First, a child who is neither Rob nor looks like her father, Sophia. She and, to be fair, her brother and sister are always losing their glasses, so I snapped the picture when hers had actually been found for once. I'm sure they're already lost again... She looks so much older than her eight years here, amiright?

We had coupons for free flatbread pizzas at Chili's, so we went for dinner Friday night. Only, when we got there, we found a line going out the door and a 40-minute wait. We were going to leave, but Jack begged us to go into the restaurant next door: Portofino. We said we would check out the menu and see if it was affordable on our meagre budget - and it was! Here's Jack, lying down on the bench next to me while we waited for our food.

And this is the same child, posing with Yours Truly, who is almost embarrassed to post this picture of me looking so OLD. I don't, normally, swears! It's just that my face is pushed up on his and- oh, never mind.

And finally, there is the daddy in question, along with his mini-me, Chloë. The two of them, man! Since she was born, it's like he's looking in a mirror!

We ordered the Margherita pizza at Portofino, and Sophie stuck her head in when I went to Instagram it. Silliness!

After dinner - which was superb, by the way - we went to walk off our full bellies around the shopping complex where Portofino lives. At the back of the buildings, we found approximately 80,000 itty-bitty toads jumping around the grass. Sophie lovescatching anything that moves, really, so she begged us to let her go catch one. All the kids joined in the fun.

They caught one each, and then two and three each, and everyone was in hysterics. We were quite the merry band of misfits, leaping around trying to catch toadlets. We were up to no good after that, blowing out the torch flames outside a third restaurant, setting toads free (and then catching them) inside a building, and so on. We're such good examples! :\

On Sunday, in the afternoon, we headed over to our community clubhouse pool for the first time. It's 25 bucks to get in, which is a ridiculous racket if you ask me, but we didn't have it on us, so they just let us in. I never would have imagined four years ago that I'd be standing there, posing in my bathing suit for all the world to see!

The kids - and we parents, truth be told - had a blast in the pool. Sophia found a mask and spent the time diving around, looking at everyone and everything underwater. Jack learned to swim, though not well and not for long, but it's a great start. Chloë mostly hung out in the shallow water and by the steps. She's a very timid, delicate little flower, don't you know.

The kids all clung to me at one point, making a "Baby Raft." It was a lot easier to hold three babies at once when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. Little bit more difficult now!

After the pool, we dried off and went to Chili's for those flatbreads. They were good, but I'll leave that alone for now as I want to keep this a positive post! ;) After dinner, we again needed to walk off our full tummies, so Chloë asked to go walk around the neighborhood. We haven't done that in a while, like we use to do on a nightly basis.

At the lake, Sophie stopped short and pointed, sadly. There was a dead duck on the ground. We've been joyously watching the eggs, then the babies, and the parents, and now, this sad end of the the lifecycle. She's got such a tender heart for animals, but sometimes it needs to happen, and we can't always avoid it.

I love this picture of Jack. The way he's standing, his posture - so grown. Not big, of course, but an older stance. He's so proud of being TEN!

After we left the lake, we walked around the rest of the neighborhood, where I took fotos of everything from, as my dad would say, "the ridiculous to the sublime." You'll see.

Sophia, lover of all creatures great and small, was the first to spot this "callapittar." (She still says it before catching herself.) I cautioned her immediately not to touch it, having more than one run-in with a spiky caterpillar in my own day and not wanting her to experience the same discomfort. They heeded (hed?) my warning.

I wish I knew plants. I like flowers, but I never know what they are. I don't like picked, gifted flowers generally, though. I like them in the ground, where (to me) they belong.

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose...

Believe it or not, when I take these pictures, I usually try to compose them nicely. I took an art class my last semester of college, and I learned about making a composition work so that your eye keeps moving back up and doesn't fall off the bottom of the page. Items in the composition are supposed to lead your eye upward. That's what I was trying to accomplish here, but when I don't think I achieved that in this case. So, a picture of blurry fleurs for nothing.

Same here, although I do think this composition is resolved. Eh, whatever. You don't come here to be wowed by my artistry, anyway. (Why do you come here? It's all blither and blather all the time. My husband likes that, but you?)

This hose was striking to me, so I took a picture of it. Even hose need love. Heh. See what I did there?

