A Wee Bit of the White Stuff

I guess you could say we got a little snow.

Hopefully my Forsythia isn't hating me too much for not planting it sooner.
If our meter is insulated in ice, will our electric bill be better? Nah, probably not.
This is why we can't open our back door. The snow has built up around the sliding screen door. We'll have to go out the front door and shovel the back door out!
The kids ventured out and took all of these pictures. They are pretty good!
I've been told (Kelly) that we needed to get different views besides the one from the front door (Kelly) and the one from the back door (Kelly). However, when it's 5 for a wind chill, the front door view and the back door view seem sufficient enough to me (Kelly)!

This is definitely my husband's child. My child is shown below with jeans and shoes. His child is doing what he does every year - walking around on the front deck without shoes on.

Some of these icicles are over three feet long! You don't have to remind me to not walk under them!

So, there you have a different view point than you normally have of our snow. You are welcome (Kelly).

Snow, Cookies, X Games and Knitting

Yep, that about sums up our weekend. R is totally into the X Games - so much so that she is willing to get out of bed early to watch them! That, my friends, is saying a lot!

I have learned way too much about snowmobiles and the wicked tricks that can be performed on them. I still like Shaun White, so I have no problem at all watching him snowboard. However, the Mom in me really kicks in when they have accidents and I suck in enough air that I'm sure they hear it in Aspen.

I had to make some chocolate chip cookies tonight. Since we are having snow and some rumors of possible power outages, I couldn't let the chocolate chips go bad. I have been to the grocery store with all the other maniacs storing up for the 'blizzard.' Why do we do that? When we lived in Florida we went 'hurricane shopping,' but now that we live in North Carolina, we have 'ice storm' and 'snow storm' shopping. Milk and bread is on the top of everyone's lists. Why? Won't the milk go bad if the power goes out? I guess we can stick it in the snow on the back porch. Oh well, I cruised the aisles with everyone else this afternoon trying to find something that we will actually eat instead of cans of tuna that will sit in the cupboard. I turned the corner only to find the bread aisle totally packed. I thought everybody was buying bread! How would I ever get down that aisle. Nope, bread is across from beer and those male shoppers were facing the beer side. Apparently bananas, bread and beer are big items for snow storms. Who knew? I did have a moment of doubt when I thought maybe I needed to take the money to my LYS and get some knitting supplies for the big snow. Common sense won out and my family will not starve.

You might have noticed some Valentine knitting. We just cannot get these colors to come across without blinding us on our monitor. Hopefully yours is a little tamer than ours. Anywho, I've been trying to use that cotton I was reminded of having and why would I need anymore yarn, yadda, yadda, yadda. I've had a lot of fun knitting them, but I think it might be time to pull out the sock yarn and crank out some socks. Does anybody have a problem with just plain old socks? I've been pondering that lately. So many cool sock patterns out there and here I sit knitting plain old ribbed cuff, cuff down socks. Is there anything wrong with that? Just food for thought.

Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you are staying warm, doing what you want to do and enjoying the people you love.

Party Animal

We had a birthday here recently. Our favorite daughter turned 22. Since we didn't get any pictures of the big day, I decided to dig up some pictures from her past. Oh yes, ones she probably doesn't want anybody to ever see. What are mothers for? She doesn't pass out while eating anymore. Thank goodness! There was the night she fell asleep with broccoli in her mouth. I was so terrified she would choke to death in her sleep that I stuck my finger in her mouth to remove the broccoli. The little booger bit me!
Speaking of boogers..... Isn't she the dainty little lady here? This was taken at my grandparents 50th anniversary party. The booger picker was one month shy of two. I guess at that age we can excuse the behavior.

Here is our climber. This is a double mattress we had prompted against a wall in the spare room. I turned my back for one minute and she had scaled it - no time flat. You can tell by the grin that she knows she is doing something bad! She was also famous for climbing out of her crib, normally by performing a nose dive. She was never interested in her crib until our favorite son was born. Then we couldn't keep her from climbing into it while he was napping!

