The PODS were picked up today. Now that they're gone I'm finding lots more items that should have been packed... oops. A1 is spending one last night with her best friend, Brianna. We had a "going away/birthday" party for A2 today. The girls' art teacher from school showed up. She is truly an amazing lady. She actually made tye-dyed shirts for our family and she even gave each of the party guests a custom dyed shirt. In addition Mrs. Lee (the art teacher) put together an activity kit to keep us entertained while in moving limbo. This is a picture of A2 and Mrs. Lee sporting their new tie-dyes.

We will miss you Mrs. Lee!

I picked up my SKB sweater for the first time in over a week. After picking up the stitches for the second sleeve I discovered that I'm 8 stitches shy compared to the first sleeve. I have no idea how this came to be. Was the mistake made on this sleeve or on the first one? Where are the missing stiches? Can this be fixed without having to frog an entire sleeve? I don't know the answer to these questions, but chocolate will surely help. Now... where can I find chocolate?

Hey there! Just a quick note between packing. Who knew we had so much shit... we've ordered not 1 , 2 or even 3 PODS containers, but 4! And here all this time I thought we were frugal, simple people. Turns out we're just blatant materialistic consumers after all.

From October 2nd until Oct. 16th the girls and I will be living with my parents out in Grayland. They are right in the midst of cranberry harvest so we'll be adding extra chaos to an already hectic time of year. Nothing adds humility to life like moving back in with your parents at the age of 39!

Because Mom and Dad only have limited dial-up access, blogging will be severely limited. I'm feeling withdrawal pains and I already miss everyone out there in the blogosphere. The good news is that I can help out a little by sorting cranberries in the warehouse or by pulling sacks (they dry-harvest out here instead of flooding so lots of heavy moving and lifting of the berries is involved).

ALSO, I intend to finish all of my UFOs while there. And if there is still time leftover I'm bringing my drop spindle to practice with in the evenings. Last year Miss Cindy sent me a wonderful Ashford Spindle during SP7 that has yet to be utilized. Oh, a quick note of clarification, my KNITTING UFOs, not quilts, cross stitches, paintings, etc.

The girls will be out of school for several weeks, but they are doing very well in their studies and I don't believe they'll be behind in their new school. Of course the environment will be different and an adjustment period is to be expected. We'll miss Elk Plain School of Choice. It really is a stellar school and the teachers and staff are amazing. During their "break" they will have their bicycles, the beach, their Great Grandpa Porgy to play with and other activities to keep them busy.

Well, no new pictures to share. That is all.

Shopping

Yesterday my sister drove up from Rochester to take A1 on her birthday shopping trip. I acted as chauffeur for the two. My sister has 1 child. He is 17 years old, has never been in trouble, gets excellent grades and is every parents' dream child. He wore whatever was given to him when younger and now he buys his own clothes.
A1 is 10 years old. She is moderatly well-behaved but she wants to be a fashion designer. She is very particular about her wardrobe. She is too big for most children's clothes and women's clothes don't fit her properly yet. As a result, shopping for her presents special challenges. Striking a balance between what she likes and what I deem is appropriate often has us leaving stores empty-handed. But in all fairness to A1 many of the hooker shirts, short skirts, etc. even have her saying, "No way!"
So what happens when one unsuspecting aunt is thrown in the retail jungle to help scavenge for acceptable pre-teen clothing? Heh, heh, heh.


This outfit is from Gymboree (Children's clothing store for those of you who don't have children). This is what Auntie had in mind.




This outfit is from Gen-X. This store caters to teens and the hip-hop type crowd. Stores like Old Navy, Gottschalks, Burlington Coat Factory and Ross Dress for less had basically the same offerings, but down one notch on the slut chart. These stores were more A1's speed.

After the 3rd store my sister's eye was twitching. And I didn't even have time to comment on clothing because she nixed it before the mean old mom could. At one point she proclaimed, "I'm glad I have a boy!" as she sat on the floor outside a dressing room waiting for the latest reveal. Ho-bag outfit viewing had worn her out.

At the end of 3 hours A1 had 5 shirts, one skirt and a jacket. Here is her "wild" shirt and the skirt.


I really like the little olive colored jacket that she bought... if it was only a couple of sizes bigger then I could borrow it.


My face hurts today from laughing so much at my sister's horrified reactions. I was able to sneak away to a Michael's (not my usual location) and pick up the beads necessary to finish my sweater.


It was a good day.