Cardmaking again...

 Last weekend we went to Nanton AB to attend the wedding of my cousin's daughter.  She would be 2nd cousing?? First cousin once removed??? No relation????  Anyway, I made this card to hold an enclosure as a gift.  All stuff is Stampin' Up except for the ribbon which was on sale at Michaels several years ago and I finally used it.







The only bad thing about the wedding was that we missed Brandon's graduation brunch.  I hear it was fun though, and I hope he enjoyed it.  I made this card, using the same enclosure pattern.  This time I put my cricut to work and did the frame and year and sentiment by cut out.  The paper is SU's craft paper (new name is cookie crumbs or something like that).  The twine I picked up from the Library's craft and book sale for a dime - last year - finally used it.



I have had to make too many sympathy cards lately.  This pic is really bad, but it is "with sympathy".  Everything is SU this time.  The flower is from their Pretty Things collection which I have had around my house for a year and a half.  Finally used it.






                                                                          One year ago today, Cathy Cochrane and I stayed up all night waiting for the arrival of KENZIE.  She was more than well worth the wait.  She is having a Ladybug themed party this year, so I used my cutting system from Creative memories and made this simple simple little card.    You can't read the message, but it just says Happy Birthday which I think you can guess.  I got the googly eyes at the Library Craft and Book sale - and well - finally used them.

So, to all those people (Murray) who say "You have all this stuff and you never use it" I say

HAH!!

/bye

                                                                                

Insert catchy title here

It has been a glorious week when the only thing to mar the perfect blue skies are jet streams.  The hot hot days were followed by cool still nights.  Usually this is a recipe for a wild storm or something, but not this week.  I enjoyed!

But, over the last week the valley has taken on a distinctly "the good times are over" look.  There are fewer green leaves and more are coloured.  The grass is not growing as fast or as lush, the flowers are getting leggy and, well, tiresome.  My garden has been tilled down to just the corn stalks and a few tomato plants.  There are plenty of veggies sitting in my garage waiting to be eaten, but that really isn't the exciting fun part for me.  I like to see them sprout, and blossom and then produce.  I don't like to pick and process.  Thus, the good times are over.

So, in order to avoid slipping down into the abyss of total depression, we booked a holiday!  We will be going to Cancun with Holly and Cory and the kids.  And,  just to keep me buoyant and interested in the sea of life, I have another holiday with the Dubiels and the Baldocks to look forward to booking.  The booking is a lot of fun, right up to the "buy now" button stage.  Then, one really has to have determination and fortitude because once you click that, what happens next is the hard part.  Facing the credit card.  (There is always something to sap the joy).  Oh well, a month before I have to even THINK about that part.  

You have probably read my daughters "Harvest 2011" post, and my rude comment that followed.  But really, in my defence I just have to speak out.  There were many, way too many to count, days when I was weeding and watering and fertilizing and caring for that garden when she was boating, visiting, entertaining, or off to some glamorous locale like Vegas or Lethbridge.  So I was 10 minutes late with the harvest bee.  Lets make that the big deal that goes on the internet.  Not the countless - way to many to count - hours I spent getting things to the point where you could pick them.  In the blistering heat.  By myself.  Oh well, she is raising two little ladies who will, tragically, put her in her place soon enough. 

Revenge is sweet, especially when you have to wait as long as I have...

/bye

Labour Day

It is a beautiful "September long" here.  The sun is shinning, trees and lawns are still lush and green, some of my flowers, and most of my neighbours flowers are still blossoming and pretty.  Its a Mr Rogers "great day in the neighbourhood" kind of weekend. 

We had a first touch of frost on Saturday night, not enough to stop the cucumbers and tomatoes, but enough to give me hope that I won't always have to eat cucumber and tomato sandwiches, soup, salad, pudding for the rest of my life.  I am admitting defeat and the groundsel and thistles have won another year, but NEXT YEAR things will be different, which is kind of my fall mantra every year.  I held them off longer this year than last, so I am declaring a small victory if not a complete triumph.

I had my little Declan for Saturday while his Mom and Owen went to the Mud Bogs in Lipton.  I really don't get the entertainment value of Mud Bogs, but it is very entertaining to have a 4-year-old tell you about all the "behicles" that were there.  Oh, and btw, Declan is the sweetest little guy and the cutest baby ever.  In my unbiased opinion of course.

