Home, Sweet Home.

We're back!!! I'm seriously pooped, we had a great time, got sunburnt, and have a ton of laundry to do. But I'll be around tomorrow in between loads to post more photos. (If you noticed, and are wondering, they had just gotten done eating Blue Moon ice cream.)

Ok, tagged by Michelle (thanks LOL):

Idiosyncrasyn. pl. id· i·o·syn·cra·sies-A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies.

1. I love beets (yes Nancy I'll admit it!)

2. I'm obsessed with plucking my eyebrows, to keep the strays away.

3. I get very, very uptight when someone puts something away in the wrong place.

4. I can not stand it when someone squeezes the toothpaste tube in the middle and not the end!

5. And to end on that theme, I can not stand the toilet paper hanging down from the back, it HAS to go up and over the front.

Is that weird enough for you? I don't have anyone to tag! I guess this line will end here, but I can always add a few more "weirds" to this list to make up for it!

Going!

We're going camping!!

Higgins Lake here we come!

***

Ok, we're not leaving until tomorrow afternoon, but in this horrible, I can't breath heat I've done NO knitting. I can't even think without sweating and it's almost beyond what I can take. So, honestly I have nothing to show you except maybe a photo of the half completed mitered square afgan. The poor skinny thing will have to wait until I get back home to be finished. I've decided to make the second ankle sock (the periwinkle/yellow) and focus on my son's sweater. I am also taking my TSP for Meg with me for a change of pace. That's going to be done totally by chart, which I have never done, so I take it in the hopes that there is even a remote chance I'll be able to focus on it. DS's sweater is "mindless knitting" for the most part so taking it with me will force it to grow. So that's where I stand and I hope I will come home with a few photos, some progress, and a whole lot of dirty towels and clothes. Probably a sunburn too.

Behave yourselves and be productive in the "cool down" that will happen in a day or two! We'll be home on Sunday so I'll see you sometime Monday with a run down. (oooh almost as bad as having to see someone elses vacation photos isn't it? the dread, I can feel the dread! LOL just kidding) bye!!

Today, Friday, revisiting Thursday first.

Yesterday I started putting together the mitered square afgan. I should rename it lap blanket because it's going to be approximately crib size. Not it's intended use so please don't ask, four is enough for us. I decided I had to single crochet around each square before I sewed the squares together, still not as neat a look as I'd have liked but for a blanket that the kids will put to the test, who cares. I have two long rows together and four more to go. I HOPE I will be able to get it done today because I went to Ewe-nique yarns here in Brighton (my NEW LYS) and now I have inspiration! And bit too much if you ask me. Our car broke down Wednesday (thankfully it finally died when I got it in park in the driveway) and we ended up spending $165 on a new alternator and serpentine belt. Yes, I know what they are, but can I fix them? No.

We are leaving to go camping at Higgins Lake on Tuesday after our dentist appointment and will be gone until Sunday (31st). I haven't even though of it at all! I have to plan food, clothes, clean the trailer, and the most important of all! WHAT WILL I KNIT??? I managed to get SO much knitting done up there last year because I sat on the lake shore watching the kids. I may just take some sock yarn and my oldest son's sweart (the micro-spun) to make progress on that... NO, no no no no, I'm taking my best friends birthday gift! I have to have that done by the end of September! So Kirsti, if you don't mind me using your code, I'm going to rename it Top Secret Project for Meg.

Oh hell, I'm taking it all with me LOL. I'll post a photo later of the afgan if I get it done. Have a wonderful Friday!

Here's the end of the garden. I transplanted two lavender plants in front on either side of the stepping stones and it filled that area in really nicely. I have to say now that I've looked at it for a day I don't like the cedar mulch. It smells awesome but I like the red colored mulch better so we'll go back to that. It was worth a try right? :-) 

I was standing outside in my PJ's taking these photos, thankfully no one drove by. This is the front porch with my marigolds from seed. 

This is the view as you step out of the front door. 

This is the north side with the hydrangeas planted between the yuckas. 

Today was all about CURB APPEAL.

Not that we were curb appealing to anyone but ourselves, but it was something we've been putting off for quite a while. This is what we started with, weeds, weeds, and wait, what's that? A weed. We took up the stepping stones in front of the porch and dug out the green stuff and then put a 3 inch layer of pea gravel under them to raise them up a bit. The plants on the porch are hydrangeas that I planted on the north side of the house in the shade.

This is the far side and the massive grass/weed infiltration we were dealing with. Isn't that just terrible??? I can't believe I had let it get that bad but, well, we fixed it and that's what counts.

Here's after. Sorry, as you can see , the sun was setting in the background. We spread cedar mulch around and in the bed to the left is marigolds I had started from seed. Maybe tomorrow I will post a daytime photo. 

