back again!

Wish me baby dust. Please.

We now have a dog and two kittens.

ds2 has lost three teeth.

princess girlygirl has potty- trained herself!

And, oh yeah, I need to lose 30 pounds. Presumably for baby dust.

OOh-- finally, I can see pictures! What beautiful children.

ari

Yay! Baby dust to you! You can have all of mine!

Hey! So good to see you. Baby dust coming your way.

Hi Ari! I've been thinking of you this week - just wondering how you were and what your computer status was - good to "see" you again!

Oh YAAYYYYY!!!!!! So now you can POST pics, too, right?? :D :D : D

I owe you a package....I got the most amazing one from you way back when..I am a little late. :help: :p

OOH! Now you can do a blog!!! :D :D :D

Oh..and baby dust!

.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.: *~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.

Thank you! You would not believe how hard it is to get that blessing irl. I am boggled. I'm finding families with lots of kids, almost in self- defense. Well, not almost- in emotional self- defense.

Sorry this took so long to reply. The computer blew out a phone socket, so we had to move the computer, and the computer desk, and so on... so that took a while, since Dh is not half so enthusiastic about online as I am. That's unfair- after a 12 hour workday he is less enthusiastic than I am. I would be comatose after his workday.

Now I have to learn how to post pictures, and to link. I can see the guide bar- somehow that's involved in linking. I think I am going to have to get a "For Dummies" book. How do you link? It's not just the address, is it?

Pictures, you do Flickr, and cross link, right? I have to ask here. My techno friends have servers, or are just oblivious to my inept questions. I want to show what the kids came home in, from the hospital. And what I'm working on for my dad.

The most comprehensive "How to get knocked up" is at aphrodite's women's health. It's about a page long. It has tests- pee on a stick, bbt, and cervical mucus. It has interventions- essential fatty acids, vitamins, carrots, soy.....everything short of stand on your head. I'm two months short of a visit to a doctor, and I don't want to do that, since, well, dh is not going to be on board with the expense.

Dh is up for a promotion. He's in sales, and he's being sounded out for area manager. One, he'd make more than he makes now. Two, he'd make less than he'd make in a year or two or three, since, apparently he's not a "lightening strikes" sort of saleman.

I finally had to give up and get the boys vaccinated with chicken pox vaccine. I looked all over town- no cases. Other parents were asking me if my kids had it. I could cry. Did you know it's cultured on fetal tissue? I found that out when I was poking around online. They are now in line for a lifetime of booster shots, for a stupid little disease. If they don't get them- shingles. Did you know death rates from shingles have gone up? Apparently, the day to day bit by bit interactions- standing in line at a grocery store, talking to the librarian, saying hi to your daughter with sick children- mild exposures to children- were boosting people's immunity. No mas. And since the thought was that people had lifeline immunity without natural boosters, natural stimulants, or any sort of adjuvant- there are now more old people dying of shingles. And old people are now advised to get the vaccine. So now, martians with chicken pox can come cough on us, and do us all in, and begin mining for plastic.

Oh, in boring knitting- I'm making a bandage. It's taking forever. It's for a friend's kid who is allergic to everything, including latex- which is what makes modern, commercial bandages stretchy. I must say, I may end up making a few for my smallies. It has a nice give and texture. H/T: Get a ball of bedspread cotton, and either knit, or crochet, four inches wide, and as long as the end of the ball. I know if you're making mormon bandages they ask for 4 feet, or 8 feet, so I am guessing that is more than one ball. I'm still in the middle of the first one. I'm using size one or two needles. I've read about size 4 needles. It's very, very portable, 4 inches is about the height of the ball of thread. I'm doing until the end of the ball, and that's all she wrote.

I was curious- you read about "rolling bandages" in every civil war thing. You read about "knitting on the blackout train to London" you read about kids knitting bandages during the war, you read about nurses knitting at night by candlelight--what were they knitting? How could they knit? It's dark! Well, it's repetitive. and small- good on the train. I'd like to know what it's like. I may even get to give a presentation at church, to the prayer shawl group. I took it with me last sunday- i went early, and I needed to stay awake. and people were asking me about it.

I was early b/c the boys signed up to make the communion bread, as one of their summer projects. They. oy. I mixed up the dough, sort of, and then let them take turns. Then I had to divide it, b/c they were fighting. They were thumbing in eyes, and a nose, and a mouth, and then beating the snot out of the ball, claiming it was their brother. One was ripping his into shreds. So, I got Genesis- cain and abel- and the new testament- bread. It was very good bread, btw. They were yelling at each other the entire time.

