It's been a minute

Hey all! I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to blog. I've been a little busy livin life. Let's just hit the highlights
1. We have had my 2 step daughters with us the past couple of weeks. That's been fun especially for Sym. She loves having Van & Chy here. I do too. Although It's been hard to cook for 5 instead of 3 like I've grown accustomed to. Funny, I used to cook for 5 all the time growing up but when 2 out of 5 are the most picky eaters in the world, well it can throw you off. Oh well.
2. When J & Me had a night to ourselves just before we picked the girls up. We hung out in Vicksburg and I hit a 1500 jackpot on a slot machine! Let's just say that that money was put to good use, bills.
3. I won a quick knits kit from Leethal Lee and received it Saturday. I was stoked!!! I've already knit several wrist bands. The girls LOVE Them!!! I didn't have a whole lot of scrap yarn so I used some sugar n cream cotton yarn
I have found that it stretches on Sym. She doesn't use the buttons to remove and put on. Sighs

4. Also working on a hat for my ya baby Gatsby.
It's still in progress. Sorry folks.
5. I'm on a booty kick. or is it spelled Bootie? I've got 3-4 folks havin babies and I'm trying to knit up a whole bunch to have ready for showers.
6. I just received Little Red In the City by Ysolda Teague. So hopefully I'll get my sweater groove on. It's a great book. I find it easy to read and very informative. The patterns are awesome too! Go buy you one on Ravelry. You can get it in electronic & book format or both like I did. Ravelry rules!!
7. I haven't tatted much since the wedding. If you saw the last post and look very closely, you can see how I did a little tat for all the My Man, the father/grandfathers and moms/grandmoms. It was fun. They were simple but still a bit time consuming since I had to tat up a bunch. I have a bunch of family folks.
8. Right after the wedding, my work decided to close the office and let everyone there work from home. Me included. So I've been busy moving stuff and setting up home office. I do enjoy hanging with my girls all day instead of having Chy watch them while I'm at the office. I like the entertainment. When Sym and Van get together you never know what they are going to destroy do.
9. Van has a yorkie named Katie. Let's just say the cats are slowly getting used to her..
Alrighty I guess I better get back to work. Thanks for reading!!


 

feeling good ready for more crafting

Sorry about the delay of blogging. I've been nuts. Just a little. Not full blown instutionalize me nuts. Just pistachio nuts. You know the good nuts that you love but don't get too often.

Completed Works of knitting!!!!!
Yep I've finished the shawl! Hold your applause please it hasn't been blocked/washed and stretched to hell and back yet.
But here are some eye candy pics.
I finished it when we were on our way to Texas to pick up Van & Chy. My soon to be but I call them Step Kids anyways.Damn I didn't take a finished pic. I did take a pic as I was doing the edging in the truck on the way to tx.


I will try to get a finished pic tonight. Maybe. Who knows. I'm trying.
Now I'm down to the wire for the final crafty things for the wedding.
Loving Comfort Shawl - 100%
Sampler - 10 % IT has been decided! woot I'm cross stitching a sampler to be displayed at the wedding.
Tatted treats for all - 5% May not finish this one. I've got other goodies for attendees.



That's my Ya baby Gatsby and his Grandfather Johnny(he has no named picked out for himself yet). Yeah that's my fiance and technically that's my step grandbaby but that doesn't sound age appropriate for me. Yep being 33 and having a future step grand baby is weird and awkward to say outloud. (It's like folks calling me grandma just because I knit.) Plus it's a freakin mouthful. I like Ya baby much better. He will call me Ya-Ya and I love it!

Feeling on Some clean house

I'm glad Clean House doesn't leave their state. This morning while getting ready for the day, Sym says to me "Mom, when we get a house, we should trash it up and then get Clean House to come and clean it up for us."
I looked at her and said, "yeah right. First, that show is only reserved for the TRUELY messy, second like I'm going to let you trash our house once we get one."
"But it would be cool to have them out and clean our house," she protests.
"It would be totally embarrassing if we were on TV with our house all in a shambles. I would die from the embarrassment."
"It wouldnt' be that bad mom, our house is messy now and we have people over."
"Not for long Miss Grounded"


Yesterday was a Clean House Marathon. I love that show, seriously I LOVE that show. I wish there was a channel that just showed Clean House all the time. These people live in a "hot mess" until the hosts show up, sell the junk then clean it up. Some of the people remind me of days when I let my depression get the better of me and let the clutter pile up. I'm doing my best now to not let my life get that chaotic again. It's hard when you have a 9 year old that loves to spill out all the crap from her room all over the place. Yeah she's a toy bomb.

So more home improvements all around. But first I gotta work.....

