Smoothie Powder?

Does anyone put a smoothie or protein powder into their smoothies? I read somewhere about Trader Joe's red and green smoothie powder mixes, but the friend I was with said that another one was better because it had sprouted seeds in it. I think it was Sun Warrior. But when I went to check it out, the actual line she mentioned didn't seem to have anything sprouted in it. So I talked to a store associate, who suggested a few other powders:

For us, the winner was PlantFusion. And here's why:

PureGreen tasted chalky and overly sweet. PlantFusion did not. But do you need a protein powder? How much does it help? How much is hype?

I've been putting cubes of chopped, frozen kale into my smoothies and I seem to have a vague, improved sense of well-being, but I don't know if I'm ready to commit to protein powder.

Oh, the humanity!

Did everyone in the US have a nice Thanksgiving? We did. After it was all over, including Not-a-Bub having his first sleepover(!), we headed back to The City on Sunday. I was in a rush. I had a plan. My plan was to wake up, load the car, pick up Not-a-Bub at his friend's house, then drive back up the state of California. The Man had a different plan, which makes sense, because we wake up at different times. His plan was as follows: wake up, have coffee, pick up Not-a-Bub, stop by Costco to look at a ski helmet for himself, come home, have lunch, load up the car, then leave. He did not share my sense of urgency. And since I didn't want him sleep-deprived when he would be doing the driving (I always offer to drive a shift and he always declines; he knows I prefer not to, and I would, but I still offer because I know it's not his favorite thing to do either), I let him sleep. So we followed his plan.

At Costco The Man also ended up buying the ski goggles that were next to the helmets and gloves. We already bought goggles last season (it was so necessary what with the glare) when we were in Tahoe, but he thought these were so nice he bought them as well. When we finally got home (more on that in a bit), we compared and the Costco ones actually fit my face better than the special women's pair I bought last season that were supposed to fit my face. I have very little nose bridge, so the ski shop lady's advice was to cut a piece of foam (which she threw in, gratis) to fit the gap. I still haven't done that. The gap is so large I can fit a finger up it, with room to spare. And I can't return that pair anymore, so I suppose it will be saved for Princess when she gets a bit bigger. But these are the Costco goggles:

That's right. My new bolle goggles will match my new bolle helmet. I'll match. But never fear: my bright blue The North Face ski jacket will not match my black Patagonia ski pants.

As I was saying, we left after lunch on Sunday. And that was a mistake. Because after five hours, we'd only gone an average of 23 miles per hour. The fastest part was probably driving through LA, which if you've ever done this trip, you know is typically the slowest part. It was a line of red tail lights as far as the eye could see, complemented on the other side by a line of white headlights. On I-5 it was a parking lot of bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic, and then our GPS asked us this:

We had been going so slow for so long, it offered to switch to Pedestrian mode! Somewhere near Bakersfield we gave up and found a motel to check into. The next day, we drove and drove and drove, thankful, at least, that we were moving. We got back to the City in time for the kids' ballet classes, did grocery shopping, laundry, etc. and now everything is more or less back to normal. However, we will probably NEVER drive such a distance on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend ever again.

Never Say Never

For Thanksgiving we went down south to visit some family. Living in San Francisco has many perks, but unlimited parking and proximity to chain shopping stores are not two of them so I've been making up for that down here. While I'm staying in on Black Friday (as well as on Thanksgiving), I did get some shopping in earlier on in the week.

At Target I saw boys' long-sleeved T-shirts on sale, three for $18 so I stocked up for Not-a-Bub. After I got home, cut the tags and threw the shirts into the washer, I checked the receipt and realized that they charged me $7 each instead of $6. Why does Target do that? This isn't the first time it's happened where there's a discrepancy between what I'm charged and what was advertised. But it's only $3 and gas being as expensive as it is, it doesn't seem worthwhile to go out of my way to haggle. It does make me want to stop shopping at Target though.

