Argosy Blocking

Evening all.

Not much of anything going on here, other than the normal stuff. Work, kids to school, grocery shopping, etc......

I finished up Argosy Monday night. I finally got it all pinned out and noticed that something was a little wrong with it. The measurements according to the directions is suppose to be 6"x74". Mine is no where close to the 74", its more like 6"x60".

Ugh!

Which means that I casted off too soon. I honestly thought that I had made it long enough. I even put it around my neck. However, I did not take into account that I would be stretching it width wise which in turn would take away from the length.
*Shakes head*
I can not believe I did this. Now it is going to way to short for my liking. And with this pattern there is no way to add anything to the end to make it longer.

So now to find someone who wants a short scarf.

But on the good side of things. Rowan Tapestry made a beautiful Argosy Scarf! I love how the colors lined up. Very subtle, not over powering at all.

Now if I would have just made it a tad bit longer! Ugh!!

On this note I think I will leave you. But if you would like to read a funny little poem take a stroll over to *Bears Fan* and take a gander at it! I guarantee you will get a chuckle out of it! I know this person very well and when they get bored they come up with some funny stuff! I really shouldn't encourage this person. But Oh well everyone needs a little laughter in their life!

Till Tomorrow. I am off to work on the lace tonight.

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

So Many Things, So Little Time!

Evening all!

Today has been a pretty good day! I got up bright and early. Kids got ready for school. I filled out the application for the hospital while hubby took them to school.

I ran my application over to the hospital bright and early. While I was there I talked to the lady in the human resource department. She told me that she thought the position is being filled internal, but to check back on Tuesdays. That is when they do the new posting for jobs. I figure I will be bugging the hospital every Tuesday until they hire me. They will cave, I just know they will.

My daughter didn't get the job at McDonalds either. They said they really don't have any openings for a 15 year old right now. But to check back with them on a regular basis. This is a child who fights to clean her room and do her chores, but she wants a job worse than anyone I know. Just a few more months and she will be sixteen and I already have a job lined up for her. The manager at the grocery store has promised both kids a job when they turn sixteen. So if she don't get one now, she will have one in 6 months time. Hang in there Sweetie!

Yesterday I got a cool new toy in the mail. Now hubby thinks that I spent a little too much money on it, but hey I didn't pay full price so I got a bargain. Well in my eyes I did! I got one of them ball winders. Someone had one for sale on DeStash blog and I got it before anyone else! Yay me! It is so nice to have this. I have been winding up all my skeins of yarn the last two evenings. Hubby and the kids are trying to play with my toy too! They need to go away and get their own. I am having fun with it!

I made a run for Rockford today. I needed to make a run for Unique Yarns. Its the only place close to me that carries Addi Turbo Knitting Needles. Also wanted to make a quick stop in Barnes & Nobles. I got the needles in the correct sizes. While in the bookstore they had the new Interweave Knits magazine in. You should see some of the patterns in the magazine. There is even an Entrelac sock pattern in here. Also I grabbed a Knitting Journal. I want to start keeping track of the things that I knit up. I had seen this in there before but never got it. Its a great thing to have! As soon as I start filling it out, I will definitely be sharing how it looks. Keep a watch out for it. Something else I should mention, I was a very good girl today. I only petted and fondled the yarn, I did NOT! buy any. My hubby was so proud of me. Although I was very tempted!! *evil chuckle*

Last week in the mail I got a pattern book in the mail called, "Bags: A Knitter's Dozen". It has the Market Bag pattern in it, which is basically a felted entrelac purse that is very similar to AJ's that she made. I am having trouble though deciding on what yarn to use. I have a couple of options.

Option 1)Donegal Tweed yarn that I never used and just sitting collecting dust. Its Cranberry, Oatmeal, and this green color. Really pretty.

or.....

Option 2)Patons SWS in Natural Pink. After I made the "Mini Lady Eleanor" I bought some more of this color. I really love it!

Both options I think would look great, just not sure which way to go. If I did the pinks it would be just perfect for Spring. But then again the other colors just look great together!

Decisions, Decisions!

What do you think???

Another thing that I got in the mail last week is the yarn for the Thermal Sweater that I am going to be making for Knitty. The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss, color Dusk. This is just a stunning color. I also got enough of it to make me a pair of socks to match my sweater. Its going to be fabulous and I can not wait to get started on it!

