Poor Jerome! He nursed last night, and went to sleep, and was cozy in his crib, and then woke up screaming. We rushed to him, and Rich said he still kind of smelled (we'd just changed his diaper and outfit from a blow-out of epic proportions), so we took off the new pj's to see if more had arrived and a big, black spider jumped out! It wasn't poisonous and it doesn't appear that he was bitten anywhere - and we checked everywhere - but, ugh! Cree. Pee. I would have screamed too.

Jerome fought me when I tried to put him back in his pj's. I think he knew the creepiness originated in them. Now, we check all his clothing before we put anything on him. shudder.

Speaking of screaming, I had a nice run in with the morons at Fed Ex again. For three days, they tried to deliver a package to me. It was between the 28th and the 30th of December. I wasn't expecting any more Christmas gifts, and the only people we could think of who might be sending something would have told us (the person who never tells us had already sent something that we received) to expect it. You'll remember how Fed Ex can't ever find our home, and then sends us letters at our address! telling us that our home doesn't exist. And how they somehow were able to find our home when they had a package to deliver to someone who lived 21 blocks away from us.

Anyway. They left a message telling us that the driver couldn't find our home (why is it that UPS and the USPS can find it? What is wrong with their drivers? Why also does it take another day to get a message to the drivers with directions? Don't they have radios on the trucks?) , and I returned the call. This was the 28th, remember, and their message was still talking about the power outage and that they hoped to have packages delivered by the 22nd. After I left a message with the directions to the house, a complaint that they are the only people who can never manage to find us, and do so regularly, I also told them that their message was out of date, and that I hoped they had gotten the packages to those other people who were waiting.

The next day, no truck, no package, no return call. I got online and tracked the package and saw that it came from New York, but still had no idea from whom it could be. So, I called again. The message was still out of date. I mentioned it again. I also told them that the package was unexpected, and had I known I was getting it, I would have asked the sender to use a different company to send me the package since they are so unreliable. I got a return phone call. I asked the lady if perhaps they just changed drivers daily and that was why nobody could find our home. She didn't know. She seemed to be competent to write directions down, though, and I figured I might see the package on Monday, and hoped it wasn't perishable food.

Saturday, as I was getting ready to go the the shop (I'm working a few days there again, whee!), there was a Fed Ex truck that drove into our driveway and dropped off a package. It was this:



I had won a drawing from Random House's Potter Recipe Club! They never emailed me to tell me I won, which is why I didn't know it was coming. What a great book, though! I'm having lots of fun planning with it.

I almost tried to put this cake together for our anniversary party the next day. At the same time I was cooking food for 24.



Rich and his folks talked me down, though, and pointed out that nobody would notice if we didn't have it.

I'm thinking of making this one sometime next winter, or maybe for Amira's birthday. March 10th is still winter.



So, I guess it was worth the Fed Ex hassle. But Random House? If you are out there? Use UPS next time.

In other book news, I received this book



from my St. Martha's secret pal for Epiphany. Marilyn drew my name, and unless this was a book she got on a huge sale or that she already owned, she went way over our price limit. I really like it, though. It has very clear photos and instructions, and is organized like a text book with simpler concepts and projects first, progressing to more difficult things later.

I picked Annie's name, and I know she does scrap booking, so I went to a "paper crafts" store in town (I learned that they aren't just a scrap booking store, but an all encompassing paper crafts store), and picked up some vellum, decorative paper and adhesive, sticky, textured, Disney themed things for her. They just went on a trip to Disneyland with their two boys. Anyway, the lady at the store had to talk me though the purchase, and she spoke slowly and clearly like we do to the men who come into the yarn shop looking for yarn and patterns for their wives. It was quite amusing.

I have been a little busy bee with my knitting. I finished Fetching, though I need to get a good picture of the finished set still, I finished a present for my colorswap partner and I decided to make another soap sack, this time for my friend Lisa, who lives in Florida. I was going to give her a store bath puff, but I thought this would be prettier.

Since I have no photos of Fetching or the present to show you, I will distract you with some shots of how I picked up the sts for the thumb on Fetching and the detail of the cuff.



I threaded my needles through the upper and lower sts before I unpicked the contrast yarn. That way, if any unravelling tried to happen, it couldn't go anywhere.



Here are those sts taken out.



And here is that fetching cuff. Get it? Fetching cuff? Ha!

I do have a photo of the leaf lace soap sack. I modified Judy's pattern and came up with this.



I still haven't posted about the boys' Christmas play. Alexander stole the show as Tiny Tim, so much so that one of the teachers called us during the power outage to make sure she was able to tell us how well he had played the role, that multiple people had commented on how he was just the perfect choice for that character and how glad she was that we put together a costume that fit the period as well as it did (there were several not so period costumes at the play). There were two vignettes done that night (amidst lights flickering and twice went out as the storm grew), and Dominic was a wise man and wore a tunic and hat that Rich got in Turkey, and a vessel (to carry myrrh) as a prop. I haven't uploaded all the photos from that night, but here is one of the boys afterward in their costumes.



This is kind of a catch all post. I have something important to share with you, but I will do it in its own post.

Labels: Family, Fed Ex, Fetching, FOs