Snow!

Secret pal I know in my email I said we never have snow days - guess I didn't jinx it because we have to day off today!



And the snow is STILL coming down outside.......and I am miserable sick with a common cold (yay!) and not the same thing the rest of my family has had. That's not to say that I haven't been productive today. Our oldest has a birthday party to attend tonight and will be sleeping over (woot 1 less kid!) until tomorrow morning. Hubster is driving her there tonight as he took the Jimmy to work - 4wd. But I made a floating necklace and matching bracelet for her friend in her fave color - blue. The friend's not our oldests that is. :) By floating I mean I used clear nylon wire and crimp beads to make sections appear to float on the wire.



I thought I'd share my swap from the knit group dishcloth exchange. This is what I made.



And this is what I took home. It's a pot holder! Two garter stitch dishcloths knit in complementing colors and then crocheted together around the edges. The same color yarns used, the pattern, some candy canes and yummy Nutmeg & ginger body spray. :)



This is the other side of the pot holder.


To top off my exciting day we confirmed that the hubsters parents will indeed be taking the girls from Christmas eve until possibly the weekend of the 3rd. I love that they are retired and willing to take the girls for a week or to in order to spend time with them. Gotta dash almost time to get the oldest to her party!

And then there was one.......

As of right now I am the only one not sick or recovering. My hubby got sick this morning as I posted earlier. My middle monster has been complaining all week about her tunny hurting. The rule is 'if you haven't thrown up you are going to school'. So I sent her and then she didn't eat any of her lunch. Well for her that is guaranteed to make her throw up and she knows this. When I came in from the end of work my oldest was in the office complaining her stomach hurt. I asked if she thought she could make it to the end of the day after reminding her of the rule. She said yes and was sent back to class. I had some things to finish in the school for the youngest monster girls brownie meeting (secret santa gift to make). When I was done I put it in her locker and then found I had voicemail. It was my middle monster in the office sick. I sat with her for a few minutes and tried to get her to eat her chips from in her lunch as they were the mildest food in there. I finally made the decision to take her home and sent her to her locker. She then of course threw up on her coat and backpack and the hallway floor.

Being the smart mom that I decided to be I went to check on the oldest to see how she was doing. Her tummy still hurt and I asked if she was sure she could make it to the end of the day. She again said yes but when I felt her forehead it was warm. I decided to take her home early as well. Sure enough about 2 hours ago at least they both got sick.

Hubby is starting to feel better and is out at his computer - just in time for me to send him back to our bedroom. I get to sleep in the living room with the youngest as we are not sick. So I am crossing my fingers and knocking on wood that I will not catch it now. Hopefully the girls will be better by Friday. My oldest is supposed to be going to see The Tale of Despereaux with all the 4th grade classes at her school. Then all the classes have their holiday parties at the end of the day. Not to mention my family Christmas with my dad's side on Saturday...........EVERYONE has to be better by Friday!!!!! >.<

Jsut got off the phone and Saturday party has been pushed back a week due to weather and driving conditions for family coming from Chicago area. Ok they still need to be better by Friday for their parties I say. ;)

A Christmas Meme

I saw this on a blog that I regularly read and thought 'what fun'! *steals it for her blog* >.>
Enjoy. :) Oh and on sick people front in our house B is better but Hubster is now down for the count with the same thing.....and I am dragging from less sleep. :( I will kick some serious butt if I end up sick. I haven't thrown up since roughly 1995 - not even when I was pregnant all 3 times.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Both and sometimes wrapped and in a bag. I'm ebil like that. It depends on what I can get to the easiest in my closet. I have a box of bags from past years that we recycle and boxes as well. Only a few rolls of wrapping paper. So mostly its bags and tissue paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
We have this super tiny (maybe 3 foot) Christmas tree - artificial of course. I got the tree when my step-mom moved in before she married my dad. That Christmas our main tree was a "themed" tree - all purple and teal and NO family ornaments allowed on it. I pitched a fit (being 15 at the time) about wanting to have my ornaments on the tree - even dad's old beer ones from when he worked for a distributing company. I still use it but not as much as my cat attacked it last year. I have this super old tree topper that was my great grandfathers and is of course glass. If broken the cat would be finding a new home so not ricking either.

3. Why are you willing to answer these questions?
It's more fun than dong nothing which is what I'd be doing right now.

4. When do you take the tree down?
The past few years it pretty much as soon as possible. Last year was the day after Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I LOVE eggnog and drink it every chance I can get and yes I KNOW how fattening it is but it's a love thing. :)

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hmmm tough choices probably my cabbage patch doll. I think I got that for Christmas.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
This year it is my cousin Kevin. We do a name exchange on my dad's side and I have no clue what to get him. I have to have it for this weekend of course. Looks like a visa gift card will be what he is getting.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
The girls - I have usually picked up many small items throughout the year for them and like this year misplaced them and can't find them. UGH.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We do not. But I heard this awesome idea of what to do with one until Christmas day. Typically you see all the people gathered around the manger with or sometimes without baby Jesus there. But since its not Christ mas yet you spread the wise men, the angel, and Mary and Joseph out on the lawn and leave the manger empty. You then move them closer to the manger the closer to Christmas it gets.

10. Do you send your card by mail or e-mail?
Hand deliver at Christmas parties if I do them at all.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Probably the year my mother in law bought me a dress that was 3 times to big. Instead of giving me the gift receipt I had to go with her to the store to "try" to find something I liked, that fit to replace it. Being a bigger girl that was hard. It seems like all the plus size clothing is super frumpy at stores like Kohl's (where my gift was from). I think I ended up with a shirt to replace the dress.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
White Christmas and Holiday Inn

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Whenever I see something at a good price that I know would make a great gift for someone in my family I get it.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes and I plan to this year with some items from a fundraiser that wanted our business at school so they sent a sample kit. :D

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I have to pick one???? Wedding potatoes and my Aunt's sugar cookies. I have gotten the frosting now but can't seem to match the cookies.

16. Lights on the tree?
Yuppers

17. Favorite Christmas song?
White Christmas or the Trans Siberian Christmas music and can't forget Feliz Navidad ;)

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Travel to our hometown as most family is still there and parties are all there. We make several trips as all parties are not on consecutive days usually.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
Pretty sure I can....

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Glass tree topper - old heirloom that I love.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Both because we usually have at least 2 parties on Christmas eve and then at least on on Christmas day. Or at least we open our presents at home that day.....if we are home.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Our town gets B U S Y because we have a big mall that people come to to shop at. Traffic is ridiculous. Or the people who insist on driving 20 - 25 in the snow because their car sucks but they have to be out driving to get somewhere - making you late to where you need to be (last night knit group :( )

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
My Holiday/Celebration Barbie ones. I now have too many to fit them on my tiny tree so they go on display somewhere the cat can't get them. Which means this year they will not be out. :(

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Hmmm Lasagna or stuffed shells - always have some pasta dish at my moms side and her broccoli cheesy casserole thing. Dads side - wedding potatoes. Inlaws was coconut cream pie but she doesn't make it any more.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Yarn, yarn, yarn, spinning wheel, roving and oh did I mention yarn? :D

QOW #2

Part A:

Are you doing any holiday knitting?

Part B:

Have you finished?

A ~ Yes and no - not anything to give away to family but something for a Holiday swap at my knit group.

B ~ Yes I finished the dishcloth the other night and am now working on another to have for myself because the pattern is really pretty! It's the Doily Style Dishcloth from www.sugarncream.com or off the ball if you get that pattern or even in the 2009 Knitting Pattern-a-day catalog - where I used mine from. :)

Becca seems to be feeling better - no more getting sick today and no fever so she will go back tomorrow. I better get going or I'll miss getting to knit group on time!

Something fun & silly

Amy posted how she was Emmett from Twilight. I LOL'd a lot when I got my results and then told her we were made for each other. :D

Which Twilight Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

Day 18 or My weekend and then some......

The hubster tried to be nice and call Sprint on Friday about our phones and get mine fixed for the constant shutting off it does. Well it must not have been my day because whatever they tried to have him to over the phone locked it "in progress" on an upgrade but also put it into emergency mode (no calls but to 911). It was in progress most of the night and when we called again they said go to a service center, which of course the tech rep was already gone for the night.

