewal form…I can’t wait to say goodbye to the financial aid office forever!

17 years I’ve been in school…and now I’m so close to finished, I can almost taste it.  For some reason, it tastes like homemade bread…oops–how’d I start eating another slice?

…in a day and a half.

A cat was added, for scale.  Also, it’s not really crooked–that’s just how an afghan looks after a cat has been prancing all over it for five minutes.  For the record.

I think this will be one of the four afghans I hope to give my four cousins/flower girls for Christmas–if I can get the other two done in time!

Here was Macbeth last night:

Just a bit too innocent looking, no?  I’m sure if he had thumbs he’d be twiddling them.

And yes, just in case you were wondering, he was resting on Jeff’s crotch.  He did that to himself.

You may or may not have noticed this, so I’m sorry if I take any of you by surprise:

I rather enjoy taking pictures, on occasion.

There, I said it.

Jeff and I bought this one back in October 2005, right after we got engaged.  It’s been a halfway decent little camera, though very persnickety.  For example, it doesn’t like taking pictures inside.  Y’know, no biggie, but whatev.    I have to turn the ISO up to 400 or use a tripod in order to avoid blur, and with the ISO up, of course I just end up with grainy photos.  And if this camera can’t keep up with my cats’ movements now, how will it keep up with a baby’s in a few years?  It’s also very limited in its macro capabilities, and of course that common point-and-shoot problem of the long delay between photos.

In short, even though I don’t know (much of) anything about cameras, I know I’ve outgrown it.

So for the past several months, this has been the object of my affection:

I’ve read every single Amazon review on the silly thing, attempted to teach myself some about using a DSLR –lenses, exposures, etc–and can only conclude that *I NEED THIS CAMERA*!

So y’all just give me $533, and we’ll all be happy, m’kay?

Really, though, I can’t wait until I save up enough pennies to buy this baby.  Jeff already knows that’s what I’m working toward, and he’s been very impressed with my lack of clothing purchases as of late (notice I didn’t say lack of shoe purchases ), and I’m hoping to be able to afford this by Christmastime.

For an entry-level DSLR, this one seems very well-equipped.  Some of the drawbacks that were mentioned by reviewers–only 3 AF points, only one LCD, etc. wouldn’t really interfere with my needs (at least, I don’t think they would!), and I love the idea of an inexpensive, entry-level DSLR that can be used at a variety of levels–sort of a ‘grow with me’ camera.  I’ll also be excited to get a couple photography books and start learning how to *really* use it!  Not sure which lens(es) I’ll get to start out with–I figure before investing a lot of money I should know what’s what, though.

So anywhoo, I’ve said my piece, and now that y’all know what I’m saving money toward, maybe I’ll be more motivated to actually save.

Anybody else have some sort of a DSLR?  How did you decide which one to get?  Does it meet your needs? 

Yesterday we drove down from Kirksville, and Mom and Dad drove up from KC, and we all met at my grandma’s house in Sumner.

Never heard of Sumner MO, huh?  Well you don’t know what you’re missing out on

Sumner is home to the honest-to-goodness World’s Largest Canadian Goose.  Behold, Maxie:

(no, that’s not where we got the idea for our dog’s name)

Jeff was the smart one, relaxing in the shade while I ran around taking pictures:

Yes, I’ve been reduced to taking pictures from afar, where he doesn’t notice what I’m doing and usually can’t catch me and wrestle the camera from my grip.

Pulling up to Grandma’s house:

I love grandma’s house.  It’s so cozy:

She’s been living there for 60 years.  Wow.

I also love Grandma’s quilt shop.  It’s so cozy, too:

(more on that later)

Oh yeah, and I love Grandma.  Even if she doesn’t smile in pictures:

And while we’re on the topic, I suppose Mom and Dad aren’t too bad either:

Grandma feeds us cookies and cinnamon rolls and sends all the leftovers home with us:

Grandma’s house is full of pictures of her kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and I think a few of people she doesn’t even know   (ok just kidding about the last one)

Our big 8×10 senior portraits:

And a close-up of my cousin Susy’s, just because it’s so awesome:

Love it. 

My dad built this shelf for her:

Family picture, circa 1962:

Let’s see…I think Aunt Judy was 15 or 16 here, Uncle Gene was 21 or 22, and Mom was 8.  Love the expression on her face!

Mom’s senior photo:

Excuse the glare

Uncle Gene in his Navy days:

What a hunk!

