Fed up with blogger!

I'm trying out wordpress now.

New blog link

www.throwslikeagirl74.wordpress.com

That's really what it says!

Negative 0.6! I really have to go to the grocery store and feed my friend's cat but the ol' thermometer is not helping my motivation. (There was a picture of the thermometer that blogger won't let me upload. Does anybody out there know how to upload flickr photos to blogger? I'm getting pretty fed up. )

On the knitting front, my sister bought a bunch of Patons SWS that she quickly found out was NOT a beginner yarn. I told her I'd make a sweater for A out of it, so I just finished the back last night. I'm also working on some mittens for myself that were originally for L. Turns out when you swatch (and I DID swatch), you should swatch in the round for things knitted in the round. I thought I was knitting at 7 stitches per inch and it turned out to be more like 6. This apparently makes the difference between mittens for a 5 year old and mittens for Mom.

Happy Holidays!

Since the cards may end up being New Year's cards this year, here's a little cheer preschool style... ps L is second from the right in the first row.



The google video thing isn't working so I'm trying a youtube instead. Let me know how it works. :)

Happy Holidays!

Don't Feed the Plant!

Last show was Saturday! It was a lot of fun to play. :) Sadly, the only picture I have is a slightly blurry one with a tall dude standing in front, but you can kind of see what it looked like. The kids did such a great job! I brought L to the final performance. She liked the show, but I think she liked the attention from the high school kids the most. The kid who played the plant showed her how to dance like Michael Jackson. Thanks Tim. Heh.

BTW, this is my first time posting a video. Let me know if you can see it.

Holiday Meme

Picked this up from Ruth and thought it'd be fun!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, Just copy this entire blog and paste into a new blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. If you play along leave me a comment and a link to your blog I'd love to see what you have to say!

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Oh I am all about the gift bags. :)

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. We had this great artificial tree growing up that had little plastic needles clusters. Some families bond over going to the woods and chopping down their tree, while in my family we bonded over using the hot glue gun to stick the plastic needles back on.

3. When do you put up the tree? Friday after Thanksgiving. DH puts the tree together for me and that's the perfect time since he has the day off.

4. When do you take down the tree? Sometime before Martin Luther King Day. Heh.

5. Do you like Egg Nog? I do actually, except growing up we always had it half and half with milk, so drinking it straight tastes too weird for me.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Gosh. Probably my teddy bear necklace that I got when I was three. I remember I accidentally left my favorite bear in the family room and Christmas morning I came out and it was wearing a new dress (that I later learned was one of my Mom's old doll dresses) and necklace with a fuzzy teddy bear on it. I wore that thing all the time. And the bear wore the dress until it practically disintegrated.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep! I have a great VeggieTales nativity scene that my Mom got for the kids a couple years ago. Baby Jesus is a Baby Carrot! Heh. L used to call it the Baby Cheezit. J likes to play with the cow. It flies, you know.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband. He works so hard, he hardly has time for a hobby.

9. Easiest person to buy for? L, hands down. She's so appreciative of everything she gets. At her birthday party this year, she would exclaim after opening a gift, "______! I LOVE _____!" even when she didn't know what it was. She opened a needlepoint set and had this excited look on her face. I leaned over and whispered "Needlepoint." and she said, "Needlepoint! I LOVE needlepoint!"

10. Weirdest Christmas gift you ever received? A long string of brightly colored chickens sitting one on top of the other. I have no idea what it is, but it's hanging on my wall.

11. Mail or email Christmas Cards? I do mail the Christmas cards. I like that at least once a year we get correspondence the old fashioned way. Now whether they get there before Christmas, that's a another story...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I can't tell you how many times I watched it before I picked up on the Jacob and Robert Marley joke. Bob Marley! Hee Hee Hee.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November, otherwise I forget what I purchased.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Um yes. But only things in pristine condition that the recipient would REALLY like.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I loved Rum Balls. I haven't made them in years, but I remember making them with my Mom.

16. Clear lights or colored? Colored!

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Secular: Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, sung by John Denver and Ralph the dog. Sacred: Tie between O Holy Night and Silent Night. I love how at the Christmas Eve service, the church is lit by candles alone during Silent Night. It brings this amazing feeling of hope and togetherness. That is until your 3 year old daughter almost lights her hair on fire. But that only happened once. :)

18. Travel or stay home at Christmas? Stay home. It's fun to travel occasionally, but I think I like staying home the most.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dude. I'm a former music teacher. Do you KNOW how many times I've sung Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?