The next day I dropped off my phone and hung out. The rep who has fixed my phone for me before for the shutting off thing said "you should only see the 'in progress' screen after having me work on your phone". Evidently it could take up to 4 hours to get out of the update screen and to shut my phone off until 5 pm. then check it to see if the update was done. If not shut back off and try again at 7. If not then call the service center. Nope at 5 and nope at 7. Called and then took my phone in to switch out the SIM card was the next suggestion he was given.

He then ended up with my phone over night Saturday. Because if switching out the SIM card didn't work then I was getting a replacement phone - as in DIFFERENT model. Yeah the SIM switch didn't fix it either so finally on Sunday afternoon at 4 I got the call to come get my phone. I was switched to a Nextel Motorola i560. Why a Nextel? Not sure since I no longer have 2way on my plan but maybe has something to do with it being easier to switch the contacts between the Nextel to Nextel vs. Nextel to Sprint. Eventualy (3.5 months!!!!!!!) it will have to switch over to a Sprint phone.

As much as I liked the Nextel and Motorola phones since Nextel and Sprint merged I have had a ton of trouble with my phone. I don't know for sure what I will end up with next but hopefully it will be less problems. And if not thank goodness for the insurance I pay for!

Then this morning we wake up to fine out that our youngest was sick during the night and we kept her home from school. She was mostly fine up until I noticed her fever was back again and when she tried to take her second chewable pill was sick again. Poor kid. She didn't feel like eating much today either and sill me when I ran to the store this morning did I get any ginger ale for her - no but I did get some crackers! And she kept those down most of the day. So another day off school and only 3 left after that before break. >.<

Knitting front ~ I completed a dish/washcloth for a holiday exchange our knit group is doing tomorrow. Now to add some goodies to the package and it will be done. Other than that nothing else has really been worked on. I started a washcloth at the last knit night. I picked up some more cotton yarn over the weekend and some new knitting needles. Some dpns (size 7, 8" and 2, 5") and a circular needle size 4, 32".

Welp I should head to bed now since I will have to get up early to get kids on bus and try to make a store run for ginger ale and remember it this time!


ETA: This is my 100th post woot!

Day 17.5 or Silly me I forgot the funny part......

So yesterday about the time that the kids would be getting off the bus and coming home there was a knock on my door. I look out the window and see some guy standing at the edge of my driveway, which meant someone was on my porch. Great the first thought was "that crazy Jehovah's witness lady is back again". Nothing against that religion - just that she has the worst timing on the days she comes here. Usually when I need to be getting in the shower to get to work, and ignoring her knocking only makes her open the screen door and knock on the front door. So I went and grabbed a hoodie to put on since I was in my pjs and answered the door. Well it wasn't the Jehovah's witness lady but a Navy recruiting officer. He asked for someone that had lived in this area a while ago and used my address for his info request. I simply stated that I'd lived in this house for 6 years now and that person would have possibly lived her before that (if during that time hubby would have been MAD lol). The poor guy felt like a smuck and then asks "so, you want to join the Navy?" To which I said no, not that I wouldn't serve my country in some form if I was needed to but I don't think that it would be the job or life for me in the long run. Not to mention that I am seriously out of shape for something like that. So he says he'll leave me a card in case I have any friends or family members who might be interested in joining. I told him I couldn't think of any at the time because there are quite a few already serving but thanks. His buddy ribbed him for "having the wrong house" for all we know (depending on how long ago it was) he could have had the right house.... But then they hung out in my drive for a few minutes after asking permission - to finish their ciggarettes before getting back into their car and ended up leaving before the girls got home.

So after that was all over I get online and im the hubby - so you want to join the Navy? hehehe

Day 17 or what the heck is this crap?

A while back we decided to upgrade our internet connection when a representative came to our door. We could also get money back in a check AND a visa gift card from if we got tv and kept it for the required period. So we went for it. A month later I was notified that our rebate was available - but not the visa card redemption yet. Redeem the check, get the check - still no visa. Cancel the tv service and ask about it - it's put through and we wait. That was the end of October. Still no visa as the estimated ship date was 11/28 I had the hubby call today about it. Guess what - evidently we were to be mind readers on how to redeem it because we NEVER were told we had to call them or anything like that. Oh and since we no longer have the tv service we cannot get the visa card because you had to keep it for a month AFTER setting up the start process in order to get the thing. Well if we had all the details in the first place we would have gotten it back in October. UGH. I still think they should give us an account credit since proper instructions were not given on how to get the visa card. But it won't happen.

Then the hubby called Sprint about our phones. We had Nextel before the merge and they worked great. After the merge they worked ok. After we switched to the hybrids - they sucked a$$ and still do even though we no longer have the direct connect portion of the service. A while back I broke the screen on my phone and took it to the service center to have it fixed - thank god for the $5 insurance. So it was fixed and back to me within about 45 minutes. But after that it would shut off and not turn back on. Shut off after I ended a call (nope didn't hold it down that long), shut off when I hadn't touched it in a few hours. I'd go to use my phone and find it was off and I'd missed calls. Then there is the dropping calls and being in digital roaming in our house - wth? So the person he talked to was super helpful and tried to have him update my phone while he was talking to her on another line. Well......it locked up my phone and now I have to take it to the service center to get it replaced......for the 4th time now. But the bright light was she said we are due for a phone upgrade in April not June like we thought. Get it earlier adn I am happy cuz that is only 4 months away. 4 months left with this stupid phone - YAY!

Other than that I felt like crap this morning and stayed home from work. No knitting as my hands are giving me problems right now. I'd say it was from Guitar Hero III but it's my left hand that is bugging me and I haven't really played at all before it started. I'd say bowling on Saturday but that was my right hand. Sadly I need to knit as I have a washcloth to make by Tuesday for the exchange we are having....maybe if I go slow I can get it done.... We'll see I guess. I frogged my start on the Hedgerow socks and have since restarted but have not made it into the pattern as of yet.

Day 16 or ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Well I can't really say this day started out going well at all. I got up early to help out a friend who needed someone to watch her son for a 1/2 hour before the middle/high school bus arrived. She had to be to work early and the normal person to do this was having car problems. Ok no big deal he is great when his younger sister is not with him - like today. Got him to the bus stop and the bus was 10 minutes late. No problem my kids all woke up early this morning anyways. But I felt like I got no sleep last night once I got mine to the bus stop I came back with every intention of sleeping until I had to go to work. Yeah didn't happen.

Work went well up to a point. I got there late as I could not find my phone at all. But then the hostess of the cookie exchange was talking about the cookies she had sampled and said one tasted like play-dough. So we asked her which ones and she said they were egg shaped and were like red and green........sound familiar?



Yeah it ended up being my cookies. Let me just say the cookies are not meant to be a super sweet cookie - even with the glaze. Plus I'm not sure mine turned out quite right. But we had a blast ribbing her for the rest of work. She felt super bad about it but I'm not the type to be easily offended on something like this. But how funny is that out of the 25 dozen cookies brought she insults mine to my face the next day. This was probably my bright moment of the day. She later admitted to drinking while trying them so maybe that might have something to do with why she thought they tasted like play-dough - or so she said. :)

Then comes after school and the kid I'd watched in the morning locked himself out of the house by forgetting his key this morning. No problem he hung out until mom got home. Then my oldest was to get here and take a shower so she could go join her Junior Girl Scout troop in serving dinner at the local high school. Well when I told her to go use my blow dryer she got the BRILLIANT idea to raid mom's drawers and find my smallest round brush and try to blow dry her hair with it. Yes I am a mean mom and have pictures of this! And I reserve the right to blackmail her with them later - I have more and better than these ones.

The brush. As you can see she was crying because she got it that tight to her head and it hurt trying to get it untangled. Most of the ends you see are from where she cut the hair.



The hair pile from where she cut her hair trying to get it off the brush BEFORE calling for mom's help.



The cut after the trip to the stylist - missing the WHOLE time she was to be on the Girl Scout field trip tonight.



Will they never learn that scissors are NOT an option for hair problems UNLESS mom says so?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?

