I love Google Reader.

I have a Google Reader addiction. If you don't use it, and you read a lot of websites, you should use it. Anyways, while going through all of the posts in my feed, I always star the ones I like, but I don't think I ever get back to them. I decided to change that today, and here are some things I found.

• I love these fabric stacking cups. I might have to make a set for O.
• This post makes me wish cooler kids clothes were easier to find, or I had more time to make some. Once a little boy turns 2, the clothes get insanely less adorable and more utilitarian, but not in a fashionable way. Or are covered in cartoon characters. It's sad.
• I love love love this kids room. I wish it were mine. I lam a big fan of the mid-century modern aesthetic. Such whimsy, but in a smart manner. And the miniature deer's head is amazing.
• Making t-shirt yarn. I have some fabulously coloured old t-shirts that would make great yarn for knitting up kitchen accoutrements.
• Aren't these cookies the most adorable cookies you've ever seen!??!
• Scans from an amazing Betty Crocker cookbook circa 1958 featuring the illustrations of Charley Harper.
• I need to make this for B and his forever-expanding car collection for when we are on-the-go. Maybe even in the next few days after I finish Owlie.
• Tori Spelling's nursery is awesome. The wall paper is brilliant.
• I think I need this book in my life.

I think the conclusion that can be drawn from these links is that I need/want to make more stuff, and I might like anything mid-century modern way too much.

Mmmmmmuffins

So even though we moved in November, there are still unpacked boxes. In my defense, they are all hidden from view in storage, and are mostly full of stuff that has no where to go right now. We got rid of our falling apart bookcases when we moved, so there are a lot of boxes of books waiting for a new home. And I have no where to put all of my art stuff right now, so that is all hidden away too. Every once in a while I need something I suspect might be in a box so I start searching though them and find other forgotten treasures. Yesterday, I don't even remember what I was looking for, but in a banana box in the corner of the storage room, I found my Baked cookbook. Which meant of course, being a sucker for antler motifs, I had to bake something.

I had been planning to make these Banana Crumb Muffins last night (Which are greatly improved with some extra cinnamon in the actual batter). I had made them a few weeks ago, and Ryan insisted I make them again, especially after the last time I told him I would make them and I made mini chocolate chip muffins instead. But having found my Baked cookbook, I decided to try the Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip muffins in the book, mostly because it was that or the Red Hot Velvet cake, and I could not think of a good reason to make that. Although when a good reason presents itself, I am all over that. And probably in cupcake form. If only easter were about cake and not Babkas.

So I set out to bake the muffins, and then quickly realized I had a few problems. First off, I only had one mushy banana, but the recipe called for four. So I quickly microwaved another one mushy, and decided to halve the recipe. Then I could not find any muffin tin liners. Seriously! I should have millions leftover from various cupcake baking expeditions. Where do they go? I just greased the pan, but really, I should have some. I bake a lot of cupcakes, and I always buy too many liners and put them aside for later. They are probably in an unpacked box in a storage room. Or B and the cat got to them. Finally, I realized we had no brown sugar, or even molasses so I could doctor some up. Oh well. I did have a jar of espresso powder for some reason though. So with all that in mind, I got to baking.

Before I popped the muffins in, I tasted the batter. Delicious. Although I think that the espresso flavour was a bit more pronounced before the baking, and I'd probably add a bit more if I make them again because it brought out the chocolate and made it taste so much more rich.The batter was not quite dense enough to support the chocolate chips either (and I used mini ones) so they kind of sunk a little, but it looks nice when you cut them open. They turned out really well despite my ill preparation. Fresh baked muffins for breakfast are delicious! And Ryan approved, even though they have chocolate bocolate in them.

After taking a break from doing much baking due to being too pregnant to move, and too busy with a new baby to breath, it's great to finally have some time. They say baking is a mood elevator, and I'd have to agree. And this week being Easter and all, I need to make some Babkas! Chocolate ones specifically. But more on that later this week.

