When schools fail what can you do?

Yesterday while reading one of my favorite (who am I kidding, it is my favorite)blogs I read a comment from another reader that mentioned a HORRIFIC event in a school in Florida. If you have not hear of this, as I hadn't, a teacher encouraged her students to tell another child what they didn't like about him, and then they voted him out of the class. Horrible on all accounts, but this child is also in the process of being diagnosed with Aspergers. School should be a safe place for a child. Why is it that these actions were not reprimanded? Why is it that we live in a society were this is considered acceptable. I am outraged! Today Sue, my favorite blogger, wrote a lovely post about this. I encourage you to check it out. TTFN, Miki

Motorcycle accident update

Not sure how to title todays post. I just read in my email prayer requests from my previous church in Oregon that the husband of my friend who died in the motorcycle accident has also passed. His injuries were also to severe. I pray for peace for the family as they deal with this tragedy. I also pray for the driver of the car as this is something he will live with for the rest of his life.
TTFN, Miki

I am getting to old for this

Wednesday night Craig and I attend the Eagles Long Road out of Eden concert. It was FABULOUS!! We had a terrific time. They sang many of their new songs, and many of their clasics. The next night we attended a James Taylor concert in Virginia Beach. Normally I wouldn't go to back to back concerts, but we had purchased the James Taylor tickets before the Eagles announced they would be here. Long story short, Thursdays concert ended at about 1130, and we arrive home at 315 in the morning. It took us about 2 hours to move 5 miles. The traffic through the tunnel was down to one lane due to construction. I was tired and cranky the next day and no ammount of coffee was going to help.

I will say though, if you get a chance to see the Eagles, do because they were great.

TTFN, Miki

Motorcycle Safety

The last several months, as gas prices have increased, Craig and I have argued over the purchase of a motorcycle for his work commute. He drives about a half an hour one way. While I can see that they get much better gas mileage than even his Taurus, I don't think it will save us money. He thinks it will. My arguement is that I don't think motorcycles are safe. Even the safest driver can still by killed. I think that after getting more life insurance, and buying the motorcycle, and taking the classes to be a responsible rider, and the insurance, and the personal property tax, and even possible the therapy for me after worrying that he won't come home each time he rides, we will not be ahead financially. Even if we were ahead, I don't think it would be by much, and that fact that it scares me too death that he isn't a safe as he could be, makes it not worth it.

Normally I wouldn't blog about this, but as I "cleaned out" one of my inboxes this morning I read a prayer request from the church in my home town. I dear friend of mine and her husband had been injured in a motorcycle accident on their way to the Rhodedenron Festival. She apparantly had been life flighted to another hospital where she eventually died. Her husband was in critical condition at a closer hospital. I immediately began searching for info on this crash. I finally found some on a local tv station website. I was saddend to hear that they were hit from behind as they slowed to turn into a waypoint. What the article did not say was if speed was a factor. I am sure it was. This for me only proves my point in how unsafe motorcycles are. The driver of the car that struck them was not paying enough attention, and as a result my friend is dead and her husband critically injured. I know in my rational mind that my husband could also die in a car accident, but I also know that he is better protected in a car to survive. Plus, I am not ready to live without him, and don't think I ever will be. TTFN, Miki

School?

So here I sit, on the lunch hour of my first class since being back in school. Ugh! I sure hope this isn't going to be what it is like. I mean really...! Now I am remembering why I didn't finish the first time around. I wasn't challenged enough to study, or pay attention, or go to class for that matter. Of course this time will be different. I am older and wiser, or maybe just older. Hopefully I am not as cocky as I was back then. I really just want this to be done with.

What class am I taking? Well it is a lovely class called Introduction to Microcomputers. It is required as part of the nursing program. As is another lovely class I need to take called College Success Skills. I opted to take the computer class over two Saturdays, hoping to not draw out the agony anymore than I need to. I am glad I made this choice.

The first part of the morning was about random thought regarding the computer and anything sort of computer related. We learned the history of numbers, and loads about Lord Byron, yes the poet. Did you know he had a club foot? What this has to do with computers I am not sure, but it was a tangent and he went with it.

The last hour was spent learning all about the world wide web. I now know that it wasn't created by Al Gore...sorry Al. Of course I already knew that, but whose keeping track. Actually the only really useful thing that I have picked up today was regarding HTML code. I know very little about this. Of course anyone reading this blog and who understands the code, knows that. Again, who is keeping score. Anyhow,...I know have a better understanding of HTML, and maybe now I can tweak my blog. Of course I am not sure how that will help me with nursing, but we shall see.

During the first part of my lunch break I was telling my husband that this class really didn't seem to be designed for students who were working towards any type of degree. Most people in college are much younger and have never known anything other than using a computer. This class seems better suited for older students, who have lived in a hole in the ground for the thast 10-15 years, or for seniors who don't quite understand how it works. Or maybe for people who have a VCR that is still blinking 12:00.

Well gotta go, lunch is almost over, and I need to get back to it. I will keep you up to date. TTFN, Miki

Earth Day

So I had planned on writing something yesterday for Earth Day. It didn't happen. I will however write something today. In my quest to be greener, I feel like I am still falling short. I have been working hard at remembering my own bags for the grocery store. The clerks usually give me a funny look and then still only put a few items in each bag. I end up grabbing groceries before they can to stick in my still empty bags so they won't give me any plastic bags. Sometimes it feels like the bagging person, gets paid by how many plastic bags they use in a day. Seriously!

Sunday with my Girl Scouts, they decorated canvas bags for the grocery store. The bags had a piece of the Girl Scout law, either make the world a better place, or use resources wisely. Each bag was similar and yet different. My oldest daughters was awesome! I am constantly amazed at her effortless artistic ability. She would have loved to have taken an art class at school this year, but she wasn't willing to give up choir. I guess I could always sign her up for a class at a local studio. Where I would find the time for it, I am not sure.

Yesterday's Weekly Grist was informative as usual. I particularly liked their top ten. I will definitely be looking into some of these items. The led lights and power strip were two of my favorites.

Living Greener?

So much for my resolution to live greener. I have always been a good recycler, and try really hard to garden organicly. This year however, I decided to work a little harder at leaving less of an impact. Remember how I said that I wanted to start using my own shopping bags? Well I am using my own most of the time. That has been great. The checkers seem inconvienenced by not using their bags, but screw them!They are so wasteful with them sometimes only putting one or two small items in a bag. Last night for example, we were at a store and purchase a pair of capri sweat pants and two packaged t-shirts. When I told the clerk we didn't need a bag, he looked shocked. Please! We could totally carry these ourselves.

