Happy Halloween!

Halloween posts are no fun without pix, and the kids are at school. Bummer!

Have a fun and safe holiday and I will return later with pix :)

Hi, and how can it already be Wednesday?

I know the older you get the faster time goes by but HOLY CRAP some weeks just seem to fly by, y'know? In two days it's Halloween and three days it's NOVEMBER and don't even get me started.

I have been suffering from migraines this week, so I haven't been productive. No knitting to speak of, no scrapping, no holiday decorating. I haven't even really watched my favorite shows, which is sad and wrong. I was getting such a whopper the other night that I had the foresight to set the VCR to record 'Dancing with the stars', but recorded the wrong channel. People with headaches should not set VCR's. Just sayin'...

Emma got her trumpet back yesterday after 10 days in the shop. She has been playing non-stop since school let out today. Please say a prayer for me.

She had her last soccer game last night, and that was a treat! It was way out in BFE Milford. It was bitterly cold. And snowing in that pellety- sort of way. They lost 1-0. It was a joy all around, and the wind did wonders for my sinuses.

Today I got all crazy and got my hair did. A haircut and highlights! Shut up! No one was more surprised than my stylist, who assumed the receptionist made a mistake putting my name down with the service list. HA! I fooled her. It looks really good actually. I got about 4 inches cut off, and there will definitely be no ponytails for the near future. Not that I'm going to flat iron my hair or anything, I'm just tired of relying on the ponytail as a look. Now if only I could lose about 50 punds, I'm sure my new haircut would make me look way hot.

Ah, there's always something!

Do you know what's better than gutting a pumpkin?

guts!, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

getting your kid to do it for you!
I didn't even ask and Emma was elbow deep in the goo. I'm sure I'll have to go in and scrape it a bit more, but most of the messy work is done!
All I had to do was bake the pumpkin seeds, sit back, and enjoy.
(that is, after telling her numerous times to clean up the guts, to wash the cookie sheet she dumped them on, to put away the tools, etc...)
I can't believe Halloween is next week already. Every year I am floored by the fact that it's NOVEMBER the next day, and Evan's birthday is in 9 days and I'm not prepared. This year is no different. We have a few gifts, but nothing major. NO 'wow' gift. We also have all three grandmothers' birthdays. Good times.
Later!

let's talk about the important issues

two out of four Treibers think you should root for State.

GO STATE!

FO-Bart's birthday scarf & Aunt Ro's purple fan scarf

this weeks's  finished objects...scarves!

Bart's birthday scarf, a simple garter stitch, tri-color wool & alpaca cozy. Nothing fancy, but meant to be worn while working outdoors or watching a chilly soccer game.

This one is a little fancier. It's a wool/bamboo blend in eggplant with a fan ruffle at the bottom. The ruffle is created the same way the ruffle for Erica's baby dress was. The scarf is short, so it is worn close to the neck. The yarn has a beautiful sheen and is very soft.
Sometimes I am just amazed at what I can do with a skein of yarn and a few needles in different sizes. And I don't even know that much! Imagine if I had been knitting for 20 years. I love that I am constantly learning and evolving, and that each project excites me as much as the last one.

Happy Wednesday!

peace, man

peace, man, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

Let's see if you can guess what I did today?

bacon and sausage and french toast, oh my!

My entire house smells like a Bob Evans.

I'm prepping a bunch of the food for tomorrow so I don't have to get up at 6:00 to cook. I'm no dummy. The only thing I want to cook tomorrow are eggs and cinnamon rolls. Oh yeah. MY kind of breakfast. And mimosas. Many mimosas.

And because I overestimated the dialating progress, Emily now knows what I sent her for her baby. Duh! Well I have another one for you-Dad's Dumbledore sock. I know I'm safe because A)  Dad never reads my blog and B) he's in Greece. Or Turkey. Or Egypt. Loser.

It's a basic 2x2 rib toe up sock, made with Opal's new Harry Potter yarn. Although I probably wouldn't have picked these colors for my Dad, he will get a kick out the fact that the yarn is the 'Dumbledore' colorway. Actually, he will like these colors. He's like that.

