So, we are going to see the house still. Today. We figure – what the hell, you never know. The price is right and, right now, that’s a big deal. Fortunately it’s humid and rainy outside. So, we’ll smell all there is to smell and that will be that. Maybe I can Kinnear the house? The dog? The piles of poop? Stay tuned…you all know how crazy I am.

In the meantime feast your eyes on one of my crazy family members.

My Father-In-Law

You see my in-laws hold this football pool every year. Every week we go through the match ups and pick the winner. You get one point for each you get right. Pop won last year. This was also the year that my sister-in-law committed to obtaining a trophy for the winner. Upon finding out he was the winner last year Pop insisted that she buy the biggest trophy she could find. Look how proud he is! He emailed this picture to us all with the note,

HI ALL, I’VE GOT IT !!! I NOW HAVE THE “SOPHY TROPHY” FOR WINNING THE FAMILY COMPETITION LAST YEAR. IT WILL BE PASSED EACH YEAR TO THE NEW CHAMPION AND AN ENGRAVED PLATE FOR THAT YEAR WILL BE PLACED ON THE FRONT AND THE OLD PLATE MOUNTED ON THE SIDE. PICTURE ATTACHED WAS TAKEN AT THE ANNUAL PRESENTATION DINNER RECENTLY.

The trophy has been dubbed the “Sophy Trophy” after Sophia who was born just before Superbowl 2007. I love it! So much so that I’m not going to blink and eye when I win and steal that trophy out of that man’s hands. Sweet daughter-in-law pshaw…this is competition and I will win screw. Southern Hospitality.
Speaking of Southern, this is how my Brother-in-law responded to Pop’s email,

That is way yonder too cool…and a great trophy.

This family speaks like true Southerns (which they are), it’s so fun! The sayings I hear! Whew…the crack me up for days.

Hmmm, now that I think of it, we are headed down to visit him in December…I wonder if it would fit in my suitcase?

Our Realtor: “I have clients that would like to see your property.”

Selling Realtor: “They want to see it?”

Our Realtor: “Yes, that’s the idea.”

Selling Realtor: “Ohhh, it’s going to be a few days. The person living there right now has a Great Dane that isn’t house broken. We’ll have to get it ready to show.”

Our Realtor: “Okay, let us know when you are ready.”

Note to self: House on Market. Not ready to show because of dog excrement. They told us this?! Great Dane’s have big poops.
PS: Don’t ever hire the selling Realtor.

A few weeks ago Rob and I had the distinct pleasure of spending a weekend with Kellee, Rick and Baby B. It was Baby B’s official first road trip and his first time in New York State. To say that he kicked ass would be an understatement. To say that Kellee and Rick kicked 70 kinds of ass would be even more of a drastic understatement. They drove in to ROC on a Friday evening and left Sunday afternoon. They stayed at my parent’s house. “Hey guys wanna come over my parent’s house? It’ll be super cool nerdy fun.” All to see little ol’ us and to head to the first fiber festival of the season – The Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, New York.

Kellee celebrated a birthday the day before they arrived. So, we got to eat cake. And really, can it ever be a bad weekend if you get to eat cake? I didn’t think so.

Here is Baby B contemplating his trip to our home.

The festival, it was great, the weather was shit.ty.it.ty.bang bang. We’re not talking New Hampshire Sheep and Wool 2006 here…but it was a close second. Mostly because it’s just not the kind of weather you want your 7 month old in and a newborn in. However, rest assured. We discovered the cause of the whole weather problem and the solution is easy. Rob. Rob is the cause.

His first festival was New Hampshire Sheep and Wool 2006. Weather: Shitty (Officially dubbed it the Wet Wool Festival)

He stayed home for New Hampshire Sheep and Wool 2007. Weather: Perfection

His second festival was the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival (Saturday only). Weather: Shitty

He stayed home for the second day of the festival (Sunday). Weather: Perfection

Don’t worry, Kellee grounded him. He will be in town for Rhinebeck…but he’s not allowed to step foot on the fairgrounds. The weather should be fine.

