Finito

The so-called infant pod is finished. Please forgive the baby doll in the above photo; I went with what I had. I made the pod to specs, inches-wise, and I must admit that I think it will be waaaayyyy long for a newborn mostly because they tend to keep their bodies all smooshed up

If the child wants to stretch his or her legs, however, it is long enough to accommodate that for an average newborn...which is a good thing I suppose.

Better too big than too small, yes?

Also, I am certain that there are some mistakes in it, which is to be expected when one has been driven crazy by the business of the present giving season.

Regardless, I am very happy with it and excited that I now have a rather unique gift to give people who have little ones on the way. I learned a few new stitches/cast-ons/seam methods with this project, and that is always good.

Carry on, people, carry on..

Random Update

Man do I not envy the delivery people this time of year. Things are crazy for them. I was just putting the child affected by cabin fever down for the night when the dog freaked out. A gift had arrived at our door; it was 7:30 pm. I think that is the latest I've received a package before. I am sure that some people are very grateful for the extra jobs created by the holiday gift shipping rush; for that I would be grateful as well. It is interesting to watch those who haven't done it much, though. I have a note on my door telling people not to ring the doorbell, but to knock instead. Most delivery people with experience just leave the package, especially if they hear the dog, with no knocking. I guess they realize that I have my own warning system in a twenty pound bundle of energy. Newbies set the package down and knock really loudly and then hang around for a bit to be sure they see me in the house before walking away...which I don't really understand because what are they going to do differently if I am not home? Also, this means that twenty pound bundle of energy attempts to expend all of his energy RIGHT THEN.

Cabin fever is absolutely real and it can affect even the smallest of individuals. The child had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (aren't you jealous?) this week. Apparently she was channeling some super hero who doesn't feel pain, though (Jenky, I'll leave it to you to tell me who that might be), because she never acted like anything was wrong. For those of you who are unaware, this disease (virus) causes open sores in the mouth and throat, blisters around the mouth, and small blisters (that usually don't pop and look like a rash) on the hands and feet. And usually with the very small, it causes a similar rash all over their behind. So yeah. I would be all wimpy if I got it, that is for sure. And this doesn't even take into account the fever, etc. that can come with it. Anyway, she just looked really icky this week (and still kinda does), but acted like things were cool, so there's a blessing for you.

Yeah. Christmas photos? Not until the creepy spots go away.

Where was I going? Oh, yes. Cabin fever.

Well. Combine the disease with the fact that Friday we had snow, and therefore we didn't get out a lot this week. Yes, snow in Houston. The world is ending.

We spent all of Thanksgiving week with people. The first part of the week we were together in Baltimore, and then we went to a far off land of no pavement and bonfires to visit with college friends at the end of the week. There was a lot of attention. This week, there has only been me. To say that she is getting tired of me would be an understatement. She does come over and snuggle with me a lot, though and I think that is because she is missing physical contact from others, including Rocket Man.

Where oh where is he? In the land of vodka, cabbage and potatoes. And cold as well as snow. Brrr.

She-child missed school on Wednesday due to the infestation on her mouth. We left the house today to return some items at a couple of stores and we had to drive through the neighborhood where her school is located. We pass through the area and continue on our way when I hear her saying her teacher's name over and over in the back seat. I can't wait to tell her on Monday; she should be pleased.

Talking is coming along splendidly. Um, except she speaks Andalucian English. What is that, you ask? Let me explain the Andalucian part, as I am sure you all know what I mean by English. Right? In Spain, Castilian is the official language. That would be espanol for all of you over here. Yes, it is different than central and southern American Spanish. As it should be; they are oceans apart. Within Spain, the southernmost region is called Andalucia. We lived in that region while we were there. The Andalucians have a way of shortening all of their words/phrases: they chop off the first part and the end of words/phrases and then smoosh whatever is left all together. This makes it difficult to understand, especially if you are not a native. Basically, this is what my child does when she attempts a phrase. She can say: "How are you doing" as well as "Where did it go?", among other things, but unless you are adept in hearing Andalucian English, it is difficult to catch. It reminds me of that game where you read the card, things are spelled out phonetically or they use different words to make up the correct phonetics for a phrase and the idea is to listen to one person read the card quickly and see if you can make out the mystery phrase...anyone know what that game is called?

Moving along.

