Sunday, February 11, 2007

One poop - uh, scoop - or two?


The above picture is of the list that came home with Hayden last week about the upcoming ice cream sundae party they're having at school to celebrate Valentine's Day. Look at the item listed between sprinkles and spoons. What kind of party is this?!?? Should I point out the misspelled word to his teacher just for the sake of embarrassing her? And yes, that's Hayden as a 6-month old in the picture being covered by the list. He went from that to this:




in just 6 1/2 short years. (The sweater he's wearing is the first sweater I made for DH. It's such bulky wool, though, that he can only wear it when it's 20 degrees or colder outside. Too warm most of the time for our climate, but a nice sweater nonetheless. And those are DH's jean shorts - no, I do not let him wear them EVER, so why he still owns them is a mystery to me - and my ballet flats and cowboy hat. He's really gotten into invading our closet, as you can tell.)

Speaking of bowels, some of you may be thinking that I'm too young for a colonoscopy. I am too young for a routine look-and-see, but I'm not if there's something wrong. I won't go into details because I'll just gross everyone out and lose what little reader base I have, but I will say that a) colonoscopies aren't fun and b) sigmoidoscopies are even less fun. We have discovered that I have collagenous colitis and I'm now on medicine to fix it. My doctor sent me an article about collagenous colitis, but it's so medical that I don't exactly understand what it is or how I got it. I need to get him to explain it to me in normal people terms. I've been on medicine for a couple of days and things seem to be getting much better, so I'm very excited. However, due to what's been going on, I am not going to Austin next weekend to run the half marathon. It's okay - I'd rather stay home and play with Hayden than go run a half marathon in a less-than-stellar time and spend the rest of the day in the bathroom.

So let's change the subject to something less crappy: knitting! I am about to start something that's going to be totally different than what I usually do - a charity knitting project. I've been teaching a knitting class to a group of senior citizen ladies at the nearby YMCA. They've learned how to cast on, knit, purl, increase with yarnovers, decrease with K2togs, and bind off. They want to keep going, so I suggested we practice those skills and make blankets for Project Linus. They're very excited, and so am I. Charity knitting is something I've never done before. I bought some Encore Worsted in a fun, not-baby but not-too-bright colorway (with some purple in it, of course) and am going to do the Hoover blanket from Knitty. I saw that pattern 3 years ago and have wanted to do it ever since then. One of the ladies in the class is also going to attempt that pattern. She's never double-knitted but she's a very quick learner, so I think she can do it. I'll keep you posted on our progress. My selfish knitting project continues to be the Equestrian Jacket from the Winter IK. (Have you seen the new IK? Meh to the new layout, meh to the patterns. I really don't have time to knit an apron that makes my hips look like they belong on Eddie Murphy's female character in "Norbert.") I'm about halfway done with one sleeve. Hopefully I can get to a picture-taking point soon. But since I'm not, here's another shot of my son, who has just discovered the joys of playing Nutball (a la "Jackass" - if you're curious, I'll explain more, but just use your imagination) with Daddy:


Thursday, February 01, 2007

I'm so hungry I could eat the crotch out of a rag doll...

...but I won't.

I'm having a colonoscopy today and have been denied food (except for Jello and chicken broth, which, in my book, don't count) since yesterday morning. There's a McDonald's down the street from the hospital that will be our first stop on the way out. I'd like a Quarter Pounder Extra Value Meal - supersized, of course! - and a hot fudge sundae. Then maybe we'll hit the sushi restaurant on the way home.

Because I have no energy for training (or really doing anything more than sitting on the couch, watching MTV or the Top Chef finale), I have been knitting quite a bit. I've got both fronts and about half of the back done on my Equestrian Jacket from IK. Maybe wearing it in Austin 2 weeks from this Saturday isn't so much of an impossibility after all. (Sorry for not showing WIP photos. Pieces of knitting that are curled up because they haven't been blocked isn't terribly exciting to look at.)

While in the bathroom this morning (like you really wanted to know that), I overheard Matt Lauer talk about the release date of the last Harry Potter book, and he said something about Harry being naked on the cover. I dismissed his comment, but then I came across this:

http://www.equustheplay.com/pr/index.php

Oh my! Look out, Hermoine!