There’s not a whole lot going on here today. I’m still not quite at 100%, although I do feel pretty good, it’s just this congestion in my ears. It’s maddening. I am waiting anxiously to hear that my friend Jill has had her baby.

I’m also starting to formulate my plan for everything I have planned to knit. I’m working on a few patterns for the store, wanting to knit my new yarn and knitting a whole bunch of stuff for all the new babies coming soon. All of this without the benefit of being able to watch Martha on a DVR while I knit. (Bresnan will be getting another call from me today.)

Honor got his haircut Saturday. Or I should say, we held him down and forced a haircut upon him. Poor little guy, he’s pretty terrified of the clippers. But I absolutely refuse to let him have longer hair than Eden, it’s just not fair. I do have to say, he’s sort of cute.

I just wanted everyone to know that I’m waiting on squares from 4 people still and then I’ll start getting the scarves put together.

I just spent the last 20 minutes on the phone canceling my qwest service at our house. Those many minutes on hold led me to start thinking about customer service, or the lack thereof. Can you think of a place you’ve been recently that has offered you terrific customer service? All I can think of is places that I refuse to go because they’ve treated me so poorly (Circuit City!) I understand that working in retail can have it’s difficult moments, but I also understand that every human being is entitled to a certain amount of respect. And I don’t feel bad about expecting it.

I’ve been thinking about this because of my recent debacle with my internet, phone and television service. We decided to stop paying for both home and cell phone service and go cell only. Because of that, we thought we’d just switch over to cable for our television and internet (hence the canceling of qwest.) I was in California when the cable guy came to hook up our service. I asked Jim to record Grey’s Anatomy for me because I’d be flying home when it aired. He thought that he got it recorded, but when we got home, we couldn’t figure out how to access it. So the next day I called Bresnan to ask them how to access my show and discovered that we don’t even have a DVR.

Apparently they’re out of DVR’s. Of course the installer didn’t bother to tell Jim that we weren’t getting a DVR. Wasn’t that nice of him? I have to admit that I felt really silly about throwing a fit about my television service. It’s not like we’re without heat or something. But if I’m paying for it, and if I’m told I’m going to have a service, I expect to get what I’m paying for. It’s not that hard. They did offer minimal compensation, but in the meantime, we’re without a DVR.

The biggest problem is that I haven’t watched Martha all week and I’m starting to go through withdrawls!

I love, love, love these wraps, I’d eat them any day over sandwiches. You can leave out the turkey to make Vegetarian. mmmmm…

Adapted from a recipe I found in Martha Stewart Everyday Food.

1 package Sandwich wraps
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 red onion thinly
1 package fresh baby spinach leaves
sour cream
pickled jalapenos, finely chopped
1 thinly sliced large tomato
salt and pepper
1 lb smoked turkey breast, sliced thin

Spread sandwich wraps with sour cream, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge. Sprinkle with jalapenos and salt and pepper if desired. Evenly distribute beans, avacado, onion, spinach, tomato and turkey. Roll up tightly, folding the ends in. Cut in half and serve immediately. To make portable wrap tightly in waxed paper before cutting.

Edit: and cheese, I’m allergic to cheese so I forgot, but cheddar or monteray jack would be great.

• I’m working on a baby sweater pattern for the store, so I’ve been checking out other baby sweaters. Isn’t this one cute?

•This morning I told Eden that she was going over to her friends house to play and I asked her, “Is (name) your buddy?” and she said, “No, buddies are the soap on TV. I want the pink one and Honor should have the yellow one.”

• I’m having a large amount of regret for taking expired Sudafed, it’s only moderately working and I can’t take more for 3 more hours. My ears are so stuffy I can’t really hear.

• Jim and I are having a debate on who we think the hottest Friend is. He thinks Phoebe and I think Rachel. Who do you think?

My trip began with a rocky start. The plane was really late arriving here to take me to Phoenix, so I was going to miss the last flight to Santa Barbara. After numerous phone calls to Joelene and intense scrutiny of the map of California, it was decided that I would fly from Phoenix to L.A. Joelene drove 3 hours to pick me up in L.A. and then another 3 hours back home. She’s sweet to me, what can I say?

We arrived at Joelenes house around 2:30am, slept for 4 hours and then jumped back in the car to head to Santa Clara for Stitches West. Being in Silicon Valley was interesting. There wasn’t a gas station, grocery store or hardly a restaurant to be found, but there was Yahoo. One thing I know is that all the techie types like a nice hotel! Even it the gift shop was a vending machine full of condoms and ipods.

Our SEVENTY DOLLAR class was really disappointing. I felt like we learned only an hours worth of learning (if that) in a 3 hour class. Basically we learned the double start cast on and how to strand yarn in front of your work. I’ve decided that the double start cast on will hereby be called the 70 dollar cast on.

The Stitches Marketplace was really amazing and at it Joelene and I realized that we were the youngest people there. We also saw some really interesting knitted pieces that led us to our new knitting motto, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” I sort of had a hard time buying yarn. Which I know is hard to believe. I think I overanalyzed my purchases. I did get yarn for a few projects and I also got a really nice knitting purse.

