Scatterbrain post today:
Silas and Job found a blue chicken egg the other day and proudly brought it in. I asked where they found it, and got mixed answers. The big chicken coop? The little one? They answered, “Yes” to both places. “It’s a really pretty egg,” I told them. We usually get green eggs, and this one was decidedly blue. A little while later I heard crying from the kitchen. Evidently, Silas knocked the egg off the counter and it cracked, so he picked it up and threw it outside. When I walked in the room, Job was sobbing loudly at the back door, “The pretty egg!” he cried over and over. Silas walked over to him, and in his most matter-of-fact little grown-up voice said, “There’s no hope for it.”
Driving home the other night, somehow we got on the topic of me putting my foot in my mouth. I feel like it used to happen bi-annually at most, (but when it did it was bad). The past year things have gotten a little out of control. Jonny thinks it’s hilarious. In my defense, my hearing isn’t awesome, maybe too many punk shows with me standing near the speakers. Sometimes I misunderstand what someone says and reply with something completely wrong for the situation and come across as snobby or rude. I’m also so introverted that I blurt things out of nervousness. Though we’ve never had a particularly isolated lifestyle, I am finding myself in way more social situations than I used to. I guess because of all the kids and their sports. Then there are church functions, homeschooling co-op, and various get-togethers. The opportunities to say embarrassing things have really multiplied. A couple of weeks ago I told my friend, Angie, that seeing her husband at co-op for the first time, I could see the resemblance between him and all of her children. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but something like, “They really favor him!” “That’s not my husband,” she replied. He was actually another co-op mom’s husband, and friend of Angie’s family, which explained why her toddler son was following him around, but not the resemblance I thought I saw. I was pretty embarrassed at my mistake, but explained that I tend to say stupid stuff. Angie is very gracious and didn’t give me a hard time. At any rate, it was classic for me. “Your kids sure do resemble your friend’s husband!” Good one, Ginny.
Several people have asked me how it’s going with the chore chart… Those who know me well have asked with a knowing chuckle. Honestly, we’re using it, but no so much as a chore chart. The kids who are using it are Gabe, Keats, Larkspur, and Beatrix. (Seth will have no part of it.) The boys are using it for school subject reminders rather than chores. The girls are using it for school and chores. Because Gabe and Keats are participating in a homeschooling co op, they have quite a few subjects this year. Their assignments are all on Google docs, so I don’t write them out anymore like I used to. Having a tag to flip for each subject helps them keep up with what they have done, and helps me to know when to remind them. The system is working! I’ll add chore tags for the little boys eventually.
Jonny takes over beekeeping when I’m pregnant and postpartum. This was a busy summer, and that translated to not much beekeeping. We’re trying to quickly get the bees ready for winter, kind of last minute. We’re down to six hives, and I hope they survive the winter!
Thank you for all the orders! I am shipping most of them Friday, and the rest on Monday Tuesday (It was pointed out to me that Monday is a holiday. ) My latest dyeing experiment was with avocado pits. They make a pretty, soft pink. Next up, acorns!
p.s. I bought Mabel’s bib from Kinder Sprouts. She can’t be without one! So. much. drool.
Ruth says
Hi Ginny
Hope you get a message when a comment is added to an old blog. As always, I delight in the loveliness of your photos and wool and your tales of every day life. What I’m wondering about is the pattern for Mabel’s little cardigan. Is it one you’ve written about on Ravelry or one from somewhere else?
Ginny says
Hi Ruth!
I’m so sorry, but I don’t know what the pattern for that little white cardigan is called. It was a gift! 🙂
O Turner says
Thanks for getting back to me. I’ll have a look at some of your baby suggestions. I’m looking for nice and simple!
Ruth
Taryn Kae Wilson @ WoolyMossRoots says
Always love your posts Ginny. 🙂 I love being around people. Sometimes when I get a bit nervous, though, I get socially awkward and things come out wrong. I can totally relate!
Love the color from the avocado pits, how pretty. And Silas’ comment about the egg cracked me up. 🙂
Bee says
Hahaha Ginny, that thing you said about your friend’s husband! (or rather, not her husband) I said something JUST like that last year.
I was over at my sister-in-law’s house and noticed a family Christmas card from her husband’s side of the family. It featured his mom, his brothers, and their spouses and kids, and I said something like: “Wow, little X and Y look JUST like Z!” And my sister-in-law just looked at me askance and said: “But…Z is not their mom…”
I felt so embarrassed, but it was also hilarious.
PS. Love the pictures of Larkspur doing something serious while playing outside 🙂 Somehow she looks so grownup!
mamaashgrove says
Oh my goodness, I am the same way. How many times do I sit later, mortified and going over in my head the ridiculous thing I to someone?! ?
Linda says
Oh Ginny I love your posts, they keep me happy and feeling that all is well in the world when I know it really isn’t. I have so become the Queen of foot in the mouth that I almost want to stay in my house and not go out into the world!
Martha says
The yarn is lovely. ♥
Theresa says
Pink from avocado pits? So interesting. I love your blue bee hives, so cheery. As to foot in mouth, I do that a lot. The other day three friends were hanging out. Friend 1 says, “Okay girls, I am going to tell you a story, but it is pretty embarrassing , so I hope your opinion of me doesn’t drop. Wanting to encourage her, I said, “Donte worry my opinion of you can’t get any lower than it already is.” So friend 2 pipes up, “So your opinion is that low?” Boy was I back peddling. Outcome, we all had a laugh at my expenses.
