I got this email from my dad this morning and had to share:
OK folks, Mitt Romney here. I have been crisscrossing the country for last six years. I know I have changed my positions on many issues. I consider that as a part of my etch-a-sketch strategy. I am aware Newt called me a liar, Santorum called me the worst Republican. I even remember late Senator Kennedy called me multiple choice person. I can’t help it if I like all aspects of any issue. Therefore, I was the staunch conservative Governor during Republican primaries. Now, in general election, I am a peaceloving centrist candidate. I am of the firm opinion that corporations are people too. Women should not have right to choose. You know Akins and Murdock are right, if a women gets pregnant even as a result of rape, its God’s wish and we cannot go against it. I will reduce your taxes, make our military strong, attack Iran with Netanyahu and also as time permits, will balance the budget. Finally, I am asking for your vote. I really, really want to be your President. Don’t worry, I have already promised Grover Norquist I will sign anything he puts on my desk. All I want is when I hold Ann in my arms in the Lincoln bedroom, she can croon in my ear, “Mr. President!”. I am not asking for much, am I? Thanks for your vote and God bless America!
Me: Kids, did you know President Obama is going to be there tonight?
Girl, angrily: Obama shpends 4 BILLION dollars a day!!!
Boy, yelling: THAT’S NOT TRUE! THAT’S JUST A LIE MITT ROMNEY SAID SO HE WOULD GET ELECTED PRESIDENT! IT’S NOT TRUUUUUUE!
Me: Girl, who are you going to vote for President?
Girl: Mitt Romney! Mitt Romney! Mitt Romney!
Boy, yelling again: HE’S A LIAR!! YOU CAN’T VOTE FOR HIM!! HE’S A LIAAAARRRR!!!
I couldn’t imagine where they had heard any of this since we don’t tune in to commercial TV or radio, and I don’t think I’ve ever said anything about Obama’s spending.
Me: So, where did you hear this?
Boy: Remember the commercials we watched during the Olympics?
Ah, those commercials. 2 MONTHS ago. And apparently since then we’ve had a red state/blue state divide in my own house, and I didn’t even know it.
I remember when the kids were babies and we’d get clothes from people that were just HUGE. Didn’t people know how small babies were?
Well, as I’ve learned, you forget fast. I mean, now that my kids are bigger (but still small) I can’t possibly imagine anyone as small as a baby, especially when you’re knitting something.
A cousin of ours recently had a baby and so I knit a little sweater for her:
I’ve started putting these little tags onto my knits-so cute, no? And you can also write in helpful washing instructions. I NEVER give a baby gift that can’t be washed and dried. That’s just mean.
Now, by “recently” I mean the baby was born in April. Those things grow fast and I was worried that the sweater that I’d started sometime shortly after that would now be too big.
I thought I’d try it on the smallest creature I had handy:
It’s a bit snug, buuuut I think it’ll be okay for the *cough* 7 month old *cough* it’s intended for.
I’ve probably mentioned somewhere to most of you that I don’t camp. Humans have evolved to have indoor plumbing, central heat, and carpets and I don’t see any reason why giving that up for “fun” makes any sense.
I may have to rescind that statement after going on an actual camping trip. Now, we did go on a few camping trips before we had kids, and they were fun, but the last time we went camping was when the boy was 18 months old and it was an unmitigated disaster. I know many of you camp with toddlers and purport to have a good time, but I find that the work/fun ratio was too high on the work side to make it enjoyable. Also, he didn’t sleep so we didn’t sleep and it was miserable.
A neighbor family invited us to go camping a few weekends ago, and so we all made it up to a campground just past Kenosha pass. The timing was perfect and we were surrounded by a field of bright yellow aspens.
The first night was freezing, and the ground was hard. I woke up to bruised, cold hips. In the morning, I looked at the tent and saw that the ceiling vents were open, conveniently letting all of the heat out of the tent, which made me feel like a right moron. We fixed it the next night and were quite toasty.
The rest of the weekend was filled with tree climbing, bike riding, fishing, campfires and exploring the wild wild woods next to the site.
Eric worked especially hard during the trip.
On our hike we even found a beaver pond, complete with dam!
It was a great time away and I *might* even be up for some camping trips in the future…as long as I can bring a fluffier air mattress with me next time.
We went to San Diego over Labor Day weekend for my cousin Shailu’s wedding! The wedding was a blast and the kids (and I) had a lot of fun getting all dressed up. I tell you, the girl enjoys getting all fancied up a bit too much, if you ask me. Must take after her dad.
In many Indian weddings, the groom arrives on a horse and they bring with them one of the young cousins. Now, the boy was supposed to be the one to ride on in with the groom, but on the day of he was a bit tired and grumpy (and honestly, I think a bit scared of the horse). We turned to the girl, who looked at the horse and said in hushed tones, “It’s just like a princess horse!” and promptly clambered on top and proceeded to have a grand time. The girl was in awe of the bride, who was unbelievably beautiful, and I’m pretty sure she thinks that she saw a true princess.
