We have our kitchen back!

Finally, the kitchen project is complete. For a while, there, it felt like it would never be finished. We were without a kitchen counter, sink or faucet for four long weeks. And what started out as as a somewhat fun adventure began to lose its glamour after a while.

I forgot to take "before" pictures to compare against the "after," but all of you who have seen our kitchen in its former incarnation should appreciate the improvement. The 10-year-old basic formica, annoyingly shallow double sink, and shoddy faucet are gone. Also gone (and I mean "gone" as the garbage men just picked them up this morning) are the cabinets that used to hang over the counter. (You remember those, Frank--the ones you used to bang your head against every time you visited?) We replaced those with the glass front cabinet you see against the wall in the picture. We also replaced the small, shallow cabinets that were around the fridge with fuller and deeper ones. Finally--and this was the best thing--we had the guys build a wall to support a second, bar-level counter.

The new counter is granite: Home Depot's new supposedly care-free granite. It's gorgeous; the pictures don't really do it justice. The only drawback of having such a lovely and classy-looking countertop is that it makes our crummy old builder's grade electric stove look even worse than it really is. Well, hopefully we can take care of that is a couple of years.

We love our new kitchen! The counter is simply beautiful. And we love being able to sit at the counter. It's so exciting to be able to pass things easily between the cooking and the eating areas, that we are getting rather silly about it. "Look, Mom, I am HANDING YOU my dish. Will you HAND ME the milk?" We are so easily amused. :o)

My Mason-Dixon dishcloths are proving quite handy, now that I am actually drying dishes and putting them away, rather than leaving them in the drying rack in one side of the double sink for days on end (cringe). My first two Mason-Dixon inspired placemats (using their log cabin knitting technique with washable dishcloth cotton yarn) are on the bar. My plan is to make six of these, changing the order in which I use the colors.
Here is a photo of the Bamboo yarn cropped cardigan, finally finished up. This turned out wonderfully, which actually was a very nice surprise. Before I sewed it together, I was feeling quite disappointed with it. The pieces just looked messy and plain awful--the pieces were small, and the yarn was so floppy, that I was having trouble looking past the messy ends to see the shape it would eventually take on. But once I finished it and tried it on, I knew I loved it. I've already worn it twice, and I only finished it about a week ago. The picture also shows ... (drum roll) ... my progress on the Endless Denim Cardigan. I promised I would get back to it, and I have. Maybe I'll finish it by Christmas (snort). Maybe pigs will fly. You never know.

Look at all the progress the kids have made on the potholder loop rug! I think we are about 2/3 finished, maybe more. It's going to look very cool when it is done. In the meantime, it sits in a basket between the TV and the fireplace, and any of us can pick it up and do a row or two, or loop together a bunch of loops. You never know when you might feel the need to be silly and crafty at the same time.

In Other News ... Next Tuesday, A starts his new school, The Montessori Academy of New Jersey (link provided, in case anyone wants to see pictures of the school). He is really looking forward to going back to school, although I know it will be an adjustment for him. I was flattered when his new teacher told me that he had told her he had enjoyed being homeschooled. I guess that's a compliment, isn't it? We are going to continue doing Latin at home, on our own, and we will continue to use our history and science resources to get suggestions for supplying his reading habit. Friends of ours already provided this school with a full set of The Story of the World (books and cds), which I think is a good sign. I also know that he will be able to do Algebra there, and physics, chemistry--pretty much anything that interests him. The school is eager to keep their upper elementary kids there, and is hoping to provide a curriculum that will take them through 8th grade. I have my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, C starts 2nd Grade at her school next Wednesday. She does not have her best friend in her class, and she is very unhappy about that. However, she also does not have the horrible teacher that A had for 2nd grade (and who, let's be honest, probably drove us away from the school), and Rich and I are very happy about that.