Anyhow I found out yesterday that most of this work has been in vain. A few months ago we got a water bill for almost 500 dollars. I thought to myself, oops I must have missed the last bill. We are billed bi monthly. Now the ammount seemed high even for 4 months, but I really didn't pay much attention. Well then we got another 500 dollar bill. I then called the department of utilites and they were less than helpful. Their inspector came out and was supposed to knock on the door to make sure we weren't using any water when he checked the line. He didn't he looked and left a note that said we had water running in the house. Well, because he didn't knock I didn't know if we did or not. So the lady at the department of utilities, which I would like to call the department of uselessness suggested that I dye test my toilets. I questioned whether that could really make my bill go up by almost 4 times. She assured me that it could. I asked even if I couldn't hear my toilets running and she said yes. Well....the plumber yesterday told me no. He also told me after turning off the water to my house, under the house that we had a break somewhere from the meter to where it comes out of the ground under the front corner of the house. YEAH! We get to dig up our front yard! In my quest to live greener, during a near drought(we have been under water restrictions) I have been using tons of water. I am shocked that this wasn't a red flag to anyone at the department of uselessness. I mean we aren't allowed to water our lawns, or wash our own cars, but apparantly can have HUGE leaks in our front yards. Or course a dear friend suggested that I look for the silver lining. Hmm....the oak trees in the yard have been well fed...I will have one nice green strip of grass where they have dug up the line. Umm...my water bill should go down...and considering the size of the leak, I should have better water pressure. And, I can once again continue my quest for greener living.

BTW, I am typing on my new laptop, and keeping hitting an unknown key that causes the cursor to jump somewhere else on the screen. It is getting VERY frustrating and I don't know what key it is or how to stop it. The strange thing is this has never happened to me on any other keyboard ever. So, if there is a typo I missed...sorry.

Technology Sucks...Sometimes

So the cookie sale is over. Finally! I just have some money collecting, and a little paperwork to do. The girls and I finished up two large projects for the cookie pins and submitted them electronically. I took a break planning on making the hard copies later in the evening. Well later when I came back the screen on my laptop was BLACK! When I rebooted the screen quicly flashed some ugly color, and then went black again. So, I took it itno geek sqaud today and they say the LED screen has gone bad. YUCK! So I bought a new laptop and paid for them to transfer my files to the new one. They however did not get all of the music...actually they only took the itunes. This works great for me, but not my hubby as his MP3 player doesn't use itunes. The most frustrating part is I was told they were making an exact copy of my hard drive...LIARS. Anyhow, now I have to either take it back to them, and watch them connect the two hard drives and tell them what to take, or figure out how to do it myself. Apparantly the spot on my old laptop to connect another monitor was also not working; LUCKY ME! As far as I can tell they got everything else. Now I just need to figure out how to get all my bookmarked sites back. And I need to figure out this new keyboard as every once in awhile, I touch something and the cursor jumps back a few lines.

On another frustrating front, we took Craigs new/used car in yesterday for its inspection. We knew they wouldn't get to it until today. Well they called this morning and ask how to shut off the alarm. I told them to use the correct key to start the car. I don't think they liked that answer. So apparntly there is a keypad to type in a code if the wrong key is used. Which I am sure they did, or the alarm wouldn't have gone off. Only problem is Craig wrote the code down on a scrap of paper that I had recycled, and while I was on the phone with the mechaninc, the recycle truck was pulling away. So I went to the mechanics and I have no idea what they did, but no matter what I did, keyless entry unlock, anything...the alarm went off. So I called the dealer, who called the previous owner to get the code. We typed in the code, and the alarm still went off. Now we have driven this car 3 or 4 times with no problem, so I don't know what they did, but long story short, they took the alarm out. The car however, did not get inspected today.

This keyboard is truly driving me crazy! I wish I could figure it out, and why it keeps jumping around.

Knitting Photos!

My mom has received her socks. They fit and she loves them. YEAH! She even ask if I had put them on my blog, I told her what I wrote and she laughed and said she hadn't check it in a while, but I was right if I had put the pictures up she probably would have seen them.



Also here are the face/dish cloths I have knit.


Enjoy, TTFN, Miki

Whats new

Val says that I need to update my blog...she is right. So here is what I am up to. Sleep and laying around. I got the flu about a month ago, and things are just not the same. I tire very easy, and my resting heart rate is still way higher than it should be. ANY activity (Im talking walking to the bathroom) raises it to lets say my target heart rate or above. I've been to the doctor and to a specialist and they have come to the conclusion that it is just a virus. Im going to give it a little longer and then get another oppinion. We are working on week four and they said the bug should last 2-4 weeks.

Needless to say, I have not done much knitting as I just haven't felt like it. I did however finish a round face cloth, and frogged another one. I am also working on a super secret gift for my moms birthday, which was yesterday. I say super secret, because she has started to read my blog from time to time, and if I tell you what it is, this would be the time she reads it. As soon as she receives the gift, I will post about it.

I am also at the middle of Girl Scout cookie sales. We actually got our cookies today. This will mark the beginning of a crazy busy week, and month. I love the cookies, and love that they support girl scouts, but they are VERY time consuming.

So that is what I am up to, hope to post more soon. TTFN, Miki

A dish cloth meant for the face

My BFF Val just started knitting. Like me she has crafters ADD. She quickly learned that a garter stitch scarf was boring! So she knit a dish cloth. Hers is great! However, she ran out of patterns. I looked up a few for her on Ravelry, and then found a couple I would like to try.

Part of my "being greener" in the new year has been to reduce my paper use, ie napkins and paper towels. Instead I use cloth, or for every day small dish cloths. They are inexpensive and I can re use them. So anyhow, I found this pretty feather and fan pattern and figured I would give it a try. Then I found a Sugar and Cream cotton by Lily that was self striping and the colors were so pretty. It was called country stripe, but I think it is a little more Pacific Oceany than country. The first picture shows the colors the best I can get tonight, and the second shows the pattern the best. My oldest daughter really liked how it turned out, and thinks it would be a shame to use on dishes, so it will probably be used for the face. Enjoy, Miki

Craigs Brithday Sweater

Here is the sweater I knit (on the machine) for Craig for his birthday.

So this is what I get for growning up in Eugene!?!

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 60% Conservative, 40% Liberal Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Honestly what does this mean? It would seem that Obama would fit the fiscal profile I want, but he may just be a tad to liberal for me. My sister believes the only reason he is a viable candidate is because of Oprah. I think the same could be said for Hilary except that she is made viable because of Bill. I have to say I voted for Bill the first time around. But what is that saying, Fool me once.... I don't think I will be fooled by the Clintons again. I also voted for George the first time around, seemed like the best candidate to me. Didn't make that mistake again.

Growing up in Eugene, I tried not to talk politics too much. That is a VERY liberal city, and anything other than left wing politics was not a popluar stance. Most of my friends will vote Democraticly no matter the candidate. I think that is just plain sad.

My sister recently told me a rather amusing story of a time my mother didn't like either candidate and she wrote my fathers name in instead. Now mind you, my parents do not share the same political views. My mom is liberal, my father conservative. My sister ask my mother how she would have been able to live with herself if he had won. Now I know this is an impossiblity, but it would have been so funny if she would have had to dealt with it.

Thats all I have folks, if you have some suggestions to help me choose a candidate, I welcome them. TTFN, Miki

What I am up to

Have you ever been so busy that you never feel like you accomplish anything? That is how I feel lately. I keep cleaning the same rooms over and over and they still never look clean. Of course, that could be because I am the only one in the house that ever seems to put anything away.

