Historic House and Independent Children

I’m falling a little behind on the abc-along, so I’m combining H and I into one post! My mom came up to visit last Thursday. That’s always fun, because she likes doing things that N doesn’t such as reading knitting magazines, drinking micro-brew beer, and visiting the Caddie Woodlawn house. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for visiting historic houses:

I was kind of disappointed that it was not an actual museum, just an old house, but it was still fun.

The kids had their own agenda as always. They’re very independent!

The Caddie Woodlawn house is in a park outside of Menomonie. It’s a few miles down Highway 25 from Downsville. We stopped in Downsville to get directions. Goozle fell asleep, so he missed the cute little coffee shop where grandma got them cookies

Girly had fun running around though

And in the midst of all this fun, I managed to knit…2 whole socks!
1.
2! And then I put them on Girly’s feet while she was sleeping. 🙂

My very first PAIR of socks!
And on a side note, Congrats K on graduation and happy birthday today!

G is for…

Goozle and Girly, of course! We got some nice Mothers Day pics:
I love my kids!
Girly’s nickname is pretty straightforward–she’s our little Girly!

She’s also miss mess. She’s a bottomless pit these days, and she likes to smear her food all over her nice little outfits.
Goozle’s nickname comes from when he used to babble when he was a baby. He used to always say “gooz, gooz.”

His favorite game these days is trucks. That’s his favorite monster truck.

Is it spring for real now?

I’ve been on strike against winter since about February, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference! I’m still paranoid that it’s going to snow. I took Thursday through next Monday off, and I’m doing outside stuff. I talked my in laws into letting me use their garden, and we also talked some friends who bought a house last summer to plant a garden. We tilled it up this morning, and now N and his friend are putting up a fence to keep the rabbits out. We’re still not going to plant anything for a couple of weeks.

It’s also been wedding season which means for ridiculously busy weekends and no blogging. This is the first weekend in the last 3 that we haven’t had to drive anywhere. First there was G’s wedding in Fond du lac. I, of course, left my camera in the car in a rush to get to the wedding close to on time, but K took some pictures:

After a 4 hour car ride the kids didn’t want to sit still for pictures! That’s Tiny in the middle. We also got a nice picture of my sister, me, and my mom.
Then last weekend, my friend J and I went down to Beaver Dam for a bachelorette party. We had a party bus which was really fun. We also stopped to visit my family in Waupun where K got this pic of me knitting a last minute gift that never actually made it to the bachelorette 🙂

K also did our hair, and mine looks great! I’ll have to have N take a picture, because me self-portraits don’t do it justice. And due to complaints/requests, I’ll go back to blogging more often!

F is for Finally and Finished

Wow, long time no post. I have been following the “if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all” rule. But, today is finally sunny and warm (ish), and I have been knitting like crazy. First FO is the wave scarf from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders:

I knit it with hand-dyed Bernat Cottontots. I love how it looks. It’s going to a friend. I will definitely knit this easy but interesting-looking pattern again.

Secondly, from the same book, the Rhea Stole. I’m using Malabrigo laceweight. It’s going to be short, though, because I only have one-skein, but it’s not as much yardage as the yarn the pattern calls for.

I have been bit by the lace bug! I have another lace stole that I’m working on, but I’m starting over, because I don’t like how it looks. Lace is challenging especially since I shake so much. I drop a lot of stitches.

I finally found Bend the Rules Sewing at Borders. I love the cutesie patterns. So far, I made a little purse. You can’t really see, but I added sequins to the centers of the flowers.

Yesterday, we took the kids to a dog show at the Eau Claire Indoor Sport Center. I’d love to have taken lovely pictures of the kids pointing and laughing gleefully at the doggies. No such luck. Girly is fearless, and doggy is her new favorite word. She just wanted to run around. She stopped every time she saw a dog and pointed and said doggy. Goozle was excited that he saw all kinds of flags, and there must have been a baseball somewhere, because he kept talking about it. Every time he saw a dog, though, he freaked out! He was clinging to N like Velcro. We didn’t last very long, but I guess we got our $3 worth of family time. Goozle talks about the dog show like he enjoyed it 🙂 and I got Girly a doggy book to read at home. I’m more like Goozle–I only like dogs from a distance, but I did see a giant dog (I think it was a great dane) and a dog that looked a lot like Lisa‘s dogs.  Girly’s favorites were these medium-sized brownish-gray dogs.  We ran into Dixie there, too!  She’s definitely a dog person 🙂

E is for Easter Dress

But first…look what I got from my hand-dyed yarn swap partner Mollie:

Pretty blue laceweight yarn inspired by the butterfly in the photo. It’s a little purplier than in the picture. She also made me some matching stitch markers. To go with the yarn, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, soak wash, and some cedar balls. Thanks Mollie!
On Saturday, I taught my first knitting class. Nobody signed up, but Cindi and Sonja decided to take it just for me. I think they kind of learned something. 🙂

I knit another pair of intarsia mittens:

Maybe next time more people will sign up.
Finally, on Sunday we went to N’s grandparents’ house for Easter. Girly wore her dress that V got for her a while ago. She knew she was pretty, so she thought she could do whatever she wanted. We nearly missed out on church, but right as we were about to leave, we found out the church we went to had a daycare! What a great idea. We had never been to a church with a daycare before.
The kids were very good, and they didn’t even get messy. Girly did not want to get her pretty dress dirty!