Long Time No Post...

so I have lots to discuss, I guess. The best news is that the bar exam is over. Whether I passed or not is a completely different issue. I have a sinking feeling, but I try not to indulge it too much. The scores don't come out until mid-November, so I have a lot of time to sweat it out. (And we are doing major sweating during this ridiculous heat wave, but I'm not ready to segue to that yet). Here are the bar review books and cd's being packed away into the darkest, deepest, dustiest recess of our closet, where only dry cleaner trash and the stuffed monkey dare to tread. I am SO hoping that I will not need to use them again--but they are there, just in case. Don't ask about the monkey--it's too hard to explain.

While I was in lovely Somerset NJ taking the bar, the Home Depot men finally arrived to install the new cabinets and rip out the sink and the counter. We are currently in granite counter limbo: that in-between time, after they take out your old counter and before they replace it with something beautiful. This is not the fun time of kitchen remodelling. I must admit, that washing dishes in my tiny powder room sink is getting quite tiresome already, and we probably have another 2-3 weeks to go. Sigh.

Meanwhile, the knitting frenzy began as soon as the bar was over, in spite of the cramps in my hands from all the writing. Hey--I write with my left hand but knit with my right, it wasn't that bad, really. Here are my first Mason-Dixon "warshrags," hanging where my sink ought to be.
Here is the potholder loop rug, about half done. The foot model is C., my enthusiastic apprentice looper/helper. Knitting on these huge needles is cracking us both up. It's like knitting with fence posts or something. But the rug itself is wonderfully squishy, and both kids are enjoying making the string out of the loops. Doesn't it remind you of an old fashioned braided rag rug? It is intended for the powder room, and should brighten that little cave--I mean, room--up considerably.

And here is the almost-complete cropped cardigan with the feather and fan along the lower edge. I also tried to squeeze a picture of the pattern in here as well. In case you are wondering, I do not plan on wearing this sweater over the top of a goofy striped sailor shirt. And I did not make it too small for me, so that it would stretch across my chest and upper arms. Why do they do that, anyway? Well. Mine may be a little too big, as everything seems to be, even though I did swatch and get gauge. I am still working on getting it assembled, and I have one more sleeve and the band to do as well.
The Bamboo yarn is incredibly soft to the touch, but I don't think I will use it again. The strands separate very easily, so you have to go slowly and carefully. It's also very "drapey"--I know that's not a word, but I don't know how else to describe the way that this yarn acts when knitted up. It behaves very much like silk: it kinda just hangs there, if you know what I mean. In retrospect, I wish I had gone even smaller on the needle size; I think I would like it better if the stitches were even tighter. Of course, that probably would have messed up the feather and fan pattern. Anyway. I am satisfied with the results--so far, at least--but I'm not ecstatic.

The next projects are going to be house-oriented. Inspired by Mason-Dixon, I am going to knit placemats out of the oh-so-affordable dishcloth cotton. I'm thinking log-cabin knitting. It should be a fun, cheap, and easily portable project. I also love the M-D idea of knitted curtains. I'm planning a new curtain for my kitchen window, to go over my new sink! However, I don't like the linen yarn they recommend for this project. I understand why they chose it, but, honestly, it's like knitting with butcher's string. I want to see how my swatch washes up.

I will let you all know when the kitchen and my cardigan are done. I will confess that I am a lot more excited about the kitchen, though!

Look what wandered through our yard!

A and I looked out the window this morning and caught a glimpse of this Mother and Child crossing the yard. There we were, oohing and aahing and tiptoeing from window to window to watch their progress, while the Home Depot man measuring the kitchen (for new counters, yay!) studiously ignored our silliness.

Unfortunately, I could not find the camera until they had left the more picturesque portion of our yard and were wandering across the driveway. The Home Depot man's truck does not provide the greatest background.

Mother and Child ran away a moment after this when a neighbor started her car, so this was the only shot I could get.

What Was I thinking?

An entire baby blanket? Done in garter stitch? With color changes every 2 rows? And I repeat ... in garter stitch? Wouldn't a lobotomy have been more fun?