I guess this all over the place post sounds like a blog post.......

Oh, have you seen smitten kitchen? It's a blog about food, with magazine quality pictures.

ari

oh yeah, your package with a ripped up, third hand diaper- those are the best packages, aren't they:lol: ?

What sort of diapers did you end up making?

what sort of smallie did you sister have?

Love,
Ari

So now, martians with chicken pox can come cough on us, and do us all in, and begin mining for plastic.

ari

This is the best line ever... I may have to use that. Missed you lady! Good to 'see' you. :)

Val

oh yeah, your package with a ripped up, third hand diaper- those are the best packages, aren't they:lol: ?

What sort of diapers did you end up making?

what sort of smallie did you sister have?

Love,
Ari


Hey, it was an AWESOME package!! The 8 page illustrated letter alone was worth it, lol!

I ended up making Ottobre umm...AIO's, I think? Fitted, with velcro, padding sewn in, and pockets with fillers to go with. She had a little girl, and I made a million little girl outfits, and ten trillion diapers, too. Hey, if you can look at pictures now, you can see them all on my blog in my sig, if you want!

Okay, so why can't I see sigs? or pictures? Did I gank up my viewing options? I am seriously a computer inept. I mean, this is the third month I can actually see what I'm doing without squinting or guessing.

I must say, some of it looked a lot of more fascinating when I couldn't quite tell what was happening- researching stuff- not here---my daughter likes seeing your kids' pictures. She tells me they are her friends. I like seeing the pictures. It's almost like having a playgroup. You know, I can claim to have close friends, with dear children.

I want to seeeeeeee. ( If you do this in the Sid the Sloth voice from Ice Age, complete with lisp, you'd have the right intonation)

I want to change my signature, too. I don't see a signature. But "Lots of respectable people been hit by trains" Holly Hunter in Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou keeps running through my head. I'm having to explain why I don't have a college degree. Well, uh, I got hit by a car.....hit by a dad.....hit by a stalker....it adds up to a train, basically.

And here Ari gossips about bad parents you will never meet....We went to the pool on the last day of the season so that my youngest son could show off jumping off the diving board to his dad. He'd been working up to it all summer- practicing swimming, practicing holding his breath under water, practicing jumping off the side....I was so proud of him. There wasn't a lifeguard in the diving board area. I talked an off- duty lifequard into watching Brad jump once. Then I kept talking to the guard b/c he got in trouble with his supervisor for taking the two minutes to watch Brad.


And here the gossip begins!!!!! He's a senior in high school. He has a full ride scholarship to Univ of Kentucky for journalism. He's on the school newspaper! He's worked for this for four years, in other words. The AP science/ physics teacher invited him into the AP class. This teacher is nationally famous. He set up a good program in a good district- everybody passed AP- real scientists, real MDs, basically guaranteed college, and guaranteed scholarships-!!!!! The guy moved to a poor high school, to see if he could replicate his success--the kid is invited into this class....Right? Invited!

His parents are pressuring him to (1) take a half day, NOT take the physics class, and get a pissant part time job, and (2) drop out on his 18th birthday to join the military. The parents work. They just got hit with bills for their parents, and they are panicking. Rather than saying." Wow, things are going to be tight for a while, so good you can escape, and there's the funding for you to be independent and happy...."

I spent two hours yenta- ing this kid, I was so freaked out. I mean, that's sort of what my parents did to me, and I can't say I've had a happier life b/c of that.........

I hope. god, I hope that kid didn't just screw up his life.

My kids nominated me to be a Sunday School teacher. I have barely shown up for church- usually late- and now this. I went to the orientation. They use teams- 2 or three people per class. Oy. Everyone else was organized, on top of it, taking notes ( LIke, who teaches other classes- why notes? it's not their class) and the woman I was supposed to teach with was opposite, all the way on the other side, staring at me with a stunned expression on her face. Apparently everyone else is a veteran. I was having to ask questions like "What website? What supply closet? Where is the first aid kit?" ( Other people didn't know about the first aid kit, at least) When I said hello to her at the end, she was talking to the minister, trying to brainstorm who else she could call to help her teach. ( this isn't tragic. it's funny. imagine staying stunned and unnerved for 1 1/2 hours. with plucked eyebrows, so there's really an arch)

You could read the eight pages? Good. My handwriting is...ah....challenging........


