Autumn Inspirations

I finished my fall apron.  It's nothing fancy, but it can be completed in under an hour... besides, I love aprons and you can never have enough!  They come in handy when you are baking half moon cookies.  We brought in the cabinet that Bob refinished.  He said he wasn't quite done but I was tired of waiting.

We enjoyed some pretty cool days and evenings about two weeks ago and took advantage by spending a lot of time outdoors.  It's a good thing we did because autumn is over; it's summer again.

Look at Finn's sweater in the last picture, he looks like a little Canadian.

The Lace Scarf

I finished the lace scarf and it's busy being blocked.  Gilbert the Great and Terrible was of course busy guarding it and Bob was teasing him that he was "going to touch the knitting!" 

It is so soft and I love the pattern and the color but it is not keeping blocked well.  It keeps rolling in on itself.  I'm thinking it may be the silk mixed in with the wool, I've come to understand the silk doesn't block as well as pure wool.

I'm going to block it again and leave it for a couple days, I'll show pics when I'm done...

Finn's Post

Finn would like everyone to know that he now has a real big boy bed. Also, that regardless of this he will continue to crawl into Mommy and Daddy's bed each and every night and kick them till they bruise.





Do you suppose this means that it's not Rylin's desk anymore?

Needle Arts

Up until the past week or so I feel I've been making very little progress especially in the knitting department but I'm back at it now. The return of television that is not entirely garbage may be the cause because I'm more likely to be sitting on the couch in the evening with Bob instead of off reading a book after the kids are in bed.

I cast on the Celtic Tote because most of the parts of it are just stockinette so reading etc. can be done at the same time.

There has been progress made on the lace scarf, this is the re-knit because I ripped it entirely out once due to an error. (mine not the patterns) I am angry that the camera doesn't do the color justice. It is not turquoise, it is green. Close to the color of the Bayou, I mean, pool. The bag next to my knitting is from Cindy who gifted me one of her bags. It is the perfect size for knitting or to bring books to church etc. It is wonderful to get handmade gifts from good friends...


















I am also gauging my ability and patience at piecing the Double Wedding Ring Quilt by putting together one block before cutting out the bazillion pieces required to make one quilt. I got a little stuck when it came to some rather vague direction so I turned to the great answerer of questions: the innernet. Guess what I found out? Number one: There is a youtube video for everything in the whole wide world except for what I am looking to find out about at the time. Number two: That most people who make double wedding ring quilts now do not buy the acrylic templates and painstakingly cut out pieces and sew crazy curves together, they just go ahead and paper piece them...

Why did that not occur to me? Why??

Junkiness

Saturday morning Frankie, Rylin and I went out to yard sales around our neighborhood. There were three, we stopped at two. (I do not stop where I see only baby stuff or little girl stuff, lifes too short.) Also, most people have yard sales here even if it says "garage sale" as a matter of fact if you stray toward the opening of the garage they look at you all shifty eyed like you're going to go in and steal their circa 1970 Craftsman Drill.

Well at one we saw a school desk and Rylin expressed interest in it but only mildly after all it was green with flowers and the name "Jo-Beth" painted on it. So we leave start driving down the road and get this.... RYLIN IS CRYING!!! I question him as to the cause of his tears and it's because he wants the desk. And so I say, "It is a girl's desk Rylin" and then I hear, "So! You can fix it mom! Make it a boys desk!" I drive back to the garage sale in reverse.

When we got home and after Bob gave me the "What were you thinking?" look regarding the girldesk, I told him about a cabinet at one of the sales and that I thought it would look good if fixed up under the kitchen cabinets that hang in the middle of nowhere in my kitchen. (After all, if I have to fix stuff up why shouldn't he?) So he went down with his truck and offered the amount I told him to offer as it was later in the afternoon and did the guy really want to haul it back into his garage? The man accepted and Bob brought it home.

I got to work on the girly desk with paint stripper and a sander. Rylin wanted flames painted on it but I told him it would not in fact make it look like he was doing his homework faster and Mommy isn't very artsy in that way that's Aunt Carrie's thing. So now he has a blue desk and I used chalk board paint on the top surface.

