Wet wool and Kool Aid

Yesterday I dyed some yarn using unsweetened Kool Aid.  I had this idea for a variegated yarn in a combination of deep berry and vibrant purple.  So I went to  Giant to buy some Kool Aid in black cherry and grape flavors.  Only Giant was out of grape.  So I bought some blue raspberry lemonade, and some pink lemonade, then came home and assembled my tools.  (The flowers were from Jeremy for our anniversary).

I mixed my Kool Aid.  On the right is straight black cherry, and on the right is the cloudy purple I got by mixing the black cherry with the blue raspberry lemonade.  Not ideal, but I figured it would work.
Then I put my wool in the pot to soak for half an hour before adding the Kool Aid.  I could tell from the start that I wasn't going to get the saturated color I was looking for, but it was only my first try, and anyway, it would work for its intended purpose: longies for Natalya.

They looked a little like someone vomited up Pepto Bismol while hanging to dry, but I think the colors are prettier in the skein.

Almost six weeks

Time is racing by, though sometimes at 2:30 a.m. it doesn't quite seem that way (and by the way, why do we pay for cable when even the paid channels only air paid programming at 4 a.m.?). Natalya is well into her second month of life, and we've hit a few milestones: smiling while awake, holding her head up for more than a second at a time, and "standing" on her feet when you hold her up. Jeremy is trucking along in his Russian studies despite lack of sleep, and I'm trying my best at the hausfrau thing. I'll let you know when I have it figured out.

We celebrated our second anniversary last week.  The celebration was a bit different from that of our first anniversary, which we spent in Venice.  Less poop there.  This year, Natalya's Tetya Alya babysat so that we could go out for a nice dinner at our new favorite sushi place.  We got the boat.  It was way more sushi that two people should ever eat, but we took down most of it.  This baby weight isn't going anywhere ...

Lesson of the day

Today I learned:

How to get poop stains out of sheets and baby clothing (a cold rinse followed by liberal application of Spray 'n' Wash and a hot wash).

How to get poop stains out of a PUL diaper cover (a cold rinse followed by a hot wash and drying in the sun).

How to get poop stains out of a wool Afghan rug (blot with a mixture of 50% cold water and 50% white vinegar. If the rug dye bleeds, just be happy that it's dye and not poop marring your beautiful carpet).

Life, it will never be the same.

Portrait of a Nap

Natalya

Figlet is finally here, and it turns out that he is a she! We were both pretty sure we were having a boy, but earlier this week, I dreamt that I woke up from a nap during labor to discover that I had given birth to a baby girl with dark brown hair. Labor wasn't quite so easy (20 hours of active labor plus back pain due to the fact that Natalya was posterior, meaning that her skull was raking against my vertebra as she made her way down), but she does indeed have the dark hair!

Our new master bathroom

We finished the master bathroom remodel about four weeks ago, but have postponed putting up the photos because we couldn't find the "before" pictures that it turns out, we never actually took. So you will just have to imagine the gross "before" bathroom - tiny little shower, dingy white tile, discolored grout, oversized vanity and cruddy light fixtures. And here is the after:

Being Old

Every once in awhile it hits me that I'm old, and only getting older. Like yesterday, Jeremy and I were at Target picking out a brown bathmat for our newly renovated master bathroom. All of a sudden I noticed, at the end of the aisle, a girl I knew from college. We had actually hung out a fair amount for most of my first year. And I could not remember her name. So I walked away without saying hello (after all, if I'd forgotten her name, she might have forgotten me entirely, and that would have been kind of embarrassing), and began to do the math in my head. My first year of college was 13 years ago.

I'm old.

Nesting

It seems both of us are! Today I

* cooked a huge pot of spaghetti sauce to freeze for meals after the baby comes
* washed and dried all of Figlet's newborn clothes, receiving blankets, washcloths and crib sheets, and put them all away
* continued knitting my latest pair of longies.

Today Jeremy

* put together my dad's old crib (which all of the Herbst kids slept in)
* installed the carseat base into our car and figured out how to adjust the actual seat
* finally hung the pictures on the wall (they'd been sitting on the floor in the upstairs hallway for two months)
* hung a tapestry in the first-floor hallway

We also attended a Cloth Diapering 101 session, took my sewing machine into the shop for a repair, hit a thrift store and a farmer's market, and did the week's grocery shopping. Now Jeremy's out with some A-100 buddies, and I'm watching old episodes of the original 90210 online. A very productive day.

The Herbst women (minus Matriarch)

Last beach picture, but had to get the lovely ladies that prowl the beach in the summer.

More Beach Week

And then the waves came, and we surfed! Now surfing in the OBX is like downhill skiing in Nebraska. You can do it, you're impressed with yourself, but it's not going to win you any kudos out in the real world. But hey, I'm an expert now, so come to me for tips. Nick and I took a lesson (Tip #1: Buy a DVD and save some money). We had such a good time that we rented boards the next two days to try our hand (Tip #2: Make sure you have waves before you rent a board). Needless to say, we got others in the Herbst clan to overcome their shark fear (Tip #3: Don't watch Shark Week on Discovery before you come to the beach), and try out surfing. After a many falls, wipe outs and chapped nipples (Tip #4: Wear a shirt), we were surfers!