Thank you KATE!!!

Many moons ago, I spent a year in Lillestrom/Skjetten, Norway as an Exchange Student with the Rotary Youth Exchange. So, much like Miss Kelli has an affinity for Africa, I have a love of all things Norwegian.

Anyway, I was a member of Random Acts of Kindness and linked to gal in Germany. Well, in the course of comments, Kate from Norway found me. We have swapped patterns, I have sent Kool Aid for dyeing and Kate has sent me yarn from Norway.

Anyway, she wanted the Knitpicks Harmony needles and asked if she could send them to me and if I would mail them to her to which I replied, OF COURSE.

Well, they arrived today. Kate ordered an extra set for me.

I am speechless...for those of you that know me, this is an amazing and abnormal thing!!
Thank you!!! I will put them in the mail tomorrow or Saturday.

Another Day, Another Step

OK, OK, the light in my bedroom at 8:30 at night is not great. However, I wanted to show off my new night stands and bed spread. There are shams and pillow cases but, they are in the dryer.

Apparently, Cost Plus is my new best friend for furniture.
Two night stands put together. I needed something to do during the State of the Union.

The instructions were bad (ironic since the pieces were made in Malaysia). and I had a few extra itty bitty dowels on the first round but none on the second one. I figured it was worse to make the holes loose but hey, who knows??

Now, all I need is a dresser, armoire and curtains. I am really liking my bedroom. More relaxing, less early refugee. ;)

Atonement

I went with a friend of mine to Atonement yesterday morning. It was a good film and the scenery was amazing.
However, it could have been 30 minutes shorter. There was a whole section in the middle that sort of plodded along. Good movie.

More Crafting....

I had one of those days......winkies at their Dad's house and time to myself. Another trip to Home Depot for more stuff! Gosh, I gotta buy stock there too!

I have been dancing around my ipod listening to Love Song by Sara Bareilles. It is just a fun song...

I felt like I should be in one of the movies that has this montage of images fast forwarding along from a bad place (my divorce) in life to a really good one! I am in a great place in life now...and it feels good after a long dark period.

BABIES: I had to get a move on with gifts.

I made 12 flannel bibs with velcro in the near future.

Flannel blankets from large to small for car seats.
In a variety of fabrics. Have I mentioned I LOVE the rolled hem attachment on my serger??? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!

Painting & Knitting

You can kind of see my living room on Saturday morning at o' dark thirty hence the crappy light.

I got this wild hair that I needed to paint an accent wall some version of red. Apparently, to do so, you need to prime with this gray primer. AFTER I had painted with that....a friend of mine told me the next time I paint red, have them tint the primer the same color as the paint. One less step.
Primed by which time Simon was up.
Starting the first coat of red with help. That is about all the help I allowed them to give me because that is a whole lotta red!
The finished wall, room rearranged and I REALLY like it. I do have quite a few touch ups around the edges even though I taped off. I might have been a bit heavy with the edging so I did not get a nice cut. Oh well, I will let the paint dry and do my clean up next weekend.
I also have some friends having baby boys in the next few months so, I knit some itty bitty hats. I am definitely not drinking that water!! ;)

Two Books....

I have been seeing a counselor to help me but to also help me help my children through our divorce. It is not easy for anyone and I want to try and do the best I can for Hannah and Simon.

While seeing the counselor, she recommended a book for my long term reading. No, not planning to get married anytime soon but she said it was good future reading and so it came today from Amazon.

I am 50 pages in......Nothing earth shattering but sometimes we (I) all need reality to be in plain old black & white print. Makes it easier to read and remember. Actually, I already see mistakes I made the last time around that forboded the eventual outcome. Weird, huh??


Second book.....inspired by Kelli's sew along. Hmm...not sure I can do them all but I will be a quiet participant since I now own the book!
Happy Tuesday!

Gratuitous Kitty photo

See...Leah really does use this bed when I am at my desk. If I put it anywhere in my house, she won't use it but does when it is on my desk.