Here's the moon using the zoom on my camera. It took about six trys to get it to focus correctly. I'ts beautiful, beautiful, beautiful tonight! So tomorrow, after all the inside cleaning I did this morning and all the outside work I did, I'm knitting. I also did 6 loads of wash today too, and here's the kicker! It's all folded and put in the proper rooms too! Amazing, just with my voice... I mean my... well, whatever. I still have Harry Potter on my mind, I watched the Prizoner of Azkaban again while I was cleaning. So tomorrow, perhaps knitting news.

Here's my footie! Now it just needs a mate. LOL 

A side view to my lonely footie. 

Todays spur of the moment project.

And this is what I worked on today, for me. We had a subdivision picnic today and I realized I didn't have anything small on the needles that would take a while to finish. The mitered squares are small but they can get done too fast so I cast on for these anklets and got to the color change. Then while I was at the picnic I turned the heel. I did all but one of the decreases after we got home. It was a fun picnic, someone entered us into an Edy's Ice Cream party and won so we got ice cream. It was strange, the only people who were interested in my knitting were two men from the neighborhood. They pulled up chairs and sat and talked to me for about an hour. One's wife was doing the games with the kids and the other's wife came over and sat and talked for a bit too. I don't know, it just seemed kind of strange and my darling husband did too. (Maybe he was jealous? Oooh wouldn't that be kind of nice for a change?) So anyway, distractions aside it was a good project to start. I'm still doing the patterns from Spun Mag's Summer Sock collection. I also did a few rows on the Micro Sweater. So off to bed early for a change. Have a great Monday.

I finished the socks last night so today I could read.

So the socks are done and so is the Harry Potter book! All I'm going to say about the book is this: What was said at the end to Malfoy makes me believe that what happened at the end is not true. It was a fantastic book, it took me 10 hours to read (with breaks to shower and eat) and I'm going to read book 3, 4 & 5 again and then re-read this one! Good, good, good, and worth the wait last night (which was much like a giant party).

Two little sockies on two little feetsies. 

What are those socks doing???

The socks look like they're very interested in the new Harry Potter book. The socks, my oldest and I were # 249. We went to Border's at 8:30 and signed in and waited for the fun to start. The kids made bags to hold their goodies in and then we proceeded to make wizard hats and collect a bunch of bookmarks and gather some other goodies. Some of the stuff is just beautiful and I'm confiscating some to color myself! Yes I am! We took daddy and the youngest home because they couldn't wait and daddy has to work in about five hours, then my oldest, the anklets and I went back up there at 10:30. We stood in a really long line to get another round of iced teas (garrett was quite buzzed by the time we got in line which wasn't such a bad thing being so late and all) and plopped down on the ground to wait.

They picked 10 numbers out of the "hat" and those lucky winners got to be the first 10 in line. We were not one of those people so we sat on the ground, I knit and we shared some Bertie Botts every flavor beans and I have got to tell you that I almost got sick! HOLY Sh*t, I do NOT like the rotten egg one nor the sardine one. Yes, ok, I know, we bought them and we knew what to expect, but the icky flavors far out numbered the "normal/good" flavors that it was overwhelming. So the second sock continued to grow and Garrett read a book and then our group of 50 were called. We got in line and waited about 15 minutes and I knit the whole time with an iced tea under my arm. Only one person asked me what I was making and thought the anklets were adorable. LOL

So that was our exciting adventure. If anyone had said anything about my knitting I was all prepared with a witty remark; this is transfiguration class and I'm slowly transfiguring a sheep into a sock. LOL I crack myself up sometimes. Don't expect much from me this weekend, I'm going to have my nose to the book and not the yarn! Have a good one!

One hour later....

This is how much I got done while messing with the software for my camera. Small socks are very quick by the way.

Kissy Kissy!!! 

Anyone want to celebrate by playing footsies with me???

I had to uninstall and reinstall the software, time consuming but OOOOH so worth it don't you think? These are ankle socks for my daughter using some of the left over sock yarn from my Sock Pal's socks. She was beaming knowing I was making something else for her.

Footsies I just love these colors too. I'll post a photo (because I can again!) as I make progress. So here I am, joyful and back in business! YEAH!

Here's something fun:


What color of sock yarn do you prefer?
brought to you by Quizilla

OK, the good, the bad, and the ugly! (wah wah wah)

The good: I got one mitered square done, did one repeat on Charlotte, did two rows on DS's sweater, and the house is still really clean after our major clean last night. (The Prizoner of Azkaban is sitting on the ottoman waiting for me to get weak and read it though.)

The bad: something is wrong with my camera or the printer-port, or something, because it will NOT download my photos off of the camera on to the computer and I have NO idea why and I'm so irritated by this and upset I'm almost in tears.

