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I would be far more at peace with the universe if I saw good people get more of what they deserve. Instead, I am always amazed at the new lows wicked people will embrace in order to get what they want. My only real consolation is that I truly believe God sorts everything out in the end and that there will eventually be an absolute justice. If I lacked faith in that one concept I’d truly go insane.

I don’t have the time and space (or energy) to go into details and since I’m not directly involved I would be gossiping, but I just wish people would be nicer to each other. Life would be so much easier if people would just be nice. Nice is nearly effortless anyway, mean and nasty take too much effort– I guess nice people are just emotionally lazy.

Enough philosophy and pouting! Don’t want to give the impression that I actually might be deeper than a teaspoon or anything.

I am somewhat finished on the pink soakers. I knit them up but I have to weave in the ends and then wash and block them. Lexi wore her green soakers for the first time yesterday when we went to the beach– they fit her nicely and were perfectly practical for the weather (dry with chilly winds) so I’m actually rather proud of myself and my knitting talents.

Josey is bracing himself for the first grade, he has that mixture of excitement and apprehension. Since we’ve started tinkering with his diet his behavior and focus has improved ten-fold, and he’s not wetting the bed anymore so he’s a bit more confident.

The evil-ex is trying to undermine everything in the diet direction, calling me a liar (to Josey, since he doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to actually say anything to my face but hides behind small children) but fortunately, Josey has made the connection between what he eats (and doesn’t eat) and how he feels– as far as Mr. Dufus saying that I’m lying– I told Josey that “Maybe your other daddy just doesn’t understand..blah..blah..blah..” Insert diplomacy here!

Not wetting the bed is an obvious clue to a six year old, Josey knows that I’m not lying because he can see the results– however, the ex either doesn’t realize or care that he’s damaging his relationship with Josey by trying to attack me. It’s sad that he’s so hostile that he doesn’t think about the consequences of his actions, I could care less about what he thinks of me but it hurts Josey when he pulls nasty stunts like this.

Again– nice is easier. I’ll just keep telling myself this.

I need to finish plying up this stuff, I have some pink soakers on the needles for Lexi and once there’s pink yarn I can actually knit the legs.

Princess-fussy-pants gives me about an hour each day (broken up into two minute increments of course) to do whatever I want: shower, eat, write, spin, knit, etc. Very generous of her.

I should try to get some more dying done today before things pick up and get hectic again, I did actually manage to get some spinning done (pink roving into pink singles) last night so I’ll spend some late night hour plying.

Matt put some frozen hamburger into the fridge to thaw yesterday so I’ll probably work dinner around that– hmmm… Although it’s not really the healthiest thing in the world (little of the tasty stuff is) I think I’ll chicken fry some patties. If you want to cook along try this:

Fry some peppered bacon or sausage drain the grease from the meat and leave it in the pan. Make thin hamburger patties.
1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp sweet (not hot) ground paprika

1/2 tsp ground sage (or 1 tsp fresh diced sage)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper (use black if you are desperate, or 1/8 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp cayenne if you like spicey)

lemon zest to taste (optional)

2 or 3 eggs

Whip the eggs and put into a flat bottomed bowl, mix dry ingredients together in another dish (with flat bottom, a large plate or pie pan works). Warm up the frying pan and dip the hamburger patty (covering it lightly but completely) into the dry mix, then into the egg, (this is where it gets messy) then back into the dry mix. Now fry that baby up just like you would a regular hamburger patty.

Ugly but delicious!

Not a whole lot of time to work on my blog. Earlier this week Josey was hogging the computer for his games and if he wasn’t on the computer and I wasn’t busy caring for Lexi and getting caught up on housework then my attendance was required for board games with him.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do while he’s at school this year, I was half-crazy without him while he was at kindergarten last year and he was only going to school at morning hours– this year it’s a full day. I worry that Josey will have problems again this year, he was doing much better with his focus and then he went to his fathers house for a week and came back one very upset, confused and pissed off little kid. John is such an idiot, trying to play “Mr. Perfect” for Josey but then he takes Josey for a week and works all week, leaving him at day care or with his wife and her kids. Nice huh?

