Monday, June 30, 2008

My kid's a genius!

And they are both pretty darn cute!

We went to my Mom's on Saturday to hang out and give her the birthday present...










They fit perfectly! Yay. Amazing that I've given so many people socks but not her. However, I also haven't made other people eleventeen sweaters! We went to visit my Grandmother, who should be getting sprung from the nursing home today or tomorrow then took the boys to Village Inn. Here are some pics.

That's ranch "dip" Sean's showing off there. And Jake showing Sean how to play a video game.






















Good times, good times. I also took some video of Sean trying to jump, but trying to be safe too...




And then Saturday night I was taking Sean's shoes off and I grab the first one and say "one" then he said "two". I looked at him like he had 2 heads. I said "two?" he said "three four". What??? I swear I am not making this up. And to prove it, I took video... you need to turn it up since the mic on my camera isn't wonderful and I had the teevee going:





Anyway, that's it from me for now. More later.

Friday, June 27, 2008

It's a sad, sad day










Our favorite foundling died this morning. Baloo was 10 and a very, very good dog. He will be sadly missed. We havent told Jake yet, but I was just thinking it is odd that Timber (hubby's dog) died when Jake was about Sean's age. Boy it's a tough thing and won't be easy. The in-laws say they wont get another dog, it's just too traumatic. I can understand that, but I think that I wouldnt be able to say never.

That's it from me.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Happy Forgiveness Day

Forgiveness Day June 26th
Forgiveness Day is a time to forgive and to be forgiven. The world will be a better place for this day.
Global Forgiveness Day began in 1994. It was created and is sponsored by the Christian Embassy for Christ's Ambassadors. It originated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

International Forgiveness Day was created by the World Forgiveness Alliance, a non-denominational, educational foundation. According to their website: " International Forgiveness Day dedicated to evoking the healing power of forgiveness worldwide." The founder is Robert W. Plath, from Mill Valley, California.



I thought this was a pretty cool thing. I know that for me, forgiving those that haven't wanted it has gone a long way to making me a bit less crazy and angry and bitter, which is a good thing. I started working on this when Travis and I got married, trying to let go of my demons, and I think it mostly worked out pretty well. I'm still a hard ass on a few things but my world is a better place.

Today is day 4 of my Coke-free week. BOY do I want a coke.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Happy Brthday Mommy!









Today is my Mom's birthday (everyone sing, ready... set... go).

Happy birthday to you....
happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Karen...
Happy birthday to you!

Above is a pic of my Grandma with her 4 children - my uncle Kevin is the boy (duh), Mom is the oldest girl, Lorraine is middle girl and Sue is the smallest girl. It is so weird to see them like this - but I swear my Uncle Kevin looks Exactly the same only taller!

Below is me and my Mom fishing a couple years ago.










That's it from me, have a great day.

Monday, June 23, 2008

So long Mr. Carlin.

I was so sad to hear on the news that George Carlin had "passed on, or expired like a magazine subscription." I love his sense of humor and he has made me laugh so hard I've cried. He will be missed by so many people.

And to add levity to this otherwise sad day I have some pictures to share. Lots of pictures.

Saturday morning we went to visit the new bird (just a few more weeks then we can take him home):










Here is Jake not blowing out his birthday candles - he gets embarrassed by all the attention I suppose:









Sean enjoyed himself and kept busy, here he was playing with the "hula loop" as Jake calls it:










And finally, a really nice picture of both of my children where they are both looking at me and smiling. This is a rare occurrence, enjoy it while you can:









Lets see... what's going on? I told you that Sean went peepee in the potty. We haven't had a repeat but I'm still excited by it. My folks couldn't come to the party, or on the rescheduled Sunday because of crappy weather + Mom's new glasses make her not be able to drive good + Cliff feeling crappy from his chemo. I was disappointed but hopefully we'll get to see them next weekend. The good side to that is that my house is clean! Well, for the most part. I did work on Cliffy's afghan a bit last night but that's the only time my hands touched yarn this weekend.

