The weasels are free! (watch your feet)

Since April of last year, the Adopt a Weasel event has generated a respectable number of donations for the MS Foundation from both pattern sales and weasels. If you are among those nice people who contributed, THANK YOU! I really, really do appreciate your generosity.

Now I feel like it's time to set the weasels free.

If you look over to the right under the Free Patterns section, you'll see a link to the PDF for the baby weasel pattern and his larger cousin, the beanie weasel. Both are available through the cool, new Ravelry pattern store, which I hope you can access even if you're not in Ravelry yet. (If you're not, and you can't, just drop me a note in the comments and I'll gladly send you the patterns you need.)

P.S. Update on the TMJ issue... I have dislocated cartilage in one of my jaw joints. So no surgery needed (yay!) but if I ever want to chew food again I need to splint it with a mouthguard that is inexplicably not covered by insurance. Thanks for hanging with me through the drama, and now I promise to stop talking about it. Let's all knit weasels instead!

Sorry, but this is the truth.

Every Valentine's day I'm reminded of how lucky I am.

I'm just ridiculously in love with my husband. That's all.

Plus, tonight we're taking the kids out for heart-shaped pizza at our favorite pizza place. Because our kids are awesome little people and we kind of love them a lot, too.

Gert's special valentine

For those who are curious, still no word about what might be going on with my jaw. I will say this, though. If anyone is ever trying to take an inside-out picture of your head and they suddenly tell you not to swallow for the next three minutes, guess what? The desire to swallow will utterly consume you.

Do you know how long three minutes is? It's exactly 180 seconds, and I know for a fact that I resisted the urge to swallow exactly 180 times during those three minutes.

We're making lots of valentines at my house this week. Meaning that, from the depression in the couch where I typically sit and shout things at my children, I've been announcing that We Need to Make Some Valentines! Come On! Glitter! Cardstock! Yay! And then everyone mumbles something in agreement, goes back to whatever they were doing, and I make a mental note to purchase a box of Hello Kitty cards for Gert's class.

Gert, at least, has gotten into the spirit of the thing. The other day, she spent a good 45 minutes crafting a very elaborate card with hand-drawn fairies and flowers. When she was done, she called me over and asked me to spell some words.

"Who's this for?" I asked. I was grinning on the inside watching her put this much effort into it, because most of Gert's creations are gifted to either me or daddy. It's very sweet.

"I can't tell you! How do you spell 'Happy'?" I spelled out each word of Happy Valentine's Day for her.

Then she asked me to spell "door."

"Dora?"

"No. Door!"

"Door? Like a door to a room? That kind of door?"

"Yes!"

So I spelled it. And she went and got a piece of tape and stuck her elaborate valentine to the back door.

"Happy Valentine's Day, door!" Gert said lovingly to the large piece of laminate. She patted it, kissed its doorknob, and then skipped off to the next room to play.

WTF.

This morning I met with an oral surgeon about my jaw, which provided shockingly little insight.

Here's pretty much how it went.

Him: So what seems to be the trouble?

Me: I'm having some trouble with my jaw. The side of my face hurts, and it feels like something is pulling when I try to open my mouth.

Him: Let's take a look. Can you open your mouth for me? You're not opening very wide. Are you usually able to open wider than that?

Me: Um. No. That's kind of the problem.

Him: Do you chew a lot of gum?

Me: No. I don't really ever chew gum. But I tend to clench my teeth a lot.

Him: So you don't chew a lot of gum?

Me: No.

Him: Hard bagels? Candy?

Me: Not really.

Him: Have you been in an accident recently where you would have had any trauma to your jaw?

Me: No.

Him: Do you chew a lot of gum?

I'm going in for an MRI later this week because apparently I don't chew enough gum.

Elf feet!

If you are as much of a nerd about these things as I am, or even if you're not, you have to agree that this is the most adorable footwear I've ever put on the feet of my children.





They're knitted and felted elf slippers, handmade by momma-yaya. They are absolutely perfect. It's like they were molded and custom tailored to my kids' feet. They're warm, and soft, and lightweight. I can't get Gert to even wear socks around the house, but she lives in these slippers.

I highly recommend that you order a pair of elf feet for your own kids (or yourself!) over at momma-yaya's etsy shop!

So cute! I love them!