I did a bad, bad thing.

This had to be unraveled last night. (Some of it had already been unraveled before I took the picture.) It's hard to grasp just how much work I did on this through the picture alone, but let's just say I put in a lot of time. (Notice that each end continues beyond the photo... not much, but still... It was almost as long as I am tall...) I suddenly discovered a fatal error I had been making at the end of every third row. I don't know why I made it once, let alone at the end of every third row, but I did, and then it hit me. So last night I spent my evening unraveling the project so that I could start again.

After the unraveling and a row or so of re-working, the baby shawl now looks like this:

Hey, at least I realized the mistake on skein two, and not skein five, right???

A Few Things

I am home with Tommy today. He usually wakes up and runs around the house, playing and getting us up. Today I came out from the bathroom and he had moved to our bed. He was just laying there. I said, "Good Morning," and he just looked at me. Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep. I came out to fix his lunch and breakfast, and instead of running in to help like he usually does, he didn't come in for a while, and when he did he just lay on the couch. I got him up long enough for breakfast, and then he just went straight back to the couch. Not my normal little Tommy. :( Hopefully a day of rest will be good for him.

I'm looking forward to a visit from my mom for Easter this year, and that has made me more excited about Easter than usual. (I still consider it the most important holiday of the year, but we tend to keep things low key on Easter.) I found this book today, and it made me want to start decorating and preparing for Easter. Doesn't that look like a terrific project? Looking at the pictures makes me miss all the art I used to do.

I've been feeling a pull, of late, to go back to art. Does anyone know of any artsy jobs for which I could apply, given that I need to earn the same income I do now, and that I do have plenty of art experience but have been somewhat removed from it for a few years? I know, I'm just dreaming. I guess sometimes I wonder why I abandoned my dreams for a while. Of course, I have no regrets. I do think, though, that I need to get more proactive about looking for and working toward a more creative line of work. I would enjoy it so much.

For now I'll just focus on all my little projects. I think I'll make egg decorating my next big project. (It's a big project only because I want to make exquisite designs, which is probably my specialty when it comes to art.)

Since finding the Plymouth Royal Bamboo yarn I have had my eye on this. I'm not sure why I like it so much. In fact, it might not look very nice on. Somewhere, though, I saw a picture of the back, and it was beautiful. I don't have enough knitting experience to make it now, but I'm not afraid to tackle a big or difficult project, and I would like to try it before too long.

I'm still working on the baby shawl. I have now used one skein of yarn. (It takes five.) I had hoped to work faster, but for some reason I have fallen asleep at Tommy's bedtime every night this week. Hopefully that won't happen tonight, and I can make some progress. I'm not sure how I like the edges... the way that it tapers is a little strange, but the pattern is very pretty. I'll post pictures soon, or at least when I'm all done.

Time for lunch, and to sit with Tommy. (He's watching a movie.) If you're bored, click here to see some Easter gift ideas and get in the mood for spring. (I swear I don't get paid by Amazon. I just happen to shop there often!)

Have a great day!

Mmm

Tomato Bruschetta

I haven't made it before, but I like eating it, so this is both my way of saving the recipe for myself and putting it out there for the rest of you. If you make it, please tell me how it turns out. :)

Yarn

This is what I do. No, I don't mean stuff with yarn, although I have been doing a lot of that lately. What I mean is that I start one project, only to get distracted by another and have a hard time not starting that second project before I have finished the first. (If you're not familiar with needle arts, realize that the needle in use is a crochet hook and that the book next to it is a knitting book. -While there are times when a crochet hook can come in handy for knitting projects, this is not one of those times.)

The crocheted stringy-looking thing is the beginning of a baby afghan, believe it or not. The idea taken from the knitting book is a bag to hold all my yarn. I would need to alter the pattern to fit my taste, but I am in need of a yarn bag. I would probably start with something small that would hold one project at a time. Of course I may need to make a large bag as well -or at least buy a larger basket. A picture to explain:

It does all fit... and after my next three projects the basket will be almost empty. On the bright side I can use it as a way to control my urge to buy more yarn. -All my yarn must fit in the basket, or I have bought too much, right? Help me out here. I'm still agonizing about the Plymouth Royal Bamboo yarn, in soft pale green, that I saw with Stephanie and Denise at Saratoga Needle Arts yesterday afternoon. (So soft!) I have since located some online, but none of the sites I found sold it at the same price. I am planning to go back after I go through most of my current yarn stash. Hopefully the price will be the same, and they'll have colors I like. (There are some other nice colors online. The lavender and soft pale green are my favorites.)