Bye bye cable, hello pretty yarn.

We decided the other day to get rid of cable again. Ryan was working on our monthly budget, and I pointed out that he forgot the Shaw bill, and that made me realize that we should just get rid of it. We had only meant to have cable for a few months anyways, and then forgot to cancel it. Ryan had recently called Shaw to see if they would match MTS' current promotion by giving us a free PVR and some extra channels, which they did in order to keep us as customers. I was so excited to have a PVR again. Seriously. When I was in university, we drove down to Grand Forks just because Ryan decided that he wanted a TiVo. And me and that thing became BFFs. I always had something to watch (I'm one of those people who need the TV on when they do things), and not only did it record all of my favorite shows, but it recorded shows it thought I would like. And it made the cutest noises when I deleted things or skipped commercials. And the remote! With its thumbs up/down buttons! It was amazing. But then we got rid of cable, and with that TiVo. So when Shaw gave us a Pace Tahoe, to say I was excited would be an understatement (I am a TV addict!). And it sucks. And has really bad user architecture and seems fairly unintuitive.
(Sidenote: I heard the Mozilla guy on Spark today talking about how software should grow with the user, teaching it the skills needed to use it as they go along like a video game does and opening up as the user gains more skill. He went on to talk about how you don't need to read a manual for a video game, because you learn all the basics by playing the first level. I had never thought about it this way, but it's so true. More designers need to think like that.)
It just erases files or stops their recording for no good reason. It was really disappointing. Probably even more so after having a TiVo. Our first one was broken with the deleting problem so we returned it two days after getting it, only to get another one with the same problem. I called Shaw again, and they told me it's just an issue with the box that I'll have to deal with until a firmware upgrade happens. LAME. Not to mention our cable blips all the time which is just annoying. So instead of using something that just frustrates me a lot, I'll just go back to watching stuff online which works really well. Except that B's favorite shows, Team Umizoomi, and Fresh Beat Band are not really around yet as they are newer Nickelodeon shows, but he probably watches too much TV anyways.

I went grocery shopping yesterday. $108.96. Not bad! Especially since I spent 10 of that at Organza on blueberry perogies(!!!) and Veggie Booty for B. The greenness of them threw him off at first, but once I convinced him it was something tasty, he went nuts. They're like a healthier more natural corn puff coated in veggie powder. There is spinach and kale in the ingredients and he will eat it. It's a start. It's my goal to make O less of a picky eater than his big brother. See, I started out making all of B's baby food, with lentils and beans and real veggies and fruit of all kind, and applicable spices here and there. I bought Baby Cubes (which are really awesome) to put all the food in. But then our food processor broke, and I got lazy, and jarred mush it was. In my opinion, there are two kinds of mush: sweet mush and savory mush. It all just tastes like jars. But B loved it. And then came crackers and toast, and then when I was pregnant with O it was a lot of convenience stuff. It's not like he eats horrible though, he does get all his food groups in a day, but getting him to eat veggies is rough. Ryan even made these DELICIOUS Parmesan butternut squash noodles from Deceptively Delicious, but even that did not work. He is a smart cookie and fairly picky. I want to try making the pea mint popsicles in Toddler Cafe sometime soon, as he did like the pea pancakes a lot and loves popsicles. We have since gotten new parts for the processor, and little O is going to eat well when his time comes. And maybe if I try real hard, it will look this pretty.


After shopping, I went to Ram Wools. I got some beautiful yarn! I got a ball of Noro Silk Garden (my favorite!), and some black Lett Lopi to contrast it with to make some pretty mittens with. Well, I think all the yarns I got today are destined to be mittens. I also got a colourful skein of Mirasol Hacho, which is a beautiful hand dyed merino, as well as aubergine and pale blue balls of Sandnes Alpakka. So soft! I haven't been to Ram Wools since I lived with my mom. It was the only good place the 88 bus went other than to the 18 North Main. The new location is a lot brighter. It was so hard deciding which yarns to buy. They all felt so nice and were such pretty colours (although I did not find the perfect green I was looking for - I might have to make a Knitpicks order). And now between yarn for three pairs of mittens that I bought yesterday, and the yarn for the hoodie I bought last week, and the project I am currently working on, I'll be busy for a while.

