Count your blessings

This year I am thankful for SO many things and I am sure that I am missing lots of things, but here is a small list in no order:

• To have a husband who 9 times out of 10 ignores the house that I have not cleaned because I either did not have the energy or when I did have the energy I did something more fun with my time.
• I am thankful for 2 wonderful kids that help me clean the house after the 1 out of 10 times when Mark let it get to him (and who would not?).
• To have a wonderful daughter who will climb in bed with me at 10 am and tell me her best silent story, then let me sleep while she reads a book to her self.
• To have a son who still loves to cuddle up with me and let me read him books (who knows how much longer that will last).
• To my friend who showed me that knitting was FUN and is willing to answer all my knitting questions (no batter what time it is).  This same friend is always helping me remember how much I love sewing.
• For my friend who is willing to fly 1/2 way across the country to come to a quilting camp with me.
• For my friend who is always coming up with wonderful crafty things and blogs about them and lets me life vicariously through her.
• For friends who take my kids (even one with pink eye, yes Ada has it again) for the afternoon so we could wrap ALL the gifts for Christmas.
• For the medical world that has given us meds that keep my son and I living normal life (mostly;)
• For having a wonderful house that I love living in.
• For having a wonderful neigherhood that we love.
• For Christmas movies.
• For a Mom and Dad that love me and care TONS about me.
• For a sister that always sounds happy to hear from me (even on skype and still in her jammies;)
• For the worlds best mother-in-law.
• For all my friends and family far and near who help me when I am in need.

Well I am sure that I could go on and on, but I am feeling not so good today and I feel like I should rest so I have energy to have dinner and go to Church tonight (insert crossed fingers here).  Merry Christmas everyone, did you count your blessing today?, are any of you singing this, does that make any of you think of this?(OK I just added the last one because I just LOVE that part of White Christmas.)  Have a great day tomorrow and I hope that you all get what you wish for.

Vegas odds

So yesterday we where all at Church for the Children's Christmas Show.  Ada was a baby robin and Elijah was a cheerful robin.  On the way up to the stage one of the robins tripped on their robin robe and hit their head on the piano.  Now if Vegas had odds on something like this and you bet on the one that fell you would be RICH!!!! That is right Ada fell and is the first one  of our kids to need stitches.  Well not stitches as it was a clean cut and they could use glue...... (BTW this is how my kids "sew" is by using glue, maybe this means that one day they will be Doctors;). 

She was fine after about 10 mins (she cried a lot before that, but who can blame her).  In fact by the time I got her to the doc she was WELL over it.  We where drawing snowmen and snow women (with blood in their hair like Ada) when the Doctor and Nurse come in.  They thought there was nothing wrong with her until I picked up her hair and let them see the cut.  I think that they where impressed with how happy she was and how it did not seem to be bugging her.

Anyway we are enjoying our first day of winter break.  Not sure how much I will end up here in the next couple of weeks, but I will drop by as often as I can to fill you in on our life:)

1.7

They walked away from the house today with little of their skin showing, all bundled up from head to toe.  Mark is still walking Elijah to school even through it is less then 2 degrees out! (well it is up from Monday when it was only .5 when they left.) But Elijah does not seem to mind, today he said he wished they had more time so that they could take the long way in to school today (that is his dad's genes not mine!.... OK to be fair when I was a kid growing up in Maine I would often go out in the snow with no shoes on.... man how things have changed.

My latest drug (methotrexate) seems to be working for me (in most ways).  It seems to be making me sick, but also giving me more energy and I am LOVING that.   I am starting to see how I can live with this disease and have a normal life.  It is wonderful to feel normalish again, but the sick feeling is going to have to go!! I went to the doc yesterday and she is going to put me on a injectable version of the same drug that should make me feel better.... I can hardly wait.  Man what a long way I have come.  I used to be SOOOOO afraid of shots that I would freak out EVERY time that I had to have blood draws or shots.  Now I am happy to have one that I am going to be giving to myself every week!  I guess it just goes to show you that when push comes to shove you do what you have to do and GOD gives you the strength to do it.

Well Ada is coming down stair now and cuddling up next to me so I have to do now.  Have a nice day.

