one + one = 4, or, our little family...

well, I think the last time I was consistent about writing this blog there were 3 of us, making our way in the universe... and now there is more laundry than I seem to ever be able to truly catch up on. But, on the flip side, there are more laughs, more tears and much more to be thankful for. I never know exactly how much time I will have to do anything, but well, I suppose that is life for you. I guess I am not really a new mom anymore, so I suppose I should change my heading up there. I haven't done any filmmaking, other than taking little video clips of my adorable little ones so maybe I am not so much of a filmmaker anymore? What hasn't changed... my love for my darling husband. Our dreams of owning our own business. Our commitment to Judaism. My complete inability to keep on top of the housework... and so, our little story for today....

Something smelled. I don't mean just smelled, I mean SMELLED. Really bad. In the kitchen. I thought it was the trash. I mean, we don't take it out every day, I try to cram as much in as possible. And, yes, sometimes diaper wipes go in there... I keep thinking I will switch to the cloth wipes, then I don't, then I reconsider, however, for now we are using the disposable wipes with the cloth diapers, ANYWAY, I digress... Something smelled and it smelled really bad, so I closed up the bag and put it on the stoop for DH to take out to the can. After awhile, when the smell should have disapeared, I realized it still smelled. Bad. Possibly worse. So, I resorted to smelling inside each of my kitchen drawers, in the refrigerator, under the table, (I mean, you never know where the kids might have left something.) behind the sofa in the living room, and yet, I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I left the house. Came back. Determined it still smelled. Continued to try to find the odor...

Then I walked over to the sink. In it was the broiler pan from dinner on Wednesday, when I made meatballs in the oven. It had sat on the stove for Wed. night, Thursday, and Friday morning. Then I decided the kitchen needed some cleaning up. After I emptied the sink of the dirty dishes, etc. that were there, I put the broiler pan in, started to wash it, and realized it needed to soak. So, I put in some soap, ran the water really hot, and left it. For most of Friday, all of Saturday, all of Sunday... and into Monday. Guess how much mold can grow in water in a soapy pan in the sink... Yep. That was my smell. I am happy to say it is now all scoured out, hot water, lots of soap and our kitchen smells fine again. Maybe I should clean up more often.

BTW- for those of you wondering how we didn't need to use the kitchen sink all that time, we have 2 sinks in our kitchen, one for meat and one for dairy. We eat a lot more dairy than meat so there can be days when we don't venture anywhere near the meat sink.

shifted world view

so to say that a lot has happened since my last real post would be a huge understatement. huge. let's see... I could just list the stuff that has happened, show the things I have made and move on, but that wouldn't get to the root of all that has changed. Do a lot of people follow me here, well, I might have had a following, but by not really posting for a year, I am sure people have moved on. So here goes... I will be trying to focus here a bit more. Why? Because I miss the writing. It helps me get ideas out of my head and lets me clarify my thoughts. I haven't even begun to tell you the readers about some of the things I ultimately planned to tell and I still want to say it, so... I'm back.

I won't be posting all of the crocheting and knitting from the past year because, well, there's a lot of that that was done and if you really want to see something and you are on Ravelry, check me out = hockeyrachel. I will start to show newly completed items and will link to them in my sidebar (I'm going to redesign shortly to have a listing) But, I will show you the newest finished object that is not knitting related other than he wears knits...

yep.... there's been an addition to the family... looking mighty fine in a good friend's handknit Baby Surprise Sweater designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann... Squiggly (his blog name, obviously not his real name) was born on June 26th. Our lives will never be the same. Smush (his big sister) has a love/hate relationship with him which we hope will become all love.

My biggest challenge is that I have a lot I want to say and so little time so I am going to publish smaller blurbs, more often and rather than ignoring my little ICAL reminder, I will embrace it and I hope to see you here.... the laundry chime just went and so I must change loads... enjoy the eye candy above....

Stay tuned....

big updates on the way...

I forgot...

like usual, to take pictures of the things I made and sent off in Knitter's Coffee Swap Four! So, I will have to do the next best thing and link to what I sent Jodi. There's a funny thing about us being partnered.... she lives around the corner from where I lived in Chicago, of course, I left Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood in August of 2000 for Boston. At the time I barely crocheted - mostly baby blankets, and using yarn from big box craft stores... A lot has changed.

Anyway, literally days after I had sent off my last Knitter's Coffee Swap box, over a year ago, I found the perfect fabric to make a project bag or something from. I wasn't 100% sure I was going to do the swap again, but since I enjoy a good cuppa Joe myself, I figured worst case scenario, I would make something for myself... Instead, I joined the swap again, and made a project bag out of the fabric. I realized after the fact that since the fabric was so light colored that it would be a much better lining, so I dug into the fabric trunk, realized I had some brown striped wool left from a pillow I made and that it matched quite well w/ the coffee fabric. I still have some coffee fabric left, maybe enough to make a new handle holder for my kettle... we'll see.

My next sewing project should be a cover of some sort for the tub spout... Smush insists on sitting right up next to it in her tubbie time... and occasionally knocks her head on it, nothing serious yet, but why wait! I tried to purchase a plastic one at Target that had a cute firefighter duck on it, but, of course, it didn't fit our spout...

my new hat!!!!!!

my first attempt at cabling has been completed...

only a small mistake in how I followed the pattern, but I will definitely make this again, and next time will follow the pattern (which was actually written a little wonky, so it wasn't really my fault...) but the yarn is so soft and delicious that it was a breeze to make, worked up quickly, and I will do it again! (with a different yarn, of course, so that I have 2 new hats to wear!)

sorry for the flash - not sure how to turn it off on this camera...

nap...

let's play Smush's favorite new game... Nap... we find a spot, any spot, it could be the floor, it could be a bed, it could be the sofa... we lie down and for about 3 seconds... we nap. yep. 3 seconds. if that. Luckily she takes a real nap of about 1hour15min. mid-day... because these play naps, well, they don't add up to anything. Okay, off to nap...

coffee confusion...

You know you have lived in too many cities when you can't even remember the name of your favorite place to go get a cup of joe! On my initial Knitters Coffee Swap 4 questionnaire I answered that I loved to go to Coffee Tree Roasters in Chicago for my coffee... the only problem is that Coffee Tree Roasters is in Pittsburgh, not Chicago! If my partner, Jodi, hadn't been from Chicago I would have remained confused... however, luckily, I now, think I have it straightened out. I used to go to The Coffee and Tea Exchange when I lived in Chicago!

And, you might ask, how many cities have I lived in... well... I grew up in West Hartford, CT, went to college in Ithaca, NY, lived in NYC for 2 years, then moved to Chicago, IL for grad school, lived there for 5 years (in 5 different apts!) and then to Boston for 1 year to teach. After Boston I got a "full-time/tenure track job" and moved to Pittsburgh for 3 years, where I might have actually stayed... I mean I even bought a house, BUT... then I met my husband, and so, the moving boxes came out again, and here I am on Long Island!