Bunny!

Yesterday I decided to take a break from sweater knitting (although I did do the cuff for the second sleeve) and make a really quick instant gratification project. All that knit one row pearl the next was making me fuzzy. I decided to knit O a really soft little bunny out of some yarn I have probably had around for 6 or 7 years. A side note on that, I used to only buy one ball of a yarn I liked for some stupid reason, so I have a lot of single balls of really pretty yarn in a large bag. And interesting yarn being the way it is, most of the balls have something like 60 yards in them (and are discontinued) or something like that, which makes them too small to do much of anything with. Except make cute little animals.

I used this pattern, Anything Animals. It's a really simple and cute pattern, which knits up really quickly. I actually made another whole body before I did the bunny, with some Bernat Disco as the "head," but it was just way too fuzzy. I kind of want to knit a hockey fan with a mullet out of that one. Maybe next time I need a break from what seems like endless stockinette stitch. I used Patons Powder Puff for the body, which I kind wish I either had more of, or could easily buy more of as it would be perfect for a baby blanket or a really soft bear. Or to just hug straight on the ball. For the head I used Phildar Neige (which I can't find a good link for, but it's a fuzzy yarn, like stranded cotton balls, but replace the cotton with polyester), which was alright. It's just a little too fuzzy, but it works for a bunny. Like I said, the pattern was really easy, perhaps even too easy. I am sure I could have picked up stitches instead of knitting all of the limbs separately and stitching them on. That might have taken longer than the knitting itself. And made it look a little sloppier than I'd like, but that adds charm, right? I think I will use the pattern again though, with that stuff in mind, to knit up a cute little red headed girl doll like in the photos accompanying the instructions. And the aforementioned mullet-ed hockey fan. Think of all of the imaginative stories a kid should be able to come up with using a cast of characters like that. I think I have a project for this next week. That and finishing the sweater hopefully.

Tomorrow I hope to go to Ram Wools and pick up some nice yarn (I am on a hunt for the perfect bright green, as well as a good cyan/red combination) and some size 1 double pointed needles for future mitten making. We'll see after I go grocery shopping. My $99.06 grocery shop was a success (except we ran out of margarine, which was my fault - I made muffins), so we will see how tomorrow goes. I just have to finalize my list. And stay out of the Joe Fresh section.

I am vacuuming while writing this.

I can't say enough how much I love the Roomba. It's vacuuming for me right now while I eat lunch and type this. Pretty sweet. I have only pulled out the real vacuum once since we got the Roomba.The boys are both asleep, B just went down for a nap and O is due to wake up at any moment, and I am enjoying soup and Jello. Like an old lady.

I finally went to Chatters the other day and got some new nail polishes. I finally found OPI My Private Jet. I have been looking for this one for a while. Not only did I find it, but I found the original holographic version. They have come out with a new version since, and it is not as pretty, as I loooove the holographic glitter. This is probably not very exciting to anyone else. Ha. I also picked up OPI DS Divine. Best part was that all the DS polishes were on sale. It was a good shopping trip. We also went to the Chapters next door, and B looked at books. Well, rather he played with "Thompsy" and then looked at books once he realized they had Cars: The Movie books. I of course fawned over all of the beautifully illustrated children's books, and B picks a Cars book. That's how it goes. It's a start. I'll get him hooked on mid-century modern inspired illustration yet!What I really don't understand is why does B get so excited about the Thomas table when he has one at home.

B's cars book came with stickers inside, so yesterday we set out to make our own book. I folded up some construction paper and got out some crayons. What resulted was "Lightning McQueen Drives." B put stickers down and made me draw roads for them and then filled in some more colour. I would then ask him what was going on, and write it down. It was fun, and B seemed really proud of it.

