Happy Halloween!

Here are my little goblins...er, children in costume. Enjoy!

Jacquelyn as Princess Leia


Gwen as a Vampiress


Clarece as herself, I mean a devil


Cornell as a gangster

A weekend of cheer

First there was Saturday. A normal game and cheer day around here, except it was home coming. For me this is strange because these are only children. We didn't have home coming until highschool where I was from. Well they do it all here. They have the game, they have a memory book, or this year it is a picture cd, I am going to guess it is set to music. At half time they announce the prince and princess for that age level, or king and queen if you are at the senior level, and then the respective royalty ride in the back of a convertible and toss candy to the crowd. In some years they have even had a parade around the track. While I have to admit it was cute, it almost seems like too much. When do our kids get to be kids, and what do they have to look forward to in highschool if they were a home coming queen as a first grader?

Anyhow that aside, my sons team won their game, and that put them into the playoffs with a record of 4-4. Just when I thought we were done with football and I could focus on only cheer for the next few weeks, football continues.

After the game on Saturday we came home and set Gwen's hair for her cheer competition the next day. She has to wear it in a pony tail reminiscent of I Dream of Genie right smack dab in the middle of her head, then we have to curl with pink perm rods and tiny little sectins of hair, the pony tail. Oh but wait lest I forget, it requires tons of gel and hair spray. You have to spray each strand before and after rolling. Goodbye ozone...its been nice knowing you. The end result is cute, but harsh on hair, the environment,and of course your time in the day as it took about 2 hours to roll. Then she had to spend the rest of the day with a turban like bandana wrapped on her head. Now those of you who know my daughter know how much she liked that. She didn't want ANYONE to see her looking like that. Of course it didnt matter that over a hundred girls in our area also had their heads looking like this. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot...next time...cause we get to do this for 3 more weeks! Yeah!!

So, Sunday was consumed with competition. We arrived at VSU(Virginia State University) around noon and left at about 4. Our girls took third in the age and size category. IMHO, they were better than the second place team who had crooked lines, and dropped a girl on a lift. But of course the judges may have seen something I didn't, and then again, maybe there is a whole degree of dificulty thing that you see in other like sports. All I know is that the mothers I was sitting with expected us to get second place, and then were shocked when we got third, and they have all done the competitin thing before.

I did take some video...remember it is on my camera, so no sound...sorry. Also it is from a ways away, no zoom. I think Gwen is first on the right in the back row. I really need to pay more attentin to where she stands. This is not the whole routine, but the portion I could film in 15 seconds. Like Cornells football video you need to click on the box for it to take you to photobucket to view. Sorry. Enjoy the video. TTFN, Miki

I LOVE Halloween

I love the colors of autumn, and jumping in piles of leaves! The best is however, Halloween. Dressing up in costumes, and becoming a character for one night. Candy is good too, but I am too old to trick or treat. So I live vicariously through my children and now my dog. I usually make all my kids costumes. I have a problem spending upwards of $30 per costume, on poorly made articles that barely last one night. Sure I may spend a little more, and there is some time involved, but my kids end up with great costumes. That is not to say I have never purchased a costume. Sometimes it is easier, and sometimes it is the only way to get the desired effect. One year my son was superman with all the muscles. I couldn't make muscles....well I probably could have, but that is another story. A few years ago, Jacquelyn was Sully from Monsters Inc., I couldn't make that blue furry thing as nicely as what I found at Target for only 20 bucks. But I digress. This year I am only making Jacquelyn's costume. She is going to be Princess Leia, complete with the cinnamon buns hair. I am just about finshed with the dress. It needs a few snaps, and hook eyes, and it needs hemmed. It turned out awesome, and I will post pictures of it and the other kids costumes on or just after Halloween. I wanted to make the other kids' costumes, but they wouldn't decide on something, so time became and issue. Gwen finally decided on a female Vampire. I know I could have made the costume better, but oh well. Cornell will be a ganster with the pin stripe suit. I will need to replace the dickie and tie with a real shirt however. Clarece is a devil. I could never find a pattern, or any component of a pattern that I liked. I picked hers up for 10 bucks, so it wasn't a bad price. We will add some little touches to make it grand. So that leaves the dog. While looking for patterns for us. The girls' found one that they loved for Duke. After making it, I agree it suits him. Now we just need to get him used to wearing it. The picture I am posting is of him and Jacquelyn. Enjoy! TTFN, Miki

