Whew!

Made it through last week!! It ended up being crazy and insane just like I thought it would! Amanda got back home Friday night and my father-in-law is doing much better! He was released from the hospital on Thursday and is on the mend....such good news! Had a day of semi-rest on Saturday then had family stuff going on the rest of the holiday week-end. It was fun! But yes....I'm one tired girl....and have work the next three days, so I guess I'll get rested up later...lol!

I have finally gotten a few small knitting projects done...since I've been in a weird place with my knitting I figured a couple of little projects might get me going again. It has seemed to help!! These knitted up so fast it's gotten me more motivated again. I did go ahead and finally finished the Austermann Step basic socks. I still can't figure out why it took so long...I usually knock out socks pretty fast....especially plain ones!

The next little thing I did was a potporri bag. It is out of Sunapee cotton from Patternworks. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with it :-) Maybe toss it into the last/reveal package for my SP?

One of my knitting "goals" recently has been to learn all of the different methods of knitting socks. I figure there are at least three good reasons for learning them all.....one....just to be able to learn them and know how to do them....two...to determine which method I enjoy doing the most....and third....I won't have to mess with adapting patterns if I find a sock I just HAVE to do and it's written for a specific method.

Anyway...that is what precipitated the next little project. It is a very short pair of wrist warmers from the Magic Loop book. I'm now working on a pair of worsted weight socks from that book to "hone my new skill"...lol. The next pattern in that book is toe-up baby socks which I will do next....with 6 grandkids somebody should be able to use them, wouldn't you think?

Then the last thing I finished up in the past week

is a little cell phone holder from just stash yarns. I got a new phone this week because the battery on my old one would not hold a charge anymore...one short conversation and it was down for the count. I went into the phone store to get a new battery and the crazy things were more expensive than upgrading to a new phone!! Of course, I think there is a method to their madness on that count.....when you get your "new" phone...you have to sign another 2 year agreement.....so you spend a fortune on a tiny battery.....or get tied to your carrier for yet another two years! Fortunately, I'm satisfied with my carrier so the new contract wasn't really a problem for me. Anyway, it has bugged me forever to have to dig through my purse for my phone when I need it and I hate those stupid belt clip things....so I did a little holder to hang on my purse handle. It was a really fast knit....cast on and finished it last night!

On the work front....am hangin in there. Got a lot done towards getting that office organized on Thursday because I was in there by myself all day. Am going to give this thing a real effort but honestly, I don't know......I was in there alone today again...sort of.....my employer called me 4 times in the 4 hours I was there....and was, once again, all over the place about what she wanted me doing. The conversation threads with her change constantly...sometimes in mid-sentence. It is impossible to keep up with where she is going for more than five minutes.....and I was on the phone with her for an hour of the 4 short hours I was there! Time will tell.

Had everyone here for Memorial Day yesterday. You know....I love to cook....and have an insane cookbook collection that I actually use most of the time. I enjoy doing new recipes and don't mind the time-consuming and difficult ones at all....but there sure is something to be said for just plain old hot-dogs and bratwurst off the grill, potato salad and baked beans!! It all tasted sooo good! We really enjoyed ourselves and fortunately had a nice day to be outside. The little ones really enjoyed that. Savy is such a good big sister and it is so obvious that Dax just adores her! It is so funny to watch him watch her....every move she makes...then he will "holler" at her trying to get her attention! They were both so good and such fun to play with and watch. With all the fun and festivities, our little man just had such a big day and didn't stay down very long for his afternoon nap...probably afraid he was going to miss something...lol! I just have to end the post with a pic of him at the end of the day....he was one tired little guy!

Ok....now that I have "re-arranged" all the pictures and all the verbage so it's neat and pleasing to the eye....I'll post this and probably find that horrible long stretch of words down one side with no pictures beside it....I HATE it when blogger does that...Does anybody out there know how to make it look like it looks BEFORE you publish it...lol!

And lastly....I love "thoughts for the day"...here is one: "In quietness and in trust shall be your strength." Isaiah 30:15

Insanity Abounds

Ever have one of those weeks that just sort of spins out of control? It's felt a little that way this week for me. Probably the biggest factor in it all is getting adjusted to going back to work again. It's not many hours a week but it's still an adjustment having to be up, dressed and out the door several hours earlier than I've been doing for the past year or so..... or at least I haven't had to do it on a regular and consistant basis for a while.

