Monday & Tuesday

First, let's review who won the HB football pool? HANNAH, the 6 year old. I guess that puts to shame all those guys that spend hours on their football picks based on their records, scores, injuries, etc.!

We had a great time with Dad & Linda. Every time my Dad comes out for a visit, he ends up doing something electronic for me. This visit was no different. I have been trying to set the button on the console in my van so it would open the garage door but could not get it to work. Well, Dad figured out you had to do something with the opener in the garage before you could get it to work in the car. Thanks Dad!!!!

On their last night here we went out for dinner at Chili's and had a very nice time.

The kids were well behavd and it makes us want to go out more often.
After we got home, Dad & Linda realized they had forgotten that they had gotten my birthday present in the mail so....we had to light the cake again so I could open my present which was.....
These suede slippers from Lands End. My feet have been so warm since getting them. Thanks! Came just in time for keeping my feet warm during the Arizona cold snap we are having that required us to finally turn on the heat!
Now for knitting content. We had a good group at SnB last night. Illanna & her friend Jen, Melanie, Eva, Pam, Mary, Carol, Bernice and Heather. No good photos but here is one of my knitting. I am not knitting a bag or something to sell. This is merino wool from my Secret Pal, Heather, using a pattern from "The Knitter's Stash". I tried it about a year ago but apparently I was really tired and kept messing up the set up rows but I got it this time and now only have to keep track of 3 patterned rows. This shawl is going really well and quick because the non-patterned rows are knitted and not purled which makes it a really fast knit.

December Birthday's

Today my hubby took me out to get a manicure & pedicure. The lady at the shop asked how long it has been since I last had a pedicure as she was scraping the barnacles off my feet. Um......4-5 months? For those of you that don't live in the desert where we wear sandals about 80% of the year, a pedicure or a whole lot of lotion is a necessity.

Thanks David!

We decided to celebrate a quick birthday for Linda & I before they go home tomorrow since her birthday is just a few days before mine.

Of course, Linda needed help from Hannah & Simon to blow out her candles.


Then I had some help!
And Grandma got to open her present which is a martini glass where the ice goes in the bowl below and your martini goes into the v shaped bowl on top as to not dilute the martini with ICE!!!
Of course, Linda said the bowl on this glass is big enough for her and Dad to both take their drinks out of one glass! Ah...love.

Tuesday Morning

Who knew that Tuesday Morning had yarn other than Lion Brand Cotton-Ease? There was a big flap some time back about how Cotton Ease was discontinued and Tuesday Morning had it cheap. We dropped Dad & Linda off to pick up their rental car and so....seeing as Hannah & I were so close, I decided to stop and see if they had any interesting yarn.

Well, they had Plymouth Trendsetter Aquarius which is a ribbon yarn (similar to Plymouth Eros) that you can see in green, burgundy and a pink and gray, Coconut that is a furry yarn in hot pink that will probably become a scarf for Hannah and two other bulky yarns, Trendsetter Mosai, with thick and thin parts.

They were $4.99, $4.99 and $3.99 respectively. I already made an ipod bag from the green ribbon using this pattern.

Thank you Secret Pal

Look at this great package from my Secret Pal. It came all wrapped up in that pretty gold tissue paper.

What was inside??? Well, there was rovings (in the plastic bag so I either have to learn to spin with the drop spindle I have OR make the bowl in the bottom left of the photo), autumn soaps, cute note cards and a magnifier for reading those pesky little lace charts. Thank you Secret Pal. You have been great....and one of these days I will see you at a SnB!


I also got this book on Tuesday. A lot of fun purse patterns. Definitely a few that might end up for sale on my website.

Yesterday David got busy putting up the tree along with the train that goes under it. The kids love putting the track together. However, this train has never been a great train because it DOES NOT STAY ON THE TRACKS! So, we end up spending more time putting it on the track than actually running it so, we finally got fed up and are going to buy a new one this year.

Here is the tree without ornaments but with the lights on it.
And the kids playing with train before it went back out in the garage.

Wednesday & Thursday

Notice anything missing??? Yes, Hannah lost her first front too this past Tuesday evening. It seems like it has taken forever but maybe I am imagining that part!

Simon came home with this hat on that he made at preschool on Wednesday afternoon. What do you think it is called?
My first thought was, he was an Indian (now PC Native American) however, it is actually his turkey hat. Who knew???

Rosie, Woody & Sarah came over on Wednesday night.

As usual, there was far too much food but really nice conversation! We love getting together with Rosie & Woody.

Dad & Linda are here visiting for Thanksgiving.

Two of the gorgeous women in residence at Chez HB.
No Thanksgiving photos other than.......the Turkey (basted with Kahlua & soysauce) AND
The Pumpkin Cheesecake.
The lovely Pam came over and brought with her the gorgeous blanket she has been making with 3 inch squares. Of course, I didn't take a photo of Pam or the blanket.

And our Thanksgiving table with the hand written place cards made by Hannah.
On another note, I sold ALL of my bags on Wednesday and have orders for 2 more. I went to a networking group and almost ended up leaving with my purse items in a plastic bag! Ah...cash is good.

Simon....

Simon is an interesting child, no less or more interesting than his big sister, but in a different way.

First, I wish I had a photo of this vision.  The other day he comes running out from him bedroom into the kitchen wearing, brace yourself people, his patterned little underwear from England and a bow tie he found in his underwear drawer.  I had these visions of Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley in my head.

I wish I had taken a photo for later blackmail but the camera was no where in sight.

Every night when David puts the kids to bed, he reads them a book or two depending on the length of the book.  Last night, Simon decided to read his Noddy books to us.  He had memorized the words, just like Hannah used to do at his age, but wanted us all to be quiet while he read and not correct his reading.