I have some more news, but I think I will wait till tomorrow to post about that. Its nothing bad, so don't worry! Right now I need to head to bed. Got an early wake up call, have to work.

Till tomorrow,

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

PS... Check out this new blog. Peg is a friend of mine and just started up a blog. Her blog is called Millefiore. She makes the most beautiful sweaters. Give her a nice blogland hello! Please and Thank you!

A Little Bit of Nothing!

Evening all.

Tonight I have a little bit of nothing to tell you about. I didn't have to work today or tomorrow, so I have spent the day doing nothing. Well I did do some laundry, but that is about it. I got a few new things in the mail, but I haven't taken any pictures of them yet so you have to wait another day for me to tell you about them. I can say that one of the items is a really kewl gadget. It is just plain out right nifty. Wait till you see what I got!

My daughter had a job interview this afternoon for McDonalds. She said that she thought it went well. The lady is suppose to call her tomorrow and let her know if she got the position or not. After her interview she had to go to the hospital for candy striping duties. While she was at the hospital she went down to human resources to see if they were hiring in the cafeteria. They weren't but they are looking for a CNA for the medical floor. She grabbed an application for me! Thank you Sweetie! I am going to take it back in the morning. There might be a slight chance that I can get on there. Keep your fingers crossed!

Tonight has been spent working on my lace scarf. I am about 1/3 of the way done with it. Boy oh Boy, does this get prettier as I go. I can not wait till I get it done! I have done a little other fiber stuff but that will have to wait another day.

Tomorrow after I run to the hospital in the morning I am hoping that my hubby will take a drive up to Rockford with me. I need to pick up a few sets of circular needles for the sweater and the entrelac purse that I will be working on here real soon like. Plus I will get to fondle all the pretty yarn while I am there! That is a big plus in my books.

Well that is about it for me tonight. Have a great night all!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!!

How do you picture me?

Good Morning!

I have a question for you!

I am a little curious about this. I have recently seen a picture of someone and they dont look like anything I would have thought based on their blog. Which is not bad. But it made me wonder what someone out there thought how I looked before seeing my picture.

So.....

Pretend like you have never seen my picture or me in real life(for a few of you who have)...

What do you think I look like based on my blog?

Is my picture what you pictured me looking like?

Be honest!

I would really love to know how you pictured me!

Later Jelly Beans!

Edited to add a few things.

Saturday Sky

Evening all. My Saturday Sky shots this week is from last week and today.

I was on my way to work and I took this beauty out in the middle of no where. Just a beautiful sight.

Today we are having some nasty blizzard like weather coming in. Right now I can hear the sleet hitting the windows and the wind is blowing like you would not believe. Winter is not quite over with yet. Pooh!

Haven't really had much time in the last couple of days to get much of anything done. Have the next few days off so I am hoping to finish up the Argosy Scarf. I worked on it some tonight. No more mistakes. Thank Goodness! Keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow on getting it done. But you never know with the hubby and kids if they will let it happen or not.

Have a great night all!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

Frogs Dont Go Rip!

Rip Rip
Rip Rip went the little green frog one day,
Rip Rip went the little green frog,
Rip Rip went the little green frog one day,
And they all went Rip Rip Rip.

But!
We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
Lahdeedahdeedah!
We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
They don't go Rip Rip Rip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Evening my friends.

Hopefully you can tell by the little diddy what happened here.

Alas dear friends, I had to go a ripping!

Last night I pulled out the Argosy Scarf to get it finished.
All I had left to do was start the decrease down.
Just 20 some rows to go before it came off the needles.
Then I noticed that something was off a little bit.
*shakes head*
The pattern repeat for the rows was 5 times, not the 6 times I was doing it.
So I took a little look at my scarf to see where the problem was.
That is when I noticed that I did not decrease at this one spot.
It was at the half way mark.
UGH!!
So a ripping I went last night.
I was so close to being done!
All that hard work down the tube!
I was just so disgusted with it!
But on a good note,
I didn't have to rip it all out!
Yay me!

On this note I will leave you.
Off to try and get some of it done!

Have a Good Night Jelly Beans!

My Cat Plays Fetch Better Than Your Dog!

