Oh MY!!!

It's been 12 days since my last update. Someone get a wet noodle and flog me! Shame on me!!

So, what's new on the knitting front? I have made a pair of half-finger gloves, a pair of thrummed mittens and a pair of fisherman's mitts, and one thrummed mitten (one more to do still) - they are all Christmas gifts for a family of friends. I've also knit a booga bag for MIL for Christmas; 2 more feet of I cord and I can felt that. And I've knit one sock and started the second sock for my son.

Knitting for kids is so nice. My son gave me a high 5 and a big hug; all for just finishing one sock. He was even thrilled when I started the second one right away. He even told his Dad as soon as he walked in the house that I finished a sock. OH! Knit a pair of socks for hubby in the last little while too.

Now I'm thinking I want to try to knit some Christmas ornaments. Just not sure what I want to make. I don't want it to look "cheap". Perhaps I'll leave this idea for next year, when I have more time.

Besides, Katie needs a new Christmas stocking cap; her's is a tad too tight. Hopefully I'll be able to get the yarn today to start that for her. There's not much for yarn selection in our little town. Two stores that have very small yarn supplies.

I did some Christmas baking on the weekend. Funny that I call it Christmas baking, when I know that none of it will still be around at Christmas time :) I did tomato soup cakes and gum drop cakes. I used my mini loaf pans to bake them in, so they are individual serving size. I think that teachers, bus drivers, etc are going to get cakes for Christmas gifts. I know I'm going to have to make more of them.

I think this Saturday Katie will have 3 friends over to do some crafting. That'll make 4 girls. Gotta have them in even numbers, or there'll be trouble. One of her friends is quite bossy. Another is the "peace keeper". The other one I'm not sure about, she's new to the area, kinda quiet. I think it'll be a good mix. They'll be making door frame sitting snowmen, clothespin Santa, and maybe something else. They'll have times that they need to wait for paint to dry.

Strange things have been happening. Our hair dryer will not work on the "high speed" setting. I have gentle breeze and rustle the wind breeze; but not the gale force wind speed that I like for drying my hair. And on top of that my curling iron has gone missing. So my hair has looked like heck the last few days! I'm not a happy camper! Something else has gone missing on me, but I can't think of what it is right now. (perhaps it was my memory??)

OH! It's official. Our puppy will be born on/around Dec. 23rd :) A border collie. We are getting a male, and we think his name will be Flint. (I wanted Skye, but hubby doesn't like it) We went to the breeders place 2 weeks ago and met him, his dogs, and 2 people who also own 2 of his pups. They were there to do some training with their dogs. They were herding sheep, what fun to watch! The breeder (Roy) has his dogs herd ducks too. We met our pups Mom and Dad too. Mom (Tammy) sat beside Troy and put her head in his lap; I really wish I had remembered the camera!! We are pleased with Roy, his dogs, and how he deals with them. Too bad he's 2 hours away, because you get free training when you get a pup from him!

Well, I guess I've avoided the laundry long enough. Time to go get the housework done... YUCK!!

why do I torture myself???

I have a craft sale to go to on Saturday. I'll be trying to sell stuff my hubby and I have made. Wish me luck!! Wish me luck also in getting the 9 (yes NINE) painted projects that I have on the go on our kitchen table at the moment. Three big snowmen, 2 small snowmen, 3 corner sitting snowmen and a NOEL thing. I really meant to get to work on them sooner, but hubby didn't get the wood for me till last week. Then I had to plane it down to the thickness' that I needed. And then Sunday when I went to start cutting things out the power went out. Same thing on Monday. And Weds! Finally got everything cut out this morning! And I hope to have all the painting done before I go to bed tonight!
Tomorrow morning I go to help set up the tables for the craft sale. It's sponsored by the fire depts ladies aux. group that I'm a member of, so I help with the table set up. Tomorrow night it's back to the fire hall to set up the stuff on the tables. Then Sat 10 - 4 is the sale.

One top of that our Home Hardware store is having an ornament making contest for kids. They have to decorate a paint stirrer to be a Christmas ornament. I don't know what the prize is, but our kids will be trying to win it :) I'll show them pictures of a few painted stir sticks that I found online, then give them a bunch of paint, glue, glitter, feathers, etc. and let them have fun. We'll see what they come up with!

Oh, the power going off so often. Why?? We had a snow storm here on Sun. Well, it really started to snow Sat night. Sunday was rotten weather. Cars off all over the place. Power out throughout most of our end of the province. I think it's still out in some areas. Mind you the kids have been having lots of fun playing in the snow, which is a good thing. (they are sleeping well at night!)