Work commenced on the cabinet on Tuesday. I'll update as it progresses. We are arguing at the moment as my vision of what it should look like differs from the nightmare that he envisions. It's his project. He can make it how he likes. Or I could just go get started and um... you know, make it my project and then it could be how I like. All is fair in love and war you know. If you think it's not, just remember... he cut my babies' curls off!

Nervous Sock Completed

I've completed the second of Gage-Michael's socks I couldn't find the matching yarn without buying it online and paying for delivery for just the little bit I needed to finish them. So I picked up some Bernat Sox yarn at Jo-ann's and finished the foot and toe.

The Patons Kroy Sock yarn I was using washed up unbelievably soft; which is good because Gage was worried they'd be itchy.

In pursuit of procuring more Patons Kroy I read some reviews online and everyone seems to like the colors changes and softness, but... most had the same opinion as me - that Patons is all crazy in their mind for thinking that two skeins will knit one pair and that having to buy 3 skeins of yarn for a pair of socks at $6 a skein is totally not a good deal. It is so nice to have one's opinion shared so that you can be assured it is not you yourself who is crazy in your mind.

I will be sending these out to Gage Monday which is good because he's getting winter boots this weekend as they may be seeing some snow next week. Oh, and he is totally okay with the toe of one not matching because that part is in the shoe and who will see it anyway. (You have to check these things with teenagers)

Godlessness in America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuAVgmWt0U

The Weekend

Saturday we spent the day at the beach. I got the truck stuck this time as Bob stayed home because he had some work to catch up on.

Sunday afternoon we watched football. We wore our jaguars shirts and Dad and Cheryl wore their Texans shirts. It worked out great that not only were they playing each other but they were playing in Houston so the game wasn't blacked out here. There was lots of banter going back and forth during the game. The Jags won in spite of the fact that the refs might as well have put on a Texans jersey.

After the game Bob & Finn made us chicken & homemade noodle soup. Hmmm...

A Night Out

My Dad and Step-Mom, Cheryl flew in from Houston Thursday afternoon. Friday Bob worked from home and we went to the outlet mall in St. Augustine and then headed home and got ready to go out to dinner. Our neighbor came over to watch the boys and we headed out to The Chart House for dinner.

Cheryl works for the company that owns The Chart House so we were sat at a VIP table, our names were on the menu and we met everyone from the manager to the chef. We got a 50% discount as well and Bob and I agreed it was the best dinner we've ever had.

The restaurant is right on the river so afterword we outside to walk off some of those calories from the hot chocolate lava cake we all shared (we were all pretty full). The blue in the backround of the outside pictures is The Hart Bridge, Jacksonville is much prettier at night.

A Quick Taste of Fall

We're getting a little feel of fall for a couple days at least, so when I woke up and actually had a day where I wanted to wear socks I put them on and Finn and I headed off to the store. Not to mention it was the first time I've opened my windows for a full 24 hour period since April.

Granny Smith apples were on sale for 99cents/pound which is really good here. And I baked a couple pies. As you can see folks were into one before I could even get around to snapping pictures of the first pies of the season. On the other hand it's great to know they're appreciated.

These were served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot caramel sauce and whipped cream. (I never should've taken in the Christmas Gift Pants from last year...)

The whole week has been pretty nice to be outside and we've been taking advantage. My Dad and Cheryl bought the boys remote control cars and it was a great gift since they've been outside a lot and it gives them something to do other than fight over who's the captain of the starship playground!

I'm finally starting to catch up on sleep. I wasn't sleeping very well before Gage left, then hardly at all after and then with Dad and Cheryl visiting and you only see people every few years you're up way longer than you should be in order to make the most of your time together (1 am almost every night). Bob actually tried to send me to bed early Tuesday after they left, saying he figures I've gotten about 20 hours sleep in the past week and I'm going to end up sick like always happens when I'm sleep deprived for too long. I spent some alone time with my family though, because you always miss that when you don't have it. And told him I'd be fine because I did the math and had about 24 hours sleep in the past week. Bob on the other hand is very wise and goes to bed at least close to his usual time no matter who is here. It was a very fun time and was worth it!