Day 15 - long one :)

Tonight I tried an old family recipe for cookies. This past week I have been trying to decipher it as it is what I call a "mom" recipe. When I'd asked my mom for her recipe for her cheesy broccoli casserole, her response was "you take some broccoli, some rice, velveta cheese and cream of mushroom soup and put it together." No amounts specifically just "enough to cover the rice and broccoli" was what I got. When asked for further details she said "its different every time!" LOL

So the cookie recipe while not written by my mom as it is older than her I am sure, it has the mom style of how to make the cookies. I found out later that when I'd asked about the missing temp and bake time the the reason it was missing was because the cookies used to be deep fried. Ok them! But my laugh today was looking over the ingredients and when they go in - 2 of them listed evidently don't get mixed in or so it read. LOL But they look like they turned out good and the first batch of glaze that I sampled since I did it wrong - tasted right. I even got a little festive and added food coloring to the glaze. :) Recipe below the pics if anyone wants to try them out. Oh and a random jack pic cuz he was extra silly today.











Aunt T's cookies

6 eggs
5 C Flour
1 C Sugar
1/2 C Oil
1 t Vanilla
1 t Baking Powder

Glaze - powdered sugar and water

Beat eggs until lemon colored (at least 5 minutes) and add sugar, oil and flour. (And vanilla - mix hte baking powder with the flour). You may not end up using all 5 cups of flour in the mix. But mizture should be slightly sticky. If large eggs, use more flour. Roll out in long roll 3/4 in. thick and 1 1/2 long (individual cookies - mine were smaller as they normally are when I get them from family). Bake until light brown. Glaze with powdered sugar and water mixture.

Bake temp 350 - 375 for 20 - 15 minutes. I was told 20 - 25 but when I put it on 375 15 min. was all was needed to NOT burn the bottom.

Things I learned with this recipe - my new hand mixer can only handle 3 C flour in the mix and then I have to hand mix the last C with a spoon in to the mix. Using an electric hand mixer does not take 5 min. to get the lemon color for the eggs. No matter how much flour you add - you still need to flour your hands when rolling the cookies. My family only uses recipes to know the ingredients not how to make the dish/cookies, etc. Enjoy and if it's still confusing contact me and I'll try to guide you through it. :)

QOW 1 & Day 14

In keeping with the awesomeness that was SP12, I thought I'd take a minute to throw out a question for everyone to answer in a blog post...

Since we've just had Thanksgiving here in the US, I'm wondering what everyone is most thankful for this year. You don't have to be in the US or even celebrate Thanksgiving to answer. Just share with us! :-)

I am thankful for family and friends who despite how far away from each other we are that we keep in touch online weekly if not daily. I am thankful to have a roof over my head and food in my cupboards and money to spend on my family for Christmas this year. I am thankful for yarn and roving - to be able to have a skill that allows me to make something useful for those I love. I am thankful for a family that loves me no matter how cranky I am (or I love them no matter how cranky they are ;)). For my girls even when they are staying up past their bedtime on a school night..........brb must go rectify this. I am thankful for my cat and dog that they are safe in my house and not outside of worse (dog was from the shelter and cat was a barn cat). I am thankful to have a job even if it is only 10 hrs a week - it helps pay the bills. I could go on but I think I'll stop now.

Well this past weekend was interesting to say the least. Friday I'd planned to get up and head to Target to get a hard drive. Hubby bashed those plans because he wanted to get Guitar Hero III - the one with the 2 guitars for the Wii for $79.99. So I said ok - but you get to go out to get it. :D So since he ended up being on call for work on Friday but should be close to home in case he needed to head in - he went home on Thur night. He got up about 5:30 am and headed to Best Buy and got it and was home soon after. Said there was no one really looking at it there. New toy yay! More on this later.

So instead I took the girls and my mil to see Madagascar II at the movies. We'd had some gift cards for a theater up there for about 3 years now and I finally remembered to bring them with me on a trip! LOL The movie was cute and the girls were HILARIOUS when the music came on. They love the song from the first movie (and the second) "I like to move it". So of course when it started playing they started dancing in their seats. :D After the movie we went to Threadbear in Lansing *squee*. I bought some CoolSpun Cotton in 2 colorways, some roving to spin since I have made my second skein of yarn (woot!), something for my secret pal, some breast cancer awareness needles, and some super cute croc jibbets that are knit related! Pictures below of course. :)

My newest handspun yarn - Spunky Eclectic Rosebud Roving club May 2008. Single ply mostly worsted weight.


My take home from Threadbear. The girls loved the store dogs and were constantly petting them. :D


Saturday was lunch and then shopping - mostly wedding dress shopping for my sil who will finally change her name so there is less confusion - same first names as well as last except mine is hyphenated (now). Finally got home at 9 pm and promptly changed into pjs and sat with the hubby to play Guitar Hero III......until 2 am this morning. UGH I r sleepy but it was fun. Oh and I came home to find out how much clothes my hubby's grandma sent home with him OMG I think the girls have enough clothes now that next year they could almost not repeat an outfit the whole year. I have NO storage space which is what we told her after the last big batch we got. She said she will stop getting stuff but she loves spoiling them and the clothing is cheap to free where she works. Its a caring center with an overabundance of clothing at the moment.

Day 13 & Happy Thanksgiving

Happy turkey day for those celebrating it today in or out of the US.

I will be gone for most of the weekend as I was asked to stay with my in-laws until Saturday evening. All that to have a big girls lunch with my mil, sil and cousin. Meh. Good news though I'll be getting a new harddrive if I get out early enough on Friday morning. We need more space for tv shows! hehe Also I'll be getting a 17' LCD flat panel computer monitor from the MSU surplus store - score! I'll have DESK space to actually write on! Then the hubbster can have back this big HUGE honking moniter that he forced on my desk (a 21"er).

So yesterday I got to spinning on my roving that I got from Amy. Pictures below are of the make-shift spindle holder to wind the yarn around a chair. I got approximately 54 yards out of the 4 ozs of roving. Mostly thick but thin in some places (once I figured out what the heck I should be doing).




This is the yarn when I put it in to soak and set the twist.


This would be the final product this morning drying next to my computer desk. :) I LOVE this yarn!


And now we are off to visit the families and to be away from the internet *sobs* for the next few days. I messed up my laptop or else I'd take it with me. *sigh* Have a good one!

Hugs~Jen

day 12

This week my van tried to die on me. Wednesday morning I went to drive the kids to school and had no power steering. I made it all the way to the school since one of the girls had to finish homework so we missed the bus. Driving was fun even though I worked my arms turning. Got there and called the hubby to tell him what was going on. then headed home since I was still in my pjs. :) The last time I had this much trouble steering my van I killed the water pump about a year ago. This time it was the belt tentioner (sp courtesy of hubby so I don't know if right lol) and of course my belt was shot too. So hubby come home and had a look then had me drive him back to work. That way I could get to work too. I priced the parts and total it would be around $85 to fix it.

We got the parts today and hubby fixed it and it works again yay! It's nice to have my van back again for at least now. Hopefully in the next year we can replace mine with a new used vehicle and I'll not have these problems again. YAY!

Knitting - I am trying to make a variation of the Leftover Dishtowel with the Owl dishcloth pattern at the bottom. It's to go with the Owl dishcloths I made for my Aunt. So far it's going pretty good as long as I continue to read correctly when I remake the pattern. :) I also have made a mini sock. It's sooooooo tiny and cute looking! Plus the colors ended up striping on the tiny sock. I figured out that if I went up a size on the needles that maybe it'll fit better on the sock blocker keychain than my first one did. But I messed up on the heel of the newer one and kinda haven't gotten back to it yet. Now to get back to thinking up good themed packages for my pal....... :D

day 11

There are a few things I miss about not living in Lansing still - family being the biggest of course. But thanks to my Dad I became a big fan of Beaner's - now Biggby Coffee. He visited their East Lansing location a lot after they opened. And he is the one who got me hooked on coffee. So whenever I head home for a visit I pay a visit to the Elmwood location for a coffee. I was excited to find one in Wixom. But since I hardly ever end up out that way it seemed too far to travel for coffee. Then the Grand River/Novi location opened. I am more out this way but again not as often to justify coffee on a weekly basis there. Now I heard the news that in my small town of South Lyon there was one opening in the old Arby's. YAY! Truthfully SL and the GR/Novi one are about the same distance from me. However I am more likely to venture into SL at least twice a week. Seeing as how my LYS is there and my eye doctor and we lunch ladies venture that way for lunch at least once a week.