The week started off pretty much on an even keel. We had Guild on Sunday and that is always fun! I felt like everyone enjoyed the meeting and we had a good showing on charity knitting again this month. I'm so proud of the awesome contributions to the charity knitting projects that the members are doing....it's just fantastic! I only managed to get 4 hats done this time...last week was sort of busy too.... And virtually nothing to show on other knitting this week. I picked some up last night, did about two rows and had to put it down...I was just flat too tired to knit!

Monday came and that is when things started getting insane! It began with work...my first "real" day on the job....ended up working 3 hours last week when when I went in to just talk about working...lol...but Monday was the first "official" work day. I am quickly discovering that the job itself is sheer insanity, but more about that later....just suffice it to say that I already know working for this person is going to be extremely stressful....I'm not promising how long I will stick with it...will depend largely on how much that person stays OUT of the office because I can see that NOTHING will be accomplished when she is there!

While there I got a call that my father-in-law (actually my ex's father....but I still consider both of them my in-laws...heck, in some ways they are more like my parents and I love them dearly) was put in the hospital in Texas with pneumonia in both lungs. He is really sick. My mother-in-law has Parkinsons and was diagnosed with bladder cancer last month. She is not even supposed to be driving because of the parkinsons and no one lives any where close by to help. Anyway, Amanda flew out Tuesday morning to go help them out this week. I took Savy & Dax yesterday, David took off work to watch them today and tomorrow since I'm working again those days and I'm taking Friday.

After watching the kids Tuesday, DH and I had to make a hospital visit Tuesday night to see our newest grandson!!! His name is Carter James and he came in the middle of the night Monday night. He decided to come a few weeks early so it was a surprise for all of us! He is 17.5 inches long and 5lb, 8 oz. soooo tiny...and soo cute! Here he is with his Daddy and Poppy.

Worked again this morning and have a dinner assembly session tonight, then tomorrow is work again and meeting David at Daxton's Dr. appt with the ear, nose & throat specialist tomorrow afternoon....then they are coming here for dinner and the kids are staying the night so I can watch them on Friday.

I had to laugh when I came in today......with such a hectic week going on I walk in to find someone else in the house who isn't the least bit concerned about what a crazy week I'm having......what is that they say about "a dog's life!" LOL!

I also found out that the June meeting I am hosting for one of my other interest groups is going to have to be held in a different place than it usually is!! Normally I would just have it at my house, but in June there is just no way!! DH's whole crew and their families are going to be in town, we have two grandson's with birthday parties and Savy has her dance recital.....ALL on the weekends....no way to get the house ready for an "event"! One of the other members has the meetings at her workplace a lot of the time so I'm hoping I can do it there.

At this age, I usually don't like to "wish" time away.....but after this week....I'm ready for Sunday!!! So far there is nothing going on on that day....crossing my fingers for a full sit-n-knit day!

A Challenge, A Change & A Knitting Funk

We have another challenge from our SP10 Hostess. To post a pic of all wip's. Can't say I'm even remotely excited about any of these projects.....maybe that is why I seem to be in some sort of weird knitting funk right now. For months I just seemed to have projects flying off the needles and was filling up my knitting journal with Fo's.....but lately it seems like I have been knitting as much as ever.....but not getting anything done! Strange phenomonen. They are all small projects, too! I expect a big one...like a sweater...to take forever, but geez...not these little things!

They consist of: A baby hat (charity knitting), another square for the heritage afghan, second one of a pair of basic socks and a potporri bag. Since this is my "designated" charity week for knitting, I thought doing the baby hats might get me kicked off again....I did manage to finish one hat but frogged an entire hat last night that I have worked on for two days...lol! Oh, well...I guess we all go through this at one time or another. And to be fair with myself, I did decide to do baby hats that are more time consuming and intricate than a basic hat. I think after charity knitting this week I'll just pick one wip.....and finish it...maybe that will work better than casting on a whole new project that I am excited about....

On to the change......I have gone back to work! Part-time to be sure, though. Wasn't really planning to right now. It is something that I probably need to and should do, but don't have to so I just haven't done anything about it. We are doing ok and I'm still plugging along on the "getting debt free" plan....have the car down to under a thousand (got it one year ago) then all is left is the second on the house we had to take to get it liveable again....then the mortgage. All credit cards are gone and cut-up at this point and plan is to take what I have been paying on the car and dump it plus the regular payment onto the second to knock it out. Anyway....a little bit of extra income will help accomplish that faster so when I got a call for a part-time job offer out of the blue....I decided to take it.

