A Horrible End

(FIGHTING OVER CAMERA TIME)

I've recently been finding large ants in our bed. I only come across one at a time, so I never know where they're coming from. I usually just squash them when I feel them crawling on my skin at night. Not fun, but what else can I do? There's at least some amount of justice in this world, though.

One of them met a very gruesome end this morning. It apparently crawled into the baby's nose, got tangled in snot and could not escape. It must have been ugly, so where's my sympathy? Ask me that again the next time you're awakened by a car-sized black ant nibbling on your knee. Besides, it most likely bit my sweet, angelic sleeping baby, so it surely deserved what it got, right?

On a lighter note... or maybe not. I'm not sure. On a different note at least...

I've figured out why kids' songs really aren't for Mommy and Daddy. You might think it's just because they're irritating and repetitive, but it's the content we should avoid thinking to hard on. Take this one as an example:

This old man, he played one
He played knick-knack on my thumb [some versions use "drum"]
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played two
He played knick-knack on my shoe
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played three
He played knick-knack on my knee
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played four
He played knick-knack on my door
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played five
He played knick-knack on my hive
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played six
He played knick-knack on my sticks
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played seven
He played knick-knack up in heaven
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played eight
He played knick-knack on my gate
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played nine
He played knick-knack on my spine [some versions use "line" here]
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played ten
He played knick-knack once ag'n [some versions use "on my hen" here]
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

We all know it well, but have we ever really analyzed its lyrics? I sing it to my kids all the time, but yesterday, I saw it for what it really is for the very time ever. And, I was disturbed. Yeah, take a look at it a second time....

Who is this perverted old man, anyway? I'm not sure what knick-knack paddywhacking is, but it sounds suspicious to me. The old perv starts out innocently enough with doing his paddywhacking on my thumb and my shoe, but he soon works his way up to my knee. The old dog - we all know what a bone is. And, then you just can't get rid of the geezer. He starts stalking me. He's at the door. The gate. He's even worked his way up to my spine. Apparently, though, by the count of seven somebody's getting a bit fed up and tries to knock him off (though, I'd doubt with his behavior that he's heading off to heaven). It didn't really seem to work all that well, though, because by the count of ten, he's back at it again.

And, we're singing this too our kids. Between that and Hansel and Gretel, it's amazing they're not all in therapy by the age of 6.

Catchy tune, though, don't you think?

Anyone just completely unsettled by my mind's random wanderings? What can I say? I spend hours upon hours with kids' music and tv in the background. A mom's got to have a little fun. Anyway, I blame my parents. This kind of humor runs in the family - a family where the game of pool (where technical words like "stroke," "balls" and "stick" are said with a straight face) is really popular.

Oh, and for those who are concerned about the state of my house... I made some real progress on the baker's rack. It got mostly emptied (though much more organized piles of things still awaiting a home can be found on two shelves), and two of the shelves now have nice arrangements of pots and pans on them. Maybe we should make a little challenge for ourselves to post pictures of our worst clutter spots and vow to clean them up and then post the after shots. A little support group for those who tend to bury their heads in their knitting so as not to see the mess around them? Anybody with me on that one? I know it might take away from your knitting time for a while, but it'll be worth it if you can find those extra yarn balls hiding under a pile of old newspapers.

What Do You Say When You Don't Know Where To Start?

And, how long could I actually make this post title? I have been so busy, I don't even know where to start to tell you about my week. It's been hectic in both good ways and in bad. Hey, let's do a list. I haven't done one using that little easy-list tool Blogger's got. I'm obviously a nerd and find that idea exciting, so let's go for it.

1. Lambchop #2 has strep throat. We had a really fun couple of nights before the antibiotic kicked in - incidentally, I'm all for "soft" medicine as they call homeopathy and the like here, but as a mommy who had her tonsils removed at the age of 20, I'm also all for bringing out the big guns when strep is involved.
2. I made some of that famous "n0-knead" bread that's making the rounds of the net. You must try this stuff. Very tasty and way too easy for how well it turns out. It isn't a very big loaf, though, so I modified the recipe to make a bigger one. I've also tried it with 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white. It worked out well, but I'm sure I had a slightly different flour-to-water ratio to get the right texture. Some day, when we don't devour it in one sitting before it even has the time to cool, I'll post a picture.
   
