because I know you just come for the pictures

I'll include one from last weekend. Jake was a maniac in the sprinkler and then raced over to drench Carlos :)

It's completely unrelated to anything in my post but I had to suck you in somehow!

We've been busy the past couple of weeks! A surprise birthday party for my mom, a surprise party for my step-grandma, my nephew's 3rd birthday, a trip to Algonac to visit my camping parents and watch the freighters (and a wicked sunburn as a souvenir...all three men in the house turn golden brown after a couple of hours in the sun. Both boys (especially Z) have taken to pointing out that they are brown and mommy is white :p) A trip to the petting zoo that isn't really a petting zoo (no touching allowed!) Hess Hathaway also has a pretty cool playground that turned out to be the real attraction for the boys. While there, we ran into a little boy (probably 6) who was carrying around a wooden board with a face painted on it. He called it "Plank" (which is clever, lol) but he talked to it and had it talk to other kids. Like "hey kid, Plank says hi!" And it wasn't just for a few minutes. It was for the duration that we/he was there. Awesome.

On the knitting front I FINISHED THE BONITA SWEATER and immediately casted on for Rusted Root :) I don't completely love it but for a first effort, I'd say not bad. My finishing skills leave a lot to be desired but I'm hoping they improve with each subsequent project. I'm glad to be knitting a top down sweater so I can control the length a bit better. I'd like to have Bonita a bit longer but it's way too late for that! It's not terrible but - if I hadn't just had a baby (three years ago) my belly could handle the length a bit better ;) I think Rusted Root will go quickly though! I'll try to share pictures of both soon!

Hmmm, what else. I'm thinking of getting a haircut. I think maybe I want to try bangs. They've always been a miserable failure in the past but I haven't humiliated myself with them in a good 15 years or so so maybe it's time to give them another shot! I've been on the hunt for some good shots of styles I like so I can work my photoshop magic on them like last time but I haven't had much luck. If you have any good links for slightly-above-shoulder length hair with cute bangs, hook me up!

Ooooh, so last week, I was totally pissed to discover that I couldn't watch the This American Life show anywhere - wasn't available on iTunes and the Showtime snippets weren't working for me. *Today* my Tuesday iTunes update email tells me that it's now available for download - woohoo! So I immediately purchased the season and have already watched the first two episodes. I highly recommend it. And if not the TV show, than at least do yourself the favor of listening to the Podcast each week. I have a major nerd-crush on Ira Glass :)

Also sucking up my time lately? This site recommended by both Mel and Shelby. Holy cow - I'm totally addicted! Essentially, you create a list of all of the books you have in your possession that you're ready to part with. People request them, you mail them at your cost (media mail - like $2) and for each one, you get a credit of your own to spend on someone else's book - genius! I uploaded 16 books when I signed up a week ago and I've mailed all but one! That's a lot of books folks. And the best part is they have all kinds of books - anything with an ISBN is fair game. So there are children's books, craft books (lots of knitting and sewing books on my wishlist!), cookbooks - whatever you're interested in. And the books you receive are yours to keep or swap again once you're done with them. Love it. I anticipate Ravelry taking up a lot of my online time as well once I receive my invitation!

Oh, I have some more stuff to give away too but you have to work for it this time. Just a little scrap stash busting exercise (and who among us doesn't need that?) I'm tired of typing though so I'll fill you in on that tomorrow (or Saturday or the third Thursday in September...basically, whenever I get around to updating again :)

Later gators :)