I went in for 3 hours yesterday and "start" on Monday. It is for an area Realtor and she just needs someone to help her get her business organized and get some systems set up. It's a relatively decent hourly wage and I'll only be working about 4 hours a day three days a week....so I'll still have time to knit and watch grandkids! Not a whole lot of money but every little bit helps....and maybe my "yarn diet" won't have to be quite so stringent....lol!

I did get another "small" package out to my SP spoilee this week....just a little something to let her know I'm thinking about her. Now I need to start building the big finale/reveal package! Her birthday is in June too, so I want to make it a really special package....so...that's a hint, SPers.......if your birthday is in June.....I just MIGHT be your spoiler!

Mother's Day 2007

We just had the best week-end ever!....well...they are all the best week-end ever if it involves having family around me :-). We didn't go anywhere this year. I have been really tired from the incessant coughing all night that keeps me from getting enough sleep and Amanda is still recuperating from her hives and side-effects of the steroids they gave her...so it was low-keyed....but such fun!

Little Mr. Daxton had his first experience of getting to get really dirty....in the sand box! Thank goodness we keep it covered....since his first reaction was to EAT the sand...lol! He also had his first experience on a swing and slide down at the park....which I didn't get pictures of....he didn't like the swing or slide much and we weren't sure how he was going to take to the sand box.....but as you can see....he LOVED it!

Last year we went to Lake Arcadia and while we were exploring, my son-in-law, David found a mulberry tree and was telling us now he and his brother used to eat the berries off of one when they were kids. When we got back to the house we discovered that I HAVE a mulberry tree....well....sort of....it is actually in a vacant lot behind my house and hangs over my back fence. I knew the thing was back there obviously, but it never crossed my mind that you could eat the silly things that litter my yard every year...lol! Anyway, it is loaded down with the berries this year. Everyone was out there picking them and munching away on them so I decided to see if I could find any recipes for the silly things. Amazingly enough I found a ton of recipes on the internet!!! Some really yummy sounding stuff, too! Well....that gave us inspiration and we picked and picked and picked!!

We got a couple of huge zip-lock freezer bags full and froze them and there are a bunch more that should ripen in the next couple of days. I don't know that we would have gone to that much effort if we hadn't done this:

Oh my goodness........BEST berry pie I have EVER eaten.....honestly! None of us expected it to be that good. It was yummy, yummy! Now I can't wait to try some of the other recipes I found...one for chicken with chipolte/mulberry salsa in particular!! And maybe some preserves/jam? Haven't done that in years but these crazy little berries have me itching to do it again!

Ok...am getting frustrated....quick apology to the readers of this blog.....I have issues when I go to post the pics.....the spacing always turns out funky and weird....and when I try to move stuff around too much, blogger eats the pics I just posted....so sorry for the wierd arrangements!

Now on the some "cheesy" stuff.... I know I'm a dork....but I am so addicted to American Idol...lol! We missed the first season but have been soooo addicted since! We plan our evenings around the airings, tape them in case we have to be gone, etc. Anyway, I'm really "into" it and always have my favs, etc. I guess there are worse things I could be addicted to :-)!! Well, I had just mentioned in passing a good while back that it might be kind of cool to get cd's for the finalists....who knows...they might be collector's items someday...lol! Made the little comment and never thought about it again.......and LOOK what I got for Mother's Day...lol! Amanda had already given me the skein of Yarn Pirate and they went in with DH and got me these! How cool is that?!!! The only ones they couldn't find are Fantasia's, Rueben's and Bo Bice's! Too awesome, huh....my family rocks!

I know I sound like a broken record sometimes......but I could just spend hours and hours watching children and the wonder on their little faces when they are experiencing something new. It's just so awe inspiring to me and a reminder that we could all see the "wonder" if we just take the time and not take the simple things for granted.

Mother's Day Tea and Sock Yarn!

I had the best day yesterday! Only way it could have been better was if my girl felt better! Hope you get over this and feel great soon Sweetheart!!

I went down to Amanda's to help her out a little since she's under the weather and to attend the Mother's Day Tea that Savy's class put together for their Moms. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen! The kids had worked sooo hard getting ready to honor their mommies! And what a great Mommie my daughter is.....she felt so awful and going really wore her out but there was no way she was going to not go and disappoint her little girl!

They had their little tables all set up with "table cloths" that they had made, cookies, drinks, "worm pudding cups", and the sweetest recipe card holders they had decorated with their little thumb prints! They had also been working on a program and sang us several songs!

