Hopes for a creative, productive weekend...

It started yesterday afternoon with some new colorful felt.

All in hopes for some more festive creations for the girls.

Then was some very colorful fleece yesterday evening while listening to the hockey game on the TV.

Thursday evening, a new sweater was cast on.  Loving the color I picked for it.

Can't wait until it is finished.

Hopefully it won't be very long.

Hopefully no mistakes were made while watching "Speedy" Peterson (Boise kid) during Aerial Freestyle.  (he won Silver!)

There is a wee one in the house that is hoping that another little prairie doll

is on the list to do in the near future.

Then there is another idea swimming around the space upstairs with this most 

wonderful looking blue yarn.

I have just realized that must to my dislike, I have more than one project going at once.

Which totally drives me bonkers at times.

So there will be many a deep breath taken to keep me from wigging out.

It will all be good being I have my M&M's right beside me on the desk (right next to the mouse).

Good spot, huh!

The electric blanket is on, munched up in a bundle for my feet to keep me warm.

And there will be fried fish and fried okra for dinner tonight.

No too shabby if I must say so.

Can't wait to see what the rest of the day has in store, along with tomorrow.

Hopefully it won't be drizzly like today.

Would be great to get out and explore for a wee bit.

Crossing the fingers. 

I know I promised to show these sooner.  Life does get a bit hectic around here from time to time.  

The girls love these shirts so much that I don't think they will just wear the shirts just for this month.  They are trying to come up with some more ideas for more shirts with more felt and buttons.  I love it when they get all creative on me!  They are at the perfect age to do things on their own (some what) and let those creative juices flow.  Awesome!  Gives you a warm fuzzy and all.

So over the weekend we decided to go to our favorite "quick" spot to go look at the valley and hills.  The sun had been out all day and wouldn't you know it that when we get up to the spot, the clouds started rolling in, fast!  It was cool seeing all the snow on the hills and falling from the sky.  Very cool!  And talk about being chilly too!  Wow!  Those winds were something with the storm coming in.  But it was nice to get out, smell the fresh air and watch nature happen.  One of my favorite things to do.

And Glenn just had to get a pic of me just standing quietly, enjoying all that was happening in front of us.  It doesn't happen often, the pics of me.  Feel lucky.

Have I told you before about how much I love the jacket I found while on vacation last spring in Oregon?  Wasn't sure.  Didn't feel a bit of the wind that was zipping around while it was on.  It goes everywhere with me when heading out of the house.  You just never know when you may need it.

So as the week started out at a fast pace, last night found us all wanting peace and quiet and going for a full force "veg out" for the evening.  Absolutely wonderful I tell you!

The girls were hidden away in their library.  They had pillows crammed in there as high as my knee.  Who knew I had that many floating around this place.  And can you believe there were two play ponies tucked in also.  One looked like he was guarding the popcorn bowl in the back.  Nothing like having a guard pony you know.  I just get tickled to see both girls enjoy reading and how Em helps Brenna with all the new words she comes across.  Love it!  Looks like the library shelves need a little straightening up here and there.  :)

Then there was myself sitting while listening to the Olympics, working another idea that popped into my head.  This one isn't taking long at all.  Which is good after I had to scrap the other idea for the time being due to the frustration that was plaguing me with the darn thing.  I just about took scissors to the white yarn I was working with.  Yeah, that bad.

At least now there is a cheery springy green flying through the needles.  You must be patient to see how it turns out.

Must be off again.  Dinner to get started.  Yummy, warm soup for a very chilly day we are having today.  Then there will be the workout to do.  I didn't work out a bit for the last 2 weeks and it's killing me.  I put  2 lbs back on, so I must get them off along with a wee bit more.

These beauties laying around in the kitchen surely aren't helping.

Chocolate with white chips and pecans 

and 

Lemon Sugar

They sure are good but not for the workout process I tell you.

And then to see how things go for the day at the Olympics.  Quite exciting to see all those athletic people get out there, do their thing and be good at it.  You know that if I were to try the cross country stuff I would be the one laying on the snow so out of breath that my lung would just pop out of my chest and I wouldn't care.  I just don't know how some of these people do it.  Kudos to you all.

