Yeah, I know I'm late today ... but I had a 6-man football game to go to!

Anyhow, here's today's poll -- a topic that I know will make a couple of you all excited. :)

Poll #1482323 The musical friends poll ...
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 33

Do you consider yourself to be a musical person?

How's your singing?

Ever sing in a school or church choir?

Did you take piano lessons as a kid?

Were you a band kid at school?

If you answered "yes" above, what was your instrument?

List any other instruments you might play:

What musical instrument is your favorite one to listen to?

And the absolute worst one to listen to is ...

As always, comments are encouraged. As for me, I took piano lessons off and on as a kid, but never took it seriously enough, and now I've forgotten most of it. I regret that in a way, but I also know that I'd be looking for all kinds of other things to do instead of practice the piano. :)

I was definitely a band kid, though, for six years ... all through Junior High and High School. It was great fun, and I loved it.

Oh, and I took violin lessons in elementary school for a couple of years, until my family moved and I changed schools. My regrets about not continuing that, I think, are stronger than for the piano ... and I still have a violin that belonged to my great-grandfather.

Finished the magnolia afghan (a lionbrand pattern).... :)

The first pic is taken on my queen size bed, to show the size of the finished agfhan - it's actually going to be used as a blankie to snuggle under while watching tv in the lounge room :)



Colour is a bit off in this shot, but it shows the detail of the lace panel:



Voila.... in the lounge room...

I was tooling around youtube and was noticing that one of my contacts on there whom I have been following has not posted a video for a long time. Her son with DS is a tad bit older than Oliver, and watching the videos of his progress gave me hope, which is why I post videos of Olivers milestones - and the last video she posted was 5 months ago of him after his heart surgery. I then read a comment someone posted 3 weeks ago about her son in past tense, then saw she posted yesterday that she was mourning her son that left us on October 7th - What an ordeal to go through for that long - I know his surgery did not go so well that 5 months ago according to the video she posted of him in the hospital. So sad - I started crying right there, and gave Oliver a big fat hug.


*looking for something to donate to?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/lavatri10/jeffmcneill
(my old boss [still coworker] is doing this)

Okay, I feel like a dunce for asking this, but if a pattern starts out with "chain 27" for the first row and then "double crochet in 3rd chain from hook and in each chain of the foundation row" for the second row, how many double crochets should I have in that second row? I have 24 -- is that right?

so I thought for sure we'd have some trouble re-adjusting time with Oliver. Thankfully him being up as soon as the plane landed (10:30pm) until about 2am (2 hours after we got home) let him sleep till 7am - then take a long early nap and still be tired quite early, but only to get up at 640am -
You see, while we were in Indiana - its 2 hours difference, then we changed time while there.
He was going to bed a 'normal' time for being there - but he would get up at 5:30am!! which worried me because thats like 3:30am california time. But I think we are back to normal.

The trip was fun but as usual exhausting - We stayed at my moms house this time. wise anyway since my brother in law had some crazy sickness flu thing going on - he did see the doc but they did not say if it was swine flu - probably just another flu - he was very very ill - my sister got a cold of some kind during that as well - so we stayed away from him as he was recovering - and he was on the mend when we got there - He took Lukas to a colts game (they were playing san fran) but had to leave early as their seats were way way up high which scared Lukas.

Dan and I took the boys to this place called bellaboos - an indoor kids discovery museum - they had a lot of fun there. It was pouring rain outside so that was a nice get out of the house activity. Mom had lots of company on Saturday and Sunday - Oliver made out with some 20's (its a thing, when you see little kids for the first time or not often cause they dont live around there, the people hand them money).

Got a small lot of some clothes handed down (mostly 3T stuff thats still too big)

We managed to not get sick while out there - Oliver did start his snot season though - at one point he sneezed spaghetti. Seems better now but these things go no forever it seems during this season, plus he starts his new pre-school on Monday so new germs to swap

Oliver knows who spongebob is now as if he sees him, he starts saying 'bobobobob'

its freezing in here - it said it was 63 this morning - have the space heater running and its up to 67 now - another hour or 2 and we'll be up to the norm. We had to post pone the fireplace gas insert project until after this winter so its space heaters (Oliver has his own in his room regardless as we keep his door closed when he sleeps). We had a double sided wall heater we pulled out last year because the grates are all sharp inside and can cut your finger good (like it did Olivers thumb once).

