Happy New Rear

I would love a new rear for the new year. Always a resolution of mine.
The problem is that when I'm running, the ice always falls out of my glass.

Here's to ringing in the New Year.

Bottoms up to you!


(because I haven't been around much here's the owl costumes I made for my kiddos. to say it was challenging is an understatement. i'm making them be owls for the next decade)









(Simplicity pattern)

This Year's Favorite Christmas Decoration

I've been receiving bits and pieces of my Grandma's belongings over the past year. Lots of it bringing back heartfelt memories. A few weeks ago I opened a box labeled "Merry Christmas banner" from her and it made me giddy. I'm not sure who made it as she stored it in a gift box. It may have been a present to her but it certainly could have been something she made but I don't remember seeing it at the farmhouse. Anyways, I LOVE this and we hung it up in the kids playroom where we have the Christmas tree this year. It makes me smile everytime I see it. Handmade, vintagie goodness!

An Almost Wordless Wednesday

Our winter break...

The Glory of the Story

Christmas blessings to you!

The end of my thirties

A milestone today...40!
I don't think I mind it... yet.
I do feel that now I can be officially called a "librarian"
Before I had a hard time with that term. It sounded so old :O
I am a media specialist. But no one ever knows what that means.
No, my name isn't Betty and I don't have a bun in the back.
I don't wear reading glasses (yet) but you might catch me wearing
a knitted shawl or cardigan and you can call me librarian or liberrian as the little ones say.

A flashback 34 years ago. Off to kindergarten. Love the matching top and pants slacks and the Buster Brown shoes (probaby purchased at Kinney's)


Happy new school year!

Louie on the catwalk

This is our new dog, Louie. He is a Cavipoo. A real sweet puppy with the kids and shares the same birthday as my daughter. That was our sign that it was meant to be. A different kind of dog to get used to since Golden Retrievers have always been our dog of choice. Unfortunately Lucy didn't work out for us. She was re-homed with a family that had older children. As hard as it was to see her go it was the right decision for all of us. She has been with this new family since January. By May we were getting the itch for another pet and found Louie.

My daughter knit Louie a sweater. It turned out a bit on the smaller side. Fit him like a corset or maybe a Slendertone. We had some good laughs with it on him. Here he is strutting his stuff. I think he was enjoying his showstopping experience or rather was running to me to get it off of him.



As I was saying in the post prior to this I have been cross stitching quite a bit. I'm even working on a few of my own patterns. But I still managed to pick up my knitting needles throughout our summer. July was the month for knitting. Our family took a camping trip to the Black Hills and to make the car ride bearable I started a sweater.



Really, something for me and something to wear! The Candy Stripe sweater by Spud & Chloe is going really slow but by spring I should be able to wear it :)





Tomorrow is back to working mode. We had a great summer together and I'm sad to see it end. I also have one entering kindergarten (boo hoo) but he's excited which puts me a little at ease.




Annie

Cross My Heart and Stitches

I'm in love.
With a new hobby.
Like I needed another!
My absence is due to WAY TOO MANY passions.
But I can't let go of any so I carry on.
I discovered Wee Wonderful's cross stitch patterns.
Simple and sweet and love that they are stitched on linen.



I'm giving the apples to someone special for her birthday. It's still a secret, I hope.
And then I'll make myself another one because all four framed will make my heart happy when I see them hanging on my wall.



I gratefully inherited my grandmother's supplies after she passed away. An organized woman she was. I should really see what few colors she didn't have in the three 3-ring binders I now possess.





She used to cross stitch and has made me a few samplers. This one has the Lords Prayer on it. As you can see from the photo, I really need to get this framed. I have had this for ten years, unframed. Not feeling so good about this. Maybe I appreciate it so much more now.



I was pleased to see that Grandma added her initials and dated it. This is the only way I knew that it was ten years old.