Why didn't I think of that!

It's still early in the morning and Glenn already has me laughing so hard my stomach hurts.

I got up earlier that everyone else to sit in my craft room and figure something out with another pattern that was floating around "upstairs" again.  Glenn got up and brought his morning munchies with him and sat here with me.  After asking what was going on, I told him I was having a bit of trouble trying to get "this" to work how I want it to.  Here is his piece of advice:

"double loop increase on the 3rd stitch & increase the variance of the tension on the thing-a-ma-bob".

Can you believe that got me thinking of something that will actually work!!!

How does he do that?

This is another reason I keep him around.

Cute and smart, even though he doesn't know squat about knitting, etc.

It's going to be a great day!

Why I love my husband...

I have to tell you what happened on Valentine's day that reminded me once again why Glenn is so special to me.  You must know up front that we only knew each other 1 month when we got married and everyone just knew that we wouldn't make it more than 6 months.  We are at 23 years now and counting.  

Glenn and I don't get into spending money on flowers, gifts, candy, etc. for Valentine's.  Never have, never will.  We just don't think that there is a huge need to go spend money on things that just don't really mean anything compared to just being there and loving each other every day.

I was sitting in my craft room trying to work out another idea that I had floating around in my head.  Everyone was just going around the house doing their own thing and seeing what was going on with the Olympics here and there.  Every once in a while Glenn would come in and sit across the desk from me, chat about anything and ask if I wanted anything to snack on, etc.  Then he comes walking in with his Ipod and asked me if I would listen to a song he really wanted me to hear.  Needless to say I obliged.  Soon after the song started, the tears were rolling down my face.  

Here's the link to the song.

No matter how busy, crazy things get around this place I know our love is still as strong as ever.

I love his humor,

the way he walks,

his smell,

his intelligence

and how no matter what, he is always doing more for his family.

I just love this man to pieces.

Always have, always will.

Another creation...

Finally finished another neckwarmer that has been floating around my head after looking through a stitch pattern book.  I'm so tickled with how it turned out.  It's very soft with the cotton yarn I choose to make it with.  I was wearing around the house all day yesterday.  You would have thought we were without heat or something.  :)  I'm trying to get the finishing touches done on the pattern so that I can post it and the others that I've written the last few weeks.  Hopefully by this weekend I will have it done.

Taking it easy...

The fish hat was completed.

Meet "Barry" Barracuda.

Definitely a fish with attitude.

He patiently sits in a big envelope at the moment, waiting for the trip to the Post Office to start his journey to his new home.

Then there was lots of new creating happening during quiet hours of the evening while spending time with each other.

Another idea making it's debut onto the needles.

Lots of glorious color to gaze at.

Then receiving a beautiful heartfelt gift from my two little sweet peas.

A lot of thought went into this little gift and it is very appreciated.

Hope your week starts out as well as mine did!

Seeing hearts every where...

After a little bit of debating, deciding and see all of the options in front of them.

The girls came up with these

to put on these.

Final product pictures later when I can get them to stand still long enough to take one.

Then there were lots of these being eaten while Em had a few friends over for a late birthday/just hanging out with friends get together.

Afterwards there were these yummy lovelies to eat that were made for us from our wonderful friends who came over the hang out for the afternoon.

A wonderful afternoon was had by all.  Eating pizza, snacks, cupcakes and then playing lots of games on the Wii, including a brand new one called "Just Dance".  Loads of fun this one is.  I played it last night with the girls and we had a blast.  I was told that it was no fair that I could do a lot of the moves from the songs from the 80's and that it could be labeled as cheating.  Sore losers.  :)  I didn't play it all when all the friends were over.  No sense in showing everyone how big of a fool I can be.  I'll just wait till later this evening when it doesn't matter what I look like flinging around in hopes of not breaking a hip.  Way too much fun!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's day!  Just watch the sweets!

Moving right along...