Latest Knitting Projects

So, even though I have been busy, I have still been knitting a little. I always like to have small projects with me to work on. Scarves, socks and the like work best. I found a pattern in Creative Knitting magazine, July 2006 that I liked. It was for a glass cozy. I made two of them in different shades of denim in DMC Senseo yarn. I really liked how they turned out. They are stretchy and fit nicely on both glasses and bottles. They also keep your hand from getting cold or wet. I am working on one now in red, that is a different kind of yarn. Red matches my kitchen so that makes the most sense. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Senseo in red, so made due with what they had. My only complaint with the Senseo is that it split really easy. This is my first time doing cables by hand, and I think they went really well. I think once I finish the red one, I will go back to socks for awhile. I still haven't made a pair to fit me, and my husband wants some too.


I finally finished the blanket for my cousins new baby Landon. I did a round, amish star again. This time it was in greens with grey. I used Caron Simply Soft in Sage, Dark Sage and Grey. For some reason this pattern was a pain this time around. It fell off the machine at least twice, and I can't tell you how many times I dropped stitches and had to pull out rows. I am glad it is done, and off to its new owner sometime today. My mom showed me the nursery set they decided on. It is a kid friendly jungle scene, so the greens will work nicely with what they chose. Who knew, I just wanted to try something different than the blues. I also think my theory about using a light and dark shade of the same color for the star was proven. I like this blanket as much as the one I did in blues, and much more than the purple and green one I did for my niece. My sister likes the purple and green one, but I think the star works better in a high and low shade.


Also Gwen knit another bag. This one is for her best friend Mackenzie back in Oregon. She used Cascade 220 again. Unfortunately her dad threw away the wrappers before I could write down the color number. They are pink...almost fuchia, and a light blend with the darker color in it. She is getting pretty good with the machine and she enjoys it. The girls at school who have seen the other bag she made all want one now, and she wants to know if she can sell them. I told her she could, but that it takes 3 skeins of yarn at about $8 each, so she would have to have a pretty high price tag to make any money. She said she didn't care, but I bet the girls at school would.


Well that is all I have for now. TTFN, Miki

Monday night lights update

Okay so I am new at this video thing. For some reason, it isn't working like I would like. If you click on the box where my video should be, it should take you to the photobucket website where I stored it and you can view it. Again it is hard to see, and there is glare from the light, but Cornell is the QB, he drops back and throws a pass. Of course the receiver doesn't get far, but so, it was still a nice pass. -M

Monday Night Lights

So, my sister has told me that I am not blogging enough. So much for my resolution to blog at least once a week. Well, ...sorry but I have been REALLY busy. My son is playing football and the nights we aren't practicing, we have a game, and my oldest daughter is cheering. Fortunately she is cheering for her brothers team. But soon her competions will start and that only adds more for me to do. My youngest has started Karate again, and that ties up Wed. Fortunately, my middle daughter is not doing anything right now, except Girl Scouts, which I am a leader for. I am also the co-leader in my youngests troop. But, at least I know where they are and who they are with, and what they are doing. I am also glad they are staying active.