My improved eating habits took a sorry turn, and I seriously fell off the wagon last night having a chocolate covered Dipp bar, a Halloween treat aero bar, and several chocolate chips.  Once that binge was over, I hung my head in shame and disgust and crawled back on the wagon.  Hopefully it was just a brief lapse in drive and will power.  Or, maybe my body knew it needed that chocolate...

How about those Roughriders?!  Can the coach really make that much difference?  Lets hope that this is just the beginning of a trend for the rest of this season.  I would rather poke a hot needle into my eye than go to an actual rider game overpopulated with drunks and idiots, but it is truly amazing when the camera pans the crowd and it is a sea of green and white.  Anyway, Go Riders.

My two neighbours have their lawnmowers on Turbo and are zooming around their lawns, while their good women are in the garden digging up and picking off produce.  I have pretty good stamina to ignore such things, but on this great sunny day, I am shamed into getting off this computer and getting outside.  It is suppose to be nice all week - after that - who knows when it will snow??

/bye

Catch up time

Has it really been May since I last made an entry on my blog?  Is it correct, gramatically, to say "since I last blogged?"  I haven't had anyone reply to my query about "texted" - is that a word or not?  Anyway...this is also a form of procratination...

To catch up on my news...

I can't really remember May.  There were two birthdays, Brads and Kaida's.  Each was celebrated with family and friends and involved eating so they were great parties.  May was rainy and dreary as I recall.

June was dreary too, but there were a few sunny nice days.  In June I was diagnosed with Diabetes.  This was a life changing event for me.  I changed my eating habits, and began taking daily doses of medication to lower blood sugar.  I had been feeling kinda crumby all winter, with a lot of fatigue and blurring of vision, and the most alarming thing was that I started losing weight for no reason at all.  Yep, all signs of diabetes.  Anyway, as the meds took over, and my choices in food improved, the fatigue started to leave me.  With more energy, I felt a lot more like being active.  This too, helped to lower the blood sugars.  So, all in all, I am doing well and feeling so much better than before.



Declan's First July 1st Parade



July was a sunny hot wonderful month.  It started with the July 1 parade in Ft. Q. which my family always enjoys.  Kenzie was on the Credit Union float and was adorable.  Kaida didn't go, as she doesn't like people who dress up as cute animals - like the Fat Cat.  Once that Fat Cat went by she was able to relax and enjoy grabbing the candy that was tossed on the street.  We had family pics taken that day, and Murray and I didn't look horrendous in all of them - we were well pleased.  I took 6 days off work, which works out to three weeks when you are part time.  I weeded, walked, swam, visted, had grandchildren stay over and just generally enjoyed my "staycation".  It wasn't all sweetness and light though and there are certain people who will recall only too well the wrath of Auntie Janet on the warpath at 8:00 in the morning...but lets not go THERE.



Two of the reasons I am trying to stay healthy.



And here we are near the end of August.  Another great month weather wise and another great month of good health - unless you count that I have an incurable progressive disease of course.  But, I continue to loose weight and I am finally back to the weight I was after I had my first child.  I am hoping to hit prebaby weight, and it will only have taken me 30 plus years to do it.  We went to a family due for an aunt who is 95 (and a half) years old this weekend.  It was so great to reconnect with people I haven't seen since I was 13 or so.  And imagine how wonderful it was for Murray to sit in a hall full of only my relatives, he knew 3 or 4 of them, for an entire day.  What a good sport.  We stayed at the Bear Claw Casino and Hotel overnight, and that was fun too.  Funny, Murray seemed to like that better.   

And so, you are all caught up on what I have been doing.  Anyway, Donna Caruso has advised me to become more disiplined with my writing and do some every day.  This is my first effort at self discipline.  Stay tuned to see how long I can keep it up.

/bye

Confession is good for the soul

What are these two ladies talking about? While speaking, each is looking around furtively.

“Here, just take this one” whispers the first, pleading

“Oh no, I just can't I promised my friend...” the other whispers back, begging for understanding

“She'll never know!” says the first.

