This really takes the cake...
We've got a lot of cake-taking going on around here. And some cake-eating. But first, Owen really did take the cake on Monday morning. I think I mentioned that I got a part-time job at a local shop, Dublin Bay. Yes, I am becoming a regular shop-ho around here what with teaching at Twisted and Close Knit and now getting paid to hang around and talk to people about knitting at Dublin Bay. I'm hoping to avoid any conflicts of interest, and so far the shop owners at all three places have been delightfully unpossessive.
Anyway, Monday was my first day of work at Dublin Bay, and I was scheduled to start at 11. I was all ready to load Owen in the car and take him over to my mother-in-law's house for the day. I ran upstairs to grab something, thinking that the boy was occupied watching the Wonder Pets, but when I came back down I found him locked in the bathroom. Yes, somehow in the two minutes that I'd left him unattended he managed to go in the bathroom, shut the door and turn the deadbolt. Of course, I panicked. I called Sue and asked her to come over, and then called Bill to ask for advice. He was most unhelpful, telling me to just break down the door. Um, what? No, honey, you're supposed to tell me it's going to be fine and that you'll come home right away to help. Don't tell me to break down the door. It's a deadbolt lock with a metal plate on the door frame. The door is original from 1911 when the house was built and so it's solid wood. That sucker isn't coming down without an axe and I don't know where we keep the axe. Can't you just see me going at the door panel with an axe, ala Jack Nicholson in The Shining?
While I was waiting for Sue to come, I took the doorknob plate off, hoping that would give me access to the deadbolt mechanism. No such luck, but I was able to get the doorknob out and this gave me a little hole to peek through so I could see what kind of trouble Owen was getting himself into. He'd immediately found some old Halloween makeup and was proceeding to smear it all over every available surface in the bathroom. I tried talking him into unlocking the door, but he was having way too much fun to be at all interested in coming out. I begged, I pleaded, I threatened, I tried bribing him with M&Ms. No dice. Bill's next bit of helpful advice was to tell me to "just yell at him until he turns the knob". That was about as effective as telling Sydney to turn off the TV and put her shoes on so we can go to school. I was getting quite concerned about being late on my first day of work.
Sue arrived and I took off for downtown. Bill had managed to borrow his brother's car to drive home and help sort the situation out. I arrived at Dublin Bay pretty close to 11 am although definitely not on time. I walk in the door, say "hi" to Tricia, and the phone rings. She answers, then hands it to me. Way to make a great first impression! It was Sue, letting me know that Bill had managed to talk Owen into opening the door back up. I got off the phone, turned to Tricia and said "boy, do I have a story for you..."
Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath:
There are still remnants of pink and black smeared in out-of-the-way spots in the bathroom (and a particularly stubborn bit behind Owen's right ear). Needless to say, the deadbolt has been taped off so it can't be turned again and the baby gate has gone back up across the bathroom doorway.
Other than that bit of panic on Monday, my first two days working at a yarn shop have been great. It's very fun to be surrounded by yarn all day (particularly Tricia's great selection of Handmaiden and Fleece Artist) and I get to pick out store projects to make. Yes, I get an opportunity to knit things from other people's patterns while it's slow at the shop. I'm finishing off a Christmas stocking that a former employee had been working on, but after that I'm going to make the Sand Dollar Sweater from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. There are so many possibilities - I can't wait! I'll be working Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays if you want to stop in and say hi.