I have stacks of things to do for girl scouts. I have knitting that has been requested. I want to get my transcripts and talk to a someone at the local college about going back to school. I have a calendar to update so I don't miss any important dates. I have 935 photos to pick up at Walgreens. Yes I did say 935. This would be the last almost 3 years worth of pictures. Before we moved away from Oregon I was COMPLETELY caught up on all of my photos and scrapbooks. It was such a nice feeling. I took photos to record our lives and they were loving placed in books that my family and friends good enjoy. However since we moved, I take the pictures and then never find time to put them in albums. This year I have made several resolutions. One was to get caught up on the albums. I figured I would make better headway if the pictures were printed. Lucky me, Walgreens had a sale.

For Bubba, I need to knit a devil hat, and of course the Princess Leia hat. I have two piggles to knit for my older girls, but they only want a ponytail hole as they don't wear pigtails anymore. I need to adjust that pattern because it peaks a little at the top and I really want it to lay flat. I was telling my mom that I just didn't want to adjust it because it required me to think and knitting for me is about relaxing and following a pattern, not thinking. How sad is that? Sue, tells me her daughter would love the Piggle. Sue, I would gladly make one for Eve. Just let me know.

I also want to update me blog a little,add a blog roll, blog everyday. Of course I would also like those blogs to be interesting.

So many desires, so little time.

On another note, and sorta unrealated, I have resolved to live my life a little greener. With some Christmas money from my brother and SIL, I purchased Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck. It is a very interesting read so far. I had already started using Vinegar with 4 thieves as a cleaner and love it, much to my kids dismay. They really don't like how it smells. I told them that they would get used to it and learn to like it. I also told them it was the smell of clean, not the smell of chemicals and perfumes. I think this book will definetly help me towards my goal of greener living. I also want to start bringing my own bags to the grocery store. I am really sick of all the plastic bags we get and having to deal with them and remember to bring them back to the store to recycle them. However, I had planned on knitting my bags out of hemp, or linen or something very natural and long lasting. Of course, if I wait for this to happen, who knows how long my goal will be postponed. I need to just bite the bullet and buy a few bags and when I have time replace them with the ones I make. Now to find some I like. Maybe I am just over thinking this.

Not a good sales tactic

Note to all sales people out there: If you plan on selling me something, say furniture, maybe a sofa, or dining room table...do not flirt with my husband. It also probably not a good idea to come up behind him and stand close enough that it looks like you are touching him, or even have your arm around him, lean over his shoulder and try hard to convince me that it is THE perfect item for me. Even if it was, and it wasn't, I would NEVER buy it from you. And when I walk away instead of saying something really rude to you, do NOT follow me, and ask if there is anything else I need help with.

I really hate shopping where things are sold on commission, especcially when the economy is bad, and people are just not spending money. Sales people are like vultures and they really annoy me.

Piggle

Here is the long awaited photo of my nieces piggle hat. I am only showing it from the back. The front looks the same, I am sure you get the idea. TTFN, Miki

PS you can find this pattern at Knitty, for free.

Knitting updates

Here are some pictures of the projects I have been working on. First is Jill's felted hat.


Then we have Ms. Bertie's prayer shawl.



Then we have Marks scarf. The scarf is not done yet, but I wanted to post a picture of it now.



TTFN, Miki

Pueblo Diorama

My youngest daughter had to do a project for shcool about Native Americans. She chose the type of project and the region. She chose a diorama and the Southwest Region. Here is a picture of the Diorama. She worked very hard on it. Notice her adobe, and the garden with the corn and melons. Also the irrigation system between her rows. She got an A on it and was very proud of herself. I love how it turned out, and just had to share. TTFN, Miki

Catching up

It has been a long while since I've blogged and I have some catching up to do.

First both my daughters cheer squads took third at States this year. This was a nice end to a busy season.

I have been knitting away when I can find the time. I finished a prayer shawl for my neighbor and am working on a scarf for her husband. These will be Christmas gifts for them. I will post the pattern and pictures soon. First I need to get the knitting machine off the table so I have a place to take the pictures that has decent light.

Speaking of the knitting machine, I pulled it out of storage to knit a hat for my youngest neice. She will be two just after Christmas and that is about the right age for the felted hat. She says her favorite color is purple, but my sister begged me not to make another purple hat. You see the other three girls all have hats that are a purpley shade and there is always a fight about which hat belongs to which girl. So it make both of them happy, I knit and felted her a hat in a nice bright not purple shade of aqua, and hand knit her a lace beanie in a lavender with a silver sparkle thread running through it. This yarn is the same kind as the yarn I used to make her ruby red mary janes, but lavender instead of red. The best thing about this hat, is that it has two little holes on the sides for her pigtails to stick out. I need to put it on one of my girls so that I can post a picture of it. I can hardly wait to see it on her! I guess that is one good thing about living MANY miles away from them, I can't give it to her early.

The last thing I can think of, is the thing that has me frustrated right now. I knit a hat for a friend. She wanted a charcoal grey one like mine. Well, I can't find a LYS that carries that type of yarn. I know I can order it, but what a hassle. So I went in search of a different brand. The other yarn I use to felt also didn't have a grey. Then I found a beautiful yarn that was named Alpaca Natural Blends. It was perfect...or so I thought. I knit the hat up, threw it in the wash and a hour or so later went to check on it. NO change. WTF! Then I read the label. 30% Alpaca, 70% Acrylic. YUCK! No wonder it didn't felt. I guess I should read the label before buying. So, now I still need to find and knit and felt a grey hat. I guess I will keep the other for a snowman. Or maybe I will frog the whole thing. BTW...it snowed today. It didn't stick, but I still think falling snow is one of the most beautiful things in the world. TTFN, Miki

I love retro

Pedal cars, record players, and a coke cooler. I LOVE retro. My kids are too big for the car, and we already have an awesome vintage turntable. So the cooler is my favorite. It also helps that I collect Coca Cola. 5minutesformom is having another awesome give away and these are the prizes you can win. Don't like these well you can also choose a cash voucher to purchase something from the retro store. See what else you can win here I so hope I win. TTFN, Miki

Don't dress in the dark...

Or at least don't own more than one pair of the same style of shoes. I had to have one of my kids to school much earlier in the morning than normal, and then was off to sort nuts for the Girl Scouts. I dressed and went off to do my business.
After sorting nuts my husband, who had agreed to join me suggested that we go to DSW, because he needed new running shoes. I don't know that he needed them, but it sounded good, and he is OBSESSED with shoes, and coats and watches, and belts. I swear if I didn't know better. Anyhow, while shopping for shoes, I glanced down at my own feet, and happened to be wearing two different shoes. OMGoodness! They were both Saucony running shoes, but one was my much older relegated to yard work and other messy things shoes, and one was my new pair. It looked awful. I simply had to have new shoes so I wouldn't look so stupid. Unfortunatley, they old pair I could find were these cute little mary jane clogs by MUDD. They would have looked bad with the yoga pants, but I bought them anyway. My husband also bought two new pair of shoes, but neither were running shoes. Hmmmm see how he manipulated that situation? TTFN, Miki

One Down Three to Go

Yesterday was the first of four Cheer competitions. It was the very first ever one for my youngest. She hadn't really ever even seen a competition. It was fun on one level and frustrating on another.