Something crafty, and something Spring

The top secret project is not finished yet. :-( I have to fix it. I don't like how I painted it before my date due. Oh well.
I have been painting though. Did SipsNStrokes with my mom and sis Nat last weekend. THAT WAS FUN!!!
Here's a link of the pic the class was to paint.THIS IS FROM THE WEBSITE! NOT MINE

Here is mine:
Used the camera phone instead of the super nice digi cam I have because I am lazy and didn't want to fool with uploading. OH well! Ya'll get the idea. I'm happy with how it turned out!! I'm waiting on my sister to upload her pics from the night cause my mom didn't paint what the class painted. She wowed everyone! Remind me to tell ya'll about my mom and her painting talent. Ok I'll tell ya now. She took classes when she was around 12 that right 12. When I was a kid she would pick up a brush every now and then for one of our school projects. She rarely picked it up for just the enjoyment once she became a "grownup". When my birthday came around and I wanted to give my sisters and my mom something too. Especially mom. She inspired my crafty. When she picked up the brush and painted the wine bottles It was like riding a bike for her. She painted it perfectly!! My mom can paint an image by looking at it. That's why she decided to paint something different this time. My sisters, mom and I have decided that Sips N Strokes are our birthday thing from now on. It gave us all alot of joy to be able to bring home something we made after hanging out with each other for an evening. Love my sisters and my mom!!
Update*** I was a little bored being up this early and decided to go ahead and take a better pic.

I also took a video of a bird that was almost as loud as a freaking concert. Love early am birdies. Be sure to turn your volume down a bit. He was about 25 yards away in a tree branch. It's like animal kingdom early am. I never hear birds around here. I guess that's what you get when you live off a busy ass road like I do. Sure there are geese that hang out at the lake in the complex but nature! Ha!! That's a laugh around here. I miss real nature though. I grew up on 100 acres and could see the stars. I hope to be moving sometime this year. I want to buy a house or town home in a close area with less lighting. ;-) Sym has a telescope that we have barely used this past year due to too many lights around here.

Time for an Update....

Times are quite crazy lately. Work is work, home is Sym and our BOY cat Izzie. LOL Yes folks our cat is a boy. I castrated him from the begining by allowing Sym to call him "Isabella" but alas, he is a boy. I started suspecting when I saw that he started formin a bump down in the nether region. We had resuced shim from the storm drain when it was little. Luckily Izzie could be a unisex name. If not oh well we like it and we are sticking to it!!

Adolf the cichild demon fish is doing well as well. He is still chasinig cat toys. Yes he chases cat toys. I swear if he was an amphibian he would have hopped out of the tank and eaten Sym and I already. He's such an aggressive little guy that hates EVERYTHING but his nice jug in the tank. I think he actually wants to infiltrate our tank. He does like the food I leave for him but do I get a thanks? No, he just tries to bite my finger off. Yes folks this is a fish I'm talking about.
Sym is determined to catch him on video with her handy dandy camera phone (bought b/c she took care of the crap phone for 6 mo) so as soon as we get the video to the internet, Ya'll will see exactly what I'm talking about.

Doing the DishRag Tag dance this year! I'm the Fearless Captain on the quest to make sure I knit this rag as fast as my fingers allow.
I love the DRT! I've got some buddies already! Let me give a shout out to my hommies on Team # 3-Expe-Dish-ous Raggers!!
I am so psyched to get started!!! I've started practicing a seed stitch dishcloth to practice my technique. I did the same thing last year too when we got to pick any pattern we wanted. I knitted the pattern 10 times (I was the last one to get the box too) and timed myself. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of practicing this time round. All good though. ;-)

Well I've gotta get back to work.

Ah Vacation over That stinks!!!

I had a blast doing the vacation thing last week. Lots of fun!! Most of it wasn't planned too far in advance which I kind of like. ;-) I got out! Yes folks! I left my apartment! LOL

I must confess, not much knitting was accomplished.
Six Flags was great! Sym and I hit the coasters and had a ball! We didn't get to Ride the Batman nor the Superman rides. There's still enough summer to plan that trip hopefully. ;o)

I needed to have had another person or 2 with us to actually take pics of us on the roller coasters. Maybe next trip. Sym and I had a blast! We hit Monster Plantation which you may or may not know is like one of the oldest rides there, i think. Sure does look like it. See even the pic is grainy like those old antique photos. They really need to clean up the animatronics.


Also I got to go out like an adult for once! Wow! I went to see Caddle at a local bar. They are a B-ham band that's pretty good. They are definately a "Live Band". They tell stories on stage, that were quite funny. Here's their website if you are interested. They claim to be country rock alternative. I think they are rock with a twang. ;-)

Also I went to see Blind Melon on Wednesday. They have a new lead singer, Travis Wilson, who sounds just like Shannon Hoon but has his own groove too. Here's a video clip my friend Brian took at the show.
See!! He does sound like Shannon doesn't he?


