Wicked.
Friday, October 16th, 2009So this quasi step-mother thing…
Kinda hard!
I mean, one minute, you’re this free-wheelin’ single girl, and the next? You’re living with three boys (one larger than the other two), packing lunches in transformers lunch bags, walking kids to school and doing laundry for four! You find yourself saying things like, “Did you flush the toilet and wash your hands? WITH SOAP?!?!” and, “I’ll give you to the count of three to get back in that bed! 1… 2… 2 and a haaaalf…”
{{sigh}}
Some days, like this morning, really kinda suck. I was cranky, Elias was cranky, and even though Emile was in a good mood, he seemed to want to take 5x longer to do everything than he normally does. So I got stressed and short-tempered. “Emile! Eat your waffle! We have to get to school!” “Elias! I don’t care if the other kids get sent to school with candy! I’m not packing junk food in your lunch bag!” Add to that that it’s 40 degrees and raining today? Best. Time. Ever.
Then though, there are other times. Times when everyone is having fun. Times when the kids say stuff out of the blue that make your heart turn to goo. Times when someone makes a funny face that makes everyone laugh. Times when you remember you’re kinda lucky to be you; that you lucked out in getting to join this little goofball clan of yours. Good times
Adam has turned the boys into little crafty bakers. Over the weekend, we made Monster Cupcakes*. You just take some regular, ordinary cupcakes, add a little bit of green food coloring and some fun candy and PRESTO! MONSTERS!

Mine is the purple one. I maybe got a little too into it.
Counter-clockwise from my cupcake is Elias’, then Emile’s, then Adam’s. Promptly after this picture was taken, all the boys devoured their cupcakes and were done with the whole thing. Me? I decorated 4 more. Because I’m crafty like that. If you ever need a candy-decorated cupcake, I’m apparently your girl.
In other food-craft news, last night, we made Apple Teeth*. What *are* apple teeth, you ask? Why, a cunning combination apple slices, peanut butter and mini marshmallows!!

AHHHHH!
They’re mighty tasty too! However, in making them, I made a horrifying discovery! While I am not what one might call a calorie-counter**, I learned that 4 mini-marshmallows = 100 calories. 4. FOUR. *MINI*. MARSHMALLOWS. That means ONE of those tooth creations = about 200 calories!*** I ate TWO! Yikes :-\ It’s not a big deal really, except that if I’m going to consume 400 calories in the span of 10 minutes, I can think of far tastier treats that anything involving stupid mini marshmallows.
A.N.Y.W.A.Y.
Knitting – I’m moving merrily (HA!) along on Christmas Stocking #1. It’s not going nearly as fast as other people had said it would, but I think I can attribute that to two things:
1 – I haven’t actually been working on it much. The thing won’t knit itself, now will it?
2 – I’m new to fair isle and stuuuuupid slow at it. HOWEVER! Not doing too badly for a girl who’s never done it before!
SEE?

Look! A Little Snowman with little Snowman Arms!
Of course, I’m knitting way too tight in some places and my floats are too loose in others, but I think it’s starting to balance out a bit. Take a look at the inside:

I take it as a good sign that you can make out the snowman pattern from the back!
We’ll see. Right now, since I’m knitting so tightly, it’s hard to push the stitches around the wee 16″ circular needle. If I can just figure out how to knit a little looser, I think this thing will start zipping along. Any tips or tricks to this Fair Isle thing? DO Share! In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away at it.
xoxo
* crafty eats courtesy of Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine.
** I’ve been using the best iPhone app ever to track what I eat so I can see how I’m doing nutritionally. The only problem is, it tracks the calories too, which, on some days, is kind of horrifying to see! Adam told me to delete the app when I refused a glass of wine because I was already waaaaaay over the recommended caloric intake for the day (damned tasteless marshmallows). I’m inclined to agree. I don’t need to be obsessing over these things. Still though, BEST. APP. EVER!
***Apparently, I like to unnecessarily freak out the people who read this blog. The best. app. ever. confused me. I scanned my marshmallows and it brought up different listings and I inadvertently selected Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, not Jet-puffed MINI Marshmallows. SO! AS IT TURNS OUT, 4 *REGULAR* sized Marshmallows = 100 calories. The BIG ones. Not the mini ones You’d have to eat about 72 mini marshmallows to get that many calories. My bad. AGAIN. Sorry. :-\ Freakout over