I love, love, love palm trees. It's what I think of when I think of Miami, and it's the first thing I looked for when we moved down here in March. They fascinate me to no end. Even the "palm carcasses," as I call them, lying around on the ground, entertain me. Such huge leaves sloughed off in an instant - amazing!

Surprisingly, I think it was Jack who spotted this little guy (or gal?) climbing up an apartment wall. The kids crowded around to get a peek, and of course Soap wanted to take him home. We vetoed that idea immediately, and when she asked why, Rob said, "Because he's got important snail stuff to do!" True, but it tickled me just the same.

Hm. When I spotted this gouge in the sidewalk, and when I first took the picture, it looked like an eye crying. Now, I don't see it. Do you see it? I don't see it.

On Instagram, I captioned this one, "It's Electric! Boogie-woogie-woogie," and now I want to go to a wedding, which may be the last place on earth where it's safe to do that dance.

Chloë, my little treehugger, was asking about how pigs and cows, etc., get slaughtered for their meat. Sophie, too, but when I finally broke down and filled her in a little bit, she declared she might join me in vegetarianism. I make no push to get them to do this, but if she so chooses, I'd let her.

I love animal behavior, and really, all behavior is interesting - including that of this flower, all closed up for the night. Still beautiful!

I tried to make a picture of all three kids being, as we are always telling them to be, "nice, kind, sweet and loving." Only, when Sophie's hair fell in Jack's face, he had a conniption about it and the moment was spoiled. I took the picture anyway, because it amuses me greatly.

I don't like to let the kids run on sidewalks and other hard surfaces, because they are klutzy like their mama, and I hate to see a busted-up face. They wanted to race down the length of the sidewalk, and Rob let them, however. Well, I guess this one time won't kill them. I should video the kids running. Maybe next time I will. Sophia takes off like a shot; Jack keeps up fairly well, but Chloë tip-toes along ever so daintily. It's highly entertaining.

After the race - which Sophia won, natch - we were all barefoot, so I stopped to take a picture. I guess you can guess which are mine? We are not big-footed people, but the mutant (Sophie, that is) has the largest feet. At 8, she's already wearing my size 5½ shoes! Meanwhile, I still have to shop for Jack's in the toddler section...

Sophia found this something-or-other-plant and picked it up, declaring that it was her trophy for winning the foot race. She's so much fun, that one!

At that point, Chloë pointed up at the sky and showed us the streams of light from the setting sun. Beautiful. Thanks, God, for that glorious day.

Closer up, that cloud looked somewhat alarming. We headed home.

Another arty one, sorry. This time, I pointed top left, instead of top right. I don't normally do that, so take note, because there will be a quiz at the end!

This one neighbor's apartment was Fern City. I wish I didn't have a black thumb. I love things that grow; I just seem to have a knack for making them stop doing that.

{Oops, this was from outside Chili's, after the pool; it was in the wrong place in my photo line-up. We headed straight there after swimming, without stopping to go home for clothes, and Chloë had nothing to wear except her swimsuit. I rustled through the back of the van and came up with this shirt of mine for the Goodwill bin! She loved it, which was funny, because it's way too big even for me!}

We passed by the mailboxes and saw, as usual, "Mailbox Kitty" there. Before I could stop her, Sophia had scooped her up and given her quite the vigorous snuggle. "Into the tub as soon as we get home!" I decreed. Fine to pet and wash hands, but this was too much. And yeah, she's blind, poor thing.

And then Jack did the same thing! So they both had showers as soon as we got home, because as sweet as she is, she's probably home and habitat to all manner of who-knows-what. I do think my boy-child looks particularly beautiful in this photo.

And then we reached home, shortly after visiting Mailbox Kitty. They're making the Peace sign, if you couldn't tell. Why they look so sad here is anyone's guess. The idea of baths to come, maybe?

Thanks for visiting. 

Fin.

Link up with Mrs. 4444 Unknown Mami, who is taking over for summer, if ye be fragmentin' today!

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Is it seriously Flag Day already? Holy cow. Where is this month going? It's flying by, that's for sure. For you, too?

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I was talking with Rob (Hubs) in the car today about Kate Middleton and how I enjoyed following the Royal Windsor (right?) family ever since I watched Lady Di marry Prince Charles back when I was five years old, in 1981. He was surprised I remembered it. Who could forget this:

I've long been a fan and was honestly crushed when she died in 1997. Here she was, in her 30s, blonde and blue-eyed, dying suddenly and tragically, leaving behind two young children of the same sex... hm. Similarities to my own story much? Anyway. So I have followed Prince William's marriage and the baby bump story and all that with keen interest.

