The Garden Report

I came home tonight and checked out my fruits and veggies. They all look pretty good or, at the very least, alive. Here are my blueberries again. They're still not blue and they're still not fenced off. That would be one of the things I didn't get around to last weekend. Thankfully, they are still looking very promising.

In a surprising turn of events, I actually got a little knitting done. It wasn't what I planned on. I thought that I'd start a new shawl for DQ out of my handspun or some teacher gifts. I got as far as sitting down with my books and yarn before Stinkette stopped me in my tracks. Remember this?


Stink does. It's the log cabin blankie I started for her a really long time ago and she's still waiting for me to finish it. She's been really patient but firm. She wants her blankie and she's not going to let me forget about it. I have been feeling the urge to finish up some of my UFO's - I guess this will be the next on the list.

I did another section last night and I have to say that I really like the way this is turning out. The colors work and the yarn is sturdy but soft. I'm just not sure how many sections I can do before it makes me want to tear my hair out. I'm wondering if there is some cool edge that I can put on this thing that will not require me to do wicked amounts of knitty math. I'm thinking that a bit of lacy crochet might be cool. Who knows, maybe I'll just keep knitting till I run out of one of the colors but, I have a boatload of this yarn in the house so I'm not sure how likely that is.

Random Thoughts

No matter how great a weekend is, it’s always too short and even the best visits leave me feeling like there was more to say and do. It always seems that I should have planned better and done more. Thankfully, there is always next time but right now the feeling of let down is intense.

Maybe it’s just the approach of Summer that’s throwing things off. My calendar is filled with end of school year events for all of the activities that my girls take part in. There are dance recitals, parties, and musical productions. My oven will be in use constantly to provide food for all of the events (when did I volunteer to make scones?). As if that wasn’t enough, the Drama Queen told me yesterday that there are only 15 days left to the school year. How can we be that close to the end of the year?

Is it any wonder that I’m feeling a little random? Hmmm… perhaps it’s time for 7 Random Things. Someone has promised (threatened?) to nag me until I do mine. Ok! Since I’ve got no exciting knitting content and I’m feeling rather random anyway, here they are.

The Rules: Each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs seven facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

• I love decorating my house and I think I’m not bad at it but… I’m really slow to make decisions about it. How slow? When we bought our house I told hubbo that it was my “house with possibilities”. Eight year later it’s still mostly the same as it was when we bought it because I can’t decide on where to start my upgrades.


• Once I make up my mind – look out. It may take me a while to get there but once I figure out how a big project will work, hubbo had better run for cover because it’s gonna happen fast. Many years ago, I wondered aloud one night about how hard it world be to remove all of the carpet (as I started to pull up an edge) and expose all the wood floors in the house. Suddenly, at 9:30 on a Monday night, hubbo found himself joining me on the floor removing all of the carpet, padding, and countless staples. He never knew what hit him.


• I love road trips. Every year I drive my daughters to sleep away camp in North Carolina. Its 9 hours each way and I don’t mind it one bit. On the way down we talk and enjoy each other’s company. On the way home I listen to the radio, enjoy the scenery and think about stuff. It’s nice to have a little time alone – as long as it isn’t raining. I hate driving in the rain.


• I drive too fast. I love to drive and I’m pretty good at it but I have a bit of a lead foot. It’s a little odd though because I don’t drive fast because I’m in a hurry. I can sit in traffic without too much stress just as long as it’s not caused by people doing dumb stuff like putting on makeup or talking on the phone. I drive fast because I like the speed. I think that I may have been a race car driver in another life.


• I also listen to my music too loud (except when my kids are around – I’d hate to damage their precious ears). How loud? Well, if I’m driving down the street there’s a good chance that you’ll hear me before you see me. Just be thankful if it’s the radio you hear because I sing with the radio in the car and it’s pretty scary.


• I love the veggies that most people hate. Broccoli, spinach and brussels sprouts are my favorites.


• I’m a people watcher. I think it comes from all of the years I spent as an art major, learning to carefully observe those around me. I just find people pretty funny. There are the people who wear clothes that are too old, or young for them. And there are the people who wear stuff that is too big or small for them. People carrying kids in tote bags, people who take off their shoes and socks in inappropriate places. These are all very funny and terribly amusing to me.

I'm not going to tag anyone because I suspect that I may be the last person to do this. If you wanna do it then feel free.

The Reveal

Do you remember this picture? I took it on Stinkerbelle's recent birthday.
A week ago I told you that someone around here had a bit of an extreme makeover. My dear Stinkerbelle has wanted to cut her hair for over a year and last week I finally gave in and let her cut it. She wanted a "boy cut" so that she could spike it on the top but I just couldn't bear to cut her beautiful red hair so I kept putting it off and hoping that she'd change her mind. As the summer grew near I realized that it was the best thing to do because it'll be much easier for her to take care of.
I couldn't share this with you right away because Stink-o wanted to suprise a few people. This weekend my family was here to visit and we showed off th new 'do so I can show you now. Ready for it? Check it out.

From this angle it looks a little like she's wearing it in a pony tail but trust me - it's really all gone. The response she's gotten has been great. The new look really suits her personality better. You can see her smiley face with the lightly freckled nose and green eyes much better now. Most importantly, she's thrilled with it. She has mousse and gel and she gets a thrill out of carefully arranging her hair each morning.

I suspect that hearing about my fabulous weekend won't be too terribly exciting unless you're family but here's a little collage of scenes from our little holiday.


As you can see, our weekend was filled with fun family stuff. My brother and his wife were here from NYC and my sister also visited with my niece and nephew. As I've mentioned before, my sister shares Stinkerbelle's birthday and my brother's birthday is 3 days after that so we celebrated them all at once this weekend. We also has Stink's long-awaited party which was more special because her cousins were able to attend.
These past few days were hot and sunny so we made liberal use of the pool which opened on Saturday. Throw in a BBQ with friends and a little bit of shopping and you've got a general idea of how I spent my time at home. I didn't have much time for fiber play but I did spin a bit. It was a novelty for my family and they all (except for my sister who doesn't properly appreciate the fiber arts) wanted to see how it's done. Thanks to that I'm on my second bobbin of the navy BFL now.