She dances. By picking up her feet in this stompy kinda way and stomp/running all around the room. She will usually dance to the music, but occasionally she listens to the music, and when it stops she takes a little time to dance to it, then pushes whatever button to make it all happen again. It was so funny to watch her learn to pick up her feet.

Um, a video camera is on the Christmas list. One of those small ones that immediately loads online for viewing pleasure. So you can all see the dancing, of course.

Christmas presents are going to kill me. They will never be completely purchased/made/acquired/shipped. I am tempted to say you're all getting nothing, but that is no fun, so I'll just continue to slowly expire. Hopefully I will be unlike the advent candles of Rocket Man's past and make it past the 25th.

Happy Wedding to A and B!!! We wish we could be there!!! Blessings to you and your marriage!!!! Here are some extra exclamation points for you: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm out!

!!!!!!!

You Sank My

Oh, come on! I had to!

That is the Battleship Texas, from WWII. We did not get on it; we opted to take a couple of photos, marvel at the hideous-ity of "battleship gray", condemn the mosquito population to a quick and painful death, and then leave.

They were terrible, those mosquitoes. Biting through shirts and jeans, no less.

I mean, seriously!


Here is another terrible thing: the sweetness, it shall kill me.

We actually came here first. Where? The San Jacinto Monument. It is Texas's version of the Washington Monument, though much larger (imagine that). It is located where the battle of San Jacinto took place, which was a defining battle in the Texas revolution.


It looks huge. It is only about twelve feet taller than the Washington Monument, but due to the geography and lack of buildings nearby, it looks much larger than the one in D.C.

Inside the base is a museum that covers about 400 years of Texas history. The museum is small, which was good because both Papa Jim and Grandma read every single word in the place. Every. Single. Word. Thankfully Perpetual Motion was happy to be somewhere new to explore...at least for the first few minutes. After that, it was a tad bit more difficult to keep her quiet in there.


Visitors can take an elevator to the top of the obelisk and catch some impressive views of the port area as well as the marsh. There were quite a few ships out there minding their business.


Look strangely familiar, anyone? Yet another reason the San Jacinto Monument is always compared to the Washington Monument. Pretty, even without Lincoln at the other end.


Finally, a photo of me and the girl-child. We are just about done dodging the mosquitoes and discussing the fabulous color of the ship.

By the way, she now calls me Ama. Like, Sister Mary Ama (why it makes me think that, I have no clue, but there you are). Apparently she enjoys leaving off the first M, and so now I am Ama. There could certainly be worse names...

New Park!

One of our friends had a birthday party at a park that was new to us. The park itself is excellent. There are plenty of tables and benches for eating, all of which are under a sun shade. There are also many swing sets, some of which are also under sun shades. Papa Jim spent over half of our time at the park pushing Perpetual Motion in the swing.

Can you tell that she enjoyed herself?


There were two large play structures, one for smaller children and one for larger. Of course, Miss Thang saw all of her friends on the larger of the two and decided that she should be over there as well. The slides were a big hit.


After some playing, we all sat down and had snacks and cupcakes. We sang Happy Birthday and then dove right in. Perpetual Motion managed to pick up the cupcake at one point, rip off the top, get the icing all over her hands and then (of course) wipe them off.

Oh, yes. She wiped them onto her shirt. Chocolate. On white. It was awesome.

Tomorrow I'll show you Texas's version of the Washington Monument.

We All Scream for Ice-Cream!

After the highs and lows of the miniature horse farm, we piled into the car one more time and headed over the the Bluebell Creamery.

Are you salivating? 'Cause you should be!


We decided not to take the tour, and instead spent our time wandering around the grounds and letting ourselves be entertained by Perpetual Motion and the hat.


She had so much fun putting it on and taking it off and (as you can see above) saying "hat" all the while.


Then came the ice-cream samples, which are more like a scoop and a half (for $1). Being on the cusp of utensil independence as she is, Perpetual Motion insisted on doing much of the spoon-to-mouth motions herself. This led to a few dribbles:


Thankfully, there are many tiny napkins at the ready and we all cleaned up nicely. Once we'd had our fill of the ice-cream, we headed out front to check out the cow.

This photo? Perfect example of the day being long and tiring and of little children being D-O-N-E done with it all! We packed up and went home! Tomorrow I'll fill you in on a birthday party we attended while everyone was in town.