My youngest daughters squad went for out of our groups. Her squad looked better than they have, but it is a big squad (21 girls), and they have some young ones on the team. My daughter is a back spot. This means she helps the flyer get in the air from behind. She has two bases on either side that are supposed to help her get the girl up and then back down again safely. This never happens. She is the only one ever "catching" this child. Now they don't throw her or anything, just lift her to about knee level, but for one girl to catch and the other to back away that is just not good. The other stunt group, actually dropped their flyer. Not good. This team got 7th place out of 9 or 10 teams. A nice first outing.

My oldest daughters team, for which I am a coach, went on a few groups after my youngests. My team has spiral curls in a high pony tail. I roll my daughters hair. Some people buy hair pieces. Actually on our team of 10 girls, it is split about even. I prefer rolled hair for many reasons. First it looks more natural. If you have ever seen some of these hair pieces you would know what I mean. It is just WAY too much hair for a head, let alone a childs head. The second, and probably biggest reason is that they can fall out. You can think they are is secure, and then BAM! right in the middle of your preformance it falls out. Sometimes it only falls part of the way. It will just hang half off the head, and the girls will just have to ignore it, or lose more points. Other times it will fall clean off and just lie there in the middle of the mat. This is what happened to us yesterday. One of my daughters closest friends hairpieces fell off in the middle of a jump. EVERYONE in the audience gasped and then laughed. My girls just kept going as if nothing had happened. Yeah for them! We had coached many times on what to do if something doesn't go right. Our biggest example was a flyer not being able to safely get in a stunt. We always say pull them down and pose. Keep going as if it were planned. The girls did this on Sunday. I am very proud. Other than this problem, their routine looked GREAT. I have reviewed video and there are some areas that need work, but all in all they did a good job. However, our scores didn't seem to reflect all of that. We took 6th out of 9. The girls were frustrated. I spoke with an offical after. What we didn't know was that we were a "true" junior squad, and many others weren't. We had all girls of the same age group and some of the squads we competed against weren't. They only needed one girl of that age to be at that level. Yes they would have to preform better, but you could do some great stunts if you had 11 year old girls lifting 7 year old girls. It is much harder to lift someone who weighs close to what you do. I thought our stunts were challenging, but what we could do if my youngest was on my squad would be amazing. This was one of the frustrations. Not all of our competitions will be like this.

Another frustration was that the gym was too crowded. The fire marshall wanted to shut it down. And then the air turned off. This crowded gym turned into a sauna. Then just before the awards ceremony we were "treated" to a performance by J. Randall. He sang several songs, and then said, " How about one more" He of course expected screams, and what he acually got was silence mixed with some "no's". How embarrassing. I will get our scores today so we will know what we need to work on for this Sunday. TTFN, miki

A Zombie Situation

44%
In honor of Halloween and of course, Bubba, I took this quiz. I really thought I would have done better on this one. TTFN, Miki

Miki here...for some strange reason, the link isn't showing up, but if you click on the empty space it will take you to the quiz. Wierd. Anyhoo....I scored 44%. It is a quiz to see how well you would survive a Zombie attack. -M

Ravelry

My Ravelry invite came today. Huray! I have looked around a bit and think it will be a nice resource. I am not sure I will get way into it. I really don't have the time. We will see however. TTFN, Miki

Are cheer moms the worst?

Is it just me, or are cheer moms the worst? This has been the MOST stressful coaching experience EVER. This morning a got an email from another mom, telling me that her daughter could no longer fly. We have one week left in the football season, and 4 weeks of competition. This next week is all about tweaking the little things and making sure they always have their cheeleader smile on, not about replacing a girl in a stunt group. This mom has been searching for cheer accidents online and has decided that it is just too risky. Now mind you, this is her second year flying. The stunts are basic at best. The accidents she is refering to are extreme. Yes cheer is dangerous. But we are very limited on what we can do. The accidents she is refering to, involve extreme height, and flips. I spent the better part of an hour "talking her down". I let her know that a flyer oould not be replaced a week before competition, and that major changes in the routine that would accomodate her daughter not flying would keep the girls from being successful. She didn't want the girls or parents mad at her, but also didn't want her daughter a parapalegic. This is valid, but I told her that people would be mad. They paid good money, and spent countless hours practicing only to have to "start over" at the end. I assured her that her daughters saftey was the most important thing to me, and that I would not let the girls preform something that I felt was unsafe. I have told this to all the girls from day one. We loose more points in competition failing at a stunt, then not doing it at all. Not to mention I do not want anyone hurt. The guilt would be way too much for me. In the end, she relented for now. I told her that I appreciated this. I also ask her to stop researching accidents, because the stress was too much. The numbers just don't work. That is like saying flying is dangerouse because if the airplane crashes you have a high likelyhood of dying. Yet, when weighed with how many planes fly every day, and land safely the risk in flying in an airplane is low. Are cheer accidents extreme? Yes. But I think weighed against how many stunts are successful, especially basic stunts, the risk is low. Would I let my daughter fly? Yes. My oldest daughter wants to fly, but she is too tall. My youngest is petite, and will most likely be a flyer if she continues cheering. As a side note though, I would rather they do something else entirely. I wasn't a cheer leader. The societal roles attached to this sport are not something that ever intersted me. I had friends who cheered. It worked for them. I chose other sports. Two of my daughters are however interested, and so they cheer. This is not the way I wanted to start my Sunday. TTFN, Miki

October is breast cancer awareness month

Please do yourself a favor, and make sure you check yourself monthly. Take some time this month to learn more about breast cancer. I have not been personally affected by this disease, but I know that it is only a matter of time. The numbers tell me that. I also learned about a new kind of breast cancer a few months ago. If I can figure out how to link the news story on it to this site, I will. If you havent had a mamogram get one. I recently learned that at my age, they are now wanting to get a "bench mark" mamogram, so they can see easier any changes. Not really something I want to put myself through, but I know it is WAY better than cancer. I will be doing my own research and posting it here, so you will all be better informed too. Also, 5minutesformom, and casio are giving away a cute little camera in honor of breast cancer awarenss month. Check it out. TTFN, Miki

Waiting for my invite

So a month ago, I learned about Ravelry. I went to their site to join, and like all other people was put on the invitation list. I now after a month have about 8000 people ahead of me, and 8000 people behind me. I am hoping to have my invitation in a week. Of course, I am excited to check this site out, but am now begining to wonder if I will be let down. I am sure it will be a good resource for me and my knitting hobby. But, will it be as great as I am hearing it is. Only time will tell. TTFN, Miki

Crazy Woman

After receiving a VERY rude email from one of my cheer moms, I need an outlet to vent. My husband doesn't want to hear it. I don't want to get in a pissing match with her and give her real ammo to take to the board over, so I will rant here. Anyhow long story short, this is a woman who I have to deal with a lot. We have participated in MANY things with her child, and she always seems to have a problem with me and my handling of things. This time she accused me of things I had nothing to do with and to singleing her child out. I began to type a LONG response to her and then decided against it and called the commisioner instead. She agreed that I should not respond, but to deal with her face to face if it came to that. Which, I am sure it will. Lord please give me the strength to stay calm with her tonight. The commishoner then told me that the same woman had complained to her last week about something else, which we remedey unbeknownst to us, and she complained to me about the remedy. This woman second guesses EVERYTHING I do, and totally coddles her child. PLEASE! TTFN, Miki

Birthdays

Today my middle daughter turns 10. A decade...can you believe it. I can hardly. She is amazing, like the day she was born. Everyday she surprises me by being the awesome unique person she is,...so Happy Birthday to Her! TTFN, Miki

The start of a new era

Today was the beginning of something new for our family. My older kids started middle school. Their sphere of influence has grown. They are now around kids that aren't from our small little community. They are in school with teenagers. They also have to get out of bed 2 hours earlier than they did last year. Yes, middle school starts 2 hours earlier than grade school. I think this is totally crazy. They did fine with it of course.