Maybe I'll finally fill a frequent customer card........ie. the one I've had since like 2003 that I got in Lansing.....maybe. :)

I finished the Spring Forward socks yesterday morning and then wore them to work. I LOVE them. And now have to work on scarves even though I really want to cast on some more socks..... But I must finish the requested items before I do another item for myself. *sigh*

Day 10 or Conferences UGH

For the most part today's conferences for the girls were good information. I heard that L won't/doesn't lie to her teacher, can multitask and is not getting into as much trouble with her best friend as I would have thought. At least not in class - at lunch that is a whole different story. Grade wise she is great and reading ahead of where the projected level for that grade would normally be. Nothing new for any of my kids there - they all like to read. But we have to work on subtraction and her teacher suggested using flash cards and playing war with them. We will try this soon.

J'c conference came next. This is my UGH of the day. She is doing great and her grades would be higher if she had turned in her homework. I went 'wha........?' Every night we have asked do you have any homework or is it all done. And the answer has been yes. For the last 3 weeks nothing t has bee nturned in. When her teacher asked her why - she claimed to not have enough time to do the work. WHAT?! She has one activity she is in - Girl Scouts and then has some chores to do after school. She told me she lost one of the packets and between chores and running around to get her sisters from after school meetings she didn't have enough time to get the packets done. Ok they are sent home on Tue. and Fri. for the 2 subjects. The only day we go out after school is Wed. and her meetings are Thur. night. I fail to see how she didn't have enough time to complete them. Oh and her losing them - found them all in her room. She has now completed most of them with the exception of what is due next Tue.

Lastly B - great grades, loves her friends and cares about others in her class. But gets easily distracted with making sure they are paying attention or can hear/see etc. that she ends up not paying attention herself. Evidently her writing has come a LONG way since the forced journals in kindergarten. But when asked to read something in front of the class she talks really softly and cannot be heard.

UGH.

On to knitting news - I am almost done with the toe on my spring forward socks. Next project will be a dishcloth for the dishcloth swap our knit night will be hosting. And I have to get to scheming on ideas for my secret pal for this round. Not to mention Christmas gifts if I knit any. I think my brain is going to melt right now so I am heading to bed.

OMG

So on the way home from knit night tonight and 96.3 WDVD and they are giving away Katy Perry tickets at Clutch Cargo in March.....not even on sale yet....I thought they played it while I was in Meijer. But I got to the light at my street and they started playing her song "Hot N Cold". So I called and was #10 and called back - busy - busy - busy - RINGS. And rings, then he picks up "96.3 you are caller 25" OMG HOLY CRAP I HAVE TICKETS! For March 27 and the hubby wants to go with because he has never been to a concert before. Plus it could be a date night since it is on a Friday and close to his birthday - so score for me! I'm so excited about this and can't believe that I won the tickets!!!!!!

I thought to ask Amy because she will appreciate it more than he will. But I had to ask him first because I live with him and it's only fair. BUT ***AMY*** if he decides it will be too much for him you are totally coming with me!!!

Day 9 ......well really my weekend

**Disclaimer - my secret pal questionaire is linked on the side of my blog**

This past Thursday I went to MO to visit Amy to be in her wedding. Let me tell you getting there was an adventure and I started to wonder if I would make it at all. The hubby had all of Thursday off to take me to the airport and to get the kids from the bus. We dropped his car at his uncles to get the tires replaced and decided - for some silly reason like I had more gas - to drive mine to Toledo airport. Yeah, my van the 1995 Chevy that I am not even allowed to drive to Lansing in, we drove that. Got just outside Ann Arbor and my van overheated. Of course. That was around 10:30 am. According to everything I read and NWA's site said I needed to be at the airport at about 11:30 for my 1:30 flight. We got back to his uncle's shop to switch cars at 11:45. We were doing fine until about 13 miles outside the Ohio/Michigan border when we ran into construction. There went the 15 minutes we gained in driving smoothly. I had before getting to his uncle's shop called NWA and asked what would happen if I missed my TOL leg of the flight - it would cancel my ticket. UGH! And to rebook me out that day OR Friday would be $1500 for a flight from DTW to Springfield. But she reassured me that since I had already checked-in online and since I was only taking one bag with me - my carry-on - that I should be good to go. Just to have everything ready when I got to security and book it to the gate.

We got to the airport at 1:04 and boarding time was 1:07. Security was just inside the door and I had my book out with boarding pass and ID ready. Put my stuff in the bins after removing my quart size baggie of little bottles. Got through security, packed back up and went up the stairs. To the gate that was right there for me to get right on the plane because they had started to board as I started up the stairs. Talk about good timing. We flew a total of 17 minutes back to DTW for my connection flight to SGF (I know silly but I saved money even with the driving around we did). Got off at one gate and only had to go a few over to make the connection. I grabbed some lunch to eat and then waited. We boarded when it was time and got to the airport a little early but had to wait because NWA must only have one gate at SGF. But Amy was waiting and we took off.

The weekend was great - filled with tons of good jokes - frenched toes - Amy was beautiful in her dress. Mine was a little big, but it's ok. The bridal party dance was hilarious thanks to my fellow bridesmaid. The guys didn't know how to dance so we switched and danced with each other then switched to opposite guys. :) Amy and I serenaded each other during the grease mega-mix on the summer lovin' portion. All in all it was a blast and I can't wait to get back for another visit because now I really miss hanging out with her. I hadn't seen Amy since we graduated back in '98. But we have been online chat buddies since around the time she and her new hubby got together. But chatting online and hanging out together isn't always the same. And I got the bestest gifts ever for being her maid of honor - hehe that confused everyone! But matron of honor sounds so old! I got some clear sketchers that I can show off my knitted socks with, some stitch markers that Amy made for me, some beautiful yellow Tofutsies, COFFEE - some Mocha and Irish Cream from Gevalia, a pretty project bag and lastly while we were out shopping with her mom I got some pretty roving and a spindle. I also got some dpn's, some soak samples and a Kid's can knit book so maybe the monsters will be inspired to actually sit with their knitting longer than a few minutes. Isn't it all pretty!









The flight home was going to be uneventful until we noticed at about 2 that it was delayed. UGH! we got to the airport and were told to get right in because the flight was doing a quick stop before turning around and heading right back out. Well it ended up being on time but then once we taxied toward the runway we had to wait for the weight numbers to come in. And the computer had gone down. It was down a good 20 minutes before we finally got in the air. So I was a little late getting home not to mention that I was wearing flip-flops and came home to snow - dreaded 4 letter word!

SP13 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

So far I have enjoyed knitting with everything that I have used. Even the acrylic (it's easier to teach the kids to use because I don't care if they destroy it! :) ).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I have my straights in an old crayon bank that the kids don't use any more. My circulars are in their cases and I try to keep them together in a bag close to my yarn stash.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I taught myself from Stitch 'n Bitch in January 2008 - so almost a year now. Intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do and the links are here for amazon.com and here for wishlist.com. But are also on the sidebar under Secret Pal info. :)

5. What's your favorite scent?

I love Bath & Body Works products but every time I get a scent the discontinue it on me! Moon Light Path is my last one there still. Or The Body Shop's White Musk. Light floral scents are good, I like apple smellies as well. :) If you could see my collection of candles from Home & Garden Party - LOVE their pumpkin and apple scents! I have a ton and love how they make my house smell.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I love chocolate. Charleston Chews, Caramello's, Hershey's bars (plain and almonds), Chocolate yogurt covered raisins. I could go on forever. I don't like dark chocolate, but if you send me some it won't go to waste - my hubby loves it. :)

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I learned how to make jewelry a few years ago. So I make earrings, bracelets, necklaces, anything I can bead on basically for gifts all the time. I made stitch markers recently as well. I scrapbook, but haven't really in a few years since the kids got into school. I am learning to spin on a spindle. I also do cross stitch when I remember that I have many patterns around the house waiting for me. And I at one point in time decided to try quilting......more to learn how to work my sewing maching than anything. LOL! I'm an equal opportunity crafter so to speak. :)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Rock, pop, alternative, Christian, country, oldies, 80's - pretty much everything but rap and only some Opera. Kati Perry, Barenaked Ladies, Buckcherry, Billy Joel, Lifehouse, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Lorrie Morgan, Reba, Peter Cetera just to name a few. Yes my computer and car can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

Favorite colors are blue and yellow. But I love all colors - maybe not all together. Puce green would be a color I can't stand.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married with kids (3 girls), I have a cat and a dog.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I have made scarves for the kids and hubby but not for myself yet. I do wear scarves and mittens because I work outside so they keep me warm. Ponchos - not so much.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Socks because of portability. But outside of that reason I don't have a favorite thing to knit yet. I'm still learning and trying out as many patterns as I can.

