This is only a test

 My little bubba, Connor, will be 3 in just a couple weeks (2/22). He's getting so big, so fast ::sigh::

When you ask him what he wants for his birthday, the answers are pretty simple. He wants Pixar Planes, and the second one, Fire and Rescue. He wants cars, all the cars. And he wants a new baby.

This is his old baby. It's huge and bulky, and has a slot in its back for a Wii remote. It's the baby from "Babysitting Mama", and technically it's Kae's. (He and baby are watching Teen Titans)

This baby watches tv with him, plays cars and trains, eats meals, and cuddles after bath time. He loves it.

So I decided that for his birthday, we'd get him a new baby. I knew the grandparents probably wouldn't. And my friends, while progressive, aren't going to drop $30 on a doll.

So we went to that bastion of everything: Walmart (I needed milk too lol)

The trip started really well! We hit the toy aisle and found a few little baby sets, I couldn't find alllll the baby dolls, but I wasn't worried. 

The nice lady who was stocking shelves helped me out when I asked her, "do you have any BOY babies?" 

Turns out they had exactly one. One cabbage patch kid named Conner (o.m.g. It looks just like my Connor too!!!)

Buddy was so happy! 

He sat in the cart while I picked up the

rest of our stuff, talking to his new friend. Telling Conner all about their cars and trains, and bath time. 

My son stays home with me. He doesn't spend a lot of time with other kids except his sister. You might think it's sad that this doll is his new friend. But I don't. I see my 3 year old who's excited to share with new "people". 

The first test came from the young tattooed mom in the chef boyardee are. 

Connor: this is my new baby!

Lady: really...(looks at me) is he?..

Me: what? Going to be a daddy someday?

Lady: oh! I guess you're right ::nervous laugh::

Really? He's broken because he wants a doll? Whatever lady. 

The last two tests of patience happened in the checkout line. 

A little old lady tried to tell connor he wanted a bike instead (which he does anyway). But he would not be put off "this is MY new baby"

And the other was the cashier. A woman of about 40. 

Connor: can I have my baby please?

(She'd put it on the bag spinner, so I put it into the cart)

Cashier: oh is it for your sister?

Connor: no! Is my new baby!

Me: yes bubba, this is for your birthday!

Don't push me lady.

I was pretty sure her eyes were going to pop out of her head. 

I am not a crazy crunchy mom. We don't really go out of our way to force gender neutral toys. But I'm a firm believer that all toys are gender neutral anyway. My daughter likes dinosaurs, my son likes dolls. 

This.is.ok.

My kids will not catch the gay from toys. If they turn out gay, they were born that way, and I will love them no matter what. 

January Reading List

time to try and keep up with this whole books read list, AND blogging thing again.

January
1.9 - Zen Mandalas - Suzanne McNeil (1/30) library - 5 stars
1.8 - Yoga For Your Brain w/Zentangle - Sandy Bartholemew (1/30) library - 3 stars
1.7 - Betty Crocker Vegetarian Cooking (1/28) library - 4 stars
1.6 - Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen (1/25) own - 5 stars
1.5 - Destined for Doon - Carey Corp (1/17) library - 5 stars
1.4 - Bead One, Pray Too - Kimberly Winston (1/16) library - 2 Stars
1.3 - Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor (1/15) own - 5 stars!
1.2 - Black Bird Volume 8 (1/13) A+ Manga App
1.1 - Sanctum - Madeline Roux (1-6) library - 4 stars

i'm logging backwards this year, because of the format i use on Ravelry in the 52 books in 52 weeks group. I also have a goodreads challenge which is for 100 books this year. it's 25 more books than i read in 2014.

My goal is actually to read 90% from books i already own on my shelf. as you can see, i'm falling down on that already. the library is just SO AWESOME!

I love that our local public library had a booth at the Fair, and they were signing people up from library cards! and they had books and DVDs to check out from the booth! They tried to get me to sign the kids up, kae was like, sorry, i already have a card. "well what about the baby?" "are you kidding? he's had his own card since before his 1st birthday!" it was pretty funny.

 Currently reading -
Black Bird Volume 9
The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1) 
One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun

Ornaments

So I've made it a little tradition to give a small gift at the last knit night before Christmas. 

One year I made glass balls with little yarn balls and tiny knitting needles in them. I've also done fudge, and cookies. 

This year we made pinecone ornaments.

Connor collected the pinecones at the duck park (Eco island). The pickings were very slim :(

He loves the fish

Then we got the cones home and baked the critters out of them (200 degrees for 45 minutes)

After the baking came the painting. I used krypton gold and silver spray paint.

And a scentsy box!

After they dried I hot glued yarn loops to them for hanging

We've been giving them to people, the ups guy, the mailman, our police officer neighbor. It's a small thing, but seems to make people genuinely happy :)

Holiday Gifties

Since none of my gift people read my blog I can post pictures of my hand knits here ;)

From left to right, aceso hat for Laurel, simple beanie for Kevan, tiny simple beanie for Connor.

