m.o.M - mother of Michael

For All My "Old" Girlfriends:

Next time you use a pair of rubber gloves, you're going to smile when you think of this:

A dentist noticed that his next patient, a little old lady, was nervous so he decided to tell her a little joke as he put on his gloves.

"Do you know how they make these gloves?" he asked.

"No, I don't," she replied.

"Well," he spoofed, "there's a building in Canada with a big tank of latex and workers of all hand sizes walk up to the tank, dip in their hands, let them dry, then peel off the gloves and throw them
into boxes of the right size."

She didn't crack a smile.

"Oh, well. I tried," he thought.

But five minutes later, during a delicate portion of the procedure, she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked

"I was just envisioning how condoms are made!"

Gotta watch those little old ladies! Their minds are always working.

ps: Thanks Dad. See? Sometimes I DO read your emails!

1, 2...Skip A Few...99, 100!

Michael was inducted into the very elite 100 Club today!

Hurray for you, Michael!

Mother's Day Project Update

Last November, I participated in The Mother's Day Project.

This project, started by Anne Landre, is a way to recognize and remember those women who have given their lives in the war in Iraq. People all over the world were sent pieces of fabric on which was printed the name of one of these women. Mine was Jessica M. Housby. I was to embroider this name and return the fabric to Anne, who in turn, took my embroidery and that of everyone else and turned it into a tote bag.

As I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs today, I came across the CraftSanity blog which corresponds to the podcast on which I first heard of The Mother's Day Project. Imagine my surprise when I saw this picture of some of Anne's progress with the tote! There, at the top, was my little contribution to this project.

It's been almost five months since I first saw Jessica's name. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her. Every time this stupid war is mentioned, I think of her family.

As my little contribution is connected to the whole of this bag, we are all connected to this war. We may not personally know anyone there, but those who are there are mothers and daughters, sons and fathers just like us and that is our connection.

Anne is right. War IS personal.

Uncle Michael: Puppeteer

Am I Asking Too Much?

"The goal of the Brevard Public Schools is to educate students in a child-centered environment that promotes and develops literacy." - The first line in the Brevard County Elementary Program of Instruction print out.

To quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

The Little Engine That Couldn't

Bye-Bye Bike Week!

One...Two...Three...GO!

It's a scaring contest! (I just don't have the heart to tell him that the word is sTaring, although, these pictures sure can go either way!)

OH **** (Rhymes with Duck)

I like to take silly online quizzes. There's a reason though, I use them as my "Too Pooped to Post" posts as I endeavor to continue with Blog 365: Blogging for one full lap around the sun.

While I know I save too much stuff (ephemera, for those of you with broad vocabularies and detritus, for those of you who only speak the truth), it really bugged me that a stupid quiz could hit on the truth:

You're a Pack Rat in Training

You know those crazy old people with a ton of video tapes and cats? Well, you're training to be one. Time to do some spring cleaning. Even if it isn't spring!

Are You a Pack Rat?

I'm really (no, really, I am!) trying to avoid living in Collier's Mansion and in an effort to keep one little corner of my world tidy, I decided to clean up my Flickr account. I know it's nothing, but (hey! quit snorting!) it was a baby step.

Well, let me tell you what: I know why those Collier brothers did what they did. They knew that the moment something is thrown away, your heart beats two times and then you need it! When I went onto Ravelry to visually fondle my yarn and admire the fruit of the past two days' labor, this is what I saw:

I hadn't read the mouse print that said that Ravelry linked to Flickr. While, perhaps, it should have occurred to me, it didn't and here I sat watching my pictures disappear with every refresh of the screen. Fortunately, I hadn't yet fully deleted my pictures from iPhoto and when I took the pictures, I made it a point to have the label to show so all is not lost.

Now it's time to sort though this mess, get back on track and change my mailing addresss to c/o Collier's Mansion.

"Alright, Mr. DeMille. I'm Ready for My Close-Up."

Maybe I was avoiding my chores. Maybe it was just time to do it. Whatever the reason, I spend the better part of yesterday and a bit of today cataloging my yarn on Ravelry.

First, I took a deep breath. Then I set up a mini photo studio on my knitting chair. After that I began.

I'm not completely finished, but the vast majority of my yarn has been photographed, cataloged and sorted back into it's cabinet. Yipee!

The whole process was a walk down memory lane:

• I re-fondled the yak yarn and recycled silk that I bought in the Himalayas and carried on my back through the mountains for over a week.
• I revisited those pre-stash days of yore when all I had was the Elann Sock It to Me yarn. I think I ordered about 10 different colors and was aghast at having that much yarn in the house.
• I reminisced about buying yarn in Germany. I had to buy a new suitcase to bring it all home.
• I laughed when I found my Mardi-Gras-colored-tissue-paper-wrapped purchases from The Quarter Stitch in New Orleans. It was the first yarn shop I ever went into and while Michael had a beer around the corner at a favorite bar, I did some shopping. Little did I know that my purchases would be so wrapped and beribboned that there was no way I could hide them from him!
• I cringed when I saw skeins and skeins of silk that I bought the day of Lizzy's first high school post season meet in Cocoa Beach. She was a freshman then and she's a junior now. The skeins were still in their original bag.

Well, enough of this...I've gotta go get knitting!