Snow Babies

Or not such babies! Mom can't go out and play, so what are two antsy girls to do? Get all bundled and go play out on the deck by themselves while mom watches from the window. :) Everyone is happy this time!

This was just before all the drizzle started this afternoon. Ick. I am not a fan of drizzle ever, but when it's supposed to be snowing? Definitely not my favorite! We'd had a foot and a half of snow out there on that deck 2 days ago. Since then it's been all melty and drippy.

Why couldn't mom go out and play this time? Just a little surgery. Doing well, healing nicely. Sore a bit, but taking it easy. Derek has been wearing all the hats, poor guy. He's so good. :) Look what I had waiting for me when I got home:

Goosie also made me a present. She had broken a comb the morning I went into the hospital, and she taped it and then wrapped it up in toilet paper and taped that all up. I think she gets her taping skills from Grandma Sue! ;) It was very sweet. Then Peanut ran up stairs and wrapped a brush in the same way for me. Very thoughtful little girls!

Anyway, it's entirely possible you will see more posts from me as I'm on the mend~what else can a girl do if I'm banned from housework/cooking/laundry/vacuuming/dusting for a while? I also promise not to refer to myself in the third person anymore. That's sort of annoying. :D

Out on "Black Friday"!?

Not my usual M.O. However, today at The Spinning Loft, Abby Franquemont was there for "Skeinsgiving" signing her book "Respect the Spindle". How could I stay home? I scraped the ice off the car and gassed up and off I went. Yes, I did! Look, proof!

I was afraid her hand would have fallen off by the time today got here. She had quite the pressure to sign and deliver *lots* of pre-ordered books that had gotten to her earlier in the week. But, her hand was in good working order. She was a pleasure to meet and I can't wait to delve into her book. I so admire someone with great knowledge and not only the desire to teach others, but to do it well.

Being in the Spinning Loft, of course, I couldn't walk away with "just" the book however. I got a cool "Respect the Spindle" pen. And the "Drafting: The long and the short of it" DVD. And 2 of the elusive Abby batts (pink and brown), 1 of the spectacular Maggie batts (Beth's daughter makes these, available at the Spinning Loft) (purple), a bump of romney (peach) and a bump of the Spunky Eclectic shetland in the "Three Sheeps" colorway, dyed by Amy King who also wrote the fantastic book "Spin Control".

Beautiful things. :) As an added bonus, as I was there, Denny (this Denny;) called Beth's phone. Her phone baaaas when it rings-so funny. Anyway, Denny said she was with Rachel and they were saying that they didn't care that they weren't there, they were going out for lunch. We could hear the yelling over the phone in the shop. Just a few minutes later, Denny and Rachel showed up! It was great fun, and, again, while I don't "know" Denny and Rachel, I have read articles that Denny has written, or ones written about her. I've had an exchange or two on Ravelry with her. I enjoy the stories and acknowledge that these folks are really contributing to the knowledge, the inspiration, and the love of the fiber arts for me. They may not know me to chat daily-or at all-but I thank them all for doing what they do, and doing it so well. And with so much fun. :) Thank you ladies!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009
Originally uploaded by bethanygknits

Spooky skeleton and a black cat!

Hope your Halloween was fantastic!

Preserving Herbs

Now that our growing season is over, we'll not have garden-fresh herbs for a while. So I decided to dry some to keep over for the winter. I'm pleased with the results-they look so much greener than my store-bought dried herbs. They are larger pieces, which make the food prettier, and I know it's not ground up stem in there, but the actual leaves.

Here's what I did:

Hang the herbs in small bundles for a week or two so that they become dry and brittle. (Keep out of dust, 'cause yuck. If that may be a problem, put paper bags around the hanging herbs and tie those off too.)



Then remove the leaves from the stems, and gently shred or crush the leaves to your desired size. I liked them bigger.



Put your leaves into air tight containers. I used old herb jars, and a cone of wax paper to help fill the jars.



Finally, label your jars. You can include the date as well if you don't intend to use them in 6-12 months. That's 6-12 months, folks. Not 3 years, not 5. Herbs lose their flavor, their potency, their...yumminess.