All in all they had a good day. I for the life of me can't figure out their schedule. That may be because some of their classes are every other day, but on their schedule it says they are every day. Do they not know how to limit the days listed? Please!

The other two kids also started grades school today. The too had a good day and are looking forward to the rest of the year.

Sorry for not blogging in awhile. We vacationed in July, and then came back to Football and Cheer. I was named as a cheer Sponsor (adult coach). So literally we have practiced in one way or another every day except Sundays in August. I love this time of year, but would like a little more me time.

I haven't been knitting much as it has been too hot. I am trying now to finish up some socks for me in Ray's Blue Jeans colorway. They are almost done. As soon as they are finished I will finish the toes on my hubby's socks that are done in the Austermann Step. I FINALLY got the new skein of yarn to finish the toes so the stripes would match. Yes I am that anal. When they are done I will post the finished product. Oh I also did the Coachella top from Knitty summer. I chose the color Nelly Belle in the recommended yarn which was Berocco Suede. I just LOVE the names of their colors for this yarn. I like how it turned out, but think maybe I should have made the top a size smaller. It has a cowl neck and I keep thinking I am flashing everyone just because I can see it all. Of course at times I may be. Hmmm! Anyhow I will try to post a photo of that also. TTFN, Miki

Flat Screen TV

My husband has been wanting a flat screen. I have been telling him no. First off, he wants it in the bedroom. He likes the downstairs tv, and so doesn't want to replace it. I on the other hand see no point in purchasing a VERY expensive tv to put in a room where it is watched max an hour a day. Plus he wouldn't be able to show it off to his friends. Also the tv we have works fine. You don't change it unless it is broke.

Now, if we were to win one, that would be TOTALLY different. 5Minutesformom is giving one away. Thanks to Best Buy who is providing it. Isn't that a great prize? You can try to win too. Just go here. Good Luck! TTFN,Miki

They're at it again

5minutesformom is at it again. They are having a HUGE, 4th of July give away. Stop by and see what they are giving away. I am sure you will find something you would love to win. TTFN, Mikalan

Taste of India

A friend and I took our younger girls to the Taste of India cultural festival today. We experienced food, music, dance and mehndi. The girls had a great time, and we were very proud of them for trying new things. They ate some "Indian ice cream" that was mango flavored. It also tasted like coconut, so I assume it had coconut milk in it. I loved it, they didn't like it as much. It was fun to see them try to do the dances that were performed. The mehndi turned out awesome. I am now trying to figure out how to do this with my girlscouts. Enjoy the pictures. TTFN, Miki

What kind of English do you speak?

I found this fun little poll and thought I should share.

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English 15% Upper Midwestern 10% Dixie 5% Yankee 0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Bad Sock Mojo

Ok, enough already...I am sorry. I just want to make socks in peace. Ever since I wrote about a personal pet peeve of sock knitters not making their stripes match on each sock, I have struggled at making socks. There was the Trek yarn that didn't have enough to finish the toes on the second sock. I am STILL waiting for the yarn store to get more in. The last time I was in the store they told me they didn't have plans on ordering more as they order it in packages with several colors and they don't need more of the other colors. Of course that makes sense, but they only had 3 skeins, and none were the same color, and that is out of over 10 colors. They sure don't seem like they want me to finish these socks, or buy more yarn for that matter. I will most likely find the yarn online. Then there is the Moda Dea that I knit for my youngest daughter where the skein was plain crazy and there was no way to get a pair to match, and the second skein in the same dye lot also didn't match. Then I knit a pair for my BFF (which I haven't sent yet) I kept referring to them as the "Frankensocks" as the second sock had so many loose ends to weave in just to get them to match. I knit a pair for a niece and they turned out fine, so I thought my luck was changing, but that wasn't to be. I had bought some beautiful yarn from Ray at Knitivity. If you haven't checked out his yarn yet you MUST. It is so soft and pretty and a joy to knit with. Anyhow I had decided to knit my husband another pair as he was still waiting for his first pair. I chose to knit them in Doberman. I used the same pattern that I used for trek. I got the same gauge as with that yarn, and it was the gauge they recommended with the pattern. I knit the first sock and kept thinking it looked big, but reassured myself it wasn't, it just looked like it was. Well, I was wrong. It isn't HUGE on him, just not a great fit. I don't know what went wrong. Right now I am knitting the second sock a little smaller (actually the women's size) and then I will redo the first sock. I just want to figure out how to get past this bad streak with socks. Maybe I need to knit something else, like a shawl and then comeback to socks. Any suggestions would be appreciated. TTFN, Miki

Fathers Day Give Away

5 Minutes for mom is at it again. They are giving away a great gift for Father's Day, the Rolling Stones new boxed set. Go to their site, check it out, sign up to win it.

More later as I have time. But real quick. Softball is done. Regular season baseball has two more games and then double elimination playoffs start. My twins "graduated" from 5th grade today. I can hardly believe my babies will be in middle school. TTFN, Miki

Apologies to all

Okay so I know it has been a really long time. My son is reading a book now that his dad read when he was young. It is by John Wooden. One of the principles that Coach Wooden lived by, that in his book he encourages his readers to live by, is make no excuses. I have been trying to do this. Not such an easy thing. I could say that we have had baseball or softball games every day for the last several weeks. Then throw Girl Scouts in there. My husband informed me, in a very pouty way that we have had Scouts every weekend for the last 6. I was astonished. There was no way. So I grabbed my datebook and he was wrong. It had only been 5. Did that make either of us feel better....of course not. Not to mention that it isn't over. We will have a one weekend lull in Scouts and then have something the next 3. That isn't going to please him. Back to no excuses...I could say these things, but really I suppose I could have found the time to blog. Like I am now. Do I have much to blog about...Nope! Life is all wrapped up in the kids. It is a love/hate thing for me. I love my kids and the time I spend with them. I love watching them grow, learn and change. I hate that at times I have no life except via them.

I just remembered. The week before Mothers Day, I used the previouse years gift. It was about to expire, and I would not let that happen. I had a WONDERFUL day at the spa. I really need to do that more than once a year. Now I just need to figure out how to afford it. I will blog more about it later. Oh yeah and I will post pictures I my fabulous new tie dye night shirt. TTFN, Miki

Virginia Tech Memoriam

In memory of those who died this last week as a result of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

VA Tech Shooting

Well, I have thought about how I would go about this post for over a day now. Even now as I am typing I am not sure my thoughts are clear, and I fear that I may ramble on when what I really want to do is make a profound statement.

First, I feel a deep pain for the families who lost children. I can only imagine and pray I never realize what they are really going through. My prayers are with them as they try to make sense of it all and learn to go on about their lives without those they love.