Evening one and all!
Here is a sweet little treat for you animal lovers out there!

Every since we got Rascal he has played fetch. I dont know how he got started on it but he loves to play fetch. I can throw it 30-50 times and he will bring it back each time. He even does some flips for me. Just totally cracks me up!

(He will only play with this mouse. No other toy will do for this. Trust me I have tried them all when he loses his little mouse.)

Enjoy and Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

Lovely Lace

Evening all. Today was just another plain old boring day. Did the normal today. Work, pay bills, and laundry.

The only fascinating thing I did today was work some more on the lace. I just have to say here that I am loving the lace. Its going much faster than I thought it would, exspecially with the yarn as tiny as it is. I did almost have a little accident working on it today. Some of my stitches slide off my needle. I started to panic and thought for sure I would have to frog. But needless to say I saved the stitches. This is really pretty and super soft in person! Again I have more done than what is in this picture. Stay tuned for more updates on the lovely lace.

Well that is about all the interesting things going on here. I am off to bed. Early morning call around here now that I am back to work.

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

A Contest and Lace

Evening all. We really didn't get much done around here this past weekend. I worked both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Other than that we were lazy.

Saturday evening my daughters friend came over for a crochet lesson. At first she wasn't going to come over due to she needed to buy some yarn and didn't have the money this week. I made the suggestion to tell her to come over and she could go yarn shopping in my stash. So I cleaned out the yarn bins Saturday and gave a bunch to the girl. She now has her own stash of yarn.

While cleaning out my yarn I came across this lovely pink lace yarn, that I forgot all about getting. I received this back in July from my one skein pal Jennifer at Craftylilly. She had sent it to me and at the time I was not knitting. Had no idea what to use it for. At one point I was thinking of making a teeny tiny teddy with it. It is Rowan Kidsilk Haze and as I was reading I realized that it is the same blend that the lady used on the Branching Out Scarf.

Now here is where I am going to state that I am breaking one of my major rules about having more than one project on the needles at the same time. But I couldnt help myself. I am just about done with the Argosy anyways, so it is all good!

So I started to thinking that maybe I should pull out the needles and see what it is like to knit with this tiny strand of yarn. It is a little difficult until you get use to the control of the hooks. Definitely do not use Addi Turbo for this. I lost several stitches trying it on them. This is really a beautiful pattern. I am so Loving! knitting lace. I have more done than what is in the picture. This project will be my at home project. The Argosy Scarf will be my taking with me project, since I dont have to concentrate on it like I do the lace.

Thank you ladies for all the nice compliments about my son! He was tickled when he read them all!

Next month will be my one year blogiversary. I cant believe that a year ago I didnt even know what a blog was or the importance of one. Well important to me. I have met alot of great ladies out there and I really have learned alot of things that I never knew existed. So on this note I would like to do a little contest to celebrate it!

Just leave comments and I will toss everyones name in a hat that comments and draw one lucky persons name out. The more times you comment the more times your name goes in the hat. On March 15th I will draw the name and that person will win a wonderful prize. Still putting together a prize package. But it will be great! I will announce the winner on the 16th. Sound pretty good?

So Comment Away people! It begins tonight!

Really not much else happening. I have to work the rest of this week, but they are all short shifts. The short shifts are making it easier getting back in the swing of working a real job again.

Well I have to get to bed now! Got to get up early for work!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

PS... Tomorrow I will be putting up everything for the Granny Bee over at Divine Stitches of the Yarnie Sisterhood! If you are interested let me know!

Star Spangle Banner Video

This is something that I am just so Proud of my son for doing!

He really put himself out there with getting the audition and all!

He has been practicing in the morning before school and every night after school. All the practicing paid off!

The first video is of him practicing before performing last night.
(And my daughter sitting on the floor in the room where they put us knitting)

The second video is the actual performance that he gave.

He just really did an EXCELLENT! job playing!
I got goosebumps listening to him play!

(This video was taped by my brother-in-law and I forgot to tell him to zoom in and all. And he didnt start it till after they announced him and he started playing.)




I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Mallards Hockey Game

Yesterday was my son's big night of performing!
It was a big success all the way around for both my son and the Mallards!
My son nailed his performance!
(which you will get to hear for yourselves in a moment)

And the Mallards Won!!
4-1

Lets start with our arrival at The Mark.

