4 days at home

Wednesday I took Michelle to work for 4 and never made it home before she had to be picked up. I hit the grocery stores and when it was obvious I needed to kill some time. I used the last of my gift card at AC Moore and bought a bamboo handled G hook, grabbed a package of mill end yarn I bought at Big Lots that day and sat at her work (they have a table near the entrance) and crocheted. We got home pretty close to 10.

It's a rarity but I had 4 straight days when I didn't leave the house this weekend. Drew took Michelle to work on Thursday, Tom picked her up. She had Friday and Saturday off and there were no activities planned. Most of us skipped church on Sunday after Sean woke up complaining his eyes hurt. I figured he had a headache. Danielle said she didn't feel good either but I'm not sure if she was just trying to jump on the sympathy train with Sean. They both have had yucky noses so I'm sure she wasn't feeling 100%. Then Tom took and picked up Michelle for me.

What's even more amazing is that I was in an organizing mood and my body cooperated. I cleaned out a cupboard or two, scrubbed down cupboard fronts, cleaned out the laundry room and did laundry non stop for days. I'm happy to say that I was down to a tiny bit in the hamper. Then Eileen and Olivia cleaned their room. No problem...I did that too. What the problem is...I slacked back off on keeping the machine going and it's quickly piling back up!!!!! Last night I declared that no one could wear clothes anymore. I don't think anyone was listening.

Usually when I'm in that type of mood I can be someone who you don't want to be around....especially if you get in my way. This weekend was different. I just puttered around and every once in a while decided...I'm taking a break. I'd grab a coffee, my crochet hook, some yarn and sit for about an hour. I'm lurking at a few crochet alongs over at Crochetville and have started a few of their projects. Problem is there are too many of them...I want to do almost all of them! lol

So my WIP's (works in progress) are....

Jackson Square Blanket that the Captain Hook and the Yarn Pirates are doing. I have 4 squares done so far. I'm not sure who or why I'm making it...just for practice I guess.

The Tree of Life Afghan that I found through the Tree of Life CAL (crochet along). I have a wedding in May and I figured this would make a good shower gift. I'm on row 21 of the first set of trees. It's a bit harder to do around here since I have to concentrate and count my stitches more. I'm a little bit disappointed in my yarn. I'm using aran Bernat worsted I had stashed. In natural light it looks ivory/cream colored. In artificial light it can take on a yellowish coloring. I'm afraid I'm going to put all this work into it and then not like it enough to give as a gift.

Working the Tree of Life as a shower gift also allows me to join along in the new Somebody is Getting Married CAL. And when that's done I have 2 other weddings I want to make gifts for, so it works for me. I've also thought to offer to make wedding favors for them. (hearts for Drew's, snowflake ornaments for Pat's maybe?) but we'll see.


I also have the Midnight Brites afghan. However I haven't done too much on it since the last time I mentioned it. Maybe I need a CAL for that! lol

My last WIP is MIA at the moment.



I seem to have misplaced the baby blanket I was working on (on row 44 of 73 rows). Last time I had it I was working on it in the bathroom while supervising Danielle and Sean in a bath. I stuck the bag into the closet before they got out of the tub so that they wouldn't get it wet. When I went to get it, it wasn't there. I haven't looked too hard for it. I'm hoping I took it into my room when I went in there to get their outfits. I'm dreading the thought that someone thought it was a bag of trash and collected it before Tom left for the dump on Saturday. Finding and working on this would make it possible to join in the Baby CAL. Then there's the things I want to make for Drew's baby. And the things I can donate to various charities. Baby things make for quick projects.

Then there's the...12 months of Crochet Christmas Caroling, the February Charity Blitz (might still join in that one) and the Lumberjack Flannelghan to name of few. But there's too few hours in the day.

I am happy to announce that I can share pictures now. While out shopping last Wednesday I bought a memory card! YIPPEE! And wouldn't you know it...first thing I walk in the door I find this...



And the next day Danielle and Sean were too cute sitting in the new chairs, reading.






John and Sean playing guitar together.



So now I need to get to work and keep up the momentum I started this weekend. Tomorrow I won't be able to do much as I have to go to beer pouring at the Syracuse Dome. Thursday is Carrie's appointment for the TODAY study. Then the last day of school Friday before midwinter break and ISLAND WEEK!!!!

I can hear them laughing from here

This morning has been a dandy already. Tom informed me when I got home from beer pouring last night that Oreo's lead had broke. He also informed me that he fixed it. Well he may have fixed it for normal everyday use. What Tom doesn't realize though is that Oreo goes absolutely berserk when the school bus pulls up to the house. I think you can guess what happened. As the kids were climbing into the bus Oreo managed to undo Tom's fix. Before I knew it he was standing in front of the bus barking his head off. The bus was gently and ever so slowly trying to persuade him that it wasn't the best place to be (with a car waiting behind it no less). Oreo wouldn't be persuaded. The bus continued to creep very slowly down the street with the maniac dog dancing and barking at it's front tires in front of it.

I didn't know what to do. Sean was up but no one else. I planted Sean in front of the computer, threw on my sneaks and ran out the door screaming. They were pretty far down the street. I definitely couldn't run down there, I'd drop dead from exhaustion before I made it to them. Plus I was sure my kids on the bus didn't want everyone else to experience their mom running in half on sneaks, no coat...oh it's just not a pretty sight. I tried my no fail method of getting Oreo back to the house...turning on the van like we're about to pull out of the driveway. No go...after all why would he bother coming home for a puny van when he had the mother of all catches under his control already! I was standing in the road screaming for Oreo, trying to decide my next step (grabbing Sean, throwing him in his carseat and driving down to where the bus was so I could snag the stupid dog). Then the bus put on it's blinking lights and a kid got off the bus, crossed in front of it and came out the other side with Oreo in his hands. The bus turned off it's lights and continued on it's way. I could barely make out who it was. I finally heard his faint yells and realized it was Jake. He dragged the dog home by his collar, no small feat. The bus driver is a sweetheart. She called our house before she left the school for her 2nd trip. She wanted to make sure Jake and Oreo got home safely.

So Jake went to school on 2nd trip (an hour late) and I had to write him an excuse for his tardiness. I had NO idea what to say. I couldn't say he overslept or that he missed the bus...everyone knew he didn't. So I wrote...

Please excuse Jacob's tardiness today. We had a major loose dog incident. Thank You.

Now the question is...will they accept it as a legal excuse....after they pick themselves up off the floor and wipe the tears from their eyes of course.

Maybe I WILL give Oreo that bath I was thinking of giving him today...he HATES it! Serves him right! :op~~~~~

Full weekend

I should know better then to set deadlines on here. I know I said I'd get my Honest Scrap post up last weekend but as usual, things happen. I have a post started if that means anything. I worked beer pouring last Saturday and then concessions for the Syracuse vs Georgetown game Monday night. By the end of the game I felt like I'd been run over with a truck and had a massive headache. It lasted well into Wednesday and was only subdued to a dull roar with ibuprofen. Carrie and Luke both ended up with one last week too. Thursday found me driving through a blizzard and starting to go off the road. When I left home it was blue skies with wind driven snow drifts here and there...nothing too bad if you drove carefully. By the time I'd dropped off Michelle and made it half way home we were into snow and eventually total white outs. Even though it was daytime I had a hard time seeing where the sides of the road were. Luckily things let up enough to make the trip not too treacherous on the way back to pick up Michelle. For a while I thought we'd have to get a motel room in the city. lol Much to our chagrin school wasn't even delayed the next day.

Michelle had Friday off. A day to stay home and get some things accomplished. First on the list was the taxes...we NEED our refund! Now I'm counting down the days until it gets here. Thankfully we don't have to wait for months for like in the old days. I managed to get some much needed things done here but was limited due to rationing propane since we're almost out. We managed to make it last through the weekend, allowing the kids to shower for school today. PHEW! Hopefully they'll come today. I'm dying to bake cookies and get caught up on the laundry.

