This Bean Knits

My Mundane Life

2012-01-28T23:02:00.000-05:00

I love to read blogs written by people who post daily. What is up with this one? Why don't I post daily? I guess I feel like my life is a little boring. Or maybe it's too depressing. Either way, I'm going to try to start blogging a little more regularly.

Not a whole lot has been going on in my crafting world. I came across Rebecca Danger's book, Big Book of Knitted Monsters. I've wanted to make one of her monsters for the longest time, but I'm a big chicken when it comes to new knitting patterns or techniques. How on earth I ever learned to knit socks is beyond me! I sent a copy of the book to a friend of mine who made two of them for her cousins. After asking her if she thought they were easy enough for me to make one (and she did think I could!) I pulled the book out again. I'm on my second one now! I LOVE them. No, I don't have any pictures of them yet. By the time I remember to take a picture, it's too dark. Oh well, I will try my best to remember during the day!

Life has gotten a little hectic around here. I haven't really shared a lot of our problems over the past few years because I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. Most of you know that my father-in-law passed away in January of 2009 after suffering from lung cancer. A little over a week after we got home from his funeral, my father had a stroke and never recovered. He passed away in February of 2009. Since that time, RL and I have been helping our moms anyway we can. From time to time RL will fly or drive down to Florida and tend to things for his Mom. My Mom lives about four miles away from us and we tend to her needs. Shortly after my Dad passed away, my Mom went into a major depression she just couldn't shake. She was diagnosed with it and her medication was changed. She was also diagnosed with a few vitamin deficiencies. The major diagnosis was the beginning of dementia. That was a real blow. We haven't really gotten a firm diagnosis because the depression has been in the way of that. So.....our lives have changed quite a bit. No longer is it just the four of us, it's the five of us most of the time and sometimes the six of us when RLs mom has a need. Gone are the days of knitting non-stop. I don't read much these days either. Shoot - gone are a lot of the things I enjoyed doing in my free time.

All of that to get to this .... I have to make myself slow down now. I have to find the time to knit, read, work a crossword puzzle, sew, steal an hour to go to the bookstore, go to lunch with RL, go to therapy to learn how to be a caregiver. The kids have been teaching me to slow down too. I don't always want to slow down or just sit, but I have to so I can maintain some level of sanity which was shaky to begin with! :)

Last week, on a very cold day, the kids built a small fire pit in the backyard and loaded it up with wood for a fire. They asked if we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows. My gut instinct was to say no. I had too much to do. I didn't want to just sit around. Excuses, excuses, excuses. So, going against what I felt I needed to do, I did what I truly needed to do. We didn't notice the cold because the fire was so warm. The hot dogs were wonderful! Don't know the last time I had one fixed over a fire. The marshmallows were hit or miss....sometimes they hit the fire and sometimes they missed our mouths, but the ones that we did eat were great. Harper even managed to get a taste or two. Such a bad dog!

So, bear with me as I learn how to met the needs of my Mom, cope with adult children learning to truly be adults, and most of all, learn to stop and take time to just breath.

OHHHHH - before I forget! My daughter has started a blog: Linsey Woolsey. Go check it out. It's pretty good - if I do say so myself!

Birthday Headquarters!

2012-01-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

We had a birthday at our house. Monday, R turned 24 and we had to celebrate!

I made her cake this year. Some years she does, others I do. She requested at 1, 2, 3, 4 Cake from one of James Beards recipe books. Turns out you can find the recipe almost anywhere. Really good cake and simple to make. Thank goodness! She requested strawberry filling and whipped cream for icing. Very, very good!

She made herself a banner. It was a WHOLE lot longer than what made it onto the cake, but there wasn't much room due to the candles. We could have ended that birthday with a visit from the fire department if the entire banner was on there!

She picked out her own candles too. How many types of candles do you need? Apparently she needed three different types. Very colorful and very smoky when they were all blown out! Lots of fun gifts and phone calls made for a very happy birthday for my baby girl!

I Am A Slob

2012-01-10T23:59:00.001-05:00

There. I said it. I am a slob. My house is disgusting and nobody here seems to know what to do about it. Oh, I have wanted to clean it in the past and even made some efforts. However, nothing stuck. I keep waiting to see the A&E van out front to tape an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive", but they haven't shown up yet - thank goodness!

While going through my blog list, I ran across an interesting post by Socks For Mum. There was a link to an organization calendar. Everyday you do something to get your house in order. One day is clean out the drawer of your nightstand. Another day is clean the top of your nightstand. I could do that! I was so excited. However, I was going into this a week behind since I didn't discover it until the second week of January. Still, I wasn't discouraged. I CAN DO THIS - I kept telling myself. Well, I hit a doozy right off the bat. Clean off the top of your cabinets. Hmm. When did I do that last? Maybe when we painted them - over six years ago. Yuck! That would explain why the little ceramic piggy bank I had up there had fur on its back. GROSS! I was discouraged. A call to my sister - the one who inherited every single last cleaning gene in our family. EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE! - was in order.

I called her this morning. It went something like this:

"Uh, Kel.... I know you are really good at cleaning. You have your own cleaning business. So, I have a question for you. I have a friend.... and she...NO he, yes definitely HE, is having some issues with cleaning. HE is supposed to clean the top of HIS kitchen cabinets and HE doesn't know where to begin. HE has a terrible problem with that gunky, greasy, dusty crud on top of everything. What should I tell HIM. Oh, by the way, this is all hypothetical." Boy, I pulled one over on her! She had no idea it was me! Aren't I good?

Well, she said, "Hypothetically speaking, you, I mean HE, need to get a really good degreaser." (See how well I fooled her?) She gave me some really great suggestions to give 'my friend'. Off to the store HE went to pick up all HIS cleaning supplies. One thing she didn't suggest that HE got was a putty knife.

After a really good soaking of degreaser, time to do its job, and time to work up the will to do the job, I climbed up my step ladder, grabbed the putty knife and set to work. Man, oh man! What a task. Oops, I slipped, now you know it was me. Darn it! I scraped that stuff off those cabinets and got the cobwebs out of the corners. You know what - it looks pretty darn good! It looks so good I made R and RL climb up on the ladder and look! Now to move on to the next task. I really hope it's an easier one, for my friend, of course.

Harper's Loves

2012-01-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

There are two things Harper loves in his life. Riding in cars and his Dad.

20 something outside and Harper loves having the window down! BRRRR!

Sitting in the backseat and happy as can be.

Wait......can this car ride get any better?

YES! A car ride WITH Dad!

Bless My Soul

2012-01-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

RL and I haven't had much luck with cars lately. His truck died in October. We borrowed Mom's van. Mom's van had transmission issues and was getting close to dying in December. Our driveway was starting to look like a bad used car lot! We decided it was time to look at a new car for RL. I've been driving an HHR for a few years and loved it, so I wasn't even thinking about a change for me. Having always loved Kia Souls, I asked him if we could at least go by and test drive one.

These friendly guys greeted us when we went inside to talk to Bullfrog - our salesman.

We drove two cars that day - a Forte and a Soul. The decision was all RLs, but I just couldn't contain my excitement with the Soul. It was so much fun to drive and much roomier inside than you would ever imagine. I LOVED it! And....since I can't seem to hide the way I feel about things I like, RL knew which car I wanted.

I don't have to tell you which one we bought! Guess which car RL got???? The old HHR! That was never my intention. Apparently it wasn't his either! We went back a few weeks later and traded in the HHR for a Kia Sorento! Good thing I got yarn for Christmas, because all of my future yarn funds will be going toward car payments. :)

RIP nook

2011-12-28T00:20:00.000-05:00

I dropped my nook today.

A sad day indeed. I swore I wouldn't get attached. Books are waaaay better than a stupid ereader. If you drop a book, you might get a bent page. It gets soggy if you drop it in the tub, but doesn't short out. I admit it. I said all those things. Then I got a nook. I found some sites that offer free books. I became addicted! When I broke my elbow, my nook was my best friend. I didn't have to turn pages, I just pushed a button.

Today,while on the phone, I was on hold for WAY too long and grabbed my nook. It was still plugged in and I didn't realize it. It flew out of my hands and onto the floor. Now I can't get the screen to completely change. I am sad. $85 to have the Geek Squad tell me it's broken and then to send it on for repair. Should I spring for a new one? Stay with nook? I don't want to lose my books so I think I will stay with nook. Oh - to add insult to injury, my warranty expired nine days ago. NINE DAYS AGO!

So, where has my nook taken me....let me think. I have read many, many books I wouldn't have read if they hadn't been free. Here's a list of all the books I've read this year - some on the nook and some your basic, hold in your hands books. Have you read any of them?

1. A Floating City by Jules Verne (freebie)

2. Closely Knit on Scarlatt by Ardath Mayhar (freebie)

3. Daughter of Joy by Kathleen Morgan (freebie)

4. A Truth for a Truth by Emilie Richards

5. The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen (freebie)

6. The Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell

7. Candle in the Darkness by Lynn N. Austin (freebie)

8. How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks (freebie)

9. Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks

10. Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks

11. The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks

12. All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

13. Secret Life of a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

14. Forbidden Nights With a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

15. The Vampire and the Virgin by Kerrelyn Sparks

16. Eat, Prey, Love by Kerrelyn Sparks

17. Vampire Mine by Kerrelyn Sparks

18. The Road from Chapel Hill by Joanna Catherine Scott

19. A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh

20. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

21. Changes by Jim Butcher

22. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

23. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

24. Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

25. Mennonite in a Little Black Book by Rhoda Janzen

26. Stupid History by Leland Gregory (freebie)

27. Phantom of Pemberley by Regina Jeffers (freebie)

28. Heart of Stone by Jill Marie Landis (freebie)

29. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

30. A Vote of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher (freebie)

31. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

32. Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware (freebie)

33. Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Croker

34. Reinventing Leona by Lynne Gentry (freebie)

35. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

36. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

37. Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer (freebie)

38. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

39. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (freebie)

40. Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson (freebie)

41. Adventures on the High Seas by Susan Barry Blair

42. Dracula by Bram Stoker (freebie)

43. Unholy Cow by John H. Carroll (freebie)

44. Sexiest Vampire Alive by Kerrelyn Sparks

Seventeen of the books I read were free downloads to my nook. I guess that means I need a new one. And yes, I did go through a smutty vampire stage, thank you very much. The books by Jim Butcher were part of the Dresden series my son and husband read. They had been harping on me to finish them so they could talk about them in front of me! The Help was wonderful - as I'm sure most of you know by now. I would recommend the book over the movie any day. I also read some classics I had never read before: Tobacco Road (hated it), The Great Gatsby (didn't hate it, but sure didn't like it), Farenheit 451 (surprisingly good book) and Dracula (pretty good).

Adventure on the High Seas was a book written by my physical therapist's sister about their family sailing from England and settling in America. It was a pretty good book about an interesting way of life.

There you have it. I didn't reach my goal of 52 books this year, but I came pretty close! Guess I need to start saving up for nook the sequel!

Christmas Parade 2011

2011-12-13T15:24:00.000-05:00

Sheep on the main drag. It doesn't get any better than this!

Think they would miss just one? Me neither.

Fire Department showing off.

Men in ~~skirts~~ kilts.

Gotta have a few hot rods.

The only thing that could have made this hat cooler would be if it was hand knit!

More hot rods.

Low riders.

Quite an impressive cow.

My Dad had one of these. Drove all the way from Florida to Tennessee in it...with my sister and me in the back. WAY before car seat laws! Good times - right Kel????

Must have lawnmowers in a parade!

Now this is something you don't see every day! I hope!

The man we are all waiting to see!

The parade was very nice this year. Such a beautiful day, even if it didn't get out of the 40s. No rain. No snow. Lots of sunshine and silly people to stand with.

For those of you who might be curious - Harper is out of the cone! Hallelujah. I didn't think he would EVER get out of that thing! Two weeks was long enough.

Poor Harper!

2011-11-29T13:25:00.001-05:00

Harper's new look!

Harper visited the vet yesterday to be 'tutored'. We sat him down and explained to him what was going to happen. I don't think he was listening. It would have been easier if I had had a picture book, but they just don't make those. Go figure! :) Anyway, we dropped him off yesterday morning and picked him up yesterday afternoon. After the drugs wore off and he realized 'part of him was gone', he starting licking....and licking....and licking.... That just would not do. So, off to the vet for some snazzy neckwear! Doesn't he look dapper? Bless his heart, he can't judge distance and keeps ramming into furniture. I know this is one look he'll be glad to be rid of!

Little Did We Know.....

2011-11-27T12:21:00.001-05:00

Somebody was needing a home. R has wanted a puppy since she was little. However, the first puppy episode was disastrous! Maybe since she was no longer 7 but 23 she could handle it a little better! But were we ready? NO! RL and I were not. L was indifferent. After begging us to at least go to the rescue shelter, we ~~couldn't stand it anymore~~ relented and went. We met so many puppies! A litter of ten puppies caught our attention. All of them had names of bears. Boo-Boo worked his way into Rs heart. Then the little stinker worked his way into our car!

Harper on the way home from the rescue shelter.

Passed out in 'his' LazyBoy!

His tongue out after playing with his 'stick'

Pooped puppy!

His new leash

It's been a rough day!

Harper has been with us for a couple of months now. What a sweetie he is. He wears us out, but he's still sweet. Any advice to make him stop biting? This family is probably anemic due to the blood he's cost us! Friday he was five months old. The ear is no longer droopy - I wanted him to keep that! He could never take Ginger's place in our hearts, but who knew we had room for a puppy in there too!?!

Ginger

2011-11-19T12:03:00.001-05:00

While all this was going on with the broken elbow, our hearts were breaking. Ginger turned 16 in May. She was just not being herself. The vet suggested blood work to determine what was wrong. It was not good news. Her kidneys were failing. We decided to just love her while we could, but if she was starting to make a rapid decline, we would consider putting her to sleep. She had been such a huge part of our lives for so long, especially R. She had her since she was seven and we were worried about her just as much as we were Ginger. Finally the day came and July 2nd we had to say our good-byes. Our lives felt very empty.

I Forgot....

2011-11-16T17:21:00.001-05:00

And that was the reason I couldn't knit from May until late September.

Elbow Surgery

2011-11-15T15:15:00.001-05:00

So, I had to have elbow surgery. I got a call from the surgeon who told me that I had two options. 1) I could make an appointment to meet him and we could schedule surgery from there. 2) I needed the surgery SOON and he could go ahead and schedule it without an office meeting. I opted for #2. The last surgery I had was when I had my last baby - 21 years ago! I was awake for that and had no idea what it was going to be like to be put out. The morning of surgery was stressful, to say the least! I was told I could go home that afternoon. I wasn't too concerned about the kids as a result. The chaplain who had helped us when Daddy died came by to see me and was able to calm me down with kind words and prayer, so I was ready to go. No counting backwards from 100, nothing to let me know I was going under. Just talking one second and getting yelled at the next to wake up. Such a strange experience!

My bionic left arm.

Different view of bionic left arm.

I didn't get to go home that night. They made me stay in the hospital. What does a knitter do when stressed? Well, she knits! What does a one handed knitter do when stressed? Stays stressed! We watched a lot of lousy television and slept when the pain subsided enough to allow it. I was so proud of our kids/adults! They managed all by themselves and reminded me that they are both in their early 20s so they are not totally helpless! I was now the helpless one and they both kicked in to take excellent care of me. Whew! And talk about helpless. You just don't realize how much you do for yourself until you can't anymore. No more brushing my hair, no more contacts, no dressing or bathing myself and no driving. But, the #1 thing, no knitting! ARGH!

The funny thing about all of this - I didn't want to go on that bike ride. I was almost finished with a pair of socks I had been working on for a while. I told RL that I needed to finish them. She said that if I was unable to finish them, she would do it for me! Well, what do you know - I wasn't able to and she was true to her word. Sweetest pair of socks I own!

IsThis Thing On?

2011-11-12T20:12:00.001-05:00

Did you miss me? I missed you guys. I guess I should explain where I've been lately. Like I said in the last post, I broke my elbow. I don't know how I do the things I do. When I was in first grade I broke my shin playing miniature golf. So when I say I broke my elbow bike riding, you really shouldn't be surprised!