My sister also asked that I include video of Cornell's game. Sorry for the quality, and the distance. Cornell is the quaterback and he threw a nice pass in this clip. I hope you enjoy it. I will try to get video of Gwen cheering on Sat., and post it too.
I also wanted to add that growing up in Eugene, Oregon, where I think only college football is important...GO DUCKS! It has been an experience here in Virginia, where Saturday game days are an experience unto themselves. All the teams in your league playing back to back. Music, play by play, and color over the sound system. Concessions, with a grill that includes a breakfast menu if you are there for the flag game. This is a serious business, and one that I am not accustom to, but am enjoying.
TTFN, Miki

The tie belt idea

In response to those who have commented on the tie belt idea, I just wanted to say that I wish it was ours. However, we found it in the latest issue of Family Fun magazine. She thought the idea looked like some of the belts that she had seen at the store, and that they would be easy to make. They are very easy to make, and so far very popular with the 10-12 year old crowd, oh and the mother of one of the girls she gave it to. Unfortunatley unless you are a very thing adult, or you can find ties for big and tall men(these would have extra length)it is not easy to make these for adults. You end up cutting the tie right about where it starts to get wider. This is usually 37 inches or so, and while that may fit around some people, you still need belt to cinch and an end to tuck into belt loops to look right. If you are unfamiliar with Family Fun magazine, I would encourage you to check it, or their website out, as there are lots of great and easy ideas there.

It Really Sucks To Lose A Bet...

Or so my son recently found out. Two months ago he signed up for football. This was his first year in full pads. I think in Oregon 5th graders are still playing touch. Anyhow, after an hour or so of struggling to get his pads in the pockets the right direction, he gave up proclaiming it to be "IMPOSSIBLE". Well, his twin sister loves a challenge, especially when it means bettering her brother. She quickly ask if she could try. He told her sure but she wouldn't be able to do it either because the pockets where too small and the pads too big. She said, "I bet I can." He said she couldn't. Too which she answered, "if I do, you have to put on my cheerleader uniform, lollies(the briefs for under the skirt) and all." He quickly agreed believing that she would never get them in, because it was "impossible" In a matter of seconds she was done. The pads in the right spots, and bending the right direction. Cory, my son, thought it was funny, and agreed to wear the uniform, when she gets it. Well....this last week the uniform arrived. I guess he thought she would forget, or we wouldn't make him do it...boy was he wrong. After telling him he was grounded(maybe a little extreme, but he needs to learn to stand by his word) until he paid up, he finally put the uniform on. He made me promise not to take pictures, and was dismayed when he realized I was only going to take one picture, not multiple pictures. Then the begging began...Mom please don't put this on your blog...yeah right, like I would pass this one up. Okay so maybe I am a little cruel...but he does look kinda cute. His younger sister even whistled at him. Maybe now he will know not to make a bet he wouldn't be willing to pay up on. TTFN, miki

Belts out of ties

My oldest daughter has been so creative lately. She has started to make the cutest cinch belts out of old ties. She made two last weekend aa a gift for her friend to go with the bag she knit and felted. The turned out so well that she just "had" to make more. Of course she wanted to raid her dads ties to get some really good ones. Plus, as she put it, he never wears ties anyway. Well he didnt let her go through the ties, but did give up a few. She then went to goodwill yesterday and found 20 more that she thought would be good belt choices. Of course when she got home, her dad then chose two that he wanted to keep. One was a nice belt choice, but also a very classic style tie. The other was only ok, and I secretly hope he never wears it. Oh wait I guess it isnt a secret because I told him, and now I am blogging about it. I took pictures of the ones she made last night for gifts. They are very cute. She is even talking about maybe making some and selling them. I like that idea. We will she what comes of it. TTFN, Miki

Gwens first machine knit project

I set my oldest daughter up on the knitting machine yesterday to make a gift for a friends birthday. She knit a simple little tote bag/purse. It turned out so cute. I made one a few years ago for a friend and loved it so much I didnt want to give it away. I feel the same about this one. Of course...I didnt make it. I showed her what she needed to do, and stayed close by to solve any problems. All in all she did a good job. She "unzipped" it once from the machine, but stopped after about 15 stitches so it was easy to rehang. And one time the whole machine nearly fell to the floor but she caught it and we only had to frog a few rows. I seamed it up for her and it felted so nicely. We used the kangamooknits pattern, that can be found on their website, or for free on the bond website. We just didnt but the pocket on the front. She used Cascade Quatro in color #5018 for the main body, and Cascade 220 in color # 9421 for the top, bottom and handles. She only needed two skeins for the main color, and one for the secondary. On a side note...I wish manufacturers would name their colorways, instead of numbering them. The colors are just too beautiful for a number in my oppinion. TTFN, Miki

