Is it Friday yet?

68 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

So I took this test above. I keep seeing everyone with low scores. I got a 68 and am a superior 1930s wife. I am not sure if that is something to be proud of or not. My husband thinks it is but that is because he benefits so much from me being the wife that I am.

With respect to the socks, I was diligently working on turning the heel and I realized that somehow I have used the wrong two needles to work the heel so I had to undo it. I will start the heel again tonight and hopefully, I will not mess up again.

I have spent the last few days browsing other people's blogs. I love to read them. It is like an addiction now.

I have spent my lunch break today drooling over the Ikea catalog. I think we will be taking a road trip in a few weeks because we need to buy a bed, couch (preferably a sleeper), dressers, etc..

I don't have much to say today except that I wish it was Friday. Working in family law and dealing with divorces everyday pretty much sucks.

Rain, rain, go away.

So I fixed my sock. (A big thank you to Kelly for her help and to all who replied on sockknitters and for the love of socks!!!) I just finished a backwards row, flipped it right side in, and started knitting clockwise instead of counterclockwise like I had been knitting. It feels so much better to be doing it the right way. It has grown so much too. I should be able to start turning the heel tonight.

By the way, this pattern is the starter stockinette sock from Knit Socks!

This weekend consisted of washing the equivalent of 12 standard washer loads of dirty clothes. Of course, that also meant folding and hanging and lugging the baskets back to the apartment and then putting them all away but we now have clothes to wear which is good for all of us.

I also cleaned the bathroom, baked my mom's cinnamon apple squares, attended the Greek festival where I ate yummy spanakopita, went grocery shopping, and talked to my mom.

Last weekend I baked a batch of blondies with white chocolate chips and they came out perfectly. Yesterday I made a batch with chocolate chips and they were too dry. I think it's because the weather was so different this weekend compared to last weekend.

The only thing different that I did was used chocolate chips instead of white chocolate and I cooked them in two metal cookie sheets instead of the Pampered Chef cookie sheet. Of course, that could have been what made the difference. Well, now I know for next time.

Morning People and Blended Families. More complicated then it might appear....

So the only thing about being married to a morning person is that they wake up all cheery and happy and I wake up all grumpy and cranky. I hate waking up. I would sleep all day if I could and I would be more than happy to work all night. Night is when I am at my best. I had a boss once who thought I was a morning person until I came to work one day and I was really grumpy. He asked me what was wrong and when I told him I hated mornings, he didn't believe me. I told him I had perfected the act of appearing like a morning person so I didn't run all of our clients away. I guess now though since I work on divorce cases I don't care about running our clients away.

With respect to my post of yesterday regarding my inside out sock, I have received lots of good advice on how to fix it and where the problem came from. It would appear that when I was taught to knit socks, my teacher taught me to start on the wrong needle. Now I won't do that for the second sock. But I am still going to make that lifeline.

Princess Ivi is sitting on my office floor. She came in with me to put address labels on envelopes. She of course is done with that project and is now doodling. She is determined to make it through the day with me but I expect she will get bored here in a bit.

Ryan is coming to have lunch with us which will break up the day nicely.

I am dealing with attorneys in Georgia with respect to visitation for Princess Sunshine. It is very difficult talking to them because (1) I am a woman so they assume the "little lady" shouldn't know anything about anything even though I work in family law and (2) they have their own schedule down there it seems because I call and call and I never actually get to speak to a person.

I really dislike Ryan's ex-wife right now. She is being petty and mean and hurting both Ryan and Princess Sunshine but she doesn't care. I know I shouldn't be like this but I figure I will work it all out of my system before Princess Sunshine comes to visit so it doesn't spill over onto her. I am sure I read something like that in a book on how to successfully blend families.

Blending with Princess Sunshine is on hold for right now since Ryan hasn't been able to see her since about January. I am hoping that can be resolved soon and we can get a good visitation schedule going.

The blending on our end is going well. Princess Ivi and Ryan get along so well together. Last night, they spent some time just being silly. I was the audience.

