Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I MUST be tired!

Have you ever done this? I brewed some coffee. I like a little sugar in my coffee. So I pull the sugar container off the shelf. There's already a teaspoon that I keep in the sugar, so I used that to put the sugar in my coffee. Oh no! I had pulled down the coffee grounds, & put a whole coffee scoop in my cup of coffee! Now, sometimes I like strong coffee, but this is not how I like it! LOL! Ok, you drink coffee to wake up, but what wakes you up enough so you can make the coffee?!?!?!

Friday, April 21, 2006







What kind of knitting needles are you?




You are pink aluminum.Retro, straightforward and fun, you love classic things. If they're 99 cents at Goodwill all the better! You are moved by striking colors and tasty morsels, and you like a stitch-n-bitch session in the sun. Just remember, while you're being kitschy cool, don't get too cold. Ice cubes are best kept in your cocktails, baby!
Take this quiz!








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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Update on Prayer Request

The boy I asked prayers for (in a previous post) is stabilizing, but still critical. They do not know yet why he went into heart failure. It seems he suffered a stroke as a result. He is still very ill, and as a teen, finds it hard to be so confined. He has a twin who does not want to leave his side. His mother only leaves for a shower. So please continue to pray for him, his family, and the doctors.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Stupid Doctor & Poison Ivy

Last night my dear daughter came to me saying she itched. It was under her arm, so I assumed it was a heat rash. It has been 92 degrees for the last 2 days. What happened to Spring? I am boycotting the weather by NOT turning on my AC - especially since it is only April! OK, so back to my daughter. I was having her try on all of her summer clothes to see what still fit - she has had a big growth spurt (I will be listing several girl's Laura Ashley dresses on eBay, btw). I noticed her cheeks were red, & when I looked closer, I saw the rash. It was on most of her face, including around her eyes & on her eyelids. So I call the nurse, & she said that since it is on her eyelids, she needs to be brought to the clinic. Before we left, I had my daughter show me where she had been playing in the yard. I saw no poison ivy.....that I could see. It borders the yard, so even if it has not started yet this year, there is still the leftover from last year (even the dead stuff can cause a lot of problems). My daughter gets it every year, each year it is worse.


So off we go to the clinic, but not before packing up our looms & yarn to take with us. When the doctor (who I think was actually a LPN) looked at her, he said to me (in front of her) that she had to take the medication or she would go blind. When he left the room, my daughter started crying, afraid she was going blind! The mama bear in me went out of the room, after him. I told him that he had scared her & to come back & fix things. He came back, said a few words quickly & left. I pulled her on my lap & comforted her. She is growing, but she will never be too big for my lap!



Click here to go to the best site I have ever seen on poison ivy - and humorous too! You will love it!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Missouri - The Show Me State

Ok, so I am watching the news last night. I hear about the couple who faked having sextuplets - the hoax included a website asking for money & gifts. You can read about it here on CNN (or as my dear brother calls it, Communist News Network). They are from Missouri, where I live. Missouri - The Hoax Me State.


On the health front, it seems the Midwest is the center of a mumps outbreak.
You can read about it here on the Kansas City Star. The article says that the US has had 250-300 cases in recent years. There are more than 500 just in Iowa alone! Not to mention the other Midwest states, including Missouri. The article also says "Most of the current cases have been among people who were vaccinated." Hmmmmm..... interesting. Missouri - The ______ Me State. (sorry, can't think of a catchy word)


And in the saddest news of all, their was a winner in Missouri for the Powerball jackpot of $224 MILLION.
You can read about it here, also on the Kansas City Star. How is this sad? Because I didn't win! The fact I didn't buy a ticket is beside the point. Hmmm, I wonder if my mother or one of my siblings did..... Mom, sis, bro, did I ever tell you how VERY much I love you?!?!??! Missouri - The Show-Me-The-Money State.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Water Bottle Holder Pattern

Here it is, my water bottle holder. The rainbow one I made for my mother, and the camo one for her hubby.


Blue Knifty Knitter loom
Red Heart yarn
Knitting tool
yarn needle

(Click on the pictures for better detail)

1) I used the "flat bottom" method that Crystal explains here - with a slight variation. I found that when I got to step 2, It was hard to find the loops, and also hard to pull them all across. So I took a tip from the cupcake hat pattern by Sarah, using scrap yarn to mark my loops.

