Summer, Don't Go!

I really don't want summer to be over, ever. We got a postcard in the mail yesterday with the kindergarten registration dates. I'm going to miss Jordan so much once he starts school - all day Monday through Friday. Sasha and I will be lonely and bored, I think.

Anyway, these water bottle holders, which I can only describe as awesome, totally say "summer" to me. I have to have water with me at all times, and I hate hate hate carrying it with me when I walk. These really come in handy for walking, running, biking, fairs, craft fairs...any time you want your hands free but you might get thirsty. They also work as a great insulator for your drink on a hot day.

I crocheted them myself using cotton yarn. Although I got the idea from a book, I made the pattern myself. I can make them in any color, and I can make the strap any length. I got some great pictures of my sister Miriam modeling them too.

I think the best thing about these water bottle holders is the reaction they get from older women at craft shows. They don't know what they're for, and their first reaction seems to be that they do something naughty, judging by the giggling. So apparently they have multiple purposes. In any case, they're for sale in my online store at http://www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com/.

Snotty Olives

I, as I imagine most people would be, am pleased any time my children show evidence of possessing interesting or unique talents. Sasha's predilection for squirting pieces of food out of her nose, however, is not my favorite discovery. First there was the fettuccine incident, and now we've had an olive incident. Yes, my daughter somehow managed to inhale several large chunks of black olive into her nasal cavity while eating. She then fussed and cried and said nose nose nose for several minutes, until I finally realized she was saying nose, got a tissue and told her to blow. At this point I saw a little bit of olive poking out of her nose. I told her to blow again, but she's not very good at it yet so that had little effect. Finally I managed to sort of squeeze the olive chunks out of her nose. I can only imagine what she'll get in there next. The only thing I ever had to extract from Jordan's nose was a pea that he inserted himself, in the conventional manner of small children.

In other news, we definitely need to knock down the wasp nests underneath our deck. There are four of them, growing larger by the day. I think they're also building under the kids slide, because Sasha got stung by one the other day when she was over there. Apparently the fact that she can distinguish between flies and wasps and name them correctly doesn't mean that she knows better than to touch a wasp. I had forgotten how much wasp stings hurt, until I accidentally put my arm down on one while hanging up laundry. Thirty-six hours later I have a large red patch surrounding the bite mark on my arm, and it seems to be spreading. I called my mom to ask her if I should be concerned, and she offered helpful advice like "if you can't feel your fingers, then you should be concerned".