Rob posited that the Di/Charles story was a bigger one than the William/Kate one, on the world stage, as far as news stories go. I heartily disagreed. So I thought I'd ask you guys. What do you think? Is Kate as big a fairy tale story as that of her departed mother-in-law? I say equal.

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So sorry for the shameless begging request, but could you please comment on this review post? I don't have a huge ton of readers and need to get back to my sponsors with some feedback from folks. Thanks, y'all rock for helping me out! I promise I'll be a good little blahgger and visit back this week, too. No slacking for once, swears!

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Didja get your free donut on at Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, or anywhere else on Friday? It was National Doughnut Day. Yup. We partook. I didn't eat a single bite, though; I am behaving so I can stay put in Rob's jeans! 

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The kids were sent books and pens (because you write in books?) by my dad on Saturday, and the girls dove right in. Jack just rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "Oh, yay, another book." He's picked up reading a little more in the last couple-three months, but I definitely wouldn't call him a bookworm yet. We've instituted Family Reading Hour as of yesterday, and so far it hasn't stuck. We'll keep at it, though. It's important to us.

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We made Pillsbury Cresent Rolls the other day, and Sophia took the ends off the tube and turned herself into a housefly! I loved it. She's so fun, so creative, such a happy-go-lucky girl... I do adore her so, like all the children, but Sophie really has a knack for making us laugh!

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I took the kids to the $1 movie on Tuesday for Regal Cinemas' summer movie program. Used to be a free one by AMC or Cinemark or something too (nope, I just checked; it was Regal itself that used to be free), but apparently they're all a dollar now.  It's a bit of a hike to get there, too, or we might have gone back for The Three Stooges on Wednesday. We saw Ice Age: Continental Drift this week, and it was really pretty good for a multiple-sequel flick! I'd brought my knitting along, expecting to be buried in it, but I actually didn't get that much done because of having my eyes on the screen. I can't wait to go again next week. Looks like we'll have to choose between Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days and Parental Guidance for next week. We've seen the first, and isn't the latter not for little kids??

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The rain actually let up for once today, so we headed out to a park we haven't been to before this. Of course, as we made our way there, the sky completely opened up and down it came. Rob and the kids sat in the van when we got there and, hopeful, applied some sunscreen. Finally, the downpour slowed to a trickle and they got out to fish (the boys) and rollerskate (girls) while I stayed inside to knit. My nausea and dizziness returned with a vengeance after a few days off today, plus it's no fun to knit with wet yarn, or I'd have been happy to join them.

I actually did come out temporarily when I got bored of being by myself, and the whole fam-damily was all gathered on the fishing platform. I caught up with them as they watched a turtle chug down some shrimp left behind by a previous fisherperson. {As for Rob, he was using some crab legs that we'd gotten from Omaha Steaks for bait. I gave him my blessing to do that because I really didn't care for it the first time we tried it; I don't think I'll order from them again, since they're pricey and yet, a letdown! If we ever order frozen food to be delivered again, I already known Schwan's is the way to go - at least for Team Odette!}

After a spell, with no fish biting, we decided to make our way over to the restaurant at the park marina for dinner. The kids ate French potaters and mozzarella sticks - too much fried food, anyone? - while Hubs and I noshed on spinach and artichoke dip (meh, it was okay, but I wasn't wowed by any stretch) and tilapia sandwiches (total blech. I took two bites and ran to the bathroom, overcome with nausea). Rob will finish my sandwich, and I'll gladly be returning to full-on vegetarianism after this, I think!

We all shared chocolate mousse cake and Key Lime cheesecake for dessert, and I remained underwhelmed. For our limited budget to be spent on a dinner that I didn't find terrific, I was bummed. I know the grille at the park we usually visit will cook your catch and provide sides for just seven bucks a plate, so I'm planning on Rob catching some fish in the future! I won't eat it, but I can still proudly Instagram him doing it, right?

