dinner

My kids won't eat chili, but they LOVE ham and beans.

beans, pre-soaking, pre-soup, pre-ham

cheetah

My daughters are crazy. One might argue that they get it from me. Not this time, folks! They LOVE hot cheetos. Oh. My. Sometimes when a friend is over to play (or rather, hang out, since I think they might be too old & too cool to 'play' now) they'll ask if they can take a walk up to the gas station to get a bag of those evil snacks. I usually let them.

Today was Mikay's friend's birthday party. I asked if she wanted me to make something for her gift and my daughter wondered if I could crochet a guy like Chester. I said I would try. What I ended up with isn't as much a look-a-like as it is a look-similar:

(the glasses look far more glasses-ish in person)

finishing up

Crocheting the head and finishing up, I watched Criminal Minds on ion (it's one of the few shows I watch on an actual TV set!).

legs

watched The Biggest Loser

beginning a horse

While I crochet I like to watch shows on hulu. Today it was the most recent episode of Parks & Recreation, I enjoy that program.

frost

a granny a day

I heard about this:

at Works in Progress and decided to join in the fun. I have a little bit of catching up to do (but that's ok). I've always admired the granny squares with the flower centers but assumed it would be too difficult for me. Then yesterday I got to thinking and realized I'm a moderately intelligent person. Never mind that I can't seem to follow instructions to save my life, I ought to be able to figure it out. So I looked at the ones Pip has pictured and then made these:

I'm not sure if I've done them the same way or not, but I'm pleased! Like I said, I have a bit of catching up still, but I'm excited! Yay granny squares! (PS, if you are interested but don't know how to crochet or crochet a granny, Pip is posting video tutorials)

a monkey & his blankie

We used to home school. The year we put our daughters in public school for the first time Suzy had one of the most amazing teachers I've ever met. I cannot say enough good about her. That was also the year Teacher got married. Suzy and some of her little friends were able to attend the wedding reception.

This year Tessa is in the same teacher's class and this year Teacher is having her first child! We're hitting her milestones well, don't you think? So for this teacher we love I've made a monkey rag blanket & a monkey friend to go with it. Tessa is so excited for Mrs. N, she can hardly stand it.

P.S. I decided to let Tessa name him. She chose Bananas.

for & from Kalleen

These are for Kalleen, At Second Street. Well, actually probably her kids. Kalleen was so super sweet to give me a blog award! Here it is:

She listed the award rules...

The rules for accepting this award are:

• Put the logo on your blog.
• Pass the award on to 10 bloggers.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

So in no particular order (oh wait, it's alphabetical order!):

1 large family in 1 small farmhouse

Blessed Family

The California Whites

Eye'm all Puckered Up!

Kamerath Smamerath

My Crazy Kids

Ruth's Place

Through the Eyes...

Works in Progress

Wyoming Breezes

Some are blogs of family members, some are friends. Some are crafty, some are life updates. Some belong to people I have never met, some I've known for years. But I enjoy all of them, and more ... but I reached 10 randomly going through my list. So there ya have it. :)

a rag blanket christmas

This year I made several rag blankets (or nokies, if you are my friend Michelle). There was one for each of the girls and 3 others for 3 others (those ones I neglected to photograph). I had fabric for a blanket for Doug, but that didn't end up happening until the kids went back to school. I'll post a pic of it later.






Instead of our traditional Christmas eve jammie present, the girls opened the blankies and got to sleep under them while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Maybe next year I'll feel brave enough to attempt sewing jammies!

da bense

my nephew. we call him da bense. i love him!

unicorn

I made a unicorn before Christmas for a little girl in Tessa's Sunday school class. She and her brother are so super adorable, I could squeeze them! Her brother reminds me of my Suzy when she was littler. He went to "big church" instead of Sunday school, with his parents and grandparents because he was always hitting the other kids in class. One of my friends I met at the library when Suz was a year and a half. Suzy bit her son on the back and drew blood through his shirt. I was horrified. Little Boy's mom was still nice to me and I decided I needed to do whatever it took to remain friends with someone like that!

