I have fallen......(photo heavy)

Clearly, I have fallen behind on my blog updates! These months that Rambo was deployed have been filled with insanity, softball, baseball, home disasters and so much more. I am sure I have more than likely blocked alot out, as a self defensive mechanism. :) That's my story, and I am sticking to it!

Happily, Rambo is home safe and sound. Perhaps another deployment in a couple years, that seems to be our pattern.

I have of course been crafting mad to keep what little is left of my marbles. Since I have not posted since mid July... we have some catching up to do! Just look at my FO and WIPs list for 2009 in the sidebar! Lots of photos follow. The Item titles are linked to my Ravelry project pages, if you want more detailed info.

Hopefully it won't be another 4 months til I update again!

PHOTO HEAVY!!!

Mystic Star Shawl




Helena Baby Cardi



The Happy Recipient~a youtube video that her parents made. :)



Watery River Rapids Socks





Lime Lelah Top




Bridal Bag Mock Up




John Deere Tractor Pillow




John Deere Baby Ghan




Beaded Bridal Bag




Lacy Bridal Bag




Sassy Susan Socks




Wicked Wisp Scarf




Jaywalker Socks




Rambo's Hat




Autumn Ampersand Socks




Socktober Mystery Sock 09




One Skein Charity Scarf




One Row Charity Scarf




Plain and Simple Charity Scarf




WHEW! I have been a yarn tangled mess! No photos yet of the Red Hot Socks, The Spicy Ampersands, or the Test Knit.

Mid July...le sigh

It's mid July. I am not a summer person, not by a long shot. I hate how hot and humid it is before 10 am. It is so hot, which makes it no fun for me to outside in that weather. Which also makes it no fun for any poor soul who happens to be with me or within ear shot of my incessant bitching of "how damn hot it is out here". In the evening, a human could easily be eaten alive by the bugs. Ick, no thank you! I do however, quite enjoy the passing thunderstorms.

Up til now, I have not had to spend much time out in the yard. Mainly due to the fact that we are usually at the ballpark, in the car or at some training facility or sleeping. My next door neighbor has been ever so kind to be taking care of the lawn mowing while Rambo is deployed. It is so nice to not have to wonder when I would be able to get around to mowing said lawn. Although, I think he may secretly just want to mow. He mows the lawn at least twice a week. He also probably doesn't want my shabby overgrown field of wild grasses to be next to his well manicured lawn. Whatever his motive may be, I am ever so appreciative! I am even in the process of making him a Thank You Ghan, in patriotic colors.

Unable to sleep more than a few hours the past few days, this morning I decided I would tidy up the back patio/porch area. *hindsight...what the hell was I thinking* Headed out there, swept up, moved a few things around, pounded the chair cushions and thought a good pass with the power washer would really be nice. That was until the damn thing decided not to work for me. Arrrgh! WHY!?!? After my fit, I turn to other projects...like mind wandering....

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT HUGE PLANT?!?!? Why is it so huge...it must be a WEED...or better yet...it kinda resembles poison sumac! Oh CRAP...if it is poison sumac, how the hell am I gonna get rid of it without being overcome with itchy rashes?"









Upon further inspection of the grounds around the porch/patio area...I notice that this HUGE plant has a couple relatives nearby...


Any of you out there who can label this plant? If it is poison sumac, how do I get rid of it without becoming one huge itch?

Wholly Invisible Blogging Wonder!

WOW! Like 2 months since last entry, can ya tell I haven't had time lately?!

It's been crazy around here. Baseball 2 teams going for a bit along with practices for Boy Wonder, add to that Teen Queen and her high school team. Playing and practicing for Freshman, Jv and Varsity! Many nights I could be seen zipping along quietly in my hybrid car across town...speeding from one park to the other in hopes of being able to cheer one or the other kids on...even if it was for only a quick minute before the game ended.

The gutters have been cleaned out and guard installed. I am hoping this will lessen the times I will have to leap myself up on the 2 story brick home to clean out the damn gutters. Not typically frightened of heights, I just have this fear of falling off while Rambo is gone and the kids are at school. There I would be laid in a mangled pile in the yard and the poor kids would be wondering why I was late picking them up from school. Why, yes I am paranoid...why do you ask? Sometimes I wonder about these crazy thoughts that pop into my paranoid brain at times!

