Little Engineer's Afghan...

This is my Giant Slolem Afghan... he wanted an afghan for his 6th birthday, and this is it... and accomplished in the alotted time for the Ravelympics, not to mention the progress I've made on the Print o the Wave stole and my Giant Granny afghan!  I'm not getting much else done, however, and packing has come to a rather screeching halt.  Only one more day till the Olympics are over and then I'm planning on streamlining school so it's less dependent on me and then back to the packing in earnest.

Qualifying

Hi!  Feeling very sad for the Georgian Olympic team and the athletes family and friends... how very awful when a young person dies.  I did get to start my Ravelympics competition and I thought I'd share my progress... I was up till about 4am... and when I got in bed, Hubs got up as he was picking up coworkers in our Suburban... thank the Lord for 4x4s, and my hardworking Hubs  Who else wants to visit Canada?!

Brown Cardigan

Here it is!!!  I really am proud of this!  Now I'm ready to start my Ravelympics2010 project tonight when the torch is lit... I know, it'll be late.  I took a nap!

I bought some new brown Mary Jane pumps to go with it!

Opening Ceremonies

I have successfully tied up some loose ends here at Contentment... I finished my brown cardigan in time for my trip to Texas next week... I even got some pics today, which I, of course, will share... We've started our luge track here at the house.  OK, it's a sled track, but we're calling it the luge track.  We've worn ourselves out packing snow.  I mean, we all came in and collapsed and I still think my rear end is a bit frozen.  Still, it's fun, and the sun is out and the day is beautiful and our road is finally not closed!  Of course it's supposed to snow again Monday.  We better get it finished and start sliding!

Also, did you know that 11 women in Olympia, Greece who represent 11 vestal virgins light the torch with a parabolic mirror before the Olympics?  Cool, huh?  Can one make a parabolic mirror at home?

Well, instead of that, we lighted our own Olympic Torch with the sun... we tried and tried to light it directly, but had to resort to lighting a match with the sun and a magnifying glass!!!  Then we lit the candle.    It counts! ..... It Does!

Jumping the Gun?

Hmmmmmm.... someone's not staying emotionally distant.....

Sneak Peek - Basement

Ok, all, I've teased you and teased you with these sneak peeks, I know.  There are only a few left, as I WAS hoping to have approval from the owner's lender by now, but we're still waiting... still....  ..... ................

However, I did think you all deserved a pic of the basement and it's uber high ceilings (in a BASEMENT) and beautiful ceiling fans and french doors out to the fenced back yard.  This, my friends, will be a playroom.  A noisy, raucous, roll around on the floor, do jumping jacks kind of place for us to rough house.  It's a nice big space with the fifth bedroom and a full bath attached.  Also, there is a large storage room that only requires one wall to be finished to be a perfect cold storage room.  Or a perfect storage room, anyway, without the wall.  One of the computers will be down here for school and computer games, but not connected to the internet.  Maybe a small TV, too, mounted up high, for workout videos and kid movies.  I suppose, eventually, this could be converted into a little suite for parents or something. Or a party room, complete with mirror ball, dance floor, and wet bar.  Maybe a tiki bar look.... to go with a pool in the back yard.... or a hot tub.  Hmmmmmmm....... It must be very cool in the summer as it faces north and has all those ceiling fans.   

Olympics Fever!!!

It's been snow, snow, and more snow around here!  It snowed so much it filled up the cattle guard and the cows thought they'd traipse right out of their field this morning to look for forage.  My neighbor's son called and gave us a heads up, so I thought I'd just roll out of bed, wash my face, get dressed, and see what's up out there... Or what's out up there... hard to say when I've just woken up.  Aaaaaanyway, I'm not packing... I'm procrastinating because I'm trying not to think about moving when the stupid Bank of America won't hurry up and tell us if we can have that house or not!  (Ranting... anger problems, apparently).

Instead of packing, I'm planning a unit study for the Winter 2010 Olympics.  It's fun!  I've found that my kids are rather weak in Geography and so the Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to get those world maps out and start learning about countries and where they are while we watch the competition!  Also, my oldest is studying Ancient Greece right now and so we're working in the Ancient Olympics, too.  Also, Canada, snow, and, if I can manage it, engineering a snow apparatus outside, while there's still snow to push around.  I think the Little Engineer will enjoy that.