13. What are you knitting right now?

2 scarves, a pair of socks and spinning some wool

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Oh yes please! I think being someone who makes things as gifts makes you appreciate the time spent when someone else makes something for you.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I have a little bit of everything. My only preference would be wood dpn's because they don't let the yarn slide off as easily as the aluminum knitting needles to.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I do not yet.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

My oldest UFO would be the hubby's scarf that I had to frog and start over - roughly about 6 months old now. Oh and the ballband dishcloths that I was to make during the Ravelympics.....but never got to them.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?

Christmas because I get to go home and visit with my family and friends.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Bookmarks - only because I read a ton, yarn, stickers, I'm starting a NKOTB collection of Donnie pins again....or at least trying to. He was my fave way back in elementary school. LOL :D. I like sunflowers......well that might be an understatement there. I am not into the fake flowers so much as the different household items (towels, placemats, potholder, etc.). I have some sunflower fabric as well for quilting. And lastly Piglet - yes from Winnie The Pooh. I have a ton of stuffed animals of him and I just love him. When I get repeats I share them with the girls. :)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I have a few on my Amazon.com wish list and on Ravelry.com that I'd like to get. No subscriptions right now - only because I don't think about getting them not because I don't want them.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Lace knitting but I was told this past weekend that all I needed to know were a few basic things and I'd have it. I've learned those making a baby blanket and socks so it's just a matter of finding the right pattern and having the right yarn to make some lace with. :)

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Yes, my foot measurments are 11 wide. More specifically circumference is 11", foot length is 10.5", cuff would need to stretch to 13" and I like my socks 7" tall from the bottom of the heel.

23. When is your birthday?

May 6

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

Yes, knitknitmama :)

Day 8

WTH?!!??!?!?!? This morning M took the girls with him to church. I thought he took them all. I heard a noise on the porch and someone talking so I went to see what was going on. B was still in the house and I asked her if she had been outside. She said no. Well we didn't see what happened until we went to leave for church too. Someone had taken B's pumpkin off our porch and taken it behind our neighbors house and smashed it. WHY at 8 am on a Sunday would you choose the house that the people are awake in to smash tehir pumpkin. WHY would you take the one that was the farthest in on the porch? WHY would you be so rude to smash a 7 year olds creation? What is wrong with people these days?

I at least got a day shot of the pumpkins before it was smashed. But I wanted to put candles in them tonight and get a night shot of them too. :(

Order of pumpkins: J's, L's & B's.

Day 7

Can I just say UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! first.........there I feel better now.

So Halloween was yesterday and as a school employee, the lunch ladies had to dress in theme as well. This years theme was superheroes. We decided as soon as we heard the theme to be - wait for it - super lunch ladies. A stretch I know but we got creative with it. We wore our "lunch lady" blinged shirts from the talent show last year, made capes out of the super pretty blue trash bags we have and wore black masks. And yes I continued to wear everything but the orange vest to my kids parties that afternoon. Only because the 4th grade teachers were super safeties and needed them for their costumes. :) I'm second from the right.



The girls this year were a ballerina (same as last year but a better costume), a princess and Tinkerbell.....but at the last minute she decided to be a different fairy - on that doesn't fly or something like that from the disney books.




And lastly I went out today to find shoes for Amy's wedding.....that is next week. I know I should have had them before now but I was slacking off. Even with that I managed to find a great pair of shoes in the hour I spent looking at 3 stores. The best part, other than they fit me is that the bottom is a rubber sole - so they are non-slip. Dancing here I come! LOL






But before I got those this morning was drama with B again. All of the girls have their ears pierced and I will put earrings in every now and again to keep the holes open. Well I recently put some earrings in B's ears for that purpose. Evidently she pushed the backs ALL the way up as close as possible on the back of her ear. Then this morning she comes to me and says that she had been feeling on her earring and now the earring is INSIDE her ear. Yup the ball part had managed to work its way into her earlobe. EWWWWWWWW! I took out the other earring because she had crammed the back up that far too. I managed to get the earring back through her ear and out the correct way without damaging her ear worse than she had done. I'll spare you the gorey details but it was pretty gross for a while after I put the bacitracin ointment on it. Needless to say none of the girls are now allowed to put any earrings in (L had helped her put earrings in about a month ago) and B will not be wearing earrings in the next month or so until I find some that won't go through the holes.

Day 6

Well out of the 101 things this seems to be the one I am working on the most. Outside of knitting and reading that is.....I have cookies in my house again. home made sugar cookies that I am supposed to make frosting for. My sis-in-law comes down every year around Christmas and makes cookies that we take to the cookie exchange for the teachers. This year she came down early because she was having problems with her laptop and needed her big brother to fix it. She decided to either make cookies and we frost them while she waited or carve pumpkins. In true J fashion she brought stuff for both. So now I have about 3 dozen cookies to frost and 3 pumpkins to carve tonight. I'm not complaining about the pumpkins......much......I wasn't going to buy them this year or at least not 1 for all the girls. So that was good that she got them for them. :) But in making the cookies here - she killed my hand-mixer. Mine you it's about 10 years old now since it was a wedding gift. Truthfully it's been dieing for a while now but I hadn't used it since maybe last year this time. But darnit now I have to get kitchen stuff for Christmas instead of yarn! :( Sadly I'll have to buy it before then because I'll need it for the cookie exchanges in December! UGH! It's raining here can you tell?!?!?!?

Well back to the shawl since I need it soon. Hopefully it will go faster once I finally stop messing it up. >.>

Day 5

Got up this morning to go to church and got the kids in the shower. I was blow drying my youngest daughter's hair and see this section of hair that is shorter than the rest. Evidently Lily had raided my purse and my gum stash. Took some back into their room and gave some to Becca. Becca then proceeded to after chewing it get it stuck in her hair. Lily got the brilliant idea to cut the gum out. I have to plead guilty to this - that is my threat to them if they ever were to get gum stuck in their hair. Gum is a big no-no for them. So needless to say after looking at the section closer.......it was past what I could do cutting her hair. I took her to get it cut and it turned out very cute. It frames her face and is layered a little in the back.

Day 4 Part 2

I had coffee.......a lot of coffee this morning.....well not a lot but more than I should have had. :D I had a buy 1 get 1 coupon given to me last week for Caribou Coffee - and I have one more because the hubby got on and he doesn't drink it - YAY! So anyways! I went and got to medium (see I was smrt!) carmel high rises and took them with me to the school. Then I got to spend the morning knitting after we totaled up all the classes that would be there. Then worked in the cafeteria and came back to knit some more! I am about 1/4 of the way - maybe more - on the hubby's scarf cuz that's what I had with me. I probably won't get to knit more tomorrow as all the rest of the classes will be finishing then. But we shall see. must make dinner now.....it was demanded of me that I come up with what we are eating. Later!

Day 4

Drive by post on the way to get the kids to the bus......I'm draggin butt today and yesterday was no better. I slept like crap last night again. I give up and I even tried to go to bed early again but got distracted by making cookies. I'd pulled them out to make earlier in the evening and then had to make them because one of the girls got into a package and ate some. GRRRRRR!

On the knitting front - not much is actually getting done this week......at all other than the kids fundraiser. My life is the school this week. And now to drag a brush through the youngest kids hair and get her socks on and out the door. Later.

Day 3

I am sleepy - I slept bad last night and was once again at the school all day long. I was leaving at the end of the day and one of the mom's who'd come to help with the first class asked me where my cot was. Yes I truly live at the kids school during lap-a-thon week. In case for some odd reason someone forgets their time or has a kid get sick. That way I am already there to fill in and I'm not the only one. But I am the only one there from the start of the day to about 5 minutes before school gets out. And my lol of the day was as I am getting ready to turn out of the sub where our school is I get a call - from my oldest. "Are you picking us up today?" Um no, if I was then I would have sent in a not to your teachers like I need to when picking up kids and ACTUALLY stayed at the school to get you......duh! If I leave when I have been I can get out before everyone, get home, let the dog out, get the mail and then go get the kids from the bus.