Those bikes that were supposed to get our family on the move kind of landed us on the couch for a few months! We were going out every evening for a bike ride and walk. L and I would ride while R and RL would walk. Having been on the bikes for a while, we got a little too comfortable. L and I would go on ahead of the walkers and weave in and out of each other - we joked that we were practicing for the Christmas parade! There we were just pedalling along and I decided to turn to the left. I didn't realize that L was turning to the right. He saw that I was turning into him and yelled at the top of his lungs. Man, I wish I had listened in time to brake! We ran right into one another. Down he went and down I went on top of him. Bless his heart, he broke my fall. I thought I had broken his leg! He was able to get up and 'walk it off'. I wasn't so lucky. When I went down, I landed on my elbow as well as him. R and RL heard the crash, but didn't think it was us. When they crested the hill, they saw us. I don't know if I've seen them run that fast in ages! The bikes were mangled and we were about a mile from home. Apparently I was a lovely shade of green/gray and just couldn't stand. A good Samaritan saw us and drove us home. Off to the emergency room and two hours later we had a pretty firm diagnosis that it was broken.

Here's the x-ray. I circled the broken part. Notice the part at the top right of the oval that kind of juts out - it's not supposed to do that! Every move I made felt like I would pass out.

Stick around and next time I'll share how surgery went. Gee, it sure is great to be able to type with two hands again!

Closed For Remodelling

2011-05-30T15:15:00.000-04:00

Not the blog - me! seems i broke my elbow and will need surgery tomorrow. we bought bikes to get into shape. well, I'm in a different shape now! i actually have another piece than when i started. i collided with L on our bikes and 'broke' my fall with my elbow. and - ironies of ironies - i finally found a knitting pattern I've been looking for for over a month! It will have to wait another month at least. what on earth am i supposed to do with only one hand?

I Think We Took a Wrong Turn in Albuquerque

2011-05-18T13:52:00.004-04:00

L asked me to go with him on a bike ride Sunday night. Okay. I can do this. I waited until dinner digested enough and then we headed off into the cool evening. We normally bike about two miles every night while R and RL walk. They didn't want to walk, so we were on our own. We were almost to the point in our ride where we cross a very busy road, bike just a little longer and then turn for home. This particular night he asked if I wanted to go right instead of straight. Sure, I'm a cool mom! I'm adventerous! (NOT!) I'll do it. Off we went. It was beautiful! The trees in that particular housing development were gorgeous! Huge shadows were over the road. It was a little overcast and the breeze was blowing slightly. We realized we didn't have to peddle much, it was downhill! However, every 'downhill' turns into an 'uphill' on the way home. Suddenly I wasn't too sure about this anymore. Then I thought, what the heck. We have the cellphone. RL has the truck. If he needs to pick us up he can. That innocent right turn at the beginning of our ride turned into a four mile uphill almost all the way bike ride! The last time I had to breath that hard I had a Lamaze coach! I was truly tempted to tell him, "Go on without me. Leave me here by the road to die. Survival of the fittest. Carpe Diem." Well, it wasn't that dramatic. Maybe because I couldn't catch my breath to say all those things! L has the mentality of 'No man left behind' - or 'No Mom left behind' in this case. He would go ahead of me to the top of the hill and see what was ahead of us. Finally, after walking maybe a third of it, I started seeing familiar territory. No way was I going to call RL to come and get me when I was less than a mile from home. It was tempting though...... Finally we made it home. L kept checking my pulse - I didn't have to - I was thrilled I still had one. I'm not so sure I'll be able to convince my tush to get on that bike seat again anytime soon!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-05-13T20:42:00.004-04:00

Four years ago, this blog started innocently enough. We had no idea what we were doing - and we still don't! We were homeschooling, but now we have two homeschooling graduates. We had all the answers about life that we needed, but now we don't have any answers! Our lives have drastically changed and we are trying to change with them. As most of you know, RL lost his Dad to lung cancer in January of 2009. I lost my Dad less than four weeks later from a ruptured blood vessel in his brain. Now we have two Moms who we are very concerned about. RLs Mom is still in Florida and my Mom lives about four miles from us. New challenges instantly arose trying to fill the huge gaps our fathers left behind. It hasn't always been easy and it doesn't get easier as time goes by. However it is a new life direction that we have willingly taken. As a result, blogging has gotten to be almost non-existent. I don't even know if there's anybody out there anymore!

Even Ginger is experiencing changes. Bless her heart. As of this week she is 16. And getting a little older comes with a few physical problems. She has developed kidney problems and we are babying her more now than ever. I think she really eats up the extra attention!

We don't sit around quite as much as we did before either. Before spring came along we got bikes. Every evening we head out for a bike ride. My knees don't like it, but hopefully they will adjust soon. North Carolina roads are not quite as flat as Florida roads - go figure! We also started Weight Watchers. Those stinkin' kids have lost more weight than me! I'm still plugging along, hoping I'll catch up with them soon.

As soon as R downloads some new pictures, I'll try to update you a little with knitting. I've been reading more than knitting this year, but I've managed to finish a few projects. So if you stick around for a while, I'll try to do better at updating.

Because Every Girl Wants Hairdo Options

2011-04-28T12:03:00.002-04:00

R decided that Ginger needed a new hairdo. Thus the Hallowig pattern was adapted to fit her. I do wish that girl would use her powers for good..... Maybe Ginger will be more receptive to her new 'do' after the needles are removed. Frankly, I think it's a stunning look for her.

She's not always the lady you saw in the first picture. Sure, most of the time, but other times you just have to relax.

Sometimes you just have to cover your eyes and say, "I want to be alone."
Other times you just need to find your spot in the sun and soak it up.

I am OLD.....

2011-04-16T17:29:00.002-04:00

This week was our annual visit to our eye doctor. We just love him. And he likes us too, which makes us like him that much more! He saves jokes for us all year and then we all cram in the little exam room to hear them. How on earth he can figure out what our prescriptions should be is beyond me with all that laughing going on! His staff is more like family than an office staff. They have a very dry wit, similar to ours, so we just zing each other the whole time we are there.

I think it was a couple of years ago when he decided that I needed to try mono-vision. Yes, I need bifocals. I told you I was old. Geez, weren't you listening? You young whipper snapper you! I hated it! I couldn't focus the way I wanted to. I complained to my Dad who had been doing it for years. He told me that his eye doctor told him, "If you have a brain, you can do it." Well, apparently I'm old and don't have a brain. I put up with it as long as I could stand it. Finally this year I told him no more! Wouldn't you know it, they have bifocal contact lenses now. I was sent home with a pair of those. They were okay, but he didn't have the strength I needed for my right eye. Next time I went in with RL and the kids, he had the right lens. So, I went home with another pair. At first I loved them. Then I realized I was seeing far away much, much better, but I couldn't read worth squat. So....he gave me another pair - for just seeing far away and told me to get reading glasses. Now I am trying to decide which pair I want to stick with. Regardless of what I decide, I will need reading glasses. L needed to go to Michael's, so I had him help me pick out some reading glasses while we were there. Have you seen cheap reading glasses? Seriously people! Isn't it bad enough that I am old and blind, but now I have to wear something that looks like crayons melted all over the frames. The color combinations are horrible! L offered to paint some for me. Might take him up on it! And, don't forget the rhinestones! You can put rhinestones on poop and you're still going to have poop! So now I have two new pairs of reading glasses - one for my purse and one for my knitting/reading area. What's next? Between new bras and new eyes, I'm becoming a new woman!

I'll try not to be so cantankerous next time I post. Maybe I just need a nap, I'm getting old you know.

Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder

2011-04-03T17:02:00.002-04:00

Sometimes being a woman just sucks, doesn't it?

I am going to approach a delicate subject here - bras. For me, buying a new bra is like buying tires. You don't want to, but you know you need to. Maybe you drive around without as much tread as you should. Then one day, you have a blow out and you are faced with the inevitable. You HAVE to buy new tires. Well, that's what happened to me, but within the delicate world of bras. The last time I bought a bra, I was living in Florida. That was almost fourteen years ago. During that fourteen year period, I have gained a lot of weight. Unfortunately, bras don't grow with you. They will stretch with you until they can't stretch anymore, but they don't grow. I had the worst looking bras you ever saw and just prayed nobody besides me would ever see them. Then one day recently, I had a pain on the left side of my chest. I had been experiencing muscle pain for some time in my upper chest, but thought it was stress. I made an appointment with my doctor. Verdict? Mammogram to be on the safe side - new bra because it is necessary. Really? I can't wear this one for another fifteen years? I recruited Mom and headed to the store. They had some professional bra fitters there. Oh great! They're going to see my bra and report me to the National Bra Council for neglect! (Is there a National Bra Council?) Bless that wonderful woman! She measured me with my shirt on. Holy Moly! I wear that size now? What was that again? Surely I heard you wrong. Believe me, I am not bragging! I was flat chested for many years - before children - and I had accepted it. I come from a long line of flat chested women on my Mom's side. I was truly cool with it.

Let's flash back about 30 years ago. When I was a kid, we would visit my grandmother, on Daddy's side, on her farm in Tennessee. She had this 'contraption' that would hang on her wardrobe. We had NO idea what it was, but it looked like it took about two or three people to lace it up and tighten it onto you. Why would anybody have to wear something like that - said a very flat chested teenager.

Now we are back to the dressing room yesterday. I had walked past all these really cute bras. Underwires, floral prints, animal prints, black, white, red, lacy, you name it, they had it. The woman measures me and then says she'll be right back. Does she bring me an adorable little leopard skin bra with lace? No. She brought me freakin' body armor! Really? How on earth do you get all those hooks hooked up behind your back without any assistance. Then it hit me - I have become my grandmother! The lady finally came back with a bra that fastened in the front. Thank goodness. I could finally see what I was doing. Instantly my shoulders went back. My posture was 100% improved. She commented on the fact that 'they' were finally where they belonged and not down where they were. Gee, thanks.

We endure so many things - our 'monthly', childbirth, menopause and the joys of bras. Or as my sister eloquently put it - Over the Shoulder Boulder Holders. Ain't it great to be a woman?

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T17:49:00.001-05:00

I hope you're having a Happy Valentine's Day. We've had one.
RL surprised me by only working half a day - that was real treat! He brought me three yellow roses - my favorite - and a Snoopy card. We both love Snoopy, so it was perfect. R decided to make some cream biscuits. I had never had them before. They were pretty good.

Of course, I didn't taste much of the biscuit because it was smothered with whipped cream and strawberries! The breakfast of champions!
I finally had a nice day to take pictures of the socks I knit in January. The yarn was really kind of funky. Same dye lot, bought at the same time, started from the same place (roughly), same size needles, same pattern - totally different striping pattern. What's up with that????? Oh well - I don't think I've ever cared if my socks matched perfectly, so no big deal.

Stressed

2011-02-11T12:41:00.005-05:00

I must remember that 'stressed backwards is desserts.' Unfortunately my waistline knows it! Maybe a diet isn't a good idea with Valentine's coming up....and having a great baker or two in the house doesn't help matters. However Stress has become my middle name and eating has become my latest past time. I'm trying to ignore the growling while I knit or read and try desperately to keep my mind on other things besides sweets.

I finally, finally, finally got around to taking some pictures of some sweet gifts. Luann made the cutest pins for R and me and sent them at Christmas time. I've been waiting for sunny days to take pictures and then I forget to take them! The sun has been quite rare lately so I'm going to use that as my excuse! I have no idea how on earth she knit these on toothpicks. Yes, she did knit them on the toothpicks. I would have cheated and used needles and then transferred them. This is one dedicated knitter. Thank you Luann! We both love them and appreciate your thoughtfulness.

These are my new sock blockers. I bought a great set of sock blockers from Loopy Ewe a few years ago. I love the crazy little designs on them and the bright red. Well, they got thrown around a little too much and they just broke. So taking pictures of new socks has been a little difficult. Hearing my whining once too often, Santa's elves took pity on me and got me a new set this past Christmas. Before I put socks on them, I HAD to share the way they were decorated. Aren't they cute? I've got a pair of socks waiting to try them out.

New Yarn, Laziness and Shortbread

2011-02-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure that our computer woes are behind us, so I have been laying low. We've been busy keeping ourselves entertained with other things so we won't rely on this blankity-blank-blank computer so much. Thank goodness for the Nook I got for Christmas! I get my electronics fix and get to read some really good books at the same time! R and I went to the yarn store after Christmas and found some fibery goodness. I bought this beautiful Malabrigo. I'm not so wild about it now that it is knit up, but I hope it will grow on me. I made a Nook cozy out of it. I'll have to get some pictures soon so I can share. That is, if I decide I like it. If not, I might have some crinkled yarn to knit with after I rip it out!

This cold weather has made Ginger become fast friends with any warm body she can find. The other day we caught her cuddling up to L. She is normally on the couch, sitting on her fleece blanket with the heating pad set to low under her. For a cool kitty, she know how to stay warm.
The new recipes have been flying in and out of the kitchen. R decided she needs to try a new recipe every week. This particular week we had shortbread. The little dots are where she poked holes in it and put lemon curd and raspberry jam. I don't know about you, but that combination sounded pretty bad to me. I don't care for raspberries and I had never tried lemon curd. However, this was really, really good! I rule this recipe a keeper!

I hope everybody had a nice Chinese New Year. The kids made beef and broccoli on noodles and egg rolls. It was such a great dinner! L even cleaned up the kitchen! WOW! The kids wanted us to try eating with chopsticks. They are pros, so that wasn't even an issue with them. RL was too hungry and ate his dinner with a fork. Mom and I opted for beginners chopsticks. I call them chopsticks with training wheels! They are actually plastic and connected at the top so they are easier to maneuver. All was going well until Mom started laughing like crazy. I looked up and noticed that she had apparently squeezed a piece of broccoli a little too hard and it flew across the room. If I had been a couple of feet closer I would have taken a piece of broccoli to the forehead! It's a fork for her from now on!

We Had a Birthday Today

2011-01-16T23:19:00.001-05:00

My baby girl is 23 today. I have NO idea where the time has gone. Seems like just yesterday I was 23 and she was born. She is such a great joy to our family.

Since I am 'not allowed' to post any pictures of her or her brother - their rule - you'll have to be content with pictures of her cake. Gone are the days of a Funfetti cake. She requested a 100% home made lemon cake. She made one last summer and loved it, so she wanted it for her birthday. Boy - what a lot of hard work! Half way through the cake I asked her why I couldn't just open a cake mix and use that. She informed me that there is 'no love' in a boxed cake mix. Well, there's plenty of love in this cake! About three or four hours of standing in the kitchen worth! And she is worth it, of course.

Happy Birthday Bean! We love you!

Bagels!

2011-01-15T17:10:00.001-05:00

Seems like only last month I was trying to Christmas shop with L..... I was talking to him about what he wanted to get R. Some years he's needs input, but not this year! He knew exactly what he wanted to get for her. On one of the blogs she frequents, they mentioned a bread baking book. Seems somewhere along the way that she mentioned to him that if she got the book, she would make some bagels for him. My kids love bagels. (Does she know how to get her way or what????)

We had to wait until she wasn't around - which isn't often - and look on the internet for this particular book. He couldn't remember the name, but could remember the blog. So we scanned the blog and found it. Then we ordered it and the rest is history. True to her word, she made bagels. And what wonderful bagels they were. She needs to make some more. The above were cranberry with just a smidge of orange zest. The below picture shows one of the everything bagels. Plus she made plain. I think she made a dozen in all.

Tomorrow is her birthday, so I guess I'll have to do the baking for her. No bagels, but cake!

Believe It Or Not, I'm Still Here

2011-01-13T12:16:00.003-05:00

What a mess our computer has been! And to make matters worse, I believe I am addicted to this stupid computer! We have been having crashes on a regular basis and I just don't want to take it anywhere and pay a hefty fee. The computer gurus at RLs work have been passing information onto me through RL. I've tried all the scans I can find. If worse comes to worse I can always update from Mom's computer. That is definitely my lifeline! What did we do before computers? Probably were very, very productive people! I've found that when I'm waiting for the scans to finish their jobs or when I'm waiting for it to turn on after it crashes that I am making great progress on some socks I started last week. I do have a little technology fix with my Nook. Thank goodness for that!

