St. Pat's Parade

While a snowy start to the morning, it ended up being a very nice and slightly chilly day for a parade.  You can imagine how bundled we were, looking at Norah and the snowpants in the background.  Norah woke up at 6:00 a.m., and excitedly asked me "What time is the parade?".  The answer was "noon".  She was ready and truly loved everything about the parade.  This girl knows how to gather goodies.  

Simon does not eat candy, and so he hopes for the non-edible give-aways a parade has to offer.  He became quite sad when he bobbled and lost a ball that was tossed to him and for him.  Tearful, in fact and so broken hearted.  Dad and him headed down the parade route, caught up with that entry, and secured the desired miniature volleyball giveaway.  He slept with it, and it has not been out of his hands yet today.

Due to the "cold", which it wasn't, the parade was a record 1 hour and 20 minutes in length.  Much shorter than the typical 2-3 hour parade.  No gaps between entries, everyone was ready to go.

We had a lovely day, Norah had "her" parade, and our candy loot is set yet again for summer treats at baseball games and pool days.

Parade season has begun!

Next two pics found on the Elmhurst St. Patrick's Parade Website:
Eric is wearing the navy coat in the background with the gray, cream, and orange striped hat.

Norah is picking up candy from the ground and I am bent over helping her.

Irish in the snow

Not exactly how I envisioned March to be . . . 

Definitely in like a lion . . . 

 hopefully out like a lamb!

For the Curly Girly

Heads grow.
Lots.
And fast.
Most especially in the first few years of life.  I make hats, and  I am always amazed at how large little people's heads really are.  Sometimes the lil' one's noggin is almost adult sized.

Norah has had an ivory hat with a shamrock ribbon for a few years now, and I just assumed it would always fit.  I tried it on her the other day, as it is now March.  Way too small, does not even cover her ears.  (As is the coat pictured as well.)

She "needs" a hat for St. Patrick's Day; "her"parade is this Saturday after all.  Being all decked out in green is totally fun when your birthday lands on the day when everyone is Irish.

So, I crocheted her a hat.  This was a lovely pattern, just a few hours needed to make this easy-peasy hat.  I am quite pleased with the elegant look.  I found a pretty ivory, acrylic and alpaca blend, worsted weight yarn. THEN, I saw a lovely ivory lace weight yarn made of acrylic, mohair, and wool.  The two weights together make the hat a bit heftier and hold the shape well, but not overly bulky. I love that the look is similar to those ivory Irish knit sweaters.

And since it will be wintry (still and again) on March 8th, this hat will keep my Shamrock's noggin nice and toasty warm at parade time!

Completion!

This may be Norah's Easter Dress.  Although I may let her wear it for her birthday party.  

Overall, I am pleased with it.  I wish the top part was a bit shorter with more of an empire waist, but as always, following a pattern for the first time is always a learning experience.  Norah is pleased with it.

I used materials on hand as much as possible.  Until I ran out of yarn.  My local Hob Lob (Hobby Lobby) did not have the exact purple hue, as my yarn was purchased long ago.   So, I started over and alternated purples.  Did you even notice there is a dark purple and slighter lighter purple?  Didn't think so.  Even I had some difficulty determining when to switch purples while crocheting.

I had just enough fabric.  J.u.s.t. e.n.o.u.g.h.  The skirt part was two pieces sewed together with french seams at the sides, perfect length.  I even made sure the stems pointed down!  The skirt is hand-sewn to the top.  I had just a bit of fabric left to make the bias tape for the front tie.

I even added a poofy slip underneath.  I was surprised at how pricey girl's slips are and how hard they are to find.  Then I had a resourceful ah-hah moment.  Norah has a dress-up dress that is too small for her.  This too small dress had an under layer that was a perfect slip for this dress.  I just snipped it out, adjusted the length as needed, and hand sewed it onto the skirt.  It adds enough heft to even out the weight difference between the yarn and the fabric.  Here is the dress, inside out.

And the bow detail in the back of the dress!

Pretty good for a total cost of $2 and some change to make this dress!   