20. Angel or Star on the top of the tree? A lovely plain burlap angel that was on top of my childhood hot glue gunned tree as well.

21. Open Christmas Eve or Morning? Morning. Our kids take after both Mom and Dad and are seriously early risers.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crabby people.

23. What’s the corniest family tradition you do or miss doing? We watch the Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas/Eve.

24. What’s the worst thing you’ve seen related to Christmas? I don't like this question. I prefer to look for the best things I've seen related to Christmas. For me, it makes me so appreciative of family and friends and reminds me to be grateful for the things that I have. It reminds me that gifts are not always things; that they can be actions or memories or friendships. :)

25. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? Homey trees!

26. Gingerbread or Sugar Cookies? I like both!

27. Do you like fruitcake? Not particularly, but I do love Panettone. My cousin sent us some a few years back when he lived in Italy and I've been hooked ever since.

That girl is too funny!

New L'ism today. Earlier, her father had asked her to do something and in true 5 year old fashion, she was trying to find ways to not do it. After a couple back and forths, she said in a huff, "Daddy. You are SO oppressing me." and stormed off to her room. And of course being the dork that I am it makes me think of Monty Python. It also reminds me of when I was a little girl and wasn't allowed to say the word hate. I remember getting really angry one day and yelling, "I dislike you immensely!" Heh.

A Stocking Tale

Last night as we were sitting around the dinner table, L was admiring the stockings on our fireplace. Now, she doesn't yet know how to read, but she did recognize a pattern on all the stockings. All of them had one name on it except hers which has her full first and middle names. She asked me what hers said, so I told her and those big blue eyes started to tear up and her lower lip started to quiver. L was very upset that hers was different so I tried to come up with an explanation. My mother had made all of our stockings except DH's and truthfully, I have no idea why her full name is on hers but I started in on a story about how L's middle name is the same as my grandma's and that her Nanny probably just loved that name so much she put it on her stocking etc etc... It wasn't working as L then exclaimed,

"But that's the name Mommy uses when I'm in trouble!"

D'oh!

Internet Withdrawal and the importance of Counting

I've been having problems with my laptop for some time now and this weekend it finally got so bad that DH rebuilt it. Love that man. Anyway, I've actually been a busy knitty girl. I finished the Peekaboo mittens and a pair of longies for J. He'd finally outgrown his old pairs and Michael's had a sale a couple weeks ago on Patons Classic Wool, so it seemed to be destiny. I used the Tiny Bird's Organic Free Longies pattern, which is my favorite pattern and knitted flat. It just seems to fit him better than the ones knit in the round. Anyway, after I finished the mittens the other night, I had that rush that I get when I finish something and it makes me want to finish everything else. Finishitis, if you will. Well, in my hurry to finish the longies (or the distraction of Russell Crowe on that movie about the dueling gunfighter town with Sharon Stone on TV), I failed to notice that one leg was significantly shorter than the other. The kicker is I didn't notice this until AFTER I had seamed the pants. Twice. The pattern says to seam it from the crotch up, but when I did that, the ribbing didn't match at the top. So I ripped it out, seamed down and lo and behold: uneven legs. Well, it was now 11 pm and I was not about to rip it out again. Besides, I don't know to undo a bind off to add rows. So I took my dpns, picked up and knit stitches from the bind off and knit enough rows until they were even. Luckily it's a dark color and not very noticeable. Half the time it's covered up by his sock. Heh. So Hooray mittens and longies!

"Wack!" says the duck.

When asked what a duck says, J grins mischieviously and says "Wack!" If you ask what a cow says, he replies "More!"

Heh.

Just to proove I've actually been knitting, here's some pics of WIPs.

Panel 2 of the Glowing Colors Afghan from Lion Brand. My MIL is knitting Panel 1 as we thought it would be a nice blanket for their new cabin.

1 and 1/2 Peekaboo Mittens from Magknits. I just had to rip it back some last night - very not fun with black yarn at night. Don't know what I was thinking. So today I'm going to try and save it.

If you can handle the cuteness...

We had a photo session with StacyZ on Saturday and the pictures were phenominal!

http://stacyzphotography.blogspot.com/

I knew I brought the camera for a reason...