I e-wrapped 10 pegs once. Then I took pieces of contrasting yarn, putting one through each loop. I tried it 2 ways - with the rainbow I put the scrap yarn through the loop on the outside of the loom, and on the inside of the loom for the camo. I will tell you why I did this later on.

Then I knit back & forth for 9 rows. Now you are going to do step two of Crystal's flat-bottom directions - "stretch the stitches across the loom and attach them to the opposite side of the loom." This is where the scrap yarn-through-the-loops becomes real handy. The yarn not only marks the loops you need to pull over, but you can use it to help pull the loops over.


You will have 4 pegs empty - 2 on each side. Now you are ready for Crystal's step 3 - "pick up stitches from the side panels of the knitted piece and put them on the pegs." Now you have the bottom of your water bottle holder.

When I did the rainbow one, it left a small ridge on the bottom. So, when I did the camo one, I put the scrap yarn on the inside (see above). It got rid of the ridge, but it was much harder to pull the loops over. Not worth it since the ridge is so small.


2) Then I e-wrapped & knitted off for 2 rows. I wanted a mesh look so I next did the Mock-Crochet (MC) stitch found here. The method here describes a flat panel, which I did not want, so I kept going around the loom, and did NOT do the step titled "Last 3 pegs on your loom." I think I did about 10 rows of MC, but the number you do will depend on the size of bottles you want this to hold (mine is big enough to hold up to a liter bottle.) I did end up with a larger hole where it goes from the e-wraps to the MC. I think next time I will skip MC steps 1 & 2, and go straight to MC step 3.

3) Once your holder is as tall as you want (I kept a water bottle handy to try it on), do 2 rows of e-wrap. When I was done with the MC, here is where I did the MC step titled "Last 3 pegs on your loom," before starting the e-wrap. Again, I had a larger hole; I think next time I will skip that step - when reaching the end of the last row of MC, the last 3 pegs should be wrapped in the MC method. Knit over those 3, then go straight to the first peg with the e-wrap. To remove the holder from the loom, I did the Flat Removal Method found here.

4) To make the handle, I e-wrapped 4 pegs like a flat panel, going back & forth until I had the length I wanted. I took the handle off the loom with the Flat Removal method. I then "wove" the handle down the side of the holder, across the bottom, & up the other side, knotting the ends together (this is easier if the bottle is in the holder).


5) To make the drawstring for the rainbow holder, I e-wrapped & knitted off on 2 pegs to the desired length. I wanted to try something different for the camo holder, & wrapped and knitted off of just one peg - this resulted in a thinner drawstring. Then I "wove" this around the top of the holder.


No need for thanks - just send CHOCOLATE!!!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

I am so sneaky!

My mom & her dear husband just had their 10th anniversary! We had a surprise party for them this evening. We all pretended like we forgot all about their anniversary! Gotcha' Mom!

The traditional anniversary gifts involve tin & aluminum, but the contemporary alternative is diamonds! I gave them neither, though I would have wrapped the gifts in aluminum foil had I thought of it! Instead I made them each a water bottle holder on the Knifty Knitter (pics & how-to's coming soon). My dear daughter is making a washcloth, & dear son is making a potholder - also on the KKs (we showed Mom & Ed the WIPs - works in progress).

Here is a picture of my dear son working on his, later in the evening - he had a helper, LOL! Soon after we got home, he got his loom out all on his own - no prodding from Mom! I guess he thought this was more fun than picking up the MANY sticks in the yard from the Elm trees. This is his first project.



My dear daughter, on the other hand, looses interest quickly. She is only wants to make stuffed animals, but I keep telling her she needs to learn the different stitches first - by the way she knows how to e-wrap, purl, & make a flat panel. She is on her second project.

Time to go; we get up early on Sundays for the traditional Latin Mass, and tomorrow is Palm Sunday.


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & ED!!!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Would you join me over a cup of coffee?

Ok, so I am not drinking the coffee right this minute, but it is brewing & smells wonderful! Did you know that coffee is the most recognizable smell? That if someone has a problem with their sense of smell, & can only smell one thing, it would probably be coffee.

It is quiet. Children are not up yet. Ahhhh, peaceful! Ugh, spoke too soon because dear son just yelled, asking me to turn down the TV because he has "one more hour" of sleep.

