That was what I asked myself when my favorite blogger went off line for nearly two weeks. I mean, even to post something saying she was taking some time off?

Of course, over the last two weeks, I’ve had the same difficulty posting – not necessarily due to lack of something to say, but finding the time to say it right – with pictures and everything.

So, I’ve decided to stop being the hypocrite, and stop being the perfectionist and just post – even if I don’t have the pretty pictures downloaded from the camera and ready to go.

Here goes:

The in-laws just left after a week’s visit. They’re great. I love them, but it’s nice to have my home back to myself (so to speak). Really, they’re wonderful. They both clean (I’m not quite the world’s worst housekeeper, but they may think so), she cooks, and they both dote on the little monst–, uhm, girls.

Of course, I get a head cold last week, that this week is trying to migrate into my chest. And I don’t have Columbus day off, with this new job, so I’ll be dropping you know who off at my mother’s.

I’ve made progress on Ellen’s Surprise, and Holly’s Custom Sweater (Light blue with up and down white stripes). I’ve started and ripped and started Cara’s Matrix Thing.

I’ve watched all my shows from last week – Bones, NCIS, Bionic Woman, CSI, Numbers, and Cold Case. I started Munich – about 45 minutes. I finished Highlander: the Source. Ugh. I was never a fan of Duncan McCloud.

Next time, I promise to have pictures. Gotta go wake 5.5 yr old, and dress us all, and head out.

Well, I had a vested interest in this update, since I grew up with the originals. In fact, COL Steve Austin was my first intended fiance. So I Tivo’d, then I watched as soon as I could.

The characters have been updated to reflect today’s American culture, and have their own conflicts. Jamie has to take care of a younger teenage sister, obviously not without some conflicts. And there’s this guy, a genius professor.

Then the car accident, and “THE CHANGE”. And yes, I jumped at the car accident. Hollywood’s getting good at these surprise things. It was scary.

The bad guys are a mix of stereotypes and updates. I liked Mark Sheppard as the bad father (and inventor of the technology) of the genius professor. But then, I’ve liked Mark since SOF.

They set up Jamie as a reluctant operative, which is interesting, and similar to the original, either dropping or replacing the memory loss story line all together.

Pilot Pronouncement – it will go on the TIVO list.

What a week it’s been. We had an intense time at the beach, then came back to the week not quite from heck, but from somewhere pretty close. So now I’m finally mentally and physically ready to resume blogging. Unfortunately, I haven’t any pictures for you, yet, but I’ll get back into that soon.

Below is a list of all the stuff I have in the works in various stages more solid than dreaming about.

Knitting Projects Currently On The Needles:

• Green Sweater for 5.5 yr old (needs one sleeve, and body)
• Christmas Sweater (not those colors) for 18 yr old
• Kittyville hat for Youngest Sister (by request)
• Not a Kelly for Me
• Various Dishrag / swatching

Knitting Projects Soon To Be Cast On

• Tank/Tee for Middle Sister
• Sweater for 4 yr old
• Sweater for Cousin 4 yr old (by request)

Knitting Projects Being Planned

• Layette for BOSS (due Jan 1 – Baby’s Due Jan 15, gender unknown)
• Layette for Youngest Sister (due Feb 1 – Baby’s Due Feb 14, male)

Website Projects In the Pipeline

• Updates to this site
• Writeaholic resurrection
• Codemom deployment

Writing Projects In my Head

• Divine Right to Rule (exploring a physical manifestation of this belief)
• Magic Tigers
• Warriors

Okay, it’s a Kia Sedona, but still….

We’re headed to Ocean City MD right after work tomorrow, but I’ve packed the knitting and the digital camera. We’ll be back Sunday evening, so I should post either then or first thing Monday.

Have a good weekend!

My second layette – well, at least the sweater and blankie – have been completed.

The frills remind me of Sigmund and the Seamonsters, but my mother gushed, so I guess they’re cute enough.

I personalized the blankie, but this time with duplicate stitch.

It’s more of a throw, or a breastfeeding cover, but this yarn – Bernat Baby Coordinates (mill end equivalent) – got heavy. I used a double strand on the blankie, and it started stretching too much from the weight of the yarn. I have tons of this stuff. I’m real quick doing some booties in white, with frills, then it will be ready to send to my sister’s friend.

Michelle received her package. The blanket says “babetko” which means baby in czech. Poor kid, not even here, and already notorious in the blogosphere.

The sweater looked like this:

There was a hat in white with the purple border, and booties in purple with a white cuff. I’ll try to track down pics. For yarn ppl, this was done in TLC cotton plus. I used 3 balls of white and two of purple – I think it was called lavender, or something like that.

I did the sweater first, then mirrored the design in the rest of the items. If anyone is interested in a pattern, let me know – while this was based off the Tulip Sweater, different yarns and modified instructions I hope I can differentiate it enough so that I won’t violate copyright. I highly recommend the original pattern, but not necessarily the yarn. Even the kits are a bit expensive for me. At 3.75 a ball, x 5 = $20 (Michelle, ignore), Cotton plus is, to me, is a much better choice. It’s machine washable and dryable, and half the cost. 

Well, 5.5 and 3.9 are due for bed. No naps – they had Old Country Buffet Breakfast and Chuck E Cheese with Granna, three hours at Cousin 6.3’s house, then a fifteen minute snooze while I drove to 5.5’s class cookout. There were two sandboxes, and I swear 3.9 bathed in both of them. So it was bath time as soon as we walked into the door.

Hot, crowded, but still very exciting.

They loved taking a picture with the Real Power Rangers. Then we went to Burger King with a playground, then dropped cousin off. Now we’re home, they’re in jammies, and watching – you guessed it – Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (Once a Ranger episode) until bedtime.

After bedtime, I’ll do a good knitting post.

When we got up after abbreviated nap, guess what I found? A Secret Pal gift, just for me. Yippee.

I had my girls and cousin help me open, and they were very good at waiting. So, I shared some lifesavers.

From left 2 right: redhead is mine, 5.5 (the kindergartener), blondie is mine, 3.9 (the preschooler), the teenager is mine, 17.9 (the college student), and the 3.9 year old is my niece (the cousin).

Now, we’re off to the surprise.  I’ll post specific thanks later, but I love it all!

I swear, she’ll talk you to death. Sheesh.

Got the SP 11 package and Michelle’s package in the mail on Tuesday. When Michelle acknowledges receipt, I’ll post the knitting pics. The other baby due in Sept is actually a preemie, so after I confirm sizing, I’ll prolly send them something this coming week. SP11 Recipient has acknowledged, but I can’t put a link here, just in case.

Blogging and tight coding deadlines don’t mix well. But my code went live today, and I haven’t heard about any issues with it. While I had the logic down pat, I know the code wasn’t well formed, but I’m new to the language, and a lot of the finer points that others fully trained in the language would code automatically I either ignored, didn’t know about, or took awhile to track down the syntax. I’m open to a code review when we can breathe again, and I said so to my direct boss, the integrator. So, hopefully, they still like me as much as I like them.

Here, have a kitteh.

They’re playing with Daddy. So I get a few moments to tell you how I’ve procrastinated regarding laundry.

I’ve finished the second bootie, cleaned off my computer desk, and worked on the teenager’s former bedroom – moving all the stuff she left behind into the closet, and doing some dusting – which will become my knitting room. I don’t know if the computer will move up there, because I’m not counting on her being gone permanently, and so the room has to be able to do double duty if she comes back.

We survived week one of Kindergarten, and the very first ever soccer practice. This coming week will be continuing adjustments as we get into the routine of packing lunch everyday.

As soon as I find my camera, I’ll post some pics.