I walked out of the festival with some roving to play with and a stomach filled with the absolute best fried dough I have ever had. Luckily this dough was of such quality that it virtually erased my experience with the “Taco and Dessert-o” trailer on the festival grounds. Note to self – “dessert-o” translates into “pick up the clue phone and don’t buy food from these people”.

I missed the class I had registered for on Saturday. We tried really really hard to get out of the door with both infants and two slow hubbers…but it took hours. Sophia was hungry then Baby B was hungry. Then Sophia was hungry then Baby B was hungry. Sophia pooped her pants. Baby B pooped his pants. Oh lord help us all.

However, missing the class ended up being a blessing. I was able to make it up on Sunday (Kellee and I went sans husbands and babies) and had a PRIVATE SPINNING LESSON. It was so. fun. And no, the bug really hasn’t bitten but I must say it was a blast….I learned all kinds of cool things…and the teacher put the Spinnerati to shame with her hard sell on the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild. “You don’t even need to spin! We would love to have you at the meetings.” (Those of you familiar with the Spinnerati’s tactics will know that this really means, “You don’t even have to DRINK the Kool-Aid. You can just watch it being poured into your mouth.”)

Hmmm, I think that’s all I have to report on that front.

Pictures!
World’s Largest Sock? Or A Sock on the Way to Becoming the World’s Largest Sock?

Regular season football started about 2 weeks ago. This year will be a bit different than year’s past. We will not have NFL Sunday Ticket and Rob will be without his Football buddy (and secret boyfriend) Alan. For those who understand the implications of such a statement, a moment of silence.

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This is not such a big deal for me. I like football, it’s fun to watch but I am not CRAZY about it like my husband. A character trait of his that I do not mind so much, mostly because it is so out of character. Those that know him are always surprised to hear how crazy he is about the season. As far as being without our friend Alan (he lives in Boston), well, that makes me very very sad.

This past Christmas I knit up some Browns socks for Robby.

And for Sophia.

Thing is, I guessed at the team colors and ordered via an online vendor. They aren’t a perfect match. For future project, I figured I would try to call a LYS in Cleveland to see if they knew the appropriate colors. Marne to the rescue. She actually figured out the Pantone Colors for the Browns Team Colors and then called Cascade to see what corresponding colorways in Cascade 220 Superwash matched. According to her they were incredibly helpful and nice. The results? 819 – brown, 875 – champagne, 822 – orange, 871 – white.

Now we know.

We took Sophia to her first Browns Game viewing a few weeks ago. They lost miserably (unlike this past week where they kicked butt). She was all about the team pride though.

Here she is cheering on with her Dad.

My flickr and wordpress seem to be playing nicely. This gives me an opportunity to post some pics of our trip to Cleveland.

Adam and Sophia

Adam was one of my closest, and only, friends while I lived in Georgia. It is so important to me that he is happy, and he clearly is.



This is one of my college roommates and longtime friend Marne – who is a stinking good baby watcher. S loved her at first sight.

And here are the kids. C, Sophia and N. Mr. N is only a few months older than Sophia and just about twice as big. This was one of the few times that Sophia has been around other short people. I think she had a great time.

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Let’s talk hand knits of the weekend.

Handknit #1 – Sophia wore her christening dress to the party. The dets can be seen on this post here or if you’re on the Ravelry here.

Handknit #2 – The picture at the top of the post was taken at Brunch on Sunday. Sophia is wearing a little bolero modified from the pattern in One Skein. I had some yarn left over from another project and it ran out about halfway down the arms. I thought this might happen so I was knitting both arms at the same time. I had to go out and buy a contrasting yarn to finish the project, hence the purple trim.

My Brother-in-law is a fire chief. This week there was a major fire in his town. I scooped this picture off of the local paper’s website.

Heart of Gold.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Via Ravelry