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Speaking of today's failed fishing venture, Rob managed to catch his karaoke kabuki suzuki sabiki rig on the bottom and get it stuck. He ran over to the van and got out his dive booties, so he could jump in and retrieve it. I was just looking on with interest until he said, "There are no crocodiles around, right?" Duh, Melanie! We were RIGHT NEXT TO the croc warning sign, and yet I'd forgotten about them. Instantly, I freaked out on him and refused to let him jump in, despite his protests about what we could do with his life insurance funds if he got eaten. Um, no thanks. Twelve-and-½ years ago I swore I didn't care if we were poor and living in a shack with nothing but each other (and our future children), and I meant it, dadgummit!

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Well, that's enough, I'd say. Nothing else in my brain rattling around right now. Lucky you - I'm finished! Have a good weekend, folks.

Fin.

I've had lots of product reviews to do lately, and I thought I'd take a second and combine them into one, longer post so you can see what I've had a chance to try out lately. Forgive me for all the shameless plugs, but I can promise you one thing: if I didn't like the free goodies I was given, I wouldn't post about them here. In fact, more than once I have decidedly NOT liked the product and told the company so and been asked not to review it. (Subsequently, one of those companies changed their formula and has been all over the blahgosphere, Twitter, Pinterest, and more with their new campaign. I'm keeping mum as to who it is, though, so don't ask me!)

I reviewed a new eyelash serum by Fysiko just a little bit ago, and I'm plugging them again here because I'm still amazed that this stuff actually works. I nearly forgot I had hair there!

Yeah, those are my gnarly shoes and even gnarlier feet, trying out Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Insoles for the first time. Oh, my gosh. Since I first posted about them, I have been wearing the heck out of these shoes! Have you guys tried these? If so, you've totally been holding out on me. I've switched from flip-flops as my go-to shoes for summer to these, just so I can have comfy feet as we're out and about. Like, really.

I was sent a bottle of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil from BzzAgent the other day, and I've been waiting for a dinner to make with it. I took some cut of beef or another (I have no clue; I don't eat it, so it's all dead cow to me, sorry!) out of the freezer and decided to marinate it with a little of this EVOO, some salt and pepper, and a little seasoning in our new Dutch oven to try it out. I even put some EVOO in the water to boil the corn, and Rob stopped me before I put the olive oil in the spuds instead of milk, too. Hee! Well, it was kind of dumb to "waste" my first Filippo meal on people other than myself, since I couldn't test out the meat, but it was apparently quite delishamus. The corn was really tasty; I can tell you that much! Next time, it'll be pasta, though...

What do you like to use olive oil for? I need suggestions, because if it were up to me, I'd even sweets with it. (Can you do that? I'm all ears.)

And finally, I got my Summer 2013 kit as one of the Coppertone Water MOMS bloggers! Woohoo! It's full of sunscreen for the babes and us parents alike, and I even got a beach towel. We went to the park today and, despite the rain, we applied some Coppertone - a different one for each kids' needs, even - to each person. Guess what? No sunburns. Chloë got one the other day, so we must be extra careful.

*** I have coupons ***

for everything pictured here, so you can try them, too. Okay, not for the olive oil, and if I did, I'd totally horde that away from you guys, because I love that stuff. I kid, I kid... kinda. Anyway, just ask if you want some, and I'll pop them in the mail to you.  Please leave comments below even if you don't want coupons, because I really need to tell my sponsors what you think!

Fin.

Full Disclosure: I was sent all of the items pictured here (well, except for the gross feet, with which I was born, and the corn, which I bought at Target) for free to try out, in exchange for my completely honest reviews. I received no other compensation or threat of violence in exchange for my positivity.  Thanks to BzzAgent for the Dr. Scholls and Filippo Berio products, Fysiko and Sverve for the eyelash serum, and Coppertone and MomSelect for the sunscreen and towel!

I'm about halfway through a 16-week product review for Fysiko Eyelash Growth Serum and thought I'd share a few pictures of my progress so far. Sixteen weeks is a long time, so I was wondering if that last two months would really make a difference and wanted to document the changes thus far.

This is my before picture, from the beginning of April. Short, stubby lashes. Pardon the polka-dotty face; sun brings out the freckles in a big way!

Here's my after picture, from yesterday - you can see growth! At least to me, they definitely look longer - and that's without mascara. I put a little bit on a while ago, and this is with mascara:

Oh, my gosh! I have lashes again! I have long admired the kids' and Rob's long eyelashes, but now I have some, too! Woohoo! They look longer in the bottom photo because the tips are blonde, so they need coating to show.  I was actually pretty skeptical when I was engaged in this campaign, and now I'm shocked it really works. 