The exterior trim has been painted. Ahhh, it looks so much better. I still have to sand and stain the back deck. I just know that if I put it off much longer (ie another year or 2), I may as well just get out the chainsaw and rip the damn thing down.

School is finally almost over with. With the way that Mother Nature whooped up on KY this past fall and winter, it has added many days to the school year. Typically out by mid May, it is major suck that school is still in session.

Boy Wonder's school baseball team lost the first round of their final tournament. They ended the season, heading into the tournament second seed. Not too shabby for a bunch of kids that have never played together as a team before. Still playing and practicing though. Recreation ball has begun, different uniform, team, coaches and park. Same game...love the game!

Teen Queen's high school team 2009 record was 32-8 (Varsity)! Man, they wiped the field with many a team this season. They went into the District Tournament and came out District Champs. Next came Regional Tournament. Won the first game pretty handily. Next day was final game of Regional...it seemed we apparently had left our A team elsewhere, because they certainly were not the team on the field that evening. The bats were not hot. They did play some good defense though, despite the opposing team being super slow to get ready to pitch as well as bat. It is a well known trait of this opposing team. Regardless, our girls should have been able to smack down some runs. Alas, State Championship was not in the cards this year. With the end of school scheduled season, brings off-season training as well as competitive travel ball team play! One of the best things about our travel ball season is that the team is comprised of girls from all different schools, whom play against eachother on school teams; but when summer ball starts, there is no rivalry. Here's looking forward to a summer filled with tournament weekends with our travel team!

June is here...

For me it means only 2 more days of school then the kids are out!!! YAAAY!
I am odd, most parents complain about their kids being home for the summer; I LOVE IT! Too bad this will be a shorter summer than usual. Typically we are already out for the year.

It means I need to stop thinking about cleaning out the garage and actually DO IT. (ugh)

It means we are closer to Rambo coming home...still no exact date, just the vague 'end of summer' timeframe.

It means competitive travel fast pitch softball tournaments every weekend. We love being at the ballparks.

It means more time with my kids...(cough) TEENS! every now and again it hits me that they are both now in their teen years.

It means before I know it, summer will be a distant memory and the kids will be heading back to school...

Yarn in the Mail!

Any day is a good day when there is yarn in the mail!
YarnBearer!
Third month's installment arrived yesterday... it is the green one.
In the photo.... February....January....March

Soooo soft and squishy!!!

Ready for Winter to be Over

Yes, I said it! As much as I like winter, I am ready for it to be gone. Especially after all the storms we have had. Jan 27th brought snow, and lots of it...then it also brought ICE. I could have done without the ice. Even though it sure was pretty to look at.


The snow storm came and brought with it an ice storm. Which left a couple inches of ice on everything! Needless to say the trees and power lines could not stand the added weight and snapped! Leaving us without power and more importantly… HEAT! We hunkered down in the one room with a fireplace. Day 5 and the house at 40 degrees, with sub zero temps coming; I wondered how much longer the firewood would last and if I would be able to keep the kids and pets warm. Thankfully day 5 around noon the power was back on!

The next week brought a high winds storm. 30-40 MPH with 65 MPH gusts…just enough to knock whatever the ice hadn’t and with the water drenched grounds, whole trees toppled over. We only lost power for a couple hours this time! Sheeeesh!




The kids and I did some yard clean up after a neighbor was kind enough to cut the HUGE limbs into carry size chunks. It took a couple of days, but most of it has been dragged out to the front curbside. Supposedly, the town is going to have debris collection. I hope so! No truck here, so if they don’t come get it from the curb…that’s where it will stay. :)

Of course I have been busy taking the kids to all their practices and activities! Teen Queen has practice 6 days a week lasting 3-4 hours. Boy Wonder has practice 2-3 times a week. Thank goodness for our Hybrid car!!!

The school year will be ending later this year due to all the days we missed. We missed a week of school in Aug/Sept due to the hurricane...yes, you read that correctly... hurricane in KY! We missed another 5 days or so due to the snow and ice storm that wiped out power in over 300,000 homes and businesses. While the roads were clear for travel, no one could very well send their kids to school when the school's have no power or heat! It's looking like the first week of June will be our last week. Unless, of course we have another severe weather issue!

