I am...

I did this in August of '05 at the challenge from a blog somewhere. I just found it again and wanted to share.


I am from Nanny’s Afghans, from Glazier hot dogs and 160 acres of Heaven.
I am from the compost heap with the snake that pokes his head out just to say hello when you kick the wood.
I am from the garden on the side of the house, the wild strawberries growing in the front yard and shooting stars.
I am from Tree trimming parties and crooked teeth, from Nanny and Pop Pop and ReRe.
I am from the crafty and homemade.
From Jacques Cartier discovering the St Lawrence and this is how you make a crochet chain.
I am from Christians, Catholics and Jews. I am from the Love of God and the Fear of the Lord.
I'm from Waddington and Massena, pecan pie and Daddy’s fudge.
From the dollhouse that my father made when I was born and Nanny & Pops restaurant where I would get a hot dog and chocolate milk, sit on the red swirley seat and listen to I love a Rainy Night on the juke box.
I am from an old scrapbook filled with memories tucked away in my closet with my purses and comic collection. When I feel lonely I dig it out and pour over the newspaper clippings, family pictures and wedding invitations. Look into the smiling faces of my family and friends and you will see laughter and trust and love.

Baby Math, sorta.

8:15 Time Sean went to bed last night
5:22 Time Sean woke up last night
0 Number of ounces of formula Sean drank because I forgot to explain to Travis that cereal formula will not work in a Stage 1 nipple.
5:40 Time Mommy realized Sean wasnt really drinking anything
2 Number of ounces Sean drank once I fixed the nipple problem.
6:38 Time Sean woke up this morning.
2 Number of ounces Sean drank while waiting for Mommy to get dressed.

= One happy, well rested-ish Mommy.

Ho Hum

I really dont have anything to talk about, but figured I'd pop on anyway. You should go read Yarn Harlot (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog) to see how the NYC event went. Over 100 knitters in Central Park, almost 750 knitters at her book launch speech. That is a lot. A Whole Lot. It freaked out the muggles (er, non-knitters). Great times, I wish I could have gone. Instead, I stayed here, worked on the sock and ignored the sweater.

I am about half done with the heel flap of secondsock. I have been using a combo method of knitting and it's working well. It makes purling almost easier than knitting, ironic, no?