The freakin cats are being super annoying since we got back. I have them sleeping on my head, or both of them right on top of me. Boris will come up on the desk and like get all cozy on my hand that I use for the mouse while I am trying to mouse.

gotta try to finish up the shingling on this one side of the house before it starts to rain all the time.
Its costco time as well (big bag-o-tp is down to 5 rolls) -

and after this round of unsuccessful trying to get preggers - I have learned to stop being so obsessive about it - I was spoiled getting pregnant with Oliver first try - so I thought it would possibly happen again -

gotta go get cleaned up so we can go run to costco when they open today.

• 18:55 Guess who is the new model for Splat!'s "Pink Fetish" hair color packaging?!? www.splathaircolor.com/kits.html #
• 20:41 @indigothirdeye - LOL "Free Used Area Rugs!" is the new "Free Porn!" #
• 20:45 I was considering getting a new phone, but this old Jedi dude convinced me that "The Droid is not what I'm looking for." #badjoke #
• 22:22 @MetaGrrrl Thank you! Luckily, the pink path is very forgiving. :) #
• 22:34 I just snapped this pic, snpp.me/2cn check it out! #snappme #
• 23:03 @Clintus - Ha! This one is rawking just for you: snpp.me/2co #
• 04:01 had an awesome time at the abraxasdragon.com fundraiser. Damn, there are some sexy people shining their lights with amazing vibrations. #

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• 11:09 Ok, I'll admit it. I have a mild fetish for those old fashion deep sea diver suits. The ones with the big round helmets. #
• 16:36 Going out for a quiet little dinner with the husband. #
• 18:48 @SweetTL :) I did send you an email tho... Your kit has shipped! #
• 19:32 Refining. Improving. Building. #
• 21:10 Taking care of me tonight. I'm going to enroll in yoga classes tomorrow. How can I take care of others if I am not first caring for myself? #
• 23:51 Nite kitten lips. Sleep well. #

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Hudson River

...

I just wrote a screed about a London rabbi who is blaming godlessness on the demographic contraction (I refuse to use the word decline as it puts entirely too much of a judgmental spin on a long term reduction in population) in Europe.

I've been concerned about these sorts of issues as they do affect me personally. Even though they're about aggregate behaviors and I interact with others as an individual those aggregates are made of individual choices. To cut to the chase I'm realizing its a very narrow demographic to be in your 30's, single, and childfree.

NYC wasn't a problem, most women in their 30's with a similar background did not have children (although many obviously wanted them now or later). Out here in the northlands many of the matches I'm seeing through okcupid and other sites are single mothers. I'm starting to get old enough where its conceivable that a potential date could have children in their late teens but following current demographic trends for women with an education similar to mine their children have not even reached junior high. Its been a bit frustrating as I have no intention of waiting until I'm in my mid 40's to start dating again so I can catch a woman who's finally kicked the little birdies out of the nest.

Dating someone who lives in the city can be troublesome as well. Sure baby, come back to my place, its just a $45 round trip and you only have to get up at 4 in the morning to make the train to get back to your place in Brooklyn so you're not wearing the same clothes to work tomorrow. I can tell that's going to be a total panty dropper right there.

Its hard enough to find someone who wants to date a freak of nature such as myself, I don't need to narrow my odds any further.

Oh well, who needs love when you can have personal growth and endless consumerism. Just like the selfish secular bastard I am.

London Rabbi: Secularism is the cause of population decline in europe

Britian's chief (I'm assuming orthodox) Rabbi, Lord Sacks made a number of provocative statements at a lecture hosted by a christian think tank in London. He accused Europe of causing its own demise by rejecting religion and family in favor of self-indulgence and consumerism. Specifically he was concerned with Europe's sharp population decline and tied it with the grown of secularism which he sees as turning people off from the sacrifice needed to successfully raise a family.

As a rabbi I certainly understand Lord Sacks' concern with what he feels is the growth of secularism in European society but I think that tying it to the demographic contraction in Europe is mistaken. By approaching family and family planning as a religious issue rather than a social and economic one I think he's ignoring a number of trends. Demographic contraction is very real in Europe despite any number of measures taken by national governments. If he really wants to see a more sustainable trend in population in the future he's going to need to stop making this a cultural issue and start seeing it as an economic and social one.

Its very easy to say that less humans = :) !!! However there will be economic consequences as Japan and several areas of Europe are starting to discover. America has avoided the problem by keeping a high rate of immigration but as the third world develops and starts to suck less (and if life in the US continues on its own sucking more trending) it will also have to face the prospect of population contraction. Simply but the problem is that you have lots of old people and not enough young people. For a country that to put it nicely has deep ties between its racial and national identity like Japan (and to put it not nicely is outrageously xenophobic) the solution of simply importing help from the global South isn't going to cut it.

