Not Inadequate

• The plastic tip of a shoelace is called an aglet.

You’re welcome.

Now I can rest easy, knowing a whole sick-day in front of Phineas & Ferb was not wasted.

• A couple weeks ago, my daughter announced out of the clear blue sky that she wanted a motorcycle. I asked “What do you need a motorcycle for?” And she said, “So I can go FAST!”

Um… How about NO.

• The other day when Big brought over some new Lego thing to show me, I couldn’t help but exclaim “what on earth is that nasty boy-gunk under your fingernail?” Without missing a beat, he goes, “oh, just something I’m saving.”

• If you are ever in the Denver area, The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is a fun place to visit. The dinosaur area is great and very kid friendly. We saw a special T-Rex Encounter with cool animatronic dinosaurs and facts about the T-Rex called Sue. They have a Discovery Health section, with lots of interactive things to do – monitor your heart rate, measure your stride, see the blood vessels in your hand, etc. There’s an IMAX, a planetarium, and various parent/child workshops. Plus, the DMNS is part of a reciprocal program that allows you entry or discounts to more than 290 science museums worldwide. Your local museum membership card might get you in for free.

(that’s not meant to be a commercial, we just love that museum and went last week with my sister. besides, this whole adventure is about experiencing and learning, so I’ll probably be talking about the stuff we do while we travel. I shall try not to be terribly obnoxious about it, but let’s not get our hopes up on that front)

For the three people out there who are filled with burning curiosity about how our travels are going thus far (I don’t know… does three sound like an exaggeration? Probably it’s more like one and a half), here’s an update:

• I really thought we weren’t going to make it out of the house. It was an unbelievable amount of work to pare down what we are bringing with us AND what we will be coming home to. We initially planned on renting a 10×10 storage space for our stuff, but toward the end, I ran out of decision-making energy and we had to get another unit for the “we have to be out in two days! chuck it in a box and it can be Future Deb’s problem!” stuff. (Future Deb better eat her Wheaties, that’s all I can say about that.)

Plus, the kids got colds right in the middle of the whole thing, which added to the awesome. Grouchy Mom has taken every available opportunity to say things like, “maybe now you’ll listen to me when I tell you to stop touching everything in WalMart then sticking your finger up your nose.” The nose! Gah!

But we made it. There was about 24 hours where Jim thought my computer wasn’t going to fit and I filled the time plotting his demise. No computer! Why would he even SAY that to me? It’s like it was his first day here or something.

Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

• We are now staying in a VRBO in Boulder, Colorado for the next couple of weeks while Jim goes to some computer-geek-training thingamajig. The plan is to be in Oregon by Thanksgiving.

Oregon! At Thanksgiving!

• I’m going to meet my sister tomorrow to tell her about this crazypants idea (yep. no one in my family knows about this yet. So that should be…interesting). Wish me luck.

It looks like a lot of room before you fill it with Legos…

Big giving instructions -

Jim! apparently feels his stuff deserves a little extra! emphasis! -

Goodbye House! Hello Adventure!

I know the picture quality sucks – I am working on a Vastly Inferior mini-computer. My beloved Monster Computer won’t be unpacked for a couple more weeks.

I found out today that I have actually been nominated for a couple of Homeschool Blog Awards!

I am nominated for Funniest Homeschool Blog category and Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog. Just being in those categories is such a compliment. They are exactly what I hope my blog is.

I am completely blown away by this! I don’t know who nominated me, but THANKS! It’s very exciting! The thought that someone would take time out of their day to nominate me for an award is a huge honor.

Not only that, but it’s given me a lot of new ammo when I need to cajole my hubby into helping with my computer – “Sweetie, I need you to fix this. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m kind of a big deal now.”

I am not particularly concerned about winning (not so unconcerned I neglected to vote for myself, mind you), but if you feel like voting for me, head on over.

And thanks so much to whoever nominated me! Let me know who you are, and I’ll get your check in the mail right away.

When I was packing Big’s Special Drawer (aka the drawer I established to limit the amount of “special” crap stuff he was allowed to hoard), I found this:

Big’s First Knitting -

Truly, there are no words for how much I love this. I love my son.

I love Fall. It makes me want to knit.

My friend Applie has been doing a lot of knitting at her house, and recently emailed me a few questions about a scarf she is planning. I had a hard time explaining the steps on paper, so I found this great video at Mason-Dixon Knitting that will help.

If anyone out there is even considering learning to knit, this tutorial is quite helpful. It’s like if I was THERE with you, IN PERSON, showing you what to do -

Remember: Yarn can’t feel pain.