Saturday was FREEZING out! When I got up it was -7 degrees Fahrenheit. At least it wasn't snowing. lol The kids were bouncing off the walls because WE WERE GOING TO A HOTEL!!! My niece won a free weekend for a local inn's bridal suite in a nearby town. She was only going to use it for Friday night so asked Della if she wanted to use it with her little kids. Della then lost her mind and invited me and my 4 youngest kids. I was equally insane and actually said yes. I thought Danielle was going to jump out of her skin waiting until it was time to go. When Della pulled up to the house to pick us up Danielle just kept yelling...IS SHE HERE? IS SHE REALLY HERE? REALLY? SHE'S HERE? REALLY REALLY? I had to hurry and get her out the door so she wouldn't explode.

The place was awesome and if I had a memory card (which I hope to get in the next few weeks!!) I could actually show you it. It was a loft bedroom over a sitting area/kitchenette. To get to the loft was a wood spiral staircase. The counters were all granite. The bathroom was tiled throughout with a huge shower room. The kids were thrown for a loop because there wasn't a door or curtain it. We had to explain that the shower was made so that the water wouldn't leave the stall area and didn't need one. There was a huge wood door with a stained glass window on one wall. When I opened it my eyes practically popped out of my head. It was an executive conference room. It was a beautiful dining and sitting area with an awesome view of the river. The walls were a light buttercream with dark wood moulding. The floors were red cherry maybe (at least they were stained a really dark red/brown). There was a massive table that fit 14 huge wood upholstered chairs. Along with a wetbar with a second fridge. The sitting area had a couch with 2 chairs overlooking a chest of drawers coffee table and a gas fireplace. (It took me a few hours but I finally found the switch to turn it on!) The furniture was all Stickley!! YIKES! It was mission style furniture so was sturdy but it's expensive!! Not something you want the kids climbing all over and eating on. They actually did pretty well until the very end when Danielle broke the rules. She went upstairs (which she wasn't suppose to do) with juice (no one was suppose to have up there). The juice ended up spilling on the bed cover.

Most of the kids settled down pretty well. I lucked out and Sean feel asleep nursing and didn't wake up when I put him down like he usually does. Danielle took a bit to convince but went without too much trouble. I'd say I barely slept but I'm not sure I was awake any more then I would be at home lately. As I knew he would be, Sean was up at the crack of dawn. I TRIED TRIED TRIED to keep him quiet. As long as he had a finger up to his lips he'd remember to whisper. As soon as it wasn't there...it was full volume mode. The first thing out of his mouth was...Della here? Della an aunt (we've been talking to him about him being an uncle when Drew's baby is born). Go bye bye to the bouncy house!!! I settled him down for a nursing session to keep him quiet. Mid nurse he stops and looks up at me and says... I lub you. Talk about heartmelting. I don't think anyone slept very well. Which made the day ahead a little bit harder.

We packed up and then ate a really nice continental breakfast in a library that barely fit us...luckily there wasn't anyone needing to eat in there at the time. When we got back to the room we realized it was still a bit early for us to get to church so we had some time to kill. The older kids settled upstairs for a movie while Della and I sat in the conference room with Disney on for the kids and more coffee for us. Finally it was time to leave. We all packed into Della's van, stopped by her house to pick up the lunch and dessert Marielle had made for everyone and then onto church. We then had a leisurely day hanging out with the ladies, eating a yummy lunch and watching the kids jump in the bouncy house, run around and fall apart due to exhaustion.

Sean had me laughing last night. He was tired and was climbing into my lap for a nighttime nursing. He suddenly looked at me and said...Where Della? When I explained that she was at her house he fell apart and started crying...DEELLLLLA! DEELLLLAAAAA! It took a bit of work but I finally calmed him down enough to nurse and fall asleep. The night ended with us watching Slumdog Millionaire with Tom (one of the few movies he's requested to see).

This morning has been interesting. Eileen was going to throw up, Olivia's throat is scratchy and red and Danielle has been crying about everything and anything since she got up. I still say the weekend was worth it.

We had a nice 3 day weekend.

Nothing pressing was on the agenda which is a rare thing. Drew and Allison came over, picked up Sean and Danielle and took them to Chuck E Cheese. Drew didn't want to take Sean because all he had to wear on his feet were princess lightup sneaks and it was just wrong. You hardly even noticed what design was on the side of the shoes! Well he took him but he brought him home with royal blue mud boots on instead. LOL Guess they stopped at Walmart before they went to CEC. Thanks Drew (or should I say Allison), Sean loves his new boots! And they're so easy to get on and off for him. I can see him getting a lot of use out of them this spring and summer. The kids had a blast at Chuck E Cheese. Sean is still talking about it and wants to go back. Olivia asked if maybe they could go for her birthday. It's the only time they kids have gone before...when Della and I took them there for "Olivia's Birthday" on Val's birthday (the 9th). I really want to do something special for Olivia's birthday but Chuck E Cheese wasn't on my idea list. Maybe if she really wants to go, we will.

My sister's youngest, Emily was here for the weekend. I managed to get her handwarmers done I owed her for Christmas. I also made up one of Amanda's. I was hoping to get those done and off my todo list too. Unfortunately they're black which is very hard to work with in poor lighting and the lighting stinks in this house once the sun goes down. Emily left early in the day so I didn't have time to get the second one done before she left. So what do I do? I put if off and started something else. *heavy sigh* I don't get why I just don't get them done so I can stop thinking about them! But no! That'd be too easy.

In my early morning awake time (mentioned my funky sleep thing in an earlier post) I started thinking about Liz....and feeling guilty. I haven't really talked to her since she left. We've chatted a few short times on facebook but nothing too much. I miss her yet it must seem like I don't care. :o( The last time I talked to her she mentioned going to England for the summer. That means she won't make it to Drew's wedding. I told her it was ok if she was ok with it. He'll get over it and we can really let her "be there" with Skype. I can just carry her around on a laptop. lol She didn't think that was really funny...but then again none of my kids think what I say or do is.

Drew's wedding.... I asked Allison the other night if they had anything done for it besides pick the date...June 6th, their anniversary. I asked her if we were waiting until the 4th to make the plans. Again, I wasn't funny. Oh well. I don't mind doing things on the spur of the moment but I'd at least like to have time to get things in order around here if this is where the wedding will be. Guess I should plan on having company over here anyways and just doing what needs to be done.

On the other end of the spectrum we have Alex and Pat's wedding. He called me a two weeks ago to let me know that Alex bought her wedding dress. Also they were figuring out the guest list and needed addresses from me. I asked if they even had a date picked yet and they do....Nov 13th.

Then at the end of this summer Val's best friend Janna is getting married. Danielle is her flower girl and I have to buy her this dress...



I like the dress and it's something she can wear again so that's always a plus. The problem is figuring out how much she's going to grow in the next 6+ months. Do I go up one size and hope she doesn't go through a major growth spurt? Or two sizes and have it altered closer to the date? I think right now her dimensions figure out to be a size 2! I'm hoping to get this checked off my todo list within the next few weeks...waiting for our income tax return check. (story of my life)

On the grandbaby front. I bought my first thing for it. It's a cream colored christmas dress, size 3-6mos. And to be on the safe side I bought a santa suit outfit although it's a 6-9mo size. It was that or 0-3mos. I know I have a smaller one around here if it's a boy and that suit is really really too big on him. I also started crocheting a baby afghan on Tuesday. It's out of the new book I bought with my gift card last week. It's all white with a mint green ruffle and ribbon accent. I'm not sure if I'll stick with the mint green or wait to see if Allison finds out the sex and then do the ruffle. I'll probably just do the mint and then do a gender specific one later. I figure it takes me 10mins a row, the body is 73 rows...so about 13 hours in the making. I'd like to work on it an hour a day but life isn't always that accommodating.

Take yesterday for example. While looking through a charity crochet project site, my computer got a virus. It took me ALL afternoon (and a bunch of hair pulling) to get rid of it! So if anyone gets an email from me...DON'T OPEN IT! I think I got it pretty quickly and my internet provider does a pretty good job of filtering outgoing mail, but still...just be warned. I have NOT sent mail in the last few days. Needless to say I updated my security a bit while I was at it. Unfotunately it's making this computer run as slow as molasses in February.

