Archive

Archive for July, 2008

Wall-E…

July 25th, 2008 6 comments

…went well. We had a bit of a glitch at the start. Yesterday’s showtime was 1:10, and I assumed today’s was as well. We arrived at 1:07 and purchased tickets… only to discover that showtime was at 1:50. D’oh!

It wasn’t quite enough time to go back home, and not enough time to find something really entertaining, but it was enough time to get bored. We wandered around the outdoor mall area for a bit, but that kind of things tends to wear on Em. When she said, “I’m soooo sleepy” I decided we could head inside and wait there. So we waited a while. Then we went in to the theater about 15 minutes before time and watched the ads. Em decided to wait to eat the candy she’d selected – a Nerds Rope – until the actual feature started. So we sat and waited.

Em did very well. She finished her candy and started in on my/our popcorn, polishing off the bag. She got about 2/3 through the movie before she was flopping all over the seat. I did have to tell her not to flail her arms around so much, since there were people behind us, but I only had to tell her once. She was well-behaved, and didn’t ask to go home. She didn’t want to stay through the credits, which I always like to do but wasn’t going to ask her to. When I asked her afterward what she thought of the movie, she said it was good. I agreed.

This was a good choice for us. It wasn’t too hard to follow, and even if you didn’t get the more adult subplots, you could still enjoy the action and cute characters. I wasn’t sure if Em was really taking it in, since she often doesn’t react much, but at one point she said, “Oh, no, Wall-e” so that told me she was paying attention. For myself, I think I enjoyed it more because I’d seen “Hello, Dolly!” recently, as bits of that movie came up repeatedly.

All in all, I’ll mark this a success. It went just as you’d expect any visit to the movies to go, which was exactly what I was hoping for.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

With a smile and a song…

July 24th, 2008 6 comments

Em’s been saying today, “I do not want to watch Snow White. I watch it a lot.” A week ago, she’d had it in heavy rotation for about a week, with it playing all the time. That’s not an exaggeration, it was on every single moment she was awake that we grownups weren’t using the TV, and when we grownups were using the TV, she would stand next to it with the DVD in her hand, waiting for the all-clear. When I wasn’t in the room, she would frequently call me back in to watch some key point. If I left the room afterward, she’d call me back in.

Snow White is a great movie, don’t get me wrong, but not ALL THE TIME. Also, if she does something all the time, it dominates her thought and speech to the point where she can’t talk about anything else, which doesn’t make for great conversational opportunities with other kids. Finally I had to gently tell her, “You’ve been watching Snow White an awful lot. We need to turn it off for a while.” So today, a week later, her saying “I do not want to watch Snow White. I watch it a lot.” was her way of saying, “I really want to watch this, but I know I shouldn’t. So I won’t. But I really want to. But it’s wrong. But I still really want to. But I’m going to convince myself that I don’t. Although I still really do want to.”

It’s hard to know this sometimes, because on the face of it, “I do not want to watch Snow White” is a pretty simple statement. But because I do speak fluent Mom, I got it. Apparently just saying, “no, you can watch Snow White, it’s okay” wasn’t enough to reassure her. So today I sat down with her and said, “You know, sometimes you like to watch the same thing over and over, and I know you really like that. And that’s okay, I understand it. But sometimes I don’t like to see the same thing over and over. That’s why I asked you to turn it off. But we haven’t seen it in a while, so it’s fine to turn it on again. It isn’t going to bother me. It’s really okay to watch Snow White.” So she promptly got out the DVD and put it in, because as I say, she really did want to see it.

She really does want to be a good kid, even when she doesn’t understand the rules.

I started this post more than an hour ago. Em insisted that I come in and watch Snow White with her, so I stayed for the whole movie. She was giggling with glee through the whole thing, and discussing it in her fashion as the movie played. Then she’d look back at me for support as she talked. Love that eye contact. She’s such a sweet kid.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Let’s all go to the movies…

July 24th, 2008 12 comments

Tomorrow, Em and I are going to see Wall-E. This will be the first time she’s gone to a movie theater. When she was younger, we didn’t think she could sit still, and then lately she hasn’t wanted to go because it’s new and different and therefore to be shunned. But I’m not presenting it as a choice this time, I’ve just been calmly saying, “On Friday, we’re going to go see Wall-E” and telling her a little bit about what it’s about. She’ll go along with something that you tell her is going to happen. She seems interested.