The rest of the day went great too. Both Savy and Dax were just the sweetest things and such good kids for Mimi! Everyone took a nice long nap so I even got to rest a little too.

As luck would have it, the mailman brought part of my Mother's Day gift while I was there :-)

Since I was there and helped bring in the mail....I got to have it early!! YES, I LOVE it and YES my girl knows her Mom....LOL! She had ordered me a skein of yummylicious Yarn Pirate Yarn!! She had signed up for notification when any became available and managed to snag one for me before they all sold out....the first day! The colorway is called Sagebrush and it is beautiful!

And on the subject of socks.....DH has heard me talk about "Sock of the Month" type things for ages. I have been intrigued by them ever since I heard about them but just couldn't justify the cost of some of them with our budget constrains since I retired. Every time I hear about a new one he has to listen to me jabber about it! I don't know if he's just tired of hearing it or what...LOL, but he told me to go ahead and do one!! Since I'm trying to be prudent in our finances I still hadn't done it.....that is until last month!! I managed to find one that is really economical.....in comparison anyway. In fact....it is so much less than any others I have heard of I was almost nervous about doing it!! I did a little more research and discovered that it is only a month to month commitment...you can stop at any time!!! They bill your Pay Pal when it is shipped so no huge up-front costs either!!! I figured on those terms it was worth the risk....if I got cruddy yarn or if the service was bad, I would just cancel the member ship. Well.....I just got my second kit and I have NOT been disappointed!!! Both yarn and the patterns have been just great....they have gotten here when promised.....oh, and did I mention.....the kits are only $15.00 a month!!!! I haven't cast on either one yet.....still working on basic sock and squares for the heirloom afghan, but one of these may be next...just to see how it goes.

Here are the two kits I have gotten so far. They are from Chameleon Colorworks.

SP 10 Challenge Again

We have another contest/challenge from SP 10 hostess. I had fully intended to get DH to take a picture to post along with this but having been sick all week-end and pretty much still recuperating to a degree....I have looked a little like hammered horse pucky for the last few days...so no pics of me in my favorite place to knit this time :-). That's what we are supposed to post about....our most common or favorite knitting place, what else I do (if anything) when I'm knitting, etc.

Like most obsessed knitters I will and do knit all kinds of places. I rarely leave the house without a knitting bag with some kind of project in it. I knit in Dr. offices, riding in the car...yes, riding...meaning when someone else is driving...lol, however...I have knitted in traffic jams, waiting for an order at Sonic, etc. when I am the driver! I have knitted in front of the computer before while listening to or watching something, at other people's homes...if they are the type that I know it won't offend them....at knitting groups/meetings, and probably a lot of other places I can't think of right now.

But most of my knitting gets done in my recliner while I'm watching tv.....or at least the tv is usually turned on....sometimes I'm actually watching it, sometimes it is background noise. Not really a unique knitting place unless you consider the fact that I always have a lap full of dogs there too...and I do mean always! If I'm sitting down at least two of them are in my lap, often times all three are there and on the rare occasion...the cat joins in too. It's not too bad once they all get "settled", but DH gets a huge kick out of seeing me jerk my knitting up in the air over my head because "somebody" is stomping around trying to get comfortable and I am attempting to keep them from sitting/lying on my project!

Of course, there are prerequisites that have to be in place before I (and they) get all settled in for knitting time. There HAS to be a full diet coke over ice next to me, if it's chilly I always have on down slippers and a woobie to cover up with, the tv remote and both phones (house & cell) need to be within reach.....have you ever tried to jump up to answer the phone when you have multiple breathing animal blankets that don't want to move on you?.....and of course the accessory bag with scissors, tape measure, chibis, etc. has to be close by too. I usually have two projects at hand just in case I get bored with one. In retrospect, I can't believe I go through all that preparation to knit...makes me tired just talking about it....lol!

Quiet Weekend

Had a really quiet week-end around here! No grandkids around, no going to the GY Knit In...just quiet. We had Ron's son, his wife and our grandson Clayton over for dinner Thursday and had fun watching Clayton in the sand box. He had a blast and wasn't ready to leave when they got ready to go. Later in the evening I started feeling bad and things just went down hill from there!! By Friday I had totally lost my voice....I'm sure DH didn't mind that one much...lol....was running a temp and felt just awful. I ended up sleeping on and off all day Friday and didn't even feel like knitting! Now that is sick for me!