In the picture above you should see, clockwise from top: a ski helmet, a make-your-own headbands kit, two pairs of kids' ski gloves, girl's lined Crocs, women's Hunter rain boots, big boy's leather loafers, and Hello Kitty rain boots. On Wednesday I hit Nordstrom Rack, Michael's and Costco. The ski stuff was from Costco; I don't actually like to ski but we go skiing all the time because Not-a-Bub loves skiing (so skiing we go). I'm not at the point where I feel comfortable buying my own skis or boots, but seeing as the helmet rental is extra and I'm the type of person who worries about head lice, buying my own helmet to use for an unforeseen number of future ski trips seemed like a good idea. Not-a-Bub lost his ski mittens last ski trip, so he needed another pair, and honestly, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to have extras.

Actually, the Hello Kitty rain boots were from Costco too. They were the last pair and what do you know, in Princess' size as well. Serendipity. The added bonus was that they cost less than a pair I was eyeing at Nordstrom Rack.

Which brings me to Nordstrom Rack. Everything else (but the headband kit, which is obviously from Michael's) was bought there. On Monday at the Santa Ana Mall Princess stopped at the Crocs store, gazing lovingly at the plastic, multi-colored shoes. The rest of us were bemused but she really seemed entranced. At Nordstrom Rack she really wanted a pair of sequined shearling boots, but she has so many pairs in different sizes at home waiting for her I couldn't justify them. These, however, I could. Not-a-Bub found the loafers on clearance and apparently, the style agreed with him. I made him promise to wear them with jeans and not with sweatpants or shorts (he would do that too), and that brings me to my new rain boots.

When I lived in Southern California I swore I would never buy Uggs or rain boots (let alone the name brand Hunter ones that are prevalent in this area). After we moved to San Francisco, I spent my first winter with cold, sore feet due to the shoes I had been wearing--mesh-paneled Merrells for hiking. Perfectly fine for Southern California most winter days, not so much in the Bay Area with its wind and damp cold. When it rains up there, I still have to walk one to six miles in a day so I find myself wishing I had rain boots. A few months ago I caved and bought Uggs as well as a few pairs of the fake Costco Uggs (the Costco ones are predictably plain; the Uggs I bought are "fancy"). And now I've also bought rain boots. My only saving grace is that at least both were bought on sale at Nordstrom Rack. So never say never, you just never know.

On Wednesday night, we began festivities early.

I also got a treat for the kids on Tuesday:

Coconut! Not-a-Bub has been dying to have a fresh coconut and they were on sale at Mother's Market, so we cracked some open, drank the water and ate the meat. Between all of that and catching up with friends and going to the Science Discovery Cube, it's been a very nice Thanksgiving.

Daylight Savings

I am not a fan of daylight savings. Let me preface that by explaining that I had no big problem with daylight savings (aside from having to wake up an hour earlier one day each spring) until I had children. Then it made a much larger impact on my life.

When the kids were babies, it was always so shocking, such a jar to have to switch an hour forward or back. It messed up their nap schedules. It ruined their bed times. Now that they're older, without naps, it's a little bit different.

A few weeks ago when Daylight Savings ended, I gratefully looked forward to sleeping in for one hour. One extra hour to sleep. Priceless. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the kids, who do not run on alarm clocks but the position of the sun coming in through their blinds.

What happened was this: they woke up at the same time they had been, in effect, one hour earlier. Then, they were cranky all day, because they were tired. When I started trying to put them to bed earlier, I couldn't be certain I was helping them catch up on sleep, or reinforcing their new pattern of early wakefulness. All I knew was that days full of whining and fighting had to end.

It's been a few weeks now. I think they've finally adjusted. But let me reiterate: I am not a fan of daylight savings.

Eureka! (A new world has started)

We've started Princess on Explode the Code (phonics), which I never did with Bub, but Princess seems more hesitant to read. Rather, if she's not sure, she won't put forth even a guess, without a lot of tooth-pulling. And a lot of the time her guesses are correct, she just doesn't want to seem wrong I guess. But I digress. I think she needs to feel stronger about reading, so we're doing more remedial stuff. Thus, phonics. But it seemed like such a colossal waste for her to cross out things on such simple sheets, I put the workbook sheets in page protectors.