Sean announced he had to pee first thing this morning. So he did and I put his superman undies on him afterwards. He lasted lasted about 2hrs before he came to me and announced he peed. He was barely samp and I had him use the toilet quickly, which he did. He refused to put undies on again though...so he's in a diaper. (and as I typed that, it was announced that he was stinky....so a diaper change later....not ready yet). Now they are sitting on the couch with the electric babysitter (tv and netflix). As the morning goes on I'm finding out I'm losing the battle against a major headache. So much so that I think I'm going to have to end my computer time (couldn't even think of how to spell computer for a second...what did we do without spell check before?) So I'm off to grab some Ibuprofen. I see Della tagged me with the Honest Scrap award yesterday. I'll try to get something for that up before the weekend.

New day ahead

Ahhh Saturday morning. I was up at 4am (been doing some funky sleeping thing lately) and realized...I don't need to get up in the morning!! But I was up by 6:30 with Sean following right behind me. Oh well.

Sean didn't last too long with his undies on. The good thing is that he didn't soak himself, only a little dampness. Still he didn't balk at putting a diaper back on. Am I lazy? Probably. But I think they train easier and faster if they REALLY want to be out of diapers themselves. He's just not there yet. Doesn't mean we don't encourage him though.

I was busy all day yesterday but didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped. Of course I was expecting that but still it's a bummer. Mainly we got some laundry done and worked in the kitchen. I did do 5 rounds of the test hat (it's being done in blue/denim, not brown) and 7 rows of one of Emily's handwarmers. Amanda was here last night and decided she wants her's in black. I should probably work on those during the day since black is so hard to see in bad lighting.

My sister brought Emily over last night and the little ones have been having a ball ever since. They've darkened their room and have a strobe light going like crazy up there right now. They're planning on going out and enjoying the above freezing tempeatures today. Tomorrow it's suppose to hit 40 woohooo!

I forgot the kids and Tom have Monday off! The school nurse reminded me when she called to see why Luke and Jake were out yesterday. Thursday the girls were home, Friday it was the boys turn. I think everyone is on the upswing now. So next week should be a good attendance week.

What's on the agenda for today? I'm chomping at the bit to go out to the van and bring in my Salvation Army purchases. I want to photograph them in natural light and put them up in my ravelry stash section. Problem is, I know if I bring them in, I'll want to start tearing them apart. I HAVE to get the other things finished first! (hat and 3 sets of handwarmers) So I'll probably work on those instead. I guess on the top of the list I should have...TAKE DOWN THE CHRISTMAS TREE! Especially since I have lots of helpers here today. It would free up some badly needed room in here but then again it'll seem empty. And we can't forget...laundry, cooking, dishes and such. Maybe after breakfast (Eileen and Olivia are making bacon and eggs to order for everyone right now) we'll do a quick but major Saturday morning cleanup.

LOL Eileen just announced it smells like camping. Funny how certain smells can do that. Now that I think about it, we rarely do have bacon and it's usually when we're camping when we do. I WANT TO GO CAMPING!!!! But I'm off to go do something not as fun instead. Have a great day.

It's FRIDAY!

And the fun thing is...I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow! Yeah me! This week has been away games for the Orangemen so no beer pouring or concessions. Michelle has today and tomorrow off so no driving her. The kids have activity club tonight but that's just a quick 2 mile run down the street and then back to pick them up. My goal is to get as much done today so I can relax tomorrow and do some projects. I still have some Christmas presents that I owe to finish. If I get the chance I might even start my mom's cloche. She's picked this hat when she was out here last weekend. I have some Bernat Satin in a charcoal grey she approved. I'm going to make it up in a light brown Bernat Satin first to see if I need to modify the pattern. I figure I can always add it to my donation box if no one else wants it. There's always some organization that's looking for hats, blankets and such. So may as well put it to good use. My sister's youngest Emily is coming out tonight after Activity club and I'm assuming staying the whole weekend. I owe her and her older sister Amanda handwarmers since I already gave Jessica these...


You can find the pattern here

So I'll let Emily go through my stash and pick a color she likes and make her's. If time allows maybe she can pick a color she thinks Amanda will like and I'll get those done too. I can always hope.

Anyways, I'd feel a lot better about doing the above if I get a bunch of stuff done today. I've already thrown in laundry, loaded the dishwasher, pulled out and cleaned under the couches (still have 2 piles to deal with because of it). After my coffee is gone and I'm done here I'll go back into the basement to throw in more laundry, then the kitchen, more laundry, then the bathrooms and again more laundry. Who knows, I might even get the Christmas tree down! (yes it's still up and decorated) I will NOT go out to the van and sneak my bags from the Salvation Army in, nor will I pick up a crochet hook and start using it!

Sean decided this morning that he wanted to wear underwear! He's nursing in my lap right now with a cute pinchable hienie tempting me. Who knows...maybe I'll be right this time. Everytime I buy a huge box of diapers from BJs I always say...THIS will be the last box of diapers I need to buy. I've only been saying it since last summer. lol Hmmm I just had a thought....will I be sitting in the bathroom all day with Sean? That'll make my todo list easy...NOT!

Coffee's almost gone and Sean is heading to the bathroom so I should follow him. Have a good one!

A rare treat

Michelle got home from work Tuesday night and asked if I wanted to go to Pizza Hut for dinner the next day...her treat. I was confused because I couldn't figure out why she'd treat us to pizza when she was working. It took a few minutes for her to realize my confusion and set me straight...she was working 8:45am to 4pm....doh! Val wasn't home so that meant I had to take Danielle and Sean with me...brrrr. It didn't hit me until early the next morning that the timeframe also made it impossible for me to get Olivia to school on time. Luckily a quick call to Della and I had the solution...I dropped Olivia off at her house and she caught the bus with Della's kids. Sean was so excited to be going bye-bye. It's been so cold out and with the van not having any heat...I've kept my passengers to a minimum. Danielle and Sean haven't been in the van since the New's Year Feast.

Tom's not feeling so great now. He came home early, took some cold medicine and went to bed. He really wanted to go to Pizza Hut with us but decided it was best for everyone to stay home. So I took all 9 of the kids who live here and Val's friend Brittany to Pizza Hut. Sean was so excited....his feet were going a mile a minute and he was dancing in his carseat all the way there. I'm not sure what he thought it was going to be like but he seemed to have enough fun. Stupid me, I forgot my camera. There was some awesome photo ops too. (I'm consoling myself with the fact that even if I took pictures, they'd still be on the camera since I still can't find my usb cord and don't have a memory card)

The kids were angels! I knew when we walked in there were people who were rolling their eyes and holding their breath...including an older couple. By the time the couple left Sean had won over the husband. They were making googly eyes at each other. lol On the way out the door the wife said...."I just need to say that your children are SO well behaved! You've done a great job!"....made my night. Luckily they left when they did because it wasn't too long after that that Sean decided to yell out for no reason...BUTTCRACK! Of course most of the kids tried not to giggle at him but it was near impossible...he thought he was hilarious and had to keep doing it. We finally distracted him by getting him to start saying Candy Cane.

The pizza was delicious! We hardly ever have Pizza Hut pizza so it was extra special. The kids ordered everything themselves...I just sat there and enjoyed it. We had Hawaiian stuffed crust, Veggie stuffed crust, Buffalo chicken pan and pepperoni, bacon and ham pan pizza. Danielle was a little piggie and ate 3 half pieces. Sean finished off the half piece of meat pizza and dug into the Hawaiian. First bite was followed by a yummm, second bite got another yummm. He then held up the half eaten piece and proclaimed to everyone....Dis is wilwee good! No one argued with him about that. Danielle put a little damper on the night when she threw a fit going out the door and to the van. Seems she wanted to buy a necklace from a bubble gum machine but all she got was someone carrying her screaming self out to the parking lot.

Thia, don't be amazed at the time I find to crochet. I don't find it, I steal it...from cleaning, cooking, reading, computer and to a point my kids. I am a bit more accessible to the kids when I'm crocheting then when I'm doing other things. But still I can become distracted when I'm deep into a project. Usually there's something suffering...most likely it's the house. So to me it's a pretty selfish thing right now. One problem I'm finding is that I HAVE to do the unraveling during the day or I can't see the stitches I need to deconstruct the sweater properly. So that's my excuse ATM.