Mom painted this.  I didn’t know she can paint (though I do recall, as a child, being amazed at her coloring skills.  She would color with tiny circles so the color would stay even.  Wow!)

And then we go into Grandma’s quilt shop (aka one of my top 5 favorite places in the world!)

Grandma is a professional quilter, working on an old frame and machine.  I can’t even begin to fathom how many thousands of quilts she’s quilted over the years:

Jeff looks happy, doesn’t he?

Now, I of course have absolutely *no* experience with this, but I would like to point out that *in theory* these giant rolls and piles of batting would be absolutely wonderful to take a flying leap into, and to tumble around in.  I mean, I think that might be the case.  But since I was such a well-behaved child, I would of course have absolutely no experience with such activities.  Oh no no.

(that’s a massive roll of batting in the front there).

Some of Aunt Judy’s quilts for sale:

Posted in the shop:

Sidewalk between Grandma’s shop and her house.  This sidewalk is *perfect* for learning to rollerskate, for the record.  I’m pretty sure she could rent it out for that purpose, if she so desired.

I love Grandma’s house, and Grandma

Wednesday (yes, the day before yesterday) I just couldn’t stand it any more.  Not one more minute.  Not one more 3 dc, (2dc in same sp) twice, 3 dc, (dc2tog) twice, 3 dc….. NO!  I won’t I won’t I won’t!

In a fit of passion, I hurled myself facefirst into my big bin o’ Red Heart and emerged yesterday morning having made these:

So, not knowing what else to do, I stitched them together and put on a few rounds of border, and by the end of the evening yesterday (approximately 30 hours after I got that wild hair), I had this:

I made an afghan in a day and a half.  I’m certifiably insane.

Now I think I’ll make three more, and give them to my lil’ cousins for Christmas.  No, I’m not kidding.

When I was little, my parents had a ‘one bite rule’ at the dinner table:  for everything that was served, you had to try at least one bite of each thing.  My brother and I each got to choose one exception, though.  His was mushrooms, mine was LIMA BEANS. I HATED LIMA BEANS.  More than anything else in my life at that point (I had not yet heard of ‘pro-life’ and No Child Left Behind was over a decade away, so yeah–lima beans it was).

Fast forward 15 years…last week I was babysitting two of my usual girls, and their mom had fixed them lima beans for dinner.  While convincing them to eat their beans, I took a small bowlfull for myself (see what I’ll do in the name of childcare?).  To my shock and amazement, though–I *liked* the lil’ fuckers!  (the beans, not the girls.  I already knew I liked the girls ).  It was as if an entire pillar of my personality had shattered in an instant.  The next day I went and bought a can of my own, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke:

Nope, it’s official.  I love lima beans.  So I went and bought four more cans, to make up for lost time…

NEXT!

We were in HyVee and I decided to be a smartass when Jeff asked for a ‘tie’ for the bag of peaches, so I did this:

a tie tie!  Oh, Carrot Top would be proud.  See why I’m insufferable to live with?

NEXT!

As if I needed another reason to love Jeff (and for you all to love him too!), I thought I’d share one of the ‘little things’ he does for me.  But first, we need to take another trip into my pensieve…

Last year, when we were living in our first apartment (a big ol’ apartment building, as opposed to our current house-carved-into-apartments), Jeff would go outside to smoke at night while I was sleeping (y’know we’ve always kept pretty different hours).  One night I woke up while he was outside, and in my sleepy delirium I couldn’t figure out where he was.  He came inside after his 3-minute smoke break to see me freaking out, calling his cell phone over and over.  A similar thig happened at our current place, when he went out to buy cigarettes after I’d gone to bed.

Not taking any chances anymore, this is what I found the other day:

Close-up:

“Getting cigarettes, be right back.  Love, Jeff.”

He now knows how to prevent a full-blown Katie paraoid freak-out!

NEXT!

Jess gave me an empty giant pickle jar.  So I decided to do my own ghetto fiberlicious:

Best. Fake. Pickles. Ever.

Yum!

NEXT!

Two of my loves:

NEXT!

Numnums!  Rice krispie treats, only with generic-brand Golden Grahams instead of rice krispies.  Que delicioso!

I highly recommend them

Yesterday afternoon, as I was putting up my banana muffin post…

Funny, I always think of Othello as being the one with the snaggletooth…

What’s cuter than a kitten nose freckle?

But suddenly…

Caught in the act!

Must…regain…dignity…

Fin.