Which leads me to my Eureka! moment this morning: I'm now putting all of our handwriting worksheets in page protector sheets. I suppose at this point I should be creating a link to such office supplies so that if you wanted to buy, you could just click on it and I could get a cut or whatever it is bloggers are doing nowadays. But let me continue. Bub has had atrocious handwriting for years, only improving in the past few months. We've been on Getty-Dubay's Handwriting Book B for maybe two years. I'd been photo copying the worksheets out of the book I bought for him because he'd have to keep doing them over again, but just sliding the handwriting sheets into page protectors for him to use dry erase markers would save so much paper! I'm sure there are more put-together homeschooling parents who had this epiphany much earlier, but mine was now and I thought I'd share. 

It's like that song from Disney's Aladdin: A Whole New World! (I'm not a fan of Disney, but the seemed apropos.)

'Tis the season to go shopping

The Man (from hereafter, I plan on calling my husband The Man; aside from the fact that he is, indeed, a man, he is also the witness to many of my rants so it seems fitting) found out when his work holiday party would be this year. Assuming we can find a sitter, we'll be going. Which brings a host of problems for me. The problems are called dress and shoes.

The Man bought a dress for me many years ago, from MaxStudio. It's a white slip dress, with a diaphanous, beaded black over-layer. All silk. It trails the ground. It requires a special bra. And high heels. Very impractical. But he loves it. I thought I would wear it to this year's holiday party. Until I got some of the details. The location is in the East Bay. So we'd be taking MUNI into downtown, and then taking a shuttle to the destination. And of course, the reverse to get home. So probably not a silk dress that trails the ground. Because aside from ruining the dress and possibly getting mugged, even wearing my full-length wool coat, I'd probably be cold. And that's just the dress, what about the shoes?

I find almost all shoes uncomfortable; I seem to be happiest in my unfashionable Birkenstocks and hand-knit wool socks--my feet are happiest that way, at least. Unfortunately for me, Birkenstocks and formal dresses do not go together. The last time I bought a dress was several (maybe three or four?) years ago; it was a grey, cowl-neck, sleeveless cocktail dress by Kenneth Cole that had a panel of ruching down the front and back. Is ruching still in?

What I still see are peplums. I am not a peplum person. At this point I'm starting to suspect that fashion is all a big game that tastemakers play to convince the general public to buy ugly clothes: "This is the height of fashion, this is what's in right now!" So at this point, I feel that my choices are to either wear something that I like that is horribly out of fashion, or buy something new that will be marginally more fashionable but overpriced and ridiculous. And either way, I'll still be cold and my feet will hurt.

Recent projects

A few things I've been working on the past couple of weeks:

Now that I've knit myself Christmas socks, I thought I might knit Itty Bitty a pair too, since she expressed interest and I had enough yardage for knee highs for her. I think they'll look really cute peeking out of her shearling boots. These were knit in KnitPicks' Felici in Jingle; standard toe, 2x2 ribbing and a short-row heel.

This one is for me:

Awhile ago I was gifted with some Fleece Artist BFL sock (which I'd been longing to try), in the Rose Garden colorway. This sock is knit toe-up with a short-row toe, and reinforced Riverbed architecture (Riverbed architecture is from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One; the reinforced part is my own creation). The ribbing is the Baby Cable Rib from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks.

And most recently from yesterday:

I made some stitch markers out of Swarovski beads, tiger tail and crimp beads. They would have been prettier if I had a crimping tool (I just used chain-nosed pliers). The one on the left is to keep track of four-row patterns (with the "pattern" row being the fourth row). The one on the right is to keep track of increases when I do more socks using the Riverbed architecture. I'd already made myself a set of three--row stitch markers awhile ago, but these were prettier and I was experimenting. 

Ocean Study

Just wanted to share some pictures of the Sunset and Pacific Ocean over varying days. It's all from the same vantage, but the ocean can look so different.