We've really been inspired by the Olympic Motto and Creed.  I guess I'll just go ahead and post them ;)

Motto:  Citius, Altius, Fortius (Swifter, Higher, Stronger)

Creed:  The most significant thing in the Olympic games is not to win, but to take part.  Just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle.  The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Soooo, we've been setting ourselves some goals for this Olympic period, which is, as of now, 20 days.  I'm going to work on my abs... by working them out 4 times a week on our pull up bar.  Also, I'm going to try harder to work out, yoga or pilates, 4-5 days a week.  Aaaaand, I'm rereading Raising Godly Tomatoes

Finally, on my pursuit to challenge myself for this 20 days, I've decided to compete in the Ravelympics 2010, which is a competition on Ravelry, one of my favorite ever sites, where one can get almost anything a fiber freak like me needs for inspiration.

I am competing on the ClubFoot Ravelympics team in the Giant Slalom-ghan event... which means I'm going to try to crochet an afghan in 20 days... 20 days.  The rules say you can't start your project except for swatching before the Olympic flame is lit in Vancouver, and you have to finish your project before the flame is extinguished, 16 days later.  It's sort of a fun way to compete and make projects and enjoy the Olympics all at the same time!  Jeremy drove me to AC Moore yesterday to get more yarn for my brown sweater which is wet blocking right now in preparation for seaming and knitting neck ribbing and button bands.

While we were there, I spotted a sale on cheap o acrylic for an even cheaper price of 2 for $5... I thought about that and overcame my acrylic aversions when I realized the whole afghan would cost less than $30 to make and my kids will ensure that it needs to be washed repeatedly anyway, so acrylic would be a good idea.  So here's a sneak peek of the colors:

I'll be posting updates!!!  The Olympics starts in 3 days!  Are you getting swifter, higher, and stronger?

Wee Little Mama

This girl is a born Mama... the first thing she did after learning to crawl was to go get a baby doll and haul it around, everywhere, without fail.  She loves her little kitchen, which she got for her fourth birthday this year, along with this oh, so, cute ruffly pink dress.  The apron is one of two that she wears when working in her efficient little kitchen.  I think she's just so stinkin cute with her little white socks and Mary Jane's and do it yourself four year old hairdo.  So cute, so very, very cute.

The Skirt, Episode Three

We're coming to the end of a Star Wars movie marathon here at Contentment.... to explain the title. I told you that I made another skirt and I wore it last week, and the sun came out, but the Hubs wasn't home to help take pics, sooooo.... I just took them myself. Sorry. Anyway, here's the skirt... OK, I know it's kind of juvenile, but I'm not really that grown up yet. I love it. I know you all will put up with my crazy fashion whims because you love me!

Plus it goes with my cool turquoise suede penny loafers.

Do you think I should put a penny in them? Let's see, when I used to wear them, the rule was a dimes go in black pairs and pennies in brown ones... so what do I put in a turquoise pair? Buttons?

Yeah, I know wearing brown tights with colored shoes is a bold fashion move... but, I was cold! I've been thinking of buying some white or natural colored wool tights and dyeing them to go with my outfits, but that idea may go the way of so many others I've had....

National Gallery of Art

Most modern art I dislike... OK, well, postmodern art. But I love to look at Mark Rothko's later canvases. Let me clarify, I love the Color as Field pictures before the darkness sets into Rothko's work, cause that dark stuff makes me super sad. I can't wait for the Mark Rothko Exhibit that opens at the National Gallery of Art in May. We visited last Tuesday for a first hand look at Jackson Pollock's No. 1 Lavender Mist, as we've been studying some modern artists in school... Color speaks to me, and large canvases that are non representational are often very emotionally evocative to me... Still, Jackson Pollock is hard for me to understand... even in person, which is quite a bit better than a little pic in an Art book (or online).

I took a couple pictures of the kids in this neat, cosmic, walkway art installation that I'll share...

I had a great time, but I have to say, sometimes it really blows to have kids five and under on a museum trip... It's one of those times we all came home, brushed our teeth and went to bed, bedtime or no!