Cheeky Faith

Aaah, bikes...

2009-06-22T13:08:00.001-07:00

Olympics (not the knitting kind)

2006-08-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hey. Cool thing today. Sweetie and I went to the Eagan public library (wow I've been spoiled by the Mountain View library!) and ended up meeting a female hockey player Olympic bronze and silver medalist. Don't remember her name (isn't that just like me?), but she was there to read books to kids. Then she let all the kids hold her medals (and me, with a lil'un, got to hold them too).

Probably the most entertaining part was me, in line with Sweetie, trying to explain to her what hockey is, what the Olympics are, and why it's so cool to see the medals. She could tell it must be a big deal because almost every other kid there had their picture taken with the lady and her medals.

Sweetie also got a run down on standing-in-line ettiquette, since she's never really done that before. One of the other moms heard me and commented that it was probably a good idea to coach kids on how to stand in line politely, and that some adults could stand to learn that too.

Reflecting on that mother's comments, even though they sound somewhat unfriendly towards other people, I think she was the first parent who has spoken to me in a friendly way since I got here. Excluding family, of course. But seriously, I've been in several situations when, in CA, it would be normal for the parents of young children to compare notes, or even smile at each other in a friendly manner, but here I get nothing. I was standing in line at Ikea to sign Sweetie up to go into Smallville (the child-care thingy) for more than 15 minutes, and I couldn't get more than one of the other 5 parents to even look me in the eye, and the one who would frowned every time. She would not crack a smile, no matter how much I tried to exude happy friendliness.

But I haven't been to La Leche League yet. I should do that. I'm told that I'll have an easier time making friends in that group, since I'm already "one of them".

On other fronts, I baked a chocolate cheesecake for a cousin's baby shower today. I can definitely increase the chocolatiness next time, but we'll see how this one is. It's supposed to be fabulous after sitting for 48 hours (in the fridge). I also make Norwegian Rice Waffles, and even Skatude had a second helping. That's pretty good, since he never eats more than one helping. They were floppier than usual, but I think that's because my MIL turned her brown rice into something more like mush than rice. That's all good, though, because waffles are yummy.

So that's the news from the edge of the lake. I really should find out what it's called.
:)
Anabel

Hail from Minnesota

2006-08-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we're here. And we're settling in.

For those who may have missed the ongoing saga of Anabel's life, Sweetie and I just moved to Minnesota two weeks ago. Eric's little sister (think teenager) is pregnant (hereby known as Maternalgirl, or Magirl for short), so we've moved in with her (and her mother, my mother-in-law, Joyce) (oh, and with my brother-in-law, too. We'll call him Skaterdude, or Skatude for short). The house is nice, the cats are entertaining, and the weather has been Ok.

Eric just left the other night. He was here for 9 days, for a whirlwind tour of family and a wedding. We saw (and Sweetie met) all but three of his relatives, and a bunch of his friends from high school. He also came in and helped with family dynamics and got me settled more into the ways of his mother's house. I think he might be kinda glad that it's me staying and not him, but then, Joyce doesn't push my buttons like she pushes his. And vice versa, of course, which makes it totally entertaining to see them together. For me. Probably not for anyone else.

Last night was the first night that Magirl spent in our new shared bedroom. Sweetie and I have one side of the room, and Magirl (and eventually LittleOne) wil have the other side. It seemed to go rather well, and she didn't complain at all about Sweetie's wakefullness (it was too hot for her to sleep) nor my snoring (which I've heard from both Eric and Sweetie that I do).

Today we went to "the farm". I am now all signed up as a legal shareholder in the farm, so now I am legally allowed to buy raw milk from them. Our farm is an organic farm in Wisconsin, and it's pretty cool. We got a tour of the farm, led by two of the farmers (4yo and 7yo girls) who showed us the horses (Sweetie got to pick apples off a tree and take them over to feed the horses!!!), the cows, the wandering chickens and ducks, the baby goat and the baby rabbit. All were appropriately cute. It was rather eye opening to look over and see calves in little stalls, to ask about them, and to be told by a 7yo that "it's so they don't move too much". We didn't have time to get a closer look, though. The other eye opening moment was when the girls started telling us about how, if one more cat came into the house, their dad would kill it. He didn't want any more cats in the house. Whoa! City life is not country life. We were eating lunch in their front yard while they were telling us that. The older girl looked at our lunch of 6 pb&j sandwiches, two quarts of chopped up watermellon, chips, nuts, and water (for three adults and a toddler) and said, "what're you eating? A snack?" When we said that it was lunch she said "my dad eats five sandwiches when we go for a picnic." I think maybe country lunches are larger than city lunches.