We drove through snow to get here. It wasn't suppose to be that bad, but the Quad Cities got more snow than what was called for. Which made for bad driving home. Not to worry though, I know a professional driver that got us home safely...aka hubby!

While my son warmed up, I got to watch the Mallards and Fort Wayne Komets warm up.

I have never been to a hockey game before, but I was told that there was suppose to be some good fights. If you will notice I said suppose to be. Them darn refs would not let any fights break out last night. Totally was not fair. There could have been a little more action!

Geez!

Here is the hubby and I.
(Those stripes almost looks like someone is doing bunny ears on me)

Mo Mallard and my loving son!
(I dont know who the rest of them people were.)

This was a really nice time!
The best part for me though was my son performing!
It was an added bonus for my son that they won! He was just tickled!

A Good and Bad Day!

Good morning!

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Valentine's Day. My sweetheart gave me my present a day early. Instead of giving me cut roses he gave me a miniature red rose bush. This way they wouldn't die. Wasn't that just sweet of him?
(note: in the background to the right is a picture of my sweetheart from his Marine days 31 years ago!)

Yesterday was a very busy day. I didn't to do anything that I wanted to do. I had a few unexpected things happen....

Finally had my first day at work yesterday. And it was a great start.

After work I was going to run out to Wal-Mart to pick up my hubby a giant Kiss for Valentines day and my car started acting funny. The front end was making a knocking sound. We have already had to replace the bushings in the front end and I almost thought it was those going out again. Nope not this time. It was the tie rods. (not sure on the spelling of those) Anyways, the wonderful mechanic that we have work on my car was able to get it in and get her fixed. It didn't cost as much as I thought it would.

Hubby went back to the doctor yesterday for his back. He is still off work for another month. The doctor wants him to continue doing therapy. He still is not able to lift that much and he hasn't even begun to squat lift yet. I do know that the cold is killing his back. He basically stays in pain during the time the temperature drops down like it has. I have a bad feeling that once the kids are done in school we will be moving to warmer climates.

Today I have to go out and take the second part of my lovely recertification test. No worries! I am pretty sure I will pass. I hope! Then it will be off to work I go.

The Argosy scarf is slowly getting done. I really love the way this Rowan Tapestry yarn is coming along. This color is just beautiful! The only bad thing is that I am going to have to block it when done.

Well that is about it for me today. I have a little studying that I need to do before the test!

Have a Great Day Jelly Beans!!!

PS... I forgot to mention that you should check out *Divine Stitches of the Yarnie Sisterhood*.

Happy Valentine Day

Happy Valentine Day!

Hope you all have a wonderful day with you loved ones!

Snow, Orientation, & CPR Class

Good Morning Jelly Beans! Here is what I woke up to this am! We have snow moving through the area again. The heaviest is suppose to stay west and south of us.

The kids have no school again today. They are jumping up and down rejoicing for this. I on the other hand could strangle some school officials. We are only suppose to get 2 - 4 inches of snow! C'mon! Where is your sense of adventure??

Its been so long since I had an actually job that I am a little overwhelmed by all of it. I mean yes I worked for the lady, but that was so different from this. I guess I am just a little nervous. Hopefully after I get to an actually job it will be a little different and I wont feel so nervous.

I was suppose to do my orientation today, but instead I did it yesterday. I spent 4 hours there yesterday going over all the paperwork and watching the videos. Most of it is coming back to me. I remember how to do all the paperwork. So everything will be good! I hope!!

Last night I spent 3 hours relearning how to do CPR. It was a pretty fast moving class. And how they have you do CPR now is so different from the old way. Instead of checking for a pulse you go straight to chest compressions. Now it is 30 chest compressions, 2 breaths, 30 chest compressions, and so on until someone can relieve you or an AED gets there with emergency personnel. So different. Less steps though. Next Monday night I have child/infant CPR class.

I was looking on the internet for a picture relating to Red Cross and CPR and found this one instead. A lady from Red Cross knitting. I thought it would be pretty appropriate for this little blog! Represents what I did and what I am doing!

Well that is about it for me today. I have to work for a little while this afternoon. Then it will be home to the children driving the father nuts. Maybe I can get a little knitting done tonight! We shall see.

Have a great day Jelly Beans!