Here are the little critters that the girls were working on.  They turned out great with all the little changes that the girls wanted to do with each of their friends.  Like I said yesterday, I took the little friends to the sewing machine and stitched the seams closed tight being that the hand stitching that the instructions say to do is not enough to keep all the stuffing in.  Even though the girls did a grand job on their stitching.  Brenna even had to add some jewelry to her friend that had to be stitched on in the end being that hot glue just didn't do the job.

I think they turned out FAB!!!

The girls finally finished their Valentines yesterday after all the goofing that was taking place in the dining room.  I must be honest in telling that I was having to take a few deep breathes after seeing all the glitter that was on the floor, even though the girls had plates that they were suppose to be working on with the glitter.  Luckily Dad came home about the time the creating was winding down and he took control of the cleaning supervision.  He later told me that I would have wigged out.  Love that guy I tell you.

So today there will be a few things heading out to the mail.  I think we might miss Valentines by one day though.  Oh well, at least they were made.  The house is all decked out with decorations and Glenn and Brendon are dodging dangling hearts that are hanging around every where on the main floor.  The perils of being tall you know.  And having those around who torture you with decorations hanging from just about anything.  We love our guys around here!  :)

Nearly finished with the knitting of the piranha hat.  I'm going to take the easy way out and make the teeth out of felt.  Now it's just down to how I want to do that and how many teeth there will be.  I'm definitely changing the eyes a bit also.  Hopefully that will all be done sometime today.  I'm hoping.

I was looking at the forecast for the weekend and it looks like the temps are going to be pretty decent around here.  I might just have to get out and go exploring with the gang.  I'm starting to feel the itch of being outdoors and the need to get out to see more than just what is around the neighborhood.  That is why I changed the blog pic today, in honor of the great outdoors of the grand state we live in.  Can't wait to be up in the mountains again.

Handmade goodness...

Another fish hat down and off to it's new owner.  This one turned out bigger than Glenn's because of the "owners" big head.  I had to cast on more stitches and used a bigger needle because of the head size.  It looks like a flounder, laying there all flattened out.

There is one more fish hat being worked on right now.  It's about half done.  This next one will be different from the other two in that it was requested that it look like a piranha.  Still have to wrap my brain around that one in how to get the teeth made.  Who knows.  I'm just looking forward to going back to working on the things in my head before they drive me bonkers.  It doesn't take much.  I feel like a project hog lately in not wanting to make anything for anyone else until a few things get finished for little ole' me.  I'm allowed once in a while.

There was a little bit of creating from the girls going on here the past few days.  They both received a "make your own Build a Bear" kit for Christmas and we finally sat down to work on them over the weekend.  The girls loved it even though I had to take the animals to the sewing machine to make sure that the stuffing didn't come out from between the sewing holes that are on the forms.  Just a few final touches and the little lovelies will be ready for show tomorrow.

The weekend flew by way too fast and this week seems to be doing the same.  There will be some more crafting today after lessons.  Mostly of the Valentine kind.  Apparently we don't have enough hearts hanging around the house.  At least it's all bright wonderful color to look at when the skies are gray around here.  So no complaints there.  A couple of little shirts need to be decorated for the big day this weekend.  You must go all out you know.  And there will be some final decisions being made for a very low key "late birthday" get together this Saturday for an 11yr. old and 4 friends.  Must make sure there are enough goodies for everyone to stuff themselves with while hanging out and being girls.  Glenn was glad to hear he will be at work during the "fun".  You can imagine to sad look on his face when he found out he would not be able to be at home listening to all the squealing and such during the get together.  I thought I saw a tear in his eye.  Not.

Hope you have a FAB day where you are!

Pep in my step...

It seems like its been a long few days.

I woke up on Wednesday and felt like I had just run over a huge speed bump in the road.