A really neat thing is that some of my kids are interested in learning. Olivia can already do a pretty mean chain. I think she's a little intimidated to go onto anything more. So she'll chain a houselong chain and then rips it out, just to start again later. Both her and Eileen have been helping hank up the unraveled yarn at times. Jake is usually right there, talking about what I'm doing. It'd be really neat if he decided to join in. And if Sean gets a ball of yarn and a hook...watchout!..His hands move lightning fast. lol

I worked on unraveling some more sweaters. I decided to pick up the magenta cotton again. Once I started it, it was done in no time. I was thinking it might make a cute dress for Danielle. I haven't crocheted any clothes yet but I'd like to start. If I don't do the dress I'll probably start with a baby sweater for the grandbaby-to-be. *smiles ear to ear* I have so many projects rattling around my head right now! I need to get some going so I can stop thinking about them. It doesn't help that I bought a new baby afghan book with my gift card and a 40% off coupon. (still have a $2.XX balance on it! lol) They're all so beautiful, I want to make everyone one of them! And I won't mention that I stopped by the Salvation Army last night and bought a bunch more sweaters to unravel. I left them in the van because I couldn't trust myself not to dig into them when I should be doing other things. :o) Ontop of that I've been reading about dying the natural animal based material (wool, cashmere, angora, alpaca, etc). You use of all things...Koolaid or food coloring! There are some awesome colorways created out there!!! ARGH! I need more hours in the day!

And on that note, Tom's home after picking up Michelle from work...so I'm outta here.

Let's try this again

It's 7:45am and I think I'm about ready for a do over for the day. I woke up late, getting the kids off to a rushed start. Made coffee and when I went to sit down caused my computer chair to knock over my huge cup...breaking the handle off the cup. Luckily it had been sitting for a bit as I ended up wearing some of it.

(well I would insert a picture of my poor pathetic coffee cup with no handle but I still don't have a memory card and as usual the usb cord for my camera isn't where it's suppose to be!)

At least the kids made it out the door with everything they needed and some toast. Well most of them, Eileen is still in bed for some reason. I'm sure she'll tell me she isn't feeling well..most of us aren't. Val is coughing really bad, Danielle and Sean are coughing a bit, most everyone else has some sort of cold, sore throat, and/or headache. Me, I'm stuffed up which makes for a sloooow go of things. I'd really rather be sitting on the couch, under a huge blanket with a book. Carrie is reading Lovely Bones for her book report this month. She really wants to see the movie so I suggested she read the book first. Tom picked up my mom's copy of it yesterday. Now I want to reread it. I also have a book my mom said I needed to read on my dresser...The Shack by William P Young. I'm not really sure what the story is exactly...probably why I haven't picked it up yet. Or is that my crochet hook has taken over instead?

OOps! Time to wake up Olivia for school. This should be fun since she knows Eileen is home.

She's up and going! I forgot that Eileen was complaining about being dizzy last night. It really doesn't have anything to do with them still being awake well after I was in bed last night, really. (although I did go to bed a lot earlier then normal, it was still past their bedtime)

Saturday night I got a surprise. The list came out for beer pouring and my name wasn't on it! Here I was thinking I'd have to be gone most of Sunday and suddenly it's free. Wooohoo! I debated on whether to go to church or not but with the little ones running fevers on and off and coughing...decided it was best I stayed home. Guess it was a good thing I wasn't scheduled because by the end of the day I was starting to feel the cold coming on. I still had to drive Michelle to work and pick her up since Tom was on call last week (ended Monday morning).

And then I got distracted and left this sitting there. Wouldn't you know it I ended up knocking over ANOTHER huge cup of coffee the same way I did this morning! So the floor around my computer is extra clean and I'm down one mug. The first mug didn't make the drop. I noticed huge cracks all the way through after I finished the coffee I remade in it. Luckily it didn't leak all over too. \

I took some me time on Sunday after dropping Michelle at work. I returned my electric yarn winder (didn't wind the yarn tight enough, had to babysit the yarn too much...would stop winding at the least little tension), looked through the fabric store and walked out without spending anything. Then it was onto AC Moore with my $25 gift card Pat gave me for Christmas. I was in there FOREVER!!! I could NOT figure out what yarn to buy. I wanted something to make a neutral gender baby blanket (with no pink or purple in it or Allison won't use it on a boy). I also want to make each couple a wedding afghan. I couldn't find what I wanted on sale (it's just too hard for me to buy things at full price). I saw some really nice painted/variegated yarn and some sock yarn that I'd love to have. At $5 or $6 per small skein I just couldn't bring myself to buy it without a specific project for it. I settled on white baby yarn for an "heirloom" blanket...I'll make something gender specific once I know what they're having. I walked out of the store having spent only half my card. I think I might take a 40% off coupon and buy an afghan book I was looking through with more of the card. I then headed to the thrift store. I had my fingers crossed that I'd run into a yarn winder, saving me tons of money...but no go. So I headed to the sweater racks. I've been wanting to try reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters and wanted to see if I could find something suitable for a first time project. I walked out of there with 5 of them...magenta cotton, green wool, green chenille (thin thin yarn), blue baby alpaca, and a striped cotton/nylon shirt. I spent more then I usually would on them but knew I wouldn't be back through there any time too soon. Hopefully I can do this and it'll be worth the money I spent.

Yesterday was spent taking apart the green chenille shirt. I have a pretty good size pile of yarn waiting to be rinsed and dekinked. I also started on the magenta cotton shirt but ran into some difficulty with unraveling it so put it aside. Today it was the striped one. I had some issues with it but I think I've worked it out. It's such a fine/thin material that it's taking a bit of time to do.

And now dinner, homework, picking Michelle up from work and bedtime has come and gone. So I'm ending this before it drags out into tomorrow.

Can I REALLY stay home?

Michelle has been having Fridays and Saturdays off for a while. Thing is, there's usually something that needs to be done or is going on those days. So for me to be able to say that I'm really staying home and not getting in the car is rare and it's happening today! Although (and there usually is one in there isn't there) my parents are coming here. They originally planned to visit last Saturday after I got home from beer pouring but the weather was too bad. And I told them to stay home again last Sunday because it was still bad out here (not so much at their house).

One of the good things about having visitors is that it gets the kids motivated to help without too much screaming on my part. My original plan was to tear apart my kitchen, cupboards and all, and put it back together again all spic and span. Instead I found a few tiny, no notice jobs that had been bugging me to tackle. I did get in the kitchen and did make a dent in things, I just didn't accomplish what I'd originally planned. We'll see if things get done this morning, but I doubt it. I told my mom I'd have my great aunt's present finished for her to take home. So I'll have to work on that sometime this morning. It's only a half an hour or so job, but still it's time I need to keep free before they get here.

I haven't crocheted much lately. I still have 3 hand/wrist warmers to finish that I owe my nieces for Christmas and I think it's putting a kibosh on me doing anything else. I'd really like to start an afghan for one of the boys wedding gifts or my new grandbaby coming. EEEEEE!!!!! In a perfect world, I'd etch out some time everyday to work on my crafts, but this isn't the perfect world and I know myself...not going to happen. My first inclination was to join a few crochet alongs at crochetville so I'd have a motivator or someplace to keep me accountable. But again, I know myself and decided not to put that pressure on me. I really do want to keep crocheting something I enjoy and not something I HAVE to do. I'm hoping to get pictures of some things up soon.

It must be the new year

I've been wanting to change things up here for a while. It must be the new year "traditions" clicking in...changes, starting fresh, etc. Now if things would only kick in for me housewise, things would be a lot better around here...but NOOOOO I have to sit here and redecorate my blog instead.

I didn't like the busyness of the 3 columns...so we're back down to 2. I also wanted my photos to be shown bigger then the previous template allowed. There are still some things I need to fix and may be adding, so don't be surprised if things are funky here on and off.

I also wanted to add more of what I'm working on craftwise here...including a photo gallery of finished things and WIP (works in progress).

I missed you!!!