This. Is. Taking. For. Ever. (Like the way I split that word in half for effect? Like how it makes no sense like that? See how I care? See what this blanket is doing to me??!!)

I'm not being fair--it's not just the blanket that's driving me insane. I am currently editing the Article From You-Know-Where. This is the kind of article where you find that your eyes cross after reading 2 lines. Then you have to read those 2 lines over, because you can't remember what they were about. I'm only on page 20 out of 40, and footnote 149 out of 256. Hey! I should take heart: I'm more than halfway done, if you measure by the number of footnotes.

But that's work--I'm not supposed to enjoy that. The knitting, on the other hand, is supposed to be fun for my free time. This blanket, however, oy. It's a bad sign when I have a hard time deciding between knitting something and folding laundry.

The picture above shows said blanket (about 2/3 done) posing with said mountain of laundry. Tell me: which would you choose to do? Notice how I have piled it all on the bed so that I can't sleep until I do something about it all. As an aside: does anyone notice how I messed up the pattern about 5 inches ago? I did not notice for a while and dang-nab-it I'm not ripping the darn thing back now. Please ... tell me you don't see it! Of course, this picture may not be the best one to "show" the mistake.

This blanket had better look GREAT when I am done, or I may just run over it with the car instead of giving it to Jo-Anne. She'd probably be quite happy with a Target gift card, anyway. Sigh.

Shut-Out Inning! (by A, edited by Mom)

This is A writing. Last night our baseball team won 6 to 5! It started out terrible, with our first pitcher (“P”) walking everyone. Then our second inning pitcher (“J”) did the same. However, in the bottom of that inning, we scored two runs. In the third inning, the score was 5 to 2, and I was pitching. I walked two batters. The third batter hit a slow grounder that I fielded. I threw to first base and got him out! Then I struck out the next batter. I walked the next batter. The bases were loaded. It was cold and had started to rain. One of their biggest hitters was up at the plate. I threw a perfect strike, and he hit it straight to me! I threw it to first. He was out! The inning was over. They scored no runs while I was pitching.

In the bottom of that same inning, we scored 3 runs to tie the game. After a scoreless fourth inning, it was very dark. The coaches decided that the 5th inning would be the last one. Our pitcher in the 5th inning pitched much slower than the pitcher we had in the 4th inning, so the players on the other team all swung too early and struck out. Now it was our turn to bat.

J struck out. He was followed by P, who hit a single. While C was up, P stole second. Then C hit a brilliant home run right over the left fielder’s head. It was so high he didn’t even see it, so the center fielder had to run back to the fence and get it. By the time they got the ball back into the infield, both P and C had scored. But the second run didn’t count because we won when P crossed the plate. It was an amazing come-back!

Butterflies!

We have butterflies!

Night at the Phillies

Our town thought it was great that the Little League's "Night at the Phillies" coincided with Barry Bonds' visit to Philly, combined with his proximity to the Babe Ruth record for most homeruns. Unfortunately, I think the coincidence turned out not to be a tremendously happy one.

For one thing, it ended up being a sell-out. This meant it was very, very crowded. I don't like crowds like this--crowds so loud you can't hear your cell phone ring when your husband calls you to ask you where is God's name you are. Crowds so huge you have to wait in line just to get on the escalator to the next level. Crowds so immense that they ran out of pizza, and your daughter refuses to eat italian sausage. Crowds so big that when you finally get to your seat, after delivering boys from your team to their respective parents, you don't want to get up again.

The parade was nice, but not exciting enough to justify the 1 and 1/2 hours of waiting the Phillies required the boys do in the tunnels under Citizens Bank Park. Here are pictures of our team (the turquoise shirts) marching around the warning track of the field-- from far back and a zoom shot.













And here is C cheering them on.
Barry did not hit a dinger that night. But the kids learned some new words to yell from the stands. C thinks the nice folks behind us were yelling "Barry's sunk," and I have not corrected her impression. A got the words right, but I think he understands it to mean that Barry likes lemonade.