Painting the girls room

I just finished painting my girls' bedroom. I wanted to share the focal point wall with you all because I love how it turned out. It was a bit of a pain to do, and there are still a few spots that will need some touch up. But, all in all I love how it turned out. The girls chose the colors to match their bedding. Each of the other three walls are one of the colors on the focal wall. The result is very bright and hip, IMHO. Hope you like it too.

puppy picture

here he is...

Brielle's blanket, my quickly growing puppy and a finger update

Well, I know it has been awhile since I've written. It is just that I have been furiously working on Jacquelyn's stocking. I really should take a picture so you can see the progress. Oh well. I did finally finish Brielle's blanket. I like the knitting, but to do the worm trim on the edge, and to work in all the loose ends is NO FUN! I know it is a necessary part of knitting, but I really dislike the finish work. I do have to say that I put it off a little as when Brielle was only a few weeks old she was hospitalized when she began vomiting blood. I did not want to finish the blanket and send it until we knew all was well. As far as I have been told she is fine. They have diagnosed her with an anal sphincter problem, and also with acid reflux. Apparently with "training" for the sphincter and medicine for the reflux, she should be fine. Why is it that I am hearing of lots of babies with acid reflux lately? My son as a baby spit up tons after every feeding. In fact it was pretty much non stop from feeding to feeding. All of his clothes were stained, and we had to warn everyone who held him to beware of spit. The doctor told me that as long as he was gaining weight it wasn't a problem. It makes me wonder if his diagnosis would be different now.

So anyhow, I have uploaded a picture of the blanket. It is pretty basically the pattern I do for most baby blankets. It is knit with Caron Simply Soft, in Iris, Orchid, and Grey Heather. The lavender color of the Orchid only shows up well on one of the squares in the picture.

I have also added a picture of the puppy. Duke is growing lots. We knew he was getting bigger, but when we took another picture by the basketball we were surprised at how much bigger he has gotten.

Lastly I have added a picture of my now mostly healed finger. Many people have sent me good wishes regarding it and I greatly appreciate it. I wanted to post a picture soon after the injury, but thought it might gross out to many people. Instead I waited and have drawn around where it was cut with a pen. There is still a nice dent in the finger that I imagine we be there for awhile if not forever. Also, there is a small knot of scar tissue right at the knuckle that seems to be attached to the nerve. I only know this because I have accidentally hit it a few times and thought I might die. I have also scraped it on the fly nut on the bottom of the cross stitch frame and thought I had cut it open again. Oww!

On a fun note. We took our kids for another concert at Innsbrook Pavilion. This last week we saw Train. This is a band we like and the kids are familiar with them. What a great concert!! They were terrific and we all had a great time. If you live in the Richmond area and have not been to a concert there I highly recommend it. They have a variety of different bands, and the prices are reasonable. Plus kids 12 and under are free. That in and of itself makes it worth it to us. We have seen Hootie and the Blowfish, and Blues Traveler there this year. Lots of fun in the outdoors in Virginia! TTFN, Miki

Oops! It won't let me add the dogs picture. I will try again later.