Speaking of the Nook, I just finished reading a very interesting book called 'Closely Knit on Scarlatt' by Ardath Mayhar. It's about a knitter who is an assassin. Guess what her weapon of choice is???? Steel knitting needles! After piercing my leg with a metal Knit Picks DPN, I think it is a feasible weapon! Now I have to pick what I will read next. Anybody read the "Outlander" series? I've been seeing a lot of interesting reviews on the Nook group on Ravelry.

Debbie, thanks for the info on the roller coaster. I'll be sure to pass it on to the Divine Miss M's parents. They will be thrilled - they just have to be!

I will close for now. No pictures to post yet - I don't want to press my luck. I'm fortunate to be doing this much right now!

White Christmas

2010-12-26T17:17:00.002-05:00

I guess all those years of watching "White Christmas" finally paid off! We had a beautiful white Christmas this year! Luckily the snow didn't start falling until the afternoon, so we were able to see Mom safely home and then come back safely to our home! The picture above is from last night, off of our back deck.

This was the view from our front door. You can hardly tell that's a Moravian star hanging there to the left! I think we got somewhere between three to six inches - it is up for debate in our house!

I was hoping to get a picture of the steps, but I wasn't willing to hang myself out there that much! I don't think we've gotten above freezing today and I am officially freezing in this house! The kids are going out there to walk around and take in the sights, but I am content to sit on the couch and watch them take in the sights!

Here's a really lousy picture of the 'Divine Miss M's' quilt. I gave it to her on Christmas eve. I don't know if she liked it or not. It's really hard for a two year old to get hyped up over a quilt, but especially when she's trying to wake up from her nap. Plus she was really counting on a roller coaster - I know, I know, it was as big a surprise to me as it was to her parents! I don't see one in the back yard. Santa must have thought twice about it!

I hope everybody had a nice Christmas. We had a very nice, low key day. I was a little leery of how it would all turn out. We, like everybody else in the world, were short on extra cash for Christmas spending. This year has been quite busy and thinking of Christmas gifts or making Christmas gifts were put off until it was almost too late. Then with both of the kids getting the flu, it was difficult to get anything done around here. Luckily, the kids were very careful selecting what they wanted for Christmas and provided some excellent lists for Santa. They also did an excellent job with what little money they had to get gifts for RL and me. I was so proud of them. I think we all had a wonderful day and enjoyed everything we received, especially since so much thought went into it. In the next few days I'll try to post some pictures of the beautiful handmade gifts I've received from my on-line buddies. I was so surprised and pleased to even be thought of let alone receive the beautiful gifts they put time into. Thank you! In the meantime, enjoy your time off work and Happy New Year!

T'was The Week Before Christmas.....

2010-12-21T12:23:00.002-05:00

... and the little ones were full of hope.

See, Ginger doesn't always look like she hates us!

Most of the time, yes, but on that rare occasion.....

My children are ill. Both of them - hit right upside the head by the flu. First L fell and fell hard. We weren't sure if it was a cold or strep. I took him to the doctor when he said he felt horrible. L doesn't complain a whole lot and when he does you really have to listen. So, off we went to the doctor to hear he had the flu and a temperature. He kind of went into hibernation mode, nursing a bottle of Gatorade. He still sounds like he could cough a lung up, but he is getting better every single day. I think I detected a wee bit of cabin fever yesterday. It's been a little over a week now, so I am glad to see little signs of improvement every single day. R was going to stay well. We got her going on Vitamin C and lots and lots of hopes and prayers that she wouldn't fall next. Boy, did she ever fall - and hard! That kid has been knocked on her butt! We have found NyQuil and DayQuil and sing praises! She slept last night for the first time without coughing all night long.

Before she fell, she made these beautiful snowflakes. They are hanging now in the living room from the ceiling. Ginger had NO idea what to think when she first saw them twirling around. They are nice. A little understated than the paper chains we had last year, but understated is a good thing! A very good thing!

Before both of them fell, RL had a party at work and volunteered cupcakes. I don't know what he had in mind, but I had seen some cupcakes online somewhere that looked good. I couldn't find the red and white striped cupcake cups they had used in the original picture I saw, so I settled for these.
We made chocolate cupcakes and iced them with our regular homemade icing with just a touch of peppermint. Then R came into the kitchen and suggested we add a little bit of pink in the icing bag so the icing would come out looking sort of airbrushed. I think it turned out very nice! We then crushed candy canes and sprinkled that on top.

They were very good and refreshing. How do I know? Do you think I'm going to let something that looks this good go out the door without trying it? You know me better than that!

Since everybody is feeling puny, we have decided to wait on fixing all the Christmas goodies until they actually feel up to eating them. Sore throats are getting in the way of that right now. I think fudge without nuts would be fairly easy to get down, don't you?

In the meantime - you better be good because Santa's watching you! Or maybe some of his elves are....you just never know!

Ready or Not - Here it Comes!!!!

2010-12-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

I have come to terms with it. Christmas is coming whether I am ready or not. Christmas cards are slowly trickling out. We had great plans to make our own only to have other things get in the way and have to resort to store bought cards. Maybe next year we'll have it all together. It could happen. The house will never be clean enough to suit me, so I am trying to step over the 'little stuff' and move the 'bigger stuff' until I get some Christmas things finished. I've got to check the stocking stuffers to make sure we are 'even'. Don't want uneven stocking stuffers between the kids! Orders are slowly trickling in. We're still waiting for one. Wouldn't you know, it's one that needs some further work!

We never did make it to the dentist on Wednesday. We had a sick boy, so I called and cancelled. He continued to get sicker so I called our doctor who said he could see him the next morning. Thank goodness! What started out as a sore throat and a slight cough, turned into a 102 temp and more coughing. He has the flu. I knew I should have taken him in for his shot. Bummer. We just couldn't get him to a 'good spot' to take him and now he has to suffer. Poor kid. I think he's feeling a little better now that his fever has broken and he's chugging gatorade like there's no tomorrow. It's also given him a chance to watch all the DVDs of 'Firefly' that he's been wanting to see again. Add to that a native Floridian who has NO FREAKIN' IDEA how to drive in ice and had to drive in ice yesterday to get to the doctor and you'll have an idea how our week is going!

I also need to properly thank some people for some wonderful gifts that have come my way. I haven't forgotten and I will thank you! I have really been blessed with some thoughtful and talented friends. I'll take pictures soon and post them so you can see just how talented they are.

Oh - I made the Divine Miss M a rag quilt for Christmas and I need to take pictures of that too. She used to be Little Miss M, but she started REALLY developing a personality, so the kids now refer to her as the Divine Miss M. Somehow it is more fitting!

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2010-12-13T15:54:00.004-05:00

With a windchill in the teens today, I figured it was a good time to clean the house and update the old blog. The house will never be clean, so I took a blog break! That's at least something I can accomplish!

The Christmas elf has been baking! The cookies in the above picture were GREAT! They had peanut butter in the middle and chocolate on the outside. They made a small batch and that was probably a good thing!

These are also fabulous cookies that the Christmas Cookie Elf makes. I sure hope Santa brings jeans in a bigger size this year!

Our Christmas parade was this weekend. It was such a dreary day! I thought nobody would show. We normally have a huge parade, but this year it was kind of sparse. We live close to the parade route and have gotten there so early in years past to just stand and freeze. This year we decided to leave a little later and missed some of it! Bummer! I guess the marchers were cold and wanted to get the show on the road! The sun did peek out for a short while and made the parade bearable.

We had a little something for everybody.

Big old flashy cars with flames!

Tiny new cars with three wheels.

Sheep! Perfect for the knitter!

Jeeps for the Army and WWII buffs.

That reminded us to go by the memorial at the park before we headed for home.

The town puts wreaths on the tributes. Makes it even more special than usual.

And then, on the walk home, the Christmas cookie elf/photographer/knitter got a little distracted and wanted to follow the sheep home. What am I going to do with that girl????

Thanks for your input regarding our dental dilemma. L has a post-op appointment on Wednesday. That will be his last visit with that dentist.

Gross, Isn't It?

2010-12-04T19:17:00.003-05:00

What fun we have had this week! We were going along okay - nothing exciting, but nothing dull. Then L tells me Wednesday that his jaw is bothering him. I asked him if it was the same jaw his wisdom tooth was removed from last November. Yes. Hmmm. I told him to let me know in the morning how he was feeling. The next morning he was really complaining. He could hardly open his mouth and it appeared he had a small opening in the gum area where his wisdom tooth had been removed. We have an interesting dentist. He works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He closes on Thursday at 2:00. I called him at 1:20 to see if they could possibly see L because he wasn't in any shape to get through the weekend. We rushed like idiots to the office. We got there and they took him back right away. Turns out he had a build up of infection in that area. Then the dentist comes out and tells me that a 'fragment' of either bone or tooth was caught in that area and he had to open it up and take it out. He filed down the jaw a little and then stitched it up. Okay. I understand that sometimes happens. Then I got a lecture about how if I had brought him in for his yearly cleaning they might have been able to catch it sooner. Okay, okay. I'll take my scolding. Then I went back to pay for it. $300. Hmmm, really? The dentist left the area and L tells me he has a souvenir to show me. He asked the assistant if he could keep the 'fragment' and she told him he could. That little 'fragment' you see in the picture was what was in his jaw. Can you believe it? No wonder he was in pain! The dentist left that in his jaw during his wisdom tooth extraction! It was trying to work it's way back out and that's where the infection, pain and hole all came from! Needless to say, we will be looking for a new dentist - SOON!

Happy Thanksgiving (a day late)

2010-11-26T11:08:00.002-05:00

We're kind of laying low today. Lots of work for the big day and lots of eating has left us with no desire for anything else. How did your day go? Here's a brief run down of our day.
Every year RL makes the dressing. One of us mans the toaster while one of us chops up everything else that goes into it. For years RL has stacked the toast like a house of cards so the toast would stay dried out. This year R had to step it up! She made "Toast Towers"! The toast was cut to lock into the other pieces and then a flag was made to finish it. 'If a job is worth doing - it is worth doing all the way' is her motto!

Here are the chocolate chip pies I made. These are my favorite. Notice the lovely crusts that our toast tower builder made. No store bought crusts for that girl!

This was her lovely creation for Mom. Mom has always loved mincemeat pie, so R made the mincemeat from scratch and then made a beautiful pie crust to go on top. I think she said it was a shaker weave pattern. Once again - all the way and over the top!

RLs favorite - pumpkin pie, with the necessary 'testing spot' in the center! L had decided no sweets for him so he passed on the pies this year. What will power! Wonder if he could loan some to me for Christmas!?!

Here's the pie crust for the chocolate chip pie before the chocolate chip goodness got into it.

It's not ALL about pies around here. Here is a deer track RL and R found on their walk the other day. We have a new park in town with a walking trail and they said they found all kinds of deer tracks! I wonder if the town council would frown on a tree stand in the park........

Fire Cloud! Isn't it beautiful? Every once in a while we are lucky enough to see one. This was at the walking park too.

And here's the view from the walking track. Give me that over a treadmill any day!

Shoot! After the Thanksgiving we had I should be there right now.

Fall Football

2010-11-22T15:21:00.004-05:00

About once a year we get free tickets to attend a Wake Forest football game. Last year we went to our first ever college football game and loved it. This year tickets were available and RL jumped on it.
Guess who we played? What? The orange and purple aren't a dead give away?

Here, maybe that big orange flag will help a little.
Going to a game you don't expect to win is kind of a mixed bag. It can be a wee bit slow if it's not a massacre - which can be better than a massacre.

When it gets a little slow the photographer will sometimes find other things to photograph. Like maybe her socks. Believe me, it was a great day for hand knit wool socks!

See, we sat in the nose bleed section. The tickets said section MMM. We passed M. We passed MM. Somewhere around that section we thought they had accidentally typed one too many Ms on the ticket. No way could they have a MMM section. They DO have an MMM section. It's about twenty feet under flying aircraft.

Oh no - photographer must have been bored again! The full moon over Winston-Salem was very pretty.

Shoot - thought you would be able to see the final score. Clemson won 30 -10. I wouldn't call that a massacre, would you?

We did score a touchdown! YES! So many people were leaving the game by this point. It was thrilling to see the team score! When they score this guy stands in the end zone and waves this HUGE flag.

These guys run up and down the field. Last year when we beat Elon, they got a real workout. Needless to say, they didn't this year.

All in all it was a great day for football!

Fall Is In The Air!!!!

2010-11-11T17:02:00.001-05:00

This has been one funky fall. One thing I've learned since moving to North Carolina, is that the weather is just as unpredicatable as living in Florida. With Florida chances are it's going to be warm. But it can surprise you! This fall is one of the weirder ones since we've lived up here. Sometimes it's like someone turned on a switch and all the leaves changed at once. Other times, it's like not all the trees got the memo! This is one of those years. Most of the trees are in the process of changing now, so we're getting a little closer to what I would consider a 'normal' fall.

Here's the latest finished knitting project! Last year for Halloween, my Ravelry buddy, Aredhel, sent this yarn to me. I wasn't sure what to do with it. I knew it would be socks - that's always a given! But I didn't know if I wanted a pattern, plain, black heels and toes, regular heel or patterned. I just over thought it. So....I put the yarn away and pulled it out this year as soon as fall was in the air and decided to knit plain socks, eye of partridge heel and let the yarn speak for itself. I'm really glad I did. When I took the socks outside for their photo shoot, I noticed how they really were showing fall colors. Thanks Aredhel! I am anxious to wear them.
This is my view from the computer desk right now. The yellow just brightens up the sky. I love the contrast of the blue and yellow.

Yesterday R was walking around snapping pictures of our backyard, so I thought I would share some of them.

Soon it will be raking time. Better enjoy them while they're still on the trees!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T18:50:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I love this picture! Years and years ago my best friend came over with her little girl for Halloween. My little Ninja Turtle and Miss Piggy weren't too sure of her and she looked like she wanted to get the heck out of there! I love the way Miss Piggy has her protective arm on Donatello's leg. You never know about those ballerinas!

Today In History....

2010-10-27T16:36:00.002-04:00

Twenty-six years ago today I married my best friend. Well, I wasn't so sure he was my bestest friend at the time, but I had an inkling he would be! I was scared to death that day! I thought I was doing the right thing. However, as my Dad and I walked down the aisle, he kept telling me, "We can turn around anytime you want. Just say the word." He was as responsible for me marrying RL as anyone else was. At one point we had stopped dating and Daddy went out to lunch with RL and arranged a little 'meeting' later that afternoon. I was sitting in the car for the drive home from work and Daddy pulled alongside the road where RL was standing. I was furious with Daddy! How could he do that when he knew I wasn't even speaking to RL!!! My window was rolled down, RL didn't say a word, just threw a large envelope in the window and off Daddy and I drove. I wouldn't even touch the envelope! (Yes, I was, and can still be, a brat!) I finally picked it up and inside was a marriage proposal. Needless to say, I said yes. Twenty-six years later and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I married my best friend. We have been together through thick and thin - and I'm not just talking about weight here either! We've raised two great kids. Stood by each other as both of our fathers died and supported one another while we supported our mothers through the grieving process. We've moved 600 miles away from everything I ever knew to find that the new place was a pretty good place after all! We've had lots of happy, tearful moments too - like when he was baptized by my Dad. Or when both of the kids were born and we were both scared to death! It's been a good run so far and I look forward to the future.

Now, onto fibery goodness! The stupid picture loaded wrong! Oh well - turn your heads. You'll get the general idea. My Ravelry buddy has been a real stinker! I wasn't expecting it, but she dyed this yarn for me just for Halloween. It's called "Bootiful". I love it! The colors are perfect and I cannot wait to knit some cool socks with it! She also sent some peanut butter cookies and an adorable pumpkin bucket. Gee, you would think I never baked for my family! They ate those cookies like there was no tomorrow. I guess I need to get the recipe. Send it on Aredhel!

As for other 'goings on'....well, it's starting to be fall. The acorns are falling from the trees like I've never seen before! I thought I would have to start wearing a hard hat just to get the mail. We can hear them hit the cars late at night. Scares you to death the first time you hear it! Then add tornado warnings to that and you have a fun time! I stayed up with the kids last night until the tornado warnings expired. RL was comfy in bed snoring away. One of us had to be awake to move the kids into the center of the house and slap a mattress over them! Of course I would have had to flip him off of the mattress first....but I was prepared! And I wasn't even a boy scout! Go figure. Hope everybody else is enjoying fall in their neck of the woods!