That's the news from Lake Wobegon.
Although I believe that that isn't a real lake.
There's a pond in our backyard. It looks like a lake to me. It has lilypads and herons. And ducks. Doesn't that make it big enough to be a lake?

:)
Anabel

2006-07-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Remember Christmas?

2006-06-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here is my gardening fairy, Sweetie, standing behind her bean plant. Actually, she's dressed up as "Buzz Lightyear".

2006-06-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

This is Sweetie's bean plant. If you look in the middle, you can almost see the new growth that might turn into beans!

2006-06-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is our peach tree, keeping company with our other five tomato plants (who need homes) and our chive plant.

2006-06-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Tomato Row: We have four tomato plants who look awesome! We started them from seed in March, and I'm totally excited about how well they've grown.

2006-05-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Sweetie's pot: contains the bean plant from her class at the library and three tiny strawberry plants. All four of her bean plants actually grew, but, entertainingly, one of them took a week longer than the other three because it started growing upside-down... the roots were sticking up out of the soil! But the plant just kept growing around and eventually came up the normal way. After that, we transplanted it into this pot, and I covered all the roots. In this picture you can also see the sticks that we're using as support for the beans... they're bush beans, so they don't need a trellis, but the sticks are helpful.

2006-05-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

Sweetie and I have been making pizzas lately... here she is, grating the cheese with her Zlyss.

Language of Sleep

2006-04-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Cliffhanger Pose

Cliffhanger Traits and Tendencies
On the surface, the Cliffhanger might seem like an angry pose, the aftermath of a heated argument or years of misunderstanding. Really the pose is an elegant expression of two people in sublime agreement about the supremacy of personal comfort. Both parties believe that when it comes to getting a good night's sleep, the sides of the bed are its most prime real estate, and both are practical enough to recognize that the only way for everyone to get the best of the bed is to split up.

Comfort Zone
The Cliffhanger is a Sea Sleeper pose. Other Sea poses a Cliffhanger might try include The Bubble Blower and Sixth Posture of the Perfumed Forest.

Point of Interest
The Cliffhanger pose is the ideal arrangement for couples sharing the bed with an infant or injured animal, with the safety frame of soft humanity that they create together providing a natural "crib bumper."

Find your own pose!

2006-04-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

Sweetie is helping me make Molasses cookies. Yum!

I am a geek.

2006-04-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

21.69625%

2006-03-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Isn't she faaaabulous!

2006-03-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

We had a whole lot of rain last week, and Sweetie totally enjoyed the puddles afterwards. Take a look at this action shot!

If I only got paid for my work...

2006-03-10T02:18:00.000-08:00

I took the survey on MOTHERS (Mothers Ought To Have Equal Rights) about how much my work at home is worth. Totally entertaining! I can see that as I have more kids, and especially as the kids get older, my work would be worth more and more.

----------------------
THAT'S WHAT I AM WORTH!

Your weekly hours worked as an unpaid family caregiver: 230
Your "net worth" as an unpaid family caregiver: $1940.3/week

Average weekly hours worked as an unpaid family caregiver (all respondents): 209.4
Average "net worth" as an unpaid family caregiver (all respondents): $2,670.32/week
Number of respondents 4889
------------------------

If you multiply that out, it comes to $100,895.60 per year. Woo-hoo!

I was feeling rather excited about the MOTHERS website until I looked around in the forums. Most of the activity seemed to be in 2003, and the moderators aren't doing their jobs; some casino has replied to a lot of the messages and no one has removed them.

Oh, well. It must be hard to motivate us'ns to be active politically.

Enneagram

2006-03-10T01:26:00.000-08:00

I saw on Abigail's blog that she's a six. So I thought I'd take the test too. I used to test out to be a four, but lately I've tested out to be a nine. Strange thing is, it's not supposed to change. Let's see what this test thinks I am:

the Peacemaker

your Enneagram type is NINE.

"I am at peace"

Peacemakers are receptive, good-natured, and supportive. They seek union with others and the world around them.

How to Get Along with Me

If you want me to do something, how you ask is important. I especially don't like expectations or pressure.
I like to listen and to be of service, but don't take advantage of this.
Listen until I finish speaking, even though I meander a bit.
Give me time to finish things and make decisions. It's OK to nudge me gently and nonjudgmentally.
Ask me questions to help me get clear.
Tell me when you like how I look. I'm not averse to flattery.
Hug me, show physical affection. It opens me up to my feelings.
I like a good discussion but not a confrontation.
Let me know you like what I've done or said.
Laugh with me and share in my enjoyment of life.