I had a hell of a time with the short row heel, totally stupid considering that I took Cookie A's toe up sock class less than a month ago. Apparently I forgot everything I learned. It's not the prettiest heel and I lost some stitches along the way, but when you have the sock on you can't tell. It will be our little secret, k?

Time to flip the bacon. Again.

FO-Elephante & super simple baby hat

I'm taking a chance here that a certain someone who is expecting her first child is too busy dialating to check out my blog today. I made her a few goodies that I put into the post today.

This is elephante! He is cute. and purple. If I ever make one of these again I will use an even smaller needle size because I don't like how visible the stitches on his trunk are.

I do like how cute his ears turned out...the patetrn called for crocheted ears and I don't know how to crochet. The whole guy was finished when I got to that part, and my first thought was "Great. You've got to be kidding". But I used my fantastic knitting knowledge (read:I got lucky) and came up with a solution. Viola!
His little tushie is very cute. I had to add a button to his tail. Very Eeyore.
And my first baby beanie! Seriously. Incredibly fast to knit and cute as can be. I will make more of these for sure.

Bart's birthday is on Monday so we are having a brunch for the families on Sunday instead of a dinner. (That sounded very 'Sopranos'. We aren't Italian.) At first I didn't relish the idea, but It grew on me. I'm running out of things to feed people that are different every time, so brunch works. I'm going to cook up a lot of it tomorrow after soccer and reheat in on Sunday morn.

It should be a chilly soccer weekend. Gonna have to pull out my Uggs!

Have a good one!

you got that right!

the other day when I was at the doctor's office with Emma

I had this rather hilarious exchange with Evan.

I don't remember what we were talking about,  but the topic was mindreaing. As in, I should be able to know what he is thinking at all times because I gave birth to him.

Me: "I do not possess now, nor do I ever expect that in the future I will possess the ability to read minds."

...pause...

Evan: "Well that is utterly disappointing".

um, yeah.

FO-Handwarmers & iPod case

Happy Monday! Another beautiful fall day in our neck of the woods. Another day I didn't get to go take pix of the kids. Emma had a doctor's appointment after school and got 4 vaccinations. Four! Yikes! But after 2 more doses of Guardasil, she won't need another shot for 10 years. She'll be an adult by then. Okay, maybe I should derail this train of thought right now.

Time for a few FO's!

First up I have a pair of handwarmers made for my swap partner, Chris. They are made from ShiBui sock yarn that I  bought up north this summer. I love the color and shading of this yarn. It worked up so nicely.

I had enough yarn left over to make something else, but not enough to make a second pair. So I decided to go with an iPod sock. Bart thinks it looks like a turtleneck :) I rummaged thru my collection of buttons to add a little whimsy, and liked it so much that I went back and added some to the handwarmers as well. There is also a felt American Crafts flower on there. who says I don't use my scrapping supplies?

This was one of those projects that takes literally no time to make, and not much yarn either. I always have little leftover balls, so I plan to make a bunch of these things to put in an etsy store. Someday.

I didn't get a thing accomplished today after a weekend full of playing garage/pool furniture/under the deck cleanup. My body was pooped. Hopefully tomorrow I will be more productive! :)

I love fall

Fall is the best time of the year. When else can you buy groovy, bumpy pumpkins?

The Northville farmer's market is the best place to hang out every Thursday. Ugly pumpkin- only 5 bucks! Score! I also bought some awesome curly willow

It's in my foyer right now, but I will probably move it. I want to string twinkle lights in it. It's my favorite find of the season so far. I also really love a new vendor that was there for the first time selling felted & needlepunched art. (one of those crafts that I've always loved but never done). She had some beautiful things, but I settled for this tiny Santa for our tree. Adorable!
The weekend is beyond gorgeous. I'd really love to go out and take some pictures of the kids but they have been lazy couch potatoes since Emma's game this morning. Maybe I can bribe them tomorrow for an hour. Ha! Who am I kidding. They'd never last an hour :)

Bart & I have been cleaning out the garage all day...which is in my top 5 things I hate to do. We needed to get the Mustang put away for the season & hang up bikes. It's one of those stupid chores that takes forever and doesn't look like you actually did anything. But it's done.

Have a great weekend!

it's a black eye!

it's a black eye!, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

well the results are in, and it looks like Emma has the makings of a black eye. Or half of a black eye, seeing as it only goes around the one side.

When she came home from school yesterday, I wanted to get a good close look, and there it was. Immediately she ran to a mirror and gasped "I do have a black eye...I'm ugly now!" to which I responded, "Oh honey, a bruise doesn't make you ugly. It's when you open your mouth and start crabbing at me that makes you ugly".
Somehow, that didn't go over real well.

I am actually watering my garden right now, because everything is so dang dry. I want to get it good and soaked before we put away the hoses for the winter. And for some reason, I have a plethora of birds in my garden. Literally, a plethora. Every time I open the door about 3 dozen birds come flying out. They are enjoying the watering as well. Maybe Ashley could come over for target practice?

Good Tuesday to you!

dueling trumpets

dueling trumpets, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

If you think one trumpet is a sound to behold
you should hear two.
Em & Anna working on their G note.

hit me with your best shot

my baby's nose, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

We experienced a first today...Emma's first bloody nose!
She had a game this morning, and about a third of the way through the first half, she took an elbow to the nose. Hard. We could hear it across the field. Emma isn't shy about dropping to the ground when she gets hurt and came running off the field, bleeding thru both nostrils.Luckily, I had brought tissues and an ice pack ( I am that mom that never has whatever is needed. I got lucky today) and she vegged on the sidelines. She was going to not play anymore, but the other girl who was playing defense with her told her that the girl who elbowed her said "I think she bit me", which Emma thought was hysterically funny. I started calling her 'Vampira' and reminding her to not bite any players.
I was very sympathetic, but it was fun to tease her.
So of course I immediately thought of Marcia Brady and the football to the nose.
Good times.
I don't think it's very swollen, if at all. Maybe a little on her right side. And it may be a little purple. We'll have to see what develops.

FO-Punch & Judy

My very first lace knit project! I think it turned out very nice, if I say so myself :)

The pattern is Punch & Judy, from the ultra-talented Anne Hanson. She has quickly become one fo my favorte designers. Her shawls & stoles are exquisite...far and beyond what i could ever knit. I have bought a few of her sock patterns as well, and can't wait to give them a go.

This particular soft fuzzy is for Carol, my stepmom, for her birthday. And while she doesn't spend a lot of time here in the Michigan cold, she does go out often and I thought it might be nice to wear out in the fall.

Yarn: Alpaca Sox

model: Emma

a day in the life

So yesterday Stacy Julian  posted a really cool idea on her blog about giving yourself the present. I may not scrapbook often, but I still am in a scrappy frame of mind. When I take pix I always try to have the best composition as possible, and I do think about how I would 'capture the moment'. And then I get over it and pick up my needles. 

I didn't do the challenge yesterday because I didn't read about it until later in the day, and really, how many pictures of me in my pj's does one need? So I focused on today, October 2nd.

It was a good day and much more representative of my days than yesterday.

outside Starbux, downtown Northville. There was a really cool spiderweb blowing in the breeze under the lampost.

my latest project to hit the needles

gratuitous shot of me

homemade mac and cheese, one third of what's for dinner

books I am currently reading

mums aplenty at the Farmer's market today

gourds gourds gourds. dried and fresh. full of color.

menu board at Starbucks

dried wheat stalks and mini cattails, bought at the market

I have a few other pix that I plan to add a little later on (Survivor, soccer practice, maybe a few others) so I may end up with more than 10. In fact, I forgot to upload a few of them. I'm missing Evan doing homework, Buddy, & me in jeans (it's chilly today). But if I know Stacy, it's okay to have more than 10.

Hi Jan! I had fun today. Sorry you had to leave. Hope Brady is feeling ok.