Throw the game or not?

I'm about to play Scrabble with my inlaws while my husband is away - so I have no one to consult. Now, I have never won Monopoly in my life as i mentioned here but I have never lost at Scrabble - in fact, with one word, i once scored 127 points. I have thrown the game a few times in my life and wonder if this is one of those moments I should. I have to let certain people win occassionally so they'll keep playing with me such as... oh never mind...better not tell. Should I throw the game or not? We'll soon find out.

Chocolate mousse

Chocolate mousse
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

This picture is worthy of both blogs. Pretty isn't it? I made this a couple weeks ago and it was delish. Unfortunately, i also ate it the night before the stomach flu hit and now I will never eat it again. Sigh.

stuff

I posted some pictures of some crocheted things I've done in the past month or so on my flikr page. New recipes too on the food blog. :-)

Pretty cool program

I'm thinking about joining Paperback Swap Does anyone use this service?

No man escapes alive...

or at least without getting extremely ill. My poor hubby now has the virus and both my guys are sleeping while I'm trying to read a horrid book (good book but horrid for me to read). I really hate reveiewing books sometimes. I also said I was going to slow down because of time but I have such low self esteem (only in the case of writing have you) that I accepted a new assignment yesterday and the new book is nearly 400 pages. At least I'll be interested in this one since it's Japanese lit and I tend to like anything "ethnic" so I should at least want to read it unlike the one I'm reviewing now which I have a hard time of even picking up let alone opening the cover. It's all about race, not something I like in fiction. In non-fiction perhaps, but in fiction, no. I need a little escapism, otherwise it wouldn't be fiction. The trouble is I have a hard time turning down an assignment because I'm afraid I'm not going to get another and I'll die a starving artist, okay, not quite, but still that's why I accepted this annoying book - although many would probably like it. Writing means something to me and I admit I like my name in print, even if it's not my own book, but insh'Allah one day it will be. So even though my inlaws are coming in Sunday and i need to finish this horrid book (260 pages left) by then so I can write up the review, as well as take care of my kiddos (yes, hubby entered this category today :-) That means I'll be burning the midnight oil tonight. Now if I could only read more than two pages at a time that would be something. I have approximately an hour left to read until LD wakes up, unless I find some dishes to do or the mountain of laundry - trust me it's Rocky Mountain size, not Georgia Smoky Mountain size.

A Little Whining

Me and the Little Dude have been, and still are, extremely sick. Bad stomach virus. He started getting sick the other morning and on the way to the pediatrician I started getting sick with him. Poor hubby had to cancel his flight and take care of both of us which isn't easy because LD was needing to be changed either diaper wise or clothewise every 15 minutes or so. I've never felt so bad - even the time i had salaminilla - however you spell it. This stuff is brutal. We are finally able to eat bread, crackers, applesauce and banana. Poor kid though. For someone who doesn't sit or stop unless he's sleeping he was comatose. Neither of us left the bed the entire day unless it was necessary. I've never seen him so inactive. And then after getting sick he wasn't allowed to eat or drink for two hours and was grabbing at me like "please help me, feed me" - just an awful couple of days. Thank God we're starting to feel better.

South African afternoon

My neighbors daughter had left some tea for me -
Rooibos Tea, which is quite good. She also left some South African magazines and magazines from Kenya behind and her mom gave them to me the other day after Little Dude tore up her flowers during our daily afternoon walk - yes, some flowers are in bloom and trees too because of the warm weather - well until the freeze occured which is sure to mess up spring.

Anyhow, the magazines are women magazines but very different and very cool. One thing I noticed is that there are lots of arts and crafts and even some knitting and crocheting patterns. There are advertisements for yarn too and rice and things that we don't usually see in women's magazines. I truly love one called
Women's Value Ideas and would love to subscribe to it but I don't know how much R549.73 (the overseas rate) is. The other thing I noticed is the lack of colored people...maybe the different races have different magazines but this magazine was mostly blondes. The South is like that too...everything is organized around race so it wouldn't shock me much. Churches, restaurants, etc. The one from Kenya had more of a mixture of races...white and black but nothing else. Just something I noticed. It was kind of fun to look through the magazines though.