I have not yet played with the crochet/knit idea, maybe next week. I keep getting the urge to get some more sock yarn - in solids to make socks for boys, but have not yet committed. I already have I think 4 more balls at home of stripey/dotty/patterned yarn that I really should knit up before buying more. Should. Hrmf. We'll see how that works out for me.

~~~the above is from yesterday but I got interupted by 5 O'clock. Now it's today.~~~

Sean has been laughing, or giggling a lot, especially at Jake. Its funny how babies react so differently to kids. Very sweet. And Jake seems to think it's his mission to make Sean smile, so thats great! This morning he hurried up to get dressed so he could talk to Sean before we (Sean and I) left. So sweet.

Jake got his report card day before yesterday. Last 9 weeks he had all S's. This 9 weeks he had 5 S-'s. I wrote them down, but left them at home - whoops. Lets see if I can remember.
*Finishes assigned tasks *Works without distrubing other students *Has adequate attention span - nope, thats all I got. They were all pretty much the same thing - not paying attention and talking too much. Apple? Tree? I dont know what you're talking about! So, he didnt get his gameboy game and he will try harder this 9 weeks.

Can you beleive there are only 9 more weeks left of school! Yeah, me neither. Summer will be long this year, which is fine by me, but not really fine by our budget. Right now daycare is $180 for both kids, in the summer it'll be $260. Travis is just a tad freaked out. But, I did point out to him that we would actually be SAVING money by taking a week off and going to NY, once I get the gas cards from mypoints. Sounds logical to me! Unfortunatly I dont get my bonuses until fall and winter, but that will hopefully help in hindsight. (That's probably not how to say that, but ya'll understand, right?)

I worked a little bit on the sweater, a few rows anyway. I can see it will be one of those that I have to do other stuff while doing this because otherwise I will go crazy. Miles and miles of stockinette is kinda boring.

Speaking of knitting, I was watching Knitty Gritty last night (I dvr 2 a day) and they were doing an Aran blanket. The cables were so beautiful, I want to try some of them, and I think a blanket is a good choice for that, so I can try more than one - unline if I were doing a sweater. Maybe I'll find some yarn to do that with. On the show there were 9 panels, all in same darkish green color, about 15 inches each with a 3 stitch garter border on each square. We'll see how that goes. The project rated an advanced on the knitOmeter. And since I am NOT a Knitter, that concerns me, but socks are supposed to be hard too and we all know how I feel about THAT. I am thinking of doing maybe 16 squares that are a foot each instead of 9 bigger ones, we'll see if I can convert the patterns - we all know how much I love math!

That's it for now, I suppose I should get some work done. Cheers.

lalalalalala

Lets see, I have zero yarn on a hook (well, except for that scarf that I've abandoned, er take a hiatus from)... and I call this a crocheting blog. HAH. On needles I have the secondsock which is up to the heel flap as of the end of my break, and I've gotten about 4-5 inches or so done on the sweater. I'd show you but it's at home, only the sock is with me. And, how clever am I... I have my ball of sock yarn inside firstsock to hold it in place as I knit from it. Pretty slick, eh? I thought so. Moving on.

I have decided that I would really like to combine knitting and crochet, but not in the traditional sense of adding a crochet border to knit stuff. I lovelovelove the Stacy sweater:

and have purchased the yarn to make one of my very own in dark and light green. I would like to crochet the body but do the cable up the middle (you cant see it, but there really is a cool cable up the middle that then seperates at the v neck)(I will harass Stacy again for a pic). I know you can do a "cable" in crochet, but I want a real cable as pseudo-shown here. I've stayed awake at night trying to figure out how to do it. Here are my theories thus far:

A) I could crochet the body except for the 3-4 inches in the center front torso, knit the cable with some garter stitch on either side and then whip stitch it together.

or

B) I could crochet the body, then when I get to the bitOknitting I want to do, have a needle stay in there to do the knit stitches, and somehow connect it to the other end of crocheting, and keep carrying on that way. *the somehow part HAS actually kept me up one night. I know, I know.*

Option A would be easy enough but I dont want my seams showing. And I have NO idea if option B would actually work. Guess I could try it and see, and I may just do that once this sweater is more than 4 inches long.

I really cant justify having 2 sweaters for myself on needles at once when there is all this Christmas knitting to do. No, I dont have any idea who/what is next on the non-existant Christmas knitting list. Yes, I'm fine with that. I have 4 balls of sock yarn and eleventy two friends that want socks (yet complain when I knit, ahem). I could just knit socks and then decide to whom they will go, but I cant do that since these are kind of fitted.

Rambling, sorry. Oh, Mom pointed out that I forgot to show you this from Friday's boat trip.

The Miss Tracy (spelt wrong, but still)

Busy Busy. With Pictures!

Ok, so Wednesday night I started this for myself (current pic). It may or may not end up being cap sleeved.:

Thursday we met Tony, Nette, Ty & Bailey at the park, and it looked like this (nope, not a black eye, just dirt):

Friday we went on the funboat (www.thefunboat.com) and it looked like this (yes, that is a sock, what of it?):

And also, how not to tie up a boat:

Saturday was nice when my in-laws took both kids overnight. Oh blessed sleep and the damn cat that kept waking me up... and survived! Moving on.

Sunday was Aliceon's birthday and we went over for the party. Loads of fun, and it looked like this:

Now I'm back at work, and I was thisclose to showing you what it looked like by taking a pic of my screen ;). Consider yourselves lucky. Have a great day.

On socks and sock yarn...

Dear Sock Yarn Makers,

When you are making sock yarn that is self patterning, it would be very helpful to us sock knitters to have the sock yarn go the same direction. What I mean is that my first sock, with my first ball of sock yarn from your company, went along very nicely. However, when I started second sock, and since I like my socks to match eachother I started going through the ball (from the center, like all good yarn addicts do)(and JUST LIKE I DID FOR THE FIRST SOCK) looking for the point where green and blue meet and for some reason, there was only where blue and green meet.

This is bizarre, I thought to myself. It should be green, then blue, not blue then green.

Yep, you guessed it, your yarn ball makers made this ball insideout. So, since I am not in possession of a yarn ball winder, I am having to knit this sock by using yarn from the outside of the ball which SUCKS.

In the future, if you could rectify this problem, it would make me a little more likely to purchase your brand of yarn again.

From,

sock yarn chasing Brandee.

Friday... the recipe.

Oh, I forgot to share with you my shrimp enchiladas that I made on Friday. Turns out it's not exactly, um, original cause if you google it you get like 974 pages of links, but i digress. These were great, and even Travis liked them. Great for no-meat Fridays. I suck at writing recipes, so please excuse that bit.

Here's what I did:

(With this amount I was able to make 2 batches of 6 enchiladas each plus 2 quesadillas. )

1 16 oz pkg of med shrimp (the 41-60's I think) from WalMart SuperCenter
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ginger
1 clove crushed garlic
2 tsp hot sauce (it's not hot, I promise)
flour tortillas (I use the ones that are 6" diameter)
Mexican blend cheese
enchilada sauce - I used Old El Paso, the big can.

With this amount I was able to make 2 batches of 6 enchiladas each plus 2 quesadillas.

Marinate the shrimp in the olive oil, ginger, garlic and hotsauce in a ziplock for 2 hours. (I kept mine in the fridge and made my 2nd batch the next day and they were fine... marinated for like 20 hours). Warm your four tortillas 30 seconds in the micro to make them pliable. Place a handful of cheese (about 1/4 cup) plus 6 shrimps in each tortilla, roll them up and place them seam down in a sprayed baking dish (I used my rectangle and got 6 across). Pour half a big can (or 1 small can I suppose) over the enchiladas and sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I put sour cream, salsa and black olives on mine, top yours however you like. Enjoy.

Happy Monday, er, Tuesday.

Saturday was St Pat's day, and here's Sean and I (Jake was with his Mammaw, but his shirt says "The leprachauns made me do it" and has handprints all over it):

I was home yesterday with the boys so today's my Monday. And Thursday, but ya'll know. Anyway, I had a fabulous weekend! Saturday Nanny and Pop came for a visit, and Jake and Sean kept them well occupied:

That would be them and Jake playing poker - and he's not half bad for a 5 yr old either. He just needs to understand the concept that a straight needs to be ALL 5 CARDS. He kept saying things like "I have a straight and a pair of jacks!" And this meant that he had 2 Jacks, a 6, 7 and like a 2. "But Mommy, the 6 and 7 are a straight!". It was funny. After an hour or so of poker, it was on to Sorry! Jake was doing so well reading the cards, it made me happy. I think the only word he really had any problem with was squares, which really is an odd word if you think about it! And of course the other pic shows just how easily Sean gets people to do his bidding!

My only real disappointment of their visit is that Nanny didnt bring anything to crochet while she was there. Because there would be nothing better than a pic of she and I crocheting together. She is the one that taught me, at 4, to chain. I've always thought of her as the person in my family that I am most like. And when my Dad said that I reminded him so much of her I started crying, and I told him that he couldnt have given me a greater compliment. Yeah, classy - a great big blubber fest! But I was very emotional, it was in the days right before I had Sean, and hormones and all that. You understand. Anyway, moving on.

Sunday after Church they came back over for another rousing game of Sorry, then they were off. I am thrilled to pieces that they came down, but to only have them for such a short period of time was so sad. I am trying to get home for Homecoming the first weekend of August, so I am starting to save MyPoints for gas cards now. I havent been home in 4 years, and that's entirely too long. I miss it. A lot. So much has happened in that time - Nanny had cancer, and is now almost a whole lung less. I've gained 4 cousins, my aunt & uncle had a housefire and moved to a farm. My Dad has built himself a WHOLE HOUSE, and my sister's place is in middle of getting a 2nd story. See, lots going on.