Proud Mama

Elijah has been working on his first knitting project and LOVING IT!!!! He wanted to make a scarf for his sister (I love that he is so caring towards her).  So he has been working on it for a while and last done he got it done. 

I helped him work on it so it would not take to long and he get frustrated.   He did a GREAT job, don't you think?  And Ada LOVES it.

Just because it is cute.

You can have a cake but you can not eat it too.

I have been meaning to tell this story for a while, but keep forgetting. 

On Halloween we where at a party that had a cake walk (you walk around a table until the music stops, someone picks a number and if you are on that number you get to pick a cake from the table).  For some reason Elijah decided that he wanted to win a cake, I let him play assuming that he would not win.....

Well of course he won, picked out a cake and brought it to me proudly.  I walked around to find out who made it and if it was safe for him to eat (knowing that it most likely was not).  Of course it was made with to many eggs for Elijah to eat and I did NOT want a cake that only Mark and I could eat in the house!!! After looking at the table and guessing that all the cakes would be the same, and with Elijah getting sadder and sadder, I came up with a plan.  " How about we find someone that would like to have this cake?"  Elijah got a BIG smile on his face and ran to one of the "big" boys that he LOVES and gave it to him.  The "big" boy (really a teenager) got a BIG smile. 

All where happy. 

Boy am I happy that went well..... wait is that Elijah at the cake walk again? Yep it is.... wait he won again.... he is finding someone else to give a cake to....... He looks so happy.  I love that boy.

Did you ever wonder what God was doing right now?

In bed this morning while we where cuddling, my favorite part of the day. 

A: God is on the chimney!

Z: What is God doing up there?

A: Fixing it.

Z: Oh that makes sense.  Should we go down stairs now and get b-fast?

A: No we have to stay here until God is done with the chimney... we are stuck here until God is done with us.

Z: Right we have to wait for God.

We are down stairs so I am guessing that God is done.

crafting weekend

Crafting Crafting Crafting.  I have been sewing my fingers off and LOVING it.  But it is all stuff for Christmas so I can show you any of it, but I will take photos and show you as soon as I can.

Have a nice day.

Today

Today I sit on my sofa wondering how I got so lucky.  I sit here because I had another hard night (not feeling well ...effects (or is it affects I can never remember witch is witch) of the meds that I am taking).  While I sit my wonderful son is off learning, my lovely daughter is playing outside in the cold raking leafs and making a sculpture and my loving dear husband is preparing our land for the snow. We have had some work done on our trees and there is a BIG pile of small stems that Mark is loading on/in his car and taking off to the city collection spot.  As I watch I am struck with how much I love my life.

Do not forget to stop and smell the roses (or snow as the case here will be) today.

A gift for me, Ada and Piggy

I got a new pair of shoes (thank you Mom and Dad, I will not wear them until Christmas..... the only good thing about them living so far way, they will not know that I will be wearing them today:) Ada got a new box and Piggy got........

 a new POOL.  See how she is hanging on the edge?  This is what they do with the kids in Ada's class and she loves to do it with all of her stuffed animals.

Who Knew?

OK anyone that read the weather report, but I did not.  Oh well I guess it IS December... what do I expect?  You also get to see our wonderful wood floor on our back porch.  Still not done yet, but moving right along.  The cats are REALLY ready for it to be done so they can go out on it (begging everyday:)

It is amazing what a good bribe can get you

Both Mark and I have been feeling not so great lately (OK Mark has been feeling really crummy and I have been out of energy) so lots of stuff has been piling up.  Today when I got home from picking Elijah up from school Mark said (in a harsh whisper as that is all he can talk right now) that if the kids cleaned up the living room and the basement they could watch a movie and we could order pizza (no cooking or cleaning up for us and treat for them... win win.... oh and we get to have a clean living room and basement!!!). 

Elijah had a little bit of a hard time and I told him that anyone that did not help got to have buttered bread while the rest of us got pizza. He said 'I don't care' and I said "then you can go up to your room and stay there until dinner time"...... much crying and screaming let me know that butter bread was NOT as good a pizza.  He went to his room to get control of himself and while he was up there he had to clean his room!