3. Made a pound cake with the kids the other day. Learned something new there: had no idea that there was no rising ingredient in pound cake.
4. Hating to throw out perfectly good egg whites after making the pound cake, I started making meringue and then decided to add some flour and whip up some mini angel cakes (using a silicon muffin mold). We each had our own mini cake for dessert with kiwis (just tossed them in a bit of sugar to release their juices) over the top. Yum. And frugal.
5. Ate the worst meal I can recall last night after my husband left for a business trip and I realized we had no more butane gas to run the stove/oven (they won't bring the gas pipes out this far). Dinner was half-cooked, and I was really irritated. Couldn't very well serve bloody chicken to the kids, so I boiled some water in the electric kettle to make couscous. We ate it really bland (I must have skimped on the salt) with cheese on top. The only good thing about dinner was the strawberries and whipped cream we had for dessert.
6. My knitting project is coming along nicely, though I have no idea yet if it'll actually be pretty.
7. I spent a couple of days fiddling with iWeb to build the website for my husband's business. It turned out okay, but that software is seriously limited in very annoying ways. I called my brother to have him take a look and got tons of great information - like that I could download a nice, free webpage-making, graphic interface kind of html editor. I'm really excited about learning to use this software (without all the limitations). I'll let you know how I like it.
   
8. Took the kids into the city via the new tram line that reaches one of the towns on the outskirts of the city. I still had to drive to get there, but it was a fun and less stressful way to get all the way into the city. We picnicked in Montpellier's lovely botanical gardens and then bought goodies (Yay! A list within a list):
   

• a kit to make a wild and crazy (and also hugely humongous) ring for Lambchop #1.
• buttons for the cardigany-tank I'm knitting (I'm so boring that I bought plain wooden ones).
• a cutting board for the bread (you can't imagine how excited I am about this after my husband repeatedly telling me he'd make me one but never finding the time to do it).
• some funky beads and string to make a couple of necklaces for Lambchop #2 (he's into that kind of thing, I wanted to avoid any jealousy over the ring kit, and shut up! they're masculine beads!).
• several used kids' DVDs that I'm also oddly excited about.
• very bland milkshakes at a place that had delicious gelato. It was a sad waste. I actually saw a lady bring hers back and tell them it wasn't any good. She was right, but I didn't have the heart. It was a bit like drinking bland chocolate milk with a bit of a spicy kick to it (I had them use dark chocolate/hot pepper ice cream, which was amazing when they let me sample it). Basically, they just added a dollop of ice cream to milk and then whirred it till it was foamy on top. So, I paid ten bucks for the three of us to drink about 3 cups of milk with about 5 or 6 tablespoons of ice cream. I'll know better next time. McDonald's can do better.
• black-eyed peas. Yum, and hard to get here.
  

Hey would you look at that! Even my lists are wordy. You'd better be glad I never followed through with a kooky idea I had the other day about doing an entire post in poetry. You know, like:

Went to the store today,
To load up on food stuff.

I don't know what else to say,
This poem-writin's kinda tough.

Obviously, I'm considering this as a career option when I finally grow up. I'm that talented. Hey, come to think of it, maybe doing all my blog posts as poems would cut down on the excess verbage a bit. Until that time, I'll try to load up on the kid pictures to try to balance the post and make it look like there really aren't a million and two paragraphs of my blabbing.

Mom, quit being silly with the camera.

I'm feeling camera shy.

Then, again, maybe I'm not.

Up to no good?

Yeah, well, it's hard work annoying my sister being a little brother, but somebody has to do it (pulling apart a bit of spool knitting done by Lambchop #1).

Lucky you. I'm about to fall asleep sitting up after my long day weaving in and out of human traffic in small alleyways with 3 lively children, so we'll have to cut this "short".

Too Funny

We just stayed up entirely too late on a week night watching a program showcasing several different movie shorts. Being a mother, this one really struck a chord for me.

Go watch it. It's short and very funny.

The Wave of the Future

This afternoon, my husband watched a conference-style press release done by Steve Jobs. In it, he introduced the new iPhone. Watching bits and pieces of his speech while I breastfed Lambchop #3 to sleep, I had a vision of the future. It's a marvelous place...

A man will head off to the office each morning in his iCar or perhaps on the iBus, which is naturally equipped with an iPod for every passenger. He'll stop off for a double-grande-latte-with-non-fat-milk, served up at the local iBrew. He'll spend his day at work and ride back and pull into the garage of his iHome. There he will be greeted by his ever-cheerful iPup and be snubbed by the family's iCat. Dinner will be served on time and piping hot by the handy-dandy iCook. Naturally, the dishes and laundry will be taken care of by the iMaid. After a movie on his state-of-the-art iFilm projector, he'll settle into bed with his lovely iGirl. Her instructions: For a good time, look deeply into her "i" and insert iWand here.

From A Distance

Sometimes, it can be good to take a close look at the things in your life that make it worthwhile. Other times, it is best to stand back and see things from a distance. We should do a little of each everyday.

Kids are a great example. There are moments, like when they are playing some fascinating game whose rules are only clear to them. There are few things in life a parent can truly enjoy more than sitting out of sight to watch the imagination of their child at work. Then, there are the other moments - the moments where it's better to get right up there with them to be sure you don't miss a single detail. This first shot is a prime example of that. I found this hat while organizing baby clothes. It's been very windy lately, so I pulled it out. It's great for covering sensitive baby ears. Unfortunately, it's too small, but she doesn't seem to mind. As long as she can reach those strings, she's alright with it.