Regards,

ari

You can't see sigs or pics?? Have you been into your user cp?? If not, here...go up to the left hand corner of the page (any page on Amitys), on the bar at top, you will see "User CP", "FAQ", "Donate", etc. Click on User CP. On the left hand side, in a little box marked Control Panel, there is Settings and Options...in that box, there is Edit Options. Click that. Scroll down to about halfway down, and you will see a box called Thread Display Options...in there, at the top, are three options to check, Show Signatures, Show Avatars, Show Images. Check them all. I am betting at some point, to help your mega slow machine, you unchecked them. :)

That is sick and sad about that boy. :(

Okay, I will try that again later tonight. The User CP had ways to edit my profile- I was being ably assisted by a three year old...............

What are you reading right now?

Can I ask a naive question? If you are going into summer- are you ending your Aussie school year, or do you go to school in the summer, and have "summer break" in the winter?

I'm trying to read up on all the political stuff, now that it's shaken out to two candidates. Like, Bernadine Dohrn- somehow she's a reason Obama shouldn't be trusted. Except, well, I've just read an article by her. She doesn't sound crazy. She just sounds like she's very much not right wing. She sounds like my more interesting and engaged friends and acquaintances, honestly. Although, come to think of it, I'm within two or three degrees of separation from her- again, interesting friends. And I'm not particularly political. She doesn't sound like Satan. She sounds left/ progressive. Except for the bombing- perfectly normal left wing.

Must go, child petitioning to stay awake.

Love,
Ari

Reading right now?? Pretty much nothing. I have an online friend urgently urging me to read the Twilight series, so that might be next. We are debating it. :p

School..well, I homeschool, so I don't really follow the school year schedule, since I move things around a lot, but the Australian school schedule is more of a year round thing...we have a few two-three weeks breaks, like Easter, and stuff, and then just before Christmas til Australia Day on Jan 26, there is a 6 week break over summer (summer being December-March over here). But you don't get that nice long break you get in the States.

Political stuff...I am so out of the loop over here with that. Which I am kind of thankful for, lol. Since I am not voting, I am feeling the relief of not having to scrutinize so closely, and at this time, will be happy if either win. McCain, being Republican, because (okay, I haven't actually researched here, so I could be completely wrong!) probably in line with my views on abortion, and Obama, because come ON..the first black president within my lifetime. Yesyesyes.

Oh..here's my blog..I forgot I could just post it, instead of making you have to try get sigs working: miscellany of me.. (http://miscellanyofme.blogspot.com)

Hey, I went to your blog, and looked through the baby sewing. I couldn't do much- smalliegirl was ill, in arms. But, oh, wow, CUTE!!! Very, very cute.

And, goodness, you keep wildly modifying all the patterns. Honestly, right now I'm so fried that I think " I'll copy the picture" not, " How can I modify this?" I would never have imagined all the dresses from that one pattern.

Can you talk shop on diapers? How many? Any waterproof? The printed ones- flannel, or fabric? Way cute, in other words (IOW)

Are the orange pants holding up? If it's any comfort- paul poiret, revolutionary couturier of the early twentieth century- specialized in form- fitting, orange, and unfinished hems...really, I'm not kidding. I got the book for Christmas. You can look up Kleiback, or Kleibacker- he gives an interview about a particular orange unhemmed dress....it's funny.

Although, if you need any more covetousness, google, "Coverpro 1000" . There's an Australian dealer selling them for $500. I am looking, and coveting, and havent' a clue in the world how to obtain one, without massive Christmas/birthday interventions.

Smallie is helping me type right now. I just sent her on a mission for legos.

Okay, for which now I will show my complete non- international total, complete cluelessness- how do you recover from school in six weeks? I mean, do the kids walk around with circles under their eyes all the time? Are the permanently placid, or something? Honestly, here, it takes about two months for the kids to "spring" - they get so wound up/ ground down/ bent-- you know---and it takes about two months for the circles to go away. and about two months to work through their very conventional imagination, get bored, and then start getting strange. You homeschool, so I bet you have the strange all the time, but what about everyone else? I'm not trying to be disrespectful- I mean, I know I'm fairly provincial/ parochial- a lifetime in one place, mostly........