Drugs? Arms? Illegal contraband of any kind. No much worse. It is a batch of Amish Friendship Bread starter. Oh I know it sounds nice – I mean the Amish are folk who live a simple lifestyle, in peace and harmony, unsullied by reruns or viral YouTube. Friendship is a state to be envied and sought after. And bread? Saskatchewan was once the breadbasket of the world, surely we would be in support of bread. For those who have not had a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter given to them by a dear friend with a beneficent smile, if there is such a person anywhere, I will explain. The starter is a mixture of baking stuff, like flour and milk and baking powder and so on. It sits on your cupboard fermenting, with instructions to “mush the bag” or to add other ingredients until the 10^th day. Then, you subdivide your starter into four bags of 1 cup each, and make your quick bread (or loaf – Holly will get this private joke) with the remainder. Oh sure it is delicious. Oh yeah everybody likes to eat it. There is no disputing that. But every 10 days you need to come up with friends who will take the extra starter off your hands. Some people can go on for many months, but I ran out of true friends after 10 days. Plus every 10 days I had to bake something, a very real hardship for a bi-annual baker like me. Actually, friendship bread starter is much like a litter of kittens. One day your cat named Fred manages to have a litter of kittens despite your best efforts. And they are cute, and adorable and soft and sweet. And NOBODY wants to take even one of your kittens. It gets to the point that you eventually give them out as Halloween treats to kids you don't know. (Except for the kids accompanied by parents who seem to find your house to return them – with a threat). So, my dilemma. I can't get rid of the extra starter – so what do I do with it? Throw it out? Isn't there a law or something about that? Can you take something useful, tasteful, nutritional and just pitch it out? Well, I did have permission from my friend to throw it out. Still, it is Friendship Bread starter. What would the Amish think of me if they found out? Halloween is a long way off. On the 3^rd go around, I realize that I have no choice. I wait until darkness falls and then, looking around furtively, I sneak the extra starter into the garbage can. I am so glad the Amish don't use computers.

/bye

T H E Lace Shawl - and other insightful thoughts.

 Yes, that brief scrap of knitting sitting on my kitchen table, is indeed, my freakin' lace shawl.
Previous blogs have detailed the trials and tribulations of said item - difficulty purchasing overpriced needles and yarn, wild knotting of wool while winding, needles confiscated at airport, resorting to an excel spreadsheet to figure out the pattern - and believe it or not I could go on.  The latest blow being that I ran out of yarn.  So, instead of a lace shawl I have a kind of large lace scarf.

It doesn't look like much.  Probably would be more interesting if I had taken a picture of the front of the quilt I have underneath the shawl.  The really sad part of all of this experience is that I have come to love knitting lace and am looking even now for my next adventure in KNITTING LACE.  Sheesh.

Okay, so the "other insightful thoughts" mentioned in the title are really just this one.  I needed a can of Bing Cherries the other day so off I go to get one from the Valley Grocery.  I wandered around impulse buying on my way to the canned fruit aisle and when I got to the Bing Cherry section there was a store employee, a Education Assistant from Bert Fox School, and a student who was likely on some kind of work experience program working on getting cans of pears on the shelf in the right location.  My first impulse was to ask for the can of cherries, but the two adults were really focused on helping the student with getting the job done.  I know that there is a lot of effort put into helping a student in these programs.  I also know that the student benefits a lot from being able to participate in these programs, so I decided to stand back. I only waited a couple of minutes before one of them asked if they could help me and I was given my can of fruit and went on my way with thank you and a smile.  The three of them apologized for being in the way, and to my regret, I didn't say "what you were doing was really more important".  So, my personal insight was this.  How many times have I pushed through, cut off, or ran over other important life moments for something like an emergency can of Bing Cherries?   And, does this fall under the category of "stop and smell the roses" or "wake up and smell the coffee"??

/bye

Lace knitting and How Much Fun It Is.

I was about 8-9 years old when my neighbour taught me how to knit a scarf for my doll.  I have been knitting off and on since then - so for about 30 years  :)  and please don't try to impress me with your math skills and give me the correct number of years. I have been eyeing shawls and wraps for some time now, and thinking how much fun it would be to knit one of those.  So....

