Pumpkin Carving

We finally carved our pumpkin last night. Houston said he wanted a happy face instead of a scary face. We found a picture in one of his halloween coloring books to copy onto our pumpkin. I think it turned out really cute.

Brett's 30th

I've been such a bad blogger lately. Brett's 30th birthday came and went without a post ... how sad. Oh well ... he doesn't read this anyway. Last Wednesday was Brett's 30th birthday. We had a surprise gathering for him at the office that evening. Nothing too crazy ... just a small enjoyable group of people along with some snacks and refreshments. I finished his birthday socks the night before .... just in time. I knew when I started those things on September 1st that I would probably be racing to finish them the night before his birthday. I actually did a little better than I thought I would. I only had to finish the toe section of one sock that night. I was so scared that I went wrong somewhere with my measurements and that they wouldn't fit just right but they actually fit perfectly. And even better ... he wore them last Friday and they didn't sag at all. I thought the cuff might sag a bit after a while but they didn't. Yay for sock knitting! :)

Art Class

This was probably my favorite class so far. The kids seemed to like the project and no messy paint to clean up. This was also a good project for them to have a completed craft to take home with them.


Brody sporting the necklace he made while trying to figure out how to get the straw in his capri sun.


And here is Cassady modeling the necklace her sister made.

Current Shuttle Mission Pics

Sent to me by a friend in Houston. Thanks Mo!

Bumbo Seats Recalled

I always wondered about the safety of these chairs and now they are apparently being recalled. Read about it here.

A Pledge To Buy Handmade

Sweet ... take the pledge: www.buyhandmade.org

Look what we did today ...

Made fun stuff for art class tomorrow! :) There will be a "how to color noodles" post in the near future, if you're wondering.

Sock Knitting Bags

It's a Sock!!!

Halloween Costumes!

I finally figured out the boys Halloween costumes. Houston is going to be Harry Potter and Brody is going to be his trusty owl Hedwig. I've got some sewing and feather gluing to do. This is going to be fun! I'm wearing my trusty witch costume that i'll be adding to every year and i'm trying to talk Brett into dressing up as Dumbledore. ;)

Scary Spider!!!

The kids grandpa sent this to them for halloween. Brett wishes I hadn't put it up in direct line of sight from his recliner but I told him he'll have to get over it! I think it's awesome. And it's HUGE!

The Cutest Little Bootie

Brett's Birthday Socks

Almost there ... only have the toe left to knit on each sock. Yay!



And here's a close-up so you can see the loveliness of the hand dyed yarn. ;)



And here's my latest creation at work ... my sock knitting bag. I absolutely love it!

Alligator Fest

I took the boys to the Alligator Fest last friday. It was so funny ... Brody wanted nothing to do with those alligators but Houston absolutely loved it. He even got to pet a baby alligator.

Happy Mama

I dropped the boys off this morning and Brody turned around and waved and said "bye bye" and I walked out the door ... no crying! I was so happy. Now Houston is a different story. They still have to physically pry him off of me. I hope he gets over that eventually because it really makes me sad. He loves school though. He comes home talking about everything he learned and how he played with his friends "Bubba" and "DJ". He just hates that point of separation.

Cool Site for Swaps

SwapDex

Hand Dyed Yarn Swap - Round 2

I just opened the second round of The Hand Dyed Yarn Swap. Check the blog if you're interested: www.thehanddyedyarnswap.blogspot.com

This is absolutely wonderful!

Check out this post on my friend Lorien's blog. If you are a woman, you owe it to yourself to watch the entire video.

Sister Hazel

Sister Hazel tickets just went on sale for the November 27th show in Gainesville. I bought us tickets as Brett's birthday present (to go along with the socks ... both of which he knows about which isn't very sneaky but still fun). We're in the 4th row!!! Yay!!!!!!

Work-in-Progress Bags

So i've been working on an idea for a work-in-progress bag. Something to take along a pair of socks or a hat or scarf or something small like that you may want to carry around with you. I've worked on it on paper for many months but could never decide which direction to take it. Well something pretty cool happened. I was going through this box my mom gave me with a bunch of stuff from my childhood in it when I came across this little blue polka dot drawstring bag my grandma made for me with fabric leftover from an Easter outfit she made me. I think I was about ten so this bag is approximately 21 years old. I'm not sure what made me do it but I pulled it out and stuck the socks i'm knitting for Brett's birthday in it. Perfect size and shape and so different from the idea I was working on. So after carrying the socks around this way for a couple of weeks it really hit me ... it was perfect! So simple, yet so perfect. If it's only for one project it doesn't have to have a complicated set of pockets or closures or anything crazy. Just a simple drawstring bag with no zipper or velcro or anything to get stuck in your yarn. Well creativity hit again yesterday and I saw the perfect way to sew this bag up. I changed a few things, but the idea is the same. I doubled the fabric so you see the pattern both inside and out and so it's a little thicker to hold up against the tips of knitting needles that may be inside. I also sewed it in such a way that there is no selvage edge. Anytime you see a seem it's actually a folded edge so no way anything can fray. I'll take and post more details pictures later so you can see what I mean.