What I Like About Being a Nine

being nonjudgmental and accepting
caring for and being concerned about others
being able to relax and have a good time
knowing that most people enjoy my company; I'm easy to be around
my ability to see many different sides of an issue and to be a good mediator and facilitator
my heightened awareness of sensations, aesthetics, and the here and now
being able to go with the flow and feel one with the universe

What's Hard About Being a Nine

being judged and misunderstood for being placid and/or indecisive
being critical of myself for lacking initiative and discipline
being too sensitive to criticism; taking every raised eyebrow and twitch of the mouth personally
being confused about what I really want
caring too much about what others will think of me
not being listened to or taken seriously

Nines as Children Often

feel ignored and that their wants, opinions, and feelings are unimportant
tune out a lot, especially when others argue
are "good" children: deny anger or keep it to themselves

Nines as Parents

are supportive, kind, and warm
are sometimes overly permissive or nondirective

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

If you liked my test, send it to your friends!

The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test

Computer woes

2006-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks. Just as I'm starting to get into being online more often, and I have more time to be online (thanks to Sweetie's new sleeping schedule), our computer is having fits. Nothing really serious, thank goodness, but we seem to be having a string of peripheral problems.

So now I'm at Eric's school, trying madly to catch up with blogs and emails, knowing full well that I could be knitting.

It's Superbowl Sunday and I'm having a day "off". Eric and Sweetie have sent me out, into the world, with my knitting and the car to have a glorious day out. I have no idea what to do with myself. I think I'm off to Hollis' store next (despite my misgivings) to see if I can find Cookie and Kristi. I also may find myself at Commuknity, which would be my preference. Maybe I'll do both! I can't imagine Hollis' store will be anything other than a small space with far too many people. But hey! It seems to be people I'm looking for.

Bloggity blog blog

2006-01-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I find the creation of blogs addictive. But I do. When I'm into blogging, I usually create another blog or two. Sure, last night I deleted an old blog, but today I created two more.

One is mostly for family. This past Christmas, I felt that I had a hard time sharing my wish list with people who wanted it. So many of the things that I would like to have are not on Amazon, and they're not always available through Froogle. In addition, some of the things that Sweetie has on her wishlist aren't on Amazon. So now I've created FitzWish, which will allow me to have in a clear location the links to everyone's wishlist and other interesting information for gift-givers.

The other blog is a knitting blog. I keep wanting a place to see what all I've accomplished and what projects I have to look forward to, and this is how I decided to do it. It's at Knitabel, and I'm feeling better about it already.

Updates about Sweetie will mostly happen here at CheekyFaith, unless I start really acting on the original idea behind CheekyFaith in the first place.

TaTa for now!
Anabel

An old post, from April 2004

2006-01-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

I was sorting through my different blogs (yes, odd as it seems, I have several that I never keep up) and found this lone post in a blog that I'm about to delete. I'd hate to lose this entry, though, so here it is for our enjoyment.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, April 3, 2004:

aaah, a new journal page. ain't it pretty?

i thought i'd try this method of thinking things out. i've really enjoyed reading other people's livejournaly thingies, but I hadn't really thought about doing it myself until today. But I think a lot and I websurf a lot and it would be interesting to create a little mini-journal of what I'm looking at.

Today it seems to be about nursing in Indian style clothes. I really really like saris, but I totally don't have the nerve to wear one yet (or even buy one!) because can you imagine a six-foot tall large blonde woman looking at all *normal* in a sari? It's really a humourous concept. But i've been wandering around eshakti lately, and it's a pretty fabulous deal. Just think... you pay a reasonably small amount (like $30ish) and they give you custom tailored pants, a shirt/dress thing, and a scarf. You pick the design! I really don't get why I'm still shopping at regular american stores where I don't really fit the clothes or the style.

But I'm still breastfeeding. Happily and contentedly and I hope it lasts for a while. Sophia doesn't seem to mind, and neither does Eric. So I'm breastfeeding. But you can't just hike up a salwar kameez and start nursing a child anywhere other than at home. Even if you have matiching pants and a scarf. So I emailed eshakti and asked if they have any suggestions. I can just imagine someone'll open that email and think the Indian equivalent of "whoah-- she's gringo!" But hopefully they'll say "oh, yeah, that happens all the time. we just didn't think anyone in the US would be interested. here are the nursing opening choices" and I'll be the happiest mama around.

