Rock 'N' Roll

I’m so excited!  I just signed up for the Phoenix Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.  This is the first race that I will have done outside the Pacific Northwest, and I think I picked a good one.  Let’s see…Phoenix is a desert, which means warm temps in January and the ground is flat!  Oh yeah!!  I’m sure this will be my fastest time ever!  Well maybe…we’ll see.

This race should be a ton of fun.  There is a band every mile and they have 40 different cheer squads from around the area there to cheer everybody on.  And, this means I have to go to Phoenix to visit Kaylee.  I can’t wait!!!

“Sunshine, on my shoulders, makes me happy” (who can name that song/artist?)  (songs seem to be stuck in my head lately and they are eeking their way into my blogs…)

So, all you other suckers out there, who keep threatening to do a half marathon with me, sign up already!!!

Heat Wave!

This is an island in the sun! Oi! Oi! (whoever can name that movie first wins major bonus points with me!)

So, the heat fixer guy came today.  Hallelujia!  Jayden’s hands and ears were freezing this morning, despite the warm feet pajamas he was wearing (once again, thanks Kaylee for the hand-me downs).  The guy shows up around 11 and I show him the problem.  He says some circuit thingy got overrided or something and he couldn’t find the manual override to flip it back.  I, of course, stare are him and say, so does that mean you can’t fix it?  He says that he’ll have to order the part and it probably won’t get here until next Wednesday or so.  I was like, you gotta be kidding me.  I say, “There’s no way you can fix this today? Because we’re freezing!”  He says he’ll take another look at it.   Jaydo and I go inside to start getting lunch put together.  A few minutes later, the fixer guy comes in and says that he thinks he’s got it fixed.  I’m like fabulous!   So we go out to the garage, he holds some little button in and in a minute I see fire!  Oh yeah!!!  So, he puts the panels back on, and we perform the final test.  We go inside and turn the heat on.  Within seconds there is hot air blowing from the vents.  HOORAY!!! I tell the guy thanks and how much I appreciate him fixing it.  And he goes, “Well, you kinda guilt tripped me into taking your furnace apart once you told me your son was cold.  I have a son that is about his age and I started thinking about how I would feel if he was cold because the furnace was broken.”  Thank goodness for inadvertant guilt trips!  I am so never turning the heat off again!

Brrrrrrrr

I’m freezing.  The house is freezing.  Jayden, well he doesn’t complain, but I’m sure if he could he would tell me he’s freezing and ask why I don’t turn on the heat.  Well, let me tell you why… because it’s BROKEN!  That’s right, my heat is broken, all that the little vents around the house do is blow cold air.  Doesn’t help much when you’re freezing.

Royal tried to fix it, he changed the air filter…I didn’t even know there were air filters…yeah call me stupid, but I blame my dad for letting me live such a sheltered life.  I went out there today and tried to read the directions and reboot the sucker.  No such luck, still just cold air blowing.  So, I called around town and the earliest someone can come look at it is tomorrow.  So that means another day and night with freezing cold temperatures.

I’m wearing ski socks, my fuzzy acorn slippers, a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a fleece lined sweatshirt.  Jayden is wearing some great fleece lined jeans (thank you Kaylee for the hand me downs), a long sleeved shirt, some socks, and a sweatshirt when he starts feeling too cold.

I have a gas fireplace, but I haven’t turn it on because I don’t have a screen for it, and I’m sure Jayden would melt his toys or his hands against the glass.  So, as soon as he gets up from his nap, we are going hunting for a screen, so that I can turn on the fireplace.  I’m thinking I just might sleep in front of the fireplace tonight.  I’m about to start cooking, so the oven will heat up the house.  Dinner tonite?  Well that would be hot chocolate because our house is too cold to defrost any meat.  Ok, I’m exaggerating, but not really…  I could probably open the fridge and warm up the house that way.  Ok, it’s not that cold, but it kinda is…

Hurry up, heat fixer dude, hurry up…

Everyone Needs One of These in Their Kitchen...

Jayden has “drawers” that are his in the kitchen, the bottom drawer next to the stove, and an entire cupboard across the kitchen.  The bottom drawer next to the stove holds all the tupperware and now measuring cups because he loves them so much.  Multiple times a day, Jayden empties this drawer by throwing things out saying, “Oh, yeah!”.  Today was no exception.  I heard him behind me saying, “Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!”, while things were clanking on the floor.  Then I turn around and discover he has figured out how to climb into the drawer and he was sitting there chucking things out one by one.  He’s a clever kid, that Jayden.

Forts!

One of Jayden’s favorite things as of late has been “under”.  Under bridges, under legs, under the piano bench, under just about anything he can crawl or walk under.  So, today we built his first indoor fort to hang out under!

The Fort!

Reading and Relaxing on 'Pillar! (while inside the fort)

Peeking out

And DESTRUCTION!!!!

'Tis the Season for Felting!

Finally, the weather has cooled off and it doesn’t seem so ridiculous to be sitting with a lap full of wool yarn.  That’s right!  Put away that cotton, it’s time to start felting!  It’s felt more fall like the last few days, today I actually turned the heat on in the morning, I’ve got a pot of chili cooking on the stove, some beer bread in the oven, and while I’m trying to refrain from putting in a Christmas CD, I did play a few Christmas songs on the piano.  So, to go with all the changing of the seasons, my knitting projects are changing too.  The baby blankets are done, a cute cotton hat that looks like a red berry for Jayden is done (not that he’ll wear it, but it’s still cute), leg warmers are done, zori-socks are done, wristlets (at least the cotton ones) are done.  The cotton is being put on the shelf!  And I’ve dug through all my wool yarn and have finished my first felting project of the season.  I love felting!  It’s like magic!  You knit something up that is totally huge and looks ridiculous then you stick it in your washing machine with some hot water, let it agitate for a little bit, and VOILA! you have a fantastic looking finished product.  Any mistakes that might have been made are hidden (yes, I make mistakes, but I’m not going to show them to you), the yarn now looks like fabric, and it’s shrunk down to a normal size!  I love it!!!

So here it is....my circle purse!  Currently it's stuffed with plastic bags to help retain it's shape while it dries, but soon you will be seeing me around town with it!  Oh yeah!!

Christmas Time Is Here...

Is it too early to start with Christmas music?  Usually I try and hold off at least until October, and then I phase in Christmas music with some of the fall/harvest CD’s that I have.  All day I have been humming “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and “Christmas Time is Here” (from Peanuts), and I have been feeling a little strange since it is 90 degrees outside.  Maybe I’m singing chestnuts because I feel like I am one, roasting on the open fire thanks to it being so hot.  But I finally gave into my Christmas self and found my piano music and played “Christmas Time is Here”.  Royal was eating dinner and said, “That sounds like Charlie Brown music”.  Little did he know that is was Charlie Brown Christmas music.  I feel much better, but I also feel like I am ready to start looking for a Christmas tree.  I wonder if it would survive…  Maybe I’ll just get out some Christmas lights and string them up in the office, then I could sit in the office, spin some yarn while listening to Christmas music and looking at twinkling lights.  I am liking the idea more and more!  Christmas time is here, Happiness and cheer, Fun for all that children call, Their favorite time of the year…..