the longest scarf

i think i promised a while ago that i would post a picture of my scarf when i had finished it. well, i did finish it, about a week ago, but this picture is from way before then. so you can tell what it looks like on the needles! (how fun.) when the yarn ends are all tucked in, then i'll have m. model it for a proper picture, ok?
right now we are in the process of packing up/moving/getting the house ready to show, so no craftiness for a while. when things are settled, i'm thinking of knitting up a little-red-riding-hood for m., for a halloween costume. if that falls through, perhaps just a little red scarf. she is SO obsessed with red currently. (so much so that it's wearing off on me!)

my cute c.

i just love this picture of my cute little c. it shows so much of his personality. inquisitive, ("what's that grey thingy pointed at me?"), always on the go (he's pulling himself up on the sides of the bathtub), and easy-going, even when there's water dripping in his eyes, he just can't be bothered.
unless his teeth are coming in. which seems to be what is happening the last few days, because my little c. just isn't himself. he's crying and miserable and a different little baby. but soon his teeth will be in and he will be back to being my peaceful happy little baby. (let's hope.)

what i'm listening to now...

midlake. they sound like they're straight out of the seventies, classic rock, and i love it.

old school bob marley. i love "who the cap fits." when i was in high school i went through a major bob marley phase that was kind of crazy, and i always liked him but i got a little burned out in my later years. now i'm more into the older of his stuff.

france gall. emily over at the black apple blogged about her a few days ago, and i'm always up for some sweet french pop...

andrew bird's new album, armchair apocrypha. it's so good. i liked "the mysterious production of eggs" as well, but after a little while i got a little tired of it. this one, i think, will last and last. and how much do you like the back view of the owl, pretty cool, eh? and the word apocrypha? also pretty cool, eh? not what it means, but...
anyway, soon, a new playlist to get the singles i'm into now. but trust me about the albums, ok?

m. dresses herself, part 3

so this is m.'s idea of little red riding hood. i have absolutely no idea how she got the idea that little red riding hood wears a patriotic swimsuit and an orange tee on her head for a hood, but that's how she rolls. that's her easter basket which contains the "goodies" she was bringing to grandma, and by the way, all day long she called ME grandma, and dad "big bad wolf" and if we called her anything but little red riding hood, including shortening it to "red" or "little red" she would not respond. all day. she was really good at staying in character. maybe she'll be an actor?

why is it that...

whenever my house looks really pretty and clean, nobody just drops by. they always come when i haven't showered in 3 days and every dish we own is out on the counters and the kids have just ground goldfish into the rug and their toys are EVERYWHERE. this is when i get surprise visitors. i make a note of this because i just finished cleaning my house (at least the front rooms, which is, to me, the house.) "how nice," i was thinking, "if someone would come and visit right now." but they won't, i can guarantee you that.

wishing it was winter

today when i woke up it was kind of cloudy and grey and i found myself wishing it was winter. (n. is probably wishing the opposite.) anyway i have a distorted view of weather. i love rainy and dismal days. so when i'm craving cold weather, here's a few albums i like to listen to. (they just sound cold to me.)

Belle and Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister, paritcularly the song "fox in the snow" is for cold and sad days. Jose Gonzalez's Veneer works in all seasons, but the sparseness of the guitar is perfect for winter. Denison Witmer's Are You a Dreamer? is all acoustic-y natural-ish, i'm out in a forest sounding. it works for me. The Innocence Mission's Birds of my Neighborhood. sometimes when i listen to this album with my eyes closed i think that if i open them i could actually see my breath. nice and chilly.

m. dresses herself, day two

so she didn't do a bad job today. the dress is one that nanny gave her a while ago for her birthday. but, as you can see, despite 90 degree+ weather, her obsession with tights continues. (i tried in vain to talk her out of it.) yesterday she wore her tights and a sun hat to the craft store. there were a few looks, but they don't really bother us. we're beyond these traditionalists and their tight views of fashion. :)

the library

ok, our bookshelves are in SERIOUS need of organization. i want pretty little book piles scattered (in an organized way) all over my rooms like you see in so many design mags/blogs, however, having little children who love putting their hands all over everything kind of precludes that kind of design motif for now. but i think i could do a lot better. recently the books have started overflowing their shelves, and although we have at least four other bookcases in the house besides the one pictured here, they seem to be all over and in a state of vast disarray. so, what do you think? move into a new place with built-in bookshelves? (i wish.) pull all the books off all the shelves and come up with some kind of organizational system? (i did used to work in a university library, for pete's sake), organize each case on its own? or just live with the chaos?
what would you do?