I emptied my yarn bin and  fabric bin by a bit, while adding an item to a closet.  Just a fabric rearrange I guess.  My growing girl seems to always need the next size up, and this is a custom fit!

My Olympic Project(s)

While knitting may not be an Olympic sport, yarn has been a feature of my Olympic experience.  I love this project, thanks to my Aunt Cindy for introducing it to me!  I think she is on her second Lego blanket.  I love this project because it is so easy to tuck inside my purse to take-along.  By the way, I always have a yarn project with me.  You never know when you have 5 minutes to wait, and lots of stitches can be done in any amount of time!  My version of the Olympic rings substitutes gray for black, and my 5-color-project is using white instead of green.  Crocheter's license.

Along with this huge project, I am still working on a sewing/crocheting fusion blanket for Norah. Currently stalled due to needing to sew up the squares for the next column.  I sew a column's worth of squares, then blanket stitch and crochet each square, stitch the squares into a strip, and finally crochet the strip to the blanket.  Since IL is experiencing the 3rd coldest winter in recorded history, I do not always want to sit in the chilly basement - even to sew.

Most importantly, my current Olympic sized feat is to complete a ridiculous amount of testing, report writing, IEP writing, meetings, and trying to see my students.  It's quite ridiculous.  April is really looking like a dream, and not just for the possibility of spring.  For the hope of a regularily scheduled week!

How do you Olympic?

January Facts

Interesting facts that January was:

• the 3rd snowiest in 129 years, with 33.5 inches of snow,
• the 10th coldest month in 143 years, and 
• the coldest January in 29 years.  

No wonder Chicago feels like MN so far this winter!

And Feb 1, tomorrow, predicts 5-10 inches of snow.  We are ready really wanting to hunker down tomorrow.  Simon  a basketball game about 1 mile away if not cancelled.  And maybe Daisies if we choose to travel the short distance across town.  Who can say no to the local sledding hill, for a wild ride down the hill, that is even closer to home than the basketball game?

Suburbs are experiencing shortages of road salt. My school district is out of salt for parking lots and sidewalks!

Weather has been, and will be THEE news for another short while.

Just today, I said that my winter coat needs a wash as I wear it just as much as my regular clothes, and it feels sort of wilty.  I have to check, can't remember if it is dry clean only or if it can handle a spin in the washer.  Hoping for an at-home wash.

When the weather first rises above a wonderful and balmy 35 degrees, the lines at the car wash will be ridiculous.  I am getting tired of getting "car" on my pants and coat.

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

We have had some rough moments, evenings, and days with this little one.  We've had ignoring, not listening, lots of yelling, crying, frustration, anger, sadness, and madness.  She is so exhausted by 6:30 and can barely stay awake past 7:00.  Sometimes too tired to eat dinner.  Last week we had a really bad night.

We've also had requests for louder music and T.V.  We have had to repeat many things, and lots of times she did not hear quite right.  We repeated louder and she became upset that we were yelling at her.

We started wondering what could be wrong or what was going on with this little girl.  Putting the pieces together and one apparent moment, we had an ah-ha moment that perhaps she is not hearing well.

She has had a total of 1-2 ear infections in her whole little life, we cannot recall her last cold or illness. Pain or fever have not accompanied any of the above symptoms.  Why go see the doctor?

An appointment was made to see the audiologist.   I was asked if I had a referral, to which I responded that we have a PPO, and  I believe we can make an appointment to any doctor.  I mentioned that I could go see our pediatrician, but she is not sick and he would probably send us to the audiologist anyways.  The receptionist asked me for my concerns, I relayed the above.  She responded with "yeah, that is not normal".  We had an appointment for 3 days later.

A tympanogram was the first order of business, and Norah's ears flat-lined that test.  Pretty cool test, a tip is inserted in her ear and a puff of air will measure the movement of the ear drum.  The graph was supposed to be peaked, hers was a flat line.  A strong indication that fluid has hunkered down behind her eardrums.  Crazy thing is, it's probably a total of 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of fluid.