I finished the first sleeve on the sweater, now for the second. Ugh, sleeves. It just feels like I should be on to something more exciting already! I am going to try to finish the second sleeve as quick as possible. I am getting ansty about moving on to other projects already! And I found out Ram Wools is having a 25% off sale, and I really really want to go. I should probably add another really in there. I think this year I am going to make more Christmas presents. I know it is early to think about Christmas, but when you are making things, it is best to start as soon as possible. I always want to make Christmas presents, but I always feel that whatever I make won't be good enough. But then I realized I make good stuff. Seriously I have way to high expectations of myself to let myself make something I can't do really well. Or let myself do something sub-par. So yeah, we'll see how that goes. I mean, we live in Manitoba. Everyone needs mittens. Ask me in November how much I have done. Ha.

I keep thinking it's Thursday or Friday

Today I broke out the new art stuff and B and I went crazy with the foam stickers and googly eyes while O slept after lunch. And the glitter glue! Kids art supplies are the best. Tomorrow I think I will break out the safety scissors. Which were really really hard to find, and in the end, I could only find the zig zaggy kind like scrapbookers use. O still sleeps enough that I get a fair bit of uninterrupted time with B, although that is slowly changing.

I went grocery shopping on Sunday, and somehow, the total was $99.06, which is significantly less than usual. It might be because I went through the flyer (or circular, as Ryan informs me most people call them outside of Winnipeg, although I am not so sure), and made a very detailed list and made a meal plan to go with it. And I stuck to it.We'll see how we are still doing on Friday. Which I keep thinking it is and am sorely disappointed. Ryan went back to work full time today, which means even less sleep and longer days.

B had his first dentist appointment today. He has a pretty bad looking chip in his front tooth, so I made Ryan call up the dentist and take him. I am too scared of the dentist. There was a dentist in the strip mall in front of our old place, and sometimes they would open the door for fresh air, and just the smell would make me panic. So anyways, B went to one of those kids dentist places, and he had a good time playing, and seemed to have a really good experience, which is important to me. And the chip is not worth fixing, and all of his other teeth are just fine.

I finished the main body on the sweater I am knitting for O, now for the sleeves. Sleeves always feel like such a chore after the main body. I just want to finish this sweater so I can move on to the next! And some other projects. And I really need to get back into taking more photographs. I really really want to create a documentary work, but I just can't figure out what exactly to document. I explored a few ideas while in school, but they never quite seemed right to me. I guess this is something I will have to really think about. I should probably start by revisiting some old ideas and figure out what is going on there. I think I have about 100 rolls of film in a binder, I started scanning them recently with a film scanner, but got distracted by the littlest one. I find that I get so caught up in the theory of taking photographs that it makes me too self conscious and aware of my intentions and their effects to make anything proper. These are things I could go on about, but would make me seem too crazy-nuts.

I finally caved and bought a mint green nail polish. I shouldn't have. It's streaky and makes my hands look like hospital walls. I don't need to be wearing anything that enhances my pale skin. But I read that there are more Revlon scented nail colours. I bought one of the fruity ones in the fall, and I must have looked crazy sniffing my nails. Spring pastels just do not work for me, bring on the summer brights! I love bright purples and fuchsias!

On living in a toy box.

I spend a lot of time in our living room. When I say a lot, I really mean it. This is mostly due to O being so teeny tiny and liking to be awake at strange hours on top of having to be awake all day. Our living room, or rather I should say, living area, is very large, and loosly sectioned off into three areas. In one area, a little nook, is the tv, coffee table, and couch. Adjacent to this is the kid area, probably the largest of the three, and the most infectious, spreading toy cars all over the place. The third is the dining area. One of my biggest pet peeves in our place is that the dining area is carpeted. This sucks with kids. It sucks a little less after buying Ryan a Roomba for Christmas. It's like a robot dog that does not get sick (This is a cool guide to Roomba "songs". And it actually works pretty well! B was just warming up to the Roomba after being scared of the vacuum for a long time, when I stupidly brought out the big clunky one, and now we are back at square one and cleaning up is a lot harder. But I digress. The part of this whole paragraph relevant to the rest of this blog post is the second part of the room, the play area.