The funny thing is that you probably didn't even realize I was gone. :o) Yep, the phone company doesn't like it when they have to wait for their money. Apparently I pushed the envelope of how long I can put them off. They got mad, threw a fit and turned off my outgoing calls on the phone, and I was ok about it. Then it away went my email...again ok, I could use my hotmail acct. I made a payment but because of the holiday, the earliest it would clear was Monday. The the internet was gone all together! NOOOOOOO! How did we live without it? I'm not even talking about usingit socially. I'm talking about having info at our fingertips immediately. I was amazed at how often someone said they'd look up something then remember they couldn't. Monday came and went and we still weren't connected. So this morning I called and they put an order in to turn things back on. The phone came on but the internet didn't. 55 minutes on the phone with the tech guy and taaadaaa! We're back in business.

So what happened since I was on here last? I have over 320 emails to look through and over 30 blog updates to catchup with. Around here...I had beer pouring on Saturday. I had my favorite pouring spot with the specialty beer. 2 of us pouring 4 different beers. Mine was Sam Adams Lager, Magic Hat #9, Syracuse Pale Ale and Doghead Fish 60 min IPA.

It's been snowing a lot. It literally hasn't stopped snowing since Friday afternoon (you can see flakes falling in the polar bear swim photos below). Even when the sun was out this morning the flakes were flying. And lucky me...Tom is on call so all the driving Michelle to work falls on me. At least the van is handling well. Here's some pictures....

Sunday...


Monday...


Tuesday...

Doesn't look to be a ton of difference from Monday but you can see the bike on the right of the swings is totally covered now.

Sunday...


Monday...


Tuesday...


My parents were going to visit us this weekend but I told them to stay home because of the weather. I told them they could come out for Luke's birthday (it's in March) lol. Hopefully they come out soon since they have Olivia's boots that they had to exchange. It would be nice if she could get some use out of them.

You'd think with having no internet I'd have gotten a lot of crocheting done or my house would be spic n span. NOPE! I totally shut down. I sat at the computer and played games. And now I realized it would've been a good time to read the book my mom lent me (forgot about it until just this second...drats!)

Tomorrow is another day at the Syracuse Dome. This time it's a concession stand for the Syracuse basketball game against Memphis. Unfortunately they lost their first game on Saturday against Pitt. Hopefully the crowd doesn't die down because of that one loss.

Well time to go back into the freezing cold van and pick up Michelle.

They are craaaaazy!

A few of my kids have done a New Year's day tradition....the polar bear swim. The idea is to go into the freezing cold water and at least quickly dunk under. The first year they did it they joined in with Syracuse's official group. Now they just do it themselves at a local swimming area on the river. Today's swimmers were...Drew, his friend Brian, Val's boyfriend John and Michelle. Allison and Val watched with Allison videotaping and Val taking pictures. BTW...it was a balmy 34 degrees Fahrenheit

Drew and Allison before starting


Michelle preswim


Where they went swimming...yes that's ice floating by


In the water middunk


After dunking under....I LOVE their expressions on this one


Michelle after all was done


Drew

Oh my goodness!!!

When I said in the last post that the night would be busy all night...I didn't suspect just how busy we'd be! Our stall was in a prime spot...just above where the wrestlers came into the arena. We opened at 5:30 and didn't stop until we closed up at 9:30. The lines were huge. I think we'd still be serving people if they hadn't decided to go back to the matches instead of waiting in line for food.

We ran out of ice twice. We went into intermission without popcorn (after 2 additional deliveries) or jumbo pretzels. Our supervisor and the beer pouring supervisor (beer station was at the end of our stall) ended up making 10 additional pizzas which were quickly snatched up. We had to ask for 2 additional deliveries of the WWE souvenir cups and sold every last one. I have NO idea why anyone would pay $6.50 for a 32oz cup of soft drink but most people didn't blink an eye at it. (btw...that's $2 more then the dome charges for their souvenir cups). Needless to say the Pepsi guy had to make an extra delivery too.

The thing is...we did great! At the end of the night I said....If this doesn't prove to the Dome that we can handle our own stand, nothing will. (now if only a stand would open up for us!) Other than trying to keep the stand from running out of things, our supervisor didn't have to step in too much. Yes, at first I missed checking the candy racks...they were sorely depleted and needed a refill. But it didn't happen again. In my defense, we'd never had so much candy sell so fast. Then again we never had anything sell so much. lol I think even the Dome was surprised at how much was purchased. (It's the first time they'd had a professional wrestling show there).

And then I went to church for our New Year's feast and had a great time. We had lots of good snacks throughout the night....



The kids jumped until they were red in the face in the bouncy house...



They played games (this was a scavenger hunt....the girls against the boys....camille and sean were playing their own game lol)



We saw a transmission from Norway and heard lots of encouragement for the upcoming year.

Sean liked playing with Jon's cars and motorcycle



Olivia thinks the best part about the whole thing is to hang out with her best friends/cousins

Olivia and Evenlyn


We pulled into the driveway shortly after 1am. I put the kids to bed and then sat up with my older kids talking and watching movies. It was after 4:30 before Tom and I climbed into bed. Sean was so overtired that after an initial deep sleep he slept really lightly...therefore so did mom. I think it was about 9 when I finally gave up and got up for the day.

My parents were talking about coming out today but my mom didn't feel well so they put it off until tomorrow afternoon. They'll come out after I get back from beer pouring at the Dome (have to be out the door by 8:30am tomorrow). It's probably a good thing because Sean decided today would be a good day to cry all day. My body decided it didn't want to move too fast and for some reason my knee is killing me. (which makes me really thankful tomorrow morning isn't a concession day!!)

My brain decided it just couldn't accept Allison's GPS cover like it was and that I needed to redo the whole thing. So I did, with completely different yarn. It's too dark in here for me to take pictures right now but I'm a lot happier with the 2nd attempt. Hopefully tomorrow or Sunday I can get some photos taken and put up. I still need to make 3 pair of hand/wrist warmers for Christmas presents. I also started digging out my squares for my version of the Midnight Brites Afghan I started in June or July.

With the kids being off of school all week and being at church yesterday, I'm all messed up day wise. I have to keep reminding myself it's FRIDAY! And a new year! Happy 2010! My next post might be about something crazy my kids did today. Have to wait to get to the pictures on the other computer.

A loooong night ahead

I've been taking it easy today. I have a long night ahead of me and I know it. We're doing a concession stand at a WWE Supershow at the Carrier Dome tonight. Attendence 12-20K. It looks like our stand won't be alittle out of the way overflow one either like our other ones have been. It'll be right smack dab in the middle of traffic. I'm expecting us to be pretty busy all night long. So today it was dishes, a load of laundry or two and some crocheting. I had to modify a GPS case I made for Allison for Christmas. Originally it wasn't deep enough, so I added a few more rows on and lengthened the top flap. The extras rows look a bit funky but ok since it's hidden by the flap. The flap, I actually like the additional rows to it. It adds another dimension to it (I think that's what I want to say).



Originally I was going to make it stay closed with velcro but that would require me to find a needle which have all magically disappeared (sewing, darning, tapestry, you name it, it's gone). So brilliant me crocheted a button and added a button loop onto the flap. ICK!!!



No matter how hard I tried to like it with the button, I just couldn't. It looked tacky. So off the button went and I'm back to looking for a sewing needle to sew on velcro again. And a few tail pieces that I have hanging all over now.



I was up all alone this morning. I couldn't really do anything because the little girls had a movie night with a campout on the livingroom floor. So I sat and watched crochet videos on youtube. This led to me grabbing a very convenient skein of sassy stripes yarn and my G hook. I made my first pair of socks!



With some modifications (not sure I can ever do a pattern as written) they fit Sean pretty well. I still see some improvements I'd like to make and I want to investigate gussets a bit more because I'm not totally pleased with how the heel came out.



Still, they were quick and easy! I could see me using a modified pattern of this to make bigger people slippers. I was thinking of doing an experiment on how yarn thickness, needle size and whatnot change the gauge of a pattern. But we'll see. I think I might've found an afghan I want to make for one of my upcoming weddings. Just not sure who it'll be for. Or when I'll get started on it.