Just remembered I still have a purse to finish off before Saturday too. So much to do, so little time!

And if I stop typing I'll have more time, right???

Rememberance Day

I didn't get to go to the service this morning; I had to work. When you're providing meals for an elderly couple, you have to go. Neither of them realized it was Rememberance Day. I did sit quietly for my minute at 11:00.

Katie and I played with Christmas ornaments this afternoon. I have some of the clear glass/plastic ornaments, so we squirted paint inside of them and let it "swirl" around. That process took too long, so I shook them. We're happier with them now. We did 3. We think the rest we will put feathers and Christmas glitter (If I can find some) in.

I got 5 projects cut out on the scroll saw this afternoon; they are ready to be sanded now. Then painted, put together and packed away for a craft sale next weekend. No, it's not quite the last minute yet :) I have more to cut out, but need to find wide enough wood. We have lots of wood around here; but none the width I need.

Now I think it's time to go and knit for a while. My back is feeling a bit sore.

Whatcha doing?

Don't you hate that question?? People call me and ask me what I'm doing; and I usually say "nothing" or "not much". Who wants to hear that I'm knitting, or doing laundry, or whatever??? Do they really care?

But, just incase you really are interested, here goes :) I've got a cross stitch dolphin on the go; it's for my niece for Christmas ... hopefully I'll get it done in time! I have a pair of half finger gloves that just need the pinky and thumb done on one of them, and it's one Christmas present done. And another pair to do for the brother of the guy who is getting the first pair. I have a pair of socks on the go for hubby. I've got a long cardigan that's been on the go since July, and will be for a long time yet I'm afraid. Perhaps that'll be my major project for after Christmas? I also just started a pair of felted clogs. I joined a "clog along" on a knitting list I belong to. Size 8mm needles!!

Those needles; had to make them myself! I got a 3/8" wooden dowel, cut it into pieces, and sanded the ends like knitting needles. Turned out quite good if I may say so myself. I'm thinking they need to be stained a color and then have a slicker finished put on them; gotta dress them up a bit :)

I'm trying to come up with Christmas gift ideas. I'm not sure what to make (or buy) for folks this year. I do hope to get some wooden items made for a craft sale in a couple of weeks; if they dont' sell then they will be gifts.

And, in a fit of temporary insanity - or at least more insane than usual - I decided that Katie should have some friends come over to make Christmas decoartions. I'm thinking of a wooden Santa doorframe sitter. http://www.freecraftz.com/cornersanta.html Gee, glad I went to look at that, forgot I need to get fabric for his beard!! Anyway, that won't happen until after my ornament party on the 26th.

Well, time to go knit some more. Not doing housework today; I'm on strike. More fun to knit anyway!!

New use for old CD's

It's Tuesday. Every Tuesday I go to work at the school, then volunteer in the school library for the afternoon. My son's class comes down to the library on Tuesday afternoons :)

The librarians teenaged son usually shows up at the library at some point in the afternoon; waiting for a ride home. He's a tall guy, long hair, doesn't say much. Friendly guy though when he does talk. Well, today he talked. And got me thinking of doing some creating. Curious??

Can't remember how the topic came up, but he told me about making CD coasters. I asked him how to make CD coasters, cause I had an idea in my head; wondering if he knew the same idea. NOPE! His way was to put the CD in a little bit of water in the microwave. Being skeptical like I am I had to check into this more. Rather than call the guy who had told him about doing this, I went online. And YES, you can microwave a CD!! http://www.prairienet.org/~tatwell/cd_burning.html

You put your CD face down on a sheet of paper towel. Microwave it for 3 seconds - no longer. At about 2 seconds you'll see a little fireworks display and here a snap, crackle and a pop; maybe even a sizzle. Open the microwave, and there you have it, a cool coaster. And a stinky microwave. (Don't do this immediately before you plan to use your microwave, it takes a few minutes to air out) Honest! I did it 4 times.

On one CD the face stuff peeled off some. I'm thinking that 2 of them glued together will make a neat suncatcher.

On the knitting front I have another purse almost ready to felt. Just need to knit a few more feet of I cord. That's the last one I'm making for the craft sale. Next I have to start working on some other items for the sale.

OH, Knittgirl.... you're not going to get the info out of me by whining :) If I can ignore my kids whining, I can ignore yours!! I really have to figure out how to put pictures in my blog, so I can show you the beautiful scarf she knit for me!