After having lunch with a couple more internet friends, we left Friday afternoon to head back to Joelenes. The car was packed full of sock yarn (and hardly any of it was mine!) and we were really tired. We spent the next day checking out the central coast, eating yummy food and knitting. And then I flew home.

I think Jim was more happy to see me than the kids. That’s ok, cause they made me this really great card. It was a great trip, but it’s good to be home.

I had a really great trip! But the minute I stepped off the plane, I got slammed with a nasty cold. I’ll have a lot more to say tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are a few photos that Joelene took.

Pismo Beach

Vending machine in the Hotel (Notice the condoms next to the ipods, on the other side there was candy and soda. It wouldn’t even take cash, CC only.)

(don’t for get the scarf squares if they haven’t been shipped yet)

I’m flying to California this afternoon. My bags are packed, I’ve got a knitting project for the plane, my ipod is loaded with music my husband doesn’t like and the 5th harry potter book. I’ve made 50 lists, and I can’t imagine how I could possibly forget anything, although I’m sure I have.

I’m worried that I’m going to miss the kids. I don’t want to miss them. I already miss them. I want to go, have a good time and be glad to come home. But I don’t want to miss them. Maybe it’s something about being needed so badly. I do this every time I go on a trip, I worry that I won’t make it back to them and at the same time, get mad at myself for missing them.

The other day Honor got one of my mixing bowls out of the cupboard, filled it with dog food, opened the back door and fed it to the dog. When I found him feeding the dog, I told him to pick up the bowl and put it in the sink. I followed him to the kitchen and found him trying to put the bowl back in the cupboard. It was full of dog slime!! How many dishes have we eaten out of that were full of dried dog slime? It’s a wonder any of us are still alive. So maybe I’ll remember this when I start to miss him. And if that doesn’t work, I can recall how he threw mac and cheese all over the dining room the other day. And I can remember that Eden told me “Whatever” or that every time she gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, she leaves the bathroom light on.

Somehow, I think all of this will just make me miss them more.

Have a good week everybody, I’ll be back Monday and I’ll start putting together the scarf swap scarves!

First let me say that these photos are taken with my new Nikon D50. I got an AMAZING deal on ebay for it brand new, with a Nikon case. And before I spend this whole post gushing about my new camera, I’ll move on to the birthday pictures.

She wanted a pony cake and a pony cake she got. Fancy.

They had a torturous time waiting until it was time to eat the cake.

She named this groovy girl after my mom. Note the 40 dollar car in the background. At least she’s still playing with it.

I woke up on the 11th at about 8am to what I can only describe as a rush of water. I remember reaching down to check if anything was wet, and when I realized nothing was, I figured that it was just a dream. When I stood up the water all rushed out. I was soaked. Jim had been laid off from his job two weeks before, so he was in the basement working on his computer. I yelled down at him and he came up to see that my water broke. We were both so excited, we knew that this was the real deal.

I took my time getting ready and packing for the hospital. I wasn’t contracting, but barely having cramps. When we got there, the midwife checked me and told me my options. The baby needed to be out within 18 hours of my water breaking or there would be a risk of infection and I’d have to be on antibiotics. She wanted to go ahead and induce labor at that point, but I was determined to not be induced. We decided that we’d go home and try to get labor going and meet her back at the hospital at 5pm if nothing was happening by then.

We walked and walked and walked. Nothing happened. We sat and watched a stupid movie. I was just not going into labor. So I finally decided that I didn’t want to wait until 5pm and we headed back to the hospital around 2 or 3. My midwife put some gel on my cervix. It sucked, I had to stay laying down on the bed for an hour. Labor started, but it wasn’t anything productive. The contractions were coming, but they weren’t progressing. I think it was finally around 8 or 9pm when I gave in and decided that I would go to the next step of induction. She put a 1/4 of a pill called cytotec on my cervix. Then was when the contractions started really coming.

I got in the hot tub for awhile. The contractions started to get really bad. After having Honor and knowing how fast I labored, I think that at this point things would have gone really fast. But not knowing that, and thinking that I had hours to go, I requested some IV medication. It knocked me out, but didn’t do anything for the pain. It probably slowed things down, but I think it was enough that I could finally sleep between contractions.

Sometime after midnight, the nurse came in to tell me that I could probably have another dose of the medication. She decided to check me first. I remember the amazing relief I felt when she told me, “You’re ready to push!” She called the midwife who had gone home to sleep for awhile. Everyone was so surprised that I was pushing already. And push I did, for over an hour. I was still so out of it from the drugs that I actually fell asleep between pushes. At one point, someone exclaimed, “I think she’s asleep.” It woke me up and I said, “I was dreaming about Bill Clinton.”

Eden was finally born at 1:41 am, Feb. 12. The midwife let Jim help deliver her and when she was almost out, she told me to pull her out. I pulled her onto my chest and she started crying. I remember being so relieved that she was out that I didn’t even ask what sex she was. My mom finally asked, “What is it!?” Jim checked and said, “it’s a girl!”

She was born with the grumpy face.

It still seems like it just happened, and it was four years ago. She’s gotten so big.

I can’t imagine what my life would be like without my little peanut. She has completely changed our lives, I love waking up to her little grumpy face every day. (And I’ll have to remember that when I tell her to do something and she replies, “Whatever.”)