Second, I would like to address whether or not the police erred by not closing down the campus. My thought is that you can NEVER over react when safety is involved. Yes there are those that will say that we are infringing on their rights by restricting their movement "needlessly". I however disagree. I can't help but wonder if 30 or so peoples lives could not have been saved if the police had immediately shut down the campus until they could further assess the situation. Yes I know this is difficult, but no one said life was easy. I wonder why they assumed it was an isolated incident, and that the shooter had fled the campus, but still locked down the dorm. I know that they needed to interview everyone, but it doesn't quite compute for me. Also, if they believed the shooter to have left the building all the more reason to close the campus. You have an armed assailant loose in a college town. He is obviously not in his right mind. I can't help but think maybe since they have had a similar situation within the last 8 months that maybe they should have handled it better. When the shooting occurred in Aug., a police officer was involved and the campus was closed until the shooter was apprehended. Is it just me, or is there a double standard here. Did they close the campus because an officer was involved? Again, better safe than sorry.

Thirdly, the University needs to address how they get vital information to their students. When the info was finally sent to the students, more than two hours after the first shooting, and 15 minutes after the second shooting began, it was done by email. Many students said that they didn't check their email before going to class. Now I remember my college days, and morning classes and I also remember rolling out of bed, half awake and dragging myself to class. My attire would be sweats, and I would only wake shortly before class would start. I was not the only one like this.

Quick aside. my husband is watching Fox news right now, and a reporter(Megan) is interviewing a student. As she was questioning him, she reiterates his story and says so he comes into the room and starts shooting and you tip over a desk and COWER behind it. EXCUSE ME! COWER! Hide yes, fear for his safety yes, cower bad choice of words. This young man just lived through hopefully the most horrific thing he will ever experience. People around him are dying and she essentially calls him a coward. She also ask why as a group they didn't rush the shooter instead choosing to hold the door closed after he left the room. Uh I don't know maybe because the dude had two nine mils that he was shooting at will for seemingly no reason. Normally I prefer Foxnews as it seems to have a little less of the liberal slant, but this lady pissed me off.

Ok back to my last point. Email isn't the most effective way to meet the student body. It should be part of the process but not the only part. Virginia Commonwealth University is erecting 15 lcd screens all over campus to use as reader boards to be a means to get info to their students.

Fourthly, I am getting real sick of all the gun control talk. Unfortunately I have lived in two communities where school shootings have occurred. (Kip Kinkel in Springfield, and now this one) Now Blacksburg is about an hour and a half from us, but you still feel the effects. There is so much I would like to express here I am not sure where to begin. I have heard all of the stats..ie most citizen owned handguns are used on a family member, blah blah blah. Other than not allowing private citizens to own guns, how could this tragedy or any of the other school shootings be prevented? I grew up in a home with a gun, I do not own one myself. I have thought of purchasing one. I fear the statistics. I also know that the majority of guns used in a violent crime are obtained illegally. That is something the gun control people do not want you to think about. I have known people who owned guns who have had their firearms stolen from their home. Some have had that weapon stolen from a locked gun safe (they pried it open). These are the guns that are being used in the majority of violent crimes. I try not to get caught up in all the information on the school shootings, but I do know that the guns used by Kip Kinkel were legally obtained by his parents, and it appears that in this shooting the guns were also legally obtained. Some experts were on one of the news channels debating this topic last night and one of them said that the by keeping the school a gun free zone it makes the students and faculty feel safe. It is strange that all of these massacres have taken place in gun free zones. Could one person who carried a weapon been able to stop him, I don't know, but for the most part I would say that it isn't the people that responsible own and carry a gun that we need to worry about, it is the people that flip out, or obtain a gun illegally. Would gun control stop either of them? I don't think so.

I am not sure I covered everything I wanted, and I probably did ramble. I hope however that I made some sense. I also hope that our gun rights are not taken away. I also hope that this University and all the others learn from this. That measures are put in place to help limit casualties.

Thats all I have for now, miki

Natural Easter Eggs

So this year we decided to dye our Easter eggs with dyes found in nature. By we, I of course mean me. I truly hate Easter Egg dyes. They are messy and gross. Sure the colors are kinda pretty, but why not try something different. We used spinach for a VERY pale green, red cabbage for a Robins egg blue, yellow onion skins for an orangey color, cumin for a light yellow, coffee for brown, carrott tops for a yellowy green, beets for a reddish pink, red onion skins were supposed to be purple, but they turned out a sort of brown, and golden delicious apple peels for a brownish lavender. The kids, mainly the youngest, had fun checking the process. These dyes take a little longer to develop their color than say a Paz kit, but I like the end result. We also read on some website when researching this that sometimes cream of tartar will enhance the color. We added some and it seems to give the eggs a sparkle like glitter. Pretty fancy! Enjoy the photos. TTFN, Miki

First let me start by saying I LOVE my Dyson. My husband freaked when he found out how much I had spent on it, but I was seriously tired of getting vacuums that just did not preform to standards, or running out of bags just before a party. So I think this give away is a great idea. I would love to win one for a very dear friend of mine that has allergy issues and has not been able to afford one. Or maybe for my mom who chose another brand because of its weight, but I don't think it is that great of a vacuum. BTW Dyson is sponsoring this give away which is also terrific. Thanks to Housewife for letting me know about it. TTFN, Miki

Matching socks is it possible?

A little while back I wrote about knitting socks that match. It frustrates me that people don't take the time to match a self patterning yarn so each sock lines up. Housewife said she was just glad her daughter wore socks, she didn't care if they were the same or not. Well, her daughter might like the ones I just knit for my youngest. They were knit with Moda Dea Sassy Stripes yarn, color 6946. I had purchased two balls of this yarn a few years ago to knit socks and never did. Now that I am buying higher end yarn, I didn't want to knit these for me. She wanted them and I figured that I would knit a "matching pair" for her BF, my neice. Now Moda Dea says you need to balls to knit one pair of socks. I had originally bought two, in the same dye lot so they would match. I grabbed one ball, and began knitting. The sock began knitting up different then I thought it would...but I continued. When it was done, I pulled out the rest of the ball to try to match the repeat. I didn't find a repeat...in fact the rest of the ball looked completely different than the sock I had just knit! I had a sock that would NEVER match another sock! J, my youngest daughter, decided that was fine with her. Now it is our little joke. In a way I think it proves the original point I was trying to make, that just because two socks are knit with the same yarn, doesn't make them a matched pair. Of course, it could prove another point also, that isn't mine. That socks knit with the same yarn are not supposed to match. Of course I realize this is an extreme case. On a side note, the second ball of yarn, matches the second sock, so something was wrong with the first part of the first ball of yarn. I plan on calling Moda Dea about this.

