Box Redux

An very observant now-blogless-formerly-K3Tog-Jeanne noticed an really important "other box" in the background of yesterday's picture. See it . . . there underneath the attack guard kitty. Yeah, I know he's asleep, but he'd snap to attention if you came REALLY close to that box.So that was "the BIG" present. Not the one just sort of shoved at him as an afterthought. A nice, big, shiny, SONY BluRay disc player. Now, it should be noted that I am not an authorized electronics purchased for the household. I am only allowed to purchase said items when given a web url and told to point, click, pay, ship. This one was a no-brainer though. Until we I got it home. Where to put it, where to put it?? Well, under here looks like a good starting point. Ya got yer TV and ya got yer cabinet for yer TV stuff.

Yeah - no room. Full up with other electronic stuff. All of which makes it very complicated to actually watch TV or a movie or something you recorded yesterday. Sometimes, I have to call him during the day and ask how to do one of these things. Totally blows my cover.

The bedroom cabinet could have been an option but looks like were plum outta space here too. Ah, that's ok. Who needs HD movies in the bedroom anyway?

Looks like something in the basement "Tower of Power" has got to go. It's probably best that it goes here. I think a TV this size, really needs HD movies.

Dog added for size comparison. And because well - she's a dog!

Yeah - he REALLY needed that BluRay! Because as you can see, he has all the other crap!

Payback . . .

. . . is a box. Conversation while shopping for Jon's birthday gifts:

Clerk: Would you like a box?
Me: No, thank you. I had a bad box experience recently.

Clerk: Our boxes are very easy to make. And they are just the right size.
Me: OK.

Me: It is a conspiracy. Sure wish I had saved the other boxes!!

Feeling Blue!

But in a good way . . .
. . . because I was the lucky week #4 blog birthday winner over at Carrie's. I got a super cool blue-themed gift pack! I know Carrie is a tooth cleaner by trade, hence the gum, but she also included an awesome flickr card (how come I don't know how to do this??) which sports a picture of one of my favorite blog-dogs. Can you see Casey-Blue's eye's peeking out over the gum? He's just SO handsome. He makes Holli's knees - all four of them - weak.

It's on to Monday madness - dad is gone all week! Mmmmmm - noodles and cereal for dinner.

V

. . . is for Volleyball.

From their very humble beginnings back in August, this team of 5th and 6th grade girls went from a group of squirrely girls to a team. The fifth grade girls have been playing together for three years; the fourth grade girls for two. This is the first time we've had to move a few 5th graders "up" to balance out the teams. They had great coaches who taught them play together as a team - not 5th and 6th graders. Volleyball is a great sport for girls --low impact, builds good upper body strength and as with anything with girls -- requires teamwork. I never played but now, really wish I had.

This group of girls went 8 - 2 on the season. They beat the giants in the division (the ones that practice 5 times a week, are a good 30 pounds bigger than our girls and are mean). And despite an unfavorable seed in the league tournament (where they would face the giants again) these girls were . . .

. . . victorious!!
First place; Girls Cub Gold Division

V is for Volleyball!

Nine Days Later...

. . . we get to celebrate again! So the signs and the banners just stay up. Poor Jon, it must seem so unfair to him that he gets no fresh decorations for his birthday.

Luckily, Kathryn saw the injustice in this and made sure to correct it. Tonight there will be a nice dinner, presents and leftover birthday cake.

But for now, will you please help me wish a very happy birthday to the man who stole my heart, who makes my palms sweat (still honey!), who shares my dreams and sorrows, who makes me laugh like no other, the keeper of the castle, man of the mansion (it's really not that fancy Carole - he just takes REALLY good care of it - and built it!), father to one terrific kid, two cats and a dog, my guy, Jon.

Happy Birthday Jon!

Also, I happen to know that it's a certain special birthday of a certain special Wisconsin girl. I couldn't love her more and I hope you'll stop over and wish her a very, very Happy 50th Birthday. Love you Vicki...glad I could pave the way to 50 for you. It's all uphill from here dear friend.

Unseasonable

Sammy is confused. The window to the kitty "office" (the porch) is once again open. And because the furniture is all tucked away or covered up for winter, she's not sure what to make of this.

It's OK kitty - go on out. You may not get many more chances like this. Find a sunbeam to curl up in.Because as of 9:00 this morning, it's 70 degrees on the porch and heading for 75 and sunny!

And we'll take that in November any day!

Boo!

I think I liked it better when Mom bought costumes for me instead of going through Dad's closet. This year for Halloween, I'm supposed to be "Dad".
But don't you think I look more like "Gangsta Dad"! Sure it's his shirt, his hat and his boxers but - - look! My pants are hangin' way below my butt. My hat won't stay on.

And I know Dad - he would NEVER go out with his tail sticking out the hole in his boxers. But if this is what Mom wants, and there are cookies in it for me, I'm all in.

And while I suffer this humiliation, look who saunters in to show his disdain. Oh well, at least it's not the the little black kitty. Everyone knows you don't want to get the stink eye from the little black kitty on Halloween. It's bad luck.

"Heh! "Dog in Drag!" I'm ready for Halloween just sitting here! With my stink eye of course!

Happy Halloween from all the WTT animals!