While culture and religion does inform our personal decisions its not going to help matters when you're talking about a irrational decision that people can approach in a rational manner using tools that allow them to make effective decisions. When people are given the access and knowledge of these techniques (namely birth control) they will apply them to avoid what they believe to be unpleasant consequences. On the other side they will also invest very heavily in fertility treatments when they believe that the outcome is desired and positive. So when people do have the ability to do so, people will make decisions about their fertility. The question is why.

So in a way Lord Sacks is heading in the right direction by questioning people's motivation to have children. The problem is that by pinning in on cultural reasons it neatly ignores the social and economic ones which actually can be studied. Calling people selfish for not having children stops the conversation cold. It also avoids looking at some very difficult aspects of our economic and social development which do cause women to have less children and have them much later in life.

Lord Sacks was addressing a religious conference but making these kinds of attacks just makes conversation on a very complex and highly personal and sensitive issue impossible. As much as I like snark I do expect more of people who have chosen to enter public life. Especially someone who was granted their peerage based on their work toward interfaith relations.

So it's been a busy week, and I've fallen behind again. Yesterday I spent half the morning at a coffeehouse talking with a local architect, whose firm's design I'd kind of torn apart at a recent Design Review Board meeting. And last night was my Board's annual Preservation Awards ceremony. It went well ... everyone had a good time, I had some interesting conversations, and I got to spend an inordinate amount of the evening hanging out by the buffet table. :)

Anyhow, since the weekend's almost here I realized I needed to catch up with some more photos from last Saturday ... so here you go:

( Photo-heavy post ... )

Wahoo!

I have been secretly working on it for months... I hope you like... please let me know what you think! xo - Ducky

http://www.loveuparties.com/ducky


P.S. I changed my twitter name and did not realize that ya'll did not get this news. Sorry!

I'm getting somewhere on the Shipwreck Shawl conversion! This is two rows into the Bleeding Heart chart.



Details, Q&A, a request for your input and kittycat pictures can be found on my journal.

I asked awhile ago about cotton being the best material to use to make dishclothes. I went to a yarn store today, but they didn't have a very good selection of cotton, but the lady there told me that cotton is alittle soft to make kitchen dish clothes and recomended I use hemp yarn instead (depending on my budget). She had an example dishcloth made of hemp yarn and it was quite course to the touch. But my grandma always used cotton to make dishclothes.. so now I'm confused. The only cotton yarn I've been able to find so far are ones for making baby clothes, so they are almost a sport weight.

Basically I'm wondering if I should use cotton or hemp yarn to make dishclothes. (I plan to make a few sets for christmas gifts). If I chose the cotton, would the sport weight be ok?

Also, I'm curious what kind of stiches I should use. I tested one pattern I found that was basically single crochet, chain, single crochet, chain, ect, and the next row you single crochet into the chain space and so on. It made a very open weave cloth but at the same time its a nice thickness. The only thing that bugs me is that it stretches one way (up and down) and not so much side to side. I can't tell if it would be an actual annoyance, or if I'm just being silly. lol.

Any advice would be appreciated. :D

I can't believe I am already 20 weeks. I have been looking back and reminiscing on my previous pregnancies and births. I don't have a great track record with "knowing" if baby is a girl or boy, but I feel boy this time. I was absolutely certain with my last pregnancy, this is more a general guess.

I have had a really hard time connecting with the baby up till now. I feel much better with the increased movement and pushing myself to try to mentally/spiritually connect as often as possible. My days are filled with caring for my 3 other children, and trying to hold down the fort for dh.

I also have had some doubts and negative thoughts about outcome. I don't know why I feel so negative sometimes. I had fears/qualms with #3 and he was face/brow, so it could be intuitive, but it doesn't feel like it. It just feels like random "what-if?" junk.

I really can't wait to experience labor and birth again, and I look forward to a new person in our lives. I'm starting to feel that the stress and strain in dh and my relationship may be the cause of the negativity. He has been going through some kind of depression/mid-life crisis, and is more needy than the kids when he is home. Frustrating for me, though I want to be supportive and understanding. We were trying for this baby when he started getting "weird" and then it was too late when I realised how depressed he was. So I started this pregnancy out with some reservation...

x-posted in my journal