Cutie Pie Wednesday: Computer Fast

I'm going on a week-long computer fast, but I leave you with a quick shot of the lad laughing while Auntie Sarah and Uncle Sam visited.

Mystery Christmas Knitting #1

What is it? Who is it for? (If you know, don't spoil it! I just need a way to share all my Christmas knitting I've started!)

Cutie Pie Thursday: Celebrate Good Times

Lincoln and Mark celebrate my cousin's wedding with champagne bubbles. Photographs taken by my lovely cousin Katie.

Stay-at-Home Mom Files: Podcasts

I need background noise. Maybe it's years of teaching, but sitting in the silence, even with Lincoln and I talking and making noise, grates on me. We love music--Lincoln is a great dancer--but sometimes, I want to hear adults talking. I used to watch TV, but now Lincoln is intrigued by it, so mostly it's off. So what do I turn to? Podcasts. Free and fun, I load up my pod with tons of podcasts, and we alternate them with music all day.

Here are my favorites:

1. Cast-On with Brenda Dayne: Knitting and music--great voice, great tunes. Probably my favorite.
2. Travel with Rick Steves: So much fun--travel the world with Rick. These are new all the time as well, unlike his shows on PBS I've seen a bazillion times.
3. This American Life: NPR classic--great stories.
4. How Stuff Works, Stuff You Should Know: Fun, entertaining--two friends chat about stuff.
5. Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase: Flight attendant tells tales on travel and airplanes--very fun, and interspersed with music, which Lincoln likes a lot.

I am trying out a bunch of new ones, so I'll probably have some to add to the list. Do you listen to any podcasts?

I will also add, that I love iTunes free single of the week and discovery download. I hit those up pretty much every week, and they are almost always gold.

Keepin' It Cozy

Sista and Brotha-in-law Cool joined the iPhone ranks, so of course I had to knit them cozies. Sista's is in a nice tweedy Cascade 220, with an owl cabled on it. I learned the lovely double-knitting K1, S1 way to start the bottom, and it was great fun to knit. It's a little tight, as I had to adapt an iPod cozy, but it fits--yay for blocking!

Brotha-in-law's is a really wonderful pattern--look closely and you can see the tetris blocks! It is mosaic knit in Patons SWS and Cascade 220, and was so much fun to knit! I had to adapt the pattern from two circs to DPNs, but it turned out great, and I knit it in a day. It was delightful to knit up something so quickly, and if I have any other friends/family out there with iPhones who ask nicely, I just might make them up something as well!

Cutie Pie Thursday: Yarn Enabler

Hey, mama. Were you looking for this yarn? It is fun to snuggle, as long as I'm lying under the fan.

Oh, you don't want it? Maybe I'll give some to dad. Or maybe you could knit me something out of it. Anyway, I'm cool.

Two Pins and a Rod Later: My Scar Turns One

Well, it's been 1 year since I wrecked an ATV and almost died on a fire road. Thanks to some good friends, one cop, some EMTs, and the flight for life helicopter (the green one) I made it out just fine. If you look back into the blog from around that time last year you can read the full story and some subsequent results. My leg is doing well - almost 90% - and now my brother and I have matching double-compound fracture scars. Just to reminisce, I thought I'd post some x-rays from that fatefull day.

If you look close enough you can see the 7 pieces that are my tibia - fibula. Don't forget these x-rays were taken after they pushed the bones back under my skin.

That triangle chip to the left - it actually belongs in the light triangle spot. Cool, huh!

Take a Trip: Travel Lit.

I can go anywhere
Friends to know
And ways to grow
A Reading Rainbow

It's summer, and I typically spend summer re-reading books. I don't know why, that's just how I work. As I get older, I find that my favorite thing to re-read is travel/history writing. Typically, my favorite authors bring a bit of humor to the table as well. If you like to go anywhere through good writing, here are a few of my favorite authors and books.

Tony Horwitz: One of my favorites--you learn and laugh! I would recommend three of his books very, very highly. Confederates in the Attic follows Tony as he travels through the American South, discovering how the Civil War continues to affect people today. It's not all racism, and you find yourself alternating between sympathy for the south and a bit of disgust for the inevitable racism that appears. The best parts concern Civil War reenactors. Blue Latitudes covers his journey re-tracing Captain Cook's voyages around the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. Informative and fun, it involves more reenactors--and this time they're Australian! A Voyage Long and Strange, his most recent book, traces what happened in America between Columbus and the Pilgrims, and what traces of the Vikings, Spaniards, and French still exist. I also learned that conquistador reenactors do exist.

Bill Bryson: The original travel/history/comedy writer. In my opinion, In a Sunburned Country about Australia is his absolute best, although A Walk in the Woods will make you guffaw, and making think about hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Sarah Vowell: Assassination Vacation involves a road trip I can see myself taking one day, as she traces the various stops in the United States associated with the four assassinated presidents. If you like presidential history, and can ignore politics that might not agree with you, this will make you chuckle.

Andrew Ferguson: Land of Lincoln is another road trip I can see happening, as Ferguson finds all the places in the U.S. associated with Lincoln myth, fact, and memory. The Lincoln impersonator conference is touching and funny.

Scott Huler: The only piece of literature I taught every year in my teaching career was Homer's Odyssey. In No-Man's Lands, Huler attempts to trace Odysseus's journey, while also covering the epic in-depth. I wish I could find a way to have all my students read this while reading the Odyssey. Brilliant analysis, and it makes me want to win the lottery and head to Greece and the Mediterranean.

Eric Weiner: Do you consider the place you live happy, or are you happy because of where you live? In The Geography of Bliss, Weiner visits the supposed "happiest" spots on earth (and one that isn't) to try to discover if where you live contributes to your happiness. I know I'm pretty happy as long as I live near a Target.

Anyway, I'm re-reading these this summer, and taking trips around the world from my couch. If you have any other travel lit recommendations, pass them along--I'm always looking for a new author!

Cutie Pie Thursdays: Sleeping

Would you find this comfortable?

Cutie Pie Thursday: Walking

The walker is difficult to capture out in the wild. Stealth is needed. Actually, photographing such impressive movement as your first child's first steps is incredibly hard. I hope these pictures hint at some of his impressive movement--he gets more and more confident every day!

Astute observers will notice we are watching Germany vs. Spain in espanol. Lincoln has added "kick" to his vocabulary.

Cutie Pie Thursday: Playing

Simple toys are the best! He spent hours sorting coupons in and out of empty Kleenex boxes.

Cutie Pie Thursday: Surviving the Heat

It's been hot here--and it's just now July! We've tried the backyard pool, which Linc mostly liked, although he was a bit slow to warm up to it.

But sometimes, you just need to slump under the fan in your chair.