To Alex -

To Alex...who is far away in person, but never far from my heart. I miss you. Enjoy these snippets of everyday family life here in the states.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Doing what I love!


Did a little baking.....

Found the recipe for the Pumpkin Brownies here. My gosh, if you want to try an easy and absolutely delicious brownie recipe, you must try these. I mean it, easy. There's only one problem with the brownies....they're gone! Yummm......

Finished a little knitting.....

No, this isn't Maris, but it is her hat that I promised for her birthday. Thanksgiving isn't too far past her birthday.The flower is one of the embellishments found on Ravelry, but I don't remember which one I used. The heart button came in a sewing package I received from FreeCycle. There were lots of goodies in that package.

Founds some flowers in the yard.....

How fortuitous (love that word and it must be pronounced for-tui-tous!) that I still had flowers in the yard just at the time I was wondering how pretty my vase might look with flowers.

Did a little sewing......

I picked up pillowcases for pennies at a local thrift shop and just knew they would make great bags. Love the bright colors and stripes. I especially needed something pretty in the basement to hold the bags I use when I clean the litter box. My assumption is that one needs a pretty bag holder since the job is so dirty. I'm right, aren't I? By the way, I made up the design for the bag and I'm pretty proud of my self for it.

That's what I've been up to this past week. How about you?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Whoo Boy!

That was not fun. I have the lingering cough, but otherwise, I'm back to normal. Thanks to each of you for the good wishes in the comments and via email. That was very kind of you and much appreciated.

Miss M received her leggings, but sadly, not her hat. Huh, I should remind you that I haven't been knitting all that long so there are things I didn't know, but I do now after many frustrating attempts to get the hat to work. Really, the pattern is so simple, but I didn't know that Stockinette Stitch in-the-round is different than on a flat piece. I tore that 'lovely' hat out at least 1/2 a dozen times before I took the whole darned thing into my LYS and begged for help. The clerk was gracious, if you can count laughing at me as being gracious, and quickly explained my troubles. So, it's still on the needles, but I'm hoping it will be done in a couple days and then I'll be able to take a picture of Miss M in her leggies and her hat. I also have to mention that I did the leggies in my incorrect version of the Stockinette, but it actually worked out for the better because there is a lot of up and down stretch to them and she'll be able to wear them longer. And yes, she loved them.

I managed a walk or two in the woods during my sick spell. I didn't see any wildlife, but that was probably because my constant cough scared them away. This might be the last of the fall pictures. There's nothing left on the trees so I'm waiting patiently for the snowfall. I'm envious of those of you who have already received your first snowfall.






When I was nearly recovered and no longer contagious, I spent a few precious hours at my favorite pottery show. Will you look at this pretty little piece?

My goodness, she just jumped in my basket and insisted on going home with me. How was I to tell her no? As soon as I brought her in the house she climbed right up on the table and nestled in next to the pumpkins and a pretty little bowl that shares the same color blue glaze. It's as if she were meant to share my home.

Added: I just found this via Flip & Tumble. Check it out....very cool. Anyone know how to play the piano?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Nearly better.

And, my goodness, did this take a long time. It's been quite a while since I've gotten by backside kicked by sickness and after this, well, I'm hoping it's much longer before it happens again.

I did, however, put the time spent recuperating to good use. I finished Maris' leggings last night and then decided she needed a cute little hat to match and the hat must have a cute little flower to go with it. Soooo......I cast on for more knitting.

Here's where I was this morning before breakfast:

Let's hope I finish this by Saturday. The girl needs her hat.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Not a lot I can do.

I'm trying to recover from this ick, I really am, but it's taking far longer than I wish. Ah, well, what's a person to do. I had a date with the couch and a blanket on Tuesday and spent the whole day drinking tea and reading The Gathering Storm, which is the newest book from the Wheel of Time series. My mother picked up the first book nearly 20 years ago, but didn't like it so she gave it to my oldest son to read. He loved it and suggested I read it. Since then we've anxiously awaited the release of each new volume as they've come out and we devour them in no time. We love the story. I remember when F.O.S. was going overseas for the military and I had just bought Crown of Thorns. He wanted to take it with him, but I assured him I would ship it the moment I finished reading it. As he's leaving the house to go back to base, I jokingly asked him if he had taken the book and he assured me he hadn't. In fact, he pointed to the coffee table and said, "see, it's right there." Great! Yeah, no, he had taken the dust jacket off the book and slipped it over another so when I sat down to read I was not too pleasantly surprised to find a book I had already read. F.O.S.? He thought it was hilarious. That's like us though....to fight over who gets to read the books first. For this last book, I bought it for his birthday, which is on the 19th. Guess who got the better of whom this time since he's now getting a 'used' book for a gift. Yep, I read the whole thing, all 780 pages before I'm giving it to him. I think that's pretty funny.

The rest of my evenings this week have been spent working on Miss M's birthday present. I'm much further along than this and I only realized last night that the first burgundy stripe has a mistake. I accidently knit 2 consecutive rows instead of knitting and then purling so I have an extra row in there. Huh! Think she'll notice if I don't say anything? I'm not telling and I'm not taking it out. Miss Ms is an accessory kind of girl so I know she'll love them. She's turning 4 and already has 'her style' going on. Good for her.

I'm hoping I feel better long before I get them completed because it's taking a long time to get through this project. The directions say you can do it in a weekend. Well, not me. I'm not a fast knitter and I could only finish that soon if my weekends were 8 days long. Here's to completing many rows this weekend and to feeling much better by Monday.