Fair Time In The City

2010-10-16T19:03:00.004-04:00

Fall around these parts means lots of things. Acorns pelting you when you walk down to the mail box. Changing Leaves. The fair. This year we didn't have anything entered, but we decided to go and take in the sights.

Boo! It's a sheep ghost!

These poor little sheep! They were in these covers, in a barn that was a little too warm. We wanted to liberate the sheep!

This is highly unusual. There are normally lots and lots and lots of mega pumpkins. However, this year we haven't had much rain, so we haven't had many pumpkins. These were the only three. At least you were guaranteed a ribbon!

This is Bob. He's a 22 year old Percheron. This picture doesn't show just how MASSIVE this horse was! They had eight of them. RL loves VWs. So, when we were looking at the horses and saw how much they weighed - between 1,700 and 2,200 pounds - he said, "Wow! That's more than a VW!"

These were some wooden turned bowls. Beautiful! Unfortunately we didn't get to see the demonstration, but we still got to admire the handiwork.

The chainsaw artist was there - we missed his demonstration too! They had these sculptures for a silent auction. They were really cool!

Quilts were hanging from the rafters in the arts and crafts building. So many beautiful quilts!

And while we were at the fair, Ginger was enjoying a nice, warm pile of clean laundry! Does she know how to party or what????

Fall is Here!

2010-10-05T20:25:00.003-04:00

Fall has finally arrived! The weather has been in the low 60's for a few days now. So nice to pull out some long sleeved shirts and have the windows open for fresh air. The nights are perfect for sleeping under blankets.

With fall comes some fun things to do around these parts. The local alpaca place had an open house. I love to go there! It is so peaceful. I don't know why it happens, but it seems every time they decide to have an open house, it rains! We needed the rain, so I was glad they scheduled it when they did. They are starting to downsize a little so most of their yarn and fiber was 50% off as well as some of their alpacas. Since RL will not let us have an alpaca - and the town would probably frown on it too - we have to settle with pictures as well as fibery goodness! R got quite a bit to spin and I got some more to go with the last batch I bought. Hopefully I'll have enough to make something like a shawl.

Don't you just love the bowl cut? This alpaca has some serious bangs! I don't know what her name was. Bless her heart, she had a serious chewing problem! She would chew on the right side, then the left side, right, left, right, left. She'd swallow - then it would work it's way back up and she'd chew, chew, chew some more! She kept us quite entertained! And because it was raining, we got to see most of them up close and personal.

This is Sugar. She was born on a Thursday and we were there the following Sunday. She was really getting around! It was fun to watch her try to sit like the other alpacas. It looks like hard work with those long skinny legs!

Here's Sugar and one of the future mama alpaca's. I don't know why she stuck closer to this one than the others, but they were big buds. I think the big alpaca was due in another month or so. They have a gestational period of almost a year! Can you imagine? Whew! I was upset when I went three weeks over with L!

The owners children kept us quite entertained. They have five year old twins. That would be enough to keep one hopping, but they also have two older children. Anyway, we were talking to the twins about the dogs they have around there. They have three dogs who are definitely pets. They love to be oohed and aahhed over more than the alpacas. Then there are two 'work dogs' who are in the fields with the alpacas and watch them. The little boys told us they they protect them for 'ky-dough-dees'. I couldn't figure it out at first and then it was, "Oh, coyotes!" They were interesting little fellas and really in the know!

This is probably my favorite of all the pictures R took while we were there. They were just resting and watching the rain. I think they had the right idea!

What a Week! What? It's Only Tuesday?

2010-09-21T21:08:00.001-04:00

I think Ginger has the right idea. It has been quite a week. Actually it's been quite a week for the past two weeks. First the refrigerator died. I think it was from magnet overload, but you can never be too sure. Do we get it fixed? Do we get a new one? It was seven years old. Aren't they supposed to last fifteen? Whatever. We ended up getting a new one. Runs beautifully. Definitely an expense we weren't counting on for quite some time....QUITE some time.

Do you like the afghan Ginger is on? My grandmother was great at crocheting. Every year one of us grandkids would get an afghan made in our colors. I still have mine. It's pink, blue and white. It makes the rounds around here in the winter keeping us warm. After Gram died in 1997, these squares were found in a hope chest in her bedroom. My sister had them for a while. When she found out that Gram had never made baby afghans for my babies, she sent them to me. My babies are now 20 and 22, but it was still nice of her. They've been sitting in a bag for some time now. The weekend before last was her birthday. I thought that would be a wonderful time to finally crochet them together. So now we have a new lap afghan thanks to Gram and my sister. It is WARM too. It will be perfect for this winter.

Do you see that? No knives or knitting needles permitted. What kind of world is this? R got called for jury duty - well, IF they call your number. Wouldn't you know - they called her number. Well, she won't be chosen. No, she can't be chosen. They chose her. Not only did they pick her out of all those people, they wouldn't let her bring knitting needles! What kind of animals don't let you bring knitting needles to a stressful situation? R is not an early morning person - okay, I'll be honest here, she's not a morning person. Actually, noon is a little early. That's a whole other story though. So, we got an alarm clock that said it was guaranteed to wake you up. When I went to check on her that first morning she was afraid she had had a heart attack and was seriously considering an aspirin regimen. We pumped her full of her favorite hot tea and tons of reading material. Two days later and a major learning experience behind her, she is finished. Whew!

There you have it. I made myself tired reliving these experiences..... I'll try to do something a little more exciting that doesn't require major appliances or a government summons.

Baby Knitting

2010-09-10T21:38:00.000-04:00

Seems like it's that time of year again. Baby knitting time! RL has a coworker who is expecting her first baby in November. He asked me to knit a hat. I was thrilled! I have knit hats for his coworkers babies before, but he's never actually asked me! I went through all my books, needles and yarn until I decided on this one. I probably wouldn't have chosen red and black on my own, but the baby Mom is a graduate of NC State, so it was necessary! So far I've knit for babies belonging to a Michigan grad and an Appalachian grad. I don't care what else you knit for babies - the biggest reaction comes from hats knit in Mom's or Dad's college colors! I have some left over and if I can find the right size needles, baby Mom might be getting one too!

Thank you for your comments regarding our friend. She is sorely missed.

Thank you also for your comments regarding the German restaurant. You'll have to give me some ideas on what to try next. I have no idea what is good!

Are You Still There?

2010-09-08T09:27:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around in a while. It's certainly not for lack of blog worthy content! It's been wild and wooly around here lately.

Last week we lost a dear friend. What a woman she was! Years ago we met her and her husband at a small church we were attending. Her husband was the minister there. Never in my entire life have I met anyone like her. She had been diagnosed with cancer about 11 or 12 years ago. At that time she was given about three months to live. Needless to say, she beat the odds. The cancer would reoccur and she would beat it again. However, the last time she was not meant to beat it. She never let it get her down though. She continued to travel to the Ukraine for mission work. Continued building furniture and remodeling. I could list her attributes all day long and still wouldn't be able to get to the core of her. One thing I most admired about her was that she could talk to anybody about anything and be able to relate to any subject! She had been ready to go to Heaven the entire time I knew her. Any second and she was ready! The rest of us said we were ready too, but we wouldn't mind having a little extra time! Not her! She was READY! And now she is there. You can't be sad for her. However, you can be sad for all who miss her and there are many who miss her.

Anything else I could say since my last post pales in comparison to losing her. However, I'll give it a go. Last week was spent getting to know my dentist a little too well! A filling came out and become lodged in my gum. Off I went to get that fixed. Then my bite was off. Back to the dentist for that. It's still painful, but I'm hoping it will get better without another visit and a few more hundred bucks! Today it is Rs turn to go. She's dreading it since I've had problems with this tooth, but her problem isn't as bad so it should be easy breezy for her!

The kids and I spent yesterday afternoon in the DMV. The two of them can take an otherwise boring place and make it an adventure. We are people watchers, so we had plenty to watch! People coming and going - finding out they sat in the wrong office for almost an hour! Little bitty teenagers trying to get their licenses! Scares you to death to think about them on the road! Now my kids are 20 and 22 and have had little interest in driving until recently. R has had her learners permit for a couple of years and had to get that renewed. L just hasn't had an interest. I know this is unusual, but face it, we aren't a usual family! L decided at the last minute to cram for his test and he passed! I was so proud of both of them. Now I've got to motivate myself to get out there and teach them. Pray for me......

This beautiful spot was where we spent part of Sunday afternoon. L had wanted to go to a German restaurant for his birthday. We weren't able to go that day, but we made it up to him on Sunday. I wish we had gotten a picture of the place. It is not in the middle of nowhere, but pretty darn close! It has a real original name - German Restaurant. I was hesitant to go since I've never had German food. However, this place was really nice. It was clean, spacious, friendly and the food was pretty good too! We will have to go back. On the way home we stopped at a little park next to the river. It was a cool day - high 70's, low 80's - so it was perfect. Off came the shoes, in went the feet and the rest was spent quietly listening to the river go by. I could go in for more days like that!

Look Who's 20!

2010-08-27T11:45:00.001-04:00

My baby boy is 20! How did that happen? He is officially older than me now. Not sure how that happened, but it does.

Every year on their birthdays, I wake the kids telling them about the day they were born. I really pour on the drama. They roll over in bed, with a very audible groan, and cover their heads. They humor me - such good kids. I try to make it a little more dramatic every year. It really is difficult to do this without laughing my head off at their reactions. This year I decided to do something different - I would tell him about the day he was conceived! Ha! He didn't see that coming! He's been dreading it all week! This morning when I woke him, I told him it was time. Groan.....cover head....roll over.... Then I told him all this crap about Star Wars, midi-chlorians, cabbage patches and our love that made this little creature grow. So I spared him the true facts that no kid wants to hear - no matter how old you are!

I love you buddy! You have really added so much to our lives. I am so glad we found you in that cabbage patch!

2010-08-25T21:06:00.002-04:00

Can you see? Down this aisle at AC Moore? A rare site indeed.
No, not silk flowers or candles.

It's a man in a utili-kilt!

He was more than willing to pose for us! His wife was singing the praises of his kilt. Apparently he had recently been singing the praises of it too! So much cooler and breezier. I imagine it would be. My nephew who is in the Army has one. Haven't seen a picture of him in it yet. Anxious to see one of America's finest wearing a kilt!

How Do You Protect Your Yarn?

2010-08-20T15:31:00.000-04:00

Apparently my yarn stash is protected by the love seat gargoyle. If you don't have one, you really should look into getting one. Yes, they are high maintenance, but your yarn is protected.
You have to weigh the pros and cons yourself.

Her shift must be over. Now she's just sitting near the yarn - no long on duty.
Are you ready for this? I don't think you are, but I'll share anyway.

This sweet little thing is a Cuban Tree Frog. My sister sent this picture to me from Florida. All I can say is GROSS! These suckers are between 3 and 5 1/2 inches. I know because I just looked it up. Can you imagine? When we were kids, my Mom's baby brother dropped a small tree frog on my sister's head and she screamed like she was dying. Just imagine if this had plopped on her head! She'd probably still be screaming!

Late Birthday Gifts and Other Neat Things

2010-08-18T16:10:00.001-04:00

Things have been hectic around here lately, as usual. But in the middle of all that, I was surprised with a late birthday present that came on a day when I could really, really use a pick-me-up.

My Ravelry buddy sent me some beautiful yarn. (She keeps my stash well fed!) She also sent Franklin Habit's book to me which informed me that a well fed stash is a happy stash. So, without further ado, here are the stash enhancements.

She drove over an hour to pick up this beautiful yarn for me! It is some sort of wool mix, about 200 yards. I really want to make something pretty out of it, but it is screaming that it is hardy too. Any suggestions?

It looks sort of gray, but is actually a brown color. The lighting outside was not cooperative.

Here's some sock yarn that she dyed. I love the color. It definitely looked different outside than it did inside - once again, lighting did not cooperate, so I don't think I captured the true color. Sock yarn is always appreciated and I love the way she dyes it.

But knitting isn't the only activity around these parts. My sister was cleaning out her fabric stash and sent this kit to me a few years ago. A couple of weeks ago while I was cleaning my stash, I found it. I really liked the entire kit, but I didn't want to follow the directions 100%. It had a couple of printed panels that were supposed to be sewn into the hanging. I decided to use those for something else, added some of my own stash, picked Rs brain for some ideas on how to tie it all together and came up with this:

I really like the way it turned out. I'm anxious to start quilting it.

Alas, knitting and quilting aren't the only things around here though! I have been spinning! Well, I have been attempting to spin! :) R had some silk caps that she wanted me to learn with. The draw on those suckers is soooooooooooooo long that it made for an easy first time. I really enjoyed it! I have to wash it and then maybe dye it. I have no idea what to do with it. Part of me just wants to stare at it and say, "Gee, I really did make this!"

Now it's on to knit, quilt and spin! What a life!

So Much Going On!

2010-08-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

How do I go from weeks of nothing exciting going on to being totally overwhelmed by everything? As you can see by the pictures, I finished a pair of socks. These worked up quickly. I've always picked out a pattern and went with it. This time I spiced things up a bit. I took the generic sock pattern I always use, same number cast on and same needle size. Then I found a cuff I really liked from the Sensational Socks book. I decided to use an Eye of Partridge Heel instead of my usual. Voila! I had some pretty neat looking socks that weren't too difficult to knit. R says in no time I'll be coming up with my own patterns, but I'm not so sure about that. One thing at a time!

My nephew is home from Iraq! Yes! We are so happy that he is home safely. I'm sure he is even happier to be home!

R decided that I needed to learn how to spin, so she taught me the other night. She has some silk caps that she wanted me to try. They have a very long draw, so that made it so much easier to use than wool. However the silk sticks to everything! If your hands are rough - forget it! Luckily mine weren't too bad.

We decided it was time to clean out the fabric stash. Man oh man! What a mess! It looks like a fabric store exploded in my bedroom. Quite a bit of what we found belongs to R. Remind me never to take her to another fabric store.....ever.....again.....as long as she is alive! I found a kit for a quilted wall hanging that my sister gave to me while she was cleaning out her stash some time back. So, I've been working on that too. I've really enjoyed working on it!

Oh, R got her first notice that she might be called for jury duty. Poor kid! She's 22, so technically she's not a kid, but she's still my kid and entirely too young to have to go! I don't think the county court system agrees with me though. We'll just have to pray that her number won't come up.

Well, that's about all the news that's fit to print at the minute. When I'm finished piecing the wall hanging I'll share a picture. Meanwhile I have to find something else to knit! Gotta keep busy!

I Got Nothin'

2010-07-30T15:52:00.001-04:00

I got nothin' to tell you about. We've been busy, but nothing you want to hear about. Tough, you'll hear about it anyway.

Let's see....the only decent picture of anything blog-worthy is this:

My nephew flew to NY for a wedding and wound up at the Lego shop. Isn't this the coolest - no pun intended - thing? I love it! My sister said he went to NY and this was all he bought. I'd say he made a wise choice. Now if he had only gone to a yarn shop or two....

R had an appointment with the dentist on Wednesday. We were all dreading it. The poor thing has not had many decent dental experiences. Her first was a doozy. When you take your two year old to a pediatric dentist and they come out and get the child, but make you stay in the waiting room that isn't exactly child friendly - beware! They took my baby back to a room she had never seen before and strapped her into a papoose and started working. She screamed until she fell asleep and then they worked on her teeth. Needless to say, we never went back. Now that she is 22 she doesn't scream any more and doesn't need to be strapped down - thank goodness! Our dentist has an open office with glass doors so I was able to get up from time to time and peek in on her. No cavities! Yes! I was so proud of her! She has four areas of concern that could develop into cavities, but they can fix them now. That is our next step. The dentist said she was the poster child for our family. Yeah for her!

Yesterday was mammogram day for me and Mom. We've been made fun of for going at the same time, but it really makes the experience a little easier. It went very fast - which is always a blessing. Now we wait for the results and are thankful it's over for the year.

Little Miss M, who lives next door, is now two. She also went to the dentist this week. Apparently her dentist is a little more child friendly than the one we saw. She did great - Yeah for her! She's started saying, "What in tarnation?" It is hilarious! I didn't realize the word tarnation had so many syllables. She keeps us in stitches. Thank goodness for toddlers. Speaking of little ones, I met Mom's neighbors grandson, William the other day. Just a couple of months old and adorable. A little stinky - he was tending to 'business' when we met, but still adorable. He was over 11 pounds when he was born. I thought L was a big one at 10 lbs. 2 1/2 oz.! So cute.

