Heckava day

Today marked the first of Emma's karate lessons.  We bought a gift certificate from the school auction leftovers for a fraction of its value so she gets four private lessons, unlimited (about 8) group lessons, a uniform & belt, a t-shirt, a patch and a sticker.  Pretty cool deal!  However, I know we won't be able to afford it at full price, especially now that the other two kids want to take some lessons, too, so I'm going to look into lessons at the Y.  Looks like they started last week for the beginner class.  Maybe we can sneak them in anyway...if there's room.  I know a lady from Girl Scouts who works there.  Maybe she'll take cookies as a bribe.

Emma's bike is in for repairs.  The kick stand fell off it ages ago--was fixed, got broken, fixed again, broken again...and in the meantime, other things have broken and bent as it fell over.  The gear shifter, the brakes, the chain, etc.  Kelly took it to a repair shop where we discovered this will cost more than $100.  Getting a new bike would cost more than $400, so this is the way to go.  She's taken a new interest in biking this year and has just learned to bike with no hands.  I have no fear about this--I used to bike all over town with no hands--around corners, too--but I never had the good sense to wear a helmet.  She does.  See?  The next generation is smarter already!  They even wear SEAT BELTS!  Whew...I don't fear the future now!

Jen and I worked on our yurts for a bit today.  We got the tono glued and screwed together into a circle, then drilled holes into the ends of the poles so we can insert the pencil rod into it.  Note our very creative drilling platform, and shimmed the drill to level.  We still have to drill holes in the *other* end of the rafters that tie onto the khana (baby gate walls), and into the tono (roof ring) that the rafters will fit into.  The only part of the hardware on Jen's yurt after that is the door to put into the frame!  Then there's the software part--the roof and wall canvas.

For me, I have to make sure I have enough rafter pieces, then drill those on both ends.  I also have to buy the pencil rod, the cable to go around the outside, drill the holes in the tono, and figure out a door.  I might just use a cloth flap instead of a door if I run out of time.  Next Tuesday we're going to have a Yurt-a-thon to try to get it done before July Coronation.  I'd like to make a fabric door with my coat of arms on it.

In further Emma news (apparently, it's all about Emma today!), her Kindle is broken.  It's not even a year old and the screen pooped out on it.  Or shattered.  Or something.  This guy's eyes and forehead never go away, eerily staring at you while you try to read, but the bottom of the screen works normally.  It's really hard to read a book when half the page is always missing.  I don't know what we can do about it--I would bet fixing it would cost as much as replacing it, so we might have to do that.  The cover that it's sitting on was made by her Grandma and has been living in that protective cover for several months.  I don't know if it got dropped or stepped on (more than once), but I'm disappointed that it's not working anymore.  She's gotten a lot of use out of it.

I've been knitting away on this Turkish sock and have now come to the brutal conclusion that it's too narrow for my Duck Feet.  I can hear Jean saying, "But I've got Quad-A feet!  It'll fit ME!"  Well, sorry, darlin--I really had my heart set on having this alpaca on my own feet.  However, that said, I *can* be bribed/commissioned to make you a pair of long, skinny Turkish socks. :)  I have a book of patterns and you can choose your favorite!  And pick your colors, too!  Or I can give you a copy of whatever pattern you want, and you could knit your own!  We could start at the Pitt Camping Adventure!  Next month!  Woot!

Ben taking a break in the back yard, eating a Skittle Rice Krispie square.  I had made RK squares with M&Ms before, but the two littler kids don't like chocolate that much (weird), so they asked if I could make it with Skittles instead.  "SURE!"  I said.  Right after you mix in the rice cereal, you put in about a cup of the candies and fluff them through before dumping it into the 9 x 13 pan.  I usually lightly butter my hands and press the squares into the pan a bit so it's a little more smooth on top.  Yes, I handle worms and toads just before handling the butter, so it's all good and natural.  Mmmm!  Note that they also discovered the age-old tradition of wrapping the swing once around the cross-bar so you have a higher swing.  This whole swing set may have to go, unfortunately--Kelly discovered earwigs all over the grass around it, which are attracted to rotting wood.  We already replaced the slide which was cracking and the supports under it were completely rotten.  I don't know what we'll do to replace it--these things are expensive! Maybe we should just get a trampoline.

Some flowers I took a picture of in the back yard.  I don't know what these are, but they sure are pretty!  I love that the stems are all fuzzy and the flowers themselves are screamin' pink!  These grow back every year along the rock wall.  Behind the wall is a line of trees which work great for a visual barrier, but the dog next door (some variety of Australian shepherd, I think) discovered that he can just burst through it, run across our yard, and dig under our fence to make a great escape.  I joked with Bob that those Australians...bunch of criminals...always looking for a way to escape!  Or maybe he just wants to go on walkabout?  In any case, we have to fix the hole under the fence again, though I'd much rather have Bob build a real fence between our properties.  

Finished a quilt block for next Monday's meeting.  It's...ta-da!  A frog!  It still needs eyes, but I don't know what I'm going to use for eyes yet.  The directions suggested just using polka dot fabric on a white background, cut around two of the dots and using those as eyes.  You can even cut them out kind of crooked to make them into googley-eyes.

K