Lists

Are you a list maker? I am. I have lots of lists. I have lists in my purse, lists near my bed, lists on the counter, lots and lots of lists. I even have a list of what history core my kids will use all they way through high school. :-) I need to make my list today of what I need to accomplish this week. We're headed to NY on Monday. Well, we'll actually stay in Greenville for 2 nights, then drive the rest of the way to NY. Mike's Dad thinks he's taking all five kids to a water park without me. I appreciate the thought....he wants me to have some alone time. BUT, he must not remember how much work kids are at the waterpark. So, I told him yesterday when I called to wish him a Happy Father's Day, that I"ll be going with them. :-) I did just accomplish one major thing from my list for the week (even though I don't have a tangible list yet). I re-arranged the living room. My kids are forever fighting over the love seat. They will all cram themselves onto it. All five of them. Then, the fighting begins....Liberty has her feet on me.....Benjamin won't move over, etc. Drives.me.nuts. So, I swapped the couches out. Hopefully it'll work. It means I now have to buy a new lamp for the living room, as the old lamp won't fit where it needs to go. Stupid military housing....they must not know what over-head lighting is. :-)
I started a new knitting project this weekend. I'll share details and pictures later. :-) Until next time.........

The never-ending Girlfriend Shrug

It's still not finished, but at least it's off the needles. :-) I knitted this Shrug with Knit Picks Palette on KP size 1 needles. I didn't think I would ever finish it. I must say, the Palette turns into a totally different fabric once it's been blocked. It is so soft, and I'm glad. I was a bit disappointed with the Palette at first. I know some people make socks with it, and I couldn't have imagined wearing a sock made out of the stuff, until I washed it. I could totally wear it now. All that's left, is to sew up the arm seams, pick up a bunch of stitches and knit a 1x1 ribbing. That shouldn't take long, right? HA! I'm contemplating letting my Mom sew the seams. My finishing techniques aren't that great. :-)

Sherilyn, this picture is for you. I know you'll totally appreciate it. HA! Ya'll should really check out Sherilyn's blog. She is an awesome knitter, and she is FAST! It's my new Cricut Expressions machine!!!! Oh wait, there is a sock there too. I'm working on it's mate....I'm in the middle of turning the heal right now. I'll post more details once they're both finished. :-)

Have ya'll checked out the new Knitty? I must admit, there weren't many patterns this time that caught my eye. But, this one surprised me. Becca brought the pattern to Moe's on Monday night. Apparently, Katie was paying attention. Yesterday, she said, "Mom, you know that skirt Miss Becca is making? Could you make it for me too?" I told her I wouldn't mind making it, but she doesn't wear skirts. She replied, "Well, there are two kinds of skirts...skirts I like, and skirts I don't like. That is a skirt I would like." HA! So, I guess I'll be knitting a skirt. I totally cannot wait to feel the Hempathy.

I have planned my next pair of socks. Toe-up Jaywalkers using Socks That Rock yarn. Yumm-o. :-) Mommy duty calls. Until next time.......

Never-ending?

You won't believe it. The never-ending Girlfriend Shrug is about to be blocked. As soon as I can get some kids in bed. :-) It feels so good to have it off the needles. Of course, I still have to sew the sleeve seams and knit the border, but that won't take as long as it took to knit the shrug. HA! Pictures to soon follow.
I have to share my excitement about something. Katie has always been a good reader, but she doesn't share the LOVE for reading that Devin has. She wants to read The Diary of Anne Frank. I'm not sure why. lol. She wanted me to buy it tonight at Barnes and Noble, and I probably would have. But, her friend said she can borrow her copy, and she's bringing it to bowling tomorrow. So, Katie is determined to finish her current read tonight....Where the Red Fern Grows. :-) I love it when my kids get excited about books. Until next time.........

We NEED to accessorize, right?

