De-skeined

I have spent the last 20 minutes disentangling a ball of yarn from the dining room furniture.  This is a new chore I must do now, several times a week.
The youngest of my cats, the 2 year old, is an artist.  She decorates with yarn.
I keep hiding my yarn, she keeps finding it.
She brings it down the stairs and around the corner.

This time it was a green baby yarn.  Looped around one chair, under the footstool, back to the chair, under the second chair.  Then in a genius effort, under the computer desk and back to chair number one.
How she manages to loop the yarn around itself is a mystery.

I have tried to wind the yarn up the way it came off.  Not.  Happening.
I end up lifting the furniture to free the loops.  Sometimes I have to turn the furniture over to loosen those loops enough to slide them off the legs.

Sometimes I have to convince her I don't need her help.

She is sure I do.

I haven't knitted or crocheted in some time.  I'm feeling the urge.

Anyone have a pattern for kitty pawcuffs.  Even a plastic canvas jail might be handy.

Did I mention she has hidden some of my knitting needles too.

Just Another Day

I'm loving my Friday ritual.  Go to work at 4am, well maybe not that part.  But taking the grandkids home with me at noon is awesome. 

I get to watch Dora and Diego.  The grandson is all about Max and Ruby right now, oh and BubbleGuppies.  My personal favorite is UmiZoomies.  I almost tuned in the other day.  By myself.  But I got over it.  I was a bit concerned for a moment.

In non-annoying-gramma news:  the honest to goodness bathtub is in the foreseeable future.  I will probably spend an entire week in the tub when it gets done.

Hubby dear is working on the drain lines this week.  And a miracle!  All is going well.  (throwing salt over shoulder)

Must get back to my mundane life. 

Dog needs to go out.

I Am Not a Doting Grandmother

Yesterday I got to babysit for the grandkids again

Yes.  I'm that annoying Gramma with the perfect grandchildren.

The granddaughter is 3 months now.  She does 3 month old stuff.  Eating, spitting up after eating.  Pooping, smiling after pooping.  Crying cause the diaper is dirty.  Smiling again in a dry diaper.

She is also trying to roll over.  She is a Genius.

The grandson is all kinds of 2 year old BOY.
Grandpa has a bunch of plastic tubes, connectors and pieces to replace the old drain lines in the basement.  They are also the best toys in the entire universe. 

The boy spent the entire day dragging them around.  Trying to put them together.  Propping the long line up and rolling a ball, pen, kaleidoscope, battery and back scratcher from top to bottom.  Over and over. And over.

His vocabulary is increasing daily.  I can understand most of what he says now.  He says Gampaw, but hasn't figured gramma out yet.  My name this week was mostly "cracker?", but at least I knew what he wanted.

His mother has a potty chair for him.  The kind with the duck.  When the duck gets wet, it quacks.  He doesn't ask to go yet, but if she puts him on it, he goes.

She is in for a challenge with this kid.  Last potty use, she rinsed and emptied the little bucket.  After she replaced it, this boy, ran his finger across the bottom.  Stuck it in his mouth.  And said ahhh.

Daughter speaks, probably loudly," NO!!!  That is disgusting!"

Boy looks at his mother.  Grins.

And does it again.

I love this boy!

The First Signs

It is a chilly, gray, soggy, gloomy, yuck of a day here.  So, I decided to squish around the soggy yard.  At first glance, I was wondering why.

.
Then I looked a little closer:

Those?  Are tulips.  Wheeeee!

So I looked some more.

Those?  Are the first buds on the pear tree. 

I am doing a tappity dance.

Spring is springing!

As I kept walking around I found daffodils starting to peek through.  Irises too.  And the lilacs are heavy budded.  They should bloom soon. 

It'll be time to pull the last of the fall leaves off the gardens and see the new growth.  Time to till the veggie garden, which already has winter onions ready for grabbing. 

We already have new flowers ordered.  They should start shipping in a couple of weeks.

I need to start my tomato seeds soon so they'll be ready to put out after Mother's Day.

I love the gardens.  Digging, planting, planning.

And?

It allows me to play in dirt.

It's Been a Week?

It seems to have been such a busy week.

Got to babysit the grandkids twice.  The grandson is learning new words and making sentences in leaps and bounds.  It's fun to hear him figure out a word and then use it.  Continuously. Today he wore himself out and crawled into the recliner next to me.  We had a nice nap.
The granddaughter, at not quite 3 months is smiling and laughing herself into hiccups already!  She watches the world around her closely. 

I've gotten myself hooked on writing stories at The Red Dress Club kind of regularly.  I'm enjoying this.  I used to write poems in high school and always imagined writing.  It only took me 50 years to get around to it.
Anyone interested should check it out.  And it's not just for women, there are some awesome male writers too. If you'd like to read some of my, um...stuff, it's on my other blog, Elsetime & Otherwhen.

And this week, got to test some upgrades for my favorite iPod app TapTapRevenge.  If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone, and you like music, check it out.  And if you get there, look for me. 2old2tap, that is where that "handle" started.

Hoping and hoping and hoping to have a real, honest to goodness bathtub by summer.  Plumbing work is coming along.  We have to move the laundry room to make a space for my dream tub.  But it will be, So Worth It.

Of course I've been working, trying to keep my poor restaurant's head above water.  The gas price insanity is not helping. Maybe I should just break down and buy a lottery ticket.  Someone wins. 

Right?