So this afternoon I had to mail some books for PBS - got 2 off my shelf WOOT! And I needed to get food cuz it was grovery time this past weekend but I was lazy and cleaned. I know - weird. But when I was in Sam's club I saw the Knitting 2009 Calendar that has a pattern a day on each page (desk calendar). It was $8.46US.....lowest you can find it on Amazon.com is $9.68. I already looked through mine tonight and saw that there are a ton of great patterns that I can't wait to try. :)

Well it's off to bed for me now. I know I suck because it's only 8:20 pm EDT but I am wiped and I won't be able to function tomorrow if I don't get enough sleep tonight. At least this morning I didn't have to be up there right away but I had to be awake and the hubby woke me early with the alarm. He had to get his parents from the airport since we had dropped them off to safe on parking for them. My bed's calling me...........nite......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 2

Quick drive by posting this morning as I'll be spending all day as a school slave. The first day of many this week. It's lap-a-thon time - our fundraiser. I slacked off on the volunteers this year so I have to fill in a ton of slots myself. I really am thinking this year will be the last year that I chair this position on the PTO. I just dropped too many balls this past month for it. I even forgot to send out the reminder notes this past week. I could send them out today but that doesn't mean that everyone will get them in time for their shifts. I'm still not looking forward to being there all day and then working during lunch. I bought some adult lunchables - basically the same thing but with 2 meats and and AndesTM mint in it - YUM! Ok time to pack my lunch and get the obnoxiously already ready kids out the door.

Grins and giggles

I have decided to join the 101 things in 1001 days movement. Below is my list of 101 things I want to accomplish. I plan to move this to its own page and link it on the side. Like I need another blog to keep track of - doh! >.<

On a side note - Amy has my bridesmaids dress now. It came in a few days ago even though they told us 11/7 it would be here. LOL Oh and she said it fits her. :) Being the same size comes in handy....I think we are the same size everywhere....I hope we are otherwise it might make me super busty....ok wait is that really a problem? Nah! hehe *evil grin*

Start date: 10/19/08

End date: 07/17/11

Items in italics are in progress.
Items that have been completes will be bolded.

Home
1. Clean out the fridge
2. Clean out and organize the freezer
3. Clean out and organize the containers
4. Organize the kitchen cabinets
5. Clean out and organize the laundry room
6. Clean out and organize the master bath
7. Clean off the kitchen counters and find a home for all the clutter
8. Clean out and organize our bedroom (go through closet)
9. Donate unused clothes
10. Wash, fold and put away laundry as soon as it's done
11. Find a home for all the paperwork I need to save
12. Organize my books
13. Find new homes for all unwanted books via PBS
14. Clean up and organize my computer desk area
15. Clean up and organize my bookmarks
16. Clean the kitty litter every single day (0/1001)
17. Fill the flower bed - something other than Lily's of the Valley

Kids
18. Wash and fold kid's clothing and have them put it away
19. Sort through kids clothes & donate what it too small/won't wear
20. Clean out and organize the kids room
21. Organize kids closet
22. Clean kids bathroom
23. Go through remaining toys and get rid of old/destroyed/too young ones

Food
24. Organize all my recipes, either online or in a binder
25. Organize all my cookbooks and mark favorites for easy access
26. Make weekly menus for a year (0/52)
27. Make grocery lists from the menus and shop by list (0/52)
28. Watch sales fliers to put my food money to best use
29. Try 10 new recipes (0/10)

Money
30. Make a budget
31. Update checkbook weekly by Sunday for 4 months (0/18)
32. Pay off Visas
33. Pay off Art Van
34. Stick with budget for 12 months (0/12)
35. Pay off loans
36. Get other loans out of default
37. Save money each month - even if it's only $20 (0/32)
38. Put at least $30 into HSA a month
39. Only buy coffee from Caribou or Starbucks twice a month (1/64)

Fun/Recreation
40. Fly on a plane (9-6-08)
41. Travel to at least 2 states I've never been to before (0/2)
42. Organize all my photos
43. Upload my favorites to my Flickr account
44. Take at least one roll of 35mm film every other month & get it developed
45. Get & learn Photoshop
46. Wear 5 pieces of favorite jewelry (0/5)
47. Watch the sun rise 10 times (0/10)
48. Cross-stitch 10 things (0/10)
49. Make at least 1 new piece of jewelry every 2 months
50. Make a trip to the cabin for a week's vacation
51. See at least 10 new movies (0/10)
52. See Twilight with the lunch ladies (11-21-08)
53. Watch all of inuyasha
54. Watch all of Gilmore Girls
55. Watch all of Charmed

Health
57. Lose 70 lbs. (0/70)
58. Walk an average of 10 miles/week for a year (0/52)
59. Try Jazzercise class and join once a credit card is paid off
60. Play Wii Fit 2 hrs a day (0/730)
61. Wear a bathing suit and feel good in it!
62. Get 8 hours of sleep at least 5 night a week

Enrichment
63. Journal (blogger) every day for a year (1/365)
64. Read 150 books (1/150)
65. Try 12 new authors (1/12)
66. Read 12 classics (0/12)
67. Read 5 works of nonfiction (0/5)
68. Read the entire Bible in a year
69. Complete the current Bible study with the church
70. Learn HTML
71. Learn CSS

Eco-Friendly
72. Buy more rechargeable batteries
73. Dispose of batteries that don't hold a charge
74. Replace remaining bulbs with CFLs or LEDs
75. Recycle - find a local station to drop things off at
76. Use only natural cleaning products
77. Recycle the kids drink pouches
78. Use Eco-Libris with every new book purchased
79. Eliminate use of plastic bags while shopping
80. Instead of purchasing something immediately, plan to make it or buy second-hand

Family
81. Give 10 "just because" gifts (0/10)
82. Plan a surprise party - Annette's going away party
83. Give handmade gifts at all holidays
84. Go see Nana - not on a holiday
85. Visit family every 3 months
86. Send out Christmas cards to our family & friends for 2 years (0/2)

Knit
87. Finish current knit projects (0/6)
88. Knit a sweater - decide on THE pattern
89. Actually knit sweater after buying yarn
90. Knit a pair of socks for he girls (0/3)
91. Knit a pair of socks for the hubby (0/1)
92. Knit and use only washcloths for household cleaning
93. Buy only 3 skeins of yarn every 3 months
94. Use stash yarn for projects in queue that won't matter if acrylic
95. Organize printed patterns in binder

Misc.
96. Sell unused photo albums on eBay (0/3)
97. Order Terracycle bags
98. Organize my day better by writing schedules
99. Balance family & me time equally with time schedules
100. Try 1 new game that the hubby likes (0/1)
101. Have a date night with the hubby

mornin......

My brain is on autopilot right now since my coffee is just now finishing brewing........slow morning. Gotta get into a better routine - ugh!

Knitting - i have pictures now of BBBII & Hubby's scarf. Oh and silly Jack sleeping on my monitor this morning. See too easily distracted in the morning to remember coffee......and yes i have one of those fancy ones that you can pre-program to start brewing at a certain time. But that takes thinking the night before and my brain = mush right now. So now the pics!!!

Jack on my monitor......


Hubby's scarf


HCH's bunny blanket buddy

Finished.....

BBBII (bunny blanket buddy 2) was finished last night at knit night. I love that it is a super quick project and that if I have everything with me can be finished in a half a day tops. Now to just get it to Em and Josh for their son. :) I planned to work on my second socks second sock but I left my row counter at home and since I am on the heel repeats I wasn't going to mess with it unless I knew where I am. Even then I can't remember if I moved it up after finishing the last repeat or not. *sigh* might have to frog to the beginning to make sure......good thing I am only on the 4th maybe 5th repeat.

This of course meant that I HAD to work on hubby's scarf since I brought it with me and short of starting a new set of wash clothes to finish the owl set......it had to be done. I got most of the way back to where I was when I first frogged it. I'll take pics later today so that I can get them on here and ravelry.com. Now I must get back to fundraising calls.....oh joy!

Cast on....

I cast on the second sock yesterday. YAY! Hopefully I can finish it in the next 2 weeks......I doubt this as I really should be making calls about the fundraising help I need today and tomorrow. Ugh! But hey I can work on it when I am not needed during the lap-a-thon since I'll be there EVERY day that week. *SIGH* Wonder if I can get someone to take it over from me next year......

Truthfully I don't mind doing it but it wears me out within the first 2 months of school. Then in December I organize a cookie exchange for the teachers. We parents provide the cookies and they get to take them home. The big problem is that I don't have a local number so not too many people will actually call me about it. It stinks and here I am procrastinating again on doing this. Ok really now I have to get offline and make these calls. If I stay here any longer then I'll go back to reading the Midnight Sun draft on Stephanie Meyer's website.......man those books are like crack! I literally read all 4 of them in a week. No wonder I am putting things off! >.> Ok seriously now I'm cleaning the litter boxes........