Open Letter

Dear Large Clothing Retailer Geared Toward the Pre-to-Teenage Kid Market:

I have a daughter who is 11 12 years old. I have been shopping in your stores now for 4 years. Your overpowering perfume and loud music no longer have any effect on me. I am immune to them.
This however, will be the death of me. Please tell the former NASA rocket scientist who designed your boxes that they are impossible to put together with the two hands which I was given at birth.
They might also like to know that a simple scored line along the edge of the box does not really constitute "directions" in that I still don't have a clue as to how to turn this cardboard flap this into a box.

Putting more little designs inside the box-to-be further frustrates the issue. I hope by now you are getting my point, Mr. or Mrs. To Whom it May Concern.If, by chance, you can get close to something that resembles a box, trust me, brute force becomes necessary to jam this baby into box-like submission. And then a whole new set of problems present themselves.Your one-size-fits-all box makes the "little something" I picked up for my precious daughter's birthday look pretty lonely, all by itself in that big box. Yes, I am aware that this is your grand plan. You know that we mom's will just go back and get more stuff to fill out that box. Well, I'm here to tell you, Mr. or Mrs. To Whom it May Concern, I am not about to waste that precious box space!

Or the space in the next box that the first box filling up so quickly created!
Lastly, would it have been so hard to make your boxes the size that regular wrapping paper would cover. You are off by about a smidge and that my friends, is VERY wasteful.

In short, Large Clothing Retailer Geared Toward the Pre-to-Teenage Kid Market:

You are bad box people!

See you at Christmas!
Love,
Kathryn's Mom

12

Yep - another year has gone by and it's time once again to join me in wishing good cheer and a very happy birthday to the best daughter a girl could ever ask for.

Tradition holds that dad takes a "wake-up" shot first thing in the morning. She used to hold up her fingers to show us how old she was. That has become difficult these last two birthdays.

Every year's birthday shot is posted on the pantry door on her birthday. For one whole week I stare at these photos and cry. . . for the child she was . . .

. . . and for the beautiful young lady she is becoming.

Happy Birthday Kathryn!

You are the one true, perfect thing in the world and I love you T & B.

Love, Mom.

U

. . . is for Uniform.

Gone are the days of hand-made princess costumes for Halloween. Costuming the pre-teen girl brings a whole new level of angst for which I was ill-prepared. Seeing as I would not allow her to go to the 6th grade Halloween party at a classmate's home dressed as a bum (no creativity whatsoever) she was left to her own devices. When I failed her, she turned to Dad. He called from Target on Thursday night while they were shopping for "the costume" (the party was Friday night!) and asked if he could just leave her there. U is also for unflappable - her, not him. I had told her: "No ideas - no trips to Target!" He had not made such an announcement.

With an idea in her head, she dragged him through the aisles until he figured out what the plan was: white shirt, athletic pants, black tape, whistle. And then dad took ever. Measuring each and every line, cutting each piece of tape, placing them just so. So that every stripe was . . .

. . . U is for Uniform.

Finished Friday

Somehow I've managed to finish two little projects, both of which will come in quite handy this weekend as the temperatures drop down into the 30s for daytime highs!


Cap'n Crunch was finished well over a week ago. Buttons were purchased but it took until this morning to weave in the ends and attach said buttons. I think I love the buttons almost as much as the warmer!
Also whipped up and finished is Morning Surf Scarf. And this has me giddy as it is made with my own hand spun yarn. I searched through lace pattern books forever and just couldn't find anything that made it feel the way I wanted it too. But this simple and easy to remember pattern was just perfect for the merino / silk blend.
And in three short nights, I had a lovely little scarf to wrap around one's neck (it may still be a gift - although now I'm feeling sort of keepy!!) See how nice it looks on my neck!! I think I might be in love with little bitty scarves!

Really Random

Just a couple of little things on my mind today:

I got called to substitute for the music teacher (out with laryngitis) at school on Tuesday. Great, I thought, I LOVE music. I can sing and be happy all day with the kids. Wrong. Apparently, when you substitute in music, you have the kids watch videos. Which begs the question, if all you have is laryngitis, can't you just press the play button?

What do the items in this picture have in common? Give up? 7th graders. I've been spending time reinforcing the bindings on all the new books for our Middle School curriculum. What happened to hard backed books?I'm always a little nervous when this t-shirt gets to the top of the PJ rotation. It bothers me for a couple of reasons. Why wasn't he chosen for Team 1? What kind of "teams" are we talking about here? Are the members of Team 1 still out there - looking for Team 2 people? Am I safe here - sleeping with a Team 2 member? What does this mean for Kathryn? Maybe I should just do some laundry today.This is the equivalent of "stash-diving" for dogs. She went looking for "just the right something" and in the process had to take almost everything out of the bone box. She chewed each one for about a minute then went looking for something else. Finally, she settled on "Genie in a Bottle".

"Mom, just put the rest of these in my Bone-ery queue!"

Make Up Spinning

"Pssssst. Hey, over here." "Behind the yoga ball thing. And the stool with the sheep on it. Can you see me?"
"Remember me? Before you got real busy and shoved me in this corner, we used to hang out for about ten minutes every day. I miss you!"
"Yeah - I know. We had some problems with the stuff with the tencil in it. But, that's why we have more bobbins isn't it? Can't we look around in the stash buckets for something that might be easier to work with and try getting back together again?" "Look - look what the sheep found! Some alpaca! We love alpaca! I heard alpaca is really easy. And soft. You love soft!""And look at those colors. You know you love those colors. C'mon. It'll be great! I promise."