This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Number Two Son learning how tiny babies really are.

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Christmas Cold.....

Christmas is the time of caring and sharing and Car Guy did just that.  He "shared" his cold with me.  I told him that this was NOT the gift I wanted and to take it back, but he told me there was no return policy...Smarty pants...so rather than whine and moan, I thought I'd share some really sweet pictures.....

Sleeping niece

Awake niece....who is this crazy lady?

Number One Son keeping someone occupied while the rest of us eat.

Number Two Son playing with his cousins so the adults could chat after dinner.

If you couldn't tell, we went to the local cafeteria for dinner last night with Car Guy's family.  I was so proud of my boys for the way they entertained all the little cousins...not that it's hard cause they are so darn cute!

I'll be back when I'm over the sniffles and can string together a coherent thought. In case I don't make it back, I hope everyone has an amazing New Year!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

A man and his cat...true love.

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Good Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanza, and Joyous Whatever You May Celebrate!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing well and having a WONDERFUL holiday season!  Sorry I've been away, but I've been busy, busy, busy!  Santa has me working overtime and I am still soooooooo very far behind.  Don't you hate that?  And then, this morning, I was grabbing my bag of Christmas so that I could take it with me to work and try to get something accomplished at lunch, and realized that one of my DPN's is missing.....I wonder which little kitty thought that it looked like a toy? Hmmmm...Car Guy is home from work today, so he's supposed to be looking for it. We'll see.  Needle and haystack anyone? Argh!

Anyway, things on the wrestling front have been kind of quiet.  Number One Son got clunked in the head in practice over a week ago and suffered a very mild concussion, but the state has a strict return to play policy when it comes to head injuries. So he is gradually getting back into the groove of things.  He should be able to wrestle after the Christmas break. He's one very frustrated boy. Number Two Son wrestled in a tournament this past weekend and tied for first.  He tied because the other guy he would have wrestled for first was one of his teammates so they said tie and left it at that.  He doesn't get to wrestle until after Christmas because he developed a mild case of Cauliflower ear....I'll let you Google that one.  It's really kind of gross and we had to take him to the doctor to have it drained....ewwww!

So, one the bright spot in all this craziness was that I was able to get together with my Knitty Girls last week for drinks and dinner.  We had an amazing night.  Evidently the men in our lives were in Scroog mode because we had a good old gripe session and I must admit that I came out of there feeling much better....or was that the two glasses of whine wine. That dark, hardly visible picture over there is the desert we had - Oreo waffles.  They were terrible.  So bad in fact, that we all had some and had to eat every last bite just to make sure.  My hips and thighs claim that they didn't get enough of a taste, so we may have to go back and order it again. Either way, it was wonderful and now for the good stuff.......I have some incredible generous (and talented) friends!

We'll start with this absolutely adorable Christmas ornament. Annie got creative and made us each one of these...including the knitting needles.  Love this!

Some of you might recognize this....Dawn is so talented!  I LOVE sock monkeys, if you haven't figured out and so she also had to throw in this little guy...

Monkey! Isn't he just too cute?!?

And if that wasn't enough, she also gave me a couple of her adorable hooties.  Do you know Annie saw these guys in Pinterest?  How cool is that?  I know someone famous?!?!

 I finally met Deb.  I've heard so much about her, but over the past year, have never seen her. I've joked that she was a figment of everyone's imagination, but she shows up and proceeds to bless me with this gorgeous yarn from China!  How cool is that? She also gave me a jade good luck charm for my phone. Cross your fingers it works, cause I need to go buy a lottery ticket!

As you can see, I decorated my bulletin board at work with a little Christmas spirit.  Isn't it great? ...and cluttered. Yikes!  Do you think maybe I should clean it up a little?  Nah!  And finally.....

Mel gave me an ornament that has a sentiment that a lot of us share :)

I hope that you all get the yarn or whatever else you've wished for this year.  But most of all, I hope you find joy in the small moments and love where and when you least expect it. I'll be popping back in sometime next week, until then, thanks for joining me this year and I hope we continue our friendship into the next!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!!

This one gets some words.  This is Number One Son and his Wrestling Coach at last night's gym dedication and match. Can you tell he admires and respects this man a great deal? It was a very special night for everyone there as the gym was named after Coach for his 33 years of service as an amazing coach, teacher, mentor and friend. It's just a small thank you for all he's done for my boys.

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Hooks and Needles

The hooks and needles are flying around my house.  I'm still working on "giftmas" knitting and crocheting. ( a special thanks to Denise for that wonderful word!) Some gifts have even been handed out.  My sister was here for Thanksgiving (YEA!) and I so enjoyed her company.  I sent Charli's gift home with her and I actually let her open hers because she is currently working in Virginia and could use it....that's right, she was the recipient of the lace socks. I do believe she liked them.

There is still so much to get done.  However, I was able to finish one very sweet little gift this weekend...

Sorry for the lousy picture, but this is a little dress for Piper.  I think I'm pretty safe in showing this because I seriously doubt that my month and half old niece will be cruising blogs anytime soon.  I have to block it so that the lace pattern at the bottom doesn't look like holey knitting.  I also made a little something to go with it.....

Because  every well dressed Little Miss needs a coordinating diaper cover.  I have enough yarn left over that I thought about making some little booties...hmmm....the possibilities.  Or would that be over kill?

After all the craziness of the past month, it was absolutely wonderful to spend some quiet time at home knitting while watching Christmas movies.  It really did help get me into the spirit. 

This week we will be getting all the boxes out so that we can decorate the house.  Talk about over kill.  It looks like Christmas positively throws up at our house with all the red, green and gold.  But it does make for a cheery house and I think we need a little cheery about now.

Have you decorated yet or are you slow like me.  Do you celebrate Christmas? Hmmm...inquiring minds want to know....Hope you have a wonderful week!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

From this....

To this.

My baby turns 16 today.  I adore this funny, sweet, amazing and talented boy, but he's growing up way too fast!  Happy Birthday Baby!


Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Moving Forward

Thank you friends, for letting me get all that negative energy out!  I feel sooo much better. Sorry to have burdened you.

From all the craziness, I did get this wonderful picture of the older kids all cleaned up.

Aren't they a good looking group? The two boys on either side of the girl are mine.  Number One Son it the red head in the bow tie. Number Two Son is the blond. The other three are my niece and nephews.  Not only are they a really attractive group, they are incredibly smart and kind hearted. They make me so proud! This picture is just missing the four little ones, but they will be home for Christmas.  I am looking forward to some quality family time.

Recovery

Well, I'm back.  November was a very trying month for my family, but it also shown me what an amazing family I have...

My husband's step-father passed away on November 27th.  He was an older gentleman and lived a full life. His death has been very hard on my mother-in-law and the entire family.  It has helped show me the strength of my family and that the glue that keeps us together is very strong.  It's also shown me that there are some very judgmental and shallow people in this world only concerned with appearances and what's in their and other people's wallets.  The whole situation was very disheartening. It saddened me that, in this day and time, there are people who won't take to time to learn who a person is, but insist on sticking to their preconceived, inaccurate notions. Everyone should have been drawing strength from each other, not drawing a line.  At the same time though, I was so incredibly proud on my family for rising above it all and taking the high road. They have shown great grace and class in a time of grief and proven to me that it doesn't matter what the shallow minded people think. For that, I am very proud to call them my family. 

And that is all I'm going to say about that.  

However, I will admit that sometimes we forget our manners.....

That's Number One Son showing everyone what he was eating for Thanksgiving several years ago. That woman in the background, peeking around the corning and shaking her finger at someone...that's me....I guess I'm trying to make sure they learn something...what, I don't know. The one with the cheesy grin is Number Two Son. Just a little something to lighten the mood.

I would again like to thank everyone for their kind words, emails and friendship.  I can't tell you how much that means.  It definitely helped me keep my head high this past month and as a friend said, "the holidays can only be better."

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Piper - The bright spot in our world

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Missing You

I just wanted to pop in and say that we are alive and well.  We've had another death in Car Guy's family, so we've been taking care of that and each other, as it should be.  I've been randomly visiting you and I'll get back to my obnoxious commenting self soon. Thank you in advance for your kindness and sympathy. They are greatly appreciated.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Oreo was feeling a little jealous, so he posed for a picture taken by Car Guy.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Thankful

I wanted to take a moment and list the things I am so thankful to have. I think it helps keep things in perspective and helps stop the little things from getting in the way of life.

My husband and sons.  I am so very blessed to have them. They have enriched my life immensely.  They've made me stronger, more patient, more compassionate, more humorous and more loving. They drive me nuts, make me laugh and give me so much just by being there. I appreciate them more and more every day.

My Sainted Mother. She is the quiet strength that is always there to help get me through. She is the friend I can always count on and the shoulder I can always lean on. (Pictured here with Fabulous Frankie.)

My beautiful, talented sister.  I miss her terribly because she's clear across on the other side of the country, but she's always in my heart. Her quirky humor and ability to keep things in focus help keep me straight.  Thank goodness she is only a  phone call or text away.

My crazy, wonderful extended family.  I was so very fortunate to marry the "good" in-laws.

The simple things in life - My home, my job, food on the table and clothes on my back.  The things that make life easier.  They are so easy to take for granted.

My friends. The wonderful women who help get me through each day.....

The ones I learn with, laugh with, and love with.  They are a support group that go above and beyond. They keep me grounded while encouraging me to fly.  These ladies ROCK!

And you!  Thank you so much joining me on this journey of discovery.  I have been so amazed by the warmth, support and friendship I've found here. You've opened your hearts and the world to me. You've reinforced the hope that there are good people all over the world and that makes it a lot easier to get out of bed each day.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving - whether you celebrate or not - and know that your beauty and uniqueness is appreciated every day!

Still Knitting

I hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for Thanksgiving (if you're in the US).  I'm looking forward to spending it with my sister and brother-in-law, who are visiting for California.  I'm so glad they are here.

I don't know about the rest of your, but I'm am busily working of Christmas gifts.  Currently I'm working on the Gunn Au Lait hat. It a really simple pattern, but is taking forever because it's done in sock yarn.  I'm about to start my decreases, so I hope to finish sometime tomorrow.  Then I only have a few dozen more to finish.

We had our first wrestling match of the season last night.  Number One Son didn't wrestle because he needs to drop a couple of pounds and if he weighs in, it could affect when and what weight class he wrestles.  Number Two Son did wrestle and won by points.  The team won 58 to 18.  Looks like we have a really strong team.  We'll see this weekend when we go to the first tournament of the season.

I'll try to get back here sometime this week, but no promises as we have a very busy schedule with family, Thanksgiving and wrestling.  So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed with many wonderful things in your life....

One More Down

Here's one more Christmas gift done....

Sorry, not the best picture...now I have a lot more to do.....Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Don't know how much I'll get done since my sister is in from California!!!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

I know that there are not supposed to be words, but I have to add...

First, how I wish I'd been the one to take this picture of my lovely new niece being fed by my adorable nephew, but they are several states away and terribly missed. This picture arrived yesterday at the perfect time, after a long day.

Secondly, I want to thank everyone for their kind comments, emails, etc.  We definitely "felt the love" from everyone over the past week and it was greatly appreciated. The world moves forward and with each day comes many beautiful things to comfort us - like the picture above.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Good Woman

This lovely lady is Car Guy's maternal grandmother Beryl.  She passed away this weekend at the age of eighty-nine.  She was a wonderful woman full of spirit and charm.  She knew her own mind and wasn't afraid to speak it, but was always a true southern lady.  She will be greatly missed.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Sleeping Beauty...in the pantry.

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

This Boy

See this boy....

This funny boy....

This so sweet boy....

He turns 18 today.

*Gasp* 

How did this happen? 

When did this happen? 