The Ugly: Me crying over a stupid camera while sweating badly in this horrible heat and whining the whole time. (Maybe this should be the "very ugly" part?)

So I have no idea how long it will be before I can get a photo up again but at least I can chit chat. My dad used to say that my mouth ran like a robins "arse" in cherry season. For him, it was an insult, never would he have guessed that I would be able to turn it into something FUN. But then he never thought I was college material and here I am with a 3.68 GPA, so nanner nanner boo boo! Ha, he'd probably turn over in his grave (except he was cremated) at the thought of my choice of a career too! See, he was a upper level math teacher at my high school, I'm majoring in Earth Science, high school level, and I did very poorly then and embarrassed him. So, once again, nanner nanner boo boo! LOL

I surprised everyone (myself included) and I never thought that I'd EVER say this about myself, but I'm an over achiever. Yep, me, the girl who spent more time locked to my DH in school then to my studies. Oh, if I haven't told you before (or recently), my DH and I have been dating since I was 15 and he 18... 20 ??!!?? years in October, but married 14, also in October. So anyway my life's time line could very well go like this: good kid -> bad kid -> sickenly in love kid -> LOSER -> married -> respectable mom type person (who trusted me with these kids anyway???) -> over achieving college student with great dreams who, when out of school, eats, sleeps, thinks knitting while knitting like she's obsessed with knitting. So, the good, the bad, and the ugly, or in other words - a really long bout of "nothing you really needed to know about me".

Peek-a-boo anklet #2 is done.

And here they are. All done with one sandal on. They're not too bad but I also haven't walked far in them either. I cast on for my son's sweater but my computer is acting funny so I'm not sure I can get the photo off the camera. It might have to wait until tomorrow. I have a wedding to go to in 2 weeks and I'm thinking I might try and get the Charlotte (aka "the cobweb") shawl done for it. It would be a nice to wear it to the reception. Wish me luck. LOL

The Peek-a-boo sock got teeny bit longer.

We stayed home and did gardening yesterday. Got in a few plants my mom had given us and made a few more small gardens. We're working around the deck slab in back. It's just too darn hard to get the mower close enough to it so we figured a small, foot deep or so garden would help with strategic stepping stones off in various points. We weeded a bit and were astounded that it was only 4 pm when we decided to give in. We seriously thought it was like 7. So we showered and went out to eat at Red Robins, which is a big treat around here lately.

So I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone yesterday instead of knitting. I started The Chamber of Secret's this morning after waking up from a nightmare and not being able to fall asleep again. I did eventually fall asleep around 8 am but the kids had me up at 9:30 so I think I got about 4 hours of sleep. No, HP didn't cause the nightmare, it was the confirmation of the identity of the skeleton they found, that of the boy who's sister was found with that bastard in Denny's.

So later I hope I will have a photo to show you of the footie. I did also get the first swatch done for the TKGA's Master Knitter's program. LOL that leaves 14 more, plus a slew of questions. I'm in no hurry though and want to take care and time for the swatches. Happy Monday!

Peek-a-boo anklet #2 on it's way!

Peek-a-boo I cast on today, around 2 pm and turned the heel before we went out to Kensington Metro Park to see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra tonight. We ate dinner outside the Farm Center, saw some brand new piglets and then went and found a spot to sit to listen. I knit on it there and got all the gusset decreases done. So in approximately 4 inches or so I will have a second toe thong footie to wear with my clunky leather sandals.

We sat on the grass and knit and chatted and the kids basically drove us nuts. Barely heard the beautiful music, but we did hear it and it was a serene setting and we (Meg and I) were knitting, what else could you ask for besides babysitters?? LOL Target was handing out big red circle cushions for free, which I have to say I was most appreciative of by the time we left. (my poor butt)

Tomorrow I hope to get the footie done and I think I will either cast on the sweater for DS #1 or I will work on one of my shawls after we go out and do some gardening. But we may go to the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor (aka, the dino museum) for a retile, amphibian thingy they are doing tomorrow from 12-5. Kind of sounds like fun but then the garden is crying out for some attention..... Live squirmy things in a museum or live squirmy things in the dirt. Not too pleasant either way you look at it. Unless you are in the 10 and under group. Later gators!

Shoalwater Shawl got TWO repeats longer today.

I was so frustrated with the house today that I decided to clean first. Did that, started laundry then sat down to do the shawl right before the storm hit. The storm knocked out the electricity for a few minutes before it even got here, then once here dropped rain that left 3 inch splaters. It looked like someone was standing on my roof with a hose. THEN, THEN I tell you, we had 1 inch hail. I've seen hail before mind you, but never that large. My kids wanted to go out and get some. I stared at them a few seconds absolutely amazed that these marbles were falling from the sky and they actually wanted to go out in it. So biting back a response I'd have given anyone over the age of 12, I told them that the hail would hurt and probably leave bruises and that going out in it was not smart and it was very dangerous. So I only got one repeat done (four rows) and I was still working on it when my 30 minute late DH showed up.