I haven't put any on the bottom lashes because I never put mascara there anyway. Now I'm wondering if I should, but I don't want spider eyes. Thoughts on this and these before/after photos?

Fin.

So that happened. It was fun, but it was freakin' HOT.

Have a great Hump Day!

Fin.

I had a migraine all day Sunday, so I'm playing catch-up on Tuesday. Sue me! Link is here if you wanna read more entries.

Do you wear slippers? 

I do on occasion. I should wear them all the time, since all our floors are hard tiles, but I don't know where the hell they are half the time.

How many pictures are in your living room?

 None at the moment. We've lived here over two months and have had our belongings from the movers about that long, yet we still haven't unpacked. It's pretty embarrassing. I'll be posting about that soon, because I am going to change that!

Do you ever watch Brady Bunch reruns?  

 We don't even have television service, so it's not an option. Even if I could, though, I'd have to be pretty bored and sleepless to watch...

Are you allergic to anything?  

Just a few different meds, like Percocet and an antiobiotic family, as far as I know

When was the last time you called in sick?

I didn't do any parenting on Sunday during my migraine, if that counts.

Have you ever been in a car accident?  

Here's a story: My dad and I got hit by a drunk driver on our way to bring me back for my second year of college, in 1995. It was pretty bad. We had rented a minivan for all my belongings. When the young guy hit us, in the middle of the night on a back road in South Carolina, all four tires blew out, the van spun around a billion times, and we landed down an embankment facing the road. I screamed my head off, having been awakened most unceremoniously by the jolt! It was really eerie; the only sound was my boombox (remember those?) playing on the outside of the van, in the debris. My dad seemed completely stunned and shocked, so when a truck driver passed, seeing him doing nothing, I leaned over and lay on the horn to get his attention. He skidded to a stop and came running to help us.

Cops were called, and the father of the kid also arrived with his son in tow. (Seems Dad woke up when Son stumbled in the house and said to him, upon realizing something bad had happened, "You've got to go back, Son.") I was a sobbing wreck as the police questioned the guy and took our statements, and they covered me a blanket and sat me in a car somewhere. I don't know if I was more upset about the offense or the idea of not getting back to school, but I think the latter! The van was totaled, so you know who brought us back to my dad's house? The father and his son, in their pick-up truck, with my dad and me in the back with all my stuff.

We ended up packing as much as we could into one of my dad's cars and driving straight through to Miami from there. I prayed the whole time that nothing else bad would happen. My dad had to mail the rest of my stuff to me, which seemed to be everything I really needed while I waited for it! The only funny part about this story was that, when I asked my uncle to fix that boombox for me, he found the plant debris from the accident in the battery compartment and accused me of storing marijuana in there. As if!! To this day, I have still never even been in the presence of any illegal drugs, let alone taken any myself! The idea of that still cracks me up. Anyway, back to the meme.

What is your favorite snack food?

Ruffles potato chips and Heluva Good French Onion dip - omg, so good!

 Have you ever seen a tornado?

No, but I have had a water spout coming straight at me as I drove the causeway from St. Petersburg to Tampa. Scary day!

 If you won a million dollars, what would you buy first?  

My way out of debt, like any rational person, and then plane tickets to Australia

What time is it right now?  

7:06 PM (-5:00 GMT)

Do you think it's cool for men to wear flip-flops?

Yeah, I have no problem with it. I don't really give two licks about fashion, though. Those who are slaves to that are generally not well-known to me, by me, or about me.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?  

As many as I actually need, and no more. I don't have a lot of purses, either. Just not my cup of tea.

Do you think you are a hypochondriac? 

I don't think so, really. I tend not to think I have something unless there are real signs. I don't go Googling symptoms...

Do you own a dictionary?  

I usually prefer to visit Merriam-Webster online, but I have both English-language dictionaries and several translations into Spanish (and some other tongues) on my iPhone and on my bookshelf.

Where was the last place you went on vacation?  

We visited Sea World in Orlando about a month ago.

Do you talk about your friends behind their back?  

I have been known to gossip. I'm not proud of it, but who doesn't do it on occasion?

Are you actually fat but in complete denial about it?