That's it for now, have a great Monday. OH, PS, if you are looking for a digital camera, I have one on Ebay here.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Big news on the baby front

Sean went peepee in the potty! I know, it's pretty exciting stuff! But I was thrilled. Also, the bird just pooped on me. Anyway, I just wanted to share the baby news. You may continue with your regularly scheduled weekend stuff to do.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Jakey!!

Today is Jake's 7th birthday. When I got the camera to take his picture, this is what I found:









Here's a pic with the flash so you can see what he's doing:










And a picture of Sean just for good measure. Please notice Sean's new "hairstyle". I call it "boufant ala doughnut".









Anyway, Jake is enjoying Summercamp today at Chuck E Cheese and Mamaw brought over some cupcakes for him to share for afternoon snack. With luck it will be a better day than yesterday when he was told he wasnt allowed to go to Busch Gardens next week because he and another litte boy got into so much trouble together... repeatedly telling them to stay apart and finally the teachers had to each hold one of their hands so they would straighten up. This is not unusal with Jake and the other one - CONSTANTLY getting into trouble together. Hopefully it will sink in this time that they need to stay away from each other.

For the birthday celebration, we will let the boys play in the pool after school then Jake's choice of Pizza rolls for supper (I'll have eggplant parm with my MIL). Oh boy, good times.

I've gotten 3.75 stripes done on the afghan and half of Lean Mean Thirteen read. I LOVE Janet Evanovitch! That's it for now, have a great day.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Happy Tuesday.

I wish there was more to talk about, although I'm almost afraid to say that! Lets see, what's going on? Cliffy started his radiation yesterday and his first chemo today. Radiation is M-F for 7 weeks. It's only about 15 minutes a day so its not too bad, and its right by the house which is helpful. So far he is feeling fine, please keep praying for his strength through this.

I have finished 2 stripes on my flag, but I'm out of red and will be going hopefully tonight to get some more. Our house is minus Fios for 3 days in a row - no phone, teevee or innernets which SUCKS! Especially since I cant tell it to dvr stuff for me to watch later. I missed the Next Food Network Star, and didn't dvr it yet when we lost service. Very aggravating. I discovered that I cant crochet/knit and NOT watch teevee at the same time. I found that very odd, but last night when I should have been working on the 8 different WIPs I have - I played virtual battleship on the Nintendo DS. So sad.

I'm in the process of purging some of my comic book collection. Any Dawn fans that want some cool stuff? Next I will go through the yarn stash to get rid of stuff that I bought because I had-to-have-it but have not used in forever.

And finally, I have a recipe. I did a product test for a company that is having a new product soon and it came with this recipe. It was very good with lots of flavor and super easy. I was expecting more paprika flavor than rosemary but crushing the rosemary REALLY brought out that flavor. Yummy!

Rosemary Roasted Chicken with potatoes
2tsp paprika
1.5 tsp crushed rosemary leaves
.5 tsp garlic powder
.5 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
6 bone-in skinless chicken thighs (I used boneless/skinless)
1.5 lbs small red potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes (I used white potatoes)

Preheat oven to 425F. Mix oil and spices in a large bowl. Add chicken and potatoes and toss to coat well. Arrange chicken and potatoes in a single layer on foil lined baking sheet. Roast 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender, turning potatoes occasionally.

That's it from me, have a great day, and let me know if you try the recipe and what you think.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Sean vs. The Door

I know when I put that title you think that he hurt himself, but no.
Here's a little background before you watch. Our laundry room door doesn't shut very good, you have to really slam it to stay closed. I had gone in there to fold some laundry and Sean followed me and decided to shut the door.... but you hear a squeak and the door, well, just watch. The sound is a bit off but it is still pretty funny.




