More and Better Carrots This Year

Last year we had six or eight measly, miniature carrot-type plants. This year, with the help of my Vegetable Gardener's Bible, I had a bumper crop of humongous carrots, with thick, lushy greens. I tilled my soil deep, like 12-15 inches deep. I added compost and manure to the soil. I threw the seeds down on the soil all over the wide row and covered them with a board until they started sprouting. Then I took off the board and let 'er rip. They really stepped up and grew like crazy. I came back from my quilt retreat (more info on that later) and 90% of the carrots were ready to harvest RIGHT NOW, so I had to bring them in. Some I used right away, some I dehydrated, some I cooked into baby food for Scotty. Some are still in the fridge drawer, I think.

Anyway, following the advice of a real gardener produces real results. I need a different variety next year. These were all super fatty and a tad stumpy, which is what they were supposed to be, but I prefer a slightly more slender carrot.

Turns Out I AM Awesome

Check out my friend Jessica's blog. She took this fabulous, artistic picture of the socks. I, on the other hand, am the GENIUS who made them. Aren't they SO GREAT?! We took the first sock class together and Jess made a comment about wouldn't it be fun to make 24 little socks from wool and felt them down in hot water, and then string them up for an advent calendar? And you can put little treats in or poems or Christmas activities or whatever you want.

So I did it this summer. Actually, it only took three weeks or so to make all 24. I made them all different, and if I do say so myself, all cute. Since it was worsted weight yarn, it didn't take long to make each one, and I gave them to Jessica as a late birthday/very early christmas gift. The good thing about Jess, is that if I do something that is awesome, she is totally appreciative. She's the girl that will yell out how FABULOUS the gift is, before falling down on the floor praising my handiwork. So, she makes a good friend. It's a good way to get people to make you stuff, too, girl.

I'm not as internetly at Jess, but she tells me this picture of the socks has been adopted into some groups on Flickr or something. So, I guess some things I do turn out to be pretty rad.

Doin' This Lately

Well, I haven't been posting any news lately, even though I do have some news. And that's my bad.

So here's a little taste of what I've been doing lately:

My friend Jess is an instigator. She is forever calling me up and saying,"Look at this cool new thing. Look at that awesome pattern." and etcetera. So she calls me up saying she wants to get back in and get some Quiet Books done and she's got this great new pattern. And I have to agree, it's pretty fabulous.

They're all monsters on every page, and there is one with a zipper and in its mouth are finger puppets, there's the puzzle one you see here, the tic-tac-toe one you see here, a dress-up one, and basically just a ton of fun stuff for little ones. I'm thinking maybe I'll make this for Scotty for Christmas. I'd better get it done STAT because my Christmas project-line-up is ever-growing.

You can get the patterns online at copycrafts' etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6034253

She has a bunch of other real cuties, like the All About Shoes one and the Bug one and the new one that my friend Jess is lovin', Under the Sea. Anyway, check it out and wish me luck getting all my projects finished!

She Just Gets So Excited to be Done

Jules just came home with a funny worksheet she did today in school.

The animals are holding the last letters of some word families, and then to go with the pictures on their tummies, there are lines and all you have to do is fill in the one letter that will go with the letters the animals are holding. The words you're spelling all rhyme and match the pictures.

So, ok, example:

The bear is holding "ing" and you fill in King next to the king picture, Ring next to the ring picture, and Wing next to the wing picture.

So far so good, right? The elephant is holding "an" and the words are Fan, Pan, Man.

The Monkey is holding "at" and this is where you start to see trouble, but it's understandable:
Bat, Hat, Maws.

And then the really hilarious part is the giraffe, holding "ug" and the words Jules has by the three pictures are:

Bedl
Badl
Mat

I am laughing and laughing about this.

For those of you not used to decoding first grader spelling, the words Jules wrote were Beetle, Bottle, and Mat.

And for those of you still not getting why this is so hilarious, the pictures were of Bug, Jug, and Rug.

And for the record, Jules is upstairs right now experiencing Rage Against the Machine. I suspect she's just really tired, but it's pretty funny. She started going hysterical when I said that Dawn and Serina could not come play because we've got piano lessons in an hour or so. And then Jules asked me if we could go to Dairy Queen, which I also had to Nix. And then she came back all bleary eyed and asked, couldn't we drop Eric off at piano lessons and then go to Sonic or Dairy Queen. And with this last insulting no, she couldn't handle it anymore and flew off her handle.

I May Only be the SECOND Funniest Lady On Earth

A couple fun things:

Several months ago, the children were playing and they came to show me their weapons. Eric had several swords tucked in his belt. Russell had a couple pistols tucked in his belt. And tucked in Jules belt, deadly Magic Markers. Oooooh! Stay away from that one!

Also several months ago, Jules asked me if the tangerines were "oranges or orangatangs?"

Then just the other day she picked up a sweet potato from the counter and asked me if it was for Scotty. I said Yes and she asked,"A Yak? For Scotty?"

I always thought I was pretty much the funniest person ever, but I may have been bypassed by someone even more hilarious!

Our Activity Tonight

We're playing Connect Four for Family Home Evening and I've been looking at the box. It took me awhile to find our box online and it's a tiny picture, but if you can zoom in and see the kids on this box, you will understand when I say that they are hopped up on some crazy hasbro goofballs or SOMETHING, because DANG!

Crossing the Street

I've had a little problem for quite a while now. It's going to sound like I'm an ungrateful wretch. But if I can save one person from enduring the torment I've had to go through, it's worth it.

The problem is this: I will be standing at the curb. It's obvious I want to cross the street or parking lot. And so cars coming will slow down and stop, right in the middle of traffic, to let me cross. At first glance it seems like a nice thing, right? Well IT'S NOT AND I WISH THEY WOULD KEEP GOING!

My point is this: just get out of my way already so I can cross SAFELY. Usually I'll have little kids with me, or else I'll be all loaded down with a baby in a car seat and shopping bags plus holding some little kid's hand. So my question to the guy stopping is, REALLY? You REALLY want me to drag all this out in front of your running vehicle while you back up traffic for no reason? REALLY?? Because I'm already stopped here, waiting for you to go somewhere else, out of my way.

To combat this extremely unwanted "courtesy" I usually avert my eyes. Sometimes they're so insistent on "being nice" that they sit and wait, even though my eyes are averted. At times like this it's convenient to have a kid around, since you can pretend you're doing something with the child or teaching him something or chatting. But the thing that brought this to a head for me, was that one day I was out with all four of my little ones and this happened. I averted my eyes and the driver eventually moved on. Then at another store, another dang driver did this to me and waited through all my eye aversion and kid-chat stalling, and then HONKED AT ME to go, even though as a mother and responsible adult, I felt it was UNSAFE TO DRAG MY CHILDREN INTO THE STREET IN FRONT OF YOUR CAR!!!! Don't HONK at me, hoser! Just move along and we'll all be SO MUCH HAPPIER!

In conclusion, I would like to applaud true courtesy, which in my view, is getting your fanny out of other people's way.