Spring Cleaning in December!

Now that I have some help during the days I have started doing some spring, ahem, winter cleaning. We played outside all day with just tee shirts on, it's just ridicioulous warm here! I would love to see some cold weather and some snow, but really I can't complain; I have 2 full weeks with hubby here and the weather is perfect for working and playing outside!

One of my goals for 2009, to simplify. So, today I started this goal in the garage. This is literally soemthing I have been wanting to do for 4 years! I put on my gloves and got to work;
throwing out, recycling and goodwilling. While I was obtaining my goal,
O and hubby were setting up a ping pong table on the other end of the garage. We were having a good time with O, he just couldn't get the word "ping pong" out right, it comes out king pole or pong ball.
We finally found the shells from the last two times we had been to the beach. We cleaned up O's kitchen and set out the shells to look at them. It's amazing that each one is so unique. It makes me think of the book, Gift from the Sea. If you are female and you already haven't read, you must read!
I really hope that you have a wonderful New Years and are warm and cozy with the ones you love.... I know I will be!
See you in the new year....
until then
a

Meant to ask

Anyone have a recipe or two you'd like to share for a warm winter alcoholic drink?
I have tried several but am always looking for a new one....
Trying to stay extra warm over here!
;)

Days of Nothing and Everything

I love what goes into the holidays, even the stress part. Getting everything just right, gifts made and bought, the push that makes the holidays what they are. Then there is the days after when nothing is to be done. And this is what I love most! When you can sit back and look at everything just the way it is.
Hubby has some time off between christmas and new years, so I have made a little list of things that I need to get done, like:
cut my hair, take down holiday decorations (this entails also putting them back into the attic), hanging up bird houses and feeder, sweep kitchen and vacuum carpet, take a shower and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner....you know the detail list of things you wish you could find time to squeeze them in or mainly just to have someone able to help.

So, the list has begun to get checked off.....

hair has been cut; 3 inches, check.

christmas decorations have been taken down and stored in the attic. check.

and items have been taken back to the store for returns. check.
This may already sound like a lot but I can assure you there has been plenty of knitting, tea drinking, block building and game playing around here.....

Oh! and practicing with my new lens!

I was so lucky to have attended some local holiday craft shows. As O gets older I am able to do more shows. I have met some really wonderful talented artist. At the hand-craft-it festival in Madison I had the pleasure to meet so many awesome people! Jess was my neighbor, an awesome artist and pattern designer.

Then there was a lovely lady whom I received a hair barrette from.

How I do love trades!

Among some others that I dug were:
Alison of LoveAlison, whom creates vintage pin up girls collages.

I couldn't pass this one up...."I am Wonder Woman". Alison says that there is one that will speak to you and this one did because I sure did want to be wonder woman when I grew up!
She can even create a collage with your picture in it! The thought has crossed my mind...for fun.

There was Wendy from Miss Fitt, who creates awesome felted hats, scarves, hand warmers and pins. I mean really, look at this....it can't get any cuter!
I would love to rehash the awesome group of talent at the hand- craft- it festival but you can look on their website for the list of artists that participated.

Okay I must get back to knitting....my hubby's head is getting cold!

a

Merry Merry!

Hope your Christmas was filled with much wonder and magic!

Peek -a- Boo!

It was so fun picking out our tree this year. O ran from tree to tree, shouting "this is our tree!"

During some of the cutting hubby got some prickles stuck in his hand....ouch!
My thoughts for tree hunting this year was to have no expectations. Because if you have never had a fight in the tree yard you are a lucky one!

We spent some time putting up the tree....it didn't want to stand on it's own! Oh no, over 2 hours of work went into getting it to stand in its tree stand! Finally getting it decorated...then having pomegranate pudding for dinner...yummy.

O and I took a trip to see Amanda and Family up in the mountains early last week. It was a gray day but still so beautiful. The fog was low and making holes in the mountains....so lovely!

O has gotten into building. I love watching him piece together each block with such precision.

We made some bird feeders for the winter birds lingering around our home.

O spent some time with the grands so there was an early solstice celebration.

I love this picture, it captures how I feel about my little one.
Always with a shining light surrounding him.