Chemotherapy Gift Basket

A couple of days ago I mentioned that a lady down the street is going through chemotherapy. I really want to do something for her and since I don't know her that well, I'm not quite sure what I can do. She loves seeing my little guy but I think it would be awkward to just invite myself over but I was thinking I could drop off a care package with a note that if she wants company, we would love to visit her or at least a gift package to ease her in times of difficulty. SO...any ideas of what I could put in there?

I was thinking:

- A crocheted cap and slippers for hospital visits and hair loss
- Gourmet teas and a nice new mug
- A good book (although I don't know what she would like)
- A puzzle book?

What other things would be good? Any crocheters have a nice pattern for a cap and slippers for a 50 something woman who has a lot of charisma?

Heat

They should be here to replace the motor...insh'Allah it'll be the end of frozen toes for a while!

Tea Supply

Tea Supply
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

I think I will be consuming this entire supply today...heating people said "We need to order the motor and I don't know how long it will take." Yikes. It's freezing out there, the coldest day this winter and we don't know when we'll have heat. Lovely. Pass the tea please.

Freezing

Last night it started raining ice. Not hail, just little chunks of ice. Weird. And today, the heater broke again. Toes are frozen, hands stiff, little dude looks cozy though. I made him a great hat and mitten set. I have to admit, I think this is my best work so far. It looks totally professional, like you would see in the store. Even at the grocery store last night a lady mentioned what a warm and cute hat he was wearing. If I ever get my camera back, I'll post a picture or maybe i'll take one with the dinosaur camera as terrible as the pictures turn out with it. I hope the heating people come soon...ice storm is here.

Bug eyed

I had a bump an inch below my eyelid yesterday, today I woke up with a huge swollen eyelid. So irritating that i went to the doctor. Apparently i got bitten by a bug - God only knows what type of bug because Georgia is full of em - and I'm allergic to that bug so I will be bug-eyed for a few days until the swelling goes down. Sucks.

Goal before dying

I don't accomplish anything if it's not written down. I mean I'll accomplish things, but nothing that I need to accomplish. There's one project that has been bugging me for about 15 months - digital pictures. Now, this might scare some of you and it certainly scares me but I haven't printed any pictures for 16 months - yeah, the age of my son. I've printed off a few for my inlaws and my parents but none for me. Can you believe that? The problem is organization. I can't figure out how to get this project rolling...which to keep, which to save to a cd/dvd...i hate throwing pictures out. What's really bugging me is that I'm afraid I'll die and my husband and his new wife won't have any pictures of LD when he was a baby. This really is a valid fear of mine. My husband doesn't touch technology...I'm the techie in this house so it all rests on my shoulders. I don't think he even knows how to download the pictures - not because a lack of intelligence because mash'Allah my husband is very smart but because he lacks the desire to play with technology. So, in an effort for my husband and his future wife, I am determined to get this project completed in one month. I figure if i do one month a day, i should have pictures ready for print in 15 days. Another couple days for uploading them to photosharing site so friends who have been bugging me for pictures can see them and then another few to get them transferred to a dvd (zack - can you help me with this part...do you have a dvd burner?) and put into the safe deposit box. This is my biggest job because it's so time intensive. Does anyone have any tips for me?

After that i have 8 more medium size projects for the year. I can't wait to get the biggie knocked out though. Aren't i bad? The good news is that if you've been wanting to see pictures, you should see some in a few weeks.

