Changes

I used to blog. I used to blog on a fairly regular basis.  Now.....well, now I read blogs. "What happened?" you ask? Life got busy. Then it got really busy. Then it got sad. Things happened.  I was having a hard time finding my happy place here. I wanted to share pretty pictures of places we'd go and things I'd make, but it just felt like such an effort and I had to put my efforts else where.  I'm not saying this for sympathy.  I'm not saying this as an excuse.  Sometimes we change life and sometimes life changes us. It's just how things go. And in this process, I lost the filter between my brain and my mouth....or hands, as the case may be. I lost my patience. I knew that I couldn't keep this a happy place, so I didn't want to put it out there.

For those of you who are younger then I am - that would be A LOT of you - life as an empty nester is very different.  Suddenly, you have time on your hands that you don't know what to do with. Sounds lovely, and it sort of is. But it's also sad. You see, this spare time means that you aren't taking care of the kiddos that you put so much time and effort into. And suddenly, you're aren't needed.  Those little people that made you the center of their universe have found a whole new solar system that you aren't even a part of.  It's not that they don't love you.  They still do. But whether they were pushed out of the nest, or they jumped, they are spreading their wings and flying off in directions that they don't want, or need, you to follow.  All I can say is "OUCH."  So those cute boys that I showed you pictures of years ago....they are grown men....or getting there, anyway.

All this put me in a bit of a funk. I got over it. I'm finding myself again....you know the person you were before you became "their mother" or "his/her spouse." And I like her.  She's a lot different than the woman that started this journey. More tolerant, but more opinionated. More thoughtful, but more out spoken. More compassionate, but never a pushover. And those kiddos that didn't need me anymore? Well they found out Mom knows a lot more than they originally thought. And maybe, on occasion, they might need her again...If for nothing else, she can cook!

So I'm going to leave this picture right here....just to show what happens to those adorable kiddos you have.  They grow up, whether you want them to or not. And they do make it home every now and again. And those hugs.....they go from being obligatory to heart felt and that's wonderful.

I may pop back in here every now and then. And things may be a bit different. But that's because I'm a bit different. If you want to see more of what's been going on, pop over to Instagram.  I find that posting a picture here and there is a lot easier than trying to organize my thoughts.

I hope all is well with everyone and may you all go in peace.

Going Back and Moving Forward

Time and space are two interesting concepts.  I try not to bog myself down into them too much because Stephen Hawking, I'm not. But over the last few days, they have been in the forefront of my mind.

Both boys are home.  I love having them home but I think I'm enjoying it more than they are. We are re-acquainting ourselves with the spaces we share. Remembering to respect each others' boundaries and remembering that we stay even after they leave...this remains our home if/when/should they move out. And trying to give them space and privacy because they aren't twelve anymore...regardless of what the occasional bickering might make one think otherwise - who's turn is it to clean the bathroom? Cause their mother isn't cleaning up after them anymore. It's going to be an interesting summer.

Speaking of homes...I have noticed something since we've become semi empty nesters.  My house is now WAY too big.  It was great when the boys were home all the time and their friends were in and out with them. But when it's just Car Guy and me rattling around, it's huge. Downsizing may be in our future.  But there are be so many possibilities in our future that have yet to resolve themselves.  Time will tell.



Another thing that has time kicking about in my head is getting back in touch with a dear friend from my past. She was one of my college roommates. We lived together for 2 years and were always really close.  Then I got married and pregnant years before she did and we lost touch for a while....10 years is a while, right? She came over last night.  We sat out on the back porch, watching the drizzle,  reminiscing and getting to know each other again.  It was wonderful to see that time meant nothing as far as our friendship is concerned.  The days may have passed but it's like we were never separated.  It was fun to point out ourselves in our children too each other particularly when we didn't recognize it ourselves. And it's reassuring to realize that while time has changed us in our place in life, it hasn't changed our deep friendship that was formed so long ago....28 years ago definitely qualifies for a long time ago. The best part of last night was the laughter...that was brilliant! You know the belly aching, tears running down your face type of laughter caused by memories of how silly we were all those years ago when we thought we were so mature?  We got our first apartment together and shared so much.

We've vowed not to let each other slip away again and I know we both mean it. And guess what?!?!?! She knits! Sort of.  As she said, " I've knitted blankets, I just don't know how to finish them."  No problem! You came to the right place.

So please forgive me if I'm just a bit nostalgic. I feel change coming and I welcome the journey as long is it's okay to hold onto to a few things from the past.

Random Catch Up

Not my test knitting.

I've been doing a lot of knitting lately.  I could tell you about it and show you, but then I'd have to kill you....Shhh.....It's secret test knitting...for a designer.  It's pretty freaking cool to do this.

My Palladio

I've test knitted before, for the lovely Jane Richmond. She has some really beautiful patterns and I was able to test knit the sweater pattern for Palladio.  It was loads of fun and the way her patterns are set is absolutely brilliant.  Instead of having all those numbers in parentheses, she has a fill in the blank setup.  I love this because it keeps me from looking at the wrong number. I don't know about y'all, but I have a tendency to get a little cross eyed when I look at all those numbers.

My boys.,...sigh.  They are pretty much grown now. Number One Son is still in college and is twenty-one now...YIKES. He's living at home and struggling with what he wants to be when he grows up. Don't we all? But I know whatever he decides, he'll do it well.  Number Two Son is nineteen and a freshman at UNC Charlotte. He loves it - probably a bit too much - but he's learning and that's a plus. He can't decide between a degree in Math or Music. Did I mention how smart and talented my boys are? (Modest mom...not)

Car Guy is still the same loving, funny constant in my life. He's still restoring the Porsche 914, but it looks a bit different now.

It's back to the original factory color of Irish Green,  We just have to get it back home and put back together.  I know what will be occupying his time this summer. That's fine with me. It gives me more time to relax and knit/crochet/spin.

Hope everyone is doing well.  I'll pop back in occasionally and let you know the progress of things. Until then...take care!

Happy Holidays!!!

I have been absent from this space for quite some time and a lot has happened...some good and some not so good...but that's life. I really can't complain because I've been very fortunate. I've had my health, my family and friends. Seriously, what more can a girl ask for?  So I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone Happy Holidays!  May your future be truly blessed. Hopefully, I'll be back to visit more often.

Escapism...

Sometimes it's just good to run away from everything and recharge. The Hubs and I have been feeling a little stressed, so off we went down to Oak Island and a little time at the beach.

Near Oak Island is the lovely little historic town of Southport, which was having their Fourth Annual Wooden Boat Show.  We spent the day there looking at the gorgeous old boats and site seeing.  Maybe you recognize this house (currently getting scraped and sanded to be repainted)...

Did you ever see the movie Safe Haven?  It's base on a book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks, starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel.  This movie was filmed in Southport and this is the house that Josh Duhamel's character Alex lived in.

Southport is a small town located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River and is obviously very picturesque. It's really becoming quite popular with the tourist. And that Fourth of July celebration they have in the movie....yeah, it really happens.

There are tons of great restaurants...The Pharmacy, Ports of Call, Old American Fish Company (which was the restaurant Ivan's in the movie), and Fishy, Fishy  - where I had one of the best Bloody Marys...other than the ones my sister makes.

We ate dinner at The Frying Pan and this was our spectacular view.  

This restaurant is fairly new - it opened in 2012 - but the food was delicious.  I had shrimp and grits, which I can recommend...as well as the crab cakes. And any place that has "Fried with Pride" as the slogan on the back of their shirts can't be too bad.

But the best part of all was the company. 

From left to right...Susie Q and Me
And the Hubs photo bombing like a pro ;)

We had a wonderful weekend, made lots of great memories and recharged enough to face the week. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Hope all is well with you!

Monday....

So this is what I met this morning....

Oops...Don't know where I picked this up.

But thanks to good friends...this was just a bump in the road....

And now the countdown begins....

Soon we girls will be heading to the mountains for some fiber and fun. Can't wait! Hope everyone else's week started better than mine!

Hello?

Is this thing on? Is there anybody out there...."Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anybody home?" (Courtesy of Roger Waters and David Jon Gilmour. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd...duh) It just seemed appropriate.

So....how's life? Sorry for the silence. Everything has been fine...even good...and on some occasions great. Just a bit overwhelming.

There was the annual beach trip...who are these young men?

Lots of sand and surf...

And a little more...

Even some fireworks...

Of course there was yarn...knitting and crocheting....

And mixed in was a little bit of this...wine, that is.  I've always been a bit mad.

I'm hoping that since summer is over and everyone is back in school (and both home...oldest taking a few courses at community college) I'll get back into a routine. Work has been insane and I hope that it doesn't slow down - can you say job security? So I'll be easing back into this...maybe a post a week? Maybe? I've been doing a lot of reading and visiting on my phone, thus no comments. Have you ever noticed what a pain in the rear it is to try and leave comments when you can hardly see it? Anyway, to make a long story short. I here and I can't begin to tell you how much I've missed you all.

All's good...

Be back soon!

These Moments - This Week

Whew!  Where has this week gone?  Work has kept me really busy.  I don't discuss work very often, if ever. I work in IT, but I'm not IT.  Does that make sense?  I'm in set up and customer support which basically translates to "Melissa does the grunt work that no one else wants to do."  I'm OK with that. We've gotten three new accounts which means three new set ups.  By the time I get home, I'm pooped. But I haven't been idle.

I'm cheating here for a moment as these are from last week, but I had to share photos of the lovely Biscuits.  It was Annie and Chelsey's birthday this month,  so we went to dinner at Longhorn (steak house). We had a wonderful time - ate too much food and laughed loudly and often.  These ladies are the best!