To continue this same idea a little further. Before knitting up the no match socks, I had started a pair for Hubby. They are knit in Austermann Step, Nacht Blue. I love this yarn. It has aloe in it. It is SO soft. The yarn store said one ball made a pair of socks. So I began knitting. Finished the first sock, pulled out the repeat and began the second sock. Got to the toes, and didn't have eonugh yarn to finish the sock. Went and looked at what I had pulled out for the repeat and it didn't match either. Now mind you, Hubby doesn't have larger feet. He wears a 10 1/2-11. If not for the repeat I would have been able to knit for him, but certainly not anyone with larger feet. I gave him the option to finish the socks with the no matching pull out, but he said he wanted the toes to match to. Now the difference in the blues for the toes would have been minimal, but he said no. So, we went back to the yarn store, and they were out of that color, so now we have to wait until they get more in. Am I being punished by the sock knitting gods for critisizing the non matching socks people were knitting.

I also have another pair for my BFF that match the last pair I made for myself on needles. Now they won't match mine exactly, because that is even a little too anal for me. But they will be close. TTFN, Miki

Seeing the World Through Rose Colored Glasses

I just read a post on a blog that I read regularly, and it got me thinking. Am I viewing the world through rose colored glasses? I like to think I see the best and people. Maybe I am just living a fantasy. Housewife thinks that unless our blogs are private for family and friends we should limit or maybe even eliminate the personal information on our blogs. After reading her post it made me think about how irresponsible I had been. Have I used my kids names? Yes. Had I mentioned things they did? Yes. Have I mentioned where they go to school? I don't think so. Have I mentioned where we live? Yes, that is in my profile. Are my kids safe? I hope so. As a parent I like to think that I have done everything in my power to keep my kids safe, but maybe I haven't. Do I frequently check websites to see if registered sex offenders live near me? You bet I do. Have I checked every single one of the kids' parents in my girl scout troop? Yep. Overkill? I don't think so. My sister had a father of one of her girl scouts on the list. He liked to hang out off to the side during her meetings. He never spoke with the girls, but they all knew who he was, so there was no stranger danger. When she found out that he was registered and not to be around children, she called his parole officer. Boy did that ever make his wife angry.

Now I have sort of lost my train of thought. Anyhow, this has got me to thinking...I need to be better about what is put on my blog, for the safety of my whole family. This for me started out as a way to stay in touch with family and friends, but has become something more than that. I am not prepared to make it private because I would lose the input of the few readers that I have, that I both enjoy and respect. Thank you Housewife for reminding me to take my shades off indoors. TTFN, Miki

New Sock Yarn

I finally ordered some sock yarn from Ray. He had recently done some new colorways, and I just couldn't resist. I ordered Blue Jeans, Doberman, and Milk and Honey. I thought about ordering the Rasberry Ice ( I think that is what it was called). But I didn't think I had enough pink to wear with it. Anyhow, I got them in the mail yesterday, and they are AWESOME! The colors are great and the yarn is soft. I can't wait to make socks out of them! If you haven't checked him out yet, please do. He has nice yarns at competitive prices, and great customer service. I had my order in two days! Plus you are supporting an independent bussiness man, and the American economy. TTFN, Miki

Fergie the Spelling Tutor

Somthing must be wrong with our world when we have pop stars/rappers, or whatever she, Fergie,wants to be reffered to spelling in their songs. Has the state of our public education system gotten so bad that in Fergalicious she tells us she isn't a slut, and I say REALLY? Then why are you rolling around in cake and frosting in barely any clothes in the video? Give me a break! Now she has a new song Glamorous and which she also needs to spell for us. TTFN, Miki

Posh Pooch

I just finished knitting Duke a new sweater. It is from the Posh Pooches knitting book. It is a baseball style jersey with Raglan sleeves. I knit it in left overs of Caron Simply Soft. The colors are dark green( sage I think) and pale yellow. Duck colors of course. Here isn't too sure he likes it yet, but he will adjust. Enjoy the picture. TTFN, Miki

Missing Tooth

Well it happened. Jacquelyn lost her first tooth last night. She was leaving Thinking Day(a girl scout event), bit into a fortune cookie and started screaming. I ask her if she bit her tongue. She screamed and cried something back at me. I told her she had to calm down I didn't understand did she bite her tongue. She screamed and cried some more and started looking on the ground. What she said sounded something like I think I just bit my tongue off and I can't feel it anymore. When I repeated that back to her, she laughed and began to calm down. Apparantly when she bit down, one of her bottom teeth moved and now it hurt. In fact, it loosened up a lot. Of course she would not eat as biting hurt. So today, we finally got the tooth out, and she was able to eat. Enjoy the picture! TTFN, Miki

Matching socks update and what kids choose to wear

First let me say I just typed this whole post, and then lost it. DANG! So, I started to type this post in response to a comment left by Housewife. (Thanks for reading and commenting.) She said that her daughter doesn't wear matching socks anymore, and sometimes her shoes don't match. The funny thing is, this doesn't bother me. My kids make many interesting wardrobe choices, including mismatched socks. Except for Gwen, who I think it would physically pain to do so. But, that is a whole 'nother story. I like to think that how my kids put an outfit together is a reflection of who they are and is a way for them to express themselves. In reality, they are probably just putting on the first things they grab.

My problem lies with those who make the socks, calling them a match pair. For me they match no more than to different blue socks, or two different patterns knit with the same yarn. These same people are constantly worrying over seams on garments they have made, and saying it is the attention to detail that makes the difference in a hand made garment. However, they don't take the time to find the repeat in the patterning in the yarn and start the second sock from there.

More about kids and there clothing choices. About a month, my family and I were walking through IKEA. I overheard a couple behind me talking. My husband says this is a bad habit of mine, I say they were invading my auditory space. ;) Anyhow, the guy says to the girl, "you would never wear tennis shoes with a dress would you?" I didn't hear her response as I was somehow distracted by someone or something. It was until later that I realized he was talking, rather loudly, and rudely in my oppinion, about my 7 year old daughter. Jacquelyn had that day chosen to wear a very pretty red velvet dress with a pretty satin ribbon, and red Converse hightops. Now give me a break...ok, it looked a little crazy, but she is 7! And at least she matched and was clean. I mean it wasn't like she was 35, and going to a gala...but so what if she was. Really at least at 7 she has already figured out that sneakers are way more comfortable than dress shoes. I mean I keep forgetting that and forcing myself to wear heels for any important event we go to. TTFN, Mikalan

Knitting socks that match

Is it just me, or is it wrong to knit socks, that while are made using the same yarn, just don't match. Nothing bothers me more than when people hand knit socks with self patterning yarn and they don't make the socks look the same. Now I know, from experience, that it isn't the easiest thing to find the repeat and work from there on the second sock. Then there are the people who do two socks at the same time one knit from the inside of the skein, and one knit from the outside. But come on people, they don't match unless you match the repeat. It is this attention to detail that I think makes all the difference. Am I alone here?