Today

- I am caught up on yucky work-like stuff.
- I crocheted my first hat today...i should say i did two. One that i totally messed up and one way cool one.
- I read about knitting and am going to dive in tomorrow while LD is napping. I think I like crocheting better but I also want to be able to make socks and sweaters via knitting.
- I started a book that I just don't know what to think about it. I have to review it so I have to finish it. It's about race and is already heavy. Thank God, this is my last assignment for a while. I'm burned out on having LD's naps being used up by work stuff. That's my only free time and I'm intensely protective of it. I don't answer the phone if it's in a place that won't wake him up and I don't like people dropping by during that time or I get grumpy. I want that time for myself again.
- I am still perturbed by the air/heating guys that came to fix my heat the other day. It didn't help that they came during said naptime so i was ready to rumble. They came, told me that the heater was broken (duh) and that it would be a service fee of $79.99 but that they didn't fix it. They said it was completely broken and needed replacing blah blah blah. I said, okay, i'll call the home warranty people. It was freezing in here for two days - of course the two coldest days this year - and i was so busy trying to get all my stuff done and really didn't have time to deal with it. Before they left, at the last moment i asked the one to show me exactly what was broken so I could show the home warranty people if i needed to. We went downstairs and then he told me he had turned off the heat and needed to turn it back on to show me. I thought to myself "why did he leave the heat off?" When i went back upstairs the heat was working fine. Jack- arse. With a kid in the house you'd think they'd be helpful instead of leaving you freezing when they know perfectly well they got the heat working but wanted to make a buck instead. I'm sure they work on commission for sales because every time they come for the seasonal maintenance they always suggest an upgrade and/or other products. Mean people suck. If there's one thing I hate, it's mean people. Mind you, i didn't pay the fee and gave their manager a nice reaming over the phone. Don't mess with me when i'm stressed and when my guy is sleeping and i've got a million things to do.
- LD took quite the tumble when going for our daily walk. He saw a dog at the end of the street and went running for him, too fast and took a dive into the street. He loves dogs. He always has and he's always chased them. He's got a huge road burn on his forehead now. Poor kid. Hasn't been his normal hyper self the rest of the day. I can't even bear to look at him because I just want to rush him to the hospital/doctor even though I know what they'd say.
- Speaking of toddlerhood, LD has really learned to carry his weight around the house. He saw me sweeping his peas off the floor today and totally helped out by throwing his mac and cheese on the floor. Wasn't that thoughtful of him?
- and on that note...I gave up feeding LD fish sticks, even though we buy him the absolute best ones and decided to go ahead and heat some up myself to finish them off because they are bugging me sitting in the freezer doing absolutely nothing. As soon as I sit down to eat them, guess who wanted them and ate all three of them even though when he used to like them he only ate one. Sigh. I got to eat his food while he ate mine. Is he trying to drive me nuts or do toddlers just do exactly the opposite of what you want them to do?
- And perhaps the thing that's most on my mind today is a lady down the street who just retired. Most of the wives in my neighborhood are teachers. There really is a large amount of them - kind of freaky in a way. The two best mom friends I have are both ex-teachers. Anyway, this lady retired a few months ago after teaching for 37 years. A month later she found out she has stage 4 lung cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. How bad does that suck? She was so looking forward to her retirement. It just makes me feel awful. She's such a nice lady. Sometimes I question God's choices...not question per say but wonder why. I have to rationalize everything so i end up theorizing a lot of things.

That's what i've been doing today.

Bad Mommy

I've been so busy today with magazine stuff, newspaper stuff, LD stuff - I'm losing my mind. To keep him occupied, I gave him a cookie. A whole one. He ate it all and begged for another, i gave him a little more. Now he's running around the house like a mad man. He's also learned to climb on the top of the couch. This isn't good. Sugar bad. Mommy bad. Deadlines baaaad.

I can't wait until this week since all the deadlines i have right now are for tomorrow. At least the weekend will be stress free. Woo hoooooo!

Cupcake swap

Cupcake goods
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

I'm loving my first swap that Farhana is hosting. Here are the things I've made for it....