The play area drives me bonkers! Because it is such an open area in a main part of our home, I want to keep it clean and organized, which feels like a losing battle. It just feels like there is too much! I put a bunch of toys in storage now, especialy ones that B is too old for and O is too young for, but it was not enough. I really really need to come up with a storage solution that looks a lot neater. I have been wanting this Ikea bookshelf for ever, but I just cannot justify the Ikea shipping. The Trofast system would also be perfect in that area. A lot of things would probably be better than the mishmash of storage I have right now. I wish I could find rolling boxes for under the Thomas table. I like that table, it seems like the perfect height and size for all of B's car and train play. The play area feels like a work in progress, but I just want it to look better! Maybe that will be my next weekend project.

Most importantly, I have to try not to buy anymore toys! It's easier said than done though. Looking at toy cars has become a part of our trips to the mall or Walmart. And B has a face that is hard to say no to, and I like looking at Hot Wheels with him and trying to find the coolest car. I will say that yesterday we went to both a toy store and Walmart, and left without anything or a fuss, so it can be done. I did get some art supplies, but those don't count, they are more of a consumable product anyways, and they get stored elsewhere. So Ryan and I have declared that we will not buy anymore toys until Christmas. And then it will be good quality stuff, like one or two Plan Toys play sets instead of a lot of smaller stuff.

B is getting back into books. I think this was spurred by our new nightime routine, in which he gets to pick out any book he wants, and then I read that and two more while he sits in bed right before I turn out the lights. He is really into Bernstein Bear books right now, us having inherited Ryan's childhood collection. The last book is always I'm Not Scared, about a little owl out in the woods with his stuffed Owlie, whom he claims is the one who is really scared of the dark. It's a cute book for a little guy just realizing he might be scared of the dark. Later today, time granting, I am going to sew B a toy Owlie so he has a friend in the dark, I think he'd really like it

My favorite moment of the week was right before I put B to bed last night. He had found my childhood Care Bear (Bedtime Bear) that I slept with every night until I was far to old. B got the same one (but modernized) for his first Christmas, and he sleeps with it every night. When he found mine, he got really excited. He told me they were the same, and showed me all of the things they had in common, like noses, tails, hearts and hair. He then sat them on the bed to read stories with us (and he made sure they saw every page) and then fell asleep with both of them. It was precious.

The Saints of Winnipeg

Recently, we moved to St. James. The other day while driving around, I got to thinking "What kind of Saint was St. James anyways?" So I googled it on my phone, to realize that he is the patron saint of Spain, veterinarians, furriers, tanners and pharmacists (and more, that is a wiki-summary). Clearly this area should instead be named after St. Anthony , who looks after the elderly. Yeesh. One day I made the mistake of going to Safeway on seniors day. NEVER AGAIN. Old people + Safeway + free shuttles + 10% off = Me being asked to get things off the top shelf (uh, hello, I am only 5"6) and them cooing at B, who did not like the attention thank goodness.

Anyways, this got me to thinking about the other saints in and around the city: St. Boniface, St. Norbert, and St. Vital. I know there are a few others, but those are the main ones.

I always figured St. Boniface had something to do with the French, being the namesake of the French part of Winnipeg, but he was surprisingly un-Francophone. He also is the patron of, amoung other things, Germany, brewers, and file cutters. There are also legends of him inventing the Christmas tree. Very un-French. What about crepes and ceinture flechees?? And the tourtiere and POUTINE! They should just rename the whole area St. Voyager upon petitioning for Sainthood of course. And falsifying records of a man named Voyager who came to the area in search of pelts, who would go on to discover poutine one day after tripping over a large canot outside the portage while holding a grocery bag with cheese and gravy in one hand and a fresh order of fries in the other. Ok? Get on that. I'll start an online petition.