Love it when he plays peekaboo with his cookie at Target. (Yes that is chocolate on the bridge of his nose.) Heh. He is now officially known as Cookie Boy! Not to be confused with Chocolate Milk Boy, as he's known at certain coffee shops.

Also I am unveiling the Popcorn Afghan (or as I fondly call it, The World's Ugliest Afghan). It was made for the Lutheran Hospice. I know somebody will like it.

Hooray Little Teddy!

Finished the little Teddy! I think he needs a name. Any suggestions?

L's a big frog!

I can't believe it's been 5 years! I'm sure I echo all Mommies Everywhere when I say, where has my baby gone? We'd been working all week on the concept of birthday and days of the week/month. The night before she sang, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, my birthday's tomorrow, it's only a day away!" Clever girl. She has my sister's improv ability. Her party is tomorrow. Wish us luck. Lots of 5 year old girls (and a couple boys who hopefully won't mind the princess bubble wands...) some cupcakes and ice cream. We're pretty basic when it comes to birthday parties. Once I joked that our activity was going to be let's so who can fill this bag with weeds from the back yard the fastest.....

Preschool Play

Preschool is a funny funny place. It almost makes me miss teaching.
I always volunteer on the day that L's birthday is celebrated at school.
One of the centers activities was a little shopping market where the kids are supposed to pretend to buy vegetables. (I'm sure the meat and dairy council would have a fit. Grins) Anyway, I happened to be supervising over there and witnessed 4 or 5 little boys playing "rob the convenience store". Heh. I did intervene and mentioned that maybe that wasn't the BEST game they could play. The boy with all the money wadded in his hands thought it over and said, "Yeah. We should probably give the money back."

As I said, I almost miss teaching. Grins.

Now that's just disturbing...

I did come up tied for Kaylee tho. Grins.

Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as The Operative You are dedicated to your job and very good at what you do. You've done some very bad things, but they had to be done. You don't expect to go to heaven, but that is a sacrifice you've made for a better future for all. Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye 69% The Operative 69% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 63% Capt. Mal Reynolds 63% Simon Tam 63% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 56% River Tam 44% Shepherd Derrial Book 44% Inara Serra 38% Jayne Cobb 19%

Teddy Bear

I finished assembling the little bear today. I think he's pretty cute. It calls for black to embroider the face, but I think it won't show up on such a dark brown. Any ideas? I'm thinking tan/beige. I think I'll make the sweater and the Wellingtons too. Hee hee. Little British Bear. The pattern came from Debbie Bliss' Toy Knits. I used some Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK from my stash instead of the Rowan it called for.

My Pretty Pretty Princesses

Big sisters rule! It was actually J's idea to wear the dresses while they watched Barbie as Princess and the Pauper (his idea as well). Hee hee hee! Oh the blackmail... Muhahahaha!

As for my knitting, I am actually knitting. I'm just having trouble with focus. I'm working on a scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for a friend of mine and I'm pleased with it, but it gets boring boring boring to knit. So I started a little teddy from the Toy Knits book by Debbie Bliss. I'm almost done with it and I started it yesterday! I had to run out and get polyfil though. I was trying to be green and save all my little yarn odds and ends to use as stuffing, but I don't have enough. Oh well. I did remember to bring my grocery bags today!

Halloween Aftermath

So I was inspired to clean the house. The sad part is we have so much clutter, it's hard to tell I made a dent unless you know what you're looking for. Hrmph. On the positive side, I found all sorts of things I thought I'd lost, including some crocheted toys that I have lots of fond memories playing with. I mean, really. Who's got a green pig besides me? Hmm??? My mom had a very crafty friend that she met while working in Germany in the 60's and she used to send us lots and lots of handmade items. In fact, most of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments were made by her. Some were felt animals with sequins and some were satiny balls with pearl pins and ribbon. So anyway, I thought I'd include a picture of my green pig and yellow Snoopy. :) Thanks Marian!

This is J in a sugar coma the day after Halloween. He said "I hoff oo, Mommy" today. Joy!

It's probably a good thing that they're cute.

I swore to myself I wouldn't do it. We finally have both kids sleeping through the night and I swore when it came time for J to start protesting, I would be the good mommy and put him right back in bed, crying or no crying. But then I hear this little voice pleading, "Want Mama." You've got to understand that J was not a cuddly baby. Not alarmingly uncuddly, but his favorite way to show affection was a well placed head butt. So now, finally, at the age of 2 he wants to cuddle with me. So I compromised (caved) and cuddled with him in his room for about a half an hour. Back on the wagon today though, right? Grins.