It hit me that when I woke up that it was what would have been my Dad's 68th birthday. Not that I could ever forget that Feb. 3rd is his day. So long story short, it took all I had in me just to get through the day. And what made it worse is that we had the thickest fog and the grayest skies, all. day. long. I do have several of these kind of days throughout the year when thinking of my Dad. Most of the time when I think of him (which is every day still), it makes me very happy to be thinking of all the great times there were with him. Then every once in a while there will be a day that will sneak up on me and just knocks my feet out from under me and I get so overwhelmed about not having him to talk to, to hear his voice, or the realization that I won't ever see him again. Or that he has 5 grand babies and three of them he will never be able to hug. It's more than hard.

Somehow, later that evening, I found my self in my room, music playing, trying out a particular stitch in a different yarn to see how the stitch detail would look versus the white cotton and staring at a bowl of "Chocolate Brownie Thunder" in front of me, trying to feel better about things. I didn't feel bad about that ice cream one bit. I've been doing pretty darn good with the working out bit and somehow I just knew my Dad would have told me to have it also being that I deserved it.

So there it was, sitting in the bowl, waiting for me to take little nibbles in between a few stitches here and there. Eventually it turned into chocolate "soup" but I didn't care. It was chocolate for crying out loud and it was good.

Some how after all the yarn time, music, little peeps sharing space with me and yummy chocolate soup, I went to bed in a better mood. With the hopes that tomorrow would be a bit better also.

Things were a bit better when starting the next day. The days list got done, lessons completed, pumpkin cookies made and another fish hat started. The sky was still gray though.

I had to make this hat a wee bit bigger because of the big head that will be wearing it. (sorry Abe!) After this one there will be one more and then back to my list! I feel like such a project hog lately. If any one asks me to make anything for them, I look at them like "do I have too?". Good thing the fishes are quick.

After a quick trip to the local shop to pick up a few more new books for the girls lessons, there is a to do list being created for the weekend. I must say I was a little shocked to see a small 5 yr. old get so very excited about her new math book. I'm just glad she loves her lessons. And her love of reading is growing which makes all of this work worth it.

So anyhoo, this weekend I have plans to relax, ponder and "rejuice" myself as I remember what is really important in my life. My family and a simple life.

I'll be flipping through this magazine I got in the mail today while curled up next to two little ones reading their books

and pondering what to do with these great springy colors below after the fish hats. Oh the mind is spinning like crazy now with all the ideas floating around! I'm going to need another notebook at this rate. :)

At least the rain is moving out and the sun is trying to push its way through to show its bright, wonderful beams every where. Hopefully there will be some fabulous sunshine streaming through the windows upstairs for a few of us to enjoy while just doing stuff.

Here's to a calm, rest full, happy weekend!

A little of this & that...

Can you believe I put the needles down long enough over the weekend to do a wee bit of hooky business? I was a little thrown off by it also. I think it has been since last August when I actually worked on a crochet project. It just goes to show that there are way too many things on my "gotta do" list. It's not a want to list anymore. It just goes to show that there are way too many great, wonderful, FAB things out there just waiting to be made by little ole' me.

But after two days of great hooky fun, I was drawn back to the needles because of a pattern I saw in a knit stitch book. At least these are the good sort of needles to have an addiction with. Not that they don't keep me out of trouble mind you. All one would have to do is look around my craft room and see all the trouble hooks and needles create for me.

So while sitting in front of the computer last night, making sure all the little notes get from my head to "paper" so to say, I had a lovely little visitor who just wanted to be in the same room as mommy. As I kept working a few little things out here and there, she was reading up on all kinds of animals and space facts and shared them with me as she went along. Nothing like being educated while soft, white, yummy yarn runs through your fingers. Happy times.

So back to a fast paced day today. Lessons, PE, book club and getting home later than I would like. Good thing dinner was put in the crock pot at 8:00 this morning. And all the pies for Legislator's Day were made yesterday. We ended up making more than the two we signed up for. Just in case there are some who signed up and then don't bring anything, like last year. Anyhoo, nothing like being up bright and early at the statehouse dropping of pies in the middle of rush hour, eh. At least that will be my only planned outing for tomorrow and hopefully the rest of the week. Cross you fingers, please. This home body really needs (wants) to be home with all that makes me happy.