Blog blah blah

not much to blog about, i had a very short list of things i wanted to do, and this was really things i wanted to do rather than things that were "requirements"! nice change :-) my list is shown with my first purchase from knit picks, this is for a baby blanket that i had wanted to cast on, but didn't get to this weekend. a friend from church ordered some sock yarn from kp, and it's really nice- good to know there is less pricey alternative for yarn buying (without going to michael's or joanns)!















here's the first square for my quilt, don't laugh, there were some gliches, but this one will go towards the bottom where it doesn't stand out so much! kathy and i will go to the fabric store around the 26th to get the february square, so stay tuned . . .
















got some birthday cards made, going for more paper and embelishments, thanks for the inspiration, Mary!
















last up is clue #2, ran into a snafoo and had to undo several "good" rows, but got back on track and finished it about 44 hours late . . . hope to get clue #3 done a bit sooner.















mom and i had a fun time at debbie's "grandmother" shower, the usual suspects from church were there, and brunch was fab! deb's got lots of books and other fun (and useful) stuff for when she's taking care of isabelle, and lucky us, isabelle was there for us to admire- nearly done with her socks,

still working on untangling "nymph" :-( as long as it's done by next week, i'm okay, i want to take it with me to new york as my traveling sock project. the "elvis" yarn is going to vegas with me-very appropriate don't you think?

TTFN

Happy Birthday to You, Karen

Yep, another birthday in the family-sister in law #2 (only because of birth order :-) ). So in keeping with tradition, a few things to thank Karen for-
♥(she and Ron) helping us move, lugging boxes, unpacking, moving stuff to the basement, getting us settled in- a lot of muscle was involved
♥being the Sheffield representative when my dad passed away-many many thanks
♥being there when I had my car accident, the meals, visits, and in general getting us through the whole thing.
Karen has shared her love of wine, food, books, gardening, classic movies and many other things with me. She's back into knitting, and is doing socks- way cool! She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and has been known to play a couple innings of baseball when the kids were little (at Callaway Gardens). Being there to cheer for the boys at their baseball games. Sharing her daughters with me, NYC here we come! She has helped me understand the importance of family, and that turning 40-not so bad! Karen is very easy going, loves to laugh, not afraid to cry, shares in the joys, and is that strong shoulder to lean on, loves life and lives it to its fullest. I am fortunate to her in my life. She's very supportive, compassionate, genuine, hard working, fun-loving, smart, witty, creative and just a great person.



I hate to use the same words over and over, but I am very lucky to have the women in my life that I do, as we grow older, we have grown more together, and I think we learn more about each other as time goes by- I've come to realize their importance, and I need to take the time to let them know it.



so it's Karen's special day, so raise your cup o'joe, beer mug, or wine glass, whichever you have in your hand, and let's celebrate Karen on her special day!

new things

this year is all about "new things" which will bring "new" challenges as well
sooooo one of the new things was a service project at church we had over 30 ladies, young and old, got together to make fleece blankets for cobb pregnancy center, we made over 30 blankets which we'll deliver in a couple weeks. it was a lot of fun and easy- love that!

these blankets are made from fleece, and are very simple- square off the fabric, make fringe, and make a small hole and loop through- piece of cake! here's us are at work,















next i went with kathy to the red hen fabrics so i can get started with quilting like i need another hobby, when i saw the william morris print i was totally hooked, can't wait, so here's what i bought,


the wm fabric (at the top) will be for a quilt for the living room, the "fun with dick and jane" print remember those books?! for a special someone, and the kit for the january block for the block fo the month quilt (those are the thin strips), kathy has promised to guide me every step of the way-






here's Kathy and me! first less on was on monday, so hopefully by the weekend, i'll have a finished square to show you-










i'm excited about this new "hobby", and hope i can make quilts to pass along to those wonderful people in my life!, now if i could only find a hobby that i can do in my sleep . . .

also on the docket for this weekend is a "grandmother shower" for Debbie, who is celebrating with her daughter and son in law, the adoption of isabelle! i nearly have her socks done, but since i don't, she's getting these books, they are special to me and i hope they will become special to isabelle:




PJ got these books as a baby we still have them!
"goodnight moon" from Mary, "the very hungry caterpillar" a gift from steve's friends from college, and "good dog carl", marc got us hooked this series since once upon a time we had a rottweiler, so we always loved these books. always glad to pass the love of books onto others.

trying to finish up clue #2, and this is really easy, so far.

think i'm improving in the photography area, don't you agree?

TTFN

Gratitude:
opportunity to give back to the community

21 candles. . .

Today is the 21st birthday, of another special woman in my life, Katie. Hard to believe she is 21, I've been part of her life for 18 years, and she is a real gem. Some of the things I admire most about Katie is that she is very giving, compassionate, smart, witty, creative, artistic, and beautiful, inside and out. I count her among the women who most influence my life. She studies hard, and gives it her best. I've watched her grown and change over the years, becoming her own person. I'm very proud of the woman she has become. I can't wait to see what she does with her life, and hope I can continue to play an active role.