In searching around this morning, here's what I found:
Alhanna seems to be for muslim women, and this outfit was a suggestion for "nursing sisters"
Tracey Report at berkely had a reference to women in salwar suits and saris breastfeeding at a meeting of women. Definitely interesting, as was the rest of it.
Jitterbug which is how I got into this blogging thing today... she talked about breastfeeding, and she talked about getting salwar suits for her birthday. All and all she sounds like an interesting lady to me... just as white as I am but not letting that restrain her clothing choices. I've been too restrained of late. But hopefully that'll change.

I need to watch "Under the Tuscan Sun" again. That really freed me the other month. It was an amazing breath of fresh air in my life that had gotten rather putrid and otherwise stale. I want to let go and enjoy life a little more. I totally enjoy my daughter, and I love my husband, but sometimes I forget that I need to love my life and my environment and the people that I work with/for and God and all those great things that make life worth bothering with.

I'm a little stressed about work. You know how you can work and work and work and work and work and feel pretty good about where you are, then take couple days off, and come back and it seems like you're behind on everything and there's absolutely no way you could ever finish everything on time that you need to and everyone is counting on you and waiting for you to do things but you really just can't work any faster and they sometimes ask "so what is it you do during the day?" It's tiring and it makes me want to just stop working. I really do enjoy my job, but it's truly overwhelming almost all the time. Even when I don't have Sophia with me. Here it is, my day off, and I'm stressing out about Confirmation and Tahoe. Ick! I want a day off! Actually, it would help if I worked more than 2 days in a row, but that's not going to happen for at least another 9 weeks. No one ever mentions the whole point of a five day work week... it's so you can get up to speed on Monday, and actually get stuff done Tuesday through Thursday until you're too tired to keep going on Friday when you socialize with everyone and keep up good working relationships. Then the two days off are time *away*. But my schedule -- Sat=off, Sun=work, Mon=off, Tues=work, Wed=off, Thurs & Fri=work -- just is impossible to get the ball really moving. I have three Mondays a week! And only one Tuesday, but it's acutally a Friday which always seems like the end of a week because Saturday is off again, like normal human beings. But I get to work with my daughter, and I spend more time with my husband than any other full time worker excluding those who work with their husbands. It's a good deal in some ways. But it's still Saturday and I'm still stressing out about all the things I need to do at work!

That seems long enough.
Have a great day!

2006-01-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

After opening the tricycle, she just couldn't wait!

2006-01-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

We all tried on the aprons that Grandma Joyce made for us. The bottom right picture is sweetie trying on her new sling.

2006-01-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

The pile under the tree was lovely this year, to the delight of our resident child.

2006-01-11T19:44:00.001-08:00

Here is my sweetie with her Christmas stocking. I don't think it's so long when it's empty, but it sure looks as big as she is in this picture.

2006-01-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

Here she is in the actual performance (lower left-hand corner). Her role required her to enter the scene by crawling with the other animals down an aisle, saying her lines: "oink. oink. oink," which she did with quiet gusto. Then she sat at the nativity scene, and then crawled back to her excited and supportive parents.

2006-01-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

Here's sweetie as she prepares for the Christmas pagent rehearsal. She is very excited to play the pig in the Nativity.

2005-06-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

mid-June 2005: This weekend we held Sweetie's second birthday party. We had it at the park (ha ha! no games to organize!) and we feasted on fruit. There are so many kids with allergies and dietary restrictions these days, that I decided it was much simpler to serve something everyone could eat without reservation. Eric did a bang-up job, didn't he?

2005-06-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

mid-June 2005: One of the fun activities at Sweetie's party: bubble blowing! Holly had a great time blowing bubbles!

2005-06-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

June 2005: Here is a shot of the dress with the cardigan over it. I think it turned out great! The dress actually looks best from behind, but with the cardigan, it's all cute.

2005-06-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

June 2005: Two weeks after Jana's wedding, Sweetie's outfit is finally complete. Of course, she didn't actually wear the dress I knitted for the wedding TO the wedding, but we can enjoy seeing her in it anyway. She'll be wearing it for a while!

2005-06-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2005: These are the flowers Eric sent me for our 5 year wedding anniversary. Five Years! Aren't they beautiful?

2005-06-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

April 2005: I like this picture because her eye color shows better than in most... they're not quite green but not really brown either.

Sweetie at 22 months

2005-04-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Washing dishes at the sink has become a favorite pasttime. Sweetie is wonderful about insisting that we wash dishes as soon as we're done eating. She has a tall stool right at the kitchen sink, so she can actually reach in and wash when she feels so moved. Usually she doesn't. :)

April 22, 2005

2005-04-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

I love this picture, partly because it's of my sweetie, partly because she's in that fun dress, and partly because this shot immediately follows a temper tantrum (in her own unique style, of course), and she just got it into her head that she might be able to con me out of the camera.

