Christmas Eve

Most of the day was spent like this...on the couch watching football.

We went to church and then Grandpa came over. Grandma was coughing up a lung so she decided to stay home!
We started doing a puzzle that has 550 pieces! Oh well, it will give us something to do.

We had Potato Sausage from Stanley's in Phoenix. We always had it at my paternal Grandma's on Christmas Eve. However, Dad said it isn't a German (he's 100%) thing but there were so many Scandanavian's in our neck of the woods, that it might have just come from them.
I also got a cooking gift from a group I am part of online. Christmas tea, strawberry preserves, green tea chocolate, sweet pickled peppers, the crocheted doily and two kinds of homemade pasta!
And, there were slippers to be opened to wear on Christmas morning. Of course, they didn't but hey, a Mom can try.

Santa

I have a picture in my head but I can't get it out so I'll describe it to you....

I thought Santa forgot us this year but he called last night and asked to speak with Simon.

I can't tell you the SHEER UNADULTERATED JOY on that child's face.

The picture in my head...well, Simon was supposed to be getting ready for bed but he ALWAYS gets sidetracked "practicing his shooter", a cannon from the top of his castle. So, last night was no different. Santa calls and Simon is beside himself. He comes running out of his room in his underwear and a t-shirt. He is standing in the hallway talking to Santa and grinning from ear to ear. A priceless vision.

Hope everyone has their shopping done!

Some Knitting

I have been knitting...but nothing complicated! The scarf on the left is the Flying V Scarf adn the item on the needles was going to be a pair of fingerless gloves from the Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar (December 20, 2006).
Um, I weighed the amount of yarn I had used and then weighed what I had left and there was NO WAY there was enough.

Oh well, I have yarn in my stash!

Holiday Concert

Hannah's school had their holiday concert last night and it was held in the multipurpose (cafeteria) room. Last year it was held outside in the aphitheater and I think it was a much better "venue". Anyway, here are the 2nd graders.

And here is Hannah, the tall blond on in the middle.
I do have to vent a wee bit about some of the behavior.

1. If the kids are singing EVERYONE (parents, grandparents & older children) should be quiet. Even if your child is not up there, SHUT UP AND LISTEN, because someones child is up there and they might like to listen.
2. If you come in late and there are people that are sitting in seats, please feel free to bend down OR sit on the floor so those people that had seats before you showed up, don't have to try and see through your butt.
3. If you have a Razor scooter, it is not appropriate to ride it around between the seats and people standing and make all kinds of "clacking" noise while the children are singing. Fold it and pick it up or leave it outside.

I have been knitting but nothing exciting. I am knitting another Flying V scarf from Exquisite Little Knits using some Regia Sock yarn I got in a swap this summer. I have been waking up at 4:30 am almost every morning and I am pretty well TIRED OUT by 8 pm.

Santa & Knitting

Ok, I am not knitting much.....I have a scarf on the needles but that is it.

Dad & Linda did give me this lovely book last night. It gave me the idea about how to tink back by putting in a lifeline on the Wings of the Moth shawl that is stalled because I did not knit enough repeats! I have to rip back at least 4-5 rows and each row has 300ish stitches!

We went to dinner at Los Gringos Locos in Apache Junction. Yum!!! I love Mexican food. (Don't you love Linda's shawl???? It is the Lost Points Shawl.)
At Dad & Linda's club house, there was a guy dressed as Santa and yes, both of my children still believe in Santa. They LOVED seeing him.

Hippo Birdie, Two Ewe

David and I were invited to the Nationwide Vision Holiday Party. It was held at the Phoenician Resort. Boy, this company knows how to throw a party. They invited all of their employees and had over 650 employees & escorts in attendence. The CEO of the company knows over 90% of the employees names. I find that amazing.

They had a nice meal and then had drawings for raffle prizes. The tickets are sold every year and the money given to charity.

Last night, the charity was the Thomas J. Pappas School. They donated $7,000 to the Tempe location. The raffle prizes were amazing! Ipods, tv/dvd combos, Southwest Airline tickets, Xbox, digital cameras, plasma tv's and all kinds of things. One item was a $500 Westcor Gift Card won by one of the eyeglass vendors. He & his wife donated it to the school!