Thursday was Tubing with the Pizza Hut gang!!!! There's this place called Limestone Park down in the middle of nowhere. You pay the guy $10 bucks, he hands you an tube, and gives you a ride into the middle of his pasture and drops you off by a river. You get on the tube and float down the river. You can buy a cooler tube for $5 to haul your beer, snacks or non alcoholic bevs too. (I prefer beer personally) IT was awesome. I have been waiting 8 years to go! You go over 3 sets of rapids. Lukily Sym and I both got away with minimal scratches. Dude if you have never been you should go. At least once in your life. The last time I went I was pregnant with Sym. Yeah I was a prego dare devil. >:-) he he

Friday & Saturday Was All with the fam!! Sym and I hung out with my relatives from Virginia, grandparents, aunts and uncles and COUSINS!! My God I didn't realize how many cousins I have now. It's getting up to the 20's just from that clan!! I love them all dearly! I brought back memories of being the kid and playing in the same spots my daughter was. It is so weird to be the adult. You know? My grandfather tripped me out! He taught Sym how to drive his Kabota lawn mower. Do you realize that when I was a kid we were instructed never to touch the lawn mower under any circumstance. (we were allowed to play in his boat though. LOL) And here he is teachin Sym how to drive it!! I was jealous, just a little. ;-)


Sunday was knit day. My buddy Mary came over with her angel Alayna. We knitted, the kids played then my butt went to bed. LOL

That about sums up the entire week off. I hope ya'll enjoyed!
Here's Sym drivin the Lawnmower. It is about as big as she is!

New Additions to our fam AND 9 days off! What the hell is a crafty lady to do?

You know I'm horrible! I didn't introduce you folks to the new additions to the D family did I? Silly me.
Meet Isabella-D aka: Knitting Terrorist


We rescued her from a storm drain the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. She's been quite the party animal, let me tell you! Aside from having parties until 2 AM she's also has taken it upon herself to demand attention from the Symi and me! Gah! And She is a demandin one! She's been Symi-D's child folks. My daughter has spoiled this kitten to no ends! She is determined that this cat will be with her until the end days of Revelations. Although the agreement was set that Symi was to mother this cat (clean up poop (cause I'm past that stage), feed her, water her, play with her clean up her messes etc) but for the past 2 weeks where Sym has been a bit under the weather, I had to mommy the cat. Lovely. Thus now Izzy is no longer just Symi's cat. I didn't want that but oh well. I'm fond of the fur ball even though she is a knitting terrorist.

Also we have another addition that started shacking up with us the day before the terrorist.
Folks meet Adolf-D aka Dominator


He is not a goldfish. If you even mention the word goldfish within earshot of the tank, he'll jump out and bite your head off! Seriously folks he's a siclid. (I know I'm spelling it wrong. Please don't correct me. I get enough of that at work.) He's pretty understanding when it comes to spelling his name. He can't reach the computer yet. I named him Adolf because naturally siclids are like oskars where they are a VERY territorial fish. Adolf is a combo of both Red Devil and Convict (2 of the only types I know of, hey he was free!). Out of curiosity and I just wanted to have a sick twisted show out of boredom, I bought 6 micro gold fish to put in the tank with Adolf and the other siclid that I took off the hands of my darling sis Natalie.
Well within 6 hours all the goldfish were assassinated, and within 25 hours Rosadell (whom we named more feminin because she evaded Adolf at all cost) too. IT was sad really but you know, according to Kurt Cobain "It's okay to eat fish cause they don't have any feelings." So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;-) Besides I spent all of about 70 cents and they lived about as long as they would without Adolf taking over the tank.


Okay soo.... I did it!! I'm taking 9 days off from work in a row!! So what is a Crafty Moron of the Internet to do but...knit. he he he
Nah The calendar of events for the D Ladies is as follows. You paying attention right?
Okay.
Friday 6/29
Stay home with getting better but still sick Symi-D
Drink wine and blog (blog seems to be winning) or knit Adamas, but this time be smart and let the moron side play with the cat.

Saturday 6/30
Hang at home and see if she spikes a fev again, if not go fishing at the lake by our apartment. Yeppers I have a lake and a great view from our delux apartment in the sky. See:

Then take Sym somewhere family member's so I can have dinner with a new friend. he he
(I'm not tellin!! ha!)

Sunday
CHURCH! no not my friend Church but The place you worship God. Yeah I gotta go. I feel bad. We haven't been to knit night with the lovely ladies at CCUMC due to Symi-Sickness so Yeah gotta. They are good folks. I can say that honestly.
Sunday night???? not much because

MONDAY is SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA!!!
I must educate my daughter on the fine art of roller coasters some more. To those that know the story of her 7th birthday he he. The child needs more. or is that my inner child that needs more? hmm I haven't been since I was prego with Sym. Yep. Explains alot doesn't it. ha ha

Tuesday
I'm gonna get out that night and see Blind Melon. I REALLY WANT TO!!! This is my vacation and the only one I'll get for a bit. Gotta do something for me.

Wednesday - Thursday
Play with Relatives that are in town from out of state for the BIG A## Blow out at my fam's on the fourth!
Yeah that's what I have planned so far. More to come for the weekend...Maybe? Not sure yet.

Okay folks back to Adamas I go.
Before I forget.....
Here she is REdo # 20 at 2nd SEt of 10 on chart 2.



Thanks for visiting!!!
Love ya'll!!!
Lesley

PS. Sym and Izzy