Is there a graceful way to describe: "feels like a worn out dish rag?"

Probably not. Unfortunately, Anne is back to actively sprouting teeth and consequently woke each night this weekend. She looks all adorable poured into her sleepers from last winter, but all the same, I'd rather not cavort with her until morning. Just trying to hang in there. There must be an end in sight.

In good news, we have soap in the ladies room again on my floor. Apparently it just takes five attempts to procure said soap. But we'll take it.

I also received my new advent wreath over the weekend. Hank and I unpacked it and he immediately asked if he could keep it in his room. :) How precious is that? He loves seasonal traditions and decor, just like me. But no, we won't be keeping the ceramic wreath and lit candles in Hank's bedroom. I repacked it and it's awaiting it's December 2nd debut.

I have a long week ahead at work and I'm just trying to endure it. Tonight is the parent orientation at Hank's school, and although I'm anxious to meet his teacher, I know that by 7 pm tonight I'm going to look like something the cat dragged in. I'll do my best. But me in my jammies tucked under the covers can't come soon enough, I tell you.

The case of the missing soap

Could it be? I got a normal night of sleep for 2 whole nights in a row?

*cue the choir*

It IS.

Sweet Mother of God, I feel SO MUCH BETTER. It's amazing what a little sleep can do to your psyche.

Anne as well was in good spirits this morning and danced the morning away with her little music machine. I'm really hoping that I have a future dancer on my hands; the costumes, the recitals. *squeals!* I just can't wait for that stuff.

So, when I got to work this morning, I was in good spirits. I'm ordering my new belly dance costume tonight (tough for us to spare the money in our entertainment budget, but I consider it an investment in my happiness, and it's worth it) and I was just feeling chipper. I made myself some tea and got to work on a lesson plan. Shortly after that, I made the subsequent necessary trip to the ladies room on my floor.

Here's where the saga begins. Yes, in the ladies room. I don't know why, but cleaning is a huge, huge problem at the university that I work in. It's just...bad, really bad. Awful, even. On the weekends, things get downright scandalous.

Since Monday, we have had no soap in our ladies room. I waited a day, figuring help was on the way. No soap. So the next time I went down for tea water, I asked our assistant if she would call facilities to alert them to the problem. She furrowed her eyebrows and said that someone had already complained and so she had already placed a request with them. She thought the problem had been solved. Thus, she resolved to contact them about it again right away. Fab.

Another day goes by. No soap.

Now, seriously. I'm not saying we all need to scour our skin off after using the restroom, but warm water and soap is just a basic cleanliness necessity. The warm water is also a problem, since we have those newfangled "improved" sinks with sensors for the water to turn on. And the water is *never* warm. But that's another story entirely. Soap, that's all I ask.

The next day, my office neighbor stopped by to gossip with me about the ladies room situation. She said that our assistant had placed yet another request for soap, and that she thought she would call facilities herself to up the ante. Our walls are paper thin here (I mean, I can bless people when they sneeze; I also know more about their private business than they'd like me to, I'm sure. But hey, they should talk quieter) so I could hear that she in fact called facilities and very sternly explained the situation.

This morning, we both received a message from our wonderful assistant, asking after the soap situation. My tea had kicked in, as I mentioned above, so I headed right off. I used the facilities. Confidently, I strode to the sink, wet my hands, and pressed the soap dispenser.

No soap came out.

For the love of all that is holy, what is going on?! Is it *really* that difficult to replace soap? It's not as if they are telling us that they are out of refills and are working on getting more. They keep telling us that they put soap in, and yet there is no soap.

Either there is a nefarious soap thief in the library or someone is not being truthful. Either way, it's very annoying.

Here's hoping for soap on Monday. But we have a lovely weekend planned, filled with trips to a local cider mill and football viewing. The weather is supposed to be turning crisp again tomorrow and naturally, I can't wait to knit during this transformation.

You'll be relieved to know...

...that I'm eons less cranky today than I was yesterday. The reason being that I got more than 4 hours of sleep last night. And boy did I need it.

When I left work yesterday (early, I just couldn't take it anymore; I was resorting to glaring poison darts any colleague who prolonged the painful meeting I was at), my head was throbbing and I could barely keep my eyes open. Plus, it was HOT in my car, and you know how I feel about THAT. I wasn't exactly Happy Tiffany at this time yesterday. So it's pleasing that things are different today.

After our disastrous night with Anne the other day, I risked amputation of my index finger to reach into her mouth and assess if any new choppers had come through the gum. On the upper left side, I felt a brand new molar.