So for the price of a pizza and the free price of putting on the TV we got 3 rooms cleaned!!! Man my husband is SMART!!!!

Pink Tuesday

So at Ada's school they have a color of the week.  Every week Ada has been wanting it to be Pink.  We drive in to school wondering what the color will be and Ada's guess is always pink.  (also on the way we have a search for pink things (backpacks, coats, bikes, scooters.... )).  Well of course it was not part of what her dear teacher had in mind.  But because Ada was sad every week when it was not pink her teacher decided to have a pink week!  Today is the first day of PINK WEEK!!!! and guess who woke up with pink eye?????

That's right no school today for Ada.  Now she is "knitting" with me and I am waiting to hear back from the doctor and hoping that they will just call in a scrip to the pharmacy for me so I do not have to go back to the doctor AGAIN today.

Hope you have a happy pink Tuesday!

Autoimmune Friday

I have renamed Black Friday to Autoimmune  Friday.  It is a day in which ( I am assuming most people with autoimmune diseases are like me and worked to much preparing for Thanksgiving) we spend the day on the sofa.  And I mean the WHOLE day.  I had trouble getting up to go to the bathroom I was so worn out from the days before T-day.  OK hopefully some of the people out there where smarter the me and did not over do it.  I did not even think that I was over going it, but I really was.... it is Monday and I am still not feeling great.  But the up side is that I have been knitting a ton and getting lots of gifts done::::))))).

Oh and while I am renaming days I am renaming Cyber Monday to Pink eye Monday (Elijah got it..... kinda amazing that Ada did not as much as she likes pink right???;)

Sorry Dad not photos today, will try and do better tomorrow:)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.  Remember to count your blessings and hug your loved ones.

The Play

Ada and I went to a play yesterday.  It was Ada's first time seeing a live performance.  I built it up and was so excited that we where going to the theater! 

I picked out the cutest outfit she had, she vetoed it and then tried on 3 other ones until she found one she liked.

She and I went into Elijah's class to help out, it was a crazy day in the class (they have 10 boys and 4 girls.... oh and one of the girls is leaving today). Side note pray for their teacher she needs it EVERYDAY;)

We went out to eat and ran into a couple of other kids that go to school with her. 

Then into the show. I was excited, Ada was excited.  She was looking around, pointing to things, smiling telling me about the room and then........ the lights went out and she got scared.  She was scared the whole time. 

On the way home she told me she was not scared the WHOLE time, just when the lights where out.

Maybe next time she will have more fun.

sneak peak

 

The baby quilt I am working on.

What's for dinner?

Tonight we had a yummy chicken noodle soup.  We have been having a lot more roasted chicken these days, and as a result we are also having more soup from the left-over chicken.  I always thought it was more trouble then it was worth to make soup from chickens or turkeys because I always took all the meat off the bones first (do not ask me why), now I just put the whole thing in the pot when we are done with it (no matter how much meat is still on the bones).  It is so easy and yummy.  Tonight we had soup and fresh biscuits (another EASY thing to make for dinner).

So what did you have for dinner?

ps today was the first time since I was large with baby Elijah in my tummy that I sang in the choir at church.  It was nice to be back!

sick of orange

Had to change the orange color it was driving me crazy..... hope you like pink:)

So I was at the grocery store today and I got a little weepy in the nut section.  I do not really miss nuts all that much, but at the holiday times I feel the need to have nuts in my house to bake with.

Spent some time today working on quilt (for a soon to be born baby) and it is coming out CUTE.  I will show you as soon as I get it off the machine.  I am quilting it with lollipops and and I love the way it is coming out.  Can't wait to show you.

Well Mark is making risotto and making the house smell WONDERFUL in the process, the kids are both sitting on the sofa, within inches of me, reading aloud and asking me questions so I am going to end now as it is a little hard to stay focused. 

Have a great weekend!

I am still out here

My dad said today and I quote "will you at least stick some photos up???"  This is not the first time he has asked in the last month..... sorry dad.

So here is the abridged version of the last month or so:

 Ada getting VERY dirty and LOVING IT!