Last night my knitting guild friends Amanda, Katrina and Donna came over to my side of town for a little birthday get-together. Yes, my birthday was in August but this was the first time we could manage to get all of our busy schedules together. We met up at Twisted for some tea and knitting (Katrina bought a whole armload of sock yarn) and then headed to the Kennedy School for dinner. Look at what my lovely friends got me:
Amanda got me the Folk Style book from Interweave (and it is fabulously inspiring) along with a little birthday-cake shaped tape measure from Lantern Moon - love it! Katrina got me a little sock kit from our friend Tiffany that included sock yarn in the Oregon Ducks colors, some ChiaoGoo bamboo sock needles and little donut stitch markers. So cute! I didn't even know that Tiffany was dyeing yarn, but she's got a little Etsy shop with her lovely yarns. I love it! Finally, Donna won the creative presentation prize with her awesome yarn bouquet. The "flower" is a skein of merino/tencel sock yarn from Chameleon Colorworks, and there are little chocolates attached to the branches. So cool. I am going to make some socks just for me with this yarn. It is just gorgeous.
It's also Amanda's birthday in a couple weeks, so we surprised her with some yarny gifties as well. After dinner, Katrina and I stuffed ourselves with the Molten Lava Cake. I could barely move when we were done. It was so good. Thanks again, ladies, for a great time! I just adore my knitting friends!!!
PS - I will be teaching a class on my Snowflake Socks from the fall Interweave Knits at Close Knit at the end of November. If you're interested, go sign up now! We'll get you knitting with both hands in this class. And now I smell a dirty diaper, so it's time to move on to less pleasant things. The little stinkpot is trying to destroy my office so that I'll stop typing. Right now I'm wishing he was locked in the bathroom again!
Anyway, Monday was my first day of work at Dublin Bay, and I was scheduled to start at 11. I was all ready to load Owen in the car and take him over to my mother-in-law's house for the day. I ran upstairs to grab something, thinking that the boy was occupied watching the Wonder Pets, but when I came back down I found him locked in the bathroom. Yes, somehow in the two minutes that I'd left him unattended he managed to go in the bathroom, shut the door and turn the deadbolt. Of course, I panicked. I called Sue and asked her to come over, and then called Bill to ask for advice. He was most unhelpful, telling me to just break down the door. Um, what? No, honey, you're supposed to tell me it's going to be fine and that you'll come home right away to help. Don't tell me to break down the door. It's a deadbolt lock with a metal plate on the door frame. The door is original from 1911 when the house was built and so it's solid wood. That sucker isn't coming down without an axe and I don't know where we keep the axe. Can't you just see me going at the door panel with an axe, ala Jack Nicholson in The Shining?
While I was waiting for Sue to come, I took the doorknob plate off, hoping that would give me access to the deadbolt mechanism. No such luck, but I was able to get the doorknob out and this gave me a little hole to peek through so I could see what kind of trouble Owen was getting himself into. He'd immediately found some old Halloween makeup and was proceeding to smear it all over every available surface in the bathroom. I tried talking him into unlocking the door, but he was having way too much fun to be at all interested in coming out. I begged, I pleaded, I threatened, I tried bribing him with M&Ms. No dice. Bill's next bit of helpful advice was to tell me to "just yell at him until he turns the knob". That was about as effective as telling Sydney to turn off the TV and put her shoes on so we can go to school. I was getting quite concerned about being late on my first day of work.
Sue arrived and I took off for downtown. Bill had managed to borrow his brother's car to drive home and help sort the situation out. I arrived at Dublin Bay pretty close to 11 am although definitely not on time. I walk in the door, say "hi" to Tricia, and the phone rings. She answers, then hands it to me. Way to make a great first impression! It was Sue, letting me know that Bill had managed to talk Owen into opening the door back up. I got off the phone, turned to Tricia and said "boy, do I have a story for you..."
Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath:
There are still remnants of pink and black smeared in out-of-the-way spots in the bathroom (and a particularly stubborn bit behind Owen's right ear). Needless to say, the deadbolt has been taped off so it can't be turned again and the baby gate has gone back up across the bathroom doorway.