*angels sing*

So hopefully we'll get a reprieve for a bit. We really need it.

I was feeling sorry for myself last night, and so curled up on the couch with Mike to watch Best in Show (love that movie) and knit. I'm working on a hat and mittens for myself, and this particular set uses a knitting technique that was previously unfamiliar to me: entrelac.

Entrelac means that you knit rectangles on the bias in such a way that they appear to be woven. It's very pretty, although I think we can all agree that there are many, MANY entrelac patterns out there in which the finished items look bulky and odd. Just do a search on Ravelry and you'll see what I'm talking about. *shudder*

But anyway, my hat and mittens. The hat is coming along nicely, and I'm now decreasing for the crown.The hat is designed to be slouchy, and I'm just hoping that when I'm done the result will be "cute!" and not "her head looks like a giant mushroom!" See bulky concern, supra. Here is the picture from the pattern:

I have the pink colorway, called the "creamsicle" colorway, which pretty much sealed the deal on me purchasing the kit. Who wouldn't love a creamsicle hat and mittens?!

Hopefully it will come out well. The other thing I'm working on is a pair of candy corn slipper socks. My favorite Halloween candy of all time.

Tonight I'm meeting some friends for dinner at a local Mediterranean restaurant and my dance teacher is performing there. Wine, hummus, good friends, and belly dancing, what could be better? Life is good.

I come to you from an exhausted stupor

Today's blog post is going to be even less scintillating than yesterday's edition, I'm sorry to say. Anne cried inconsolably at bedtime last night, proceeded to wake up hysterically at 12:30 am, and stay awake until nearly 3. I barely dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 to get Henry up and ready for school, and myself for work. I just nearly fell asleep at a meeting and looked barely alive on the reference desk this morning.

I think it's time to go home.

My Advent Wreath Shipped!

It's all very exciting! The nativity advent wreath that I ordered last month finally shipped. It was on back order for quite some time. It's not like I need it imminently or anything, but I was worried that it would remain on back order until well after Advent began, so I'm relieved that it's on it's way.

As for my ability to type anything else today, you've about reached my capacity. Anne is still getting us up very early in the morning and I taught 2 classes this morning, which tends to wipe me out. I'm looking forward to a nice evening of knitting, tea, and Mike.

Oh! Today is Tuesday, which means "Aerial America" is on the Smithsonian Channel tonight. Has anybody else seen this show? They have hour-long profiles of all 50 states, it's fascinating. We're such nerds.

Adventures in Bath & Body Works, and looks like I'm still a parish catechist...

This past Saturday, Henry and I traveled to our local Bath & Body Works for a little Mommy/Son bonding time. As Henry gets older, he wants to do so many things with Mike. You know, "boy stuff." He looks up to his Daddy. But one thing that he really enjoys doing with me is going to Bath & Body Works. He isn't into lotions or body scrubs, which I'm sure is no surprise. He just really likes scented candles and hand soap. He's also a fan of the little anti-bacterial gels they have there. He has a good time going around and smelling everything, and then bringing me the ones he likes for me sample as well. And it makes hand washing following bathroom duties much more pleasant for him if he likes the soap.

So Saturday we went just he and I, so that we could take our time (shopping with Anne, especially in any store that carries items made of glass, is not so fun) and enjoy ourselves. I sniffed all the new fall scented body products while Henry darted around admiring the Halloween scents.

"What's that you have, Honey? Ah, a soap called 'Vampire Blood,' nice."

I ended up getting myself some of the seasonal "Dreamy Vanilla Woods" scent. It's very nice, and I'm picky about my lotion/body spray scents. I do NOT like florals, and I don't like musky scents. I love vanilla, but not all vanillas are created equal. This one is a deeper vanilla, not foody, but very creamy. Anyway, that was a long description for body lotion. In the mean time, Henry had a load of the fall scented anti-bacterial hand sanitizers for me to smell, as well as a slew of candles. The little hand sanitizers were 5 for $5, so we picked out some of those, plus 2 small candles, which were on sale. I also got Wallflowers for both Henry and Anne's rooms. Anne really needs it, what with her diaper pail nearly requiring a gas mask to empty. All of the scents that we chose were fall-themed. :) Pumpkin Cupcake, Orchard Walk, Candy Corn, Vanilla Buttercream. If I want to eat it, I'll buy it. We had a great time.