Just yesterday he was that sweet little chubby, red headed toddler that thought I was the center of the universe.

Now he has a girlfriend (sweet girl).

Now he's applying to college.

Now he has one foot out the door and looking to the future.

He breaks my heart and makes me so proud.

Happy Birthday Baby!  I Love You!

Success! (and a long overdue Show and Tell)

It's the little things in life that make us happy.  Small obstacles over come that make us smile.  Sometimes these successes even make the family as a whole very happy.

As you know, I have been blessed with a cold.  So I decided on Monday that I would make some chicken noodle soup when I got home...not open the can of Campbell's kind of soup, but cut veggies, cook chicken and simmer kind of soup.  No one in the family complained because Number Two Son also had a cold and the others know when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  So if she wants chicken soup and she's cooking, we'll have chicken soup. But what were we going to have with it?  Hmmm.......some biscuits would be really good.......Yikes! Biscuits! For those of you who don't know, I've been struggling with biscuits for a long time.  So as not to belabor a point, just read about my shame here. 

I really liked the idea of biscuits with the soup, but wasn't sure that my current state was a good one for trying to rage this battle. I mean, let's face it, a cold doesn't bring out the best in a person. I was already tired and cranky.  Did I really want to add to my frustration? Then I decided "What the hey" and went for it.  I've tried several different recipes that weren't successful, so I decided I needed to try a new one.  So off I went to the Tasty Kitchen. .

If you've never been there, the Tasty Kitchen is kind of like Ravelry for foodies.  It's a spin off of the Pioneer Woman's blog and is a WONDERFUL resource.  There you will find not only Ree Drummond's recipes, but tons of others.  I wanted something quick and easy.  No yeast rolls, just some simple biscuits.  And there I found a recipe for - get ready, this is so great - Baby's Bottom Biscuits. Seriously?  How can you go wrong with something named Baby's Bottom? They come from Kat and her blog is Kat's in the Kitchen. She makes what I call comfort food and it looks wonderful.  I have a pretty good idea that I will be visiting Kat's Kitchen a lot.

Back to the biscuits.  The recipe was simple and the dough tasted like biscuit dough should taste - Am I the only one who taste dough? And....are you ready?  Can you handle the excitement? Here are the biscuits.......

Fresh from the oven...

With dinner....

And after dinner.

That's right...after dinner there were only two...TWO...biscuits left. And they didn't last long. No hockey pucks were present.  No teeth were broken.  None were used as weapons to knock their siblings, I mean other people out. I was happy.  My husband was happy.  My kids were happy. AND my dentist was happy! FINALLY!  I can make biscuits!  You have no idea how happy this makes me.  No more hanging my head in shame. I am a proud southern cook and I CAN MAKE BISCUITS!  I owe it all to Kat...and a little perseverance...and a good dental plan.....

So Kat has my undying gratitude and I'm off to make more biscuits....maybe a few Cheese Biscuits would be good.....What do you think?

Sharing

I've tried to be a good mother. I really have.  I've tried to teach The Boys the importance of sharing.  I've tried to teach them that sharing is good, but sometimes it's also good not to share everything you know and that they would understand this better as they get older and learn the importance of discretion.  I had hoped, as teenagers, they were finally understanding this.....but noooooo.  Number Two Son decided that, while he won't share information about the his social life and the girl he thought was so cute, it's quite alright to make his dear mother miserable by sharing his head cold.  There is something severely wrong with his logic. While I'd LOVE to know if there are any possible dates in his future, I could really do without the pressure of a stopped up head. *Sighs deeply*  I hope everyone else has a better start to the week.  I'm off to make me some ginger tea and chicken noodle soup....You might want to buy stock in Kleenex because we are going through a lot of it around here.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

  

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Finished Thursday?

