Mar 5
2010

Afghan Done! (click on picture for larger image)

 

 .I finished my grand-daughter’s  afghan!!  It was taken from the Triple Chevron Lace shawl pattern at knitting on the net and adjusted to be an afghan.  She is pretty happy as you can see from the picture.  She was glad to finally have it after waiting for about a year :P.  She said it was very soft and way cool :).

She spent the day with me today because she was out of school and I wasn’t working today.  We walked about 1/2 mile to go to McDonalds for lunch (because my car is too scary to drive :P).  We also baked chocolate chip cookies.  Yummy :).  She helped me move my sewing machine and sewing table into the spare bedroom since my son decided to stay close to where his daughter is (he lives on the other side of the state from me).  So I now have my sewing/craft room, still have stuff to do to make it a functional room tho, but the important stuff is in there :).

I will now work on finishing spinning that hand dyed superwash merino roving, that had been calling to me and I’ve had to give the cold shoulder to until I finished the afghan.  Now I won’t ignore it anymore :).   There is a pattern for some slippers I’d like to knit up for my youngest grand-children, but I have to wait until I get the yarn for it.  I need acrylic yarn for them.  My daughter doesn’t appreciate specialized care for their things, because she works full time and says she doesn’t have the time to fuss over hand washing things they will abuse anyway :P.

Oh Yeah, I know it isn’t really spring yet, but it’s March and we have been in the 40’s here this week and I’m soooooo happy!!! So to me it is SPRING!!  Makes me want to go out and start a garden :).

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Feb 28
2010

.

There I’ve said it.  Yes I am a procrastinator.  It’s really hard to avoid recognizing that, but I try :P.  It’s so much easier to say, “I’m laid back”, “I like to go at my own pace”, but the ugly truth is I’m a procrastinator.  Sigh.

I’ve known it for a long time, but I avoided thinking about it.  However my youngest son is going to be going through a divorce and I told him I had two bedrooms and he was welcome to come stay with me to give him a chance to get back on his feet here.  It meant finishing getting what was left of those boxes still in that second bedroom somewhere else.  I have the room in closets and storage for the boxes, but I have put off doing something with those boxes saying I was going to go through them, until now I have to, I’ve only been in my apt for a year (did I mention I’m a procrastinator?), and I was eventually going to use that second bedroom for my sewing and craft room.  But I never got around to doing it, so now my son will be able to stay in it, and eventually when he’s situated and on his own again, I will have an empty room to put my sewing and craft things in, but then I’m a procrastinator ;P.

Ok, the above is also appropriate for the blanket I’m working on for my grand daughter, yes, I do work on it and I only have about 3 1/2 skeins to go, but I really should be finished by now.  I’ll stop letting things distract me this week and see just how far I can get, my grand daughter will be very happy, and probably very surprised if I actually get it finished, I mean I’ve only been working on it for about a year ;P.

Still looking for work, but at least that is one thing I am not procrastinating about, that’s one point for me anyway :).  My car let me know a few weeks ago that it would not be taking me anywhere anymore.  The steering rack has finally gotten so bad I’m afraid to drive it.  I can’t complain, I only paid $500 for it about 4 1/2 years ago, so with some pampering, I did get my money out of it. :)  You forget how dependent on a vehicle you are until you don’t have one.  I miss the independence that the car gave me, now I have to wait until someone can take me to grocery shop, or anywhere else I need to go.  I do take the bus sometimes, but it’s a half a day to take the bus to Walmart to do some shoping  and then wait for the bus to come back by and get home, which would have taken me about an hr to do before.   And I can’t carry too much because I have a 5 block walk from the bus stop coming home.  Sigh.  I also had a week job from the temp agency a couple of weeks ago and I took the bus to work every other day (my daughter took me the in between days) and my son picked me up, or I wouldn’t have been home until about 7 to 7:30 pm.  I had to get up pretty early to catch the bus and get to work an hr early because the next bus would have gotten me to work late.  Funny all the things we take for granted.  I’ll never take a car for granted again.

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Dec 19
2009

You've Been Bad

You've Been Bad

 

We had our Single Adult Christmas party tonight for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd wards of my Church.  We were told to bring a White Elephant gift.  Now my friends will know where my oldest son got his sense of humor from ;P.  The glass decanter was something that I found and I bought winter stickers to go on it.  I used a craft joke I had seen many years ago that would work with this decanter and bought the mini marshmellows and made the card that I hung on the decanter (you can click on the picture for a larger image).   Hehe, it still makes me laugh :P.

 

The other gift, yes that is a roll of toilet paper that I discovered you can embroider on.   I got the embroidery idea from this  website ,  found a cute design and walaa, cuteness :).  It’s a very inexpensive way to dress up a bathroom and it got a chuckle or two. :)  Anyway these were what the one that ended up with my gift got.