Claudette says
All your kids are soooo cute, I love pictures of them. but Mabel is an absolute little doll!!! Just would love to hold her. And being a thumb sucker…the cutest! Love your posts so much, and you dye the most incredibly beautiful shades of yarn. Almost makes me want to learn knitting. Almost 🙂 LOL
Anne Kitching says
This was so funny. Your friend will be able to laugh about that for years to come [we hope]…..that moment when she considered maybe not setting you right……
That pink is lovely. I wish I knitted. I wish I could stand wool. 🙁
Barbara says
Helpful tip: Don’t try to ship (via the post office, anyway) on Monday. It’s Columbus Day, a legal holiday. Post Office won’t be open. But perhaps you use another shipping method. The yarn is lovely, by the way.
Eva says
You are so hilarious, Ginny! Often, I can so relate! I love reading your stories, thank you for writing.
Kate says
My problem is I get tongue-tied or mumble and then I have to repeat myself. My husband says part of my problem is that my brain works faster than my mouth; his works at the same speed and he’s very eloquent, always knows the right thing to say. I have a daughter who is hilarious socially; we call her “Miss Malaprop.” She’s also blonde, so we used to say she was having a “blonde moment.” Now that her hair is darkening to brown, we can’t say that. I have a dear niece whose sayings are memorable in the family. She once said to me, “I like that dress, Aunt K; it looks like a tablecloth.” (It was a checked maternity dress).
Cindy in NC says
I have to keep a bib on my grandaughter all the time because, like Mabel, she is a drool factory. I have a collection of decades-old bibs from when my own kids were babies (anybody remember Care Bears?). Miss A’s mama and aunts look forward to their daily “vintage bib” picture, and the older girls often remember their baby sister wearing a particular bib.
As always, Ginny, your children and photographs are lovely.
Cindy in NC
Nathana Clay says
Oh I relate to the saying silly things because I misheard! I am also introverted and sometimes do say things out of nervousness or to keep a conversation going when my mind panics. It can be quite embarrassing! But it can make for memorable moments!
Karen Ade says
Thank you for sharing your blooper, it made me REALLY laugh, which is always a good way to start the day!
What a beautiful shade of pink! From avocado pits, who would have thought!!
karen says
Oh my, I feel bad for your awkwardness….oops! I find that what we think is a really really big deal in social situations, others don’t blink an eye!! Whenever I socialize with people I’m not close, to I replay every single thing I’ve said and wonder did it offend anyone or did they understand what I meant. It can be exhausting!
Luckily, people have short memories and I easily find something else to fret over 🙂
Have a super weekend and I cannot wait to get my black walnut skein. We have those throughout our property 🙂
Emily DeArdo says
I feel you on the comment faux pas. Happens to me a lot. 🙂 With my good friends they just know I didn’t hear them, as opposed to me REALLY meaning what I just said.
Job and Silas! That was priceless. No hope for it. Made me laugh.
Bianca says
I love the pink. I have been saving the avocado skins, not knowing about the pits. I hope the skins work. Have you tried them? Acorns should give a tan, right? Someone just gave me some walnuts for dyeing. I have so much yarn now since I have no outlet for my experiments and I end up not knitting that much. I’ll do some pokeweed again this year but want to get a softer pink than the magenta it can make. Have you tried a weak bath?
Anyway, your yarn is beautiful. I still can’t figure out how you squeak in the time to do it! Go for it.
Eileen says
OMGosh, good thing I had swallowed my coffee before reading the 2nd paragraph of this post. I’m sure I woke my husband up laughing. Thank you, it’s wonderful to start my day with a good laugh and to know I am not the only one who says embarrassing things unintentionally. Have a great weekend Ginny and family!
Susan M says
What a beautiful picture of your yarns…..I can’t believe I got busy and forgot to check at the appointed time!!! 🙁
Melissa says
Love, love, love that avocado yarn. Can’t wait to get my pokeberry DK.
Like Mavis says; don’t worry about the awkward comments – we all do it on occasion.
Pom Pom says
The yarn went so fast! Wah!
That’s funny about the friend’s not-husband resembling the kids! I can see myself saying something like that, too.
Aw, the thumb sucker! Adorable!
Debbie Qalballah says
Oh I haven’t laughed so much in weeks! I recognise myself – so now my social conversation lies in asking questions – ‘is that your husband’, ‘are these your kids’ … once asked a woman if she was baby-sitting her grand kid, and she icily replied, ‘this is MY baby’… ouch.
Alison says
Oh, that’s not so bad. I am always being mistaken for my good friend, Zoe. It can be embarrassing, because I don’t always like to correct people (who can get frustrated when I don’t respond to their greetings, because they are using the wrong name!) When I was pregnant with my fourth child my husband walked into the Health store with the older kids and the girl behind the counter exclaimed “Oh! You must be the one responsible for impregnating Zoe!” He did not quite know how to respond, and she was quietly dying of embarrassment.
I think that half the resemblances we claim to see between parents and children are imagined, anyhow…
You amaze me with your productivity with a babe in arms. Your wool is so pretty. I love those pictures of the makeshift outdoor kitchen, too. We’re just starting to venture back outdoors a bit more in the southern hemisphere, and enjoying the buzz of our neighbourhood bees in the garden on the days that the sun comes out.
Emily says
Lovely post – I had a much needed giggle over your unintentional gaffe. Don’t worry – I routinely get into conversational tangles 🙂
Doña says
I love that avocado color! I can’t wait to see what the acorns do.
Laurel says
I just can’t believe that soft pink produced by avocado pits! I never would have guessed.
Mavis says
Pretty sure if I had had liquid in my mouth I would have spit it out when I read that part about your unintentionally awkward comment. Thanks for the laugh! We’ve all been there – don’t worry 🙂