Today is my birthday...my brother, Matthew, and I swap food gifts from the area we live. I got beer cheese soup mix, Vidalia onion relish, apple butter and seafood sauce all made in Frederick, MD.
My family gave me some wonderful gifts, including this leather satchel I have been drooling over since summer.
Hannah was so sweet. She spent her own allowance on a lovely rose that lights up (she got it at Zoolights last night), a pretty necklace that I will wear out to dinner tonight and some yummy lip gloss.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA

It is Linda's birthday today! We celebrated last night when they were over. Here she is modeling her gift from the kids. It's the purple necklace and not the blue one. She had that one when she came over!
Simon had his holiday concert at preschool last night. Um, is he a ham or what? I bet you can't pick him out of a line up! Yeah, right.
Here they are singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
And, the new couch is here!! Delivered today...this morning. It has RECLINERS. One on the far left and one right in front of the light. The one by the light is MINE, all mine! (Insert an evil laugh here!)

Sunday

I went to a local craft fair & farmer's market downtown yesterday. There weren't a lot of vendors but more than they normally have on a monthly basis.

I bought quite a few Christmas gifts and this bag among other things. I don't know why, but I like the bag. It has lots of pockets and is just fun to me. I can certainly understand that a lot of people won't like it but hey, that is how the cookie crumbles.

There were two hand made items vendors there, the bag lady & another lady selling felted bags. The thing I noticed about both of them, they were not charging nearly enough!

The bag below, cost me $7.50 (including tax) because it was on sale for 50% off. Even at $15, it does not come close to covering the price of the fabric, let alone the TIME required to sew the bag!!! All of their bags were severely under priced, in my opinion.

The ladies knitting the felted bags admitted the same thing, the she barely covered cost of materials with her prices.

Ironically, both women admitted that they should probably charge more. Even at the yarn cost prices, the felted bag lady said she only sold 4 bags last month at the craft fair.

I have been in a knitting slump lately...don't know what I want to knit. So...I dug in my stash and came up with kitchen cotton and the pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting. Very fun and a quick knit. I made one last night during Memoirs of a Geisha and one this morning.

I bought these two hand made soaps to go in them at the craft fair. Oh my, do they smell delightful!!! They smell just like chocolate mint!! Makes me hungry.
Here they are all tied up in a ball! I will definitely make this pattern again.

Cheerleaders & Birds

Hannah decided to join the cheerleading squad at school. For the most part, they cheer at the monthly assembly at her school, which in this case, was last week.

The skirt is from school but wouldn't you know, it was 35 F the morning of the assembly. Thankfully, I had tights for her in my stash!

I do have to say, it is nice that they have so many after school activities at her school. However, unless you did after school care at the school OR your parents had a flexible work schedule, I am not sure how you could attend these events because you have to be picked up after the practices.
Also, I came home from Christmas shopping on Sunday and found this shore bird on my roof. David said it had been there for about an hour or so. It appears to be a Great Blue Heron in its white phase and they are common year round in Arizona.
See, I totally knew that Ornithology class I had to take in college was going to come in handy. Actually, we had to take ecology, ornithology or entomology. In retrospect, given my current profession, entomology would have been quite helpful but I sure did enjoy ornithology and still have my bird books, 15 years later, to show for it!

I'm a New Auntie Again!!!

The lovely Emily Mae.
Born to my brother, Matthew.....
and his lovely wife, Mindy.....
and big brother, Benjamin! I see he has the whole posing while getting a photo taken gene down!
Congratulations!!!!

Sky Harbor Invitational

David and I attended the Sky Harbor Invitational fundraiser last night held at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge. It benefits the Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center.

David has been attending this event for 16 of its 20 years and I have attended 10 years. Scary!

It was a bit bittersweet since one of the planners, who David has known for 16 years he has been attending, announced that their youngest son has autism. I know as a parent of a boy, I secretly obsessed about whether Simon would have autism.

I took this photo because there was the resort worker on the right and two gals from Skyy Vodka. Of course they were young and wearing tight clothes....however, apparently they were window dressing because the guy on the left was doing ALL the work. They were just standing there watching him. It was a funny sight, or at least funny to me.
My husband has been "jokingly" asking me to get a back tattoo for years. So, since Harley Davidson was the theme last night, I finally got one. A "LICK & STICK" tattoo that will last a couple of days.

And....we bought another trip this year to Waikiki. I have never been to Hawaii and am looking forward to it!

Random Wednesday

This is Leah helping me work. WHY she chose to go to sleep there, I don't know but she spent most of the morning sleeping on my desk.

Knit Unto Others update: 3 scarves, a shawl and a pair of mittens.
Sewing. Hannah was having a rough day on Sunday when her friend across the road had other girls to play with outside. The new girls did not want to play with her so we went to Joann's and got the purple batik fabric in the bottom. However, by the time we got back, everything was find with the girls so, she no longer wanted to learn to sew.

Yesterday afternoon, we had some time after they were all done playing and so made the two travel tissue holders in purple batik from this great pattern. Hannah did most of the sewing on one of the purple ones and I did the other.