Sunday (Saturday) Sky!

Morning all! I talked my hubby into taking me for a little drive this am. We had to get up kind of early to capture what I was seeking.

We took a little drive over to Dixon. My hubby goes to therapy over there and has been having a wonderful view of the Rock River.

Just wait till you see what he has been watching!

So for a little while we looked at the Rock River. Its a pretty cloudy day.

We watched and waited! And I froze my butt off waiting! It was clearly well worth the wait.

Sitting on some ice in the river was a pair of Eagles!


I even walked across the bridge and under the bridge to get to the other side for this little shot. That Eagle just sat there and watched me. I got fairly close to the tree!

I got to watch them fly. Some even did some swooping. We even seen one grab its breakfast! It was amazing!

My pictures do not do them justice at all!

This one flew right over my head!
Wow!

We came back to home and I asked hubby to drive by the Rock River in our town just to see maybe if there was some more Eagles hanging out in our town!

There were several! This is as close as I could get to them!
There they were sitting in a tree right next to the road.
I got to take this last one right from the car!

Three of them! Sitting there as pretty as can be!

Have a wonderful day Jelly Beans!

(all images are clickable)

*Clappy* Done!

Todays Saturday Sky shot will have to wait till tomorrow. I have a little drive in mind and hopefully I will be able to catch a good picture of what I want to share. Just be patient. This will be the last week that I wont post it on Saturday. It will be well worth the wait!

Not a whole lot happening around here today. Just a pretty quiet sort of day. Actually really nice quiet day! I like the Saturdays that you can sit around and be bored if you like and maybe catch a movie or two. My daughter had pep band and some friends over to work on a French project. My son was gone most of the day. By time he came home it was time for my daughter to go do the Candy striping duty. I didn't even have to cook. We ordered out! Yay!!

I am really tired due to a little Rascal. Last night after I got my *Clappy* all pinned out, Rascal decided that he wanted to play with the pins. The little bugger pulled out half of the pins off both scarves. I ended up having to pin the scarves all over again and cover them with my bedspread. Then on top of it all, I had to sleep on the couch for half the night because Rascal being the rascal that he is, thought it would be fun trying to get under the bedspread. Drove me nuts! Needless to say, *Clappy came out GREAT! after all the drama of the night. I need to get me a black coat to wear with *Clappy*, but for right now I think it looks okay with my gray pea coat.

My snowflake scarf is going to need some other help. It is still curling on me. I may have to pull out the heavy artillery for it. Any suggestions would be helpful. I have tried steaming and pinning and spraying. Nothing is working on it! Ugh!!

I started another Argosy scarf this afternoon. I am using Rowan Tapestry yarn for this one. I LOVE! how the color is working up. Tapestry is a wool/soy blend but DK weight. It is just stunning! Actually my hubby picked out the color for me when we went to Rockford last weekend. He has Great taste.

Well that is about all I have for you tonight. I am off to bed so I can get up early and do my little drive. Keep your fingers crossed that I can capture the picture I want to get!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

*Clappy* Blocking!

Evening all. I have been a very busy girl today.

I had an appointment this am that I didn't share with you. I am a little superstitious about certain things. I was afraid if I shared what I was up to I would jinx it. I had a job interview with a Homecare facility. I worked for them many, many, many years ago. I have been putting my application in all over the place. Well my hubby noticed that they were looking for CNA's to work 3rd shift, I jumped all over it. I called them yesterday morning and talked to the lady that does the hiring. She told me to come on in and fill out the application this morning. She would also do my interview then too. Everything went good and all my references checked out. I go back Tuesday for orientation and I could probably start work as soon as Tuesday night or Wednesday day shift. Yay! me!! I do have to take a CPR class and get recertified for that, but no worries there. Red Cross has one Monday night. I finally got a job doing something that I am really good at. Now to get hubby to accept that I will work 3rd shift and it wont kill him. Men!!

