Happy Birthday to my Independent Girl

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Happy 5th birthday to my beautiful daughter Evelyn.

5 seems so old. I can’t believe it has been 5 years already. I guess that I am probably going to be saying that every year from now on.

Evie is so imaginative, and she loves to play pretend, specifically that she is a different girl (or angel or fairy) who is coming to stay at our house. We play that basically every night. Her favorite thing is to hear stories; stories about your childhood, stories you make up, or stories read out of a book. She will never, ever get tired of hearing stories. She likes to play with her friends, or make new friends. She doesn’t like to have relaxing time, but then when you go down to get her she is so engrossed in her games that she is reluctant to stop. Mostly she dresses her animals in crazy outfits, or builds elaborate towns with whatever she can find (blocks, duplos, and tiny pieces from any board games she can find, especially the cherries from Hi Ho Cherry O).

Evie seems so much older than she is. She is such a good girl. If she has any faults, it’s simply being too smart for her own good, which tends to lead to backtalk and thinking she knows better than her parents (I dread, dread, dread the day when she becomes a teenager!) However, we really don’t have to worry about her. She can manage on her own as well as any just-turned-5-year-old and she never gets into any real trouble. The worst things she might do are so much more minor than most of the stories I hear from other parents of kids her age. If anything, she is a goody two-shoes, and a bit of a tattle-tale.

Partially because of this, partially because she talks nonstop, and partially because of her love of imagination and stories, I sometimes really see myself in her. However, there are a few downsides to that as well. Evie can have a fiery temper. Much like me (or even more so, my sister), she does not appreciate being told what to do, and it practically ensures she won’t do it, even if it’s something she really wanted to do anyway. On the other hand, also like my sister, she is very independent and is not likely to allow people to push her into doing she doesn’t want to do, or to walk all over her. I’m hoping this can help at least a little bit against peer pressure in the future.

Ollie plays a big part in Evie’s life as well. Sometimes they can play together for hours. She mothers him like no other, and is more likely to cry if he gets hurt than he is himself. They only thing they really fight about is when they both want the same toy, which happens pretty frequently. Actually, considering he is 2 and hasn’t outgrown the idea that everything he sees should be his, this actually happens relatively infrequently, all things considered. Ollie is so rolled up in Evie’s life, she spends so much time thinking about him, playing with him, and caring for him, that I can’t really imagine what she would be like without him (although that goes double for Ollie, since at least I do actually have some memories of Evie before he was born). I just wish they wouldn’t keep each other from falling asleep at night.

So happy birthday Evie, here’s to a hundred more. I’m sorry that I’m too hard on you, and I can’t wait to see what kind of person you become.

Wool Madness

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Well, she’s got it. Wool Madness.

“You know how everybody says, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting different results?’ That’s the definition of knitting.” – Sara Halbach

To say that Sara is knitting all the time would be an understatement. They say that knitting is addictive, and that definitely seems to be the case here. It has certainly helped with our beekeeper’s quilt, with an additional 24 honeycombs this month.

We keep the current month’s progress in the glass jar, and empty it into the basket with the others to start the new month.

Now, most of those puffs were knitted by Sara. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s officially a score of 23 – 1 this month, which is bad enough, but Sara also threw in a sweater and a shawl as well, just for funsies. (EDIT: After a recount, make that 22 – 2!!) However, I am contractually obligated to mention that I sacrifice all of my week nights to working so we can go places and do fun things on the weekend, not to mention that she only works part time. I’M JUST SAYING.

Anyway, you get my point: knitting all the time. But knitting all the time does not wool madness make. That’s only the beginning.

Lately, Sara has started becoming interested in “fiber”. Not just buying yarn, which she does, but the other day she purchased a drop spindle for making her own yarn. In fact, she even approached her cousin Lisa about the possibility of raising sheep for roving purposes.

Wool madness my friends. Know the signs before it infects someone close to you!

Slow down everyone, you’re moving too fast

/ Shane / Leave a comment

This has been blogged about so much that it is almost stereotypical for me to blog about it at this point. But seriously people, what’s the rush?

