Crafty Christmas plans & saint stories on 4th of July weekend...

I'm back at work after a perfectly *glorious* three day holiday weekend. Can we all have a moment of silence while we emit a collective groan?

Mew.

I am, however, hanging in there. I have more search committee obligations tomorrow which will keep me from blogging, so we'll be on a Tuesday/Thursday/Friday schedule this week, just so you know. And my thoughts are awhirl with all kinds of stuff. So...highlights!

Fireworks. Every year, prior to the big event, I regret having the kids stay up until 10 pm just to be able to watch them ("HENRY, stop touching my hair!!), but then I am glad that I did. We had a wonderful time, and built some lovely memories.

As well, my daughter is at a very adorable age. :-) For whatever reason, she has adopted St. Bernadette as her very favorite saint of all time, and so I ordered her a felt St. Bernadette doll from one of our favorite saint Etsy shops. St. Bernadette made her big arrival this weekend, and immediately began hanging out with her fellow saints:

Anne and the saint dolls. Sounds a bit like a budding rock band. ;-)

Our Lady of Czestochowa and Guadalupe, respectively, are quite tired over there on the left. But that is St. Bernadette in the center, and Anne LOVES her. She carries her around with her everywhere and it is absolutely precious. I'm already getting excited thinking about which saints I'll order for both her and Henry for the coming winter holidays

#ALLTheCatholicNerdExcitement

I also spent quite a bit of time knitting. This is that time, every year, wherein I get Christmas in July fever and go wild making lists of what I want to make this upcoming fall and holiday season. I'm currently working on a knit-along shawl that is due by the end of the month, so I devoted all of my crafting time this weekend to that:

Those are going to be leaves, which will become visible once blocked. Hopefully.

I made good progress (now on repeat 7 of 11!) and it inspired me to start my annual Christmas in July panic session: should I create my holiday crafting list?! This will cause me to panic even more, so OF COURSE I should!!

:0

This is what I came up with:

• Projects currently in the works that I'd like to finish by early fall. This includes the knit-along, 1 baby gift, a random lace scarf, and 1 in-progress poncho that I'd like to wear for the New York Sheep and Wool festival in October: Total of 4.

BOOYAH. I can totally finish all that by early October.

Christmas gifts 2016:

• Secret Santa gift for my knitting group exchange.
• A dress and amigurumi Cardinal for Anne.
• New socks for Henry.
• 2 surprises for Mike.
• Requested shawl for my good friend Irena.

Total of 8 gifts. This is slightly less BOOYAH'ish, but I still think it's manageable. The operative word here is *think*.

What I worry about is that this list usually, ahem, EXPANDS as time flows into the fall. I get all ambitious, and decide to cast on additional gifts, plus random sweaters and accessories (I have my eye on a gigantic entrelac wrap kit, SOMEBODY STOP ME!), and all yarn hell breaks loose. We'll see what happens. I may need an accountability partner in this endeavor, I'll keep you posted. ;-)

Does anyone else have their fall and winter crafting list set up? If you do, CONGRATULATIONS, you're as anal as I am, and that means that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. :0 Do share your list with us!

How was your 4th of July weekend, dear ones?!

Of firework frights, summer hats, & pool-related tantrums: an Independence Day journey with the Catholic Librarian family...

Well, HELLO THERE, you dear reader, you! I have missed you.

*hug!*

I had quite the busy weekend, and I imagine you did as well. I'd love to hear about your weekend, and I'll also tell you about mine. So why don't you settle in with your beverage and we'll chronicle together, shall we?

Well, OK, that's not what I'm drinking NOW, at 11 am, but it was what I was drinking Sunday night while watching the FIFA Women's World Cup championship game with Mike and Henry after a super long weekend with the youngest member of our clan. OK truth? I had TWO. It really wasn't that bad, just long, did I mention that?

Let's start back on Thursday night because, for unfathomable reasons, that's when our town did fireworks. Being only July 2nd, it seemed rather early to me, but we went with the flow, and for the first time we brought Anne. This meant keeping her up for an excruciating 2.5 hours past her usual bedtime, but we were strong.

Mike and Tiffany: 1
Children, led by Anne the Crankinator: 0

Both children were somewhat surly by our designated departure time, but again, we persevered. Finding a parking spot was a near occasion of sin, but we managed. We trekked to the community field.