I took my daughter out driving yesterday out in the country. She is doing really well. Trying to get her to visualize the center of her lane is a really hard job. She is having a little trouble turning too, but it all will come in due time. Right now though rule #2 has gone into affect. She didn't turn in some homework for her math class and her grade dropped ALOT! She didn't really believe that I would stop her from driving, but now she does. I love her alot and I want her to understand responsibility. And keeping her grades up is one she needs to do. You are probably wondering how I know she didn't turn in work. Well the school here does a thing online that they post to on a weekly or daily basis. We the parents have the right to look and see how our kids are doing. Ok I know most parents probably don't do this, but I am one not to let this go by. I want her to make something of her life. And school is going to help her alot. So yes I am being a meany about the car right now. If she turns in her work on Monday it should bring her grade back up. And she will turn it in or she don't drive the car. She WANTS! to drive the car very bad too! I am so loving this power right now! Also I think you should know that her room has been clean now for 4 days in a row, including the bed made! Yay!

I took *Clappy* off the needles yesterday! I really didn't want to stop working on *Clappy*, but a friend brought it to my attention that she thought it would be long enough. And She was right! But don't expect me to say this all the time. Tee Hee!

I even manage to get *Clappy* all pinned out today. It is looking gorgeous. I so can not wait till *Clappy* is all dry and I am able to unpin and wear! Also you might notice that the snowflake scarf is pinned next to *Clappy*. Well that is due to the first time I blocked it I did not have this board and I really was not happy on how the blocking went. Meaning that it still was curling up on me. So I figured what was a few hundred more pins on the board going to hurt. So now I will have two beautiful scarves to wear.

I have some new yarn coming too for some new projects that I want to do. Right now I am finishing up the second sock for the Embossed Leaves sock pattern. I should have it done just in time for the new yarn shipment to get here. Wait till you see what I am going to tackle! It is going to be awesome. And the colors are out of this world!

Well that is about it for me tonight. I am still debating on whether to drive to Oregon to the yarn store up there or not. We will see. I am off to dreamland!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!!

Roads are no longer Safe!

Do you live in Illinois?? I do and I can almost promise that the roads will never be safe again!

It happened. My daughter is growing up before my very eyes. It feels like just yesterday I was teaching her how to ride a bike. Helping her learn how to read. Most things that any parent would help their child do. They grow up so very fast.

Now I have another important job to do with my daughter and I no longer feel safe. Thats right! She is 15 years old. She got her drivers permit tonight. Ugh! I feel my hair getting grayer as I type this news. I dont know if I am really ready for this yet or not. But I guess I better get ready to.... Teach! her how to drive.

My kids have never really gone to their father and asked him how to do something. They always come to me. My daughter says that I am the calmer one of us two. So I guess that is why she is wanting me to do this too!

Do I really have to??

I want my baby girl back. She is growing up just too Darn! fast!!

Actually she does pretty well so far. Both kids do well in the cars. We let them pull it out of the garage and back the cars up. My son is an ace when it comes to backing up. We also have taken our daughter out on some back country roads and let her do a little driving. Another plus to her starting the driving now is learning how to drive on the slick roads. Thank Goodness I dont have a new car.

But now I finally have something to hold over her head! *evil laugh* I am making her sign a rules contract regarding driving my car. The teachers even recommended that we have a teenager sign these. They even gave us one in the packet that we got tonight. Here is a couple of the rules so far:

1. Her room must be clean every morning, including bed made. I am particularly loving this rule. I finally have a weapon to keep her room clean! Yay! Me!!

2. She can not have any grade lower than a B. She is more than capable of doing this!

Ok this is all I have so far. But I am sure that I will come up with some more. Just give me some time. Any ideas out there??

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!!!

PS... I will tell you about *Clappy* tomorrow. I just didnt want to take away from the other important news tonight.

Boring & Lazy Day

Evening all! Today was another one of them winter messes outside. We got a butt load of snow. The weatherman lied and said only an inch. I dont think he really knows how to measure snow! I would say if I had to guess 4 to 6 inches easily. And then to still have them freezing temperatures to boot is just not fun. I really do love the snow, but when it is this cold! Forget about it!!

The good thing today is that both kids had school! The bad thing was I had to put up with hubby all day long. I had made plans to run some errands and all, but with the roads and the weather I just opted to stay home. And I really didnt get much done either! I am getting lazy I think!

However, I did manage to pin out *Clappy* for your viewing pleasures. So far *Clappy* is a whooping 8 inches wide. I did not measure to see how long. It just looks so gorgeous all pinned out and stretched that way! I really love this scarf! Tonight when I put *Clappy* down I had just started the second skein. You should see how long *Clappy* is now! I should have him done by tomorrow night. Then I will get to use my new cutting board to pin him out and block him! OH! Yay! I can hardly wait!!