Annie, Nicole and Dawn

Chelsey and Jen

Mel and Chelsey

I'm still working on cleaning my wool...Here it is in process....

Pretty much looks like a hot mess.  I've started carding so that I can get some of the finer bits of mess out of it. Let me tell you, I am hand carding this mess and by the time I am through, I am going to have some AMAZING arm muscles.  That is some hard work!  Of course, I've openly admitted that I'm a tad on the lazy side, so I'm looking for a drum carder to borrow...Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Or better yet, if I could figure out how to card using other muscle groups in my body...my core, my behind....hmmm...

This here would be the carded wool....so pretty and fluffy! And this stuff is so incredibly soft. I'm starting to get impatient with it.  I want to start spinning and dying it yesterday.  I will leave some of it un-dyed because it is such a pretty color.

We went to dinner at  friends and met this little guy. I use the word little very loosely.  He's only two months old....look at the size of those paws! The vet said he should end up being at least 140 pounds.  His name is Winston and he is the sweetest! And smart!  Holy Cow!  I'm not sure what breed he is, but it's popular in Sweden - his human parents are Swedish.  He's also an extremely intelligent pup.  As I said, he's only two months old, and he already understands sit, stay, come and no...in Swedish.  Fortunately, those words are very similar in English. He's also very playful.  He figured out how to untie Car Guy's shoes and did it several time to entertain himself.

Did I mention how busy work has been?  Yeah, this is what I've been dealing with this week....

UGH!  Not fun at all.  I guess I'll stay looking at the bright side because we all learned a lot and it was great that we were all able to work together without aggravating each other too much.  However, at the end of the day, I really wanted some of this....

Bring me a shrubbery!

But thought better of it because of the dangers......

So instead I went here...This is a friend's new business venture....Easy Peasy Decadent Desserts.

I think he and his wife are going to be very successful...I um, sampled a few items.....

Yeah....about that....YUM!  Again...need to work on the behind and core from just looking at that and remembering.

This is Erik, one of the owners.  I love him. He is an amazing friend of my sister's.  They go all the way back to High School days.  I call him Evil Cupcake Man.  He's always posting pictures on Facebook of all the amazing stuff in the shop.  I'm glad they are on the other side of town or I would be HUGE.

So that's just a little glimpse into my week.  Car Guy is in Chile and Buenos Aires this week....maybe he'll have cool picture I can share with you next week.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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These Moments - This Week

It's been a really busy week with tons going on in our world so I give you these moments with a few words to catch up....

- Number Two Son got his license and starts his first job...yikes! I mean yea!

- Number One Son drove a state away by himself...yikes! He arrived at Aunt and Uncle's house safely...yea!

- I had to write down "Sleeve Modifications" for my sleeves cause I screwed up...Yikes!

- But I've almost completed the first sleeve...Yea!

-Car Guy's Porsche is back in the garage, after spending a couple of months with a welder,  in various parts and pieces....yikes

But I'm not worried about falling through the floor when he gets it put back together...Yea!

- We had a wonderful 4th with great friends.

We hope you did too!

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

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!
 

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Unraveling

Remember this?

It Dahlia.  That center piece took three tries before I finally got it done.  

It also had these....

They made me very nervous because I had to pull that green yarn out for sleeves.

I started last night....insert heart palpitations here.

My dear friend Mel was a great help.
She was the voice of calm and reason and great advice.  

Pick up the stitches BEFORE you pull out the waste yarn.

Tada!

Now it's more stockinette....round and round we go...two sleeves to go, then completion. 

I've kind of put a knitting/crochet embargo on myself - no new projects - so that maybe I'll finish this thing instead of getting frustrated with the whole process and putting it in a time out. I hope to finish soon cause Christmas is just around the corner and I REALLY need to get started. Yes, I'm sorry I said the "C word."  I'll go back to my knitting in circles...and dreaming of completed sweaters that take forever to knit. And drooling over all the beautiful finished products out there. Jared Flood...how I love thee...sigh.

Wool Gathering

So last week I mentioned that I'm working on a new project - Yeah, I know it's not Thursday. I'm a bit late.  Anyway...It started with this...

Freshly sheared wool...then it got a bath...

A bubble bath no less....cause I'm all about the pampering.

That was some seriously dirty wool.....Ewww.....

 

So then my tub became equally dirty......

That is seriously gross.

But the wool looks pretty good. 

Soft, fluffy wool....pretty.

So here's the fun part...My bathroom seriously smelled like a zoo during this process...like the stuff they shovel up.  Evidently this little lamb named Cadbury decided to roll in some stinky mess. And I think I'm going to wash the wool again cause there is a lingering...um....stench?  There is just no polite way around it.  That wool smelled like poo and a little time in the sun did NOT help. So I'm back to square one of washing wool.  For those of you a bit more experienced than I.....how many times have you washed your wool? Inquiring minds...as in mine...would like to know.  Does that smell get washed away? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.