About books then, or not

I didn't end up getting the camera going today either, though I have a lovely excuse in that Eldest Kidlet had to come home from school at 10:00 since she felt sick. Of course that wouldn't have stopped me except that I had the brilliant idea of getting a copy of a picture of Middlest Kidlet and her daddy for her poster, which on second thought meant I had even less reason to wait until she got home to get my photos.

Son finally decided he did want his hair cut so I took Kidlet's picture with us and scanned it at Walgreens. Since it was going to be a while before it was ready I decided to come home and make dinner before returning to get it. Son reminded me right after dinner just like I asked him to but I wanted to finish something I was working on. I'm sure the result is obvious. I remembered at 9:45 that I needed to get the picture since Kidlet needs it tomorrow. This will work out okay, I think, since now they won't have to walk to school. I'll take them, get the picture, and bring it to her before she needs it.

And how all of that explains my not getting pictures I have no idea.

I'm going to add some yarn pictures for color, and so my mom can see what else I've been working on. I wish that Blogger would let me put pictures at the bottom as well since their position is going to seem pretty random in relation to the post. Although, given that just over two weeks ago I'd never added a picture I probably shouldn't be complaining.

Hi world

Well I didn't get the camera out today, which turns out to be a good thing since I need to get a picture of Middlest Kidlet for her student of the week poster. That being the case, I thought I'd take this opportunity to do an introduction post since it turns out I never did.

My name is Naomi and my family, after the death of my husband last summer from cancer, is Eldest Kidlet, Son, Middlest Kidlet, Littlest Kidlet, Patches the Guinea Pig, and Eevie the cat. When it's all listed out that way it seems like a pretty full house but I'm actually thankful for the kids as they help me keep going without my high school sweetheart and greatest cheerleader. They're also very helpful around the house and such, sometimes even voluntarily.

I'm an avid needleworker (having started when I was about seven), reader, and watcher of TV(particularly anime and mysteries). I am an anything but avid housekeeper, and anyone reading this can tell that my grasp of correct punctuation and grammar leaves a lot to be desired( although the increased time I'm spending blogging is definitely improving my spelling). If it helps any, John said the flow of my written sentences is almost exactly how I actually speak, so a reader is getting my true voice at least.

The name of the blog comes from the fact that I had looked into blogging from the Town Hall site and one of their questions was, "what is your nickname?". I don't really have an official nickname but John called me "Princess", and "Kitten", and the kids were young enough to call me "Mommy" so I ran them all together and decided it was cute, which is important to me for whatever reason.

I'm never quite sure where to draw the line, in terms of net anonymity, but this seems like a reasonable picture of myself without spilling too many beans. Hopefully there will be pictures up tomorrow, or I could actually post about the books I've been reading instead of just writing about them in my head.

Added critter photos taken by Son last week and Blogger won't let me do a paragraph break to say so.

-Yes- I remember!

Said in the tone of an adolescent asked about a task they haven't done. In this case the vest for Peggy that I mentioned as my next big project and then promptly went on to do scarves and tidies and any number of other things that weren't at all vest related. It turns out that there's nothing like a technically fairly simple, I very rarely do anything truly simple, but physically more challenging basketweave stitch purse to make a technically challenging but quick to work up new design a lot more attractive. Now the purse is probably about 1/5 done and the vest about 1/4 so I guess it's working out pretty well.

I'll add pictures when I do one of my camera blitzes. The blitzes are necessary because brand new batteries only have about a 4 hour life-span in the camera I actually know how to use. With that being the case, I have to get pictures of everything I think I'll need pictures of anytime soon, upload them both to this computer and Flickr, and get the batteries out again in the hopes that I'll get four to six uses from them. I need to get a picture of the latest thank you scarf, called "Thank-you again" tomorrow so it can go to the recipient so I should have a bunch of pictures to add then.

Here it is

The sad thing is I don't know why I couldn't get to the picture to start with. The computer shop wasn't able to find anything wrong internally, and had no trouble getting a connection there so they just updated the drivers. Because most of what they did was pretty automated they only charged me half their usual minimum fee which I definitely appreciate. When I got the computer home I plugged it in and it picked up the internet right away. So I pretty much paid $25.00 to get myself out the door yesterday, which meant that I dropped off a forgotten lunch, worked out, got gas, and went shopping none of which I had particularly planned on doing. I also found out that the computer is virus free, which is a bit of a relief since I had gotten a bad script from a site last week. It's good to know that I was successful in removing it completely not just cosmetically.

The best things about Missouri

Now that I've been in Missouri about a year and a half I find that my opinion about the best things here is pretty much unchanged from when we first moved to the area.

One of the very best things about the town we came to is the wonderful lady in the picture. This is Mary Cooper and she is a charter member of the church that I've come to call our Missouri family. Her intense love of the Lord has made her so lively and sweet, even after facing some pretty tragic circumstances, that I can't help but have my day brightened whenever I'm around her.

Mary's a pretty tough act to follow but I think my next favorite thing about Missouri is all the birds. I'd have to admit that there's a bit of a down-side to this as seeing the telephone wires and ground covered in an avian swarm does give me a bit of a "The Birds" feeling , and I've never even watched the movie. Other than that though, a strategically placed hummingbird feeder in the summer and songbird feeder the rest of the year is a casual bird-watcher's dream. In Colorado bluebirds were a once-every-couple-of-years treat while here they're quite common. Cardinals are unheard of there but can be seen, or at least their car-alarm calls heard, all year around. I even saw an oriole last summer, and the humming birds would have what Son likes to call "wing-to-wing combat" over our balcony. I have really enjoyed seeing an unfamiliar bird at the feeder, guessing what it is, and then checking my guess in our bird-book. When I'm right I get a nice glow every time I see another of the same type and if I'm wrong I've learned a new bird. It's definitely a win-win situation.

The last thing I particularly like about this area is the many varieties of plants and flowering trees that are new to me. Of course there's also poison ivy/oak/sumac, which aren't a problem on the front range, but since I'm not the one who wandered into it I consider it to be a fair trade for the trees that bloom all summer long. There are also many wildflowers , and even a few herbs, that aren't found in Colorado and I like finding these as much as seeing a new type of bird. It is a little frustrating that I still haven't found someone in the area who can tell me what a lot of the plants are. I don't know if I just haven't asked the right person yet or if I'm just unusual in wanting to know about them.

Mah computer's sick!

Or maybe it's a cable. Anyway, it's not talking to the internet right now and had to go to the shop since I wouldn't even know where to start on fixing it. That means I'm writing this on the kids' computer and can't get the picture of my latest finished project from Flickr to Blogger. It's a knitted lace scarf of handspun wool/silk fiber in a couple shades of green. I made it as a "thank-you" for the mother of a classmate of Littlest Kidlet who has been bringing the elementary kids home when it was so cold. This was particularly kind since it involves going a little out of her way each time and I wanted to give her something nice to show my appreciation.

Aaand they're off

In the mail that is. Mom's gift, Peggy's gift, Judy's gift, and the other copy of my will and trust documents that are going to my sister and her husband so that some adult knows what to do if something happens to me. Oh, and the thank-you cards did go in the packages as well since that way I didn't have to pay for the seperate stamps. In case anyone's forgotten what the presents look like, and because I'm trying to raise internet awareness of my projects, here's a repeat of the pictures. No pictures of the documents though, that would be boring.