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)

An Almost Wordless Wednesday

Our winter break...

The Glory of the Story

Christmas blessings to you!

Happy Mother's Day to you!!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Welcome December

I keep thinking I have lots of time before Christmas is here to knit gifts, decorate the house, etc. but it's already the first of December! This is the only decoration I have up. I love this. My mom picked it up for me at the Buffalo Nickel from this talented sewer.

To get me going here's a Christmas meme from this sweetie over here:

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Love wrapping gifts

2. Real tree or artificial? Real.

3. When do you put up the tree? whenever I can drag my husband to the lot

4. When do you take down the tree? when it becomes a fire hazard (usually right after Christmas)

5. Do you like Egg Nog? not at all even the name makes me gag

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbie Dream House

7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, a couple of them and my kids love setting them up

8. Hardest person to buy for? My mother-in-law

9. Easiest person to buy for? Me... it's not about me though is it...ok, my two kids

10. Mail or email Christmas Cards? I usually mail but this year I'm going to email (budget says so)

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Not a favorite but I find Elf very funny

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? black olives (don't ask)

13. Clear lights or coloured? Clear on Christmas tree; colored on outside trees

14. Favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night

15. Travel or stay home at Christmas? Do both so we can be with each side of the families

16.Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? I can come close

17. Angel or Star on the top of the tree? an Angel that Grandma B made

18. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Both

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? the buy this buy that commercials on TV

20. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? I like both. The main tree is homey with lots of memorable ornaments and the kids' playroom is going to have a themed tree this year -white tree with lots of bright colors

21. Gingerbread or Sugar Cookies? To eat? Definitely sugar cookies and I have the best recipe (which is my grandma's) To decorate? Gingerbread house, just picked one up today, a kit that is.

Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother

The fruits of my labor...

Prince Charming
and

the Fairy Godmother

I'm looking for a princess, my true love. Might you fit this glass slipper?

"You're really going to grant me my wish?"

and they all lived ...

Looking forward to trick-or-treats on Friday. Between last weekend and this coming weekend the kids will have lots of wear out of the costumes. They were so fun to create. The Fairy Godmother's was from a McCall's pattern and Prince Charming's was a doctored up suit I found at a second hand store. As thrifty as we are trying to be, going this route did not help us out but I hope the memory of the homemade costumes will be there for my children like they are for me from my mom. I tried to find a photo of the year when I was Cookie Monster and my sister was Big Bird. I'll keep looking. I loved that costume.

Happy Halloween!

Early Easter Equals Leg Warmers

I knitted up a pair of leg warmers for my daughter to wear with her Easter outfit. She is my "freeze baby" and hates to be cold so since the outfit involved a skirt we made sure she wore tights AND leg warmers. I didn't have a pattern for these so I made this one up. I'm sure it's pretty simple for many of you knitters but for my first pattern I was a bit challenged at times but I'm happy with how they turned out. And do you see that pile of yarn there in the picture? I was sweatin' it when it kept getting smaller and smaller and wasn't sure I'd have enough but phew! I made it with three and a half yards to boot!

By the way, there is a give-away going on over here. I have purchased one of her bags and her work is impeccable. Love the fabrics she used for the wristlet.

How do you eat your jelly...

bean, that is. Is it just an Easter indulgence? Do you pick out your favorite flavor and eat it exclusively or do you scoop and eat by the handful or maybe you don't eat them at all? I'm partial to the cherry flavored beans. That's one of the reasons why our dish looks like this:

In my family's opinion, not all beans are created equal. We love Jelly Belly and Brach's Classic beans but now we need to invite my dad over to eat up the black beans. I guess that's all they had growing up.

Surfing around today I found this cute kids activity with jelly beans. Have the kids plant some jelly beans (because our ground is still frozen we'll do this inside in some cups). Have the kids water them. Then on Easter morning swap the jelly beans with lollipops instead!

Useless trivia

• there is no jelly in a jelly bean


• it wasn't until the 1930's that jelly beans became part of Easter traditions


• because of their egg-like shape they became associated with the Easter bunny who is believed to deliver eggs as a symbol of new life


• each year the U.S. manufacturers produce more than 16 billion jelly beans for Easter


• April 22 is National Jelly Bean Day!

Who knew? So what's your favorite bean?

Happy Easter!

Candy Corn and Peanuts

We are ready for trick-or-treating! Not sure if this will be mom's bag or the kids but I only made one so I'm thinking it's for me. Not that I'll be ringing any doorbells but there's always that treat that neither child will eat and will end up in my bag. By the way, have you ever tried candy corn and roasted peanuts at the same time? Keep that dish as far away from me as possible. LOVE it!

I also finished the Upside Down Daisy hat from Itty Bitty Hats.
This one took me awhile to finish. I'm not crazy about the sewing piece of it and each petal had to be sewed on the top. I guess I'm not sure if I'm doing it right hence the lack of confidence and procrastination! But I like how it turned out.

Happy Halloween!

PS. I've received my invite for Ravelry. Yikes! It's a bit overwhelming but will be very sa*weet once I get it organized.