Friday, June 19, 2009

Remember when...

Remember when they first introduced aspartame (Nutrasweet), and they told us it was perfectly safe? Made from two amino acids found in milk and bananas.

Like eating milk and bananas, they said.

Yeah. Right.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hand Dyed Yarn!

Little Mouse and I dyed yarn last weekend, and I finally managed to get the pictures out of the camera without them running out the wires and dribbling on the floor. I managed this difficult feat by lurking about in earshot of The Chief and saying plaintively, "Boy, I sure wish my pictures were in the computer so I could post them on my blog. I'm sure my three readers are just dyeing to see them..."

Anyway, this was my first attempt...it's a worsted weight wool, so it's too thick for socks, but it was sort of a trial so I could see how the colours would come out. It's actually exactly what I was hoping for.



This next one is Little Mouse's first attempt. She blended teal, violet, and peach. I warned her that things might get muddy where the colours touched, and while we were waiting for the dyes to set, it looked a little scary, but once we rinsed it out, we were both surprised to see how pretty it turned out.


Little Mouse is thrilled with it. She's thinking about making fingerless mitts or maybe a scarf with it.
So this is what our summer is going to look like...bright and colourful. And by fall we'll be drowning in yarn!



Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bring It, Scruffy...

Tomorrow is the last day of school. And it's a half day, at that. (Who ever thought of half days of school? They must not have been mothers.)

Strangely enough, I am not dreading it this year. Instead, I am thinking about the following:

1. I am released from the dreary monotony that is Lunch Making.

2. For three whole months I do not have to rise at 5:45 am (which will make the reinstatement of this schedule in September all the more painful, but I'm trying not to dwell on that right now).

3. For three whole months I do not have to convince/threaten/cajole/force The Barrister to rise at 5:45 am...although if he is true to form, I imagine that most days by 6 am he will have downed at least three boxes of Cheerios, half a gallon of milk, and have won several Spore campaigns and at least one Civilization campaign.

4. Little Mouse and I have learned how to hand dye yarn in our own kitchen with Kool-Aid and Wilton's cake icing colours, a microwave, and a crock pot (finally found a use for that darn thing!)and we have a new box of colours and a box of Knit Picks undyed sock yarn to play with this summer. Can't wait!

5. The Barrister is not taking any classes in the fall that require the dreaded Summer Homework. We shall not speak of the Horrific Torture that was the pre-AP English Summer Component two summers ago. Nor will we speak of the 7th grade math Independent Study, preparing him to go straight from 6th grade math to pre-AP 8th grade math in one swoop. I have still not recovered.

The only thing I'm wondering is...how long will The Barrister be home before he utters the most dreadful pronouncement: "I'm Bored!"?

Last year, he managed to go a whole half hour before saying it.

Summer Vacation starts tomorrow.
Bring it, Scruffy.

Edit to add: the answer to the above question, how long will The Barrister be home before he utters the dreaded words, is about 30 seconds. He gave me an evil look whilst uttering the words, so I am assuming he was joking...a dangerous assumption, perhaps...