5 good things- May 2011

I can't believe a whole month has gone by since I started focusing on the good things! It's been hard; if you would have asked me a week ago I would have been hard pressed to come up with more than 2 things. The weather has been atrocious...we are on record as the third wettest spring ever. April showers brought May showers, in this case. And we've gone directly into hot hot summer. So I'd like to add air conditioning as one of my good things!

Here we go!

1. Bridesmaids movie. I went to see this with my sister-in-law last weekend (a treat in itself!) and it was over the top hilarious. We laughed a thousand times. Usually after you've seen the previews a million times, most of the jokes are used and there is nothing new to laugh at. But this movie was just so funny. I highly recommend it!

2. The start of the soccer season (finally)! We have been rained out of more games and practices this season, but the first game was good. Emma's team is playing Rec., and she not only volunteered to play goalie for the first half, she scored a goal in the second! It was awesome.
3. Spending the day with a good friend, times 2! My BFF Lisa & I try to get together once a month to catch up and just hang out. Sometimes a month has too much packed into it, and we miss each other. Not this month. We went to Barson's, one of my favorite nurseries, for the first plants of the season. And we went to Koji for sushi. We ordered way too much food but it was all so delicious. I love to spend as much time as I can with Lisa.

I also reconnected with another old friend, Julie, whom I have not seen in somewhere close to 10 years. The funny thing is that we 'chat' all the time on Facebook, so it doesn't seem like we have been apart. You know how sometimes when you haven't seen someone it's awkward and you have very little conversation to fill the space? We didn't. We had lunch and walked around downtown Northville, and chatted some more over coffee. It was a terrific afternoon, and we left promising to see each other again soon.
4. Downtown flower market in Northville. I haven't been hitting the farmer's market with the same regularity that I have in previous years...it's just been too wet. So instead, I waited until flower market weekend. Bart had the day off, and we filled the car with annuals and perennials...only a few of which I have planted. This week, it's my goal to get them all in the ground or in pots.
5. A fresh pedicure. The last one I got was in Florida, so my feet were really rough and in need of some TLC. I took Em with me. I got a french pedi, and she got blue nails with flowers, and a french manicure. Her choir concert is this week, and she's graduating 8th grade, so we splurged a little.
6. These two finally came home! I don't like it when they are gone so long. They're already talking about their next trip and I have my hands over my ears singing "Lalalalalalalala".

So goodbye, May. I hope that June is a beautiful month full of good things!

FO-Boysenberry YO socks

These socks were one of the two patterns from Cookie's sock club for April. It was a very easy to memorize lace pattern, so it took no time to whip up this pair.

The yarn is a special new yarn from Lorna's Laces not available to the public yet. Another perk of Cookie's fabulous club!

I'm very pleased with the way these socks turned out :)

years11months

Yesterday while Max was over I realized that right now, he and Evan are the same 'age'.

Evan is 11 years old, and Max is 11 months old.

It's a huge difference, I know. But not that long ago (really, I swear it wasn't), Evan was only 11 months old. He was starting to walk, and getting into everything. Climbing on my lap while I ate lunch, trying to steal bites of my food. Loving cars and balloons and big wet zerberts on his thighs. And while I'm very glad that I don't have a baby and have to deal with all the accoutrement of babyhood, I sure am glad I get to experience Max in his. It makes me a little less frustrated with the burgeoning teen boy, remembering what a sweet and loving baby he was. The sweet and loving boy he can be when he wants to.

Boys. Gotta love 'em.

8 in 72

The sun is shining! The sun is shining!

It's a good thing because we have 8 soccer games in the next 72 hours.

8 games. Crazy.

We should have only had 4, because Emma's team isn't playing in this tournament, but then a call was put out for girls her age to fill in on other teams.

4 games turns into 8 games.

Half of her team in playing the other half in our first game tonight. Funny how that worked out.

The bigger challenge will be staying mud free, as all of the fields are swampy from the non-stop rain.

The forecast is for pretty nice weather. I hope so.

FO-Baktus

One of my recent projects was this Baktus that I made for my friend Carolyn. She is my soccer car pool buddy, and while I was going through radiation treatments , she picked up a lot of slack for me. She also brought us dinner one night, and in general is a good listener. A true friend. True friends deserve handknits!

This is probably the easiest pattern in the world. You just knit and knit and knit. Add increases and decreases. Voila, you have a very cute little scarf! I loved the way this one worked up. I orginally started in some cotton based sock yarn and I hated the way the colors pooled. I ended up frogging the entire thing. This yarn is Mini Mochi, color 108. I bought some in a different colorway to make one for myself as well. It's just adorable.

My daughter has royal wedding fever and plans to wake up before 6:00 to see Kate's dress. I, for one, will catch it later at a more reasonable hour. Happy Thursday everyone!

five good things- April

I usually love the month of April. Spring break, my birthday, warmer weather...what's not to love? This year it's been wetter than average. Colder than average. Gloomier than average. Overall, it's sucked. I haven't blogged because I feel so negative all the time. If I hadn't had a getaway for my mandatory rest & recuperation, I think I'd be losing my mind right now. (note to self: book vacation next year for spring break!)

So I decided that I am going to focus on GOOD THINGS today, and put the rest of it on the back burner. Because I can.

Good Thing #1:

Cookie A's sock club. I have made 2 pair of socks this month, and one of her cookie recipes. I love her patterns. I love the yarn she chooses. I love everything about the club.

Good Thing #2

Max time! I've started watching my nephew once a week. I forgot how nice it is to have a little one around. I also forgot how tiring it is...good thing I have built in helpers :) I love to watch Emma and Max together. He follows her every move, and she is just enamored of him.

Good Thing #3

Koji Japanese Restaurant. We went there for my birthday dinner to have sushi. It was awesome. The only thing that would have made it better was if we could have watched them make the sushi. It was reasonably priced and fresh as can be. I will be returning often!

Good Thing #4

playing with the Celtics in Indianapolis. Taking Emma & 2 friends by myself was an interesting experience. They had a great time, girl time. We shopped at a SuperTarget (awesome!), I got to eat at places we don't have nearby, and of course there was plenty of soccer. The team went to the finals and lost 1-0, but each girl got a trophy to take home. Many awesome memories.

Good Thing #5

my iPhone. The love affair is still going strong. I love this silly thing. I carry it around in my hand all the time. I play games. I listen to music. I shop for apps. Do I ever shop for apps. I love it. I knew I would, but I thought that by now some of the newness would have faded. Nope.

Later, April. I may not remember you fondly, but at least we had these 5 good things!

FO-Ripple Leaf socks

I've been on a major spring cleaning tear the last few days. I have washed the windows inside & out, washed the screens, washed the kitchen floor, switched out the flannel sheets, and picked up a trash cans worth of dead plant material out of the garden. I even cleaned the gunk out of the pond filter. We have 4 toads already. Before long they will fill the pond with their strings of eggs.

Of course, it's just the tip of the iceberg; there is something to clean in every room. We want to paint the laundry room. Maybe our room too. I have a huge stack of items to price for a garage sale, date undetermined. I feel the need to purge and simplify. It's one thing I can control.

I have been knitting lots of socks lately! Last month I created my last item for the Baby Gardner. It was just too hard to balance knitting what I wanted to knit with what she needed me to knit. It also kept me from building up an inventory of things to sell in my etsy shop (which I'm not going to link because there isn't anything in it anyway!).

At the beginning of the year I joined a sock club, and not just any sock club, but one by the awesome sock designer Cookie A. It was my "I had cancer but I survived the treatments" prize to myself. Every other month we get one skein of fabulous yarn, 2 patterns, and 2 cookie recipes. This is one of the patterns.

This is made with Sundara sock in Raspberry. And because I am such an awesome friend, I made these for my BFF Heather. They fit, she loves me, end of story :)

ps. My left foot is not pointier than my right foot. I don't know why it looks like it is. Must be an optical illusion.

Maybe I'll blog again tomorrow with another pair!