Both kids relaxed then since they could run around a bit. The fireworks began. Anne immediately jumped into my lap and covered her ears.

"Mommy, this is SO LOUD!"

She refused to budge for the duration, cutting off circulation in my arms.

Oy.

The fireworks were lovely, and even traumatized Anne seemed glad that she went. But I was just relieved that it was over. :)

Friday? Let's just say Friday wasn't a good day. The kids fought the entire day, ruined a lunch out at a local restaurant, and generally made the adults miserable.

Mike and Tiffany: 1
Children, led by Anne the Instigator: 1

I drowned my sorrows in my knitting, and finished a brightly hued hat for myself:

I will grant, it's not exactly hat weather right now, but I know I'll be very grateful for these efforts come fall. ;-) I also crocheted a hat for my nephew, and I'm hoping it won't be too big for his little head:

Naturally, Anne refused to try it on, which would have been super helpful since she's only a year older than aforementioned nephew. Some battles, however, just aren't worth fighting.

Saturday was a better day, capped off by Mike and I enjoying some film noir that TCM is showing this summer. The night drew darker and the film noir happily creepier, when suddenly:

"What was that? Is that Anne?!"

Why yes, yes it was. Wide awake, standing up on her bed and watching fireworks out her window at 10 pm. Suddenly, she wasn't scared by the noise anymore, just fascinated "by all of the pretty colors, Mommy!"

Mike and Tiffany: 1
Anne the Sleep Shunner: 2

It took some doing to get her back to sleep. Thus, guess who was super grumpy just in time for Mass the next morning?

"Anne, you can't lift your dress up in public, Honey, come sit down on the pew with me."

"NO!"

*long suffering sigh*

Mike and Tiffany: 1
Anne the Grumptopus: 3

After Mass, both children and I lit one of the new candles at our parish. Due to cost of the traditional wax candles, a decision was made to replace them with battery-operated candle-like cousins. I don't dispute that cost is an issue for the parish, certainly, but I have to admit that lighting one of these "candles" is rather anti-climactic:

"Go ahead and put the money in, Honey. Right there, you may have to fold it up."

*Henry complies*

"OK, now I think you just...push the button?"

*Henry pushes*

"Did you...Oh. Yeah, I guess it's that one."

We all look forlornly at the now "flickering" electronic candle. Not nearly so symbolic as lighting the little wood stick from one of the other candles and setting your chosen candle aflame, the smoke rising to heaven. Bummer.

The rest of Sunday was quite lovely, if a bit action-packed. The four of us loaded up and headed about 20 minutes north to visit and have a cook out with my parents. We arrived in the late afternoon, and the instant we got in the door, the children wanted IN THE POOL. And pools with kids are, you know, a bit of an entity. There's the swimsuit tugging on process, the application of sunscreen amidst a chorus of protestations, and the inevitable "I have to go PEE!" the moment everyone is in the pool and soaking wet.

If Anne goes in the pool, that means that I must go in the pool too, and I don't really love going in pools. My current bathing suit was purchased, no lie, LAST CENTURY, and while it still fits, it's seen better days. I'd much rather sit by the side of the pool sipping a cold beverage, but such is my lot in life with a 4 year old right now. Mike always gamely gets in to roughhouse with Henry, so I took on Anne. Immediately, it was clear that my little swim session would be anything but relaxing.

Anne had on brand new water wings, but decidedly did NOT take to them. She instantly suctioned her little body to mine and hung on like a koala, complaining the whole while. We remained in that position for quite some time before she finally worked up the courage to branch out a bit. By the time I was feeling wrinkly and ready to get out, she was in full on pool mode and did not want to evacuate. My dad stayed with her so that the rest of us could eat, and even after that spell there was distinct reluctance. She sat with her feet in the water and generally splashed around on the stairs until it was time to go, and then:

"Anne, we have to leave now, Sweetie."

"NEVER!"

Her sundress-laden countenance was all Defiant, Sanctimonious Sass.

This was quickly remedied by Mike scooping her up against her will, skinny little legs and tiny feet kicking over his shoulder the whole while.

Mike and Tiffany: 2
Anne the Sassinator: 3

And then we come to the small side hallway where we were all jammed in, attempting to put on our sandals and say goodbye to my parents. I have to say, at the expense of my poor, cute husband, that this was my favorite part of the weekend. I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard...