And now its time to go and get some supper ready for the kids. I've played with the microwave, not to really use it :)

Ahh...time to relax a bit

What a busy day I've had!

Laundry, dishes, crockpot supper, yard sale to go to .... it's been a full one.

I found a camera at the yard sale/flea market I went to. 35mm for $5.00. Hubby says I got a good deal. No battery in it, so the light meter doesn't work; but I can live without that.

The kids are coloring rocks. What fun! We did it last night too. My friend Jan stopped in, and she colored one too; I think she enjoyed it. You find some flat, smooth stones, and heat them in the oven for an hour or so on 300 degrees. Then you melt crayons on them. Once they are cool you polish them with a cloth. The more crayon on them, the better the shine when you polish them. You can try to make pictures, but it's more fun to just let the colors mix and do what they want to do.

Knittgirl has figured out that the secret project I was working on is for her. It's done now; but she won't be getting it for a while yet; gonna be a Christmas present. I've decided that I need to make the same thing for myself. :) My goal now is to make her very curious as to what it is :)

This afternoon I sat down to watch "The Brooke Ellison Story" and knit. I finished off a hat for Troy, and took out and re-finished a hat for Katie. (she'd better like it now; I'm all out of the yarn that I used for it!) I finished the "mystery item". I put the handles on a felted purse, and knit a test swatch with some 100% wool yarn I was given. And I cleaned out my knitting basket a bit. Pretty good accomplishment for 2 hours!

The kids are getting very wound up about Halloween. Pity help me after they have had candy!! I'm sure they are going to drive me crazy tomorrow afternoon!! Troy was outside raking the leaves in his costume this afternoon; I took a picture. Katie was invited to go trick or treating with my niece, but I've decided she'll go with us. I don't like the idea of trying to drive in town to pick Troy up, (he helps my sister hand out her treats while Katie and I go to some houses) with all the kids that will be walking on the street. We'll go in early before they really start going around, and back the truck into my sisters neighbours driveway.

Must go and get something for supper. My tummy just growled at me.

Knitting Needle Find :)

WooHoo Did I ever hit it good today!

Our local hospital has a second hand goods and clothing store. People who have things they don't want anymore can take them there and drop them off. Same people can shop there for things they do want. I'm known for making a delivery, and then buying more stuff :) Hey, where do they think the stuff I'm dropping off came from in the first place??

It's a great source for kids clothes, because where else can you fill a grocery bag with clothes and only pay $1.00??? No where else that I know of.

So, today I had 4 boxes of stuff to take down to them. My sister had a couple of bags of stuff. So off we go.

First find was a funky pair of red sparkly cowboy hat earrings for my daughter. Just HAD to have them!

My SIL's mother came along about then, and we discovered that she has little balls of yarn at home - perfect, because we need little balls of yarn for finger puppets. She's going to see that SIL gets it and will get it to one of us. (we knit finger puppets for the local hospital and for the children's hospital in the city ... took 4000 to the city this past spring)

Anyway. That's when I saw IT. The container full of knitting needles! Ahhhhhhh A fist full of knitting needles, ranging in size from the tiny size 13 up to the big size 11. (make sense?) Just had to buy them all, even if there were doubles in some of the sizes. My daughter is starting to learn to knit; she's going to need her own needles eventually - right??

So, between the 2 of us we got 4 men's sweaters, the needles, the funky earrings and a book. And spent a whopping $5.00.

Now I need to decide what I want to cast onto the needles next. I've got 2 felted purses done for a craft sale next month (still need to felt one of them). Want to make some more things to try to sell. It's so hard though; because you can't predict what will and what won't sell. And if you can predict that; please let me know what to make!! PLEASE!!

I'm already working on a long cardigan for myself; which I'm not really liking much at this moment and therefore haven't touched in quite a while. Plus a pair of socks for hubby. And that mystery item for my friend :)

One thing I am looking forward to - next month I hope to go to Bridgewater (about an hour away) and learn if the sheeps wool I have here is any good for spinning or not. And if it is, then I'm going to learn to use a drop spindle. I'm excited about that. I know it'll take me forever to spin enough yarn to make anything; but it's the fact that I will know how to do it that is important, right?

Fifteen minutes till the kids get home. Better go get a cup of coffee.