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Nov 29
2009

LDSVenus

 

Well, I finally heard from my temp employer that my job will end December 11th.  So I’m busy looking for another job as there is no guarantee that there will be another long term temp job from the temp agency.   So it will be out with the old and in with the new, hopefully soon.  My youngest son is working on fixing a car for me so that when the one I am driving gives out (and it has some major problems, but hey it’s 21 years old ;P), I won’t be car-less.

 My 3 year old grand daughter went to Church with me today.  Even tho’ Sacrament meeting is 1 hr & 10 min long, she is very good and patient, I know it has to be boring listening to adults speak, I do bring paper and crayons and her mom sends a snack to help with the boring part :).  She loves the nursery that she gets to attend after Sacrament meeting is over,  she calls it her “church school”.  She’s very excited to go to class and sing and play with her “friends”.  Today, I stayed after church for a few min to practice a solo that I will be singing for our Ward Christmas party.  I wasn’t sure she would be thrilled because listening to someone sing when you’re 3 years old can be pretty boring.  But she sat quietly and listened to me go through my solo “Oh Holy Night” with the pianist.  She then looked at me with her sweet little wide eyes and said, “That was awesome Grandma, how did you do that?”  I just chuckled and told her that Heavenly Father put the music in me and all I had to do was to let it out.  3 year olds are so funny and awesome.

I’m almost finished with the 2nd spool of Llama roving.  Soon I will be plying and getting a skein of yarn ready to give my son.  It’s very soft stuff, but it is slower than I thought because I have to stop and pick out a little vm (vegetable matter) as I spin, so it slows me up a bit, but I have enjoyed the softness of this fiber :).  I hope my son will enjoy knitting with it.

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Nov 1
2009

Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo Temple

 

I went with some friends yesterday to the Nauvoo Temple, in Nauvoo, IL.  It is as amazingly beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.  It has a spectacular spiral staircase in one of the corners that seems to go on forever, the other 3 corners have a square type staircase that is also beautiful.  Spirial staircases are not allowed anymore for safety reasons, but they were able to get special permission to keep the one.  The peace inside was also amazing.  I’m so glad I was able to go. 

 

The picture is from the Temple website, I’m sorry that I forgot to take my camera to get a my own picture of the outside of the Temple and the Temple grounds which were very beautiful as well. 

I saw alot of sheep on the way to and from the Temple :), all I could think about when I saw them was spinning some of their fleece ;P.  On the way home we stoped in Kalona, IA at the Stringtown Country Store, which is run by the Amish.  They sell bulk spices and other things.  It was interesting and fun and I brought some often used spices home with me.  I was also able to find the freeze dried yeast that I like to bake with so much.  All in all it was a very good day.  I also found an email waiting for me when I got home, from the classmates site that I had just rejoined, from a long lost friend that I had been praying to find, I was so happy to hear from her.

I may not have much in the eyes of some of the world, no fancy home or car, no expensive clothes, jewlery or things, but I feel very blessed and very happy with what I have, because I see others with less.  I have a job, for the time being, that supports me, a safe place to lay my head at night, food on my table and an older vehicle, that tho it needs a lot of work, is blessed to run and gets me safely to church, work, home and errands,  I also have things to do and things to give to others, what more could I want?

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Oct 27
2009

Venus5ab

 

 

I took off of work early today to go to a flu shot clinic at my local grocery store.  You know the regular flu shot, not the H1N1 (swine flu).  Everyone else has had their flu shot clinics earlier in the fall and for some reason they either didn’t make enough vaccine or people are paranoid and flocking to get them, so I thought, I’m lucky to find one that is getting in some more vaccine.  WRONG.  I went at 3pm because the clinic was suppose to be from 3 pm to 6 pm and they had said to get there early because they might run out.  I went in and waited in line and when my turn came to be waited on, I was told that they didn’t get their vaccine in and that they had posted a sign in the store last week end.  Last week end I shopped at their store in another area, so I didn’t see the sign.  I lost 1 1/2 hrs of work and no flu shot,  sigh.  I’d go to a Dr to get it, but Im just working a temp job and I don’t have insurance so I don’t have a Dr and the free clinic doesn’t offer them.  I hope I don’t get the flu this winter, sigh.  I’ll be glad when I find a permanent job and can have regular benefits again.

Back to spinning the Llama.