So, that's all the news that's fit to print and some that isn't. I'll try to have the current pair of socks finished for the next post. I'm to the heel on both of them, so it should be straight stockinette after that and we'll be home free. Whew!

Double Rainbow

2010-07-16T12:28:00.003-04:00

My rainbow socks are finished! YES! They didn't take long at all - whether it was the simple pattern or the love of the yarn, I'm not sure. I cranked these out in no time. The yarn is from Knit Picks. It is incredibly soft on my feet! I didn't want to take them off, but since it is 90 almost every day that was all the incentive I needed.

I HAD to name them 'Double Rainbow.' We were watching Jimmy Fallon the other night when Martha Stewart was a guest. They were talking about stupid YouTube videos when he mentioned 'Double Rainbow.' What a STUPID video! (If you haven't seen it, it's three and a half minutes of some guy freaking out over a double rainbow. I'm not even going to post a link to it because it's that stupid!) Anyway, after the socks were finished, I couldn't look at them without thinking about that video! So, the name stuck. Of course the kids helped a little when we found a song someone had mixed using the guys comments and they kept singing it.

These songs also remind me of socks I wore in Jr. High. My best friend, Karen, and I wore some pretty funky socks back then. If these were knee socks and had individual toes they would be SOOOO late 70's!

I found this picture in my e-mail box this morning. Frankly, I would have rather found this quilt in my mailbox this morning, but you can't have everything. Total bummer. My sister made this. Yeah, yeah, yeah - she quilts on top of all the other talented things she does. Disgusting, I know. The pattern is one my grandmother used. I love it!

Remorse? I Don't Think So!

2010-07-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

Some cats like to nose around when you're eating. I've seen Mom's cats do it. You cannot leave a plate, bowl or glass laying around without them getting into it. Ginger hasn't been that way for years. The past year or so, she's been getting interested in drinking out of our glasses. Gross! I don't drink out of her bowl! She shouldn't drink out of my glass! The other night L but his bowl of peach ice cream down on the couch to go into the kitchen for a second. Yep, Ginger got into it. She likes peach ice cream. Who knew? Hope she enjoyed it because it's the last time she'll ever have it!
Isn't this a pretty picture? I love the way the light is shining through the trees on the right side.

These are some raspberries from Rs garden. It looks like the one on the right is puckering up to kiss the one on the left! I didn't realize how hairy raspberries were!

Yep, we're still knitting around here. I've got a pair of socks on the needles right now. I'm anxious to get them finished. I'm using the rainbow striped yarn from Knit Picks. So cute!

A Walk Through Town

2010-07-07T16:44:00.002-04:00

We live in a very small town in North Carolina. When we walk to town, we are walking about a quarter of a mile. When we bought our house, we had no idea we were 'downtown'. Lately we've been trying to go walking every night. With the high temperatures, though, the walks are short! Last week we went for our 'short walk' with the kids. R brought her camera and L stood patiently with her while she took pictures of whatever caught her eye. I never know quite what she will see and it's so interesting to see the same walk through her eyes.

I LOVE this picture! I wonder if that is the law enforcement group waiting for someone to loiter! I wouldn't want to tangle with them. There wasn't much activity from law enforcement when we were standing there. Apparently what we were doing didn't qualify as loitering. Whew!

I don't know how long this tab from a soft drink had been there, but obviously long enough for grass to grow through the hole.

We couldn't figure out what this beautiful flower was. R thought it looked like a sweet pea. After some Internet searching, she found out it's an everlasting pea. It's supposed to be invasive, but we prefer to call it hardy! R is looking for people to talk her out of finding seeds for it. So, if you have an opinion, please share.

This picture as well as the one below were taken of a pine tree. What's the big deal about yet another pine tree in NC? Well, it was in the process of coming out of the ground! Made me a nervous wreck for any of us to be under it. However, the photographer and her spotter are a daring breed and went for it.

That is our walk downtown. Hope you enjoyed it!

Heebie Jeebies

2010-07-03T14:02:00.003-04:00

I like mice as much as anybody else. Mickey and Minnie have that great spread in Orlando, not to mention other spreads around the world. Mighty Mouse is another fine example. I don't know of a mouse who can rock a cape like him. Even Sniffles from Looney Toons is a cool little mouse. Yes, he talks nonstop, but he's so cute. Desperaux was a pretty clever mouse - he could read! Ralph S. Mouse could ride a motorcycle! Stuart Little was pretty darn clever with his cars, airplanes and even going down the drain to retrieve his adopted Mom's ring. Gus and Jaq were handy in helping Cinderella.

All that to say this: I DON'T want a mouse in my house! Yuck! They give me the heebie jeebies! We live near the woods, so we are bound to get a mouse from time to time. And we do get a mouse from time to time. I believe we've had three, that we know of, since we moved here 13 years ago. Thank goodness for Ginger and her keen mouse radar! She was able to get one of them. I just wish she hadn't felt the need to share! Our neighbors have had issues with the little critters, so I know it's not just us.

The other morning I came into the living room to find one of the kids sleeping on the couch. Apparently we had another visitor in the attic who had some nocturnal activities to attend to - sounded kind of like tap dancing. Even though you have a wall or ceiling between you and the mouse, it doesn't really help the heebie jeebie factor. So, RL, our beloved mouse hunter, bought some traps. Oh, he has his issues with mice too, but since he is the mouse hunter, I will keep that little story to myself for now!

So, we sit and wait. We wait until that little mousetrap says there's a mouse inside. Yes, you can buy mousetraps that do that! Amazing! Is it okay to feel a little guilty, but still relieved at the same time? I mean, I wouldn't want Stuart Little in the trap.

Knitting Goodies and a Finished Project!

2010-06-26T21:37:00.002-04:00

Fathers Day came a few days after my birthday and seemed to be all I had on my mind with my last post. So now that I've been able to have a few days between me and Fathers Day, I feel a little more 'normal' - whatever that is!

My birthday was a great day. It started off a little 'iffy' but got better as the day progressed. I was spoiled rotten by everybody. I got new clothes, cotton yarn, knitting books (Knitting 24/7 and a dishcloth pattern book), the Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law - so good! - a nightie, some earrings, three huge bags of peanut butter M&Ms .... I can't remember what else, but I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting! R made me a wonderful cherry cheese cake! We will NOT be discussing how much weight I gained!

A few days after my birthday, This little beauty showed up on my doorstep. It's a yarn bowl for knitting. The yarn is threaded through the top star down to the big star. Then your ball of yarn stays in the bowl instead of rolling all over the floor. Isn't this a great gift? My best friend from Junior High and High School sent it to me. She lives in our hometown, went to a local potters and found this. It is so special to me because it was so unexpected, a gift from one of my 'bestest' friends who also knits, and it was made in my hometown. It doesn't get much better than this! Thanks Karen!

Now onto the finished project!
I had posted pictures (post before last) of my shawlette '198 yards of Heaven' pre-blocking. Now that it's blocked, you can make out all the details. I really did like this once I figured out the pattern. I would probably make another one, but it would have to be bigger. This is not nearly as big as I would like.

Here's the point at the bottom.

And there's the finished product. It definitely would have looked better if it wasn't on a white quilt in a sunny room, but I did the best I could!

What to knit now...hmmm..... I've made a dishcloth with my birthday cotton yarn and my birthday dishcloth book. Now it's on to something a little more challenging. Any ideas?

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T00:08:00.004-04:00

Father's Day is a very difficult holiday around here. Since RL and I lost our fathers, it is a day of mixed emotions. We are celebrating with RL by spoiling him with a big grill. Unfortunately he found out about the gift because it wouldn't fit in my car or Mom's van! So he had to save the day and pick up his own gift in his truck. Oh well. It happens! :) So tomorrow will be all about RL and letting him grill for us!

Daddy in the Smoky Mountains.
12/02/32 - 02/15/09

We really miss you Daddy!

Popo with three of his grandkids in 1988.

08/07/34 - 01/21/09
We miss you Popo!

You'd Think This Was a Knitting Blog!

2010-06-18T17:03:00.001-04:00

Gee whiz! What is up with all this knitting? I don't know what's wrong with me, but I do enjoy putting a dent in my yarn stash. This past Christmas I got some beautiful red yarn from my Ravelry buddy. What can I say, she keeps me well supplied in yarn and I love it! I kept this yarn tucked away for something special. Although you can't tell from the pictures, it looks kettle dyed. And, I love the color red, so this yarn really needed something special.

Aredhel suggested the Ravelry pattern '198 yards of Heaven.' Beautiful pattern. Wait, let me correct that....beautiful once it's worked up. The pattern stinks. I know that's not fair. So, I'll take most of the blame for that. I started knitting this thing at least ten times. I'm not over estimating that either. TEN TIMES! I wasn't going to be done in by this pattern. I was going to conquer it. I am not a chart reader, so I was using the line by line directions. Quite a bit of the directions are assumed. Luckily, my in house knitting guru knows a thing or two about knitting shawls and reading vague patterns, so she helped me through it.

The pictures are pre-blocking. I used my crummy little camera, so I'll have to get the yarn guru to take some better pictures with her fancy smancy camera now that it's been blocked.

Kind of looks like wings, doesn't it?

I'm not quite sure what will hit the needles next. Sock yarn is spilling out all over my knitting spot in the living room, so maybe it's time to start knitting some for this winter. Rumor has it I'll be getting a knitting book for my birthday, which is today!!!! So, maybe the next great project will be within the pages of that book. We'll see.

Actual Knitting Content Ahead!

2010-06-02T15:59:00.002-04:00

Some time back, and don't ask me when :), my Ravelry buddy, Aredhel, sent this beautiful yarn to me. I haven't really felt inspired to knit socks for some time, but I finally decided this yarn needed to be used. After looking through all my sock pattern books, I settled on a pattern from 'Socks a la Carte'. The cuff is your usual K1, P1. The body pattern is 'Eyes on You' and was very easy to knit. I had wanted a pattern, but not a busy one so I could really show off the yarn. The pictures don't show just how beautiful the colors are in this yarn.

The pattern book calls this a V Heel, but I've always referred to it as Eye of Partridge. Just something a little different from the norm.

There is a purple that isn't really showing up, that really makes this yarn POP! Thanks Aredhel. I love it!

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T08:49:00.003-04:00

Memorial Day is an interesting holiday. We were talking about it last night over dinner. When I was a kid I knew it was a day without school or mail and we would be heading down to my grandparents for the day. (If it was a bank holiday - we were at my grandparents with the rest of the family!) RL said when he was little, it wasn't so much about military remembrances as it was about people they had lost. They would take flowers to the cemetery and put them on the graves of their family members. Mom said it was always a military remembrance for her. This year it has been for us too. We have been watching old movies on TCM - Dirty Dozen, Stalag 17, The Guns of Navarone, Operation Petticoat, The Great Escape and probably some more that I've forgotten. I've never seen most of them and they are good movies! My Dad would have loved watching them with us. So, today I remember Daddy, as I do every day. I also remember RLs Dad. I also remember all the soldiers who have served past and present, especially Sam. Be careful and come home safely!

The Boys Are Back!

2010-05-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

My boys are back from Florida!

Boy, did I ever miss them! RL and L went down to help RLs Mom do some landscaping before it got too hot. I guess the joke was on them - it was already too hot! That's not just a joke, it's a cruel joke! I grew up in Florida and never thought I could live anywhere else. After living in North Carolina for almost 13 years, I've changed my tune! The humidity down there is brutal. The only season down there is brutal too - that season would be summer.

In about 90 degree weather, they replaced some shrubs that had frozen this past winter.
They also enlarged this butterfly flower bed. I felt so sorry for them. They would call and tell us how hot it was and how they had to take breaks from time to time. Even the natives thought it was too hot for that type of work! When the natives complain, you know it's too hot! But at least they are finished until the next time.

On the home front, I got my hair trimmed. I have always had short hair. However, about five years ago, I decided to let it grow. I've had it cut once since then and maybe had 10-15 inches cut off. I thought it was covering my rather round bottom, but it wasn't. I asked RL to trim it and he cut off about six inches. Well, I thought it was six inches, turns out the ponytail I made as a guide was slightly off and was more like eight inches. Oops! As Mom says, it's only hair and it'll grow back. Oh please be right Mom!

As for knitting, I'm almost finished with a pair of socks. I'm very anxious to finish them. My ravelry buddy sent the yarn to me and it is gorgeous. I hope the pattern I chose does it justice!

Happy Birthday Ginger

2010-05-10T23:16:00.000-04:00

Today Ginger is 15 years old. She acts more like a kitten now than she ever did. What is up with that?

What do you do when you are outside and should be working the soil for your sunflower garden? Anything you can think of to NOT work the soil for your sunflower garden! The weather here has been very pleasant - I don't think we got out of the 60's today. It's not going to stay this way for long, so the time to do heavy garden work is now so you don't get heatstroke. We've been finding rocks out in the back of the yard for weeks now. RL tried to make a mini Stonehenge for me, but it fell down. While R was trying desperately not to work in her garden, she decided to take up a rock stacking challenge. How on earth she got that big heavy rock to balance on those little rocks, I'll never know. If anybody can do it though, it's her! It was kind of like watching Jenga in reverse.

We may not have sunflowers later this summer, but we will still have our gravity defying rock sculpture!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2010-05-09T14:16:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Kelly and I still cut fine figures, don't we? How come she probably weighs the same thing she did then, but I still have the same gut?????

I love you Mom!

Seis de Mayo!

2010-05-07T12:22:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know the actual date today is siete de Mayo and I know that the 'big day' is cinco de Mayo. Around here things don't exactly happen when they are supposed to. On quatro de Mayo, about 11:00 p.m., the kids watched Alton Brown's Good Eats. He was making tamales. They wanted to make tamales for Cinco de Mayo. It sure looked like a long process to me. I knew we would have to go grocery shopping for the things we needed. I knew the kids wouldn't wake up very early to go shopping for the things we needed. However, I am a 'team member' contrary to what they may tell you. I took them to the store, bought what they needed, dropped them off at the house, went to another grocery store for the other stuff they needed and promptly came home to collapse on the couch. They started working around 2:00 p.m. If you know anything about Alton Brown, you know he doesn't necessarily prepare fast food. Things take a whole day, if not days, to make. I was starting to realize that this wasn't going to be a meal finished by 5:00 or 6:00. And 6:00 is pushing it for RL to eat dinner. I let the chefs know that we might need a 'stand-by' plan, just in case. That was when I was told I was NOT a team member. (Am too.) Mom came over around 3:30 or 4:00. The cooks were working hard on this Cinco de Mayo meal. RL got home at 4:30. Cooks still working hard, but it's just not looking like this is going to be a finished meal before maybe 10:00 if we are lucky. A whole lot of talking took place and it was decided to hit Taco Bell and have the 'whole enchilada' the next day - oh, I crack myself up! Two very dejected cooks agreed, but kept on working in the kitchen. About 11:00, the tamales were finished. I am so glad we didn't wait! We all had a bite and they were great! We decided that we would definitely have them on Seis de Mayo. The kids made some rice, black beans and homemade salsa. Very, very spicy for this lily livered person! Thank goodness for ice tea and sour cream!

Why yes, that is a picture of Ginger in her party hat! Thank you for asking. She gets into the holidays just like the kids do - whether she wants to or not!

These beauties are from the garden. So pretty!

Flower or Weed?

2010-05-05T23:21:00.001-04:00

Around this house, dandelions are flowers. We live in a part of North Carolina with very acidic soil and that gives dandelions the perfect growing conditions. Since the kids were little, they would go pick them once they were big fuzz balls, make a wish and blow for all they were worth. They still do. I never thought that was making a breeding ground for them. We enjoy them when they are yellow and we enjoy them when they are ready to 'blow.' However, Miss M's mom didn't like us blowing them in her yard. So we kept it to our yard. A couple of weeks ago, Miss M and her dad were on a walk while I was getting the mail. She was wanting to run everywhere, and in a moment of desperation, I grabbed the first thing I could find to get her attention - a dandelion ready to blow. She LOVED it! She could blow them or shake them and those little future dandelions would hit the wind. "More, More, More!" She was hooked! Not realizing I had created a monster, I went back into the house. Everytime I see her now, she wants to pick the 'yellow flowers' or pick up and shake the 'white flowers.' Last I heard her parents were calling a lawn service to have their yard sprayed for weeds. Some people just can't be converted.