On Sunday I wanted to take Anne to Mass again, but she was napping, so it was just Henry and I. And I was dwelling on the fact that I really dragged my feet this summer deciding what to do about Children's Liturgy of the Word. You may remember that late last spring, as we finished up the program for the summer, I was toying with discontinuing my participation and perhaps becoming a lector instead. I just didn't feel like I was enjoying it, and it seemed so much like babysitting to me because people tend to send their kids that are really young and can't sit still.

Well. I did think and pray about it over the summer, and I still felt undecided about what to do so I did nothing. Typical. Sunday, as Henry and I sit down in our pew, I open the bulletin to see my name in the list of catechists to be "commissioned" next Sunday in honor of the religious education season beginning again. Uh oh.

I figured that was my sign. Maybe I should continue to participate for another year. That was confirmed today when I received an email from the director of religious education. One of the most dedicated volunteers to the program is away for an entire month, and it's just me and another woman that they have to cover Children's Liturgy of the Word until late October, and they'd like to start the program up again the weekend after next. I couldn't exactly tell her *now* that I don't want to do it this year. If I really felt strongly about it, I should have spoken to her this summer so they could have recruited somebody else.

So, I'm signed up for 2 dates coming up. I don't think God speaks to us using big signs or anything, it's just subtle, everyday stuff. And so I figured this was my nudge. Hopefully, it'll go well this year. If not, then I really need to completely plan out what I want to do instead, and let the program coordinator know right away.

Wish me luck. :)

Football season is upon us, and hence, fall knitting

We're big football fans in our house, so this is yet another aspect of this time of year that I enjoy. While Mike watches football, I usually knit by his side. It's a perfect time to start on winter woolens.

I'm making everybody a new hat this year, and right now I'm on mine and Mike's. I'm also going to make Mike some Steelers socks (he's originally from Pittsburgh) using the toe up 2-at-a-time method (if I can ever figure out how to do that, snort). I have more socks and a pair of mittens also in my short term future.

I hate puffy huge winter coats for the babies (too hard with car seats) and each winter Anne receives a handknit wool sweater that subs for a coat. This year, I'm knitting her the Pinwheel Sweater, pattern available for free from elann.com:

I have a wool sampler in my stash in blues and greens, so I'm going to use that. It's a perfect stash buster pattern. *feels righteous for not ordering yet more yarn* I also have some knitted and crocheted toys and dolls in my queue and I do have plenty of yarn for some sweaters for myself. I'm going to be busy.

So, I'm excited. I've also got lots of fun belly dancing stuff going on Saturday we're going to take the kids to a local festival. Assuming we aren't falling down exhausted from our long nights with Anne, but that's another story entirely.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Sometimes karma comes back to bite you in the behind...

Yes, I'm still whining about the weather. But you know what happens to people who whine, don't you? Bad things happen to them. Remember how I complained the other day about us not getting enough rain? Do you know what happened THAT VERY DAY?

I packed up my stuff to leave work. I looked out the window. It was pouring.

I was happy. I mean, we need the rain. But then I realized that my umbrella was in my car. Useful place for it, don't you think? But hey, I'm a big girl. A little water won't kill me.

By the time I was finished checking out a book downstairs I could see that this was more than just a casual rain. Cats and dogs were about to appear from the sky. I decided to walk via the above ground passageways so that I could get as close to the parking lot that my car was in as possible without going outside. As I walked, I could see huge puddles forming by the sides of the roads and lots of people wrestling with umbrellas.

When I got to the final door, I didn't hesitate. I mean, what good would it do to stand there and bemoan my fate? It wasn't slowing down anytime soon. Out I went.

In the short time it took me to run out to my car, I got *drenched*. As in, my clothes were soaked to the skin and my hair and face were dripping.

I scrambled into my car real quick-like and laid my drippy bags on the passenger seat. I turned on the car and the defogger. Because, since it is still HOT out, the windows began to fog immediately. I put it on full blast and set off.

Pretty soon, my hands were all sticky from being wet and collecting some kind of dirt from the steering wheel (lovely), and I was sitting awkwardly because I hate that "my clothes are stuck to me" feeling. Halfway home I could feel my hair drying, but I knew this was bad. A glance in the mirror upon arrival at home confirmed it: I looked like a poodle. When my hair gets wet and dries by itself, it waves up and generally acts very irritating. It was all kinked up right at the scalp. Since it was half wet, half dry, when I tried to pull my comb through it it behaved precisely like a rat's nest. Not a pretty sight.

When I got out of the car, I could still feel that icky damp clothes feeling and my hands were even stickier. My hair was a complete lost cause.

I rushed into the house and thought to myself that I shouldn't have been so bad tempered about the weather. We did need the rain but there's no saving the grass here this year.