Then, of course, there are the landscapes of life. No chance of looking at those close up. That's the whole point about a landscape. You take the beauty of its entirety in all at once. I am lucky enough that the piece of property my father-in-law purchased in the 1970s (and that we now live on) for his vineyards is full of stunning landscapes. I am even luckier that my sister-in-law's boyfriend is an architect who likes to bring the outdoors in with large windows (and lots of them). So, the house he designed for us has some of the most breathtaking views imaginable.

This one is the view I get every night as I walk up the stairs and cross the upstairs hallway on my way to bed. Windows cover the upper half of two walls along that side of the house, so I get the whole panoramic view as I head to bed. It's just a shame that my camera is incapable of capturing the picture exactly as I see it, because it if far better.

Here is the same view in the morning. If I am coaxed out of bed at sunrise, this is what I often see. Almost makes it worth getting up early. This is actually a horrible picture of it. My camera isn't able to get the beautiful reds and pinks at all without me underexposing it (this morning, the sun was a red, firey ball). Of course, when I do that, you don't see the trees and bushes as I see them. These are the moments I really wish I had a better camera (any suggestions as to which brand would do our sunrise justice?).

And, then, there are the animals. If you're not quick enough, you could miss them entirely...

How sheep got the reputation for being dumb, I'll never know. Almost every single day, the girls sneak out of their park. They're aided by the wild boar, who sneak in at night and leave a gaping whole under the fence. I'm pretty sure they're just trying to be helpful by showing my husband the flaws in his security system. Or, perhaps, they want to get a closer look at these two-legged beings who shut them back in each night. The other day, they came right up in front of the house, so I decided to get a closer look at them, too.

Taking a closer look at things can be tricky business, though. Either, as with people seen across a crowded bar, you find out the object wasn't all that pretty up close, or as with other people seen across a crowded bar, it just flees even when approached with caution.

Ahhhhh, and then, there's yarn. Yarn, of course, should always be looked at close-up (unless you're lucky enough to be standing in front of one of those Walls of Koigu you sometimes see in yarn shops - you can treat that like a landscape). Take this yarn, for example. I won a little contest (just by commenting) over at Wild Peculiar Joy. And, Jo sent me some yarn. It's a beautiful Colinette sock yarn. I'm so tempted to cast on for some new socks, but I know better, since I've still got 2 others socks still waiting for their mates.

The sock yarn is called Jitter Bug, which is kind of cute, and oddly appropriate, since I get in a jittery mood to knit with it each time I look at it. The colorway (or colourway, as Colinette calls is) is Jay. Beautiful blues with flecks of green here and there. Thanks Jo. I love it!

And, I took a little trip over to the thrift shop again. It sure is nice to do some guilt-free spontaneous shopping. It's great to know that I can't really do much damage, even if I let the shopaholic deep inside roam free for a few minutes.

Actually, this was a planned visit, because the girls need some warm-weather clothes, since the summer heat is stealthily sneaking up on us. It's not time yet, but I'd hate to be caught with my pants down (or with them wearing corduroy overalls, at least). So, I had a little look. Funny thing is, I came out with several nice shirts for myself. Hmmm. Interesting how that can happen when I have the best of intentions. Pink seems to have been the color of the day. Good thing, too, because I could use a bit of color in my life. Years ago, I seem to have happened into a drab color phase and stayed there way too long. As of yesterday, I'm officially out of it. I did actually get some things for the girls, too. Problem is, I am apparently raising weeds, not children. Of the 7 or 8 pieces of clothing I bought her, only a couple fit properly, and probably only one will still fit by the time warm weather comes around. I figured I was safe buying size 6 clothing for a 5-and-half-year-old, but apparently not. Next week, she's on spring break, so I'll be smart about it next time and take her along with me. It's best to let Her Pickiness choose her own clothes, anyway. I'm just lucky there are other girls in the family who will be able to wear the things I bought yesterday.
And, don't forget to take the time to smell (well, at least look at closely) all the flowers that are in bloom.

Flu Got Me Down

Hopefully, I'll be able to come give you a longer post soon. Everybody in the family had the flu last week, and this week it's my turn. I'm into day 4 here and feeling a little better, but still not 100% yet. I had forgotten how unfun the flu can be. I have pretty much spent my days in bed attempting, yet often not being able to sleep. Needless to say, this affects my mental state, and I doubt I could give you a very coherent post at all. My French, when I try to use it is all messed up - Spanish words keep popping into my mind instead (that hasn't happened to me in years).

Thanks for the comments on my recent clothing acquisitions. I appreciate hearing that I am not totally crazy for buying used stuff like that (not used to doing that, but in my ongoing efforts to conserve money, and hopefully a bit of the planet as well, I thought I'd give it a shot).

Okay, back to resting (maybe I can throw in some knitting today, too - good for the soul you know. Helps cure what ails you, I'm sure. Well, unless it's allergies to cute furry creatures whose hair is spun into yarn, I guess).