Church Crackers, Leprechauns, and Celebrities

Well, I’ve been trying to post all week, but the kids quit sleeping. We rearranged our whole house, and the kids share a room now. They don’t want each other to sleep, which means we don’t get to sleep either! We got one of those squishy pillow-top beds. It’s so comfy.

My kids looked adorable for St. Patrick’s Day, but I didn’t get a good picture:

Girly looked like a preppy little leprechaun.
Both kids have been talking a lot. Girly’s favorite word is bee-ah (banana). It’s her favorite food, and she’ll yell bee-ah, bee-ah at the top of her lungs until she gets a banana. Goozle’s snack of choice are church crackers. N and I had no idea what he was talking about. He wanted graham crackers. We thought maybe the inlaws gave them graham crackers at church, but then Goozle showed us, that where the grahams break apart into rectangles, there’s a cross–like at church! I’m glad he’s getting something out of church. Girly spends the whole time trying to escape, and Goozle likes to point out words he knows. Last time it was Clock and Flag, but he can’t say his Ls yet. Clock and Flag-L=well, not the mother of the year award!
Ever watch If Walls Could Talk on HGTV? If you happened to catch it on Monday, my dad was the appraiser. I missed it, since we only have satellite during football season. Maybe you’ve also heard that Johnny Depp is making a movie, Public Enemies, in Wisconsin? My dad is also going to be an extra in that movie. Time to pack it up and move to Hollywood! 😛

And today, I’m teaching my first knitting class at Yellow Dog. So far, I don’t think anyone has signed up. Cindi is going to take the class, though. Come on, if you live in the Eau Claire area–don’t you want to learn how to make intarsia mittens?

D is for Dangerous

It finally got warm enough to melt some snow. Yay! And then it got cold and froze again. Boo! As a result, this is what our sidewalk looks like:

I feel like I need some ice skates. It’s about 3 inches thick on one side. The end of our driveway is even worse, and I’m suprised my Focus didn’t get stuck yet.

D is for the Doldrums. There has not been much going on here lately. I’m looking for a new job, and the hunt has not been very successful. I had a phone interview this afternoon that I totally bombed. The girl interviewing me sounded pretty annoyed with the whole ordeal. I’m sorry it took me 6 1/2 years to graduate college. I went part time and worked full time for most of it. I kind of have a feeling that this is being held against me. So, if the job market in Madison is like it is in Eau Claire, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting a rejection letter in the mail next week.  Blah, blah, blah.  Same old, same old.  Maybe I’ll end up at grad school yet.

Goozle got his hair cut this last weekend. He sat very still. I was impressed. Then I was kind of disappointed that my little boy looked all grown up. When he got home, he conked out on the floor:

He still looks little when he sleeps 🙂

back to work

Well, I finally caught that bug that’s going around. I took 3 days off of work, made no improvement, and decided not to waste any more vacation days. Besides, the doctor I saw at Urgent Care told me I caught it from someone, so I might as well get revenge! For some reason, though, I haven’t been able to sleep. So here’s what I made:

Little fleecy pants to go with the little dress that I made for Girly a long time ago!

They’re not perfect but not bad!
I also learned something at work today. When you accidentally delete a file, you should not call the IT guy to see if he can “un-delete” it. You’ll get an answer like “What do you mean, un-delete?” Then my co-worker who told me to call the IT guy said I should have asked him to “recover a file from backup.” He said un-delete sounds guilty like I accidentally deleted something 🙂
Thanks for the compliments on my hair. I’m ignoring the brat comments, because someone told me today that my hair looks “edgy.”  Thinner and younger are great too!

And by the way, Anne is having a contest.  Let her know your favorite online patterns, and tell her I sent you.  The prize is Malabrigo.  I love Malabrigo.

Everyone needs a hobby

And Goozle has taken up photography. I let him take pictures with a disposable camera, and when that ran out, I let him use one of my old digital cameras that doesn’t work right anymore.
He takes pictures of his sister (and apparently Barack Obama who he calls Rocka Mama)


And he even got a good one of me and Girly:

Not my most flattering picture but notice my hair. Now look:

I look angry like Posh Spice–not actually my goal. It’s an after-work self portrait, too. Not the best representation.
Back:

I got a lot cut off!
And just for my mom:

Yes, now Girly and I match.
I also finished something! It’s the thrummed hat I was knitting on the way to the Knit and Crochet expo.

And I have to fight to get Goozle to put it on his head unless we are actually going outside.

Thrums are fun; I think everyone should try it!

C is for…

Crochet! I learned how to crochet (for real–I always kind of knew how, but it was like algebra, and it never turned out right when I tried it in real life) at the Knitting and Crochet Expo last weekend:

I made some new friends on the bus ride to the Mall of America, and they let me tag along. The woman who was teaching crochet lessons is from the Eau Claire area–small world!

I had a lot of fun. I met up with my best friend for lunch, and I got a lot of free patterns and needles and yarn.

Cindi is the manager at the lys and the person who taught me how to knit. She was on TV teaching knitting lessons! Check it out here (it’s on the right hand column under fast fix). And speaking of teaching knitting lessons, I’m teaching a knitting class for my intarsia mittens! I’m so psyched! It’s in the Yellow Dog newsletter (which I will get someday when the mail-lady decides there’s just the right amount of snowbank in front of our mailboxes–grr!)

Cool, too cool 2 cool kids!

It looks like she’s blowing a kiss, but she’s actually cramming food into her mouth 🙂

Sun-zasses, mommy, Sun-zasses!