I am trying something different for this month on the planning of meals in my house. I was watching on Food Network the other day and on one of the shows they were using up things that they had in the pantry for a while. Which got me to thinking. (sometimes not a good thing) When I go to the store I sometimes buy extras or I pick up something that I have and forgot about. Which then has my pantry over flowing. I am planning meals based on the items that I have in the pantry. Just to use up things before they go bad and I have to do a spring cleaning on it. Actually it worked really good tonight. I only had to pick up 2 items to complete tonights meal. Also, I told hubby and the kids if they see something in the pantry and have an idea for a meal to write it on the calendar. Hopefully this will work and we will get really creative over the next month!

Well that is about it for me tonight! I have a bunch of errands from today to run tomorrow!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

A Story for Karen

Today has been another one of them blistery, cold, OMG! stay in the house days. I got a call from the school at 10 mins to 6 this am to let me know that they cancelled school. Which means that I had to put up with my two teens for another day stuck in the house and cant go no where due to the blistering cold weather. Luckily they pretty much kept to themselves.

I did the normal Monday tasks.

Well.... ummmm ok ...... Maybe I didnt do much of the normal Monday tasks.

Unless you count me talking to AJ on the computer and getting the teenagers to do some of the work. Tee Hee! I did manage to get some laundry done.

Yesterday Karen did a post about her granny coming to her brother in a dream. You can read about it *here*. I left a comment for her about something similar happening to me. Now you can choose not to believe in this, but I do tend to believe there is Angels out there. Well anyways, here is my story. Very short one.

I believe that when your loved ones are close to passing they start to see loved ones who passed before them. This I do believe very much. My father-in-law in his last weeks on earth talked to my husbands mom. She passed away back in 1982 from cancer too. Sometimes he would smile while he was sleeping and you would almost guess that he was seeing her. He would always tell us there that he was going to be with my husbands mom.

On the Friday before he passed I had gone to the nursing home. I would always go and help get him ready to go out for his radiation treatments. Plus I just wanted to make sure that they were taking care of him the right way. I was standing next to his bed and I was talking to him. He looked at me and said plain as day, "Is that your dad standing next to you?" Now you have to understand that there was no one there but just him and me. I told him no. That would be impossible for my dad to be there cause he passed away 21 years ago. He then said, "Well maybe that is a picture of him". Nope there are no pictures of him in my father-in-laws room. He just looked at me and smiled and said, "Are you sure?"

I am a very firm believer that my father is with me at all times. He is my angel when I need him. He watches over me. Believe it or not. This is just my opinion. I just thought I would share that for Karen.

Now back to the normal grind of my knitting/crocheting life.

I have gotten quite a bit done on *Clappy* today. I plan on pinning him out tomorrow and taking a picture of the progress that I have made so far. My loving husband told me last night that the yarn I am using for this particular pattern is pretty. And I have to agree with him! It is very gorgeous!! Wait til you see it!

Something else today.... I got in the mail the date that I am to take my written exam for my CNA. It will be on the 15th of this month. I am not too worried about this. Most of it is basic common knowledge.

Also we confirmed the new date for my son to play at the hockey game. We had to cancel the last date due to the passing of my father-in-law. You really should hear my baby play this on his sax. He is sounding better every day! I am just tickled pink over this whole thing. And very PROUD!!

Well that is it for me tonight. I am off to do a little more knitting on *Clappy*. Hopefully they wont cancel school tomorrow and I can get a few things done without the darling bratty teens home!

Sweet Dreams Jelly Beans!

I CANT BELIEVE THE QUARTERBACK!

Ok all I am going to say about this Super Bowl is......

WTH was your problem Rex Grossman!

I can not believe the way he played. He played like he was back in high school!

*shakes my head*

Well maybe next year they can get it together again. I am and will always be a Bears Fan!

Nitey Nite Jelly Beans!!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Good Freezing Afternoon. I am finally trying to make my way back to the blogging world. What better day to make my way back but Super Bowl Sunday!!