Here are some pictures of a few of the things I finished knitting. Gwens poncho is knit in Lion Brand Jiffy in a sort of Rose color. The poncho is VERY thick and warm. The blanket is for Craigs boss's new baby girl. It is done in Simply soft in lavender, mint(or is it light sage) and ivory. The bag is for my sister in law Stacy it is knit in Cascade 220 red and black and then felted. I then needle felted a letter "S" on the back, or is that the front. It was my first attempt at needle felting. It didn't really turn out the way I thought it would, but I like the results. I hope she does too. TTFN, Miki

Oh yeah...and sorry the poncho pictures are sideways...My computer wasn't lettin gme turn them. Maybe I can edit it out later. -M

Yarns I want to buy

So I know it has been awhile since I last blogged. My kids keep me soooo busy. So I just wanted to really quickly give a shout out to someone who I "met" on a yahoo knitting group many years ago. He lived in New Orleans, and is a Katrina survivor. He has since moved to Houston, and has refocused his life. He is now creating and selling hand painted/dyed yarns. They are very pretty and reasonably priced. Anyhow...check them out at Knitivity. I am waiting to buy some sock yarn, as soon as I get caught up on some other projects, and destash a little. I really like the Amethyst, Wading Pool, and California Blush. Another bonus is, that the yarn you buy is unique. I mean he may have some similar, but not like a mass marketed yarn from a large company. I think that is kinda cool. TTFN, Miki

How time flies

I just saw that it has been since Dec. 14th since I last blogged. Shame on me. Anyhow it has been a crazy sorta month. First the harddrive died(yes again) on my laptop. I am still waiting for the new one. I am less than happy with Seagate right now. Then the harddrive went out on the desk top. We had been having problems with the desk top, so I really didn't mind replacing the drive. Then just this last weekend while driving on I 95 home to Richmond from DC, our car just died. So not cool. We had to towed two miles to Quantico, stayed in a hotel and rented a car the next day. So $500 later, we had it at the mechanic. Now mind you, we had just gotten the car back from the mechanic, and he replaced an upper radiator hose. We had been having a coolant leak, and he thought it may have been the water pump, but decided it was an upper radiator hose instead. A couple of days later the mechanic in Quantico determined that it was the timing belt that had broke, and that the water pump was leaking. $600 later we would have a car we could drive the 80 miles home. The mechanic then also found that the tensioner was broke, which was what caused the belt to brake. So we drove home with a repaired car, and the mechanics promise that if anything were to happen he would fix it, even if it meant towing it back to Quantico. Well considering that the car is 15 years old, and we had been talking about buying a new one, we went through the "fun" process of car shopping. Now mind you we weren't buying new, more like 5 or so years old, and we had a "cap" as to what we were willing to spend. We did not want to get financing, as it is really nice not having a car payment. Unfortunately, we didn't have all the cash available right away. We were hoping that Craigs dad's house would sell and we would use part of that money to buy a car. But now we felt like we couldn't wait, so we decided to sell some stock. We knew that we wouldn't have the stock money until next week, but did that stop my husband? Not at all. He decided to go to Richmond Auto Auctions without me on Thursday and bought a new Expedition. Needless to say I was a little angry that he didn't even call me, and that I had no say in the car that I was going to drive. Plus there is the thing that it had to be paid for in full by Monday, and we wouldn't have our money until Wed. . So, it ended up taking just about every penny we had until the money comes in. So just when the story starts to sound good, it gets bad again...kinda. While driving home from picking up the new car, the old car broke down again (same problem I am guessing). The mechanic after being called, said he would drive down on Monday(today) and fix the car. Well he didn't come today, so we will need to call him tomorrow. I just need it working so we can sell it. I am ready to cut my losses on this one and to move on. In the midst of all this I have been knitting and finishing projects and starting new ones, which I will update when I have a spare moment. TTFN, Miki

Frosty the Snowman

Well I have finished my snowman ornament. I think he turned out pretty well. His scarf may be a little long...but oh well. Gwens was just about done, but while messing with his hat last night she broke the ball. Then this morning at breakfast Cory's got broken also as they were playing with it. The kids' still need a little work, and a few bottoms, but I posted pictures any way. I have them sitting on top a shot glass so that they will sit upright for the photos. -Miki

Clarece's snowman

Jacquelyn's Snowman

Gwens snowman

Clareces snowman profile. Look at the twist in the carrot nose.

My snowman...lets call him Frosty.

Cornells snowman

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimmney With Care...

So here are photos of the finished stockings hung by the fireplace. We got a new camera a few weeks ago that I am still trying to figure out. I am not pleased with the flash, so the pictures may be a little darker than I like.

Here is Clareces'


Here is Jacquelyns'


Here is Cornells'


Here is Gwens'


Now I have a year to do mine, Craigs and one for Duke. That should be easy...not! TTFN, Miki

Crafters ADD

I have recently come to the conclusion that I have a from of Crafters ADD(attention deficit disorder). I love trying all kinds of new projects, but seem to become distracted when I see something new I want to try. This leaves me with many projects going on at once, and taking many years to complete some projects. I love the "thrill" of starting a new project and seeing how it will turn out. Once I get the hang of a particular technique, or I can see how the project will finish, I become a tad bored and have a hard time motivating myself to finish the project. Then I start something new. It has been one of my goals this year to finish many of my UFO's. I think I have done a pretty good job with it. However, I could have finished them all had I not snuck other projects in also. My sister asked me the other day if I had finished my felted needle case yet as it had been the same on my progress bar for ages. I laughed and told her no, but I had knit a few pair of socks, and some glass cozies and a few baby blankets, and some other things that never even made it to the progress bar. In truth if I listed everything on my progress bar that I was working on, it would be a joke.

This weekend I had set a personal goal of finishing the kids' stockings by Sunday night. Well, instead of working on them on Saturday, I decided to make some snowmen ornaments. I had seen the idea on Carol Duval's program and already had most of the supplies from another incomplete project. I figured the kids could help. They are made with a glass ball on the bottom and a styrofoam one on the top. The glass ball is filled part to most of the way full with "snow" (shredded plastic). You then embellish the balls to look like snowmen. I will post a picture when they are done. The kids started making Fimo carrot noses. I was filling the balls. On the last one, I was attaching the styrofoam ball, and the glass ball shattered in my hand. I cut everyone of the fingers on my left hand. I was lucky though, because I wasn't wearing protective eyewear and that could have been bad. I probably should have had protective hand wear on also. I took a pretty good chunk out of my thumb, and had to remove many fragments from other fingers. It was very reminiscent of this summer and the whole frame fiasco. The kids were upset to see my bleeding every where, and my husband chastised me from work. Oh well....so they didn't get finished. I did however work on knitting little scarves for them, but they didn't get finished either. Sunday I spent the evening sewing the stockings together, and pulling the basting stitches out. Today I put the hangers on them and they are DONE! Yeah!

The stocking is done!

So, after working for hours trying to get Jacquelyn's stocking done, I have finished stitching it. It turned out really nice. I will post a picture of it after I have it sewn into a stocking shape and hung with her brother and sisters. My goal is to have that done by sometime Sunday.

Here is the funniest part of the whole stocking thing. The pattern I chose was from a kit, and like most kits it has a picture on the front of the finished project complete with personalization. Of course the personalization is generic. In this case the name is Duncan. Well, Jacguelyn realized that it didn't say her name on the package and became quite distressed. Craig told her that it wasn't a big deal that her secret Christmas name was Duncan. Well strangely she fell for it, and has told us that on Christmas she wants us to call her Duncan. I explained that I could change the pattern and put her name on it and she told me that she wanted her Christmas name on it. Well, of course I put Jacquelyn on it instead of Duncan, which dissapointed her and her father, but they will just have to get over it. I will put the name Duncan on all her gifts though. That should make her happy. TTFN, Miki