Other than that bit of panic on Monday, my first two days working at a yarn shop have been great. It's very fun to be surrounded by yarn all day (particularly Tricia's great selection of Handmaiden and Fleece Artist) and I get to pick out store projects to make. Yes, I get an opportunity to knit things from other people's patterns while it's slow at the shop. I'm finishing off a Christmas stocking that a former employee had been working on, but after that I'm going to make the Sand Dollar Sweater from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. There are so many possibilities - I can't wait! I'll be working Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays if you want to stop in and say hi.
Last night my knitting guild friends Amanda, Katrina and Donna came over to my side of town for a little birthday get-together. Yes, my birthday was in August but this was the first time we could manage to get all of our busy schedules together. We met up at Twisted for some tea and knitting (Katrina bought a whole armload of sock yarn) and then headed to the Kennedy School for dinner. Look at what my lovely friends got me:
Amanda got me the Folk Style book from Interweave (and it is fabulously inspiring) along with a little birthday-cake shaped tape measure from Lantern Moon - love it! Katrina got me a little sock kit from our friend Tiffany that included sock yarn in the Oregon Ducks colors, some ChiaoGoo bamboo sock needles and little donut stitch markers. So cute! I didn't even know that Tiffany was dyeing yarn, but she's got a little Etsy shop with her lovely yarns. I love it! Finally, Donna won the creative presentation prize with her awesome yarn bouquet. The "flower" is a skein of merino/tencel sock yarn from Chameleon Colorworks, and there are little chocolates attached to the branches. So cool. I am going to make some socks just for me with this yarn. It is just gorgeous.
It's also Amanda's birthday in a couple weeks, so we surprised her with some yarny gifties as well. After dinner, Katrina and I stuffed ourselves with the Molten Lava Cake. I could barely move when we were done. It was so good. Thanks again, ladies, for a great time! I just adore my knitting friends!!!
PS - I will be teaching a class on my Snowflake Socks from the fall Interweave Knits at Close Knit at the end of November. If you're interested, go sign up now! We'll get you knitting with both hands in this class. And now I smell a dirty diaper, so it's time to move on to less pleasant things. The little stinkpot is trying to destroy my office so that I'll stop typing. Right now I'm wishing he was locked in the bathroom again!
posted by knittinmom at 9:45 AM
7 Comments:
That's a great story - although I'm sure your heart was pounding at the time! Close Knit is my favorite yarn store in Portland - they have nice selection and the owner was so friendly when I visited there earlier this year. How nice you teach there!
My youngest brother used to lock himself in the bathroom. Yelling didn't work, but somehow if we knocked on the door then he would come and unlock it because that is what you are supposed to do when somebody knocks.
How come they never do stuff like that when you have all the time in the world?
Oh man. I can just picture you, peeking through the hole where the doorknob goes and watching the little angel destroying the bathroom!
When my younger son was two, he was obsessed with the car. So obsessed that I used to let him sit in the driver's seat in the driveway and pretend to drive while I worked in the front yard. One day, he was in the front seat, door closed, and all of a sudden, I heard the engine turn over! He had found a spare key, put it in the ignition, and turned it! He had also locked all the doors, and the only other key was with my husband, who was off riding his bike somewhere. I stood next to the driver's window, calling to him and trying to get him to unlock the door by pantomiming pulling the knob, picturing him putting the thing in gear and backing down the driveway, and slowly becoming hysterical, and the little brat just laughed at me! Eventually, I got ahold of my husband on his cell phone and he raced home with the spare key. After that, my little darling was no longer allowed to play in the car alone.
Oh, the pictures! Wow. . .
I did pretty much the same thing to my poor mother when I was about 1, but I didn't smear Halloween makeup all over. ;)
And my dad told her to chop the door down with an ax too!
When I was like three we lived in an apartment in the back of an old house. I remember this, too -- my mother went outside for something, and I locked her out with a slide-bolt thing on the door. Then I got up into the cupboard and drank half a bottle of liquid Gravol. She ended up coming in through the main part of the house (thankfully she could get in that way). I slept all afternoon! Don't ask me why I did it. Wonder I didn't overdose.
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