The other day I was waiting in the loose knot of people around the deli counter at the grocery store. “Can I help you?” asked the teenager behind the counter. “Excuse me!” huffed a voice with all the indignity only the old can muster. “You looked right over me!” The teenager was obviously very embarrassed, but luckily, another employee became available at that moment and stepped up to help the woman.

As I watched the lady later spend a full 10 minutes perusing the ice cream section, I couldn’t help but wonder: what was the big rush? Nobody wants to be passed over, but she clearly wasn’t in a hurry, so what difference did a few more minutes make? Why did she have to get so upset? Why did she have to be so entitled?

Getting angry at the kid behind the deli counter is so stressful to both her and you, and yet makes practically no difference in your life. Why do it? Being a nicer person not only enables you to live longer due to all the stress you avoid, but you also enjoy the time you do have more, because you’re not such a sourpuss all the time.

I don’t know if this is getting worse because we’re further sliding into a me-first society, if I’m just noticing it more because I’m an adult now, or if it’s just because I moved to the big city and that sort of thing is just worse here. I understand rushing when you’re in a hurry, and I guess sometimes it feels like we’re just always in a hurry. But lets face it; if you yell at people, then you are not a nice person. Even if I was very internally upset that I was getting skipped, I don’t think I would ever stoop so low as to get huffy with someone over it. I feel like it takes a certain amount of entitlement, to where you feel like your customer experience is more important than everything, even more important than the dignity of the person who is serving you.

Maybe this is just another case for my everyone-should-have-to-work-fast-food-at-least-once-in-their-lives-so-they-understand-how-it-feels-when-customers-constantly-treat-you-like-crap rule. If people understood what it felt like to be on the receiving end, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to dish it out. Then again, maybe this lady had been treated like crap by customers before, but it was so long ago she doesn’t remember anymore. Maybe my rule should allow for “re-upping” every 40 years or so.

Can we at least all just agree to make a concerted effort to just let the small stuff go? In addition to making us all instantly happier, think of how much of a better place the world will be.

Quote Monday is proud of its parents

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Evie: “Mama, I’m proud of you because sometimes when you are out of patience, you make some more. And Dada, I’m proud of you because when Ollie is throwing a fit, sometimes you don’t get mad at him.”

Not every time, mind you. You can only expect so much from a person.

Evie: “Sometime can we go to the male swim?”
Barb: “Are you male?”
Me: “You’re female.”
Ollie: “You’re email!”

Ollie: “Look, a sign! It’s goin’ ABCDEFG!”

Search Term Roundup

/ Shane / 3 Comments

“things that start with the letter a” – I’m guessing that returned a lot of search results.

“harry potter wands for sale cheap” – It’s like, I want to do magic, but I’m on a budget, you know?

“heat seeking balloons” – Oh god, pull up! It’s right on your tail! Evasive maneuvers! It looks like a heat seeking…balloon?

“when it rains it pours zombie?” – When it rains, it pours….zombies? Paratrooping zombies falling from the skies? The horror.

“80’s – ohh ohh ohh ohhhhhhhhhh ohhhhh” – This one makes me laugh, both in the futility of the search, but also because I have been reduced to performing similar searches before. (specifically “Ber ner ner ner, ber ner ner ner, ber ner ner NER ner ner ner”)

“funny zombie birthday quotes” – That’s…very specific. Funny zombie quotes are hard enough to come by, but to only limit them to birthday quotes…

“bigbutt wemon” – This is actually the only way I find my own site.

“bacon worshipping religion” – Yes please.

“potluck flowchart” – Is there bacon wrapped weenies? Yes -> take 10, No -> be sad

“facebook for people without kids” – I guess I didn’t realize it was specific for people with kids?

“jet ski urban crime” – Awesome idea, however, not a lot of urban places are accessible by jet ski. Chicago just might be one of them, though…

“is it bad if people hero worship you” – As a person who is most likely hero worshiped practically nonstop (I assume), I am definitely the right person to answer this question. Seriously though, who asks this question and how do they fit their enormous head through the door?