The old bag is on the right and the new one on the left. I've had this fabric for years. I bought it because I just absolutely loved it. Honestly, if I were ever to have designed the perfect fabric ... this would be it. I knew I would eventually find just the right thing to sew with it. I actually made three of these bags yesterday. This one, one with a blue fabric with very small flowers on it and one with big sunflowers. I'm going to list the other two in my etsy store and see how they do. I'll post pictures of those later as well. One of the best things about this bag is that it's completely made out of the same fabric and some thread. No notions to buy and/or run out of in the middle of a project. Even the straps and casing are made of the same fabric. I have some ideas for jazzing them up a little too. I'll see how they work out before I post about them.

Well we're off to Gainesville for speech therapy this morning. And of course, a stop at the fabric store to see if any fabrics catch my eye. :)

Thanks Grandma, 21 years later, for the great idea!

And any of you waiting for the next kids art class, it's coming, I promise. I'm waiting to get through a series of doctors appointments first. I know if I go ahead and schedule it i'll end up having an appointment that day ... Murphy's Law, ya know ... so as soon as I know, i'll let you know. It may end up being the beginning of November instead of the end of October.

A New Canyon, Now Open ...

Very interesting news bit. New Canyon

Challenge Update

So the fast food thing? No big deal. The soda is a different story. I haven't really wanted one until yesterday when I got sick ... again. My throat hurts so bad it kept me up most of the night. Worst night of sleep i've had in a while and I still can't figure out why I didn't get out of bed and get some tylenol one of the ten times that I woke up with my throat on fire. Didn't wise up to that idea until about 6am. And the worst part about the soda is that i'm at work right now and there is a refridgerator less than ten feet from my desk with several 12-packs of soda in it. Coke too which is what I would absolutely love right now. I've been fighting off the urge by drinking hot tea, apple cider and soup all day. Let's hope I can make it to 5 o'clock!

Oh yeah, and as far as the fast food thing goes ... use your best judgement. I'm not sure about the drive-up window making it fast food. In most cases, yes, but not all. What about a drive-up coffee shop? I wouldn't call that fast food. And our favorite restaurant in town now has a window you can drive up to if you want to pick up a to go order. Plus, we said a salad with nothing fried was okay and you can certainly get those from a drive-up window.

Sweater Yarn ....

I think I found the perfect yarn for my first ever cardigan ... an organic wool-cotton blend. O-Wool in Graphite. And I might knit this or this with it.

More Unedited Photos

Astronaut Photo

Challenge Anyone??? More Details ...

No soda or fast food until November 1st.

Okay so here's the nitty gritty ... I worked really hard and lost eight pounds, then started working three days a week sitting in front of a computer all day and gained every pound back. I know it's mostly because it's so much easier to grab fast food than to prepare healthy meals ahead of time and also because it's so easy to grab a soda out of the fridge at work when I hit that afternoon slump. So I thought I would challenge myself for a whole month to not have any soda or fast food and see what happens to my weight and I thought I would see if anyone wants to join me. Now i'm not one to drink a lot of soda or eat a bunch of fast food anyway but I do enjoy a coca-cola from time to time and have let myself drink way to many of them since starting back to work.

So .... no fast food, with the exception of a salad and if it has meat on it the meat can not be fried. And no soda of any kind meaning no coke, sprite, dr. pepper, etc. Beer and wine and tea are fine. I actually just read an article about researchers finding even more health benefits of having a glass of wine a day. And also an article about how sugar is one of the most addictive substances and how rats in a lab chose sugar over cocaine even if they were already addicted to cocaine, they switched to the sugar water. That should tell you something! I really think there is a strong link between our obesity problem and sugary sodas. Why we have soda machines in the public schools here is beyond me. Anyway ... those are the details. I've got two joiners already ... anyone else interested?

So for the entire month of October ... no soda or fast food. I actually started a couple of days ago but if you want to start on the 1st that's cool too.

Links to articles everyone should read: SUGAR and WINE

Quote from Better Health News: Did You Know...According to a new research study, refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine -- one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently known. An astonishing 94 percent of rats who were allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between sugar water and cocaine, chose sugar. Even rats who were addicted to cocaine quickly switched their preference to sugar, once it was offered as a choice. The rats were also more willing to work for sugar than for cocaine.

Some Random Pics ... Recent Trip to Bradenton

Taking advantage of high speed internet at work .... these are some random pics from our recent trip to Bradenton. I didn't crop to the good parts like I usually do so bare with the unedited versions please. The burning truck was something we happened to drive by and nobody was hurt.

New Rocket Yarn Colorways

"TIE-DYE"




"BETELGEUSE" - Thanks Erika for reminding me of this star. This is my favorite of the new colorways. Might have to dye myself one of these. :)




"HIPPIE PIE"




"HORIZON" - sold within hours of listing on Etsy. And this is the one I really didn't like all that much ... go figure.

If you've ever been in a lake in Florida you need to read this article ...

Deadly Amoeba