 Ada at the pool.

 Halloween candy (the kids helped me make the suckers into ghosts.

 Ada's quilt.... so far.

 Love this shot of my MIL and Ada going for a walk.  We had a wonderful visit with her.

 Does this just make you want to tickle him? 

 We are having someone redo our back porch and it is not going as we had hoped.  Can you see that board on the right and how it starts off on one side of the box and ends up on the other?  Well according to our contractor our back porch (the upper part) was being held together with luck (he said it was a little bit better the dog spit, but not much)  So had to have him fix that first, now he is working on getting the stairs in place so we can use the back door again!  Fun with old houses.

 This mirror has been bugging me for some time now.  I hated that the inside was "distressed" but the out side (where you would have distressed wood) was just fine.  So I decided to put buttons on it.  I love the way it came out.... I would show you the whole thing, but the glass was a mess and I did want to go clean it and then take another photo.

 Here are 2 hats I knitted.... just love that yarn.

 Here is a scarf that my MIL knitted while she was here.... She had not knitted in a long time and it was fun to get her back into it:)

 Here is the wonderful hat that she did.

One last story before she goes home.

Happy Dad?  :)

Elijah jokes

E: what kinda bug wears a red dress?
Z: A lady bug

E: What do you hear when cows sing?
Z: What?
E: Mooooousic

E: What do aliens put their tea cups on?
Z: What?
E: Flying saucers

Z: Elijah and Ada where walking down the street.  Elijah says to Ada " I know a guy with a wooden leg named Mr Smith" and Ada says "whats his other leg called?"

E: What kind of animal hits well?
Z: I do not know.
E: A bat.


This comedy break was brought to you by a 6 year old.  Ada does have an ear infection and the Ped said " it looks bad, if it starts to bleed do not worry that is OK." nothing like a doc telling you not to stress when your daughter's ear is bleeding to make your day:)  Oh and I got to the airport with about 20 mins to spare to get my MIL.

Have a nice day.

Please tell me why.......

When they do not HAVE to get up for school they are up at 5:30?  I have a little cough and I got both the flu shot and the pneumonia shot (man that last one made my arm swell up like a bee sting!!!! and it hurts!!!  and the flu shot gave me a little fever!!! nough whining sorry) this week so I was SOOOOOOOO looking forward to having a couple of days to sleep in while the kids did not have school.

Well Ada was up and down crying since (well I do not know when as Mark went in to get her) she just kept crying and would not/ could not tell us what was wrong.  Finally I convinced her that if she told me I might be able to help. Low and behold she tells me her ear hurts.  Some Tylenol later she is back to sleep and I am on my way.... but what is making that noise???? NO it can not be..... Yep it is .... Elijah is up...... Seriously????????? No more sleep for me I am up ready for the day and waiting for 8 so I can call the doc, Ada is still sleeping and Elijah is in the shower.  Oh and my MIL comes today, we are so happy that she can come for a long stay this time, but I am not sure if I will be able to get her at the airport..... Man I wish I could be at 2 places at once:)

Hope you are all sleeping.

Psst

Naps ROCK!

Just thought you should no that, and they are even better when a little girl takes one with you.

The street outside of "my" Starbucks has been under VERY heavy constrution ALL summer.... it is looking like it will be done soon..... I hope.  (BTW to get to "my" Starbucks I have to drive ~ 5-10 mins out of my way, because you can not cross traffic at that spot... but do not tell anyone that OK). So when I saw this sign at the drive through today I had to laugh

They say that WI has 2 seasons
Winter and Constrution
Bet you have never been so glad to see winter come!:)

Well it looks like the warm weather has finally left (bummer) and fall is in full swing here (it was in the low 40s when I got up today).  Now I am someone who LOVES summer (I am cold all the time, even in summer these days..... I am blaming the nasty thing that is invading my body these days  autoimmune for that) so the coming of winter is NEVER something that I want to hurry up, but this year I just want to get it on with (the quicker we get it here the faster it is over and spring will be here right;.....plus Mark finally let me turn the heat on so now I am kinda warm sometimes:).  So anyway I am getting used to idea that winter is right around the  corner and I am starting to live with it, I mean it is just life right???? But today I have to say that I was not happy with the fact that it was chilly out because when I went to take Ada to school today the gas light was on!!!! (Someone that I will not name, drove the car last night and did not see that the tank was almost empty (mind you I did use up all the rest of the gas) and brought the car back with the light on (OK it might not have been on last night).  So today I had to except that fall was on the way AND I had to pump gas (I do not like to pump gas when it is cold..... OK I do not like to pump gas EVER but I REALLY do not like to do it when it is cold.)