- A crocheted cupcake bag/purse
- A bath salt filled ramekin with a loofah and bath bead on top
- A cupcake box
- A cupcake pin cushion
- and cupcake lip gloss

Now, I love how everything turned out but I'm hesitant on the bag/purse because it's really froofy and some may not like it thinking it's more for a girl or teenager. What do you think?

BTW. I may not have any free time, but I still have plenty of time to consume some yarn. I've crocheted so many scarves lately...every kid I know has one. As soon as my deadlines are done, I'm going to work on learning knitting. I love this sweater so much and am determined to make it. Besides, I feel pretty confident with one stick now, I think I'm ready for two. Imagine the possibilities!

Buried under words these days...

Can you believe I have had absolutely nothing to blog about? What is going on here? I'm buried under deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines. I hate this feeling... Insh'Allah it will get better in February. My inlaws (parental ones this time) are coming for a month long visit and I'm looking forward to that. I'll admit I'm looking forward to having an hour to myself while they play with their little prince. But then I always look forward to my visits with the inlaws - they are the best visitors alhamdulillah. I don't feel the stress I normally do with other visitors. My parents and my inlaws both just belong here in a way and I love it when they visit. Of course, there is occasionally friction with my mil but that's just part of being a multi-cultural family and it's very miniscule. I think my inlaws and I have finally gotten used to each other and accept each other for who we are. I love them dearly and in some ways I'm closer to them than I am my own family.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them with LD this visit. LD has changed so much and is so interactive now. They're going to love it. Speaking of which, LD now starts fights and is very possessive. If he sees a kid playing with something he wants, he walks up to them and puts his hand out for the kid to give it to him. When they don't, he tries to swipe it and if they are successful in this, then he just pushes them down and takes it. I always scold him but he doesn't get it of course. He actually doesn't mind if the kid is older than him - i think it's because he learns from them or maybe he knows his limitations. Strangely enough, he feels no jealousy when I hold other babies. He actually gets amusement from it. Maybe he's ready for a sibling. Am I?

any Iranian readers?

Do I have any Iranian readers who can tell me a good classic menu (about 9 dishes including drinks/desserts) .... i'll find the recipes, you just tell me the name of the dishes.

Going crazy!

Man o man this little man of mine is nutso. He won't stop climbing, standing and jumping off things and he's got so many bumps and bruises. I can't leave the boy alone for a second. Am I doing something wrong or is this just what kids do at this age? When is it going to stop? I'm worried he's going to break something (arm, leg, etc). I can't leave him alone at all now. And I've given in. I'm getting someone to watch him 3 hours a week. Wow, so much freedom. What will I do with that whopping 3 hours of freedom?

i forgot...

My Little Dude gave me a kiss today. A big sloppy wet kiss but it was so cute! I've been waiting for the day when he would give me one. I guess I just had to ask for it lol.

In a funk...

I've been in a funk for quite a few days. Since i don't post much personal stuff, I'll just leave it at that but that's why this blog is a sufferin'. I'm getting over it though. I've gotten lots of exercise in since the new year began and that helps and feels good too. Hiked a little hike every day so far. I want to lose the baby fat I still have. It's annoying now. It just shouldn't be there this long. Everyone says it's that way until you wean but sheesh. I want to lose it before number 2 (no, there is no number 2 yet :-) comes along.

and this new year's resolution recorded here for posterity:

Enjoy life... try not to take it too seriously, yet be mindful of Allah. I want to refind the joy of life that i used to carry with me everywhere I went. I lost it somewhere and I'm determined to find it this year insh'Allah. That's it for resolutions because everything culiminates into that one thing right now. If I find that joy again, all the other pieces just fit right into place and everything will be groovy.

Vacation

Cute thing from yesterday: LD did ruku and sujdah and his form was perfect. Too cute - especially in shalwar kameez.

In other news... I'm exhausted. Healing battle wounds. Cleaning house. Pondering life, people and stuff. Dreading all the work I have ahead of me this week. Too many deadlines for the way I'm feeling.

I need a vacation.