I got a package!

Thank you secret pal!!!!!

My mailman just knocked on my door - this usually means that there is a package for us that won't fit in the mailbox, etc. Sure enough I open the door to find a Loopy Ewe box inside my door - WOOT!




So of course I tore it open with the camera in hand to snap pics of my goodies. I got some Soak with sock yarn samples - both very pretty colorways. Not to mention nice to pet. :D




A Keychain Sock Blocker. I've been looking and looking at this a couple of time because it looks too cute! Plus being a new sock knitting addict it will help me practice for smaller feet. hehe




And last but not least some absolutely LOVELY Trekking Hand Art yarn in 504 Brazil colorway.

Non-knititng related......

My oldest is learning her states this year. They are learning them in regions but she has the list of all the states to practice spelling. Her first test was a week ago and she failed it. We didn't realize she'd only been practicing her spelling of ALL the states and not trying to place the names with the ones in the given region. This is how the first test turned out:



See the blue arrow, that's the Maine upper peninsula. LOL! We then found this website to help her and on her next test she aced it. http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf She now knows where all the states are from repeated playing. So we are now having her practice spelling them and working on the site a couple times a week.

QOW #13

If you were told you could never again buy yarn, would would your last yarn purchase be?
If you were told you could never knit again, what would be the last thing you’d knit??
In a given year, how many times do you buy yarn? And what is your favorite place to buy yarn from? A festival? A shop? Online? Dish your favorite places!!
Lastly, with Fall in full swing in many areas, what is the one thing you look forward to most?

#1 I think my last yarn purchase would be a sheep. That way I could spin my own even after the dreaded no more yarn purchases date. :D

#2 Ummm can I say never ending scarf......... Yeah I didn't think so. ;) I think I'd knit a really super warm sweater that I loved the pattern of.

#3 In this year so far I have bought yarn.....ummm lemme count......at least 15 times so far I'd have to say. Hmmmm tie between buying on Ravelry in trade/sell and my LYS The Knitting Den.
Ravelry because I can get yarns from people who bought a colorway and didn't like it for about the same price they paid or less. The Knitting Den because the ladies there are super helpful and really nice. And they haven't kicked me out yet for having my monsters with me running around the store in and out of rooms they shouldn't be in. :D

#4 Fall wise the colors changing and being able to walk outside and crunch on the leaves. Knitting wise.....probably making some fingerless gloves to keep me warm. Oh and knitting on my porch once it gets too cold for bees.

I've enjoyed this swap and look forward to my reveal package and getting to know my upline spoiler and downline spoilee better. :)

And their off.......

I posted a few of my barbies on ebay a while back and they sold on the second go round. I needed the space for other stuff and I might post more on there in the future.......but that means venturing into the closet and I don't think I am ready for that right now. :) Anyways, I went to the post office today to mail the boxes and a little something to my brother........ok the box was 5 lbs. worth of blankets. Baby ones to be exact for miss Madelyn to use since my girls are too big for them. But holy crap - it cost me more to send a 1.75 lb. to CA & the same to TX than it did the 5 lbs one to within my own state. WTH is up with that?!?!?!?!

Moving on.....It is the start of fall allergy season for me and my oldest two girls. UGH! What did I do today, went to WalMart and bought the generic Claritin. DUMMY! I was on Claritin before and needed a decongestant for all the drainage down my throat. But I don't have a stuffy nose right now. :D Crap now I'm out $14 on meds that I can't use unless I don't want to sleep at night. :( It is of course a 24 hour pill which means that I can't take what I would at night without risking overdose or something like that. So it's a chicken noodle soup night here at our house. Homemade of course - YUM! It smells great right now.......I wonder if the chicken is cooked enough yet. I make it super easy - see below:

Super Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

4 - 5 Chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 12 oz. bag of Egg Yolk Noodle
Some bouillon cubes for flavoring
1 stock pot
1/2 pot of water

Thaw chicken and cut into cubes. Put pot on stove with water in it. Put bouillon cubes, chicken and about slightly over half the bag into the pot. Turn stove on and let sit until boiling, stir often. Let boil for about 5 minutes and soup should be ready to serve.

See easy. Otherwise I'd probably never make it. LOL Oh and this is pretty much my mom's recipe and yeah it's more details than I would have gotten from her. Her response to recipe requests is "I do a little of this, add a little of that and I get this size but eyeball how much I use each time...." really frustrating sometimes let me tell you! But yummy the noodles are super smooshy!

Girl drama......ugh!

My oldest being the brat that she can be has taken to not listening to mom lately. They have a friend who lives right across the street. Who is the same age as my youngest but loves playing with my oldest. They like to walk to the bus with her. The mom and I have traded off mornings and I walked the past two mornings with them. So this morning I woke up and my allergies have pretty much swollen my throat shut (ouch and thank god for tea!). I'd told the girls I wasn't walking this morning. Not that I won't get them to the bus, but I'm not walking. Mind you the bus doesn't get here until 8:15 am and it takes about 5 - 8 minutes walking to get to the bus stop, 1 minute driving. So at 7:41 am my oldest goes across the street to see if their friend can walk.......without asking to leave the house. The middle monster soon follows and the youngest is left here almost in tears. They knew I was going to brush her hair (too thick for her to get all the tangles out herself), but still left her. To make matters worse when she got out there she thought she saw her sisters and the friend walk around the corner. I quick caught up with her and walked to to the corner with the plan to call them back and make them wait the 10 minutes extra that they didn't need to leave so early. They weren't around the corner. This meant they had to have gone inside the friends house. So B starts to whine because we can't find them, she's cranky and upset of course. I tell her to knock on the door and see if they are there. She makes me come up to the porch with her and then proceed to knock so lightly that not even their dog hears her. And the dog will bark as soon as she thinks someone is there. I finally tell her if she isn't going to knock loud enough for someone to hear her then she can come back home and sit on our porch until they come out. We knew they were there still because she could see her sister's backpack inside the door.

Long story short, they come out 2 minutes later and she tells them they suck (in not these exact words :) ) because they left without her and didn't ask to go across the street. The friend's mom tells her all she had to do was knock or just come right in - which of course sets B crying. She has become SUPER emotional in the past year and the littlest thing will set her off. I don't get it but I have to live with it. To make it even better the oldest has a planner that must be signed daily, so does the middle kid. Well middle kid had dad sign last night and it's in her backpack. Oldest gave it to me and it was still sitting on the table where she put it. So I signed it and called her over to get it. She was almost ungrounded too. Man it sucks to not listen to mom. :) But she is to the point that she just keeps taking off and going somewhere and not letting us know. The biggest one was riding her bike with a friend to about 5 blocks away from where we live. So she goes and does something silly like this and gets another 2 days added to her grounding. She keeps this up and she will be grounded for the whole month all because she decides to not ask a simple question. Silliness I tell you!

On the knitting front.....

Spring Forward

I started a pair of socks in the Spring Forward pattern from knitty last night at knit night. It took me most of the night to remember what the heck I was doing. Good thing I brought my books! :D I decided to use my new Tofutsie yarn - so pretty. And to appease the hubby I started his scarf when I got home. I'd have taken it with my but I was in a super rush to get out the door last night that I didn't look well enough for it. My BFF Amy sent me this shoe link yesterday after asking all super sneaky like - "have you ever tried on sketchers? i want to know what size shoe you wear >.> an 11? i know you have monster feet :D" I asked her what she was looking at before she sent the link and she said "presents for you :o". hehe! I made a mad dash to the mall once the hubby got home to try on something similar in style - with my socks to see if they would fit and they do! :D

Question?

Has anyone ever gotten to the point in knitting that you have so many projects you'd like to start and have yarn for but don't know which one to do next? Or have yarn but aren't sure which pattern to use it with? That would be me right now. I have one scarf on the needles right now but I'm thinking of frogging it and possibly doing a different stitch as the moss/seed stitch for the scarf is driving me batty. So much so that I really don't want to pick it back up. Sad but I need to get it done soon before it gets too cold. Plus the hubby is insisting that I start his scarf next. Because he claims he will support the knitting habit as long as he gets something out of it. The downside - he's color blind so if I say "isn't this an awesome shade of green?" He says "green I thought it was red...." etc. Very frustrating. So the kids have to oh and ah with me over colors. :D

My dilemma now - do I start his scarf, finish Lily's, or start the next pair of socks? And if so on the socks - which yarn and pattern? Choices choices!