I went to a store in downtown Regina "Hip 2 Knit".  Apparently there is a very knowledgeable helpful woman there who can answer any question you may have about wool and patterns.  Unfortunately, I have been there 3 times and always get her husband who is somewhat less helpful in either department.  He will assure me  that this or that wool or pattern is really popular and they sell a lot of them.  But that is the extent of his help.  So, I am on my own.  I find a few possibles and it is getting on to 4:45 and the store closes at 5:00 so the gentleman steps in and tries to get me moving a little faster on making a decision.  I am persuaded to try this beautiful skein of yarn and this pattern that only uses one skein of yarn and which, in the description, is suppose to be perfect for the beginner lace knitter.  And the perfect circular needles to make said project are the last set on his shelf.  This is fate speaking to me, I am sure so I buy the yarn, the needles and he gives me a website where I can get the pattern.  This is going to be great.  I can maybe whip this little number up when I am on holidays in Mexico.  I try to forget that I paid $40 for the skein and $20 for the needles.  I don't usually buy skeins, but you would just wind it up into a ball right, how hard can that be?

Mexico - day one.  I am going to wind this skein into a ball of wool.  Hey, there are all these little threads tying bits of the skein together, what could they be for?  I cut them.  I start to wind.  The skein drops on the floor, I just pick it up and chuck it on the bed beside me.  Oh Oh, little bit of a knot here.  And there.  Oh man, look at that big swirl.  The skein is completely knotted together and one big blob of mess.  I think maybe those little threads were to keep the skein from tangling?  Without a bit of exaggeration, I spent 6 freakin' hours just untangling and winding that one little skein into something that I could knit with.  Plus I had to cut the wool twice.  Hopefully you can make a join in lace knitting.

Okay, so on the plane on the way home from Mexico I will have nothing to do but cater to a man with no arms and to knit.  I pack my knitting in my carry on.  Airport security confiscates my needles.  They are sharp - but not as sharp as the game stylus that the guy ahead of me gets to take with him.  They are circular so they could be used to garrote another person.  I look at her and she looks at me.  I am tempted to say "Really?  Do you see who I am?  A terrorist on a charter flight to Regina?  Do you know anything about knitters, they NEVER would give up their needles to a terrorist - they would die first." in my most sarcastic voice, but contain myself and get used to the idea of buying more needles when I get home.  Murray loves when I get my knitting needles confiscated. 

Finally get more needles once I am home again, which, I am peeved to notice, have been made in MEXICO.  I start the cast on.  This is great.  My first lace shawl.  I follow the directions until they say " complete rows 11 - 18 (the pattern stitches) following the chart until you have completed 122 rows".  Well that seems simple enough.  However, I like to sit in front of the TV when I knit and so I find myself not able to follow the chart as simply as I thought.  At a commercial break I will find that I missed a row.  I combined one row of the chart with another.  I generally messed up so horribly that I have to rip the whole thing out and start over from stitch one.  Seven or eight times!! 

Now, I recall mentioning that "never giving up" can sometimes be equated with being "too stupid to know when to quit".  So - I decide that somehow I must continue with this until I get it and you decide which of the two I am being (please don't feel the need to share with me your decision). I turn to a medium that I truly love.  One that has never let me down.  One that I can confidently pursue with clear and correct results.  I create a spreadsheet in Excel.  I generate a chart which shows which row corresponds with rows 11 - 18.  For example, when I am on row 37, I know that I need to do row 15 on the chart.  I put a smaller sidebar on my chart which says how many pattern stitches I should be working with on each row.  So, I need to do 2 repeats of the pattern stitches on row 27, for example. 

Things go much better now.  I still will mess up and have one stitch more or less to deal with, but I have learned to STOP!!  RIP THAT ONE ROW OUT CAREFULLY AND GET IT RIGHT BEFORE YOU GO ON!!!  One stitch here or there is a big deal in knitting lace.  Who knew??  Anyway the only bad thing now is that in order to rip out and get it right I have to put myself in absolute quiet seclusion.  Like a jury.  Or a monk.  I must block out the calls of "Could you get me a drink", or "do we have any cheezies" and the like.  No TV.  No ipod.  Just knit.  Just get this one row right.  Then, I can go on to a more normal life.  Murray loves that I have taken up knitting lace >;) 

I may never finish this shawl, but I know that I will never finish trying.  The only time I quit trying to knit was during the game between Saskatchewan and Team Canada.  Go Rink Holland!!  Best of luck in Denmark!! 

/bye