Since I have been working on the flag afghan I haven't done any other knitting/crocheting at all, and honestly I have only been working on the flag during my lunch break so it's not going very fast. All of the stars are done and 80% are pieced together. I have 3 out of 6 rows of the bottom red stripe done. HUGE progress... not. Hopefully I'll start working on something at home too, I've just been too blah to do anything but sit.

That's it for now. Have a great day.

Monday, June 09, 2008

A painting for Grandma

My grandmother's birthday is next week and she loves birds. She also has a bit of a crush on my brother-in-law Jason who happens to be an Awesome Artist. SO, I combined the two and had this made:








The background is my MIL's wall and not part of the painting. We are going over on Sunday to visit, and I will give it to her then. I think it will look nice in her nursing home room! She is going to be thrilled and I cant wait!

Speaking of birthdays and birds, we went to the bird store to let Jake pick out his birthday bird since they got some babies in. We wont be able to take it home until the middle of July, and I (like a dummy) forgot to take a pic of the actual bird. BUT, I can show what he kinda looks like - very cute. It's all bought, and we can go in and visit and bond whenever we want, which is cool:













And finally, some video. Sean singing the cockadoodle doo song. Have a great day.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Sleepy

I know that I'm always sleepy so thats not really a big suprise, is it? I'm working on the convention between being sucked into Pogo games and Webinars and it is going well. This is the fun part of my job, even though it is pretty busy... some of the time! I'm 1 star away from finishing the stars portion of my American Flag afghan for the convention, then the 6 half motifs and then work on the stripes. I'm not sick of it yet, so that is a good thing. A Very good thing.

I got some pics of Sean playing on the patio after getting out of the pool. I got the feeling that he wasn't quite ready to be done.













Both boys are getting so much joy out of the pool! I was worried with Sean since he was pretty afraid of the water a month ago, but he is doing good.

Um, I really dont have too much to talk about. SO, I will brag on the family. My cousin Chrissy makes the most beautiful One of a Kind dolls. You can buy them by choosing one from her nursery. It is so hard to believe that she can make them look SO. REAL. Go, buy a doll. You know you want to!

Thats it from me for now. Have a great day.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Guess what?

They bought it. They bought it they bought it they bought it. Yippee!!!!!

Oh, the mag I sent the letterbaby jacket to.... yep. They bought it. More tomorrow, after I peel myself off the ceiling. Night!

Sleepy sleepy

It's been one of those days, too much to do but I cant keep from yawning. But enough about that. I finished a socklet and started the 2nd at lunch today. The idea is cute, but I am not the best lace-chart-reader and one of my lace bits was wonky. No worries, this is really just a test to see if the idea works, and to get myself a pair of socklets - even if they aren't beautiful! I'll make another newer, more improved pair later on.

I have also started to think about my afghan for this year's convention. Every year I donate an afghan to be auctioned off, usually to pretty good success. Our theme is travel (places or modes of transportation) and I was thinking of doing an American Flag afghan. I have made, roughly, 4 trillion of these (seriously, I've probably made 10 of this same pattern). I have the stars half done and hiding in my closet from when I thought I wanted to make another one... I didn't... still burned out. I may check out the stars I have, the stash to see what I have yarn-wise and go from there.









This weekend was long and drawn out, we went to Epcot with a quick stop at Ft Wilderness to see the animals. HUGE horses, heads bigger than Sean, and he kept calling them 'puppy'. Jake, as usually, pouted when I tried to take his pic. Travis got some good ones while he was eating and therefore oblivious, so maybe I'll snag on some of them to show you. Here's Sean and the Puppy.









But, by far, the best part of the weekend was when I was eating my egg roll in China and Sean seems smelly. I look, nothing... just toots apparently. Then about 5 minutes later Sean says "poopoo". And boy was he right. But...YAY!!!! And so it begins. With any luck, he'll be potty trained in no time! We already got his little potty seat (with frogs and lady bugs - too cute), and he doesn't hate it. I think that only the Mom's will share my enthusiasm, but I was so excited.

That's really it, I have some work to do, and hopefully I'll have something to talk about tomorrow.