I can also see that you see that the office/spare room is the last one to be unpacked & organized. At the moment, it is the junk room.

Still no knitting photos.

I had a quiet weekend. I watched "I now pronounce you Chuck & Larry".
It did have redeeming qualities. A lot was predictable but certainly mind candy and easy to watch.

I bought some Hocus Pocus roses at the grocery store today.
The thing about them is the striated color and they open to look like stars. Just thought they were pretty.
Miss Suzi sent me a "thank you" gift for participating in her charity donation over the holidays with Puervian Baby Cashmere from Knitpicks and Malabrigo yarn in the color Toureg.
I am sure I will find something fun to do with each of them. Thanks Suzi!!!

Mangos & Frida

Kelli is queen of getting people together and yesterday was no exception. Mexican food at Mangos and notecards at the Mesa Arts Center.

The kids & I got there early and looked at some of the art on the street downtown.

After a great Mexican lunch we headed over to the art center to make Frida Kahlo cards.
The teacher had lots of rubber stamps and different stations set up.
Hannah chose to go with another group that had girls her age. In a twist of fate, she had taken a dance class 4 years ago with them! What a small world.
Simon & I finishing up our embossed cards. They both did a great job and have note cards on which to write their Christmas thank you notes.
We also visited my Dad & Linda to pick up my bike that Dad put back together. Thanks Dad! I took a spin on it this morning and it works great!

We also hit IKEA on the way home and bought lights and a few other sundries. You KNOW you can't go to IKEA without spending some money. ;)

EASY MEATLOAF

I saw this recipe in the paper just before New Year's and thought I would try it last night.

It was a hit with Hannah & Simon and their friends that were over.

Easy Meatloaf

1-2 lb ground beef
1 package Stove Top Stuffing
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 cup beef broth

Mix together, put in a loaf pan and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

I served it with mushroom gravy and I only have one small piece left. Sounds like a keeper recipe to me.

Roadside Assistance

On our way home from Flagstaff, I saw a minivan on the shoulder on the northbound side of I-17. There is a whole lotta nothing between Phoenix & Flagstaff on the highway and long stretches with no services.

So, I see this minivan full of people and a guy on a cell phone. I got some gas at the next major exit about 3 miles after we saw the van and think, why don't you drive back and see if they need help.

So we head back the opposite direction and they are still there. I pull up and see a flat tire and Dad trying figure out how to use the jack. This is probably 15 minutes after we first saw them.

I learned to change a tire in my early 20's (by having my Mom reading the owner's manual and supervising my brother Matthew & I), before I even had a car and have had ample opportunity to change tires since moving to Arizona. The heat seems to really trash tires and they blow out in the middle of summer. Don't know why, but they do. Even a new tire seems to go some summer days.

So, I put out my hand and took the tire iron and started loosening the lug nuts and then put the jack under the "correct" side of the vehicle and start cranking up the car.

It was funny that there were 6 people (Mom, Dad, 2 teen boys, teen girl and young girl) in the van and no one had ever changed a tire. How does that happen?

One of the daughter's spoke good English so I told her they needed two tires since the one that blew out was so bald you could see the steel belt along the edges and the other rear tire was no better. She asked if they could get back to Phoenix on the donut....um, NO WAY with 7 people going down 6% inclines going 75 mph.

I HOPE they got home ok......They were very appreciative that someone stopped AND knew how to change a tire.

Happy New Year

Well, a wee bit o' champagne was had during New Year's and I found a nice feature on my dishwasher. It has this little rack to hold the stems of your glasses so they don't break and so they can go through the dishwasher.
On Wednesday, I took the kids to Flagstaff to go sledding. There wasn't a lot of snow but we did find a spot that had enough to slide on for an hour or so.
I did knit Hannah a hat but it was left home on the coffee table. However, they did both wear wool mittens so even when they got wet, they were warm.
At the bottom before we hit the car for the kids to change out of their wet clothes.
And then, we drove back to 65 F weather.