So you thought I was gone?

Hah! Never. I am never gone, only small. Sorry, feeling a bit existential today. I'm also like completely like boggled over the fact that I had enough time to blog. Must send husband and daughter out to get the oil changed more often.

So updates--everyone has to drop by Letters to Myself (check list on the side). Jon and his wife just had an adorable little boy, and after some small complications, I think everyone is home. Oh, and by the way, Jon, yes, children really do put out sleep waves.

Also, for those who may be wondering why there are no pictures of the baba lately--I give you two reasons--teething and work.

I have to make this short. But you may want to check back here often, things could be changing pretty quickly.

Post at DotMoms

I've been told that the post at DotMoms is not immediately evident, and after going to the site, it isn't. The link is http://roughdraft.typepad.com/dotmoms/2006/06/readers_write_a.html.

Have fun!

So, I was a bit maudlin

And send out an all call for our beloved Alexandra. Which lead a commenter to ask about her. Well, she was the type of person who would give you the shirt off her back if she had one. She was no saint, but then again she could act saintly. She was a fabulous mom.

I'm assuming that she is still all of those things, but a year can change you. C'est la vie.

On another topic, a piece of mine got published at DotMom.com (June 9th). It generated a lot of comment. I'd link to it, but it's late and I'm lazy.

I'm also very tired. I'm having problems with insomnia again. Send sleep waves my way, o.k.?

Dear Alex

How are you? How is the weather out in LaLa Land? At least, that's where I think you are. I haven't heard from you in a year. I pray every day that you are safe, my Alexandria Rose. Even now, Chris, Aimee, or I say at least once a week, if Alex were here... or what would Alex think/do.... And what would you do, my darling?

I miss you so much. I haven't gotten an answer from your yahoo account in almost eight months. I no longer have your phone number, because we had to change batteries in our cordless, and it wiped the memory.

We are still here, same bat time, same bat channel. I'm working part time and mothering full time. Chris has changed over to a third shift schedule so he had have a better change of sleeping without the baby interrupting him. Aimee is still trying to get a teaching job, and if she can't get one through TAPS, she is going to go back to school next spring.

I tried to google one of your online alias, but I couldn't find anything under axykatt that was current. Every entry is months old.

I worry for you. You are my heart's sister. And while I love Aimee just the same, there were two, now there is one. And Aimee is not you. She is wonderful, but not you. She is lovely and beautiful, but not you. She is all that you are, but from another angle and viewpoint. She is beloved, but she is not you.

In another lifetime, you and I would not be so distant. Instead of Christopher's name beside mine, it would have been yours. But I wasn't what you needed. Chris and I together weren't what you needed. And when you left, I smiled and waved goodbye, then took to my bed for a day.

I never thought I would loose track of you the way I did the rest of my childhood and adolescence.

I love you.
I miss you.

I would feed you canned peaches and cottage cheese, even though it disgusts me.
I worry for you.
There are few who know how to take care of an axykatt.

Please, if you know where she is, or have seen her, let her know there is a turtle trying to catch up.

With all my love,
A'tuin aka Brandy aka Turtle aka Turtlish

Wow...

... Just intimate I might be in danger and suddenly everyone comments. Not that I am in danger. We live in a pretty safe part of town. I'm more likely to be disturbed by a party than by anything else, even during the May break.

We're doing okay here. I'm still getting used to being the only one who can soothe the baby at night, but I think things are going alright.

Money is still a problem, but it will be until gas prices go down, or Chris's raise comes through, or both. We won't know until after this week's paycheck.

But hey, we're alright, ya know? We are getting used to our new schedule, and we think that we may be able to get the oldsmobile fixed--the one with the transmission problem. But more on that later.

On the knitting front, I'm working on several gifts right now. Charity knitting is taking a back seat right now.

Pictures are coming soon, I promise :D. I just need to find the time. But for right now, there is a munchkin that needs to be tickled.

Take care, everyone!

The stuff ...

... and the thing, as my hubby says. It has been jumping here at chez A'tuin. My husband is moving to the night shift, so I've dug out the old baseball bat and machete and placed them at strategic places within the apartment. Not that we actually have anything to rob, but it makes me feel better.

Also, lots of knitting being done, but not the gift knitting--sock knitting. Socks keep ambushing me at every turn. I'll cast on for a pair and an a couple of hours later, I'll be like, whafuck is going on, man? How did I get to a heel flap? I was knitting my mom's bag wasn't I?

My green project for Project Spectrum is coming along, and I really do have lots of photos to post, just no time to upload. I promise, as soon as the sky stops falling and the baby stops teething, I'll catch up on pics and -alongs.

BTW, a word to the any would be jokesters or thieves who read this blog. Yes, I really do have a machete, and yes, I do know how to use it.

In laws ride to the rescue and yarn harlotry by yours truly

So my mother in law has ridden to the rescue over the fuel pump issue our van is having. She says that we should save our favors from other relatives and let her take care of this.

This proves that my mother in law is really a great person, despite the character flaw of being a morning person with a snore you can hear through a building. And I can prove it too you.

A friend of her, or my sister in law--not sure which, was moving to Singapore and wanted to give me her yarn stash. My mother in law shipped it to me herself, instead of my having to pay to have it shipped. She also shipped it as a surprise.

So we eventually get this box that used to hold several reams of paper, that she has told us to be on the look out for but didn't tell us what was inside. And inside was several skeins of Red Heart acrylic nestled in with so many skeins of Lion's Brand Molinare (in several different scrumptious colors) that my heart almost exploded. For those that don't know, Molinare was an acrylic mohair from like the eighties. I almost couldn't touch the stuff.

You know what this glorious super fuzzy three ply said to me as I petted it and sighed as my husband called to thank my mother in law. It said linings. It said hat linings, and mitten linings. It tried to whisper to me of sock linings, but I managed to get the lid back on the box.

I currently cast on an experiment for the hat linings tonight, because I couldn't sleep.

It's silly, but I was too happy to sleep. I've been so depressed over that stupid van that all I've wanted to do was sleep, and after staring at the ceiling for about four seconds, I just had to do something for someone else, so I cast on this hat. Even if the lining doesn't work for this pattern, I'll still have a finished hat out of it for Dulaan. And I have like three other patterns that I think will do.

All the proof you need that she is a wonderful woman. Oh, and aside from sending me yarn, she is paying to have our van fixed.