m. the author

today m. and i collaborated on a work of fiction. she came up with the basic plotline, which i fleshed out and wrote down for her. she illustrated completely on her own. man, that girl is a good artist! (at least i think so...)

it's the wildlife, baby

From the day we brought him home from the hospital, my son has been intrigued with this stained glass panel in our kitchen. It's a rosella parrot, quite common in these parts. Nevertheless, everytime I see one I have to stand and stare a while. So I guess I'm like my baby boy, except he's in awe of the stained glass version and I'm in awe of the real thing. That's the great thing about living in Australia, there's such amazing wildlife. There's a park about a block away from where I live, and when it warms up I'll be able to see cockatoos there everyday. Real live cockatoos! And not birds that will be in a cage for the rest of their lives.

Driving around in the bush you can see kangaroos, wombats, and if you're very, very lucky, maybe even a koala or echidna. So when you're watching the Discovery Channel and all they can talk about is how many snakes and spiders there are in Australia that can kill you, just remember that there's also some very cool animals here that are not quite so deadly.

On the downside, those birds can be freakin' loud! They totally wake me up sometimes!

These are the birds of our neighborhood:

m. dresses herself, part 1

this is a post that i'm sure will become a series. m. has been dressing herself for a long time now, but i don't always get pictures, and her outfits aren't always so wild. anyway, here's the ensemble that she did herself up in today.

what my family had for dinner last night

ok. in an attempt to be honest here, i have to admit that frozen pizza is on the menu at our house a lot more lately than i would like. i wish every night could be a fabulous fresh meal, like n's cous cous a few nights ago, but unfortunately i have been repulsed by food lately. so that means that when it comes time to think of things to fix for dinner, my mind is a complete blank. cooking seems impossible. hence, frozen pizza. hopefully i will swing back into a "i'm a gourmet" mood quickly. in the meantime, i just want to say, frozen pizza is a reality around here, and i'm trying not to feel guilty about it.

Dinner Last Night

I love cooking, but am a beginner and always in need of new recipes . . . So here's my first attempt at couscous, with chicken in a sweet chilli sauce and a tomato and avocado salsa.

what i'm up to...

i'm knitting this scarf. (of course i'm not as cute as this chica, though.) i got the free pattern from http://www.treatsandtreasures.com i heart knitting. it makes me feel so good when i'm stressed out to have something repetitive like that to do. anyway, if it turns out ok, i'll post a picture of it when i'm done!

Here's my hubby as a Simpsons character. (And yes, he was consulted.)

i know i've been posting like crazy today, but...

here's one more thing. i just changed the playlist to the left, so check it out if you want to know what i'm listening to on those rare occasions when the kids aren't in the car with me. (and sometimes when they are)

austin city limits, hooray!

as a resident of a small-ish city in one of the nation's not so populated states, i'm hard-pressed to find access to good music. for me, it's all about the internet. (let's just say i'd usually rather listen to talk radio than listen to the music stations around here. and that, my friends, is saying a LOT, because i pretty much despise talk radio.) anyway, imagine my joy and surprise then, when i found that the local pbs station shows "austin city limits" every saturday night! and imagine my even greater joy when i found out who is scheduled to appear on the show this season: here's just a few of my fav's: arcade fire, wilco, the decemberists, explosions in the sky... and here is a link to the pitchfork article to find out more:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/44751-arcade-fire-bloc-party-wilco-decemberists-do-acl

little piggy

little piggy, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

m. decorated this cupcake at her cousin's first birthday party last night. yum!

what a cute pair!

what a cute pair!, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

she's in charge!

she's in charge!, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

we went jet-skiing on the river last weekend. it was the most fun i've had in a long time!

Well, mine didn't turn out as good as yours, sis . . . but one of us has to be the cool twin, aye?
You should see the one I did for the hubby!
Miss you and hope you're doing good.

fun little ways to waste time online

hey, i've been simpsonized! i guess it's a promotion for the new simpsons movie. it's pretty funny, check out the site, http://simpsonizeme.com/, and simpsonize yourself or someone you love (or dislike intensely, for that matter.)
i also found this personality test thingy, called personal dna. here's mine:

and the link:
http://personaldna.com/
so have some fun and waste some time!