Hello all!  How are you on this lovely Friday Eve?  I'm afraid I'm moving a little slow this week and just can't seem to motivate myself.  I've been crazy busy at work and by the time I get home, I'm pooped. Wrestling practice has started back up and in a weird way, that's a good thing for me.  I get off work at five and wrestling practice is over at six. I have an hour in between where it's ridiculous for me to go home because by the time I get there, I have to turn around and leave again. So I either stay at the office for a little bit longer or go sit in the parking lot at the school and knit or crochet.  It's a lovely little bit of quiet time. This is when I get to work on my projects without guilt or interruption...until smelly sweaty boys are banging loudly on the car window. "Let us in Mom!  It's cold and I'm hungry....Can we go home NOW?"  *Sigh*...it never lasts long.

Since it's not Wednesday (no WIP Wednesday - Ha Ha) and not yet Friday, I'll do a Finished Thursday.

This is what I've been working on in the beautiful, blissful twilight hour (there is a joke in there...wait for it).  They are a Christmas gift for a very special young lady who loves pink.  The pattern is Alice by Vicki Howell (named after Alice in the Twilight Saga - see, a joke!) and the yarn is Debbie Bliss (Blissful hour? Two for one! Lucky you!) Luxury Tweed in Raspberry.  The yarn is really soft with a touch of angora (My allergies did NOT like that touch) and I used less than one ball.  I will say that as nice as this yarn is, if you have tight tension, you'll need to be careful because it breaks fairly easy. I will make these again, probably for me :) because for a REALLY slow knitter, they worked up quickly. I'll just use a different yarn. Now I have a design question.  I thought about embroidering this young lady's initial down near the ribbing at the bottom, or possibly some small flowers.  Just a little something to dress them up a bit. I don't want to go over the top, because she's not a frilly kind of gal, but touches here and there pop up in her wardrobe all the time. What are your thoughts? 

Must get back to reality.  Too much to do and not enough time.  Work keeps interfering with my life.  Hate it when that happens!  Have a wonderful day!

Sick Day

See that sweet face?  See those tired eyes?  That's my (almost 16 year old) baby...that's bigger than me. He's home today.  He "doesn't feel."  He woke up with a fever and a scratchy throat.  I told him he shouldn't gargle with razor blades any more, but he wouldn't listen. So he's in bed getting better.  And I'm at work, counting down the minutes until I can go home at lunch and check on him. And shovel soup down his throat and do general "mommy" things that might not make him feel 100%, but they make me feel better. Please excuse my absence while I go make ginger tea for my baby.  Any natural, home remedy suggestions are welcome.  Hope to be back soon!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Love these ladies!!

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Epic Fail

So I've finally hit the knitting wall of failure.  It was bound to happen.  I've been chugging along beautifully, so it was about time that something should go wrong. And it's not really wrong.  My gauge was spot on.  I have a tendency to be very tight on my tension - which is great for socks, but not so much for other items. So,  I even went up a needle size. And it worked...sort of.

Let's start at the beginning. While I was at SAFF, I found a sale bin and in said sale bin was this really cute little kit for a really cute hat. AND it was on sale for dirt cheap, so I HAD to buy it, right? It also contained this really yummy hemp yarn that is soo soft. This is what I was supposed to get....

Like I said, really cute. Not exactly what I ended up with. Now let me preface all this by saying I have a huge jug (head) so I made the largest size on the pattern.  Surely by casting on 90 stitches and going up a needle size would be enough, don't you think?  Not. Please keep in mind that I haven't blocked it yet and I'm sure that will help some. But I don't think it will help enough....

 Soooo....yea, um, I think this qualifies as an epic fail.  That and the designer has a TINY head.  The sixty four thousand dollar question is should I block it and see if that helps? I mean how much give does hemp have? Block it and pass it off as a child's hat....or just frog the whole thing and start over.....hmmm.  Thoughts? Have you stopped laughing at my beanie? I know, all it's missing is the propeller.   Are you wiping away tears?  Really? I'm glad I could provide your entertainment for the day.

Finally, on a happier note, I am proud to present Piper Georgia...the latest additions to my wonderful family...

Mother, father and siblings are doing wonderful.  I can't wait until the holidays to get my hands on this little bundle.  Look out world, here she comes and she's already rocking animal prints!