Note it is not at all "Someones" fault that car had no gas, I was just grumpy that is all.

She is getting to smart for me;)

Funny things Ada said in the past couple of days:

We went to the library and I let her pick out a movie. 

A:  Can we watch this when we get home?
Z: Maybe
A: (how can I get my way????)  Do you think this is a bad movie?
Z: I do not think so. (I am never sure after they where scared by Hello Kitty!)
A: How about we test it to see if it is a bad movie.
Z:  And how would we do that? (giggle)
A: We could watch the whole movie and find out!

Boy she thinks she is smart..... OK she is smart, but maybe not as smart as me..... yet;)

After I picked her up from school the other day:

A: I hurt "Lisa" on the playground today, it was an accident.
Z: Was Lisa OK?
A: Yes..... she was at the bottom of the slide and I came down knocked her down. My teacher took me aside and talked to me for a couple of mins.
Z: Did you get into trouble?
A: NO (with a cute look on her face) I DID NOT EVEN GET A CALL HOME!!!!!
Z: (giggle)
A: ( in a little voice) Lisa hurts me all the time.
Z: You know it is not OK to hurt someone just because they hurt you, right?
A: Why?.... it WAS an accident! ....... But she does hurt me all the time.

So you think she saw an opportunity and took it or do you think it really was just an accident?

One last note, we still do have 2 kids and I know that I have not been writing about Elijah much these days.  I will get back to it, but he has been so good and busy lately that I have not had much to write.

Puzzle Girl

Ada has REALLY gotten into puzzles lately so today I decided that we should do one of my favorite puzzles. My mom got this puzzle for Elijah when he was a little younger then Ada is now and we had many hours of fun with it.  Mark, Elijah and I would sit and do it together.  Thanks again Mom for a wonderful gift and hours of fun!

 Here are Piggy and Rabbit helping push the pieces in.

 Sweet girl and a puzzle.

Hope all your puzzle pieces fall into place today.

Where did this girl come from?

So our daughter has taken to sleeping on the floor.  She has been at it for over a month (maybe 2 not sure).  At first I thought it was because she fell out of bed a couple of times and was scared to sleep in the bed, but as time went on I found out that and I quote here "it goes down to much".  I think that she means that it is to soft.  Now I have to tell you that I can not imagine a bed that was to soft.  I mean really!!!! But that is what she says.

So we have been putting her blankets on the floor and making a comfy nest for her there.  I have to say that I was getting a little sick of it, always having blankets on the floor, always having to make her bed every night (do not get me wrong she was a big help and always wanted to help with it, but still!!!).  So today I decided it was time to fix the problem.  She has a bed that has a big drawer under it (this I am sure is made for another bed, but we have made it into a toy bin) and today we turned it into a bed. So now we can push it in every day and pull it out every night. 

She is VERY excited to sleep in it tonight (not so excited that she wanted to take a nap in it;).  Here it is:

 This is just some of the stuff that was in the drawer.... I am sure that most of it will make its way into her new bed soon:)

Can you guess what her favorite color is?????

Cider pressing

 This weekend we took the kids to a friends house and helped/watched as they where pressing apple cider.  It was fun and the kids loved it.

Not sure what this look is about.

They really got into this part where you get to put the apples in while the grinder is going.

Just a photo of the girl in the orchard.  We got to take home 2 gallons of cider... we have less then a quarter of one gallon left..... it was YUMMY!!!!!

In case you could not guess that is where the new header photo is from.

Coffe shop and knitting

I have no photos or stories, I just wanted to brag about the fact that I was in a coffe shop knitting:) What are you doing today?