If you don't know by now I am a huge BEARS! Fan. I have been for a long time now. Even all the years I lived in Texas I remained loyal to the Bears. So today in this house it is all about the football. And of course the Super Bowl Commericals. They have come out with some of the best ones and for me this day is not just about the BEARS! in the Super Bowl but the funny ads. Besides DA BEARS! are going to win this one today for my father-in-law. Another thing that is good about Super Bowl Sunday is the game food. You know the Hoagies, Chips and Dip, Cheese and Crackers, Popcorn, and Soda. Yep we are all set for the game!

Yesterday the family and I decided, ok maybe I decided, to go to Rockford for a little yarn shopping and lunch. I finally made it to Unique Yarns. They have a really nice place where they moved to. And the fiber selection is out of this world. I picked up some Rowan Tapestry in Country. It is slightly lighter than the Patons SWS, but the same exact blend. There was this other kind of alpaca and silk blend, but I forgot to get the name of it. The color was just gorgeous! Also Unique Yarns have their own blog that they just started up this last month. I also picked up some Addi Turbo Knitting Needles. These are the nicest needles that I have used since finding out about the bamboo needles. Definitely going to be getting me some more of these in different sizes to use for making up some sweaters.

I finished up my one Embossed Leaves Sock Friday morning. I am loving the baby alpaca yarn that I used for this sock. It is super! soft and really delightful wearing. I have casted on for the mate to this sock and should have it done within a week or so. Super fast and easy pattern to follow.

Something else that I have been playing with is the Clapotis pattern using the yarn that I got in Galena at Fiber Wild. I really love this pattern since AJ got hers all knitted up. Not sure if I am going to do a full size version or a smaller version. I do know that I dont want it as small as I have it right now. I may rip it off and do it just a tad bit bigger. This yarn just looks lovely as a "Clappy" as AJ calls it. We will see.

AJ if you will take notice in the pictures I found the cutting board that I was telling you about. It was at Joanns and it is the perfect size for blocking said scarves and such. It even has circular markings for blocking the circular items.

Sue from over at Good Yarns asked what the Quad Cities are from my previous post. It is a group of cities about an hour away from me. Two are on the Illinois side and the other two are on the Iowa side. And there is really 2 dorks down there. Check them out *here*. They are really a loads of fun to listen to in the morning. And some of the things that they do is just out of this world. My hubby
loves them! You will definitely get a charge out of some of the stuff on their page.

Well that is about it for me now. I am off to do a little knitting and watching of the TV. You know the Super Bowl will be on in a little bit and I just can not miss all the action going on.

HAVE A SUPER BOWL DAY JELLY BEANS!!!

GO DA BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!

You Know You're From.......

Good Afternoon. I seen this on Andi's and Sue's blog and just had to do it. This is so true for us. Enjoy!

Be back later.......

You Know You're From Quad Cities When...

You know what the phone number is for "Car Dead Call Fred"! You refer to the Mississippi River as "The River" You have to watch the paper to see which bridge would be best to get across "The River", since they are all are being worked on You know that Joes, Franks, Shortys, Clints, and Nancy's are not names, but pizza places You know that Whities is an Ice Cream place, not a racial term You know that South Park is the name of a mall, not a television show You know that Daisy Dooks is off of I-280, not a character on a television show You know that Tuxedos is not a place you rent one from You will stand in line for over an hour to buy "sculpted concrete" You know that Milan is not pronounced like the one that is the fashion capital of the world You know that "Magic Mountain" refers to a meal, not an amusement park ride You use the term "Palmer" as a familiar landmark You don't crash into a low clearance bridge driving on Brady or Harrison street You know that pork is THE white meat, not THE OTHER white meat You have used the phrase, "stupid Iowan" or "go back to Illinois"! You have to dial long distance to call someone within sight across the river, but dial a local number for someone twenty minutes away You know that the coming of spring mean that the Rock River WILL flood. Your house WILL be under water, and you're ok with it. You measure distance in minutes, not in miles You know what Taco Pizza is You THINK you know what four cities make up the Quad Cities. No one really knows. You know what Evel Knievel sounds like when he's mad You hear someone say, "I'm on Kimberly" and you do not think it is something sexual You can pay $14 for a round of golf You know that the Slider run refers to getting burgers, not to running a race You cannot see a White Castle restaurant for hours You can name 2 dorks! You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Quad Cities.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



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