Going to the movies is a good experience for a kid to have, in my opinion. It’ll be a good opportunity for me to help prevent another idiot cell-phone talking moviegoer from entering the world. You don’t know these things unless someone tells you, and I’d rather it be me who tells her than have someone turn around and lay the smack down when she starts kicking their seat in the middle of, say, a retro showing of Schindler’s List.

Interestingly, I’ve read on some autism boards that Wall-E is a particularly good movie to take children with autism to, since there’s not a lot of complex dialogue to confuse kids who have trouble with language. Em’s doing better in that regard, but I’ll still be interested to see if that seems to make a difference to her.

Green Jayne finished, orange Berrocco Jayne hat on the needles.


Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Protected: Em doctor checkup.

July 22nd, 2008 Enter your password to view comments.

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Protected: Mom’s health

July 21st, 2008 Enter your password to view comments.

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Pooooooor Romeo.

July 21st, 2008 2 comments


Today, Emily art! This one, you’ll need to click through to to get the full effect.

Apparently, along with the tag on her doll reading “Keep Away From Fire,” the last line of Romeo and Juliet is about the funniest thing written. It cracks her completely up, every time. It’s all in her delivery:

“There never was a story of such woe
as that of Juliet and her poooooooooor Romeo.”

Currently on the needles: a Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Jayne hat in green. Shiny!

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Baby hats

July 20th, 2008 No comments


I apologize for the small size of these photos. Click through if you want, but these are as big as it gets. I’m not sure why iPhoto decided to suck them in at such a low resolution, but I’ll look into it later.

These are three baby hats in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport Multi, colorway Happy Valley, knitted on a size 3 needle. Left, 48 st caston. Center, 51 stitch caston. Right, 54 stitch caston.

I knitted these in three sizes to show how a fairly small change in the number of stitches cast on can dramatically change where the striping on space-dyed yarn falls. It also demonstrates just how many tiny little hats you can get out of leftover yarn. I’ve made four from the remnants of this skein, and there’s enough yarn remaining for at least two more.


Left has six repeats for the decreases. Center dropped down to 50 stitches for a five section repeat on decreases. Right was a straight k2tog across over two or three rows for a quick pull-in to avoid disrupting the swirl as much as possible.

At the bases, which obviously you can’t see in this picture, the left is a k2p2 rib, the center is seed stitch, and the right is k1p1 rib. At the top, the first has a long i-cord tied in a knot, the second ends with a fairly standard crown, and the third has three short i-cords sticking out like a mini jester’s hat. I kind of figure that it’ll be easier to take off if there’s a handle on the top.


These show the sizes: a little organic Gala apple, a giant non-organic Granny Smith, and a grapefruit. There’s only a three stitch difference between each size, but it makes a significant difference.

These hats were knit for the Charlotte Knitting Guild‘s “Hats for Alex” charity project. They’ll be going to a local children’s hospital.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: ,

Going down…

July 18th, 2008 6 comments


That’s more like it.
Howdya like them apples, Casey?


Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

More icons

July 18th, 2008 6 comments

Another inspired by Act II of Dr. Horrible. If you’ve seen Act II, then you know what the hammer is. ‘Nuff said.

Hats get mailed out today to Washington, Western Australia, Wales, and… California. Dang, should have bumped a “W” destination up in line.

Last day of drama camp, so I’m going to get in some more exercise this morning while I still can.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:

Brand New Day

July 17th, 2008 10 comments


Took a little break from Jayne hats to indulge in some foolishness inspired by Dr. Horrible Act II.

Until I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume it’s kosher to make Dr. Horrible icons. I don’t normally make icons, but this show is inspirational.

Feel free to use them to your heart’s content, although I’d appreciate a nod wherever it is you usually credit folks for your icons.

These are up on flickr. I’ll be adding more, although we all know it’s not about MAKING icons, it’s about TAKING icons.



Categories: Uncategorized Tags: