Celebrating the Fourth of July

 Photo is from the Peachtree Road Race in 2011 Myself and Kathy M..  Not sure why I don't have one from 2012 or 2013.

My list based on Carole's prompt. We don't do a lot on the 4th, most of the time it's just too hot, and since Sophie hates loud noises we don't go outside to watch the fireworks.  I always loved to see them in person, but just never enjoyed the late evening and the crowds.

10.  Eating watermelon and/or ice cream-always refreshing.
  9.  Pull out the flag and wear red, white and blue
  8.  Eat BBQ with all the fixin's
  7.  Listen to some great patriotic music
  6.  Watch a parade-I haven't attended on in person in a long time, but love them.
  5.  Run/walk the Peachtree Road Race with 59,999 of my "closest" friends-this will be my 9th year, and I will be solo for the first time in a while :-(
  4.  Take a shower and a nap because of #5
  3.  Relax and enjoy the rest of the day-this year it is a 3 day weekend-yah!
  2.  Spend some time reading and knitting
  1.  Enjoy a cocktail (or 2)

I think it's best to keep it simple, and remember the reason why we celebrate this day.

celebrating the 4th

started the day at the road race-5th time-always fun, and think it should be classified as atlanta's longest outdoor party-there are probably as many people that watch it as there are that run it (okay, MAYBE not that many, but close).
got my "prize"
after a much needed nap and shower, we had a wonderful time with friends from church, charlie and lynette. great food* and company.
*edited-forgot to list the baked beans, cheese and crackers, and changed pie to cobbler-it was awesome!

here's to celebrating the fourth.

a week or so ago i . . .

~~spent a productive day cutting the next quilt at quilt club
~~helped andrew make banana bread and indian food from this cookbook, onion fritters and chicken korma, along with nan bread and a spread we got from harry's
~~kathy helped make bread for sunday brunch and stayed to enjoy our ethnic cuisine
~~had a lovely brunch at mary's
~~took the boys to buy new shoes- BO get one 1/2 off plus $25 coupon- yea bargain
~~bought stocking stuffers for boy stockings we adopted through our food pantry
~~shopped at harry's with kathy, and then a bit of clothes shopping (more bargains, always good :-))
~~ traditional mexican dinner out, same crew- different location
~~continue to knit on my secret sister scarf- 45 rows of pattern and 6 of top edging-looking forward to working on something else during THE game.
~~continue to add to my list of "things to do"

Enjoy the photos-and there are more on my photostream, and let the holiday's begin

let the holidays begin!!!!

sing hallelujah, praise the Lord, amen, whoo hoo, double arm pumps, dance a jig, drink a toast, whatever celebratory expression you choose, but the SOTS is DONE that's right after about 8 hours of knitting yesterday, it's ready to be blocked; which I'll do at work tomorrow. I'll leave extra early so I can do it first thing-- Is is perfect? definitely not, but is something I'm very proud of, and can't wait to photograph it after it's blocked, so there will be photos at the end of the week. Will I knit lace again- well yea, I may even cast on the Victorian Ruby this weekend, well maybe not!

Now I can finish decorating the house, and bake some cookies. I even managed to watch an entire episode of Iron Chef America, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Note to self: do NOT knit non-social items from October-December. Must stick with socks, scarves, blankets, or hats during the holiday season!

Thanks to Mary for encouraging me along the way, and for my family for tolerating my obsessive behavior and odd meals this past month!

Bribery . . .

it works everytime. here's the ditty- i'm so close to finishing the SOTS it's ridiculous, and i'm almost paranoid that i'll spend the next few days not making it past a few rows, because of continuous frogging, i'm trying to remain optimistic, but have resorted to bribery, hey sometimes you just get desparate!. . . so since saturday is jammed up with activities from 0 dark 30 until noon, i've made a deal with The Family. once we're done at church i'll head to starbucks for a "few" hours to work on the Blue Thing, and The Family will get . .

FRIED CHICKEN for dinner!















Yes, folks that's how it works at the homestead. Why? because my boys (including DH) love fried chicken, i don't cook fried chicken, or buy it except on very very rare occasions-so this is like a real treat. they also get to have me out of the house which means they can play their guitars and TV too loud, and come in and out of the kitchen without me giving them "the look".
it's a real win-win for me, hmmm- 4+ hours alone with my knitting, no cooking or clean up, well i'll probably have to make a pasta side so i can have something lo-cal, low fat, but how easy is that?

anyway, i've given myself a deadline on the stole to have it finished by wednesday the 12, so i can block on the 13 (at the office so I can use the large conference room table), and it can dry on the 14, and then i can wear it to a party i'm going to on the 15th. sounds like a good plan however; between now and the 15 i have- 3 evening events, 3 lunch events, a yard sale to assist with, decorations to finish putting up, house cleaning (light this week :-), grocery shopping, cooking, baking, an on-line meeting to moderate, excercise, a busy sunday at church, work, and oh yea-- sleep! we'll see what happens!

GRATITUDES

♥officer safety this week
♥great books
♥not running out of gas because i waited so long to refill!
♥a schedule that will settle down after the 15th!

photo found on-http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/85/36/23043685.jpg

It's beginning to feel like Christmas . . .

i kinda like the idea of having a day off during the week following Thanksgiving. everyone else is at work or school, and it feels almost restful... so Monday started out rainy, and my walk was delayed until about 8:30, but in the mean time, i made serious progress on Clue #6. it seemed eerily easier, don't know if the pattern was easier to follow, or my technique has improved, either way, we're getting there.

despite the rain, mom and i headed off to run some errands- first stop-- Whole Nine Yarns for some additional yarn for a gift (Mom anyway), I bought yarn for this wrap,











i decided to forgo the Evelyn Clark Swallowtail Shawl for now, and will live vicariously through the Yarn Harlot's knitting of that project. i've put myself on yarn restriction until at least mid-January, have got to focus on what I've bought--have baby socks and a scarf to do before Christmas. i did splurge on a pair of lace needles for the new wrap I've got planned. mary swears by them, so I'll give them a go then-- they didn't have them in the size of the SOTS, so i'll finish using the one's i have. we had the pleasure of meeting the WNY store mascot, an English Mohair rabbit, kinda weird.









next made our way to the Avenues at West Cobb to do some shopping at Barnes and Noble, grabbed a snack and then made a couple more quick stops before we got home.

managed to make the exploding box for Uncle David and Aunt Gwen's 50th anniversary, and will put it in the post this weekend.


finally got the 3 trees decorated, (and have one more to go, a small one in the foyer)--living room (big tree), overlooking the foyer (med. tree), and a itty bitty in the powder room. oh yea. . Andrew decorated the itty bitty one in his room also. now i just have to put a few items around the house, and then i'm done, and it's not even Dec. 1-i think it will really feel like Christmas, once the parties begin this weekend!


TTFN

Busy, busy, busy

it should be no surprise, this past week has been a flurry of activity, and I feel like the holidays have officially begun, here's a recap that most likely will include some incomplete sentences, and multiple grammar errors, but here it is nonetheless, and besides most of my readers are already aware of what I've been up to this week, oh well, here are some photos to give you a visual. . .

SATURDAY
It all got started on November 17th, ♥Mary's Birthday♥
Mom had her jewelry show, and I high-tailed it to Starbucks to finish clue #4










final soccer game of the season, they lost :-(
SUNDAY

Birthday brunch at Mary's, fab food as always, Andrew kicked the wine glass over, wine spilled, but glass remained unharmed.









Made a stop to Only Ewe, got this yarn, but you should already know about that!

MONDAY- work as usual, continued making progress on clue #5, cleaned up the basement, it was a total wreck, and wanted it to be presentable for company on Saturday.

TUESDAY-work and Mexican dinner at Rancho Grande for Mary's birthday, here's a picture of the dessert, that I'm not sure was supposed to be for Mary or not, but the kids enjoyed it!








then some of us went to Starbucks, some of us went home, and some went shopping. It's great being in a family where we can function with out feeling like we're joined at the hip!

WEDNESDAY- half day of working, went to Knitch, Why Knot Knit, and Knitting Emporium. I was on a quest to buy short and long #2 dpn. Found the long one's WKN, and the short one's at KE (my least favorite shop, but I was desperate!) Battled my way through Harry's and then went to Publix to finish the food shopping. Cooking until about 10:00 on Wednesday, then i woke up to this on THURSDAY




totally wrecked my walking plans, we could have used much much more-I kept checking the weather until about 8, but had to get a shower as we were having guests for breakfast. I did manage to work on the SOTS, do laundry, and other cleaning up.


Later on, some of the Moller's joined us for breakfast, Kathy and Courtney stayed at home to finish up dinner and then we went to their house for a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving dinner. Courtney did the table settings,








I think we have a little home maker on our hands.






After dinner Mom and I knit while Kathy went through her quilting stash, I'm "this close" to looking at quilting as a new hobby in the New Year-, I'm just thinking about it now, don't call out the guys in the white coats, yet!

FRIDAY

did my 6 miles about 6ish (i think), and headed out to Starbucks to finish working on Clue #5,while I waited for the shops in downtown Acworth to open,









loved going into the shops-


made a date with Karen to visit the shops on the 1st Friday of the month ( do this in January?) when the stores stay open late, then dinner at Henry's, Mary join us?
While I was gone Steve painted the living room, and put up the Christmas tree, it remains undecorated except for the cool Starbucks cup that I bought.


A trip to Cast on Cottage to get sock yarn, and yarn for a shawl or stole, you'll have to wait for yarn photos, also got some yarn to make a Christmas gift, the yarn is incredibly soft baby alpaca. . . later that day . .
Barry and Donna's wedding party (post-wedding reception), great food and music, and even better -it was at our neighborhood clubhouse, so no driving! Had a great time with some of the other neighbors- fun, fun

SATURDAY

A bit of absolutely unavoidable shopping, Target, Gap, Office Max, and the library, then home to get food ready for the game and the family, we had a blast despite the fact that Tech LOST! Ugh, how many more years are we going to have to deal with this???!!! Anyway, we knit, we admired Mary's latest WIP, and her shawl pin, aahed Jean's scarf she's making for a Christmas gift, oohed over Karen's hat she's making for Ron, similar to the on found on Brooklyn Tweed (cap karma posting), and had a feel of Jillian's afghan, our knitting circle is growing-exchanged names, drank wine and beer, ate, admired the new furniture, and the new mixer,

got a high-5 from Karen on that one. It was great seeing Polly and Roy before they head off to their next barge trip. Getting caught up on some blogs, deciding what I'm going to knit in the new year.

Have been thinking about several resolutions for the new year. Hard to believe another year is almost over. I'm not quite in the Christmas spirit yet, but hope to get the tree decorated on Sunday, we have church and then the Hanging of the Greens service, so hope to also fit in some work on Clue #6. Monday will be a day of shopping with Mom and then working on an "exploding box" for Aunt Gwen and Uncle David's 50th wedding anniversary.

Somehow, I have to still find time to finish 2 Christmas gifts, watch holiday shows, finish the SOTS, Mom's socks, the WOC scrapbook, excercies, bake cookies, attend parties, continue to blog, keep my house clean, laundry, work and remain calm all at the same time- egad, I don't know if I can do it . . may need some wine to help me along, glad I've restocked the wine fridge! Hope to have some holiday musings later in the week.

Gratitudes:
♥continued good health of myself and my family
♥family traditions-old and new
♥memories





TTFN

COTC News

Tons of stuff I wanted to get done this weekend, and I think I did nearly everything based on this list
This tree needed to come down, and once we began looking at it we realized that 2 large limbs of the cherry tree also needed to be cut as it was reaching all the way into Mark and Jennifer's yard. Didn't get photos of this, but according to Mark, the squirrels were using the branches as a "freeway"! Hated to lose the privacy, but want to make the most of the cherry tree's new growth-









the after photo, maybe Mark can get into this side gate! Thinking of putting a Japanese maple here, I love how they look in the fall.

Next up, we I mean Steve, I just carried almost all of the limbs from the tree cutting to the back yarn, so need a photo of that- goes to show that regular exercise is good for you- carried some seriously big limbs back there all by my little old self!!!!

used the chain saw to cut down the holly bushes, felt a twinge of uncertainty on this one-think I'd like something taller considering the space, just wasn't feeling the love for the holly shrubs- plan to put tons of flowers here, and something in the container on or before Thanksgiving!!! Steve looks at this as bare, I look at it as a blank canvas-

Next up, we needed a place to put the lawn mover and gas cans as it tends to stink up the basement after PJ cuts the grass. We also want to use the area across from my craft area as a "hang out" area, so we got this at Home Depot, and PJ and Steve set to work putting it together. It's perfect for the area, and for what we wanted it for- I love Rubbermaid! It's so neat and tidy

I got to spend Labor Day enjoying the day off, spent several hours on the deck, having coffee, knitting, and watching the sun rise. I didn't get to knit myself silly, but I managed to sort through some patterns, and pull out some ideas for using up my stash. The boys actually agreed to let me knit them something- so they are getting one of these- PJ wants black with a gray band, and Andrew wants black with a gold band. I've already whined to Mary about trying to get the Tangerine Twist finished. I'm putting it aside to try to get my head around what I keep doing wrong. Following what Mary has told me I'm on the right page- it's just not getting to the needles. I did the gauge, and began working on the Moss from Jo Sharp Book #1 in natural.

Spent some time at the pool, and did some reading. The pool guy told us the pool may remain open til October 1st! Whoo hoo- some more time to enjoy the water. Finished Birds of a Feather, loved it!

Got caught up on making cards for the week, a few birthday, a sympathy, and a get well. All in all I feel like a got the most out of my weekend.

I got a surprise this afternoon when Steve attempted to clean the grill he found some corroded parts, so now we have a new grill--

I'm the official grill queen at our house- loving this new toy! 3 racks of ribs (cut in half) and 8 turkey sausages- yea baby!

Looking forward to 5 days in October with the Columbus Day, so hopefully I'll have some projects under my belt. Lots of stuff planned, and it looks like a soccer game will happen this weekend. Found the current Gourmet in a stack of mail, so I think I'll have a look-

TTFN