The boy from church would watch me crocheting and was very interested in Silas. The next week I brought him a duckling I had previously made but for no purpose (his mom said he sleeps with it every night! Oh, my heart!). I asked his sister what her favorite animal was. Unicorn. Of course. She's five-years-old. And her favorite colors? Purple and pink.

Ms. Grouchy Pants

I'm really in a bad mood. A really bad mood. And I'm not completely sure why, I just know that I am. I have a daughter who sometimes gets too carried away with the dog and another who wishes she were more helpless than she really is. I'm tired. I didn't sleep well, but then I never really do anyway. I'm sad. I'm uncomfortable because I ate way too much crap in the last month and a half. I've been worried about my mom and I've been worried about my grandma. Both were in the hospital the weekend before Christmas. Grandma is still there (broken pelvis & collar bone from a fall). Mom is home, thankfully.

One of my sisters, who is also one of my best friends, was in town for a week and went home today. I think. She was staying with my parents mostly (did spend a couple of nights here). I wanted to go see her one last time yesterday, but wasn't able to make it down there. I miss her.

The kids are fighting. I am hiding in here on the computer. And YAY! I'm blogging about it!

a present to you for listening to (reading) my fussing, I give you Fruithenge. My brother-in-law built this masterpiece at about 1:00 am on January 1st. He and my sister humored my inability to go right to bed and hung out with me for a little while (the girls and I spent NYE with them and my parents at mom & dad's house).

resolutions

When I was in 5th grade my new year's resolution was to not watch anyone blow their nose for an entire year. I think it's the only resolution I ever kept. This year I won't be making resolutions. I am just going to try to get back into a healthier lifestyle like I was during the summer.

What was your strangest resolution? Did you keep it? Are you making any this year? (feel free to answer even if you've never commented before)

happy christmas

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,

The gladness of Christmas give you hope,

The warmth of Christmas grant you love.

~Author Unknown

75 Cent Teacher Gifts

Seventy-five cents is actually a guess. I didn't stop to figure out the exact price. They were inexpensive, anyway. I knit a bunch of little stockings (for reference, the plate in the picture is dinner-sized) and filled them mostly with dollar store items. The hand sanitizer came two to a pack and was the most expensive single item included. The clementines came in a big bag from Costco (we barely put a dent in the bag making our 13 stockings). Pencils and erasers came in packages that were divided. I bought the kisses for something else, had some left over so I just put them in for fun (and so I wouldn't eat them all myself). I made the hard suckers with a friend, also inexpensive. I'm told the teachers liked, if not loved, their little gifts. I liked making them.

Yummy!

Tessa. Eating cotton candy. At 10:30 Saturday morning. Yikes.

Yes, There is a Santa Claus

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist... Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS...

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! ... Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world...

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

- Francis Pharcellus Church New York Sun 1897

I've always known she's incredible

but really? REALLY? Oh my.

If you want to check out some amazing crafting, I recommend At Second Street. I've known this girl for what feels like forever. I consider her one of my many sisters-in-law. Really she isn't but how can one tell? I grew up with her husband and his sister, they were our neighbors. She's also the sister of my amazing sister-in-law. Her kids call my parents "Grandma & PopPop" and my kids aren't sure how they aren't cousins.

But until today I never realized how truly awesome her crafty gene is! Check her out, you won't regret it!

At Second Street

tis the season for teacher gifts

This year I thought it would be fun, inexpensive and easy to crochet some mini stockings for teachers.

But that didn't work.

Then I remembered I know how to knit! Socks, even! So I dug out my needles, located all Christmas-ish yarn and went to work. I figured the girls can fill the socks with a clementine, some homemade caramel (well, we're going to attempt homemade caramel anyway!), pencils & maybe erasers (from the dollar store) and (if I can find them! would you believe no luck so far?) candy canes.

The beauty about these is that because they won't be given in pairs, I don't have to make any two alike or follow any sort of a pattern (and believe me, they aren't and I'm not!). The horror? Now that my oldest is in 7th grade I have 6 more teachers! (I'm about halfway done)