So, last night about 8:30 pm, after Simon had been in & out of bed going to the bathroom and singing, David goes down the hall and sees Simon sitting just inside is bedroom door on the floor reading his Noddy books.  What 3 year old does this??????

Keep up the “reading” son!

A Charity Kind of Night

We started our evening at the Save the Family Casino Night fundraiser held at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. Here you can see from left to right, Kari Lake (Co-Chair), Janice Parker (Executive Director of STF), Laurel D'Antoni (Co-Chair) and my hubby, David (STF Board Member).

We met up with a couple that David has known since the late 1970's. Here is David, Kari and our friends, Alex & Suzy.

Here is a group shot of all of us....maybe we should have slouched a bit....since poor Suzy is almost lost in a sea of black.

There was a Silent Auction (which has some of my bags as part of a bidding package), blackjack and other gambling as well as great food including a chocolate fondue bar! Yum...that was the best part.

Some of our other friends were there too.....Robin & Mark (good friends and the wonderful parents of our babysitting girls!!) and Randall & Erin. David used to work with Randall when we met and Randall has recently started a limo service called BeDreamin' Limosines. So, if you need one, please give me a call and I will give you his phone number!

We also stopped by the Chandler Evening of Enchantment benefitting the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. We do try to support different events in our "hometown".

Phill Westbrooks for Chandler Mayor!

But first, my kids after licking the bowl, the whisk and the spoon after I made a chocolate pudding pie for Simon's preschool "Thanksgiving" dinner they do on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

Hannah, the ham!
And, then we went to Kokopelli Winery & Bistro in downtown Chandler to hear Phill Westbrooks talk about his plan for the City of Chandler if he is elected Mayor.
David has known Phill for quite a few years, as he has been a Chandler City Council Member and is currenly Vice Mayor of Chandler. He has always been a great supporter of women's and children's charities and is a life long Chandler resident.

He has quite a good plan for Chandler and would make a great Mayor.

SnB Tuesday

Well, what are Bernice & Michelle looking at???????

Why, it would be Melanie's finished argyle sweater vest! Doesn't she look elated???? Nice job Melanie. It looks great.

Heather, slogging away on her baby blanket.
Nancy on Klaralund.
And Illanna trying to finish her matching vest to Melanie's in green & pink. Illanna also had on a great shrug she knit on Monday night. You can see it here.
Oh, and Eva was hiding with her Noro silk garden knitting a long sleeved shrug.

What was I working on??? The seemingly never ending Lost Points Shawl. I only have about 3-4 inches left! Hm....the recipient is coming to Phoenix next week. Maybe I should finish the darned thing and be done with it. Maybe.....

Guess who won the football pool?????????

Since David is no longer part of his former work pool, we have been having a weekly football pool chez HB. David won last week and we figured I had won this week when we went to bed.

However, when we checked the paper this morning, Dallas had come back to beat Philadelphia and Hannah was proclaimed the winner of the pool! She was 11-3! Pretty good for a 6 year old that bases most of her picks on if she likes the name of the team! She really likes the animal names best.

Way to go Hannah!!!!!

Cheap Needles

Ok..I know most people who read my blog are big Addi Turbo lovers.

However, I seem to have way too many projects that use the same sized needles so...while at Joann's this afternoon, I found these Joann's Sensations needles on sale for $1! Their regular price is $1.99.

They also had straight needles. They are plastic but they do include the mm size on the side of the needles! Way to idiot proof it for me!

Ashley came to town!!!

Ashley was in the East Valley on Sunday and so Pam, Heather & I met her at Coffee Rush.

Melanie & Crystal stopped by for a few minutes but.....had to get a table they bought home to Melanie's house.

Here is Ashley with her new haircut and a cute baby hat made from Dale Garn Baby Ull. Ah, that brand always reminds me of my time in Norway.

Thanks for emailing us and taking time from your family visit to come to Chandler!

And in other news, Heather arrived at Coffee Rush fresh from getting her tattoo as seen below. It is cool looking...still doesn't make me want to get one but it looks cool on you!!!

The Golden Buddha

I went to Rosie & Woody's yesterday to help Woody with some computer issues and teach him how to do some basic stuff so he wouldn't have to go to the office all the time.

Around 5 pm, David brought the kids around so we could all go out for dinner. Rosie was so sweet to go out and buy Lay's potato chips and pretzel's for the kids to snack on during our cocktail hour! Very thoughtful indeed!

Hannah & Simon both loved playing with Bella, their new dog, by the pool. You see that building in the background? That is the home office. I need one of those!!!!

Here is David & Woody's sister, Sarah, in from the Midwest.
Rosie with Squeeky and Simon.
Hannah & I by the pool
Woody with Simon...they love the kids!

We had a fantastic dinner at the Golden Buddha. The kids are so creative with their eating.

We had pot stickers and crab/cream cheese bundles for starters with green tea.

For dinner we had Fried Rice with shrimp and chicken, OX shrimp (a lot of garlic), shrimp & chicken with noodles, steamed bok choy, and garlic pork. Yummy!!!
We got the left overs and finished them todayf or lunch!

Thank you Rosie & Woody for another great evening!

Hot Air Balloons

There was a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Chandler this morning about 3 miles from our house. Since the kids are up early anyway, we took off about 6:15 am and watched them blow up the big balloons. The one behind us is a Bald Eagle.

Simon was initialy scared of the fire and loud noise but really like the visions of color after they started taking off and getting a bunch of them into the sky!
You can see how close to the "action" we were and it was really fun to watch.

Here they are as many are in the air.


A fun morning had by all.