Okay, Monsieur MCCain- republican. war hero. married to wealthy beer heiress.

monsieur obama. democrat. community organizer. senator.

So, really, really different approaches. I think I'm voting for MCcain b/c of the honorable pow time in vietnam. He gets that third world dictatorships are completely horrid. obama went and campaigned in kenya for his tribe, and then didn't intervene when they went on a genocidal rampage. so, even if he gets a pass on that, I don't exactly see him doing well in international diplomacy- I see him getting pantsed by a dictator. The local stuff- that's what congress if for. Like, mccain is pro-life, which is great, but I'm more on the carrot than the stick side. I mean, the main suit holder in the us started her career by volunteering on a suicide hotline. Women would rather commit suicide than have a particular infant- that's pretty strong. It's mud that I'm not sure legislators want to wrestle around in. I mean, honestly, I'd rather have a church have a huge, no questions asked baby equipment closet, than sponsor demonstrations. Plus, I just don't see Obama's enthusiasm for abortion. I really, really, really, don't get it. One of Margaret Sanger's stated objectives was the complete elimination of the "negro race." He shouldn't even exist, in the planned parenthood book.

I've been reading: I really, truly, want to know what the H$%^ is going through people's heads when they said it was good I had a miscarriage. That's dancing on a dead babies grave. Seriously. My MIL said it was a good thing. My father's wife. WTF? Right wing nut job, and left wing nut job. So seldom do they agree. I'm mentally stable, physically fit, happily married, have three beautiful, smart, accomplished kids. No career. that seems to be the big issue. Why can't my kids be my career? Or managing my husband? He can make more on a Saturday afternoon, than I can make in a year. At times.

Living Craft magazine has the ideal apron on the cover. Along with a knit cloak for a little girl. Disgustingly cute. Again, I can't picture changing the fabric, and I can't find any that I think is like it..........I'm helpless and not vere creative right now.

Are fleece pants nice around the house? Do they pill? Do you sweat? I've wondered about pants like that, for when it's cold- our house is drafty.

now smallie is hungry- no solid food for two days.......
must go. I like your blog!

ari

Glad to see you back Ari. I've always enjoyed your posts :) Lots of baby dust to you!

Oh, you looked?? Thanks for the compliments! :p Yeah, I have always been the one going, I love that, BUT....or I have a picture in my head, and can't find what I want, so I make something else work.

Talk shop on diapers...well, since I only went step by step on the pattern, they are exactly how the pattern says, lol. I used the Ottobre pattern. Made 20 outers, 10 pockets, and 10 inserts. And have another set all cut out ready to go, for the next size up (I should get a move on that, huh..) I used a mix of flannel and jersey for the outside, and fleece for the inside and pocket, and thrifted thick towels for the inserts and filling (and a Dior robe, too, lol..whoops.) No waterproofing, because I was already going way over budget, and had to stop buying stuff.

My orange pants are holding up fine, though the waist is all lumpy..it was a woven fabric pattern, and just doesn't need all that extra space at the top. :lol: They are fantastic for around the house, when it's cold and drafty, though...so warm and soft. I will DEFINITELY google Poiret and Kleibacker (or however you spell it...I love his work!!) I am NOT going to google the Coverpro, though..not yet, anyway! It's going to be too long without money right now (recovering from a couple months of dh not working, while huge bills pile up..ugh!), so it would be a painful experience, lol!

About the school, bleh, I hate it...I don't know why they won't give you a solid time to decompress!! You just start getting into a groove, and then school is back. Ugh. And yes, we have the strange around here, for sure. But I don't think I can blame homeschooling for that one! :lol:

I don't vote, being over here, so I am just sitting back, enjoying the show. I would prefer the non-abortion supporting one to win...but honestly, in this race, no matter who wins, I consider it a win-win. I have grown up waiting for the day a black man makes it into the White House. So if I have to sacrifice one ideal, at least the other one is there.

I don't understand, either, why people would say those things about the loss of a baby. And if they are going to think them, at least keep them zipped, okay?? Ugh.

So when are you going to start YOUR blog?????? :D :D :D

Speaking of...http://www.amitymama.com/vb/amity-mama-market/388092-anyone-interested-janome-coverpro-1000-a.html :lol:

hey, it kicked me to a new thread.

love, love, love the barettes.

hope your finances straighten up. money dust!

ari