spring forward.

today is the best day of the year.  it is the day that everything changes.  it is the day that means spring is really just around the corner (or is it already here?), the depths of winter are behind us, warmth and sunshine and all the wonderful things that come with them are so very close now.  today, everything seems possible.  there is hope, freedom and change.  today is the day we spring forward.

it's arbitrary, but no other day has such an impact on quality of life.  we have one more hour now to work around naps and meals, and every day we're that much closer to the sun...we are ready to burst out of hibernation and get back outside!  this winter has been mild to say the least, but anything below 60 degrees and getting two kids appropriately bundled and restrained to travel 15 minutes to the nearest patch of grass is defeating enough to keep us indoors day after day after dark, dreary day.

but today we arose to sunshine and temperatures soaring well into the 60s, bestowing upon me and the psychotic population of chicago a wonderful sense of mania.  i went out for my weekly run and was so uplifted by the throngs of people walking dogs, having picnics, playing beach volleyball, that i ran and ran and ran until i wore away most of the cartilage in my right knee.  i can no longer walk, but it was so very worth it.  i limped home in time to put the kids down for a nap, make dinner and dessert, post on my other blog, and tackle our christmas tree with all four limbs.  yes, it's march 11 and our christmas tree was still standing until a few hours ago.  my whole body is covered in scratches and punctures and one major welt so i look like i have measles, an inevitability that allowed the christmas tree to remain standing long past the appropriate window to begin with.  but today, the greatest day of the year, i can summon the energy for even the most daunting of tasks.

aside from today, i haven't got much to report.  i am working approximately triple-time, as much as i can without actually dying of exhaustion, to try and scrape together every potential penny for our move and our house.  fortunately, this month i can pick up many extra shifts in the er as an admitting nurse, which is very low key, and a nice change of pace from the floor.  dad just wrapped up his final month of pediatrics for this residency, and we all seem to have escaped without catching one of the many gross communicable diseases smeared across all those grubby little faces.  score!

our home away from home continues to unfurl, this week with the framing going up.  david spends most of his spare time daydreaming about the structure and keeps me busy at work with emails detailing shades of paint, textures of carpet, sizes of tile, and patterns of granite.  i know.  you didn't think he had it in him.






the kids are blissfully unaware of all these big plans, but continue to do well.  this has been a relatively mellow week for us, free of major illnesses (hopefully the worst is behind us for this cold/flu season).  bean did get her first diaper rash of her life--we're still scratching our heads over that one--that left her screaming when she peed for a few days, but has fully recovered.  reese's nose continues to run more or less non stop, going on about a month now.  we've adopted this as the new normal.  bean is increasingly obsessed with "DEL" and knows all of her songs by heart.  we have to hide our computers or she throws fits trying to play del all day long.  she has become very proficient at her abcs (this has taken the place of old macdonald during diaper changes) and 1-10 in spanish.


we managed to steal away to see girl with the dragon tattoo at a discount theater...the sound quality was so poor we literally only understood about every 20th word.  i'd read the book so i could follow what was going on, but david has probably enjoyed other movies more in his life.  at least he didn't drop my hat in the toilet this time.



















i know i spent plenty of time talking about knitting in my last post, but my most recent knitting purchase has truly revolutionized my craft.

i can wind my own skeins at home!  i'm like rumple stiltzken!  much like an extra hour of daylight, this might not seem very significant to some.  however, winding my own balls means that i can readily purchase high quality wool online without having to make a special trip to the yarn store to have it wound (or to browse yarn...with prince and princess crabbypants?  forget it.), or to attempt knitting without winding which always ends in tangled heartbreak, without exception.  

i was slaving away at a very non child friendly knitting project (thin yarn, lace...why do i keep trying to knit lace around children?  not possible, i've decided.  and i wound it by hand around one of their toys, so now it's even more tempting to grab and throttle) that will someday become a sweater for bean if i can keep plugging away at it.







but, i was becoming so disheartened, i decided to try out my new winder and dive into my biggest project, the wedding gift i mentioned in my last post.  this is probably the most child friendly knitting project ever.  the pattern is easily memorized, the yarn is pudgy and sticky so stitches remain intact despite all the pulling and tugging from my helpers.  i thought this would take me months to knit but it works up so fast...i should have knit my first piece for myself out of this fabulous wool.  i don't usually frog or work two projects at once, but this is a nice combination.



anyway, hopefully we can check back soon with new pictures of the house!  happy spring everyone, we made it!