Thought I'd add these pictures of J after a nap. I've definitely felt this way. Heh. In fact, I was about there today while Adorable Neice was loudly sounding her dissatisfaction with her carseat. I fleetingly thought to myself that it would be so very cool if I could order a beer in the Wendy's Drive-Thru. Luckily National Public Radio came to the rescue. As horrible as it sounds, I don't listen to NPR for it's biting commentary, enlightening editorials, or informative articles. I listen to NPR when I need the kids to calm down. Works like a charm. I really should send them pledge.

Trick or Treat!

Yes, I know it's not Halloween yet, but the kids and I went over to Olde Town for Trick or Treat Street. The kids did pretty well and it wasn't as crowded as I was fearing. L got heaps of compliments on her costume which made Mama a wee bit proud. Hers was pretty much the only home made one I saw while we were there. She was a real trooper with the bucket because (strangely enough) buckets don't make very good hats and it kept falling off. There were no compliments on J's costume since he insisted on taking it off about 45 seconds after this photo was taken. His "Twick Tweet" and "Ank You!" were pretty darn cute though.

I have been knitting, just not finishing things. Heh. The Girlfriend Shrug will probably wait til after Christmas, I just finished up a hat for my IL's new cabin (thought I'd make up a bunch of hats and mittens just to keep up there.) I'm also working on a scarf for a friend as well as a Dreamswatch Headwrap for my sister. I'm sure there's another UFO lying around but I have no idea what it is. Heh.

The Whole Car-In-Backyard Enchilada

SO sorry about the tiny blog entries! Anyway, here's the whole story. From the beginning.

At about 12:30 Monday evening, we were awakened by a loud thud. In my sleepy stupor, my first thought was, "J must have fallen out of bed." Which, in fact, he had. But then it occurred to me that the noise was much louder than J falling out of bed, especially since his mattress had been relocated to the floor after the last time he fell out. I went out to the living room, where I met my brother who apparently had also heard the loud J-not-falling-out-of-bed noise. He looked in the backyard and yelled at me to call 911 for there was a car in our yard. (See picture on previous entry)

Here's the yet to be proven in court theory: Kids go for a joy ride in a dealer owned BMW. It has always been a stupid teenage thing to do here to try and go as fast as you can on the hill I live on to see if you can jump the hill. Mostly it's been harmless because when I was in high school none of us could afford a car that could go faster than 50 and perhaps we were just smarter. I'm not sure. (The drivers did leave their cell phone at the scene so I'm pretty sure they weren't professional criminals.) Anyhow, apparently if you are in a German performance car, you CAN catch air. And crash into an unsuspecting neighbors yard. And apparently walk away from it. Or run away as was the case here. That's right, somehow they got away, which is pretty amazing given the shape of the car. I've heard there is a suspect in custody, but that was at 3 am on Tuesday morning and I was a little bleary eyed.

So I am grateful that nobody was hurt, not just our family, but the kids who did it as well. It so easily could have been much worse. Amusingly enough (yes, I'm at the point now where I can find humor in this), the things that probably saved our lives from the hurtling BMW were aspects of our landscape that I hated. The city owns some Russian Olives that I just can't stand that were probably responsible for tearing apart the front of the car, slowing it down in the process. Turns out Russian Olives are a pretty hard wood. Next was a giant overgrown fitzer that had taken over our backyard and we were afraid to tackle lest it eat our firstborn. It's no longer overgrown. In fact, it's pretty flat. I'm actually considering how much it would cost to have the rest of it removed by the insurance company's clean up crew.

Again, we are very grateful that the only things that were damaged were things that can be replaced. Thank God.

Hey look what was in my yard this morning!

And can I get a Hooray! for a picture finally loading?

Crap.

Yes. It's 1:30 am. And why am I awake do you ask? Because there's a frickin' car in my backyard. A FRICKIN' CAR! Somebody ran their BMW through BOTH of our fences and it's sitting in pieces in our backyard. I'd post pictures, but for some reason my laptop and Blogger aren't speaking to each other any more. Crap.

Little J turns 2! (No pics since blogger is having a problem. :( )

So last Wednesday night my brother comes home from school with my Mom in tow. Surprise visit! Which is very very cool since she lives out in sunny FL and we don't get to see her much. My sister didn't even know. Uncle T kept the secret well! It was very special to have her here for J's birthday and little niece A's dedication (Vineyard version of baptism).