Happy Solstice and Happy Holidays!
until we meet again
a

Returning

Hi Friends,

I have returned....from the beach and from life.
I have lots to share; beach pictures, knitting projects finished, holiday markets and our daily going ons.
But not to overload, I'll slowly share with you first things first: baby love

meet Reah Hali, our new niece. a whole 6 lbs of baby goodness

Little Lucy's knitted hat.....hopefully pictures of her soon
(my friend amanda's new baby)

A few pictures of Reah's little hat

And her blanket.....finished in Florida. It wound up being 36" across and wide.....
It's hard to tell when you're knitting on circulars!

And finally finished socks....mine and Oscar's!

Me and my brother

I'll bombard with Florida beach pictures in this coming week!

until then
a

STILL

I have been enjoying browsing through this flickr group, s t i l l.
It's reminded me to remain in the present.
So, I leave you with a couple photos from O's collection.....s t i l l.

Have a grand week......we'll meet again after holidays.
a

My New Neice

......Reah Hali, arrived on Friday afternoon. Family is at home and doing well.
Now I just have to wait to see her until this weekend!

The blanket?

Huh, not finished. O and I got sick yet again last week so I had to take a break from knitting. Hopefully I'll be able to knit this week and the whole way down to Florida. We'll see... I still have to provide entertainment in the car for a 3 yr old!

Sock Dreams....
Ok, I have loved knee highs and leg warmers since the beginning of time. I stumbled upon this store last year. It's stocked full of socks, leg warmers and arm warmers.
I love knee high socks. I remember as a little girl going into my dads sock drawer and
wearing his socks to school. He wouldn't be surprised to know that I do still own a
few pairs of his old socks.
I do have a love for this shop. I did however make some thigh high leg warmers last year that I adore and some arm warmers for the whole family. But, taking a couple months to make a pair, why not just order a few pairs online and have them delivered right to your door, right?
Now, must. find. money. to buy winter warmers!

The farmers market for the season has come to an end. It was a bitter-sweet moment. Committing your every Saturday morning from May-November is a big deal. I missed out on a many garage/yard sales, hanging with the fam, sleeping in......but really it was so totally worth it. I met so many new friends and usually had a great morning with Luna bread as my neighbor, how could I not have a good morning?! Fresh breads, muffins, sticky buns, oh and the chocolate chip cookies.....to die for....really, so very delicious!
The trees and leaves that morning we just so beautiful......a bright yellow and orange.

Now, just a couple days later, a bright colored leaf is a rarity!

So, fair well dear market until we meet again next May......

Sew~long friends.....
til tomorrow......

I am trying to get caught up on loading my photos onto my computer. So, excuse that the posts are not up to date.
I really meant to blog about this the weekend we went because we had such a great time!

O and I went to a Fall Festival a couple weeks ago and had so much fun! It was a dreary day with cool winds and rain, so I wasn't expecting much for the day. The festival was held at the Lyndon House downtown. This is a great place for teaching and participating in art classes.

There was music and much dancing.

The festival was geared towards kids and had different activities separated into rooms.

The first we spotted was the sewing room, where quilts were also designed. They placed squares for the children to 'make their own'. Here is O's pieced together quilt that he was so proud of and wanted to take home.

Wood Toy Making

We left with several spin tops, a rubber band car and a ball game.

There was butter making....

A drawing room

Doll making

On the way out the door we were asked to fill out a comment sheet on how well the festival was put on. In place of our time filling out the comment sheet we were pleasantly surprised to be given a handmade quilt.

It was not only beautiful but kept us warm on the carriage ride over
to the next house of festivities.

The horses were absolutely the biggest I had ever seen. So beautiful!

Their feet were HUGE!

There was a really cool train station set up that O adored! He stood there so long to watch the trains that he was given a chair.

The players on the ball field were so detailed and weren't much taller than 1/4 "

So about 6 hours later we stumbled over to a nearby local restaurant and got a fantastic lunch, complete with some homemade chocolates..... I love days like these!

Now, two weeks later we are putting together our own little quilt, pictures hopefully soon.

until we meet again
a