And speaking of crocheting, I finished up Heather's sweater - that would be 2 Christmas gifts DONE! And I'm almost done with the ankle ribbing of second sock. I think I know who these will be for, but I'm not quite sure. We'll see how it goes.

This Sunday is Aliceon's birthday, she's turning 6. Aliceon is Jake's little wifey, and he picked out the sweetest present. A little "diamond" heart necklace. Oh, sorry Kerry, please disregard that! I had the intention of getting her a bitty pair of earrings, but he liked this best. It really is cute, and little bitty, perfect for a 6 yr old. I'm looking forward to the party, it should be fun. Sorry to Al that I didnt get her a pony though.

I shall leave you with a pic of punk rock kid. Enjoy.

Ok, I was afraid, and had to share...

http://whatnottocrochet.wordpress.com/

I'll write more later, but there you have it for now. Rated PG (not PG13 like the willy warmers though).

Um, yeah, and all that.

So I really don't have much to write about, but I will try my best.

We'll start with Sean (the REAL reason you all are here, huh?). He is adorable as usual, and doing a bit better in the sleep department. The past 2 nights he's gotten up twice, and the second time is only about an hour before the alarm goes off, so he's almost to the once a night spot I keep praying for. Please pray with me, Mommy is getting very tired/cranky. I don't have any new pics but I'll try to take some of Jake and Sean together (!) tonight. Sean had his 9 week checkup, which Travis took him to. He weighs 11 something (eye roll) pounds and is 22.5 inches. He's still in the 50% for his age - nice and normal. He's taking his cereal bottle at night just fine, and it is actually helping him sleep a little bit longer than without it. And the doc said its fine.

Jake is doing a little better with the listening and not whining. Not much, but a little. He got prizes these past 2 weeks for 1) learning his address & phone (he knew the phone already) and 2) for tying his shoes. It's a big verse week for him - John 3:16. He learned it in K3 (it was very cute to hear such big words from a 3 yr old, lemme tell ya!) but he's forgotten it. Tonight we finish up his Leprechaun trap. I think it's a great project, fun too. They will set the traps on Friday, and when the get back from Spring Break next week, see if any of the traps have been sprung.

Speaking of Spring Break - next week is it. Normally I'd just have Jake go to the daycare at school, but since Sean's nanny is on a cruise they will both just stay home. I have Mon, Thurs & Fri, Travis has Tues & Wed - his normal days off. I'm not sure what we'll do but maybe we can do something fun. Wonder what Jakey's wife is doing, or if she's on Spring Break too (Kerry?).

On the yarn front, I've finished the front, back and 1 sleeve of the mystery Christmas item, and I started on sleeve #2 at lunch today. I figure that by Monday I'll be done with it. In theory, anyway. Then I suppose I should work on second sock, eh? I havent decided where these are going, maybe my Grandmother? We'll see. OH, Pop Pop, if you read this, please disregard that last bit, will ya? That, or act supprised!

Speaking of grandparents, my other grandparents are coming down from NY on Saturday morning. I am thrilled to pieces, I havent seen them in 4 years - FAR too long. Now, if I can just get the house clean, and figure out a suitable dinner to make I'd be golden. Any suggestions? Wish me luck.

Wow, guess I had more to say than I thought.

Smiley boy.

So, how much of a cop-out is it to just post pictures of SuperCutiePie?

I thought so. Therefore, I will tell you about my Christmas gift making progress. Yes, I said Christmas. Yes, I understand that Christmas is more than 9 months away, and I think thats what makes this so magical! No, I am not touched. AM NOT! lol. Moving on.

I am 1.5 gifts into my Christmas gift making. And, that is only because 1 was already done. Kerry, if you want to be suprised, let me know and you shall know nothing. If you have the patience of, oh, ME, than I shall disclose what your offspring will receive - as they(it) are being made. So, yeah, 1 is done and I'm creating another one just like it, only smaller. I'm very excited about this prospect. I shall create my Christmas gift making list as I go plus 1. Therefore, right now on the hook (yes, I said hook) is gift 2. Next shall be a sweater for a girlfriend's daughter in purple boucle. No clue what pattern I'll use, I'll figure it out when #2 is done. Once I'm working on #3, I shall figure out #4 and so on. So, there you have it, a plan.

And with that, I shall leave you with this:

That is Gigi the 3-legged wonder licking Sean's feet. She's a strange one.

I should be flogged

Sorry about the MIA thing, really. Yesterday was my first day back at work and I had over 200 emails to wade through. Guess I'm popular with the penis enlargement people, huh? Anyway, here are some of the pics I promised.

Baby smiles:

"That's a cute baby, Mom!"

The cat's new favorite position. On TOP of the baby!

And here's the sock in all it's glory. I'm finally on the round and round bit of the foot, and I have a few more inches before I do the toe. I have no idea who these will be for, maybe I'll save them for Christmas.

Um, I guess thats about it, really. Oh, Gnombert! Here are a few pics of him.

Land of the giants and finding some friends! SOO glad the Joann's people didnt throw me out!