Where is winter?

It seems we are trapped in a perpetual autumn here.  My yard is as Miracle Max says in the Princess Bride "mostly dead" or "slightly alive".  Unfortunately, unlike Cary Elwes in that awesome movie, it is a very unattractive sight.  It has also been extremely muddy so it makes going outside a very messy prospect.  Our driveway is a mud pit since we didn't quite have the funds to get gravel trucked in before winter started.  We weren't planning on not having nice frozen ground to work with.  There is no feeling quite like going out to start the car (it's still cold enough for them to need warming up in the morning) and feeling your nice work shoes sinking in heel first.

My weekends have been filled, as always, with my desperate attempts to keep the wreckage of my house at bay.  These largely fail and I'm trying my best this year to not let it get to me.  I do, after all, have a two year old.  Still I somehow feel that if I can't keep my house clean I'm somehow failing.  I acknowledge this is absolutely ridiculous but there it is.  On Saturdays we go to toddler yoga which gets Maegwin some well needed exercise and also gives her a chance to see her friend, Emma.  It's during her normal nap time though so we've been trying to adjust to that.  Some weeks this means her nap is totally shot and she sacks out at 4 pm, completely exhausted, then sleeps until 6 and is unable to go to bed at a normal hour.

Since I last blogged, I've had a birthday.  We didn't really do anything except enjoy some lavish cupcakes from Whole Foods.

Maegwin had it all figured out that she would eat the turtle, I would eat the monkey, and Daddy would eat the elephant. When asked who would eat the hedgehog, she got quite serious and said "No one," with authority.

She did wish me happy birthday though which I happened to catch on film.


I've managed to get a bit of knitting done as well. I participated in a "What's at the bottom of your garden" swap which had some very small knitting requirements. I made a frog:

and a snail:

The snail was quite bellicose and faced off against the Wheely Bug. I'm not sure who would have won that matchup because Maegwin intervened.

I also finished a cowl in some very soft grey yarn that has been in my stash for several years.

She got into helping me take pictures.

I'm currently knitting an Autumn Vines Beret in some alpaca that was the second yarn I ever bought. At the time I had no idea what one did with sport weight yarn, I just knew I loved the color-a mix of blue, pink, green, and purple. More pictures to come soon. I have about 15 rows left to go.

We missed getting our winter cover crops in but honestly with how warm it has been we're going to try today to get them down. I think that they will germinate nicely. I can't believe it's almost time to order seeds again. Without snow I've lost track of what time of year we are in.

Yesterday during nap time I made some play dough for Maegwin using this recipe. It turned out pretty well but I think my food coloring may have been a bit old. It was really settled and I ended up with very blah colors. The recipe was easy though and she's been having a great time with it. I see more dough making in our future!

We're going through a Mommy phase right now and it's a bit exasperating, but I'm sure we'll make it. I just wish she would let Daddy help sometimes. Time to get some breakfast before I am summoned again. Cheers, All!