It was kind of funny, I have to count out loud while I do the actual row that makes the pattern, the other three are just locking rows, and he started to talk to me, stopped, said "oh yeah" and walked away. I then talked to him when I was in the middle of the row and then told him to stop because I had to finish the row so I could go to Plymouths Art in the Park. I went there to stock up on my favorite soaps in the whole entire world, WoodSpriteSoaps . She has some wonderful all natural, almost totally organic soaps that work in my well water. My kids love it because if they roll it around in their hands enough the glycerine comes out and it's like playing with slime. And if that gets them to wash their hands/bodies then I'm all for it! So that's what I did today. Tomorrow will be more of the Shoalwater Shawl which is starting to take a lot of time per row because we're getting into the middle of it. I wonder how long it will take me to finish the last row? Now that's kind of scary eh?

Did you know there are other crafts?

I wanted to add my prayers and thoughts to our friends in London. Horrible, just horrible.

(Hint: (warning?) Read this really fast and with a lot of excitement and you may get an understanding of what it's like to be in my head, then again, maybe no, it's kind of scary really.)

I went down to Toledo tonight and did a whole lot of rubberstamping with two of my best online friends.... well, they're not really online friends since I see them in person once a year or so... but I'm sure you get my drift right? That's how we met. We did lots of backgrounds and now I'm really in good shape for a card swap I'm hosting and a WHOLE lot of other cards too. It was such fun.

I also may start teaching knitting classes sometime in the next few months too. Isn't that going to be fun? ROFL and it will probably be socks too! Seems to be a theme in my life right now, thankfully they're clean socks and not my DH's socks, which could knock out a rock! (I've actually gone as far as to spray his feet with Lysol.) Ok, ok, I know it's mean, his feet stink because he wears work boots all day in a super hot machine shop and if it weren't for his job we'd be homeless, which is why I put up with him, I mean them. And don't go getting all in my face, we started dating when I was 15, it'll be 20 years this October and I love the stinky footed punk I married. And no, we never broke up though I did try twice and I don't want to hear any gagging, it's not all peaches in cream and I will never marry again if something happened to that man because it's just too damn much work. And how in the world did I get on this topic when I started out with my other obsession??? I probably scared you all (yes the whole four of you that read my blog) away.

Well, I didn't get any knitting done (I heard that collective gasp, shush! lol) so hopefully tomorrow night I will have something to report that's related to knitting. You know, I have done a couple of mitered squares but seriously, do you really want to hear me talk about each and every one when they all look the same and there is 7 to 10 squares of the same color? I didn't think so, so I'll spare you. The babble is done now, it's safe to leave.

Peek-a-boo I see you! lol

Peek-a-boo Now I have to do the other foot. The bumps on the instep are my pathetic attempt at doing a lizard. Oh well, it was worth a try right?

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Since it's technically the 4th now and I'm waiting for my beans to bake (no comments on my beans already being baked now lol) I'm going to wish anyone who is from the States (like me) a happy, safe, and pleasant 4th of July.

I'm going to knit and eat and yell at the kids to stay out of the water LOL. Parade at 10 am, home to cook and eat lunch and then off to the park 3 pm for dinner, knitting, chatting, reading, and fireworks at 10 pm. Then of course the customary three friggin' hour wait in line to get out of the park to do the 10 minute drive home. Ahh well, the kids will at least sleep. So, anyway, enough night time bean baking rabbling ons. Have a great day!

Oh and by the way, DID you notice that I managed to figure out percentage bars???!!??? I feel like a kid who won a years worth of candy thanks to this site: http://www.unlikelywords.com/html-morsels/ I'm so excited, bean baking, fireworks and percentage bars, can life get much better??? LOL I think not. *grin*

I'm seeing double-double!

They're DONE! Aren't they the prettiest things you have ever seen? I seriously love these socks, I hope my Pal likes them too despite some small beginner issues they have. I'm quite happy with them. I did my best job measuring but one sock is about 1 cm longer than the other one. Not something that will interfer with wearing but something I need to watch for in the future.

Modeled by my oldest son, and YES his feet are very clean, I made sure.

Second time trying to do this stupid photo with a link. ARGH! Ok, Peek-a-boo anklet from Spun magazines Summer Sock Collection in Patons Kroy, color Grass. Here's an ugly link for you to go check them out. http://www.spunmag.com/article/050605socks