It was also the first time for me to see many of my relatives from around the country and even India since MY wedding, and obviously the first time for them to meet my kids, which was fun. Now, cousins, all of YOU people need to start having kids so MY kids have someone to play with at the next batch of weddings, k? Also, I’m just looking at this picture now. I’m so glad my daughter is so respectful.
The big highlight for the kids, though, was the beach. Denver is sadly beach and wave deficient, so most moments we weren’t attending the wedding, we were getting sandy
and sandier
I took the kids to see my alma mater, UCSD, and while they were duly unimpressed, it was a shock to me to see my children running around my old undergrad campus. Also, in the 14 (!!) years since I’ve been there, it had changed so much that I hardly recognized it, which was good because it tempered my nostalgia.
Of course, no trip would be complete without a trip to the Zoo, where the kids met face to face with some of their own kind
That is such an incredible place-I love going to see all the animals. Koalas! They have koalas! And pandas too, which really were more like fluffy black and white tree ornaments the day we saw them. And so many monkeys in fun habitats that were swinging all over the place and teasing each other. The hippo exhibit is so cool-you can get so close to them.
Who would think that this vicious creature is responsible for more deaths than lions and leopards combined?
And we of course made it to Legoland, which is a nice little amusement park for kids under about 9 in terms of rides. Mine and the boy’s favorite part, though, was the Star Wars scenes recreations in 1:20 scale.
The thing that was the most amazing was that as far as I could tell, there weren’t any specialty shaped pieces used to make any of the models! They’re all made out of standard bricks! How cool is that! I took a bunch of pictures of these but I’ll spare you the geekiness unless you want to see them. We spent almost an hour just looking at these. Okay, okay, I’ll post one more:
Overall, the trip was so much fun-we’ve got another big family wedding in November and are really looking forward to it. I hope they can manage to bring the beach to Sugarland, Texas, too, because then it would be just perfect.
This may be the most beautiful thing I have ever knit.
I started this project in March of 2010, and it’s finally done. I didn’t work on it for months at a time, but it’s been my go to travel project and with all the plane time I’ve spent this year, I think I got through it. This scarf has been with me to San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Vail, Colorado Springs-sometimes I feel like when you knit something that takes this long, some of that history is woven into it.
It’s knit with two yarns, a silk-wrapped stainless steel (yes, steel) and a fine wool in a subtly variegated purple, both are about as thin as your average sewing thread. The steel gives the finished piece a texture, and if you crumple it a bit it will stay that way. They’re both Habu yarns which are some of the most beautiful and unique yarns I’ve ever seen-last year I visited their New York store and it was stunning.
The scarf version of this is pretty, too, but I really wanted a wider shawl, which is why it took a bit longer. It’s so lightweight though that it’s easily wearable as a scarf, too.(Forgive the pictures-real knitting bloggers have photo shoots and photoshop to help them, whereas I have a 6 year old.)
The final instructions call for a light felting, but I’m too scared that it won’t look nice that way and I love it so much as it is I want to leave it. So there, knitting instructions.
Next up is finishing a baby sweater (just needs buttons) and then onto another piece with more of the Habu yarn, this time with a black cotton/linen tape.
Bean screen looks lovely and shades the house and since it’s in an area that doesn’t get as many hours of sun it hasn’t burned this year and we’re only now getting lots of green beans.
Cutting more broccoli shoots-we ate the main heads weeks ago.
Jungle like tomato plant
We’ve got corn, but something has been getting into it–gross.
Here’s the disgusting little creature now. What IS that?
Thankfully, there are still a few good ears
The borage flowers are pretty, but what to do with this? Any herbalists with ideas?
And this looks juuust about ripe! We have about 6-7 watermelons this year!
Todays harvest, with a few weeds presiding over them.
Things have been so great this year!
There are a few things I think I’ll move around-like one patch where no veggie has ever thrived, and I’ll definitely make time to get the tomato species I really want next year. While the ones we have now are delicious, the heirlooms we had last year were even better. I also need to invest in better tomato cages. The sad little metal wire cones are not up to the task. The squirrels have unfortunately discovered the butternut squash this year and are chomping away at it, so I may need to get a mesh cover for those that are left. The corn grubs are just gross. And one kale plant for a family of 4 is way, way more than enough kale. While the jalapeno plant did really well, I’m giving up on the bell peppers. Not worth the real estate for the sad few fruits I get, and given that if they were going to do well it would have been this year. I’d rather plant a different tomato plant or eggplant.
Broccoli was fantastic to have, and the eggplant has done really well. The tomatillo plant is just starting to produce fruit, and it’s one of my favorites to have fresh from the garden. Such delicious salsa and sauces!
Now off to cook with all that food-the latest bon appetit has recipes for an eggplant rice bake, kale salad, and grilled corn with herb butter which we happen to have most of the ingredients for after the harvest today! Yum.
fretzes on the loose 