Quilting Weekend (bet you thought I forgot about that;)

 Here is my bed quilt.  I need to add borders (big and a couple of them), but for right now it is at this point.  I love the way it has come out so far.

 I found this as a charm pack at a quilt store on the way to the weekend and I could not put it down!  I got 2 of them and I think that I am going to have to get more of one or two of the colors to make a border.  I LOVE these prints!

These two photos are of a quilt that I started 3 years ago, stopped, lost the pattern and then let sit in my craft stuff since.  I love the fabric and decided that I could make it work someway or another.  BTW Kari also bought this fabric and was going to make the same thing, but when I lost the pattern she was stuck without it (she made something else out of the fabric....) sorry again Kari).

 I decided that this might be a nice quilt for Ada so now I just have to make it bigger (about 20 in on each side hahahahah that should be easy with 3 year old fabric that I can not get any more, right?)  I also need to make it more pink.  I just added this fabric (5 in border) to it and it looks super cute and pinker already:)

Lastly My friend Maria was a a sale and got me this tree fabric (sight unseen) and I had to make a cute runner out of it.  I had the other colors with me (just got them because I needed them.... and I guess I was right:)

Over all it was a great weekend and I got a lot done.  I also started some cute pillows for Halloween that I now have 2 of the 3 done photos later... when I find the camera and the cord and the pillow all at the same time.... do not hold your breath;).

Ada at work.

Fun Night

2 Screaming kids
1 not so silent house
= 1 mom who is glad this week is almost over and 1 dad who is fleeing the house*

*OK Mark is not really fleeing the house he is just going to Volleyball, but it sounded better that way.

I do have lots to show you from my WONDERFUL quilting weekend, but I can not find the cord for the camera (well I have not really looked for it very hard, but it was not where I was when I was with the camera and the computer;)

Have a nice night.... both kids will be asleep soon so I will also.

Last couple of days

We have had a busy week.  I am trying to get packed for my quilting weekend (I leave TOMORROW!!!!) My friend Maria is flying in IN A COUPLE OF HOURS!!!!!! But I have not been able to really get ready for the weekend as things around here are a little crazy.  This year we decided that it was time for the kids to have swim classes (again for Elijah and first time for Ada) so our week nights looks something like this:
Mon Ada's swim class (I take Elijah and he and I have a little time or he plays on the ipod and I read a book:)
Tue I have Pilate's
Wen Elijah has swim class (if Mark makes it home in time I leave Ada with him if not I take her and she sits as close to me as she can and on my lap if she can.  Last night I also took our friend Nick as he is in the class also and his Dad, Brian came part way through.  Brian and I then talked about the cub scouts (I am the assistant leader) while Ada climbed on me and hang on me.
Thur Mark has volleyball and every other week Elijah and I will have cub scouts (hoping that moves to Mon after school, but for right now Thur night is it, also hoping that Ada will be able to stay with Mark so that I will not have to have her hanging on me;)
Friday right now we have Friday free so if you know something else that we can cram into our week please let us know we do not like to be idle ;)

Anyway back to this week.... the big stinky plant starting opening this week so we took the kids to see it (it was not stinky while we where there.... it waited until we left to get sticking.... thank GOD!)

 The kids outside waiting to go in.

 Stinky plant and stinky kids.

 Very pretty colors and since it did not stink you can get a good look inside it:)

And just because here is a photo of my yummy lunch from yesterday.  Tomatoes from the garden, carrots, chicken, pepper from the garden, feta, and sweet onion... it was YUMMY.

Gotta go Ada wants a book read and we have to get ready to go to her school.

Things I love about my kids right now

Here are a couple of things that I want to remember about my kids that make me smile.

Elijah:

• He is learning how to play chess (finally someone that I can beat in the house.... kinda wish I was kidding, but I am not)
• He is the biggest helper that I could have here are a couple of examples: (this summer he said to me " Mom Ada and I are hungry can I make us some lunch?"  " Mom I want to stay home with you instead of going to church so that I can take care of you... you can come down stairs and I will put a movie on for you."  :)  the list could go on, but I will stop their.
• He loves to sing (and conducting others as they sing (lots hand waving:)

There are lots of other things, but that is all I can think of right now.