So all was well until Thursday, when the stomach flu fairy came and bestowed her gift upon the family. So for poor J's birthday, we sat around the table, eating Jello in our jammies while little one opened his presents.



We cancelled his party for Saturday and ended up just celebrating with the family members who had already been exposed. A balloon guy my sister knows made a bag full of balloon animals for the kids to play with. Free of charge! What a nice guy! The cousins had a great time with the balloons.



Amusingly enough, J turned 2 on Friday, had his first real tantrum on Saturday and an even worse one on Sunday. At church. AND at my sister's. AND at my sister's church during niece A's dedication. Of course. He and I ended up hanging out in the cry baby room with all the babies singing songs to try and get him to stop crying. Turns out the boy has a thing for the show tunes.



Totally OT story about show tunes: My little 2 1/2 year old nephew L LOVES the movie Annie. He watches it every day, sings along and even acts out some of the dialog. My favorite story is when one day he very seriously looked his mother in the eye and said, "I love you Miss Hannigan." Just what every mom longs to hear...

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!

I've been Raveled!

Come find me! My id is throwslikeagirl!

Same Knit Night, Different Knit Locale

Last night, we decided to take a little field trip from our usual knitting haunts, packed up our needles, and headed down the street to the DNote for a little drink 'n tink. And there was both. At least I did some tinking. Darn short rows. They even kept the lights on in the corner for us so we could knit. Anyhoo...

Here are some of our fabulous ladies, Marly, Nachaele, and Mary-Kay.

We had so much fun! The Metro Jazz Orchestra was there, so there was some dancing. I didn't get any pictures of that but Nachaele did.

Claudia's husband came too. He's knitting. With one hand even. Ok. Not really. I love Terrie's scarf. I may have to make one.

I think StacyZ should model all my hats.

Hooray Baby Hat, Booties and Urchin!

I made a little hat and booties for my niece, both from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used some Crystal Palace Bunny Hop from my stash. I also made myself an Urchin from some Manos del Uraguay that was a gift from my friend Blogless Christie. It's a fun pattern, but being European it uses 7mm (US 10 3/4) needles that are just about the only size needles I don't have. I used 8mm (US 11) for a slightly looser gauge, but I'm still pleased with it. The stitches at the edges of the shortrows ended up elongated and although I like it, I'm not sure it's how it's suppsoed to be. I really tried to tighten up my stitches to lessen the effect, but it happened every time. I'm not sure if it was the yarn, the larger needles or my knitting. Hmm. It used a lot less yarn than I expected so I have plenty to make a scarf. Hooray! L was so kind as to model it for me...

Hooray Faux Cable Sweater!

So yesterday both of my children took a 2 hour nap. I'm quite sure this is a sign of the apocolypse, but rather than go hide in the basement, I squared my courage and finally put the Faux Cable Sweater together. I had been dreading it because I found the directions rather cryptic and even after I did what I thought it was saying, the yarn markers ended up in useless places. Basically I ended up looking at the picture and mattress stitching until it looked the same. I did have to knit an extra 4 rows on both faux cable pieces to make it meet in the back of the neck like it was supposed to, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it. Hope the birthday girl likes it. She's been waiting almost a year. Yes, yes, she requested this sweater for her LAST birthday. I'm a little slow.

Cider Vinegar Fly Pool of Doom

The only down side to receiving heaps of lovely home grown tomatoes are the nasty tiny little flies that seem to accompany them. Now I am a fly freak. Can't stand them. The worst torture device for me would probably be to lock me in a room with tiny little flies and no fly swatter while L does her air raid siren cry. Anyway, one day I read a post on Purple is a Fruit, just about the funniest mommy blog ever, and she was talking about having a fly problem and her solution. A little cider vinegar with a little oil to break the surface tension in a bowl with plastic wrap on top. Poke a few fly sized holes in the top and voila! Instead Fly Pool of Doom! I have 9 flies already! It's probably a bit sadistic that I count. Just don't tell the DH. He's really more of a catch and release man. :)

Sometimes it's easy being green...

I'm always looking for ways to satisfy my inner hippie. My latest attempt was crocheting my own Market Bag from Knit.1's green issue. I switched the direction of the handles so that I could hang it on the back of my stroller for extra storage as well. The black bags are from Safeway of all places. They now offer shopping bags made of recycled materials for 99 cents! The price was right and they hold twice as many groceries as the plastic bags. Granted they're heavier then too, but hey, my arms need the workout.