Next order of business was a hearing test.  Due to the fluid, she has a 20% loss in her right ear and a 30% loss in her left ear.  Her bone conduction is perfect.  If you were to put your index fingers in your ears, I am sure that is how she is hearing.  Sort of muffled and under water-ish.  No wonder we have had some not-so-fun moments, that have challenged all of us to the core of our threshold.

Next day appointment was made with the ENT, no ear infections.  Since no illness, ear infections, and relatively new complaints, he is not keen on putting tubes in yet.  Some bacteria could be present in that fluid, but not enough to cause an obvious infection.  Norah is on an antibiotic for 10 days and a nasal spray for a month, to help loosen up the fluid to re-establish the pressure equalizing function of those eustachian tubes.

I am so hoping and praying to hear Norah complain of hearing snaps, crackles, and pops.  Then I'll know that her ears are working.  In a month, if there is no change, discussion about tubes will be had with the ENT.

While we are in the dead of winter, spring is not far away and summer will arrive.  This little one needs to jump in the deep end and spend more time under water than above the surface.  I don't want tubes, that require plugs and extra special care when the head is dunked underwater.  Come on ears, bring on the snap, crackle, and pop!

(Don't worry, her curls have not disappeared.  Winter hats, dry air, and bed-head are not kind to her curls.)

Quick Project

On this snow, cold day of no school, I whipped out a quick little project.  Inspiration came from a quick tutorial I saw somewhere on how to make your own fashion scarf.

So, when I was at Jo Ann's with Norah picking up her school Valentine's materials, I browsed the remnant bin,  with the successful find of a $4.00 scrap of "silky" material.

Then, today, I roughly squared up the fabric.  (My rotary cutter blade is duller than dull.)

Sewed it wrong sides together, lengthwise.

Pulled one end up to the other end.  Sewed it together, leaving an opening for turning.

Turned it right side out.

Sewed the opening closed.

Voila, a colorful fashion scarf.

It is long enough to twist around a second time.

Perfect to keep a bit warmer on a very bitter cold day like today.

I am always amazed at how a scarf can warm so much.

A very quick and easy project (perfect for gifting)!

Puddles

Frozen ground + melting of lots of snow + a good amount of rain = water in our basement

IN JANUARY!!!!

A Cold Day

Last spring, my school district did not close in time for inches of rain and flooding, while every school district around did close.   Today, my school district announced the closing of school for tomorrow, for the cold.  Reasons and final decisions for closing are always mysterious and  unpredictable.  We have not yet been back to school since winter break started.  Simon was sick the last two days from before break, so he has not been in school since December 19, 2013.  Both Simon and Norah cried, when told they had no school tomorrow.  Norah misses her Mrs. Rahschulte and Simon cannot remember what Mrs. Meyer looks like.  He missed his class party, Fun Friday, and delayed giving his teacher her Christmas gift.  I'm glad they love school and have wonderful teachers!

Don't worry, Norah hasn't forgotten how to read - she has actually improved.  And Simon continues to balk just the same at writing tasks (it's like pulling teeth) and  reading certain types of literature (he prefers factual non-fiction and resists novels) and lengths of books (does not yet appreciate the use of a bookmark for 100+ paged books).  Of course he has the ability, and reads novels over 100 pages while at school.

We enjoyed the inches of snow that resemble a MN landscape and we played in it yesterday afternoon. We went tubing at a forest preserve.  We climbed uphill to tube down the 800 foot hill, named Mt. Hoy!  At $5.00 per tube, a grand ride was had by all.  We then sledded down another hill on the grounds.

It felt good, to me,  to be outside this morning cleaning off of the cars, while Eric snow-blowed our corner lot.  We have a 1-car garage and it was/is still set-up from the last project preventing a car to shelter during inclement weather.  The kids L.O.V.E.D. playing in the snow, until mittens and boots were filled with the white stuff to the chilling point.

Since tomorrow will be quite chilly and we have nowhere to go, it is a great day to wash all outside winter gear.  I started with the accessories today; since we have multiple sets of hats, scarves and mittens.  I try not to complain about snow or cold so  my children will not complain about the snow or the cold.

Who knows, they may even ask to go sledding tomorrow.  I will deem it too cold for that, I am realistic after all.