I was really amused to see a cruise ship making its way into the Bay:

A trio of Turn-a-Squares

Jared Flood's Turn-a-Square hat pattern is my new, official favorite hat pattern. It's basic enough that you can knit it from memory, but interesting enough so as to not get bored (especially in a chunky yarn). My kids like to pretend that they're twins, even though they're almost three years apart. And when they pretend this, they try to dress alike, so I've knit them matching hats (the top two), in pink and blue, respectively. The pink hat was actually knit three times; the first time it was obviously too small. The second time it fit right now, which meant it probably wouldn't fit in two months' time, so it was knit a third time to the same size as the older's hat. And since it also fits me, it may possibly fit her for life (assuming it never shrinks). I know, that's a big maybe since I have such a poor track record with this yarn.

The bottom hat is the most exciting project I've knit for awhile. Exciting because I wasn't sure I'd have enough yarn to finish it! (The bits of yarn you see on either side of the hat are what were left over.) This was what I started with:

These five skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky became a Foliage, a Thorpe, and just enough for three Turn-a-Squares.

Calm Down Bottles

I'm sure by now just about every mother has heard of Calm Down Bottles. Two or so years ago, my SIL made them for her class but I didn't bite. But recently, I wondered whether my kids could benefit from such a tool, so I followed the easy-to-follow directions to make my own. I even let the kids pick their colors: red and green. I hadn't realized you could mess them up so badly. My two concerns were that a) instead of using extra fine glitter, the store I was at only had a jumbo pack of that so I settled for a smaller pack of fine, but holographic glitter, and b) while I was able to track down Alene's Tacky Glue, I apparently neglected to remember the "clear gel" part of that description. But I used smaller bottles, so I hoped that I wouldn't need to add the glue. These were my results:

 From left to right (the first two being Hint bottles, approx. 16 oz., and the last two being Gatorade bottles, approx. 20 oz.): red glitter glue with red holographic glitter (which didn't work); green glitter with no holographic glitter (also didn't work); red glitter glue with red holographic glitter and much more water (which was closer, but the glitter suspended for much too long and more water made it too thin); and just green glitter glue (which didn't work but for different reasons than the previous approaches). I read the revisions and used extremely hot water to melt the glue, but I think the issue might have been that I used holographic glitter. It looked very fine but it must have been heavier, because after shaking, the glitter would stay suspended for way too long. And if I lowered the ratio of glitter to water, there wasn't enough glitter in the bottle for the effect. But it's okay, the sun will set and another day will begin.

Summer Hiatus is Over

So I'm catching up, and posting a few FOs as well as a frogged Ganomy Hat.

 This was the picture I took of it before frogging it. It's kind of a funny-looking hat, and not in a quirky-cool way, just in that "Oh, is that hand-knit? It looks like your mom made it"-type of way. I ended up knitting Brooklyn Tweed's Turn-a-Square hat with the Misti Alpaca Chunky instead:

I think it's a vast improvement. And since it's gift knitting, I think the intended recipient will be happier with it as well. I loved Turn-a-Square, it's been in my queue for awhile (but with Cascade Eco Wool and and orphan ball of Berocco Geode); I can totally see myself using this pattern to use up scraps, especially now that I live in a place where I can justify wearing a hat in the winter.

This is going to be a holiday gift for my little girl:

 It's yet another cupcake hat (I seem to stick to patterns I like, don't I?) but sized up for a five-year-old and with chunky yarn. This was more of the Misti Alpaca Chunky which I must remember to hand wash. The "sprinkles" were glass bugle beads I'd inherited from an aunt when she moved away.

These are ribbed, toe-up socks with short-row heels by Ann Budd that I also seem to knit often. I didn't really want to knit them this high, but the little girl in question has been going through a trend where she wears dresses and boots, and I wanted the socks to be high enough to be visible over the boots.

So my gift knitting is almost done. . . except for a pair of socks for my brother (which are completely plain, but I'm on the second sock so I'm happy); a pair of socks for Bub; and by special request, a dress for a doll.