Ada:

• She spends a lot of her time (when she is not sleeping or crying;) singing!  She makes up all kinds of songs  and I love it.  
• When she goes poopy she asks me to respect her (she means inspect:) (BTW I always respect her!)
• She told me that her big pink bear has ardurtritus and that she has to have LOTS of pills everyday and if she does not get enough before bed she (pink bear) has to wake Ada up to get more pills.  (This is how a 3 year old deals with a sick mom).  

I love both of these kids they make my days happy and my nights fun.

Big stinky plant

OK so the plant has another name and if you look really well in the photo maybe you can even read it, but for the rest of us Big Stinky Plant will have to do.  This is just a flower and when it opens it will stink like rotting flesh (or so I am told).  It is kinda cool how it is bigger the that silly girl staying next to it:)

I am heading down stairs to work on my quilt with my liquid heaven (in a Starbucks cup;). Have a nice day.

Cool macro shot?????

Or just a REALLY big mushroom???

Found this in our "woods" today..... I thought it was a lost soccer ball:) Not sure what it is.... I have not googled Really Big White Mushroom yet. Update:  I just looked them up and I am pretty sure they are  puff balls (that is what I thought when I first saw them, but I have never seen one so big).

I have not been blogging much as I have been feeling the little bit of the blues.  When I say a little bit I really mean just a little bit.... things are OK just not feeling up to my self lately.  I started a new couple of drugs and they are bumming me out, but other then that all is OK.  This is our first week back to your normal schedule, and it feels nice to be getting into the swing of things. 

Will write more when I have more to say.

Must of been a big day for playing

Elijah and I were playing war after school today (the card game... do not want you guys picturing us all dressed up in camo and shooting each other ;).  It just so happens that it was the worlds longest game of war (in the end I openly cheated so that he could win and we could stop the game:)  Ada was down stairs playing VERY quietly.... now we know why:)  That is a big rubber maid tub of dress up outfits.  (it took me a couple of seconds to find her and it freaked me out and then I saw the little head of hers sticking out.  (of course I had to get Elijah to come down and see her.... and take a photo:)

Now Elijah wants me to play chess with him...... I see another long game in my very near future:)

LOST FRIEND

Answers to the name of summer. Last seen yesterday at the pool.  Likes swimming, ice cream, parks, playing..... If found please bring back home

School starts tomorrow.

New knitting project (yes another one:)

This project is a special one for me.  Growing up I had a lot of cousins on my mom's side of the family and one of my favorites was my cousin Julie.   In fact I had my first shower at her house (we did not have running water so baths/or dips in the river were how we got clean) and I still remember it.  It was great all that warm water that did not have to be heated up on the wood stove, you could change the temp with a knob, and most of all it was just cool to feel grown up enough to stay at their house and take a shower.  (I know it sounds kinda dorky, but it is a great memory for me).

Anyway about 4 1/2 years ago my sweet, kind, loving cousin died from cancer.  She was taken from us WAY to soon and we all miss her very much.  In the last years of her life (and maybe longer) she was a avid knitter.  She did a lot of stuff for other people, but one of the projects that she left undone was a blanket for her sister Kim (my cousin that just visited here).  So at the family reunion all the knitters in the family got together and split up the yarn so that we all could get the project done.  So when Kim came here we looked through all the yarn and figured out how many blocks we all needed to make to get a nice sized blanket. 

I got 2 colors to work with,  pink (a nod to Ada) and cream.  And today I knitted the first one.  We have no pattern to go by and all we know is that she used a size 10 needle.  So I started playing with it today and I think I hit the nail on the head after a couple of tries. 

The one on the left is by Julie and the one on the right is mine.  I think they it will work.  In case any of the other knitters on this project are reading this I cast on 20 and that seems to be about what she did.  It took me about 1/2 hour to knit this one so it does not seem so much of a task as it did before today:)  I am really looking forward to the fact that all the blocks can be different so that I can try some fun patterns .... like cables .... stay tuned and I will post them when I can.

TTFN