Busy Weekend!

So the boys put in a new dishwasher this weekend. Is it wrong that I'm supremely happy about a new dishwasher? It's quiet and cleans dishes. Hooray! Anyway, I've also been working on a couple projects. I've finished the knitting on the Faux Cable Sweater for my friend, I just have to figure out how to put it together, which is not as straightforward as one might think.I also cast on the Girlfriend Shrug from Knit and Tonic. I'm not sure who the recipient is going to be. It sort of depends on how big it ends up. Heh. I'm using some Encore given to me by my friend Blogless Christie. I really like how it's knitting up. Girly and yet not TOO girly. :)

Hooray Stripey Felted Bag

Dad sent me a picture of the Stripey Felted Bag. I'm so happy Mom likes it! They also sent a picture of a view from their backyard. Pretty cool eh?

What I learned while knitting the Tomato...

Thanks for all the nice comments on my Tomato! I'm very excited about it. Wear it all the time. Heh. I meant to blog about this before, but this pattern was the most accurate pattern I've ever knitted. Even the number of stitches to pick up around the neck was what she said they were going to be. That never happens. I always worry when the model is wearing the size small and I have to make the XL if the math is going to work out. And in this case, it did! Hooray Tomato! I had toyed with doing the darts from Knitting Daily but happily the Purple Princess talked me out of it and I'm so glad! As I mentioned before, I used a million balls of Mission Falls cotton and had to size down the needles to get gauge. One good thing about knitting the Faux Cable Sweater is I finally get a break from size 6 needles. It seems like all my projects of late have been on 6's.

I also finished my Mom's birthday present and forgot to take a picture before I sent it out. I'm not saying what it was since she reads the blog, but she's under orders to take a picture when it gets there. :)

Contest Results!

And the winner of the Knit Picks Dancing is.....

Prairie Mama Kim! Please email me at nicstagATyahooDOTcom with where to send it!

And since the boy wanted to help too...

Creative Process' Claudia gets some Knit Picks Simple Stripes!

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions! I still haven't decided what to make yet! I really like the idea of making some little gloves as Christmas gifts but I also like the idea of a lacey scarf!

Today I took my 40 percent off coupon over to Joann's and found this:

The animals are so cute! Click the picture to check it out over at Amazon. I will admit all these toy recalls are making me think I should knit all the toy gifts this year. Heh. At least I know the sheep aren't tainted with lead. Hopefully.

Busy Busy Day

Visited my sister today and we bravely took the little ones to Chuck E Cheese. Week day visits are really pretty fun. It's not very crowded and the kids had a great time. With an online coupon it cost a total of 20 bucks for 5 of us to eat plus tokens. Split in half, that's less than it costs to eat at McDonalds.

This is the car I parked next to at my sister's place. It's hard to tell in the picture but twine is tied to both windshield wipers and strung through the windows so that you pull the string to use them. For some reason this struck me funny.

Tonight L says to me, Mom I want to be a cow girl when I grow up. This is a girl who has only ridden Shetland ponies and can't stand the smell of her brother's diapers much less animal poop. Then she points to her inspiration. Oh! A cheerleader! Cowgirl, cheerleader. You know. Whatever.

Lastly, I'll probably pick winners for my 100th post contest on Monday, so get those weekend ideas in!

In Honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day

My pirate name is:

Dirty Ethel Bonney

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

100th Post Contest!

I just realized that my tiny little post the other day was my 100th post! Have I really posted that much? What a lame 100th post. So anyway, it seems appropriate that to celebrate 100 posts, I have a contest. Recently, I acquired (ok. Scrounged out of the orphan basket) 8 44 yard skeins of Silky Cashmere by Elsebeth Lavold. It's lovely stuff but I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. I need suggestions! I need the vast knitting knowledge of patterns that many of you bloggers hold! I need to know how many people actually read my blog! Oh wait. Not really. Anyway, from those suggestions, I will randomly have my 2 year or 4 year old (depending on who's most cooperative) pick out a winner. And what shall they receive Vanna? Two balls of Knitpicks Dancing sock yarn! (Hey. It could've been a bunch of Fun Fur. No really. I have heaps from a dollar sale at Big Lots when I first started knitting.)

(Seriously, if anybody wants that fun fur, let me know. Heh.)