Seated on the stairs in the hallway we have Henry. His thought bubble reads as follows:

"I haven't stopped talking for the past 20 minutes, but that won't stop me from asking a series of new questions about all of the stuff that is piled in this hallway! Hey, what's this?! It's a big, interesting-looking bottle with an enticing spray valve! I'm asking what this is, but before anyone can possibly answer, I'm going to hold it up and press it really, really hard!!"

Standing in the middle of the hallway we have adorable Mike, fielding a stream of questions from Henry, and momentarily distracted by Anne throwing her sandal in protest of her pool-abandoning fate:

"What did you say, Henry? Anne, you have to put on your..."

*long, distinctive squirting sound*

He is cut off by an absolute CLOUD that has descended over the hallway, the epicenter of which is approximately his mouth. I'm standing at the top of the stairs with my parents trying to wrangle Anne into submission and I glance up to see Mike coughing and looking stunned. The offending spray that has currently robbed him of his ability to breathe?

Febreze. Henry had just Febrezed him right in the face.

I don't know that I would have handled the situation nearly as well as he did, because the rest of us started laughing so hard we were soon crying. There was something about that moment of Henry innocently holding up that can and poor Mike practically choking on aerosol odor eliminator that was ridiculously hilarious.

Mike, looking amused, and luckily with no loss of vision :0, recovered and was a heck of a good sport about the whole thing. I encouraged him to go outside and air out while I got Anne's sandals on. The entire 20 minute ride home I couldn't stop snickering, my eyes tearing up, as the overpowering scent of wildflowers permeated our car.

And then we went home, tossed Anne into bed, and drank a LOT of beer. Community Beer Works American Brown Ale, to be exact. Full circle right there, people!!

So, that was my weekend. It had it's ups and downs, but with my Mike by my side, all is always well. How was YOUR weekend, dear reader? Do write in to tell me all about it!

Of summer crafts, freezing fireworks, and super sassiness - 4th of July weekend 2014

Morning everyone! It's the Monday following 4th of July weekend and I'm back at work, sigh. It's raining pretty heavily here, which feels appropriate. But I had a lovely weekend interspersed with the usual bumps in the road of toting small children along for the ride. I'm sipping tea, do you have yours? Let's chronicle!

I took the day off from work on Thursday July 3rd, and we really spent it just puttering around the house. The weather was just beautiful - sunny, but not humid and hot, so I took advantage of it and snuck walks in each day while Anne napped in the afternoons. I did also work on crafting, like I had hoped. Not exactly related specifically to the holiday at hand, but that's never stopped me before. :)

I'm working on a rosary for my nephew Will for his birthday, similar to this one that I made for Andrew, which is this one:

St. Kateri center, with "burnt sugar" pearls for the Aves, and Turquoise Paters

Will's will have a Guardian Angel centerpiece, and teal crystal Paters, but will otherwise be identical. I got the first decade of that assembled this weekend, glory. I also made myself a pair of pink earrings to match my troupe dance costume for all the festivals we have coming up:

I struggled a bit with turning the loops. I had to go back and redo them a few times since the second earring originally turned out WAY longer than the first one. Not exactly a good look. And I'm familiar with this phenomena based upon knitting sweater sleeves that are different lengths from each other. Let's continue to repress those memories, shall we?

I also made these fun additions to my jewelry drawer:

What am I?

The first one I made turned out like yucky poo, so I had to start again. When I finished, I brought it over to Mike and asked him what he thought it looked like, with zero foundational information.

"Um. A bird's next with eggs in it?"

#victoryismine

Easter egg earrings for the 4th of July. I'm nuts.

So that was my beading work this weekend. I also was knitting, and trying to finish this summer dress scarf I'm making for myself:

I'm thinking about stitching the ends together when it's done and having it be a cowl. Thoughts?

I've also been commissioned by a troupemate to crochet her a modesty panel for one of her costume tops, so I got that done too. I just need to sew a crystal onto it and stitch it into her costume. Niche business getting started up right here. ;) I'd like to get that and the turquoise scarf done in the next few days.

Ok, so back to July 3rd. I did happen to be wearing the patriotic rosary bracelet that I made for myself:

Love.