It's been said that you can freeze some herbs as well, but I've also heard reports that doing this will make the herbs bitter. I've tried freezing sage in the past and wasn't happy with the results-bitter and yucky colored brownish sage. I like this method and I hope you try it. Flavoring your food makes a huge difference. You need very little if you use good quality. Keep in mind, too, that if you didn't grow herbs, but have some from the grocer, you can dry those too before they reach the slimy-green-sludgy stage in the crisper drawer ;)

We Shared an Orange

New Diap--er, Knitting Bag!

It's here! I love it too. It's a diaper bag that I'm converting to be used as a knitting bag. It's from Little Monster Designs and it's fantastic! Tons of pockets, tons of room, sturdy, comes with cool inside things, and Erika at Little Monster Designs embroidered my initials on the front! Check it out: (pic heavy)

Messenger style

Front pocket

Zipper protects all the insides

Interior-3 sections and zippered pocket

Close up of back pocket with 2 extra

sections

Center section, unzipped

Needle case and roll (to be)

2 side pockets

Back outside pocket

Feet!

Flap velcros down to keep it all tidy

Seriously, this bag rocks. I am so glad to have it! And another plus~Little Monster Designs is a Michigan-based business of a stay-at-home mom, taking care of her little one and working hard at this business so that she can continue to do so. I am not affiliated with her at all, I was just really impressed by her products. Please check out Little Monster Designs to see what she has to offer. There is lots more than diap-er, knitting bags. Bibs, mugs, onesies, t-shirts, Bible covers, lunch bags, blankets etc., all personalized.

Selfish handspun

Selfish handspun
Originally uploaded by bethanygknits

mmm! Fall-fibery goodness. Colorway is "Selfish" from Spunky Eclectic club. Amy works some magic with this one.

Projects

Today we did some painting projects. It was part of the weekly read-a-long projects with the Little House on the Prairie Group on Ravelry. I've mentioned it before, but each week we read a chapter and do some projects. This project was to reflect on the sky at sunset~those beautiful colors. We decided to throw in some fall items, since it's definitely upon us here in West Michigan. (I scraped my windows yesterday morning!)

Here are the girls in action:

And our finished projects, which we hung on the windows. They are like stained glass, and are beautiful.

Goosie's:

Peanut's:

Mine:

Now, I'm off to see if Goosie has a fever. She doesn't look it in that action shot up there, but she complained of a sore throat, has sneezed a few times and felt hot to me. Right now she is like a limp noodle on the couch. Let's hope she's just tired.

Weinermobile!

Weinermobile!
Originally uploaded by bethanygknits

We ran to the newly re-opened Family Fare and saw this in the parking lot! I could barely contain myself. I never knew I would be so surprised about seeing something like this.

We got to see inside (mustard on the floor and a blue sky ceiling with white fluffy clouds) and the girls got whistles and stickers while I got coupons.

As an aside regarding Family Fare, Derek's grandmother was the one who named Family Fare grocery stores in 1957 when they were changing the name. Cool huh?

Celebrating Peanut

Today we had a little party for my Peanut. She turns 3 on the 24th. It's so incredibly amazing to think that 3 years have gone by so quickly. It's something you always hear, something that's so cliche' sounding, but really, the time does just fly by. She's the sweetest little independent thing~

Here is her cake:

Here is her happy reaction to seeing it:

And here are some adorable photos of her opening gifts and playing with her sister.

It is tradition for the birthday girl to go with daddy to the store to choose a ballon, tablecloth, plates, napkins for decoration for her party. Peanut had chosen the blue Barbie princess theme cake. She them switched gears at the store and went with My Little Pony themed goodies to decorate for her party. Then, she gets home and says, "Mom, why did you make a blue Barbie cake? I wanted a Pet Shop cake." Ahem You're lucky you were so cute when we presented the cake to you honey. (Says the mom up until 12:30 letting cakes completely cool before she went to bed after 2 long days of selling at a garage sale!) ;)

"Lemonade!! Arrrg!"

"Lemonade!!" :)
Originally uploaded by bethanygknits

Today we had the neighborhood garage sales. A neighbor came to sell some of her things too, and Goosie wanted to do a Lemonade Stand. So, she colored a sign, I broke out the Crystal Light, and those girls really sold the lemonade! I think I did 6 pitchers. Had to borrow cups from the neighbors because we ran out. They made $11-12 dollars I think. They were very proud. :)

Today is also World Wide Spin in Public Day, and International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so we did those things too. See my wheel back there? I had so many inquiries and really interested people! It was much fun. I even commissioned a yarn order! Woohoo!!