Where to start

So I saw the Doctor about my finger on Thursday. He said I couldnt have done much more damage without cutting the finger off. Well isnt that great to know. Anyhow, I hit/cut the finger in 3 spots. In the first spot I only nicked and bruised the finger, the second, and worst spot, I cut and hit/bruised the artery and nerve. Which I also did to a lesser degree to the third spot, in between the 2 fingers. He said that it would hurt a lot for a few weeks. Great! He also said that he was worried about a staph infection so he was putting me on antibiotics. One of the two reasons I went to him, infection. The other was of course pain. On the pain front, I didn't get any good pain killers, but 800mg. of good old Ibuprofen. That seems to be doing the trick, so I guess Dr. knows best. So aside from pointing out the obvious(it was a bad cut)and applying neosporin and a badage, all I got out of the visit was a prescription. Oh well. In a similar vein, the antibiotic he put me on is the worst. It gives the worst stomache aches, even when taken with food and with a prilosec in me. YUCK!

So....the big news....we got a new puppy!!!Yeah! Except for the waking up a few times a night, and the constantly needing to know where he is and what he is into, it isnt too bad. Oh and the keeping the kids from smothering him to death. I have become so accustom to sleeping all night, that now I remember what it was like to be a nursing mom. The good news is that I will get him sleeping through the night faster than a human baby

We purchased an 8 week old male pug puppy. He is so tiny and adorable. This is the second pug we have owned. We have found them to be very good dogs for our family. TTFN, Miki

moda dea website

So the first time I linked it, I put a comma where a period should be. So I went to edit and fixed it and republished, and it hasnt changed so. Here is the right link for the Moda Dea site

A note about the socks

Mary reminded me that I needed to share the pattern and colorway on Gwens socks. Well I did so in the comments section under the sock picture thinking that everyone would be able to see it. But unless you click on comments, you won't. So here it is again. The yarn was Lion Brand magic stripes in the stonewashed blue pattern. The pattern was "Knitted Socks" by Grace Alexander. I found this pattern on the Moda Dea website for their Sassy Stripes yarn. It was a free pattern when I found it. I think you need to look under free patterns for Sassy Stripes yarn on the Moda Dea website.

Hooray

Yeah for me and Gwen! Or is it Gwen and I? Yes I think it is. Well anyway and either way, we finished removing the wallpaper in the kitchen. I will still need to paint, but it is a huge improvement on the partially removed paper that we have been looking at since Oct.. Plus I like the white walls better than the paper that was up there. There is something to be said for making a home your own, rather than living in what you what you purchased. Everyone has diferent tastes and one should not be subject to the tastes of the previous owner.

Our family room is a sorta peach color, which I guess isnt that bad. But up against the now white walls of the dining room, I am not fond of it. My husband thinks it still works, but I will soon convince him that it will need painted. It just looks dirty to me now.

On a completely different note...I cut my finger pretty bad yesterday instictively reaching for a picture frame that was falling down our stairs. Just as I reached for it, it broke apart and the inside of my right ring finger was sliced by the glass. I took a pretty good piece out near the second knuckle. It bled a really long time and just when I thought it was done bleading it started again. My husband and sister both thought I needed to go to the doctor for stitches. But my answer to them was to stitch what, the piece was missing. My sister suggested they might cauterize it. Yeah just what I want something hot, burning the spot that I cut! Well now a day later, my finger, and whole hand for that matter hurts. So I made a doctors appointment just to have it looked at. At this point I want to be on the safe side. Also I really dont want it to get infected. I like to think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I mean I did give birth twice naturally, and I didnt cry yesterday...all though I wanted to. But, right now, I could go for some pain pills. Of course typing isnt helping anything, and I keep making mistakes and I use that finger to back space and when I do, pain shoots through my hand. So now we get to see what the doctor has to say. TTFN, Miki

Wallpaper

Well I have spent the majority of the day removing the wallpaper in the kitchen, dining room and hallways. What a hot, yucky job! But, the dining room looks so much brighter with just white walls. I will still need to paint, but it looks so much better. Granted there was nothing really wrong with the wallpaper. I have seen worse, but it just wasn't my thing. My oldest daughter Gwen helped. Of course she knows that as soon as the kitchen is done we can paint her room. I am glad she helped though, or I wouldnt be as far along as I am. TTFN, Miki

Socks and progress bars

Well I finally figured out progress bars. I told my sister earlier today that I would need to make a progress bar for my progress bars. For some reason I was having trouble figuring it all out. Well today I had a break through, and they are now fully installed. Yeah! Kinda corny I know, but gives me and anyone who reads this a perspective of some of the things I am working on. It will hopefully also keep me on track, and help get things finished in a timely manner.