A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.

James Russell Lowell

I'm Still Here

2010-05-04T20:45:00.000-04:00

Ginger has the right idea. Hiding under a blanket and not coming out until good and ready seems like the way to go. The past month has been busy with spring activities. Gone are the weekends of hoping for snow, but knowing that you wouldn't have to mow whether it snowed out not. We are mowing EVERY weekend now and probably should more often. Old Faithful, our mower of years past, decided that it wouldn't mow one more summer. I felt the same way, but I didn't have a choice! Off to the store for a new fancy, smancy mower. It even has a hose hookup to clean the blades of your mower without flipping the mower over! I laughed at that feature in the store, but apparently RL really likes it. It started on the first crank and I thought RL would have a heart attack! Do you know how long we've been around anything that starts on the first try? Too long to remember, that's how long!

Mom decided she was fighting a losing battle with her blinds covering her sliding glass doors, so we decided to head to town to see what we could find. She found some very pretty curtains that were a little too modern for her taste, but she got them anyway. They are insulated, which is a very nice feature, especially in the winter. Very nice. Her cats don't know quite what to make of them. The slats aren't falling off every time you get too close to them, so that is a vast improvement. While we were at the store, I thought I would also like to give up the losing battle with our blinds. I hit the bargin bin and found some pretty red tab curtains. While we were putting the hardware up to hang them, they disappeared, along with R. Then it hit me - she was messing with those curtains and I KNEW exactly what she was doing with them. Sure enough, out walks Scarlett O'Hara - ala Carol Burnett! She had put the curtains on the curtain rod and fashioned herself a dress that would have made Carol proud! Never a dull moment!

I could have used a dull moment recently. I haven't been in the knitting mood lately. I tried making a Swiffer cover and used the wrong size needles - I know, gauge, yada, yada, yada. Then I found Interweave's KnitScene Easy magazine with some 'Easy Peasy Slippers'. I knew I could handle those. WRONG! The pattern was such a jumbled mess and didn't make any sense. I picked Rs brain and we figured it out. I wrote to the magazine and was informed that is was an 'easy' pattern, not a 'beginner' pattern and maybe I ought to find a more experienced knitter to help me. I was so mad! Luckily I have found others on Ravelry having the same issues that I did, so at least I know I'm not a moron.
I'm still waiting for life to get back to normal since Daddy died. I'm beginning to think it will never be the same. Things have definitely changed and I need to learn to change my outlook. I've heard all my life that if you can't change your circumstances, change the way you look at them. I finally understand what that means. I don't like it, but I understand it. I realize I take everything too seriously. Why do peoples opinions bother me when they are just that - their opinions and not mine? The past few weeks our neighbors have been outside a little more often. Their little girl will be two next month, which seems absolutely impossible! This afternoon I went over to play with her and her Mom while her Dad was busy. We kicked a ball around, blew some bubbles, pretended to talk on the cell phone. She got chalk on my phone which upset her parents - it wipes off - don't worry. She was pushing numbers - I didn't mind as long as China wasn't on the other end. She was blowing bubbles and spit bubbles all over me while trying to blow them. They were afraid she would make me sticky. I told them I wouldn't have to use as much soap tonight when I bathe. I don't know when I got to this point. I certainly wasn't like this when I had little ones. I was in their shoes, nervous that my kids would hurt themselves or something that belonged to someone else. It just doesn't matter. Life is too short to worry about those things. I think the best part of my entire day was when I was sitting on their front porch with her Mom and little Miss M saw a healing scar on my hand. She stopped what she was doing, said, "Oh, a boo-boo." Then she gently leaned over and kissed my hand. What a sweet, innocent gesture on her part. It made my day.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-04-12T15:06:00.004-04:00

Spring has sprung. After having temperatures in the 90's for a few days - where did that come from???? - we are closer to normal temperatures for this time of year. R ordered some strawberries from the county 4-H sale and got those planted.

An open house at a local market had this Fuchsia that wanted to come home with us. How could we say no?

And there are peas. R and L started them from seeds and transplanted them outside. They have really taken off.
And, after two long years, we finally got around to burning our leave and twig pile in the backyard. What an undertaking that turned out to be! The leaves were wet and compact at the bottom of the pile, so those took forever to burn. After two days of working on it, we put a serious dent in it. The back yard looks so much nicer!
I love this picture of the sunbeams coming through the trees in the backyard. Of course they are hitting the smoke from the fire - someone somewhere is cringing at our big, fat carbon footprint! And along with all the other things spring brings with it are thunderstorms. Ginger does not like thunder! She decided to cozy up with L on the couch until it passed.

Still waiting for it to pass.... It was gone by bedtime and she was back to her usual perky self.

Hopefully we will all be able to get back into the swing of knitting and sewing soon. We're all too pooped from a weekend of yard work, so maybe today's a good day for that!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T11:21:00.002-04:00

This is a picture of my Dad and R the Easter I was pregnant with L. Don't they look 'spiffy' in their Easter attire? No pictures of me though - I was starting to look like an Easter egg myself!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating and remembering the true meaning of Easter.

I'm Still Here!!!!!!

2010-03-24T15:39:00.003-04:00

Whew! I was beginning to wonder if I was going to blog again! What a hectic month this has been. First - a word of wisdom - don't wait five years to visit a dentist. While you are waiting those five years, don't make Coke your primary drink. When I say 'coke' I mean any sweetened, carbonated beverage. (We say coke for all carbonated beverages. Is that a Southern thing?) Anyway, that's what I've done for the past few years. I finally went to the dentist, when RL made an appointment for me. Sneaky fella! To make a long story short, I have four teeth - FOUR - 4 - that are not in need of any work. Only FOUR! That leaves 24 that need work of some sort. After the initial shock and many tears shed in the dentist's office, I was left with two choices: suck it up and get the work done or suck it up and get all my teeth pulled and wear dentures. Either way you looked at it, I had to suck it up! I opted for the work. First, I had to make a life change - NO MORE COKE! The dentist wouldn't work to save my teeth if I wouldn't give it up. I went cold turkey. my poor family.... After three weeks of 'detox' I set up my first appointment. Three teeth were pulled. So............between 'detox' and the pain of having those three teeth pulled, recovery and being ashamed that I let this situation get so far out of hand, I have been staying away from my blog.

Before I started this walk of dental shame, I managed to knit some socks! Remember the yarn I dyed with Easter Egg Dye? Here's a reminder:

I like the way it knit up. The toes look like rainbow targets!

The heels did some really funky stuff!
This is one side of one heel. It was just blue and pink throughout that whole side.

The other side of the same heel turned out to be green and purple! How cool is that?

The next heel surprised me by being all four colors on both sides.

My resident blog photographer hasn't felt like taking creative pictures lately, so you're stuck with my lack of photographic creativity! Well, that and no sun! The colors pooled, which doesn't bother me in the least. I really enjoyed this project from start to finish and I've already started gathering Easter Egg Dye to dye some more yarn. Keep your eyes open for after Easter sales on dye so you can give this a try. It's definitely worth your while!

Cake, Visitor and No More Decorations!

2010-03-08T23:57:00.004-05:00

Here's RLs birthday cake in all it's fiery glory! R made a wonderful spice cake for him. One of her goals for 2010 is to make something from a new recipe every week. She found this recipe on King Arthur's Flour Blog.

See how moist it is! It was delicious. The little fink neglected to tell me that it had a can of tomato soup in it until it was completely gone! Yes, I was a little put off by that, but the cake was so good I couldn't complain too much.

Here's our visitor. RL was sitting on the love seat and looked outside to find this hawk in our tree out front. I've seen them fly over before but never this close. It gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at it!

See all the paper chains and origami decorations? These have been hanging up since early December. We couldn't agree when to take them down. The kids talked me into keeping them up until after the first of the year. That turned into Rs birthday. Which turned into Valentine's Day. Which turned into RLs birthday. The day after his birthday I took them down! I was tired of hearing, "Let's leave them up for Easter, then Mother's Day, your birthday, Father's Day, 4th of July, Ls birthday, back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then we'll be prepared for next Christmas!" Yes, that was the argument. I couldn't believe how big the living room looked when they were finally taken down! RL walked into the house, noticed right away and declared that THAT was his birthday gift! I think he was beyond ready just like I was! So nice to finally have just the usual junk cluttering up the place.

Ooops.....

2010-03-03T15:14:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I committed quite the faux pas. When I started my blog, I promised the kids I would never use current pictures of them. Well, I screwed up. When they saw the blog post they went a little, well, let's say nuts. So, I promised I would edit the picture so you wouldn't have the chance to ever identify them again. I was told by R that "the pee was already in the pool" and we couldn't get it out. Hmmm, I guess once you're on the internet, you're forever on the internet is what she was saying. If the hypothetical pee is indeed in the pool and you two are forever splattered on the internet, you can blame your Mom. It's the 'in' thing to do!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

2010-03-02T13:15:00.003-05:00

Today RL is celebrating his birthday. And....we have snow! I never get snow for my birthday. Yeah, yeah, I know it's in June, but still....

I love this picture of him. He's playing with a vacuum hose. I would love to know how old he is here. When his grandmother was moving to West Virginia over 20 years ago she gave me this picture. She had been carrying it around in her wallet.

(This picture has been edited to protect the privacy of my children at their request. See above post. Pretty funky looking, isn't it?)
Here we all are. I hate me in this picture, but everybody else looks good. That's RL on the left, of course, followed by R and L then me. We were actually in Florida last year for his Dad's funeral and everybody was trying to get everybody else to laugh. I'm the only dork laughing. As usual!

In the knitting news - socks are on the needles. I decided to knit some socks using the yarn I dyed with Easter egg dyes. It's making some really weird patterns/pooling. I can't wait until they are finished so I can show you pictures of them. A word to the wise - DO NOT knit while watching the gold medal hockey game. I did a decrease for the gusset somewhere not even near the gusset! Strange! Would have totally been worth it if we had gotten the gold. I won't even comment on the Olympics this year. I've already put my soap box away and there's no reason to pull it out and share my opinions on the games. R finished spinning her Targhee fiber. She did a great job on it. I keep telling her she needs to start knitting with it or I'm going to use it for socks! It's calling to me.......

That's all the news that's fit to print for the moment. Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you!

New Socks!

2010-02-18T19:18:00.002-05:00

Pay no attention to the fact that I desperately need to sweep the floor! Just look at the new socks modelled by the lovely spinner of the house. These were a quick knit. The sock yarn was a Christmas gift. It had fallen out of my stocking and rolled under the love seat. When I was cleaning up paper and bows, I found it. What a happy surprise! I used the typical, generic sock pattern I always do except this time I did a K3, P1 cuff. I think they stay up better that way. However, I'm not sure if that's a fact with these socks because my model decided to wear them today!

Although we haven't had anymore snow - thank goodness - I've seen some activity in the snow that hasn't melted yet. Since I've been keeping the bird feeder filled, we have some winter visitors emptying it almost daily.

Ginger doesn't seem to care! She just wants to be left alone!

Thank you for all of the sweet comments you left on my last post. They meant so much to me.

A Year Ago Today.......

2010-02-15T07:30:00.001-05:00

I lost my buddy.

I lost my emotional compass.

I lost some of my sense of humor.
I lost my spiritual advisor.

I lost my children's grandfather.

And he was a proud grandfather of all four of his grandsons....

and his only granddaughter.

He was their mentor and mine too.

A year ago today, I lost Daddy.

I miss you so much and will love you forever.

2010-02-11T19:51:00.003-05:00

Miss Priss appears to have the right idea. She is nestled as snug as possible into the couch. She's been doing that a lot lately. I guess keeping the thermostat on 69 is not quite her thing. Frankly, it's not mine either, but it's a necessity. Last year we kept it on 68. This year we have noticed quite a jump in our electric bill with only one degree higher. Maybe we should put it down to 67. I have to admit it's really sad when Mom comes to visit, keeps her jacket on and grabs the first afghan she can find. At least she knows how to make herself at home!

The 'official blog photographers' went outside yesterday to take pictures. (They both had on shoes and socks too. Small victory for me! By the way, both of the pictures from the last post were of my lovely daughter. She's my daughter when she wears shoes and socks.) Yes, we still have snow. Not nearly as much as we have had, but it's still there. It's really crunchy when we walk on it and icy in spots too. I had to dig our recycling bin out of the snow the other day so we could use it! The garbage hasn't even run for two weeks due to the weather. Let's just say it's a good thing our average temperature has been in the 30's or else we would have one stinky neighborhood!

This is our birdbath. I don't know what that lime green thing is - moss maybe, but it is under the ice too. It's kind of pretty. We have thirsty birds, but a photogenic birdbath.

R graced use with a beautiful and great tasting apple pie about a week ago. Of course she couldn't just slap a crust on top and cut slits into it like I do. She did a beautiful filigree cut out on the top crust.

Knitting is still going strong. Today R got her order of Targhee wool to spin. We are anxious to see how it will spin up. It certainly smelled a WHOLE lot better than the stuff she got for her birthday! It's gorgeous, clean, combed and ready to spin. Who can ask for anything more? She is planning on spinning it during the Olympics. I haven't decided what I'm going to knit yet. Right now I'm working on a pair of socks. What is it with me and socks lately? I was knitting the cuff on the first one and then decided to knit the cuff on the second one. I'm just knitting away - about four inches into the second cuff, when I notice it doesn't look anything like the first one. Hmmm, that's strange. A closer look and I realized I did a K3, P1 rib on the first sock and a K2, P2 on the second. Needless to say, I had to rip the second one back to the beginning. I am learning patience, whether I want to or not! :)

A Wee Bit of the White Stuff

2010-01-31T12:09:00.003-05:00

I guess you could say we got a little snow.

Hopefully my Forsythia isn't hating me too much for not planting it sooner.
If our meter is insulated in ice, will our electric bill be better? Nah, probably not.
This is why we can't open our back door. The snow has built up around the sliding screen door. We'll have to go out the front door and shovel the back door out!
The kids ventured out and took all of these pictures. They are pretty good!
I've been told (Kelly) that we needed to get different views besides the one from the front door (Kelly) and the one from the back door (Kelly). However, when it's 5 for a wind chill, the front door view and the back door view seem sufficient enough to me (Kelly)!

This is definitely my husband's child. My child is shown below with jeans and shoes. His child is doing what he does every year - walking around on the front deck without shoes on.

Some of these icicles are over three feet long! You don't have to remind me to not walk under them!

So, there you have a different view point than you normally have of our snow. You are welcome (Kelly).

Snow, Cookies, X Games and Knitting

2010-01-29T20:39:00.003-05:00

Yep, that about sums up our weekend. R is totally into the X Games - so much so that she is willing to get out of bed early to watch them! That, my friends, is saying a lot!

I have learned way too much about snowmobiles and the wicked tricks that can be performed on them. I still like Shaun White, so I have no problem at all watching him snowboard. However, the Mom in me really kicks in when they have accidents and I suck in enough air that I'm sure they hear it in Aspen.

I had to make some chocolate chip cookies tonight. Since we are having snow and some rumors of possible power outages, I couldn't let the chocolate chips go bad. I have been to the grocery store with all the other maniacs storing up for the 'blizzard.' Why do we do that? When we lived in Florida we went 'hurricane shopping,' but now that we live in North Carolina, we have 'ice storm' and 'snow storm' shopping. Milk and bread is on the top of everyone's lists. Why? Won't the milk go bad if the power goes out? I guess we can stick it in the snow on the back porch. Oh well, I cruised the aisles with everyone else this afternoon trying to find something that we will actually eat instead of cans of tuna that will sit in the cupboard. I turned the corner only to find the bread aisle totally packed. I thought everybody was buying bread! How would I ever get down that aisle. Nope, bread is across from beer and those male shoppers were facing the beer side. Apparently bananas, bread and beer are big items for snow storms. Who knew? I did have a moment of doubt when I thought maybe I needed to take the money to my LYS and get some knitting supplies for the big snow. Common sense won out and my family will not starve.