This is Shellie's hat, it's my aceso pattern with a modified brim. I also made the poppy. Grey and poppy are her wedding colors.

Cowl to match.

I don't have pictures if the two other cowls I've done. One in navy blue and one in red with gold sparkle. For my step-sisters. 

The Flax sweater by Tincanknits that I modified the garter stripes on the sleeves, for Ross

I'm also working on some fingerless gloves for kae in sparkly lavender. So sparkly.

Luckily my Christmas knitting has been fairly slim this year. I had lofty goals to do a sweater for my step dad too, but I couldn't find a pattern he would like

October and November Reading Lists

sorry, i'm a slacker /sigh

i'm actually WAY behind on my reading goals, and ended up lowering my yearly goal from 100 to 75 books, and i still might not make it.

next year i think i'll go with 52 books in 52 weeks, like the challenge group i'm in, that way i have a reasonable goal. i may also ONLY read books on my nook and kindle, since i have A LOT (except new releases for currently reading series, like The Shadows!)

October
1-63 the Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan (10/20) free/library
November
1-64 God Save the Queen - Kate Locke (11/17) free/library
2-65 Doon - Carey Corp (11/21) free/library
3-66 Prince Lestat - Anne Rice (11/30) free/library

favorites - all of them! but especially Doon. it's YA, which doesn't bother me, and it was a quick read (about 5 hours), but the story was good, and the characters were actually likeable. it's loosely based on Brigadoon, which i haven't seen.

of these my least favorite (if i had to pick one) is Prince Lestat. I'm not going to give an in-depth review about what i liked or hated, because i want people to make up their own minds. but i was just really disappointed in the writing. i love Anne, i follow her on facebook, and i respect the hell out of her. I just think she should have left this series alone and kept fleshing out her Wolf series.

also, sadz! no more Percy Jackson!!! s'ok, the new series is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard! it's like Rick looked into my childhood and decided to write these series just for me, First obsession with Greek/Roman Mythology, then Egyptian, now Norse. if he starts a Japanese series i'll die of happiness! 

Thanksgiving

With thanksgiving being next week, I wanted to make a list of things I'm thankful for. But first a story of something that happened to me today.

Connor and I braved Walmart to get some stuff for thanksgiving dinner at dad's house next week, and I decided to take a detour through the toy department to get c-man's opinion on a couple games for his Leapster. 

While we were standing there, this little old woman comes over and asks how old Connor is, he's 2 and a half. 

She told me how she's got a 3 year old grandson who she's never met, and wondered if Connor could help her pick some Christmas presents for him.

Connor is always happy to look at toys.

So this nice old woman followed him around asking him about toys, and making selections for her grandson, he got some duplos, a couple ninja turtles, and a huge dump truck. 

Connor and I went on to finish our grocery shopping, and as I was checking out, the lady came over and asked if it was alright for Connor to have a toy, she gifted him with a new hot wheels 3 pack. He was a happy boy, and even remembered to use his manners and say thank you. 

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, not even the first time at Walmart. 

As I was texting with Ross about the situation, he said it was sad. And it made me glad my kids know their grandparents.

30 days of thankful

1. My kids 

2. Ross

3. My mom

4. Yarn

5. Exterminators (omg)

6. Public school for being free

7. No more FCAT 

8. The dollar tree

9. Crock pots

10. The Scary Mommy Thanksgiving Project

11. Amazon Prime

12. The public library

13. Pinterest

14. My bestest friend Gail

15. My knitting group

16. Peppermint Mocha Fraps

17. Pomegranate dark chocolate

18. Scentsy 

19. Having my own iPad

20. Connor cuddles

21. Ravelry

22. Fish sticks, or Connor would never eat

23. Baby gates

24. My awesome father in law, Kevan

25. Video games, aggression outlet, and making Christmas shopping easy!

26. Leapfrog tv, for helping get stuff done around the house

27. Dollar tree batteries

28. Facebook, or is have no social life

29. Online shopping

30. Santa Claus 

I know it's not the end of the month, and these are in no particular order, and some days I'm less thankful than others. 

But I try and take a little time everyday to remind myself that my life doesn't completely suck ;)

Fish tank

So kae got a little fishtank for her birthday, a 3 gallon marineland. It's got those blue led lights that make everything glowy

We took the green plant out, it cluttered the tank up too much, also, not day glow. 

The tank set for a week, then Saturday we went and she picked fish

Sasuke, a sword tail Molly 

Naruto, an albino catfish

Sakura, a small angelfish

Sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning, Sakura died ::sad::

It broke Kae's poor little heart, but angelfish are fragile ::sigh:: luckily the pet store has a 14-day replacement on dead fish, I just have to take the corpse in with some water. 

Maybe they'll let me pick a heartier fish, like a tetra, or a guppy.