Anyway, we decided to go to the fireworks that our town was hosting on the night of the 3rd. We haven't been to fireworks in years and years, and every year I regret not going. We thought the ones on the 3rd would be a bit less crowded (because the number of people that we have to encounter seems to always be the most important factor in the decisions we make about where we go #introvertfamily). I decided to leave Anne sleeping, my mother-in-law came over to listen for her, and Mike, Henry and I departed.

It *was* crowded, but nothing too terrible. We even got a seat on our own bench. And it was kind of nice to feel a part of the crowd, like we were sharing in a community experience, which of course we were. The only problem was that it was FREEZING. Fireworks don't generally start around here until 10 pm (I'm certain it's similar in other areas) because of how late the sun sets at this latitude in the summer. So the time combined with the fact that the weather in Western New York is just generally unpredictable, plus the fact that we have little fireworks experience, meant that we really weren't dressed warmly enough to be comfortable. We shivered for about 20 minutes before the display started, and I started to lost my fireworks enthusiasm. However, we stuck it out, and I'm glad we did. Once the show started, the distraction made me forget how much my teeth were chattering. And then I regretted leaving Anne behind. She was sound asleep, but next year I'll have her stay up. She would have loved it.

On the 4th itself we didn't do much except take the kids out to lunch at our new Firehouse Subs:

Somebody had a really good time...

We had fun, and both children were really well behaved. Little wolves in lambs' clothing. The rest of the weekend they fought like cats and dogs and made me contemplate listing them on ebay. Anne, in particular, is SO, SO SASSY these days. And she SHOUTS. At her brother. All.the.time.

"Anne! Stop..."

*eardrum piercing scream* "NO!"

"Anne!"

"Stop it, HENRY!"

It's miserable. And if you ask her to stop screaming, she says that she is in fact NOT screaming. She is just "yelling at Henry."

Kill me.

So, we were fielding that for a large portion of the weekend. She's very much in the age 3 end of the Terrible 2's and we're just weathering it as best we can.

How was your weekend? Leave me a comment! :)

Gearing up for the 4th of July...

...and feeling very patriotic about the whole thing. *beams* Traditionally, summer isn't my favorite time of year, because I just don't enjoy the heat. However, this year I have resolved to see summer for the good qualities that it has, which are many, and appreciate it more. Fusion Beads was having a big 4th of July promotion, with lovely red, white & blue jewelery, and I bought beads to make a patriotic rosary bracelet. My goal was to finish it prior to the 4th, and I did! Unfortunately, I left it at home and forgot to take a photo, lame! But it turned out very pretty. :) Planning to wear it this weekend.

We're also planning to attend a fireworks display for the first time in pretty much our entire married life. :0 When Henry was little, we never wanted to keep him up that late to bring him, since it gets so late before it is fully dark at this time of year. Now, we have that same concern with Anne, but my in-laws now live close enough to us that babysitting isn't an issue. So we're going to bring Henry and enjoy our town fireworks display.

We're also planning a cook out with my parents, and swimming will be involved, which of course the kids love. Me? I'm not much of a pool person these days, but the kids love it. The weather is supposed to cool down a bit, which will actually make it easier (in my opinion ;)) to be outside. Wine by the pool for everybody!

I'm hoping to get in lots of reading and crafting when Anne is sleeping. I have a few more gift rosaries in the wings to make, as well as a St. Dominic Savio chaplet for Henry and some earrings for myself. I'm currently knitting a summer scarf and a baby cardigan, I will post in-progress photos of those next week. :) I'm currently reading on my Kindle:

Book 1 in the Big Sky Centennial series, which focuses on the 4th of July weekend kickoff to the town centennial celebrations. I love it when I read seasonal books that synch up perfectly to the current season, it's the book nerd in me. There will be a book in this series published each month through a Christmas story in December, so excited! For whatever reason, I love books centered around farms and ranches. I don't know that I would actually like to live on a farm or a ranch, but reading about them thrills me. I also love cowboy heroes, despite the fact that I've never actually *seen* a cowboy in real life, and this whole "Western" thing is a bit of a mystery to me. Hey, reading is escapism, right? :)


So, it should be a fun one. Do you have any 4th of July plans? Leave me a comment!

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! I won't be blogging again until Monday the 7th, since I'll be very busy wrangling my children at home. :) But I will update you all on the weekend revelries then!