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Jun 20
2009

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

My son and his friend Dustin invited me to go to the Farmer’s Market with them this morning.  It is once a month in the down town area.  I thought Farmer’s Market, ok, vegetables etc, plus I had seen people working on the item in the picture while driving home from work every day for the last several weeks (I will describe it better in a min.)  So I thought sure.  Well it was awesome, they had a rock band performing old Beatles songs, many vendors selling everything from fresh produce to meat, to crafts, baked goods, a guy who did some awesome items with those ballons you twist into shapes.  I’m going back next month and taking my camera with me, and more money :P.  So be prepared for an update next month.

Ok, the picture.  It is a sand sculpture, yep, I said sand!  It says Floodstock on it (yeah, a take off on Woodstock).  It’s celebrating the recovery from the terrible flood that they had last year that devistated the downtown area.  It’s a way of saying, WE ARE BACK.  There are still buildings in the downtown area that are being or need to be renovated, but the work is coming along.  The business I work at is right there in the downtown area and they just recently finished their renovation from the damage the flood caused.

Click on picture for larger image

Click on picture for larger image

 

This small hand embroidered pillow is what I bought today, of course because I spin, but also because sheep are just so darn cute :P.  Besides it was made by a friend of mine from my church who had a vendor booth set up there. :)  I also bought some turnips, because I love them and it was cheaper to buy fresh ones than the ones in the store that have the paraffin covering to keep them fresh.  

 

 

 I do have to say that Cedar Rapids has something going on all the time.  I wanted to go to the Freedom Festival tonight up at Kirkwood Community College because 3 Dog Night was going to be there playing, but there are too many things needing my attention.  I’m sorry to have missed seeing one of my all time favorite Rock groups.  Maybe next time.

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Jun 13
2009

madison-1austin-2

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDI AND AUSTIN!

I really need to get some updated pictures from my daughter!!  Anyway we celebrate birthdays today for my daughter’s last two children which are 2 years and a week apart.  Since Austin will be 1 she figured it would be ok to celebrate them together since he won’t notice the difference this year anyway.   Anyway I get to go have fun at Chuck E Cheese today.  :)

Amazing how fast children grow.  You have your own and then all of a sudden you have grand children that age.  But it’s much nicer having grand children.  You get to spend time with them and leave them with their mother and go home to peace and quite :P.

I’m hoping to be finished spinning with the green and red superwash merino this evening.  As soon as I get it plyed and set I will put a picture up of the skein (probably tomorrow or Monday).  Since I am spinning the two colors together and it already looks like green and red candy cane stripes together, I am wondering what the two plyed together will look like.  Someone at the spinning group, that I finally got to go to last week (it was fun), said they thought it might turn out looking cabled after plying the two singles together.  I look forward to seeing  :).  It’s an experiment anyway.

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May 20
2009

Renaissance Fair

Renaissance Fair

Once again it is renaissance fair time.  I won’t get to go to the one in Amana, IA, this week end tho’.  My wonderful grandson shared something with me last week end.  His cold (I love him anyway) ;P.  I started not feeling well on Monday and had the scratchy throat yesterday and the coughing has started in earnest today.   My co-workers are teasing me about the coughing, but I told them they might not be in such a teasing mood by the time the coughing stops.  If it goes into bronchitis (which frequently happens because I have asthma) I will be sick with a cough for about 6 to 8 weeks, I’m sure my apt neighbors will be thrilled at night as well, as I’ll be coughing all night long too.  sigh.  I try so hard to avoid this every year for this reason.  It is not tons of fun.  My plan is to try and get as much rest as I can.  This will also affect my singing in the choir :(, did I ever mention that I sing?

My job is going well and I enjoy it a lot, still have hopes that it might turn into a permanent job.   I think I will go make myself  some herbal tea for my cough.

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May 10
2009

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

 

 

Hope all my friends are having a wonderful Mother’s Day.  I miss my mom and wish I could tell her Happy Mother’s Day, so all of you who still have your mom around, be sure and let her know how much you love her.

I have gotten another full pattern finished and have started the 4th pattern on the afghan.  It’s getting bigger and coming along.  My goodness, it is so soft. :)

My children got together about 1 pm yesterday afternoon and I wondered why they were all together and didn’t have me come over.  They had my grand-daughter call me about 5 pm telling me that her mom needed me to come over to help her with something.  I went over and they were all in the back yard, so I walked back there.  They had prepared a garden for me and even had some plants and seeds for me to plant, they’d had to cut small trees out of the garden area and pull a ton of prickly weeds.   I had told them that I sure missed having my vegetable garden to work in and eat from.  What a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.  You need to know that my children were never fond of working in the garden as children, because I use to send them out to pull weeds when they got into trouble :P.   So for them to have prepared a garden for me touched me deeply.  They each have  flower and/or herb gardens that they enjoy tending so I guess it wasn’t a horrible thing to have them work in the vegetable garden when they got into trouble as children ;P.

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