Another grouchy post. I am so sorry! I will try to be a little cheerier in the future!

Meet Hairy!

Actually it's Hairy Potter. C. wanted a hamster, but the man at PetSmart talked us into a guinea pig instead. We are glad--a guinea pig is much more cuddly than a hamster, and we think that is really what C. was interested in. After about 5 days, Hairy is finally starting to get more comfortable with us, venturing out of his igloo to squeak a hello every once in a while. But he sure makes a mess out of his cage. Sheesh, what a slob!

Baby Blanket

Here is the baby blanket I am making, showing front and back. The striping is much more attractive on the front than the back. The back is interesting, but the front presents the look I really wanted. Incidentally, the colors are much brighter and prettier IRL; either the camera or my monitor just is not getting the colors right.

The pattern is very easy: it's just garter stitch. I do 2 rows in each color, so I get a solid ridge of garter in each color. However, there is a twist. I am very lazy about weaving in ends, so I decided I wanted to carry the yarn along the sides of the blanket. But with 4 colors double-stranded, I did not want to carry them all along one side. So I am carrying 2 colors on one side and 2 on the other. When I am using the colors carried on the right side, I knit. When I use the colors I am carrying on the left side (when I am essentially working the piece backwards), I purl. I am using circular needles so I can just flip the piece around and work it from whatever edge I want (although I did put it on straight needles to make it a little easier to take this picture).

So it ends up working like this:
Rows 1 & 2, 5 & 6, 9 & 10 : Using Blush (light pink) from the right edge: Knit.
Rows 3 & 4: Using Violet (purple) from the right edge: Knit.
Rows 7 & 8: Using Cream, starting from the left edge: Purl.
Rows 11 & 12: Using Orchid, starting from the left edge: Purl.
Then you go back to Row 1, and repeat the pattern.

There probably is an easier and better way to do this, but this is what I came up with.

When I am finished, if I really don't like the way the pattern looks on the back, I may end up sewing on a lining to hide it. I will decide when I am finished. If I don't sew on a lining, I will definitely have to do some kind of edging to neaten up the sides. Even carrying only 2 colors per side is looking a bit messy--I am probably carrying the colors along for more rows than the experts would recommend! Oh, well. Hopefully, it will all turn out all right. I love the feel of it.

Caterpillars!

C's caterpillars have tripled their size since their arrival last Friday. We are all having a great time watching them inch their way around their little jars. Soon, they should make their chrysalides, and we'll be able to move them into the butterfly garden pavilion. We'll keep you all posted!

What the Earth is Like

C (dd-7) has written a song, which I post for you all here. We have been suggesting she submit it at school for the upcoming poetry contest. It, um, kind of fizzles out at the end, but it has potential.

What the Earth Is Like

Once there was an earth with no soil or dirt
Once there was an earth with no grass
Once there was an earth with no flowers or trees
Once there was an earth with no blue sky
Once there was an earth with no dark black sky
Once there was an earth with no sun.

Let us make some soil and dirt
Let us make some grass
Let us make some flowers and trees
Let us make a blue sky
Let us make a dark black sky
Let us make a sun
Let us make a moon.

Now the earth has everything.
And that's what the earth is supposed to be like.

Opening Day is a Wash Out

It is pouring here in lovely New Jersey today. It's going to be beautiful tomorrow. It wasn't even that bad yesterday. But today is awful. And, unfortunately, today is Opening Day for the township baseball and softball leagues, complete with parade, celebrity appearances, etc. Bummer.

Here is C in her uniform. They are the Purple team, and need to pick an appropriate name. A is on the Minor League Florida Marlins. I don't have a picture of him at the parade because it was pouring by the time I found my way over to his team and I was afraid to take out the camera.

