Busy times, cool temps...

Fall is here for sure; cold, wet wind, cloudy skies, and lots of leaves to rake. Our tree turned all of a sudden last week, and is dropping leaves at a rapid rate, with the help of a strong breeze and scattered rain over the weekend.

Yep, last week was really busy for me. School, skating, and soccer for Sophie- I'd be exhausted if I were that kid. Playgroup hosting for me- mad housecleaning on Tuesday. A great playgroup experience on Wednesday; happy kids, happy moms. And Friday night, a surprise weekend guest. My brother got stuck in Milwaukee over the weekend, so he came over and spent a good weekend with us. I tried to outdo myself cooking this week. I made lentil soup for the playgroup moms, a curried chicken and rice soup for John on Thursday, a breakfast of scrambled eggs with veggies, bacon, potato pancakes and coffee Saturday morning, Beer Cheese soup and brownies for supper on Saturday, and Sunday's brunch to beat all brunches; a veggie and cheese souffle with potato pancake and ham steak- mmmmm!

Project updates:
*Swatches for Shibori felting- done and felted, now drying. It's a cool technique where you bind off bits of your knitting by either stitching, wrapping thread around, or putting a washable object in and wrapping. Then you felt it, and when it dries you wind up with a spider web effect, bobbles, or a 3-D netlike effect. It looks really cool now, and I can't wait to see it when it's totally dried. I think the bobbles are my favorite.
*Felted scuffs- One finished, one half-done, both to be felted. I'm thinking of doing some shibori bobbles on them; not positive yet. I might just decorate them with cool buttons or ribbon after they're felted. Guess I'll decide soon!
*Halloween costumes- Two Care Bear shirts made, two bear hats to go. One skirt to polka-dot- I think I'm going to find white dot stickers and do it that way. Much faster! Hope they'll all be cute!
*New projects- felted scarf, knit scarf, hats... and the old ones remain as well- felted pillowtop, sewn pillows

This week looks to be busy as well- Harvest Festival at the school tomorrow, no school the rest of the week, parents coming to visit- yay!, Halloween party Wednesday, haircuts for girls Thursday, a few dates! It'll go be so quickly! And then it's November- where has the time gone?

"She had a sparkling personality and a smile to match...

Yep, another week without posting. Just got busy. Anyway, fall is trying to assert itself around here. Mostly cooler weather, leaves turning and falling, furnace on for the first time in a while. If only it wasn't going to hit 70 degrees again in a couple days. I want my soup weather back! My soup goal for this winter is French Onion soup, and Chicken Matzo Ball soup. For some reason, I've never tried making either, though I like them both. Got to master making good beef stock for the onion soup- I've learned the importance of a good stock for some soups I make, like Split Pea with Ham.

Kids are great- I have a conference at Soph's school tomorrow; we'll see how that goes. Lucy and Sadie have loved their weekly playgroup. I love being around other moms with kids that'll be in school with my kids (the playgroup formed from meeting other kindergarten parents who have younger kids). It's kinda a pain to get the kids ready to go, and to keep track of them, but they love playing with the other kids, and I love adult conversation. G-Dub has his 4 month check tomorrow; I can't wait to see how much he weighs. Shot time too- owie!

The twins' latest trick, which they've now performed twice, once at home and once on the road, is sequestering themselves in the bathroom, arming themselves with toothbrushes, and using toilet water to paint on the walls or to BRUSH THEIR TEETH WITH! Yuck-ola! Never underestimate the power of a pair of curious toddlers! Gives new meaning to the phrase "potty mouth".

Project updates- Yes, progress has been made!
*Swatches for felting class- 2 down, 1 to go; it's started and about 4" long
*Felted scuff class- Way cool! One scuff is already half-done, in only 24 hours! Yippee! I'm using Lamb's Pride worsted in Dynamite Blue- they'll be pretty soft and kinda fuzzy. I also learned some new skills- increasing, casting on in a work in progress, joining and knitting in the round on DPNs (I've done it before, but am not proficient yet). I love how quickly they're going, and aspire to make some for the girls. It also makes me want to try mittens, now that I have some new skills. One things at a time! After they're felted, then it's embellishment time.
*Manos pillowtop- no progress to report
*Hats- umm, nope! Will do soon.

Well, that's enough I guess. Wednesdays poop me out. The playgroup, soccer, and storytime, on top of the normal busy day really is tiring, though in a good way.

"The Ship of Death had a new captain..."

The thing about the movie "Nosferatu", and silent movies in general- they're infinitely quotable. For some reason, it's easier for me to remember quotes I've read, instead of just heard. I saw that "Nosferatu" was on tonight; TCM does silent movies on Sunday nights. Having never seen it, I had to watch. I love the color changes in scenes, and the orchestrated music is great. Not too scary, by today's standards, but I bet it scared the pants off of film-goers in the 1920's. Too cool! And gets me in the mood for Halloween! It's October at last!

Now, what the hell is Nosferatu doing carrying his own coffin around the idyllic village? Can't his minions lend him a hand? Or are they all rats now, or locked in the loony bin? Sheesh- give an undead dude some help! He needs to sleep the deepest sleep already!

Project updates- Working on overextending myself again- no big surprise there.
*Swatches for class- One has 2" to go, the 2 others should be knit soon after. Highest priority for now.
*Umm, other knitting projects... umm, yeah, okay. Will return to scheduled programming soon, after swatches done.
*New project- Halloween costumes for the kids. Materials purchased, simple ideas, easy to execute. One Minnie Mouse- requiring ears, a bow, and fabric painting polka dots on a skirt. Two Care Bears- requiring bearish hats made, tummy designs for sweatshirts. Baby outfit- haven't decided yet, but will soon.

"But she could not resist it's strange- and mysterious temptation." Yeah, like more ideas to make. I went to an Arts show today, and saw all sorts of cool projects that seemed totally doable. If only I had the time, money and energy. If I could budget my time better, I think I could accomplish much more. At least my kids are happy, healthy kids- that's my main goal right now. Someday I'll get off my duff and pound out some art, damn it!

"He strangled him- the Vampire!" Oh yeah, it's Angry Mob time! Dude, you knew it was going to happen. It happens to all the crazy bloodthirsty creeps. Look at Frankenstein, and The Beast. Run, Knock (Renfrew), Run! Mobs are never well organized; guess that's something about angry villagers in general. They just trashed an innocent scarecrow in their search for revenge. What did that Scarecrow do to them? Request a brain?

Why does Nosferatu have rodent teeth? Does it have something to do with all the rats that came off of the aforementioned Ship of Death? Kinda ruined the climax of the movie for me. Why be afraid of a big rodent? Is it going to knaw you to death? I don't know; just not creepy enough.

Yep, the happy village is once again out from under the shadow of the Bird of Death. Lucky them.

Totally dig the silent movies though- they're great to watch. We've watched "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Ben-Hur" in the recent past. "King-Kong" had awesome music, and is of course iconic. How fun late on a Sunday night!

I never realized that the actor who played Nosferatu was Max Schreck. Max Schreck was the name of Christopher Walken's character in the second Batman movie. Coincidence- doubtful. Very cool homage, though.

I must sleep the deepest sleep, else my eldest will be late to school.