Anyway, I did feel like knitting on Saturday and Sunday, but not much else. Every time I would get up and try to do anything I would feel like a mac truck hit me....so I gave in to it and just stayed either in bed or in my chair.

We really love having things over here that the grandkids enjoy! It is just so great seeing them have a good time when they are here! We don't get to see Clayton as much as we would like but sure enjoy him when he is here. They live in Yukon and are expecting another little boy in June. That will make 6 grand kids for us....and to think about 6 years ago we were complaining because we didn't have any....lol! We have 2 little girls from Ron's daughter Valerie....Kinley and Kayden. They live in Chicago and usually come to Oklahoma a couple of times a year. Then of course, there is Clayton and the new one with Ron's son Brandon. And our little Savy and Daxton from my daughter Amanda. We have two other married children who haven't started families yet so if and when they get started heaven only knows how many grandbabys we will end up with! Ron's son Patrick and his wife are trying and my daughter Melissa says they are going to have them...just not yet....so time will tell! Anyway, we have the sandbox and when Savy was about a year old we built the playhouse for her and future grand kids.

I did manage to finish the baby gift for the shower on Sunday....but ended up not being able to go! I did decide that I love, love this little sock pattern!! I have tried several different baby sock patterns and they would come out shaped funky...but this one is so cute...and, of course really fast to do! I did them from some Magic Stripes I had in the stash.I also finished one of the basic socks out of the Austermann. Also managed to get one block for the family heirloom throw done.

I haven't really decided on the next project...will probably just finish the second sock and get the summer tee all sewn up then worry about it.

Feeling much better today but still getting tired quickly, so am closing for now!

I do have to make a post on another SP10 challenge but will do that later!

No More Dirt Patch!

I am sooo excited! We have grass! No more patch of bare red dirt right at my front door!! We ran a few pieces of sod short but I went and got some more today so by tomorrow ALL the patches of naked dirt will be covered! Yippeee!!!

You can look at the pic on yesterdays post and see how it looked behind the tree...and here it is today.

When we were getting ready to prep the yard and lay the sod I got an idea....it was obvious that we were waaayyy short of sod and we had this pile of stone just sitting in a corner of the back yard......We still have to grout it in, but man does it look better out there! I have always felt like the front of my house sort of reflected the kind of person that lives inside and I was just plain embarrassed by that nasty little dirt patch. Every time it rained red mud would literally wash down the driveway. I just love doing stuff like that too! It makes me feel so good to be able to see the fruits of the labor!

Pretty much this whole little house has been a labor of love! I've mentioned it before, but we rented it out for over 5 years. The last time the lease was ending we decided to move back over here. We had a big nice house at the time....and were working ourselves to death to keep it. No kind of life! We were both working 7 days a week...and long hours to boot. Once we really thought about this little house sitting over here with half the space, half the payment, half the utility costs....the decision was made. We were happy and excited about having less expense and more time to spend with one another and family! The excitement lasted until we came to get the keys from the final renters.....OH LORD.....what have we done was what ran through our minds! I can't even tell you how bad it was. I walked out of here, sat down in my car and cried....just cried! Sometimes I wish I had taken pictures of it the way we found it....but sometimes I'm glad we didn't! But I did take befores of it after we gutted it. Suffice it to say....just pulling up the carpet made us wretch!

Anyway, we pretty much gutted the entire house......and did everything except lay the hardwood floors ourselves. It took us about 4 months....DH took all of his vacation and sick leave so we both worked sun up to sun down...and often until late at night. After he had to go back to work it was just me all day until he got off work then we'd both be at it again. I thought it might be fun to put up a few of the before and after pics. These are the den...in progress and after it was done.

There are still some things we didn't get finished. We were blessed enough to sell our other home very quickly and ended up moving in a full month before we intended to, but there are always home projects when you own a home so they will get done in time! We are so happy NOW...lol...that we made this decision....and it's funny....we have bonded so much with this house now that it feels much more like "home" than the other one ever did! These are of the dining room. Yes....I do like bold colors....no white walls for this girl...LOL!

I really like the way most of it turned out....of course there are always a few mishaps! I do have one bedroom that needs to be re-painted. I took bedding down to the paint store and the whole bit....but it didn't come out exactly the way I envisioned it....right now I call it the Pepto Bismol room! I like pink, but wow....did they ever get it "pink"...lol....anyway...that is one of the projects that will be re-done! We did every room in the house except the hall bath. It will come later!