Keeping this in mind...I finished Gwen's socks. They were orginally my socks, but I didnt think the first one fit as good as it should, and it fit her perfect. I loved the colorway, and loved most of the pattern, but it had me stopping and cutting the yarn and then restarting at the heel. This, because I wasnt thinking, made the two socks just a little different. Hard to tell unless I mention it and you are looking for it. Plus, she will probably be wearing shoes most of the time. The frustratin thing is that I restated the second sock MANY times to make them match and then they don't. I know I am being anal about this, but I like my socks to match. Anyhow she is tickeled to have them and I have one project done, not counting the progress bars. TTFN, Miki

Sharing a name

So I have had a pretty interesting week. My mom called on Tuesday to let me know that a cousin of mine had her baby. While on the phone I ranted to her a little about a fight that my husband and I had got into. My husbands father had passed away a few weeks ago and the arduous task of tying up loose ends has begun. His financial advisor had called us to let us know that one of Dads accounts had beneficiaries listed and so it would not have to go through probate and could be dispersed immediately. He gave us for options, but didn't tell us how much money we were talking. I think this is kind of important when trying to decide what you want done with the money. Anyhow, when we called him back he started asking for all kinds of information like my husbands work info and gross income, and my social security number. Well I refused to give it to my husband. As a side note I think this is both funny and sad. I know his social and he doesn't know mine, so I had the option of refusing and he wouldn't. Then again, I wouldn't just give it out without a logical explanation. Anyhow, I ask why it was needed and the answer was I don't know, he says he needs to open an account for us to get the money. This all may be true, but that was not what was initially told to us, and seemed a little hokey. My thought is he is legally bound to give us this money no matter what. So when my husband got off the phone he was a little upset with me and said you know he can get that information just about anywhere. Now I know that I am not the only person who holds the key to that info, but he would have to work pretty hard to get it.
So as I am telling all this to my mom, she disagreed that it could be found. And I told her that you can get just about anything online anymore if you use the right programs and take the time. Which, by the way I don't think he will do. So as my mom and I are chatting about this, she decides to google my name. I bet you were wondering when I was getting to the topic huh? Anyhow, apparently she had never done this before and was rather surprised to get 4 pages of hits. I had done this before and was not surprised. Now some of you may be confused as to her surprise, and others may be saying 4 pages big deal, I get 40. But here is the kicker. My mom made up my name and I have never seen it anywhere before. It is spelled Mikalan, and pronounced Michael Ann. So 4 pages is a lot. The most surprising thing though was that they were not all in reference to me. There were some for a real estate agent in Lake Oswego, OR. Now I had seen these before when I had google myself and just figured that it was an ethnic name that sounded very different. But on Tuesday I decided to email her and ask. Much to my surprise she pronounces it the same way. She is 4 years older than me, so I am no longer the original, or unique. It is a strange feeling to say or type your name in reference to someone else, if you never have before.
I have given all my kids names that are not very common, but are by far unique. I wanted them to have a name that was theirs. My sister was a Sarah, along with 5 other little girls in her first grade class and I never wanted that for my kids. But, I have never heard or seen my name before. Sure I have heard things close like Mikayla Ann, but that is still different. So now I share a name with someone else. For me it is a strange feeling, and yet I imagine I am not too likely to run into her so it wont really be a problem. My mom said that the next thing we know it will be on the top 10 baby names, and all because I moved to the East coast and have spread the contact that was once limited to the West coast. I don't suppose that year in Minnesota hurt things either. Of course I don't think my name will ever make the top ten, or even become common, but I guess I need to prepare for the eventuality of hearing it more. TTFN, Miki