Ah a day at home

Well technically I had to leave at 3:30 to take Michelle to work. But I didn't have to go anywhere else. Tom and I both drove Stine and Liz back to Newark to catch their plane to Norway. Tom convinced me that it was ok to leave after they entered security. There were no delays and we saw the crew go through the gate before the girls. I was just sure they'd need to be rescued after we left. Luckily I was wrong! They are home safe and sound in Norway.

And now it's Wednesday! GRRRRR How many times do I post with an And now added on. WHY can't I finish a post in one day!

I wanted to share pictures from Monday.

The day started early with some crying from Sean. He was mad that whomever was in the shower, wouldn't let him join them.


Luke and Jake discussing strategy for an Xbox game.


Oreo, the big stinky dog


Unlit Christmas tree. Extension cord broke...besides you can see the ornaments better.


Jake decided to make cookies for the neighbors. Sean decided Jake needed help. I decided to try to ignore it (wasn't successful) Unfortunately when he was traying up the second batch, the corelle bowl fell on the floor. It shattered into a zillion pieces, wasting over half a batch of cookie dough. Lucky for me the cookie dough helped keep some of the shards held together so the mess wasn't too bad to get control over.


Catching Carrie doing what she likes to do best...lay in bed and talk on the phone.


Livingroom floor after Sean is done with it.


Princess Sean upset over something one of the other princesses did to him. I didn't quite get the whole story.

Boxing Day

My supposed lazy day has been interesting. I was playing with my yarn winder when I got a phone call from a friend. It seems there was a miscommunication and the person I thought was going to drive Liz and Stine to Newark tomorrow doesn't have the room for them. Luckily I found out today and not tonight or tomorrow morning! So it looks like I'll be driving to Newark and back tomorrow. I'm not sure who, if anyone will be riding with me. I guess I'll have to reborrow my bestfriend....Allison's GPS lol.

Shortly after getting off the phone I was called to the bathroom to assist Danielle. After taking care of her I reached across the toilet to flush it. Midflush my reading glasses slipped off my face and landed in the bowl....stopping it up immediately. I had no choice but to fish them out...yay me! Luckily they aren't the pair I wear on a regular basis.

Everytime I get a new camera I swear no one is going to use it but me! I thought this camera would be THE camera since quite a few kids also received cameras or camcorders that can take still photos also. I didn't even get to say that no one was to touch my camera! While I was busy crocheting my mom's bookmark on Christmas morning my camera sat near the tv....or so I thought. Then I noticed that photos were on my camera....

Not sure how I missed the sneaky photographer since they took MY picture...


Liz showing off her new 80G zune (refurbished)...



Stine, our Norwegian visitor (Liz's roommate)


Luke and Jake playing their new Xbox game in their room. The Xbox was moved up there for Christmas Eve night. It has since been moved back into the livingroom where it belongs. Now maybe mom can get a turn at it. ;o)


We're just finishing up a very nice night. All the kids were here. I threw a turkey in the oven, sauteed some zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, onions and baby corn...most of it from our garden. Pat made garlic mashed potatoes with a hint of cheese. He also made the gravy. Michelle broke out her container of cream puffs and one of Val's friends brought over a cheese cake for us to enjoy. Liz has finished packing although there are a few things she'd LIKE to pick up before hitting the road. We're picking Stine up at Della's house around 9...giving us 6 hours to get there so they can checkin for their 6pm flight. As of right now I may be driving them by myself. Pat and Alex talked about taking them but then I found out Pat's back has been bothering him. I certainly don't need him hurting it more and missing work on Monday. Tom doesn't want to go. I'm hoping he'll decide it's best to go and come with me anyways.

And we did manage to get a family picture!!! Wouldn't you know, I'm the one who's not looking at the camera. Sean was about to cry because I wouldn't let him put his hand down my shirt. So I was trying to placate him.


Click on it to view it larger in another window.
Left to right...Top row...Pat, Tom, Luke, Michelle, Drew
Middle row...Sean, Me, Liz, Danielle, Val, Jake
Bottom row....Eileen, Olivia, Carrie

It's going to be a busy year!

Continuation of my last post...

Liz cut back on things she did on Wednesday. Both to rest her knee and to allow her to go pick up her new glasses. We dropped Michelle off at work, ran in and grabbed some food, picked up Liz's glasses and then hit the dollar store before heading home. I was now officially done with my Christmas shopping!!! With everyone helping we managed to wrap almost everything before leaving for BIL's house at 5 on Thursday (I had 3 things to do Thurs night). I was still working on some crochet and much to my chagrin there is not a single yarn needle to be found here...so weaving in ends and doing the final finishing of projects is impossible. I'm sure I'll find about 20 of them now that Christmas is over. I took one of my projects with me to BIL's house and finished it up shortly after getting there.

Sitting on the livingroom floor crocheting and observing, I couldn't help but feel the void that's been left by Billy and my inlaws' passing. I just couldn't bring myself to buy pistachios this season, even with the kids begging me. They were one of the things I always got for Billy. I know it's silly and if I'd just gotten through that one thought/feeling, it might even have been healing...to enjoy something we know Billy really liked. Kinda like how I feel a connection to my MIL when I'm crocheting. Maybe I'll add it to next payday's grocery list. :o)

When Drew and Allison got to BIL's they announced their news...They're going to have a baby!!! I can finally freely talk about the other surprise now! Woohooo! In July, I'm going to be a GRANDMA!!!! They're planning on a late spring/early summer wedding. I tried to talk them into having the ceremony last week but they didn't believe me when I said I could throw a wedding together in 2 wks. It would've been a bit hard to explain to Allison's mom why she was getting married so quickly without spoiling her Christmas surprise, besides Allison wants an outdoor wedding.

We left BIL's at 9. Our Norwegian visitor Stine went to Della's house for a while. Drew and Allison wrapped up a few things at home and then got here with a few friends that stayed until almost midnight. The rest of the kids stuck around for a bit, had a snack then went to upstairs...boys in one room, girls in another. It was decided that everyone could get up at 6am.

Pat and Alex missed out on BIL's house because they had to work until 11pm. They left work, went home, cleaned up and opened their presents to each other before coming to our house at 1:30am. Tom and I were putting presents under the tree and finishing up stockings when they walked in. They had a surprise for us that sparkled...an engagement ring! They are thinking of a late November, early December wedding. I finally forced myself to stop talking and get into bed about 2:30.

Unfortunately my slumber didn't last long...Sean woke up and wanted me, then Danielle woke up and came in, finally Carrie came in crying....her left side hurt. If it'd been on her right side I think we'd have ended up in the Emergency Room. As it was I had her take some tylenol and climb into bed with me. She stayed until the pain subsided a bit and then went back upstairs. She never felt sick, just in pain. It hit her on and off all day Christmas. Before Christmas night ended Tom and I would understand how she felt since it hit us too. I'm assuming it's a weird virus. My back still feels like I hurt something on the left side. Luckily today is a "lazy" day. Mostly spending time with the kids and getting Liz packed to head back to Norway tomorrow. Right now she's at my sister's house with Carrie, Eileen and Olivia. Pat will bring them home this afternoon. I have a turkey in the oven and mozzarella sticks and poppers in the freezer waiting to be cooked. I think we'll have to make one last run to Walmart for her.

In the future this place should be a lot prettier...Michelle bought me a camera for Christmas! I can't use it too much right now because it's an Olympus and takes an xd memory card which I don't have (only have SD cards). My mom and dad bought me a new skirt (been wearing the one they bought me last year almost non stop), 3 new shirts, an electric yarn winder and a cool quilted wall hanging that you insert pictures into. I also received a flexible keyboard, a $25 restaurant gift card, and a $25 gift card to AC Moore which I'm sure will turn into yarn pretty quickly. Afterall, I now have baby blankets and wedding afghans to make. lol I might even attempt a sweater or romper for the baby (never did clothing before). My sister bought us an ice shaver, 200 sno cone cups and 2 lg bottles of flavoring....even though we said we weren't going to buy anything for each other.

Everyone was pretty exhausted by evening. We headed home about 9pm and all of us went directly to bed!!