Next year is another year, I suppose.

Henry's first day of school

"Hi Honey! How was your first day of school?"

"Good."

"Do you like your new teacher?"

"Yes."

"Is she nice?"

"Yes."

"Are there any new kids in your class?" (nice thing about his Catholic school, the class sizes are small)

"Yes."

"How many?"

"I don't remember."

"Are they girls or boys?"

"I don't remember."

"They're girls, huh?"

"Yes."

"Do you have gym or anything tomorrow?"

"I don't remember."

*sighs*

"Do you like your new classroom?"

*scowl* "Not really. It's on the first floor, Mommy. I like it better on the second floor."

Suddenly, he can say more than 3 words.

"Do you want to buy your lunch tomorrow?"

"No, it's chicken nuggets. I'm holding out for pizza on Thursday."

Ah ha.

A HOT Labor Day, followed by Henry's first day of second grade...

I'm recovering (snort!) from a lovely, but at the same time, challenging Labor Day weekend. Where to begin...

Well, I'll start with the weather. I'll be frank. The weather is starting to really tee me off. It's Labor Day. It's supposed to be COLD. Chilly, I could live with. A slight bite to the air, I would also welcome. I DO NOT WELCOME 90 DEGREE HEAT. I'm sorry, but that is wrong. It doesn't get up to 90 degrees in this area very often (3 times per year on average) in mid-July let alone September! Yesterday was the hottest Labor Day that we've had in 102 years.

!

I am not a happy camper. And then, in the midst of all this, our drought continues. We have had some rain, but very little, and we're still WAY below average for rainfall. This all means that my seasonal allergies, which are never a walk in the park, were so bad this weekend that I broke down and bought some OTC allergy medication. This may not sound all that revolutionary, but I tell you, for me to actually take allergy medicine is no small feat. I stick it out like a True Allergy Martyr. I don't know why; I'm not expecting to be canonized for navigating my ragweed allergy sans Claritin any time soon. But I'm just so resistant to it if I feel that I can just stick it out. Because some days will be fine. I'll have a not-so-great day, and then it'll go back to being fine again.

But this weekend. I was ready to SAW MY OWN NOSE OFF to stop the agony. There was non-stop itching. There was sneezing. SO MUCH SNEEZING. I'd have to brace myself, because no sir, I wasn't going to sneeze just once. If I feel a sneeze coming, this means that at least a half dozen other sneezes are waiting in the wings (and sneezes, after you've birthed a baby? Well. I'm just going to leave you with the word "leakage" and let you figure out the rest from there. At any rate, it's not very dignified). There was stuffiness and subsequent nose blowing (aren't you so glad that you are reading this?!) that led to my nose being raw by the end of the day Saturday. There was eye watering. There was a general malaise.

And there was lack of sleep. Yes, Anne is back to night waking again. And each time, she is a drooling, fist biting menace in clear distress. She's teething, and she's taking it out on the rest of us.

"Anne! NO BITING!" is a refrain often heard in our home these days. Because she bites HARD. It *hurts*. She bit me on the neck the other day, and it just took my breath away. It leaves a red welt, and then leaves a bruise. She's just not herself these days.

And we're tired. We're all so tired. It's like having a small infant again. She wakes every night, and then stays awake for an hour or two. I had a really hard time getting out of bed for work this morning.

But it was Henry's first day of school, and I was anxious to see him off, since I knew he was nervous about it. He comes out in his little school uniform, and I tell you, he looked *adorable*. He adjusted to having to go back, and was in good spirits this morning. He was looking forward to finding out what days he'll have his "specials" on (gym, art, music, computers). Little cutie.

And this weekend, I even took both children with me to Mass, ALL BY MYSELF. *waits for medal that is so rightly deserved* Anne did pretty well. She fussed a bit during the consecration, so I paced with her off to the side, and we didn't have to actually leave the sanctuary. She was happy to be out of the pew and have some things to look at and touch. When Henry was a toddler, I was attending a parish that had "divided pews," if that makes sense. Each long pew had a divider in the middle, and it was great. I'd position myself at the end opening, and then he could walk between me and the divider, with no chance of escaping. Our current parish is not like this, so Anne has to be in my arms the whole time. Not so fun, but she did well. She's so friendly; she tried to go off with the random woman sitting behind us during the sign of peace. Overall though, it was a success, and if she's awake during the Mass I go to now, I'll take her with me too.

That was my weekend. I'm feeling a bit diminished, but I'm hanging in there.