Thanks to Becca, I'm addicted to stitch markers. These particular markers. (Don't worry honey....they're cheap). I received my first order today. I just ordered another set. Hey...I had $$ in my Paypal account...what can I say? :-) They're oh so pretty, and as Becca discovered, easier to just buy rather than make. I am knitting lately though, so they won't be wasted. I'm about half-way done with a beanie hat for Mike. Why he wants a hat in the 120 degree Iraq weather, I'll never know. HA! I told him I would try and finish it tonight so I can get it out in his next box. He's bugging me for food, so I had better send it very soon. I have competed a sock too....finished the toe on the match...but you'll have to wait until both are finished to see the picture. The never ending shrug? It really is never-ending. I'm making progress though. :-)
Oh, I must tell my scary story. First, my disclaimer....we aren't morning people. Anyone who knows me in real life, already knows that. lol. I've also had sick kids, and have been ill myself. So, now that that's out of the way, my doorbell rang at 9:05 this morning. NONE of us were up yet. In the back of my mind, I remembered that I had called in a work order for the clogged tub last night. Have I mentioned they are coming out about every other week to unclog my tub? Ugh. Anyway, I had chosen the PM slot on the form. Usually, they abide by that. So, I had pretty much decided it couldn't be the maintenance man. Then, I started freaking out in my mind thinking maybe it was casualty officers coming to tell my that something had happened to Mike. In the mean time, Katie was racing down the stairs to answer the door. I had to nearly push her out of the way to make sure she didn't get to the door first. Thankfully, it WAS just the maintenance man. Stupid guy for not calling first. Until next time.........

Cake anyone?

Yarn cake that is. :-) Thanks to Becca for winding my yarn into such cute little cakes for me. On the bottom is Socks That Rock in colorway Fairgrounds. I've been wanting to try this yarn for some time now. I just LOVE it. I cannot wait to knit it up into a pair of socks. On the top, is Lorna's Laces color 630 Bittersweet. It's pretty bright, but I got it for super cheap. The lighting is off in the picture. I assure you it's not quite THAT bright. :-) It'll make a really fun pair of girlie socks, eh? I have finished a sock this week. I am hoping to cast on for the second tomorrow at the park. I also need to make a hat for my sweet dh. He asked me about it the other day. In my defense, I haven't been knitting much. I'll get right on it though. :-)

We're finishing up our school work for the summer. I bought a couple of bridge books for Mikayla to work on in NY. I don't think it'll be good for her to take much time off. She does better with repitition. All the kids have finished their math books. Yee-haw! Mikayla is finishing up her phonics book. She has about 40 lessons left in Language. She'll finish that in NY. Devin is working on finishing his English and Science, then we're DONE! Well, except for history. We'll continue that into the next school year. No biggie there.

Here's some fun pics I took of a couple of the kids today. I looked out the front door, and saw this:

I was bout to go nuts.....until I realized the damage was already done. HA! I figured I might as well let them run with it. So, I grabbed the camera. They'll make for some cute pics for Mike to hang on his wall, I'm sure. lol. I must admit, they did a GREAT job cleaning up after themselves. They rinsed every ounce of mud off their cute little bodies before they came in the house. Until next time..............

High-way Robbery

Mike called me this morning. Yee-haw! :-) He called using a calling card someone sent him. It was a 1000 minute AT&T calling card. Know how many minutes it converted to? 90. I am not kidding. You read that right. I'm hoping it was a fluke, and there will be more minutes on it the next time he calls. Highway robbery, I tell ya. I'm sure I'll be calling AT&T to complain soon anyway. They called me last night to tell me they were unable to bill me for the collect call on my birthday, so they needed my name and address. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't give it to them? HA! Don't worry....I'll make sure I'm sitting down when I open the bill. Until next time..........

The Year of the Two-Hour Delay

That's what I've deemed the title of this year or so that Mike is gone to be. Seems we're always running on a two-hour delay. We get up two hours later than when he's here, we eat lunch atleast an hour and a half later, dinner is 2 hours later, and bed-time is sadly, probably more than 2 hours later. Most times, I don't care. Sometimes, I do. Today would not be one of them. HA! :-) It will make it hard for us to transition into Mike being home, but that's so far off, I don't even need to think about it yet. I guess I kind of get into survival mode when I'm an acting single parent. I crave time to myself, hence the late bed-time. I try to get the kids to bed about 9:30, but it seems it takes an act of congress to get them there lately. It gets dark so late now, they want to play outside until the last possible minute. Kind of hard to get them to bed at 9 when they're out until 8-8:30. I am usually up for 3-4 hours after the kids are sleeping. Three to four hours of bliss....quiet. :-) I use that time to watch my DVRed TV programs, knit, scrap, or play on the computer. Since I'm up so late, it's hard to get up. But, I really don't care. I am doing the best that I can to run things smoothly while Mike is gone. Some might not think this is the right way, but it's working well for us so far. :-) I should mention, next month when we're in NY, our schedule will change yet again. :-)
Tomorrow is field day with a local homeschool group. They have a used curriculum sale too. I have a stack of books on my bed right now that need to be priced. I'm hoping to sell most of it. I really need to clear some room of my shelves. The kids are looking foward to it. There will be game, a picnic lunch and a pool to swim in. Right now, I have to bring a dinner to church for someone I don't even know. I hope they enjoy it. :-) Until next time..............