Knitting and yarnie stuffs~ I made and sent off 2 more pairs of team knit Socks for Soldiers. I have made a couple pairs of leisure socks and a gazillion washcloths. Also moving right along on my Mystic Star Lace Shawl. I am on the last clue, which has a squigillion stitches, so each round takes quite a while. It will be stunning once it is complete!

Boxes are being sent off to Rambo at the rate of about one a week. I try to have on on the kitchen counter in progress at all times. He enjoys the little stuffs from home as well as the necessity stuff, like soap. :) Of course, you do know he gets some handmade washcloths too!!!

Yarnie happiness in the mail....2nd edition in the 3 month club from YarnBearer...as always if you like yarn or want to send ME yarn, go check out her EtsyShoppe!

Whew! First Post for 2009

First off..... one word

OBAMA!

I was thrilled during elections, but the Inauguration....amazing! With it being such a significant historical inauguration, I had my kids stay home to watch it in it's entirety. The teachers flat out told them they would not be watching it. I would have assumed it would have been streamed throughout the schools...what do I know!? Granted we live in a red state, but c'mon...no matter who you voted for; this was history being made! Which brings me to a gingerbread house we saw over x-mess.....




There was a entire village of gingerbread houses. It was quite impressive! It was in Indianapolis. We took a detour on our way to IA. The trip to IA was snow filled fun! Initially, I was missing the thought of my 4x4 Chevy Trailblazer, which was traded in for a more economical car last spring. Which has been FABULOUS!!! However, the thought of snow and my lil Toyota Hybrid Camry gave me the shivers. Of course having grown up and learned to drive in snow country up in New England sure helped in how my car would perform in the snow. One stretch of highway we counted no less than 28 cars slid off the road and into the ditches. I asked Rambo (yes he was able to spend the holly-days with us...yaaay!) to check the weather on his phone, I had feared BLIZZARD... and not the fun, yummy kind from Dairy Queen! Sure enough, blizzard warning! **eeep!** At times seeing the road was damn near impossible, there was blowing snow and cars were zipping off the roads at alarming speeds. One point we were driving 20 mph on I74. Once we were on I80, the roads were in much better condition.

We ate lots of food in IA! My SIL and I made a wonderful xmess dinner. We stayed warm in the farmhouse, even though the temps were typically below zero. The coldest was -22. When it was above 0, the kids went out and played in snow drifts, building tunnels and forts. They had a blast! Time was short and before we knew it, it was time to drive home. Time flew by and then it was time for Rambo to head out again. No matter how many times we do this, it never gets any easier.

Of course for sanity's sake I keep busy with the kids insane schedules and my yarn. In previous posts, I made flip top mittens for Boy Wonder. Well, Teen Queen had to have a pair! I finished them right before we left for IA!




While in IA, I worked on Soldier Socks for Rambo. He wanted them taller than the usual patterned socks...so instead of 12 inch legs he got 15! Took 4 skeins of yarn, but I did it!



I have since completed 2 team knit pairs and sent them in. I finished a beanie/skull cap for Rambo to wear under his kevlar helmet. Last but not least I am working on 2 more pairs of team knit soldier socks which will be sent out shortly.

Sock clubs were my gift of choice this year! I enjoyed them so much this past year, I decided to repeat it. This way, every month I am getting wonderful yummy yarn in the mail! I love surprise yarn in the mail! Of course the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rawk club will be shipping it's first edition out this month. A new sock club I joined was through one of my LSG gals; The Yarn Bearer. If you like yarn, or want to send ME YARN... please check out the link to her Etsy shoppe! This is my first skein from UberSock and it's so pretty and smooshy!



Speaking of my LSG gals.... Chile had to be chic and go bald. So, we are all making and sending her hats! It is so amazing to me that we are seen as a bunch of rough around the edges, don't give a shit kind of gals by those who scorn us LSG'rs. Yet we are a very close group, especially for an online community! Here are a couple hats I made for our girl Chile!




And last but most certainly not least....a MYSTERY SHAWL! I did my swatch for Mystic Star. If you dig on shawls, are addicted to lace knitting, or want to learn...there is still time to get in on this KAL! GO HERE for details!

Here is my swatch. Size 6 needles, Jaggerspun 2/8 color is Amethyst. The color is darker in real life, my flash washed it out. This is what I get for taking pictures at 2am!



WHEW! So... that's been my 2009 so far.
Well that, and I had a birthday in there...39 baby! Sneaking up on 40, yes I am.