I'm off to work on the afghan now... it may take me all spring to make this one, at the current rate! Then it's off to a housewarming party for a coworker/friend. I will also be creating a new photo album with some recent pics very soon...

Enjoy your Saturday!

Please Sponsor Me

in this year's March of Dimes WalkAmerica, if you are able. This will be my second year participating in the event. You can read about in on my sponsor page, where you can also make donations or sign up to walk with me. Click here to help me save babies.

While I am on the topic of babies, I want to mention Care Wear. I found information about the organization online a few months ago and keep meaning to share. The site is a terrific source for locating area hospitals that are accepting handmade baby item donations. You can also find many patterns and links to other useful sites. Click here to read more about Care Wear.

Thanks for reading!

A Strange Place

stuffonmycat.com Yes, that's right. -Please don't ask me how I found it, mostly because I'm not exactly sure how I did. It's... interesting. Make of it what you will.

With that, and a change to the music (the Irish jig seemed only to work with my St. Patrick's Day post), I'm off to finish knitting a pair of mittens I started last night. Goodnight!

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning again, and time for a fresh cup of coffee. It's one of my favorite times of the week.

I don't have too much to say today, except that I did some Internet surfing a couple of nights ago and found some really neat quilt kits, most of which were from Dakota Cabin Quilts. I posted some of my favorites on Froogle. -I never posted that I did figure out how to use the new sewing machine. I haven't, however, actually made anything (unless you count my 16 square practice patch), and I think it would be nice to start with a quilt kit.

I should probably mention that I have to leave the St. Patrick's Day music up for another day or so because blogger was not cooperating on Friday, when I really wanted to play it. That's what I get for trying to be festive.

By the way, we did make it out for corned beef and cabbage on Friday, and it was excellent. The music (if you could call it that) was dreadful, but the food was quickly served and tasted great. Mmm.

All Things Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day I thought it appropriate to write in green. I also thought I would share a link explaining the history of the day, for those of you who may not already know. The History Channel put together a nice video explaining the origin of the holiday here. Take the quiz too, if you like. Try and beat my score... which shouldn't be terribly hard because I only answered 4 out of 10 correctly...

Tonight we're planning to search out a restaurant that serves corned beef and cabbage. Are you planning anything Irish for today?

Erin Go Bragh!

One More Thing

Somehow, and don't ask me how, I came across this tonight. My response is a sincere hope that no one would ever buy this for their dog. Cuddy's comment? "That poor dog!"

Post-Party Update

Ok, so I have to update the family page, I know, and I'm getting there. I don't think it will be tonight, however.

I wanted to give a quick update on the party and say thank you to everyone who came. -Thanks Everyone! We enjoyed your company!

I had fun preparing for the party. Well, cleaning is never fun, but really I didn't have much of that to do since, while I'll admit I'm nowhere near a perfect housekeeper, I like to think I do tend to keep things in pretty good order most of the time. Of course those of you who know me well have heard me complain about the annoying white dust created by our old humidifier. Yes, that's right, I said old. We finally replaced it with a working filtered humidifier. Yay! You have no idea how exciting that truly is. -Another sad reality of my current stage in life. Working filtered humidifiers excite me. That's disturbing.

I had fun getting everything together, anyway, and the snack train was well-received. (I'll post a picture below.) I also reveled in the time spent with Brooke, Brady, and Dallas (niece and nephews). Something so simple was so fulfilling to me that I keep going back to those moments. I love kids. I like people, in general, I suppose (...even though sometimes at work I want to reach through the phone and smack people upside the head... no, not really, because that's not me, but there are some frustrating moments at work... and just for the record, my typical response is to speak in a very polite and sweet tone and offer my help, because that's what I do, and it's the right thing... anywho... ).

Ultimately, it's pretty exciting that Tommy is now 4 years old. It feels like we've reached a new level. After all, Tommy will start school in a year and a half. He has changed so much. Somehow it makes me want another even more than I already did. Of course, I have no idea how we would afford it, and I spend too much time stressing about my wish to stay home and take care of Tommy as it is. -I like my job well enough, but I feel a strong pull, an honest duty, and a desire to take care of my own child(ren) all day each day. It honestly feels wrong to not be home with him.

