An update on all things

Melatonin - We had high hopes for melatonin and it is very much making bedtime an easier affair. But there are some cons to using this stuff and the big one is that often Hen will wake up in the middle of the night both wide awake and hungry. Once fed he doesn't want to return to sleep. We figured out this is probably because Hen used to stay awake so long - not going to sleep until anywhere between 9:30p.m. and 11p.m. - that he would request and receive food for what can only be called Second Dinner. Drat.

Car - A few months ago we sold Olive (a.k.a. the dog car) and turned ourselves into a one-car family. The transition was easy as it is rare when Darr needs the car. Enter ski season. We knew it was coming and we knew Darr's taking the car for the day would inconvenience me. So far, I've only had to wake Hen up to take Darr to his friend's house to catch a ride a couple of times and Darr's only taken the car a couple of times but I find myself perusing car sites to pick our next vehicle. As Darr, himself, pointed out, Sophie is seven years (110,000+ miles) old so it isn't crazy to think about getting a new vehicle and rewarding her with a post retirement job that is less demanding. Cars I am currently considering include the Fiat - because, seriously, how cool is it that we can go smaller?, another Mini Cooper (Darr thinks the 4WD model is awesome), the Volvo C30 (yep, it was Edward's car in Twilight), and a Honda Element (probably used since they stopped making them a year ago). I am torn. I believe we can totally manage with just one car but I also feel as if having a second shiny new car would be fantastic. Vroom! Vroom!

Photography - Despite the beautiful blue skies we've had the past couple of days, I am feeling very uninspired. I can't work on the strobist techniques I learned because I have none of the gear. Thankfully, a lot of the gear doesn't cost all that much - an umbrella is $19, an umbrella adapter $28, a stand $52. The piece that does cost a lot, the flash, is around $400-$800 depending on which model you get. Sigh. This is not an inexpensive hobby.

Knitting - I have learned the box stitch. Or at least I think I have. As explained in this book, the box stitch is as follows: Rows 1-2 K2, P2 / Rows 3-4 P2, K2, repeat. But if you have a row that is or is not divisible by 4, the rows aren't going to line up the same. Also, as Darr commented after hearing my confused ranting whilst in the middle of a knitting project the other night as yet another mistake was found in the pattern, there appears to be very little quality control when it comes to fact-checking the accuracy of the pattern. I find this highly annoying. Hen loves his jellyfish, though. He has named her Flower.

Pets - We have them, they are getting old, they are puking around the condo A LOT. I took one cat in a month ago and the doctor determined there was nothing wrong with her. So we changed cat food per his suggestion and everyone continued to randomly puke. The most disturbing thing is that now that they are so old, they can't move very fast. We will often wake in the middle of the night to find them hacking and vomiting all over the bed. Despite all of this, we are contemplating getting a gerbil/hamster/guinea pig because one of the preschool pets is pregnant and there will be babies. Ahhhh...cute gerbil/hamster/guinea pig babies...

Travel - Hen is so very excited about the Mexico! He is packing for it every day. Which basically means he packs one set of sea creatures in his backpack, unpacks them throughout the course of the day, and packs a new set of sea creatures the following day. Also, I had thought I might need to make Mr. S Hen's guardian so that he could travel with Hen but, after checking with the Mexican Embassy, I learned a travel authorization letter signed by Darr and myself will be enough. Hen has, of course, his passport and I will be at the airport when they arrive lest there be any problems. I guess the airline thought it was a bit weird for a grown man to be leaving the country with a kid that was not his own and who was not traveling with either of his parents. Go figure.