This one's for you Katie, hugs and kisses from me, may you continue to be richly blessed, and may others be blessed by knowing you. Wishing you the very, very best on this special day!

it wasn't on the list

on friday, i made a complete list of what "had" to be done over the 3 day weekend, so like me, this list included chores, errands, and projects that i really wanted to complete, i did not read any blogs or post to my own, because it wasn't on THE LIST I did check Mary's, 'cause i wanted to make sure she got to HHI okay. . .

sooo with the exception of the knitting group being cancelled due to weather and Gina being under the weather, i am please to report that everything got ticked off. i knew that this week would be hectic and that i'd only have tiny chunks of time to manage much beyond sleeping, eating and exercise, so i used my time off wisely. i do have a couple straggler things, but nothing that can't be done between bites of dinner!

we had a smashing good time at the Maile's party to celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau.


lots of wonderful nibbles, and many bottles of beajolais nouveau! and even better we only had to walk across the street, always a good thing!

Amy, Steve and Barry- i know blurry, but don't you get a warm fuzzy feeling?!

saturday was neat, i had a few "must-do" errands, and managed to get them all finished despite the snow that was falling, even went to the grocery store for a very few items-it was hysterical watching folks load up their carts- grabbing the last whatever, i should have taken a photo of the empty milk case- of course i find it all ridiculously funny because i'd already done "that" shopping on wedneday!


enjoyed watching the snow continue to fall while i did tons of cooking-managed to get a few things done ahead for this week's dinners, and made an extra pot of soup for our sunday school teacher and his wife, she broke her foot a couple weeks ago :-(.

will deliver that along with some bread and salad tonight. made some birthday cards, and put all the christmas decor boxes up where they needed to go- still need to get a better handle on this, but figure i can do that when the weather is nasty, and i got nothing else to do!

a couple of the things i really wanted to accomplish included these two knitting projects:

clue #1 for the sotsii, this represents about 6 hours of knitting or approx $90 in labor and multiply that by 9 clues-$1620, plus time for re-dos,

that's one expensive stole! i love it, the pattern at least began much easier than the sotsi, and the yarn is divine! and the carpet was perfect for laying this thing out- must remember for next time!

also finished Mom's shawl,


her Christmas gift, just a tad late, i plan to do one in taupe for myself- love how it blocked out, this wool is very warm, so she'll enjoy having something to wrap around her shoulders. i'll post a photo of her wearing it another time

need to go on a sock knitting frenzy as i have lots of that yarn weight, and need to put it to use, although since i'm always cold at work, i just had a thought that i'd make myself some fingerless gloves so my hands will stay warm, and i can still type! maybe this weekend i'll go that . . .

there will be more- i promise, know it's hard to believe, but dinner, sewing projects, meetings, etc.!

a perfect day . .

not only is it now 8:15, and ALL my chores are done, cleaning AND grocery shopping, but we got some of this stuff . .




















and because Mary is sooooo on the ball, i can tag her blog, and you can get more of this stuff-'cause those of us living in Atlanta know-it's not going to last so enjoy it while you can.

leaving work a couple hours early today certainly paid off for me, and i got to visit with my grandmother which was a lot of fun as well. . . .

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow--
i have lots of knitting to do . . you know!

p.s. i♥ being old enough to get away with this kind of nutty stuff!

All boxed up . . .

as promised, here's the dish on my Memory boxes. I've been doing this for about 5 years (consistently that is, I had to get caught up so there are a few boxes that are multi year)
I used to throw away cards, movie tickets, and other "mementos" that as teenagers we probably saved like they were gold. Then I read the Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. the scenes where the daughter is looking through the scrapbook changed my whole perspective on what to "save", now I save programs from concerts, movie tickets, balloons, and other momentos that don't fit neatly into a photo scrapbook, yea I know I could xerox and color copy stuff, but there's a certain something about actually holding a memory.

totally love my box I found for 2008, which is one of Mary's favorite phrases . . .









and the first few things that go into it for 2008 is wonderful letter that Mary sent through snail mail, thanks Mary some very kinds words indeed, and loved getting a letter this way! It included a photo of Katie and I from Christmas. . . thinking that'll go in a frame for my desk, now I just need photos of the other "girls" in my life- maybe at next b.day dinner?!

So here's alll the memory boxes . . .


one of my many sourveniers from the book signing at the Margaret Mitchell House-











in another box there's a newspaper article about the teenager in our church who was seriously injured in a car accident, and made a remarkable recovery. my program from the Nutcracker Ballet at the Fabulous Fox! 2nd row center seats- awesome!





more bits, buttons made from the baseball pictures (PJ and Andrew) a "flower" made by Andrew, and on and on.


grant it these are things that "I" treasure, but I hope at some point the boys will pull things out, and remember some of the things we did together, and perhaps get a better glimpse of the "person" i was, wouldn't it be cool to share these with my grandchildren?! here's the lyrics to a funny song that goes along with this, sort of, it's about boys finding a box of photos of their mama in her "younger" days! thanks for letting me share!