No. I put on a few pounds over the past couple of months and couldn't fit into Hubs' jeans like I had recently in Virginia, so that wasn't tolerable. Call me bulemic, but I purposely ate foods that would make me sick to lose that weight. I'm not bragging, just being honest about it. Long story short, I just wore those jeans yesterday, and they were quite comfortable.

What color is your mouse pad? 

It's pink with the words "Got Music?" in different fonts and sizes all over it.

Does your kitchen have a theme?

Yeah, if "We have too much crap" can be considered a theme.

Eh. My heart wasn't in this one, can you tell?

Fin.

I bought the pattern for Milo {Ravelry link} not knowing it had several different cable options, thinking it perfect for the singular hank of 100% pure Blue-Faced Leicester wool from Spin in the City UK that I had stashed a while back. About 200 yards of rich, smooshy wool... yeah. I was sure I had enough. So I cast on at the end of May.

I immediately hated the pattern when I started knitting. First, it's knit on circular needles. I much prefer straight needles, by a long shot, over circs. And then if I must knit in the round, I rather do it on DPNs (double-pointed needles) over a lone circ. It's just not intuitive for my hands. When I knitted the first four rounds on this Milo, therefore, gritting my teeth the whole way, the next instructions were enough to make me put baby in the corner for a whole week: "Repeat the last two rounds NINE MORE TIMES." UGH.

And then, on Saturday night after seeing Vinnie's pictures on Facebook, I felt urged to knit for the wee boy. I had Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice fresh on iTunes as an audiobook, and though I hate being read to with a passion, I decided I would combine the detested read-aloud with the even more odious circular knitting and kill two birds. 

Oh, my gosh, y'all. I fell in love with BOTH!!

I busted out 6½ hours of knitting on Milo to a wonderful British accent reading me the swoon-worthy story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Saturday night into Sunday morning, and it was time well spent. I got to like circular knitting in a new way, learned to love the pattern de Milo, and am eager to get more audiobooks for future knitting marathons.

The only problem with Milo the First, as you can see here, is that I completely miscalculated the yardage I would need. I only had the one hank and could not find any more online, so I decided to just knit until I ran out. I ended up running out as I was binding off, which sucked. I had to go grab a teensy bit of semi-coordinating wool that Stephanie herself had given to me for a different Vinnie project to finish the binding. It works. Kinda.

I mean, Milo is too short and wide for Vinnie, I think, so there's a bit of a learning curve with this pattern. It measured okay (ie, long enough) on the needle, but off the needle it's shorter than what I had measured before the short garter stitch hem! D'oh. I'm not crying over spilt milk, however, because this particular hank of wool came adorned with a teensy angeline fiber woven in, and as I'm not entirely sure Vinnie won't be allergic to that glittery thread, I won't be terribly upset if Steph ends up regifting the first incarnation of Milo to another, smaller babe.

So on Monday morning, in the wee hours, I cast on for Milo again. I dove deep into my stash and found this 100% Fine Highland wool in the proper weight for Milo. Still squeezy, but not quite as smooshy. Still soft, though not quite as buttery. Much softer than the scratchy Colorblock Sweater I just made Vinnie, so it'll do fine, I'm sure.

I hadn't yet had my fill of the Austen saga, so I found Pride & Prejudice - starring Keira Knightly - on Amazon Prime and sat back with my now-tolerable circular needle. By dawn, the movie had ended and the kids were starting to get up for the day.

We went to the zoo after the rain cleared up, and I knit in the car while Rob drove there, at the zoo itself while the kids played, and I knit after we returned home. I find myself both addicted to the pattern and yearning for more Jane Austen. What else ya got, iTunes?

I can't decide whether I did the cable wonkily or if Milo the Second just needs a good blocking (which Steph will handle, because Vinnie's also allergic to cats and so she has to pre-wash everything I send him), but they don't seem to be sitting properly. Eh. Small worry. The length is much more suitable for a toddler boy, as are the colors and lack of glitteriness, so I'm happier with this second rendition.

It's not really screwy, I don't think; it's just hanging funny on that hanger. I did the bottom binding with a stretchy cast-off, so he'll be able to yank it on and off over his head easily. Makes it a little bumpy and nubby, but that's okay. It's more functional than pretty, and I'm all right with that.

I've already got a third Milo on the needles, ready for yet another cable pattern. Hope you like green, Steph, because I had another skein...

Fin.