You might have noticed some Valentine knitting. We just cannot get these colors to come across without blinding us on our monitor. Hopefully yours is a little tamer than ours. Anywho, I've been trying to use that cotton I was reminded of having and why would I need anymore yarn, yadda, yadda, yadda. I've had a lot of fun knitting them, but I think it might be time to pull out the sock yarn and crank out some socks. Does anybody have a problem with just plain old socks? I've been pondering that lately. So many cool sock patterns out there and here I sit knitting plain old ribbed cuff, cuff down socks. Is there anything wrong with that? Just food for thought.

Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you are staying warm, doing what you want to do and enjoying the people you love.

Party Animal

2010-01-26T22:31:00.003-05:00

We had a birthday here recently. Our favorite daughter turned 22. Since we didn't get any pictures of the big day, I decided to dig up some pictures from her past. Oh yes, ones she probably doesn't want anybody to ever see. What are mothers for? She doesn't pass out while eating anymore. Thank goodness! There was the night she fell asleep with broccoli in her mouth. I was so terrified she would choke to death in her sleep that I stuck my finger in her mouth to remove the broccoli. The little booger bit me!
Speaking of boogers..... Isn't she the dainty little lady here? This was taken at my grandparents 50th anniversary party. The booger picker was one month shy of two. I guess at that age we can excuse the behavior.

Here is our climber. This is a double mattress we had prompted against a wall in the spare room. I turned my back for one minute and she had scaled it - no time flat. You can tell by the grin that she knows she is doing something bad! She was also famous for climbing out of her crib, normally by performing a nose dive. She was never interested in her crib until our favorite son was born. Then we couldn't keep her from climbing into it while he was napping!

The B-52s dropped by for the party! Oh wait, that's just Ginger with a little fiber on her head. Rock on you long suffering cat!

Speaking of long suffering cats.....Ginger is shedding. Can she shed in peace? Oh no. Our favorite daughter decided to make Ginger a unibrow. Isn't she lovely? Can't you just imagine what kind of cuss words are going through that poor cat's head?

Here's one of Rs b'day gifts. It's a pound of Columbia wool. Now, imagine if you will.....walking along in the countryside. You stumble across a farm. Walking closer, you notice a barn. Why not walk in. Cows are over to the side. Sheep aren't far away. Now take the deepest breath you can. Hold it in. What do you smell? Do you smell poop? Excuse me, vegetable matter. Well, if you have a vivid imagination, you have just imagined what this bag of fiber smells like. P-U! Our bathroom got to experience the smell while we washed it. I really love this kid, I'm telling you!

Birthdays aren't the only thing happening around here. I got some Knit Picks Bare for Christmas. I was trying to think of a creative way to dye it. I recalled a blog years ago where Easter Egg Dye was used. I had bought tons of it on sale after Easter that year. I finally pulled it out and found a tutorial here : http://Kathrynivy.com/patterns/extras/dyeing-yarn/
(Of course I couldn't find the original blog which told how to dye the yarn, but this one is very thorough. Definitely worth a peek.)
The colors are pretty accurate. Might have to stock up on more Easter egg dye this year!

Finally!

2010-01-12T21:01:00.005-05:00

I finally got R to get some pictures of her Dad's fingerless mitts (Dashing from Knitty). He gets home right before dark and if we don't snag the mitts right away, we won't have any light to get pictures. She caught him as soon as he got out of his truck and grapped the mitts!

She had a long list of things she wanted to knit for everybody for Christmas, but was running very short on time. I volunteered to knit these if she would provide the yarn and pattern.

What an easy pattern! They worked up quickly. I was kind of dragging my feet between mitts, but it wasn't their fault. I did manage to get them finished before RL went back to work - which was quite an accomplishment for me!

The cables were not difficult at all and the yarn, which I think was a Berroco
Alpaca/Merino blend, was a dream. I'll have to check with my 'client' and ask her what exactly the yarn was called that she shoved in my face when I said I would knit these! (Just caught her - Ultra Alpaca was the name of the yarn.)
RL truly appreciated this gift. I was hoping he would. His little truck isn't exactly the warmest vehicle in the world. It is just starting to get warm when he pulls into work, which is across town. He told me the other day that he has been wearing them every day and even showing them off to his coworkers! I think R stumbled upon a good gift for her Dad!

And yes, that is snow in some of the pictures. It's still hanging around since before Christmas. One of these days it will melt, maybe.

Happy New Year (a Day Late!)

2010-01-02T13:43:00.002-05:00

My 'Official Blog Photographer' got a new camera for Christmas. That is what made her the 'Official Blog Photographer', by the way! Above is her official photography foot gear. Note the wool socks. We are freezing our tushes off up here and the socks are a necessity. Last time I checked, about noon, it was 13 with our wind chill. BRRRR!
In order to get requested pictures, we have to let the photographer release her artistic urges. The sky was beautiful yesterday, as you can see.

This is the scarf that L made for me for Christmas. He and R would trek on up the stairs every night and knit, knit, knit. Believe me, it was truly appreciated. I believe they said this yarn was Cadena by Knit Picks. It is bulky and feels so warm....perfect for today!

Didn't he do a beautiful job? The colors are gorgeous and match my winter coat perfectly.

This little African Violet is special. R had to buy it because it was named Billy. RL's Dad and my Dad's names are Billy. So, of course I had to let her get it. She has been babying it, trying to bring it back to it's former glory. On Christmas Day, it bloomed for the first time. How special to have 'Billy' bloom on Christmas! It was like both Dads were sending us a little message! We hear you both loud and clear and love you guys!

Christmas Time

2009-12-30T23:27:00.003-05:00

Instead of starting this entry with a picture of grouchy old Ginger, I will start with a picture of my Mom's cat, Scout. Don't be deceived by this cute face! She looks all sweet and cuddly, but do not be fooled! Their is a Ginger lurking in there somewhere!
I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas. We had a quiet day - which was just what we wanted. Of course we were a little apprehensive about the whole day since it would be the first Christmas without Daddy, but it went well in spite of that. There were a few tears, but mainly stories about him that made us smile. L and I are in the picture above. He got a Beatles Rock Band for the Wii. I've never been a big fan of the Beatles. Now I know I will never be a big fan of the Beatles! ARGH! Beatlemania has hit our house! L has become a master on the guitar and R has mastered the drums. I was making a feeble attempt at drumming. If you look closely, you can see what R and L will do with a ream of paper, a stapler, a paper cutter and a few hours. They made paper chains for almost every square inch of the ceiling! Origami 'things' are hanging where the chains intersect. It got to the point where I was afraid to go to sleep for fear of what I would find decorating the living room in the morning!

Okay, you knew it was coming! Here's Miss Ginger showing her 'friendly' side! The other day she climbed in my lap while I was in the recliner and stayed there for two hours! I was scared to death to move! Would she go for my jugular? Was she just cold? Why was she letting me pet her? The world may never know.

R got these adorable earrings from Santa (who shops at the Woolery for those of you who are curious).

This is my gift from R. She and L have been stealthily knitting to make beautiful Christmas gifts for me. I will make sure we get a big picture of this so you can see just how gorgeous it truly is. She snapped these pictures before she wrapped it and the snow was still on the ground.

Here it is all folded up. It is just beautiful....in case I hadn't made that point before! L also made me a beautiful scarf, but I am waiting for some pictures of that before I share. When your kids spend every evening up in their rooms knitting their fingers to the bones for you, you know they are special!

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and that God will bless you in 2010!

A Day in the Snow

2009-12-19T21:06:00.003-05:00

Snow is everywhere! We are not used to it here in NC, so it has just about stopped life as we know it. The secondary roads are just about empty. The newspaper wasn't delivered in some areas. And we are not going anywhere! When I opened the back door, the above picture shows what greeted me. I put the camera on the floor so you could see how deep it was. Here's a very misleading measurement. The snow blew off the roof and piled close to the house. It was this deep on the back deck, but we actually had about six inches of snow in the yard. What do you do with that much snow? Well, you play in it. You throw it at each other. You fall into it. You don't leave RL alone or else you end up with a snowball almost as tall as the children!
Here they are showing how proud they are of their accomplishment. It took all four of us to roll it into the front yard - along with a boogie board and a long board for leverage. Man, are we sore! Why yes, the children do look snooty. They are proud and feel they have accomplished something no one else on our street has!

Here's our snowman with all his parts in place. Don't ask how we did it! But, if one of the neighbors had a video camera running, I think they will win America's Funniest Home Video!

And this was where we left the snowman this evening. R had started carving a face by standing on a ladder and using her gardening tools! Tomorrow we finish this monstrosity! Wish us luck!

SNOW! GLORIOUS SNOW!

2009-12-18T17:20:00.003-05:00

I just took this picture from the front door. This picture is without a flash.

And with a flash it looks so cool - you can see the flakes as they fall! Our Moravian star is going to be round soon! All the points are filling in with snow!

What a great early Christmas present!

Christmas Knitting

2009-12-17T16:10:00.003-05:00

Finally! Something finished and something I can show you! I finished these two days ago - you can get a lot of knitting done in a dentist's office waiting room. I wanted to make something special for our grief counselor and thought fingerless mitts would be nice. R found this free pattern on Ravelry. They are called "Baby Fan Mitts." I used two skeins of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. I probably could have done it with one, but I like to knit two at a time and I had two skeins, so that's what I did! R has already dropped some hints that she would like a pair and I wouldn't mind a pair myself, so I guess I better get busy.

The color is actually a solid navy blue. It's just not coming across that way in the pictures.
Another bonus - I found this yarn in my stash just waiting to be knit into something special for someone special!

As for L, he is doing great! We are finally feeding the boy solids and he is happy, happy, happy! However, the soft foods around here didn't go to waste. RL ended up in the dentist's chair yesterday and now he is on soft foods! It happens.

Still Here - Still Busy

2009-12-10T13:45:00.002-05:00

Since I can't show any knitting projects - completed or in the works because some recipients might be lurking about - you'll just have to settle for Ginger in front of the Christmas tree. R was playing around with the camera the other day and managed to get Ginger to sit still - on a stool - for this picture. That is quite the amazing feat! As for other things going on around here, well, there are plenty of other things going on around here! We just got home from Ls wisdom tooth extraction. Apparently the procedure was a little more detailed than they had originally thought. I get the willies just thinking about it! The tooth was impacted and sideways, pressing against his back molar. They had to go through bone to get it out. I know, I know, makes you kind of cringe, doesn't it? We are loaded with pain medication, ibuprofen, soup, ice cream, pudding and yogurt. I think we're good to go! We'll only have to go through with this one more time as the dentist told us next time to get the rest done at once. I dread that day, but probably not as much as L does!

As you can see in the above picture, the tree is decorated thanks to my two elves, Mom and R. I need to take some pictures of the ceiling. You'll never believe it! The kids went a little wild with paper chains. They are everywhere and a few other places I didn't think they could reach. Never underestimate the power of creative children!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-12-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

Today Daddy would have been 77. I sure do miss him. He was a good buddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you.

Where Have I Been????

2009-12-01T19:52:00.002-05:00

Good question! What a busy month November turned out to be. I don't know if 'busy' is the right word. Chaos is closer to it. This was our first Thanksgiving without Daddy, so we were kind of dreading it. It went better than I thought it would. A few days before Thanksgiving we had a little excitement. RL was taking the whole week off, so we were looking forward to an easy week. L had other plans. Monday evening he had extreme pain in his right jaw. I knew what it was. I didn't want to say it out loud, but I just knew those wicked wisdom teeth were finally showing up. After begging a dentist Tuesday morning to see him, it was indeed his wisdom tooth. The right bottom tooth is impacted and infected. A week of penicillin later, we are looking at next week for surgery. This one absolutely, positively needs to come out, so it will be the first. Do you know how expensive this surgery is - with dental insurance?????? Too unbelievable much! Merry Christmas to us! Add to that some other surprises and stressful situations and you have our November! There are some exciting things to report, but pictures need to be taken first. I'll give you a hint - somehow our living room has turned into the paper chain extravaganza from 'Elf'. Every morning there are new additions. But, you have to see it to believe it! I'll post pictures very soon! Hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving.

Happy Veteran's Day!

2009-11-11T16:05:00.002-05:00

No pictures to post today. I would have flown our flag and took pictures of that to share, but Ida has decided to sit her big old storminess right on top of us. Rain for two days now and a couple more in the forecast.

As for the knitting front, the holy terror of a sock has finally decided to behave. Thank goodness! I had a minor setback the other day, but I was actually able to fix it with just a little bit of help from the resident knitting guru. I love it when I can fix my mistakes and then just take it to her to check. I never wanted to learn how to fix mistakes because I wasn't going to make mistakes! Ha! Double Ha even!

Hope everybody is having a nice day and remembering our veterans. Stay warm and dry!

The Knitting Blues

2009-11-07T17:35:00.002-05:00

I've been knitting a pair of sock for at least two months. I want them finished last month! It's a pattern I've done before, so I should be familiar with it. The first sock went well. No problems, minor ripping back. The second sock....well, it's not playing nice. I have started knitting it three separate times. I am sick of this sock. I've made mistakes I've never made before and I'm tired of it. I just want it finished. To make matters worse, I had a knitting accident that set me back. I always knit on the love seat. Sometimes I leave my knitting on the love seat and a needle will fall between the cushions. No biggie - I just reach down and get it out. Well, this time when the needle fell between the cushions, it didn't fall, it stood - straight up! The next morning I went to sit on the love seat. Thank goodness I sit like my Mom. I tucked my left leg under me and then plopped down on the couch. I thought I had been shot! I jumped up off the couch and grabbed at my leg to pull out this:

This is one of my favorite Knit Picks needles. I even straightened it out a little bit before I took this picture. I know there are a lot of thoughts out there ... I could have sat directly on it and had to pull it out of my butt.... I know. You're all thinking it. It was one of the first things I thought!
On a happier note, we have fall in all of it's colorful glory.
I took these pictures out front today. I'm sure my neighbors are wondering when this Floridian is going to get used to fall and quit taking pictures year after year.

The answer is probably never!

Twenty-Five

2009-10-27T12:55:00.001-04:00

Twenty-five years ago today I married my best buddy. Boy, I sure am glad I did.

Chocolate Cake Hangover

2009-10-25T17:23:00.002-04:00

This is a picture of Mom's birthday cake. Oh man! Too much! It was G-R-E-A-T! It was a Devil's Food cake with Rocky Road icing. R is the queen of Rocky Road icing. I think we could have just left the cake alone and eaten the icing. It's more like fudge anyway. Mom took a piece home with her and had it for breakfast with her coffee! Needless to say, she is flying like a kite!

My terrific Ravelry buddy sent me the best Halloween surprise package! The little flag above is adorable and perfect for this week. She also sent a pumpkin scented candle, which smells great. Some ghost shaped Peeps and some Red Bird candy canes which just melt in your mouth! And the wonderful surprise of YARN! She dyes it herself and that makes it that much more special.

Here's a little peek of it with the flag.

Here's a different peek. It is perfectly fall-like! I am anxious to make a pair of socks out of it. I've already gotten it wound into a ball. Now just to narrow down the pattern selection......
Karen - this is your leaf picture. I think that a memo went out to every tree in the county and told them to put on their annual show! It is officially fall everywhere!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Have you noticed that it's birthday month?

L, Daddy, R and Mom way back when the kids were in elementary school.

Today is Mom's birthday. She managed to have Kelly while she was still 19 and then the next day celebrated turning 20. I imagine she was a little too sore and preoccupied to really 'celebrate', but you get the idea.

I've had a hard time getting a good picture of Mom to put on here. She does not like to have her picture taken. Kind of hard to avoid when your husband's a photographer in his spare time!

This year is a little different, as you can imagine, but this birthday is going to be a good day for Mom. The birthday shopping is finished - and I can't share it with you because she might read this before we give her her gifts! (I can tell you that one of the gifts has been off the needles for a while.....hmm, wonder what it is???) We hit the Hallmark store and looked at every single card they had. We are fixing dinner for her and making sure she does as little as possible. Per her request, I've promised not to sing to her as Marilyn Monroe. Gee, she sure is demanding! Maybe as Eartha Kitt! :) R will make her special 'Granny Chocolate Cake' tomorrow and we'll be ready to celebrate!

By the way, I did sing as Marilyn Monroe to my sister today. And darn it! She was at home. No fun to embarrass someone when they are alone!

Happy Birthday Kelly

2009-10-23T11:04:00.001-04:00

Today is my sister's birthday. See how well we have always gotten along?