Spent TOO much time & money at our local Walmart yesterday. I try to do my big shopping once a month. I went yesterday, despite the threat of thunderstorms, otherwise I would have to wait until Saturday - and being at WM on a Saturday is akin to running my fingernails down a blackboard! My daughter was with me, and one of her favorite things to do is the self checkout. Normally, when I have a lot of items, I do it myself because of the time factor, but I let her do it all this time (though I put the items in the bags). When we got done, she looked at the total & was very surprised at how high the total was (though I considered it one of my cheaper totals). She asked, "Do you have enough money?" Maybe NOW there will be some gratitude for what we have. I try to teach my children the value of money, but you can't beat teachable moments like this.

On the agenda for today is some loom knitting. I really need to take some pictures to post here. By the way, I thought of a trick to make the flat-bottom bags easier. I will tell you more later, & post some pics.

Gotta go - the coffee is done......and does it smell ever so wonderful!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!

A dear friend of mine is in need of prayers for her son. This is what she emailed to me -
"He is in critical condition in complete heart failure. He's on a vent and in PICU. This came on suddenly on Tuesday."
Prayer warriors, time to storm Heaven!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Yaaaawwnnnnnn.....

This darn daylight savings time is messing us all up! I swear it's a conspiracy against mothers! It's only an hour, but it sure causes a lot of trouble for just one little hour. I can't sleep well, and when I fall asleep is much later. Also, I wake up much later, unless I set the alarm - and I have not needed an alarm for years, because if I could sleep past 7:30, then I was sleeping really late. And my children, don't even want to talk about the war that erupts when it is time to get them up!

So we start school. Then after lunch we went to look at shoes, since dear son informs me his toes hurt - and he didn't like the idea of curling his toes, or cutting the toe area out of his shoes. Get to the shoe store & measure him. He went up a whole size! Then I look at the price of the shoes & tell him to go barefoot like the natives. I struck out on that idea too. Maybe we should do an arts & craft in school & make sandals out of old tires.

We go home, & continue with the school work - turns out they made very little progress in the morning. I tell them they must complete all of their school work, plus their chores, or no watching LOST. Boy, that got them moving!

In the meantime, someone came to pick up the dryer I posted on our local FreeCycle. And if I wasn't working with the children, I was playing around with different formats & backgrounds for my blog. I cannot make up my mind. I want something feminine & classy, that incorporates my interests in designing, sewing, loom knitting, Catholicism, home schooling, & Pro-Life, as well as something from The Chronicles of Narnia of course. Should be easy....... right?!?!?

So now I sit here, waiting to get tired so I can go to bed & fall asleep. Darn daylight savings!

Monday, April 03, 2006

You need to know this!

On Wednesday of next week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. That won't ever happen again.

You may now return to your (normal ?) life.


and yes, you needed to know this ....... :oP

In the beginning..... (Chronicle of a headache)

......there was a mom with a headache.

Yeah, I know, not such a great way to start a blog. The day started out with all of us oversleeping (don't you love daylight savings time?!) I was to leave for an appointment. "Hurry, Get up!", I yell to my children. No, it's not a fire, but E-ma Linda (E-ma = grandma) is outside waiting to be let in. I quickly run through the lesson plans, remind E-ma Linda of how tricky the children can be to get out of work, and threaten the children with the punishment of untangling & rolling all of my yarn if they pull any such tricks. I run out the door, forgetting the cup of coffee I fixed to take with me.

I get to my appointment to have some routine x-rays done. I swear they took so many, I must be glowing! I think I bored the radiology tech with my talk about the merits of Birkenstocks & Crocs. (It's not often I get to talk to real live adults!) Then home I go. As I open the door, I hear "the pitter-patter of little feet". Yep, that would be my children running to their work spaces to look busy doing school work. I thank E-ma Linda, and promise her dinner when I have something in the house to eat other than peanut butter.

The afternoon went peaceful enough with the children apparently doing their school work. Then the couch arrived. My grandma (my children's great-grandma, whom they call "G-G") bought a new couch, so we got her old one (my contribution to the recycling effort). It looks new, but doesn't smell new. You see, my grandma is a closet smoker. Oh we all know she smokes, but we pretend we don't (as long as we "don't know", she will not smoke around us, therefore smoking less, which she is not to do & lies to the doctors about, but she is stubborn & 80, so what are ya' gonna' do? LOL) Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh, the couch! It smelled like smoke, so I sprayed it with a Febreze competitor. Should have gotten the Febreze! Now I have a wet couch, that smells like smoke & a cheap perfumey chemical.

No wonder I have a headache! I would lie down on the couch to relax, ...... if only it wasn't wet.....