Well, it is Friday. This weekend is going to consist of laundry, groceries, cooking, cleaning, etc. All the usual dreary things that must be done so our house doesn't fall apart. Luckily I have very good helpers. It also will include sock knitting since I am now on a roll and would really love to finish soon so I can make the second one the correct way.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the summer solstice!

Favorite Flower

These are my favorite flowers...peonies. These came from my sister's garden and Princess Ivi surprised me with a bouquet.

Big Catch Up

Princess Ivi is now officially a seventh grader. She received her report card yesterday (which was the last day of school). She got a C in math which is good for her given her LD. She got As and Bs in everything else. She also got her reading list for the summer and her school supply list. I hate the school supply list. It seems it gets longer and more complicated each year. Of course, that means that school supplies also get more expensive each year.

But I love the reading list. She has to read at least three books this summer from fiction genres. Last summer I had a hard time getting her to read anything that wasn’t a graphic (anime) novel. So this year, I have limited her to one a month and told her that I will give her a dollar for every book she completes from cover to cover and 50 cents for every book that she makes it halfway through (the rule for books we don’t like is that we have to get at least halfway). I think that will motivate her to read more.

She is incredibly boy crazy right now. She has a crush on the boy who lives in the apartment upstairs from us. I am pretending it isn’t happening. She knows my rules that she can’t have a boyfriend yet. She has to be 13 to have a boyfriend (the kind at school where they hold hands and tell everyone they are going out but never actually go anywhere), 14 to go on group dates with big groups including appropriate chaperones, 15 for smaller groups with appropriate chaperones, and 16 to date without an adult present.

She is all worried that the boy she likes won’t wait until she is 13. I tried explaining to her that if he doesn’t then he is wrong for her. I also pointed out that he is just one of many boys she will like and to not get too attached. We shall see how this progresses. I don’t like to think of her dating yet. She is still my baby…the thought of her dating makes me feel incredibly old and very, very overwhelmed.

This summer she will be doing some volunteer work at the library, art programs at the library, working two days a week at Ryan’s work filing and doing mailings, and hanging out with her aunt.

Oh, by the way, I am married…happily married. I can’t believe how lucky I am that we found each other again. It is interesting to be able to talk about dating when we were 17 and to talk about those memories. We loved each other then and we both now realize that we would have stayed together if we had been smarter.

But the love we have now is so much better because we are older and smarter. After experiencing so much crap in our lives, I think we both realized how rare the love we have really is.

Of course, we are still adjusting which is normal considering Ryan only moved here April 20. He and Princess Ivi are getting along great. It helps that he is really just a big kid. But I am just trying to stay patient and not be so anal. I am slowly learning to let go of some of my obsessive compulsive behaviors.

Summer Plans
June consists of the Greek festival on the 21st (yummm…spanakopita, baklava…need I say more), our one month anniversary, and the Highland Games and Scottish festival in Greenfield, MA.

July consists of the Boston Harborfest; our local 4th of July celebration; a coworker’s birthday; her sons’ birthday party (I committed to making a racecar cake); my boss’s 50th birthday; Ryan’s 30th birthday (where I am going to make his mother’s carrot cake and hope it turns out close to hers); some folk festivals.

August consists of more fairs and festivals and our trip to Florida.

Of course, August also brings the start of the school year (August 27th) and sees the official end to summer vacation. But I don’t mind because it means fall will be there soon. I love fall because September has fall festivals and apple picking (and Ryan’s mother’s visit) and October has Halloween events (this year we will take a trip to Salem). Then November brings Thanksgiving and then it is Christmas.

Since Ryan is now a part of our lives and since he has never been to New England, I find myself wanting to show him everything and experience everything with him.

As for knitting, I am making a sock. Of course, I realized last night that I have somehow managed to knit it inside out. I am not going to undo it though. I am going to post to some lists and see if anyone has any advice on how to fix it without ruining it. Considering I have unknitted it twice now, I am going to use a lifeline on the next one.

I still have a lot of unfinished projects but since it was unbelievably hot, I needed something small and easy to transport.