Well it's off to the post office for me now as I need to ship out ebay sales and a little somthing for my secret pal. Hope s/he enjoys it. :)

Then there were two......

I have now completed my first pair of socks! Just need to weave in ends and fix a gap in the heel pickup area. And now I am laughing really hard at my big dog* trying to crawl under the kitchen chair to get something that one of the kids must have dropped. She is literally on her belly under the chair with the back legs digging in to get further under it. Yup looked like bread or something. However when I moved the chair to help the dog I found the cat hiding back there while eating the said food. No wonder the dog was trying to get back there! She of course can't share with the cat.....it's not allowed! LOL


*Big dog = German Shepard mix with we thing greyhound or something along those lines.

Music Meme

As seen on Meg's blog the music meme. Here's the rules:

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com

B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year

C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline or italicize your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

D.) Optional, but I highly recommend checking out some videos on YouTube while you're at it.

Mind you there are more that I dislike but I didn't want to spend all night striking through all of them. Kinds bummed that there aren't more alternative music on here, but such is life. Now back to bed for me as I feel yucky!

1. Too Close, Next
2. The Boy Is Mine, Brandy and Monica
3. You're Still The One, Shania Twain
4. Truly Madly Deeply, Savage Garden
5. How Do I Live, LeAnn Rimes
6. Together Again, Janet
7. All My Life, K-Ci and JoJo
8. Candle In The Wind 1997, Elton John
9. Nice and Slow, Usher
10. I Don't Want To Wait, Paula Cole
11. How's It Going To Be, Third Eye Blind
12. No, No, No, Destiny's Child
13. My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion
14. Gettin' Jiggy Wit, Will Smith
15. You Make Me Wanna..., Usher
16. My Way, Usher
17. My All, Mariah Carey
18. The First Night, Monica
19. Been Around The World, Puff Daddy and The Family
20. Adia, Sarah McLachlan
21. Crush, Jennifer Paige
22. Everybody (Backstreet's Back), Backstreet Boys
23. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, Aerosmith
24. Body Bumpin Yippie-Yi-Yo, Public Announcement
25. This Kiss, Faith Hill
26. I Don't Ever Want To See You Again, Uncle Sam
27. Let's Ride, Montell Jordan
28. Sex And Candy, Marcy Playground
29. Show Me Love, Robyn
30. A Song For Mama, Boyz II Men
31. What You Want, Mase
32. Frozen, Madonna
33. Gone Till November, Wyclef Jean
34. My Body, Lsg
35. Tubthumping, Chumbawamba
36. Deja Vu (Uptown Baby), Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz
37. I Want You Back, 'N Sync
38. When The Lights Go Out, Five
39. They Don't Know, Jon B.
40. Make Em' Say Uhh!, Master P
41. Make It Hot, Nicole Featuring Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and Mocha
42. Never Eve, All Saints
43. I Get Lonely, Janet
44. Feel So Good, Mase
45. Say It, Voices Of Theory
46. Kiss The Rain, Billie Myers
47. Come With Me, Puff Daddy
48. Romeo And Juliet, Sylk-E Fyne
49. It's All About Me, Mya and Sisqo
50. I Will Come To You, Hanson
51. One Week, Barenaked Ladies
52. Swing My Way, K.P. and Envyi
53. The Arms Of The One Who Loves You, Xscape
54. My Love Is The Shhh!, Somethin' For The People
55. Daydreamin', Tatyana Ali
56. We're Not Making Love No More, Dru Hill
57. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
58. I Do, Lisa Loeb
59. Lookin' At Me, Mase
60. Looking Through Your Eyes, LeAnn Rimes
61. Lately, Divine
62. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Backstreet Boys
63. I Still Love You, Next
64. Time After Time, Inoj
65. Are You Jimmy Ray?, Jimmy Ray
66. Cruel Summer, Ace Of Base
67. I Got The Hook Up!, Master P
68. Victory, Puff Daddy and The Family
69. Too Much, Spice Girls
70. Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are), Pras Feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mya
71. How Deep Is Your Love, Dru Hill Featuring Redman
72. Friend Of Mine, Kelly Price
73. Turn It Up [Remix]/Fire It Up, Busta Rhymes
74. I'll Be, Edwin McCain
75. Ray Of Light, Madonna
76. All For You, Sister Hazel
77. Touch It, Monifah
78. Money, Power and Respect, Lox
79. Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Verve
80. Dangerous, Busta Rhymes
81. Spice Up Your Life, Spice Girls
82. Because Of You, 98 Degrees
83. The Mummers' Dance, Loreena McKennitt
84. All Cried Out, Allure Featuring 112
85. Still Not A Player, Big Punisher Featuring Joe
86. The One I Gave My Heart To, Aaliyah
87. Foolish Games/You Were Meant For Me, Jewel
88. Love You Down, Inoj
89. Do For Love, 2Pac
90. Raise The Roof, Luke
91. Heaven, Nu Flavor
92. The Party Continues, Jd
93. Sock It 2 Me, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott Featuring Da Brat
94. Butta Love, Next
95. A Rose Is Still A Rose, Aretha Franklin
96. 4 Seasons Of Loneliness, Boyz II Men
97. Father, LL Cool J
98. Thinkin' Bout It, Gerald Levert
99. Nobody's Supposed To Be Here, Deborah Cox
100. Westside, TQ

It's a heel!

Sock number two is on the foot portion now. Well sorta I gotta go back and fix the pickup on one side but then I should be onto the heel.

But my brain was being sucked into a webcomic suggested by Laurell K. Hamilton in her blog - "The Devil's Panties". It runs with the subtitle "It's not satanic porn - Honest!" hehe Her site has her comic as well as her other drawings featured. I should also mention that LKH mentioned her in blog due to the fact that Jennie Breeden (TDP lady) was doing kilt blowing with a leaf blower at DragonCon. :D And there is or was this past year a calendar of said action. I love this lady! :D http://www.thedevilspanties.com/index.html

As promised......

Here are the pics of my DRT box that I got the other day. :)




Yes, that is a Scrubbing Bubble from SC Johnson. The lady who tagged me works there so she had to send it to me. hehe :D




I got a bag with some Reese's Whips & 3 Musketeer bites in it - yum! The Scrubbing Bubble of course, some pretty blue, yellow & blue yarn for my dish rag to make and a yellow and blue dish rag that was made for me. My fave colors!!!

Dish Rag Tag

So I got my box today. At 2pm and got the dish rag done by 5:15 pm. Unfortunately the post office was closed at that time. I can get postage on the box tomorrow if I make a run to Meijer.....but the box won't leave the post office until Tuesday. Darn holiday weekend! I'll post pics of my box and dish cloth tomorrow. It's bed time now.

QOW # 12

I'm sure most of us have a proudest moment when it comes to knitting. A project or technique that you've tackled and completed beautifully. What is your proudest knitting moment??

And on the flip side? What is the one thing that you can't get right? What is that one project that you've never been able to complete? Or that you did complete but then hid away instantly because it was too embarrassing?

Proudest knitting projects - well hell the fact that I can now knit makes me proud seeing as how I taught myself from a book and the net. :D But seriously ;) my new sock.

The flip side - teaching myself to knit was very frustrating and took roughly 3 attempts to actually get it to take and for me to learn right. It was one of those things where I'd knit it, then frog, then knit, then frog, then knit, etc.

Can you say dense?

That would be me for not properly reading the Jaywalker pattern the first time......

I have finally figured out the foot portion of the stinking thing and can now attempt to finish my first sock. It figures that AFTER I pm'd Grumperina on Ravelry that I would figure it out myself. And now that I have that figured out and have knit 2 rounds I am back to cleaning. Why? Well cuz I miss sitting on my couch and having room to move at my computer desk. It only took about a week for this to drive me crazy - we have progress! ;) If you've seen my room you know what I am talking about.

I am however multitasking while I clean. I am finishing up my BFF Amy's birthday gift so that I can mail the box before the end of this week. :D Yes I am slow. :P And while I am doing that I am also thinking of what little things I plan to send to my SP next...... Back to cleaning now!