The celebrities got to make all their speeches under a tent, while hundreds of kids and their parents stood in the rain in the outfield. Still, it was nice, and we are hoping for a good season. Rich is the coach for A's team this year, and I think he might be a little nervous.

Go Purple! Go Marlins! Go Sunshine!

Sock & Bar

I mailed out my application to take the state bar exam on Thursday. The application nearly was an exam in itself: 28 pages of questions intended to ensure that I am fit to be a New Jersey Lawyer. Hm.

I reacted to this "accomplishment"--I am giving myself far too much credit for this, after all, I only filed the application--by retreating into handicrafts. Specifically: socks.

Socks seem to be the New Big Knitting Thing. So many knitters are making socks. Sock yarn is everywhere. And it looks so cool. Every knitting blog I read on the Internet talks about socks. So I guess it was only a matter of time before I knuckled under to the knitting peer pressure and tried my hand at some socks, too. Hey: I've just signed myself up to take a 2-day-long test. What I need now (before I start studying) is to learn a completely irrelevant new skill. I know that makes no sense. But it's how I feel.

This is what I have found out so far. Knitting socks is really the process of wrapping woolen thread around toothpicks, but doing it in such a way that you end up with a rather cool shape. I've even learned a few new skills: the provisional cast-on technique, and using short-row shaping (correctly) to sculpt toes and heels.

So, there must be some way to translate this into my professional future, right? I can sit for hours at a time, rotating five little sticks in my hands to create this carefully shaped item. This says something about my patience, my perserverance, my ability to ignore bodily discomfort, and my willingness to allow my children to raise themselves while I figure out just what the heel turn will look like when it's done (oh, so that's what they mean).

I'll do fine on that bar exam. I have several hours into this sock already--probably more than the whole bar exam will take. The tiny yarn and needles are making my fingers nimble, so writing those essays will be a piece of cake. The only fly in my ointment is that I will have to put down these socks in order to study. And then there is always the actual lawyering that will come after that.

And people say Baseball is boring!

We love baseball in this family, but there are some people we know (and you know who you are), who actually think that baseball is boring. All I can say is: you clearly have not been to any karate tournaments lately.

You would think that a karate tournament would be exciting. Lots of kids yelling and kicking. Well, I hate to ruin any fantasies, but I must. "A" really (reallyreallyreally) wanted to participate in the karate studio's annual tournament this weekend. It started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. "C" and I brought him, figuring we could get a nice lunch at the pizza place next door when it was over, and then run A to his baseball practice and then C to her softball practice. It was the perfect plan--a busy day, but doable.

Imagine the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I found out that we'd be lucky if the tournament ended before 4:00 p.m. Picture my horror when I deduced that the karate studio was packed to the gills with parents and siblings who apparently think it is fun to spend an entire day in a hot, crowded room, sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching 50 or more kids each do the same darn forms one by one. Imagine, if you will, my despair when I realized that A has already taken all his stuff in the back to get ready and that I couldn't get him out! There was no escape for us. We were trapped.

This is how A's first (and probably last) karate tournament went: 2.25 hours of waiting. Doing his form in the largest division of the whole karate school. Doing a good job, but definitely not the best. Getting an honorable mention. (By the way, the girls that got 1st, 2nd and 3rd were amazing! I was glad to see them do so well; that was nice.) Waiting another 2.5 hours. 3 minutes of sparring. Losing 2 points to 1. Getting told that he might get a chance to spar again later if he wanted to wait. Realizing around 3:45 that this would never actually happen. A did not get to go to his baseball practice, and I think he wishes he had.

My Own Blue "Belt"

A.'s karate belt test for the blue belt lasted over 3 hours. I tried to read, but just couldn't concentrate. It was a madhouse in the karate studio that day. So ... I finished my latest knitting project: the Vintage Velvet scarf from the Scarf Style book. Here is a close-up, showing the reversable cable in the center.

This may very well be the softest thing I have ever owned. I absolutely love it.