St. Norbert is home to some beautiful monastery ruins, but St. Norbert himself founded the Premonstratensian order of canons, who are clearly not monks. In my opinion, they should name the area after Le Nob, a sign I have giggled at many times on my way to the farmer's market or on road trips down south. Although as I recall, it was recently renamed The Nob Pub, which is not as great of a name for a neighborhood.

St. Vital (who is also the namesake of City Route 165) was not a saint, but merely declared venerable. While he could maybe one day become a saint, he did not even become venerable until many years after he became canonized on maps. So basically, it's a lie. Seeing as the area is known for it's giant mall, maybe St. Lucy should be considered, as she might have been the patron of shoe sellers, which is close enough, as they have some pretty major sidewalk shoe sales there. Or maybe the area could go back it its French roots, and consider something like Centre Commercial, although that seems more fitting for Regent Avenue.

Anyways, I should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow is Saturday, and as much as we'd all love weekends to be relaxing, Saturdays are usually pretty busy. I need to return some knitting needles (arg, I bought the wrong size TWICE!) and stop at DollarGrandma as we like to call Dollarama to pick up some simple craft supplies to round out the ones I picked up today. But maybe more on that another time.

Milestones and knitting

B has been growing up like crazy this week. He finally decided to give up his soother (I knew he would do it on his own eventually), and decided that he no longer wanted to sleep in his crib. The soother he just handed to me the other day when I was putting him to sleep. I've only heard one peep about it since, but was the next day and we were in the car driving home on the perimeter, and it was very dark out. B also seems to be scared of the dark and monsters now; I am not sure where this came from. These fears made him scared to sleep in his crib, so he asked to "Sleep in Thompsy," his Thomas the Tank engine bed that has been set up next to his crib for the past few months. He could never sleep in it before because he was just too excited about sleeping in it, but now he sleeps really well in it. But he also gave up taking a nap. Which kind of sucks, because I LOVE nap time, but I can deal. With the help of Pixar and enforced quiet time. Ha!

I'm still working on the hooded cardigan for O. It is coming along well. I am still waffling on the colour choice, but it's too late to do anything about that now. And all I can think about is what to knit next. I've been spending way too much time browsing patterns and yarns. I went to Michaels the other day and picked up 3 balls of a really pretty grey-blue yarn (for $2.59 a ball, nice!) to knit this hooded sweater, which I have fallen in love with. I also picked up a couple of balls of a light chartreuse, which I hope to pair with a bright blue and maybe a brown to knit these pants. O is going to have lots of cute warm things. I also want to do a lot more holiday knitting this year. I love picking out the yarn. I am a real colour nerd, so I am super picky and spend way too much time holding colours up to each other to find the perfect match. The greens are the hardest. I once read that green is the colour your eye sees the most values and variations of, so it's really easy to pick up on small differences. And a good green is really hard to find! Blues seem to be the easiest. I could go on about colour, I really could, but I will spare you.

Right now Ryan and B are out at a playgroup they have been going to in the area once a week. It's nice, I get to spend the morning relaxing while O mostly sleeps. And it's really cute when B tells me he is going to school (the playgroup is in a school) to wash his hands (there is a play kitchen). Last night actually, I went to a knitting group that Ryan had heard about in the playgroup. It was really nice to meet some people in this part of the city and to get out for a bit. And the coffee place we went to had mocha coconut frappes. For serious. My favorite drink ever since Starbucks briefly had them 7 or 8 years ago.

Jeepers Creepers

While I was unsuccessfully trying to organize the pantry (we've been here since November and I STILL have no where to put the spices I don't really use these days anyways, which is another story all together), there was a knock at the door. Which excited B, and solicited no response from O, who was asleep in his cuuuuute owl swing (I seriously made Ryan drive me to Grand Forks to buy it and an owl-print Pack and Play). I was not really expecting anything except my new glasses, but I thought it was too soon for them to come yet. But behold! It was the DHL guy with my new glasses straight from China only a week after I ordered them. Which is the same time frame as the place in the mall, because I have bad eyes so it takes longer.