I went digging this afternoon looking for a cross stitch project I had worked on when I was young. I must have thrown it out. Darn. I kept it for so long. Do you ever ask yourself "what was I thinking?" When I began cross stitching in my teens, I was in my phase of "I love anything with ballet shoes on it" No I didn't ever dance but would have loved to but no ballet body to be had here and then. The cross stitch project I was working on had little ballet bears in pink tutus. I wasn't too far from being finished but it ended up as many of my projects do...UFO's.

I do have a few projects on the knitting needles but for now I have put them down and will be crossing my heart, I mean stitches.

I'm So Thankful

As I write this I'm not at home but rather at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota waiting for my dad to wake up from surgery. It's been a whirlwind of a week ending with many blessings to be counted. My dad was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive skin cancer called Merkel Cell Carcinoma. It showed up on his right leg below his knee over a year and a half ago. Not knowing what it was he went to his family physician where his doctor burnt it off not knowing what it was either. It metastasized and came back showing six additional growths and then was directed to see a dermatologist about a week ago. That's when we learned of the serious cancer. Last week was his PET scan which miraculously showed that it did not spread and today was his surgery to remove the cancer. The great news today is that it did not spread to his lymph node system which was determined through a biopsy. I am so thankful for the support of family and friends and the technology that enabled us to update everyone and receive support and prayers....email, cell phones, Facebook, CaringBridge, and wifi laptops. The power of prayer was most certainly at our side considering the alternative results. Now we hope for a speedy recovery...

Let Us Sew

A few years ago I taught my daughter to knit. She picked up needles every now and then but the hobby never really took off for her. About a month ago I learned about a new sewing studio and discovered they offered classes for kids. I enrolled Ella in a four week introductory class and she has loved every minute of it. The name of the studio is Sewtropolis and is located quite a ways from our home but it was worth the drive. It also gave me some time to sit and knit while Ella was in class. A little "me" time was appreciated.



After she finished her first project, a drawstring sewing bag (which I will have pictures to share later) she has sewn a nightshirt and now is working on some pj pants.



I was not surprised when I asked what her favorite part of the class was and she responded with "the dog". Skilow (sp?) was a super friendly Golden Retriever who hung out in the store. Once you began petting her she was your forever friend for the hour.




I'm looking forward to sharing this hobby with her. I love sewing too. We also just discovered a new quilt shop that opened up within a few miles of us. Millie P's has gorgeous fabrics and classes for kids too. It's going to be a fun adventure with her.

dough to bread to table to tummy

Last week I attended a class at an awesome cooking store in St. Paul, Cooks of Crocus Hill. If you've never been and are local you must. You really CAN enjoy your time in the kitchen. {smile}

The class was with Zoe Francois, author of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. My sister gave me the Healthy Bread book for Christmas so when I learned Zoe was offering a class there was no hesitation in signing up. She was so sweet and really funny! The bread she made was scrumptious. Of course they send around samples and a couple of times I caught myself thinking "would anyone notice if I take more than one piece" I was compliant and passed the platter to my right. The next day I was mixing up a batch of the master recipe. I can't wait to try out more recipes. What I love about these books is that you really can't screw it up. If I can make bread so can you.

These pics below were from my phone. I forgot to bring my camera. I was noticing during the class one of the participants kept taking lots of pictures. I thought to myself she either is a scrapper or a blogger. The latter was true. Her site is CityFarmGirl. Ambitious gal!

Check out their website Artisan Bread in Five

Hello Blog

It's 10:40pm and I'm sitting at the computer with a cup of decaf coffee enjoying some quiet time. Thought I would check in and give a little update.

My last post was in... November ? really? where does the time go? Oh, yes, I'm a full time working momma, wife, etc. I've really just been saving up all the stories to share. Well, not really but I do want to tell you about my visit with Susan B. Anderson. A darling yarn shop opened up here in my home town and Susan came with her Itty Bitty Toys show. I cannot say enough kind things about Susie, and her book once again, is fabulous. After I finish some misc. projects I will be tackling a few in her book. I just finished reading her blog and found this. I LOVED that movie and what a great idea.