Indiana Idylls

It wasn't two-thirty, but Alex had his first dentist visit this afternoon. He was very good, as usual -- if you allow as "good" the running around the office and playing with one of the foot pedals that made a satisfying "whoosh!" noise when stepped upon. My check-up was first, so he sat on my lap for quite a while watching the hygienist work. Of particular interest was the little suction nozzle, which I was asked to hold during the polishing segment. Alex was on my lap at that point, and the hygienist expected him to be startled and afraid, since most kids are skittish about the noise and the mysterious little device. Instead, he was very curious, and after he saw me use it the first time, he took it from me and was putting it in his mouth and trying to figure out how to close his lips around it. The hygienist and I were cracking up! I'm sorry I didn't have my camera. Needless to say, Alex seemed to love every minute of his own exam: the moving chair,...

Well, that's not strictly true. It IS the first quilt that I made following some semblance of instructions about to execute a quilted square. Previously, I had madly scribbled a pinwheel pattern on the back of a church bulletin, and despite the seemingly divine inspiration I forged ahead with no knowledge of how to properly cut a square, much less how to measure and cut and sew a properly-sized triangle. I digress. I did make the potholder you see here as a sort of tutorial project on piecing and binding, inspired by these beauties here at one of my new favorite "happy blogs". I love her palette and the colors and bright white make me smile. She's even doing a crazy give-away to celebrate her 100th post , including some of her lovely handmade things and beautiful fabric squares. Check it out! (Just yesterday, she posted a tutorial on making rick-rack napkins . The rick-rack I could take or leave, but it's a nifty idea and probably a better use of my small linen...

I feel like three months of chaos must be nearing its end. I mean, it's got to end, doesn't it?! Last week, we drove up to Dunkirk for Paul's grandmother's funeral. Paul caught a cold while we were there and was feeling pretty lousy for the first half of the week. I thought I was just suffering the aftermath of allergies, but last night I really started to feel awful, as if I were under water. As I'm lying on the couch after dinner, about to nod off, I am vaguely aware of this: Alex calls Paul a Bobo and falls in front of the couch. Paul says, "That was close. [Alex gets up and takes a step backwards] No. Don't do that again. You'll get hurt." There's a bang as Alex falls in front of the couch again. Paul jumps out of the recliner to get him, and heads off towards the kitchen. "You'll probably need stitches for that. Jess, I need your help." Turns out Alex was balancing on my crocs and jumping off. The second time he landed full...

Somehow, paying $1.98/gallon for gasoline again made everything seem better.