The clothes I've knit for Dolly (sometimes my children are very literal in their naming) have been a lot nicer than the things we've bought for her in the store, although that seemed to be the only way to get the doll things like jeans, since I don't sew. So I should be motivated! And Bub has been making comments about how I still haven't finished his doll (which was due more than six months ago now), so I should really finish that. Maybe by the end of the year.

JUMP Math

Our new math curriculum came:

So now I have to read the teaching guides, and Bub (who actually asked not to be called Bub anymore) needs to figure out which level he's at. For the Introductory Units that we did, you could choose between grades 3/4 and 5/6. The only difference was that for 5/6, there was an extra chapter or two at the end where they covered a little more. Based on that, I couldn't figure out which level Bub was supposed to start at because we did all of them and he had no problems. So he's going through all of the books to see what seems easy, and we're going to determine where to begin when he starts having problems paging through the workbook.

A couple days ago we did a Pythagorean theorem spiral (and by "we," I mean Bub and I). He thought it was so cool! I love it when kids are enthusiastic about learning.

Speaking of Bub, he picked out a pair of shoes for me while he was on vacation with my mother:

These are new Crocs Mary Janes. They supposedly change color in sunlight, but I haven't worn them out (and besides, there's not much sunlight here yet). If nothing else, they'll showcase hand knit socks well.

Also, I'm pleased that Bub picked out shoes in a color he thought I would like. The pair my mother picked out for me (an adult), are Hello Kitty, green and with pink accents. I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Doll parts

Thought I should make an update.

Still working on Bub's birthday doll. At first, the first doll didn't know what to make of all the doll parts:

 That's actually a doll moccasin in the picture. I wanted to make sure I had feet that fit the shoe pattern I was using. I've learned from last time.

But now, I'm almost done with the body:

I just have to stitch up the feet. Then I can do the face, crochet a doll wig, stitch it onto the head, make the hair, and then come up with clothes. Yeah, this should be done in no time at all. (There is a reason the doll is still incomplete, despite ordering and receiving the kit more than a month before said birthday. My fingers feel like they've been worked to the bone.)

Meanwhile, I've had other projects to occupy my time with. Can you guess what this is?

You can use your deductive reasoning skills.

My brother's birthday is coming up, and I've been working on this all year, but I'm still not done with even the first sock:

This is with Lorna's Laces Solemate, which I'd actually ordered for myself, but my brother requested socks that were dark and not loud (boring socks), which he could wear to work (he works in a fairly conservative environment). Originally I wanted to do some cables and make the socks look really awesome, until I remembered how big his feet were and the fact that I only had one skein of this yarn. So garter rib it is. He's coming over in May, so maybe (maybe?) I could be done with both by then. Otherwise, I may have to mail them to him when I finally finish. And then I can work on Christmas socks.

My mother recently complained that she needed more wool socks. I asked her if she wanted some machine-knit ones that I had (but obviously, never wear) and she refused, she only wants hand-knit socks now! I'm flattered, but running out of time for my own projects at this rate. Hopefully I make some progress I can post soon.

I need a third option between disposable fashion and high fashion

An article about Gwyneth Paltrow's spring "essentials" was in my news feed earlier this week; apparently, her must-haves cost more than $450K. For you know, just the spring. And they're essential. Which means everyone should buy them. Right Now. Piqued, I went to her website to check it out. Paltrow is known for having high-class style and I was curious as to what, exactly, these expensive essentials were. Now, I've had a hard time following fashion ever since I've had kids and been transformed into a human napkin (which we're working on escaping, btw) but I wanted to know whether there was anything on the list that would translate to my life.

The first themed section had me rolling on the floor. Gwyneth Paltrow, in all her purported elegance, is smiling at me wearing a red leather motorcycle jacket (reminiscent of Michael Jackson, whom I have nothing against, but I typically don't prefer to dress like I'm a pop star on a world tour) and what I can only describe as one of the wackiest pairs of jeans I've ever seen. They're white skinny jeans by Rag and Bone, but what gets me is that they have black leather paneling on the sides, from the thigh all the way down. Really? I understand fashion is an industry and as such, they're trying to get you to buy something new every "season" to add to their bottom line, but I thought they already ran out of things to do to jeans last year when they did prints on denim. I was wrong. Her outfit is complemented with a Valentino i-Pad case (because LV is so gauche), and metallic heels. The metallic heels are the only thing I can accept, because I have a pair in my closet for formal affairs. I, however, do not wear them out during the day in funky, attention-grabbing ensembles.