I like mornings like this

I haven't been sleeping well lately...there's too much to think about and do. Today I managed to be up and going around 5am. It's so serene well except the dog who wanted attention, then to be let out and of course he has to come in and then eat. I immediately went into the basement and threw in a load of laundry and folded 2.5 loads that someone didn't bother to do when they took them out of the dryer. grrrrr I then grabbed some boxes of presents and started wrapping. I put a pretty good dent into them. If I can do the same thing tomorrow, it should all be done. Of course even better would be that the big girls finish it up today.

On a boooo note I woke up this morning to see that the dog undid all the work I'd done on my mom's Christmas present. I fell asleep crocheting on the couch so when I went to bed I just set it aside and off I went. This morning there was a trail of thread all over. Luckily it was a small thing and I can quickly make it back up. But still, it's just something more to do.

And now it's Wednesday morning. While yesterday was busy, the productivity of it dropped compared to the early morning hours. I did manage to do some cleanup that I wasn't planning on doing until Wed night or Thursday day. It's looking pretty decent in here although laundry is up to my eyeballs again. Michelle and Val managed to do a fair bit of wrapping for me. Unfortunately I stayed up until 3am last night so no early morning wrapping session to finish things up. Hopefully I can do it tonight after everyone goes to bed.

Tom's pay did get deposited a day early! So Drew, Liz and Stine went with me and we hit the stores. We were out until after midnight but I managed to finish most of my shopping. After dropping Michelle off at work I'll run into her store and get a few things for Christmas Eve at BIL's house. Then a quick trip through the dollar store and maybe a drug store stop and I should be done enough (I know I can have a tendency to never feel like I have enough). I feel bad dragging the girls around shopping all night. I mean they're here for such a short time....and to spend it in the store. But Stine said she had a lot of fun and got a lot of things she needed. She also said that once she's home she won't be going shopping for quite a while. She quickly became spoiled by America's "cheap" prices. Things are quite expensive in Norway but then again their incomes are pretty decent too. One a bad note though...by the time we were almost done at Walmart last night (last stop), Liz's knee was bothering her a good amount. I'm just hoping she didn't undo all the help the brace did. She has a pretty full calendar planned for today with a visit to 3 different families for lunch, dinner and then hot tubbing.

This has sat as a draft until today. So posting this partial post so I can update on how our Christmas was.

OK...so it's not Wednesday

I know I mentioned sharing my secret with you on Wednesday, and I started to...but I never finished and it sat as a draft to be forgotten. Then the weekend hit and I was running non stop! But back to the secret.... Liz came home for Christmas! My friend from church and I drove down to Newark to pick up her daughter Erica, Liz and their Norwegian friend Stina. They're here for 12 days and are heading home next Sunday. I'm thinking it might be harder to say good bye this time. I know what it's like to miss her and I'm not going to want all this to end. It's funny, it's like she never left. Danielle and Sean were all over her as soon as she came in the door. One morning I found her cleaning the kitchen of her own accord (she my major cleaner around here). And they've gotten into a few arguments/fights.

One of the first things we did was run to Walmart and buy her a stabilizing brace for her knee. She hurt it while working and has been on crutches and using a wheelchair since then. The brace seems to have helped a lot and the crutches have been forgotten. She says it doesn't feel on the verge of giving out with it on. I'm sure not walking on an incline all the time helps too. Where she lives and works in Norway are on a hillside. I was worried that they wouldn't want her to return to Norway due to the injury but it looks like it's healed enough where she can work, so she can return!

We've been going nonstop since shopping Wednesday. There was the Christmas concert on Thursday. The kids had their Activity club Christmas party on Friday. The youth kids had their Christmas parties on Saturday. (boys and girls had separate parties but at the same time) I had to go to the Syracuse Dome and pour beer during their basketball game. Sunday was our Christmas feast at church.

We also had some sadness. We had to say good bye to Delandie. He'd been living and working in the area for the summer. Now that the job is over and he hasn't found another job yet...he's returning to his family in Michigan. He'd been spending quite a bit of time at our house lately (we dubbed him our replacement Liz). I know Sean and Danielle are missing him already. When a car pulls in he asks....Londie here? I've been trying to figure out if there's a way we could free up a room for him. lol We're all hoping he gets offered a job in the area and is back here really soon.

Our Christmas feast was AWESOME!! It's great to see the young kids' talents blossoming. On more then one occassion I had goosebumps listening to them sing. As usual the meal was delicious! The youth kids played Santa Clause to the younger kids and it was a hit. Sean received a big fire engine with buttons that made noises and made it roll backwards or forwards. He just plunked down were he was and was lost in play. Danielle couldn't stop smiling after opening her present. It was a stuffed dog with it's own carrying cash, blanket and leash. She also got a pair of pink pjs with green frogs on them which she's wearing right now. It was all topped with a silver and blue tiara.

Our small group is growing quickly with couples getting married and having babies. I was inundated with family pictures to the point of almost crying. I vow to get my photo wall finished after Christmas so I can show them all off! We don't have a new family picture yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to get one done on Christmas. Otherwise it'll have to wait until next fall/winter after Liz comes home from Norway for good. Me being the big dreamer had major plans for my gift to everyone. I had bought 13 metal Christmas trays from AC Moore so I could make up a cookie/candy tray along with a smaller version of this crocheted wreath ornament (using napkin rings instead of shower curtain hooks)...


When I realized I wouldn't get to the cookies I figured I'd at least make up buckeyes (peanut butter balls) and the wreaths. Then I knew the buckeyes weren't going to be done but I could still get the wreaths made...they only take about 10 minutes each. I figured I'd do them Saturday after beer pouring and Sunday morning before leaving for church. I got home from beer pouring with Sean clamoring for me. I grabbed him and sat on the couch and that's the last thing I remembered until I woke up, still on the couch, Sunday morning. So everyone got just the tray! lol

I feel like I can relax a bit more now that this weekend is over. But then I remember that Christmas is THIS Thursday. I haven't gotten 7 projects done yet, have very little wrapped and still need to go Christmas shopping once Tom gets paid. My plan for today is to get in my room and confirm what I have, who it's for and what I still need to buy. Work on some projects. Ask Michelle and Val to wrap again. Tomorrow I'm hoping to work on projects and finish wrapping during the day. If we're lucky and deposit Tom's pay early like they did during Thanksgiving week then I can shop Tuesday night and wrap Wednesday day. If not, then it'll have to wait for Wednesday night with wrapping done on Thursday...along with whatever else I don't have done. Optimally I'll have everything done before going to my BIL's at 5 on Thursday. Then we can relax Thursday night after getting home from there.

Well enough rambling. Danielle and Sean are waiting for a bath and I need to call the propane company for a delivery or we won't be able to do too much of anything. I'm hoping to get back on here before Christmas. If I don't (I know myself too well) then Merry Christmas!!!

It's always something

Things have been motoring along pretty well here. I managed to get most of Mt Washme taken care of. Michelle had Friday off and decided she'd take care of the library/playroom. It wouldn't have been too long of a job if she'd just picked it up. But she doesn't work that way. She decided to move things around including the bed that's in there. It has storage under it and hadn't been moved in YEARS. To say that what was under there created a mess and half is an understatement. It's amazing what could fit into that little space.

I decided it would be a good time to jump into my room and try to get some control over things in there. I was doing pretty good although my allergies were leaving me feeling like my head was going to explode and my eyes would be lost behind my swollen eyelids forever. It was nice to get such a huge project underway. Although I was sad to see my almost empty hampers fill to overflowing again.

Saturday morning managed to find only Danielle and I up together. I was about to pick up some crocheting when I saw it....she had her hands on both sides of her head and was scratching furiously. OH NO!!! Tell me it isn't so!!! But it was...we have friends....teeny tiny unwanted friends. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Everything else got put on hold so I could do heads. And wouldn't you know it...Danielle with her extra fine hair happens to be infested the worst. The good thing that came of it was that it gave me the incentive to give Jake his much needed haircut (he was friend free).