Feeling Flat

I am reading a fascinating book right now: The World Is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman. My parents gave it to me for Christmas (and, yes, Mom, you can borrow it when I am done). The book discusses the major changes that have taken place in the world because of the incredible advances in communication technology. The author is trying to send a wake up call: America and Europe simply are not at the forefront of the global economy anymore, the author argues, and are in danger of being left behind by countries such as China and India. According to the author, as a country, we need to increase spending on science. As parents, we need to encourage our children to learn more about science. The book is both a fascinating read and a frightening one.

Last night, however, I encountered a paragraph that actually cheered me up:

When I asked Bill Gates about the supposed American education
advantage -- an education that stresses creativity, not rote
learning--he was utterly dismissive. In his view, those who
think that the more rote learning systems of China and Japan
can't turn out innovators who can compete with Americans are
sadly mistaken. Said Gates, "I have never met the guy who
doesn't know how to multiply who created software .... Who
has the most creative video games in the world? Japan! I
never met these 'rote people' ... Some of my best software
developers are Japanese. You need to understand things in
order to invent beyond them." (pp. 264-65)

I know it's not exactly the most gracefully worded paragraph in the book. But the last sentence really caught my attention. I am sure that neither Bill Gates nor William Friedman meant to compare the educational systems in China and Japan to classical education. They clearly did not have Latin or English Grammar in mind when praising the East's emphasis on teaching the basics of science and math to their children. Nevertheless, classical education is what I thought of when I read this paragraph.

My vision of classical education is that it is more than Latin and grammar. For me, it is a return to teaching the basics first.

Early on in The Well-Trained Mind, the book that first got me excited about classical education, the authors' emphasize teaching young children the basics before working on creativity:

Young children are described as sponges because they soak
up knowledge. But there's another side to the metaphor.
Squeeze a dry sponge, and nothing comes out. First the sponge
has to be filled. ... Your job, during the elementary years, is
to supply the knowledge and skills that will allow your child
to overflow with creativity as his mind matures. (pp. 21-22).

I love that quote. That made so much sense to me when I first read it. And that is what came to mind for me when I read Bill Gates' statement in the Friedman book: "You need to understand things in order to invent beyond them."

On the plus side, the book is a little less frightening reading for me now. I like to think that we are making sure the kids will learn the basics, so they will be capable of being active participants in the future "flattening" of the world. I don't think we will have any trouble persuading A. to pursue a career in science or engineering. But how do we convince C. that she should go into science, when she still thinks she wants to be a rock star?

Introducing "A"

This is A, posing in the "karate corner" of his room. This was in December, just after he had earned his green belt. He just earned his blue belt this month,, but I don't have a picture of him wearing it yet. A is 9 years old, and we are currently homeschooling him. A loves reading, math, geography, science, karate, baseball, piano, Civilization IV, and Calvin & Hobbes.

Introducing "C"

This is C, with the Samantha doll she received as a combination birthday and Christmas gift this year from Great Grandma A. In case anyone does not know, C is 7 1/2 years old. She loves animals (especially cats), soccer, drawing, Polly Pockets, the Magic School Bus, and playing with her friends.

Overture

I hate to say that I am jumping on the Blogging Bandwagon, but I guess I am. I cannot resist the temptation to have a place where I can talk about all sorts of things about our family or about what I am reading, with the hopes that some people will respond.

I am still a little confused about who my intended audience is. I think I am really aiming this blog at our extended family and friends. But, on the other hand, I fully expect that other folks may happen across it or even end up being invited to see it. So I am going to try to avoid using full names. Internet safety, right? Don't want my space to become as dangerous as myspace.com. So to speak.

But I am going with pictures, for sure. I've heard they can be worth a thousand words. This should cut down on typing for me.

The first picture above is Rudolph the Cat. Rudolph is the real boss in the family. How else can I explain why we happily buy him food that makes the whole kitchen stink and devote our entire day to constantly letting him in and out (and in and out ... and in and out) the back door?