April 20, 2005

Growing Vegetables

2005-04-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

I'm about to enter the great unknown -- growing vegetables on our back patio.

It's going to be rough going, I'm afraid, because the patio faces east and there's a building directly east. Happily, there's no building on the south side, so it gets some sun through the morning, at least in the summer.

So we have two long window-box style pots, and those currently have tiny lettuces in them. They've started to sprout, but not much else. We've also got two large pots. One has peas, cilantro, and spinach, while the other has beans, kohlrabi, and some random something-else that the seed place sent to us as a gift. I'm hoping to plant the sunflower seeds out in front. All the seeds came from a kid-friendly kit, so they should all be just fine growing in containers, and they should be entertaining to watch.

The peas (or are those the beans?) have started coming up already, which is totally fun. One of the other plants has started too, but since I didn't label anything, I don't know what anything is.

I also started some "Tumbling Tom Tomatoes" which are ideal for hanging baskets, apparently, so I bought a couple grow-bags that'll hang on our porch rather nicely. I needed to start the seeds first, though, so I got some Jiffy pellets to start the seeds in... and voila!

Tomato Babies!

Perhaps I'll update you as my plants grow. Especially the tomatoes, since the "grow bag" thing is slightly odd, and I think it'll be really cool.

Sweetie's newest dress

2005-04-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

"Dress Me Up" from Yarn Girls Guide to Kid Knits

I never thought I could knit so fast. This took less than a month, even for me, the queen of start-projects-but-never-finish-them.

Hopefully she'll grow into it by next month. She's supposed to wear it to Jana's wedding. I'm not so sure, because it's really pretty big. 2T is bigger in dresses than it seems to be in shirts or pants.

FYI this dress is made with Lion Brand Fun Fur, "Tropical" color, and Tahki Cotton Classic yarn. I haven't washed (or blocked) it yet, so I think it'll even out even more, and get far softer than it is right now.

Love ya!

The New Pope can see straight through your armor

2005-04-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Our New Pope

"I bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Ooh! Ouch! My eye! Some chrism landed in my eye!"

"Hey, who wants to play Goose the Pope?"

Reminds me of the Easter Vigil in Colorado Springs where they filled the baptismal font with extremely hot water, thinking that it would cool down by the time we got to the baptisms. Bishop Hanifen stepped into the tub, and immediately his whole balding head turned bright pink.

Incredible Popeman!

2005-04-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

borrowed from msnbc

I found this yesterday while reading the wild and wacky news through AOL.

"Like any self-respecting superhero, the Incredible Popeman has a battery of special equipment. Along with his yellow cape and green chastity pants, the muscular super-pontiff wields a faith staff with a cross on top and carries holy water and communion wine."

And they're going to come out with dolls! Gotta have one.

When I called the Pope "J2P2" (quoting my husband), I usually felt a little cheeky. But this! Woo-hoo!

So, the idea is that J2P2 lived a long and holy life, then died and became a superhero. Now, wouldn't you think that once you're dead, you wouldn't need chastity pants anymore? Especially if you lived for more than 80 years as a celibate? But, hey, green chastity pants would make all the difference. I mean, suddenly J2P2 is at risk for being hit on by the whole Communion of Saints! Watch out, Catherine of Siena always had a thing for popes, not to mention for foreskins (drunken theology question: will circumcised men be reunited with their foreskins in the end times?). And then there's Mother Theresa who's been waiting for him -- who knows? Maybe even an angel or two (remember, angels don't have gender, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be interested in a super-muscular pontiff).

Do you suppose one saga could be about when some dastardly villain spills the communion wine on his yellow cape? "Incredipope must save the day... Jesus has soaked into the fibers of his cape! Will he be able to rescue Jesus from the drycleaners? Stay tuned until next time..."

[tune of Happy Birthday] Welcome to me, welcome to me, I'm feeling cheeky, so welcome to me

2005-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

It has begun.

I am officially becoming irreverent. Faithful, but irreverent.

I imagine that it's always an entertaining thing to do -- begin a blog when no one is looking for it. What do you post that first time? Who are you writing to? Is anyone out there? Hello?

So I decided that I'm writing to myself for now, thus the welcoming of myself in my lengthy title.

And since I have not yet set up all of the preferences for this blog, I shall take myself off to do that now.