Taught my neighbor to knit too-how awesome is that? Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Goosie Goes to Preschool!

Today was the big day~I woke up early and got ready. I stopped Peanut from waking Goosie up and we went down to make pancakes. I fed Peanut...still, Goosie slept. A full 50 minutes later than she usually would! Then she came down and said, "That pancake smell woke me up!"

We had Mickey Mouse pancakes and bananas. Then we washed up, brushed teeth ("Can you do it for me this morning mom?"), got dressed, did hair. She was so excited. "I go to school today!" Derek got Peanut dressed, I washed her up and did her teeth and hair too. While I was doing that, Derek took the "first day of school pictures". Little sister did jump in for some, and they are all too cute to me.

We got to school 5 minutes before they open the door to let us in. Waved at new friends. Then Goosie found her locker and put her backpack in it. She instantly found her nametag and put her folder where she was supposed to. Goosie had made her teacher, Mrs. J., a picture of the two of them and had written her teacher's name on it, so Goosie gave that to her. Mrs. J. pulled Goosie aside and asked her to write her name on it, which she promptly did. She felt way special.

Then she chose a table and sat down to color, and off we went. It was a little sad (we cried last night as we checked on her when we went to bed), and Derek kept noticing and saying things to make me tear up more! But we took Peanut for a doughnut, got a balloon for when it was time to pick her up from school, did some "school work" with Peanut at home and colored and made her a folder too.

Time came to pick up our big girl and she and her friends were outside waiting with backpacks on. She was smiling so big, waved goodbye to her teachers "See you Wednesday!" Her teacher said it was interesting to see the skill level of the kids..."Goosie is waayyy up here" she said. We got in the car and Goosie told us how it all went:

"We colored and then got on the carpet and sang three songs and read "The Kissing Hand" and then we made our hands and put a sticker there! They were too wet to bring home, so my teacher said the next time we could-we used paint-and then we played outside some and had snack with teeny little cups of apple juice. I drank mine right away! And Goldfish crackers. They were tasty. And we sang the "Twinkle Star" song and did some things with our hands-like that...And I didn't get any paint on me!"

:D She had a good day. We had lunch and came home to rest-mom too! She ended up in bed with me because "I'm not tired and I promise I won't be crabby!" But she fell asleep watching me sleep. Peanut woke and then I did too, and I lay there a bit watching my Goosie next to me. I swear she grew as she was sleeping too.

The Beautiful Things in Life

Still Growing 8/31/09

Still Growing 8/31/09
Originally uploaded by bethanygknits

Do I mean the kids or the sunflower? Yes. :)

The Big "I know I haven't posted in a while" Post--picture heavy

Well helloooo~ It's me again. I have good intentions and then the day is done and no blogging. But I'll at least catch you up. Starting August 6th, I finally pulled together some ideas of what to do for Derek for his birthday. We were trying to avoid spending money, and that coupled with the fact that Derek typically gets himself whatever he wants, it is difficult to buy gifts. (that sounds kind of bad-he doesn't spend if we're watching it well, he just sees stuff and gets it when we are able to buy ;) I want to thank the ladies at the Reclaiming the Home group on Ravelry, who helped point me in the right direction, and then Derek's friend Ryan personalized the ideas which are all related to World of Warcraft goodies. So, here:

The girls painted a Happy Birthday Daddy! banner:

I copied some WoW art and framed them:

More copies for decoupage on a box:

side

back

front

inside with some goodies

mana, health, gold and damage

healing potion, hearthstone and character stones

all in the box in pouches I made

Rune of Teleportation and Rune of Portals, in case he needs to bust out of work really fast

knitted, felted and needle felted zipper pouch with the Alliance symbol on it (not yet finished, needle broke!) (and, Alliance Lion or Cowardly Lion? You choose. He was happy though :)

And, um....green proto drake cake. Yes is it. Squint. See?

The girls also painted rocks for him and little figurines (a pig and a treasure chest) and got him WoW game cards. :) It was a very geeky birthday and he had tons of fun.

We've also been watching nature. We had gone to City Knitting and the girls saw this and wanted me to take a picture:

And, lastly, while we did not plant sunflowers this year, we still got one. We're keeping track of how it's growing and we're excited for it to bloom.

8/13/09

8/21/09

8/26/09

So that's where we're at. :) I have to go get the cream puffs out of the oven...mmmm!