Before


During....I thought he should've kept the mullet ;o)


Taaadaaaa



I also gave Sean his first haircut.... *sniff sniff*

Curly sweetness


Not very happy


My little man


This morning being super cute


I don't know if it's the holidays or just normal grieving but Billy not being here seems to be felt extra hard right now. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't mention him here. Surprisingly it's usually Danielle. Her memories and thoughts of him, Shellyroo (his dog) and his death amaze me. Yesterday her thought was that she wishes when we get older that we could die. I asked why. Her answer...so we can see Uncle Billy. Her and I had a talk about how Uncle Billy would want her grow up, what kind of life she might have and that eventually we all die and we'll get to see him. Last night she crawled up into my lap, gave me a hug and whispered in my ear...I miss Uncle Billy. The other day I spied Olivia writing something to him. She seemed to want to keep it private so I didn't let on I was aware of who she was writing to, let alone ask her to read it. Can't say that I'm not really curious about what she wrote though. I wish my mind would let him stay gone. There are some days that it lets me forget he's gone and think he's coming in the back door for a coffee...then reality hits and I realize it was the wind, cat, or whatnot. It's like getting hit in the gut.

Tomorrow I'm on the road all day and night. I can't say where I'm going or what I'm doing. I'll be able to share the details when I get home. All the kids know is that it's a secret. They think I'm getting them a Christmas present so I've played along and told them they're right....I'm going to pick up a pony! LOL I'm hoping that I'll have some time to work on some Christmas presents. Although first I have to decide what those presents will be and gather up what I need to make them.

Well sitting here isn't helping me get my mountains of work done. So I'll have to cut things short and get off my rear end. Hopefully I'll be able to get on here Wednesday with an update.

Still sick.....

Sean was still feverish this morning so going to the meeting in the morning was out of the question. I didn't mind since neither one of us slept soundly last night. Sean nursed literally all night long. Everytime I'd try to unlatch him, he'd wake up whining...nursie! To say I was a bit sore is an understatement. We decided to get out of bed about 7ish. There wasn't much to do since some kids had been up really late watching movies and were sleeping on the couch. After about an hour or so I decided to take Sean back to bed and dozed on and off. I finally was up for the day at 10:15. I can't remember the last time I stayed in bed that late before. Wish I could say I enjoyed or liked it, but neither is true. I felt like garbage when I got out of bed, was still sore from Sean nursing and the whole day was almost gone. Missing out on the meeting means I didn't hear how the bazaar went yesterday. It also means I have no idea what of mine sold and what I have left to do something with.

Sean seems to be feeling a bit more energetic although still warm. If he's feverish tomorrow I may take him in to be seen. It also depends on what John (Val's boyfriend) finds out from the tests he had done last week (if they do say anything at all) His dr mentioned mono and strep when he examined him.

Monday night now (will I ever finish a post in one sitting?) We had a much better night. Sean actually slept without being attached to me for short spurts. He doesn't seem to be feverish anymore. I had Luke, Carrie and Eileen home today. Eileen is still feeling pretty punky.

We did a major cleaning job around here and the place is looking nice. The kids insisted we get the tree from the basement and set it up. I just wanted to vegitate with my crocheting but decided I'd rather work then listen to them. lol We got as far as putting the inside white lights on it and putting on the branches before bed last night. This afternoon Luke finished putting the colored lights on it and the girls started hanging decorations while I made dinner. They're finishing up as I type, although I think we need some ornament hooks or substitute.

I have so much I want to do before Christmas...baking, crocheting, shopping and cleaning. Right now I'm in the middle of chopping down Mount Washme. Hopefully by tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest I'll have it tamed to a little anthill. I have to get into my closet and figure out exactly what is for who and what I have left to buy. I'm going to try and get a bunch of it done online with the help of billmelater (I LOVE that option!) Then catch up with it with tax return money. Otherwise there won't be any Christmas here.

I kills me. Tom is making more then he ever has and we should be sitting pretty...yet things are tight...REALLY tight. I think we've decided to skip redoing the mortgage. It's too much work to get it ready for an appraisal and we really don't want to prolong the mortgage any further then we have to. I need to make a phone call to the credit union and see if we can redo our home equity loan instead.

There's been talk of adding on again. It's always been a plan to build off the back, putting in a great room and dining area. That would make my present kitchen/dining area all kitchen. Or allow us to turn our living room into an L shaped room. We have enough equity that we could do it...I'm not holding my breath that we will do it though. My other brilliant idea is to build a big 2 car garage with a wide open upstairs on it. We'd have a bathroom up there along with a galley kitchen. The garage would be heated so the kids could play in there while we hang out upstairs. We could even put a deck on it (lol I'm still waiting for my back deck which was suppose to be built when we built this place in '89/90...Tom figures it's foolish to put it on if we're just going to replace it with an addition in the future).

Michelle is working holiday hours which means until 10pm most nights. Makes for a long day but the good thing is she hasn't worked a Friday or Saturday in months! Today was the first time I've driven with snow on the ground in a loooong time. Let me just say...I am NOT ready for this!!! I do NOT NOT NOT want to drive in this garbage! At least I lucked out and the snow disappeared as I got closer to home (which is the opposite of how it usually is)

Patrick had a birthday on the 1st. He turned 24 and according to him...is getting old. Problem is, he was saying this to his GRANDMA! Sorry bud, wrong person to complain about getting old to. Needless to say he didn't garner much sympathy from anyone. We didn't do anything for his birthday since he had to work, just one of the downfalls of getting old. He's working at University hospital, setting up ORs or OR equiment...something of that sort. Right now he's working through a temp agency so no benefits. Rumor has it that he may be bidding on a job on the psych ward which will then make him a permanent employee and bring about benefits (it's a state job). Woohooo! Bad mommy me keeps wondering when something is going to come along and mess things up for him. Seems he's always gaining a foot up just to have it get knocked back down. I really do have hope that this is it for him. He seems to enjoy his job. He's a tough one to judge emotionally. He doesn't let too much out or in.

Well it's getting late and I have to get the kids ready for bed before I hit the road again and pick up Michelle. So I'll end things for now. Don't want this to go onto a third day.

The week on hold

I've been putting everything extra on hold until today. There was bazaar stuff to get done and it was pretty much all I could handle on top of the basic regular everyday stuff. I'm sure the kids were sick of hearing...after Saturday. But they survived. Sean decided he was too important to be put on hold though and decided to get sick again. He'd had a cold all week but yesterday started burning up. When he's feeling like that he doesn't allow me to do anything without a huge meltdown. I did manage to crochet a few more hats through his protests. Well one hat, the other is sitting here needing about a dozen more stitches in it. I also have three quarters of an angel ornament sitting here in pieces. I never waxed the gingerbread ornaments so they were sent out naked. Oh and I only made up two candy bouquet mugs since the second package of skewers was misplaced and I didn't have time to find them before Sean woke up last night. He's still feverish today and although we've been up since 6am, I never finished labeling and pricing things until 10:30 (bazaar started at 10). So things got there an hour late. Considering how things were going this morning though I'm just glad they got there at all. It's a small school bazaar in a lower income area so I'm not expecting much of my crochet stuff to get sold. There's always hope though. Whatever doesn't get sold will be used for Christmas presents and might go up on Ebay or in the Etsy shop we'll be opening soon. I haven't decided yet. I certainly could use them and anything else I can make in the next 3 weeks and still not have enough for Christmas. I REALLY wanted to take pictures of what I sent over but it's kind of impossible without a camera and Michelle's not here with her's. :o(

It's hard not being at the bazaar....seeing and talking with the people, looking at all the other cool stuff people are selling, hanging out with the girls for the day. But there wasn't enough room for me to be there. I guess with Sean being sick I'd have to consider it a good thing. Otherwise my pity party would be a super pity party and I'd melt into tears. Besides, Tom's on call this week so sticking home is a good thing...right? Yeah, whatever.

So on the agenda now is to get the living room and kitchen in order and rearranged so we can bring the tree up from the basement and start decorating it. I also have a ton of laundry to do. Then hopefully I can work in my room.

There's some exciting things happening here but I can't share anything for a while since I don't know who reads here. After Christmas I can share for sure. I just hope I can keep it all under wrap until then. Eeeeeeeek!