Paltrow's next section is not much better, although it seems less ridiculous. With one arm raised and her hand tucked behind her head and the other hand in a pocket I'm not quite sure what she's trying to convey, but it doesn't matter because this is another outfit that would not work for me: what looks to be a tissue-weight loose T-shirt over a white buttoned-down shirt with the cuffs rolled up, tucked into pink jacquard shorts with red polka dots on them. Oh, and don't forget a little studded pink handbag with a long shoulder chain. The button-down would be stiff, I would be cold and embarrassed in the shorts, and the wan color would wash me out.

The rest of Paltrow's picks continue much in the same fashion--there she is in another outfit I would never wear: here she's in a midriff-baring top with pleated orange shorts and heels, and there she is in a satin and tulle maxi skirt with cut-outs, which looks interesting but not, as they suggest, something I'd wear at home to entertain guests.

And the word that keeps coming to my mind as I peruse the list, is really? Really, is this what we're supposed to be wearing right now? No wonder I'm completely out of style.

Same ol'? No!

We haven't been doing so much the same thing as I've just been incredibly busy, so this blog has been ignored. But, I've finally bought yarn for the BFF cowl I'll be knitting:

I think the color is Magenta. My BFF is going to knit her parts in the Moss color. This will go quite far in the whole "wearing more color" campaign my brother has waged. I also bought more Misti Alpaca Chunky for hats.

Misti Alpaca is so soft, it always makes me happy to knit it. And this is chunky yarn, so projects go that much faster. Except for my Thorpe (or rather, DH's Thorpe). DH asked me to knit him the fair isle, patterned Thorpe. I had to fiddle with the needle sizes so many times I actually ended up knitting the hat three times. In between teasing me about the fact that it was glaringly too small ("I thought the whole point of you knitting it was that it fits perfectly!") he told me that he'd asked for that specific pattern because it looked cool and that way he'd be able to show off and tell people his wife had knit it (DH gets to go skiing next month for work, lucky man). It was an exercise in frustration, but the end result was a hat that actually fit DH. And I don't have a picture of it yet, even though it's a FO.

On a completely different note, the San Francisco Botanical Garden is beautiful. I know I look like a tourist when I traipse through there with a camera, but it's still fun.

Bub has math anxiety. I'm not sure how this happened, but it seemed to happen after he was in "school" with other kids. One of the other kids is a year older and more advanced in math, which may have made Bub feel insufficient, I don't know for sure, but now he has math anxiety that I need to combat. I've been looking into the JUMP Math program. We're actually working through the introductory units right now to figure out exactly which book to start with. Bub thinks it's so easy he's excited to use the program, which I suppose is the point, but I kind of resented the marketing of it while reading the teaching guide--to generate excitement you're supposed to praise a lot and when they succeed, tell them how advanced they are (for instance, the introduction of pre-algebra which is supposedly part of middle school math). It's not really my style. Typically, I don't praise unless I think it's worthy of praise. But like I said, marketing. I'm not in marketing, and I suppose there's a reason. But if generated enthusiasm helps Bub like math again (and judging by today, it looks like it might work), I guess I'll be cheering from the seat next to him.

We've moved

The holidays are finally over and I'd like to announce that I've moved to San Francisco (I know, that's quite a move from Southern California, not local at all). I'm also back to homeschooling Bub and Itty Bitty, so between taking care of the house, having had house guests the first five weeks we'd moved and that, I've been a little busy.

Keep tuned for future updates though. I've started working on:
-a Waldorf doll for Bub (his birthday request)
-a family of Thorpe hats for an upcoming ski trip
-some sort of Noro sweater/tunic (possibly kimono sleeved?)