Mom told me that when I was born, Kelly jumped up on the bed to tell her hi. Mom showed her me. Kel went, "Oh Yeah."

She and I couldn't be any more different if we tried. She is a super early chipper morning person. I am not. She is skinny. I am not. She loves to exercise. I do not. She loves to clean. I do not. She loves, loves, loves to iron. I think she has a mental illness or an addiction to starch. She goes to bed shortly after dark. I am getting my second wind somewhere around 10:00 PM. She sews quite a few of her clothes and does a beautiful job. I can sew elastic into flannel pajama pants. I think I did a pretty good job on a button hole once....

When our grandfather passed away, Mom took this picture that was on his refrigerator. She said he would look at it, shake his head and say, "That girl." What else can you say about a grin like that? That it looks like it hurts? Well, it kind of does look like it hurts, doesn't it? But that's her - putting her all into it.

Here we are at my Father-in-law's viewing. We hadn't seen each other in about three years. (I'm trying my best to do the 'Kelly grin', but it just isn't working for me.)

Everytime one of us has a birthday, she calls and does her best Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday Mr. President." Ever seen a mortified teenage boy? Come around in August when L has his birthday and that phone rings! I guess I should go practice my Marilyn Monroe so I can call her today. Hope she's in the middle of Wal-Mart when her cell phone rings.......

Turkey Time Prep

2009-10-21T19:46:00.002-04:00

Knitting for babies is great. The amount of yarn needed is minimal and the patterns are adorable. Now that there is a baby in Mom's neighborhood, I have a greater reason to knit baby stuff than ever before.

This is a turkey bib for Raj. I hope that you can see the turkey design. I never can get the picture of designs like this just right. The pattern is from http://downcloverlaine.blogspot.com/2009/10/gobble.html She designs the cutest bibs and washcloths! Go look up her designs.

Turnip Time

2009-10-20T23:33:00.004-04:00

The kids are major Halloween freaks. Having read some history on Halloween and learning that the early jack-o-lanterns were actually carved out of turnips, the kids have been after me for years to carve their own. Year after year I have forgotten. Today they decided to go to the grocery store with me. They remembered to get turnips. Using a knife and a wood carving kit, they carved to their hearts content while RL and I fixed dinner. By the way, there is WAY less mess with turnips than pumpkins!

Here are the finished products. L's is on the left and R's is on the right. R pointed out that it's a little funny that her turnip has one front tooth and L's has two. Long story short - L lost a front tooth in a hammock incident when he was about five or six, so it is a little ironic that his has two!

Once it got dark enough, they took their turnips out for a photo shoot. I love the way you can see the face shining on the steps.

This is my favorite of the two turnips together. Might have to do this every Halloween!

Alpaca Yarn and Finished Knitting

2009-10-19T15:34:00.005-04:00

Complimentary pictures (for Karen) of leaves in the front yard.
Doesn't this look like the plant in "The Little Shop of Horrors?" R planted cotton this past summer and this is how far it's gotten. Looks a little menacing.

This was my purchase from the Alpaca Farm yesterday. Isn't it a pretty shade? I think I'll it with the other color I got in May.

Here's all the info on it.

This is last May's color. I think they will look pretty together. Any idea on what I should make with them?

Here is the Baktus that I have been working on. I love the blue variations. RL and the kids got this yarn for me when they went to Gatlinburg a couple of years ago. It's sock yarn. I made a serious mistake and didn't find the exact center. So the side on the left of the picture is slightly shorter than the side on the right. Some how I am going to make this sucker work! It's nice and warm, but slightly 'wonky'. My resident knitting guru told me she would have ripped it out to the correct center and started over. I couldn't bring myself to do that. I WILL make it work!

Field Trip!

2009-10-18T17:09:00.005-04:00

Today was the Open Farm Day at Credence Farm. Of course we had to go and see how the alpacas were doing. First you have to speak to Henry.Here Henry and I are getting reacquainted.

Mom then had to get reacquainted.

The boys hadn't met Henry yet, so that was the next task.

Henry is not alone in the doggie department there. This is Jessie. A very friendly fella in his own right. His whole butt shakes once that tail gets going. There were a couple of other dogs, but I was there for alpacas, so I didn't catch all of their names.

On to the Alpacas! This is the newest of the bunch lying down on the job. He was only nine days old. So cute.

Here he's standing up and being like the big guys!

Once again, I like the black one.

This time we got into the field with them - avoided a few 'land mines' and R got these pictures.

We had to share some fall leaves. We haven't had massive color change yet. Some of the trees are bare, some of them are totally green and some of them are like this one. It looks like a paintbrush just touched it up here and there.

Back to the alpacas! One of them would move and the rest would follow. Not a free spirit in the bunch!

These alpacas were in the barn and a little closer for a photo op. They are a year old.

Of course there was alpaca to be bought. Mom bought a pair of alpaca/merino blend socks. I was so ashamed - they were machine made. Oh Mom..... R and I got some spun alpaca - I'll try to get some pictures when the sun decides to cooperate again. R and L got some peacock feathers. I'm not sure why. Guess because they were just so pretty! That's our field trip in one entry or less!

Candy Corn Pattern

2009-10-10T17:27:00.004-04:00

I don't know if anyone was interested in the little candy corn pattern that R came up with. However, if you are, R gave me permission to share it with you. It works up super duper fast and is so cute. I test knitted it last night and it turned out pretty good. Mine is the one on top and I forgot a row of orange, so it's not as pretty as hers. However, I'm not worried about it! I thought it was still cute.

So here goes:

Sugar'n Cream yarn:

Color 1 - yellow

Color 2 - orange

Color 3 - white

US size #6 needles

With color 1 CO 24 (I used longtail CO)

Knit 4 rows

1) k3, ssk, k to last 5 sts, k2 tog, k3

2) k3, p to last 3 sts, k3

3) knit

4) Repeat row #2

Repeat rows 1-4 three times (total 12 rows, 18 sts)

Change to color 2

Repeat rows 1-4 three times (total 12 rows, 12 sts)

Change to color 3

Repeat rows 1-4 one time (total 4 rows, 10 sts)

K3, ssk, k2 tog, k3 (8 sts)

k3 rows

k2, ssk, k2 tog, k2 (6 sts)

k1 row, bind off

Weave in ends

So, there you have it. If you make it, share your pictures with us. We'd love to see it!

Candy Corn!

2009-10-04T13:11:00.002-04:00

Guess what happens when you leave a pattern next to the right kind of yarn......

You wake up and find this!

The knitting fairy (R) must have been up late to knock this baby out! Isn't it cute? Hmmm, what pattern should I leave out tonight????????

Grief Counseling

2009-10-03T20:13:00.003-04:00

I normally love October. The leaves are starting to change. The weather is cooler. We even manage to squeeze in a few weeks of having the windows open before the heater has to be turned on. It's so nice to have fresh air flowing through the house. October is also a month for birthdays. My Mom and sister have their birthdays toward the end of the month. Our neighbors have three of their birthdays in the beginning. Cousins have birthdays scattered all over the month. RL and I have our anniversary on the 27th. It's always been a busy month too. The fair is normally in full swing and we are all trying desperately to relax after the wild and wooly weeks of frenzy R puts us through getting everything ready to enter in the fair.

This year is different. After a very disappointing fair experience last year, R decided not to enter the fair. It wasn't a decision she took lightly. She agonized over it for at least a week and probably longer before she mentioned it to me. I was fine with it. Those last minute trips to the crafting stores, hunting for that last pattern piece she can't find or making sure all her supplies are on hand is exhausting! Not to mention the cooking part of the fair! With the price of groceries reaching an all time high, I wasn't looking forward to buying baking supplies and then having to clean the kitchen after each item was prepared. So I was breathing quite easily as October approached.

However, I was blindsighted when it finally arrived. Mom and I have been going to a wonderful grief counselor at the Hospice House. What a wonderful woman this counselor is! I don't know how many people she sees every week, but she remembers exactly what we talked about the previous week and picks up just where we left off. She asks all the right questions and helps us intrepret what we are trying to say. RL, the kids and I went shortly after Daddy and RLs Dad died. We went for one session and felt we were going to be okay. Mom, however, was having a difficult time and decided that maybe she could benefit from going. I was her designated driver and was invited to sit in on the sessions. Mom was having a tough time remembering what she wanted to say each session, so I was appointed as her official 'memory'. I took in everything that was said and learned a lot about my Mom and Dad's relationship from the time they met until the day he died. It's strange sounding for me to say that I have enjoyed grief counseling, but in a way, I have. Mom and I have grown closer and I've enjoyed that part of it too.

The morning of our latest session, I picked Mom up. She instantly asked what was wrong with me. How do mothers know these things? I really didn't feel good and had been crying a little. I had no idea why - just a crummy morning I guess. We got to the therapist's office and she looks at Mom and starts telling her how great she looks - how strong her voice is - how together she looks - how she even has a little laughter in her voice. Then she swivels her chair towards me and says, "So what's the matter today?" Wait a minute! I'm not the one here for therapy! Then it all hit me. Mom's birthday is in October. Since Daddy was paralyzed on the left side for years, he used me as his personal shopper. He would always call me around the first of October to tell me we needed to put our heads together and decide on a gift for Mom. Well, here we were at the first of October and I didn't get my call. I still feel like I need to get into motion and do what he would want me to do - which I will. It just feels odd for him not to be calling the shots.

To make matters worse.....while we were sitting in the waiting area that morning, Mom handed me an envelope full of pictures she had found. This was one of them:

I love this picture. L was only about two days old and he's got the biggest smile on his face that matches Daddy's smile on his face. L is the youngest of the grandsons, but Daddy treated each one of them just like they were the greatest of them all. Needless to say, the tears started flowing again, but they were happy tears. I'm glad we have these memories of such a great Dad!

Guess Where We Went???

2009-09-20T00:11:00.003-04:00

Have you figured it out?
What about now?

Yep, the Wake Forest vs. Elon football game at the BB&T Stadium in Winston-Salem!

I am not a football fan. However, there is something about being at the game instead of watching it on television that makes it exciting! This morning, RL told me that he had managed to get five tickets at work for the game. Okay, I was listening. The game was Saturday night - a few hours from when he was telling me. Before I told Mom, who loves football, I decided to ask the kids if they would like to go. I am so ashamed to say that neither one of them has ever been to a football game. Since they were homeschooled, we didn't go to high school games. So, at 21 and 19, they attended their very first, in person football game.
By the way, when it came time to ask Mom if she wanted to go, she didn't have to be asked twice!
Our view was great! We had seats on the visitors side - just where the Wake Forest fans sort of mixed in with the Elon fans. We had the privilege of sitting in front of some very disgruntled Elon fans. Made for an interesting game!

Final score!

This field clears out fast! We had no trouble getting out of the stadium, finding our car and hitting the road home. It was a very good evening with cool temperatures and the kids enjoyed their first football experience. What more could I have asked for?

The Dreaded Socks

2009-09-09T15:33:00.002-04:00

I like knitting socks. I really do. However, this pair nearly changed my perception of sock knitting forever. I don't know if it was me or the yarn or my mood or what, but I hated knitting these socks. As you can tell, the pattern is the usual, generic sock pattern I've used a million times. The yarn is from Knit Picks. I like the sock pattern. I like Knit Picks sock yarn. However, I hate this pair of socks! Maybe it's because I started out with this glorified idea of knitting something different. I was going to be creative and add a pattern to the generic sock pattern. It didn't work. I ripped them back to the cuff with the help of my trusty assistant, R. Then I moved onto another pattern idea I had in my mind. Nope. Wasn't going to work. Ripped them back to the cuff a second time. Did I learn anything? Did I realize that I'm not a designer? Did I finally say to myself, "Self, you need to just stick to the pattern as it's written and knit these suckers." Well, yes, I did. But not after trying a third stab at yet another pattern. What can I say, I was feeling stubborn. I decided not to throw the disasters of socks across the room because I know Knit Picks dpns can be deadly. Instead I asked for help from my trusty, and extremely patient, assistant to rip them back yet again. Then I knit the stupid generic pattern. They took forever! I don't like the way the gussets turned out. I grew to hate the colors. The yarn was splitting like crazy - maybe because it had been ripped out a million times! I love Knit Picks sock yarn. I don't have any complaints. However, this time I was not liking it at all! I need a challenge I guess. Needless to say, I am not knitting another pair generic socks any time soon....well, unless I change my mind, of course.

Ginger and Birthdays

2009-09-06T13:20:00.004-04:00

Not a whole lot to report around here. Ginger has been soaking up the sun. She has found the perfect spot - in the sun and next to the cotton yarn. There's a slight hint of fall in the air and she must be soaking up all the sun she can.

She has had a little excitement around here lately. It's not all lounging for that girl! Who knew that the battery operated blood pressure thingie (and yes, that is the technical term for it) would make Ginger's blood pressure spike! She was very curious about the noise coming from that little box!

She likes to relax a lot, as you can tell.
But you never can tell when she's going to turn on you!

I completely forgot to show you L's birthday cake. He wanted an Iron Cross shaped cake. He is very into WWII. (Did you know that a Maltese Cross and an Iron Cross are two different things? Apparently Wikipedia doesn't!) This is the gaming table that he and his Dad built. Dad played a quick game of 'Flames of War' with him on his birthday. Right now he has felt cutouts for trees, houses, roads, etc. but all of that is changing! I can't believe all the time, effort and $$$$ that goes into having the perfect game table! The boy is crafty though and it's looking pretty darn good! When he's finished constructing more of his 'stuff' I'll have to show you. I'm impressed!

I will leave you with a picture of Miss Ginger ignoring us.

Don't ask her to turn around! You wouldn't like her when she turns around!

She scares me so.....

Pictures From Waaaaaayyyy Back When!

2009-08-29T15:35:00.002-04:00

While cleaning the basement at Mom and Daddy's house, we have run across some real treasures. Lots of neat books, clothes, fabric, patterns, and, of course, pictures.

I have NO idea when this was taken, but I still have that figure (yes, I am the one on the right.)
I noticed it had some writing on that back about 'that tummy'. Yes, it is a tummy! That's for sure. My sister and I are actually being nice to one another. What's up with that? Must have been the candy!

Now this is more like it! I have no idea what my sister is doing. Probably nothing at all, but from that smile on her face and the misery on mine, I still wonder......

This Bean Knits

My Mundane Life

Birthday Headquarters!

I Am A Slob

Harper's Loves

Bless My Soul

RIP nook

Christmas Parade 2011

Poor Harper!

Little Did We Know.....

Ginger

I Forgot....

Elbow Surgery

IsThis Thing On?

Closed For Remodelling

I Think We Took a Wrong Turn in Albuquerque

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Because Every Girl Wants Hairdo Options

I am OLD.....

Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder

Happy Valentine's Day

Stressed

New Yarn, Laziness and Shortbread

We Had a Birthday Today

Bagels!

Believe It Or Not, I'm Still Here

White Christmas

T'was The Week Before Christmas.....

Ready or Not - Here it Comes!!!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Gross, Isn't It?

Happy Thanksgiving (a day late)

Fall Football

Fall Is In The Air!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Today In History....

Fair Time In The City

Fall is Here!

What a Week! What? It's Only Tuesday?

Baby Knitting

Are You Still There?

Look Who's 20!

How Do You Protect Your Yarn?

Late Birthday Gifts and Other Neat Things

So Much Going On!

I Got Nothin'

Double Rainbow

Remorse? I Don't Think So!

A Walk Through Town

Heebie Jeebies

Knitting Goodies and a Finished Project!

Happy Father's Day!

You'd Think This Was a Knitting Blog!

MORE Knitting Content!

Actual Knitting Content Ahead!

Happy Memorial Day

The Boys Are Back!

Happy Birthday Ginger

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Seis de Mayo!

Flower or Weed?

I'm Still Here

Busy, busy, busy

Happy Easter!

I'm Still Here!!!!!!

Cake, Visitor and No More Decorations!

Ooops.....

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

New Socks!

A Year Ago Today.......

A Wee Bit of the White Stuff

Snow, Cookies, X Games and Knitting

Party Animal

Finally!

Happy New Year (a Day Late!)

Christmas Time

A Day in the Snow

SNOW! GLORIOUS SNOW!

Christmas Knitting

Still Here - Still Busy