On a brighter subject, we have made arrangements to stay here for our summer vacation. I'm very excited. Family time is great, and the more we can afford, the better! We are planning several different White Mountain adventures while we are there, including a night out for Brian and I, which is a very rare occasion, and while it's months away, I'm looking forward to it.

I have lots more to share, but I want to go watch my show. I will mention first that I have a new cell phone, which I like very much (photo here), and that this is a really nice place for gifts. -I tend to think the prices are mostly impossible, but they really do make great gifts. -On the page I linked I especially like the shamrock toggle bracelet, good luck growing kit, and four-leaf clover key chain. Of course, there are a ton of other things I also like, but that is far enough for one day.

I'm off, but here's the pic, as promised, and I'm sure I'll post again soon. Have a great night!

Pre-Birthday Party Update

So, I have lots of things I should be doing right now, and none of them involve this, but here I am, and I'll tell you why.

I just made this silly little train thing for Tommy's party. It's smothered with frosting, and it's not terribly creative, but the idea was, and is, for it to hold snacks. Of course I wanted to build more freight cars to hold more snacks, but in my usual manner I didn't think twice yesterday about throwing away our only big boxes, and therefore I was left tonight with only the length of a large cutting board with which to work.

Now, the reason I'm posting this before the party, and before it is completed, is that I think there's a pretty good chance that it will all fall apart before the party starts, and I thought it might be in my best interest to post a photo tonight that will prove it did, at one point, stay together. Hey, even if I don't make fancy gourmet, impressive quality decorations and food, I can at least say my could-have-been-made-by-a-3-year-old train has now been holding together for almost an hour. Woohoo!

(Yes, it's late, and I'm tired.)

The idea is to fill one freight car with yogurt-covered raisins and the other with peanuts. We might substitute either of those for pretzels or chex mix... we'll see. Here is the pic, anyway. (And yes, you are looking at the inside of my refridgerator.)

If it stays together overnight I'll post another pic of the completed project, along with a picture of the cake, which I am also hoping will come out of the pan without breaking.

Wish me luck!

Wow

I don't have much time this morning, but I have to post this link before I forget. I found it last night when I was trying to work out some of the details of our summer vacation. (No, we're not going to Germany. :-P) Here is the main link to the site:
Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg/Germany

Just in case you don't figure it out (as Internet saavy as I am certain you are), you must find your way here:
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/php/galerie/index.php?folder=/04_Hamburg/

and here:
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/php/galerie/index.php?folder=/03_Alpen/

and here:
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/php/galerie/index.php?folder=/02_Knuffingen/

...and lots of other places.

The site I found linking to this "wunderland" described it as the largest display of miniature trains anywhere in the world. I believe it!

Wow!

Sick

I'm at home today, sick. I just woke up from a very cold and uncomfortable nap on the couch. The only reason I got up was because I needed warmth and couldn't reach the thermostat. I'm now wearing 3 shirts, one of which is one of Brian's warm sweatshirts, jeans, thick socks, and blanket on my lap that I've folded over 4 times for layering! I don't usually turn the heat up past 68 degrees. In fact we leave it at 64 or 65 when we're gone and at night - and only turn it up to 68 if one of us is noticeably cold. Today, however, I took the liberty of turning it up to 70. I'm still cold. BRRrrrrr.

I brought Thomas to daycare today, which I don't usually do if I am going to be home, but I knew I wouldn't be much fun, and he can play all day at daycare. (He has a bit a cold, himself, but he's acting completely normal.) I felt a little bad taking him in, but after that nap, and since I'm still not feeling up to par, I think it was best.

I just hope I can recoup a little before a possible dinner out tonight. Brian's father is flying in, and we all planned to meet up. I have a LOT to do this weekend, too, and most of it involves shopping for Tommy's birthday and party -and an overdue grocery shopping trip. (I might pawn that one off on Brian. Believe it or not, he often does that on his own. -I'm so spoiled, I know!)

So on that note I also have lots of work to do around the house - that I haven't done since I've been fighting this bug all week and have gone to bed at Tommy's bed time 3 nights this week. I had better find some pick-me-up and try to muster up some energy... Maybe I'll make some tea... or cocoa...

And I probably won't post again for at least a couple of days.

Then again, who knows.