It's the 3rd time I have ordered from Zenni Optical, and I will order again. I have been pleased with my glasses every time. And the price! Oh my. Two pairs of glasses for 29.00 shipped! That is less than the anti-reflective coating I never get because it seems to wear off. I am a happy camper. As mentioned, I got two pairs. One is a black stylized half-rim pair ordered to replace a pair that B broke a while ago, and the other a clear bright purple frame. I figured my face needed a break from all the thick black glasses. And I love them both.

Now about those spices. I really need to find some of those windowed magnetic tins for them. I have a perfect space on my fridge for them. And then they will not be in a cardboard box labled "DO NOT TIP" even though I always do by accident AND I can finally find the right ones to use. Chili Powder is no Cayenne Pepper. One of these days.

Today in the mail I got the new issue of Everyday Food magazine. I heart Superstore. OMG Joe Fresh kids clothes! They are just too cute. And a good cosmetics and home section. It is trying-to-save-money kryptonite. So as much as I love Ben and my trips to Superstore, I think that once I get it all figured out, I want to get out to places like Organza and Delucas more like we used to. Because if we are eating for less, we might as well be eating better quality. And it might help eliminate some of the junk we buy. Which B loves all too much. It took me all day to get him to put the tiniest piece of a new food in his mouth. All he wants is fruit snacks, Bear Paws, and "Ger-goni" crackers. So my plan over the next few days is to come up with a good meal plan for next week. I just need some new ideas.

Time to get this party started.

The spring cleaning's coming

As we lose the cold weather, so

Put away your long johns

All your thick sweaters

And we'll cut off all our winter hair

Sit out on the lawn chairs

And the sun forgets that we're here

Forget our careers

I figured it's time to get back into blogging. I'll probably write about a lot of different things: the boys, who take up most of my time; things I am up to, such as knitting and sewing projects; food we eat, which has been mostly unexciting these days, but I really want to change that; and other things, like shopping, neat links, and various colours that end up on my nails. I paint them to de-stress, it works pretty good.

So in that vein, I will gloss over those topics.

• The boys are good, B is about 2 years and a couple of months and is doing very well. I am trying to get him over his juice addiction, into his Thomas bed, into real underpants, and all without his soother. It's good times. He lives and breathes Cars. Yes. Cars with a capital C, as in the movie. "Watcha McQueen," he runs around the house saying. What did parents do without pixar movies??? He has a healthy collection of toy cars and trucks of all sorts that he loves parking and putting in houses. It's pretty cute. O is about 6 weeks now, and a smiley little guy. He's pretty darn cute. And huge! He seems a lot more aware of his surroundings than I remember B being, and he is one tough little guy.
• I am knitting a sweater for O, a hooded cardigan based on the pattern in Debbie Bliss' Essential Baby (It's the one on the top left, but I am making a fair bit of changes). I just finished the ribbing and am now on the striping. I have not knitted in a while, and I forgot how fun it is. My ravelry ID is ohdessa if anyone is interested. Sewing not so much these days, as it's not something you can do while holding a baby, but I do plan to maybe sew up some quick sheets for B this weekend.
• Food is boring. I really hope to change that. We've been eating a fair bit of crap these days out of convenience. Ryan is working a lot, and I am busy with the two boys, so it just seems easier to throw in a pizza. On top of that, B is fairly picky, which makes things even harder. But sometime in the next couple of weeks I plan to go through cookbooks and come up with a plan.
• Other stuff is other stuff. Yup. I am pretty pleased with my nails right now. I painted them Revlon Grey Suede (such a nice colour, more of a nude-y pink with a bit of grey) and used a Kiss Beach Purple nail art polish to paint on zebra stripes. I've been trying to organize the apartment like crazy and it feels like it will never be done. And I could use a vacation! Ha.
• Now, I just need to pretty up this thing.