The B-52s dropped by for the party! Oh wait, that's just Ginger with a little fiber on her head. Rock on you long suffering cat!

Speaking of long suffering cats.....Ginger is shedding. Can she shed in peace? Oh no. Our favorite daughter decided to make Ginger a unibrow. Isn't she lovely? Can't you just imagine what kind of cuss words are going through that poor cat's head?

Here's one of Rs b'day gifts. It's a pound of Columbia wool. Now, imagine if you will.....walking along in the countryside. You stumble across a farm. Walking closer, you notice a barn. Why not walk in. Cows are over to the side. Sheep aren't far away. Now take the deepest breath you can. Hold it in. What do you smell? Do you smell poop? Excuse me, vegetable matter. Well, if you have a vivid imagination, you have just imagined what this bag of fiber smells like. P-U! Our bathroom got to experience the smell while we washed it. I really love this kid, I'm telling you!

Birthdays aren't the only thing happening around here. I got some Knit Picks Bare for Christmas. I was trying to think of a creative way to dye it. I recalled a blog years ago where Easter Egg Dye was used. I had bought tons of it on sale after Easter that year. I finally pulled it out and found a tutorial here : http://Kathrynivy.com/patterns/extras/dyeing-yarn/
(Of course I couldn't find the original blog which told how to dye the yarn, but this one is very thorough. Definitely worth a peek.)
The colors are pretty accurate. Might have to stock up on more Easter egg dye this year!

Finally!

I finally got R to get some pictures of her Dad's fingerless mitts (Dashing from Knitty). He gets home right before dark and if we don't snag the mitts right away, we won't have any light to get pictures. She caught him as soon as he got out of his truck and grapped the mitts!

She had a long list of things she wanted to knit for everybody for Christmas, but was running very short on time. I volunteered to knit these if she would provide the yarn and pattern.

What an easy pattern! They worked up quickly. I was kind of dragging my feet between mitts, but it wasn't their fault. I did manage to get them finished before RL went back to work - which was quite an accomplishment for me!

The cables were not difficult at all and the yarn, which I think was a Berroco
Alpaca/Merino blend, was a dream. I'll have to check with my 'client' and ask her what exactly the yarn was called that she shoved in my face when I said I would knit these! (Just caught her - Ultra Alpaca was the name of the yarn.)
RL truly appreciated this gift. I was hoping he would. His little truck isn't exactly the warmest vehicle in the world. It is just starting to get warm when he pulls into work, which is across town. He told me the other day that he has been wearing them every day and even showing them off to his coworkers! I think R stumbled upon a good gift for her Dad!

And yes, that is snow in some of the pictures. It's still hanging around since before Christmas. One of these days it will melt, maybe.

Happy New Year (a Day Late!)

My 'Official Blog Photographer' got a new camera for Christmas. That is what made her the 'Official Blog Photographer', by the way! Above is her official photography foot gear. Note the wool socks. We are freezing our tushes off up here and the socks are a necessity. Last time I checked, about noon, it was 13 with our wind chill. BRRRR!
In order to get requested pictures, we have to let the photographer release her artistic urges. The sky was beautiful yesterday, as you can see.

This is the scarf that L made for me for Christmas. He and R would trek on up the stairs every night and knit, knit, knit. Believe me, it was truly appreciated. I believe they said this yarn was Cadena by Knit Picks. It is bulky and feels so warm....perfect for today!

Didn't he do a beautiful job? The colors are gorgeous and match my winter coat perfectly.

This little African Violet is special. R had to buy it because it was named Billy. RL's Dad and my Dad's names are Billy. So, of course I had to let her get it. She has been babying it, trying to bring it back to it's former glory. On Christmas Day, it bloomed for the first time. How special to have 'Billy' bloom on Christmas! It was like both Dads were sending us a little message! We hear you both loud and clear and love you guys!