The cat came back

We thought it was a gonna, but it just couldn't stay away. (Fred Penner song, I think)

It's Monday early afternoon. Haven't seen our cat since Saturday morning sometime. I was starting to get worried and upset. She's the last of 3 cats. Really didnt' want to think that she may have gone across the road and gotten hit by a car. (no, not that again!!)

I got home from work at 1, and heard a Meow out of our bedroom. The door was shut, so I opened it, and there was the cat.

Called hubby at work, and said all happy like "Bear Cat is home!". "Oh, really?" "Didn't you shut her in the bedroom?" "No"

Soooo. The bedroom door is shut, and the cat was in there. I know she didn't open the door and get in herself; so that means she had to have been in there. But where in there??? Has she been in there since sometime on Saturday, sneaking out to use the litter box while we were sleeping or out?

Stranger yet, I saw her heading back towards our bedroom. So I followed to see where she went; and she's not in sight!

Do we have a porthole to another dimension somewhere in our bedroom? Has she rigged up a "beam me up Scotty" device that we don't know about? Where does she go???? Anyone got a little camera I can put on her collar next time I see her??

Off to do some knitting now.

BBrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Was just outside seeing what the kids are doing. Katie is apparently over the case of "schoolitis" she had this afternoon. And has the temperature ever dropped. Definately cold out there! Not even 5pm and I could see my breath. Brrrrrr

Came in, and decided it was a good day to take the turkey bones out of the freezer and start turning them into turkey soup. Yummmm I even have a package of egg noodles to throw in, so it'll be turkey noodle soup :)

Kids won't like it, but I don't care!!

I think, if the temperatures keep like this, that the kids will freeze on halloween!! Good think they wear costumes they can put heavy clothes on underneath. I can't remember October being this cold when I was a kid. I remember going trick or treating in my brothers black and red checked jacket and being warm enough. Of course, we walked a couple of miles that night, so that's probably what kept me warm! Ahh, the simple costumes we had back then (makes me sound older than my 37 right??) Old pants, brothers jacket and some old mans beard that you ripped off a tree, and voila - an old man costume. Mine kids are going to be a clown and a cat (or a box of free kittens)

We go to a few houses around here, then we go in town to my sisters house and go around the block there. Troy stays with her and helps her hand out her treats. It's so precious to hear all the kids saying "HI Troy" as they come to her door. And he makes sure they each get one treat bag, no more. We live in a rural area; only 10 houses close by, and some of those we have to drive to.

And two posts to my blog in one day. A week off and now I'm really babbling!! :)

Can't think of a Title!

So, what's new??

The pumpkin I killed was offered to the ponies as a gift. Which I'm starting to assume they didn't like, since they didn't eat any of it, didn't play with it. Silly ponies!! I still have to buy one to replace it, but I'm trying to hold off for a while longer.

I've got lots of knitting on the go. A purse that will be felted when it's done. Not quite the same pattern as the "booga bag" but similar. A pair of socks for my hubby. And a gift for a friend that I can't type about, since that would ruin the surprise :)

Katie is working on some knitting too. It's supposed to be a scarf for Troy for Christmas; good thing we didn't say what year!!

As far as we know now there will be a new member in our family in January. A four legged one. As far as we know we are getting a border collie pup then. I know it's most likely a done deal; but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, just in case. Thus the "as far as we know's" LOL My sister will be getting one too. Should be fun. Been quite a while since I've had to deal with a puppy. But it'll be nice to have a dog around again; I do like them! And, if you know my kids.... DON'T TELL THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My MIL is coming to visit for the weekend. She picked a busy one to come! She'll be driving down from Bathurst NB on Friday. The kids don't have school that day, so they'll be home when she gets here. They don't know she's coming though; so that'll be a nice surprise for them. Saturday afternoon is a fun day that our church is having. Saturday night hubby and I are going out to supper (but, we got a baby sitter for free!!). Sunday morning I have to have Katie to the town 45 minutes away at 8:30 am to record a song that might make it onto the Sobeys Christmas CD (she's in the school choir) and Sunday night we have a Bible study group meeting here. I did have a Mary Kay party that I was invited to; but decided I can't go to that. (good thing, can't afford it anyway!)

Supper Sat night is a special one. I'm a member of the fire depts ladies aux. group. This month is our 40th anniversary of the group being in existance. So the firemen are hosting a supper for past and current members. A three course meal (roast beef), catered by someone else - not us!! They have other things planned for the evening, but we don't know what. Quite a nice treat for us ladies. Usually we're the ones working in the kitchen and catering to someone else.

Guess that's it for now; my brain just shut down.