The ones in the top row I cut out and made this morning. Nice little Christmas gifts made from scraps of fabric I had floating around the house. Um, what are these??? Reading glasses. Yes, I had to break down yesterday and get a pair with just a wee bit o' magnification. I can read pretty well without them but I find myself squinting to see small print and the computer screen sometimes. I wore them yesterday when I was working and they made a world of difference.

Yes, there is Knitting!

I finished up this scarf for the Knit Unto Others project. Another one for the Red Scarf Project.
Pattern: One I kinda made up.
Yarn: Karoake by STWC
Needles: US 7 straight needles

Pattern:
Set Up:
Cast on 1 stitch
Row 1: Knit into front & back of the first & last stitch.
Row 2: Knit

Continue with these two rows until desired width.

Body:
Row 1: Knit in front & back of first stitch, knit to last 2 stitches and K2tog.
Row 2: Knit

Continue 2 rows until you get desired length.

End:
Row 1: k2tog, knit to last 2 stitches, k2tog
Row 2: knit

Continue until last two stitches and knit 2 together. Weave in ends.

Pam came to the rescue and had another full ball of the Lion Brand Magic Stripes so I am back knitting this scarf again. (Notice, I am still wearing flip flops in November! It is 70+ today in Chandler.)
We decorated the tree yesterday. It is a wee bit bottom heavy which is amazingly proportional to the height of the oldest child.
Only 1 ornament casualty......a hand blown glass ornament from 1984. Somehow, it just hit the tile.....not a good combination with glass. Oh well, it is to be expected with the kids helping decorate!

My parents gave us each an ornament every year so that when we left home to our own home, we would have a tree full of memories. Every Christmas is a trip down memory lane as we trim the tree. I have ornaments from my paternal Grandma, my Godfather and parents.

We are continuing the tradition with our children. We got our family ornaments, everyone picked their own, while we were in San Diego earlier this month.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

We're in Spin Off!

My collaboration with Yarn Botanika has made the "news" in Spin Off!

Of course, it is right next to the really nice ball winder..that I really can't afford but am drooling over!
You can also find the collaboration spinning & sock kits at Yarn Botanika, Kpixie, Knitted Bits & One Planet Yarn & Fiber.

Thank you Suzie!

I got a nice surprise in the mail today....a thank you gift from Suzie of the Knitter's Tea Swap for being a co-hostess. Walkers shortbread, Assam Breakfast Tea from the Republic of Tea and Regia sock yarn. I have never tried Regia before but aren't they lovely colors?? Did you notice the lovely card? It is from the Luscious Gracious Clan. Small world, eh?

Check out this checker board I saw at Target. Shot glass checkers???? Funny!

How Hard is it to Knit a Scarf??

Apparently much harder than I thought. I am knitting the scarves for the Red Scarf Project as part of Knit Unto Others.

First try.....a Flying V Scarf with the left over Merino Tencel.....Um, not so much so this is now a ball of yarn.

Second attempt to use stash yarn......Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Again, not enough to make a 60 inch scarf. However, it has not been frogged because I am hoping maybe Pam still has some of this in her stash since we bought a 3 pack together from Tuesday Morning a couple of years ago.
Most recent attempt...I KNOW I have enough self striping Karoaoke to finish at least this one scarf.
Can someone tell me why our son, Simon, thinks he needs to come to our bed at 4:22 am after he has gone to the bathroom? I put him back in bed and he slept until 6:30 am but the night was done for David & I after his visit.

Also, there is a new online yarn retailer!

One Planet Yarn & Fiber opened over the weekend. Go over and check them out!

Saturday Sky

This was the sunset from last Saturday night when we were driving to dinner.
Sunsets in the desert are truly gorgeous!

Knitting....

I finished the first fingerless glove this morning and am well on the way to adding stitches to the 2nd one for the thumb. Quick knit, if only I had not had to start over 3 times because I cast on too many stitches!!! Ack!

Lovely Yarn Botanika Merino Tencel...kind of Pine Forest with periwinkle.

A photo of the finished 2nd sock from the Summer Sock Party swap this summer. Amy knit the first one so I only had do knit the 2nd! A great way to knit socks.

Scenes from my Office

I work at home so.....my office also has the cats in it from time to time.

I left my big lateral file open today and I heard rustling from inside the cabinet. So, I look over....and can't see anything, can you?

Then I see two little eyes inside the box of file folders.
I am amazed she could get in there but she is still a wiley little kitten.
Not much knitting. I finished the second sock, tried out the elastic stretchy circulars but made the foot too long on some toe ups so I have to rip back. Verdict on the stretchy needles? Not bad and definitely compact for throwing the project in your purse.

I sewed a lot of bags this weekend so there was very little knitting. I LOVE my serger!