Tiny Happy

This post is about the tiny, happy, beautiful things. The things that are so easy to take for granted yet bring so much happiness.


The smell of fresh baked cookies...




The beauty of a cookie jar filled to the brim with cookies you made yourself.



















A book so good you read this much in one day of stolen moments.


A husband who the lizards love to be around even though he's kind of a dork because he never let's his wife get a proper picture without doing something silly.









Rylin would like for everyone to know that this is what he would look like if he was a "china guy". (We had Chinese take away one Friday)


















Finn would like everyone to know that this is what he would look like if he was Rylin. I blame this sort of behavior on the fact that my husband the afore mentioned dork contributed to half the DNA of these kids.















I inspected a friends new baby... meet Brendan. I held him, smelled him and loved him. (During which time Bob was hysterically flipping out about how I shouldn't touch the baby or even allow them in my home and that it's "bad luck" and babies are "catching" and to please keep the baby outside.)




I started an autumn quilt to hang in my dining room it was just waiting for the binding to be sewn onto the back.

























I also cast on a sock, knit on it a while, realized it was the very wrong size ripped it out and cast it on again using smaller needles.


All a bunch of little things that make me happy.

One Picture. One Word.

Beautiful...

Ravelympics Progress

The Striped Felted Tote is completed here is before and after felting pictures. I felted it yesterday and today I cast on a new project, The Omo Scarf. I'm using a turquoise handspun superwash wool yarn that a friend gifted me for my birthday. The scarf is a fashion scarf rather than a scarf for warmth. With all the rain and wind it is definately good knitting weather. Our power was out today for quite a while and Bob hooked up the generator, if it weren't for the humidity that makes a/c a necessity for comfort I would have been content to just sit by the window and knit with no power.

Your guess is as good as mine...

Here is the current forecast for Fay. This is this morning's forecasted track. I point this out because by this afternoon it will be different. Get out the generator; go put it away... get it out, put it away... take the furniture of the deck; put it back it will go on and on until either it starts to blow and rain or the sun comes out and people who jumped the gun by hanging plywood over their windows look a big sort of fool. (My apologies to the man down the street whom I saw hanging plywood yesterday evening. Hope it comes buddy, to save you the shame)

Another thing is that no matter how the forecast starts out it always ends up in our area on a weekend (this was what happened in 2005 anyway) so you didn't even get a day off from school or work because of it. (Not me, I don't get days off. Not even CHRISTMAS! I need to get with the union about that...)

There is an upside though. The media is having a wonderful good time with this, it's a big huge story with the propensity for loss of life, property, flooding and government aid (in their opinion, I don't think it's such a big deal) but for a very short time at least we're not hearing so much about Barrak Obama and that's a good thing.

Should it come I am prepared; I have my book, book light, knitting and a rocking chair on the front porch where I will sit and watch the wind blow, the rain fall and pond and discuss with Bob how I am a terrible role model for the children sitting outside during a storm and no, he will absolutely not video me standing out in the yard in my rain coat like Jim Cantori on the weather channel and for me to get myself in this house and act like a grown woman and responsible mother. I wonder if it will make my neighbors feel any better to know that Bob and I also spend a good amount of time during these storms speculating on which of your trees are most likely to fall first and whether or not we think it will be on your home. Don't be upset. After all, what are folks to do when the satellites out?

First Day of School 2008

This morning the boys were up early, breakfasted, dressed and ready to go.... to school.

In my defense Rylin dressed himself. He inisted that he wear that shirt because it was a 'special day' and thus a button up shirt was desirable. I figured it wasn't so unreasonable for a first grader to demand a little individuality so I relented.

Look at the van and look at Gage, see how tall he's getting?

Frankie is busy concentrating on staying upright do to the amount of school supplies in his back pack.

The day was quite quiet without them. When we were walking to the car this morning after walking them into their classrooms Finn refused to walk and stood pointing back to the school insisting we were forgetting Rylin.

I missed them today. Summer seemed so short this year.

Finished just in time.

Yesterday I spent the day in my room finishing the quilt while some of the boys lay on the bed and watched a movie.









I put the last stitch into the binding at 11:33pm, Saturday night. That's pretty close since I handed it over to the lady running the auction at 9:45am this morning. Good thing the Olympics were on to keep me awake last night!

I'm glad it's done. I don't think I'm going to sew anymore though... I think I'll just knit.

Progress

Here is the finished quilt top for the church fundraiser.






























The tote needs to be cast off, the handles knit and felted. There is definately progress but not enough.

Happy 6th Birthday, Rylin!

We had pineapple upside down cake. Rylin got a new scooter, a remote control helicopter and a harmonica that Finn insists is his.

Church Quilt

Here is what I have done so far for the church fundraiser quilt.

I signed up for the knitting olympics on Ravelry and now I'm thinking it would have been better to sign up for the quilting olympics.

It must be complete by Sunday the 17th. I wonder if I can do it...

Fort Matanzas Part 2 - A Perfect Beach

Here is the view to the South and North along the beach.














Frankie and Rylin played in the waves and Finn walked Mrs. M. along the beach. We took about a 2 mile walk along the beach and picked loads of shells and swam in little tide pools along the way. We had a great time and we look forward to taking Bob to this beach.

A Trip to Fort Matanzas

Friday the boys and I met The Minota's at Fort Matanzas.


We tried to take a group picture by the very old oak tree. Do you think maybe two of the kids were having a disagreement?






We rode the ferry over to the fort. Who's more excited the kids or Mr. M.?



We listened to the Park Ranger tell us the history of Fort Matanzas.





















We had a nice fried chicken lunch and took more tree pictures.

Unexpected Blessings

Two good things happened yesterday that were quite unexpected. First, a cordless phone that Finn had thrown in the pool last Friday and hadn't worked since then began suddenly working again.

Second, Callie the Cat had been missing since Saturday. We scoured the neighborhood looking for her, made posters and put them up around the neighborhood. Yesterday afternoon I received a call from a lady saying she believed she had our cat. She brought her over and indeed it was Callie. She had followed some ladies who were jogging and made it to the other side of the neighborhood where she wandered around until this lady took her in to be with her other cats. She was very sad to hand her over to me, was crying and had renamed her "Puppet". I didn't not ask this woman if it ever occured to her that this was someone else's cat that they were missing, I just thanked her for returning her.

Callie is back home and being loved and squeezed whether she wants to or not. As well as lying in wait for me to leave my laptop so she can lay on the keyboard and refuse to get up. We honestly didn't think we would ever see her again but God is good and brought her home.

Some Finished Quilt Blocks

I finished some quilt blocks, there are 14 in all. That's about all I've accomplished.

Family Beach Day

Saturday we went to Villano Beach. The water temp was perfect not freezing but cool enough to be refreshing. There were enough waves to have fun in them but no so rough that Finn & Rylin couldn't go in. We got there about 11:30am and left around 4pm it was a pretty fun day and it's great that Finn is old enough now that we can all go to the beach without too much hassle. After two years of sitting home. We invested in a dining canopy that can be set up easily on the beach to provide some shade which makes it much more enjoyable to be able to get out of the sun whenever you wish.