Fortunately, my husband is helpful and very considerate– he understands Josey’s issues and keeps everyone on this end sane.

Right now I’m on a quest for gluten/casein free cake recipes. I’m dying to bake a cake but I just don’t feel right doing it unless EVERYONE can eat the darned thing. This is where Google is my best friend.

Maybe I’ll luck out and find a carrot cake recipe with no gluten, casein or apples! Although I really doubt it, I’ll try. I may just have to go into the kitchen and make a tasty mess. I still have to figure out the physics of gluten free baking. Some of the GF flours that I’ve bought over absorb the moisture and others don’t have the desired texture in the finished product. I like rice flour (a staple when I was a vegetable– err.. vegetarian) and I’m pretty good at making things with oat flour and compensating– but rice flour doesn’t disolve in saliva like regular wheat flour, and oat flour is drier and sweeter, which makes it good for cookies and bad for pie crusts and it’s not exactly gluten free either.

I have found that oat flour is definitely better for waffle making than even wheat flour, because it’s a bit gluey and crisps nicely.

I have not yet figured out how to man a drop spindle and breastfeed at the same time. I’m such a loser! I know it’s possible– I just haven’t figured it out yet.

Riddle: How is a good bra like a best friend? Neither should let you down!

I know it’s cheesey but I’m coming up with my own material here..

Alexanne and I went to our babyshower on Saturday. It was uncomfortable squared. My step-sister hostessed the bash at Mom’s house, and my other step-sister brought the cake. A couple of my friends were actually invited, Rebecca and Audrey– so at least it was a small shin-dig. I’m just so bothered by the whole concept of a party just to get gifts, actually I like showers for weddings and babies– just not for me. I guess it goes back to not wanting to gain the evil-eye but between everyone holding my daughter and passing her around like a Christmas puppy, graciously accepting gifts from kind-yet-slightly-misguided givers, spending more than ten minutes in a room with my mom, and fielding baby questions I nearly bit my tongue in half trying to pretend I’m half way civilized.

Mercifully, Matt and Josey came in about half way through the party and really helped me keep it together. Joesph is a good big brother at least he’s trying to be, we still need to work on the “Alex is sleeping so we’re quiet” concept, but he’s taking the changes rather well. Matt is still man of the century in my book, I love that he’s taking the time off from work, but I wish he’d just slow down and enjoy some of the time without fussing over all of us.

I’ve had the most exciting week.

Baby Alexanne Marie Meyer was born 3:10 am on Wednesday, August 6th at HOME. My husband and I didn’t intend on having her at home but my water broke, ten minutes and two contractions later we had ourselves a beautiful baby girl. The ambulance people looked so confounded when they arrived and I’m sitting up in bed with Alex in a towel, her umbilical tied off with but what? a piece of yarn (there’s a story in that, I’ll go into it later).

Three days at the hospital: little pain, no complications we’re both healthy and checked out.

My mother came and bothered my husband and I. I love her but she’s not quite right in the head and can be very annoying, I had to ask her to leave my hospital room. I had to reassert the fact that Josey and Alex are my children– not hers and then I had to deal with her hostility until I told her to leave and go cool down. (Story in that too! Not enough server space in the world to even touch on that topic). I hated being the adult with my mother when I was a kid and I hate it even more now, she’s a lovely person but very sick and I’ve learned to draw very clear lines with her.

So, I think she still thinks I’m the ungrateful anti-christ, but I’ll live with it, she’ll get over it and go back to being her usual passive agressive self.

Ready for the pictures?

How confusing is it for right-handed people to teach lefties to spin or knit?

I teach right handed people to do all sorts of crafty things and never have a problem and I’m probably the most severely weft (or sinister= left handed) person I know. I spent the morning un-teaching a friend how to knit left-handed according to a rightie, maybe we could say they were a wrongie.

What a great fuss about nothing, but it’s all better now.

Made some long legged soakers, one pink and green pair and one minty blue (raspberry ice lemonaide Kool aid color) working on spinning up some tropical punch so that I can debate with myself over a tiny little apron coat or some stunning red soakers for the baby.

Have to play catch up on my email, haven’t answered any for about a week.